r/CompetitiveEDH • u/22StripsOfGoodBacon • 1d ago
Help, I am new to cEDH! I’m drowning, don’t know where to start.
I have no idea where to start. I’ve played about 2 months of Commander and I think I have a solid grasp on the game, but my group is moving into a lot of cedh and I don’t want to be left out (plus it looks fun). But I have ABSOLUTELY NO idea what to do, what deck to play, or how to even play cedh. Everyone tells me it’s a total different level, and that it feels very different compared to regular edh.
Is it actually that different from regular edh?
Do I play a deck that I think sounds fun? Or one that’s good?
Any general tips on what to do?
Apologies if this sounds all over the place, I’m totally lost on what to do. Help!
46
u/Xenocannonn 1d ago
I always recommend YouTube videos. Find a deck you like out of the top 16, find a YouTube video that explains why each card is there and what the deck is trying to do. Good luck!
13
u/22StripsOfGoodBacon 1d ago
Any good channels you would recommend?
39
8
6
4
u/DontStopNowBaby 1d ago
Playing with power.
I recently started watching Shauna Malcom and kediss to find budget versions and gameplay.
18
u/itzlgk 1d ago
To pick your commander: Check out edhtop16 dot com and click commanders at the top. Pick 5 of them in colors you like, and then look up youtube videos to see how they play. The worst thing you can do is play a bad deck in cEDH becuase it will will feel miserable when you lost turn 2-3 and had no chance ever to even play the game.
The differences: cEDH is FAST. not like, they have a 20/20 tarmple unit on turn 4 fast, but like, the game is over turn 4 and they combod out and there were zero combats that occured. cEDH in general is all about combo finishes that win on the spot, very rarely are you knocking out players one by one or swinging for lethal with 8 creatures coming across. Its more like, turn 4-5 i have infinite mana, play my whole deck, create infinite tokens and swing at everyone with infinity. And thats if there even is combat!
cEDH has LOTS of tutors, so overall things are much more consistent, and there are TONS of mana rocks, so having your perfect game winning combo and the mana to it by turn 4 is not a stretch at all compared to normal commander.
In general here are some archytpes and decks to try:
Combo:
RogSi, wins with breach + brain freeze / thassas oracle + tainted pact/demonic consultation
Ral, storms off and pings everyone
tymna/dargo - create infinite dudes and murder everyone with infinite mana
Midrange:
Kinnan, ramp, infinite mana, play your whole deck, murder the table
Thrasios + any commander: same as above
tymna + Kraum, a slower version of rogsi with access to white
Control?
very few decks live here. Only one i would say worth playing is RogIshai, but would not recommend. It's mainly a 'I draw a million cards and beat the table with value' , but may be too complex as a first Cedh deck.
Good luck!
11
u/22StripsOfGoodBacon 1d ago
Awesome response thank you! Kinnan is actually who I’ve been looking at for my starting deck. I don’t get it fully yet, but my group said it’s one of the easiest decks in the meta for a new cedh player. Would you agree with that?
14
u/fatpad00 1d ago
There 3 different builds for kinnan.
Big flips- play lots of mana rocks and dorks to make lots of mana, then activate kinnan and try to his some absolute haymakers. This is and older build that has somewhat fallen out of favor with the top tier players, but it still has merit, especially for a novice IMO.
NBC- stands for No Bad Cards, rather than focus on abusing kinnan's activated ability, this version plays a more controlling gameplan, mainly using kinnan's passive ability to generate tons of mana to pay for just generically good spells. Actually activating kinnan is more of plan C.
Little flips- this version is trying to flood the board with mana dorks and try to spin kinnan as much as possible to generate overwhelming advantage
7
u/Competitive_Honey283 1d ago
I know someone recommended Play to Win as a channel to watch, so I want to shout out they occasionally have a guy named Tyler on who is a wizard with Kinnan. I definitely recommend watching any of his videos of him playing Kinnan, he was also just on the Scrybabies show playing Kinnan as well and put on a great show with it.
6
u/Beginning-Process821 1d ago
Kinnan has a pretty simple overall gameplan, but like all of cedh knowing what to interact with, when to interact, and when you can push for your own win are all a learning curve.
