What the Hell is EDH Anyways?

AKA Elder Dragon Highlander. Don't ask me why its called that, I don't know and honestly, I don't really care either. You may also here EDH referred to as Commander which is a fairly appropriate name for the format. I figure if I'm going to blabber about the damn thing so much, I ought to at least explain what the hell it is in the first place. It dawned upon me that not everyone who plays MTG knows what this lovely format is, I certainly didn't when I first started playing.
Let's start with the basics:

• Legendary Creature- This will be the foundation for your deck. Before you even ask, yes it has to be a legendary creature. I would suggest something you reallllly like since this is going to shape the rest of your deck. Once you've picked your creature, you can only use colors that you cast it with, so be mindful of that. 
• Lands- This is an extremely important part of the commander format, it can also be one of the priciest. But that's the case with every format really. If you want your mana-base to be correct, you're going to have to shell out some money. Unless you cheat and start with a mono-colored deck like I did when I first started in the format. 
• The Rest of that Crap- Yeah, I know my list is lazy but there's really not much more to explain. That whole creature thing is the most complicated part. *shrug*

So, you've picked your creature and committed to a color scheme. Hopefully you've also come to terms with the fact that you are going to have to buy some lands, I know I'm still working on that part. Honestly, its not really that bad when you first start out. My suggestion is to just buy the more basic, but useful lands because you can always tweak your deck and add better lands later on. Don't shell out the money for the expensive lands unless you know that you can use them in another deck or are 100% sure that you are going to love this EDH deck (unless you've played EHD before, you aren't going to qualify for that second part most likely).
Now that you've picked your legendary creature to spearhead this little endeavor, you're going to need the rest of the cards. Before you rush to your collection of cards, there are a few rules that you need to keep in mind. There's a reason that this is a completely different format from Standard, Legacy, and even Vintage. The rules that apply there aren't necessarily the same here. So here's the ground rules of EDH decks:

• Instead of the normal 60 cards deck (or 40 for limited), you get 100 cards in your deck. But you can't go over that amount, its a non-flexible number. That also includes your commander (that fancy legendary creature you picked earlier), so really you have 99 cards slots to fill.
• This is where it gets hard, you can only have one copy of each card - excluding basic lands of course. That means you can't throw four copies of your standard win-the-game card and think you are peachy. EDH decks require a bit more thought and planning because you can only have one of each card in there. Its also where you have to be more clever. Hint: the card only has to have a different name, not ability. Identical cards have been printed with different names, they are called functional reprints. If you find a card you love (and is useful in your deck) and think it might be one of these: get them all.
• Your commander does not go in your deck. Your commander does not go in your deck. I don't know the number of times I have seen someone shuffle their commander into their deck, either because they aren't paying attention or because they don't know what they are doing. I can't stress how important it is to throw your commander into a different sleeve so you don't make that first mistake. Its really annoying to have to search through those 100 cards to find the sneaky bastard, trust me.
• Since the commander doesn't go into the deck, you might be wondering how you can cast him. He goes into something called the command zone. Some legendary creatures actually have abilities that are activated from the command zone, such as Oloro, Ageless Ascetic (shown below). From the command zone, you can cast him for his normal casting cost. But there's a catch, if he dies or is exiled, he goes back to the command zone. That might seem to cool to you because you can just case him again but I'm going to burst your bubble: every time he goes back to the command zone, he costs an extra two colorless to cast. Now if you are a mana-ramp deck, that's fine. But for those of us casting expensive creatures with a limited mana-base, him going to be the command zone could actually cost us the game. So be careful in choosing your commander, don't pick something too expensive in mana that you can't cast him a second time around.

As far as I can remember, that is for the special rules of commander. The most important thing to remember about commander is that you only get one copy of each card so you really want to make your picks count. You can't just throw filler cards in there to meet the card count unless you have a sure-fire way to win the game. A piece of advice: never assume your win-condition is assured because you don't know what your opponent has in their deck to beat yours. That's the tricky thing about commander, there are so many possibilities that you there are a multitude of decks you will face, yours will not always be the better one. Some matches are just doomed from the start. You want to make sure that you have an array of ways to win the game and ways to get around possible problems you may face.
I hope that was helpful to all you new beginners into the world of Magic or just new to the format of EDH. If you think I left something important out, please let me know so that I can fix my error (and probably my playing style).
What's your favorite legendary creature?
Who commands your EDH deck?

