Pauper EDH decks can be a lot of fun in a regular EDH pod - telling people your deck is all commons basically makes you immune to interaction for like 5 turns lol
Our playgroup made a few pauper decks, but we realized that we were going for the same cards over and over. So it was refreshing at first, but we soon abandoned it.
PDH is such a cool format for both playing and deck building. Lots of random creatures that would never see the light of day outside of draft are suddenly interesting includes or commanders, for example the “Partner With” creatures from Battlebond can make a partner commander pair or maybe there’s a goofy old magic card that you love and just want to see it in the command zone. Highly recommend people look into it.
Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora are only banned if the pdh game’s more than a 1v1, but in 1v1s they have Oubliette, Loyal Apprentice and Agent of the Shadow Thieves banned
Me and a friend tried for a little while to get people to play PDH: I have one fully built Mono-White pauper deck (Abdel + Far Traveler blink deck) and was planning a couple more (A Crime Novelist deck and possibly a Slimes Against Humanity deck) My friend did fnish I think 2 or 3 different Pauper Decks and was planning on several more too. The issue is that well...We just got one other player, out of a group that was up to 8 or 9 players at that time, to build a PDH deck. Nobody else did. Most people for different reasons but I think the most fundamental issue is that a lot of people really seem to enjoy *playing* commander far more than deck building, so if you give them ANY constrain at all, let alone a severe one like PDH, they just mentally check out. The average commander player *isn't* a diehard deck builder like me and my friend (We both have like close to 20 decks each, always building more, etc.) Or very enthusiastic (The one other friend that only has a couple decks but you can tell is due to budget and not lack of interest so they ran with the idea of an inherently-lower-budget option) but most of the table are people that have a couple of decks (2-3 main decks, maybe 2-3 more they're developing again very, *very* slowly over months) so once they find a formula they like and that's also a good performer well, you're not gonna get the to play anything else: Not Standard or Draft, certainly not expensive formats like Modern or Pioneer and even a restrictive format even if it's technically still commander like PDH (Or Brawl or Oathbreaker) is out of the question.
The best solution for this is making a battlebox yourself. Since you have a deck built and was looking at a second one, while your friend already has 2-3 decks, just bring the 4 decks to your LGS and see if anyone wants to try a pod of PDH with borrowed decks. Once people get a taste of the format without having to put in any effort, you'll be much more likely to get a playgroup. The format really has a lot of offer and feels like a breath of fresh air, it's not for everyone, but for the ones that like it, it can be addicting!
I have several Pauper Commander decks, but all mine use legendary uncommon commanders. I think its even more interesting and flavorful that way, maybe a little closer to the actual commander format.
I completely agree with you! PDH has enough Uncommon Legendary creatures available now that the "any uncommon legendary creature" rule just isn't relevant any more! Way to go! :)
Also Blistercoil Weird is an interesting choice: the usual Izzet spellslinger commander of choice on PDH would be Third Path Iconoclast since it supplements the usually higher cost of casting instants and sorceries in pauper (Not without exceptions but compared to regular EDH at least) with a token-go-wide strategy to both defends and punch through once its done interacting and doing some damage as well but Bistercoil Weird has interesting possibilities as well I'm curious to see how it would work out.
FINALLY you're talking about PDH! I've thought you'd like this format for ages, and I'm really glad you dipped your toes into it and made a video, promoting it to an even larger audience. I'm a huge fan of PDH and my playgroup often balances it with regular EDH on our play sessions. It brings a more low to the ground, traditional magic style that we all craved after the ramp in power of regular EDH. Board states are more meaningful, building resources through multiple turns is more valuable, and small synergies and plays pay off in the long run. It's a great format and a breath of fresh air for sure, with its whole competitive and casual metas.
You can also have extremely strong PDH decks, Gretchen Titchwillow or Malcolm Keddis can go infinite very early in a game. A very underrated format with more interaction and violence.
Blistercoil Weird is probably going to be the much better deck over Necrotic Sliver. Removal being almost exclusively targeted makes it hard to get away with blowing stuff up all the time, so there's a pretty high "noise" rating on the Necrotic Sliver deck that's going to make it harder to win with. Also, Pauper Commander is the only format I play anymore, other than pre-modern. People can talk about "Turn 0" or talking about the power level before playing EDH all they want, literally nobody who makes that conversation necessary is willing to actually abide by that. They will just lie about how powerful their deck is, and PDH is basically the only way to actually enforce people not playing cEDH.
I always build my PEDH decks with a legendary uncommon creature as a commander (even if it has a background I use uncommon/common backgrounds only) so I can playing with them in my pod of people who not as enthusiastic as me to build some of that strange, nearly janky stuff in their opinion. We play with a 150$ limit of estimated deck costs (excluding price of basic lands and general(s)) and official EDH ban list with some inclusions to play comfortably within 150$ budget And playing this way without decks full of expensive staples and stuff is quite interesting, but PEDH is more fun than that.
there is also a whole competitive scene for pauper commander. theres this Lore Drakkis deck that i've been wanting to try out, but since i was already building a normal edh variant with Vadrok i dont seem to find use to build the pauper variant anymore
Original (old school, pre-June 2011) EDH only had 443 Legendary creatures and 11,509 cards (of any rarity) from which to build EDH decks before the format was renamed "Commander" in June 2011 by WotC (i.e., the PreDH format). Today's Pauper Commander (PDH) format now has a very quickly rising 349 Uncommon Legendary Creatures and 9,091 legal commons from which decks can currently be built (at time of this posting). I'm seeing little-to-no reason for the PDH format to continue down the path of permitting *ANY* non-legendary Uncommon creature as commander, as the legal *LEGENDARY* options are quickly approaching the PreDH numbers of 443 (modern sets are printing about 8 to 10 new Uncommon Legendary creatures per set, so in a couple years, this number will likely exceed PreDH's 443 commander options). If a format wants to be named *after* another format, with the super cool budgetary limitation of Commons-only in the 99 and an Uncommon creature as its commander, then it's time to catch up with the modern reality that there are now enough options of Legendary Uncommon Creatures out there to join with the rest of the Commander community and require your format's commander to be an uncommon *Legendary* creature. Otherwise, rename your format to "Uncommon Creature-led 100-card singleton" and save the title "Pauper Commander" for those who want to play actual Commander with Pauper rules of commons-only cards in the 99. There's just no need any longer (or at least not for very much longer) for additional rules of permitting non-legendary leaders for your deck. And Major props to all the PDH players out there who DO use Legendary creatures as their PDH Commander! That''s just totally awesome and interesting deck-building!!
