I actually have the exact opposite problem. I focus too much on theme and having fun that I struggle to win games. Only a handful of my decks can play at a highly tuned table.

What you are talking about is understanding cards value is a scale from their minimum to maximum strength and that most of the time it is the minimum that matter since it's what gets you going and when at maximum you already are winning.

This reminds me of a story from my old LGS. I once played against a guy with a Karlov lifegain deck. He was really fun to play with and against but he got tilted once or twice when it felt like his deck "didn't do anything" -- ie. he played his commander early, played some payoff effects, got boardwiped, and couldn't rebuild in time. He expressed a desire to take it apart and build something different. I asked to see his deck and it turned out he only played 15 CARDS that directly gained life on some non-combat/conditional trigger and less than half that many conditional lifegain effects like lifelinkers. That's only about 20 cards in the entire deck that did the thing his commander and all those payoff cards wanted him to do! But he was playing Damnation and Wrath of God and Swords to Plowshares... no Fumigate, no March of Wretched Sorrow, no Pristine Talisman. I think we're often so excited to build a deck that can do big splashy things that we forget that in order to do those things, we need cards to enable those big payoffs. A + B = C, but if your deck is mostly A or B you can't make C.

Synergy is ok. Some generic Power matters as well. If you play this game just focusing on synergies and ignoring power, you will lose games because of it eventually. It has to happen at some point in your play career by virtue of playing mtg. Now, you can say you don't care et, and that is ok, but you're uncaring attitude isn't going to make others feel bad or play the way you want. I'm mostly a casual edh player, and I don't play cards like cyclonic rift, demonic tutor etc but I know some folks do, and nothing I say will change it for the most part. I can opt out playing with those players or adjust.

100% agree. Damning Verdict is a great card. Also, Mass Calcify, if you're playing mono white, because it destroys all non-white creates. I play Damning Verdict and Mass Calcify in my mono white Giada deck. Btw, it sounds like your video cuts off at the end.

I agree. Optimised cards will likely be able to contribute to the game, but more synergistic cards will contribute to winning,

Most companion decks: What curve? I must admit that I really value synergy, but mostly because I think staples are boring, generally, if your cards are more mana efficient, you can pack in more carddraw, and thus, instead of playing less efficient cards, to say, gain life and counter a spell, you can play a soul sister and a counterspell to gain silly amount of life, and counter a spell with minimal mana held up. Absorb is very flavorful though, Although it is not even going to trigger Will, Scion of Peace most of the time, and oloro tends to hang out in the command zone, providing the lifegain triggers for free. I think that if you have a strategy like lifegain, it is important to both have payoff and gas, to use an example I am more familair with, A Lurrus/ Bjorna / Wernog artifact token deck. The most important part is to assemble some way to make artifacts, some way to sac them and a way to get value out of the process, preferably by drawing cards since I burn through them at a high rate. Most pieces need to synergize with its. For example, a synergistic piece of removal is Invasion of New Cepenna, allowing me to sac something for good removal, and turning whatever flavor of token into a win condition eventually. However, cards like Swords to plowshares are still in there, since its efficient rate means that I can afford to use clues to draw cards at a worse rate, draw into efficient cards, and continue playing the game

Yeah, you have some great points. I almost never run rampant growth. I don't focus on having as much 2 mana ramp as possible. I want ramp that synergizes as much as possible. Great take. On a side note, I haven't played Ajani's Pridemate though in like 10 years. He was a life gain beater and nice in 60 card casual, but he rarely does anything in commander anymore. If you can make him unblockable reliably, then he's still going to help a lot. But there's so many better payoffs that he hasn't been in a deck of mine for ages. Either way, I think you should easily be able to get away with cards like this in your deck, especially if there's synergy. I think he's a low stakes beater that you could easily send at combo and control players over and over again forcing their hand on removal eventually. Not the best option, but good enough for the job that they can only chump so long.

As a casual player that teaches new players at my lgs... 100% this. Overoptimization even in casual is nuts. I always tell folks that i play casual for synergy or theme...

