A continuation on my earlier lists.
Top 5 Battle for Zendikar Nonland Card Art I Wouldn’t Mind Hanging on My Wall
5. [scryfall]Vile Aggregate[/scryfall]
4. [scryfall]Halimar Tidecaller[/scryfall]
3. [scryfall]Seek the Wilds[/scryfall]
2. [scryfall]Lantern Scout[/scryfall]
1. [scryfall]Murk Strider[/scryfall]
How is that only a 3/2?
Top 5 Unofficial Tokens I Have
Sorry, Lauri, your elf warrior didn’t make the list.
5. Revista Serra 3/3 Elefante, also known as ‘Ugly Elephant’ (by Alvaro M. Angulo)
4. SCG’s Tom Ross’s 2/2 Flying Vampire (by Kristen Plescow)
As one guy at GP Prague said, ‘Ugly’, which I can’t really dispute, but I would rather say ‘ugly, but fun’.
3. SCG’s Brad Nelson’s 0/1 Goat (by Kristen Plescow)
Nelson said somewhere that the art should include a frustrated Gerry Thompson somewhere, who just can’t get rid of the goat. I have foil ones as well.
2. Johannes Voss’s 4/4 Bear
There’s a whole series of these. You should look them up and maybe buy some. You know, be a patron of the arts.
1. Najada.cz’s 0/1 Germ (there is a signature, but I can’t make anything out of it)
Top 5 Reasons Not to Play White or Red in EDH
As per Lauri’s request. Note that I do play both in Standard (but for whatever reason, my Modern decks are monogreen, monoblue and monoblack).
5. Storage. My EDH collection fits pretty snuggly into one Holiday Gift Box (well, besides the cards that are in decks currently). Spreading out into two more colors would break that and I would need more room, which is going to be at a premium anyhow.
4. If there’s a color combination that’s most “me”, its definitely blue-black, but I also do identify somewhat with the mad science of Simic and Izzet, so blue is a no-brainer, and black is close behind. I also enjoy the dark flavor of Golgari and I still have enough Timmy in me to enjoy my [scryfall]Worldspine Wurm[/scryfall]. So, it just so happened I fell into these colors. Actually, originally just because I liked [scryfall]The Mimeoplasm[/scryfall] deck from the original Commander products the most and that was my big re-entry into the hobby.
3. They are kind of weak in EDH. Sure, they have some strengths, like white’s sweepers and the ability to handle pretty much any permanent, and red’s ability to cause major headaches with different cards, but compared to green’s ability to fix mana and ramp, blue’s ability to draw cards and black’s tutoring, among other stuff, red and white are just not on par. Since white mostly goes for small effective creatures and red mostly goes for burn, they are pretty outclassed in this format without help from other colors.
2. White is not a fun color (although red definitely is) and this is a big deal for me in EDH. Note that I think this is a bigger reason than the weakness. White is generic. It has pretty big creatures, but its nowhere near green on that. It can destroy creatures, but black has that covered much better. Not only that, but white is full of assholes. I’ve used Ravnica guilds as an example before, and I’ll do it again here. Azorius is the least interesting color combination of blue (compared to the mad scientists of Izzet and Simir, and the hidden Dimir), Orzhov is the least interesting color combination of black (again the Dimir, but also the freaky circus of Rakdos and the “recyclers” of Golgari), Boros is the least interesting color combination of red (only Gruul not mentioned before, but clearly they are more fun than the Boros) and Selesnya is the least interesting color combination of green. White just seems to be a bunch of fascists out to tell everyone what to do and how to behave. Just listen to Felicia Day.
1. Cost. Suppose dual lands were evenly distributed among color pairs (they are not, because allied colors are somewhat overemphasized for historical reasons and there’s some peculiar blocks, such as Lorwyn, which also change the situation slightly), that means I don’t have to own 70% of the dual lands. That’s a pretty big saving right there. I also don’t need 40% of the monocolored cards and quite a few multicolored ones. I’ve put thousands of euros into my EDH-collection, but I’ve also saved thousands by staying away from these two colors.