Great to see some PDH representation. I'd never heard of Blistercoil Weird, but it totally seems like an awesome card to build around. Crackling Drake, Spellheart Chimera and Wee Dragonauts are some of the bigger Izzet spellslinger commanders, but breaking away from the mold and building around a card you like is what makes this format so great, so excellent pick. My two PDH decks have held their own at normal EDH tables many times. I decided to build Fynn as a fun challenge, and I feel like people can only get so mad at an infect deck if it's all commons. My other deck is Bruenor dwarf tribal/pseudo voltron, born largely out of my love for fantasy dwarves. Anyway, it's a great format that I'd love to see get more attention, so thanks for making a video on it!
The true board wipes are pyrohemia, pestilence, and crypt rats. You need to plan in some way to get around your opponents' stuff. Invokers can translate big mana into win conditions, infinite combos exist (mystic sanctuary is a common!) Gary, merchant of asphodel becomes crazy if your board is clogged up, etc... Also, starting life is 30 and commander damage is 16, from what I understand
It leads to a different metagame where building a board has long term meaning, and picking what to use spot removal on is a very important choice. The majority of "wipes" deal with 2 toughness creatures, and very few have the potential to actually wipe the board. It doesn't really make things rough, it just changes the dynamics of the game and deckbuilding. I for one enjoy the more meaningful board growth aspect of it. Also, since combos are so strong in the format, not having access to efficient global wipes makes things more balanced for aggro and midrange lists.
I want to clarify that while it is *usually* lower power decks on pauper mostly since people try building around the probably thousands of commons they have lying around or are on the bargain bins at LGS, it is quite possible to build *REALLY* powerful PDH in fact, some of them able to go toe to toe with the fast mana environment of cEDH even: A friend built a Dargo mono red PDH deck (Partner was Rograkh, again just there to basically speed up Dargo even more from the command zone) that could at times, win turn 2 or 3 it was *that* fast and powerful. Of course being papuer and without access to fast mana other than fairly suicidal methods, it can easily be handled with removal on the opening hand so once you survive the first few turns he ran out of gas but it was still something that should make people think twice about just assuming pauper decks are inherently lower power: they can be but once tuned and adhering to a solid plan, they can be as strong as almost any EDH deck.
I've got a Gilder Bairn counters deck that get's out of hand very quickly due to the wording on the card. It has an untap ability that basically says to double the amount of counters on target card.
so true and sad, same time. I also build like 12 decks now. A lot of heart blood inside and so rare moments where enough people wants to play. Most fun is building decks. My last Commander named Gelectrode is most funny deck at all :D greetz
Hey EDH Deck Building, I just watched your video on your top removal spells and thought I’d have a better chance at getting a response here but I was wondering what your opinion is on unexplained absence, a new white removal spell from murder at karlov manor
I play it and to me it's so much fun. Actually feels like playing magic instead of turn 3 or 4 combo. Plus the rule zero conversation isn't a thing because pauper has a power level ceiling
@@jeffreylong1478 why not? Am I missing the rules or something? I thought you could have any creature that was printed at uncommon rarity, it doesn't have to be legendary or anything
An archaeomancer or ardenn elementalist (i think it's called that) can let you loop banishing knack and the other one since you can keep bouncing them to get the bounce spells back.
I love pauper edh. Two of my favorites are Attended Healer and Kulrath Knight. Attended Healer is all about getting lifegain triggers on every player's turn to get a ton of cat tokens, and Kulrath Knight is a rakdos control deck that uses counters to lock down your opponent's creatures. I run stuff like Cannibalize and Weapon Rack because even giving them +1 counters is useful while Kulrath Knight is out. I also run a 5 color Sliver deck with Dragonsoul Knight or Paragon of the Amesha as swappable commanders. I run stuff like Amoeboid Changeling and Volatile Claws so you can surprise someone by making your commander a sliver and giving them a ton of sliver buffs and keywords.
Since commander variants are already a thing, can we have one which bans all universes beyond and all pre-con only prints? Gotta play with cards that were ostensibly printed for other formats :)
Honestly i'm a bit of a degenerate when it comes to pEDH. I'm sort of the opinion of "its cheap af" and since the 1v1 format is more or less the same as the free for all, i might aswell just try and make the most powerful deck i can (within reason). I'm a big fan of either League Guildmage or Izzet Guildmage when it comes to izzet. The Value potential and "card advantage" is silly. You're also in great control colours, with strong combo finnishers (Dramatic reversal is a busted common, which goes infinate with a few mana rocks with any of these commanders). For the Izzet guildmage, any lightning bolt becomes a win condition when you go infinate (either through dramatic reversal or any blink combo with either cloud of faeries or Peregrine Drake) and for the league guildmage you can use any X spell or just blink recur compulsive research (or similar) by blinking an archeomancer (or similar effect) and force your opponent to draw 500 cards. Or mill them out with Stream of Thought. Honestly the format is quite powerful and fun. There's several busted commander options like - Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward (want do have an archeomancer/Ardent Elementalist, any blink spell and a mana rock that can cast said blink spell? oh wait, now you have infinate 1/1s) - Puresight Merrow, control colors? card selection? infinate bounce combos with Banishing Knack (or one of its reprints) and cloud of faeries/peregrine drake (you need a cost reducer or a Azorius Chancery as well). - Koll, the Forgemaster. How could this thing ever be broken? Oh wait, there's a lot of 0 cost creatures in pauper? like Ornithopter, phyrexian walker, Crimson Kobolds, Kobolds of Kher Keep, Crookshank Kobolds. Now if there only was a good sacrefice outlet for pauper.. Oh wait ashnods altar is a common? Seems fair.. Well atleast there's no chance to do anything with infinate mana... But even if you don't go fully competative pauper EDH, there's a lot of fun to be had. And is cheap!!!
