EDH players- how many decks do you have?

[Slyvester12]

First off, I put this in the commander forum because I only really play commander and am mostly interested in replies concerning that format.

So, how many decks do you keep built? As in actually sleeved up and ready to go. If it's more than one or two, how many do you bring with you?

Also, for those who don't mind me asking, around how strong (competitive, casual, precons/jank) and how expensive are the decks you bring? I ask mainly because I'm curious if people are worried about bringing too many strong decks or too many valuable cards with them.

[Morganator 2.0]

This topic already exists, so I'm merging the two together.

My decks are usually pretty strong. I have at least one competitive level deck at any given time, one or two high-power, and then a weaker deck that usually only stays for a couple weeks. If I don't like the way a deck is performing I try to improve it, but if it's going to be more effort than it's worth, I take it apart.

[CleanBelwas]

I have 3 decks that are absolute and usually around 5-8 others that will fluctuate and rotate as I have new ideas and build new things.

The 3 decks I keep together are probably around the 5-7 on power scale (we all know the numeric scale is flawed, but it's a decent enough starting point without going in to the details of each deck and local meta etc.). There is no LGS in my town currently and the next town over is an hour or so each way so we don't tend to head over too often. My playgroup consists of 6 friends and that power level is suitable for what we like to do. When we do head over to the next town I tend to take one of my better decks and one of the jankier brews, which has always served me well in the past. There is no real cEDH scene where I live so moving towards the upper end of the regular EDH power level is about right and there is a lot of appetite for more casual stuff too.

My 3 "good" decks (by my standards of course) are all sat at around the £300 mark. The jank decks tend to vary from £20 - £150.

The valuable cards thing is interesting. I have a system whereby I keep all of the good cards that I want for several decks but don't want to buy in multiples sleeved up in a separate deck box (things like Cabal Coffers, Sensei's Divining Top etc.). Then I print a bunch of proxies to fill out the decks and just swap them out before a game (or sometimes as I'm playing). It saves spending money on duplicates and frees up the funds to buy new stuff, but it does mean I have a box with several hundreds of pounds worth of magic cards just sat there. Obviously I trust my friends, but I am a little wary of it when we go to the LGS and will do my best to make sure I've swapped stuff out for the decks I want to play before we go so I don't have to take my more expensive stuff with me if I don't need to.

[Aetherium Slinky]

This is an interesting question. I'm never quite happy with my decks and I often break them down and build something new. Currently I'm almost exclusively brewing on Deckstats so it's hard to say. Sometimes I print proxies, play one game, unsleeve but overall it looks like I have about two to three decks ready to go. I only have two decks that I haven't unsleeved in years.

[Kalaxis]

Currently 7 but am planning on cutting the 2 I'm least impressed with and replacing one of them with a 5 colour Susay deck.
Arixmethes combo is my main deck with Sharuum Sphinxesand Niv-Mizzet combo being the go to back ups.
I also have a Krenko one and a Bladewing, The risen one.

[ApothecaryGeist]

At any given moment I have at least 3 decks.  I currently have 9.  I take all of them with me to my LGS on Commander Night.  I have the tool box that was recommended by The Professor. 


My decks are often around a 7 or 8.  Sometimes my tribal decks are only around a 6.  I have all the Revised duals.  So my mana bases can be quite expensive.  I run Mishra's Workshop an artifact deck.  So I have some of the best mana bases a player could hope for, built with janky deck concepts.  Equals great fun, because I can always play my janky cards.

[Slyvester12]

I guess I should answer my own question, too.

I currently have seven decks in paper. The weakest is the Omnath, Locus of Mana deck on my profile. Out of 10, I'd give it a 4. It has good synergies, but very little interaction and protection. It's mostly meant for playing against stuff like precons.

The best deck I have is probably my Ezuri, Renegade Leader deck, though between it and my Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck, I'm not honestly sure. Ezuri is as optimized as I can make it, down to Gaea's Cradle and what not. The Scion deck isn't running original duals, but it's running a full set of shocks and fetches, as well as good mana rocks like Mox Diamond and Mana Crypt. I'd give them both 8s because they're not cEDH, but they're definitely at the top of casual play. (I also have a Thrasios and Silas deck that's pretty decent, but the main idea is to win with myr, so I'd put it below the other two.)

