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Embracing The Chaos - EDH Deckbuilding Theory Sheldon Menery

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It’s the best format you’ve ever seen played. You’ve watched all the wackiness, you’ve heard all the stories. You’ve even borrowed someone’s 100 card pile and participated in the madness. Now you want to build your own deck. Where to start? Right here. Building an EDH deck will be one of the most difficult undertakings of your Magic-playing life - not because of the inherent difficulties of the format, but because of your choices: you have too many. The raw number of good cards you have to choose from in your colors is staggering, and the more colors you run the worse it is. The first thing you have to accept is that there are more cards that you can play than there are cards that you can play. In other words, the number of cards that will fit into your deck is greater than the number of cards that you’re allowed to put in. You have to get over the emotional hump of leaving stuff out. “But I want to play Fact or Fiction AND Intuition!” you scream. " tooltip="Sorry">Sorry, Sparky, you might have to let one of them go. The other mindset you’re going to have to get around is the idea of “breaking the format,” which is completely valid in competitive formats. In fact, you have considerable incentive to do so. Not so in EDH. The format is already broken. Especially if you’re playing Black, with all the Tutors, you can probably combo out reliably on turn 3 or 4 every game. If you want to experience the depth of EDH, resist that urge. At best, you’ll get bored quickly with the deck. At worst, you’ll find yourself ostracized from your local group since you’re not so much playing EDH as goldfishing. The deck you want to build is the one that is both playable and social. The real thing some people fail to understand is that you don’t need to kill everyone every game in order to win. Winning in EDH is simply having a great time. It’s participating in games that are something interesting and special. That’s why “Group Hug” decks have gotten popular in EDH circles. Now that you’ve gotten the philosophical framework, it’s time to get to brass tacks. What Comes First: Colors or a General? This is a classic chicken/egg argument. Here, it’s really up to you. The first decision you have to make is whether you want to play some colors that you like so that you can play cards that you like, or you’re going to play some sort of focused strategy. My " tooltip="Phelddagrif">Phelddagrif deck is the former. The colors have some fun cards, and while there are a few synergies, the deck is pretty much built around “ooh, I wanna play that card!” At the opposite end is my Kresh deck, finely tuned to do several different things—most specifically, running Kresh out there, making him huge and then either swinging or flinging. The questions you have to ask yourself are: Is there a cool General with a cool ability ( " tooltip="Crosis%252C%2Bthe%2BPurger">Crosis, the Purger or " tooltip="Akroma%252C%2BAngel%2Bof%2BWrath">Akroma, Angel of Wrath) I want to play? Are there specific cards or mechanics (such as Landfall or Splice onto Arcane) I want to play? Are there particular combos (like Pickles Lock* or " tooltip="Woodfall%2BPrimus">Woodfall Primus/ " tooltip="Mighty%2BEmergence">Mighty Emergence) I want to play? Are there single strategies (like Samurai beatdown or creature control) I want to play? Once you answer these questions, you can narrow down your choice. Personally, I like starting with a color combination and theme—although admittedly, many of my themes involve creature beatdown—and then find a General who fits the theme. If I’m starting with a General, I’d rather it was either a new one (I simply replaced Garza Zol with Thraximundar in one deck) or one that few people play. Everyone and their brother has a Sharuum deck. You can’t play in a group of more than five people without running into Rafiq or Teneb. I get that " tooltip="Horde%2Bof%2BNotions">Horde of Notions is awesome repeatable control. Run something different out there. Try Saffi Eriksdottir or " tooltip="Ramses%2BOverdark">Ramses Overdark on for size (both, by the way, are decks sported by Director of R&D Aaron Forsythe). Think outside the box a little. Now What? “Find stuff that makes you giggle. Put it in deck.” Fellow L5 Judge Toby Elliott There are EDH deckbuilders who will tell you that there are “auto includes” in your colors. Again, think a little outside the box. Sure, I play " tooltip="Solemn%2BSimulacrum">Solemn Simulacrum and Sol Ring in nearly every deck to smooth out and accelerate the mana, but I also play Blue decks that have zero counterspells and at least one Black deck with no Tutors. Toby has it right. The whole idea of this format is to see unusual, amusing stuff. Let your inner Timmy come out. How many times have you played decks in Standard or Extended that were successful, but you didn’t really enjoy playing? Don’t let that happen to you in EDH. The format is about having fun, so go ahead and play " tooltip="Storm%2BHerd">Storm Herd or " tooltip="Hive%2BMind">Hive Mind. That said, you still have to be able to play the game. This is a list of things that I make sure I put in nearly every deck: Cards I Just Want to Play With Each deck has up to about a half dozen of these. Often they’re just single cards that are good (or good in the format), such as

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