that's all we've been playing for a month. i've got a great Vampire Nighthawk enchantment deck full of cards to voltron up or for opponent creatures like dead weight or mire's grasp. my main baby is oji the exquisite blade deck full of creature etb's. once engine is going i'm blinking tome raider/spirited companion, , heliod's pilgrim, peregrine drake, stonehorn dignitary, archaeomancer etc for, draw and removal on a stick
Since Sultai doesn't have anything remotely good, i would go with a jund Mr.Orfeo. lots of ramp in green is common, and Jund have some good infect creatures to get someone by surprise
I've given PDH a go, and my favourite build was Juri, Master of the Revue - there's a lot of sac-lands and weird, old, inefficient, fun cards (Coils of the Medusa springs to mind) - looking for difficult ways to squeeze some extra juice out of your commander was a hoot. 30 life and 16 commander damage also makes a difference in the format 😁
Pauper edh seems criminally underrated to me. I've built a few decks and played them just a little but already the format seems amazing. To me it is an imperfect but very fun solution to the continuous problems with the commander format as an environment expected to police itself. I am fatigued with seeing the same 60 staples plus a top 100 commander decks over and over and this is certainly a novel solution to that problem.
I actually have some normal edh decks that are also quasi pauper edh decks. I normally play in my edh casual decks with max 5 rare or mythic rare cards, and After switching 10 cards they make fine pdh decks
I must say I did not love PEDH. Same as you built two decks around non-legendary creatures (Nacatl War Pride and Lazotep Chancellor), and they were very fun to build. However, since there are no board wipes in PEDH I just couldn't compete vs a go-wide or token strategy :( Also the table clutters and the game is slower since often there are no good attacks. Give it a try though, would be nice to hear your thoughs on the PEDH gameplay.
I would've liked pauper edh if they didnt just randomly change the rules to make it any uncommon creature - makes it feel more like rule0/unset commander than budget commander.
It's not random. Being able to run any uncommon creature opens up the format to be something different than just a powered down EDH format, and allows for interesting new brews and strategies. When the format was created there weren't nearly enough uncommon legendaries to make a diverse metagame, and now the benefits of running any uncommon creature in the command zone are visible in the health of the metagame. You can build exclusively with legendary uncommons, I have a friend who does that, and that's ok too.
MUCH agreed on this! There are now HUNDREDS (currently 349, to be precise) of awesome Uncommon Legendary creatures (especially in the last few years) that players can build PDH decks around. If they just change that one rule, I'd respect the format more as what its name claims to be: Pauper *Commander*. And Major props to all the PDH players who DO build around Legendary Uncommon Creatures! I would happily play any Commander game with them with the utmost respect! But if someone tried to sit down & play at a commander table with me and claimed their commander was any non-legendary uncommon creature, that just doesn't go well with me, as I sure would love to NOT have that restriction in my deck-building as well. It's a great format! But currently I don't see it as PDH. Just non-legendary uncommon creature-led 100-card singleton.
I play Sludge Strider as my commander, He is a 4 drop 1WUB artifact creature that has Whenever an artifact enters or leaves the battlefield, you may pay 1. If you do, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. Esper Eggs.
I had two uncommon commanders that I briefly swapped to PDH. Araumi the Dead Tide and Tor Wauki, the Younger. I say briefly, because PDH really sucks. If you look like Archenemy, you get steamrolled, because you don't have enough of anything to defend yourself. I don't mind being the enemy, but I want at least a fighting chance when that happens
When I wanted to get my playgroup on board, I made it the "PDH challenge", where everyone could build only one deck, and I'd just say which color combination my deck was gonna be. I then made a pinned post with everyone's revealed deck colors to build up hype. We had a few weeks to finalize and order our lists, and when we got to play it was this big reveal of what everyone had built. The excitment for the format started with the commander reveals, and the matches were super fun and engaging. Maybe that could work for you!
That was not the case when the format was created, and allowing any uncommon creature allows the format to have its own identity and not just be a watered down EDH format. Cards like Third Path Iconoclast, Loyal Subordinate and Dragon's Rage Channeler are great examples of interesting and unique builds that shape the format's metagame in a specific way. Besides if it bothers you, you can build exclusively with legendary uncommons, I have a friend who does that, and that's ok too.
Fully agree with you! WotC has created HUNDREDS of uncommon legendary creatures since the creation of the (mis-named) PDH format! (and if they fix this rule, then yes it is indeed true PDH).
Not me. Rhystic studies, mana drains, cyc rifts, sylvan library's, and one rings for all! Oh, and dockside. And bowmasters. And sheoldred. You get the idea.
While I *LOVE* the idea of PDH, I think it's time to take the "Training Wheels" off and no longer allow non-legendary creatures to be their commander. When PreDH was a thing (EDH up to late 2011), they had nearly the same number of legendary creatures available back then as there are UNCOMMON legendary creatures nowadays. I get that Pauper EDH needed these "non-legendary training wheels" for a while, as there weren't that many Uncommon Legendary creatures back in the day, but especially in recent years, the number of Uncommon Legendaries has nearly caught up to how many RARE (& Mythic) Legendaries existed in Magic history in 2011. Time to take the training wheels off. If you want to use the name "Commander" as part of your format name, then make your commander an Uncommon legendary. Otherwise, call it a different (very cool!) singleton format. Of course, all the replies will be: Too bad, the format already has a name, so it's never gonna change. I get that. But in the spirit of EDH & Commander, go legendary, or stop kidding yourself that it's Commander. Otherwise, why can't I also just make my commander an Enchantment, or an Artifact, or any Land, or any.....? You get the point.
