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Speaking to the Masses in the Forum

Friends, readers, MTG players, lend me your attention (at least for a few minutes);
I come to speak of a format, not simply to praise it.
The articles of direct interest to a given reader are read immediately;
The articles on topics that are not of direct interest of a reader are oft ignored;
Let that not be with this article.

Okay, now I will stop pretending to be Mark Anthony. I think I have now butchered Shakespeare enough (at least for today anyway, not to mention it would be pretty difficult to finish the speech). The reason I demand your attention is that I want to share the love of my now favorite MTG format: Elder Dragon Highlander.

STOP!

I see you trying to close this tab now or going off to another page due to the fact that you are no longer interested in reading about EDH. That would defeat the purpose of the article, as people who play EDH don’t really need motivation to enter the format. I recognize that I would have done the exact same thing a few months ago, shrugging off an article, saying who cares about EDH. You may even know basically what EDH is about and say something like why is this nutjob being so fanatical about a format? He has even said that he has only recently started playing it two sentences ago. The reason you should care is that EDH is an amazingly fun format that unless you try it, you don’t understand what you are missing.

For the uninitiated EDH in a nutshell is a multiplayer format of Magic where you play a hundred card deck whose colors are determined by your general, a legendary creature that can be played from a separate zone. Also apart from basic lands you can only have a single copy of any card that is not a basic land. This makes the format very random and silly as building a consistent deck is difficult. To some this would be a drawback but after playing EDH, you see that these deck restrictions are what make the format fun. Having every game turn out wildly differently is fun, especially when victories end up being won due to strange and silly combos of cards owned by multiple people.

The multiplayer aspect is a major draw for my group. Playing multiplayer is generally more fun with a groups and works better than duels with an odd number of people. Most of us are either too lazy to build multiplayer decks or don’t have the mass removal/other useful multiplayer cards to be effective. Generally one person runs a serious multiplayer deck, one person runs something annoying like slivers, and then the rest run a mix of random standard and extended decks. Needless to say the multiplayer deck wins. Giving us a set format helps especially when the guy with the Wraths can’t use all of them in one deck.

EDH also has made trading far more interesting not just in my group but also when looking in anyone’s binders. Random lands and bulk rares that are generally useless become far more interesting. The singleton Life from the Loam that has been in my folder since Ravnica was recently traded for as it now has purpose. It also makes looking through binders fun as you don’t always look for particular cards but just for random and fun things that might fit in your deck.

Along with that EDH has plenty of space for pet cards or other cards that amuse you. I have been playing, until quite recently, a copy of Well-Laid Plans just to mess with table politics and interfere with otherwise clear combat. And Grim Poppet, one of my favorite cards ever printed has a place in my deck. Playing cards that are fun makes the game itself more fun as you can have each player playing random cards that interact with each other in strange and interesting ways. You also get to play with older cards that may not make the cut for Legacy but are perfectly viable in a format that lacks the definite tier system that other formats have.

All in all EDH is a fun format that is casual, interesting and ridiculous. Have your playgroup try it out, as long as everyone does not run stupid combo decks you will probably have a blast (even if you run combo decks you are likely to have some fun). And of course you can play with Rogues like me with generals like Thada Adel, Acquisitor. I recognize that my pathetic attempt to sell it will probably fall flat but I wished to share a format I recently discovered and have quickly come to love. Please feel free to criticize me on the article or my butchering of classic literature.

Perry Grosch

Tags: edh, elder dragon highlander, Goblin Secret Agent, multiplayer, shakespeare