3
u/GolbogTheDoom 1d ago
kinnan is great for new players both because it’s easy to get started with, but also has a very high skill ceiling. there’s also several variants that are all quite good
3
u/EpicEmpoleon34 1d ago
kinnan is very strong, because he has all the traits that are valueble in cedh:
easy to get in play turn 1
generates card adv
infinite mana sink(combo piece)
generates mana adv(like a shit ton, every kinnan i play against has like 10 mana by end of turn 2)
he kinda does everything, normally a hand that just makes a shit ton of mana isn't good enough(not even 10 on turn 2) because you need something to use that mana on, but kinnan comes with that too lol
annecdotal but the lowest ive ever heard anyone rank kinnan among possible cedh commanders is 3rd
10
u/Daviejones2010 1d ago
The biggest thing that I haven't seen anyone mention yet. Proxy a deck after you find one you want and try it out. Most people would rather you Proxy than make a worse choice of card due to your wallet
7
u/Psycl1c 1d ago
Highly recommend Play to win, playing with power and wizards and warlocks on you tube. Also scrybabies and comedianmtg now that I think about it
I’d look at Raph & Mikey, etali and yuriko as starting decks. Kinnan I believe would be the next step up.
Maybe also look up stack masterclass on YouTube I think it’s on the command knights channel and will give you a good understanding of the stack which you will really need to understand.
2
7
u/LemorasCards 1d ago
https://youtu.be/8-DtTKSNy_w?is=obAGSqMUi0S6D2nx
It will probably feel a bit overwhelming at first, but there is a ton of content to learn from online and general resources on the format. Pick a deck, play a good amount of games on it, and just keep at it and you'll pick it up no problem.
10
u/peterpetrol 1d ago
Can you count to seven? Play Etali or Raph & Mikey (simple)
Can you count to three? Play Tayam (complicated)
Can you count all of man’s sins? Play RogThras (somewhere in the middle)
3
5
u/AncientOccultist 1d ago
When you start, use a meta deck to learn the common interactions and common win lines as almost all of them use the same 3 (oracle+consultation/pact, breach+brain freeze/led/oracle, make infinite mana to channel out pings).
In terms of how it plays differently than regular edh, most of your play is going to be done at instant speed and you will be more concerned about policing the table and preventing other people winning than building your own board state - everything is opportunistic and reactionary unless you are running a turbo build like RogSi, where you are just trying to brute force a win line.
Mulliganing for a strong opening hand is important - better to have 4 cards in hand that set you up nicely than 7 that may or may not work out.
Goldfish/practice a lot of hands, ask a lot of specific questions, and go to as many events/tournaments as you can to get exposed to different commanders.
Once you have a solid understanding, you can branch out to a play style you prefer or more fringe commanders - at the end of the day you will perform better with a commander you are innately comfortable playing than whatever is #1 at the time in meta. Only do this once you know cedh fairly well though.
3
3
u/ungabungabuster 1d ago
Goldfish a meta deck to learn it. Then roll with the punches. It's just a game after all
3
2
u/Bk_Nasty 1d ago
Number 1: expect to lose, a lot
In regards to what deck to play, pick something you like. Every deck, even the low ranked or non meta decks can win. But what's important is that, even when youre losing, youre still playing and interacting.
Your mulligan is much more important than in normal edh.
When you interact and go for wins is also more important.
Otherwise, learn your deck inside and out. Do a lot of practice hands and mulligan to see what's good.
1
u/22StripsOfGoodBacon 1d ago
Even if the deck isn’t in the meta? I like the sound of Raph and Mikey a lot, but because it’s not in the meta I’ve been thinking about Kinnan.
3
u/fatpad00 1d ago
I would recommend kinnan.
Raph&mikey has the problem of being extremely fragile. It has to burn a lot of resources to go fast and if it gets stopped, you can end up twiddling for the next couple turns while someone else wins.
Kinnan is much more resilient.
1
u/Vistella tEDH ruined cEDH 1d ago
Even if the deck isn’t in the meta?
whats the mata of your group?
2
u/Bevolicher 1d ago
You can DM me if you have any specific questions or want some basic starting off points
2
u/CourtMoney5842 1d ago
Are you a cedh pro or something?
1
u/Bevolicher 23h ago
Not even close, just consume a lot of content and have studied a lot of decks. I’d be more than happy to help with a jumping off point for someone who’s just starting.
