Commanders That are Fun for the Whole Table

[WizardSpartan]

So I realized that all of the decks I currently own aren't necessarily exciting to play against, and after reading an EDHRec article discussing that decks that put an emphasis on "we" instead of "me" allow everybody to enjoy games even when they necessarily don't win.

So, what commanders are enjoyable for the whole table while still being able to win? I despise group hug decks that can't actually win and just spend the entire game playing kingmaker in the hope they can weasel out a deal where they end up on top, so nothing like that.

The concept of something like Phelddagrif group hug that wins with infinite mana + Suture Priest is probably the closest example I could give to the type of deck I'm interested in.

Any ideas?

[CleanBelwas]

I know what you mean dude.

My first recommendation is my personal favourite deck, Queen Marchesa. This deck used to be my Mono Black Yahenni Aristocrats deck, but that deck was really oppressive with hand attack and grave pact soft locks stopping people gaining any kind of presence in the game. Switched it up to Queen Marchesa and haven't looked back. Mardu is great for Aristocrats, but most importantly, it's all about the Monarch. The Monarch is an excellent, incredibly fun multiplayer mechanic and, even though that deck is still pretty strong in my meta, people don't groan when I pull it out. Everyone has fun because the Monarch is that good, and naturally my deck is built to take the most advantage of the monarchy and maintain it as much as possible.

The Command Zone did an episode on this subject a few months ago. I can't remember exactly what all of their suggestions were, but I remember their list seeming pretty good. Episode can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2ibLn2H1g

Generally I think it just comes down to not playing stuff people hate like Stax or hand disruption. I don't think the Commander is as important as the overall strategy. Naturally, there are times when you just want to play that degenerate stuff, but if the focus is on table fun, then just focusing on a "fair" build is a good place to start.

Other than that, I think the main thing is just for a deck to be meta appropriate. I love combo decks, but if I build a deck that is able to combo too quickly or consistently, I take it apart because that's not good for my casual meta. I still play combo decks, just ones that are more obscure and less consistent. My buddies don't mind losing to combo if it was later in the game and I had to jump through hoops to do it and they had chances to disrupt it.

That is obviously a lot harder to do if you don't have a consistent play group though.

I guess another way to approach it is to think about decks you've enjoyed playing against. What games have you lost and thought "damn, that deck was cool"?

[WizardSpartan]

Thanks for the response!

I've given Queen Marchesa several tries, but I've found her difficult to build. There's not really enough support for just a Monarch theme, and cards like Ghostly Prison & Norn's Annex are just way too efficient for keeping the Monarchy, but then they aren't really fun to play against. Am I getting it right that it's still a Aristocrats deck, just with Queen Marchesa at the helm? If so, definitely interesting, just conflicting with my Alesha deck. I might give her another crack. Maybe Sunforger with forced combat to get the game going? Idk.

I listened to the Command Zone a couple months ago, but I don't think anything really stood out to me.

Obviously, I avoid stax, hand disruption, forced sacrifice, etc. (except in Meren haha) in most of my decks, but I honestly just want a deck that gives everybody a chance at doing something while still being able to close out the game itself if the game goes on too long.

I will need to do some thinking about what decks I liked to play against. I played against a Grothama, All-Devouring deck recently. Hmm.

[Cosmic_Insight]

I strongly believe that every deck should have at least one card that brings the Monarch to the table. I built a Mudrotha, the Gravetide deck recently, and in my deck, it takes the form of Court of Cunning for self-mill. If you're looking for something along the lines of "stupid, yet fun," then try Thromosk, the Insaitable. (spelled it wromg, I know) There's something appealing about a 100/100 that people like to play against.

[CleanBelwas]

Am I getting it right that it's still a Aristocrats deck, just with Queen Marchesa at the helm?

Haha yea dude, that's literally it. Marchesa is there solely because I want to be in Mardu and the Monarch is fun. Everything else is consequential. She can sometimes make tokens but that's just occasional upside.

In fact, it's pretty rare that I cast her more than once in a game unless I have nothing else to do. Deathtouch makes her a good blocker and haste makes her a good attacker, but mostly I don't bother a second time. It's just all about that monarch.

I've been testing out the new courts in the deck to see if making the monarchy more relevant is more fun, but so far I haven't had enough games with them to report back.

I honestly just want a deck that gives everybody a chance at doing something while still being able to close out the game itself if the game goes on too long.

Going to throw out a curve ball here: have you considered Progenitus? I ran Progenitus for a while and it was the very definition of this kind of thing. It takes a while to get going so people have plenty of chance to do their thing, but Progenitus is very much a clock. I stuck mine with things like Berserkers' Onslaught, Rhythm of the Wild, True Conviction and some pump the board enchantments just so I could one shot people. Add in some heroic intervention style cards and counterspells to protect from wipes and some extra combat spells, then fill the rest of the deck with just cards you like playing. I found that people were pretty fine with dying to Progenitus because it's such a ballache to cast that their attitude was "well, if you can get there and make it stick, fair enough".

[Judaspriester]

my last deck idea goes somewhat in that direction, but until now, I had no chance to try it.
https://deckstats.net/decks/112190/1862054-yurlok-group-slug
The idea behind it was first pumping mana into the table (which already reduces the chance for non-games) and then more and more tax the ressources as the game goes on.

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent can also be very fun, if build right. Just aim for political chaos on the table, in stead of winning the game yourself. Cards like Goblin Spymaster or Crown of Doom do a great job here.

