How To Make Your Decks Unique | The Command Zone 344 | Magic: The Gathering Commander EDH

[@kitsune371]

Wizards came out with Double Masters, The Command zone came out with Double Josh

[@SquareViking]

I'd pay double the price of Double Masters for Double Josh.

[@jermthemicrocosm]

HA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

[@kitsune371]

@@SquareViking thats just VIP Josh

[@jacksonrobbins6499]

Box toppers?

[@datchoppinator5592]

Actual start: 7:17

[@aaronupward]

Thank you on behalf of all of us

[@gurrekurre1726]

thx

[@frederikambrosius2829]

Thank you a true hero

[@GoofCakes]

I look for these comments on most of the videos I check out.

[@heavydistorted7427]

I wish you a turn one sol ring, into signet for your next game...thx ;)

[@julesramsden5740]

What I tend to do is use EDHREC/Net-Decking as a reference of where to start, and then make alterations from there based on budget/CMC/how it plays vs. how I want to play, etc. So in that way, my decks don't usually begin as unique, but they become unique by the time I put my stamp of approval on them as being "finished".

[@dorsalfin22]

I do the same thing! Start with EDHREC and pick what theme I am interested in that day. I know some people are going for the 32 challenge (one deck for every color combo) and I am going one step further which is one deck for every theme listed on their page (not including all the different token types.) I'll almost never run out of ideas because there are so many mechanics and tribes too. EDHREC is how I narrow down these huge lists and then make them my own!

[@danielspencer4564]

Yes edhrec is a great tool to help get a shell for a deck and to find cards that work well with the commander that I wouldn't know otherwise. I always end up with my own flavor for the deck but edhrec definitely helps keep your deck focused

[@TresBS1]

I do the exact same. EDHREC helps me form an idea. It helps me build up a number of options to put into the deck and, then, through play testing, I refine the deck to how I want it to be. I'll even throw out certain cards that everyone apparently uses because it just doesn't fit my playstyle.

[@ColorwaveCraftsCo]

Same. I use EDHREC's High-Synergy tab as a jumping off point, but I limit myself to a certain budget per card, so then I Scryfall for cards that can do the same thing at a lower cost. I'm also fairly new to Magic so I have a lot of newer cards that I've opened in packs mixed in with the "gems" that I've found through watching content and online research.

[@nik700]

Murph needs to be knighted! On the topic, I don't usually try to make my decks unique from other people, but unique from each of my other decks

[@B-Randall]

Yeah!!! Let’s have a unique decks Game Nights

[@dasseher1467]

The thing is, everyone has a playstyle they like the most, so most of their decks are going to fit that playstyle. But yeah, a person that has a karador deck does not need muldrotha, but may think about picking up Lazav because it is graveyard based but in a pretty diffrent way.

[@nik700]

@@dasseher1467 Exactly. Let's say that I have Karador, can I build Muldrotha and feel like I'm playing a different enough deck? Are my engines/payoffs/wincons distinct enough? That's what I care about when building. If I have a Karador deck and it's pretty similar to your Karador deck there's nothing I can do about it.

[@dasseher1467]

@@nik700 The thing with having a unique deck is that no one can complain about you playing "op" cards. If you are playing cyclonic rift into win, my playgroup will be like, well cyclonic rift, not much you can do about it. If you win by playing a lesser known card (check out Mercadia's Downfall) people will even give you a high five some times. I would highly recommend everyone out there to try to build a unique deck as it feels way more rewarding to win with something you came up with yourself. If you play muldrotha into Mindslaver locking the strongest player into win it feels kind of cheap. If you play some crazy Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts deck that forces people to attack with something like a bullwhip some people will considere your win way more "earned". Also searching for weird cards is a lot of fun.

[@unwucht1529]

Knight him! Bring him on the show and let him pilot one of his decks!

[@Challenification]

Murph has great energy, we need him to be on an episode of Game Knights

[@gabrielgibson1680]

I agree 😁

[@Auscilius]

His decks probably wouldn't be able to keep up though lol dont tell him I said that!

[@JuQmadrid]

@@Auscilius it's not about the victory, ti's about sending a message.

[@Joel-bz7kt]

Does extra turns work?

[@notjake2089]

One of my favorite decks is "You lose Tribal". Just took all the cards that say you lose on the text and my goal is to push to them to the point where the you lose trigger will activate and then give them to my opponents. Can even be played in Historic now... sorta

[@JohnSmith-gc6mj]

Can we get a deck list?

