[Discussion] Most broken Commander?

[majikal]

Ghave, Guru of Spores. If built properly, the whole deck combos with itself.

[Admiral_Arzar]

I dunno. We've had two Zur the Enchanter decks played by decent players, and neither has had a ton of success. The problem hasn't been the players searching the wrong enchantment, it's been getting the opportunity to attack at all. The deck plays out the same every game, making it easy to save your disruption. Killing Zur even once usually slows the deck down enough to where it can't win.

There are no three color generals that work as a combo piece better than Oona, Queen of the Fae. Oona turns infinite mana combos into instant win combos. I'll have to post my Oona list sometime. It's bonkers.

The Zur player in our meta played a gazillion counterspells and used Necro to reload while gradually growing Zur. He also played lock pieces like Rule of Law, Solitary Confinement, and Arcane Laboratory as there was a ton of combo. Using Zur as a combo general is also awesome as that deck doesn't even need to cast him to win - he just makes winning easier by fetching Necro.

I can stand by Oona being absolutely bonkers. I played that deck for a long time, and killed off the entire table on turn 3-4 countless times. I didn't have some of the more expensive fringe cards (Seal, Drain, Grim, Timetwister) but it didn't really matter as the deck was insane. As you said, Oona is by far the best general for that sort of fast combo as she is a win condition (and thus you don't have to clog your deck with otherwise dead wincons). I thought about writing a primer on Oona, but never got around to it, and then I stopped playing EDH.

[Malakai]

In regular EDH it is Zur, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. You know what happens when I swing with Zur? I put Necropotence into play, and the next turn I win the game.

In 1v1, Vendillion Clique is the _second_ best. The best deck, that never loses to clique, is Thrun.

[socialite]

In regular EDH it is Zur, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. You know what happens when I swing with Zur? I put Necropotence into play, and the next turn I win the game.

I would assume so if you play against a bunch of no brains lacking spot removal and ya know... answers. Personally I find Zur pretty overrated in a competent group; as far as combo control is concerned I find Oona to be much better.

[jjjoness']

In regular EDH it is Zur, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. You know what happens when I swing with Zur? I put Necropotence into play, and the next turn I win the game.

In 1v1, Vendillion Clique is the _second_ best. The best deck, that never loses to clique, is Thrun.

That is not entirely true. We used to run a EDH 1on1 league. I wanted to be a dick so I chose Clique. I won every single game until I had to face Thrun. I really was about to just scoop to him, but as it turns out it's far from an autolose. You have a 7 turn clock, while Thrun has a 6 turn clock, that starts ticking one turn later without acceleration.

Besides: Clique ownes everything but Thrun. Thrun ownes Clique but otherwise is a shitty deck.
Game one I opened a bunch of counters and Mystical Tutor. I somewhat owned him by just attacking with Clique, then tutoring for Evacuation. Clique on Thrun, game.
Game 2 was really close but I stalled with Minamo untaps Clique, block Thrun, bounce Clique in resp. Got me there.

I don't say this will happen very often, Thrun still is a shitty matchup but you have plenty of outs against Thrun. It is all about tempo. All you have to do is buy one turn and you will probably win the game.

[Amon Amarth]

I would assume so if you play against a bunch of no brains lacking spot removal and ya know... answers. Personally I find Zur pretty overrated in a competent group; as far as combo control is concerned I find Oona to be much better.

After playing some of these decks a bit I've had similar experiences with Azami and Azusa. I'm completely underwhelmed by both of them with only Godo, repping Kamigawa Block, keeping it real and actually being badass.

I cringe when I imagine people avoiding cards like Swords or Drain because "spot removal is bad". I like to pretend playgroups like that don't exist.

[bokwinkle]

The problem is that when people build their EDH decks they can't adjust for meta, so their choices for removal have to be extremely versatile and scale-able (lightning bolt won't generally get you there) - and it helps if they generate card advantage...since a 1 for 1 at a table with 3+ players means that you just gave someone else card advantage. Also, people are forced to load more recursion into their decks to deal with every player packing board-wipes or combos that wipe boards - so a 1 for 1 (like say a vindicate) won't even get rid of the really troublesome cards. Plus...a swords won't get you there against a competent control OR combo player anyway, since they probably won't rely on one creature that they can't find a way to sac so they can reccur.

