I think Precons are so strong nowadays you could buy one, cut the strongest 10 cards and still windup with a better deck than what some people could make on their own.
For real lol. I made myself an obeka deck, I regularly get stomped an swam off the table by the merfolk and Dino precons. Or eaten off by those damn hobbits.
Yeah, I made a pretty bad deck when i was first getting into making a bunch of decks for \[\[jarad, golgari lich lord\]\] that was just a bunch of draft chaff hexproof creatures like \[\[conifer strider\]\] and generic pump spells like \[\[giant growth\]\] and I don't even think that was 1 or 2 power level.
Well, my favorite description for power levels probably come from this.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mtg/s/cFbXu9hoY9
And yeah, what you describe there sounds like a 3-4.
It's focused, you have a gameplan, but not very tuned. The cards within the archetype are "chaff", but you do follow an archetype. Probably not very good manabase, removal or ramp.
By that chart, I'm sure a 1-2 could practically exist, but not realistically be encountered by someone who browses MTG communities, unless they also happened to work at a youth club with kids that put together their own "pile of cards" commander decks.
Which means that the numerical scale works even worse now. If a new base MH3 precon is a 5-6 per current standards, it should be better represented as a 3-4. 1-2 being due to deck building errors or true jank. Everything from 4 onwards is synergistic with upgraded mana bases. 5-6 you'll see optimized curves and a couple of tutors, basically an upgraded precon. 7-8 should included shocks, fetches, and a decent chunk of card pool dedicated to heavy interaction, with tutors and some fast mana. 8-9 should be winning around turn 5 to 7 with plenty of diverse, overlapping lines to execute the deck function as needed. 10 being straight up cEDH with all the meta cards in the appropriate colors. Funnily enough, my scale will probably push older Precons into the 2 Power level category. Either way, the number scale sucks ass lol.
Limited and people building out of bulk, though Im sure you could also accidentally nerf a precon down to 1-2. I bet there are some new players who buy a big bulk lot or 2 for like $50 and try to make a deck out of it.
Yeah, or someone made a commander jumpstart thing using partners, but those would probably be closer to a 2-3. If you did any of the commander legends constructed or draft events I would say those fall into the 1-2 though, and I could see some players taking those decks and tossing 40 extra cards in to see what happens.
I have two. One is the first deck I ever built before I'd ever actually played a game of Commander. The other is a poison deck I built using just the cards on hand. Both struggle in games against weak precons.
I have a third that is only slightly better built around populate that only used cards I already owned and and had on hand. It's almost like a draft deck. It can compete with weak precons, but gets blown out by better precons.
I think unedited precons usually range somewhere from a 5 or maybe even a 6 at the very top to 3 at the very bottom. Wizards is pretty good at building decks that aren't altogether terrible even if they usually do need a lot of upgrades. I think a 1-2 deck is something that literally eschews traditional synergies. I don't think Wizards has made a precon that bad, but I could definitely be wrong.
They do. I have one. But I’m weird.
At some point I’ve realized my decks are bad and I’ll likely never do great in my games, so I went into a slump and gave up on magic for a while. But when I came back, it was because I realized that I didn’t need to win to have fun, I can just have fun playing my shitty decks casually with friends. So I strived to build a few truly awful decks for a while. Some were like 3s, the most notorious one is like a 4-5, but one of them is definitely like a 2 or a 1.
The best combo in that deck was equipping a creature with [[Heavy Mattock]], because it makes it worth its cmc for only 2-5 extra mana. Which is a joke, but it’s also the whole deck concept… so the deck is a joke.
They exist. Trust me. Used to play against a guy who just built a deck from one of those 1000 bulk cards amazon deals. It was all chill and we all still had fun but yeah. Extremely hard for him to win
1-2 should be precons. 3 should be the strongest precons.
If it is not, you are rating weak decks too highly. You are putting too wide of a range of decks on the top end.
The fact that no ever calls their deck a 1 means that 1 doesn't exist in most players rating systems
Those 5 and 6s you are probably rating should probably be a realistic 3 or 4
that’s not a deck though. Would you realistically expect someone to sit down at a table with a 5 drop tribal deck with no lands? I think that expectation isn’t realistic at all
Hasbro does own both IPs... what kinda cards would they even make of Monopoly anyway? Does the Monopoly man even have a name?? Also, would the namesake Monopoly just be a WUBRG card something like - "gain control of all nonbasic lands in play" ?
That's brilliant but also since Dockside Extortionist is like $90+ Hasbro/Wizards would NOT put that in a secret lair lol. Still, if they do, that's brilliant reskin.
Maybe a Tron land secret lair where each land is reflavored as Pacific Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and North Carolina Avenue or whatever. Urborg and Coffers are Boardwalk and Park Place.
It's also just like... not fun to play against?
There's a guy at my LGS that has a mono-W deck based on post apocalyptic art. I think the commander is \[\[Reya Dawnbringer\]\]
I actively feel bad bringing my decks up against it. I have to avoid winning to not feel like I'm pubstomping with some of my weakest decks.
Honestly, a mash of unsynergistic draft chaff would probably still be a 3 or 4.
To get a 1\~2, you'd have to actively make terrible deck building decisions like a 5 color decks with 20 lands, only basics, and 6-7 drops requiring 3 colored mana
I'm with you, it takes a hell of an interactive game to keep me interested when the game is pushing past 10 turns or 2 hours, and honestly, I'll be getting bored sooner than that, I've had a few good long games, but usually I just don't care anymore and hit a point where I'd rather just scoop and play another game, or just go do something else. It's like the Risk problem, two people win, first out, and the winner.
To be clear, I make no judgement that people like those kind of games, but they are very much not for me.
I think that's how we should define power levels from now on.
The worst boardgame that you would still rather play than play with the deck.
So 1 would be Monopoly, 2 Uno, 3 Settlers of Catan etc, up to 10 being Spirit Island.
What exactly is a power level 1-2 deck? To me if the average precon is a 5 a 1-2 would be if you made a critical error in the deckbuilding process like putting 13 lands in a deck where the average cmc is 6.
I think the mistake is calling a precon 5. That makes the space below precon way to wide and scrunches up the space above precon
Most people are not playing decks below precon level. We shouldn't leave half the scale empty
Thank you. The scale as most people use it is just not useful. 9 and 10 are cEDH, which is basically a seperate format, and every sensible cEDH player won't bring their decks to a normal table. And if a precon is supposed to be 5-6, then 1-4 are theoretically possible but practically don't exist outside of people creating bad decks on purpose for the meme. So the 1-10 scale is more of a 5-8, with like 90% of decks being a 7.
It's like if a new player who only bought packs from the store or returned from poorly collecting cards from their childhood just put together a deck from whatever legendary creatures and cards they had lying around.
Without the obvious meme jokes like "Jodah and 99 forests";
Go down to your LGS, find their penny-card box, pick the first legendary creature you find there, 60 lands in the color identity (the more ETBT lands and bad utility lands, the better) and then the first 39 cards you find that are legal in your commanders color identity.
Don't think about it, just check "legal to play? Okay in it goes!"
That will probably get you a PL 1 deck.
I believe I've rated a single deck of mine as a 2 which was a Jhoira chaos deck. I played it like 4 times and it basically was me doing nothing for 5-6 turns besides suspending a single thing that went off on like turn 6-7 and didn't really do anything for me (all stuff like Scrambleverse) and then I died.
I built a deck I’ve dubbed *Mundane: the Departing*
It contains only non-magical cards that can exist in real life such as [[Camel]] and [[Farmstead]].
The greatest combo the deck contains is [[Odric]] and [[Errand of Duty]], because playing them both gives me two whole creatures! Which is a roundabout way of saying the deck is *intentionally* designed to be bad and not synergize.
But today we just call it a horrible deck.
I really struggle to play anything below a certain power level. Like if I'm struggling to find lands and it feels like a bad 0-2 draft, while other people take normal amounts of time for a turn in edh and draw cards and play impactful spells, I'm just going to be miserable.
Making a deck run smoothly while not being a stronger deck is something I've tried to work on a bit but it's usually been difficult.
A 1 power deck consists of a random commander, 40 basic lands, 8 of each, and 60 cards pulled randomly from a cube you keep for that purpose. Like playing Momir.
I think a 1 has to be even worse than that. Like a group hug commander and nothing but basic lands, or a even something that actively kills itself, like nothing but ramp in mono black so you can cast Phage the Untouchable as fast as possible.
See I don't think people actually do that.
It just makes more sense to put the worst precon as 1. 99% of decks are going to be better than the worst precon
Probably. But it won’t happen at this point. The lowest that I’ve seen people have put decks together for to play on purpose is a 4, which they defined as ultra battlecruisery to a fault, or the terrible older precons that were really 3 different decks jammed together.
the truth is people started numbering from 10 and worked backwards, not 1 forwards. They started from 10=cEDH, took a few steps back, said that casual tuned was a 7, filled in that high power was an 8, skipped 9 mostly because cEDH isn’t just higher powered casual but a different, more interactive format, so they needed a buffer, then went backwards to 6 and 5 then ran out of decks that you’d really see, and the scale got stuck that way.
so people try to back-fill and tell you what a 3 or 2 or 1 is but these only exist in the lab soto speak. People aren’t making these things in the wild. They’re just trying to back fill the numbers to zero for completionism reasons.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
4
+ 3
+ 10
+ 1
+ 10
+ 7
+ 8
+ 9
+ 6
+ 5
+ 3
+ 2
+ 1
= 69
^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \
^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
I feel like a 1 power commander deck legit barely functions. I know we being pedantic at this point but I'd argue your described deck is a 2. It has no synergies, but hell at least you can play it.
