"The Great Divide"
1. Introduction.
Welcome to our introductory episode of the Tryhard Academy podcast, where it’s always better to Get Good Rather Than Get Wrecked.
Before we get into deck construction and archetypes, we would like to take a moment to recognize the fact that there’s a difference between the mindset of the average player who slings cardboard for the fun of it, and the cEDH’er who defines their fun in the overarching desire to win the game as fast and efficient as possible.
At the end of the day, it’s all cardboard, regardless of however you choose to play, and our intention isn’t per se to tell you how to do one versus the other. By all means, there’s plenty of ways to play; but that’s not what we’re about here. We are about building for, and playing in, competitive cutthroat environments. And in that vein, we’re about helping you, the listener, to play and thrive in this kind of environment. And that can include how to identify efficient decks, as well as efficient cards and archetypes that are common in a cEDH environment.
That means that we are about building the most competitive and consistently performing deck possible, along with asking ourselves whether or not it is possible to build a deck in a competitively consistent manner, from an objective standpoint.
Of course, that looks different to everyone; not everyone shares the same viewpoint in this regard, and we recognize that. Magic is just as much Science as it is Art; it’s just as much a form of self-expression as it is “a game where poker meets chess in a Dungeons and Dragons setting”.
To some, at a much higher level of game play, especially in competitive play, this game can become “rock paper scissors for rules lawyers”.
But this is why we like EDH, above all else; there is no other format where freedom of expression can be rewarded, and where tight game play can be the catalyst for improvement and innovation of already existing archetypes.
This game is ever-evolving. And that’s what’s required in order to stay competitive. Either you evolve with the game, or you get left in the dust with the rest of the dinosaurs in Ixalan block.
But let’s not take ourselves too seriously here, and a take a moment of levity; this is cardboard afterall and cardboard can’t really put food on the table… Unless you eat the cards, which we don’t suggest (the foiling on some cards are rather bitter).
Jokes aside, if you look at the lifetime earnings of some of the best pro players world wide, and then divide that by how many years that they have been playing at a pro level, you’ll realize very quickly that playing magic competitively to earn a paycheck is a pretty bad idea. Here’s a couple of links for you to go explore that if you’re so inclined:
A. https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/top-players/statistics/top-200-money-leaders
B. https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Paulo_Vitor_Damo_da_Rosa
C. https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Luis_Scott-Vargas
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In the above examples, these players have been playing well over 15 years professionally, and only up until this point have made the money that they have. The moral of the story? Don’t plan on making a fortune playing on the Pro Tour. They play for the love of the game, like we do, and like you do. But this doesn’t have much to do with EDH, so let’s move on before we get too sidetracked.
Speaking of divides, especially in context of casual versus competitive play, why does this great divide exist between casual and competitive players? In this group’s opinion, it’s because of the perception that players have of EDH being a casual format. Let’s be clear about this: EDH is a Social Format, based on the Social Contract of the meta that you’re playing in; it’s not a casual one. One person’s casual is another person’s competitive, and some people prefer flavor over game play mechanics.
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2. Tier And Power Levels.
Now, let’s move on to the next portion of our discussion, we will very briefly discuss, based on our own experience and game play styles, examples of some of the typography related to the power level of some decks that we’ve encountered, along with some card examples (as appropriate). We recognize that some of our interpretations may be different from yours, but there are certain commonalities that are universal across tier levels, such as card quality, land to ramp to draw ratios, quality of interaction (with respect to counter spells, spot removal, stax cards, etc.), and so forth.
The descriptions provided here are not intended to be extensive by any means.
CEDH (competitive): 90-100% power level, approximately.
Decks in this category consistently win by turn 4 (as seen with combo decks), or slow down the games such that the pilot has command of the game (such as with well-built stax decks, like Tana/Tymna Blood Pod or Teferi Chain Veil Stax) via some sort of lock. Usually you’ll see people playing the most powerful and broken cards in all of MTG’s history (Yawgmoth’s WIll, Food Chain, Timetwister, Ad Nauseam, Doomsday, etc.), and plenty of early game interactions (Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Swords to Plowshares, Mental Misstep, Abrupt Decay, Force of WIll, Pact of Negation, Slaughter Pact, etc.).
