How to Build a Commander Deck | The Nitpicking Nerds Official Deckbuilding Strategy

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Chapters of the video:
0:00 - 1:02 Intro
1:03 - 3:10 Before you Build!
3:11 - 4:51 Land Count
4:52 - 6:42 Card Draw
6:43 - 8:55 Removal
8:56 - 10:20 Board Wipes
10:21 - 12:11 Ramp
12:12 - 14:46 Win Conditions
14:47 - 24:47 Mana Curve
24:48 - 37:20 General Tips
37:21 - 41:53 Shoutouts and Tidbit

Are you a beginner looking to build your first commander deck? Are you having trouble making cuts to your lists, or even finding a direction to build in? Are you wondering if there are better strategies and philosophies to have while deckbuilding? We have you covered in this video, where we basically offer all our best advice on how to build a commander deck! We even go over our deckbuilding "template," if you will, and discuss the numbers of different card types we tend to play.

[abiggs]

LANDS: 30-36 adjust for MDFC lands 0-8
CARD DRAW: 6-12 Consider card advantage as part of your draw if it's very impactful
SINGLE TARGET REMOVAL: 7-15 Consider counter spells that trade 1 for 1
BOARD WHIPES: 2-6 Count things like Bane of Progress that wipe all of -something- not just creatures
RAMP: 10-16

WIN CONDITIONS: 3ish? This doesn't count single cards, but "A+B=Win" type combos or critical mass situations. Too many, especially with high cmc components, is unfocused, slow, and give you too many dead hands/draws.

MANA CURVE: lower it. Play more spells per turn and be better set to win. 3-Drops get crowded, look to cut for 1s and 2s here. You're likely not going to play more than one 4+ per turn, and having several in your hand leaves you with nothing to play. Higher than 4, you're looking at like...2-3 cards of each at most.

More general tips in video, I'm not gonna transpose it all lol. This was for quick reference.

[kristennorth]

My standard commander deck building technique, no matter how many videos I watch:
- Encounter a fun-sounding tribe
- Choose a suitable commander
- Go through all kinds of angst narrowing down to about 60 of that tribal type
- Add about 5 artifacts that help tribal
- Add 35 lands
- Lose

[mattiavenier]

Last time I was this early Grave Titan was a must include in every deck with black!

[montanax]

Instructions unclear, bought 99 mountains and Ashling the Pilgrim

[gravetitan]

For any of you looking for the TLDR on this video, here it is:
If you're running black in your deck. Grave Titan is an auto-include. At all times. No exceptions.

You're welcome. Just saved you 41 minutes.

[backlogbrewery]

I'm sure this has already been suggested numerous times and, to some extent you already cover a lot of your deck building choices and insight during your commander tune ups videos, but have y'all considered straight up building a new deck from scratch as a video or possibly a stream?

[InsomniaticVampire]

I used to struggle making decks. Videos like these are always helpful developing my own rules. Recently i made the rule that any card over 3 mana to cast has to be key to my decks strategy. All my decks feel much better.

[mdchiesi]

Finally, a channel that isn't afraid to talk about 30 land decks. I have been picking up commander since I got back into the game 2 years ago and I was surprised to see how a well-tuned optimized deck can work very efficiently at 30 lands (or less). Cream of the crop maybe, but it's no fun sitting with 7 lands and not enough spells to do anything.

[christianarenas]

I'm a yugioh player but my cousin recently got me into magic like a month ago. So fundamental videos like this are super helpful for me in understanding what the heck is going on. Hope there's more in the future! But you guys are by far the channel I watched the most when it comes to magic (even thoug idk what is going on half the time). Very enjoyable videos and topics and cool hosts. Keep it up guys 🔥

[IBeScrappyDoo]

Here's a new topic for you guys to do shows on. How about you break out decks that you've built...then
break them down into categories and explain why you have that amount of each type (Ramp, Card Draw
Target Removal etcetera.) That way people get a visual example as well.

[JakobEslinger]

I would find a deck building video pretty valuable. For example i would like to see how you guys would go about building an ur dragon deck. How does the commander ability affect how you view your mana curve? What lands should i run in a deck that can utilize every color? What cards would you pick and why? What cards would you avoid and why? Overall good video guys!

[andrewrockwell]

This is my third time watching this video. I come back to it when I feel I have practiced deck building a bit and want to level up, picking more of the nuances up to build better.
I am also sending it to a friend because everyone should see this.

[Goblin]

Okay so I am just going to assume this video sums up to: if running blue, black or green you must run at least 1-2 crocodiles

[Roan.bot.]

“Too many board wipes”

Avacyn “absurd. Destroy everything all the time!”

