Commander Clash S4 Episode 25: Competitive Commander

[@LaboratoryManiacs]

Thanks for once again taking a well thought out nod into competitive commander. If you ever want to get some games in, let us know!

[@hyperam4594]

Laboratory Maniacs I miss your games, I hope you return

[@tomerabramovici32]

Let me play Doomsday a couple dozen more times and I'll be down :)

[@LaboratoryManiacs]

We are coming back. We are recording a game in about 12 hours... :)

[@LaboratoryManiacs]

Tomer Abramovici - No better way than to jam games! if you have a webcam hit us up on PlayEDH and we can get games in. Or hit us up on Twitter and we can figure it out.

[@motercyclekid]

shout outs to siggy!!

[@LaboratoryManiacs]

For the Flash Hulk Pile at 1:38:30. You want to get Cephalid Illusionist, Hapless Researcher, Nomads En-Kor, and Grand Abolisher. You can then mill yourself out and have Grand Abolisher protecting you. You had Narcomoeba in hand so you go for the unearth on Fatestitcher and then sacrifice the Fatestitcher, Nomads and Illusionist for Dread Return on Lab Maniac, after it resolves, sac the Hapless as your card draw. Best of luck next time around!

[@PotatoGuidanceMissle]

Laboratory Maniacs My friend runs a sultan Flash Hulk deck with Tasigur at the helm, but he’s still figuring out what’s good and what’s bad in it. I’m trying to tell him that Damia would be better, even if Tasigur does provide advantage early on, because Damia allows free advantage rather than just trying to pour your deck into your graveyard just to be blown out by 1 tormod’s crypt. Also, working on a Muldrotha brew before the set drops, shes looking crazy!

[@auronit927]

Derp The thing is that you'll likely never cast Damia, while Tasigur is usually only 1-2 mana. You also use Tasigur to win once you have infinite mana. Further he can also reuse your spells, which makes playing combo/control easier

[@PotatoGuidanceMissle]

Fabian Fässler the only problem I have is his deck isn’t optimized for Tasigur as the commander. Damia seems like a better fit for him until he starts putting in some ways to dump a bunch into the graveyard as well as ways to filter his graveyard of the bad stuff.

[@Christofascist_Hup]

Derp how can a commander that you'll never cast be a better fit than one you can?

[@LaboratoryManiacs]

If you are running Sultai Flash, Tasigur will do infinitely better than Damia. In a cEDH meta, Damia does nothing. Tasigur can be useful. You may also consider looking at Muldrotha.

[@jasonl1184]

Richard reading the meta I thought was actually insanely cool. It was an intelligent call and paid off (mental misstep punt helped).

[@tw0handt0uch]

He played well too. It’s an easier deck that the other three but he tutored both games for protection and the seething song into shattering spree was a good call vs holding the song to rudh Ruric out.

[@GreenSquiggly]

Heyo this is my Kess deck! Thanks for showing it some love Tomer! You all should come by the competitive EDH discord some time and check out more of the sweet decks there are in the format and learn more about the intricacies of these decks!

[@alwayssleepy4358]

Oh my gosh is this WEDGE?!?

[@tw0handt0uch]

Hey yo that’s my Ruric list! Thanks for presenting comp gameplay and showing some of the compelling interactions and strategies that make the format so great. We in the cedh community have been working our butts off to squash the notion that comp players are just spikey pubstompers intent on ruining casual fun day. We actively denounce such behavior and try to emphasize the social nature of the format: if the power and nature of the decks are fully transparent and relatively comparable the high powered edh can be a fascinating, unsolvable challenge that offers a ton of fun and interaction. Communication is the key and the RC has been wise enough not to ban away all the powerful enablers and offer us this space to brew and play with other comp players. Cheers, you made a new Goldfish fan of me. Anyone wanting more info on comp edh is encouraged to find us on reddit or discord.

[@ZielonyJablo]

Great deck, where can i find more spellslinger-punishing lists? :D

[@poipoi9816]

Every commander clash: "We have to keep in mind that Richard always wins, we have to keep him under control." An hour later: "God, why did we forget that Richard always wins?" (i love all y'all)

[@tomjackal5708]

Another hour later: God, how did we forget that Richard always wins right after Richard won?

