How to Play: ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER

[Chewblaha]

ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER, or EDH, Commander, or Multiplayer (for all of you with little balls who cannot vocally boom out the three words) is a format for Magic: The Gathering.

 

THE RULES OF EDH.

 

YOU MUST HAVE 100 CARDS IN YOUR DECK.

 

ONE OF THOSE CARDS MUST BE YOUR GENERAL. This is important:

 

YOUR GENERAL IS THE ONE HUNDREDTH CARD. YOU HAVE NINETY NINE OTHER CARDS AND THEN YOUR GENERAL.

 

YOUR GENERAL MUST BE A LEGENDARY CREATURE.

 

YOU MUST HAVE YOUR GENERAL OUT TO WIN. PATTON STYLE.

 

YOU MAY ONLY HAVE ONE COPY OF A CARD IN YOUR DECK (excluding basic lands).

YOU MAY ONLY RUN CARDS THAT ARE OF YOUR GENERAL'S MANA COLOR.

YOU CANNOT HAVE ANY CARDS THAT HAVE MANA SYMBOLS IN THEM THAT ARE NOT PART OF GENERAL.

FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU ARE RUNNING ERTAI, THE CORRUPTED

 

You're a jackoff if you do.

 

THEN YOU MAY ONLY RUN THE COLORS BLUE, BLACK, AND WHITE AND ANY COLORLESS.

 

ANY COLORLESS CARDS CAN BE RAN NO MATTER THE GENERAL, UNLESS(!!!):

 

 

See how this (shitty [i'm kinda lying it was decent enough]) totem produces Red mana and how it has Red mana cost in it?

 

NO.

 

FUCK THAT.

 

YOU CAN'T USE IT. IT HAS RED IN IT. THAT'S NOT BLUE, WHITE, OR BLACK. GET IT THE FUCK OUT.

 

THAT IS THE RULE I MEAN.

 

NEXT UP: THERE ARE FOUR ZONES OF PLAY IN ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER.

 

THERE IS THE BATTLEFIELD. WHERE SHIT NORMALLY GOES, SON. AS I'VE STATED BEFORE

 

THERE IS THE EXILE ZONE, WHERE SHIT THAT IS EXILED GOES. '' '' '' ''

 

THERE IS THE HELD EXILE ZONE, WHERE SHIT THAT IS HELD IN EXILE, BY SHIT LIKE OBLIVION RING

 

 

AND IS HELD THERE UNTIL SAID CARD IS FINISHED HOLDING.

 

AND THERE IS THE NEW COMMANDER ZONE.

 

YOUR COMMANDER ALWAYS GOES IN THIS ZONE UNLESS IT IS IN PLAY OR IN THE HELD EXILE ZONE.

 

 

Differences between ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER and STANDARD or TYPE-2 or TYPE-1:

 

YOU MUST HAVE ONE HUNDRED CARDS.

YOU HAVE FORTY LIFE TO START.

YOU TAKE FIFTEEN OR TWENTY POISON COUNTERS TO DIE, DEPENDING ON YOUR PRE-POISON-COUNTER-DISCUSSION-ABOUT-HOW-IT-AFFECTS-THE-GAME-DISCUSSION.

IF YOU TAKE TWENTY-ONE DAMAGE FROM ANYONE'S GENERAL, THEN YOU DIE.

 

GENERAL DAMAGE IS TO BE COUNTED SEPARATELY, BUT STILL AFFECTS YOUR NORMAL LIFE TOTAL OF FORTY. IT IS JUST THAT YOUR GENERAL IS SO BA THAT IT KILLS FASTER.

 

You can still deck out.

You can still have someone play a card that wins them the game.

 

OR

 

You can still have someone fucking embarrass you with Platinum Angel.

 

FUUUUUUUUCK!!!!

 

Still. This does not mean cards like Felidar Sovereign win you the game instantly if you play it:

 

.

 

Cards that have you win like that ('that' being life total), are to be treated as an extra twenty life. Some even require you to double it.

 

Cards like Sorin and Magister Sphinx will STILL take your life total down to whatever they specify.

 

Magister Sphinx + Your Kicked Rite of Replication = You fucking douchebag.

 

BUT WHICH CARDS, YOU ASK?

 

Go find the list. I don't have time for that.

 

 

There is still one, very important thing you need to know about your general, however....

 

CONTINUED IN PART TWO.

[Chewblaha]

Your general does not stay in your deck. It is not put into your deck at the start of the game.

 

It is put in the COMMANDER ZONE. IT'S OWN YAVIN IV.

 

The commander zone is itself an exile zone available only to your commander.

 

For example. I run this lady:

 

 

At ANY TIME YOU ARE ALLOWED TO PLAY CREATURE SPELLS, you can play your general if it is in the COMMANDER ZONE.

 

While in play, your general and you will always be a target. Your general, as stated before, must be out for you to win.

 

However, if someone...I don't know. PATH TO EXILE'S YOUR GENERAL, THEN YOUR GENERAL GOES TO THE EXILE ZONE. If your general ever hits the NORMAL EXILE ZONE, then it immediately bounces to the COMMANDER ZONE.

 

If your general dies, then you have two choices. Put it to rot in your graveyard, or put it in the Commander Zone.

 

Who the fuck are these guys?

 

"HEY MR. CHEWIE, WHO IN THER RIGHT MINDS WOULD EVER NOT JUST PUT IN THE COMMANDER ZONE TO CAST IT RIGHT AWAY AGAIN?"

