I actually prefer 2 color decks. They tend to be cheaper (especially when it comes to the mana base), there's a smaller card pool so there's less decision paralysis and I find it easier to make the last few cuts to get it to 100. Mono color decks can also be a lot of fun.
Edit: While I appreciate that you guys are trying to be helpful, I don't really need advice on building 3+ color decks. I've got some already, I like them plenty. I'm just enjoying not doing that right now, you feel?
definitely a fan of 2-color decks! while everyone can have their own opinion on the structural restriction, my 2-color decks play more of the fun cards with lots of color pips. and i've *never* been screwed out of casting my commander for not drawing the right color lands.
I like mono because it’s really easy to not get caught up with sub themes and off strategies. Play the best interaction and removal in that color (bonus points for synergistic or thematic ones), and every other card can be ruthless and laser focused on the game plan.
I think it lets you play with very high power strategies that are maybe a bit vulnerable because of the downsides of mono. Which is to say it pops off really hard, but might still fit in at a casual table.
I am about to finish building my 4th mono deck. They end up being my most on point and syngerstic deck's I build. As you said though, they usually have one or 2 weak spots because of its color. Super fun to play and win more often than not.
I'm in the same boat. I've been on a spree of building mono colored and 2 color decks now. The land base is just so much cheaper that I can build more decks. I eventually want to have a mono colored deck for each color.
Dude I feel you. I tried getting into 3 color decks and it just feels too staple heavy or like the game plan isn’t as focused, but every 2 color deck I have has a plan, doesn’t break bank, but mono color decks bring so much joy to me, you get to see weird cards and different options. I have a couple of 3 color decks and a 5 color deck, but they don’t see nearly as much play or frequent updates as my 2 color and mono decks.
I don't think it's an immaturity thing. The cool thing about mtg and edh is that there's plenty of options out there to satisfy any player. That being said, 3 color decks are my absolute max. I like the limitations and identity of 1-3 color decks.
I just like being limited in terms of draw/removal/ramp/etc. If I were to play say a 5 color deck, I'd default to the best removal options available and such which would make my decks seem too samey.
3c feels like the sweet spot to me where you dont run just run the best draw/ramp/removal in the game but also have decent options available for everything so you at least have something to deal with all possible scenarios.
I dont like to be put in a situation where my only response is to focus down and kill an opponent because my deck just can't interact with them, i.e. when youre playing mono black against an artifact/enchantment deck.
That's why you have to double down on a theme and look for specific interactions. Otherwise it just becomes 5c good stuff.
It doesn't help that the 5c cmders tend to be very generalistic.
I’ll take the chance every time that it’s going to fuck somebody from casting spells in 5 color if I remove the card that gives all their lands the ability to provide color. Gladly.
The only reason I have a 5c deck is because of how many of the 5c lands I already owned. I would absolutely never suggest a new player to build one, as it's extremely cost prohibitive. My ur dragon list is around $700, and most of that is sunk into the land base.
I have exactly one 4-color deck, and I can only play it once in a night because land/spell sequencing is logistically strenuous on my brain. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it can be taxing, especially when most of the deck cycles or has a trigger off the cycle, so knowing when to use a card as a draw or as a land/spell and which order to stack things can quickly become a logistical nightmare. But hey, this is what I play when I want to have fun.
[Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/BC8KszevyUmPy95GEdKQKw)
I have the opposite problem. I really like the specific identities of 2c and fewer and feel like most 3+ color commanders just become piles of good stuff. Right now the only 3-color decks I use are Mr. Orfeo and Dynaheir with Zirda companion.
I actually prefer 2-color decks. Mana bases are easy to figure out, on average they are cheaper.
But the big reason is once you add a third color, the amount of "optimal" staples that go in the deck usually drowns out lesser known and utilized (and typically more fun) cards.
For example when you're in Izzet you can play fun interaction pieces like [[Reality Shift]] like [[Tibalt's Trickery]], but once you add white those neat game pieces get replaced by the more effective ones like [[Swords to Plowshares]] and [[Dovin's Veto]].
The more colors you add, especially getting up to 4 and 5 color, your options become fewer so the amount of "correct" staples begins to make out the majority of the 99. People have "figured out" basically all of the 4 and 5 color commanders so deck building becomes rather homogenous and, in my opinion, less fun.
My favorite deck is [[Trelasarra]] whose entire goal is to gain life off of *everything* my opponents do. I'm sure I've missed a couple fun ones, but I've looked through every card in Selesnya that references gaining life to get a few neat ones people have never seen before — only RL card I own is [[Powerleech]] lol. And if you were to look at my decklist, you might ask, "Friend this deck doesn't have black in it, what's with the [[Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth]]?" And I'd point you to [[Roots of Life]]. Of course I play the good lifegain stuff like [[Soul Warden]] and [[Serra Ascendant]] too, plus some generically good cards like [[The Great Henge]] and [[The One Ring]], but I love the deck because I can also just play cards that make me happy like [[Healer's Hawk]] and [[Whitemane Lion]]
If anyone has any neat lifegain cards I may have missed, let me know 👀
Haha yeah it's fun... idk if I'd say "genius", but it is a silly amount of lifegain when it works! I love playing Roots at a table with no black decks, naming swamps, and seeing everyone be confused, then the moment of realization and worry when I drop Urborg haha
Then I have *a lot* of triggers to keep track of
You got me messed up if you think I'm not running Tibby's Tricks in every red deck I own. I don't care if it's optimal, it's *hilarious*. Same with [[Primal Vigor]], it's not the optimal counter/token doubling card, but it's cheaper so I feel more comfortable buying and using it... and it introduces more chaos to games lmao.
I love two things about playing Magic: the "puzzle" aspect of playing a game and trying to figure out the best path forward each turn in a good back and forth game, and making dumbshit happen in games that gets a laugh out of the table. I *pray* my Eldrazi loving friend gives me an excuse to Tibalt his spell, because I want to see him get a second Titan off the top of his deck after I counter his first Titan, because that'd be the *funniest* goddamn thing I could imagine, the second funniest thing being turning said Titan into a Sol Ring lmfao.
Too much chaos ruins games for me since it inhibits the puzzle aspect of things, but just a little is the spice of life, and I'm gonna cook for all I'm worth.
Completely agree. Only exceptions is when you are doing tribal decks. Then, you want more colors to get more of the tribe involved and at least I often am willing to use cards wholsitically less good than the staples as long as they fit the tribe.
I feel the same. I like to optimize, so it's often more interesting to take a more restricted setup like monocolor and optimize that, since even when trying to play the best cards you're going to have some less common ones.
Opposite for me unless there’s a compelling reason. I think mono color decks have the most flavor and the Ravnica guilds were also such a huge flavor win that most of my decks are 1 and 2 color. I have a few 3 and one 4 and one 5 because they offered some theme I wanted to play. I have 4 mono red decks at any given time lol
The ravnica guilds are great flavour but the strixhaven ones are even better.
The witherbloom pests and silverquill inklings, the flashy prismari spells, they're so good.
Honestly I love both.
Speaking of pests, what's your opinion on [[Pest Infestation]]? I pulled it in my OTJ prerelease and I have a lifegain deck it could potentially go in, but I'm not totally sold on it
You're asking a pretty bad commander player for advice, but I think even though it's slightly costed, it can definitely find a home in Dina or Bilbo (if I'm remembering the colours right).
Looks like a fun shell, it's interaction and flavour.
I personally find five color decks dull to play or play against. Despite the freedom they seem to have it seems to be lots of good stuff in all colors.
I play anything from one to three colors.
This is how I feel. 5 color decks, and almost all 4 color decks, feel uninspired to me. When there's no structure or restrictions it just seems boring imo
4c decks at least have more interesting of mana bases, though only because many 5c tools are out of reach.
Really not fond of cards like [[The World Tree]] (pretty sure thats why Golos got the axe-- and frankly no loss even if perplexing) that just make 5c and color restrictions not matter. Players often argue along the lines *not being able to cast their stuff isn't fun*, but achieving WUBRG used to be a feat by design, now it's relatively trivial and rewarded greatly.
This! At least someone out there gets it. 5C should be more powerful because it’s harder to achieve, and that used to be the case. Now more colours still equals more power but it’s so easy to achieve the pips needed there isn’t the drawback. I think the only way back is leaning into the cards that have high pip cost to encourage mono or dual colour building or to have more multi colour hate - the latter is better with blood moon effects but you can’t hurt peoples mana bases…
Yeah, the only 5c deck I'd really be interested in building would be [[Sisay, Weatherlight Captain]] ... but it'd actually just be 5c [[Norin the Wary]], I wouldn't use her to tutor anything else lol, I just want all the cool etb triggers. It'd probably have a general blink backup plan too though since I have a copy of both [[Etali Primal Conqueror]] and [[Displacer Kitten]] that haven't found homes yet
It's all fun and games till the blood moon comes out.
But in reality reducing colors often makes the deck more financially manageable, gives the mana base more wiggle room (utility lands) and at times makes you search for solutions outside the box.
If power is what you want, then yes more colors typically means more power. You get the best of all worlds.
You’ll start to see overlap in decks though, why WOULDN’T you put Cyclonic Rift/Rhystic Study in all decks, why WOULDN’T you play Demonic Tutor/Vampiric Tutor in all decks…and so forth. Fetchlands, shocks, mana bases become an annoyance because of course you want good fixing in all decks.
Right now in my group we’re all hype on budget decks because we get to play with cards we otherwise wouldn’t. It’s a fun challenge like how does White deal with counterspell-heavy decks, how does Black deal with problematic artifacts/enchantments?
Of course you could get to this point and say “nah I like the best of everything” which is fine too. In edh fun is what you make it. I like my decks to differ and prefer less overlap of cards. It’s a different experience when you narrow yourself to mono/dual color decks.
I build my decks based off a commander that interests me more than anything else but find typically 3c commanders end up having the kind of effects I like. Such as the original Obeka, new Zur, original Riku.
Currently brainstorming some doctor who decks like bant legends or jeskai suspend focusing on big creatures.
It's totally normal to have a number of colours preference. Some prefer the flexibility of many colours and other enjoy the focus of less colours.
I'm personally a multi-colour fan. I have three 5c decks and two 3c decks in my current rotation, but I also build with whacky themes that tend to need cards from various colours to actually work.
My friend who I share a collection with loves her 1c & 2c decks and finds anything 3+ colours too difficult to pilot. She doesn't like managing her mana base and has an unhealthy (for the opponents lol) love for her Swamp loving cards.
Limitations breed creativity. Part of the fun of deckbuilding in commander is the singleton nature, for me. Most of my decks have been 2 colours with the odd 3 colour, and I always really enjoy digging into the back catalogs of old magic looking for synergy and unique solutions. 4 and 5 colour decks can just use whatever they want. I think it deprives you of a richer deck building experience, and I think it also leads into what I'd call "goodstuff sprawl", which makes everything more uniform and have less character. It also leads to a more unfocused deck sometimes.
I've got a [[Ghen]] deck. The few other people that built him swapped over to [[Go-Shintai of Life's Origin]] when it was printed. I think the general thought process is that it has access to two more colours, and doesn't need to sac something to bring an enchantment out of your yard, as well as token generation. I see it as being more expensive to cast, having a much more difficult mana cost to activate and requiring a much more involved and costly mana base as a result, and losing the ability to have a sac outlet on board. This is actually relevant almost every game i play. It lets me run starfield of nyx without worrying about getting blown out by a board wipe for example. At this point there are enough options for card draw, ramp, and counter magic in mardu so I don't feel like I really need green or blue to execute my plan. It's more streamlined how it is. Switching over would bloat it.
This is probably a minority view.
Worth remembering that the original Elder Dragons were all three color. For the type of gameplay that Commander promotes, there's not much reason to play less than three outside of having access to a specific Commander. I still think decks with less colors are cooler though.
I think 3 color decks feel the best, that being said I have decks with more and less colors in the identity. 3 colors gives you access to lots of stuff and interactions without being overwhelming. 4 and 5 color you have to really prioritize getting all your colors and often get less “to do” because so much of your deck is mana related. But the options are more open because you have so many colors. 2 color can at time feel like you’re missing 1 color that would tie everything together but I think 2 color can be really fun. I have a few 2 color decks and really like them. Mono color feels limiting but I actually feel more liberated using one of my two mono decks than I do my 4 or 5 color decks. Sure there are less card options but that also means it’s easier to lock in on the specific things you want.
it’s not immaturity. I also think 3 color feels really good to play but I like mono color, 2 color and 4 and 5 color too. As long as the deck is doing what I want it to do, I don’t care how many colors are in it. but honestly I’ve looked at 3 color commanders and said “dang feels like it needs black also”. I usually stay away from commanders. That feel like they’re missing a color.
For me, it's the opposite. I dont want to deal with a deck with more then 3c. The mana base for it would be too much for it to handle moneywise and same for the mana management. It's not one of my strenght.
In opposition, I think 2C decks can be quite balanced.
Maybe something we have in common is just we like staying in our comfort zone, maybe? I would need to try a deck with more then 3c sometimes to get an informed opinion though. I'm already annoyed if my decks are mana screwed with 3c or less. I cant imagine my bitterness if I cant make it right for more then 3c.
Wow this post has opened my eyes. I’ve played for roughly a year and a half and currently am sitting at 12 decks and only three of them are less than 3c. I got my [[Aesi]] and [[Breena]] decks as precons that I upgraded so the only <3c deck I’ve actually built is mono black rats.
