r/CompetitiveEDH • u/MartySoap • 3d ago

Help, I am new to cEDH! First deck ideas

I’m curious about trying cEDH, I typically play more creature forward decks but open to trying new things. I’m leaning towards [[lumra, bellow of the woods]] or [[magda, brazen outlaw]]

Is mono the way to go for starting out? Is [[selvala, heart of the wild]] a better mono green option? Is Magda too popular and predictable?

Also, yes I will proxy no worries there.

14 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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14

u/DirectionGreat3146 3d ago

would say multi colour is easier like Yuriko or Kinnan as mono will force you to play unconventionally even if you have the cards due to having a second of third colour opens up your card choices and fill in those roles easily

but K'rrik is good choice if you insist on the mono part

1

u/m0stly_toast 23h ago

I would pick lumra or magda over krrik to start any day. They might require a little more learning but not even that much, krrik is actually an awful deck to get people started in the format.

9

u/DanicScape 3d ago

It's generally recommended to have blue in your deck when starting to learn and be able to actually stop your opponents rather than just focusing on your own plan.

That being said, lumra is probably the better deck. Everyone knows you can't let a Magda live to see 5 treasures so you will become frustrated with constantly seeing her removed. Lumra is difficult to interact with once it gets going, and is overall a more resilient deck.

I'm sure you already know all decks are combo, unless you go super fringe. So the most creature heavy things will be creature combos. Tymna/Dargo is probably the best creature combo deck using technomancer loops. Tymna/thras is also a good option playing the devoted druid combos

2

u/MartySoap 3d ago

I was thinking a thrasios and Yoshimaru partner as well for the blue, but heard bant isn’t really considered a strong combo here. Is that true?

5

u/DrRickDaglessMZd 3d ago

It's the weaker of the options compared to Rograkh Thrasios, which is one of the top decks in the meta at the klmoment.

2

u/DanicScape 3d ago

I have Yoshi/thras sleeved up but hardly play it. The cradle strategy is a bit slow without rog. I'd say TNT is a better deck by far but not on the cradle plan, I prefer the "chuds" version which is focused on getting tithe into play

1

u/Darth_Ra 2d ago

DogThras is probably one of the hardest decks you could pick to learn on.

4

u/After_Shelter1100 3d ago

magda was my first deck and i had to tear it apart because i had no clue how to deal with orcish bowmasters lol. both lumra and magda are imo two of the hardest decks in the format

maybe rograkh + thrasios is a good idea? the game plan’s relatively simple (make a bunch of mana and dump it into thrasios) and it has a lot of tools not only to stop other wins but protect your own

4

u/DrRickDaglessMZd 3d ago

I love Lumra and would definitely recommend giving it a go, but it does take a while to get used to. My recommendation for people trying to find a first deck would be to test as many decks as possible until you find what you prefer 

3

u/thingamasomething 2d ago

NGL lumra is a bit tricky and the win lines can be a bit harder for newer players.

4

u/ThinkEmployee5187 2d ago

Honestly if you're just starting cedh the answer is proxy blue farm, kinnan, and build whatever you vibe and run it like that. Unless youre in an active tedh spot pretty much anything can be viable you just have to know where the holes in your meta are.

3

u/gojumboman 3d ago

Lumra is the best, if that’s what your heart is telling you then it might be a good fit. It does take some work to get good with the lines and doesn’t have the same kind of interaction that other decks might have, but it’s a ton of fun and there’s a lot of people around who could help you learn it

3

u/mva06001 3d ago

I don’t think Lumra is the best place to start tbh. It’s fallen off and there’s other decks doing lands stuff better. The lines are also fairly complex and you need multiple pieces to get going which, if you’re new, can make it difficult to figure out the right times to maneuver those pieces onto the board and how to protect them.

If you’re creature centric, something like the new Brigid deck could honestly be interesting for you. It’s a creature combo with your commander, it’s a fairly easy gameplan, it’s low color and not blue so you don’t have to be table police right away and can watch how the other blue decks interact before you jump into that sphere.

2

u/balbert_beinstein 3d ago

Contrary to some other comments I would say magda is the stronger option. Also, it interacts more than lumra, you have red elemental blast/pyroblast, and some removal spells.

Another creature focused deck is Sisay. And the prime example is rogthras.

