I’ve written a lot over the few years I’ve been on here about my basic deckbuilding style. Though my writing has definitely gotten better, longer, more detailed, and more flowery since then… I’ve reiterated a few times that I use a Modified 7x9 Method, and have an emphasis on formulaically meeting what I call The “Three Pillars” of EDH:
Mana (includes land and ramp)
Draw
Interaction
And that without these three pillars, a deck will usually fail to function or acclimate to a healthy way of interacting with a pod.
However, if you happen to have played against me recently or have looked over my “active” decks on Archidekt you may have noticed that I’m building towards one of these pillars way less than before. In fact, I’ve been building with way more draw and interaction, and many of my decks contain only one or two ramp spells. You may be wondering “What the heck?”
The Mana Pillar
Now, more so than before, I’m running next to no ramp. Instead my decks are running just under 40 lands (mostly 38) + 1 MDFC (such as Malakir Rebirth) + 1 or 2 utility ramp (such as Machine God’s Effigy)… for around 40 total mana producing cards. In essence, my “mana pillar” is emphasizing drawing enough lands to hit a land drop every turn, rather than ramping ahead of the curve.
I must say that when initially switching from “running 36 lands and 10+ ramp” to “running 40 ish mana sources” there was a feeling of great pleasure that I was freeing up 6ish additional slots for cards I’d actually want to play. That pleasure diminished when I realized that most of those slots got eaten up by cheap card draw and card selection to help smooth out the game plan. But, since a Ponder is usually a better late game topdeck than a Rakdos Signet, the change did increase the number of “draws that aren’t dead in topdeck mode.”
Another thing I’ve noticed is that playing this way often reduces how often enemies perceive you as a threat. Since you’ll be playing out more small stuff, they often will feel like they “have a handle” on what you’re doing… and since you’re not usually threatening to generate a ton of mana, the potential of what you could cast next turn is usually not as high as the other players around you. Important to this change is lowering the curve and reducing the average Mana Value of commanders.
Lowering Curve
I realized something interesting while building this way. Ramp in commander is essentially an A+B synergy. You run ramp (A) so you can cast bigger spells (B), and like any other A+B synergy, it doesn’t really work out if you don’t get both of the pieces: big spells can easily rot in your hand, and ramp can feel like dead pieces that you don’t need.
Lowering the average mana value of your spells removes your reliance on this A+B synergy and makes your deck more simple since it will rely on less moving parts to establish its gameplan. The average MV of my decks is between 2.6 and 2.7, and they run just 4 cards that are 5MV or 6MV.
Running low MV commanders
Similar to running a lower curve, if your commander costs less you will overall be less reliant on ramp to establish your gameplan. Since making this change I’ve developed an unhealthy obsession with 2-drop commanders, and have been getting recent mileage out of Venser, Corpse Puppet, and Vraan, Executioner Thane a lot. (I’m also still running Rhoda & Timin, but I’m MOSTLY flocking to 2MV commanders).
Commanders like this can usually come out and start getting value with just 2MV, making a 2-land hand feel somewhat keep-able since you can still start establishing your gameplan.
Card Draw and Selection
I have a strong need to draw cards; having a high card velocity is key to making any deck work. As mentioned in my article about Understanding Chance and Clumps, card selection and card draw are important for powering through the clumps of lands or nonlands you will inevitably find yourself into. Running more cheap card draw and selection allows us to find the lands we need to reliably hit land drops every turn and not fall behind, while also letting us power through land clumps to find the other cards that we need too.
Now I dedicate somewhere around 20 card slots in my decks for cards that generate card velocity somehow.
Playing More Interaction
Running more interaction buys you more time to activate your game-plan, and since we won’t be getting mana as quickly as our contemporaries, we will often need that time. Further, having more interaction pairs well with having extra card velocity since we can trade our interaction 1-for-1 with threats more readily than other players in order to win a war of attrition. I’m also playing around 20 interaction spells in my decks, though that number includes more than just the standard removal. I’m not exactly playing high powered over here, so a Redemption Arc will serve just as well as a Force of Will in many situations… and much of the interaction fits into my decks theme (such as Plunge into Winter in Rhoda which cares about tapping things, or Serum Snare in Venser which cares about proliferate).
HBC
For the past three(ish) years, I’ve been experimenting with extra deckbuilding restrictions: Humble Beginnings Commander. Basically, there’s a small extra banlist, and a few blanket rules that effectively ban a ton of cards. It essentially boils down to:
You can’t play most 2MV or under ramp
You can’t play any 2MV or under tutors
Despite what I said when I wrote in full about the format, I’ve been sticking to the restrictions pretty religiously. Not running any fast ramp has made me happier overall with the speed of my games (that is, making them feel a bit slower and steadier), but it definitely also disincentivizes running large amounts of ramp, since the ramp pieces you do run tend to be clunkier, and also incentivizes running more small early plays to establish a board early and make use of early turns.
My Staples
I don’t put serious stock in the idea of staples or auto-includes (I don’t even run Sol Ring), but I do often put cards that work well for me and my playstyle in several of my decks that can run them, so here’s a chance to talk about them:
Ponder here is a stand in for several small sorcery speed card selection cards. Ponder, Preordain, and Serum Visions felt like they were blue staples when I started playing the format, but came out of my decks over time. Now, with a leaner curve and an emphasis on hitting land drops over ramping into bigger spells, these cards always feel like good mana efficient ways to set up your next turn or so.