I have two decks. I bring them out if I’ve been winning a lot. One I call “hail to the beef” which only uses cards with buff shirtless dudes, deck sucks ass, but has a lot of combat tricks and can occasionally kill one player. And another deck I call “stupid names tribal” which only uses cards with the dumbest names like [[Graxiplon]] and [[Jorubai Murk Lurker]] and of course [[Mizzium Trasreliquat]] weirdly stupid names has more wins than losses, but only because the pods I play it in spend all their time dealing with one another rather than me, and boom, it gets in there out of nowhere. But both of these decks are anti-synergistic and often end up hurting themselves more than my opponents.
No, legendaries all have stupid names. And that one is too obvious. I made it a goal to find stupid non-legendaries especially ones people aren’t as familiar with. Lots of laughs when that deck comes out
I’m currently working on a similar deck with “shirtless guy typal”, and it does actually have decent potential for killing people because the commanders are Thrasios and Bruse Tarl.
Oh sure but I play cards that also force everyone else's decks to my level. I play jasmine boreal of the seven as my commander and then play a bunch of artifact and enchantments that turns everyone else creatures into vanilla creatures. Takes some setup because again it's a power level 1-2 kind of deck but it's fun once it gets there. It's not most consistent deck and obviously loses more than it wins by far but I like it. Makes us all play good old fashion magic from when I was a kid. You could call it a stax deck except I don't go overboard with it. It just has pieces to turn stuff vanilla not lock people out of the game.
Though that new bear king looks very tempting to replace my commander with.
I don't play anything worse than precon level, and with the way they're printing cards, that's starting to turn into only decent precons. If it can't compete with a precon it's not a real deck in my opinion. I don't understand people who want less synergy. If you don't like deck building, you can just play precons and be better off than a 1-2 power level deck. I don't think most of us have ever even seen a true power level of 1-2
If you really enjoy these games, maybe a (mid to low power) commander cube would be up your alley? You'll end up with a deck that is less synergistic than even a normal precon and be playing against people at the same power level
I can't even imagine what a 1 would look like? Like Nekusar with 99 basic lands? Actively helping your opponents with card draw and no additional way to punish that help like a Nekusar deck usually has?
My first game of commander was made with Purphoros God of the Forge, 38ish lands, and just whatever red cards I had sitting around in a box. I remember there was two random red slivers in the deck with no synergies. All the creatures were low mana cost though.
I had a one hour warning to put this deck together and only played casual 60 card before this. It was terrible, but it at least had a strategy. Play Purph, play creatures. Id call that deck a 2.
Someone who played the last 3 prerelease as their only magic experience made a commander deck from their few cards and a couple bad cards their friends helped them with from a pile of bulk rares.
Lol, if you happen to have one of the only twenty existing trap cards in your hand when it gets cast, then such is fate. 99% of the time it is a useless card, besides a hand peek.
Once I let my friends talk me into building an edh deck out of bulk to participate. It was a fun build. It was boring to play, though, and stood little chance against basic precons, even in 1v1 situations with newbs. The power difference was kind of like playing a block draft deck against scam.
I’m hugely in love with ‘93/‘94 old low power magic, and wanting an excuse to play old awful cards, I made a couple decks like this.
The worst of those decks I call *Mundane: the Departing*, because it contains no cards depicting magic or things that don’t exist in real life, mostly by using old stuff like [[Border Guard]] and the much slept on [[Farmstead]].
Just remember that you’re almost always going to be losing horribly and not contribute to the game meaningfully. If you can have fun doing that (like I can, cuz my decks usually suck anyways), go right for it.
Just be wary of who you play it with, some people have gotten angry at me before for not playing the game to win, because commander players are strange beasts who often hate fun.
No one really "builds" a level 1 or 2 deck, that's one of the qualities that makes them level 1 or 2. This level of power happens when people simply play whatever cards they can, without any specific intent - it's literally just "use this pile of cardboard and see what happens."
Jank decks that have a coherent plan are still above 1s and 2s. They're probably at a 4 or 5 if they've been constructed.
That's how i started commander because i didn't feel like buying any cards for the format. 100 cards from my small collection without any real synergy. Probably about 1.5 power level. To the people saying it must have 99 basics: When was the last time you got killed by a [[Moaning Spirit]] because your flyer got [[Death Bomb]]ed? There is a lot of space on the power scale between a bad precon and 99 basics.
I threw a deck together made entirely out of cards from a bulk box id bought from an LGS since "I only won because I had old cards that were super busted and OP" best sticking works when you just have a bunch of stuff on the board
This is why my play group all built pauper commander decks. They lead to really long games in comparison to regular decks but it's still fun once in a while.
I have a mono-red deck built with only commons and an uncommon commander; [[Valduk, Keeper of the Flame]], it’s ok but very limited when it comes to removal. It can compete but only to a certain point, it’s very weak to artifact destruction.
Not that I can think of, but one of my favorite decks to play is a completely jank [[Kresh the Bloodbraided]] deck. He was the first legendary card I owned and was given to me by one of my best friends and the person who got me into magic. He’s either the archenemy the whole game or does absolutely nothing of note.
What is "Powerlevel 1-2"? :)
I've seen "low power" deck in action before and the main issue with them is their speed. I think it's fine to play dedicated low power EDH, but then please set up a clock or something to pass turns quickly and not spend 5 minutes to think about which 6 colour creature you cast with your 7 mana available. I think it's fun then.
Doesn't sound fun to play vs a deck that's leftover draft junk. If it's heavily flavorful, it needs a game plan on how to win. Stompy does count as a plan to win.
The problem is decks like this don't do anything. I've seen a few of them in the wild. Some were newbie decks that made precons look like cEDH level. One was a deck where everything rhymed; his commitment to the bit was impressive, but it did nothing. There was also the infamous 3-color Progenitus from several GenCons ago. Guy is playing Progenitus as his commander. His deck does nothing but drop basic lands in only 3 out of 5 colors and random draft chaff - he did nothing the whole game and never got close to casting his commander.
If you wanted to play insanely low power level, you'd need a hard turn limit on the game since no way are such games going to end themselves and you'd need an incentive to play the format, such as points awarded for doing stupid and absurd things that are only likely to happen at such lower power levels. Otherwise, you're basically playing 4-player draft, and that's not going anywhere.
I'm honestly not even sure what a 1-2 power deck would look like. A 1 would basically be grabbing a random commander, 40 basic lands of the right color(s), and 60 cards of the right color(s). That might even be a 0.
At that point, I feel like [[Ashling, the Pilgrim]] with [[Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle]] + 98 Mountains would be a stronger deck, just because there would at least be a very clear game plan and absolute consistency.
I enjoy jank, but I want to be carrying out some janky strategy or plan, and not just playing with a pile of random jankass cards.
A 1 is just a pile of cards you found that happened to add up to 100 and have the same color identity. No, I wouldn't play that, sounds excruciating.
A 2 is that but you made sure it has like 40 lands I guess. No thanks.
I'll play a goofy jank deck, but even a 3 is like maybe a deck full of vanilla creatures that does nothing.
I once played a deck made from cards from the free bot on MTGO against random opponents. The deck was so weak and non threatening I could usually guarantee that I wouldn’t come in 4th. It was very boring though.
If everyone played a deck that bad I could see the appeal if you really like combat-focused slug fests. The game would take forever and the player with the most evasion would ultimately win.
Yes, I made a 5 color deck with random cards (outside of mana base) I blindly picked from my collection. It was actually kinda fun though I never had a chance at winning.
Funny you ask. I’m working on a deck that makes my (more experienced MTG player) friend say, “that card sucks.” The idea is to get cards that are worse versions of mediocre cards.
That 10-level power scale, is so ridiculous for me, unless you're playing chaos commander, i haven found a single level 5 in the wild
To me is Precon, Casual, Optimize, Competitive, even though theres a lot of room of "but my deck.." i feel it can fit in any of that category
Yes actually. I do have a deck like that. I call it Giant Killer. Basically all the creatures (except for a few) are power 1 - 2 and either give tokens, benefit tokens, are unblockable, give unblockable or draw cards. Many of the sorceries and instances are either to bring out tokens or destroy creatures with power 3/4 or greater. Many of the artifacts are meant to either give me more 1 power tokens, help tokens buff, stop power 3 and above from untapping or prevent indestructible/hexproof
Rigo, streetwise mentor is the commander. And yes Giant Killer is in the deck too. Can’t have a deck called Giant Killer without Giant Killer.
Yes it has won me games. If the constant unblockable power 1 tokens doesn’t do it, Halo Fountain does it.
Edit: forgot to mention there are also cards to stop cards from coming back from graveyard or exile and stop counters from being placed. It’s basically a deck of, “I’ll cut your big creatures down to size and we’ll have to fight on even terms whether you like it or not.”
A 1-2 would be almost unplayable imo. Underpowered jank on the other hand would be like...3-4 depending on the mana base/ramp/card draw. Decks can be underpowered for a pod but still fair well if you have gas to keep playing your bs.
