r/EDH • u/MatToMountain • 4h ago

Discussion What commander should I build? I like Ashling, the Limitless, Teval, the Balanced Scale, and Zurgo, Stormrender!

Hi all. I've been playing Magic for a little under a year. I mostly play standard and sealed on Arena, where I have ~400 hours of play. I do play quite a bit of paper commander, but not as frequently. I'm not much of a deck builder (yet!). I have bought quite a few precons, and have slowly been upgrading them over time. I have never built a commander from scratch. I have the most fun with Ashling, Teval, and Zurgo. Based on those interests, what would you recommend building next? I'm considering life-gain/drain, spell slinging, and/or something kindred. That said, I'm open to anything! Shooting for high 3 to high bracket 4. Thanks!

3 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

4

u/catgotswag 4h ago

I am currently taking apart my Teval deck because it kept turning into 10 minute solitaire turns that I was just spinning my wheels because there was so many options. Ashling seems like a fun way to go!

2

u/print-w 3h ago

Ashling easily has even longer turns, since it's so easy to cheat on mana with evoke, elementals have a lot of triggered abilities, and the extra copies of everything. 

2

u/MatToMountain 2h ago

Today at the LGS I pulled 9 huge elementals from the graveyard all at once with token copies for each. The pod all just said okayyy we’re done. Ha!

1

u/Vez52 3h ago

Same here. Turns were too long so I built something else instead.

1

u/ISpeechGoodEngland 19m ago

I played a lot of Teval and Ashling, Ashling takes longer by far.

Yesterday I had 2 ETB clone and 1 Elemental ability clone cards in play, Persist anthem, and my creatures were free. I had 6 Elementals to play in hand. Each one entered. Triggered 4 times. Sacrificed, creating 2 tokens each triggering 4 times, then the original re-entered triggering 4 times. 16 triggers per card. 2 of the cards were.more card draw, 2 were destroy effects, 2 were power/toughness and trample.

I showed my opponents my hand, explained I'd be doing minimum 16 triggers 6 times + whatever else I drew. Opponents scooped.

Ashling can get complex fast.

3

u/znojavac 4h ago

You are my mtg soulmate ZURGO IS MY PETDECK AND CURRENTLY BUILDING TEVAL.

1

u/MatToMountain 2h ago

Hey there twin 🫰

2

u/KAM_520 Sultai 3h ago

I play Teval and Zurgo. They’re completely different decks.

My Zurgo is super-tweaked for synergy to make the deck function both as aggro and aristocrats with the same cards.

Teval is more oppressive, as a landfall combo control reanimator type of deck.

Both do very well.

1

u/MatToMountain 2h ago

Would you be comfortable sharing those deck lists? Thank!

1

u/KAM_520 Sultai 33m ago

Sure. Someone else replied asking for the Zurgo list, you’ll see it below

Teval list: https://moxfield.com/decks/-s68iWaWH0CFmeTAJwcZaA

List is current, primer slightly out of date. I’ve pushed it about as far as I could while still being able to call it B3 with a straight face, but it only loses to well timed GY hate and red decks at this point.

1

u/znojavac 2h ago

Do you play zurgo with myriad or mobilize? Currently working on a list which will focus on myriad and mobilize and cheating on the legend rule

1

u/KAM_520 Sultai 1h ago edited 5m ago

I have a ton of details in my primer about what I’m playing and considering. Check it out if you’re interested: https://moxfield.com/decks/RF7U4y174ki3xEahA-V8KA

To answer your question, I don’t really support those mechanics with my list because I have five unlimited sack outlets and multiple other sack effects. I generally prefer the token makers shown in my list because I don’t want my tokens to die unless I decide that they should. This way, I get to pick whether I’m drawing or draining, which is core to the deck.

In terms of myriad and mobilize I AM playing, Mardu Siegebreaker doesn’t have myriad but it’s similar, and I have Voice of Victory. Otherwise I don’t have any cards with those mechanics besides Zurgo.

I’m considering six myriad cards (technically five but Shredder basically has myriad) and two mobilize cards, all of which I like and think are good, just not as much as what’s in the list. Generally myriad is a better mechanic for the deck because of the card draw. Dalkovan Packbeasts is great though.

Adding a lot of myriad and mobilize is better in Isshin and Caesar if you think about it bc those decks need token making density more and don’t synergize with an aristocrats plan as well.

The 1 drop mobilize and myriad creatures especially are good if you’re trying to support Kinscaer Sentry, though.

I talk through this stuff in more detail in the primer.

1

u/Flashy_Property1222 3h ago

So you like
* Graveyard
* Aggro
* Big spells

For the big spells + Aggro I recommend [[Rootha, Mastering the Moment.]]

For Graveyard + Big Spells I recommend [[Cormela Glamour Thief]]

For Aggro + Graveyard, [[Terra, Herald of Hope]]

Hope that helps!!

1

u/PuzzleheadedMain1294 2h ago

[[Carmen Cruel Skymarcher]] might be good - though doesn't fit the archetypes you're after very well - if you go Kindred I do think Vampires sounds like your jam (aristocrats with life gain / drain).

[[Rowan Scion of War]] could be fun, [[Prosper Tome Bound]] for spellslinger treasures.

Otherwise Izzet is unmatched for spellslinger