Commander VS S13E8: Najeela vs Gahiji vs Thromok vs Bruse Tarl & Thrasios [EDH]

[@Staplerp]

YES! Stephen picked my deck and crushed with it! That Fracturing Gust play was risky since it left him tapped out and dead to Jon if Jon wanted, but it worked out so beautifully creating a chain of elimination letting him 1v1 Jon easily. I was worried with the short runtime that Stephen got run over early, as this deck is sometimes prone to, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Thanks for showcasing my deck Stephen! #teamgreen

[@MaxtonYJ]

Congratulations! Your deck was my favorite. The decks managed to stay live in the order I liked them. :)

[@Staplerp]

Thanks! I think I agree with your order. :>

[@highaerials36]

I have a Chromium flash deck that is very fun to pilot. I now want to have flash decks in multiple colors haha

[@zachzockoll3450]

Is this your exact list, or do you have it modified for personal use? I love this deck will probably build it

[@Staplerp]

@@zachzockoll3450 The decklist linked in the description that I sent to Stephen is very close to my own, I just made it a bit more gimmicky for CMDRVS by cutting every non-instant/flash card (aside from Sunforger since Sunforger is too sweet) to make it a bit more unique and thematic. My personal version runs Skullwinder (regrowth effects are powerful in this deck, and it has politcal uses) Thaumatic Compass (the deck wants every maze effect, and getting basics is useful against Blood Moon...) Sensei's Divining Top (you really want to control what cards appear off Thrasios' scry, and having it in play basically means you have 3 additional cards in your hand that you can cast at any time) Wargate (tutors for utility lands, Sunforger, Thaumatic Compass, Top, and certain flash creatures at sorcery speed) and occasionally Stoneforge Mystic, Swiftfoot Boots, and Neurok Stealthsuit as a package if people start running a lot of spot removal for Thrasios. EDIT: Oh and I also run Cyclonic Rift, which I cut for my submission since I think they housebanned it or something. If you want some suggestions for cuts, Dream Eater is a card I haven't actually tried yet and might be too expensive and situational, Containment Priest has consistently underperformed and is probably permanently making its way out of the deck, and Nexus of Fate is likely unnecessary and win-more. Obviously you can build the deck how you want, these are just a few thoughts for how I think to make the deck better. If you do build it, enjoy! :>

[@RealJohnKimble]

So I got hit by a car 3 weeks ago and am pretty much bed ridden, watching these games have really helped while I wait for surgery. I appreciate all the content. You guys remind me of my commander group , thanks for giving me my Magic fix it helps immensely.

[@tonystark-sl2qj]

Even though im not on team green, i have to admit that was a pretty cool win. Theres something to be said about deflecting everyones threats until you cross the finish line.

[@agent00puffball]

Jeremy just saw Jon swing for 42 and was like "nah, I won't attack the guy who swung for letha and is tapped out." Justin's been picked on a lot this season, but that's how it goes.

[@TabbyLikeAKat]

39:30, I gotta agree with Stephen, -1 point to Justin for not screaming ZACAMA, that should be a rule when playing that card lol

[@JParnell1]

I was sick last week, so I'd like to ask for a reprieve for doing the episode in the first place!

[@TabbyLikeAKat]

@@JParnell1 Alright, alright, one pass. Everyone gets one -Spiderman

[@sparktoad]

My play group doesn't say Zacama, we make a trex roar or play the Jurassic Park theme song. Lol

[@DarthTUK]

@25:50 Evoke is an ETB so torpor orb prevents you from sacrificing the creature.

[@seanography2771]

The sacrifice is part of the "if it was cast for it's evoke cost"

[@Zaalbarjedi]

@@seanography2771 702.73a - "When this permanent comes into play, if its evoke cost was paid, its controller sacrifices it." It is etb that causes you to sac a creature, so torpor orb stops that.

[@megapixzel]

poor Justin, feels like he hasn't played a lot of magic this season. either from mana screw, jank troll decks, or just getting crushed.

[@joe.gallowaymusic]

I love watching these videos but I just tune out after justin dies to not having done anything, because I relate all too well

[@codypeets6405]

47:55 Grab the reins doesn't force you to sacrifice the creature that you gain control of with the first ability. While you can do this, it is not required and would have allowed Jeremy to likely kill Justin and still remove beastmaster's ascension from Jon's board.