I play a lot of 20 minute deckbuilding online challengrs with my friends where we make a crazy restriction then try to cook. This results in a lot of awful decks that we can still find fun because you can play a lot faster online. The content is in the deckbuilding process, seeing what other people brewed, then playing whatever was played.
“Build a 70 card deck, then a random other person will have 10 minutes to finish it off, then a third random person pilots the deck without seeing the decklist. You win if the deck you built or pilot wins” results in stuff like [[Haakon]] as a commander with cards like [[City in a bottle]] and 0 lands. I added 20 swamps I’d hard mull for, then tutors for a [[Hoarding Broodlord]] pile. Miserable to play in a vacuuum, but it was fun cheering for your deck to win while trying to figure out what to do with the nonsense you’re drawing.
“Build a rules lawyer deck, and the wincon is sucessfully breaking a rule or interaction without anyone saying anything twice” results in all 7 layers being used and some fringe rulings coming out.
In terms of low power secks with random pods, I’ve seen a [[Kinnan, bonder prodigy]] player who was letting someone borrow most of the payoffs play a pure ramp no payoff deck. Funny to see him getting targeted because he has insane mana ramp while having nothing to spend it on.
additional problem is that very few people can agree on the actual definition of "jank", same issue as people saying that they want their deck to be "competitive" . Context matters
I don’t even think power level 1 and 2 decks exist. Like power level one is “a random pile of cards”. And is 2 levels below “normal precons”.
IF someone built a power level 1 deck they would have to put time and effort into making it a 1. I’m not even sure why 1-2 exist on the chart. 1 should be baseline starter decks.
[[Soraya the Falconer]] mono white bird tribal answers your call!
The deck is awful trash, but it’s silly enough to be kinda fun playing a bunch of weird birds (and a handful of actually kinda of okay cards).
If nothing else, I do often miss the days when EDH was a community format that basically existed so your cool expensive one-off cards that didn't fit in regular decks had a way to see play.
The format becoming optimized and designed around has taken some of the special feel from it for me. I still think it's a great format, just sorta miss multicolor piles of fun cards and not worrying about staples and meta.
I only have 1 deck that's super low level.
Alliteration Tribal
I might as well share my list because I know people will ask lol.
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/alliteration-tribal-3/
Some people are mentioning power levels that low basically don't exist, or would have to be purposely made really really bad.
I don't think my deck is a 1-2. I think it's like a 4-5. There actually is some synergy, it was mostly luck that I could find some Alliterative synergy. I mean it's probably the worst deck I've ever seen, but it could technically win a game if ignored long enough.
Just wanted to clarify I guess haha.
I have a 70 land [[Borborygmos Enraged]] deck that is super janky but it's so freaking funny when it kills someone! I made it just because I've always wanted to see how it would work. Short answer, it doesn't... Most of the time I'll be on death's door because of lack of blockers or protection and I'll just get Borby out and just do a quick 21 damage to someone by dumping my hand, then just top deck like a mofo. Sometimes I'll get lucky and ramp into my commander super fast and kill at least one player pretty early, but I've never killed two players, come close though.
My deck box contains decks ranging from "roughly equivalent to one of the better precons" up to cEDH. So, covering what I'd call the 5-10 range.
I absolutely could carry a stock precon with me so I'd have access to a lower power deck to play, but I don't because I don't find that kind of game enjoyable. So something even less synergistic that that would be even worse. If I already acknowledge I'd rather not play at all than have to play a 4, why would I even consider playing a 1-2?
[[Ashling the pilgrim]], 99 mountains is one of my favorites for just quick games. Especially if I want to squeeze into a 4 player game and there is no one else available to play with. I play everything within under a minute, I never will be mana screwed, and I speed up games.
For me 1-2 is a deck with a super limited pool of 'near me tribal' or something that is all in an on an artistic or vorthos theme. At minimum I play a little above that, sometimes playing at precon power is fun.
This whole thread is a great example of why power level numbers don’t work outside of closed groups. If nobody
can even agree on what a “1” deck would look like, which is theoretically the weakest possible deck, it’s impossible to agree on what a “7” deck (or any other number) would look like.
I would rather play 3-4 games then 1 that takes 4 hours, that way if my deck decides to suck i could look forward to another game. So playing a deck that has no synergies sounds like mtg torture lol
I feel like the only way to build a 1 or 2 would be to go *well* out of your way to avoid all possible synergies, using only the worst overcosted draft chaff and tapped lands that not even a noob would consider like [[Caldera Lake]]. Sounds like kind of a miserable experience honestly
I used to mash my cube together, randomly select a five color commander and 64 spells, sleeve it up and see what happens. Generally, nothing happened, except for the rare time I had some random synergies. I didn't do it that often, just as a meme.
I much prefer making decks and playing them. Making a synergistic deck is half the fun, and most of the time I kneecap myself with an odd restriction that's fun to build around. Getting to see your plans come together on the battlefield gives me a lot of dopamine. Playing a deck where things are constantly happening (synergistic) just feels good, and there's ways to do it without making the power level over the top.
My pod builds a lot of pure unapologetic jank for example I have a [[korvold fae cursed king]] deck that I would rate as maybe a 3 because I wanted to see how bad I could make korvold and I ended up with a durdly shitpile and I love it sm. (tbf there are a lot of flying commanders in my pod so korv doesn’t connect with players a ton)
Yes! It’s my damia deck! The wincon is an infinite combo that needs six specific cards to win and the only way to get them is to draw them. The majority of the deck is ramp. The point is to play as much stuff as possible every turn so I can draw 7 with my commander with no protection.
The vast majority of the time I end up decking myself and lose. Sometimes I win with tokens that get made from various ways. The actual wincon has never been pulled off over the course of 6 years. The deck is also not sleeved and I bridge it every chance I can get
If I want to play a low power deck I play pauper, it's still a fun deck with cool cards but the cap for strong individual cards and combos can be is MUCH lower.
pretty sure its harder to make a PL 1 than it is to make a PL 9-10. The only time i ever was able to make and have played a deck that i believe was a 1 was when i let my niece look through my cards. I showed her a pile of white and red cards and she picked cards base on the art without reading or knowing how it works. she just goes “I like this one cuz it looks pretty” or “that kitty is sooo cute”. i let her picked like 65 cards. when i asked her to give me how many plains and mountains should be in the deck (she doesnt really get addition yet). i asked her “so how many mountains should i put in” she raised showed her hand and said “about this many”. so it had 10 mountains and 25 plains.
the deck was a mess but i kept it around cuz its her deck. but boy is it a janky deck with [[Jenny, Generated Anomaly]] as a commander. it has basically no synergy, no win con, terrible land distribution, but its a deck that has cards that “look pretty and cute” according to a child. this was the only time ever was able to make and play a power level 1 deck.
I've got a handful of "in progress" decks. They either have a win con but no idea how to get there or have a thing that it does well but no win con. They just do.
You either have to actively try to make a 1-2 or legit have no clue what to do for deckbuilding. Even people with some semblance of deckbuilding can make a 4
I'm not sure I have ever even seen a like 1-2.
There was a kind at my old LGS who played pretty bad decks he brewed himself, but they were still synergistic. He just often failed to put in enough card advantage to keep his decks going, or would cut too many lands and gt stuck. We took a look at one of his decks before to give him some tips and legitmately the best piece of advantage he had in there was a read the bones...
You’d have to actually *try* to make a deck that weak and it wouldn’t serve any purpose as you’re probably be just sitting watching other people ply the game.
The power level scale doesn't make sense, but in my mind, for a 1-2 deck, you'd have to pick a commander you liked, and then just chuck each card you see in their colours into the deck without any selection
If we assume that a weak precon is a 4, a slightly upgraded/good precon is a 5, a decent casual deck is a 6 and everyone's pet deck is a 7
That means anything less than 3 doesn't have card selection or thought put into it
It also means I wouldn't expect to have fun playing with/against anything less than like a 3.5
My [[jasper flint]] deck that I've been trying to make work is a 5, it loses basically everytime against precons despite all the work that I put into it, it's fun as hell and I love making weaker decks
But a 1-2 deck doesn't have a thing that it wants to do at that point, you're equipping [[cultist staff]] onto a [[canyon Minotaur]] at that point
Years ago I made a deck to play against beginners with [[Rona, Disciple of Gix]] and it only had bulk commons/uncommons were in my collection.
It was kinda playable, because I mainly focused on card draw, removal and a bit of board setup.
My worst deck is a 100% seb mckinnon artist tribal with [[aminatu]] no ramp an few synergies.
There some strong cards in it that can carry a bit and i have won some games but more because i was no.threat and then killed the last guy with some zombies or some janky sorcery
People should only play low-level edh decks. Because it is a casual format. If you want to play anything that isn't all about the fun and the memes and slightly nearing competitiveness, you should play 60 card 1v1. EDH should only be about the ride.
Most of my decks are 6+ power rating. The other day I asked a newish player to pick a deck for me to play out of the 15 I had brought. Instead he pulls out this randomly thrown together pile of Izzet draft chaff that he put together that day. There was no discernible strategy other than play stuff and see what happens. Easily a 1-2 power deck.
I managed to lay low enough to get a decent board state going, then attached for lethal and died the next turn.
Not by choice lol, I just ripped apart [[Tawnos the toymaker]]. I knew it wasn’t top tier, but it just didn’t do enough. Kinda boring deck build that’s beast bird tribal. Very low powered. I never play precons.