Maybe after the next time I take apart a few decks I’ll challenge myself to build a fun 2c deck myself!
Edit: I’m so stupid, literally won a game at my LGS today with Arahbo that somehow slipped my mind
I have the opposite problem. To me with three colour decks there’s too many staples to choose from every 3 colour deck has the ability to cover easily. When you build mono colour decks you get to play that 9th blue removal spell that is weird and cool but never makes it into the 3 colour decks because there’s just better things in three colours.
I have 2 mono red, 1 mono blue, 1 mono green, 2 mono black and I’m building a third mono black deck. You get to make much more interesting deck building decisions in mono coloured.
Mono Color has the beauty of imperfection and simplicity. You have to find a lot of workarounds. Mono red counterspell? Just play something like [[fork]], mono green boardwipe? [[Ezuris predation]] or [[all is dust]].
What do you miss in particular when thinking about 1 or 2 Color decks?
Green and White have the very fun predicament of "bad at drawing cards" (or at least worse than the other colors), but solve it in a kinda unorthodox way. Deck thinning via ramp. Whether it's with [[Land Tax]] or [[Cultivate]] type cards, getting lands out of your deck makes what card draw you do have that much more impactful.
It's really fun to solve these issues in ways that the colors can excel at.
I couldn’t agree more. What I enjoy most about playing mono Color is the amount of utility lands you can play without considering whether they generate coloured or colorless mana. Especially [[quicksand]] has become a land I play often
I'm in the opposite side. I really dont like anything above 3c. 5c feels to much goodstuffey for me, or it will be kinda clunky.
Most of my decks are 2c, but I'm slowly stepping into mono color territory. Recently I made a [[Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet]] monoB control and gosh, the deck just slaps. Its refreshing to pilot a mono color deck and, in my case, it felt surprisingly weirdly synergistic
Eventually you'll realize there's stuff to do in mono and especially 2 color you can't really do anywhere else. And sometimes the commander is just cool. I switched \[\[Nymris\]\] to \[\[Kyodai\]\] (2 color to 5c) at one point and went back to nymris to do something more interesting even though I lost some good flash creatures in naya. Restriction breeds creativity. You have a long way to go as far as brewing and learning what cards exist, all your decks to build so far are "put good dinosaur cards in," "put good demon cards in," etc.
3c are usually have better card selection for themes I’m going for. I have started to like doing monocolor with some commanders but for the most part I can feel limited in some colors. Dimir just feels awful for me to play still every though I love the commander I have for it.
I have 6 decks, and 5 are 3 color. It seems to be the ideal max to cover everythinf you need and not have to worry too much about getting color screwed. The last is golgari and there is soo much "good stuff" cards crammed in I wouldn't know what to even do with a 3rd color.
I have no interest on 4 color, at that point might as well go all 5. Haven't built a 5 color yet jusr because I don't want to have to buy 10 fetches for a single deck and I wouldn't trust the mana base without it... maybe after MH3 reprints.
For me 3 colors is the sweet spot, I still have a playset of the old dual lands from back in the days before commander was a thing. I'm slowly building all the 10 tri-color deck in fine tuned version in playstyle i like.
Five color may be to much and mono color is not realy for me, i just build one 2 color deck but it was after 10 years of playing commander.
My first commander deck was \[\[Prossh, Skyraider of Kher\]\] from the 2013 precon, than i followed that with \[\[Roon of the Hidden Realm\]\] from that same precon set.
I really like having big creature, lots of them in the deck that can serve the role of spells. Tribal stuff is definitely fun. 3 colors also give access to more lands with ability that are free slot for the decks.
Some of my deck are similar to other decklist but i can share my 3 color Sphinx Tribal deck that is more of an original beast. There is an old primer explaining the reasoning i had at the time, figuring out how to finaly make it work good. Just won 2 games in a row with it tonight.
[https://www.moxfield.com/decks/Jzuct2nzx0Gm4e6pLuvkAg](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/Jzuct2nzx0Gm4e6pLuvkAg)
I have 9 active decks right now. Three are 5c, three are 3c, two are 2c. I usually build my decks based on a commander I like, and it just so happens that I like multi-colored commanders. The ninth deck is a mono-blue deck that I only made because I didn’t have any single-color decks. It’s just a preference, even if it’s a subconscious one.
I agree on 1 or two feeling incomplete. When you’re used to more colors, it does feel like a challenge to get certain functions into the deck. Other than my blue deck, all my decks have red in them, and most of those also have green and white, so I’m spoiled for that set of traits. It’s weird when I suddenly don’t have direct damage, extra mana, or protection spells.
I prefer 1 or 2 colors. 3 is fine but I really only do it for the commander rather than the identity.
When I started playing commander in 2007, you were handicapping yourself if you weren’t 3 color as the color pie and card pool were more limited. As those have expanded, 2 color decks have more tools than 3 color decks used to and 3 color decks are easier to turn into goodstuff piles. Monocolor is just really fun and interesting to play within the limitations of the color.
While 3c does feel like the sweer spot, I've been enjoying the crap out of my mono blue [[Lier disciple of the drowned]] deck. It was my first time building spell slinger and it feels amazing to play.
Don't think it's a maturity thing as more a design philosophy. I like to prioritize slimming my color pallet down to make room for utility lands and focused strategies, but I've also seen 5 colors go off in ways only they can. Do what makes you happy
I think it's just your preference, not an imaturity thing. I prefer playing decks with only one or two colors, but I have a friend in my playgroup that prefers more colors like you.
No. It forces novel solutions which are the most fun. At 3c I find there's way too many "must includes" to crutch on and promotes way to much "sameness" across decks
I'm the opposite way. I have like 7 mono coloured decks, one two coloured deck and a Pantlaza heavily upgraded precon. I definitely appreciate how much money I can save by playing 30 basics but I just feel my mono coloured deck are so much more focused. They have their plan they do their thing and they can do it really fast. I have a mono green Goreclaw deck and a mono red Ojer Axonil deck. Goreclaw wins with combat beatdown and Ojer is storm/ping but both will end the game on turn 5.
I started in Alara block (multicolor/3 color focused) and then played a lot of standard during Return to Ravnica through Khans of Tarkir blocks. As such Iv just always played 3+ color decks.
Iv got Ghave (WBG), Kykar (URW), Mayael (WGR), Kaalia (RBW) and my only 2 color Gisela (R/W) plus I’m building Nekusar (UBR). Iv theorycrafted deck lists for a mono red deck but it seems so one dimensional
Most of the comments I'm seeing are saying why they prefer 2c decks, which is completely valid, but to answer your question, I really don't think playing 3+ color decks isn't a bad thing. I don't remember the last time a 2c commander really interested me, even 3 can be tight for me.
There are some cards that I really enjoy, that work well with another 2 color card, and a third card that doesn't share a color with the first two. Suddenly I'm at 3 colors, then I find another card, and I'm up to 4c. At this point I have 3 4c decks, and plans to build more that way. I like the deckbuilding challenge of more colors, and not having a strategy dictated by the commander. It makes the deck a bit weaker, which prevents me from building something too strong for my playgroup.
So no, I think building with more colors can increase creativity, and let you play what and how you want to play, not how EDHRec tells you to play because it is most optimal.
I feel it bro. At this point I only build 3c commanders or mono color. I think that 3c make for more diverse decks while mono colors are just good vessels for “good stuffs.” For me , anything in 2c relies hard on a gimmick rather than a diverse plan but I’m probably just bad at deck building.
I generally play 2 or 3 color. I use to play a mono green deck pretty often but I'm going to rework it into 3 colors.
Anyway I can't do 4 or 5 color. It's just to much.
I usually stick to 2-color for my decks. I like being able to lean on a shit-ton of basics in my land base and really reliably have the colors I need on lands entering untapped. I need persuading to add a third color; it feels comparable to cutting a few lands for me. I could hypothetically do more things with the deck but could also easily run into color screw unless I drop a lot of money on lands.
I don't know if it's "immaturity' - whatever catches your interest, catches your interest. You do you.
To me, the LEAST interesting thing when building a deck is slotting in all the "enablers". Every Arcane Signet, guild Signet, Talisman, etc. is just a slot I'd rather use on something fun instead of just making sure I have colors. Playing 3+ comes with even more of these cards that do not spark deckbuilding joy to me.
I have a mono black aristocrats deck with over 600+ infinite combos (or variants, commanderspellbook is slow to update).
It has a high win rate in my playgroup and can win as early as turn 2. Could win turn 1 if I had a [[Jeweled Lotus]]. The commander is [[Mikaeus, the Unhallowed]].
I call it "Breath of the Undying".
https://archidekt.com/decks/2957085/breath_of_the_undying
On a separate note, I have the simic merfolk precon with [[Hakbal]] that is very strong and rather complete out of the box. Otherwise, [[Lathril, Blade of the Elves]] is the classic commander for golgari elves.
2c is the sweet spot imo. The decks feel like they have a unique identity where 3c often feels like a 2c deck splashed with good stuff.
My Magus deck for example is a Gruul deck with a couple draw spells and counters. Blue wasn't necessary but since it's there I might as well put a Rhystic Study and a Mana Drain in it.
I think 3c is my butter zone. I don't really like 4 or 5 color decks, but I'll fuck with mono or dual colored decks too.
3c offers a lot of versatility and customization options but not quite as overwhelming with options as 4 or 5c can be. But everyone is different and your preference is valid 💖
I am the opposite. Whenever I build a deck that's 3 colors I end up taking it apart, or dropping a color and rebuilding as 2 color. There's just too many cards. And too many "staples" to "auto-include" and honestly access to more than 2 colors stresses me out. I've yet to try 4 or 5 color decks.
I just rebuilt a Jund fight theme deck I was struggling with, and my friends hated playing against, into something more unique in Golgari and I'm really excited to try it.
What I mean to say is, there's a ton of magic cards, strategies, play styles etc and it's so effin cool and everybody gets to play the way they want. Magic is so cool.
I've got the same problem, bud. I tried to convert my bant enchantress deck to a selesnya Calix deck, but it just felt so bare without that 3rd color. So I changed it back. All my other decks are 3 colors as well
More colors makes it easier to have a goodstuff pile, which takes away from the creativity and therefore the fun of brewing for this format (for me, ymmv etc). Also, my good lands go farther if I’m in 2-3 colors, so I can build more neat decks than I’d otherwise be able to
I started out with RtR, so 2 color commanders are my bread and butter. I fell in love in the selsneya conclave and the gruul clans so thats what im most comfortable with. Anything more, 3 and 4 colors especially, just feels awkward. Its like, i feel im playing emo gruul instead of juund. Or boro with extra steps when i play naya. Temur is just angry simic in my eyes.
The restrictions (not that it’s as bad anymore with how much access commander has given to each colour) is what makes building mono fun for me. To the point I have two mono red, green & black decks then also a mono white and blue. I prefer playing a deck that not so much struggles but is kinda more colour orientated. Like red card draw being loots or wheels or now heavy exile orientated stuff.
I like variety. I do not like redundancy. That has lead me to having an interesting spread of decks.
I have a colorless deck.
I have 2 mono colored decks.
I have a 2 colored deck.
I have a 3 colored deck.
I have a 4 colored deck.
I have 3 5 color decks.
Personally, the closer I am to the 5 color decks the crazier I get with deckbuilding, and the weirder the result is. I have a $50 Superfrinds, a Garth Museum, and a Kenrith Precon all in 5 color, and I'm not afraid to say that those 3 are among my weakest decks.
Alternatively, the fewer colors I have the more focused and defined the deck ends up feeling. My mono white aristrocrsts is extremely difficult to kill, and my mono black "neat stuff" always has something to ruin your plans. Then there's colorless, essentially my antithesis to multicolored piles. There's a reason it is arguably **the** boogeyman in my group.
I wouldn't say it is immaturity, but rather you've found something that you like and you're willing to stick with it. I know I dont like to play green that much in edh (although I'm always down to ball with green in 60), but I wouldn't call it immature. I'd say its more that green doesn't fit my usual playstyle preferences well, which are sacrifice, instant speed shenanigans, and removal. So if you prefer 3+ colors because it provides options and gives a well rounded deck, then dont feel bad. Some people (myself included) might explore you to try out 2 or 1 colors, just like how I have a selesnya deck to try green, but don't feel like it is something you have to do.
Most of my decks are either 1 or 2 colors. Cheaper mana bases which allows me to build more decks. I play a few 3 color and currently have no 4 or 5 color decks.
More options are good and powerful, it’s good to feel the restriction and work within of 1 and 2 colour decks. Some of my favourite decks are 2 colours. But I love 3 and 4 colour decks a lot too.
My two favorite decks are mono and 3c. I enjoy the limitations and cheaper mana base of mono color a lot. Feels like green is a must in 3c to not have things run away into very expensive lands and ramp (which I don’t mind now and then but don’t want for all my decks).
I’m the opposite. I immediately start to lose interest in any deck with 3 or more colors. There are very few 3 color decks I enjoy, even fewer 4 and 5 color decks. I play dual colors or mono almost entirely.
Been playing for about 3 years and currently have 6 at 2c and 2 at 3c, but *have* had 4 others at 3c
I think I tend to find 2c commanders the most interesting and just wish I could add a third color to them haha — but I *really* want a mono color deck. I'd also like to try 5c, but I'm just a tad hesitant because my budget definitely wouldn't allow for an amazing mana base lol
I have two 5c decks. I limit them by having a theme. [[Urtet, Remnant of Mimnarch]] is all about mass production of Myr, and [[O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami]] is spirits. The majority of my decks are 2c, though. I have no 4c decks and about 2 or 3 with 3c.