I loved your phrase, "your curve does not matter if you are curving into losing."

(working on a kykar deck atm) unfortunately no, but purely cuz i want to not have to track anything like prowess, +1/+1 counters etc. The way i'm building kykar, btw, is with anthem effects and pure combat damage. So buffs like intangible virtue and gravitational shift, burn like impact tremors and raid bombardment, then other miscellaneous effects like mass hysteria and authority of the consuls. Then the instants and sorceries of course. But no other token makers, nothing that i have to track individually on each spirit (like EOT effects), just the anthems, and swinging/burning

Just built one with this card in it already. Good choice.

Dionus, elvish archdruid !!!!!! Herald is Garbage 🗑️

Bruenor Battlehammer is hands down the best Dwarf Commander.. Super fast and effective commander damage.

Did you ever change your mind? They turned out to be competitive enough for 25$

Might be a good commander... Prob is most of my pod uses exile and exile hostage enchantments... Lol a bit hard

“Not a very good card” $10 on on TCG someone thinks it’s good

This was one of the first upgrades i made to the precon

Surprised you didnt add Delney, Streetwise lookout. Doubles up all those wonderful defender triggers, and makes them harder to block

i also love threats around every corner and zimone unraveler of mysteries. so stronk

sorry it's not 5 color

I don't have a lita card 😢😢😭

This was a good, succinct video. Right to the point with no meandering. Socrates looks really fun to add. If he's not too pricey I might look into that. Hullclade and Crystal Barrier were pretty big shoe-ins for this. But I'd not seen the shapeshifter and the starfish. Those are pretty neat too.

Love Pride in Arcades. My build is a slow burn, but it snowballs hard once I get Tetsuko out. So much fun being the dark horse.

Nice card I gonna put them immer wall deck for sure. Thank you.

Going to add this to arabella

I placed it in my isshin deck so fun

Magus would be good choice if he didnt cost red mana. Plus 1/1 kinda sucks like you can cunter him for 1 or 2 mana

That one guy who 8 sleeved a deck would have fun

Phyrexian gift-taker Heartfelt hidetsugu The one thing (I want for christmas)/there is just one thing I need Solstice ring Torment of hail Yula-log the infinite buyer/ ceaseless chugger/ the drinker

I like how it lets you name "up to X" sequels, in case you have more mana than creativity

How do you even get happy holidays cards?

This card implies it's illegal to refill your mug with a festive drink unless this card is played

I’m disappointed that the comments aren’t just about the “and nothing else.”

God I fucking hate Loot

Very cute

Someone brings this to tournament

When magic isn't about the game but more for competition and a money grab scam teaching kids on how to gamble for the special card. Kids get pissed that they don't have the cards the then throw a fit. Just saying here cus I love magic,the old magic when it wasn't all about the money or the competition but to have fun with friends and wasn't about the money. Now days every card that was saved for our children so that we could use the cards to pay for our children to go to collage. Fuck that card.

My emmara deck kicks arse! A few upgrades to the precon can make it mental.

never knew this card existed, i’m glad i do and im so disappointed it is not in my collection

I appreciate the info. It’s interesting, but it is very niche an will hurt your stats. If you say, “ fuck that, I’m doing this because I like it.” Kudos and enjoy this sub. Doing it either way, mind you.

Sometimes the sets have to just be all around weak, if everything is power crept then we won’t have a game in 10 years

How many cards have music notes 🎶 0_0?

Idk what you mean I updated Gisa & Geralf and it's very consistently strong

I feel like this one could work with some of the new cards that care about keywords

Could be kind of good if you find a way to give it deathtouch

Fuuuck, I’m tone deaf and wouldn’t be able to hit a single note; I could get the rhythm though

Well apparently I can still somewhat still read sheet music even though it's been like 20 years since having done so. As soon as I saw the flavor text I thought about it for a second and was like "oh it's jingle bells lol".

It worked at my game shop, I used bean-boozled.

Funny how this breaks literally no rules, like you could just put this in a commander deck and nobody would care lol feels weird after seeing the modern ones