[@vengray8055]

but he wouldnt have been able to get rekt by jon if he did that

[@danpk1977]

Another fun episode. Sad to hear that there is only more episode... though I guess it sort of 2 episodes left if you count the special live show at SCGCON.

[@keepitclean138]

Selvala's ability is a mana ability and can not be responded to. Not huge in this game, but it is important to know.

[@patricktimmermans6238]

It lays a trigger on the stack which can be reacted to magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/mechanics-conspiracy-2014-05-19 even though it makes mana it is not really considered a mana ability

[@zzzjonny1989]

gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=382357

[@keepitclean138]

@@patricktimmermans6238 That is not the case for Selvala, only the other Parlay cards. She has a mana ability. gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=382357

[@Gamerdad2008]

Great episode! Thank you for the good content every week.

[@Dafins100]

Poor justin. Picked on so much this season.

[@aarong2606]

At least Jeremy got instant payback for killing the answer to the threat on the table!

[@mattisuber222]

@@aarong2606 Jeremy's threat assessment is so bad, its kinda yikes.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Well least Justin didn't get milled LOL. Jeremy ''Dual Lands'' Noell is like the Tim Toolman Taylor of MTG, you watch him and think to yourself I will never make that play when that THAT is on the board but Jeremy... The real question is who Al?

[@waldemarbarrientos3887]

Theme decks are just great! Like always, nice job, guys!

[@Joebob31100]

Game start at 9:25

[@MagicalHackerMTG]

1:07:31 Add that to the "Out of context" video

[@Lecapitandeoutroespa]

Man Jeremy really, really wanted Jon to win that one huh?

[@SvviftDeath]

16:00 Johnathan realizing he tapped his mana wrong so he fiddles with it for 5 sec to disguise not tapping white for Mirror Entity. Had no effect to the game, just don't try to be sneaky.

[@brandoooon4688]

I wouldn't call that sneaky, it was an honest mistake. I've done it plenty of times and no one has ever made an issue of correcting the taps. Hard to be sneaky when everything you do is on camera lol

[@patrickwolff6902]

Brandon yeah I agree, especially since he had nothing to gain from doing it.

[@brent1507]

He also could have played an extra land on turn three when he searched with kodama's reach.

[@SvviftDeath]

@@brent1507 Nice catch, I didn't notice that. He already had 3 land because of farseek but didn't play his land for the turn on turn 3.

[@c0barsm]

How bad is Jeremy? He kills the guy in last place, and doesn’t make a deal to smash Jon and Steven? Bold move, too bad he got smashed the very next turn. Talk about a bad read.

[@GoblinmasterYT]

If we want to talk about priority casting a fracturing gust, selvala's parlay ability is also a mana ability which cannot be responded to

[@quincybriley4113]

This whole season has been a little hard to watch for Justin. He's been targeted pretty heavily all season.

[@vincethegreat15]

Najeela is strongest deck on board by miles, if you don't expect the target then how weak is your meta? Power decks get targeted early it's the way of the world unfortunately. Had he been the one with Gahiji I doubt he would've been targeted haha.

[@brentyboy1]

i watch at least 3 of your videos everyday just got put on to you guys but Stephen is total favorite his manipulation to when deals get thrown his way are hilarious keep it up guys. Bearded Jeremy hopefully the gods of chaos are on your side now.

[@robintarket6844]

Meanwhile in Wisconsin of last year (or year before last, can't exactly remember), there have been 80°+ days in Feburary and it was amazing.

[@matthugenberg8869]

I actually love Greens deck. In fact, I built it when the partner commanders first came out. Our decks are hyper similar, you just have a few cards that are probably better than what I have, and I'm probably going to change out those cards for the ones you played. Like angel of dire hour is sweet.

[@GunbladeKnight]

A theme I would like to see played: Forever Alone. Everyone plays a commander with the partner ability. The catch? You only use one commander.

[@aarong2606]

Why even have a point system if it doesn't dictate who will be focused? Like maybe the first couple of attacks it does but Jeremy should die first 100% with his lead...not a big deal I guess just the point system doesn't seem to dictate or change the game.