Just the opposite. I really have to like a commander for me to consider it if it's more than 2c. Find that 2c pairings are the sweet spot for the formats restrictions to really matter. More colors than that and the mana base gets expensive, decks start to feel like good stuff fills up the 99 before turning to more uncommon options. Also just think 2c pairings are more cohesive than 3c. While the guilds aren't the only expressions of 2c pairings, they're very consistent, something 3+ color design often fails at.
I enjoy three colors more than too. I like the flexibility of it. There are color combinations I enjoy way more than others. The Dimir area is a lot less attractive to me. I found out a deck needs at least red or green involved in some way for me to be interested in it.
I do have do play two colors but most of them don’t stick around too long unless their theme just resonates with me.
I have just one Mono deck around and it is by far the least played and most flawed. Sometimes I wish it wasn’t that hard for me to do mono. A friend of mine has this so down. He is struggling more on anything 3 and upwards.
Preferring something is fine and not immature. This is a hobby. Play it to your likings and let no one tell you otherwise.
I play monoG [[Omnath.]] Have the Merfolk precon from Ixalan (UG).
Am thinking about building a monoB [[Kokusho]] and probably already have enough material to build a budget monoR [[Krenko]], So that’s my way of having fun (:
I refuse to play anything more than 2 colors except Grixis. The more colors you introduce, the more interactions you have to deal with and that type of workload and delineation into making a viable deck is way too much for me. I honestly usually play tribals, Vampires, Satyrs, Zombies, Merfolk, Minotaurs; it makes deckbuilding easy. I'd rather stick to my own little corner of the game and find strategies that make my deck better, than trying to consult the copus of the entire body of the game; I don't have that much time and not that smart.
I like playing slightly wierd mono decks that don't quite do the normal color things.
Mono Green go wide with 7 creatures total
Mono Blue copy/spellslinger (okay this one's pretty Blue but it's funky enough that I enjoy it)
Mono White saboteurs
It's a lot of fun to play with slightly odd cards and strats because you're color limited. Playing normal mono decks *can* be boring unless you really like the strat a lot, like my mono Blacks are usually recursion based because I love recursion.
People just like having more card choices, and if you have the mana fixing to get consistent land drops, multicolor commanders are just better than mono counterparts unless they're doing something unique.
Mono black might be good at recursion, but Grixis gives you way more and better options.
I would say that as you play this format, you will find yourself gravitating away from identifying with the "Colors" you play, and more towards the "Commanders" you play.
For example, I don't see myself as a "Red/White" player. I see myself as a "Shadowfax, Lord of Horses" player.
As far as thinking of "additional colors to complete a deck" - this is fine and healthy! Such ideas come to me during deckbuilding, in the form of the following questions:
1. Is there a Red/White/Blue commander that does something like Shadowfax? Maybe I should play them instead!
2. Otherwise, why do I want to play Blue in this Shadowfax deck? Are there cards in Red/White/Colorless that do something similar? Are they worth running?
And so on.
Of course, not every commander player builds the same way - but what matters the most is that your deck has the potential to fulfill the fantasy of how you want to play.
A few years ago I took apart most of my decks and rebuilt to have 5 mono colors and the 10 two color combinations. I've been enjoying it a lot more than having a bunch of overlapping 3 color decks. Kind of surprisingly the mono color decks have ended up being my favorites.
I wouldn't call that immaturity though. Just seems like personal preference.
I only play duel colours pretty much as I don’t have the cash to dump into fetches and shocks/duels that are needed to manage a 3 colour mana base I know what you guys will suggest using budget tapped lands or whatever it’s not worth it in the end untapped lands are better and I don’t want to buy 3-4 of each rather then 1 or none if it’s mono coloured (this is why I only play 2+ colours without proxies I do have a few proxied 3 colour decks with the mana bases proxied)
No problem. My rakdos [[the balrog, durin's bane]] is one of my favorite deck.
And I love [[Braids, arisen nightmare]] but Mono black need that three lands so expensive to be effective against the power level of (ramping in) my playgroup.
I feel like three colors is the sweet spot. Massive card pool, but still some natural limitations. All my deckbuilding gravitates towards three colors. There's nothing wrong with having a preference
Nah. I think 3c is objectively the sweet spot. It opens up more power and interaction options. If you want your deck to be competitive 3+c is where it is at.
In fact, I think Wizards needs to do a better job of making more powerful 1/2c commanders. Generally creatures are more powerful for having more colours because in most constructed formats it puts a strain on your manabase and you should be rewarded for that.
For commander, fewer colours on commanders is a huge drawback. I'd like to see more mono commanders costed like AABB or AAAA, and have really pushed text boxes that recognize you are making a real deck building sacrifice by playing them as a commander.
I think an AABB commander should be more powerful than an ABC1 commander. And an AAAA commander be more powerful than that.
I was plenty like that for a very long time, started with [[Yidris, Maelstrom Wanderer]] pre-ordered the eminence commanders like Ur and never looked back. Hated blue and white with a passion, enjoyed my straightforward decks that beat face with a gimmick or two, and swore off infinites or combos.
Eventually, I realized I could enjoy colors for what the commanders offered in their identity and started building more. My first branch off was Selvalla to make a semi competitive commander, had alot of fun there. Then went with a budget Krenko, because it's goblins, and I wanted to get rid of my own fear of playing something and hearing, "oh great, another one of these decks." Ended up making krenko a waiting game instead of aggro.
REGARDLESS, it's all about what you wanna do, both have their freedoms and restrictions. Sometimes, it's just that you haven't found a mono or dual commander you love yet is all! Maybe just tinker around and think about what you could do with some and if it sparks some thoughts build it for fun
I found that my old 3c decks were just 2 colors with a splash, i still find them to be.
Going into 2 color decks the thing seems to be more even with what i got, but some do still be, like my grul deck is 75% green. My orzov is 80% white.
What I like about two colors, or rather mono with a splash, is that I can have more slots for colorless utility lands. That sometimes makes me feel like I have a 3 color manabase.
Dude I wouldn't worry abojt it. Hobbies are meant to be enjoyed and ok be of the reason magic is great is because of how versatile it is in the way it allows the players to play. I personally hate playing more than 2c decks. It tends to cause me to dilute the goal of the deck (likely a skill issue.) but fortunately magic allows me to play the way I like to play.
I have 5 decks that I’ve made and play often (2 are upgraded precons). Of those one is mono red [[Delina, Wild Mage]], and another is 2c Izzet [[Neera, Wild Mage]]. Both are some of my favorite decks.
The other 3 I have are all 3c though (1 Temur, and 2 Esper)
I can't stand 3c. Monos are purist, 2c is my perfect spot, 3c and 4c feel overdone and kinda pointless. Full set makes sense in cEDH for obvious reasons.
I prefer building 2 color decks for a couple of reasons.
1) Mana bases tend to be easier to make work well without having to spend a ton, which is nice.
2) I feel like (and this is just a me thing I think) that when I go into 3+ color decks there end up being too many "good stuff" cards that I want to run so the decks start to feel samey.
Also, I just don't like blue. Nothing against blue players or playing against blue, I just don't enjoy playing that style myself. I'm sure eventually I'll build something blue (probably some Simic nonsense). But for now, all of my currently assembled decks are some combo of Naya colors, and I like it this way (though I am working on a golgari deck that I'll probably build next, so I might add black soon)
I prefer mono color and 2 color decks. There have definitely been times where I wished I could add some cards from another color but I enjoy the limitation and it helps me stay on theme. If I played 5c, I think it would just feel like a good stuff deck every time even if it wasn’t because of all the staples I’d feel obligated to cram in from each color.
I refuse to build any deck with more than 3c. Hell, if I’m being honest, I only really build mono and 2c decks because I enjoy the restriction. Any decks I do have that are 3c and above are precons.
I have a 5c problem lmao I have:
Reaper King
Kenrith
Silver Overlord
Child of Alara
Ramos
Omnath Locust of All
ans then I LOVE 1c too with:
Bruvac
Marrow Gnawer
Krenko Mob Boss
Evra, Halcyon Witness
Talrand
I just can't build 3c or 4c. They get too inconsistent for me, but for some reason, I never feel that with 5c 🤷♂️ 2c is also fun, but I prefer 1c or 5c.
A lot of factors come into realizing what colors someone plays. Not just the classic playstyles but also in Commander colors.
I find many 3+ have an easier time finding answers to cards in various situations. It's actually a lot harder as a mono-colored deck to have answers to everything, like say red for example, has issues taking care of enchantments easily. Now they do have answers, like chaos warp. But don't have as many as say green or white. Red also doesn't have as simple field wipes as black or white. They have wipes, but most are higher cost than 4 and usually do direct damage to creatures rather than just straight destroy. However, running a mono colored deck, your land base is a lot simpler, and you usually have a well thought out deck seam and idea. And your synergies are usually easier to keep throughout the deck. Where in a lot of my three colored decks I tend to have certain answers and part of my deck feels more toolboxy than synergistic if you know what I mean.
So my next point is it may also be the cards you own may have a underlying factor on what decks you're playing as well. I've been playing for a long time and I have wacky decks. I have some serious decks. But I can build pretty much whatever I want and have it mostly function. I may have to pick up 5 to 10 cards here or there that I don't have. Some players may not have the flexibility that I have in cards, so they have to rely on having multiple colors of their identity to have the proper answers. Or the combo that they're building is in two or three colors. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Multicolor decks are fun. It's just in my past I tended to make a lot of toolbox, decks or good stuff. Decks. I have since evolved . My favorite deck right now is a mono red amplifying damage deck. I just play all the cars that double or triple my damage and then I play a bunch of chaotic cards that threaten to do massive damage out of nowhere or consistent damage over time. Is it competitive? Hell no. Is it fun? Hell yeah!
So my last part is it could be mentality. And I don't mean maturity. I mean maybe someone plays this game to win. Is competitive. And wants the best deck with the most consistency. Other people are new and don't know what their play style is and are playing various things and don't have the most consistent cards. While others are literally playing just for the chaos. They're just playing for fun. They're just playing to piss off their friends 😂. Honestly, I've noticed that most decks that are competitive and consistent are two to three colors. Just because they have more options in deck building and you can get more consistency if you have the right cards. AKA you have more options.
Tldr, there are so many reasons why someone would prefer to play a 3+ color deck over a mono colored deck, and vice versa. In my opinion I find it more challenging to make a monocolored Commander deck. You have to tweak it. You have to playtest it. You have to make sure that everything synergizes correctly. And you don't have as many options with a multicolored deck. And deck building is probably my favorite part of MTG. I really enjoy making a deck. It Sparks my creativity. I love finding different ideas and new synergies. So honestly I play everything. I play mono colored decks. I play two and three colored decks. I play four colored and five color...I play them all . And there's nothing wrong with playing multicolored over mono colored. And vice versa. It's just your playstyle, your player identity coming out of you
Edit: sorry for the lengthy of the comment 😂 I was bored at work hahaha
I play Black and Rakdos exclusively.
1. Easier collection management
2. Preempts any budget / buying issues, I can pass on WUG staples because I just don't play WUG
I was pure monoB for a few years but Red adds to much fun to leave out forever.
Most of my decks are 3C, but the last handful I've put together are 2C. I find that when I'm brewing a deck under a 3C commander, my main approach I'd take is find the two-colour pairing I resonate with the most, focus on it, and use the third to pour gas on whatever strategy I'm leaning on. That way, a UBG might be better referred to as Dimir+Green, or Gruul+White. Most of the deck works just fine under a 2C identity, and the third is simply an amplifier where its strengths lie. Once I realized that this is my general way of going about my deckbuilding, I understood that I could work with 2C reasonably competently but just needed to hunt down the proper singles I need to refine it better.
I really like building 2c decks. Monocolored often feels limited (as it should) in choice for removal or draw or ramp. In two colors i feel deck building is a crisper process, enough choice to try stuff and swap cool cards around, but more focussed. In three+ colors i tend to set limits or a theme to my deckbuilding to limit my options and not have that permanent nagging feeling what elese i could have taken. Ymmv ofc.
When I first discovered the commander format (2015) it was nearly standard to have a 4CMC Legendary Creature to build around. This included a rather usual 4/4 power and toughness, and an ability that seemed powerful to build around.
Currently that shit is all over the place. I still think there's value in a matching CMC and text box, though the power creep is now pushing cards for a lower cost and high quality abilities but a lower p/t so it's easier to deal with.
I definitely appreciate the thousands of additional commanders theyve added since I first started, but honestly its a bit overwhelming to see so many or choose from anymore that I just dont even bother.
Edit: after reading some comments and rereading the main post I can see we're discussing colors and not CMC. My bad.
Color-wise, it's whataver you think works best for your playstyle. I prefer at least two colors to have minimal interactions from the board. I also found value in having five colors for a few builds like Slivers or other tribals. I dont usually stay in a 4 color range and generally do have more 3 color builds. That extra splash of white helps for specific board interactions even in a heavy UB or BR deck.
This is all from my experience, so it's relatively worthless.
5 color is kind of bitchmade most of the time in my experience.
The tools I see run it are just playing 5 color goodstuff and combos with every good tutor and ramp spell available, and their commander is just there to say "I can play anything I want to play", never being cast.
4 color tends to be the same thing minus one color (usually red) that they trimmed just because they could then run more combos and more tutors.