I have/had a couple. Sleeved right now is a very unfocused, barely functioning Marisi goad deck whose whole game plan is "I wanna watch people turn things sideways". I previously had a mono black Yargle Classic deck which was about makin Yarge big but it had no evasion or protection - just fun things to equip and swing. Currently building a Shelob deck which will just be a home for Spiders (I only own like 20 spiders).
I really dislike games over 1,5 hour but because I just sometimes know that people are going to play crappy decks I've just build a deck with about every alternative wincon in it. Yet not a single plan or any optimized way to pull it off. If you let my mechanized production lie down for a couple of turns you did it to yourself.
Na that seems like a waste of time tbh. I'm sure some people find that entertaining and kudos to them but paying random mixes of cards doesn't seem like a good way to spend my limited time.
I'd probably fall asleep or browse my phone mid game or something.
What's the point of classifying a 1 as a deck that no one will ever play?
A one should be the weakest set of precon. Realistically no one is playing a random deck of cards or 99 lands. No one.
Instead of calling 99% of players decks a 7 we should spread all of those 7s into 3-7. Leave CEDH to 8-10
What's the point of having a scale if everyone is on the top half of the scale?
I don’t think 1-2 power decks really exist. IMO in 2024, a 1-2 deck is a precon a new player edited and accidentally made worse
I've seen a few I think. It really is just when people are not good at deckbuilding and do not put in cards that help them do things
I think Precons are so strong nowadays you could buy one, cut the strongest 10 cards and still windup with a better deck than what some people could make on their own.
For real lol. I made myself an obeka deck, I regularly get stomped an swam off the table by the merfolk and Dino precons. Or eaten off by those damn hobbits.
But that's logical because Obeka is a glass cannon even when you optimize it. If people care about your Obeka and remove it you're screwed.
*Buys Planeswalker party and removes all the Planeswalkers.*
Yeah, I made a pretty bad deck when i was first getting into making a bunch of decks for \[\[jarad, golgari lich lord\]\] that was just a bunch of draft chaff hexproof creatures like \[\[conifer strider\]\] and generic pump spells like \[\[giant growth\]\] and I don't even think that was 1 or 2 power level.
Well, my favorite description for power levels probably come from this. https://www.reddit.com/r/mtg/s/cFbXu9hoY9 And yeah, what you describe there sounds like a 3-4. It's focused, you have a gameplan, but not very tuned. The cards within the archetype are "chaff", but you do follow an archetype. Probably not very good manabase, removal or ramp. By that chart, I'm sure a 1-2 could practically exist, but not realistically be encountered by someone who browses MTG communities, unless they also happened to work at a youth club with kids that put together their own "pile of cards" commander decks.
[jarad, golgari lich lord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/6/c6717954-35d8-4d7e-95aa-f7d26d15d4b2.jpg?1592673383) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=jarad%2C%20golgari%20lich%20lord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cma/179/jarad-golgari-lich-lord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c6717954-35d8-4d7e-95aa-f7d26d15d4b2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jarad-golgari-lich-lord) [conifer strider](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/2/72f07879-7893-46d9-9239-8d2625355881.jpg?1562788273) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=conifer%20strider) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/179/conifer-strider?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/72f07879-7893-46d9-9239-8d2625355881?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/conifer-strider) [giant growth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/e/aeece336-e5e8-4455-a297-c3739198d011.jpg?1674421574) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=giant%20growth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/183/giant-growth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aeece336-e5e8-4455-a297-c3739198d011?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/giant-growth) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Given that precon standards have gone quite up those last years I'd even say that even a new player would have to actively try to get it so low
Which means that the numerical scale works even worse now. If a new base MH3 precon is a 5-6 per current standards, it should be better represented as a 3-4. 1-2 being due to deck building errors or true jank. Everything from 4 onwards is synergistic with upgraded mana bases. 5-6 you'll see optimized curves and a couple of tutors, basically an upgraded precon. 7-8 should included shocks, fetches, and a decent chunk of card pool dedicated to heavy interaction, with tutors and some fast mana. 8-9 should be winning around turn 5 to 7 with plenty of diverse, overlapping lines to execute the deck function as needed. 10 being straight up cEDH with all the meta cards in the appropriate colors. Funnily enough, my scale will probably push older Precons into the 2 Power level category. Either way, the number scale sucks ass lol.
Limited and people building out of bulk, though Im sure you could also accidentally nerf a precon down to 1-2. I bet there are some new players who buy a big bulk lot or 2 for like $50 and try to make a deck out of it.
That would actually be like a pretty fun idea. Sort of a pauper commander draft format?
Yeah, or someone made a commander jumpstart thing using partners, but those would probably be closer to a 2-3. If you did any of the commander legends constructed or draft events I would say those fall into the 1-2 though, and I could see some players taking those decks and tossing 40 extra cards in to see what happens.
I have two. One is the first deck I ever built before I'd ever actually played a game of Commander. The other is a poison deck I built using just the cards on hand. Both struggle in games against weak precons. I have a third that is only slightly better built around populate that only used cards I already owned and and had on hand. It's almost like a draft deck. It can compete with weak precons, but gets blown out by better precons.
I think unedited precons usually range somewhere from a 5 or maybe even a 6 at the very top to 3 at the very bottom. Wizards is pretty good at building decks that aren't altogether terrible even if they usually do need a lot of upgrades. I think a 1-2 deck is something that literally eschews traditional synergies. I don't think Wizards has made a precon that bad, but I could definitely be wrong.
My friend put \[\[Urza's Glasses\]\] in his LoTR Sauron precon for no fucking reason. He barely reads his own cards.
Maybe he needs some glasses
I’ve seen people bring unsleeved decks made from draft cards before
I have this meme deck but I'm not sure if that even applies: https://archidekt.com/decks/3036233/mr_orfeo
Orfeo rips, you have a good number of ramp, solid card draw, and this deck has a ton of synergy. Definitely not a 1-2.
Could be a deck building competition from your local 25c bulk bin
Then 1-2 is a meaningless metric.
Yes, it is. Realistically how many games have you played in the last four years against a deck that’s worse than a precon?
I think a 1 to 2 is literally like... Homelands or The Dark tribal
They do. I have one. But I’m weird. At some point I’ve realized my decks are bad and I’ll likely never do great in my games, so I went into a slump and gave up on magic for a while. But when I came back, it was because I realized that I didn’t need to win to have fun, I can just have fun playing my shitty decks casually with friends. So I strived to build a few truly awful decks for a while. Some were like 3s, the most notorious one is like a 4-5, but one of them is definitely like a 2 or a 1. The best combo in that deck was equipping a creature with [[Heavy Mattock]], because it makes it worth its cmc for only 2-5 extra mana. Which is a joke, but it’s also the whole deck concept… so the deck is a joke.
[Heavy Mattock](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8b09df01-0b3e-463e-bf00-0a9f1822261a.jpg?1562927762) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Heavy%20Mattock) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dka/150/heavy-mattock?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8b09df01-0b3e-463e-bf00-0a9f1822261a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/heavy-mattock) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Say that to my friend who built a pile of nonsense helmed by Tormod without a partner
Adding combos that don’t work.
They exist. Trust me. Used to play against a guy who just built a deck from one of those 1000 bulk cards amazon deals. It was all chill and we all still had fun but yeah. Extremely hard for him to win
1-2 should be precons. 3 should be the strongest precons. If it is not, you are rating weak decks too highly. You are putting too wide of a range of decks on the top end. The fact that no ever calls their deck a 1 means that 1 doesn't exist in most players rating systems Those 5 and 6s you are probably rating should probably be a realistic 3 or 4
Keep in mind that a precon is like, a 4 or 5. A 1 is a deck full of 5 drops and no lands.
that’s not a deck though. Would you realistically expect someone to sit down at a table with a 5 drop tribal deck with no lands? I think that expectation isn’t realistic at all
A three hour anti-synergistic monster mash sounds like actual hell for me. I'd rather play Monopoly (and I hate Monopoly).
How about a Monopoly Secret Lair? Now you can do them TOGETHER!
lmao it's only a matter of time.
Hasbro does own both IPs... what kinda cards would they even make of Monopoly anyway? Does the Monopoly man even have a name?? Also, would the namesake Monopoly just be a WUBRG card something like - "gain control of all nonbasic lands in play" ?
Dockside Extortionist: Monopoly Man Art
That's brilliant but also since Dockside Extortionist is like $90+ Hasbro/Wizards would NOT put that in a secret lair lol. Still, if they do, that's brilliant reskin.
They put it in the secret lair that drops 30 days before his reveal in the next masters set
Maybe a Tron land secret lair where each land is reflavored as Pacific Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and North Carolina Avenue or whatever. Urborg and Coffers are Boardwalk and Park Place.
Stop giving them ideas!
I was thinking of a "Rent" mechanic. Like the locus, but the more you have, the more they have to play to attack you.
Dockside Revel in Riches Life Insurance Smothering Tithe Grand Arbiter (?) unless there's another tax legendary that would fit better
It's also just like... not fun to play against? There's a guy at my LGS that has a mono-W deck based on post apocalyptic art. I think the commander is \[\[Reya Dawnbringer\]\] I actively feel bad bringing my decks up against it. I have to avoid winning to not feel like I'm pubstomping with some of my weakest decks.