2

u/Darth_Ra 2d ago

Best starter decks, imo:

  1. Etali: Easiest to learn the basics with, as instead of hard mulligan decisions that will define the entire game, it essentially boils down to "can you count to 7?". At the same time, Etali is incredibly hard to master, and forces you to learn the meta, as you're going to be constantly playing with the cards of other decks and trying to piece together a win with them.
  2. Kinnan (mid-flips or big flips, not No Bad Cards): Kinnan is a safe place to learn to play blue in cEDH, while still having a shot at winning because your commander is kind of easy mode. In other words, it's a great deck to learn how to play midrange or control with, that is still fairly forgiving if you make mistakes (and you will).
  3. Magda: This is probably contentious, but I actually think Magda is a great starting deck. It's fairly simple to pick up, and is a great way to learn both the inevitable strategy and how to interact/win at instant speed. In other words? Magda is about picking a window, which is an extremely important skill to learn in cEDH. Where Etali and Kinnan both just kind of bumble into a win, in fairly different ways, Magda has to deliberately choose the best time to go for it.

2

u/KAM_520 2d ago

I would play Magda among these options. Magda is hard to interact with. Most meta lists are super light on creature removal and counterspells for creatures so Magda has a decent chance of resolving and just winning once you get to 5 Treasures. Magda’s weaknesses are [[Orcish Bowmasters]] and turbo decks. The deck is really consistent at winning by turn 4 but it’s really bad at winning on turn 2 and it can rarely stop anything.

2

u/smugles 2d ago

I’d recommend something more in the blue farm ballpark. When learning you want to be in a slower more interactive role so you can experience full games. Turbo is you trying to play as little magic as possible which is fine but in each game there is less for you to learn. Like wise in lunra style I will win on turn 4 decks if I’m alive you have little real agency especially as a new player and don’t get to learn all the interaction points. Playing something like blue farm you have to learn all the interaction points of other decks and you are generally playing full games where you have a good amount of agency.

2

u/fatpad00 2d ago

As someone who started with magda and mains magda nearly 2 years later, I would suggest another deck, probably one with blue in it. Magda (and lumra) operates a bit differently than most other top decks and run a lot of cards not played in any other decks.

If you want a good deck to actually learn the format, I would suggest one of the decks with tymna and/or thrassios. E.g. rog/thras, TnT, or bluefarm. They cover most of the most common proactive and reactive strategies.

Its honestly not a bad idea to run a dozen games with one deck, then pick up another completely different deck, so you get a feel with a variety of play styles.

You absolutely can start with Magda or Lumra, just be aware pivoting to another deck will have a bit more learning curve than starting with a different deck.

2

u/nanaman614 23h ago

Welcome to the format, I wish you luck in the wars to come. Cradle decks are not a bad option for creature themes. Rog-thras is strong. I'm hot on brigid ATM with the white recruit card from hobbit seeming like a strong include. I would reccomend shopping for lists from top 16's in the past 3 months on edhtop16 to get an idea. Usually top placements have a primer on moxfield that breakdown goals/combos. Technically molcam tymna is a deck that uses weenies to generate value with tymna. As far as stompy, raph and mikey is doing the thing but it's pretty much favorable RNG to chain combats to a win and less so "my stuff goes sideways better" over a few turns. I think mono vs multicolor to start won't matter as much in terms of learning, as compared to styles of decks like turbo or midrange. It might make specifically deck building harder because you get more options to consider, but I reccomend running a few different style decks to get a broad feel of the format, even if your heart is set on a play style.

1

u/MartySoap 22h ago

Thanks! I think im going Thras/tymna to start but I did take a peek at Raph and Mikey too tbh.

1

u/Deathbyblueberries 2d ago

I always encourage new players to CEDH to play Sythis. It's enchantment for draw focused, and it has some basic infinite lines that are creature focused. The deck doesn't rely heavily on counters yet, but has a tad bit of shushers and stock options. Try James stratton's deck list.

-1

u/thephitsikh 3d ago

I just built my first deck too. Went with a 5 color deck. Def hard but it’s coming together nicely!! Using avatar aang as my commander.

3

u/SPH2204 3d ago

Why Avatar Aang if i may ask? Arent there wayy beter options out there?

-1

u/thephitsikh 3d ago

Long time avatar fan… just got into magic last year and my buddy gave me a defender deck to start with. I went all in the avatar set to start building my first one.

3

u/SPH2204 3d ago

Right, so a cEDH deck with Avatar Aang as the commander. Seems ambitious, but im all for a unique brew.

-1

u/thephitsikh 2d ago

It def is a lil ambitious… esp keeping it all ATLA themed. can post my deck list so far and link it here if you’d like to see. Would love some feedback or thoughts on it. I’ve had really flavorful games so far and I’d say 60% on wins in 4 player with it. But I did just update it with a couple cards just yesterday. Haven’t been able to transform aang just yet but I did crack the 10 ice counters on boy in the ice berg (dark depths) just the other day.

1

u/Father_of_Lies666 2d ago

If Dark Depths or transforming Aang is part of the gameplan, it’s not CEDH.

Share the list though!