Why I'm Adding Elixer to My Deck...Like Now

I don't know about you but I have a whole new appreciation for Elixer of Immortality and its not even in my deck...but its about to be. My friend and I often play EDH, its really the only format I get a chance to play anymore because I don't play at standard events, I also no longer have a casual deck put together anymore. Now, when we play EDH, we generally only have 15-30 minute games. When it comes to EDH, those are short games from what I've seen. However, we have played this format together so many times that we can pretty much tell when a game is over or when our decks have just decided they are done with us for the day. Today, that was not the case...

I was playing my mono-black deck with the commander Endrek, the Master-Breeder which I rarely cast unless I manage to draw a lot of creatures. You may be shocked by this statement but...I don't play a lot of creatures. I know, completely surprising given the fact that I play black. Instead my deck is filled with kill spells and...well, that's kinda it really. I just like killing things, its just what black does. He was playing his newly constructed green, white, and black deck with Teneb, the Harvester as his commander. 

Here's our boards about an hour and a half into the game...

...also about thirty seconds before he killed me. But that's beside the point. As you can see, we have a lot going on right there. Also, sorry for the glare on my cards. I use the silver dragon sleeves that apparently hate the camera flash. He had about ten cards left in his deck and I had twenty-five. I should also include the fact that we were playing blitz which makes the fact that the game lasted so long seriously impressive to me.
So this bastard throws down Elixer and I realized that it was pretty much game over for me because, even if he managed to deck himself...he could just shuffle his graveyard back into his library. Granted, I had exiled about fifty cards out of it but still, that would give him a lot of turns to take me out while I ran out of cards without being able to do a damn thing about it.
I have been considering adding Elixer into my deck as I make changes and this just sealed the deal to me, I need a way to shuffle my graveyard back into my library if something like this happens to me again. I don't want to be stuck decking myself to a failure when I actually have a good game going.
Guess its time to go on the hunt for new cards because my deck needs some serious updates. I've found that if I can easily discard something in a game without even hesitating...it probably shouldn't be in my deck to begin with. Each card really should have a purpose, especially when they are each hand-picked for your EDH deck.
Love ya guys.

Woe to the Magic Girls

I mean the game obviously, but I get girls in fantasy magic get the short end of the stick to..those barely there costumes don't protect against much at all. As a female, I feel uncomfortable in the world of Magic: The Gathering. I have been to one pre-release and, unless things suddenly change, I probably won't ever go to another. I don't know about you but I don't like being hit on and told I have no place playing the game all in one breathe. I also don't like being discriminated against JUST because I'm a girl. But maybe that's just me. Personally I don't like feeling like I don't belong around other people who enjoy a card game just as much as I do. I would love to show up at an FNM and be treated just like every other player there, even if I am the only female in the room. That's often the case when I walk into my local comic shop anyways. In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with being the only girl in a room but when people treat me differently just because I am a girl is where things start getting a bit dicey.
Yes, I love playing Magic: The Gathering.
Yes, I loathe playing in public areas.
Those two statements REALLY shouldn't have to go together. I mean, honestly guys, is it really that difficult to treat me like the guys you play against? Its not like I'm trying to use my - lack of - female wiles to win the game. I have built my deck how I like it and have practiced so that I can execute strategies in a way that will allow me to win...granted I don't get mana-screwed. But that's a topic for another day. Honestly, I'm not trying to get anywhere by being a girl in a male-dominated game, I just want to have fun and play the game like every other person.
If you are a guy who treats girls differently because of their gender, you really need to re-think your life. Especially in game-oriented situations. I mean, seriously, the slutty Liliana jokes have got to stop. If you are a guy who treats girls like any other person, thank you and I love you. Please never stop doing that because you are the kind of people who make the game worth playing.
Love ya.