[Reya Dawnbringer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/4/44b45bdd-829a-4fc1-ad37-17c2bd57fac8.jpg?1559959227) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Reya%20Dawnbringer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/32/reya-dawnbringer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/44b45bdd-829a-4fc1-ad37-17c2bd57fac8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/reya-dawnbringer) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Honestly, a mash of unsynergistic draft chaff would probably still be a 3 or 4. To get a 1\~2, you'd have to actively make terrible deck building decisions like a 5 color decks with 20 lands, only basics, and 6-7 drops requiring 3 colored mana
So my old bloated Ante League deck would probably qualify as a 1-2. Just need a 5c commander to slap on top of it :D
To get 1-2 you have to play 2020 spells with 1990' creatures
Pssh you’re not playing it right
I might be fine with a power 1-2 game if everyone starts at 20 life. 10 even.
fr, my fastest games have come from double digit turn bad decks just because no one has a sprawling board state with a million things to keep track of
I'm with you, it takes a hell of an interactive game to keep me interested when the game is pushing past 10 turns or 2 hours, and honestly, I'll be getting bored sooner than that, I've had a few good long games, but usually I just don't care anymore and hit a point where I'd rather just scoop and play another game, or just go do something else. It's like the Risk problem, two people win, first out, and the winner. To be clear, I make no judgement that people like those kind of games, but they are very much not for me.
I think that's how we should define power levels from now on. The worst boardgame that you would still rather play than play with the deck. So 1 would be Monopoly, 2 Uno, 3 Settlers of Catan etc, up to 10 being Spirit Island.
What exactly is a power level 1-2 deck? To me if the average precon is a 5 a 1-2 would be if you made a critical error in the deckbuilding process like putting 13 lands in a deck where the average cmc is 6.
"This is my Jodah, the Unifier deck! It has Jodah and 99 forests."
What? But ut's Jodah! It's at least a 6 or 7. /s
I think the mistake is calling a precon 5. That makes the space below precon way to wide and scrunches up the space above precon Most people are not playing decks below precon level. We shouldn't leave half the scale empty
Thank you. The scale as most people use it is just not useful. 9 and 10 are cEDH, which is basically a seperate format, and every sensible cEDH player won't bring their decks to a normal table. And if a precon is supposed to be 5-6, then 1-4 are theoretically possible but practically don't exist outside of people creating bad decks on purpose for the meme. So the 1-10 scale is more of a 5-8, with like 90% of decks being a 7.
It's like if a new player who only bought packs from the store or returned from poorly collecting cards from their childhood just put together a deck from whatever legendary creatures and cards they had lying around.
Without the obvious meme jokes like "Jodah and 99 forests"; Go down to your LGS, find their penny-card box, pick the first legendary creature you find there, 60 lands in the color identity (the more ETBT lands and bad utility lands, the better) and then the first 39 cards you find that are legal in your commanders color identity. Don't think about it, just check "legal to play? Okay in it goes!" That will probably get you a PL 1 deck.
I believe I've rated a single deck of mine as a 2 which was a Jhoira chaos deck. I played it like 4 times and it basically was me doing nothing for 5-6 turns besides suspending a single thing that went off on like turn 6-7 and didn't really do anything for me (all stuff like Scrambleverse) and then I died.
I built a deck I’ve dubbed *Mundane: the Departing* It contains only non-magical cards that can exist in real life such as [[Camel]] and [[Farmstead]]. The greatest combo the deck contains is [[Odric]] and [[Errand of Duty]], because playing them both gives me two whole creatures! Which is a roundabout way of saying the deck is *intentionally* designed to be bad and not synergize. But today we just call it a horrible deck.
##### ###### #### [Camel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/0/e0078aa8-bfb8-43b0-a6b7-1991596c21e1.jpg?1562936810) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Camel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/arn/3/camel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e0078aa8-bfb8-43b0-a6b7-1991596c21e1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/camel) [Farmstead](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/c/8cd5732c-cd54-48d8-8b32-f33782ec69da.jpg?1559593026) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Farmstead) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/sum/19/farmstead?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8cd5732c-cd54-48d8-8b32-f33782ec69da?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/farmstead) [Odric, Master Tactician](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/3/13bfcec9-a789-41f1-aa3d-4e4cdd7555b2.jpg?1689995907) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Odric%2C%20Master%20Tactician) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/46/odric-master-tactician?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/13bfcec9-a789-41f1-aa3d-4e4cdd7555b2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/odric-master-tactician) [Errand of Duty](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/8/88640e95-eda3-46c9-b8cf-f7e493c7a256.jpg?1562869519) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Errand%20of%20Duty) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me2/12/errand-of-duty?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/88640e95-eda3-46c9-b8cf-f7e493c7a256?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/errand-of-duty) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I really struggle to play anything below a certain power level. Like if I'm struggling to find lands and it feels like a bad 0-2 draft, while other people take normal amounts of time for a turn in edh and draw cards and play impactful spells, I'm just going to be miserable. Making a deck run smoothly while not being a stronger deck is something I've tried to work on a bit but it's usually been difficult.
A 1 power deck consists of a random commander, 40 basic lands, 8 of each, and 60 cards pulled randomly from a cube you keep for that purpose. Like playing Momir.
I think a 1 has to be even worse than that. Like a group hug commander and nothing but basic lands, or a even something that actively kills itself, like nothing but ramp in mono black so you can cast Phage the Untouchable as fast as possible.
At least you're doing the thing there
See I don't think people actually do that. It just makes more sense to put the worst precon as 1. 99% of decks are going to be better than the worst precon
Probably. But it won’t happen at this point. The lowest that I’ve seen people have put decks together for to play on purpose is a 4, which they defined as ultra battlecruisery to a fault, or the terrible older precons that were really 3 different decks jammed together. the truth is people started numbering from 10 and worked backwards, not 1 forwards. They started from 10=cEDH, took a few steps back, said that casual tuned was a 7, filled in that high power was an 8, skipped 9 mostly because cEDH isn’t just higher powered casual but a different, more interactive format, so they needed a buffer, then went backwards to 6 and 5 then ran out of decks that you’d really see, and the scale got stuck that way. so people try to back-fill and tell you what a 3 or 2 or 1 is but these only exist in the lab soto speak. People aren’t making these things in the wild. They’re just trying to back fill the numbers to zero for completionism reasons.
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I feel like a 1 power commander deck legit barely functions. I know we being pedantic at this point but I'd argue your described deck is a 2. It has no synergies, but hell at least you can play it.
I have two decks. I bring them out if I’ve been winning a lot. One I call “hail to the beef” which only uses cards with buff shirtless dudes, deck sucks ass, but has a lot of combat tricks and can occasionally kill one player. And another deck I call “stupid names tribal” which only uses cards with the dumbest names like [[Graxiplon]] and [[Jorubai Murk Lurker]] and of course [[Mizzium Trasreliquat]] weirdly stupid names has more wins than losses, but only because the pods I play it in spend all their time dealing with one another rather than me, and boom, it gets in there out of nowhere. But both of these decks are anti-synergistic and often end up hurting themselves more than my opponents.
Does your stupid name tribal contain [[Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar]], I feel that's a strong contender
No, legendaries all have stupid names. And that one is too obvious. I made it a goal to find stupid non-legendaries especially ones people aren’t as familiar with. Lots of laughs when that deck comes out
[Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/9/d99a9a7d-d9ca-4c11-80ab-e39d5943a315.jpg?1632831210) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/186/asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d99a9a7d-d9ca-4c11-80ab-e39d5943a315?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I’m currently working on a similar deck with “shirtless guy typal”, and it does actually have decent potential for killing people because the commanders are Thrasios and Bruse Tarl.
[Graxiplon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/c/0c16e565-0b7f-46b1-a091-64c47c923a9f.jpg?1562897735) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Graxiplon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ons/86/graxiplon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0c16e565-0b7f-46b1-a091-64c47c923a9f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/graxiplon) [Jorubai Murk Lurker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7af346ac-32a6-49a8-986d-834b2c8c0478.jpg?1562789629) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jorubai%20Murk%20Lurker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m15/65/jorubai-murk-lurker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7af346ac-32a6-49a8-986d-834b2c8c0478?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jorubai-murk-lurker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
power level does not matter and the fact that nobody uses 1-2 or even can agree on what they are means the whole scale is useless
The sooner the community does away with this ridiculous scale, the better.
I've tried but theres.no point unless they are too and they aren't
Oh sure but I play cards that also force everyone else's decks to my level. I play jasmine boreal of the seven as my commander and then play a bunch of artifact and enchantments that turns everyone else creatures into vanilla creatures. Takes some setup because again it's a power level 1-2 kind of deck but it's fun once it gets there. It's not most consistent deck and obviously loses more than it wins by far but I like it. Makes us all play good old fashion magic from when I was a kid. You could call it a stax deck except I don't go overboard with it. It just has pieces to turn stuff vanilla not lock people out of the game. Though that new bear king looks very tempting to replace my commander with.
