Hello. My name is Nicholas, and I’m an Elder Dragon Highlander junkie.
Yes, yes, I know that I mentioned an article about making tournaments more fun. No, this article is not that article. However, playing EDH at a tournament is guaranteed to make it more fun, so I hope you’ll accept this tangential compromise.
For those of you unfamiliar with the format — which, considering how often it has been discussed both on this site and on the mothership, is probably no more than a few of you — I’ll gloss over the rules: you pick a legendary creature. This creature is considered your General — it starts in the removed-from-game zone, and can be played whenever you could normally play a creature spell. Cards in your deck can only feature mana symbols included in your General’s mana cost (this includes hybrid cards, or cards with activated abilities that require colored mana. If your general was, for example, Nicol Bolas, Lightning Helix would be a no-no. Same for Master Warcraft, or Desolation Angel.) Your deck will consist of one-hundred cards — no more, no less, and that includes your general — and will adhere to a Banned & Restricted List created to the mutual consent of your playgroup. Excluding basic lands, you can only play one copy of any card. The starting life total in an EDH game is 40. Players interested in the formal Elder Dragon Highlander rules are strongly encouraged to visit the EDH forums here.
Elder Dragon Highlander is designed to be a multiplayer format, though some people choose to play it one-on-one. Ideally, you’ll get a group of three to five players together — in my experience, it’s hard to maintain interest in a game where you have to wait for seven other people to take a turn before you can take yours. Most importantly, EDH is a social activity, which is why Grand Prix and Pro Tour players will be familiar with the sight of judges gathered around a table playing with over-sized decks. As a side note — if you see some judges playing, and want to join in, don’t be shy about asking! We love this format, and we’re more than happy to share it with other people. If you don’t have a deck, chances are good that somebody else does. Heck, my first EDH experience (at GP: Madison back in 2005), was playing with a borrowed deck.
Okay, got it? Good. Now we get to the fun stuff.
The first step is picking your General. When selecting one’s General, there are two common approaches: pick a General that features the colors you’d like to play, or pick a General around which you’d like to build your deck. My first EDH General, Sliver Queen, was a mix of the two with a decided bias toward the former. By comparison, my current General, Kresh the Bloodbraided, is a deliberate nod to the latter approach.
Choosing a General based around your desired colors is the best way to become familiar with playing EDH. Chances are you’ve got a good eye for knowing what’s good — or, more importantly, what you like — and there’s definitely merit to the idea of going with what you know. This may also be an optimal approach for players with a limited card pool, as it won’t force you to assemble a collection of cards specifically to fit your General’s theme. Strategically, selecting a General that allows you to play Green cards might also facilitate deck construction, as it would give you access to some of the best mana-fixing in the format: Kodama’s Reach, Explosive Vegetation, and Sakura-Tribe Elder all spring to mind, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
With your General picked, there are still ninety-nine other cards to select. Many of the basic deckbuilding principles that apply to competitive Constructed formats apply here: you probably want somewhere between 33 and 40 lands, with some combination of creatures and spells to fill in the rest. However, there are some additional factors that will affect your card choices: first off, it’s not enough to build a deck to defeat just one player. Sure, you might be able to put together a massive assault of creatures and burn to eliminate a player in the first three or four turns, but you can rest assured that if that opponent is the first to go, you will most certainly be next. Second, the non-land portion of your deck is entirely comprised of one-ofs. You’ll have to be creative in how you pick your removal, and the value of tutoring effects goes up significantly. Third, you have forty life to start the game with. How does this inform your choices?
When considering the cards you’ll put into your deck, I would strongly encourage you to be creative. It’s easy to fall into the habit of considering only cards which are legal in the format with which you are most familiar — I would imagine that, for many of you, that format would be Standard — but there are exceptionally good (and, as Ferrett has demonstrated in his recent series of articles on multiplayer cards, inexpensive) cards from older sets that are absolutely worthy of your consideration. When you’re thinking about your manabase, for example, the dual lands, shock lands, fetch lands, and pain lands are all obvious choices. Did you think about the bounce lands from Ravnica block? What about the tap lands from Invasion? What about the comes-into-play-tapped fetch lands from Mirage? Also, don’t forget your Signets.
It’s also tempting to simply opt for the most powerful cards you can find. While you obviously don’t want to run Squire and Sorrow’s Path in your deck, resist the urge to load up on the most efficient spells you can find. It is not only acceptable to play big, splashy spells — it is wholly recommended. When considering your board-sweepers, Nevinyrral’s Disk and Oblivion Stone might be clear choices, but what about Decree of Pain? What about Obliterate? Remember that, in a multi-player game, you’ll likely see your ninth land drop, and your tenth, and possibly your fifteenth. Surely you can find some way to use fifteen mana.
When it comes to the power level of your spells, you also have to worry about painting a bullseye on yourself. If you come out of the gate with something big and threatening, chances are good that smart opponents will gang up on you to ensure your hasty demise. Conversely, don’t be afraid to make big plays, and don’t shy from playing your power cards. In my Kresh deck, Survival of the Fittest is probably the most absurd thing I play, and I’m always hesitant to do so for fear of becoming a target, but it’s never disappointed. Look for cards that may be innocuous on the surface, but become abusive if left unattended.
Regardless of what you feel the term means, card advantage is also a factor in EDH. It’s perfectly fine to trade cards one-for-one with your opponent when there’s only one opponent. In EDH, where you’re usually facing down at least two other people, and probably (hopefully!) more, you have to make each card in your deck maximally useful. While basic countermagic is effective, for example, something like Overwhelming Intellect or Desertion is even better. For this same reason, damage-based spot removal is likely to be disappointing. Conversely, cards like Earthquake and Fault Line might not be a bad idea. Anything that can net you card advantage over a long game — I’m looking at you, Mind’s Eye — is going to be exceptional.
As an aside, I’d like to reiterate that Elder Dragon Highlander is a social format. I would say that it is very analogous to an All-Star Game. Winning is definitely not the goal. Sure, you might be able to generate infinite turns through some combination of Eternal Witness, Crystal Shard, and Time Warp, but is that really fun? While you don’t want to go to any great lengths to nerf your own deck, the primary question you should ask yourself during deck construction should be “is this card fun?” and not “will this card help me win?” Nobody remembers who won a game of EDH, but everyone will remember the time that someone played Confiscate and, in response, somebody else Radiated it.
Most importantly, design a deck that you’re going to enjoy playing. I cannot possibly stress this enough. There’s a reason that judges at a Pro Tour will often stay up long past their bedtimes — especially brutal when you have to be on the early shift at Public Events the next morning — and it isn’t to see who can win the most games.
If you’re feeling worn-down on playtesting, or if you’re just inclined toward trying something new, I can’t possibly recommend this format enough. We plan on offering EDH side events at each of the upcoming StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Opens, so take some time to put a deck together and try it out!
Until then, as always, thanks for reading.
Nicholas Sabin
nicholas.sabin at starcitygames dot kresh
NicholasAtSCG on AIM, our forums, and pretty much everywhere else.