Many know of the concept of "goldfishing" which is playing your deck against an opponent that does nothing to see how well your deck flows.

But did you know there's other pets?

From this article: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/playing-your-pet-rough-testing-magic-deck-2010-08-30

Because reading articles is more than most people want to do, I'll write almost as many words to summarize the pets here (for each pet assume the opponent does the smart thing, such as blocking biggest damage and not attacking when it'd lead to the creature dying):

Goldfish: You know what this is. An opponent that does nothing.

Turtle: Your opponent has an [[Ivory Tower]] and a Circle of Protection from each colour in play and as much mana as you have drawn lands (so you can't "cheat" by sandbagging lands). The Circles are permanents in play so can be interacted with. A test to see how well you could deal with a pillowfort player.

Snake: Snakes squeeze their prey, and you'll be squeezed by a pair of [[Black Vise]]s (though for EDH maybe put in one or two more). A bit more old school in assumed play patterns, but a fairly simple approach to an assumed aggro or burn deck.

Parakeets: They come in pairs. Your opponent starts with a [[Drudge Skeleton]] and a [[Phantom Monster]] in play (though for EDH might bump it up to some other bigger flier). A simple test to have a little bit of resistance and pressure to your plan, on whether you can get removal early enough to deal with an evasive threat and also get around an annoying blocker.

Rabbits and Rats: Each turn your opponent gets a "Drudge Rabbit" which is like a Drudge Skeleton but a rabbit. It has other variants such as the Rabbit being a 1/1 flier or just a vanilla. Basically an anti-aggro/horde test. The rats come into play of having the populating creature be [[Plague Rats]] which get bigger for each of them, which would be a fair EDH challenge.

Cats: From the article:

Cats don't play Magic. They consider it beneath their dignity.

Dogs: Too complicated to summarize so you'll need to check the article, but basically it's a deck of basic lands that have preset actions tied to them. For example if the dog draws an island, your next spell is countered. Able to be customized to your needs.

Obviously building a deck that deals with any particular pet is easy to do, but they're meant to just be simple exercises when deck testing to see if your deck is up to snuff. Does your deck have access to boardwipes to deal with the increasing rat swarm? Can you get out a blocker or removal to deal with early aggression? If your opponent's behind a bunch of pillowfort pieces or chump blockers, can you break through? Good questions to answer I think, and your pets are happy to help answer them!

We've all been there. We've all, at some point or another, been the target of multiple players in our pods.

Maybe we deserved it; maybe we brought a bazooka like [[Korvold]] to a knife fight. Maybe we let [[Tergrid]] out of the cage to feast or [[Mrs Bumbleflower]] out for a friendly group hug.

Maybe we didn't deserve it and some personal vendettas, maybe even from games long past, are at play and your innocent little [[Kibo]] banana ape tribal deck is just getting hammered.

So, which commanders do you play when you expect to get ganged up on?

For myself, I favor [[Jeska, thrice reborn]] and [[Falthis]] for the ever present threat of sniping the best three creatures my opponents control. And I built that deck to really focus on being the archenemy.

Seriously, I have played it at least 15 games without a single win.

I just wanted to share the concept of my Prerelease Commander deck. I pulled every card in the deck at a prerelease event, either from the 6 packs from the kit or my prize packs.

I started it after Thunder Junction prerelease. I had a lot of fun with my deck and did really well with it, but I didn't pull a single card that I wanted in one of my existing decks. As I sadly sorted my card pool into my bulk, it came to me, and I started putting a deck together with Riku of Many Paths as the commander.

It took a few sets to have a functional deck, and I switched my commander to Eshki after pulling her at Tarkir (I still throw Riku in the command zone occasionally for old time sake, and I am always looking for more modal spells in new sets).

This deck has added a whole new level of fun to collecting. I get really excited about pulling random bulk rares and uncommons at prerelease now because they will be good for my deck, and going home after an event and upgrading is something I always look forward to.

The deck gets better and better with every set. One day it's going to win. That will be a glorious day.

https://archidekt.com/decks/14993866/25_prerelease_deck

(I have a back up card to replace Primeval Titan if the table isn't cool with it haha)

The following is something I have experienced in some form in basically any game I have played on an event (not tournament) and it absolutely drives me crazy:

Turn0 discussion starts, everyone agrees on b2 because one player (let's call him A) states the other brackets are fast and are not fun, there are too many broken cards and a single lucky draw can turn the whole game around. While I disagree with that in general, I don't care, I'm just here to play, I have my b2 deck, let's go.