[@dave7592]

I think you guys did a good job on showing that competitive EDH isn't just combo decks sitting there playing solitaire but a bunch of combo decks with a bunch of interaction. I love casual EDH but I'm also a huge cEDH fan. I hope you guys continue to do vids like this too. Maybe a Labmans vs Commander Clash?

[@Christofascist_Hup]

How about 2 crossovers: seth and richard play on lab maniacs' channel and siggy and cameron play on commander clash?

[@ghostofkrows]

'' You know your deck is powerful if it ends up killing you half the time you play it.'' -A conversation I had with a player about his suicide black deck in '07. Hey Tomer you know you are running a powerful deck if it ends up killing you half the time.

[@carter9449]

Tomer's deck could be all tutors lands and greed and he'd still end up killing himself

[@ILLKAZE]

He doesnt die half the times... he dies all the times...

[@Gyousel]

I really like cEDH decks i wouldn't mind seeing this every once in a while. Lab Maniacs and the Discord will always have lists for you guys to try out.

[@mattjones7589]

KSIphatmatt45 what is the discord?

[@Gyousel]

its on the r/cedh sub reddit in the right side of the screen

[@PotatoGuidanceMissle]

With Protean Hulk, you grab Grand Abolisher, Hapless Researcher, Cephalid Illusionist, and Nomads en-Kor, mill yourself infinitely, get the Narcomoeba on the field, flash back Dread Return saccing Nomads, Illusionist and Narcomoeba to bring back Lab Man, sac the Researcher and win. It’s not that hard! *sarcasm*

[@tmanc1998]

Not countering the flash should have been game. Getting the abolisher makes both the counters useless

[@tmanc1998]

Abolisher stops all interaction on your turn so targeted removal does 0

[@PotatoGuidanceMissle]

taylor cockey realized now what you meant, sorry for the misunderstanding!

[@Adrianovaz2007]

Wait he had Abolisher on his list?????

[@Zookind789]

I'm 90 percent sure ruric thar only won because everyone else didn't know how their decks worked xD

[@PalPlays]

Zookind789 It was a good pick for a meta full of people unfamiliar with the format.

[@naomisalama430]

Ruric is deece in a meta dominated by spell based combo. It also helps if some of your opponents is a "midrange combo" deck that attempts to slow down the early combo decks by control and then combo out with more resiliency later. That's the chain veil teferi build here. Storm is also more towards midrange, grixis variant atleast. So you have two controlling decks and a stax against a fast combo deck.

[@Jackaroo.]

They also all had counterspells in hand in the first game and all let Carpet of Flowers resolve. XD They didn't know how any of the other decks worked either.

[@bobbyjbarron]

personally the best episode of commander clash, no fighting, just a bunch of friends wanting to see some cool stuff happen.

[@hikkisuki]

Richard wins again! I loved this episode so much! Tomer with the greed. Drawing cards best way to go out~

[@WillHouldy]

I joined a rather spikey combo heavy commander group a few years ago, i pretty much did what Richard did this week after weeks of losing turn3/4, I brought the most hate filled Gaddock Teeg list I could make. It was pretty much the best few minutes of commander I've ever played. The next week there were no combo decks :D

[@MultiTaz333]

So the lesson to be learned is to counter carpet of flowers

[@ZielonyJablo]

Thank you for that deck, Richard. Beating blue players with Gruul is always fun

[@ankhi3585]

Easy Doomsday piloted by Tomer oh boy we're in for a ride.

[@midn8588]

It's great to watch you guys all flounder around with these decks

[@ehallam08]

You can't hold yourself responsible for mistakes you make with decks that you don't really play. Just do your best.

[@Useraccount85]

You're my hero Richard!

[@faceoctopus4571]

Why?

[@Useraccount85]

For playing Ruric Thar. I love decks that make everyone play "fair" magic.

