One General to Rule them All: An EDH Blog

Commander Card Reviews

Coda: As exciting as all the new generals were, the new Commander set brought a wonderful assortment of non-legendary cards into the mix, as well. As a whole, these cards focus on politics and exploiting a multiplayer environment more than any other cards Wizards has ever released. [card]Alliance of Arms[/card] Coda: I gotta say, the…

June 27, 2011
EDH Deckbuilding Fundamentals: Charity

When I first started playing EDH, I was like most Spikes new to the format: pure, unadulterated evil. My decks read like “top 100 most hated EDH cards” lists: [card]Sundering Titan[/card], [card]Myojin of Night’s Reach[/card], [card]Identity Crisis[/card], [card]Desolation Angel[/card], [card]Magister Sphinx[/card], [card]Sorin Markov[/card], it goes on and on. Even worse, in my Spikish naiveté, I…

June 18, 2011
Commander General Reviews

Coda: It’s finally that time, ladies and gentlemen! The most anticipated release of all time for EDH players is finally here, and it most certainly does not disappoint. MTG: Commander should shake up the EDH metagame like nothing else that has come before. Not only are we treated to a legion of powerful new cards,…

June 16, 2011
New Phyrexia Set Review

The full spoiler for New Phyrexia is finally here, and ahead of schedule, too! The set’s major innovation, Phyrexian mana, can reduce the casting cost of spells by having you pay life, instead. Amazingly powerful from a competitive constructive standpoint, not so much from an EDH one. Since a spell with a Phyrexian mana symbol…

May 4, 2011
I am tired of this deck.

Azusa, you have outlived your welcome. You make idiotic amounts of mana, you drop a bunch of tokens, you pump them ridiculously huge, and you smash your opponents to death with them. It really doesn’t matter what they do, it happens sooner or later. And that’s the problem. I’ve created a fundamentally noninteractive deck. And…

May 1, 2011
My Big Fat Deck: Jenara vs. The World

Here it is, in all of its terrible glory. While most of my decks usually elicit a groan when I bring them out at the EDH table, this one tends to get people agreeing amongst themselves ahead of time, “Okay, Coda dies first, alright?” It’s not even because it’s particularly broken or unfair, either –…

April 11, 2011
Unsung Heroes, Part II

Leyline of Sanctity [card]Privileged Position[/card] is one of the all-time EDH greats. Not only does it protect your creatures, it also keeps your artifacts, enchantments, and even lands safe. But the one thing it doesn’t keep safe (aside from itself) is you. This may not seem particularly relevant to someone conditioned to judging everything in…

March 28, 2011
Playing to have fun vs. playing to win

I played one of the most epic and fun games last Thursday at Guardian Games‘s EDH night. A game that not only taught me the importance of having answers, but the importance of holding back on the most disruptive answers. It was a game that encapsulated the lesson imparted by this article by Adam Styborski…

February 22, 2011
EDH Deckbuilding Fundamentals: A Tutor Primer

Variance is the enemy of every deckbuilder. Most 60 card Constructed decks attempt to be as consistent as possible by running 4 copies of each of their most important cards, but in a 99 card singleton format like EDH, we have to get a bit more creative in order to have any kind of consistency. …

February 18, 2011
EDH Deckbuilding Fundamentals: The Five Things Every Deck Needs

Deckbuilding for EDH is a far cry from the hyperspecialized, metagamed world of Constructed, but for some reason I keep seeing players applying the rules they learned at tournaments to the big table. Sure, some of the tricks that work there fit right in to the world of EDH, but when games go long and…

February 13, 2011