Building An EDH

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EDH ? You may have heard of it - this is an acronym for 'Elder Dragon Highlander', a fun singleton constructed format meant for multi-player games, but can also be played head to head. We became interested in this format (just a week or so ago) because we are all about casual magic play and we also happened to have a bunch of older cards on hand collecting dust. The beauty of this game is the vast range of choices one has - more specifically, thousands of choices. The other great thing about EDH is that one does not need to collect expensive deck sets - just 'one-offs' which may be easily done ever time you open up a booster pack or peruse the dollar-rare bin at your MTG store.

We had scraped together a very simple deck (which, with your assistance we will improve) and had our very first game just yesterday. We were, of course, slaughtered BUT, not only did we have fun, we deeply appreciated the other players were very helpful in teaching us how to play and provide some tips to us. Before we show you what EDH deck we pulled together for our very first game, here is a brief summary of how to play this game.


An EDH deck must have a legendary creature as it's "general," and can be built using only colorless cards or cards of the general's colors. Note that split and hybrid cards count as both colors for deck construction purposes, and spells with off-color activated abilities cannot be played unless the off-color activated abilities are the general's color. Any card which generates multiple colors of mana cannot generate mana outside the colors of it's general. If a card would generate mana outside it's general's colors, it generates colorless mana instead. Players may choose any legendary creature (there is over 300 choices for you) as their general. The general is placed face-up in the command zone before mulligans are declared.


An EDH deck must contain exactly 100 cards, general included, typically with no sideboards. The cards may consist of Vintage legal cards and with the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same English name. There is a suggested 'banned list' which may be found on www.dragonhighlander.net and your local club may have other cards which may be prohibited to play. Just use Wizards Gatherer card database to seek out the best cards for inclusion in your deck.


EDH gameplay is like normal Magic in most ways, but it varies in a few key aspects. For example, both players start with 40 life instead of the usual 20. This leds to longer games, but they are still quite fun and interactive for both players. Due to the large deck size, players are allowed one "free" mulligan to compensate for any draws your deck may have given you. Your general starts in the 'command zone' - a place legally removed from the game. Anytime you could normally play a creature, you may play your General from the Romved-from-game zone by paying its mana cost. If a general would be put into a graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the command zone instead. Every time your general is played again increases its cost by 2 colourless mana. A player dealt 21 combat damage by a single general loses the game.

Some references for you to read further -
http://forum.dragonhighlander.net/EDH_Forum
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/forumdisplay.php?f=377

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Here is our premier deck which we hope, with your help, to improve. As mentioned before, there are a lot of choices to be had and we expect this deck will be forever changing as we tweak it or come across awesome cards to include . . .

As you can see, we went very simple with our first deck and developed an mono-white soldier build:

Darien, King of Kjeldor (General), Trusty Machete, Akrasan Squire, Goldmeadow Harrier, Soul Warden, Cenn's Tactician, Elite Vanguard, Coordinated Barrage, Piety Charm, Unified Strike, Brave the Elements, Harm's Way, Path to Exile, Dolmen Gate, Veteran's Armaments, Aven Squire, Ballyrush Banneret, Kazandu Blademaster, Kor Aeronaut, Honor of the Pure, Militia's Pride, Shared Triumph, Pacifism, Weight of Conscience, Temporal Isolation, Journey to Nowhere, Pollen Lullaby, Redeem the Lost, Whispersilk Cloak, Kithkin Zephyrnaut, Veteran Swordsmith, Field Marshal, Intrepid Hero, Premeninet Captain, Oblivion Ring, Mobilization, Prison Term, Oblation, Door of Destinies, Deathrender, Sword of the Paruns, Loxodon Gatekeeper, Benalish Commander, Daru Warchief, Rhox Pikemaster, Enlistment Officer, Kithkin Rabble, Taj-Nar Swordsmith, Armored Asension, Ajani Goldmane, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Resurrection, Catapult Master, Cloudgoat Ranger, Conqueror's Pledge, Captain of the Watch, Crovax, Ascendant Hero, Knight-Captain of Eos, WindbrisK Raptor, Mass Calcify, Martial Coup,
Lands : Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Daru Encampment, Forbidding Watchtower, 36 PLAINS.

Your turn now - if you play EDH or know the older Magic cards, help us out and drop some suggestions in the comments. We will develop a video sometime hopefully before the official Worldwake previews / spoilers get under way to showcase some of the potential improvements.

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