Why do you consider that training wheels? Being able to run any uncommon creature opens up the format to be something different than just a powered down EDH format, and allows for interesting new brews and strategies. The benefits of running any uncommon creature in the command zone are visible in the health of the metagame with very unique and interesting decks that couldn't exist in regular EDH. I was in the same camp when I started, but seeing the diversity enable by non-legendary commanders really opened up my eyes to how rich the rule allows the format to be. Besides, you can build exclusively with legendary uncommons, I have a friend who does that, and that's ok too.
@@Vektor480 If there were hundreds of legit, worthy Uncommon Legendary creatures in existence back when PDH was invented, like there currently are now, then they never would have made the rule of "any uncommon creature is OK" or they would have named it something else. Don't get me wrong: The format is still very cool. Just currently misnamed. The powered-down format you speak of was exactly what "real" EDH/Commander was in 2011. The current pool of uncommon, worthy-to-use-as-commander creatures right now is a better pool of all "real" commanders available in 2011, by far.
@@Vektor480 Also, then why not just open up all commander to all creatures of any rarity, legendary or not. It's just against the theme of the original format of having a famous, legendary personality in the game leading your forces to battle against 3 other such rivals.
@@timothyvandenberg2905 it seems your statement is guided by nothing but the notion that a "commander" must be legendary. My comment is based around the identity of the format, deck variety and its own meta. Why limit itself to something just because "this is how it'd have been in 2011"? Why not allow things to be different and evolve? If anything, just to entertain your point, Tenth District Legionnaire is a non-legendary uncommon creature with a story and a name. Search scryfall for "tenth district" and see how Mileva has evolved throughout the game's history. Why can't she be a commander? She has a story and a name, but she's uncommon and not legendary. We can expand that to other creatures, and make our stories for them. Why limit our views and perspectives? Being creative is one of the main reasons to play this game.
@@Vektor480 Historically, EDH/Commander uses a legendary creature as it's commander, since the format's original inception in the late 90's/early 2000's, by definition, as a format, and as described by the late Sheldon Mennery himself, godfather of Commander. If we're going to call something Commander, then let's stick with that original, format-defining rule. That's why I'm guided by the notion that a commander must be legendary. I'm happy that Pauper Commander (PDH) has been an amazing, creative & fun format for all these years, propped up by its very real need to permit non-legendary uncommon creatures as commanders. But there are now *hundreds* of legit, fun, uncommon Legendary creatures available now as commander options. I'm just suggesting that the format get back to what it wished it was at its very inception, and that is a Pauper version of actual Commander, which requires a legendary creature as a commander. By all means, enjoy PDH as is. PDH is an amazing, fun format. But it's not Commander. It's Uncommon Creature-led singleton.
I'd recommend a rule 0 ban on Invisible Stalker as a commander. It has innate Hexproof and Unblockable, so you can't block it and you can't remove it plus there's no board wipes in pauper. It's in blue as well so you can just counter anything that could stop it as well. Just my own experience. You do you.
Edicts are pretty strong against voltron strategies, and the blue deck would need to add extra bodies just to survive those. Either that or counter every single edict, which isn't necessarily feasible. Stalker could be a strong deck for sure, but I don't see it as such a threat that warrants a ban. The deck has no participation in the competitive scene at all, so it's pretty under control.
@@Vektor480 That's true. I don't know how many people play edicts in pauper EDH. Doesn't necessarily warrant a ban, but it was a precautionary statement. If you're not prepared, you could just be watching one person slowly kill everyone, which is just a waste of time.
@@Dev.L yeah, that's true. That card can be scary, but what I meant to say was that there are answers in the format for it. PDH has a lot of options in its card pool to handle different strategies, but Voltron can indeed be scary.
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Pauper EDH decks can be a lot of fun in a regular EDH pod - telling people your deck is all commons basically makes you immune to interaction for like 5 turns lol
My minthara deck has had up really well, Vs regular edh decks. typically I find that the biggest issue is draw.
Until the nerds form the meta and it's still the same bs but now your deck sucks and you can't do shit about the combos
I mean I pulled a lot of agro when trying my PEDH deck
Some people just don't like infect, weirdos.
Finally, a format that allows me to play Charforger without Rule 0.
Our playgroup made a few pauper decks, but we realized that we were going for the same cards over and over. So it was refreshing at first, but we soon abandoned it.
Currently introducing magic to several friends at once, and Pauper Commander is absolutely the top pick for learning on a low budget.
Honestly the fact that its both cheap and much simpler than regular edh SHOULD make it the best way to start.
Yesssssss
PDH is such a cool format for both playing and deck building. Lots of random creatures that would never see the light of day outside of draft are suddenly interesting includes or commanders, for example the “Partner With” creatures from Battlebond can make a partner commander pair or maybe there’s a goofy old magic card that you love and just want to see it in the command zone. Highly recommend people look into it.
Rather than a limitation, it really opens the door to many great uncommon legendaries. Plus it makes a great use of all your draft chaff.
Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora are only banned if the pdh game’s more than a 1v1, but in 1v1s they have Oubliette, Loyal Apprentice and Agent of the Shadow Thieves banned
This was cool! I’d love to see more videos about PDH.
I can feel a Lim-Dul's Paladin build coming on....
finally!!
In this economy, all EDH is pauper EDH.
Me and a friend tried for a little while to get people to play PDH: I have one fully built Mono-White pauper deck (Abdel + Far Traveler blink deck) and was planning a couple more (A Crime Novelist deck and possibly a Slimes Against Humanity deck) My friend did fnish I think 2 or 3 different Pauper Decks and was planning on several more too.
The issue is that well...We just got one other player, out of a group that was up to 8 or 9 players at that time, to build a PDH deck. Nobody else did. Most people for different reasons but I think the most fundamental issue is that a lot of people really seem to enjoy *playing* commander far more than deck building, so if you give them ANY constrain at all, let alone a severe one like PDH, they just mentally check out.