[@PiroMunkie]

Green actually does have a counterspell, even more specifically and relevant to the Ruric Thar deck, GRUUL has a counter spell. Guttural Response. Counter target instant blue spell. And to some extent you also have Vexing Shusher as a Gruul counterspell on a stick (but only counters other counterspells).

[@ankhi3585]

And Avoid Fate if you want to be cheeky.

[@SaffronSays15]

Pyroblast+Red Elemental Blast, auto-includes in every Red deck in cEDH

[@BrunoCasagrandaNeves]

Elias Mycroft came to confirm this.

[@PiroMunkie]

I was not aware of this one. Good catch!

[@PiroMunkie]

Pyroblast and REB are good additions! Though Richard was initially looking for green counterspells early in the video, so that's the question I was looking to answer. I was glad to see Vexing Shusher become relevant in the second game. :P

[@TheAranan]

I love seeing cEDH decks in action. Thanks for making this content!

[@luckylooch9696]

My favorite part about Competitive Commander is pumping out 15-20 games in a 1 hours sitting.

[@GrayDeath66666]

Rurik Thar Kicks combo to the curb twice in a row. Simply beautiful.

[@jayfeather4964]

Tom why did you not counter carpet of flowers?

[@merrowmania1366]

So happy to see cEDH getting some mainstream airtime!

[@alwayssleepy4358]

Thanks for the shout outs haha. Doomsday is super fun! We all kill ourselves with it!

[@My987654321098765432]

AlwaysSleepy id say most of us have done it more than we can count right?

[@alwayssleepy4358]

Yeah haha, we even wrote about the most glorious deaths we had at the end of the primer lol

[@My987654321098765432]

Oh wow. I haven't opened the primer recently so I'll have to go check it out. cEDH screw ups are hilarious at times. Like Windfall into Chains out of Dan

[@itsTronBonne]

This was the best. The misstep at 22:08 made me genuinely laugh out loud!

[@Mamba604]

Tom screwed up big time. Get Savannah or Scrubland with the Windswept Health. DT for Flash, Eladamri's Call for Hulk. GG.

[@ClubbingSealCub]

Mamba604 yeah I couldn't believe he would play thrasios t2 having 2 tutors in hand

[@B1gLupu]

Mamba604 Thats going to be turn 3 tho, with everyone knowing you have FlashHulk since you just tutored both pieces and passed. Its a better line that was played, but personally I'd would have gone for the double dork play on T1, Tymna on T2 line since you arent as dictated by your draws. It would have been bit bad under Tabernacle in the future, but with the known info its the best line.

[@ClubbingSealCub]

He even drew into the flash after...

[@B1gLupu]

That's irrelevant for the context for deciding your T1 play. You have to work with the know info.

[@ClubbingSealCub]

B1gLupu of course it is, it just added salt to the wound

[@avengedbulletromance]

i'm so happy to see ruric thar here. he's the big middle finger to every annoying blue deck/combo deck, as shown in this glorious video.

[@Ash.King.Y]

Commander Clash is my favorite weakly show! Thanks guys (and girl).

[@DarthTUK]

Its 5am right after LRR's preprerelease. No I don't need sleep...

[@MtgVGandBGFan]

When I saw Carpet of Flowers on turn one, I thought for sure it was going to be countered by Mental Misstep. Whoops guys... GG. Yay Ruric Thar, love that guy!

[@wowtimeup]

I can imagine each time Ruric Thar triggers, Ruric punches the player in the face.

[@bobbyjbarron]

Degenerate now means Carpet of flowers and ruric

[@B1gLupu]

Around 15min, the best line would have been to pitch Eladamri's Call, fetch Bayou and double dork so you can start Tymna drawing from T2 on. With that hand your not casting that Eladamri's Call. The right play would have been bit sad under Tabernacle, but hey, thats life.

[@Yourbeautiful666]

One of the best parts of cEDH is when the question on turn 2 may be asked, “Are you winning?”

[@blitheringape5321]

yes I'm so glad to finally see a new competitive commander. I wish I could see JimWolfie's Melt-Banana deck in action cause it's my fave but this is still rad

[@jackhemsworth7515]

Ruric thar.. excellent meta call vs 3 spellslingers. Stylish win Richard

[@treyconover4107]

Richard in these games is my hero.