If the pilot is playing black and/or blue, the deck will use as many tutors it can reasonably run in order to make the deck absurdly consistent (usually in the neighborhood of 8 or more tutors that are 1 to 3 CMC).
These kinds of decks are typically seen playing 1 or 2 game plans very consistently, and is consistent enough (while armed with enough early game interaction in the deck) to ensure that the overarching game plan isn’t interrupted easily, based on deck construction and hand variance. It’s alternate game plan is also independent of the deck’s overarching game plan and can effectively be executed separate from the overarching plan of the deck (such as seen with Blood Pod decks running Kiki-Jiki combos).
In this bracket, the typical archetypes you will more than likely seen are storm, combo, and stax oriented.
Typical Land to Ramp to Draw ratio: 28 to 33: 10 to 15: 10 to 15. (This takes into account variation in deck styles and archetypes). This is because the average CMC of a deck in this bracket is around 1 to 2 mana, with a top out curve of around 4 to 5, with some exceptions.
Semi competitive: 65-89% power level, approximately.
These kinds of decks play a few of the more powerful and well-known cards (such as Force of Will and Demonic Tutor), and mechanics (such as Delve, Storm, Dredge, Annihilator, etc.), or archetypes (such as reanimator, voltron, +1/+1 counters, etc.), but not to the same effect as their cEDH counterparts.
While the cards are usually good in some respect (like Demonic Tutor and Sol Ring, for example), typically the cards used in the strat are usually only good in that strat and are not universally good (like Doubling Season, which requires a specific strat or build-around).
The deck is generally consistent in its ability to draw, ramp, and recover (in the event of a board wipe). This type of deck rarely wins on turn 5 or turn 6, except on a fluke. Usually, these decks win no earlier than turn 8, and usually grinds out games, going for the win well after turn 10, depending on the stratagem. (Some stax lists prefer to win this way, for example, depending on the card quality of their stax cards.)
Game play mechanics may be linear or anti-linear in nature (such as dredge paired with delve). In rare instances, decks may have mechanics that are parasitic in nature, due to the fact that they are explicit to one or two sets and have no interaction with other mechanics in a beneficial way (such as horsemanship from Portal block, Proliferate from SOM block, or energy counters from KLD block).
Refer to rule 207.2c, and rule 702, for a more comprehensive list of abilities and keywords.
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Semi-casual: 46-65% power level, approximately.
These decks play better cards than normal, as compared to typical casual decks, but will usually play some poor cards, to include an inferior mana base. Games tend to be faster then casual, and many precon decks can fall into this category, when played straight out of the box.
They may have an infinite combo or two at this level, but often times, will not have a consistent way to pull off the combo, and in fact the combo may require 4 or more cards in order to pull off.
Additionally, the ramp and draw package for this kind of deck is not up to spec, or is under-powered in some regard. Some of the more well known legendary creatures, and PW’s from the C14 block, may make an appearance as the general, however, this is not always the case. (The obvious exception goes to Teferi, Temporal Archmage.)
Casual: 0-45% power level, approximately.
These kinds of decks play to a general idea, and may have a plan of action. However, the plan is not at all consistent, on top of having an inferior mana base. These decks will also usually play fair cards, sometimes to a fault. They have a tendency to go for the long play, and the deck’s intention (along with the pilot usually) is mostly to goof around.
These decks, for better or worse, are always inconsistent however, in terms of executing its game plan; many precon commander decks, depending on how they are built, fall into this category, along with other legendary creatures that are normally jank in their own right.
In these types of decks, the ramp and draw packages are either non existent or inferior in nature, and oftentimes, they will skimp on this vital aspect in order to play to a flavor or a theme.
3. Final Thoughts.
The tier/power levels that we’ve provided here aren’t intended to be hard and fast guidelines, as this game is ever evolving. However, they are a good baseline to start from. These are meant to be living and breathing documents, subject to change as the game evolves. In that same breath, we acknowledge that you’re experiences may differ from ours, and as such, we invite cordial discourse and discussion (from an objective standpoint) from the rest of the community.
So, feel free to disagree. Let’s discuss, evolve, grow, and let’s all Get Good, as it’s always better to Get Good Rather Than Get Wrecked.