Edhrec - Your Commander Deckbuilding Companion
When you are building a Commander deck for Magic: The Gathering, finding the right cards can feel like a huge task. There are so many cards out there, and figuring out what goes well with your chosen commander sometimes takes a lot of looking around. This is where a resource like edhrec comes into the picture, giving players a helping hand. It pulls together information from lots of different deck-building places, making it easier to see what others are playing and what cards seem to work well together.
This resource basically helps you get a sense of what other players are doing with their decks. It shows you popular card choices and common strategies for specific commanders. Think of it as a community-driven suggestion box, giving you a starting point for your own deck ideas. It saves you the trouble of looking through countless individual deck lists, which, as a matter of fact, can take quite a bit of time.
This article will go into how you can use edhrec, what it offers, and some common things people often ask about it. We will talk about how to share your own deck lists, what kind of data is there, and how the people behind this resource work to make it useful. We will also look at how it can help you discover new cards and what you might want to keep in mind when using the information you find there. So, let's get into it.
Table of Contents
- Sharing Your Deck Ideas with edhrec
- Where Can You Post Your edhrec Submissions?
- What About the edhrec Data and API?
- The People Behind edhrec and Their Work
- How Does edhrec Help You Build Better Decks?
- Finding Unique Cards on edhrec
- Are There Any Common Issues with edhrec?
- Comparing edhrec to Other Deck Sites
Sharing Your Deck Ideas with edhrec
If you have a Commander deck you want to share with the wider world, getting it listed on edhrec is a fairly simple process. You basically make a submission. The most common way to do this involves using a deck list you have already put together on tappedout.net. You just need to include the web address, the URL, for your deck from tappedout.net somewhere in the text of your submission. That's how the system picks up on your deck and adds it to its collection of information, you know, for everyone else to see and learn from. It's a pretty neat way to contribute to the community's shared knowledge.
Once you have that tappedout.net link ready, you can then share your deck in a couple of places. People often post their deck lists on specific online communities, like those found on Reddit. You can put your deck link on /r/edh, which is a general spot for Commander discussions. Or, you could post it on /r/edhrec. Posting to /r/edhrec is typically suggested if your main goal is to get your deck seen by the edhrec system, as it's a more direct route for that purpose. It really helps the site gather more information, actually.
This process of sharing your deck is how edhrec gets its vast amount of information. Every deck submitted helps build a bigger picture of what cards are being played with which commanders. It's a bit like a big, collaborative project where everyone chips in their deck ideas. The more decks that get shared, the more complete the picture becomes, which, you know, helps everyone looking for ideas. It's a system that relies on community input, quite literally.
Where Can You Post Your edhrec Submissions?
As we talked about, there are two main places you can put your deck link if you want it picked up by edhrec. The first is the general Commander discussion area, known as /r/edh. This spot is great for talking about your deck, getting feedback, and just chatting with other players about the format. Your deck might get noticed by edhrec from there, but it's not the most direct way for the site to pull your information. It's more of a broad community hub, basically.
The other option, and often the one that makes more sense for getting your deck on edhrec, is /r/edhrec itself. This community is specifically for things related to the edhrec website. If your main aim is to get your deck included in the site's data, posting it here is generally the better choice. It helps the site's systems find and process your deck more easily, which, you know, makes things smoother for everyone involved. It's a bit like sending mail to the right department.
It's important to remember that edhrec pulls its information from many different places. While these Reddit communities are a common way to submit, the site also gathers information from other major deck-building websites. So, even if you don't post to Reddit, if your deck is on one of those widely used sites, there is a good chance edhrec will eventually find it. You can't actually post a checklist directly to edhrec itself; it's more about where your deck list lives online, in a way.
What About the edhrec Data and API?
People often wonder about getting direct access to the information that edhrec collects, especially for their own projects. For instance, someone might be making a tool and would find it really useful to get the site's data through what is called an API. An API is basically a way for different computer programs to talk to each other and share information. The person looking for this information mentioned that they could not find any details about getting API documentation from edhrec to use with Python, a programming language. They said it would be very helpful for a tool they were making. Interestingly, they also mentioned that they do know how to get the API information, which is a bit of a puzzle.
The people who work at edhrec are always busy making sure the information they present is helpful and easy to use. For example, the content manager for edhrec has a job that involves making sure the podcasts, articles, and build guides make sense of the data trends. This is because the raw data is not always perfectly clear on its own, and sometimes, it is not completely right. Their role is to add context and analysis, helping users truly understand what the numbers mean. It's a big part of what makes the site useful, honestly.
So, while some users might be looking for direct technical access to the data, the edhrec team is focused on providing it in an understandable way through their content. They work to explain why certain cards appear frequently or why some trends are happening. This effort helps users get more from the site than just a list of cards; they get insights. It's about giving meaning to all that collected information, you know, making it more than just raw numbers.
The People Behind edhrec and Their Work
The folks who work on edhrec do a lot to bring you the content you see. The content manager, for example, has a very important part in shaping how the information is presented. Their work involves looking at all the collected data and then figuring out what it really means. They then use this understanding to create things like podcasts, written articles, and guides on how to build decks. The goal is to make sure these pieces of content help you make sense of the trends they see in the data. This is because, as they point out, the raw data itself does not always tell the full story, and sometimes, it is not completely accurate.
One of the ways they help explain things is by having edhrec cast members analyze specific commanders. An edhrec cast member might take a commander, look at what the average deck for that commander looks like on the site, and then suggest ways to make it better. They also explain the overall plan for how that deck should play. This kind of analysis is really helpful because it takes the general ideas from the data and turns them into practical advice for players. It gives you a real person's thoughts on how to improve a deck, which is pretty neat.
