[EDH / Commander] my first commander deck

[minitango]

my first commander deck

I just wanted to make a commander deck out of cards that I already had or could trade for easily, some of these cards I bought online but i mostly traded for or already owned most. I didn't want to spend too much actual money. I'd like to get some comments or advice though. I'm very proud of this considering I've never made a commander deck before. I guess the goal of playing this deck would to be able to adapt to whatever deck your opponent is playing, and even steal their cards to make their deck work for me. I added in cards to deal with many situations.

[Dracoback]

Looks like a fun deck! One of the things to keep in mind about EDH decks is that these games tend to go long, which means that having access to extra cards and more mana is something that is very important. Having said that, I usually like to recommend people have 10 sources of card draw and 10 sources of mana ramp to stay consistent. The good news is that you are playing blue (the best color at drawing cards) and green (the best color at mana ramp), so you should be able to find cards that you like that help make your deck run smoothly!

It is also good to have a good amount of single-target removal (about 5) and field wipes (also about 5). You already have a good amount of single-target removal (especially by the time you consider that your commander can remove an opponent's creature), so the only other suggestion I would have is to make sure you have a few more board wipes, and the good news is that you are playing white (one of the best colors at wiping the board).

I am a bit hesitant to suggest specific cards before knowing what you might already have lying around or what sort of budget you want to have for acquiring new cards, but hopefully those suggestions give you a place to start. Happy deck building!

[adam983]

Speaking as someone who has made a Soul Singer commander deck, helm of the host is a delightful addition with some fight search for equipment cards. Equip Helm of the Host to Soul Singer and at the beginning of combat you get a non legendary token of her with haste! enjoy taking every creature one by one.

[crimsonking]

Hi,
I see some amount of cloning/stealing effects. My first advise is not to copy you're general's abilities, but rather to support them.
For instance, once you've stolen a creature with Rubinia, you could sacrifice it for value with Birthing Pod or Evolutionary Leap.
If you decide to go wide with enchantments, you could add some enchantresses (Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence, Eidolon of Blossoms, Satyr Enchanter...).
With Bant colors, I always put a Loam package: Life from the Loam, Land Tax, Trade Routes, some cycling lands, bouncelands, fecthlands etc...
You could even go deep into cycling theme, adding Astral Slide and Eternal Witness to the bunch.
It depends on what direction you want to pick, cards you may want to add will vary a lot.

[mbueschken]

Hey mate!

First of, welcome to the world of EDH, in my opinion MTG's most fun format you can choose to play!
Rubinia Soulsinger is also a decent choice as your first commander due to the fact that she can work in many situations.

Just a bit of basic information since you are new to EDH:
The general can be a key component to your deck strategy. Most of the time it is either a core part or a really good supportive option for said strategy, while sometimes certain commanders are just played for their colors, what I personally don't really like doing myself.
Also, keep in mind that there is literally no end to 'pimp' or improve your deck, which makes it an even better format (while sh*t might get expensive if you dont keep attention).
Though there are a lot of cards which are considered 'bad' in most formats, and thus are cheap, while they are bonkers in EDH, but back to that point soon.

At fist glance, I really like your choice of cards, and I also think I see where you want to go with it, which would be, as you already said, to take advantage of your opponents permanents while protecting your board with enchantments and goodstuff creatures.

Let's go over some basic stuff and bant staples first: [The cards I mention should be rather cheap and/or easy to trade for unless I f*ck up somewhere]

Green is the king of ramp in MTG, and it also is in commander.
Since your current average CMC is 3.83, I would suggest playing more ramp spells. They are cheap, both on mana and your wallet, and will accelerate your gameplan by a couple of turns.
Your Cultivate is a really good choice, but I would also add cards like
Kodama's Reach
Search for Tomorrow
Farseek and
Explosive Vegetation

Also, mana dorks run wild in green, if you want to up your creature count.

White has a lot of good enchantments and really good spot removal with cards like Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile. Both are cheap and too good to pass by.
Aura of Silence, Sigil of the empty Throne and Sphere of Safety will protect you further and/or create angels to swing with in the air - don't underestimate 10+ 4/4 angels in the board.
Cards like Luminarch Ascention should help to protect you and also serve as mana sponges, if you have for example open mana during the end of your opponents' turn.

While we talk about enchantments - Bant has access to a really good card draw engine in synergy with said enchantments.
Cards like Eidolon of Blossoms, Enchantress's Presence and Mesa Enchantress will draw you a ton of cards if not removed early. These also got reprinted in Commander 2018 if I am not mistaken, so they are cheap and easy to get.

As for Blue, we essentially talk about card draw and control.
I don't think that counterspells are something nessecairy in a casual group of EDH players, but I am sure you know your faire share of those, so I won't list them here.
There is one honorable mention, especially considering the 'steal your opponents' stuff' strategy: Desertion - I don't think I need to explain why.
Just mix and match counters if you feel like you need them, and if not more power to you.

Sower of Temptation is also one of my favourite cards in MTG all together, I can't really count how many he won just by himself.

If you play the enchantment-draw cards I listed earlier, I don't think you need much blue card draw, but cards like Treasure Cruise or Brainstorm can help to draw into cards you might need in certain situations.

Some more input on your current build:
I personally would cut Ajani Unyielding, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, Garruk's Horde, Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage and Oketra the True

Those planeswalkers are just not performing well in EDH at all and need more cards to synergize with, what you can't really manage with your current game plan. The creatures above don't work that well either, since your creature count is really low and thus they won't generate value most of the time.

Merieke Ri Berit is a simply cheaper version of Rubinia, while doing the same. I'd suggest to play both, and Merieke as your commander.
Reclamation Sage is a good card.
Empress Galina is a really good card as well. (~13$ price tag)
Serra's Sanctum will be bonkers in any enchantment heavy deck (VERY expensive, ~80$ price tag, but worth every penny. Only get this in a case where you REALLY want to keep that amount of enchantments!)
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a cheaper but more versatile version of Serra's Sanctum (~10$ price tag)

More steal:,
Control Magic, Blatant Thievery, Roil Elemental, Bribery (~20$), Thada Adel, Acquisitor, Hypnotic Siren, Cytoplast Manipulator, Dominate, Entrancing Melody

I could list some more, but I think I said enough for now.
Always feel free to message me about cards, I will help you as much as I can!

Also: EDH is a format where you can really play almost anything, never be afraif to try out cards, even if they don't seem that great at first glance. They might perform better then you could have anticipated!