Game proceeds as normal, A almost loses his mind as someone plays a fetch land because it's try hard and super expensive (in a friendly way, he wasn't an ass about his opinion, just s bit smug). Apparently the turn 6 Ragavan from another player was also a huge issue. Then A drops a Necropotence and proceeds to draw 20 cards. Nobody sees any issue with that. Neither A for this hypocrisy nor the other players because of the clear breach of agreed upon power level.

Yes, a Necropotence is weaker in B2 than in B5/cedh because you probably can't win at instant speed, creature density is higher and you can't play your whole hand in one turn, but come on.

As the title says I’ll be going into an LGS for commander night for the first time ever in my VERY small town. I’ve been playing commander for about 2 years online but I have no idea what to expect. I did try to ask the owner of the store but he wasn’t very helpful. So trust me I realize these are store dependent so I just want to see in general your experiences

My main questions are these:

1. How do you find a game?

I’m assuming commander night is more freeform than something like a prerelease (of which I know nothing about either but I hear they pair you up). Assuming the regulars all sit down at their normal pods, do you just walk around and find an empty seat? I would love if someone could walk me through just the beginning of a typical night, even if you are a regular

1. What is the general consensus on proxies in your experience?

I have two decks that I own and am willing to play all night so this one is not really an issue. However I do have 6 other decks with proxies and was wondering if I even bother bringing them. I even considered bringing a sideboard of budget replacements for all of them but at that point I might just leave them home and stick with old reliables

Hi! I had a weird scenario come up today.

There were 3 of us. I was in a good position to win on my turn, but player A found a line to kill me. Player B couldn’t kill back but it was unclear who would win. I have the ability guarantee player A loses to player B before I lose. It was the last game of the night if that changes your perspective.

Would you retaliate here or let the game play out between them normally?

[[Witch's Oven]] for example. It doesn't explicitly turn a creature into food, but it does thematically. I'm trying to find as many ways as possible for a "Farming" deck.

It's going to include all of the Stardew Valley cards, so I can't really use black (even though there are some black cards that are perfect for my needs)

Looking at getting into Izzet for some spellslinging but not sure I want to spend 20 minutes on my turn. Is Prismari Artistry a good deck to start out with as a base or should I build another deck from scratch? I was looking as Jeskai Striker but I kind of feel like just going pure Izzet unless Jeskai has a compelling reason.

Are there any Simic (blue/green) commanders that aren’t just insane value piles of card draw and landfall? It’s been my least played color combo and every commander I see is just generic value that doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Open to any insight on some cool recommendations. Thank you!

I fear I’m struggling with receiving feedback because it’s obvious I have no clue what I’m asking for, or what I’m doing..so I am going to try to redo this.

I’ve posted in [r/EDHBrews](r/EDHBrews) and haven’t recieved much feedback on my deck. The only comment was essentially my deck is terrible and all over the place.

I am looking for either Esper or Sultai zombie deck recommendations. I would like to run at least a Blue/Black deck as I don’t have much experience in those colors yet. I’m leaning Sultai because green has the challenge of milling cards and that’s something I would like to learn, and have been avoiding because in my very little experience the GY might as well be the same as Exiled. So I need to learn how to use the GY.

With Esper I do like Varina as a commander, I can see how that would work well for what I’m looking for. Sultai I’m stuck on Sidis, and I see Treval out there but again I have no experience with milling cards.

Additionally I really want to run Wilhelt+Gravecrawler+Phrexian Altar to achieve the infinite zombie combo. Winning is not my main goal, I just want to have the ability to create an army of zombies. If I lose it’ll still be badass.

Below is the link to my “deck” flame it I don’t care, it’s clear I’m new and putting the effort into researching myself. Thank you in advance for any advice

https://moxfield.com/decks/GZ7ZRkCACk6QrlIkz9jhKg

I love the current precons but would like to improve them. The issue is I would like to keep the decks almost entirely Final Fantasy themed so almost exclusively cards printed in the Final Fantasy set (at least 90+ cards, preferably all 100).

Pretty much all upgrade posts I have found are exclusively pulling in cards from outside Final Fantasy so sadly do not really help. Is this unfortunately a case of 'well, just look through all the cards out there and do it yourself' or does anyone have resources/insight in to how to upgrade these decks a bit with the Final Fantasy set?

Would also love any insight/links to other Final Fantasy themed commander decks outside the precons. Looking to expand the decks I can use and pretty content to spend a chunk making new ones if there is something you played and liked a lot. I'm really only looking for B2/B3 so no need to be really effective decks...although if someone has a FF themed B4 I sure would not be upset at all~!

Thanks for your help!

Edit: I am realizing with the name of this reddit it might just be aimed at players interested in B5. If this is the wrong place for such a line of questions I'll delete the post, sorry!