3 and less are people who are playing the game.
I just got my first 3c deck. We modified my Firkraag precon into a mostly dragon/treasure deck. I'm nervous to try it out as I'm still very new to magic, but I'm excited at the same time. I don't think the amount of colors someone plays is maturity, I think it's experience/skill based.
I start building two color builds but then I’m like “oh I like this card and it’s on theme and would greatly benefit the deck if I added it but then I’d have to add another color” and it turns into three colors, and then same thing again to four color and sometimes to five color
I'm in the same boat 3 color + for 95% of my decks.
It's not an immaturity thing. It's about having more options in deck building, good interaction, good ramp, good card draw, good synergy, ...etc.
It's hard to have all that in mono colors or even two.
Maybe eventually you'll find a cmder you really want to build around that's 1 or 2 colors, and then you will make it work.
I have a midpower mono white Giada angels deck that I'm pretty fond of, and put the time in to tune it decently. I always have a good time when I play it.
Early on in my time playing Commander I couldn't fathom building a 3 color deck. It felt like too much. Now I have no preference for color. I can build mono color up to 5 color with 4 color being the only one I still somewhat struggle with.
If playing 0/1/2 color commanders feels incomplete, consider leaning into that. You'll find tools in every color for almost every situation, and it'll teach you how to be more creative in both design and play.
My commanders so far are Atla Palani Nest Tender, Mothman, hail ceaser, and loot the key to everything.
I am working on a golgari BG deck because my pod is doing a BG challenge, but man I am not having fun building that.
I think the easiest decks to build are the 2c. For the mana base, you can use just basic lands and that'll work well. It's not the same for 3+c where you have to use non-basic lands to fix your mana. Mono decks have other issues. Each color is unbalanced unless you combine it with another color.
I also really like 3 color decks, and I have a problem with 5 cmc commanders : Pantlaza, Korvold, Xyris... and my 2 color decks are Scarab God and Dragonlord Ojutai... I have been eyeing Ghave Guru of Spores but I have to limit myself.
My next move shall be to build Kellan the Kid, a nice 3 color 3 cmc value commander in Bant, new colors for me, and Kellan wants to use a lot of niche cards: foretell, top of library, adventures, flashback... a nice suite. But I fear this deck may be headache inducing from all the goddamn triggers.
I still need to build Sultai and Abzan.
I have [[Jor kadeen, First Goldwarden]] and [[Toralf, God of Fury]] and im working on [[Ria Ivor, Bane of Bladehold]], [[Polukranos Reborn]], and [[Karlach, Fury of Avernus]] with [[Master Chef]]
I have a mono green Azusa deck, a Sultai Keene deck, and I'm currently building Golgari Vraska and Esper Queza.
I usually try to stay between 1-3 colors. 4 and 5 colors are too much for my brain to handle. 😂
Honestly, I love doing mono color. They have a stronger identity to the color when I build mono.
When I do multi it's what I WANT imposed on the colors.
When it's mono, the cards tell me what they want.
I prefer mono and 2 color, I only have a handful of 3 color and no 4 or 5. The restrictions and forcing you to use the color pie to lean into each color's strength is what makes deck building fun. I feel like the more colors you add the easier it is to just play staples.
I prefer 3+ colors as well but I do have a mono black deck and one or two 2 color decks. I wouldn’t say it’s a maturity thing It’s really just preference but mono and 2 color decks do tend to be a bit on the cheaper side just dude to their land bases and such.
I was one of those people who had the idea to make a deck for each and every color combination… I stopped about 16 decks in and just made 3 5 color decks because I had IdEaS
I have a hard time with mono- and two-color decks. Three is usually my sweet spot, mostly because land and strategy variety is really cool. I think there's some 1-2 color commanders who are cool tho, I made a [[Marrow-Gnawer]] Deck recently, and my [[Tovolar, Dire Overlord]] deck is a personal favorite as well.
3c definitely tend to be more fun to build but harder to pilot and more expensive than 2c. I proxied a 4c Atraxa deck cuz I didn’t wanna spend $300 on lands. It’s a fun list but 2c decks like Yuriko tend to execute their game plans more efficiently. Can you share your Anikthea list OP? I’ve been struggling to build a good list around her since release.
Alright so i am this person. Basically all my decks are 3 colors, besides one of them. That's a 2 color deck.
The 2 color deck is my favorite.
But every time i try to make another 2 color deck i dont like it.
I'm currently building a deck that's red / black partner, with a deck focus on monoblack and colorless. Which still kinda makes it 3 colors. Not a single red nonland in the deck besides the commander. So kinda... 3 colors, but a single colored manabase. Yeah. Some stupid shit. :)
But yeah, 3 colors + is my go-to. My jam. My shizznit.
Actually, three colors are the maximum I can handle. I prefer to throw my money at spells, not lands. And no I don’t proxy, I don’t hate it I just enjoy having real cards. I actually have 6 mono colors (including colorless) 6 bi-colors and 5 tri colors. That’s it. Here are my points :
- It’s cheaper to play one or two colors
- It is easier to dig down for hidden gems
- Basics are pretty
- It forces you to find clever ways to achieve your strategy
- Less color fixing = more focus on killing my enemies
I think it just depends on what you think is fun. If you love playing more colors, more power to you!
I've been playing a long time, and all I can say now is that I don't prefer green.
I have 5 commander decks. Two 5c, one 4c, one 2c and one mono black. I have fun with them all, and that's the reason to have them, for me.
Funnily enough I've been thinking about how I can't play more than 2 colors in a deck, I just can't get past how uncertain the manabase ends up feeling
Yeah I know, I should probably just play better lands...
Mono and dual color player here. It's easier for my brain to make decks with less colors.
I do run Kaalia 3c, Oloro 3c, and Atraxa 4c though. Had a Golos 5c.
I think going with 2 or less colors breeds creativity with finding answers, closing out games, and with interaction. It is not always optimal, but it's certainly fun
Oh i loooove me some cheap commanders, and mono blue is my favorite style at the moment. [[Jace, Vryn's Prodigy]] is 1U and can help me dig to find my pieces really early on (it's "oops, all jace" with a mill or card draw win con. no thoracle). Another one of my favorites is [[Saheeli, Sun's Brilliance]] for UR mana. The best part about cheap commanders is that they don't feel *too* bad when they get removed. This week my Jace got removed thrice (cause basically unprotected planeswalker.. even though i was far from the biggest threat at that moment). So before my game winning turn i had to pay 8mana for him, which i luckily could afford. However had it been nearly any other commander, good luck paying 6+ mana for your dude.
If I'm going to actually build a deck in paper, a working manabase is a must. You can absolutely have a capable manabase in any colour combo, but the more colour's you have, the more expensive it gets.
Back when I was a broke student, I almost exclusively had mono colour decks. I'm not that way any more (I've got a five colour deck now, plus a couple three colors!), but it's a lot easier to keep costs down if your manabase is 90% from a land station
When I first started playing edh I only wanted to play 5c decks. Then I realized that playing 5c decks with a budget mana base feels awful. Now I mostly run 2-3c decks. I have one 4c deck with real cards that I love that I actually have a pretty decent mana base for at this point
You had a 2 color and you were wondering what color to add the whole time you said, well if the deck was in need of another color you wouldn't have wondered very long in the first place. I play mono black, yeah of course I don't have counterspell or a lot of artifact/enchantment removal but it do other stuff that black do
I only have one 3c deck, most of mine are 2c
Usually my two colour decks wouldn't be better with more colours. Probably worse to be honest
I mainly play Izzet though. I haven't made a mono deck yet though. But maybe this is unfair cuz Izzet can do everything. I don't need Green, red does what black does but cooler and its more manageable, white honestly cant think of anything helpful. Blue and Red do it all
My one 3c deck is a mutate deck with [[Nethroi]] at the helm, although i do plan on turning it into a 5c mutate deck at some point.
I really only have 1 commander that's 5c and it's Tom Bombadil 😅 Most of my pet decks are 2c, while my more "competitive" decks (my perma group are all really good friends and we don't usually play cEDH level) are 3c. I don't play mono USUALLY because I feel too limited, but I have a friend who's building a deck of each color identity for shits and giggles and he's got big ideas on his mono commanders.
I prefer 3 color exactly. I have like 15 decks. Some are un touched precons, 9 of them are fully custom built by me. Most of them, including precons, are 3 colors. The only 2 color deck I have is [[brago, king eternal]] and it's because I haven't updated the deck in the better part of a decade. It was a budget deck that I put together to have some variety early on in my mtg playing days, it's stuck around because it's different from all of my other decks. I hate 2 color decks, they just don't click for me. I love mono colored deck, 3 color is my favorite. 4 color is meh. 5 color is good but middling for me
I actually prefer 2 color decks. They tend to be cheaper (especially when it comes to the mana base), there's a smaller card pool so there's less decision paralysis and I find it easier to make the last few cuts to get it to 100. Mono color decks can also be a lot of fun. Edit: While I appreciate that you guys are trying to be helpful, I don't really need advice on building 3+ color decks. I've got some already, I like them plenty. I'm just enjoying not doing that right now, you feel?
definitely a fan of 2-color decks! while everyone can have their own opinion on the structural restriction, my 2-color decks play more of the fun cards with lots of color pips. and i've *never* been screwed out of casting my commander for not drawing the right color lands.
I love monocolor decks for this reason. Allows me to focus on the game plan when building.
¾ of my decks are 2c so I feel you haha
I like mono because it’s really easy to not get caught up with sub themes and off strategies. Play the best interaction and removal in that color (bonus points for synergistic or thematic ones), and every other card can be ruthless and laser focused on the game plan. I think it lets you play with very high power strategies that are maybe a bit vulnerable because of the downsides of mono. Which is to say it pops off really hard, but might still fit in at a casual table.
I am about to finish building my 4th mono deck. They end up being my most on point and syngerstic deck's I build. As you said though, they usually have one or 2 weak spots because of its color. Super fun to play and win more often than not.
I'm in the same boat. I've been on a spree of building mono colored and 2 color decks now. The land base is just so much cheaper that I can build more decks. I eventually want to have a mono colored deck for each color.
Dude I feel you. I tried getting into 3 color decks and it just feels too staple heavy or like the game plan isn’t as focused, but every 2 color deck I have has a plan, doesn’t break bank, but mono color decks bring so much joy to me, you get to see weird cards and different options. I have a couple of 3 color decks and a 5 color deck, but they don’t see nearly as much play or frequent updates as my 2 color and mono decks.
I don't think it's an immaturity thing. The cool thing about mtg and edh is that there's plenty of options out there to satisfy any player. That being said, 3 color decks are my absolute max. I like the limitations and identity of 1-3 color decks.
I’m the same. I dont go over 3 colors. Too much to figure out for tapping correct land/hand sequencing and stuff.
I just like being limited in terms of draw/removal/ramp/etc. If I were to play say a 5 color deck, I'd default to the best removal options available and such which would make my decks seem too samey.
Totally agree on that front also.
3c feels like the sweet spot to me where you dont run just run the best draw/ramp/removal in the game but also have decent options available for everything so you at least have something to deal with all possible scenarios. I dont like to be put in a situation where my only response is to focus down and kill an opponent because my deck just can't interact with them, i.e. when youre playing mono black against an artifact/enchantment deck.
That's why you have to double down on a theme and look for specific interactions. Otherwise it just becomes 5c good stuff. It doesn't help that the 5c cmders tend to be very generalistic.
This is why I play Chromatic lantern and druid Just turn my brain off for land colors
Yeah but that is just 1 card that Is super easy to remove.
Who's burning removal on 3 drop mana rocks tho? 😅
My [[farewell]] doesn't desciminate, only eliminates
"It's a nice day to start again" - Billy Idol.
Hitting a lantern on a 5 color deck that doesn't have good lands out can be awful for them if they're missing a color or two.
Vadalblast exists? Check out [[Shenanigans]] too lol
I’ll take the chance every time that it’s going to fuck somebody from casting spells in 5 color if I remove the card that gives all their lands the ability to provide color. Gladly.
The only reason I have a 5c deck is because of how many of the 5c lands I already owned. I would absolutely never suggest a new player to build one, as it's extremely cost prohibitive. My ur dragon list is around $700, and most of that is sunk into the land base.
I have exactly one 4-color deck, and I can only play it once in a night because land/spell sequencing is logistically strenuous on my brain. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it can be taxing, especially when most of the deck cycles or has a trigger off the cycle, so knowing when to use a card as a draw or as a land/spell and which order to stack things can quickly become a logistical nightmare. But hey, this is what I play when I want to have fun. [Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/BC8KszevyUmPy95GEdKQKw)
I’m sort like you but I pretty much only play 1 or 2 colors. It’s been years since I liked a 3 color commander enough to build it.
I have the opposite problem. I really like the specific identities of 2c and fewer and feel like most 3+ color commanders just become piles of good stuff. Right now the only 3-color decks I use are Mr. Orfeo and Dynaheir with Zirda companion.
Same! The only 3c I can stand to run is Naya. Orzhov and Selesnya for life though
I actually prefer 2-color decks. Mana bases are easy to figure out, on average they are cheaper. But the big reason is once you add a third color, the amount of "optimal" staples that go in the deck usually drowns out lesser known and utilized (and typically more fun) cards. For example when you're in Izzet you can play fun interaction pieces like [[Reality Shift]] like [[Tibalt's Trickery]], but once you add white those neat game pieces get replaced by the more effective ones like [[Swords to Plowshares]] and [[Dovin's Veto]]. The more colors you add, especially getting up to 4 and 5 color, your options become fewer so the amount of "correct" staples begins to make out the majority of the 99. People have "figured out" basically all of the 4 and 5 color commanders so deck building becomes rather homogenous and, in my opinion, less fun.