All of that being said, spot removal is important in EDH....just like any other format. But it just so happens that in EDH people are less likely to have it in their opening hand in a 1v1 matchup because spot-removal isn't run at nearly a high percentage in EDH as it is in any of the other other formats. And the chances of the spot removal being truly relevant aren't as good.

[The Big Ragu]

I think it all boils down to Arcum, Sharuum, Zur, and Azami. They are the 4 I consider to be tier 1.

Teferi I think is as close as you can get to being tier 1.

[bruizar]

Besides the obvious picks already mentioned, i like saffi eriksdotter. fun times with loyal retainers and any comes into play effect. Also Sisay.

i also have a lady sun for my mono U control

[Kuma]

I think it all boils down to Arcum, Sharuum, Zur, and Azami. They are the 4 I consider to be tier 1.

Teferi I think is as close as you can get to being tier 1.

Why not Oona, Queen of the Fae?

Go here and tell me that this deck isn't tier-one: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...een-of-the-Fae

[Offler]

Why not Oona, Queen of the Fae?

Go here and tell me that this deck isn't tier-one: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...een-of-the-Fae

When it comes to comparation with Teferi...

I tried similar strategy as you with either Memnarch and Laquatus. After some games I cannot tell whether it is better to search for card which is able to drain mana instantly, or to have possibility to cast creatures instantly while oponnent cannot cast aby spell.

Apparently having general as Oona gives easier and faster oportunity to use infinite mana. You need less cards to startup a combo and less tutoring. So I have to agree with you. If Teferi is close to tier 1, Oona surely belongs to this group.

[andrewlb]

Our friend, in an attempt to make a new edh deck built skullbriar. As it turns out, 1v1, the deck is actually insane. Our playgroup is made up of competitive combo decks/control decks and skull briar actually just stomps on everything. The power level of your win condition + discard/card advantage crushes other decks surprisingly well.

[mrjumbo03]

Griselbargain might deserve some consideration.

[Offler]

So much that i have heard rumours of him to be banned (since its yawgmoth's bargain on a legs...)

Avacyn Restored and EDH - there is a lot of great cards or generals, a lot of great cards coming up, but really some of them look like an attempt to destroy the format. There is a lot of "going to be banned" candidates.

Cavern of Souls. In standard its a card which supports multicolored tribal decks. In EDH its pure autoinclude with intention "my general is uncounterable".

[Nihil Credo]

Our friend, in an attempt to make a new edh deck built skullbriar. As it turns out, 1v1, the deck is actually insane. Our playgroup is made up of competitive combo decks/control decks and skull briar actually just stomps on everything. The power level of your win condition + discard/card advantage crushes other decks surprisingly well.

In your group, do you play with 30 life for 1v1?

[kombatkiwi]

In your group, do you play with 30 life for 1v1?

I'm pretty sure this guy is just trolling because I can't see any reason why he would be better than any other G/B general.

[Offler]

Some people like to build up decks which are very similar to Type 2 aggro construction (similar cardpool, while avoiding cards with higher mana costs)

I mean:
1st turn
Land + Mox Diamond/chrome mox = Attacking skullbriar -1

2nd turn (oponnent played island and brainstormed)
Another unblocked attack. -2

3rd (oponnent cast his first creature)
Doom blade, another unblocked attack of skullbriar, -3

And so on. Chances of killing slow decks are quite good, and yes - there are playgroups which have 30 life. Most of such decks dont have late-game or backup plan, but still can have good win/loss ratio.

But right now I can hardly imagine combo deck around him...

[dahcmai]

Griselbrand is a stupidly broken general. You just ramp into him and start blowing people out. It's not even all that hard to do with the typical Syphon Mind type suite and such to keep people disrupted enough until you hit the mana. If you cast him, you flat win. That's all there is too it. He's definitely at the top of my list for bonkers.

Riku isn't too shabby either. He's one that people haven't mentioned. He's just mana intensive.

[Leviawan]

I'm surprized, thanks!

[TheAardvark]

Having played with and against him a good amount, I am firm in my belief that it's Griselbrand and not really close. If he isn't banned, I'll probably legit stop playing the format for a while, which means I'll more or less stop playing the game, since it's pretty much all I play anymore.

If he goes through the June update without getting banned (which I expect, given statements by Sheldon Menery since he was spoiled), if you plan on playing any EDH events at GenCon, make sure you prep for it, because it will be worse than Erayo was at last year's events.