When I play in a store, I usually bring Scion and Ezuri because they're my favorites, along with one or two weaker decks. I brought my Momir Vig cEDH deck for a while, but it usually just sat around.

[terminalgeek]

Five currently sleeved up and ready to go but I'm sure if I trimmed that down I could optimize a few better. There are about the same number incomplete or in the process of building. I enjoy building new decks but have come to realization that I don't get enough time to play the decks I have let alone try new ones. 

[WWolfe]

I currently have 7, plus I have two I'm building and one that is torn about being reconfigured.

[KB2MCCLOUD]

Between my wife and I we are running 7 decks but 2 are precons that I've put together an upgrade list for but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Our top decks are currently K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, Arcades, the Strategist, and Pir, Imaginative Rascal // Toothy, Imaginary Friend.

My wife has a really fun Dino deck that she plays most often but it is a little on the slower side. However, if it is not kept in check it can get out of hand quickly.

My Pir and Toothy deck is the one I play most often and is the first EDH deck I built. I have gotten pretty good at piloting it. I don't think any of our decks are above a 6 or 7 on the power scale but for our play group that is right in the sweet spot. We just don't have the budget to fully optimize our decks and tend to have more fun building and playing a wide verity of decks rather than focus on going all out with 1 or 2 of them.

Since the power scale is a little subjective I have listed what our play group uses.

Power scale in my play group is as follows:
1-2= Jank, no real wincon, and gets shut down quick.
3-5= Precons and budget (we some of the 2017 & 2018 decks) Focused and effective but with room to improve.
6-7= Focused, good synergy, and modest budget ($350 max). These are what we bring to the LGS and can hang with some pretty solid decks.
8-9= Optimized, high synergy, big budget. Can normally go off on turn 5 or 6.
10= cEDH     

[HowlingLotus]

I have 10 currently sleeved up and intact. Using the prices from the builder here the average is $233.48, but I do feel the prices are skewered for some decks as I do run some Unstable lands in a few (which the builder applies for pricing). I do try and trade with my friends often and don't own perfect condition cards, so that also probably factors in my true average being lower than stated.

I don't think any of my decks are necessarily strong when comparing to everyone and not just my playgroup. I would put most at a 5-8, and the 8 might be generous for some. A couple of my decks are memes like Ayula, Queen Among Bears (tribal) and Rakdos, The Showstopper (coin flip and RNG effects). I'd say The Locust God and K'rrik, Son Of Yawgmoth are probably my stronger ones currently - LG is my most expensive and K'rrik my least expensive (ironically). 

In general I don't have a lot of powerful cards. No Duals, Power 9, or even simple things like the better tutors. My group is more casual, so we try to keep things from reaching super competitive levels. In most of their cases they have been playing for a long time and have been building their collection from ages ago, whereas I stopped playing for around 15 years and started from scratch around Aether Revolt.

[WizardSpartan]

Because of lack of income, my decks don't shift around much. I have 3 right now, and that is unlikely to change much. I may purchase another at a later time, but I only purchase decks I have play tested a bunch to make sure I like them long term.

Most of my decks sit around the same power level. They are high synergy, high interaction, and medium to high tutors. All 3 have various ways to win, and I usually like to fit in a synergistic infinite combo to provide an easy finisher for really long games.

[Marshstepper78]

I usually have 5 to 7 Commander decks at any given time, but I get bored easily and dismantle them regularly to try out new ideas.

Titania, Protector of Argoth and Edric, Spymaster of Trest are the decks that have survived the test of time. Norin the Wary, despite going through numerous purmutations, is close behind. The rest of my decks' fates are in fickle hands.

[Xaarvaxus]

I have 30+ decks mostly because I rarely tear any down once I've built them.  I'm not the best at judging power level but I'd hazard that they tend toward the weaker side as I enjoy strategies that like to durdle.  When I manage to get out to play, I have some old L5R boxes that make good carriers for EDH decks so usually bring 10-12 with me.  I'm usually providing decks for one friend as he long ago sold his collection but still enjoys playing.  My decks do tend to be expensive as I've been playing since 4th edition so was around when duals and such weren't that pricey and had some trades work out pretty well long term for me.  A couple are on the cheaper side as they are super janky [and use a lot of cards that don't see much play] or are deliberately budget.