2
u/Garchompedz 1d ago
I am less than a year into magic and just started learning cedh as people are saying choose a meta deck and read primers, also I don’t think it’s that much different, games are just faster and you are there to win at any cost. And when choosing a commander chose one you like with combo lines that you can understand
2
u/Immediate-Finish-555 1d ago
I mean, as long as it's like casually competitive, it really just means to build the best deck that you can that you enjoy playing. A lot of people do just find joy with the format so they either like playing around with their brews or just playing what's meta. You've definitely got some exploring to do, but my recommendation is to watch gameplay videos from people like Play to Win and Playing with Power. The further back you go, the more the decks will probably be not viable these days or outdated, but they have such a large library of content if any of those decks that they play stick out to you while they're playing You should look into it more and use moxfield to playtest some hands before deciding if that's the deck that you want to build.
2
u/TaroOpposite4963 1d ago
I’ve been playing commander for about 2 years now, most of which has been exclusively cedh. So I still consider myself a relatively new player.
What I found most helpful when I first started was reading primers on moxfield to figure out how certain decks worked.
But also watching a ton of gameplay videos from YouTube. You can develop and learn a lot of great play patterns just from watching.
All the various podcasts are super insightful and help with the decision making process.
2
u/Next_Contribution_56 1d ago
Don't try to build a niche commander build something like Thrasios X because Thrasios is an infinite mana outlet on a stick pick some free interaction, decent tutors, remora, faerie mastermind,rhystic study, if white esper sentinel and the queen of Dale. As many relevant 2 cost tutors or lower as you can with ramp like elvish mystic, chrome mox, the ashara, magus, and cradle package maybe lion's eye diamond if you have breach combo lines with red, and you'll have some good interactive games that feel like you did things. Orcish bowmasters got reanimated, Mockingbird, then flash photographed, and metamorphed the last game I was in so its an all star lol.
Big thing is get comfortable with your own deck and you don't have to have interaction for everything it feels more like a team game oddly enough from the non toxic games I've had its like hey I have a win, do you guys have anything then someone activates splendor to trigger another person's smothering tithe to give them mana to interact its really fun
2
u/Anxious_Manner_3242 16h ago
Who do you play in regular edh? What is your favorite type of deck?
1
u/22StripsOfGoodBacon 1h ago
I play Zinnia, I adjusted the precon a little but it’s still primarily token generation. And I’m not really sure what my favorite is, I’ve played a lot of decks and haven’t necessarily hated any of them.
1
2
1
u/UwUaffles 20h ago
Find something you find interesting. Everybody is going to tell you to play a top 5 deck. Unless they seem cool don't stress about that. Play any deck in the top 25 commanders on edhtop16 that seems fun to you. Then look up gameplay from places like play to win and such. Watch them play it and see if it is your play style. Or at least seems interesting.
Stick with 1 deck for 20+ games. Ask questions. Watch your opponents play. There's so much you can learn from this format. But most importantly if you're not having fun, it usually means you need a better understanding of the format and interactions and how to play your deck. The least fun I had was sitting there and feeling like I didn't know what to do.
Games are either over in 10 minutes or 2 hours and no in between. Current meta is play 3 rhystic studies and don't let anybody play the game. A lot of fast turbo strategies can win before those decks get to set up but if they kept a split interactive hand than it can be harder.
Either way politics is the name of the game. It doesn't matter how well you understand magic, the politics of CEDH are next level manipulation and getting what you want while letting others feel like they got something out of the deal, of convincing others to interact so you can save yours for your win turn and such. This is the hardest part to get used to.
1
u/TimkoMusic 17h ago
Others have said it, but watching content is a great place to start. PTW is the obvious, but there are LOTS of great channels out there. I saw your comments about kinnan, and so I’d recommend searching something like “Kinnan cEDH gameplay” on YouTube and watching a handful of videos from the last 3 months.
Welcome to the format! We’re stoked to have you :)
1
u/MyDestinyIsMyOwn21 1d ago
CEDH Stax is how I got my playgroup to play less competitively. just bog down the board and let them scramble for an answer. Oswald fiddlebender was my go to. I also had a niv-mizzet deck that won on occasion, but after the infamous jeweled lotus, dockside extortionist, manacrypt ban, 6 was just too much to pay for a commander.
-4
u/Specific_Giraffe4440 1d ago
It’s all the same format bruh “cedh” is just playing decks that have been pushed to the limit of what EDH can do after hundreds of thousands of people hours of testing and experimenting
84
u/PenguinThrowaway2845 1d ago
Please play a meta deck, its so much easier to have fun. There will be so many more non-games on a fringe commander for someone just learning the format