[@dmany13]

Ok I see rueic thar. I click,suoer fast. I don't even care how the match goes. On cheering my,buddy

[@Jeremy.Johnson]

you all need to do MORE of these

[@Adremulis]

Tom, I loved the snap swan song on the mystic tutor

[@kylekovacs7126]

@1:32:00 Tom drawing Toxic Deluge right after countering Tomer's. I laughed so hard

[@asdfBanditfdsa]

Richard with the insane meta call!!

[@DakovaL]

1:25:44 - Tomer sounds like a little kid that's just admitted he's done something wrong

[@jasonkorf7700]

I definitely would like to see a rematch of all 4 decks after Tom, Tomer, and Jen have more experience with their decks and I would also like to see you do it again in the future. Richard made the smart meta call.

[@NICOTHATKID]

I like the competitive aspect of this. But usually the game would be over by turn 3-4

[@Christofascist_Hup]

Around 1:28:00 is why i like cEDH. Players pushing and coaching each other to make the most optimal plays for the best game possible.

[@Isaac-pg2hm]

Tom had the win at 1:13:17 noxious revival on mana crypt, cast it for turn, diabolic intent on the birds after tapping it for blue to fetch flash, then flash hulk with counterspell backup

[@davidskiold2679]

Man these are so much fun to watch

[@joshuac9981]

Love the video would love to see more competitive games

[@erikallen4923]

Richard should've named warrior for Zealous Conscripts. Helps protect the kiki-combo if it happens to get assembled.

[@faceoctopus4571]

Apparently he valued ramp ogre more.

[@lucascoutinho8167]

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong but I think Jennifer had a chance at winning the first game. If she chain of vapor the Ruric Thar and played a island she could then merchant scroll for high tide. Play the high tide and generate 4 blue. Then she could play the crypt add mana and cast her commander leaving 1 blue. -1 the commander untapping four islands and going to 9 blue. Stroke of genius for x=4 leaving 2 blue. If she draws either gilded drake or ciclonic ryft she stabilizes on board with 19 live and Teferi.

[@bigwig8657]

This is among my favorite episodes, 3 blue combo decks being all elitist and smarmy and richard comes plants some flowers and invites his blue collar ogre buddy taught the blue mages to be inclusive 6 damage at a time, expectations subverted.

[@alexanderstojanow3773]

Seeing that the video is 2 hours long. wondering if they played 5 games or stalled in one, where they just didn't know what to do... Excited either way =D

[@nuuskye]

I would love to have a competitive week 1-2x a season. It's my favorite format!

[@gariksenya]

Tom wanted Grand Abolisher and Hapless researcher in that Flash Hulk pile at the end. Then do the flashback dance to get Lab Maniac from the GY with no threat of counters. Of course, the flash should have been Mana Drained by Jen, letting her go off the next turn with pact in hand, but once it resolved Tom could have won.

[@carter9449]

Tom you know about the mana drain in Jen's hand from probe!

[@emilysmith3594]

Yeah... I think if you don’t play Modern all the time (where Probe is SO MISSED by some decks), it just reads “pay 2 life to draw a different card.” But what it really says is “check to see if the coast is clear. Play the rest of your turn based on that information, but with all your mana. Draw a card.”

[@coopergraveline4533]

I don't remember, did you guys do a Penny Dreadful game this season? I don't play the format cause I don't play on MTGO, but I loved it the first time that you played. I love to see the creative deck building it forces!

[@judm1758]

Commander Clash meets Lab Maniacs. Awesome.

[@ye11owf1ashed5]

Tom on the first game you had turn three win in hand with protection. Fetch for scrubland, Mox pitching mana dork, D tutor for flash pass. Next turn pass(hitting land drop if able and if you can play your second mana dork) in the end step before your turn cast eladamri's call finding Hulj. On your turn flash in hulk with mana to cast swan song. Find Mill combo plus any one drop and a grand abolisher, sack 3 for dread return targeting the angel that reanimates all humans and exiles all angels. The two important humans that come out are laboratory maniac and the human wizard that says "sacrifice himself draw a card" and since you don't have to tap him you win on the spot turn three with swan song back up. I forgive you for missing this though because I play the exact flag hulk card list and it really is a pile of cards.

