Spreading the Love — Bromances and Wolf Packs
December 19, 2017 by
Kya Vess 
Hello Everyone! Kya here once again to spread the love among our community once more. There was a lot of positive feedback in my last article, of which I couldn't be happier. However, I know I went after a demographic that doesn't pertain to everyone. For those who are not interested in mixing love and magic, I got you, don't worry!
This article is now going to focus on those who are trying to get their friends into magic, instead of just their significant other. The good news is, that the methods I found in getting along with others in EDH is a lot easier then getting your significant other to play. If you have a good friend you're trying to rope into the massive world of Magic: the Gathering, it typically isn't too hard. As previously mentioned, EDH is a great way to get people into playing Magic because it can be viewed as a board game which broadens its appeal to much wider audience, because it looks more like a social activity. Also, the plus side of getting a friend into playing is they don't have to creature their own deck. I'm sure many of you have multiple decks, so lending your besttie your cough-weaker-cough deck shouldn't be a problem. After they become inevitably obsessed with Magic after a few games, they'll eventually venture off into making their own. That's when you can point them towards EDHREC to help them select a type of deck they'd like to create and add your own advice into the mix.
Rules of Society
For those having difficulty getting their friend to play EDH, here is a quick recap of my last article's rules to help transition them into playing. These suggestions are going to be shortened to all heck, to save the eyeballs of those experienced readers:
- If able, always begin the EDH experience with your friend in your own home. Your local game store (which we'll get into below) can be a bit much to start. Ideally, if you have other mutual friends as the person you're getting to play, getting them to come over too will help with the process. Let's make your new Sith apprentice one with the dark side before having him go out to slaughter the innocent shall we?
- Like with your significant other, bonding is important in indoctrination. As Palpatine bonded with Anakin before going to the Dark Side, reminding your friend that you guys are BFF's for life is still important. Making a big deal out of their plays and over reacting to their presence of the board will make their experience of dipping their toes into darkness more rewarding. That and wanting to go deeper into the abyss.
- Although you don't have to cave in as much as with your significant other, Force Lightning them to oblivion when they first start out isn't the way to turn someone into a lifelong player. Letting their plays go despite having answers, and even letting them win, will encourage them to keep playing. Again your goal is to get them into the game, not to get them good. That can happen later once they've already dedicated themselves to the Dark Side.
- Limit the exposure of your Sith apprentice. Do not make my mistake and start playing with 3+ colors to learn EDH. That's how you end up force choking yourself. 1 color is good and simple, but 2 colors is simple enough for a newer player to understand the importance of color without being overwhelmed.
I'll leave the rest out as the 4 above are the most important. That and I'm about to go on a large tangent about the new Star Wars movies if I keep making references to the series. Let's move on shall we?
Brother!
Now that you have your young apprentice, it's time for you two to take over the galaxy. Starting with your Local Game Store is a great place to begin your conquest. But wait! We need a deck to symbolize your new sisterhood. Who am I kidding, I don't think there are many sisterhoods being formed in Magic as of yet...so let's go with brotherhood (for now). I know this article is looking a bit like the last one, so lets step it up a notch. Last time we went into a partner deck...but that's child's play. What better way to symbolize your bromance then the original partners themselves, the Brothers Yamazaki!
That's right! Enough of the boring read and let's get into deck building shall we? Meet the partners before partners. Woah, wait, did I just say partners? Does that mean you can have both as your commander? Well no, and why limit yourself to two commanders? Why not branch it off to playing two whole decks that work as one? After all, you have your new apprentice to aid you in battle!
That's right! We're going to make 2 decks dedicated to helping one another out! What's more, it's going to be so silly and interesting, so your other pod members most likely won't become upset by it. Because let's face it, these two are not going to be over powered by any means. This deck idea is a great way to get your friend into the EDH world of politics, without the stress. After all, like any relationship, your friend is looking to you in this new world. So looking at these cards, your probably confused on what to do. Well don't worry, Shogun Kya will show you how to utilize these Samurai:
What's Mine is Yours
The more experienced and evil Sith Lords reading this article can already tell how this is going to go by just seeing these 3 cards. Passing along Humble Defector or Rainbow Vale to your apprentice, just for them to pass it back is just evil and silly. Playing Hunted Dragon not only gives you a nice dragon, but your partner in crime some 2/2s as well! Something that I'm stealing from a good friend of ours, but when committing these acts through these cards, one must shout "Brother!"