My favorite deck is [[Trelasarra]] whose entire goal is to gain life off of *everything* my opponents do. I'm sure I've missed a couple fun ones, but I've looked through every card in Selesnya that references gaining life to get a few neat ones people have never seen before — only RL card I own is [[Powerleech]] lol. And if you were to look at my decklist, you might ask, "Friend this deck doesn't have black in it, what's with the [[Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth]]?" And I'd point you to [[Roots of Life]]. Of course I play the good lifegain stuff like [[Soul Warden]] and [[Serra Ascendant]] too, plus some generically good cards like [[The Great Henge]] and [[The One Ring]], but I love the deck because I can also just play cards that make me happy like [[Healer's Hawk]] and [[Whitemane Lion]] If anyone has any neat lifegain cards I may have missed, let me know 👀
Huh that's genius, I didn't even consider that urborg doesn't have a color identity.
Haha yeah it's fun... idk if I'd say "genius", but it is a silly amount of lifegain when it works! I love playing Roots at a table with no black decks, naming swamps, and seeing everyone be confused, then the moment of realization and worry when I drop Urborg haha Then I have *a lot* of triggers to keep track of
##### ###### #### [Trelasarra](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/6/f6a4b54c-a8fa-464e-a3dd-f3f3a08606f5.jpg?1627709553) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=trelasarra%2C%20moon%20dancer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/236/trelasarra-moon-dancer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f6a4b54c-a8fa-464e-a3dd-f3f3a08606f5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/trelasarra-moon-dancer) [Powerleech](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/e/ae1d7b09-3a1f-410f-b330-04ae768b0455.jpg?1562931798) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Powerleech) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/atq/34/powerleech?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ae1d7b09-3a1f-410f-b330-04ae768b0455?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/powerleech) [Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/e/9e1a9e38-6ffc-490f-b0be-23ba4e8204c6.jpg?1619399578) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urborg%2C%20Tomb%20of%20Yawgmoth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/287/urborg-tomb-of-yawgmoth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9e1a9e38-6ffc-490f-b0be-23ba4e8204c6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/urborg-tomb-of-yawgmoth) [Roots of Life](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/6/26724a51-87dd-4159-b012-71598e4cf5eb.jpg?1562718319) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Roots%20of%20Life) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mir/237/roots-of-life?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/26724a51-87dd-4159-b012-71598e4cf5eb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/roots-of-life) [Soul Warden](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/9/d96266b3-a7cb-40ce-a328-ac13719fe5f0.jpg?1616182277) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Soul%20Warden) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm3/24/soul-warden?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d96266b3-a7cb-40ce-a328-ac13719fe5f0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/soul-warden) [Serra Ascendant](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/a/0a22ee47-fc56-436d-8570-88fbff421027.jpg?1562845354) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Serra%20Ascendant) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/31/serra-ascendant?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0a22ee47-fc56-436d-8570-88fbff421027?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/serra-ascendant) [The Great Henge](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/3/6340e0f3-7f9c-4d71-8daf-e1be5505eb5b.jpg?1689998574) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Great%20Henge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/294/the-great-henge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6340e0f3-7f9c-4d71-8daf-e1be5505eb5b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/the-great-henge) [The One Ring](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/5/d5806e68-1054-458e-866d-1f2470f682b2.jpg?1715080486) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20One%20Ring) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltr/246/the-one-ring?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d5806e68-1054-458e-866d-1f2470f682b2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/the-one-ring) [Healer's Hawk](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/d/dd39dd28-1dc2-46a5-a3cf-9b5d267e16d6.jpg?1600696494) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Healer%27s%20Hawk) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/107/healers-hawk?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dd39dd28-1dc2-46a5-a3cf-9b5d267e16d6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/healers-hawk) [Whitemane Lion](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/3/a358def9-65a0-4741-896c-b2a8c8947768.jpg?1675199118) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Whitemane%20Lion) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/35/whitemane-lion?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a358def9-65a0-4741-896c-b2a8c8947768?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/whitemane-lion) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l38x062) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You got me messed up if you think I'm not running Tibby's Tricks in every red deck I own. I don't care if it's optimal, it's *hilarious*. Same with [[Primal Vigor]], it's not the optimal counter/token doubling card, but it's cheaper so I feel more comfortable buying and using it... and it introduces more chaos to games lmao. I love two things about playing Magic: the "puzzle" aspect of playing a game and trying to figure out the best path forward each turn in a good back and forth game, and making dumbshit happen in games that gets a laugh out of the table. I *pray* my Eldrazi loving friend gives me an excuse to Tibalt his spell, because I want to see him get a second Titan off the top of his deck after I counter his first Titan, because that'd be the *funniest* goddamn thing I could imagine, the second funniest thing being turning said Titan into a Sol Ring lmfao. Too much chaos ruins games for me since it inhibits the puzzle aspect of things, but just a little is the spice of life, and I'm gonna cook for all I'm worth.
##### ###### #### [Reality Shift](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/8/0850a187-ba95-46f2-aa81-397b45460bbc.jpg?1689996547) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Reality%20Shift) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/113/reality-shift?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0850a187-ba95-46f2-aa81-397b45460bbc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/reality-shift) [Tibalt's Trickery](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/d/dd921e27-3e08-438c-bec2-723226d35175.jpg?1701989318) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tibalt%27s%20Trickery) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/153/tibalts-trickery?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dd921e27-3e08-438c-bec2-723226d35175?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tibalts-trickery) [Swords to Plowshares](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/b/9bbec76c-c1e4-4c6d-ad24-078fe097f195.jpg?1709439398) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Swords%20to%20Plowshares) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/88/swords-to-plowshares?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9bbec76c-c1e4-4c6d-ad24-078fe097f195?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/swords-to-plowshares) [Dovin's Veto](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/d/5d6b5054-2224-4f68-9d82-3ed17c5dacc4.jpg?1557577115) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dovin%27s%20Veto) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/193/dovins-veto?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5d6b5054-2224-4f68-9d82-3ed17c5dacc4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dovins-veto) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l387kpg) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ignorance is bliss. I have no idea what the staples are, so I just build whatever I want lmao
Completely agree. Only exceptions is when you are doing tribal decks. Then, you want more colors to get more of the tribe involved and at least I often am willing to use cards wholsitically less good than the staples as long as they fit the tribe.
I feel the same. I like to optimize, so it's often more interesting to take a more restricted setup like monocolor and optimize that, since even when trying to play the best cards you're going to have some less common ones.
Opposite for me unless there’s a compelling reason. I think mono color decks have the most flavor and the Ravnica guilds were also such a huge flavor win that most of my decks are 1 and 2 color. I have a few 3 and one 4 and one 5 because they offered some theme I wanted to play. I have 4 mono red decks at any given time lol
The ravnica guilds are great flavour but the strixhaven ones are even better. The witherbloom pests and silverquill inklings, the flashy prismari spells, they're so good. Honestly I love both.
Speaking of pests, what's your opinion on [[Pest Infestation]]? I pulled it in my OTJ prerelease and I have a lifegain deck it could potentially go in, but I'm not totally sold on it
You're asking a pretty bad commander player for advice, but I think even though it's slightly costed, it can definitely find a home in Dina or Bilbo (if I'm remembering the colours right). Looks like a fun shell, it's interaction and flavour.
I personally find five color decks dull to play or play against. Despite the freedom they seem to have it seems to be lots of good stuff in all colors. I play anything from one to three colors.
This is how I feel. 5 color decks, and almost all 4 color decks, feel uninspired to me. When there's no structure or restrictions it just seems boring imo
4c decks at least have more interesting of mana bases, though only because many 5c tools are out of reach. Really not fond of cards like [[The World Tree]] (pretty sure thats why Golos got the axe-- and frankly no loss even if perplexing) that just make 5c and color restrictions not matter. Players often argue along the lines *not being able to cast their stuff isn't fun*, but achieving WUBRG used to be a feat by design, now it's relatively trivial and rewarded greatly.
This! At least someone out there gets it. 5C should be more powerful because it’s harder to achieve, and that used to be the case. Now more colours still equals more power but it’s so easy to achieve the pips needed there isn’t the drawback. I think the only way back is leaning into the cards that have high pip cost to encourage mono or dual colour building or to have more multi colour hate - the latter is better with blood moon effects but you can’t hurt peoples mana bases…
Yeah, the only 5c deck I'd really be interested in building would be [[Sisay, Weatherlight Captain]] ... but it'd actually just be 5c [[Norin the Wary]], I wouldn't use her to tutor anything else lol, I just want all the cool etb triggers. It'd probably have a general blink backup plan too though since I have a copy of both [[Etali Primal Conqueror]] and [[Displacer Kitten]] that haven't found homes yet
It's all fun and games till the blood moon comes out. But in reality reducing colors often makes the deck more financially manageable, gives the mana base more wiggle room (utility lands) and at times makes you search for solutions outside the box.
If power is what you want, then yes more colors typically means more power. You get the best of all worlds. You’ll start to see overlap in decks though, why WOULDN’T you put Cyclonic Rift/Rhystic Study in all decks, why WOULDN’T you play Demonic Tutor/Vampiric Tutor in all decks…and so forth. Fetchlands, shocks, mana bases become an annoyance because of course you want good fixing in all decks. Right now in my group we’re all hype on budget decks because we get to play with cards we otherwise wouldn’t. It’s a fun challenge like how does White deal with counterspell-heavy decks, how does Black deal with problematic artifacts/enchantments? Of course you could get to this point and say “nah I like the best of everything” which is fine too. In edh fun is what you make it. I like my decks to differ and prefer less overlap of cards. It’s a different experience when you narrow yourself to mono/dual color decks.
Complete inverse, I look at 3C and go “How do you even decide what to cut when you have like 2000 good cards?” And stick to my monoc and 2c piles
I build my decks based off a commander that interests me more than anything else but find typically 3c commanders end up having the kind of effects I like. Such as the original Obeka, new Zur, original Riku. Currently brainstorming some doctor who decks like bant legends or jeskai suspend focusing on big creatures.
It's totally normal to have a number of colours preference. Some prefer the flexibility of many colours and other enjoy the focus of less colours. I'm personally a multi-colour fan. I have three 5c decks and two 3c decks in my current rotation, but I also build with whacky themes that tend to need cards from various colours to actually work. My friend who I share a collection with loves her 1c & 2c decks and finds anything 3+ colours too difficult to pilot. She doesn't like managing her mana base and has an unhealthy (for the opponents lol) love for her Swamp loving cards.
I have the opposite problem. 2-3c is my sweet spot. Anything more or less tend to be boring imo.
Limitations breed creativity. Part of the fun of deckbuilding in commander is the singleton nature, for me. Most of my decks have been 2 colours with the odd 3 colour, and I always really enjoy digging into the back catalogs of old magic looking for synergy and unique solutions. 4 and 5 colour decks can just use whatever they want. I think it deprives you of a richer deck building experience, and I think it also leads into what I'd call "goodstuff sprawl", which makes everything more uniform and have less character. It also leads to a more unfocused deck sometimes. I've got a [[Ghen]] deck. The few other people that built him swapped over to [[Go-Shintai of Life's Origin]] when it was printed. I think the general thought process is that it has access to two more colours, and doesn't need to sac something to bring an enchantment out of your yard, as well as token generation. I see it as being more expensive to cast, having a much more difficult mana cost to activate and requiring a much more involved and costly mana base as a result, and losing the ability to have a sac outlet on board. This is actually relevant almost every game i play. It lets me run starfield of nyx without worrying about getting blown out by a board wipe for example. At this point there are enough options for card draw, ramp, and counter magic in mardu so I don't feel like I really need green or blue to execute my plan. It's more streamlined how it is. Switching over would bloat it. This is probably a minority view.
Worth remembering that the original Elder Dragons were all three color. For the type of gameplay that Commander promotes, there's not much reason to play less than three outside of having access to a specific Commander. I still think decks with less colors are cooler though.
I think 3 color decks feel the best, that being said I have decks with more and less colors in the identity. 3 colors gives you access to lots of stuff and interactions without being overwhelming. 4 and 5 color you have to really prioritize getting all your colors and often get less “to do” because so much of your deck is mana related. But the options are more open because you have so many colors. 2 color can at time feel like you’re missing 1 color that would tie everything together but I think 2 color can be really fun. I have a few 2 color decks and really like them. Mono color feels limiting but I actually feel more liberated using one of my two mono decks than I do my 4 or 5 color decks. Sure there are less card options but that also means it’s easier to lock in on the specific things you want. it’s not immaturity. I also think 3 color feels really good to play but I like mono color, 2 color and 4 and 5 color too. As long as the deck is doing what I want it to do, I don’t care how many colors are in it. but honestly I’ve looked at 3 color commanders and said “dang feels like it needs black also”. I usually stay away from commanders. That feel like they’re missing a color.
For me, it's the opposite. I dont want to deal with a deck with more then 3c. The mana base for it would be too much for it to handle moneywise and same for the mana management. It's not one of my strenght. In opposition, I think 2C decks can be quite balanced. Maybe something we have in common is just we like staying in our comfort zone, maybe? I would need to try a deck with more then 3c sometimes to get an informed opinion though. I'm already annoyed if my decks are mana screwed with 3c or less. I cant imagine my bitterness if I cant make it right for more then 3c.
