Magic: The Gathering - Commander Conundrum
I have three options for a general in my planned Zombie Tribal deck for EDH, and I want to present my decision process to you.
Option 1: Gisa and Geralf
Both of these characters have been around as separate cards for a couple years, and now they are together as one card. Sibling rivalry ebbs and flows through the fiction of the game, and here they combine for a death and resurrection zombie theme. CMC 4 is not bad, and the basic blue and black options are present for zombie fun. Self-mill with graveyard zombie summons is a viable strategy. But can I do better?
Option 2: Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Nekusar is a zombie himself, and would directly benefit from zombie tribal effects on top of his constant damage to opponents. Red opens up some fun possibilities, including Master of Cruelties to put opponents in an auto-lose situation, and there is no shortage of cards to whittle away life from opponents. However, Commander doesn't favor giving opponents a card advantage, and the damage output is too low on its own. He's good, but not good for this deck archetype, and CMC 5 is a bit pricey for the EDH format considering his abilities on his own.
Option 3: Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Now we're talking serious graveyard shenanigans! CMC 4 and free zombies! Gisa and Geralf would have to be included in the 99 for this deck, along with every other self-mill and graveyard retrieval option out there. Of course, this requires ways to cycle the graveyard back into the library to avoid losing through self-mill, but that can be managed with the right cards in these colors quite easily. Green has plenty to offer, including mana ramp, revival, and more graveyard fetch!
The Choice
So now the conundrum: Do I want two colors or three? The mana base can be difficult to keep consistent with 3 colors, but green mana ramp and artifact mana sources can help even that out. Rooftop Storm makes zombies free to cast as an added bonus. I think I will try to build the deck using Sidisi as the commander, but if so, Gisa and Geralf will be in it, and I may eventually make a Nekusar deck based on gifts that carry a price.
Have you ever used the tools on EDHrec.com? I've been working on a Breya build and it's been especially helpful with figuring out the mana base.
I have not. I took a look at the site, but I am more focused on having fun with the odd cards in my collection than I am on acquiring specific new cards. I should get active in PucaTrade again, but I lost interest after a trade went sour.
I've never used PucaTrade, but I've been thinking about giving it a try. I buy collections because I enjoy sorting cards (weird, I know), and I usually trade them in for credit to buy booster boxes to open on YouTube. Puca might be a better idea, though
I think they added the ability to buy and sell booster boxes with points now, so it may be a good option.
That's what made me give it some thought. I'm currently managing my buylist cards on mtgprice.com because they make it easiest to see what online stores are paying the best for cards. I have a huge list to send Card Kingdom right now