The average commander player *isn't* a diehard deck builder like me and my friend (We both have like close to 20 decks each, always building more, etc.) Or very enthusiastic (The one other friend that only has a couple decks but you can tell is due to budget and not lack of interest so they ran with the idea of an inherently-lower-budget option) but most of the table are people that have a couple of decks (2-3 main decks, maybe 2-3 more they're developing again very, *very* slowly over months) so once they find a formula they like and that's also a good performer well, you're not gonna get the to play anything else: Not Standard or Draft, certainly not expensive formats like Modern or Pioneer and even a restrictive format even if it's technically still commander like PDH (Or Brawl or Oathbreaker) is out of the question.
The best solution for this is making a battlebox yourself. Since you have a deck built and was looking at a second one, while your friend already has 2-3 decks, just bring the 4 decks to your LGS and see if anyone wants to try a pod of PDH with borrowed decks. Once people get a taste of the format without having to put in any effort, you'll be much more likely to get a playgroup. The format really has a lot of offer and feels like a breath of fresh air, it's not for everyone, but for the ones that like it, it can be addicting!
I have several Pauper Commander decks, but all mine use legendary uncommon commanders. I think its even more interesting and flavorful that way, maybe a little closer to the actual commander format.
I completely agree with you! PDH has enough Uncommon Legendary creatures available now that the "any uncommon legendary creature" rule just isn't relevant any more! Way to go! :)
It has the advantage of making it legal in both formats
plus you can use it in normal edh pods as well without rule 0
Also Blistercoil Weird is an interesting choice: the usual Izzet spellslinger commander of choice on PDH would be Third Path Iconoclast since it supplements the usually higher cost of casting instants and sorceries in pauper (Not without exceptions but compared to regular EDH at least) with a token-go-wide strategy to both defends and punch through once its done interacting and doing some damage as well but Bistercoil Weird has interesting possibilities as well I'm curious to see how it would work out.
FINALLY you're talking about PDH! I've thought you'd like this format for ages, and I'm really glad you dipped your toes into it and made a video, promoting it to an even larger audience. I'm a huge fan of PDH and my playgroup often balances it with regular EDH on our play sessions. It brings a more low to the ground, traditional magic style that we all craved after the ramp in power of regular EDH. Board states are more meaningful, building resources through multiple turns is more valuable, and small synergies and plays pay off in the long run. It's a great format and a breath of fresh air for sure, with its whole competitive and casual metas.
You can also have extremely strong PDH decks, Gretchen Titchwillow or Malcolm Keddis can go infinite very early in a game. A very underrated format with more interaction and violence.
Awesome format, very fun!
Blistercoil Weird is probably going to be the much better deck over Necrotic Sliver. Removal being almost exclusively targeted makes it hard to get away with blowing stuff up all the time, so there's a pretty high "noise" rating on the Necrotic Sliver deck that's going to make it harder to win with.
Also, Pauper Commander is the only format I play anymore, other than pre-modern. People can talk about "Turn 0" or talking about the power level before playing EDH all they want, literally nobody who makes that conversation necessary is willing to actually abide by that. They will just lie about how powerful their deck is, and PDH is basically the only way to actually enforce people not playing cEDH.
I always build my PEDH decks with a legendary uncommon creature as a commander (even if it has a background I use uncommon/common backgrounds only) so I can playing with them in my pod of people who not as enthusiastic as me to build some of that strange, nearly janky stuff in their opinion.
We play with a 150$ limit of estimated deck costs (excluding price of basic lands and general(s)) and official EDH ban list with some inclusions to play comfortably within 150$ budget
And playing this way without decks full of expensive staples and stuff is quite interesting, but PEDH is more fun than that.
I tried 4 player pDH, I dislike it but 1v1 pDH with my brother or best friend with only card in our collection is fun and free :)
there is also a whole competitive scene for pauper commander.
theres this Lore Drakkis deck that i've been wanting to try out, but since i was already building a normal edh variant with Vadrok i dont seem to find use to build the pauper variant anymore
I do. I have a Halsin+Guild Artisan tokens deck. I like pDH but you need to be prepared for a potentially long game.
Original (old school, pre-June 2011) EDH only had 443 Legendary creatures and 11,509 cards (of any rarity) from which to build EDH decks before the format was renamed "Commander" in June 2011 by WotC (i.e., the PreDH format). Today's Pauper Commander (PDH) format now has a very quickly rising 349 Uncommon Legendary Creatures and 9,091 legal commons from which decks can currently be built (at time of this posting). I'm seeing little-to-no reason for the PDH format to continue down the path of permitting *ANY* non-legendary Uncommon creature as commander, as the legal *LEGENDARY* options are quickly approaching the PreDH numbers of 443 (modern sets are printing about 8 to 10 new Uncommon Legendary creatures per set, so in a couple years, this number will likely exceed PreDH's 443 commander options). If a format wants to be named *after* another format, with the super cool budgetary limitation of Commons-only in the 99 and an Uncommon creature as its commander, then it's time to catch up with the modern reality that there are now enough options of Legendary Uncommon Creatures out there to join with the rest of the Commander community and require your format's commander to be an uncommon *Legendary* creature. Otherwise, rename your format to "Uncommon Creature-led 100-card singleton" and save the title "Pauper Commander" for those who want to play actual Commander with Pauper rules of commons-only cards in the 99. There's just no need any longer (or at least not for very much longer) for additional rules of permitting non-legendary leaders for your deck. And Major props to all the PDH players out there who DO use Legendary creatures as their PDH Commander! That''s just totally awesome and interesting deck-building!!
Great to see some PDH representation. I'd never heard of Blistercoil Weird, but it totally seems like an awesome card to build around. Crackling Drake, Spellheart Chimera and Wee Dragonauts are some of the bigger Izzet spellslinger commanders, but breaking away from the mold and building around a card you like is what makes this format so great, so excellent pick.
My two PDH decks have held their own at normal EDH tables many times. I decided to build Fynn as a fun challenge, and I feel like people can only get so mad at an infect deck if it's all commons. My other deck is Bruenor dwarf tribal/pseudo voltron, born largely out of my love for fantasy dwarves. Anyway, it's a great format that I'd love to see get more attention, so thanks for making a video on it!
I've heard pauper commander is rough because of the shortage of board wipes.