[@like17badgers]

simple. they play for fun. there's no award or anything, just mild bragging rights every 10 episodes, so nobody really goes out of their way to bully the points leader too often.

[@aarong2606]

I get that but my question would be why have a point system at all lol. If it doesn't add a variant to the game why spend 2 minutes every episode talking about it. My playgroup and I used a point system similar to this and had a lot of fun focusing the leader trying to secure that top spot through politicing and other methods that immeasurably changed the game.

[@federicozacchi6722]

@@aarong2606 it's a system for the audience, not the players. It's made to get us more invested in the games and the season in general, to root for our favorite player (all the #teamsomeone in the comments reflect that). I think it's a cool addition and I'm glad it's not a focus of each game, cause otherwise it would feel like a competition rather than a simple game of commander. A least to me.

[@thomaskaimann6800]

@@like17badgers unless it justin. I cabt remember what season it was but he won 3 of the first five episodes or something rest od the season he died first almost every match unless he had a great hand and he laid the smack down

[@aarong2606]

Agreed if it is about promoting teams then killing Justin first every week seems bad to a 4th of your audience

[@moldytaters4190]

How has it already been 8 weeks?!

[@alfred8936]

Damn Stephen was a straight up killer in those last few turns. The focus was intense

[@Mewtwoisabeast]

i normally get board about 30 mins in, this time the game felt fast and fun i enjoyed this one a lot more than others

[@Lashkor]

Why has the person in last place been playing Arch enemy the last 3 games 😂😂

[@andybailey3233]

@22:30 Stephen forgot to reveal the top card of his library... Missed a free land drop (Temple of Plenty). :/

[@vader1137]

After Jhon played Suppression Field, all Stephen's activated abilities cost 2 more to been used, that means, Maze of ith, flooded strand and Thrasios cost 2 more to be activated, huge misplay.

[@fearanarchy]

I would call an average misplay/rules interaction... There are far greater given in other circumstances from this assembly

[@vengray8055]

definitely not huge

[@vengray8055]

Pretty sweet watching Jeremy get rekt by his own play. Not sure it could have happened any other way though. ZACAMA would have destroyed beastmaster making Jon less of a threat and maybe edged Jeremy into the top spot to attack. Maybe it was the only play. Either way great interactions and gameplay guys!

[@AffinityForCommander]

You guys are so fun to watch! Such a great game! 😀

[@anthonymelograne6709]

No Druid's Repository, Nature's Will or Derevi in Najeela. I am upset with the lack of value.

[@hnjahnjah]

or aggravated assault ;p and no warrior tribal,how it should be played...now that deck can turbo crush someone faster then an Edgar Markov vampire tribal one with the right cards lol...

[@nicholasrodriguez1849]

throw back thursday. Jermey: Johns playing vintage and I have a tapped Ant queen. lol

[@metalsabatico]

El Esteban Verde strikes yet again.

[@andrewfranklin9019]

Where can I order custom token cards? I'd love to get some for my play group for Christmas!

[@sethbrock5993]

Kinda not enjoying this string of Justin just getting bullied weekly. Like Jeremy should be the priority to take out every week but they just keep killing poor Justin

[@gxantor]

please add to the playlist, ty

[@marcuspainter4854]

Did you guys know the sound is sped up?

[@Snowjiggles]

15:20 They're back together!

[@ultiplayer1]

@57:01 Jon attacks Stephen with one creature, Aven Mindcensor. Stephen has Maze of Ith untapped. He's at 13. So he takes the 2 damage. Makes total sense.

[@CalderaWolf]

I’m on the binge, and could be wrong about this, but when Stephen casted comeuppance, shouldn’t that have killed both of Justin’s creatures, and killed Jon’s mirror entity? As it would have dealt damage to itself?

[@Slothery]

Hey I have a great idea for a future video! It would work for a Randomonium episode. Before the episode, everyone picks 2 partner commanders from Commander 2016, and builds 2 *49* card decks for those commanders. Everyone rolls twice to choose 2 partner half-decks at random, then shuffles them together! There might be synergy, there might not. The manabases might be a bit horrible, but I think this would be pretty cool. You could choose 4 partners each so that you get 2 Randharmonicon episodes, but one commander would have to be picked twice since there's only 15 partners in C16. Flavor fail, I know.

