So EDH is a pretty cool guy.

[Norm4eva]

Well I broke down and bought a precon EDH deck the other day.  And I had some of the most fun I've had playing Magic cards in a long long time.

The store we were at only had two decks left, the RWB one and the GRU one.  My friend and I decided we'd buy one and try it out for a second, and if the experience wasn't satisfying we'd switch.  Well, we both really liked the one we ended up with - I got the RWB one, with Kaalia of the Vast.  I've only played a few games of EDH but she seems to be "fair, tilted towards really damn good".  Preeminent Captain for Dragons and Angels and Demons?  Weird!  But fucking sweet.

Anyway, now that I've had the deck for about a week I obviously want to start messing around with it.  Trouble is, I get the sense that my first intuition about what constitutes a "good spell" in this format is probably a bit off.  Par example; the deck is RWB, and if I were building, say, a Legacy deck, it'd have things like Lightning Helix, Tidehollow Sculler, Lightning Bolt, Thoughtseize (err with my budget, Inquisition of Kozilek heh).  But it seems like there's just a lot of big giant beaters in this format and a bunch of Wrath/Firespout things running about, so whereas spells like Go For the Throat or Rend Flesh are probably really solid as removal, spells like Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix are, I'm guessing, a lot less relevant?  Amirite?  Meanwhile the deck has spells which I'm sure are just bad, like Cleansing Beam and for some reason Anger?  Like, I can't just pitch Anger to Wild Mongrel or anything, so that's probably just dumb filler, yeah?

Anyway, to make a long post a bit longer, I'm trying to wrap my head around the speed of this format.  Generally speaking, which stuff is more relevant; the out-and-out kill spells like Mortify, Terminate and Wrecking Ball, or do Bolt and Helix and more traditional burn spells still have a place?  Also, I know I'm ubernoob for rocking a pre-con deck, but any advice concerning format staples for the colors it's in would be super helpful.  Thanks..

[AmbivalentDuck]

The best advice is to download Cockatrice, paste in the pre-con, and try a 4-player game of EDH.  After a few more games, start changing out some cards and see how it goes.

[Ufactor]

I'm glad to hear that you had such a positive experience with the format.   The fact that so many people who would otherwise not bother with the format are trying it out and reporting similar outcomes is a "good thing".  I hope that WotC keeps trying new things with EDH to bring players in.

1) Trade me your Stranglehold - it is your destiny!

2) Add Time Stretch to the RUG deck.  I've never had such a dramatic result simply by modifying one card in a deck!!  In one game I had Riku into Time Stretch - then ended up taking fourteen consecutive turns while drawing into Deadwood Treefolk and Vengeful Rebirth.

3) There are literally tons of articles by accomplished writers on the format of EDH - particularly beginner strategies, hot cards and how to cultivate a working EDH collection.

Good Luck!

[zimagic]

Anyway, now that I've had the deck for about a week I obviously want to start messing around with it.  Trouble is, I get the sense that my first intuition about what constitutes a "good spell" in this format is probably a bit off.  Par example; the deck is RWB, and if I were building, say, a Legacy deck, it'd have things like Lightning Helix, Tidehollow Sculler, Lightning Bolt, Thoughtseize (err with my budget, Inquisition of Kozilek heh).  But it seems like there's just a lot of big giant beaters in this format and a bunch of Wrath/Firespout things running about, so whereas spells like Go For the Throat or Rend Flesh are probably really solid as removal, spells like Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix are, I'm guessing, a lot less relevant?  Amirite?  Meanwhile the deck has spells which I'm sure are just bad, like Cleansing Beam and for some reason Anger?  Like, I can't just pitch Anger to Wild Mongrel or anything, so that's probably just dumb filler, yeah?

Anger is excellent especially in a deck where your 2/2 general is not going to make it round the table to attack and trigger. If your deck is based around that interaction, you need ways to make sure it happens. Haste is one way.

EDH removal is heavily weighted towards exiling. These are the cards you should be packing rather than Helix, Bolt etc.

[Norm4eva]

Anyway, now that I've had the deck for about a week I obviously want to start messing around with it.  Trouble is, I get the sense that my first intuition about what constitutes a "good spell" in this format is probably a bit off.  Par example; the deck is RWB, and if I were building, say, a Legacy deck, it'd have things like Lightning Helix, Tidehollow Sculler, Lightning Bolt, Thoughtseize (err with my budget, Inquisition of Kozilek heh).  But it seems like there's just a lot of big giant beaters in this format and a bunch of Wrath/Firespout things running about, so whereas spells like Go For the Throat or Rend Flesh are probably really solid as removal, spells like Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix are, I'm guessing, a lot less relevant?  Amirite?  Meanwhile the deck has spells which I'm sure are just bad, like Cleansing Beam and for some reason Anger?  Like, I can't just pitch Anger to Wild Mongrel or anything, so that's probably just dumb filler, yeah?

Anger is excellent especially in a deck where your 2/2 general is not going to make it round the table to attack and trigger. If your deck is based around that interaction, you need ways to make sure it happens. Haste is one way.

EDH removal is heavily weighted towards exiling. These are the cards you should be packing rather than Helix, Bolt etc.

Yeah after about six weeks of playing it twice a week I am seeing this.  It's weird, I play with some very Timmy friends a few times a month and then I play with some fairly competitive guys at least once a week and the difference between power level of the decks is just nuts.  Honestly I didn't think EDH was a format where guys could 'go broken' nearly as often as in other formats, guess I was wrong haha.

While I still have no love for Anger I agree that haste is crucial with Kaalia.  m12 is going to give me Swiftfoot Boots as another means of achieving haste + shroud (err hexproof, but what am I gonna do besides target her with MoR), I put in Hall of the Bandit Lord and I have a handful of tutors for Greaves (shred memory, steelshapers gift).  Since I'm in Black I need to load up on tutor effects for that consistency; obviously Demonic/Vampiric, if I can get them the Portal tutors, may end up going with some jank for a while like Beseech the Queen and (ick) Netherborn Phalanx, because most of the dudes that Kaalia really wants to drop are cmc 6 and some of the 'blow up the world' spells in the deck (Razia's Purification, Boom/Bust, Akroma's Vengeance) cost 6 as well, so it won't be the WORST thing in the world, but it won't be as amazing as a set of honest-to-crap tutors.  Oh the joys of Magic on a budget.