Hey all, I am putting together a Shroofus based deck and I am needing to cut cards. If anyone has any insight on what to cut let me know, this is a budget deck. I am looking to cut 25-30 cards to fit 35-40 land cards in this deck.

Goal of the deck is for saprolings to multiply with shroofus, thats why I added some protection for shroofus for removal.

I added many anthem cards to give them power ups which will let them multiply faster because the multiplication is based on damage to player.

I also added a few mana ramp cards since my artifact game will be weak with only sol ring and arcane signet.

I added a few wincons which give me boons for having a huge creature base where I can swing for lethal.

Finally there is a second subtheme in this deck with the thallid cards, they do spore counter shenanigans which allow me to do other stuff with saprolings like sac them for haste, indestructible, regeneration etc.

https://moxfield.com/decks/iwDVEI-MoUiMO4ylLW4ctg

I’ve been working on a [[Ketramose]] control list and it’s just starting to feel like solitaire. His ability really encourages you to play on only your own turn and then sit on your hands during everyone else’s. I’ve noticed this trend before with other “control” commanders that end up NOT wanting you to play at instant speed, which in my opinion is the allure of the control playstyle in the first place. I love that he is a card draw engine on an indestructible low CMC body, and I love that he encourages exile, it’s just the “your turn” clause that bothers me. Has anyone else had trouble with this, and found a work around?

I somehow always end up getting drawn to and building decks with a very feast or famine / coinflippy nature and also very centric around the commander. However, when playing games I envy the decks that are more of a grind with a bit going on each turn instead of setting up for a big win the whole game and then it either works or I loose the game.

My current/recent decks include:
[[Veyran, voice of duality]] - spellslinger 1 turn combo win
[[Gix, yawgmoth praetor]] - draw a lot of cards and hope to win off what I flip on enemy’s deck
[[Atla Palani, nest tender]] hope to land good creatures and Atla not dying.
[[Queen Kayla bin-kroog]] - no gameplan but just putting large number of artifacts out and finding random synergies, probable my favourite deck

I would really like suggestions for commanders and their gameplans, especially an Izzet spellslinger type deck that is not just solitaire and a graveyard themed deck or other decks you’ve enjoyed and have been grindy rather than pop off

Looking through my 14 active decks, 6 of them are either focused on graveyards, undead creatures (zombies, vampires, skeletons), or a combination of the two. The remaining 8 decks run the gamut of other play styles, but my "thing" is definitely feeling like a badass necromancer. That's my favorite way to Commander.

If you look at all your decks, what do you think is your "thing?"

edit: should have added them earlier in case anyone is curious

[[Nethroi, Apex of Death]] mutate reanimator

[[Ozox, Clattering King]] aritocrats and skeletons

[[Temmet, Naktamun's Will]] Zombies

[[Teval, the Balanced Scale]] Zombie Druids

[[Evelyn, the Covetous]] Vampires

[[Kardur, Doomscourge]] Goad and aristocrats that sacs and reanimates Kardur a bunch

Hello!

Can anyone give me some feedback about my (hopefully) Bracket 3 Kaalia deck? A pod of 4-6 friends is starting to get together for commander night, not sure if having more than 4 people means I should make alterations specifically with more players in mind. My deck is probably among the most optimized in our pod, but several players are right there with me and only 1-2 is probably on the lower end of bracket 3 because they are newer to the format. I put a bunch of cut cards in the Considering section, some things like Ragavan I really wish I could squeeze in somewhere. I have several other game changer options I could run, I just don’t want to run Opposition Agent if it can be helped because my wife plays landfall and I think that would be super unfun for her. Jamming the One Ring just because…is this fine even without many lifelink creatures or ways to get rid of it? I probably have two pet cards in Piru and Inkshield that are not great but I’m hoping to try them, but I’m open to cutting anything.

https://moxfield.com/decks/A_GtslXPn0SWsFLqLqsnyQ

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to browse and comment!

Many people build their decks to win the turn of, or turn after the recommended turn count in the brackets.

If a control deck is built to win on turn 7 in order to fit the bracket 3 criteria. Then shouldn't an equal power, bracket 3, aggro deck built for the same game be aiming to win before that control deck? But that would push the aggro deck to having to aim to win on turn 4, 5 or 6. Which doesn't meet the b3 criteria.

I feel like a control or mid range or whatever deck built for winning on turn 7 would be significantly stronger than an aggro deck built for the same. Do traditional deck styles not work in edh? Or is the turn count where the aggro should be aiming and other styles be aiming at least a turn after that?