[@Nick-in9ig]

This sounds really cool.

[@m.a.9517]

A: 3 out of 4 sevinne decks use the graveyard, copy stuff. B: ah so you mean 75%? A: no, I mean out of the only 4 existing decks...

[@ruudvanlaarhoven5776]

I have a Jeskai equipment deck, led by Akiri, Line Slinger and Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist, which is mostly an "Assemble Kaldrah"-deck with all the artifact tutors. Because I should be able to find quite a few artifacts from my deck, I've put in 6 "Infinity Stones" which are all just powerful, game-warping, mostly high costed artifacts that represent the powers from their MCU movie versions: Space Stone: Planar Bridge, creating a portal from anywhere in "space" (your deck) directly onto the battlefield. Mind Stone: Mindslaver, I think this one speaks for itself. Also, actual Mind Stone of course. Reality Stone: Aeon Engine, reversing the turn order was the most reality-warping effect I could think of in a game of magic. I also run Mechanized Production, to go full Thanos onto the table and eliminate half of all turns taken. Power Stone: Aetherflux Reservoir, pinging someone for 50 just feels that powerful. Time Stone: Vedalken Orrery. I mean... y'know? Soul Stone: Coveted Jewel. Not only was it an actual coveted jewel in the movies, it also really takes over the Soul of any game you're playing. In a good way. I've never have seen the table not have more fun after this card resolved. I wish there was a blatant "win the game"-combo for collecting all 6 on the battlefield, but alas. The individual power per gem should be able to carry you a way to victory anyway though, waaay before that happens.

[@Sailor_of_the_infinite_sea]

This is such an awesome deck idea!

[@mborchik2007]

funny thing is that the moment you guys talk about and reveal some awesome unique cards they do not become unique anymore! it just is a testament to the reach your channel has, great content! keep it up :)

[@thornart8108]

good point

[@v3ck1n]

The entire catalogue of Magic cards is searchable on multiple different websites

[@mborchik2007]

Jake Drought true?

[@lucenildofilho5710]

Reasons my deck is a unique deck, without the staples: It is a budget deck

[@xale8702]

This. I refuse to buy any card over 20 bucks.

[@Lucarioguild7]

Was probably more true before Commander's Quarters took off

[@mikemcglasson1286]

@@xale8702 With maybe a commander itself being an exception, I won't pay $10 or more for a single

[@Nick-in9ig]

Absolutely. I have a mix of budget and not budget. But my favourite budget one is a brago deck. The commander might not be unique but I built it with a budget of only £30.

[@jimbobsenpai3082]

Xale I don’t buy singles I like opening packs and only use those cards

[@DolphinTillTheEnd]

The other day we were talking with some friends about how in a casual commander game there's two winners, whoever actually won the game, and whoever did the coolest thing

[@notsuspiciousthejudgmental2423]

One of my favorite non standard cards is Ob Nixilis’s Cruelty. It doesn’t say destroy, but -5/-5 will get rid of a lot of problems and the exile effect ain’t too bad either. You find a lot of treasures just looking through bulk commons you otherwise wouldn’t know about

[@thrash208]

100% it helps with indestructible cards. I also like defile same effect except its -1-1 for every swamp you control but it doesn't exile. Great target removal for black

[@leemiller6977]

Grasp of Darkness (-4 -4 instant for two swamps), Dismember (-5 -5 instant for one of any color and two black phyrexian mana, and in one of my three sacrifice decks is Vicious Offering one colorless and one black for a -2 -2 instant but if you also sac a creature it would be -5 -5. Removal is so much fun!!!

[@plain6677]

Ahahah good choice! Mine is Sudden Death to get rid of some combo enablers

[@katierumlock6645]

I assume you mean standard as in, like, the usual commander staples... since Ob Nixilis’s cruelty is actually a standard-legal card

[@notsuspiciousthejudgmental2423]

Katie Rumlock that would be correct

[@yaakovkagel1015]

"Dont judge people based on what ice cream flavor they like." But that's the only criteria I use...

[@koelkast9]

For me it's the correct application of Latin grammar forms.... criterium....

[@yaakovkagel1015]

@Micah Thibault they should probably seek professional help

[@therealax6]

@@koelkast9 The correct English word is 'criterion', though.