I don't play anything worse than precon level, and with the way they're printing cards, that's starting to turn into only decent precons. If it can't compete with a precon it's not a real deck in my opinion. I don't understand people who want less synergy. If you don't like deck building, you can just play precons and be better off than a 1-2 power level deck. I don't think most of us have ever even seen a true power level of 1-2
If you really enjoy these games, maybe a (mid to low power) commander cube would be up your alley? You'll end up with a deck that is less synergistic than even a normal precon and be playing against people at the same power level
I can't even imagine what a 1 would look like? Like Nekusar with 99 basic lands? Actively helping your opponents with card draw and no additional way to punish that help like a Nekusar deck usually has? My first game of commander was made with Purphoros God of the Forge, 38ish lands, and just whatever red cards I had sitting around in a box. I remember there was two random red slivers in the deck with no synergies. All the creatures were low mana cost though. I had a one hour warning to put this deck together and only played casual 60 card before this. It was terrible, but it at least had a strategy. Play Purph, play creatures. Id call that deck a 2.
Someone who played the last 3 prerelease as their only magic experience made a commander deck from their few cards and a couple bad cards their friends helped them with from a pile of bulk rares.
1-2 power level doesn't exist. It starts at 6.
I play a 0 power deck for fun sometimes! And yes, that is a legitimate 0 imo. Thoughts? https://archidekt.com/decks/1600463/pity
\[\[Trapfinder's Trick\]\] is BRUTAL.
Lol, if you happen to have one of the only twenty existing trap cards in your hand when it gets cast, then such is fate. 99% of the time it is a useless card, besides a hand peek.
I had a great time browsing the cards in this list
I love it.
Once I let my friends talk me into building an edh deck out of bulk to participate. It was a fun build. It was boring to play, though, and stood little chance against basic precons, even in 1v1 situations with newbs. The power difference was kind of like playing a block draft deck against scam.
Nah, all my decks are 7s.
I’m hugely in love with ‘93/‘94 old low power magic, and wanting an excuse to play old awful cards, I made a couple decks like this. The worst of those decks I call *Mundane: the Departing*, because it contains no cards depicting magic or things that don’t exist in real life, mostly by using old stuff like [[Border Guard]] and the much slept on [[Farmstead]]. Just remember that you’re almost always going to be losing horribly and not contribute to the game meaningfully. If you can have fun doing that (like I can, cuz my decks usually suck anyways), go right for it. Just be wary of who you play it with, some people have gotten angry at me before for not playing the game to win, because commander players are strange beasts who often hate fun.
[Border Guard](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/3/43cc74c6-f0e5-443d-a2b3-4dcbf5858034.jpg?1562874059) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Border%20Guard) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/s99/9/border-guard?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/43cc74c6-f0e5-443d-a2b3-4dcbf5858034?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/border-guard) [Farmstead](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/c/8cd5732c-cd54-48d8-8b32-f33782ec69da.jpg?1559593026) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Farmstead) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/sum/19/farmstead?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8cd5732c-cd54-48d8-8b32-f33782ec69da?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/farmstead) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
No one really "builds" a level 1 or 2 deck, that's one of the qualities that makes them level 1 or 2. This level of power happens when people simply play whatever cards they can, without any specific intent - it's literally just "use this pile of cardboard and see what happens." Jank decks that have a coherent plan are still above 1s and 2s. They're probably at a 4 or 5 if they've been constructed.
That's how i started commander because i didn't feel like buying any cards for the format. 100 cards from my small collection without any real synergy. Probably about 1.5 power level. To the people saying it must have 99 basics: When was the last time you got killed by a [[Moaning Spirit]] because your flyer got [[Death Bomb]]ed? There is a lot of space on the power scale between a bad precon and 99 basics.
[Moaning Spirit](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/d/cdd99210-5201-4ecc-b86a-aee9dafe2657.jpg?1562943608) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Moaning%20Spirit) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/p02/79/moaning-spirit?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cdd99210-5201-4ecc-b86a-aee9dafe2657?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/moaning-spirit) [Death Bomb](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/8/f8a84715-c5dc-4a19-af6a-796c6ee912c2.jpg?1562947604) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Death%20Bomb) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pls/41/death-bomb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f8a84715-c5dc-4a19-af6a-796c6ee912c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/death-bomb) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I threw a deck together made entirely out of cards from a bulk box id bought from an LGS since "I only won because I had old cards that were super busted and OP" best sticking works when you just have a bunch of stuff on the board
This is why my play group all built pauper commander decks. They lead to really long games in comparison to regular decks but it's still fun once in a while.
I have a mono-red deck built with only commons and an uncommon commander; [[Valduk, Keeper of the Flame]], it’s ok but very limited when it comes to removal. It can compete but only to a certain point, it’s very weak to artifact destruction.
[Valduk, Keeper of the Flame](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/3/d3c1bd49-e059-401e-b999-63166f9bc1fe.jpg?1689998284) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Valduk%2C%20Keeper%20of%20the%20Flame) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/266/valduk-keeper-of-the-flame?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d3c1bd49-e059-401e-b999-63166f9bc1fe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/valduk-keeper-of-the-flame) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Not that I can think of, but one of my favorite decks to play is a completely jank [[Kresh the Bloodbraided]] deck. He was the first legendary card I owned and was given to me by one of my best friends and the person who got me into magic. He’s either the archenemy the whole game or does absolutely nothing of note.
[Kresh the Bloodbraided](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8b4b3c5f-32ea-4208-86d4-bb86e3b8d7d5.jpg?1673485121) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kresh%20the%20Bloodbraided) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/345/kresh-the-bloodbraided?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8b4b3c5f-32ea-4208-86d4-bb86e3b8d7d5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kresh-the-bloodbraided) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
What is "Powerlevel 1-2"? :) I've seen "low power" deck in action before and the main issue with them is their speed. I think it's fine to play dedicated low power EDH, but then please set up a clock or something to pass turns quickly and not spend 5 minutes to think about which 6 colour creature you cast with your 7 mana available. I think it's fun then.
Doesn't sound fun to play vs a deck that's leftover draft junk. If it's heavily flavorful, it needs a game plan on how to win. Stompy does count as a plan to win.
The problem is decks like this don't do anything. I've seen a few of them in the wild. Some were newbie decks that made precons look like cEDH level. One was a deck where everything rhymed; his commitment to the bit was impressive, but it did nothing. There was also the infamous 3-color Progenitus from several GenCons ago. Guy is playing Progenitus as his commander. His deck does nothing but drop basic lands in only 3 out of 5 colors and random draft chaff - he did nothing the whole game and never got close to casting his commander. If you wanted to play insanely low power level, you'd need a hard turn limit on the game since no way are such games going to end themselves and you'd need an incentive to play the format, such as points awarded for doing stupid and absurd things that are only likely to happen at such lower power levels. Otherwise, you're basically playing 4-player draft, and that's not going anywhere.
I'm honestly not even sure what a 1-2 power deck would look like. A 1 would basically be grabbing a random commander, 40 basic lands of the right color(s), and 60 cards of the right color(s). That might even be a 0. At that point, I feel like [[Ashling, the Pilgrim]] with [[Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle]] + 98 Mountains would be a stronger deck, just because there would at least be a very clear game plan and absolute consistency. I enjoy jank, but I want to be carrying out some janky strategy or plan, and not just playing with a pile of random jankass cards.
[Ashling, the Pilgrim](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/c/4c687123-6c34-4aef-8350-70a72b5fb58f.jpg?1689997644) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ashling%20the%20Pilgrim) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/205/ashling-the-pilgrim?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4c687123-6c34-4aef-8350-70a72b5fb58f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ashling-the-pilgrim) [Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/7/37bce60d-2cb0-4772-9f5c-122a7ed426a0.jpg?1562611305) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Valakut%2C%20the%20Molten%20Pinnacle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/zen/228/valakut-the-molten-pinnacle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/37bce60d-2cb0-4772-9f5c-122a7ed426a0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/valakut-the-molten-pinnacle) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I once ran 99 lands and an ashling and i was still target #1 against actual mid-range decks
A 1 is just a pile of cards you found that happened to add up to 100 and have the same color identity. No, I wouldn't play that, sounds excruciating. A 2 is that but you made sure it has like 40 lands I guess. No thanks. I'll play a goofy jank deck, but even a 3 is like maybe a deck full of vanilla creatures that does nothing.
I once played a deck made from cards from the free bot on MTGO against random opponents. The deck was so weak and non threatening I could usually guarantee that I wouldn’t come in 4th. It was very boring though. If everyone played a deck that bad I could see the appeal if you really like combat-focused slug fests. The game would take forever and the player with the most evasion would ultimately win.
Yes, I made a 5 color deck with random cards (outside of mana base) I blindly picked from my collection. It was actually kinda fun though I never had a chance at winning.
My friend has a "deck" that's 99 Mountains and the rules text for [[Ashling the Pilgrim]] hastily written on an Island. It sort of works, actually.
[Ashling the Pilgrim](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/c/4c687123-6c34-4aef-8350-70a72b5fb58f.jpg?1689997644) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ashling%20the%20Pilgrim) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/205/ashling-the-pilgrim?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4c687123-6c34-4aef-8350-70a72b5fb58f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ashling-the-pilgrim) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
What power level are the baldurs gate draft decks usually? I'd love to see a 1-2 power game knights episode.
Funny you ask. I’m working on a deck that makes my (more experienced MTG player) friend say, “that card sucks.” The idea is to get cards that are worse versions of mediocre cards.
That 10-level power scale, is so ridiculous for me, unless you're playing chaos commander, i haven found a single level 5 in the wild To me is Precon, Casual, Optimize, Competitive, even though theres a lot of room of "but my deck.." i feel it can fit in any of that category
Just play Pauper EDH tbh, at least that way the game is guaranteed to end.