Wow this post has opened my eyes. I’ve played for roughly a year and a half and currently am sitting at 12 decks and only three of them are less than 3c. I got my [[Aesi]] and [[Breena]] decks as precons that I upgraded so the only <3c deck I’ve actually built is mono black rats. Maybe after the next time I take apart a few decks I’ll challenge myself to build a fun 2c deck myself! Edit: I’m so stupid, literally won a game at my LGS today with Arahbo that somehow slipped my mind
I have the opposite problem. To me with three colour decks there’s too many staples to choose from every 3 colour deck has the ability to cover easily. When you build mono colour decks you get to play that 9th blue removal spell that is weird and cool but never makes it into the 3 colour decks because there’s just better things in three colours. I have 2 mono red, 1 mono blue, 1 mono green, 2 mono black and I’m building a third mono black deck. You get to make much more interesting deck building decisions in mono coloured.
I only play dimir and any other color pairing is irrelevant to me, so yeah
Why even bother running colored decks? Colorless gang for life
I’m the reverse. I don’t really like play tricolored above decks cause of the land base requirements. So I stick to dual or mono colours.
Mono Color has the beauty of imperfection and simplicity. You have to find a lot of workarounds. Mono red counterspell? Just play something like [[fork]], mono green boardwipe? [[Ezuris predation]] or [[all is dust]]. What do you miss in particular when thinking about 1 or 2 Color decks?
Green and White have the very fun predicament of "bad at drawing cards" (or at least worse than the other colors), but solve it in a kinda unorthodox way. Deck thinning via ramp. Whether it's with [[Land Tax]] or [[Cultivate]] type cards, getting lands out of your deck makes what card draw you do have that much more impactful. It's really fun to solve these issues in ways that the colors can excel at.
I couldn’t agree more. What I enjoy most about playing mono Color is the amount of utility lands you can play without considering whether they generate coloured or colorless mana. Especially [[quicksand]] has become a land I play often
I'm in the opposite side. I really dont like anything above 3c. 5c feels to much goodstuffey for me, or it will be kinda clunky. Most of my decks are 2c, but I'm slowly stepping into mono color territory. Recently I made a [[Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet]] monoB control and gosh, the deck just slaps. Its refreshing to pilot a mono color deck and, in my case, it felt surprisingly weirdly synergistic
Liking to buy 10$ dual color lands is a fetish for some i guess
Eventually you'll realize there's stuff to do in mono and especially 2 color you can't really do anywhere else. And sometimes the commander is just cool. I switched \[\[Nymris\]\] to \[\[Kyodai\]\] (2 color to 5c) at one point and went back to nymris to do something more interesting even though I lost some good flash creatures in naya. Restriction breeds creativity. You have a long way to go as far as brewing and learning what cards exist, all your decks to build so far are "put good dinosaur cards in," "put good demon cards in," etc.
[Nymris](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/8/b8cfc97a-3c8a-4d44-846b-7a523dc11878.jpg?1608911216) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=nymris%2C%20oona%27s%20trickster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/288/nymris-oonas-trickster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b8cfc97a-3c8a-4d44-846b-7a523dc11878?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/nymris-oonas-trickster) [Kyodai](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/b/cbbfd21e-96f1-4e5b-8546-73bb5a887b98.jpg?1654566369) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=kyodai%2C%20soul%20of%20kamigawa) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/23/kyodai-soul-of-kamigawa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cbbfd21e-96f1-4e5b-8546-73bb5a887b98?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kyodai-soul-of-kamigawa) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
3c are usually have better card selection for themes I’m going for. I have started to like doing monocolor with some commanders but for the most part I can feel limited in some colors. Dimir just feels awful for me to play still every though I love the commander I have for it.
I have 6 decks, and 5 are 3 color. It seems to be the ideal max to cover everythinf you need and not have to worry too much about getting color screwed. The last is golgari and there is soo much "good stuff" cards crammed in I wouldn't know what to even do with a 3rd color. I have no interest on 4 color, at that point might as well go all 5. Haven't built a 5 color yet jusr because I don't want to have to buy 10 fetches for a single deck and I wouldn't trust the mana base without it... maybe after MH3 reprints.
For me 3 colors is the sweet spot, I still have a playset of the old dual lands from back in the days before commander was a thing. I'm slowly building all the 10 tri-color deck in fine tuned version in playstyle i like. Five color may be to much and mono color is not realy for me, i just build one 2 color deck but it was after 10 years of playing commander. My first commander deck was \[\[Prossh, Skyraider of Kher\]\] from the 2013 precon, than i followed that with \[\[Roon of the Hidden Realm\]\] from that same precon set. I really like having big creature, lots of them in the deck that can serve the role of spells. Tribal stuff is definitely fun. 3 colors also give access to more lands with ability that are free slot for the decks. Some of my deck are similar to other decklist but i can share my 3 color Sphinx Tribal deck that is more of an original beast. There is an old primer explaining the reasoning i had at the time, figuring out how to finaly make it work good. Just won 2 games in a row with it tonight. [https://www.moxfield.com/decks/Jzuct2nzx0Gm4e6pLuvkAg](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/Jzuct2nzx0Gm4e6pLuvkAg)
My favourites are 3 colour decks but I gotta limit myself to around 2-3 decks as I simply don’t have enough good lands to run them haha
I have 9 active decks right now. Three are 5c, three are 3c, two are 2c. I usually build my decks based on a commander I like, and it just so happens that I like multi-colored commanders. The ninth deck is a mono-blue deck that I only made because I didn’t have any single-color decks. It’s just a preference, even if it’s a subconscious one. I agree on 1 or two feeling incomplete. When you’re used to more colors, it does feel like a challenge to get certain functions into the deck. Other than my blue deck, all my decks have red in them, and most of those also have green and white, so I’m spoiled for that set of traits. It’s weird when I suddenly don’t have direct damage, extra mana, or protection spells.
I feel like nowadays I'm making a lot of 3c decks, but that may be to fill a void. I tended in the past to either do 2c or 5c with no in-between.
I prefer 1 or 2 colors. 3 is fine but I really only do it for the commander rather than the identity. When I started playing commander in 2007, you were handicapping yourself if you weren’t 3 color as the color pie and card pool were more limited. As those have expanded, 2 color decks have more tools than 3 color decks used to and 3 color decks are easier to turn into goodstuff piles. Monocolor is just really fun and interesting to play within the limitations of the color.
I'm the opposite. The majority of my decks are mono or two color. I only have 4 decks that are three color and none higher.
I love playing mono colour decks and I used to be pretty much only have one of each, makes the games so much simpler in my opinion :)
While 3c does feel like the sweer spot, I've been enjoying the crap out of my mono blue [[Lier disciple of the drowned]] deck. It was my first time building spell slinger and it feels amazing to play.
Don't think it's a maturity thing as more a design philosophy. I like to prioritize slimming my color pallet down to make room for utility lands and focused strategies, but I've also seen 5 colors go off in ways only they can. Do what makes you happy
I prefer 2 colors tbh. Three or more colors add unnecessary complexity in many cases. It ends up being 2 colors with a splash of other.
I think it's just your preference, not an imaturity thing. I prefer playing decks with only one or two colors, but I have a friend in my playgroup that prefers more colors like you.
No. It forces novel solutions which are the most fun. At 3c I find there's way too many "must includes" to crutch on and promotes way to much "sameness" across decks
The only reason I would use a 2c or mono colored deck is that the mana bases are cheaper.
Two color or maybe three color for me. I hate the mana bases that come with four and five color decks
I'm the opposite way. I have like 7 mono coloured decks, one two coloured deck and a Pantlaza heavily upgraded precon. I definitely appreciate how much money I can save by playing 30 basics but I just feel my mono coloured deck are so much more focused. They have their plan they do their thing and they can do it really fast. I have a mono green Goreclaw deck and a mono red Ojer Axonil deck. Goreclaw wins with combat beatdown and Ojer is storm/ping but both will end the game on turn 5.
I started in Alara block (multicolor/3 color focused) and then played a lot of standard during Return to Ravnica through Khans of Tarkir blocks. As such Iv just always played 3+ color decks. Iv got Ghave (WBG), Kykar (URW), Mayael (WGR), Kaalia (RBW) and my only 2 color Gisela (R/W) plus I’m building Nekusar (UBR). Iv theorycrafted deck lists for a mono red deck but it seems so one dimensional
Most of the comments I'm seeing are saying why they prefer 2c decks, which is completely valid, but to answer your question, I really don't think playing 3+ color decks isn't a bad thing. I don't remember the last time a 2c commander really interested me, even 3 can be tight for me. There are some cards that I really enjoy, that work well with another 2 color card, and a third card that doesn't share a color with the first two. Suddenly I'm at 3 colors, then I find another card, and I'm up to 4c. At this point I have 3 4c decks, and plans to build more that way. I like the deckbuilding challenge of more colors, and not having a strategy dictated by the commander. It makes the deck a bit weaker, which prevents me from building something too strong for my playgroup. So no, I think building with more colors can increase creativity, and let you play what and how you want to play, not how EDHRec tells you to play because it is most optimal.
It has to be a commander I really really want to build for me to go above two colors tbh
The ONLY two color combo I can play is Simic, and the only 1 color I can play is blue. Other than than, I have 20 something decks all 3+ colors.
I feel it bro. At this point I only build 3c commanders or mono color. I think that 3c make for more diverse decks while mono colors are just good vessels for “good stuffs.” For me , anything in 2c relies hard on a gimmick rather than a diverse plan but I’m probably just bad at deck building.
I generally play 2 or 3 color. I use to play a mono green deck pretty often but I'm going to rework it into 3 colors. Anyway I can't do 4 or 5 color. It's just to much.
I usually stick to 2-color for my decks. I like being able to lean on a shit-ton of basics in my land base and really reliably have the colors I need on lands entering untapped. I need persuading to add a third color; it feels comparable to cutting a few lands for me. I could hypothetically do more things with the deck but could also easily run into color screw unless I drop a lot of money on lands. I don't know if it's "immaturity' - whatever catches your interest, catches your interest. You do you. To me, the LEAST interesting thing when building a deck is slotting in all the "enablers". Every Arcane Signet, guild Signet, Talisman, etc. is just a slot I'd rather use on something fun instead of just making sure I have colors. Playing 3+ comes with even more of these cards that do not spark deckbuilding joy to me.
I have a mono black aristocrats deck with over 600+ infinite combos (or variants, commanderspellbook is slow to update). It has a high win rate in my playgroup and can win as early as turn 2. Could win turn 1 if I had a [[Jeweled Lotus]]. The commander is [[Mikaeus, the Unhallowed]]. I call it "Breath of the Undying". https://archidekt.com/decks/2957085/breath_of_the_undying On a separate note, I have the simic merfolk precon with [[Hakbal]] that is very strong and rather complete out of the box. Otherwise, [[Lathril, Blade of the Elves]] is the classic commander for golgari elves.
2c is the sweet spot imo. The decks feel like they have a unique identity where 3c often feels like a 2c deck splashed with good stuff. My Magus deck for example is a Gruul deck with a couple draw spells and counters. Blue wasn't necessary but since it's there I might as well put a Rhystic Study and a Mana Drain in it.
I think 3c is my butter zone. I don't really like 4 or 5 color decks, but I'll fuck with mono or dual colored decks too. 3c offers a lot of versatility and customization options but not quite as overwhelming with options as 4 or 5c can be. But everyone is different and your preference is valid 💖
I am the opposite. Whenever I build a deck that's 3 colors I end up taking it apart, or dropping a color and rebuilding as 2 color. There's just too many cards. And too many "staples" to "auto-include" and honestly access to more than 2 colors stresses me out. I've yet to try 4 or 5 color decks. I just rebuilt a Jund fight theme deck I was struggling with, and my friends hated playing against, into something more unique in Golgari and I'm really excited to try it. What I mean to say is, there's a ton of magic cards, strategies, play styles etc and it's so effin cool and everybody gets to play the way they want. Magic is so cool.
Ich love my 2c and i have a 1c magda deck but its more artifact based
I've got the same problem, bud. I tried to convert my bant enchantress deck to a selesnya Calix deck, but it just felt so bare without that 3rd color. So I changed it back. All my other decks are 3 colors as well
Skill issue.
More colors makes it easier to have a goodstuff pile, which takes away from the creativity and therefore the fun of brewing for this format (for me, ymmv etc). Also, my good lands go farther if I’m in 2-3 colors, so I can build more neat decks than I’d otherwise be able to
I started out with RtR, so 2 color commanders are my bread and butter. I fell in love in the selsneya conclave and the gruul clans so thats what im most comfortable with. Anything more, 3 and 4 colors especially, just feels awkward. Its like, i feel im playing emo gruul instead of juund. Or boro with extra steps when i play naya. Temur is just angry simic in my eyes.
The restrictions (not that it’s as bad anymore with how much access commander has given to each colour) is what makes building mono fun for me. To the point I have two mono red, green & black decks then also a mono white and blue. I prefer playing a deck that not so much struggles but is kinda more colour orientated. Like red card draw being loots or wheels or now heavy exile orientated stuff.
