In a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck he can be very useful for getting experience counters, as long as you have 4 experience counters before playing him. Play him then on your upkeep sac him, then return him to the battlefield as you now have 5 experience counters. this can be repeated many times to get exorbitant amounts of counters and can let you bring some really huge creatures straight from your graveyard to the battlefield. Of course this should not be the only form of gaining experience counters in a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck.

I agree on Damia. Yes her ability is great, but it OFTEN requires a full turn cycle to trigger and if she bites the dust, good luck casting her again, since most builds I have seen rely upon one shot fast mana cards to get her into play by turn 2 or 3. Also the traditional counterspell heavy control deck she suppprts is fairly weak when compared to combo or stax.

Damia has indeed lost a lot of her luster. I wouldn't be against moving her down. It's weird to think that Tasigur has passed her by but it appears to be the case with the recent changes.

I think Narset should be Tier 2. Reasons:

1 - High mana cost. Gives opponents 4 or more turns to find an answer.
2 - All in nature of the deck. Without her the decks suffer greatly.
3 - She is crushed by many of those "Tier 2" generals listed such as Shattergang Brothers, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, or Captain Sisay.

It just doesn't take very much effort to stop Narset and once you do then pretty much all you have to do is keep an eye on their mana and have an answer every 2-3 turns. It's not like a Doran, the Siege Tower deck that keeps pumping out threats even if you deal with Doran.

In the mean time if I kill a Alesha, Who Smiles at Death that doesn't really do much because their deck is still chock full of powerful X-for-1 control spells or repetitive value that out-classes many decks. If I kill a Captain Sissay then I still have to fight through a Host of powerful creatures many of which shut down strategies. If I kill a Shattergang Brothers they can cast it again much easier, combo out, play wraths, or beat down much better than .

The main advantage of playing isn't card draw, it's counters. Every color except has plenty of draw. Narset is one of the few commanders that doesn't play lots of counters. She's a glass cannon that everybody at the table will be happy to sit back and watch you destroy.

Narset, Enlightened Master is interesting because she's difficult to resolve, but if optimized, once she swings, she wins. I almost think she does better in higher tier matches because other things require your attention - then she makes it into the game and gg; in games against tier 2/3 she is more conspicuous and her vulnerability to shutdown becomes more pronounced.

Also, I've been slack on lurking and missed the Azami, Lady of Scrolls discussion. Would someone briefly summarize the reason for taking her down a tier? I'm finding it difficult to believe she belongs below Tier 1.

Azami has been badly hurt by the mulligan change and doesn't hold a candle to Teferi, the current de facto mono-blue general. She's not nearly as consistent as she used to be.

Though I recognize that I am somewhat biased on this, as I run a build of this commander, Ezuri, Claw of Progress has felt like a tier two to me. My build has multiple elements of how to use him effectively (infect, tokens, abilities with counters). How Bernie Sanders Plays Magic is worth a look, as it showcases the different playstyles available.

I also agree on Damia tier 2. Update!

Alot of these teir 1 generals tend to get hated off the table in multiplayer. I know a guy who plays to most broken zur and narset decks ever and they dont win all that often, even with putting 5 grand or more into each deck. It makes me wonder what teir 1 really is. I think it is not the general but the deck. My azami deck wins much more then my kaalia deck because the momo blue control build is better then super fast land d in my meta. I guess to wrap up I will say that the word teir 1 is different in each meta. In mine control owns combo since the new mulligan. Its just somthing to keep in mind.

Part of the description for Tier 1 says that these generals have to stand up to multiplayer hate,even though they may lose to dedicated hate. It could be that said pilots aren't as good as their decks. A tier 1 deck a tier 1 pilot does not make.

I would like to convince you that Azami, Lady of Scrolls is in fact a tier 1 multiplayer deck. My personal build of her often wins turn 4 easily. Check it out!

How has the non-partial mulligan changed things for you? I would think losing that would really slow things down with her.

