EDH



The Walking Atlas



Deckbuilding Atlas



Commander Deckbuilding, Pt. 2





Last week– or whenever it was you read the article– we took a look at the first three sections of how I approach deckbuilding (snappily called the Walking Atlas Deckbuilding Atlas): lands, card draw / card filtering, and tutors. We’re picking up right where we left off, with recursion, in just a moment. First, I would like to take a brief aside to talk about a critical Constructed deckbuilding concept that takes on a different life in EDH: the mana curve.





The Curve Is The Word







Mana Bloom art by Mike Bierek

In competitive Constructed formats like Standard, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, you live and die by your mana curve. 90% of viable decks have a mana curve composed primarily of one-to-three drops, with only a handful of cards costed any higher. A deck filled with nothing but six, seven, and eight mana cards would get absolutely shredded. But when it comes to EDH, the games go longer, and matches are usually multiplayer, which gives us plenty of breathing room to use spells that are, in any other format, prohibitively expensive.

Furthermore– and we’ll examine this topic in detail in our “Ramp and Fixing” section– having dedicated ramp means high-CMC spells are even more easily playable. Altogether, this leads me to an odd and potentially contentious-sounding statement: our mana curve does not matter as much in EDH compared to Constructed. No, this does not mean that we can use every nine-drop in existence and hope our deck will magically function. Rather, it means that if I can get a certain effect for two mana, but there exists a notably better option for one or two more mana, I’m liable to put in the more expensive one.







Rampant Growth art by Steven Belledin

For example: let’s say I’m thinking of using Rampant Growth, which gets me a basic land to the battlefield tapped. In very few decks will it matter that I can play Rampant Growth on turn two, because by that point in the game, I will have only seen eight or nine cards in my 100-card deck, and Rampant Growth is unlikely to be one of them. I would rather have a card like Kodama’s Reach or Cultivate in that slot, because either of those will get me both a land to the battlefield and a land to my hand at the cost of only one additional mana.

Finally, compare drawing a late-game Rampant Growth to drawing a late-game Cultivate. Admittedly, ramp is usually unhelpful by that point in EDH, but that being said, Cultivate is going to be a much stronger card compared to Rampant Growth.

With that highly important aside out of the way, our Walking Atlas Deckbuilding Atlas can resume with Part IV: Recursion!





Part IV: Recursion







It makes a compelling circular argument

I very nearly included recursion in the same category as tutors for the purpose of this Deckbuilding Atlas, because they have at least one thing in common: both allow for flexible use. Whereas a tutor gets us a relevant card from our deck, a piece of recursion gets us a relevant card from our graveyard. This means that recursion can only be useful once cards are in our graveyards, so we need to be careful how many pieces of it we include in our decks.

Before we delve deeper into this topic, I want to outline how I think of recursion. Recursion is anything that lets us reuse a card in our graveyard at least once. This includes: creatures like Eternal Witness, who return cards from graveyard to hand; spells with Flashback like Divine Reckoning; effects that put cards from our graveyard onto the battlefield like Sun Titan; and more things still.

There are four main recursion strategies in EDH:

The theme of the deck is recursion; this is usually supported by the Commander. Instances of this include Karador, Ghost Chieftain, The Mimeoplasm, and Dralnu, Lich Lord. The theme of the deck is supported by recursion. For example, Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall are helpful in spellslinging decks. The deck has no recursion whatsoever. In my opinion, this is suboptimal, because it means any options in our graveyard are completely unreachable. I believe this strategy is only reasonable if you combine it with the next strategy: The deck has effects that actively hamper recursive strategies, like Rest in Peace and Grafdigger’s Cage. If opposing decks lean heavily upon recursion, this is an excellent way to gain the upper hand, especially if you included little to no recursion in your deck. It is a bit of a paradox: this option is only powerful because recursion, which is itself powerful, is used very commonly.







Grafdigger’s Cage art by Daniel Llunggren

Which colors can recurse which card types is somewhat related to what card types they are capable of tutoring for. The ones that correspond nicely: white can recurse enchantments (e.g. Auramancer), auras, and occasionally, equipment; blue can recurse artifacts (e.g. Academy Ruins) and instants / sorceries (e.g. the previously-mentioned Archaomancer); and green can recurse creatures (e.g. Deadwood Treefolk) and lands (e.g. Tilling Treefolk).

There are a few places in which the colors deviate from that otherwise useful association. White can also retrieve creatures, more often to the field than to your hand (like with Karmic Guide). Black is similarly capable of reanimating, though the creature can end up either in your hand (Oversold Cemetery)or on the field (Rescue from the Underworld). Lastly, green, on top of creatures, can reuse any card type, with such classic cards as Regrowth.







Part V: Ramp and Fixing







That was significantly less helpful than I’d hoped it would be

Magic is a game of resources. If you’re familiar with the concept of card advantage, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can follow this footnote.

In a Constructed format like Standard, using early turns to nickel-and-dime your opponent for life is an efficient use of your time and resources. In Commander, this a.) will not put a significant dent in a life total of 40, and b.) might get you killed, if your target decides to exact revenge later in the game. Consequently, we need something to do with our early turns. I have an answer for you: ramp!

In addition to card advantage, access to mana is one of Magic’s critical resources. This concept is much more down-to-earth than card advantage: with more mana, you can simply do more things. You could cast a splashy spell and have mana for countermagic. You could wipe the board and drop a threat. Furthermore, if you’ve ramped more than your opponents, you are (likely) in a better position to pull off what your deck is meant to do than they are with their decks.