The true board wipes are pyrohemia, pestilence, and crypt rats. You need to plan in some way to get around your opponents' stuff. Invokers can translate big mana into win conditions, infinite combos exist (mystic sanctuary is a common!) Gary, merchant of asphodel becomes crazy if your board is clogged up, etc... Also, starting life is 30 and commander damage is 16, from what I understand
It leads to a different metagame where building a board has long term meaning, and picking what to use spot removal on is a very important choice. The majority of "wipes" deal with 2 toughness creatures, and very few have the potential to actually wipe the board. It doesn't really make things rough, it just changes the dynamics of the game and deckbuilding. I for one enjoy the more meaningful board growth aspect of it. Also, since combos are so strong in the format, not having access to efficient global wipes makes things more balanced for aggro and midrange lists.
I love lower power mtg.
Pauper commander is the only way I can play anything near my power level of choice with people at an LGS.
I want to clarify that while it is *usually* lower power decks on pauper mostly since people try building around the probably thousands of commons they have lying around or are on the bargain bins at LGS, it is quite possible to build *REALLY* powerful PDH in fact, some of them able to go toe to toe with the fast mana environment of cEDH even: A friend built a Dargo mono red PDH deck (Partner was Rograkh, again just there to basically speed up Dargo even more from the command zone) that could at times, win turn 2 or 3 it was *that* fast and powerful. Of course being papuer and without access to fast mana other than fairly suicidal methods, it can easily be handled with removal on the opening hand so once you survive the first few turns he ran out of gas but it was still something that should make people think twice about just assuming pauper decks are inherently lower power: they can be but once tuned and adhering to a solid plan, they can be as strong as almost any EDH deck.
Wait so Rhystic study was common once...
yup! bought 4 copies for 25-cents each at my LGS back in the day! True story!
I've got a Gilder Bairn counters deck that get's out of hand very quickly due to the wording on the card. It has an untap ability that basically says to double the amount of counters on target card.
I have built several decks and I love the format but not enough people play it
so true and sad, same time.
I also build like 12 decks now. A lot of heart blood inside and so rare moments where enough people wants to play.
Most fun is building decks. My last Commander named Gelectrode is most funny deck at all :D greetz
PDH is an absolute blast. I’m currently working on an Infesting Radroach Voltron deck to give my opponents rad counters for days
I love this format. The first 2 decks I made were ravonous squirrel and indulgent aristocrat
Hey EDH Deck Building, I just watched your video on your top removal spells and thought I’d have a better chance at getting a response here but I was wondering what your opinion is on unexplained absence, a new white removal spell from murder at karlov manor
I play it and to me it's so much fun. Actually feels like playing magic instead of turn 3 or 4 combo. Plus the rule zero conversation isn't a thing because pauper has a power level ceiling
Id love to direct you to more pauper. This is a quite large community.
No... too pricy.
You're telling me i can have an Angel of Despair edh deck? Heck yes
Afraid not
@@jeffreylong1478 why not? Am I missing the rules or something? I thought you could have any creature that was printed at uncommon rarity, it doesn't have to be legendary or anything
@@Level_1_Frog
The commander has to be uncommon, AoD is a rare
@@jeffreylong1478 but it was printed as uncommon in Ultimate Masters- does it have to have ALWAYS been an uncommon? Surely not right?
It’s legal as a pdh commander. It has been printed at uncommon rarity before
An archaeomancer or ardenn elementalist (i think it's called that) can let you loop banishing knack and the other one since you can keep bouncing them to get the bounce spells back.
Built a deck for every duo-color combination and put them together as a Commander Battlebox. Always great for some casual fun.
It can be fun when everyone in your store wants to play cedh and you just want to have a budget game.
Gives a lot of creatures some play time in the format. Great stuff!
Just made a pEDH deck im so excited to play it at my LGS and see if I can get some wins
I love pauper edh. Two of my favorites are Attended Healer and Kulrath Knight. Attended Healer is all about getting lifegain triggers on every player's turn to get a ton of cat tokens, and Kulrath Knight is a rakdos control deck that uses counters to lock down your opponent's creatures. I run stuff like Cannibalize and Weapon Rack because even giving them +1 counters is useful while Kulrath Knight is out. I also run a 5 color Sliver deck with Dragonsoul Knight or Paragon of the Amesha as swappable commanders. I run stuff like Amoeboid Changeling and Volatile Claws so you can surprise someone by making your commander a sliver and giving them a ton of sliver buffs and keywords.
Herd baloth is a great pauper commander. Easy to pilot too.
I love pauper edh!
More pauper content would be great
Since commander variants are already a thing, can we have one which bans all universes beyond and all pre-con only prints? Gotta play with cards that were ostensibly printed for other formats :)
Honestly i'm a bit of a degenerate when it comes to pEDH. I'm sort of the opinion of "its cheap af" and since the 1v1 format is more or less the same as the free for all, i might aswell just try and make the most powerful deck i can (within reason). I'm a big fan of either League Guildmage or Izzet Guildmage when it comes to izzet. The Value potential and "card advantage" is silly. You're also in great control colours, with strong combo finnishers (Dramatic reversal is a busted common, which goes infinate with a few mana rocks with any of these commanders). For the Izzet guildmage, any lightning bolt becomes a win condition when you go infinate (either through dramatic reversal or any blink combo with either cloud of faeries or Peregrine Drake) and for the league guildmage you can use any X spell or just blink recur compulsive research (or similar) by blinking an archeomancer (or similar effect) and force your opponent to draw 500 cards. Or mill them out with Stream of Thought. Honestly the format is quite powerful and fun.
There's several busted commander options like
- Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward (want do have an archeomancer/Ardent Elementalist, any blink spell and a mana rock that can cast said blink spell? oh wait, now you have infinate 1/1s)
- Puresight Merrow, control colors? card selection? infinate bounce combos with Banishing Knack (or one of its reprints) and cloud of faeries/peregrine drake (you need a cost reducer or a Azorius Chancery as well).
