Like many others I use EDHREC for card ideas when building decks. This got me thinking - does it essentially reinforce itself?
Often times I pick many of recommended cards that others have chosen with a given commander - which in turn reinforces those cards as synergistic cards for that particular commander. Note: I build using moxfield (which I believe is used as a data source for EDHREC). More recently I've been using scryfall as an additional resource for deckbuliding, and I was really surprised how many cards that work well with a particular commander / archetype are not listed on EDHREC.
Don't get me wrong, I still think EDHREC is a wonderful tool, but now I wonder if it's essentially narrowing down the cards that people consider when building EDH decks due to it's reinforcement loops.
Thoughts?
Edhrec isn't doing anything that wasn't already available on the internet. You could easily replace EDHRec with another website and the question is the same. As power level grows, diversity decreases. I think it has to do with commander being more casual of a format. With no real power levels defined people are more likely to bring stream lined decks to an unknown pod then home brew jank. If you want more card diversity you need lower power levels or some other kind of restrictions.