Top 5 Commanders to Play Against
Another Lauri’s suggestion. This is a tough one as I do enjoy a challenge, but I would also like to take EDH less seriously than Standard. Therefore I don’t really want to face the most competitive decks. Also, a player’s style has a lot of impact on the deck, which also affects how enjoyable games are. What these Commanders don’t do is end the game out of nowhere with combo. Or at least they don’t facilitate it, as far as I know. So, this list won’t include cards like [scryfall]Jacques Le Vert[/scryfall], but it won’t contain cards like [scryfall]Sharuum the Hegemon[/scryfall] either.
5. [scryfall]Venser, Shaper Savant[/scryfall]
Venser is just a good police. Certain degenerate combos can’t be played as long as Venser is looming over the board.
4. [scryfall]Eight-and-a-half-Tails[/scryfall]
Its not oppressive, but its good. I like the puzzle of how to beat this, when it can usually blank much of my deck easily. It changes the usual equation of needing to use cards effectively into using cards to burn off opponents mana.
3. [scryfall]Nekusar, the Mindrazer[/scryfall]
Or maybe [scryfall]Seizan, Perverter of Truth[/scryfall], but than again, I don’t remember anyone besides me having played that. I like the extra options and how this makes the games go faster. Sometimes its too fast and the lifeloss can get out of hand with certain cards like [scryfall]Wheel of Fortune[/scryfall] or especially [scryfall]Whispering Madness[/scryfall], but not usually.
2. [scryfall]Ruhan of the Fomori[/scryfall]
Although I don’t see how this can be anything other than pure red, except that it had to be because of color requirements for the product, this brings a fun random element into the game. Again, it also makes the games go faster, because it comes out early and often manages to do a lot of work before being contained.
1. [scryfall]Ruric Thar, the Unbowed[/scryfall]
Changes the texture of the game in a way I like, even though it often hoses me worse than most players.
Top 5 Creature Types I’ve Done a Tribal for EDH
Although, mostly no synergies, just flavor.
5. Kraken
4. Elementals
3. Gorgons
2. Wizards
1. Demons
Top 5 Creature Types I Would Make a Tribal EDH Deck Out of If They Were Supported More
Taking into account the aforementioned limitations on colors.
5. Ninjas
4. Horrors
3. Assassins
2. Ingesters / Processors
1. Ooze
Top 5 Old Standard Decks I Still Have Built
5. Blue Tempo circa Gatecrash
4. Red Deck Wins circa Gatecrash
3. White Humans circa Dragon’s Maze
2. Blue (Almost Theros Block) Combo Deck built around [scryfall]Hour of Need[/scryfall]
1. Green [scryfall]Predator Ooze[/scryfall] / Flash deck from circa Avacyn Restored
Top 5 Old Standard Decks I Wish I Still Had Built
5. BR Dragons circa Dragons of Tarkir
4. Monowhite Lifegain Deck circa M15
3. The Original Suicide Black from around 2000
2. BRutal Warriors circa Fate Reforged
1. Monoblack Aggro circa Born of the Gods
Top 5 Magic Personalities Besides the Pro Players
Keyword: enthusiasm
5. Danny West
of the Commander versus Series Fame. He’s been out of comission due to cancer as of late, but he used to make those videos, with that hyper guy who’s name I can’t remember right now, watchable just by simply being the straight guy in the equation. (Those are very important in comedy.)
4. Christine Sprankle
Cosplayer, who has probably done more for the games public image than anyone else.
3. Matt Tabak
He’s the rules manager and while I realize the hate many people have for rules lawyers, he seems like a guy with a sense of humor (actually he does a lot to let everyone know he does).
2. Evan Erwin
Have you ever seen Magic Show on YouTube? He puts a lot of work on his videos, but always has more of fan approach. He is a self-professed Spike, but portrays the Tammys and Jennys of the world well. Also, his interest in the culture surrounding the game (see Magic Mikes, again on YouTube) and his project of explaining the history of the game, Forgotten Lore (yep, YouTube), which deals with both the story of the set and the sets impact on the game.
1. Mark Rosewater
He’s been working on this game now for 20 years and he’s enthusiasm is both infectious and limitless. His willingness to share his thoughts and interact with the fans, pushes him up here. Of course, the game isn’t done by him alone (there’s a story about how Randy Buehler saved the game by simply shifting the balance between spells and creatures, which is actually still going on), but at least to me, he’s the face of the whole R&D, despite the outreach they do as a department.