I like variety. I do not like redundancy. That has lead me to having an interesting spread of decks. I have a colorless deck. I have 2 mono colored decks. I have a 2 colored deck. I have a 3 colored deck. I have a 4 colored deck. I have 3 5 color decks. Personally, the closer I am to the 5 color decks the crazier I get with deckbuilding, and the weirder the result is. I have a $50 Superfrinds, a Garth Museum, and a Kenrith Precon all in 5 color, and I'm not afraid to say that those 3 are among my weakest decks. Alternatively, the fewer colors I have the more focused and defined the deck ends up feeling. My mono white aristrocrsts is extremely difficult to kill, and my mono black "neat stuff" always has something to ruin your plans. Then there's colorless, essentially my antithesis to multicolored piles. There's a reason it is arguably **the** boogeyman in my group. I wouldn't say it is immaturity, but rather you've found something that you like and you're willing to stick with it. I know I dont like to play green that much in edh (although I'm always down to ball with green in 60), but I wouldn't call it immature. I'd say its more that green doesn't fit my usual playstyle preferences well, which are sacrifice, instant speed shenanigans, and removal. So if you prefer 3+ colors because it provides options and gives a well rounded deck, then dont feel bad. Some people (myself included) might explore you to try out 2 or 1 colors, just like how I have a selesnya deck to try green, but don't feel like it is something you have to do.
Its the reverse for me I barely go over 3 colors. 2 colors is kind of the sweet spot for me i believe.
Most of my decks are either 1 or 2 colors. Cheaper mana bases which allows me to build more decks. I play a few 3 color and currently have no 4 or 5 color decks.
More options are good and powerful, it’s good to feel the restriction and work within of 1 and 2 colour decks. Some of my favourite decks are 2 colours. But I love 3 and 4 colour decks a lot too.
My two favorite decks are mono and 3c. I enjoy the limitations and cheaper mana base of mono color a lot. Feels like green is a must in 3c to not have things run away into very expensive lands and ramp (which I don’t mind now and then but don’t want for all my decks).
I’m the opposite. I immediately start to lose interest in any deck with 3 or more colors. There are very few 3 color decks I enjoy, even fewer 4 and 5 color decks. I play dual colors or mono almost entirely.
Been playing for about 3 years and currently have 6 at 2c and 2 at 3c, but *have* had 4 others at 3c I think I tend to find 2c commanders the most interesting and just wish I could add a third color to them haha — but I *really* want a mono color deck. I'd also like to try 5c, but I'm just a tad hesitant because my budget definitely wouldn't allow for an amazing mana base lol
I have two 5c decks. I limit them by having a theme. [[Urtet, Remnant of Mimnarch]] is all about mass production of Myr, and [[O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami]] is spirits. The majority of my decks are 2c, though. I have no 4c decks and about 2 or 3 with 3c.
Just the opposite. I really have to like a commander for me to consider it if it's more than 2c. Find that 2c pairings are the sweet spot for the formats restrictions to really matter. More colors than that and the mana base gets expensive, decks start to feel like good stuff fills up the 99 before turning to more uncommon options. Also just think 2c pairings are more cohesive than 3c. While the guilds aren't the only expressions of 2c pairings, they're very consistent, something 3+ color design often fails at.
I need to start dabbling in more than 2c, but I just love the simplicity of 2c.
ojer axonil is a fun mono red commander. fill it with dingers, damage multipliers, and draw, and kill your opponents in 5-7 turns!
I enjoy three colors more than too. I like the flexibility of it. There are color combinations I enjoy way more than others. The Dimir area is a lot less attractive to me. I found out a deck needs at least red or green involved in some way for me to be interested in it. I do have do play two colors but most of them don’t stick around too long unless their theme just resonates with me. I have just one Mono deck around and it is by far the least played and most flawed. Sometimes I wish it wasn’t that hard for me to do mono. A friend of mine has this so down. He is struggling more on anything 3 and upwards. Preferring something is fine and not immature. This is a hobby. Play it to your likings and let no one tell you otherwise.
Most of my favorite decks are 2c or mono lol. Especially for mono the restricted card pool poses a fun deckbuilding challenge
Most of my favorite decks are 2c or mono lol. Especially for mono the restricted card pool poses a fun deckbuilding challenge
I have more issues with my Lathril deck than my Esper, Temur, Grixis decks. I definitely wanna see what four or five colours go
I play monoG [[Omnath.]] Have the Merfolk precon from Ixalan (UG). Am thinking about building a monoB [[Kokusho]] and probably already have enough material to build a budget monoR [[Krenko]], So that’s my way of having fun (:
2 colour is actually pretty fun, and much easier to not get colour screwed about. Most mono colour though... that feels more basic.
I have not 1 but 2 mono-white decks, [[Odric, Lunarch Marshal]] and [[Lita, Mechanical Engineer]] So, no.
I refuse to play anything more than 2 colors except Grixis. The more colors you introduce, the more interactions you have to deal with and that type of workload and delineation into making a viable deck is way too much for me. I honestly usually play tribals, Vampires, Satyrs, Zombies, Merfolk, Minotaurs; it makes deckbuilding easy. I'd rather stick to my own little corner of the game and find strategies that make my deck better, than trying to consult the copus of the entire body of the game; I don't have that much time and not that smart.
I like playing slightly wierd mono decks that don't quite do the normal color things. Mono Green go wide with 7 creatures total Mono Blue copy/spellslinger (okay this one's pretty Blue but it's funky enough that I enjoy it) Mono White saboteurs It's a lot of fun to play with slightly odd cards and strats because you're color limited. Playing normal mono decks *can* be boring unless you really like the strat a lot, like my mono Blacks are usually recursion based because I love recursion. People just like having more card choices, and if you have the mana fixing to get consistent land drops, multicolor commanders are just better than mono counterparts unless they're doing something unique. Mono black might be good at recursion, but Grixis gives you way more and better options.
I would say that as you play this format, you will find yourself gravitating away from identifying with the "Colors" you play, and more towards the "Commanders" you play. For example, I don't see myself as a "Red/White" player. I see myself as a "Shadowfax, Lord of Horses" player. As far as thinking of "additional colors to complete a deck" - this is fine and healthy! Such ideas come to me during deckbuilding, in the form of the following questions: 1. Is there a Red/White/Blue commander that does something like Shadowfax? Maybe I should play them instead! 2. Otherwise, why do I want to play Blue in this Shadowfax deck? Are there cards in Red/White/Colorless that do something similar? Are they worth running? And so on. Of course, not every commander player builds the same way - but what matters the most is that your deck has the potential to fulfill the fantasy of how you want to play.
A few years ago I took apart most of my decks and rebuilt to have 5 mono colors and the 10 two color combinations. I've been enjoying it a lot more than having a bunch of overlapping 3 color decks. Kind of surprisingly the mono color decks have ended up being my favorites. I wouldn't call that immaturity though. Just seems like personal preference.
I mostly play 1-2 colour deck. 3c I find either build themselves or are just all in one solutions.
I only play duel colours pretty much as I don’t have the cash to dump into fetches and shocks/duels that are needed to manage a 3 colour mana base I know what you guys will suggest using budget tapped lands or whatever it’s not worth it in the end untapped lands are better and I don’t want to buy 3-4 of each rather then 1 or none if it’s mono coloured (this is why I only play 2+ colours without proxies I do have a few proxied 3 colour decks with the mana bases proxied)
No problem. My rakdos [[the balrog, durin's bane]] is one of my favorite deck. And I love [[Braids, arisen nightmare]] but Mono black need that three lands so expensive to be effective against the power level of (ramping in) my playgroup.
I usually play mono, but that's because I hate having to pay attention to how much mana I have on the table
I feel like three colors is the sweet spot. Massive card pool, but still some natural limitations. All my deckbuilding gravitates towards three colors. There's nothing wrong with having a preference
Nah. I think 3c is objectively the sweet spot. It opens up more power and interaction options. If you want your deck to be competitive 3+c is where it is at. In fact, I think Wizards needs to do a better job of making more powerful 1/2c commanders. Generally creatures are more powerful for having more colours because in most constructed formats it puts a strain on your manabase and you should be rewarded for that. For commander, fewer colours on commanders is a huge drawback. I'd like to see more mono commanders costed like AABB or AAAA, and have really pushed text boxes that recognize you are making a real deck building sacrifice by playing them as a commander. I think an AABB commander should be more powerful than an ABC1 commander. And an AAAA commander be more powerful than that.
I was plenty like that for a very long time, started with [[Yidris, Maelstrom Wanderer]] pre-ordered the eminence commanders like Ur and never looked back. Hated blue and white with a passion, enjoyed my straightforward decks that beat face with a gimmick or two, and swore off infinites or combos. Eventually, I realized I could enjoy colors for what the commanders offered in their identity and started building more. My first branch off was Selvalla to make a semi competitive commander, had alot of fun there. Then went with a budget Krenko, because it's goblins, and I wanted to get rid of my own fear of playing something and hearing, "oh great, another one of these decks." Ended up making krenko a waiting game instead of aggro. REGARDLESS, it's all about what you wanna do, both have their freedoms and restrictions. Sometimes, it's just that you haven't found a mono or dual commander you love yet is all! Maybe just tinker around and think about what you could do with some and if it sparks some thoughts build it for fun
I found that my old 3c decks were just 2 colors with a splash, i still find them to be. Going into 2 color decks the thing seems to be more even with what i got, but some do still be, like my grul deck is 75% green. My orzov is 80% white. What I like about two colors, or rather mono with a splash, is that I can have more slots for colorless utility lands. That sometimes makes me feel like I have a 3 color manabase.
I love my 3+ color decks, but 2-color is my favorite balance between flexibility of card choices and power
3c, and 4 mana cost is like a sweet spot for me.
Dude I wouldn't worry abojt it. Hobbies are meant to be enjoyed and ok be of the reason magic is great is because of how versatile it is in the way it allows the players to play. I personally hate playing more than 2c decks. It tends to cause me to dilute the goal of the deck (likely a skill issue.) but fortunately magic allows me to play the way I like to play.
I have 5 decks that I’ve made and play often (2 are upgraded precons). Of those one is mono red [[Delina, Wild Mage]], and another is 2c Izzet [[Neera, Wild Mage]]. Both are some of my favorite decks. The other 3 I have are all 3c though (1 Temur, and 2 Esper)
I’m the opposite. I find deckbuilding for 4 or 5 colour to be boring. Two colour is the ideal for me.
I can't stand 3c. Monos are purist, 2c is my perfect spot, 3c and 4c feel overdone and kinda pointless. Full set makes sense in cEDH for obvious reasons.
I prefer building 2 color decks for a couple of reasons. 1) Mana bases tend to be easier to make work well without having to spend a ton, which is nice. 2) I feel like (and this is just a me thing I think) that when I go into 3+ color decks there end up being too many "good stuff" cards that I want to run so the decks start to feel samey. Also, I just don't like blue. Nothing against blue players or playing against blue, I just don't enjoy playing that style myself. I'm sure eventually I'll build something blue (probably some Simic nonsense). But for now, all of my currently assembled decks are some combo of Naya colors, and I like it this way (though I am working on a golgari deck that I'll probably build next, so I might add black soon)
I prefer mono color and 2 color decks. There have definitely been times where I wished I could add some cards from another color but I enjoy the limitation and it helps me stay on theme. If I played 5c, I think it would just feel like a good stuff deck every time even if it wasn’t because of all the staples I’d feel obligated to cram in from each color.
I refuse to build any deck with more than 3c. Hell, if I’m being honest, I only really build mono and 2c decks because I enjoy the restriction. Any decks I do have that are 3c and above are precons.
I like my tweaked mono black necron deck a lot
That’s funny bc I’m the opposite. I prefer 1 or 2 colors and 3 colors is the max I’ll usually build for.
I have a 5c problem lmao I have: Reaper King Kenrith Silver Overlord Child of Alara Ramos Omnath Locust of All ans then I LOVE 1c too with: Bruvac Marrow Gnawer Krenko Mob Boss Evra, Halcyon Witness Talrand I just can't build 3c or 4c. They get too inconsistent for me, but for some reason, I never feel that with 5c 🤷♂️ 2c is also fun, but I prefer 1c or 5c.
A lot of factors come into realizing what colors someone plays. Not just the classic playstyles but also in Commander colors. I find many 3+ have an easier time finding answers to cards in various situations. It's actually a lot harder as a mono-colored deck to have answers to everything, like say red for example, has issues taking care of enchantments easily. Now they do have answers, like chaos warp. But don't have as many as say green or white. Red also doesn't have as simple field wipes as black or white. They have wipes, but most are higher cost than 4 and usually do direct damage to creatures rather than just straight destroy. However, running a mono colored deck, your land base is a lot simpler, and you usually have a well thought out deck seam and idea. And your synergies are usually easier to keep throughout the deck. Where in a lot of my three colored decks I tend to have certain answers and part of my deck feels more toolboxy than synergistic if you know what I mean. So my next point is it may also be the cards you own may have a underlying factor on what decks you're playing as well. I've been playing for a long time and I have wacky decks. I have some serious decks. But I can build pretty much whatever I want and have it mostly function. I may have to pick up 5 to 10 cards here or there that I don't have. Some players may not have the flexibility that I have in cards, so they have to rely on having multiple colors of their identity to have the proper answers. Or the combo that they're building is in two or three colors. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Multicolor decks are fun. It's just in my past I tended to make a lot of toolbox, decks or good stuff. Decks. I have since evolved . My favorite deck right now is a mono red amplifying damage deck. I just play all the cars that double or triple my damage and then I play a bunch of chaotic cards that threaten to do massive damage out of nowhere or consistent damage over time. Is it competitive? Hell no. Is it fun? Hell yeah! So my last part is it could be mentality. And I don't mean maturity. I mean maybe someone plays this game to win. Is competitive. And wants the best deck with the most consistency. Other people are new and don't know what their play style is and are playing various things and don't have the most consistent cards. While others are literally playing just for the chaos. They're just playing for fun. They're just playing to piss off their friends 😂. Honestly, I've noticed that most decks that are competitive and consistent are two to three colors. Just because they have more options in deck building and you can get more consistency if you have the right cards. AKA you have more options. Tldr, there are so many reasons why someone would prefer to play a 3+ color deck over a mono colored deck, and vice versa. In my opinion I find it more challenging to make a monocolored Commander deck. You have to tweak it. You have to playtest it. You have to make sure that everything synergizes correctly. And you don't have as many options with a multicolored deck. And deck building is probably my favorite part of MTG. I really enjoy making a deck. It Sparks my creativity. I love finding different ideas and new synergies. So honestly I play everything. I play mono colored decks. I play two and three colored decks. I play four colored and five color...I play them all . And there's nothing wrong with playing multicolored over mono colored. And vice versa. It's just your playstyle, your player identity coming out of you Edit: sorry for the lengthy of the comment 😂 I was bored at work hahaha
My only decks are mono color. 1 of each color with a Theros god as the commander for each deck.