[@fredriknyqvist7720]

Love the parks&rec T-shirt! Also, excellent work from Murph! Felt very natural and i look forward to seeing him again

[@kbobMTG1983]

Glad someone else commented about the parks and rec shirt. One of the best shows to ever be on television.

[@lordgriselbrand4600]

LOL after you guys started talking about scryfall, I went on there to see if there were enough troll creatures to make a troll deck(there is). And then just a couple minutes later when you showed a random commander from edhrec it was Varolz, the Scar-Striped, who I was just eyeing as a potential commander!

[@ghostanbu1099]

I hope after this episode we see more unique commanders being used in Game Knights and Extra Turns. Even when they use the precons I hope they run one of the backup commanders like Josh did with Elsha.

[@dcd1360]

he ran elsha cause she's thebetter commander haha

[@caligulaincarnate]

"all these fools in shirts they didn't knit." lol nice.

[@Alexander-er2je]

time stamp?

[@reiverdaemon]

@@Alexander-er2je 13:46

[@blacktooth1987]

Murph has instantly become my favorites member of the command zone team. I'd love to see Murph vs DJ on game knights.

[@jebrooks]

Excellent choice of topics Murph

[@michaeljamieson3297]

I've been brewing that EXACT Sevinne deck for a few months! I'm torn, because I love him getting a shoutout, but that was also my hidden gem

[@joshuasutherland6692]

One of my fav casual commanders tbh.

[@katierumlock6645]

5:00 The Murph takeover is coming. Nothing can stop it. Pretty soon he’ll have commandeered the entire podcast. Good luck, Josh, but you cannot stop Murph.

[@BigDiff7]

Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: Exact same card. Me, obnoxiously pushing up my glasses up my nose: Oh, can you Splice Onto Arcane with Cultivate?

[@miloszivkovic40]

PAM PAM PAM! :D

[@Lucarioguild7]

Also the puns you make when you play them are way different and the latter's puns tend to be much dirtier

[@gabrielgaron6476]

Exact same card made me think of Dragon Fodder and Krenko's Command

[@marceloquejinho]

Thanks, Kodama!!

[@gypsieking3280]

I like you, Robert.

[@josealfredopistilli2466]

I love how the Partners commanders let you build unique deck. I just built a Artifact creature deck with Reyhan/Silas Renn based on the Modular keyword and I'm having a blast playing with it!

[@charleschin7984]

When each basic land card in your deck is a different art

[@hoppeltrottel7484]

Is it even format-legal to use two or more basics with the same art? 🤔😜

[@CosmicErrata]

I simply can't have two of the same basic land art in one deck. They also have to match the deck's theme.

[@hoppeltrottel7484]

@@CosmicErrata Same here. Basic land art adds sooo much to the overall flavor and "mood" of the deck. =)

[@diggerdog9205]

Agreed. Unless they are un lands

[@diggerdog9205]

Agreed. Unless they are un lands

[@Nosferat_AN]

38:30 "i don't think i've ever seen a gyrus deck out in the wild." my gyrus deck: *sad reanimating hydra noises*

[@PhaylogenX]

I have one too, it’s my favourite deck lol. Gigantomancer gang rise up

[@NPCJulian]

My deck is already unique. 100 full Art lands

[@bilbo5283]

thats cheating you should only have 99

[@casketbase7750]

Make ‘em all Mountains and replace the Commander with *Ashling The Pilgrim* to make it an actual playable deck.

[@NPCJulian]

@@casketbase7750 I was actually thinking about that when I made this comment. The Magic the Gathering communitie are fucking geniuses.

[@NPCJulian]

@@bilbo5283 spittin facts

[@jbs6614]

You have no deck.

[@Just4UGaming]

I like to do a mixture of both! I’ll pick a unique commander and synergies that go with it but Ramp and draw I tend to use the same cards. Saves money and I know they’re useful.

[@olddaydreams]

This was a nice episode kind of refreshing to see from this channel. Thanks guys for all the hard work!

[@Zen-708]

anyone else notice that the art on both cyclonic rift and craterhoof is by the same artist?

[@hiddenleaf414]

Growth Spasm in my Meren deck is a huge tempo swing to cast the turn before her! I love finding cards that have a unique synergy with what your deck wants to do.

[@Grevv]

Start at 7:18

[@J10KDDR]

I just started constructing a Morophon samurai deck, but the catch is I’m only allowed to use cards in the 99 that were printed in the Kamigawa block. I have play tested the deck and it is absolutely hilarious! 😂

[@MastaJuggalotus]

I have Morophon as an alternate commander in my Sliver deck. Hive Lord and Overlord being main commanders for it.