[@ye11owf1ashed5]

Actually fetch for bayou

[@05basTi]

Guess Tom messed up a little. Ur supposed to get the Lab Maniac with Dread Return. Hulk targets should be: Abolisher, Nomads, Illusionist and Hapless Researcher or another random 1 drop to sac.

[@Adrianovaz2007]

"Oh boy can't wait to watch some competitive Commander" *several Ruric Thar triggers later* Did I just wonder into a normal Clash episode?

[@jackpabich763]

I would have loved to see Guttural Response (Gruel counter target blue instant) in the Ruric Thar deck. Disappointed none of you guys knew about the card, though...

[@THEMithrandir09]

T1 for hulk list should have probably been(aside from counter carpet): fetch for tundra, chrome mox imprint some elves, play eladamris call and search for hermit druid.

[@joshua_lee732]

Richard with the metacall!

[@laffytaffy0123]

At 1:21:28 Tom could've won assuming Jen did not have a counter. Tap birds for any color, overgrown tomb for black, Diabolic Intent to Tutor flash (all of this with Pact of Negation backup for Tomer's Mana drain), play the land, flash in Hulk and win. Although, if something gets interrupted at this point after pact, you lose. But hey, competitive commander, all or nothing right?

[@Pokesaurs]

Tom literally had a turn 3 kill and punted it

[@TeamMunky]

Around 38:00 he could have cast mox diamond, countered it with swan song, and had 3 creatures for dread return

[@cassie7611]

Krunky Munky if I remember correctly, swan song only counters instants, sorceries, and enchantments, not artifacts

[@TeamMunky]

Nerdy Plays Oh I missed that, my mistake

[@phatbastard0alkaline]

Yeah, for the pile Tom was going for he should've casted it in Tomer's second mainphase so the hulk would've died in Tomers endstep. Then that pile would've worked. But i dunno how the rest of the player would've argued and if Jen would've countered it but still.

[@manofmartin]

THIS WILL BE EPIC!!!

[@getchucked7401]

Lesson learned, right guys? Mental misstep carpet of flowers turn one if there is a mono blue player on board :P

[@jjaye805]

Thumbs up for "put 'em in the moon!"

[@isaaccrisp4496]

good jod richard! show them the gruul smash!

[@karfsma778]

No one's on Zur? Weird.

[@Feyamius]

that's Zur's Weirding irl

[@B1gLupu]

TymnaThrasios is the literal, actual boogieman of the format now. Also, getting Necro cards 2 turns after casting Zur is a tad slow. It's still fine tho, but its not the same at it used to be.

[@colgatelampinen2501]

Tymna and Thrasios are even slower at getting cards than Zur.

[@B1gLupu]

Thrasios is there for the combo, and is not really needed for the card draw. Tymna starts drawing steadily from Turn 2 onwards which is much better than Zur's 4 mana to cast and then 2 turns of waiting. Also, having Green is huge since you get access to dorks and other good cards.

[@Christofascist_Hup]

B1gLupu if you're casting tymna, things arent going according to plan. Shes back-up

[@Molly-ml1wn]

I've never rooted for a player harder than I have today. Stick it to competitive Richard!

[@ashra8281]

I PREDICT ALL THE PUNTS

[@B1gLupu]

Ashra __ Turn 1 Thrasios was pretty cringy. The commander literally a 2 mana 1/3 in the earlygame since activating it wont be reasonable early. T1 Thrasios is only ever ok if 1. You have no dorks and need a T2 beater for Tymna. Basically if your hand is nothing else than T1 Thras, T2 Tymna, its fine. 2. You have a nuts hand and are doing a Grim Monolith+Power Artifact(this deck doesnt run that tho) on Turn 2 and cant spare the colors. 3. You need a creature to sac to fuel T2 Ad Nauseam through Culling the weak. Usually, its bad. This time it was bad.