[@thedismayer1196]

Devour is an as not a when. You can devour and the creature enters with the counters. If it was a when thromok would die with trigger on the stack due to game state effects.

[@georgethekingiv]

How about 4 creatureless decks. Only creature is your commander. Tokens allowed or turning things into creatures. Granted voltron will be hard to avoid.

[@Moclord]

I made my Yargle that way

[@SvviftDeath]

Proteus Staff would be a staple in all of the decks.

[@stevenburton7725]

Or planeswalkers only, with no creatures. Of course, Stephen would play teferi in order to mill Justin

[@like17badgers]

they could also say commanders cant be creatures. without a commander to target Voltron would get a lot harder.

[@Zaalbarjedi]

Not really. As no real combat pressure presented, it would be 4 stax or combo decks.

[@bradydougherty6581]

For the fan request video I want to see Stephen play Basandra, Battle Seraph. She is a Boros legend who forces players to play combat differently then they normally do by utilizing enhantments instead of spells. Also he can run lightning bolt in the deck

[@SS4519]

So for the future, how would one be able to submit fan request decks for this?

[@jorgeboi9126]

Have any of you guys played Myr Tribal? Use Brudiclad as a commander

[@tomcadden8054]

Love these vids. Would love to meet some of you some time. Makes my week!

[@zachmayer2288]

If I've already binged do I have to re-binge every week? That's a lot of binging.

[@GenyaArikado]

Why isn't Justin playing Najeela? Is he afraid to win?

[@jeanmarais337]

awesome.ilovethisshow.never stop

[@erickaestner34]

Being on team parnell feels like what being a browns fan must be like.

[@Clemenz7447]

You know, the Browns are actually decent and the fans are having a great year. I don't expect too many magic people to keep up with that though lol.

[@erickaestner34]

@@Clemenz7447 4-6 last in their division. I guess it is a fantastic year to be a browns fan.

[@Clemenz7447]

Yeah, it's a great year for them, specially when you look at what they have been in. With Bakee in tow it's trending up. Unlike Parnell lol.

[@Steven-rb7ph]

I made a devour theme deck once and it was very explosive. Also not very good haha

[@Snowjiggles]

Roanoke weather sounds like Nashville weather.

[@paupersluck8868]

nice game gentlemen 👌

[@AndrewSchnieder]

With Suppression Field on the battlefield the Maze of Ith costs 2 to use ;)

[@RaveLightsRave]

I wanna see Jeremy play an aggressive deck like Saskia, The Unyielding

[@owenharris4412]

Bearded Jeremy is my favorite guest on the show.

[@MarvelOfRain]

I know I am really late to the party but maybe if Jeremy used Grab the Reins to just take Zacama he could have won. He had access to a lot of mana and both green and red abilities. Something like attack Justin with everything (or maybe some send some to Stephen or John as well) kill Gahiji after the triggers, Beastmaster Ascension and a couple of tokens. Seems like he would be in a really good position after that.

[@just2red4u]

My comment for the week. You're welcome. #TeamGreen

[@jacquesdespadas]

Gahiji: gah-HEE-jee. Jonathan on the early politics--so amazing it was funny!

[@xakuyer]

Is there no "we show you the way that we accrue points but we hide it with random pictures" ?

[@ultiplayer1]

@52:50 at the end of Jon's turn Stephen should have cast Sylvan Reclamation exiling Beastmaster Ascension and Eldrazi Monument. Also, Stephen should always be hellbent. If you give him too many options he doesn't know what to do.

[@RaveLightsRave]

Do an episode where Jeremy plays Saskia, Jon plays Ramos, Dragon Engine, Justin plays Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder, and Stephen plays Muldrotha pleaseeeee

[@rhuddy1860]

Justin should’ve played Najeela early to start generating tokens ASAP

[@mjjdj88]

“Lets kill the guy who is in last place, first” Commander Vs Logic 😂

[@andrewhaycock4121]

How does one submit a deck for them to play?

[@lracseroom8286]

They check YT comments apparently BUT I would assume Twitter is the best way to go.