[@techoutsider5631]

I want to build an O-Kagachi deck with that same restriction.

[@anicolau]

i like to put those restrictions to myself too. Like my Mazirek Sacrifice using only cards with Commander symbol, except basic lands. It was fun to build and the deck runs surprisingly well

[@user-po6kl5sz8r]

Yeah, I could buy those UP Gloss sleeves to make my foils shine in the Eclipse sleeves... or I could just use dragon shield which protects my cards better and makes me appreciate my cards without an entirely different product

[@moxopal675]

I love the feel on the back

[@Wolfer1OOO]

'wahhh, why are you advertising for your sponsor and not their competitior, wahhh'

[@moxopal675]

@@Wolfer1OOO we get it, we are just biased

[@Wolfer1OOO]

@@moxopal675 It's not bias...it's just a sponsor :')

[@lordgriselbrand4600]

Have u tried the dragon shield non-glare? Idk if I like them better than the original, they have kind of a "frosted" look to them, and others have commented they thought they had more glare. To me, its like a different glare that you see at a different angle, but roughly equal. I'm kinda bummed bc i bought 600 to make a commander cube later

[@NotTrooper637]

I found this really helpful. I use a populate deck and growth spasm will work really well

[@giffs7972]

I was just about to start brewing my Kruphix deck and I saw this come up, Thank you, this’ll help a lot!

[@charliemarlow647]

Great choice, I'm a big Kruphix fan! If you're after ideas, I've jotted down loads of cards I've come across that could work well with him here ("Sideboard" section beneath the main deck): deckbox.org/sets/2681417?s=c&o=a

[@giffs7972]

Charlie Marlow Thanks a ton! The deck was going a bit over my budget and I needed to cut it down, and using some of your suggestions really helped cut it down and didn’t lower the power. Thank you!

[@charliemarlow647]

@@giffs7972 You're welcome! Glad it helped you and have fun with the almighty Kruphix! Side-note on "Prophet of Kruphix": it's banned in multiplayer EDH because it's too good, but in my playgroup we balanced it with a house rule that the untapping lands only happens on the subsequent opponent's turn, not each one. Balances it quite nicely and acts as a cheap mana untapper (only ~$1 currently).

[@xwraiths]

I fell in love with Xantcha as a commander since the day it was spoiled: the lore, the flavor, the art, the uniqueness, everything meshed into one of the most perfectly designed legendaries ever. Built it as soon as I was able to pick up the deck and it has been my favorite commander since that day.

[@enchantdesign9722]

The staples can be used to hold the unique pages of your commander book together.

[@williamo5031]

This is my general outlook. I have a Tatyova deck that runs Consecrated Sphinx, Trade Routes and Cyclonic Rift, but that's because the gameplan is to use Jolrael's ability to turn all of my lands into creatures and swing out!

[@enchantdesign9722]

@@williamo5031 Oh nice synergy. And I like Trade Routes, that's a deep cut. I started playing right when M.M. was Type II!

[@servingzombies]

I built the Scarab, Scorpion and Locust around the amonkhet block with a small amount of filler pieces and I love the way they play. Matching lands and everything.

[@rowrow_]

One deck I've made and am truly proud of is Lurrus of the Dream-Den, with a theme around Milling. You can mill yourself to get card advantage, and then when your pieces are assembled, can control the board or mill out your opponents. I managed to build it with a $50 budget too, and found some great combos and effects to make mill an (almost) viable threat at the table

[@thegrayfox9179]

This sounds so cool would love to see a list

[@ignaciou.4680]

Lurrus is super versatile!! im trying to build a deck around turbofog, because i got a lot of those cards already

[@rowrow_]

@@thegrayfox9179 I uploaded a video deck tech on my channel that covers all the cards I chose for the budget version, but because of cards I found and upgraded (mostly just board wipes and other things I got from my Double Masters box) the tappedout list I have is skewed heavily in price; the PasteBin in the description has the list (and why the cards are selected)

[@Solanne11]

A little tip for people who play D&D: You can try to build decks based off of your character/s! One of my characters was an Aarakocra Paladin, so I built an Alesha deck (because he died, F) with a sub theme of angels. I had to specifically go out of my way and search for angels with 2 or less power, which was really interesting!

