So I’m working on my third Commander/EDH deck. One of the recent blocks in Magic the Gathering took place in a world where dinosaurs were a huge part of every day life, for good and bad. Some of those dinosaurs are really, really big and so I wanted to make a deck where I could come out with massively huge creatures and just stomp all over my opponents. I’ve spent the last month creating this deck in a word document. Sadly, with our recent car situation (I’ll be talking about THAT bottle of fun’ness in my monthly roundup next week) this deck is going to go on the back burner.
This time around, I decided to add every single card in picture format. I won’t be loading them as individual pictures because otherwise it would take 5minutes for my site to load and that just isn’t fun for anyone. For each category (in bold) I’ll be showcasing 1 of the cares I think is cool or cool looking and then doing a clickable grouping thing so you can check them all out, or not, as you so desire.
My Good Knight Sirrah deck, while I really like it, just hasn’t performed. I win about 25% of the time with it. The Get Salted, I’m Exalted, while not competitive, has something closer to a 90% win rate and I don’t play it more than once now as it can be demoralizing to someone else to lose on turn 6 in a game that usually last 30+ turns. This deck I’m just hoping to stomp around with big dinosaurs and have fun killing things whether I win or lose.
There are several main parts of this deck. First and foremost, getting a lot of mana out quickly (with artifacts and sorcery/instants) so as to be able to get the big creatures out quickly, use the Enrage mechanic on half my dino’s to help boost me in various ways and then to use the Planeswalkers and the rest of the sorcery/instant cards to fight outside of combat using my dinos hopefully massive power and sweep away the competition. I’ve tried to make all the cards synergize with as many possible other cards so no matter what I draw I will be good. Only a real play test will tell though.
Without further ado, here is my deck list:
Commander:1
Zacama, Primal Calamity
Planeswalkers: 4
Huatli, dinosaur knight
Domri Rade
Samut the tested
Vivien of the Arkbow
Creatures: 27
forerunner of the empire
Kinjalli’s Sunwing
Sun Blessed Mount
Bellowing Aegisaur
Burning sun’s avatar
Etali, Primal storm
Gishath, Sun’s Avatar
Imperial Aerosaur
Majestic Heliopterus
Needletooth Raptor
Polyraptor
Raging Swordtooth
Ranging Raptor
Raptor Hatchling
Regal Behemoth
Ripjaw Raptor
Shining Aerosaur
Siegehorn Ceratops
Silverclad Ferocidons
Sky terror
snapping sailback
sun-crested pteradon
sun-crowned hunters
trapjaw tyrant
wayward swordtooth
Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
Ulvenwald Tracker
Artifacts: 17
Tower of Fortunes
Sol Ring
boros cluestone
gruul cluestone
selesnya cluestone
boros signet
gruul signet
selesnya signet
commander’s sphere
seer’s sundial
staff of nin
Mindstone
Pillar of Origins
Worn Powerstone
Hedron Archive
Thran Dynamo
Dreamstone Hedron
Sorceries/Instants: 12
Cultivate
Nissa’s Pilgrimage
Skyshroud Claim
Rampant Growth
Kodama’s Reach
Farseek
Dromoka’s Command
Domri’s Ambush
Band Together
Gravitic Punch
Rabid Bite
Thrash
Lands: 39
Command Tower
Terramorphic Expanse
Evolving Wilds
Myriad Landscape
Taiga
Wooded Foothills
Stomping Ground
Cinder Glade
Fire-lit Thicket
Savanna
Windswept Heath
Temple Garden
Canopy Vista
Wooded Bastion
Krosan Verge
Plateau
Arid Mesa
Sacred Foundry
Naya Panorama
Rugged Prairie
6 Forests
6 Plains
7 Mountains
So there you have it. A ton of pictures. Please feel free to make suggestions or comments or to ask questions.
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
This sure does make me want to revisit strategic card games now hahah I used to love how you could build decks and make sure that the whole system works within a logic.
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Time is definitely a key aspect in deck creation. That is why I’m such a casual player, my time is already given over to books and reviews. Magic just gets what is left over 😉
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I like the list, and the only change/addition I can think of is to maybe swap out Domri Rade for Huatli, Warrior Poet. Her 0 ability puts a 3/3 dinosaur into play each turn, giving you an easy way to trigger Forerunner of the Empire and get those enrage effects.
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I might end up putting both in and taking out one of the dino’s. I put domri in for some possible card draw AND his fight mechanic. I didn’t even think about Warrior Poet triggering forerunner though. Hmmm, food for thought…
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I wish I enjoyed MTG. Its a shame because the artwork is some of the most beautiful you’ll see on any card game. Was tempted to collect just to collect.
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Not a game for you? Or no one to play it with?