The team is also working on fixing things when they go wrong. For instance, there was a problem where top commanders were not showing up on certain cards' pages. This was a bug, a small error in the system, and the team was actively working to sort it out. It shows that they are committed to making sure the site works as it should and that the information presented is as correct as possible. They are always trying to make the user experience better, which is a good thing.
How Does edhrec Help You Build Better Decks?
One of the best ways edhrec helps you build better decks is by showing you how cards work together. This is often called "synergy." If you are looking for those special, less common cards, sometimes called "spice," edhrec is a great place to hunt for them. The site can show you cards that have a very high degree of synergy with a particular commander. This means those cards are used a lot with that specific commander, but not as much in other decks. Finding these cards can give your deck a unique feel and help it work more smoothly with your commander's abilities. It's a bit like finding a secret ingredient for a recipe, you know?
Edhrec can also give you a general idea of what cards might go well with your commander. It gathers information from many different deck-building websites, so it has a lot of examples. However, it's important to remember that edhrec just gives you a broad sense of what cards work. The actual thinking part, the decision-making about your deck, that's still up to you. And sometimes, even the list of cards it suggests is not necessarily completely correct. This is because the data is collected from many different sources, and not every deck submitted is perfect, or, you know, even complete.
For most commanders, edhrec lets you choose a theme before it shows you the average deck list. This can be really helpful if you have a specific idea for your deck, like wanting to focus on a certain type of creature or a particular play style. By picking a theme, the site can give you more focused suggestions, which makes it easier to build a deck that fits your personal vision. It's a pretty useful feature for narrowing down your options, in a way.
Finding Unique Cards on edhrec
If you are someone who enjoys finding less common cards or trying out different approaches, edhrec can be a good friend. The way to find those unique cards, often called "spice," is to look for cards that have a very high synergy score. This means they appear very often with a particular commander but are not widely used in other decks. These are the cards that really make a deck feel special and often work in unexpected ways with your commander's specific abilities. It's a way to personalize your deck beyond the usual suggestions, basically.
Sometimes, you might be looking for commanders that are not played as often. Edhrec keeps track of this too. For instance, there's a list of the lowest 100 used commanders according to the site's data. While the specific commanders themselves are not always included in such lists, knowing that such a list exists means you can look for less common commanders to build around. This can be fun if you like the challenge of making something work that others might overlook. It's a good way to find a unique project, you know.
Even if a commander does not have a lot of decks listed on edhrec, like Lim-Dul, which only had about 10 decks in its database, you can still find ideas. Your own preferences matter a lot. For example, someone might put a card like "Night Dealings" in their deck just because they think it is cool and fun, even if it is not a top suggestion from the site. Edhrec is a starting point, but your own creativity and enjoyment are what really shape your deck. It's about personal expression, in some respects.
Are There Any Common Issues with edhrec?
While edhrec is a really helpful resource, it is not without its little quirks. One thing to remember is that it mostly just gathers information from different deck-building websites. So, what it shows you is based on what people have already put out there. This means that edhrec gives you a general idea of what cards tend to work well with a commander, but the real thinking, the part where you make your own choices, that is still entirely up to you. The card lists it shows are not always perfectly correct either, because the data comes from so many places, and, you know, not every deck is built in the same way.
There are also times when things just do not work quite right on the site. For example, there was a problem where the top commanders were not showing up on certain card pages. This was a bug, a small technical issue, and the team behind edhrec was actively working to get it sorted out. They are pretty dedicated to making sure the site runs smoothly and that the information is displayed correctly. It's a constant effort to keep everything in working order, as a matter of fact.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the information it provides is an average of many decks. This means that if you are looking for something very specific or very unusual, you might still need to do some searching on your own. It gives you a good foundation, but it does not replace your own creative process. It's a tool to help you get started, not a complete solution for every deck idea you might have, which is perfectly fine, really.
Comparing edhrec to Other Deck Sites
When you are looking for deck ideas, you might use different websites. One common site is TappedOut.net, where people put their deck lists. On TappedOut, if you want to see what cards are being used, you typically have to go through individual decks one by one. This can take a lot of time and effort, especially if you are trying to get a broad sense of what is popular or what works. It is a very hands-on way to look at decks, basically.
Edhrec, on the other hand, does a lot of that heavy lifting for you. It has already gone through a huge number of decks, over 20 thousand times, to collect all that information. The way its information base is put together relies heavily on this automated collection from many sources. This means you do not have to scour through individual decks yourself; edhrec has already done that work and presents you with the common patterns. It is a big time-saver, you know, for getting a quick overview.
While edhrec aggregates information from many other websites, it is important to remember that it is a tool for ideas, not a rulebook. It pulls data from multiple other websites to build its suggestions. So, if you are looking for a quick way to see what cards are often played with your commander, edhrec is very useful. But if you want to dig into the specifics of a single deck or find something truly off-the-wall, you might still want to look at individual deck lists on sites like TappedOut. They each have their own strengths, in a way.
Edhrec stands as a helpful companion for anyone putting together a Commander deck. It gathers information from many different places, giving you a general sense of popular card choices and common strategies. Whether you are looking for ideas for a new deck, trying to find unique cards, or just curious about what others are playing, it offers a good starting point. While it provides suggestions and insights, remember that your own creative choices and preferences are what truly shape your deck. It is a tool that helps you get a feel for what is out there, making the deck-building process a bit easier and more informed.
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