- Koll, the Forgemaster. How could this thing ever be broken? Oh wait, there's a lot of 0 cost creatures in pauper? like Ornithopter, phyrexian walker, Crimson Kobolds, Kobolds of Kher Keep, Crookshank Kobolds. Now if there only was a good sacrefice outlet for pauper.. Oh wait ashnods altar is a common? Seems fair.. Well atleast there's no chance to do anything with infinate mana...
But even if you don't go fully competative pauper EDH, there's a lot of fun to be had. And is cheap!!!
that's all we've been playing for a month. i've got a great Vampire Nighthawk enchantment deck full of cards to voltron up or for opponent creatures like dead weight or mire's grasp. my main baby is oji the exquisite blade deck full of creature etb's. once engine is going i'm blinking tome raider/spirited companion, , heliod's pilgrim, peregrine drake, stonehorn dignitary, archaeomancer etc for, draw and removal on a stick
I've got a few pdh decks kicking around, and although I don't play much, 2 of them are commander legal and just play as lower power budget decks.
Since Sultai doesn't have anything remotely good, i would go with a jund Mr.Orfeo. lots of ramp in green is common, and Jund have some good infect creatures to get someone by surprise
I've given PDH a go, and my favourite build was Juri, Master of the Revue - there's a lot of sac-lands and weird, old, inefficient, fun cards (Coils of the Medusa springs to mind) - looking for difficult ways to squeeze some extra juice out of your commander was a hoot. 30 life and 16 commander damage also makes a difference in the format 😁
I play pauper EDH since around 2015 but we pivoted to pauper brawl (unco planswalker and 60 card decks), we have more fun like this :)
How strong are combo decks in this format? 60 cards sounds like a dangerous territory for combo to dominate with how strong combo already is in cPDH
This is funny cause we was playing this exact same type of commander before COVID ~ kills me people just now realzing this was a thing ~
Even better is artisan edh
What is Artisan EDH? Links for more info?
@@timothyvandenberg2905 it's like Pauper edh, but your commander has to be a legendary creature that's uncommon. Also it has a ban list
@@gogaschnitzel3222 Aweesome! Thank you!
Pauper edh seems criminally underrated to me. I've built a few decks and played them just a little but already the format seems amazing. To me it is an imperfect but very fun solution to the continuous problems with the commander format as an environment expected to police itself. I am fatigued with seeing the same 60 staples plus a top 100 commander decks over and over and this is certainly a novel solution to that problem.
I actually have some normal edh decks that are also quasi pauper edh decks. I normally play in my edh casual decks with max 5 rare or mythic rare cards, and After switching 10 cards they make fine pdh decks
working on one right now
I must say I did not love PEDH. Same as you built two decks around non-legendary creatures (Nacatl War Pride and Lazotep Chancellor), and they were very fun to build. However, since there are no board wipes in PEDH I just couldn't compete vs a go-wide or token strategy :( Also the table clutters and the game is slower since often there are no good attacks. Give it a try though, would be nice to hear your thoughs on the PEDH gameplay.
I would've liked pauper edh if they didnt just randomly change the rules to make it any uncommon creature - makes it feel more like rule0/unset commander than budget commander.
It's not random. Being able to run any uncommon creature opens up the format to be something different than just a powered down EDH format, and allows for interesting new brews and strategies. When the format was created there weren't nearly enough uncommon legendaries to make a diverse metagame, and now the benefits of running any uncommon creature in the command zone are visible in the health of the metagame. You can build exclusively with legendary uncommons, I have a friend who does that, and that's ok too.
MUCH agreed on this! There are now HUNDREDS (currently 349, to be precise) of awesome Uncommon Legendary creatures (especially in the last few years) that players can build PDH decks around. If they just change that one rule, I'd respect the format more as what its name claims to be: Pauper *Commander*. And Major props to all the PDH players who DO build around Legendary Uncommon Creatures! I would happily play any Commander game with them with the utmost respect! But if someone tried to sit down & play at a commander table with me and claimed their commander was any non-legendary uncommon creature, that just doesn't go well with me, as I sure would love to NOT have that restriction in my deck-building as well. It's a great format! But currently I don't see it as PDH. Just non-legendary uncommon creature-led 100-card singleton.
Do more pauper. Looks like we had similar ideas for clistercoil weird.
Does Pauper EDH allow uncommon planeswalkers from War of the Spork? If not, it should!
I play Sludge Strider as my commander, He is a 4 drop 1WUB artifact creature that has
Whenever an artifact enters or leaves the battlefield, you may pay 1. If you do, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Esper Eggs.
You mentioned tatyova but I've heard more about Gretchen titchwillow being an all-star right now. At least in the competitive pdh scene.
Blistercoil Weird only gets pumped til end of turn.
I had two uncommon commanders that I briefly swapped to PDH.
Araumi the Dead Tide and Tor Wauki, the Younger.
I say briefly, because PDH really sucks. If you look like Archenemy, you get steamrolled, because you don't have enough of anything to defend yourself.
I don't mind being the enemy, but I want at least a fighting chance when that happens
I have 4 pedh decks but can’t get my group to build there decks
When I wanted to get my playgroup on board, I made it the "PDH challenge", where everyone could build only one deck, and I'd just say which color combination my deck was gonna be. I then made a pinned post with everyone's revealed deck colors to build up hype. We had a few weeks to finalize and order our lists, and when we got to play it was this big reveal of what everyone had built. The excitment for the format started with the commander reveals, and the matches were super fun and engaging. Maybe that could work for you!
I made some popper decks. They were pretty good.
What does restricted mean?
In other formats it means you can only run one copy but in a singleton format?
there's no such thing as restricted in commander.
@edhdeckbuilding in pauper commander uncomns are restricted
@@Breviparopus pretty sure you can only play commons
@edhdeckbuilding they are restricted in pauper commander meaning they can only be your commander
@@Breviparopus so now you're answering your own question?
Sounds like tiny leaders on steroids.
Nivmagus elemental is really cool
Tatyova is a great pauper commander
I love blistercoil weird!!!
