Commanders that are Overpowered | EDH | Pushed Commanders | Magic the Gathering | Commander

[@olive_schilde]

I believe teysa has her token effect because it synergises with the afterlife mechanic from ravnica

[@your_boy_ssap]

Yeah, but I played black/white afterlife for a while and still sometimes I remembered that the army of tokens also has the added effects. You just forget about it.

[@thomassilone7920]

You forget about it yes; however, I question whether or not her power level is out of the question. The other cards on his list seem to make perfect sense, I just question Teysa.

[@michellemoore7829]

I think it was so she wasn’t a dead pull in draft and sealed.

[@williamt1267]

Thomas Silone I think it’s cuz compared to other orzhov commanders they aren’t really even close in power level to teysa.

[@dominicking5366]

Agreed. While I've never played her as a commander, I have also never been compelled to play her. Her design feels more for being played within the set she was printed.

[@nik700]

-"What did we learn today kids?" -"Cards that work with themselves are really goooood"

[@SimpleVisionVideos]

So true, a lot of these just go well with anything

[@steveng6721]

So then why is teysa on this list? She needs a sac outlet and things that care about dying

[@nik700]

@@steveng6721 It was aimed at Urza, Korvold and Kinnan, but yeah, Teysa is kinda of an outlier

[@steveng6721]

@@nik700 teysa isnt very good lol. You have to be an ultra casual. Which is fine, but saying this card is op is misinformation and lies

[@nik700]

@@steveng6721 Again, I wasn't talking about Teysa. I believe that she's in the video because Mitch wanted to show how WotC has been pushing more abilities into cards that already are powerful. Definitely not op, but far from bad

[@lilacpilot3437]

The reason for Teysa Karlovs second ability was to synergize with the afterlife ability that created spirits when the creature died, the card was designed for standard too, after all.

[@drinkupnerds]

@@Mr911superstar debatly too much. It's not like it pushed her into even being good enough for standard. The format she designed for. I blame War for ruining a thriving standard where Teysa had a real shot at at least tier 2 play

[@movezig5]

Her first ability also synergizes with that mechanic, but I will say it was a handy ability to have in limited.

[@drinkupnerds]

@@TheMightyBattleSquid not really. Prior to the release of War of the Spark it was a common-ish rogue deck to run into online. I had a decent-ish Teysa Afterlife deck myself with poison tip Archer that did alright. But the power level of War and every set since has demolished any sort of viability that deck had.

[@steveng6721]

@@Mr911superstar oh yes because aggro is such a viable strategy in edh

[@schrodingersbeer4751]

@Christopher Connolly Dude, Wizards has a rep on the rules committee, and discusses card design with them for EDH. That alone would be enough to show that they actually think about EDH when designing cards in standard sets, but then let's look at the product line up for 2020: We have FIVE separate commander products this year. Ikoria Commander (C20), Zendikar Rising Commander Decks, Commander Collection: Green, Commander Legends, AND the Commander Legends Commander Decks. All of which have new commander specific cards. They might not be "in charge" of the rules decisions of the format, but saying that they don't take into account their most popular format with the level of integration and support that they've shown for it is an ignorant as hell take.

[@Necrofear0]

And there is more on the way, the commander legends set will be a nightmare, they are going to print new cards instead of reprint expensive cards.

[@WambwneD]

Yep, can already tell legends will be a complete clusterfuck full of broken shit. Who wants to bet they will fuck up commander the same way they fucked up modern(again).

[@tjcofer7517]

They have confirmed that they are going to print fetchlands in a place besides secret lairs this year in a non standard product... and out of them that we know about commander legends seems like the best option out of the products that have been announced (especially if they want people to be able to draft more than 2 color commmanders) ... even if they don't if you expect the set to be pushed you should buy some early on so that you can get good cards for cheaper even if they are new cards instead of old cards.

[@tjcofer7517]

@@WambwneD commander has always been full of completly busted crap the only reason the games are not full of the busted crap is because of the social contract. If your playgroup does not like X, Y, or Z from commander legends then just make it clear you don't want it to be played in your playgroup.

[@WambwneD]

@@tjcofer7517 There is a difference of busted crap having been printed before commander was even a thing, or proper playtesting for that matter, and making something designed for the format and putting in busted shit anyway. The new Kinnan for example is just braindead in its design. Who prints a commander that goes infinite with one mana rock. If we get multiple urza levels of broken in legends and every playgroup needs to figure out what they want to play against, it's not healthy for the game. But this is the same company that printed Oko and T3feri, so no surprise there.

[@92bagder]

usually certain commanders get ganged up in playgroups

[@jdubbleyou]

If only they pushed needed reprints as much as new op cards.

[@WambwneD]

Nah, why reprint Oracle of Mul Daya when you can print Lurrus so everyone on earth buys your product until he gets banned.

[@Cyberium]

Needed reprints are usually OP as well, I'd prefer they print cards that could counter OP effects like extreme mana ramping and infinite combos.