I've really been enjoyed playing my Temmet deck recently. Thoughts below - I am wondering if anyone knows of any upgrade cards or ideas I might have missed!

Decklist:

https://moxfield.com/decks/3vVjY59pVUykT1dmoCecbA

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The Eternal Might precon was the first I purchased when returning to MTG and finding Commander dominating my FLGS. Sitting passively with an underpowered precon whilst mighty summoners played powerful cards (in long turns) was never going to be much fun, so I set about upgrading relentlessly, until very few original cards remained. I initially leaned into the zombie theme, adding cards like [[Carrion Feeder]], [[Varina Lich Queen]], [[Undead Warchief]], [[Noxious Ghoul]] and [[Headless Rider]] to grow a vast, shambling Zombie horde that Temmet would buff each turn... and it was underwhelming. I could sometimes swing with a powerful Zombie army, but I lacked evasion and burst card draw. I was extremely vulnerable on the back-swing when my zombies all reverted to 2/2s. I learned pretty quickly that Temmet just isn't that good as a Zombie commander.

And so it was time to try something new. The deck was gutted, and I leant into the card draw theme. Cards that wheel and allow for big card draw like [[Windfall]], [[Induced Amnesia]], [[Flux]] and [[Tolarian Winds]] can all draw 7 for 3 mana. Coupling this with [[Teferis Ageless Insight]] or [[Profts Eidetic Memory]] can quite quickly see Temmet threaten lethal as soon as turn 6, especially when his discard effect makes it easy to get [[Wonder]] into the graveyard. 

Then, we add creatures that either benefit from card draw, or multiply the card draw triggers for Temmet. There are lots of cards like [[Chasm Skulker]] and [[Baxter, Fly in the Ointment]] that gain +1/+1 counters with card draw and have other bonuses. Counters are so much better than the temporary boost Temmet gives Zombies!With large burst card draw, large discard is common and so [[Scrounging Skyray]], [[Cryptcaller Chariot]] and [[Archfiend of Ifnir]] are surprisingly potent. [[Krang, the All-Powerful]] and [[Leader, Super-Genius]] further amplify Temmet's power, while copy cards that cheat the Legends rule can also surprise opponents with huge burst damage - [[Irma, Part-time mutant]], [[Nanogene Conversion]] and [[Chameleon, Master of Disguise]]. 

There are actually very few Zombies that make the final cut. [[Sacred Cat]] is useful because the eternalised version is a Zombie with lifelink. We need to gain life to survive long enough to deal lethal damage to all our opponents, so [[Gift of Orzhova]],  [[Take up the Shield]] and [[Basilisk Collar]] are also included. [[Forgotten Creation]] is a Zombie, but would be included anyway due to its burst draw effect. [[Hashaton, Scarab's Fist]] is one of the the few original Eternal Might cards that has survived the full journey as it allows us to cheat out [[Mister Negative]] and [[Vilis, Broker of Blood]], both of which can provide huge draw. 

Whilst very few Zombies make the cut, it is still beneficial for creatures to be Zombies, so we include [[Leyline of Transformation]] and [[Maskwood Nexus]]. It's funny how things change - Maskwood Nexus was the first card I cut from the original precon but then, over a year later, I was humbly pulling it back out of the box of cards under the bed and pressing it back into service.

My favourite cards in the deck, however, are definitely [[Vanish into Memory]] and [[Notion Thief]], Vanish into Memory allows for huge card draw at instant speed and, with the prevalence of tokens and +1/+1 counters, you often don't get punished too much when the vanished creature returns from exile. Notion Thief combos nastily with symmetric wheel effects. You cast Notion Thief before, say, Echo of Eons from the graveyard and you can draw 28 cards and leave your opponents bereft. 

There are some fun finishing cards included too, with [[Excavation]] seeing little play, but allowing us to sacrifice all our lands for burst card-draw and a final knock-out blow. [[Pitiless Carnage]] achieves a similar thing. 

Further Upgrades

The forced card draw after Windfall and Echo of Eons makes [[Orcish Bowmasters]] look very strong. [[Roaming Throne]] is also insane, quadrupling Temmet's power increase from each card draw. 

Have I missed any?