After the mulligan change the deck did have some issues, but I tweaked it a lot after the changes and there are no issues. The win stats I talked of are post mull changes and this deck is still unfinished. Still need a crypt and a few of the more expensive extra turn spells. After that it'll be even more ridiculous.

I'm aware that this is supposed to be a list for good multiplayer commanders, but she also is great in dual commander and has seen some showing in the top 8 for dual commander. There's a good reason for that.

French is not really considered here as you said. It could also be that she is mono blue, and there is already a better mono blue option in the blue walker. Mono color does have limitations, even if it is the mighty blue. I think there was some talk of dropping Arcum down to 2 as well. Tier 2 is still extremely strong decks, and tier 1 is kept small for good reason. I feel that she is at the top end of tier 2 though.

My playgroup came up with something quite unique for mulligans and we really enjoy it.

You know how often, playgroups will do 1 free mulligan? Well our free mulligan may be a partial Paris but anything after than is on the Vancouver mulligan rules.

It adds a bit more complexity but they mainly implemented it to help prevent land screw. (Keep a few lands/good cards and punt the rest for more lands) but it's not abusable to where you could craft a perfect hand.

Azami is teir 1. I won a multiplayer edh tournament with her a few weeks back. I won the last match on turn 5 after a turn 4 time warp. Turn 5 mind over matter. I played against animar and zur. Plus the guy with the expensive zur and narset decks at my store plays very well. Just because a deck is fast really means nothing with the new mulligan.

Finally got around to building my Purphoros deck, and after researching it, I think it could also go into the realm of extreme pillow fort/stax with cards like Smoke and Smokestack. Is the aforementioned storm version better? Is a spellslinger style using the infinite combo of rituals and Reiterate better? I feel so lost on what would actually be best for Purphoros.

Have you ever felt like you don't know where to start while cutting a deck from 250 nonlands?

@MagicalHacker I've been there. Stay frosty, lol.

Saw that you don't have a deck list for Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Not sure if there are any requirements that you want a deck to have for you to put it in your list, but I've been refining my list for about 2 years now. Feel free to link my Prepare Your Salami for the Azami list if you find it meets your criteria.

Aside from The Mimeoplasm (personal preference goes to Damia / Tasigur over Mimeoplasm in my local play-group since Mimeoplasm is easily hated out), my play group has all the tier 1 decks (and a lot of tier 2 & 3 decks, if not all).I find it mind boggling why Azami went down in tier simply because of the mulligan rule, if anything the new mulligan rule seems to hurt other tier 1 decks more than Azami from my experience (Arcum Dagsson, Zur and Yisan being the exceptions).Also Azami is still the only undefeated general within my play-group, and is rarely played due to the amount of hate she has been getting from other tier 1 players, who find her too fast while offering too much control to deal with.

Even if the statement that according to certain people Azami is not tier 1 because of the new mulligan rule (which is highly arguable), Azami is still way above the tier 2 decks, and would still be closer to tier 1 compared to tier 2.I'd also heavily argue that Mimeoplasm doesn't fit tier 1 for a lot more reasons than Azami.

This used to be one of my go-to tier lists, but I'm having doubts with how the list is shaping up recently, the discussion between certain generals belonging in what tier is certainly interesting, but at the moment it's pretty obvious to any experienced player of the format (when it comes to multiplayer) that certain generals do not fit the tier they are put in.

What commanders are you referring to?

@Khat look, we're not saying she isn't good, just that she isn't as good anymore and her unreliability made her worse enough that we, the community, saw fit to move her down. She is still at the top end of tier 2, of course, just not tier 1.

and if shes the one your group can't deal with, I suggest you make a deck that can deal with her. run random shit with Pro-blue or something, IDK. Become the one who dethrones her, man!

@MagicalHacker my Purphoros Storm deck is not really good... I am very intersted in your pillow fort stax version, could you please link it here so I can test it and maybe suggest some things?

Lol derplingsupreme, any general can be dealt with. I made a mono black stax deck that destroys arcum, narset, and zur decks because they rely too much on their commanders. I have also seen meren decks that do a better job at this then my deck because green hits artifacts and enchantments as well as creatures. There are bad matchups for every general.