The only 5 color General in the format
It came to my attention (I believe through Trick Jarrett at Mananation.com) about a new EDH variant called Peasant Dragon Highlander (PDH). For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of Peasant, it’s the idea of not using rares to build your deck so it’s much more budget friendly. I know that some people complain about some of the rares such as the Revised Duals being way too expensive for use in EDH (I kinda agree to that). If you’re looking for a more wallet friendly option, but still love the idea of EDH, I might suggest giving this format a chance. This idea is even making me consider building one of my own PDH decks.
Here’s the thread from Reddit explaining how this works:
I would like to introduce to you a format that I’ve been playing with my friends for the last couple of months. It was created by the card dealers at Frank and Sons in SoCal, who had way too much time and commons/uncommons on their hands.
We wanted to create a format that was both afforable and presented a variety of different strategies. I’ve found out that the fact that the format is afforable allowed us to build more decks, contributing to the discovery of new strategies and creating a heathly metagame.
Anyways, here are the rules for Peasant EDH:
- 99 Card Deck 1 General
- No rares (promos such as Mana Crypt are considered rare)
- Your general can be any non-rare non-promo creature.
- Anything that was ever rare is considered rare regardless of previous or current rarity (Hypnotic specter was uncommon in ealier sets, now it is rare.) Other examples include: Serra Angel, Loxodon Warhammer.
- Exception: City of Brass (We’ve found that manafixing for 3-4 color decks was sparse)
- You start with 30 Life/ 21 General Damage = Death
- Dueling (1v1) Format
Suggested Banlist:
Fast Mana Effects:
- Sol Ring
- Mana Vault
- Ancient Tomb
Powerlevel/Price:
- Force of Will
- Library of Alexandria
- Mana Drain
- Counterbalance
- Thopter Foundry
Watchlist:
Keep in mind, these are only suggestions. We’ve banned any card over 30 dollars (FoW, Mana Drain) as a general house rule because those cards tend to be promblematic in powerlevel as well.
Yes, this format is intended not to be multiplayer, but it could be exciting. While Sol Ring is banned (a favorite and rumored to be in the From the Vault: Relics set coming out in August), there are still plenty of good commons and uncommon cards to make a deck. There are still different ideas but same concept decks that you can do since only very few variables changed (Life, rarity, 1v1, banned list). Tinker is still allowed (Most powerful artifacts are rare) and Channel is still okay (very few Eldrazi).
I’ve heard of Jonathan Media of MTGMetaGame.com (Now DoublingSeason.com) building a Rhox War Monx deck. I’m seriously thinking about wanting to build a few of these to let other people that haven’t played EDH before get a chance at the format without letting them play with my expensive cards (I don’t know how people shuffle and I’m sacred sometimes of them ruining my cards). Plus, it’s another chance to play different cards that I wouldn’t because they wouldn’t make the cut in a regular EDH deck.
Let me pose you guys these questions: A) Are you guys interested in this format as a change of pace and B) would you like some coverage here on 99EDH?
Share your thoughts either on twitter (@mtgcolorpie) or down below.
I Got 99 Problems But a Commander Ain't One 