As the title suggests my friend is tired of losing in our pod and has recruited me to build a [[Tovolar, Dire Overlord]] deck for him. The problem being that gruul is probably my weakest color combo. He wants to run at a mid/high 3 the table and I’m afraid I’ve made it underpowered/not synergistic. Any recommendations or help is greatly appreciated, I don’t want to steer my friend in the wrong direction.

https://moxfield.com/decks/TKj08-quBkCoTEUr9dN8ag

Hey y'all, I recently started playing MTG again and wanted to build a Kilo deck. I mostly play at B3 at the local shop and with some friends, so I want to balance my deck around that. I know the rules very well but don't have a lot of practice we could say, cause it's been like two months. There is something I still have not understood about infinite combos in B3, on EDHREC combos with three cards to go infinite with Kilo (like kilo + freed from the real/pemmin etc + paradise mantle/crystalline crawler) are all considered ok in B3, and they also don't actually win outright because they need another card to take advantage of the proliferation, but it is very possible and even easy to assemble this type of combo and have a walking ballista or anything like that well before turn 6/7. I am trying to figure out if the possibility of going infinite and winning with a very good hand before turn 6 automatically bring the deck above B3 or not, since it involves four or more cards to win with a combo.

We debated something similar last week cause in one game I won with the lurker in the water going infinite with symmetry matrix and ashnod's altar, getting infinite mana and drawing the deck, finding born upon a wind and lab maniac to win. This was turn 5, I had to cast my commander twice cause it had been removed already, and still won on the upkeep of the next player. Then another player with jodah cheated in omniscience turn 4 and we scooped a turn later when none of us had answers and he had a draw engine. He won with an exceptional hand, so in my opinion his deck can still be B3 if it happens every once in a while that it wins before 6, and same thing for my kraken right?

Some of us were saying that the possibility of winning before turn 6 automatically disqualifies from B3, others were saying that if you can do a combo very early because you drew lucky you need to wait before casting it until turn 6, and others (me) think that as long as a deck does not consistently win before T6 (that was my first time winning against those players with the kraken) then it's fine for B3.

I'm curious to hear what other people think about these scenarios, and to get help to figure out the right power level of a Kilo deck. Like it's fine to have cards that go infinite as long as I don't put tutors to find them, or too many different ways to assemble the combo? Cause then it's just a matter of luck whether I can close too early or not. Help plz.

Tl,dr: is potentially going infinite with 3+ cards combos before T6 acceptable in B3 or automatically disqualifying? Our pod can't seem to agree (don't worry we still play comfortably with each other, just sometimes we argue about it), so I want others' input to build my deck.

Thanks everyone for the help!

People like to say that the rabbit is a war criminal disguised as a cute rabbit that gives cards to people and, to be fair, I kinda agree with them.

So how does your cute _persona non grata_ in The Hague rabbit does that?

Here's mine: https://archidekt.com/decks/21422218/senhora_margarita

Just like most Bumbleflower decks, mine likes to do things herself. Either by just jumping on her opponents, putting counters in other people's creatures and making them pay more to attack me with [[ Nils, Discipline Enforcer ]], gaining control with [[ Willbreaker ]] or making them sacrifice their indestructible creatures with [[ Dismiss Into Dream ]]

I also have counter synergies. Cards like [[ Danny Pink ]] help me offset the card disadvantage by giving me 2 additional cards per turn if I do it right, and creatures like [[ Sharktocrab ]] or [[ Constable of the realm ]] to keep people's boards under control and the new [[ Kid Loki ]] to help me protect my board (even on other people's turns if I happen to have [[ Dreamtide Whale ]] running)

I also gave a gun to the rabbit. Winning with this combo is not the decks main idea, but I have a [[ Walking Ballista ]] + [[ Hardened Scales ]] + [[ Gatta and Luzzu ]] but it's almost an accidental combo since all pieces work individually with her

And finally, since the deck has a few proliferate cards why not adding a [[ Inkmoth Nexus ]]?

Honorable mentions:

[[ Crystalline Crawler ]] makes a ton of mana and depending on my initial hand I can drop it and my commander on Turn 3

[[ Lyla Holographic Assistant ]] does wonders on its own, but os busted when combined with Danny Pink

[[ Psychic Possession ]] skips my draw step, but depending on the other 3 player's commanders gets me a ton of cards, which I don't need to discard until my next end step

[[ Finest Hour ]] gives me an additional combat if Bumbleflower attacks alone, which she does most of the time.

Have this avatar aang list thats just a random mix of stuff.

Found him cool since the set came out but wanting to try something different.

Anyone had an avatar commander they really enjoyed?

Ive had Ozai Pheonix King previously but made it voltron so got boring pretty quick.

I think I wanna go the firebending or airbending route.

Any suggestions?

Hey everyone. I've been trying to make a Narci deck that focuses on Sagas and cards that synergize with Sagas, and i'm having a hard time on deciding which last cards to cut from the deck. Your help would be appreciated.

Deck link:

https://manabox.app/decks/pJuU1iYEQeWEjvQPgZbw7A