 

I'm glad you asked that, random serf.

 

If your general, for whatever reason, leaves play and goes back to the Commander zone. That commander costs TWO more to play. TWO COLORLESS MORE TO PLAY.

 

TWO.

COLORLESS.

MORE.

TO.

PLAY.

 

It is ALWAYS your choice on whether or not you want your general to be put back into its zone or into the graveyard.

 

If it is in the HELD EXILE ZONE, by an aforementioned hold card, and comes back into play. It will NOT cost two more to play until it dies again. It doesn't stack for having been held exiled once.

 

Your commander can go to the graveyard and be brought back to life by shit like:

 

Genesis:

 

Geth:

 

 

And can be --HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK!

 

AHEM.

 

 

Or can be brought back to your hand:

 

 

Or put into your library:

 

.

 

Tips and shit to be CONTINUED IN PART THREE.

[Chewblaha]

Hints for playing ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER.

 

While there are some totes BA cards to play in standard games like:

 

 

Most cards would be pretty lame in. Cards like Counterspell and Negate and all single spell counter cards are all kinda worthless. While you'll negate that one spell, you can't bank on ever drawing it in a 100 card library and getting it. It's better to play spells have have an overall effect on the board and players, rather than spells that will target a single creature or a single permanent.

 

With that being said, ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER, allows you to play cards that you would not normally see in any competition decks.

 

It's more about the widespread effect of cards that cost more (and mostly DO more) than cards that cost less but ultimately affect one thing.

 

That being said, there are some single target cards that work great because they have other advantages. If you are going to run a deck that has blue and black available, some of these cards are great:

 

 

 

While these cards all have a single target effect, they also help you increase your chances of BOARD PRESENCE, which could be the most important and deadly factor in ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER.

 

Cascade will allow you to go to cast the next playable effect all while probably bouncing something important back to an opponent's hand. Someone could also be playing major board wipe. Cast Soul Manipulation to counter that spell along with bringing one of your fallen back.

 

Cards that have dual effects as the Remember the Fallen I posted earlier and Grim Discovery are all great as it allows you to reuse creatures and land previously lost.

 

Oh yes. Creatures. It is smarter to use larger creatures or creatures that will have a greater effect on the game.

 

 

Anowon, here, would have forced sacrificing on your turn for other opponents as well as you. Even though it does affect you, it could easily be used to affect others as well. Other cards that have similar effects are also much better to use in these situations. The black preator from New Phyrexia is a great example:

 

 

Sheoldred is expensive to bring out, and might not make her way into many standard decks, but her presence in an ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER game would be unmatched. Conflicting other players (most of the time, equally) is always a good thing. It's nice to run a couple of creature removals, but cards like Nekrataal or Avatar of Woe can have such a nice effect on the game for you.

 

 

It's about playing cards that you normally wouldn't have a chance to play, and using cards that have a widespread effect on the game and the players in it.

 

 

 

 

Other great cards that have widespread effects?

 

Unnerve.

Mind Swords.

Evacuation.

Wrath of God.

Sunder.

 

It's also about ramping up your land. Run almost all the dual lands of your colors that you can find. Seachrome Coast, Rootbound Crag, Creeping Tar pit, all of that. Dual lands are just as important as the basics, but remember: You can only have one of each! Even those crappy uncommon ones that gain you one life are also great!

 

Your hand size could be another issue as well. You want as many cards as you can get (You still have a normal hand size). Cards like Library of Leng and even Venser's Journal are always great to play with. The more cards you have, the more of the advantage you have. It's nice to have cards that scry for you. Preordain, Brainstorm, Foresee, Ponder. Those are all great cards. Howling Mine, and Jace Beleren all work so well. If you have a crystal ball or if you can get your hands on a Sensei's Divining Top, that card works miracles.

 

 

Arranging your cards is such an advantage to have in EDH that it's almost necessary.

 

Run heavy hitters like Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Rafiq of the Many, or Thorn Elemental (FUCK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU DO). It's about running cards you'd want to have fun with.

 

 

That's the most important part, though. Having fun! These games can last up to four hours, so make sure you make something you'd enjoy!

 

I'll post my deck tomorrow to give you guys an idea of what I run. I'll even link them for you (because I'm that fucking nice).

[Chewblaha]

But most of all, don't try to feel intimidated about building a 100 card deck. It's not too bad and you probably have a ton of cards you'd never have expected to use that work great in the format.

 

Going out and getting yourself some great, efficient staples for your deck is pretty cheap. I paid about thirty five total and I had all the cards I needed, beast and not beast.

 

If you still don't feel up to constructing a deck, Wizards is releasing a deck for this format later this summer (July 12th, I believe) that will be thirty bucks and have a pre-constructed deck for you. They'll even include some cards in there that will be EDH only and are unique to that specific deck you are buying. So if you want to, try and make your own to have some fun. It's a casual format, no pressure at all.

 

It's just about having fun.

[Mercurial]

Howling mind ?

[Chewblaha]

Uh oh! I gotta fix that.

[Chewblaha]

Guys! Guys guys guys!

 

I know I'm late with this, but sorry my bowels have become mush, but the precon EDH event decks have been released!

 

Jump on that now and have fun playing this CASUAL (AS IN DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE) FORMAT!

 

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/683

 

 

 

 

HOLY SHIT THIS ONE HAS TENEB!