[@BelzaBob]

Good game. Go Stephen!

[@fearanarchy]

*shakes head. I wish i watched what you did. Because I feel like i am in a parallel world

[@Clemenz7447]

Jeremy is a savage beast, I'm glad the beard is here. #FearTheBeard

[@SirBisky]

Got an idea for a theme. Nobody can run any cards that have the word "target" on them. Only global effects.

[@kds119]

Are deck list linked anywhere?

[@damonmackinney5891]

In the description under the video

[@kds119]

@@damonmackinney5891 it just got added lol

[@connorwillard8123]

Yes finally najeela being played on here

[@bradydougherty6581]

I want to see John play Taigam, Sidisi's Hand

[@GSGPINBALL]

Can we rock out to a “Battle of the Bans” episode? Banned commanders & other banned cards, cause heck the rules

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Justin should have gotten a point if he yelled ZACAMA as he played ZACAMA! I was surprised that Justin didn't get to do much with Najeela, that commander has a quite a few ways to go infinite:p

[@stevenburton7725]

With the increasing popularity of the different commander channels, have you ever thought of doing a charity tournament with a few of the other guys?

[@skootchk1253]

YES!!!! I wanna see CMDR VS vs. Game Knights

[@lracseroom8286]

half an hour in: "For the love of God somebody do something!" On the upside Suarez' deck has convinced me to scrap a deck I was working on because those effects make the game so f'ing boring.

[@xquizate8777]

suppression field makes maze of ith cost two more to activate!

[@adamkinjerski2540]

I don't understand... there wasn't any mill...

[@eagamezz]

Why didn't Justin blow up the beastmaster's ascension and not take 30+ dmg.

[@peldone]

I was hoping you would correct the Deflecting Palm play but instead you mentioned it but not that you took twice as much damage as you should have. Deflecting Palm would only have redirected either the first strike damage or the normal damage but not both. It could have changed the whole outcome of the game.

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

Sooo....why was everyone so hesitant to get rid of that Beastmaster Ascension? Stephen chose to K-Grip the Humility instead, after stating he was fine with it being there, and Jeremy chose to kill Justin even though Justin could have stopped it. Granted, Stephen ended up pulling ahead in the end, but that seemed reaaaally risky.

[@peldone]

By destroying Humility he puts Justin in a position to want to remove the Beastmaster Ascension and do some of the work for him.

[@mrdoriangrey349]

i wish you guys could play with my yuriko deck XD

[@dlj529]

Looked like Stephen was playing a Jeremy deck for the first 80% of the episode

[@kevinlemley5962]

It's been a rough season for Team Parnell. Justin needs a stupid Black combo deck next week! #JusticeforJustin

[@igniteaxiom]

well they got torpor orb with evoke wrong, so good thing that didn't come effect the game.

[@airkami]

Jonathan was not happy with that wipe. Now I feel like it was all part of a bluff.

[@thorbeflexin9163]

One by one, Stephen Green throws the others into the horde

[@like17badgers]

Suggestion for next season, can we get a Wes Wise tribute episode? with only decks he play or was going to? Phage would be fun to see, along with that Tomorrow deck that never showed up.

[@damonmackinney5891]

I can't grow a beard either :,(

[@anarchond]

I wanna see a kaervek the mercilous.

[@Eckelcherries]

Would Justin's lands still untap when he played Zacama?? I thought that other creature stopped ETB triggers

[@vengray8055]

it wasnt a creature and torpor orb was already gone

[@DJTK119]

Always rough to watch Parnell get focused. An interesting deck just shot down again because bash Parnell.

[@TheGameGroundsHQ]

Putting my hat in the ring for #TeamSuarez

[@jeffreybender4416]

This episode was fun until Jeremy killed Justin for no good reason like he always does

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

He paid the price though. Got KO’d immediately after he passed the turn, and it was _because_ he killed Justin. Really weird play on his part.

[@ExtraCarnex]

I cant keep watching this show, its so incredibly frustrating to watch it week after week and see the rest of the table fufil some kind of personal vendetta against justin.

[@RealJohnKimble]

Extremely entertaining and nice win.

[@fearanarchy]

Do ppl know Najeela works off Warrior creatures? Not sure if that slipped a discussion point.