Llanowar Elves art by Kev Walker

Ramp comes in a variety of forms:

Land to battlefield : this effect is predominantly green, and can put a land from your library onto the battlefield (e.g. Rampant Growth), a land from your hand onto the battlefield (e.g. Sakura-Tribe Scout), or let you play an additional land (e.g. Explore).

: this effect is predominantly green, and can put a land from your library onto the battlefield (e.g. Rampant Growth), a land from your hand onto the battlefield (e.g. Sakura-Tribe Scout), or let you play an additional land (e.g. Explore). Mana Dorks : this is a term for a creature that taps for mana, such as the classic Llanowar Elves. Again, this mechanic is found primarily in green.

: this is a term for a creature that taps for mana, such as the classic Llanowar Elves. Again, this mechanic is found primarily in green. Mana Rocks : these are, by definition, artifacts that tap for mana, which means they have colorless mana costs. Sometimes, they tap for colored mana (like Darksteel Ingot). Other times, they tap for colorless (like the Commander classic Sol Ring).

: these are, by definition, artifacts that tap for mana, which means they have colorless mana costs. Sometimes, they tap for colored mana (like Darksteel Ingot). Other times, they tap for colorless (like the Commander classic Sol Ring). Rituals : these are spells that generate mana along the lines of Mana Geyser, and are the most concise example of converting card advantage into mana advantage. This effect belongs to red, and while there are many examples of similar cards, very few of them can generate more than three mana, and are difficult to utilize in EDH without serious consideration in the deck.

: these are spells that generate mana along the lines of Mana Geyser, and are the most concise example of converting card advantage into mana advantage. This effect belongs to red, and while there are many examples of similar cards, very few of them can generate more than three mana, and are difficult to utilize in EDH without serious consideration in the deck. Untapping Lands: blue is the color allowed to tap or untap any type of permanent, and green has the ability to untap specifically lands, which means that both can untap lands with cards such as Rude Awakening and Turnabout. As long as you have more lands than the converted mana cost of the spell, you can profitably generate mana.







Mana Geyser art by Martina Pilcerova

Some of these ramp types (primarily “land to the battlefield” and “mana rocks”, secondarily “mana dorks”) can serve a second purpose: to fix your colors. Realistically, this is only a concern to those of us with three or more colors: two colors can place all or most fixing on lands, and naturally, monocolor (or no-color) doesn’t need fixing to begin with.

A small aside for four-and-five color decks: these more than anything else must devote slots to color-fixing. I suggest steering clear of mana dorks, since they’ll die to boardwipes frequently. Instead, focus your efforts on land ramp and / or mana rocks.







Part VI: Protection and Disruption







This wasn’t the “counter war” I had in mind…

You know what I love? Definitions. I’m going to start off this section by defining what I think of as “protection” and “disruption”. Ultimately, there are two types of each: proactive and reactive, creating four quadrants.





Proactive Protection

Proactive protection is something that will sit on the board and prevent the removal of your permanents, negative effects towards you the player, damage to the integrity of your deck, or the destruction of your graveyard (in the case of more recursive decks). In short, proactive protection is an onboard effect that will prevent your opponents from affecting you negatively: it is public knowledge.

I may have listed a whole host of categories up there, but “preventing the removal of your permanents” is by far the most common proactive protection, and you’ve probably seen examples of it: Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Darksteel Plate, Shield of Kaldra, Indestructibility, Asceticism, and more. You’ll notice that most of these protect creatures, and force your opponents to find more esoteric forms of removal. An Indestructible creature can only be exiled; a Hexproof creature can only be boardwiped; a Hexproof-Indestructible creature can only be removed by mass-bounce or mass-exile. They aren’t bulletproof, but it takes considerably more effort to get rid of them.









Asceticism art by Daarken; Thrun, the Last Troll art by Jason Chan

Reactive Protection

On the flip side, reactive protection remains hidden from your adversaries until the time is right. Usually, this means it’s an instant that waits in your hand, and is only cast when an opponent attempts to get in your way. Examples include casting Boros Charm in response to a boardwipe to make your permanents Indestructible, or countering a spell aimed at the big creature that’s about to win you the game.

It should be noted that some reactive protection, particularly counterspells, can fit into more than one of these quadrants. We’ll address this versatility as it comes up.





Proactive Disruption

Generally, winning is one of the goals in a game of Magic. Protection stops your opponents from stopping you from winning. Meanwhile, disruption is intended to stop your opponents from winning, and its proactive form will hamper an opposing strategy before you know what that strategy truly is.

Proactive disruption is by-and-large restricted to black’s slice of the color pie, because it involves disrupting the hand or the library. Assuming that you are in a position to take advantage of its effect, or at least not be effected by it, a card like Mindslicer causes all hands to be discarded, which will neutralize a multitude of potential threats before you even know they exist. Library disruption, as seen on Bitter Ordeal or Nightmare Incursion, goes a step further: you can potentially exile every win condition or combo piece in a deck before your opponent has access to them.





Reactive Disruption

Last but not least, we reach reactive disruption. Well, sort of. There’s another term for reactive disruption: removal and tempo. Removal only occurs when there is a problematic card to remove, so it is by definition reactive. Most decks need some form of the protection as outlined earlier, but all decks need removal, so I’m giving it its own section…







The Missing Link







Unexpectedly Absent art by Min Yum

…next time. Regrettably friends, that is all the time we have for this week’s Walking Atlas article. In a week (or perhaps two weeks, to mix things up a bit), look for the third and final installment of the Walking Atlas Deckbuilding Atlas! (for Commander!) As always, you can follow me on Twitter through @Walking_Atlas, and say hello on Reddit through /u/Walking_Atlas.

Until next time, happy planeswalking, everyone.



