The Gathering Place cEDH x Girly Pop Magic collaboration
What is cEDH?
You already know EDH (Commander): the format we love. cEDH is the competitive version of the exact same format. Same rules, same 100-card singleton decks, same 40 life.
The difference is that in cEDH, every player is trying to win as fast as possible (usually by assembling an infinite combo on turns 3 through 5). It's less about building to a big moment over 2 hours and more about super strategic decisions from turn 1.
Don't be intimidated! The decks you've been given today are tuned and ready. This post will teach you the key mindset shifts so you can jump right in!
EDH vs cEDH: Side-by-Side
| 💜 Casual EDH | ⚡ cEDH | |
|---|---|---|
| Game Length | 1–3 hours | Turns 3–5 (20–80 min) |
| How You Win | Tons of paths — combat, tokens, mill, etc. | Usually a combo, rarely combat damage |
| Fast Mana | Sol Ring & a few rocks | Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox, Mox Opal, Lotus Petal & more |
| Tutors | A few here and there | Lots! They fetch your combo pieces fast |
| Counterspells | Removal with some counterspells, rarely free counters. | Emphasis on counter spells, most interaction is free (fierce, pact, force) |
| Mulligans | Keep anything playable, 3 mana, a low mana creature or two | Mulligan until your hand has a clear game plan (can go as low as 5) |
Opening Hand Guide for cEDH
In casual EDH, you might keep any hand that lets you "do stuff." In cEDH, your opening hand needs a plan. Ask yourself: can this hand win by turn 3-5?
Keep a hand that has at least 2 of these:
- Fast mana — Sol Ring, Lotus Petal, Mox Diamond/Chrome Mox, Mana Vault, etc.
- A draw engine — cards like Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Necropotence, or a Wheel effect (Wheel of Fortune) that let you refill your hand; having one of these is ideal.
- A tutor — Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, etc., that can find your missing pieces
- Combo pieces — Cards that are part of your win condition (check your deck primer!). These are nice to have but ultimately less important than card draw and mana advantage.
- Interaction — A counterspell or piece of removal to stop opponents from winning before you.
Mulligan if your hand has:
- No way to cast anything meaningful before turn 3
- All combo pieces but no mana or tutors to execute them
- 5+ lands and no action
Pro tip: Mulligan aggressively!
In cEDH it's completely normal — and correct — to mulligan down to 5 or even 4 cards to find a hand with a real game plan. A focused 5-card hand beats a clunky 7-card hand every time.
Common Combos You'll See Today
Many decks in cEDH share win conditions. Here are the three most common combos you'll encounter. Your deck primer has a full breakdown of the specific combos in YOUR deck!
1a. Underworld Breach: 1R for breach, 1U for Brain Freeze, 0 for LED
- Cast Underworld breach
- Cast LED
- Sacrifice LED discarding your hand
- Cast brain freeze exiling 3 cards that aren’t LED to pay its escape cost
- Resolve brain freeze milling cards equal to 3x storm targeting yourself
- Cast LED from yard exiling 3 cards, sacrificing it for blue to then cast brain freeze repeating this process until you mill your library
1b. Underworld Breach with Grinding Station: 1R for breach, 2 for Grinding Station, 0 mana rock
- Resolve breach, resolve station, have a mana positive artifact like a mox opal with metal craft online, a mox amber with a legend out, or a sol ring/ mana vault
- Cast the artifact from hand or yard depending on where it is
- When the artifact enters, respond to the grinding station ETB to untap by floating a mana from the artifact, then tapping and sacrificing the artifact to grinding station, targeting yourself to mill 3 cards, these 3 cards will then be exiled to recast the artifact, creating a loop
- make sure you have enough cards left in the yard to not exile brain freeze/ thassa’s oracle when you mill those. When you mill brainfreeze, use the mana floated in the loop to cast brain freeze going card positive, when you find thassa’s oracle leave that in GY and choose a different third card to exile for the next recast of your artifact, when library has been milled cast thassa’s oracle from yard to win the game
Win with Underworld Breach
Win the game by casting Thassa’s Oracle from graveyard after milling your entire library, milling out your opponents and forcing them to draw a card (usually using the activated ability of faerie mastermind or wheel of fortune, if you do this make sure you have enough cards left in library to not die to that draw as well), or by milling out opponents and passing turn.
2. Thassa's Oracle + Demonic Consultation / Tainted Pact
Cost: UU + B (if using Demonic Consultation) or 1B (if using Tainted Pact)
- Cast Thassa’s Oracle
- When Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield there will be a trigger to scry, hold priority on the trigger (it is very important to verbalize this).
- Cast Demonic Consultation/Tainted Pact
- If using Demonic Consultation, name a card that is not in your deck such as “You Are Already Dead” or “Dockside Extortionist”. This will exile your entire library so that your devotion to blue (2 minimum) is greater than cards in library.
- If using Tainted Pact, resolve a Tainted Pact putting the second to last card in library into your hand leaving 1 card left in library and exiling the rest, this will also ensure your devotion to blue is bigger than your cards in library to win the game.
Watch Out!
If you have a Kraum, Esper Sentinel, or Faerie Mastermind, these are forced draws, so your opponents can potentially make you draw a card from an empty library before your trigger resolves, losing the game before your Thassa’s Oracle trigger resolves. Additionally, if an opponent has a Faerie Mastermind, they can activate it to make you draw a card, the same with Cephalid Coliseum or Geier Reach Sanitarium so, be careful and account for these possibilities
3. Oboro Breezecaller + Gaea's Cradle + Talon Gates
Cost: 1U for Breezecaller, 6+ creatures, Gaea's Cradle on the field, Talon Gates of Madara in hand or on field, at least 2 mana floating after casting Breezecaller
- Cast Breezecaller for 1U
- Activate Breezecaller returning a land to hand that isn’t Cradle (if Talon Gates is on field, return Talon Gates to hand), to untap Gaea’s Cradle
- Float 6+ mana off of Gaea’s Cradle and use 4 of it to put Talon Gates from your hand into play leaving 2+ green mana remaining
- Float a colorless mana off of Talon Gates and use that plus 1G to activate Breezecaller returning the tapped Talon Gates to hand
- This cycle nets a green, repeat for infinite green mana
- Use the Talon Gates to filter the infinite green mana into infinite mana of any color (using the 1, tap, add one mana of any color ability on Talon Gates)
- Filter this infinite mana into Thrasios to draw your deck and win the game (the official way to win the game differs by Thrasios deck)
New to stacks and priority? Ask!
Don't be afraid to slow down and ask for help. The Gathering Place cEDH group is beginner-friendly — we all want you to have fun and learn!
Want to Learn More?
These are some of the best resources for getting into cEDH, recommended by cEDH event coordinators, Preston and Jenna:
- Play to Win - Youtube
- Drake Academy - Youtube
- Learn cEDH - Website
- EDH Top 16 - Website
- cEDH Decklist Database - Website
Deck Primers & Decklists
cEDH proxy decks are available at The Gathering Place. Feel free to ask to borrow a deck at the next cEDH event!