I swear by Demolition Field. I run it in every deck and add it to every appropriately powered workshop I take on DeckTuner. It’s an answer for problem lands that’s “casual friendly” since it will take their mean scary Nykthos but let them get a basic in its stead. Unlike Ghost Quarter, you also get a basic to replace the Demolition Field, so you won’t end up feeling behind on mana a few turns later (which helps a lot when you’re not ramping much). Since the land enters untapped, it even refunds you one of the mana that was spent to activate it.
I don’t play a lot of commanders that get targeted right away, but as games progress commanders do die and mana gets more crunched when you’re not ramping much. I tend to build with a focus around my commander, so having a small contingency for if my commander tax gets too high has definitely saved my skin a few times.
Another colorless utility land that simply has saved my skin plenty of times. This Maze of Ith is expensive to activate but also taps for a mana when you’re not saving it for its exile clause. Unlike most similar effects, however, this exiles the creature and returns it tapped. Also the small flicker is nice because it can sometimes be used to blank tokens or remove counters, equipment, or auras. I also run Kor Haven and Prahv, Spires of Order in my Azorious control deck.
Ok, last utility land I promise. Otowara and Boseiju from this cycle are straight fire. Takenuma is pretty good in relevant decks. I’m not sure I could see myself ever running the red or white one though.
When it comes to board wipes, Make an Example is a house. It often leaves opponents’ board states in shambles, or at least delays them for a turn or two. After all you can always choose the pile with the most important thing to get rid of in it… and it doesn’t even affect your board!
Mocking Doppelganger has over-performed every time I’ve drawn it. It’s a way to goad something that doesn’t require targeting, protecting YOU from that voltron commander with the greaves on it for a few more turns. It also gives you a copy of the creature, which sometimes is threatening enough that now you have a big threat too. Also, since it goads each other creature with the same name, we can have it enter as a copy of a token for boards that token spam.
I love playing with Goad, and this alien horror is another over-performer for me. Every turn it goads whatever you need to not get hit by and then phases out. Since it never sticks around it’s immune to most board wipes and any other typically sorcery speed removal, as it slowly gets bigger and becomes a sizeable threat.
This card was king back in the day, and it’s still king now. For anyone who hasn’t played with this card yet, I highly recommend picking up a copy. In most situations it functions as a fog, but it can allow you to block those now 0/2 creatures and kill many important ones. It can also be used to get around certain keywords or activated abilities. Also, since it has split second, it’s practically uncounterable and people can’t activate their pesky activated abilities in response!
Not only did Wylie Beckert do an amazing job on this art, but this card’s mechanics are also a masterpiece. Sure it only removes one thing from each opponent’s board like any other edict that doesn’t hit you - but since they’re forced to sacrifice something that either has or is tied for the Mana Value, you’re usually getting rid of everyone’s most valuable creature or planeswalker.
If Blind Obedience was a bear, it’d look like this. Importantly, opponents can either let their things functionally enter tapped or give you free blockers, making it pretty hard to get in any hasty surprises. The vampires having lifelink is a nice touch, too. Further, since the opponents permanents technically enter and then get tapped, it gets to synergize with Rhoda.
I briefly mentioned this one earlier, but as a goad spell I’ve found it to be pretty functional. Indestructible makes whatever you enchant with it even more of a persistent threat for your other opponents and the downside of goad (that it doesn’t do anything once you’re in the 1v1) is pretty handily covered by the fact that you can exile the enchanted creature at just about any time.
As much as I like goad it’s not often that I’ll relish in the chance to give my opponents cards. Still, the efficiency is hard to pass up. A Reclamation Sage that gives you the option to draw cards with one other player is nice, and having that stapled to some removal passively opens your deck up to some interesting political plays.
This one is also a stand-in and doesn’t work in all decks (also it’s the only card in any of my decks with an EDHREC SALT SCORE above 1.0). Since I’m not happy straight destroying lands with Armageddon (and don’t think that “solves the problem of players who ramp too much” anyway), it’s important to have some ways to punish the rampy green decks. It wouldn’t make sense to run in my Venser or Rhoda/Timin, since this sort of effect doesn’t help reach the desired wincons of poison and commander damage. In Vraan, which cares about having creature bodies, Nightshade Harvester has served a similar role.
Review
Overall this building style has served me well. It’s hard to tell if it’s by fluke or by design, but my winrate has overall gone up since starting to use it (even while making the overall misguided decision to use the EDHREC SALT SCORE that Archidekt lets you see as a guide for cutting cards and trying to keep all my decks, even my poison deck, below the salt average for all decks).
It obviously won’t be revolutionizing cEDH circles or anything, but it isn’t meant to. It’s a fun way to play in Casual Commander, and has been pretty fun for me.
In place of a daily Koan, today, let’s enjoy wisdom from another source:
Question: "What do you do when you can't do nothing, but there's nothing you can do?"
Answer: “You do what you can.”
(Source: The Boondocks)