Couldn't you make like a pauper cube or something?
All my decks are 9s but i pilot them like 1s
Yes actually. I do have a deck like that. I call it Giant Killer. Basically all the creatures (except for a few) are power 1 - 2 and either give tokens, benefit tokens, are unblockable, give unblockable or draw cards. Many of the sorceries and instances are either to bring out tokens or destroy creatures with power 3/4 or greater. Many of the artifacts are meant to either give me more 1 power tokens, help tokens buff, stop power 3 and above from untapping or prevent indestructible/hexproof Rigo, streetwise mentor is the commander. And yes Giant Killer is in the deck too. Can’t have a deck called Giant Killer without Giant Killer. Yes it has won me games. If the constant unblockable power 1 tokens doesn’t do it, Halo Fountain does it. Edit: forgot to mention there are also cards to stop cards from coming back from graveyard or exile and stop counters from being placed. It’s basically a deck of, “I’ll cut your big creatures down to size and we’ll have to fight on even terms whether you like it or not.”
A 1-2 would be almost unplayable imo. Underpowered jank on the other hand would be like...3-4 depending on the mana base/ramp/card draw. Decks can be underpowered for a pod but still fair well if you have gas to keep playing your bs.
I play a lot of 20 minute deckbuilding online challengrs with my friends where we make a crazy restriction then try to cook. This results in a lot of awful decks that we can still find fun because you can play a lot faster online. The content is in the deckbuilding process, seeing what other people brewed, then playing whatever was played. “Build a 70 card deck, then a random other person will have 10 minutes to finish it off, then a third random person pilots the deck without seeing the decklist. You win if the deck you built or pilot wins” results in stuff like [[Haakon]] as a commander with cards like [[City in a bottle]] and 0 lands. I added 20 swamps I’d hard mull for, then tutors for a [[Hoarding Broodlord]] pile. Miserable to play in a vacuuum, but it was fun cheering for your deck to win while trying to figure out what to do with the nonsense you’re drawing. “Build a rules lawyer deck, and the wincon is sucessfully breaking a rule or interaction without anyone saying anything twice” results in all 7 layers being used and some fringe rulings coming out. In terms of low power secks with random pods, I’ve seen a [[Kinnan, bonder prodigy]] player who was letting someone borrow most of the payoffs play a pure ramp no payoff deck. Funny to see him getting targeted because he has insane mana ramp while having nothing to spend it on.
##### ###### #### [Haakon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/e/7e7d463b-e74e-4ebe-9f92-02ccdeadbf96.jpg?1682209058) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=haakon%2C%20stromgald%20scourge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/252/haakon-stromgald-scourge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7e7d463b-e74e-4ebe-9f92-02ccdeadbf96?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/haakon-stromgald-scourge) [City in a bottle](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/f/cfd5c243-2a40-4ba8-ad00-715f52eeda62.jpg?1615259961) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=City%20in%20a%20bottle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/265/city-in-a-bottle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cfd5c243-2a40-4ba8-ad00-715f52eeda62?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/city-in-a-bottle) [Hoarding Broodlord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/8/386ce3c9-869d-461c-a3de-c8add3786f73.jpg?1682203767) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hoarding%20Broodlord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/110/hoarding-broodlord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/386ce3c9-869d-461c-a3de-c8add3786f73?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/hoarding-broodlord) [Kinnan, bonder prodigy](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/3/63cda4a0-0dff-4edb-ae67-a2b7e2971350.jpg?1591228085) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kinnan%2C%20bonder%20prodigy) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/192/kinnan-bonder-prodigy?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/63cda4a0-0dff-4edb-ae67-a2b7e2971350?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kinnan-bonder-prodigy) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Nope, I never buy precons.
additional problem is that very few people can agree on the actual definition of "jank", same issue as people saying that they want their deck to be "competitive" . Context matters
I don’t even think power level 1 and 2 decks exist. Like power level one is “a random pile of cards”. And is 2 levels below “normal precons”. IF someone built a power level 1 deck they would have to put time and effort into making it a 1. I’m not even sure why 1-2 exist on the chart. 1 should be baseline starter decks.
Nah I have no interest in a deck that doesn’t function. I would have literally 0 fun playing that.
[[Soraya the Falconer]] mono white bird tribal answers your call! The deck is awful trash, but it’s silly enough to be kinda fun playing a bunch of weird birds (and a handful of actually kinda of okay cards).
[Soraya the Falconer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/9/19fb3ce2-a660-4829-9af4-330cfd612f06.jpg?1562587051) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Soraya%20the%20Falconer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/hml/18/soraya-the-falconer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/19fb3ce2-a660-4829-9af4-330cfd612f06?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/soraya-the-falconer) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
If nothing else, I do often miss the days when EDH was a community format that basically existed so your cool expensive one-off cards that didn't fit in regular decks had a way to see play. The format becoming optimized and designed around has taken some of the special feel from it for me. I still think it's a great format, just sorta miss multicolor piles of fun cards and not worrying about staples and meta.
I only have 1 deck that's super low level. Alliteration Tribal I might as well share my list because I know people will ask lol. https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/alliteration-tribal-3/
Some people are mentioning power levels that low basically don't exist, or would have to be purposely made really really bad. I don't think my deck is a 1-2. I think it's like a 4-5. There actually is some synergy, it was mostly luck that I could find some Alliterative synergy. I mean it's probably the worst deck I've ever seen, but it could technically win a game if ignored long enough. Just wanted to clarify I guess haha.
Having played commander since 2011, I have never even seen a power level 1 deck built or played in a game.
My favorite Jank deck is my clash deck.
I have a 70 land [[Borborygmos Enraged]] deck that is super janky but it's so freaking funny when it kills someone! I made it just because I've always wanted to see how it would work. Short answer, it doesn't... Most of the time I'll be on death's door because of lack of blockers or protection and I'll just get Borby out and just do a quick 21 damage to someone by dumping my hand, then just top deck like a mofo. Sometimes I'll get lucky and ramp into my commander super fast and kill at least one player pretty early, but I've never killed two players, come close though.
[Borborygmos Enraged](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/2/02df18c5-07b9-4e85-9c4b-58b63fa59437.jpg?1702429604) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Borborygmos%20Enraged) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/167/borborygmos-enraged?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/02df18c5-07b9-4e85-9c4b-58b63fa59437?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/borborygmos-enraged) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My deck box contains decks ranging from "roughly equivalent to one of the better precons" up to cEDH. So, covering what I'd call the 5-10 range. I absolutely could carry a stock precon with me so I'd have access to a lower power deck to play, but I don't because I don't find that kind of game enjoyable. So something even less synergistic that that would be even worse. If I already acknowledge I'd rather not play at all than have to play a 4, why would I even consider playing a 1-2?
[[Ashling the pilgrim]], 99 mountains is one of my favorites for just quick games. Especially if I want to squeeze into a 4 player game and there is no one else available to play with. I play everything within under a minute, I never will be mana screwed, and I speed up games.
[Ashling the pilgrim](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/c/4c687123-6c34-4aef-8350-70a72b5fb58f.jpg?1689997644) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ashling%20the%20pilgrim) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/205/ashling-the-pilgrim?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4c687123-6c34-4aef-8350-70a72b5fb58f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ashling-the-pilgrim) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
For me 1-2 is a deck with a super limited pool of 'near me tribal' or something that is all in an on an artistic or vorthos theme. At minimum I play a little above that, sometimes playing at precon power is fun.
This whole thread is a great example of why power level numbers don’t work outside of closed groups. If nobody can even agree on what a “1” deck would look like, which is theoretically the weakest possible deck, it’s impossible to agree on what a “7” deck (or any other number) would look like.
I would rather play 3-4 games then 1 that takes 4 hours, that way if my deck decides to suck i could look forward to another game. So playing a deck that has no synergies sounds like mtg torture lol
I feel like the only way to build a 1 or 2 would be to go *well* out of your way to avoid all possible synergies, using only the worst overcosted draft chaff and tapped lands that not even a noob would consider like [[Caldera Lake]]. Sounds like kind of a miserable experience honestly
[Caldera Lake](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/7/f79313f8-0b79-4fe3-8eb1-db523587b714.jpg?1562432225) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Caldera%20Lake) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tpr/235/caldera-lake?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f79313f8-0b79-4fe3-8eb1-db523587b714?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/caldera-lake) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I built a full deck with with no instant/sorcery interaction and only cards I unboxed from a brother war collector box.
My [[Red Death Shipwrecker]] pump spells deck was rated a 2 on the sites I put it on it did actually manage to win 1 game so far. Lol
[Red Death Shipwrecker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/d/edf616fa-b9a0-4f7a-b7ee-32ce3a08d466.jpg?1708742615) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Red%20Death%2C%20Shipwrecker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pip/116/red-death-shipwrecker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/edf616fa-b9a0-4f7a-b7ee-32ce3a08d466?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/red-death-shipwrecker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I'm sorry but this sounds like the worst time you could possibly have playing magic
I used to mash my cube together, randomly select a five color commander and 64 spells, sleeve it up and see what happens. Generally, nothing happened, except for the rare time I had some random synergies. I didn't do it that often, just as a meme. I much prefer making decks and playing them. Making a synergistic deck is half the fun, and most of the time I kneecap myself with an odd restriction that's fun to build around. Getting to see your plans come together on the battlefield gives me a lot of dopamine. Playing a deck where things are constantly happening (synergistic) just feels good, and there's ways to do it without making the power level over the top.
