5 Way Match-Up - Advice Plz

[C0RLoCK]

Hi there, I haven't had much luck focusing my search on Google or YouTube so I thought I would reach out to the people.

I used to play MTG a bit back in the day, and I loved how your strategies had to constantly adapt to different scenarios.

I was hoping to put together 5 separate mono commander decks, each capable of holding its own against one another so I could bring non MTG players into the fold.

So far, I am putting together a green Omnath of Mana deck (This one was always on my wishlist). Does anyone have any advice for which decks of the other colors that might be a close match for it?

Thank you all

[Aetherium Slinky]

I would lean into the colours and what they specialise in. Life gain for white, Dragons for red, aristocrats (sacrificing creatures) for black. Blue is tough. I want to say Laboratory Maniac but balancing the decks might be an issue. Maybe a theft deck with all the "you control enchanted X" auras.

[CleanBelwas]

Hey C0RLoCK,

I agree with MustaKotka, leaning in to what each colour is good at will likely be the best idea for this kind of thing.

First, I'll point you towards edhrec.com in case you are not familiar. This excellent site will show you all of the available commanders, and you can split them by colour so you can take a look at each mono colours page and see if anything takes your fancy.

In terms of recommendations, I have a few ideas.

Black
====

Black looks to use anything it can to gain an advantage. It might use its own life as a resource, or sacrifice creatures for value etc. etc.

The best example of this is K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth. K'rrik is one of the most broken commanders WotC has ever printed, so might be too strong for the balance you are looking to achieve.

Other good options are things like Ayara, First of Locthwain; Syr Konrad, the Grim or my personal favourite; Yahenni, Undying Partisan. All good options for a generically good black deck.


Blue
====

Blue is most synonymous with control (counterspells etc.) but this tends to not translate well into multiplayer so probably not worth building around. Another aspect Blue works well with that does work well in multiplayer is Artifacts.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch or Sai, Master Thopterist are both good options. Urza, Lord High Artificer is another, but similar to K'rrik, is almost certainly too strong for Omnath.


White
====

Another thing White likes to do is "go wide" (create a lot more creatures than opponents and win through numbers).

God-Eternal Oketra or Adeline, Resplendent Cathar are both good options for this strategy.


Red
====

DRAGONS!

OR GOBLINS!

Krenko, Mob Boss; Magda, Brazen Outlaw; Lathliss, Dragon Queen are all good options.

For slightly different strats, Neheb, the Eternal and Feldon of the Third Path both make for strong and interesting decks.



These are just a few ideas off the top of my head. Like I say, checking out edhrec.com is probably the best place to start. Once you've found a commander/commanders you are interested in, this site can also help you find specific cards that work well with the commander etc. Honestly, it's an incredible resource for building EDH decks.


One further idea that could be fun in terms of flavour but also help keep things balanced could be to build around a cycle of mono coloured legendary creatures. This is what I did when I built a similar thing. My choice was the Amonkhet mono coloured gods:

Bontu the Glorified
Kefnet the Mindful
Oketra the True
Hazoret the Fervent and
Rhonas the Indomitable

The resulting decks were all pretty well balanced and worked well against each other.

This obviously means putting Omnath in the 99, which might not be something you are interested in, which it totally fair enough.

If this idea is something you might consider, let us know and we can help you find a cycle that you like the look of. There are a fair few to choose from.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have fun with it. Good luck!

[ApothecaryGeist]

Since these are decks for beginners, it is less about which specific commander you select.  And more about card selection among the 99.


Also, beginners can often get their commanders virtually taken out of the game. (For a variety of reasons.)  You want to have some things in each deck that can be relevant even without the commander.


And avoid cards that make players salty - like Triumph of the Hordes, Armageddon, Blightsteel Colossus, Blood Moon (although may not be too bad with 5 mono decks), Omniscience, stax.

[Morganator 2.0]

You're also going to want commanders where the deck is very self-explanatory. Here are the ones I would go with and why.

Krenko, Mob Boss: I have a huge bias here, but dealing combat damage really is what red does.
Odric, Lunarch Marshal: This deck will teach the pilot about every evergreen ability in magic.
Omnath, Locus of Mana: Green does mana. "Make mana and attack" is an easy game plan.
Talrand, Sky Summoner: Blue counterspells and draw. The drakes act as the win condition.
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician: Black is all about paying some cost to get something else. Yawgmoth will have you forfeiting cards, life, and creatures. Be warned: it's very easy to make Yawgmoth stronger than these other decks, so make sure the other decks have some kind of protection.

[Schau]

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician: Black is all about paying some cost to get something else. Yawgmoth will have you forfeiting cards, life, and creatures. Be warned: it's very easy to make Yawgmoth stronger than these other decks, so make sure the other decks have some kind of protection.

Yawgmoth is definitely extremely powerful and maybe over budget if you are making decks to get people into the game, I would consider using Ayara, first of locthwain or asmodeus the archfiend, one is more of an aristocrats build and the other teaches the pilot to use their life total to gain an advantage.

Edit: both of these options are also pretty cheap, especially asmodeus.

[G. Moto]

Odric lunarch marshal is strong and it encourages the camaraderie amongst white creatures.

Minn wily illusionist has a good choice because she introduces a Play style to an old creature type that can be both fun and tricky

Gonti Lord of luxury to just players how to use any and all resources at their disposal in order to win whether it be their own or their opponents.

toralf God of fury teaches the age old way of using fire and burn tactics in an aggressive play style.

Goreclaw terror of qal sisma is that straightforward as you can get when it comes to Green. Big creatures big damage, hit as hard as possible.

These are the recommendations I would have for new players to the game