I don’t know anyone personally who just collects, but I’ve certainly run across them online. It is really hard not to want to collect them though, because as you say, some of the artwork is just outstanding…
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I feel out of love with card games long ago and just struggle to find any motivation to play them. Any card game I have played in the past has been more about collecting than playing. I’m an odd one.
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that is a bummer. Did you play a lot or competitively? That is one thing I’ve always made sure since I started playing mtg again back in 13 or 14, strictly casual and don’t place too much emphasis on it. Otherwise I’ll turn into those kids I see at the local game store
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Nah, just with friends. But I think I’ve just never had the ‘I want to play’ mindset like my friends had.
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I’m thinking you’ll have problems with drawing creatures. That’s the one flaw in your deck I see. Though, I see you want to deal with it by killing other creatures with Greens removal strategy, and you have a massive amount of mana artifacts. It’s a good strategy to try to kill as many other creatures as you can with spells, so that you have creature superiority. But, you have to measure the statistical probability of having one of your own creatures on the board that can measure with the effect. You have to remember that other players are going to play big creatures, too.
I don’t play commander that much, so I can’t really say what to do to improve the deck. It’s just a good idea to have about as many Creatures as there are lands, unless you’re using a Token’s Strategy.
I hope you enjoy this comment.
I always improve my decks. It’s insulting at first, but you find other’s inputs can really help boost the deck to the next level. I did that with all of my decks.
God bless!
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Hey Neifert, thanks for the comment.
The funny thing is that I have actually stopped playing this deck. It is simply too overpowering. Zacama consistently comes out on turn 4 or 5 and then I use it to immediately weaken whoever my strongest opponent is. I use Zacama’s red ability to kill off other people’s creatures and then use it to attack and kill a player with the 21 commander damage rule.
I concur that drawing creatures is a weakness in this deck. But it’s deliberate, as commander has its own rhythms that are very separate from 60 card. Having 40 life means I can afford to stay open for a turn, maybe even 3 sometimes.
And having 35-40 creatures in a edh deck is too many. If you ever play you’ll need a bunch of sorceries, instants and enchantments to deal with the variety of threats you’ll get from the 3 other players 🙂
Unless your deck is built around spitting out creatures then yeah, pile them in.
My usual strategy for deck building is:
1-5 planeswalkers (I can’t stand superfriends decks)
38-40 land
20-30 Creatures
10-20 Instants/Sorceries/Enchantments
1-10 Artifacts
If you ever do decide to get into EDH, I’d highly recommend one of those precon decks. Play it as is, then tune it up for what works for you. I never thought I’d build my own edh deck, as I was just overwhelmed at all the options at first, but now with several years under my belt I feel a little more confident. Plus, I won’t play with anyone who even approaches the cEDH line, so that helps…
Thanks again for the comment. I don’t do deck lists very often, maybe 2-3 a year tops, so this isn’t my usual fare.
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Just keep it in mind. I am making a Commander Deck—using repeats, I don’t know if that’s legal—And I’d just use a doom blade or something on your on or two creatures. I stock up a ton of those in every deck, and I have walls in my decks with shroud which would make it hard for your creatures to get past.
I stock my decks with creature cards, and when you look at tournament play—which I do because I like strategy games like Chess and MTG—they are always spawning creatures so fast.
I mean, your commander might make the difference. I just think you should be cautious of running so few creatures. I had a Red Blue deck that I thought was really good… It beat everyone in my circle pretty easily. I went and played it at a DCI event, and it got killed every match. Not even a contest. The weakest player there was even beating my deck.
They told me to put some counters in it. So, I did, and now that deck will crush. It can beat everything in my house, and we run some decks that Pros are even leery of playing.
I’ve actually beaten a Pro player in a Commander Like setting, who had five power nine cards. I’m rebuilding that deck, which is why I do believe you should listen. It’s never fun when you see your deck can perform well already, but I’ve noticed you have a lot of—I guess their called—ramps in your deck. You could probably exchange those out for some small creatures that produce manna. Never underestimate the power of even a 1/1.
Enjoyed talking with you!
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Before you go building an edh deck, make sure you know the restrictions on what you’re building:
http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php
And check out the ban list so you’re not including cards that aren’t allowed.
As for the rest of your comment, your philosophy seems to be the “winning is the point of the game” one. That is much more common in most other formats. Commander is the antithesis format to that, as it is casual and for fun. I’ll take losing in edh to winning on turn 5 every time. Which is why I retired the dino deck. My game philosophy is almost completely opposite yours.
And you’ll see that argument played out time and again between casuals and competitives on almost every mtg board at some time or other 🙂
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Anyone who can win on Turn 5 consistently in any format plays the game too much. And that Turn Five win is only a myth. It’s all chance, and some people have it better than others.