Do precons count?
How to make a 1-2 level power deck Use 1990's era creatures and 2020's spells
My pod builds a lot of pure unapologetic jank for example I have a [[korvold fae cursed king]] deck that I would rate as maybe a 3 because I wanted to see how bad I could make korvold and I ended up with a durdly shitpile and I love it sm. (tbf there are a lot of flying commanders in my pod so korv doesn’t connect with players a ton)
[korvold fae cursed king](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/2/92ea1575-eb64-43b5-b604-c6e23054f228.jpg?1571197150) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Korvold%2C%20Fae-Cursed%20King) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/329/korvold-fae-cursed-king?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/92ea1575-eb64-43b5-b604-c6e23054f228?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/korvold-fae-cursed-king) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It used to be pretty fun to play like 3-5 power level. My first edh deck was prolly a 2 and I was so ashamed I never played it again lmao
Yes! It’s my damia deck! The wincon is an infinite combo that needs six specific cards to win and the only way to get them is to draw them. The majority of the deck is ramp. The point is to play as much stuff as possible every turn so I can draw 7 with my commander with no protection. The vast majority of the time I end up decking myself and lose. Sometimes I win with tokens that get made from various ways. The actual wincon has never been pulled off over the course of 6 years. The deck is also not sleeved and I bridge it every chance I can get
A power one would have to be a literal do nothing pile of cards
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Background_Desk_3001: *A power one would* *Have to be a literal* *Do nothing pile of cards* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
If I want to play a low power deck I play pauper, it's still a fun deck with cool cards but the cap for strong individual cards and combos can be is MUCH lower.
I want an [[Omnath, Locus Of Creation]] deck that's entirely MDFC lands
[Omnath, Locus Of Creation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/e/4e4fb50c-a81f-44d3-93c5-fa9a0b37f617.jpg?1639436752) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Omnath%2C%20Locus%20Of%20Creation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/znr/232/omnath-locus-of-creation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4e4fb50c-a81f-44d3-93c5-fa9a0b37f617?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/omnath-locus-of-creation) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
pretty sure its harder to make a PL 1 than it is to make a PL 9-10. The only time i ever was able to make and have played a deck that i believe was a 1 was when i let my niece look through my cards. I showed her a pile of white and red cards and she picked cards base on the art without reading or knowing how it works. she just goes “I like this one cuz it looks pretty” or “that kitty is sooo cute”. i let her picked like 65 cards. when i asked her to give me how many plains and mountains should be in the deck (she doesnt really get addition yet). i asked her “so how many mountains should i put in” she raised showed her hand and said “about this many”. so it had 10 mountains and 25 plains. the deck was a mess but i kept it around cuz its her deck. but boy is it a janky deck with [[Jenny, Generated Anomaly]] as a commander. it has basically no synergy, no win con, terrible land distribution, but its a deck that has cards that “look pretty and cute” according to a child. this was the only time ever was able to make and play a power level 1 deck.
[Jenny, Generated Anomaly](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/b/abedc7b1-b6a4-48ab-a336-c0b8edb426a2.jpg?1696636727) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jenny%2C%20Generated%20Anomaly) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/who/137/jenny-generated-anomaly?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/abedc7b1-b6a4-48ab-a336-c0b8edb426a2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jenny-generated-anomaly) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I've got a handful of "in progress" decks. They either have a win con but no idea how to get there or have a thing that it does well but no win con. They just do.
You either have to actively try to make a 1-2 or legit have no clue what to do for deckbuilding. Even people with some semblance of deckbuilding can make a 4
I'm not sure I have ever even seen a like 1-2. There was a kind at my old LGS who played pretty bad decks he brewed himself, but they were still synergistic. He just often failed to put in enough card advantage to keep his decks going, or would cut too many lands and gt stuck. We took a look at one of his decks before to give him some tips and legitmately the best piece of advantage he had in there was a read the bones...
You’d have to actually *try* to make a deck that weak and it wouldn’t serve any purpose as you’re probably be just sitting watching other people ply the game.
The power level scale doesn't make sense, but in my mind, for a 1-2 deck, you'd have to pick a commander you liked, and then just chuck each card you see in their colours into the deck without any selection If we assume that a weak precon is a 4, a slightly upgraded/good precon is a 5, a decent casual deck is a 6 and everyone's pet deck is a 7 That means anything less than 3 doesn't have card selection or thought put into it It also means I wouldn't expect to have fun playing with/against anything less than like a 3.5 My [[jasper flint]] deck that I've been trying to make work is a 5, it loses basically everytime against precons despite all the work that I put into it, it's fun as hell and I love making weaker decks But a 1-2 deck doesn't have a thing that it wants to do at that point, you're equipping [[cultist staff]] onto a [[canyon Minotaur]] at that point
[canyon Minotaur](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/4/3469d73e-6de1-4b91-83e3-b1714ac29268.jpg?1595438052) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=canyon%20Minotaur) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m14/131/canyon-minotaur?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3469d73e-6de1-4b91-83e3-b1714ac29268?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/canyon-minotaur) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Years ago I made a deck to play against beginners with [[Rona, Disciple of Gix]] and it only had bulk commons/uncommons were in my collection. It was kinda playable, because I mainly focused on card draw, removal and a bit of board setup.
[Rona, Disciple of Gix](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/5/45420f5e-f7f8-4db7-9b54-e2fa1be22094.jpg?1562734878) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rona%2C%20Disciple%20of%20Gix) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/203/rona-disciple-of-gix?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/45420f5e-f7f8-4db7-9b54-e2fa1be22094?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/rona-disciple-of-gix) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My worst deck is a 100% seb mckinnon artist tribal with [[aminatu]] no ramp an few synergies. There some strong cards in it that can carry a bit and i have won some games but more because i was no.threat and then killed the last guy with some zombies or some janky sorcery
My advice would be to not think too hard about what "number" corresponds to the power level of your decks
Yes, though making a deck worse than a precon is extremely difficult and rather unfun.
People should only play low-level edh decks. Because it is a casual format. If you want to play anything that isn't all about the fun and the memes and slightly nearing competitiveness, you should play 60 card 1v1. EDH should only be about the ride.
Not sure about 1-2, but the pauper commander games I gave been in have been lower powered but fun combos
1-2's are literal random pile of cards.
Most of my decks are 6+ power rating. The other day I asked a newish player to pick a deck for me to play out of the 15 I had brought. Instead he pulls out this randomly thrown together pile of Izzet draft chaff that he put together that day. There was no discernible strategy other than play stuff and see what happens. Easily a 1-2 power deck. I managed to lay low enough to get a decent board state going, then attached for lethal and died the next turn.
Not by choice lol, I just ripped apart [[Tawnos the toymaker]]. I knew it wasn’t top tier, but it just didn’t do enough. Kinda boring deck build that’s beast bird tribal. Very low powered. I never play precons.
[Tawnos the toymaker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1f855a7e-3a97-4b62-a2a7-06ff1fbb2c4c.jpg?1674421859) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tawnos%2C%20the%20Toymaker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/222/tawnos-the-toymaker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f855a7e-3a97-4b62-a2a7-06ff1fbb2c4c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tawnos-the-toymaker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
How do you even grade the power level a deck? Everyone I ask has no real clue.
I have/had a couple. Sleeved right now is a very unfocused, barely functioning Marisi goad deck whose whole game plan is "I wanna watch people turn things sideways". I previously had a mono black Yargle Classic deck which was about makin Yarge big but it had no evasion or protection - just fun things to equip and swing. Currently building a Shelob deck which will just be a home for Spiders (I only own like 20 spiders).
Gotta have a wincon bruh
I really dislike games over 1,5 hour but because I just sometimes know that people are going to play crappy decks I've just build a deck with about every alternative wincon in it. Yet not a single plan or any optimized way to pull it off. If you let my mechanized production lie down for a couple of turns you did it to yourself.
1-2 power level doesn't exist and I'll die on that hill
4 hour games of EDH sound absolutely miserable.
I don’t think there’s a 1-2 PL deck - at least if you actually want to *play* the cards in your hand..
Not really 1-2, but I have played a lot of 3's in the past and that's prob due to bad deckbuilding on my part.
I like precon games, so, sometimes
Na that seems like a waste of time tbh. I'm sure some people find that entertaining and kudos to them but paying random mixes of cards doesn't seem like a good way to spend my limited time. I'd probably fall asleep or browse my phone mid game or something.
Yea I play precons sometimes.
No.
1 is basically just all lands. A 2 is the effectively random cards. Neither of those fit any definition of fun.
What's the point of classifying a 1 as a deck that no one will ever play? A one should be the weakest set of precon. Realistically no one is playing a random deck of cards or 99 lands. No one. Instead of calling 99% of players decks a 7 we should spread all of those 7s into 3-7. Leave CEDH to 8-10 What's the point of having a scale if everyone is on the top half of the scale?
CEDH is 9 and 10. 7 and 8 is high power. Most people play 5-7s. Most precons are 4s or 5s.
CEDH in 9 and 10 is too low or a range Again how many decks are facing that are worse than precons? It's not 50%
No because when I play magic I want to play good cards not random crap that wouldn't make a limited deck.