Deck Update (January 5th, 2023)
Just a Check In
Disclaimer: before you ask how I got the deck images on moxfield, you simply add /image to the end of your url
Deck Update
The last time I wrote, wholesale, about my current decks on this site was back in February of 2022 when I wrote “When a Deck Lives (And When It Dies)” about my ‘minimalist’ deck-keeping habits. I’m not as extreme as Commander’s Sphere recommendations, but I do tear down decks with record ease. Back then, I had 5 active decks and 8 inactive decks. Now I have even fewer: 4 active decks, and 7 inactive decks.
Active decks:
“Blood Pact” featuring Drana, the Last Bloodchief
“Rebuild” featuring Rona, Sheoldred’s Faithful
“Viper’s Kiss” featuring Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
“Loran’s Angels” featuring Loran of the Third Path
Inactive decks:
Stitcher Geralf (was previously active)
50$ budget Alibou
50$ budget Gloom Summoner
2x Brothers Yamazaki decks intended for 2 headed giant (no list available)
Overall notes: Two of my inactive decks got torn apart (my 50$ budget Octavia and the in-reserve Sai both bit the dust). To take their place is my Stitcher Geralf deck. An obvious move as I found myself not playing him very much, but am too attached to the deck to take it apart.
On my active decks: Another note is that none of the active decks from last year’s post survived. Last year we had Tatsunari, Toshiro, Selvala, Lier and Stitcher. Now Stitcher has been retired and four entirely new decks have entered the scene. Between both years, Red has been the hardest color to represent. I just find myself not… being very red. On the other hand, I’m constantly tempted to play black, which is definitely my favorite color! Also notable: I tend to like mono-color and two-color decks. I just feel like there’s more room for creativity that comes from limitations, rather than 3+ color decks which tend to just have too many things available to them.
Without further ado, here are some snapshots and chatting about my currently active decks…
Drana!
EDHREC Popularity: Rank 1154 with 193 decks.
Checked on 01/05/2023
This deck is pretty fun. The goal is to get a big demon in the graveyard for Drana to reanimate, then overwhelm opponents with demons. The deck does run some demons that Drana can’t reanimate (such as Kothophed, a card I’ve been infamous for running). Currently, I’m testing out Portal to Phyrexia but my prediction is that I’ll cut it soon... maybe for a Worn Powerstone?
Loran!
EDHREC Popularity: Rank 1617 with 61 decks.
Checked on 01/05/2023
Loran is the newest-built deck on this list. I actually made Loran when she came out as an artifact deck, but ended up scrapping it when I destroyed too many lands with her ability. Now, she’s back as the polar opposite of Drana. Drana plays big demons, and Loran drops decently sized angels on-curve. Since this is my most recently built deck, it’s the most prone to having sweeping changes hit it suddenly.
Hapatra!
EDHREC Popularity: Rank 148 with 3291 decks.
Checked on 01/05/2023
I don’t know why this image copied Hapatra on the left side there, but… Hapatra is my deck with the highest EDH popularity, but when it comes to snakes there’s a lot to love (my pet snake’s name is Chimera). Deathtouch makes them great to block and attack with, and cards like Gruesome Fate and Foul-Tongue Shriek are fun to use.
Rona!
EDHREC Popularity: Rank 1129 with 203 decks.
Checked on 01/05/2023
Again, I don’t know why the image maker copied Rona on the left side, but it might be fitting since this control deck runs a few clones like Callidus Assassin. This deck is just scratching my itch to run Dimir and to run all my favorite control spells, while slowly draining people’s life away with stuff like Rona’s trigger, Polluted Bonds, or the Sheoldred that Rona’s apparently faithful to.
Hipster Scores
MtGDS who writes on EDHRec wrote about and created a tool to get a “Hipster Dragon Highlander Quotient” to show how hipster your decks are. I thought it’d be fun to include the scores for my decks this year in said article since I am the type of player who goes out of their way to find commanders with fairly low EDHrec ranks (if you couldn’t tell by the fact that I listed each EDHrec rank under the deck images and most of my commanders have deck counts that don’t reach four digits). When it comes to the hipster quotient.
1500% is “the most mainstream possible” and lower is “more hipster”
463% is the “median deck’s uniqueness rating” on EDHrec
Without further ado:
Well, my decks are “more hipster” than average, though none of them meet the 150% that MtGDS lists as “legitimately Hipster.” I think that this is because, while I seek out unique and lesser-played commanders to be the linchpin of the deck, I don’t shy away from staples (especially when it comes to card draw and removal). Still, I’m mostly happy to see these results, being at least in the 70th percentile looks “pretty hip” to me!
Humble Beginnings Commander
If you’ve been following me for a bit, you may recall that I have experimented with slowing fast starts by limiting cards with the lowest MV and the most broken effects - primarily tutors and ramp. I’ve called this project HBC or Humble Beginnings commander. Full rules here; article where I write about it here. Currently, all my decks are HBC compliant at 1MV or less, which means they don’t run Sol Ring or other fast mana, and I don’t run cheap cards that tutor stuff from your deck.
This mostly doesn’t have a big effect on the game, but it does seem to prevent imbalanced “sol ring starts” that the Nitpicking Nerds disavow and that many others (including myself) think lead to imbalanced games.
Conclusion
There is no conclusion. People like to talk about themselves and I like writing about my EDH decklists… which is why all of my decklists are complete with primers that no one will probably read.
If you made it to the end of this article, thanks. Here’s a cookie.