[@hbkjj1773]

Needed this!! love the command zone

[@Jrocknrolla]

Just built my first Feather deck.. and after Command Fest Online 2...and my own meta (which is quite small but we net deck a bit).. never played against a Feather deck yet. For the record, Murph is great on camera and the banter / back and forth is as good as Josh and Jimmy.

[@Terashi]

"Don't look down on people for playing cards that might not be super-unique." Or just don't look down on people period. You get literally nothing out of it. It doesn't benefit you in any way whatsoever.

[@PokeStatsStudios]

It gives me IMMENSE pleasure to tell people who play craterhoof that they're basic.

[@Deathsinger99]

Thank you!

[@Trainwithseb]

Someone should send the memo to Tolarian Community College. "IF YOU DON'T COLLECT MAGIC LIKE ME, WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

[@commentresurrection1841]

That's the coddled culture of everybody wins speaking right there...."We have to be nice and no bullies"!!! Bullies keep the world from being a bunch of weak betas.

[@nanoacido5174]

@@commentresurrection1841 are you justifying your bully? You didnt deserve it

[@hpdre7437]

Relevant to the end of the video: my *very first* MtG deck (way back when _Fallen Empires_ was new) was a Pestilence + CoP Black deck (with creatures that also had protection from black). I got out of Magic around Torment/Judgement/Onslaught and only recently got back in, but it is neat to know that I could revive and update that deck with some work. Though it looks like it'd be WR instead of WB, as pointed out in the video. Which is funny, as I also had an Orcish Artillery + CoP Red deck.

[@markmason2216]

I remember playing some EDH online with a group I'd never met and a player nearly "scoffed" when I played Sin Collector mentioning that the card is "relatively underpowered' in edh. Then they noticed how it interacted, especially politically, with Athreos, God of Passage... And suddenly the player who scoffed was like. "OH, I can put that back into your hand to exile another extra turn card we KNOW is in our shared opponent's hand. LOL

[@jth784]

I have a Halfdane shapeshifter deck that I can break out just about anywhere without people getting salty. The deck is built around clones and copy spells, so it's really only as powerful as the best stuff at the table. The deck doesn't have any sort of victory condition/combo on it's own, so it usually assembles its win-cons from other players decks.

[@classymofo1059]

Let's go! Unleash Murph!!!

[@Clovislaying]

Murph!

[@joshmurphy484]

*Goku scream intensifies*

[@davidserranogemes9025]

My most original deck is a Ramos, nephilims herald deck. Its build so every card takes most advantage of ramos +1 +1 counter hability, while being able to support all 5 nephilims with a lot of cantrip like effect. It has 3 different "I win" (mayael aria, simic supremacy, and labyrithn end) voltron wincondition and the possibility to make huge play. It is also built so you can have jegantha as companion and it includes my pet card, conflux, as one of the most powerful cards in the deck.. It was the first deck that I brewed completely by me with the objective of playing all five nephilims, (since they are my favourite monsters). Also one of my favourite jank/unique cards is illicit auction. I included it in my Ink treader nephilim deck and the reaction in the table was priceless, (yes, I know nephilims are not EDH legal but my group allows them as commanders)

[@jagmasta2049]

I once watched an Entali attack rip a craterhoof off my deck, and made him swing lethal

[@TheSpiritombsableye]

Etali *

[@fellishable]

I've learned my lesson and bought reap this time. The regrowth argument really did it for me

[@nathanielwatson4194]

We need one more josh and we can have the josh game knights Jlk josh Kim and josh Murphy

[@daltondee5666]

Josh Peck from Drake and Josh. Just for the lols

[@mong0038]

Thanks to this video I went back and added in some cards I had previously cut because they weren't good. I like the cards too much though so back in they went. Thanks Murph!

[@dennisyoung6122]

There are many unique card in the sets pre-Mirage that rarely see play. Some of them are even decently powerful or useful.

[@Jptorrent004]

Your topics have been super interesting lately, keep up the good work!

[@JoeGrzzly]

47:20 I think the problem they reach when discussing Uniqueness with Feather is that they are using "Unique" to describe two different qualities: The Popularity of a Commander & The Rarity of a Commander's Effect. Feather is a Unique Commander; no other commander does what it does. That is what unique means: "One of a Kind". If they used different terms like Underplayed to suggest low Popularity/Familiarity and Unique to describe rare strategies, that would have been more straight forward.