Crackling Drake > Blistering weird
Start at 30 life and 16 commander damage
❤
Me.
i do
could be fun
“Non”-Legendary uncommons should NOT be allowed in my opinion. There’s plenty of options with legendary only.
That was not the case when the format was created, and allowing any uncommon creature allows the format to have its own identity and not just be a watered down EDH format. Cards like Third Path Iconoclast, Loyal Subordinate and Dragon's Rage Channeler are great examples of interesting and unique builds that shape the format's metagame in a specific way. Besides if it bothers you, you can build exclusively with legendary uncommons, I have a friend who does that, and that's ok too.
Fully agree with you! WotC has created HUNDREDS of uncommon legendary creatures since the creation of the (mis-named) PDH format! (and if they fix this rule, then yes it is indeed true PDH).
Not me. Rhystic studies, mana drains, cyc rifts, sylvan library's, and one rings for all! Oh, and dockside. And bowmasters. And sheoldred. You get the idea.
Move over cedh, THIS is what peak commander gameplay looks like.
I am!
not me
Brokies, thats who.
More pedh content plz!! It's a deck builders paradise!!
While I *LOVE* the idea of PDH, I think it's time to take the "Training Wheels" off and no longer allow non-legendary creatures to be their commander. When PreDH was a thing (EDH up to late 2011), they had nearly the same number of legendary creatures available back then as there are UNCOMMON legendary creatures nowadays. I get that Pauper EDH needed these "non-legendary training wheels" for a while, as there weren't that many Uncommon Legendary creatures back in the day, but especially in recent years, the number of Uncommon Legendaries has nearly caught up to how many RARE (& Mythic) Legendaries existed in Magic history in 2011. Time to take the training wheels off. If you want to use the name "Commander" as part of your format name, then make your commander an Uncommon legendary. Otherwise, call it a different (very cool!) singleton format. Of course, all the replies will be: Too bad, the format already has a name, so it's never gonna change. I get that. But in the spirit of EDH & Commander, go legendary, or stop kidding yourself that it's Commander. Otherwise, why can't I also just make my commander an Enchantment, or an Artifact, or any Land, or any.....? You get the point.
Why do you consider that training wheels? Being able to run any uncommon creature opens up the format to be something different than just a powered down EDH format, and allows for interesting new brews and strategies. The benefits of running any uncommon creature in the command zone are visible in the health of the metagame with very unique and interesting decks that couldn't exist in regular EDH. I was in the same camp when I started, but seeing the diversity enable by non-legendary commanders really opened up my eyes to how rich the rule allows the format to be. Besides, you can build exclusively with legendary uncommons, I have a friend who does that, and that's ok too.
@@Vektor480 If there were hundreds of legit, worthy Uncommon Legendary creatures in existence back when PDH was invented, like there currently are now, then they never would have made the rule of "any uncommon creature is OK" or they would have named it something else. Don't get me wrong: The format is still very cool. Just currently misnamed. The powered-down format you speak of was exactly what "real" EDH/Commander was in 2011. The current pool of uncommon, worthy-to-use-as-commander creatures right now is a better pool of all "real" commanders available in 2011, by far.
@@Vektor480 Also, then why not just open up all commander to all creatures of any rarity, legendary or not. It's just against the theme of the original format of having a famous, legendary personality in the game leading your forces to battle against 3 other such rivals.
@@timothyvandenberg2905 it seems your statement is guided by nothing but the notion that a "commander" must be legendary. My comment is based around the identity of the format, deck variety and its own meta. Why limit itself to something just because "this is how it'd have been in 2011"? Why not allow things to be different and evolve?
If anything, just to entertain your point, Tenth District Legionnaire is a non-legendary uncommon creature with a story and a name. Search scryfall for "tenth district" and see how Mileva has evolved throughout the game's history. Why can't she be a commander? She has a story and a name, but she's uncommon and not legendary. We can expand that to other creatures, and make our stories for them. Why limit our views and perspectives? Being creative is one of the main reasons to play this game.
@@Vektor480 Historically, EDH/Commander uses a legendary creature as it's commander, since the format's original inception in the late 90's/early 2000's, by definition, as a format, and as described by the late Sheldon Mennery himself, godfather of Commander. If we're going to call something Commander, then let's stick with that original, format-defining rule. That's why I'm guided by the notion that a commander must be legendary. I'm happy that Pauper Commander (PDH) has been an amazing, creative & fun format for all these years, propped up by its very real need to permit non-legendary uncommon creatures as commanders. But there are now *hundreds* of legit, fun, uncommon Legendary creatures available now as commander options. I'm just suggesting that the format get back to what it wished it was at its very inception, and that is a Pauper version of actual Commander, which requires a legendary creature as a commander. By all means, enjoy PDH as is. PDH is an amazing, fun format. But it's not Commander. It's Uncommon Creature-led singleton.
I'd recommend a rule 0 ban on Invisible Stalker as a commander. It has innate Hexproof and Unblockable, so you can't block it and you can't remove it plus there's no board wipes in pauper. It's in blue as well so you can just counter anything that could stop it as well.
Just my own experience. You do you.
Eww
Edicts are pretty strong against voltron strategies, and the blue deck would need to add extra bodies just to survive those. Either that or counter every single edict, which isn't necessarily feasible. Stalker could be a strong deck for sure, but I don't see it as such a threat that warrants a ban. The deck has no participation in the competitive scene at all, so it's pretty under control.
@@Vektor480real
@@Vektor480 That's true. I don't know how many people play edicts in pauper EDH.
Doesn't necessarily warrant a ban, but it was a precautionary statement. If you're not prepared, you could just be watching one person slowly kill everyone, which is just a waste of time.
@@Dev.L yeah, that's true. That card can be scary, but what I meant to say was that there are answers in the format for it. PDH has a lot of options in its card pool to handle different strategies, but Voltron can indeed be scary.
Would love to see like one PDH deck a week or so from you Demo. Feel like it would let you start flexing whole new parts of your deck building muscles
Seconded! The format really adds a different spin to the game, and it's a blast to play