[JaimeAGB-ptxl]

1- Land count: for me is 34-38, depends on the mana curve (always target no more than 4). Importantly, I do count MDFC as spells rather than lands, so I end up having extra lands to not miss a drop...
2- RAMP: 10-12 hopefully for Turn 2...
3- Card draw/sorting/advantage: I always go for 10 Minimun, but this number changes depends on the cards used which can make it less than 10. I.E: faithless looting, ponder, mind spring all count as 1, but things that are meant to give more than 1 like Guardian project and beast whisper (green because WotC belives green must have everything :( duh!) Actually count as 2 for me...
4- Boardwipes: 2-5, if the deck is creature heavy it gets 2, otherwise it gets 4-5 depending on how control oriented it is...
5- Spot removal: 8-10 this is counting creature/artifact/enchantment and its composition depends on the color. I.E: green is fight spells, blue considers counterspells as removal...
6- WinCons: these depend on the sinergy and strategy of the deck, but it should have at least 5 bombs/wincon....

That is my structure, and I based it around guides and decktechs from Command Quarters, Command Zone, and of course, this Lovely channel the NitPicking Nerds

[rmreagle]

Beezy: you cast your commander every game
Yuriko players : Ha!

[nonewmsgs]

I just want to say when I joined your patreon I 100% felt as much love as possible without feeling uncomfortable. I didn't believe it till it happened. You guys are the best. Love you guys

[smashog]

What better than listen to you guys lumber along a deck-tech session as I catalogue my collection as well as create an Alesha, Who Smiles At Death deck at the same time. Awesome! If you are a veteran or a noob, listening to different deck building opinions will make you a better overall brewer over time. I been giving White some love in my new brews lately, since I love White, weak or not. Ironically, I have been disliking Red more than White the past several brews I have made.

[kylepettinelli]

Not sure anyone will see this comment so many months late but I have a system I use for "enablers and payoffs" and things of that nature for all my decks. It's not perfect, but it gives a pretty good starting point for deck building, and it's abstract enough that it can work no matter what kind of deck you are trying to build. I figure some people might benefit from this idea too, so here it is.

In order to make sure I have the right numbers of cards that advance my strategy, I try to have at least 30 'Setup' cards, and at least 12 'Hinge' cards. I use these abstract names because what defines a Setup vs a Hinge card is going to be different for every deck, it all depends on what your strategy is.
So you'll need to define what constitutes a Setup and a Hinge for your specific deck.
Basically, a Setup card and a Hinge card together form a synergy of some sort, that makes the two cards together better than each one would be on their own.
The way you tell the difference between Setup and Hinge cards is what each one does when it's the only card you have. Setup cards on their own are not particularly powerful, but they still do something. Hinge cards on their own, do absolutely nothing unless you have a Setup to use with it.
So for example, a simple Hinge would be an anthem enchantment... it does absolutely nothing by itself, but if you have creatures (which would be the Setup in this case), it makes them all bigger

You can also have cards that are both Setups and Hinges at the same time, like for example, Canopy Tactician in an elf deck. It is itself an elf, so it can be used as a Setup for any other card in your deck that cares about elves, but it also gives all your other elves +1/+1, so is also a Hinge for elves.

Setup and Hinge can be really flexible since you can use these terms for any strategy. Some other decks I have where I have used this way of thinking for examples;
Sidisi Graveyard deck: Setup= any card that puts more cards into graveyards. Hinge= any card that either wants to be in the graveyard, or cares how many cards are in graveyards
Omnath Landfall: Setup= any card that puts lands onto the battlefield. Hinge= any card that has a landfall trigger
Tuvasa Enchantress: Setup= any enchantment. Hinge= any card that reacts whenever you cast an enchantment, or cares how many enchantments you control
Kykar Spellslinger: Setup= any instants and sorceries. Hinge= any card that reacts whenever you cast an instant or sorcery
Florian Burn: Setup= any card that deals damage to opponents. Hinge= any card that gives a benefit based on how much damage was done this turn.

Once you have defined what Setup and Hinge are for your deck, you can then ensure you have a minimum of 30 Setup cards and 12 Hinges and you'll have really good odds of drawing into those pieces with appropriate frequency.

[lrgo]

When I start a new deck, the first thing I do is rummage through my collection for any cards that generally do the things I'm looking for. Once I have a pile, I sort it into general categories (card draw, ramp, etc) and then try to choose the best 9-11 cards in that category. I generally also have a miscellaneous group for cards (generally 20+ or so) that include bodies, wincons and such, as well as any cards that I didn't choose from a previous group that I still reaaaallly want to play. Later, when I want to upgrade my deck with a card, I look at the existing cards that fill a similar role and try to assess if it better than any of them at the same/lower mana value. I have a very small play group, but it generally works out alright.