[@CRIMS0N_KING]

For the prevention theorycrafting I'd run Zurgo Helmsmasher. It has protection on your turn and has Boros in its colors while also adding black which adds both redundancy (in pestilence) and tutors to make the deck more consistent. Zurgo also gets huge when you start wiping everyone else's board.

[@Crazymachin3gun]

Josh I watch some content specifically to see what cards I should add to my commander decks

[@xgxwills2857]

My favorite unique deck I've built is a big mana/group hug/pillow fort Kenrith deck that has literally every mana doubling enchantment (even the ones that double for the opponent) and then attempt to use his abilities to just win the game through draining your opponents using something like Vito, and has some don't hit me enchantments in there too (ghostly prison/sphere of safety/etc). It makes for fun games where the deck lets everybody get to play magic even if they do miss a few land drops. People also don't want to hurt the person giving them double/triple/quadruple mana which is a huge plus.

[@PokeStatsStudios]

30:07 "former game knight Olivia Gobert-Hicks" Former? How do you lose the title as a game knight? Did she dishonor herself?

[@noneyabusinessbruv]

She Armageddoned everyone.

[@matthewchavez2647]

Maybe Josh lost the arm-wrestle match

[@rowrow_]

It's the same reason you never call someone (who wasn't dishonorably discharged) an ex-marine. Only a 'former' marine

[@ninjastealth101]

I really liked the specific kind of deck building theory stuff! You guys have so much material and content to go through with all the set releases, but maybe some episodes where you talk about building a specific archetype or weird theme would be cool. It lets viewers get an inside look at how you guys think :)

[@chaosdemonfivefour9235]

Favorite unique card: Illicit Auction. Basically eBay in the middle of an EDH game 🤣

[@mansonleung7768]

Same here. Always a good laugh when this card gets played in my group!

[@NickNames-x1m]

Great topic Murph! I would honestly like to see one of his "unique" decks on an episode of extra turns. Perhaps the Sivenne deck that was theorized? And as always quality content from the fools in non selfknit shirts!

[@evanelliott8231]

Man, you finally found a way to pitch the eclipse sleeves to me hahah. Now that my bling will sing, I might make the switch from dragon sleeves.

[@1993JoshG]

murph is great. im just getting back in to magic and am catching up on stuff i've missed. It's good to see new faces on my favourite mtg content!

[@NoremacNeek]

Karn, Silver Golem is my most unique deck

[@lazynik]

My first EDH deck is my most unique deck.. it's a doran, the siege tower deck! I still love playing it now and again!

[@felixmortem1177]

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one playing Chainer, Dementia Master as a cEDH deck

[@danaholland6686]

hate to be the bringer of bad news...

[@felixmortem1177]

Then there are two people playing Chainer competitively

[@lowsushi]

THANK YOU for mentioning Scryfall, this has made it SOOO much easier to search for cards to build decks. I have only been playing for a little over a year, and not a whole lot at that. I'd rather build and tweak my own deck rather than throw money at a deck that someone else built.

[@joshuarush5762]

Already kicked at the signed level...just wish I could get the whole Command Zone teams signing. Extra 10$ or 20$ !?

[@amosbirb2616]

35:30 to your point about pet cards, I empathize. The cards I’ve become known for in my playgroup are Defense of the Heart and Viridian Revel (thanks to this podcast for the latter)

[@TheAverageGuyTAG]

I make my deck unique by playing a card that is only played in two decks according to EDHRec. ;)

[@howaboutnow1895]

What was it?

[@jackson-lb9lq]

TheAverageGuyTAG what card

[@TheAverageGuyTAG]

@The Dawg The card is Royal Herbalist, which I play in my "Karlov of the Ghost Council" EDH deck. For a while, my deck was the only deck on EDHRec playing Herbalist, which was funny because the sections detailing cards it was played with ended up just being a 1-for-1 list of the cards in my deck. Currently, the only other deck listed on EDHRec seems to just be a joke deck that just compiles a bunch of the worst cards out there.

[@YourCrazyOverlord]

I'm so glad they mentioned Kelsien. I built him when the deck released, and it's been surprisingly amazing as a control/voltron hybrid deck. I've also built the "Stop Hitting Yourself" deck, and Atla Palani makes it actually viable.

