[MTG Talk – Article 001] Elder Dragon Highlander

First Magic the Gathering article and all about the variant format known as Elder Dragon Highlander or (since WotC renamed it) Commander…

Elder Dragon Highlander, abbreviated to EDH, is simply fun and casual format. To those new to Magic the Gathering or new to EDH (I still refuse to call it Commander – such a silly name…) have to note that your deck must comprise of 100 cards – singleton. In other words, aside from Basic Lands/Basic Snow Lands, you can’t have more than one copy of each card.

100 cards might seem a lot to the usual FNM player – where they play nothing but Standard or any variant with 60 cards deck – but I find that it isn’t enough. I’m a Johnny player through and through and I sometimes find the lack of card space for more combos to be quite frustrating. Then again, that’s the beauty of deck building! Choices, you have to love the fact that they are so many to choose.

Back to the topic at hand though, 100 cards – where 99 are your library and the single card left is your General of the deck. Your General must be a legendary creature and he/she/it will decide on the color legality of your deck.

For example, let’s say you chose Oona, Queen of the Fae as your General, then you are limited to the colors of Blue and Black. So if you chose a colorless General such as Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, you’ll only be able to put in cards that are colorless.

To make it simple, your deck will only contain mana symbols of whatever your General has in its casting cost. So if you have Norin the Wary as your General and would like to put a Dragonskull Summit in your deck, it is illegal. However, if you would like to put something like Scalding Tarn then by all means do so. The restrictions to cards available at your disposal is only restricted in the Mana symbols that appear on the card. This also mean that Generals like Rhys the Exiled are forbidden.

Anyways, since your library is composed of 99 cards, where does the General go? He/She/It is simply placed into a zone called the command zone. This area is specifically for your General. When can you cast your General? Well any moment you can cast a creature spell. So stuff like Vedalken Orrery enables you to cast it during your opponent’s turn.

What happens when my General dies? It’s up to you, as the player, to decide what happens at the death of your General. You General has a, how shall we say, built-in replacement effect. So if he would be placed in the graveyard or removed from the game, you as the owner of the General, gets to choose whether he goes to the graveyard, is removed from the game, or sent back to the command zone. Obviously, if you decide to go with the replacement effect, anything that triggers like “when it goes to the graveyard” does not resolve as it did not happen at all. This obviously brings out a lot of possibility and abuse like Balthor the Defiled!

I digress though, stuff like that will be in other articles concerning deck construction/deck tech on EDH.

Obviously, cards can be banned and there is a globally accepted ban list as to avoid severe annoyances during the game.

Commander is designed to promote social interaction.
It is founded (and dependant) on a social contract, otherwise known as a gentleman's agreement. Unsporting conduct (whether extreme or simply "being a jerk") should not be tolerated by players. Refusing to play with antisocial persons is the fastest way to better EDH community.
However, because players have varied opinions of what constitutes fair and/or fun play, a recommended banned list is maintained to help guide players towards a good social experience. House rules or "fair play" exceptions are always encouraged if they result in more fun for the local community.
If you want to enjoy the type of games you've heard associated with EDH, avoid cards like these:
• Ancestral Recall
• Balance
• Biorhythm
• Black Lotus
• Coalition Victory
• Channel
• Emrakul, the Aeons Torn *NEW*
• Fastbond
• Gifts Ungiven
• Kokusho, the Evening Star
• Karakas
• Library of Alexandria
• Limited Resources
• Lion's Eye Diamond
• Metalworker
• Mox Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl, Emerald and Jet
• Painter's Servant
• Panoptic Mirror
• Protean Hulk
• Recurring Nightmare
• Staff of Domination
• Sway of the Stars
• Time Vault
• Time Walk
• Tinker
• Tolarian Academy
• Upheaval
• Worldgorger Dragon
• Yawgmoth's Bargain

Additionally the following legends should not be used as a Commander:
• Braids, Cabal Minion
• Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

Via Official MTG Commander Rules

More information can be found there obviously!

So what makes EDH an awesome format? Well, in my honest opinion, it’s a format that brings out the awesomeness of the more “useless” cards in Magic the Gathering. It’s always fun to see when a “crappy” card is brought into a game and ends up becoming crazier than what we originally suspected.

Furthermore, tribal has never been more fun when integrated in EDH. A deck consisting only of a certain Tribe such as Elementals, Samurais, etc. brings about a certain flavour to the deck. I’ve seen my fair share of decks that are quite fun and the idea to it were simply amazing. Obviously, it’s not always going to be a winning deck, but that’s the beauty of EDH. It doesn’t really matter who wins as long as everyone is enjoying himself or herself.

Not to mention, scenarios always play out differently. You’ll barely see similar plays and repetitive winning strategies. Unexpected things can happen and people have to adapt to the sudden shift of scenarios.

I apologize to the Spike players out there, as they might not like this format very much. Sure, there’ll be decks that are made just for winning, but you have to remember that EDH is usually played in a multiplayer format. Politics aside, it’s somewhat hard to win when everyone is ganging up on you right?

I digress though, for those who are in the Montreal Area feel free to contact me as my playgroup and I are still looking for more people to play EDH.

In all honesty, Elder Dragon Highlander has to be my favourite format. It’s unpredictable and socially fun. As I’ve stated earlier, it’s always fun to see cards that have never seen play in Standard or other formats being played in EDH!

I’ll be posting up my decks soon enough and give a full detail explanation on its mechanics and how to play it! Stay tuned!!