Lately I feel like they are printing oppressive commanders one after another.

I just started playing with a new group and most of them are new players. So I try to tone down the power level whenever possible. Play with stupid themes.

But when it comes to muldrotha, the gravetide or the twin walkers from BBD, it's like they are just broken on their own no matter how you build their decks.

And as if they didn't learn from derevi, we have another commander incoming that can evade tax...

The issue of sussing out power creep in a game like magic is a bit difficult because you actually have to differentiate between whether a card is doing something too powerfully or if it's just doing something new that the players haven't adapted to yet.

There will always be powerful commanders and strategies in EDH, that's part of the appeal. Narset, Enlightened Master is still nuts. I've seen Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain at the helm of some silly powerful decks too. I don't think new or old necessarily has much to do with how oppressive the commander is.

As for balancing your decks against your playgroup you can always tune a deck down to match their play level. Is Muldrotha being too powerful? Try swapping the ramp out (even just for cards that put lands into your hand rather than straight onto the battlefield) and see how many times it takes your opponents to kill the Gravetide before you can't cast it anymore. Will and Rowan causing headaches for your new players? Swap out some defensive spells and creatures for ones that force you to attack so that you leave your planeswalkers open to crackbacks more often.

Regarding Derevi, the problem I see there is that STAX is no fun to play against (and that's what she enabled). The ninja commander plays from a completely different angle and I would be very surprised if she draws anywhere near the ire that the bird wizard does.

Great insight : ) thanks.

Is Muldrotha really that broken ?
How much better she is than Arcanis the Omnipotent or Edric, Spymaster of Trest or Damia, Sage of Stone or other commanders focused on raw card advantage ?
She DOES lead the best EDH color combination, so there is that.

As for your playgroup, gift them a few good EDH cards, or advice them them to print some good proxies and play with them.
Yuriko doesn't seem as powerful as she is hyped to be. Strong, sure, but not busted, unless you play her with a ton of busted cards, but then every commander is busted if you play enough busted cards.

Not gonna lie, Muldrotha is pretty freaking scary when built properly.
The Gravetide offers a ridiculous amount of resiliency and lets you bring back card types that were formerly only niche recursions (or that never really had repeated recursion on a commander in the first place: hi planeswalkers).

More than even a lot of other graveyard commanders Muldrotha gives you access to using your graveyard as your hand since the only things you can't cast out of it are instants and sorceries. Having access to your best bomb or whatever utility spell you want over and over again every turn is pretty tough to keep up with. Especially considering that you can keep bringing back land, non-creature artifact and enchantment threats, which most people tend to only run a limited number of answers for in a given deck compared to creature removal.

I repeat my second question: how much better it is than other commanders focused on raw card advantage ? There is little difference between "choosing what cards to play from a big, constantly full graveyard" and "choosing what cards to play from a big, constantly full hand."
Muldrotha can make you play same good cards every turn. Damia can make you play different good cards every turn.

with enough mill, a very big difference.

Muldrotha is arguably closer to yawgmoth's will than to a regular card advantage engine. Yawgwill is obviously better for card advantage as well but the "busted" element is that with proper setup it essentially lets you tutor multiple cards from your deck. (which wins you the game).

Muldrotha is more expensive and more restricted in what she can grab but being able to consistently choose which cards from your deck you want to play is a lot better than just regular card advantage.

It's the solution, then !
Just playing less self-mill.

Recursion vs card draw is not comparable. highlight where you sorta unintendedly answered your own question

Card draw = card advantage and card advantage is achievable through so many other means. The whole game revolves around card advantage.

Recursion = card advantage + guaranteed gas + comboing potentials.

Just a single Pernicious Deed in your graveyard will desperately need your opponent to have exile answers or face wipe every turn.

imagine standstill, contamination, ritual of subdual, decree of silence keeps coming back. no amount of card draw can achieve that.

btw damia is like sh!t tier. more expensive. worse body. built-in draw back. The better comparison would be the ghost chieftain he's a tough commander to fight against once he gets going. Muldrotha is him x 5 x versatility

Maybe the answer to this is a variant of playing commander.

I call it "Magnificent Seven EDH"

Same rules as commander but you can have no more than seven legendary cards in your deck (including your general).