[@aarnav3696]

"scoffs all these fools in shirts they didn't knit"

[@maco7020]

Dakkon Blackblade was the one who made me love Esper back in the day. Plus I had the all the Dual Lands at that time to play him. Fond memories :) Would love to know Josh's deck list of Dakkon Blackblade. Good job guys!

[@sentientpaperclip874]

Was more or less just discussing this, this morning.

[@jascheesee]

For me building a deck is and actually seeing it work then is one of the best parts of Magic. It feels so much better than just doing a good play with a "generic" Precon. When I discover a new Commander I start going through Scryfall with different search-options according to different aspects of the Commander. Afterwards I'm going into the gallery of my phone. I got a collection of screenshots from Magic Streams/Videos/..., just like you said I'm always taking one when I see an interesting card I didn't know somewhere. And THEN I take a first look on EDHrec and might be adding a few staple cards for that commander and even at this point this way of shaping my own deck is totally satisfying for me. That feeling when you see a staple card or Mitch's Golden Pig or something like that but YOU DISCOVERED IT on your own, you're just as clever as the rest of the community who has been practicing with this deck for a while - incredible. I really liked this episode guys! I think more people in the community should try to discover this aspect of enjoying MTG.

[@peterduncliffe9122]

I’m sorting my cards as I’m listening to this

[@LaceNWhisky]

I think the two biggest reasons I "net deck" is: 1. I'm still kinda new to M:tG and don't have a working knowledge of the entire back catalog of cards 2. Even the cards I do know, I have a hard time remembering exist. Using sites like EDHREC just makes it easier to find cards that fit a deck.

[@gravewalker1443]

Hey other josh! I’m diggin the shit man

[@patrickmchugh4616]

I always used the food analogy when talking about Unique vs Netdeck Commander lists. Everyone knows an expensive filet mignon seared and basted in butter is going to taste good. It's expensive, it's a classic steakhouse staple if you will. But to take something tougher, or less appetizing and try to make a delicious dish will require more work, or more experimentation. Tripe, brain, or sweetbreads might be less common on menus but the way you must treat them to make something great shows how unique your approach is. When you succeed it feels amazing because you took something a person might find unappealing or less popular and made it great. But it's important to know that whether you eat menudo every morning, or eggs and bacon, it's all good food.

[@johanandersson6268]

How about a edh deck where you play 99 lands and Vorinclex. They will never see it coming.

[@AwkwardDreamer]

I had a deck that was 97 islands, a mountain and a fireball.

[@johanandersson6268]

LedurtsPlasmaKillCuh Nice 👌.

[@B-Randall]

Syr Carah from Eldraine, Impulse Draw/Group Slug! It’s really fun, even if it doesn’t work out for me every game. Flipping something off the top of the deck that completely changes the game always brings cheers (or groans).

[@krvys7226]

MURPH!

[@tobias2287]

Unique, as you said, is relative. For me, unique goes a few ways. One is playing Arahbo, Roar of the World. Cat Tribal, but I have a CMC limit on my deck of 4. Nothing I cast costs more than four mana, with one and two drops being the majority of my creature-heavy deck. I've come to call it Cat Scratch Fever for the sheer speed of it. Others are certainly Gargos, Vicious Watcher; Lathliss, Dragon Queen; and even Bolas Tribal. Though I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself for turning Intruder Alarm into a combo piece with Sisay, Weatherlight Captain and Jegantha, the Wellspring. Also Murph, excellent job dude - in the video and in the editing room! Keep up the great work!

[@Hitzel]

I feel that at a certain point, fixating on the uniqueness of you "win con" becomes a big fallacy. The vast majority of your gameplay experience in a game of commander is getting to your win condition, the way it actually wins after you've pulled all of that off is honestly a bit of a side-note. A table of decks that all ultimately get to the win via Craterhoof or Thassa's Oracle aren't homogenized if they're all taking drastically different routes to get there and employing different strategies to deal with other players. It's about the journey, not the destination ─ this becomes more and more true the higher power level you play at.

[@AhranMaoDante]

Agree. When I first got back into EDH, I had a Jund deck with an improbable to pull off win con, that made upwards of 2 million hasty tokens in 9 quick loops of the combo. Lost all but one game, and the one that I won I managed to Genesis Wave into the combo; regardless I scrapped the deck. That said, I do have some rather unique cards in some of my decks that have some synergies, but aren't necessary.

