High Powered Decks - Ep86

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5. Ep 86 Community Spotlight:
   1. Disclaimer: This is not the only way to play EDH, people can and should play this game the way that makes them and their playgroup the most happy. That being said, it’s sometimes fun to see how far you can push the limits. Also, it’s often nice to have an assortment of different power levels, so that you can play in any pod, and maybe also great if it’s the end of the evening, and you don’t quite have time for a longer game.
      1. A deck that brushes up against cEDH. Maybe a 1-or-2 holds barred instead of no holds barred? A deck that tries to be super powerful, while remaining just shy of cEDH.
      2. Disclaimer: Neither Zack nor Ryan are cEDH experts, so we may get some of this wrong, but we think it’s a useful framework for a discussion
   2. What is a “High Powered Deck”?
      1. This might be a way to intentionally restrain yourself, and as we know restrictions can breed creativity
         1. Cheap Interaction
         2. 1. Most decks play some of this already, example: Swords to Plowshares
            1. Stuff like Winter Orb and Armageddon, or wheels + Hullbreacher/Narset, Parter of Veils
         3. Stax pieces
            1. Stuff like Aven Mindcensor or Dranith Magistrate
         4. Hate Bears
         5. I think you can include some of the above in any of the variations of Pick 2, although you always want to make sure you’re having the Rule 0 discussion, especially if going the Stax route!
      2. cEDH is built upon a few different pillars. The 3 we just mentioned are probably some of the most important. Here are some others
   3. Fast Mana/Tutors/Combo: Pick 2
      1. I thought it might be fun for us to power rank the different variations on the fly, so listed in no particular order are
      2. 1. Fast Mana + Tutors
         2. Fast Mana + Combo
         3. Tutors + Combo
   4. Which to choose?
      1. Fast Mana + Combo
      2. 1. This seems like one of the more difficult builds to pull off. You’ll want to have lots of different redundant combos, because without tutors, you may not see all the right pieces
         2. Lots of card draw to help you assemble your combo pieces
         3. Also, self mill can be a way to “virtually draw” a lot of cards if you have lots of ways to recur things from your graveyard
            1. Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Phyrexian Devourer
            2. Niv-Mizzet (Parun or Firemind) + Curiosity
            3. Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Mind Over Matter
            4. Godo, Bandit Warlord + Helm of the Host
         4. This might also include a deck that has a single card combo with the Commander
         1. This would be a deck that tutors for answers to specific board states, it doesn’t tutor for combo pieces.
         2. Sometimes a deck may want to include a lot of fast mana if the “Mana Value” of the Commander is medium to high.
         3. Some of my first Commander decks were this way, with a TON of tutors, and lots of mana rocks/dorks, and just general good stuff, or cards that had high synergy with the Commander.
         4. This is the type of deck where you really restrict yourself from playing any combos, and you get super sad when you accidentally find a combo.
      3. Fast Mana + Tutors
         1. I think this one depends on where you draw the line for “Fast Mana”. Does Sol Ring Count? Signets? Normal Commander Ramp? This one might be the closest to cEDH, especially depending on how cheap the combo pieces are (Think Thassa’s Oracle + Demonic Consultation)
         2. I think most players will allow for normal commander ramp in this category. 
         3. Personally, I think Tutors and Combo should be the strongest of the options, but in my experience it’s not always worked out. 
         4. I think the density of combos and tutors you are running factors in here as well. If you’re running like one combo and two ways to tutor it, you’re probably going to have a rough time. 
      4. Tutors + Combo
         1. Zack
         2. 1. Yawgmoth has tutors (Demonic, Vampiric, Grim, Recurring Insight, Doomsday) and combos. Aetherfux/Bolas’ Citadel/Divining Top. The only “fast mana” I run is Sol Ring, etc. 
            2. Thrasios / Tormod has combos, but no form of fast mana or tutoring. I’ve considered making this sultai and adding tutors.
            1. I just brewed Samut, Voice of Dissent after watching Joe Johnson play his version on “I Hate Your Deck” Normally, I pull back quite a bit on cards I include in a deck. For example, Survival of the Fittest and/or Worldy Tutor would probably be quite good in my Ashaya, Soul of the Wild deck, but I chose not to include them. I decided I really wanted to go all-out on the Samut deck, so it’s got all kinds of nice cards in it. I intentionally avoided combos, so no Kikki-Jikki + Felidar Sovereign. This deck falls into the “Fast Mana + Tutors” permutation
            2. I’ve got Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Mind Over Matter as mentioned above
            3. My Winota, Joiner of Forces is close to cEDH, but mostly just in how quickly it can win. It’s got a decent amount of Fast Mana, and has so many token generators, that it consistently has a lot of creatures to attack and get Winota triggers with that it feels “combo-y”
            4. Emry has “Fast Mana + Combo” 
         3. Ryan
      5. Let’s see if any of our decks fall into this category!
   5. Let’s talk about what the different variations might look like
6. Main Topic - High Powered Decks
7. Summary - We hope you found this an interesting way to think about decks on the more powerful side of the EDH spectrum.Do you have any builds that fit squarely into one of the 3 variations we outlined?
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