I’ve played with pros. There’s no Turn 5 wins, unless you have a problem with getting creatures out ;). Half the game with them is to psych you out. They build up their reputation to the roof.
Normally it’s turn 7 or 8.
But I get what you mean. I really do. I’m in no way competitive at playing the game. You got my strategy all wrong. I just have to keep up with the players I play with, and to have any chance I have to be at near pro level.
Any flaw in my deck they’ll exploit, and the game won’t be any fun for me. So, you got my strategy all wrong. I’m actually all about having fun over winning.
It’s just I know the level of commitment people have to winning, and in order to have any chance against them, I have to up my game. It’s no fun to lose nine games in a row.
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What format DO you play?
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Do you have a webcam? We can play a few rounds over the internet. 🙂 I play unrestricted. So, anything except unhinged or unglued. Just for fun. I’d let you play your commander deck and I’d play my White sixty card deck. We could see if it’s a balanced enough format to play;—I have a hunch it would be, with your commander coming out all the time with no repeats and my repeats. I was thinking about that today.
Like, you could play your Commander like you would actually play commander, and I’d play my sixty card deck. Just in a standard, no commander points or anything like that.
It’d be fun.
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P.S. My White deck is not one of those crazy decks. It’s just one I like playing. And I’m in no way a pro level player. By all means, I don’t want to mislead you. My brother plays with Pros, and I play my brother. It’s just like that, my brother will always try to one up me. And my friend from Texas is pretty good. I had a good community for a while, but lost them over the years, so getting back into the game would be fun.
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Your best is to check out Arena. It’s free to play…
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I don’t want to spend money on things that don’t exist.
TTYL. 🙂
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P.S. And I know you said it’s free to play. But, I also know that in order to have the decks I built, I’ll have to spend money on their versions of cards. Webcams are better because you can play the hard copies over the internet.
Also… hypothetically if it were completely free, I don’t like the aesthetic of playing magic on a computer game. It’s more fun to use your own cards, and it’s possible. My friend and I play it that way.
Well, have a good one.
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Just one more thing… I know I’m spamming you now, but I have to say this.
It’s a bad day when the only way I can realistically play this game is on a video game. Like, I don’t know if you can understand why I don’t want to play it on a video game. I purchased my cards, some of my decks are upward of 60 dollars, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s kind of stupid to spend money and then go get codes for a video game and not use them.
It’s not your fault—I’m not expecting you to play the game with me. It’s just the culture surrounding everything, is that I don’t like going to the nerd shops because they’re cringy seeing grown men play cards with little kids. And the only realistic way I can play is over a video game, that’s just nuts. I hope you understand.
Unless you’re below the age of 18, which I understand completely. I just don’t detect that with your proficiency in speaking. You seem like you’re in your twenties.
Peace out brother.
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Feel free to come back and chat when you can tell me what format you actually play and when you can actually talk about the rules of Commander. It is very obvious you have no idea what Commander is, from your comments, but the good thing is that it isn’t hard to learn them. Just follow the link I gave you to the Official Commander page and you’ll be good to go.
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I told you six times I don’t know anything about Commander. I told you twice that I play Unrestricted. That means any card in MTG that’s not Unhinged or Unglued.
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I don’t think I’ll come back and chat, though. This seems like the toxic atmosphere I find at most places I go to play.
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Unrestricted is a designation for a specific type of the other kinds. Do you play standard, modern, vintage, legacy, commander, brawl?
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Dunno. I play any number of cards in your decks, whatever you want, four of each type if it’s not a basic land. That’s what I play.
🙂
Thank you for responding kindly.
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I would highly recommending reading up a bit more on the various types of magic. It will help you a lot in playing with others. This forum is a really good place to lurk (that’s all I do):
Mtgsalvation.com/forums
That will give you a good introduction to the various types of format.
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Nah… too robotic. Like, I just want laid back players who don’t nitpick on things like that. I understand what the formats are, I just think it’s the difference between a “Gerund” and ending a verb with “ing” making it a noun. It’s just technical stuff. I don’t want to learn that. I just want to play the game, have fun, and not have to deal with nerdy kids.
I don’t think you are, btw. You’re pretty respectful. But being steeped in the culture, it’s kind of hard for me to explain what II really mean.
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I always thought vintage and legacy were just restricted formats.
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ALL formats are restricted, in one way or another.
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Yes… exactly my point. The only restriction I play is no grey borders. Because I don’t play DCI or DIC, or whatever it is. I just play for fun.
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And I play for fun, just like you. But some of the players I played with play with pros.
I don’t like learning a bunch of banned cards and crap. I think the game is pretty balanced just playing it whatever. Just as long as they are magic backs, and don’t have grey borders, they’re fine.
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