[@jonleehr3176]

thanks for the episode... I've got an Atemsis deck running spellweaver volute. I love it... mono blue, lots of draw, lots of extra turns, answers for days, and lots of different cmc's jic I can get a hit in on someone. Also, damage doesn't have to be combat damage, so a little tap for damage, and untap so you can take out more than one person. It's fun, wins in different ways, and is one of my stronger decks now.

[@ryanoak9]

Thing is, love this channel, but the fact that they try to act like UltraPro eclipse are even close to the quality of Dragon Shield makes me cringe every time.

[@lordgriselbrand4600]

your not the only one

[@josevelajr]

They're sponsored by Ultra Pro, so...

[@hubii2589]

Are they that bad? I mean prof said that they are as good as DragonShield and im thinking bout buying new sleeves and I was going to buy eclipse

[@rowangarbin4578]

Hands down one of my favorite decks I call "Heavy Metal Topdecks". It's a jund Vaevictus Asmadi the Dire topdecks matters. It's really weird and wild and involves so much resource management. Also nearly everycard in the deck has kickass art that wouldn't look out of place on the cover of a metal album (hence the deckname)

[@VexylObby]

My issue with "unique is not better" is that without inventiveness, the quest for originality, what are we doing? Droning around just mimicking each other? We need innovation and uniqueness to further progress, introduce more ideas. Net-decking would be sparse and boring if those that sought uniqueness didn't think of something new. We have limited time and resources as human beings, we better come up with new ideas on the regular. So to me, most of the time, not being unique is simply wasting time. Also, I don't think shirts and accents are a good metaphor for a context that requires contruction and creativity.

[@johnromero6315]

Exactly! I don't even see how people have fun when they just copy a top tier deck that won a recent event or something. The game is much more fun when you're actually playing your opponents deck, rather than a deck that everyone just copy and pasted because they have lost the ability to think critically.

[@brcienpartin5462]

My rec is learning the set themes about all the old sets/ blocks. If you don't know Odyssey block has discard and graveyard themes, you won't think to look there for graveyard ideas. We take our knowledge for granted; not everyone looks at eventide and says tribal. Time Spiral also has a bunch of jankkkk (Enchant an instant in your graveyard)

[@JakeJustLaughs]

Is my 99 forest Omnath deck NOT unique?!

[@NPCJulian]

You would need mountains . Plus full art lands for snergie

[@josephbannon570]

I built a version of the stop hitting yourself deck using marath as the commander, it has quickly turned into an enrage deck but still has spitemare, voodoo doll and boros reckoner being the win conditions. It's really fun using damage doublers to juggle damage between creatures before throwing it at someone's face. Having green makes it very versatile giving it ramp, card draw and fight spells!

[@th5174]

Is it just me or are all these “unique” cards gonna be normal in a couple days lol

[@danielfrias6704]

Murphy is awesome! Hope to see him and one his decks on an episode of Game Knights.

[@e2shamir675]

Murph!!!

[@Lianh16]

I play Atla Palani with Mirror March. Whenever a creature comes to play while mirror march is on the field, the table instantly looks at you with fear on their faces, but the odds actually tell that you are mostly going to get one token. I really love it

[@bradycurtis668]

My deck built on killing you with rakdos signet is pretty unique

[@nicholasstavash7880]

Plez explain

[@notsuspiciousthejudgmental2423]

Generate infinite tokens for your opponents, then rakdos signet them. They lose. However Idk how you would do that with rakdos, but with pheldagrif there’s a way, but I can’t remember the name of the card that deals damage when a creature enters under an opponents control

[@bradycurtis668]

Notsuspicious the judgmental actually mine is about turning rakdos signet into a creature then pumping it with infect, no infinite combos because my playgroup doesn’t let me

[@notsuspiciousthejudgmental2423]

Brady Curtis my bad, I was thinking about rakdos charm, not signet

[@hansolo8080]

I brewed 20 decks, made a spreadsheet and have a friend playing those decks with me / against me. We almost did 36 matches in our first run and covered about a fifth of all possible combinations (best of three). The thing that makes it cool is, that we can now finetune these decks and talk about improvements that are reasonable. I orderthe cards we agreed on and we start the circle again. It's really fun to improve and personalize decks step by step. For us it's not about winning in this case, it's about diving into this universe of endless possibilities and just have a good time there.

[@gimmethejuice7305]

MUUURRRRRRPPPHHHH

[@cloudyboi13]

Awesome job, Murph! 💪💪💪