Gifts for the Giving
Of course there are a few red cards that simply give your permanents to your "Brother!". Slapping them in your deck is an auto include. However the really cool thing is that aside from the above cards, you can take your Brothers deck any route you'd like. You can make the brothers Voltron, chaos, or even somewhat infinite if you so choose. All while hiding these evil intentions behind the silly faces of your mono-red generals. After all, the Sith are best at hiding in plain sight!
To Arms, Brother! (The Voltron Route)
Of course, you're not going to make a samurai deck and not in a samurai sword! What Sith is without it's lightsaber? Adding equipments can make your samurai brothers very deadly, very fast. Whats more, because you are sharing with your "Brother!", he/she can gift you weapons with ease. Or be pro and add in an Assault Suit that does it for you!
Birds of a Feather, Chaos Together (The Chaos Route)
"Oh No! Not this again!" is probably what the rest of the EDHREC team is thinking after seeing these cards. However what's good about these cards is because you have a partner in crime, the chaos behind these actions benefits you slightly more then the other players. You can work with your "Brother!" with Knowledge Pool to get what you might need to save the day.
All Good Things Must Come to an End (The Winning Route)
Now although the deck is meant to be silly, it should win somehow. Above is a fairly involved and unlikely win-con for these decks. A single combination of a 3-card blast of doom is where I personally draw the line of being somewhat fair in non-competitive games. I'd throw these in the deck without actively searching for them, and if the Dark Side decides to gift me these tools of destruction, so be it. There's a lot going on through the brother's craziness, so having these slowly build in your hand isn't too unrealistic, with it also not being reliable. Of course you could always stuff your mono red decks with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combinations if you wanted it to go further.
Or if you're super confident in your partner in crime, put half of the combo pieces in your deck, and the other half in his. Put a Rings of Brighthearth in your deck, and a Basalt Monolith in your friends. Then being able to only successfully combo out if being able to be gifted his/her cards. Pretty interesting from your normal combinations, hmm?
Finally after the dust settles, assuming you've now successfully destroyed the rebel scum, it's now time for your apprentice to do away with his/her old master. A final battle to decide who the true master of the dark side is! Assuming of course, you didn't already betray your partner with that comet storm earlier...
Jack of all Traits
Below is the deck list for two identical Brothers Yamazaki decks. They will be mixed with the cards from the above, and it's up to you to decide the route to go with it! By the way, these deck ideas go PERFECT with Kingdom variants, which you can find in Robin's Article. Imagine two brothers sworn to different allegiances!
Brother!
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Method to the Madness
I'm sure some people are a bit confused by this oddball example of a deck for you and your new Vader. Well there's a reason for it. A reason some might not agree with, but something I've found to hold true at my local game stores. LGS's can be a little intimidating to both a new person playing Magic, as well as for seasoned veterans with anxiety. As someone who has anxiety, which I suspect I'm not alone in, it can be difficult wedging yourself into a new group sometimes. As fun as EDH politics can be, it can also be a little rough participating in it when people don't know you as well as they know others. By using the deck idea above, you can hopefully cheat code around these normal hardships. What's more, the mentality of the Brothers Yamazaki can help provide an aura of charisma around you and your friend. People, although complicated, are surprisingly simple in many ways. Seeing the confidence and fun nature of a pod will entice them to play with you (or weed out people you might not enjoy the company of). Suddenly, if all has gone correctly, you will unknowingly join their pre-established wolf pack. What's more, you might have even developed a group all on your own, that was divided for one reason or another.
Closing Thoughts
Please let us know what you think by making a comment. I'd love to hear some experiences you've had getting your friends to play, or joining/creating groups of EDH players locally. I'd never dream my way is the 100% right way for everyone, so the best way to share alternatives is to actually share them!
One thing I wanted to mention though, since I'm on the subject of joining LGS groups. It's in my humble opinion that if you're joining a pod of strangers, and are interested in playing with them or at the store long term, play an under preforming deck to test the meta out. Risking the chance of a single loss does you much better from a social perspective then destroying them with a turn two Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. You'll learn the appropriate power level this way without ruffling feathers. Getting out of your own way in terms of ego is an amazing tip and constant struggle for this writer herself. Furthermore, if you wanted to get evil behind this, you provide a false scale of your power to your new victims in later matches.
Finally, I loved the new Star Wars Movie if you couldn't tell!
Love,
Darth Kya Ren
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