[@momchilbarbolov9485]

"Doomsday is so hard!" Literally just need 1 cantrip, doomsday and the mana for them (and 2 islands in play for Gush). Still tho Doomsday is very weak when you crack LED the 1st time. Demonic Consultation and Tainted pact are a thing as well

[@samarbrander981]

tomer that was so savage and beautiful i cant even

[@Mercenary0712]

Game 1: All hail Taxing Overlords

[@montanaebert6870]

Duel Deck Preordain is the prettiest.

[@EvanPlaysPc]

Tom didn't play that badly, but I did have heart palpitations when he didn't tutor for protean hulk and then he top decks flash

[@OlAgony]

Try using cedh decks that better suit to your individual styles next time, many of the combos deck are not very straightforward and are tedious if you are not used to playing them. Still, i like seeing the crew playing cedh decks, really fun to watch

[@stevenvasquez3821]

Well tom had it t3 with tutors for hulk and flash. Just needed to fetch for scrubland

[@MrBaker-qr6yi]

Tomer, what were your go-to Doomsday Piles?

[@Visteus]

1:38:00 wrong hulk pile there, I'm pretty sure :)

[@naomisalama430]

Almost sure Tom was looking for a mystic remora but thought of Rhystic study. Pretty sure study is too slow for breakfast hulk.

[@gamerokami]

Summery of games: Ruric Thar hits board, All other players lose.....

[@THEMithrandir09]

And on T6 in the second game you had the mana for flash and hulk in hand. you could have played it in your turn. Getting Cephalid Breakfast, Grand abolisher and Hapeless resarcher. Then use dread return sacing narcomeoba and cephalid breakfast to get lab maniac and then sac hapeless researcher to draw the last card for the win.

[@camdenfreilinger9695]

Would a Maralen of the Mornsong/Ob Nixilis, Unshackled synergy be a good Doomsday deck? It sounds fun, but getting Ob down quick might be a concern

[@aggressivli]

i will always prefer tomers perspective

[@rapples101]

Why did it show Tomer's Necropotence discard exile triggers as Jennifer's triggers? That probably isn't correct lol

[@johnlancaster2841]

So competitive! I love it! #bringbacksolring

[@drakeconsumerofsoulsandche5761]

John Lancaster no. Sol ring is softbanned in most commander groups I know.

[@johnlancaster2841]

Louise Drake Sounds like a lot of not fun.

[@drakeconsumerofsoulsandche5761]

John Lancaster well turn 1 wurmcoil wasn't fun so they banned it. Aincient tomb- Sol ring- mana crypt- mana vault- wurmcoil.

[@johnlancaster2841]

Louise Drake Someone managed to get four exact one of cards out of 8 draws in a 99 card deck. Seems like it was an awesome turn one that will almost never happen again, doesn't seem to need a soft ban on anything.

[@matthewcarroll2533]

Yeah I have to agree with you there; disallowing cards in a playgroup because of limited bad experiences with them is not the way to move forward and learn. Instead of doing stuff like that, try mixing up the decks that get brought to the table or making changes within the regular decks to interact with stuff like that. Turn 1 Wurmcoil sounds super tame when I'm sitting on a Plains + Swords/Path in my hand, after all.

[@MrYandman22]

Took me way too long to realize we were seeing Tom play, not Tomer :/

[@ExKiwi-yw8er]

I love tomer's deck choice so much. Doomsday is totally easy right?

[@macannathairghrian5257]

More of this please

[@thetruth4654]

Inferno Titan is insane it`s the best Titan, Okey it`s clear savage Tomer is the best kind of Tomer

[@asmodean7239]

The coolest thing is that this Rurick deck is not even close to that effective in casual EDH. I really don’t like overpowered EDH so I really want to build this deck just to punish those pub smashers.

[@akselhansen304]

More of this! 😁

[@gabrielvega1713]

tomer you were playing grixis flux, not the straight doomsday version. the deck can storm off for the win, you don't need to focus only on doomsday. sure it wins, but its not your only way to do it.