[WizardSpartan]

If you're looking for something along the lines of "stupid, yet fun," then try Thromosk, the Insaitable. (spelled it wromg, I know) There's something appealing about a 100/100 that people like to play against.

Thromok the Insatiable definitely seems spicy (saccing 10 tokens for a 5 mana 100/100 is cool).

Going to throw out a curve ball here: have you considered Progenitus? I ran Progenitus for a while and it was the very definition of this kind of thing.

Do you happen to have a list (even outdated) for Progenitus?


I've played against Yurlok, and I really don't see a way to make him enjoyable to play against. Most players won't be able to take advantage of the mana you are giving them, forcing them to take a bunch of damage. Group slug is not really what I'm going for here. Cool list though.

Xantcha interests me, but she feels like she's in a very similar boat to Yurlok. 2 of your opponents will be having fun activating her, drawing cards, etc., while one will just sit there watching their life total perform a magic trick. (She's $15, too, which is annoying)

[Judaspriester]

I've played against Yurlok, and I really don't see a way to make him enjoyable to play against. Most players won't be able to take advantage of the mana you are giving them, forcing them to take a bunch of damage. Group slug is not really what I'm going for here. Cool list though.

Xantcha interests me, but she feels like she's in a very similar boat to Yurlok. 2 of your opponents will be having fun activating her, drawing cards, etc., while one will just sit there watching their life total perform a magic trick. (She's $15, too, which is annoying)

Like said, I have just build the deck and no chance to test it right now. So I can just just guess how the tactic acutally turns out.

Xantcha is that expensive because shes out of a commander precon. Still the price surprises me a little. From my experience the person who gets xantcha always tries to get rid of her, so she will sooner or later change the controller (unless you give her to the same person again). besides that, it depends a little on how you build the deck around her.
If you want to see real chaos you could play confusion in the ranks and endless whispers. Just add some cards then that forces the people to attack and watch the table playing musical chairs.

[Slyvester12]

I recall Morganator making a Kenrith deck that focused on helping the whole table finish all of the commander night challenges. You could do the same thing, but use Kenrith as a politics engine.

I also had a friend with a Fumiko the Lowblood forced combat deck. He just stacked as many symmetrical damage doublers as he could and used Fumiko and other forced combat cards (like goad and whatnot) to make sure everyone was always attacking, and that those attacks HURT. It was always pretty fun to play against, since it made things very complicated in a relatively small number of turns.

The same friend also used a Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker "trash cards" deck. He used a bunch of worthless cards like Black Cat to grind out value with Shirei, plus enough protection to make sure Shirei stuck around. It could be oppressive, but I was always happy to play against it because it was a cool deck.

Granted, I prefer games in which multiple people try to do degenerate stuff, so maybe I'm biased.

[WizardSpartan]

Shirei is definitely a powerful deck. I've built Shirei as a pauper EDH deck for a challenge, I believe, and it still slapped.

Fumiko is definitely an idea. I definitely enjoy the idea of making people turn their stuff sideways, as it hopefully would keep games fresh and prevent them from going on for too long.

Might build a Fumiko the Lowblood and Queen Marchesa as encouragers of attacking.

Thanks for the help, guys!

[CleanBelwas]

I can't find my Progenitus list unfortunately, but there wasn't much more to it than I already described. It was mostly ways to give powerful effects that don't target so I can one shot people, extra combat spells so I can one shot multiple people in a turn, a little protection from board wipes, a shit ton of ramp and fixing and a bunch of pet cards.

If table fun is the priority, there are few decks that have been more fun for the table than this one in my experience:

https://deckstats.net/decks/132604/1566723-minigame-tribal

Everyone knows the fun that comes from resolving a Fact or Fiction, both for the player and the opponent, and this deck looks to repeat that kind of thing over and over again.

Also, if you haven't every played Measure of Wickedness or Pain's Reward in EDH, then you've never experienced true table fun. I'm being facetious, of course, but honestly this deck is a blast for everyone every time I play it.

At present the wincon is "Kill them with Sphinxes", but you could definitely ramp it up and add in some cool dimir graveyard combo seeing as half your cards end up there anyway. If you, or anyone for that matter, can figure out a good way to make the deck win I'm all ears. It doesn't happen often.

[WizardSpartan]

I might need to try that out. I've always loved Fact or Fiction. Maybe once all this is over, I can try a minigame tribal deck in person.

[TropicalBoi]

I'm not 100% sure what kind of deck you are aiming for, I can't tell if you want a grouphug deck or just a fun deck in general. The goad/forced combat mechanic is usually quite fun for the whole table and also closes out games fairly quickly, which is great against more grindy players. Marisi, Breaker of the Coil and Thantis, the Warweaver are really good for both starts, especially when built correctly. I also saw a "choices tribal" deck on MtgMuddstah a while back and it seemed like a fun deck. It forced your opponents to choose their fate, so like Fact or fiction, Painful Quandry, Whims of Fate, stuff like that. It seems pretty fun, but would probably prolong the game.

[WizardSpartan]

I'm not 100% sure what kind of deck you are aiming for, I can't tell if you want a grouphug deck or just a fun deck in general.

Basically, a deck that is enjoyable for the table but that still has the ability to win.

Forced combat definitely seems like a theme I need to look into, yeah.

[robort]

I'd say Marisi while utilizing monarch mechanics. Forced combat while chasing the monarch down.