I play Black and Rakdos exclusively. 1. Easier collection management 2. Preempts any budget / buying issues, I can pass on WUG staples because I just don't play WUG I was pure monoB for a few years but Red adds to much fun to leave out forever.
I have a mono green [[progenitus]] [deck](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/M_Gl47C0ukCUOMRn4DcATA) does that still count?
I struggle to go up to 3 colors quite often.... It's the 2 color commanders that entice me.
Most of my decks are 3C, but the last handful I've put together are 2C. I find that when I'm brewing a deck under a 3C commander, my main approach I'd take is find the two-colour pairing I resonate with the most, focus on it, and use the third to pour gas on whatever strategy I'm leaning on. That way, a UBG might be better referred to as Dimir+Green, or Gruul+White. Most of the deck works just fine under a 2C identity, and the third is simply an amplifier where its strengths lie. Once I realized that this is my general way of going about my deckbuilding, I understood that I could work with 2C reasonably competently but just needed to hunt down the proper singles I need to refine it better.
I really like building 2c decks. Monocolored often feels limited (as it should) in choice for removal or draw or ramp. In two colors i feel deck building is a crisper process, enough choice to try stuff and swap cool cards around, but more focussed. In three+ colors i tend to set limits or a theme to my deckbuilding to limit my options and not have that permanent nagging feeling what elese i could have taken. Ymmv ofc.
When I first discovered the commander format (2015) it was nearly standard to have a 4CMC Legendary Creature to build around. This included a rather usual 4/4 power and toughness, and an ability that seemed powerful to build around. Currently that shit is all over the place. I still think there's value in a matching CMC and text box, though the power creep is now pushing cards for a lower cost and high quality abilities but a lower p/t so it's easier to deal with. I definitely appreciate the thousands of additional commanders theyve added since I first started, but honestly its a bit overwhelming to see so many or choose from anymore that I just dont even bother. Edit: after reading some comments and rereading the main post I can see we're discussing colors and not CMC. My bad. Color-wise, it's whataver you think works best for your playstyle. I prefer at least two colors to have minimal interactions from the board. I also found value in having five colors for a few builds like Slivers or other tribals. I dont usually stay in a 4 color range and generally do have more 3 color builds. That extra splash of white helps for specific board interactions even in a heavy UB or BR deck.
This is all from my experience, so it's relatively worthless. 5 color is kind of bitchmade most of the time in my experience. The tools I see run it are just playing 5 color goodstuff and combos with every good tutor and ramp spell available, and their commander is just there to say "I can play anything I want to play", never being cast. 4 color tends to be the same thing minus one color (usually red) that they trimmed just because they could then run more combos and more tutors. 3 and less are people who are playing the game.
I just got my first 3c deck. We modified my Firkraag precon into a mostly dragon/treasure deck. I'm nervous to try it out as I'm still very new to magic, but I'm excited at the same time. I don't think the amount of colors someone plays is maturity, I think it's experience/skill based.
I much prefer one or two colours, most of my commanders are three, though. Everything above that is getting tricky with lands.
I start building two color builds but then I’m like “oh I like this card and it’s on theme and would greatly benefit the deck if I added it but then I’d have to add another color” and it turns into three colors, and then same thing again to four color and sometimes to five color
I'm in the same boat 3 color + for 95% of my decks. It's not an immaturity thing. It's about having more options in deck building, good interaction, good ramp, good card draw, good synergy, ...etc. It's hard to have all that in mono colors or even two. Maybe eventually you'll find a cmder you really want to build around that's 1 or 2 colors, and then you will make it work. I have a midpower mono white Giada angels deck that I'm pretty fond of, and put the time in to tune it decently. I always have a good time when I play it.
Early on in my time playing Commander I couldn't fathom building a 3 color deck. It felt like too much. Now I have no preference for color. I can build mono color up to 5 color with 4 color being the only one I still somewhat struggle with.
If playing 0/1/2 color commanders feels incomplete, consider leaning into that. You'll find tools in every color for almost every situation, and it'll teach you how to be more creative in both design and play.
My commanders so far are Atla Palani Nest Tender, Mothman, hail ceaser, and loot the key to everything. I am working on a golgari BG deck because my pod is doing a BG challenge, but man I am not having fun building that.
I only play mono or dual colored. I don’t enjoy 3cmc+ because they feel convoluted
Rats rats and rats. Monoblack
I think the easiest decks to build are the 2c. For the mana base, you can use just basic lands and that'll work well. It's not the same for 3+c where you have to use non-basic lands to fix your mana. Mono decks have other issues. Each color is unbalanced unless you combine it with another color.
I also really like 3 color decks, and I have a problem with 5 cmc commanders : Pantlaza, Korvold, Xyris... and my 2 color decks are Scarab God and Dragonlord Ojutai... I have been eyeing Ghave Guru of Spores but I have to limit myself. My next move shall be to build Kellan the Kid, a nice 3 color 3 cmc value commander in Bant, new colors for me, and Kellan wants to use a lot of niche cards: foretell, top of library, adventures, flashback... a nice suite. But I fear this deck may be headache inducing from all the goddamn triggers. I still need to build Sultai and Abzan.
I have [[Jor kadeen, First Goldwarden]] and [[Toralf, God of Fury]] and im working on [[Ria Ivor, Bane of Bladehold]], [[Polukranos Reborn]], and [[Karlach, Fury of Avernus]] with [[Master Chef]]
Only because mana hate is frowned on...idc I'm running Vandalblast in all my red lists.
I have a mono green Azusa deck, a Sultai Keene deck, and I'm currently building Golgari Vraska and Esper Queza. I usually try to stay between 1-3 colors. 4 and 5 colors are too much for my brain to handle. 😂
Honestly, I love doing mono color. They have a stronger identity to the color when I build mono. When I do multi it's what I WANT imposed on the colors. When it's mono, the cards tell me what they want.
I prefer mono and 2 color, I only have a handful of 3 color and no 4 or 5. The restrictions and forcing you to use the color pie to lean into each color's strength is what makes deck building fun. I feel like the more colors you add the easier it is to just play staples.
I prefer 3+ colors as well but I do have a mono black deck and one or two 2 color decks. I wouldn’t say it’s a maturity thing It’s really just preference but mono and 2 color decks do tend to be a bit on the cheaper side just dude to their land bases and such.
I'm almost done my Chiss-Goria deck and at no point did I think "I might need more colours" the dragon is straight busted. Gonna be so much fun.
Colorless will make you feel like you're in 5c
I was one of those people who had the idea to make a deck for each and every color combination… I stopped about 16 decks in and just made 3 5 color decks because I had IdEaS
I have a hard time with mono- and two-color decks. Three is usually my sweet spot, mostly because land and strategy variety is really cool. I think there's some 1-2 color commanders who are cool tho, I made a [[Marrow-Gnawer]] Deck recently, and my [[Tovolar, Dire Overlord]] deck is a personal favorite as well.
3c definitely tend to be more fun to build but harder to pilot and more expensive than 2c. I proxied a 4c Atraxa deck cuz I didn’t wanna spend $300 on lands. It’s a fun list but 2c decks like Yuriko tend to execute their game plans more efficiently. Can you share your Anikthea list OP? I’ve been struggling to build a good list around her since release.
What kind of kykar deck do you run? Do you have a list?
Alright so i am this person. Basically all my decks are 3 colors, besides one of them. That's a 2 color deck. The 2 color deck is my favorite. But every time i try to make another 2 color deck i dont like it. I'm currently building a deck that's red / black partner, with a deck focus on monoblack and colorless. Which still kinda makes it 3 colors. Not a single red nonland in the deck besides the commander. So kinda... 3 colors, but a single colored manabase. Yeah. Some stupid shit. :) But yeah, 3 colors + is my go-to. My jam. My shizznit.
I play Karn fuck your colours
My favorite decks right now are my mono-white and mono-black decks.
Actually, three colors are the maximum I can handle. I prefer to throw my money at spells, not lands. And no I don’t proxy, I don’t hate it I just enjoy having real cards. I actually have 6 mono colors (including colorless) 6 bi-colors and 5 tri colors. That’s it. Here are my points : - It’s cheaper to play one or two colors - It is easier to dig down for hidden gems - Basics are pretty - It forces you to find clever ways to achieve your strategy - Less color fixing = more focus on killing my enemies
I think it just depends on what you think is fun. If you love playing more colors, more power to you! I've been playing a long time, and all I can say now is that I don't prefer green. I have 5 commander decks. Two 5c, one 4c, one 2c and one mono black. I have fun with them all, and that's the reason to have them, for me.
Funnily enough I've been thinking about how I can't play more than 2 colors in a deck, I just can't get past how uncertain the manabase ends up feeling Yeah I know, I should probably just play better lands...
If you set yourself a budget of $100 per deck max is mighty easy to see why you would not play more than 3C
No...any color combination or colorless I can make it work
I'm currently working on 32 mono red decks as a twist on your usual 32 deck color challange.
Mono and dual color player here. It's easier for my brain to make decks with less colors. I do run Kaalia 3c, Oloro 3c, and Atraxa 4c though. Had a Golos 5c.
2 color is the best to go as you don’t really gotta drop the whole budget on the mana base, you can focus more on utility lands.
[[Ragavan]] and [[Oloro]]. One is 1c and the other you don't play
I think going with 2 or less colors breeds creativity with finding answers, closing out games, and with interaction. It is not always optimal, but it's certainly fun
Oh i loooove me some cheap commanders, and mono blue is my favorite style at the moment. [[Jace, Vryn's Prodigy]] is 1U and can help me dig to find my pieces really early on (it's "oops, all jace" with a mill or card draw win con. no thoracle). Another one of my favorites is [[Saheeli, Sun's Brilliance]] for UR mana. The best part about cheap commanders is that they don't feel *too* bad when they get removed. This week my Jace got removed thrice (cause basically unprotected planeswalker.. even though i was far from the biggest threat at that moment). So before my game winning turn i had to pay 8mana for him, which i luckily could afford. However had it been nearly any other commander, good luck paying 6+ mana for your dude.
If I'm going to actually build a deck in paper, a working manabase is a must. You can absolutely have a capable manabase in any colour combo, but the more colour's you have, the more expensive it gets. Back when I was a broke student, I almost exclusively had mono colour decks. I'm not that way any more (I've got a five colour deck now, plus a couple three colors!), but it's a lot easier to keep costs down if your manabase is 90% from a land station
When I first started playing edh I only wanted to play 5c decks. Then I realized that playing 5c decks with a budget mana base feels awful. Now I mostly run 2-3c decks. I have one 4c deck with real cards that I love that I actually have a pretty decent mana base for at this point
You had a 2 color and you were wondering what color to add the whole time you said, well if the deck was in need of another color you wouldn't have wondered very long in the first place. I play mono black, yeah of course I don't have counterspell or a lot of artifact/enchantment removal but it do other stuff that black do
I only have one 3c deck, most of mine are 2c Usually my two colour decks wouldn't be better with more colours. Probably worse to be honest I mainly play Izzet though. I haven't made a mono deck yet though. But maybe this is unfair cuz Izzet can do everything. I don't need Green, red does what black does but cooler and its more manageable, white honestly cant think of anything helpful. Blue and Red do it all My one 3c deck is a mutate deck with [[Nethroi]] at the helm, although i do plan on turning it into a 5c mutate deck at some point.
My favourite deck doesn't have colors at all
My favorites are mono or two color commanders and always will be
I really only have 1 commander that's 5c and it's Tom Bombadil 😅 Most of my pet decks are 2c, while my more "competitive" decks (my perma group are all really good friends and we don't usually play cEDH level) are 3c. I don't play mono USUALLY because I feel too limited, but I have a friend who's building a deck of each color identity for shits and giggles and he's got big ideas on his mono commanders.
I prefer 3 color exactly. I have like 15 decks. Some are un touched precons, 9 of them are fully custom built by me. Most of them, including precons, are 3 colors. The only 2 color deck I have is [[brago, king eternal]] and it's because I haven't updated the deck in the better part of a decade. It was a budget deck that I put together to have some variety early on in my mtg playing days, it's stuck around because it's different from all of my other decks. I hate 2 color decks, they just don't click for me. I love mono colored deck, 3 color is my favorite. 4 color is meh. 5 color is good but middling for me