[@olafthemoose9413]

@@Cyberium armaggedon and cataclysm are kinda cheap and a lot of stax pieces are affordable too

[@steveng6721]

@@Cyberium lots of stax is cheap, but you probably only want a meta where people take 6 hours swinging to clear a game.

[@Cyberium]

​@@steveng6721 I don't enjoy Stax or a 6 hour game either. I wants answers against overabundance of ramping and tutoring, not shutting them down completely. Aven Mindcensor is an example where you could put a soft cap against ramping/tutoring but also not too difficult to remove.

[@jmcrofts]

I have a handful of commander decks that are focused, decently priced, and around a 7 on the power level. My $60 Chulane deck outperforms all of them, AND it's braindead easy to pilot...

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

I mean...have you read the card? Obviously.

[@steveng6721]

Something tells me your 7s are actually more like 4s

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

@@steveng6721 To me EDH ends at 8/10 because power levels 9 and 10 are cEDH. Therefore, a 7/10 is still really strong, yea. It's basically just below the absolute top end power level of EDH. A little slower, a little less high dollar artifact mana (maybe no Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Mana Vault), but still a strong deck.

[@stephendonoghue8718]

Dude! You play MtG too!? Why do I keep finding these FGC MtG crossovers?

[@shain74]

yooooo keep up the dbfz content homie

[@ohmygodtheykilledkennytheb7267]

When you realize that MItch has been putting out content everyday: O_o

[@entiao5570]

And creating like 4 different personalities in a few weeks ^^

[@SpectrumTide]

Iwannabe theverybest a whole unit

[@steveng6721]

I guess quantity over quality works when your fanbase will eat up literally any garbage you put out

[@ulrickts]

And each one has him getting angrier and angrier...

[@lotuszen3609]

So many variations of topics , so little time lol

[@Solrex_the_Sun_King]

4:38 “It basically only costs 3 mana” um, no, that construct has summoning- hold on a minute, it’s urza tapping them, not the creature itself! Okay, that’s broken!

[@aquilesvailo4786]

Yup, Urza was a mistake, is so powerful that they banned.

[@centurosproductions8827]

The "best" part is what he does with Winter Orb.

[@aaroncarlson1770]

Centuros Productions Yup, howling mine while not anywhere near as crazy is still a nice touch

[@Volkbrecht]

@@aquilesvailo4786 Not in Commander, though.

[@Alikaoz]

On one hand, yes. On the other, I also would be mad if Urza wasn't broken!

[@Alikaoz]

@@dragonruler9able Breaking stuff by accident is the Urza way.

[@robertochonchi3899]

in theori yawghmot must be more broken

[@l0ker507]

Urza's design makes NOT playing stax pieces like winter orb just objectively wrong.

[@g.sergiusfidenas6650]

@@robertochonchi3899 not that particular iteration, I don't think Yawgmoth in The Thran was as poweful as Urza was just before becoming a PW; given how powerful both cards are, specially Urza, I am glad they have yet to make a card for them in the zenith of their power (Blind Seer and joke set versions excluded).

[@movezig5]

I would be mad if Urza wasn't broken _as a planeswalker,_ but not as a creature. Remember, the Urza on the card is a talented artificer, but he doesn't have the immense power he has as a planeswalker yet. Then again, they need to represent his talent with artifacts, but I think the first two abilities still get that across.

[@Raxisabominae]

Just to say, now I've built kalamax, the instant limitation if you avoid twin cast type effects is actually an incredibly limiting factor

[@lazydroidproductions1087]

As someone who plays Animar, I too can appreciate infinite combos in those colors that require a literally one other card and give your commander infinite power and toughness.

[@natelagrassa9337]

@@lazydroidproductions1087I too have an animar eldrazi deck revolving around cloudstone curio and people never see it coming idk why… I enjoy it but it’s not a deck I play often because people get poopy when I draw my deck and kill everyone in a single turn…. I strongly feel like yes these commanders are overpowered and pushed BUT they’re not impossible to deal with. A single kill spell or bounce shuts down the engines.

[@nathanfriedman7367]

Where is Atraxa? Or Yargle, for that matter. A 9/3 for 5? That's insane value!!

[@dragonlord838]

Yargle makes me laugh

[@matshbocks]

Where's joven?

[@nathanfriedman7367]

@@matshbocks There's another one! Joven is possibly the best red commander I have ever seen and is sorely underplayed!

[@BubblyBatty]

@@nathanfriedman7367 You think Joven is better than Chandler? Unbelievable.

[@CarronBarboza]

I dunno, she’s overplayed but you can definitely deal with her.

[@djelibaebi]

I feel like this list is a bit confused because on one hand, yea a lot of these commanders are overpowered for commander but on the other theyre made to exist in other formats. Like rielle getting +1/+0 is neccesary for standard to make her viable, because simply put you dont always have her and you dont have the same selection of cards. I think a lot of the problems come from pushing the power level of standard and how we see time and time again with recent sets that it breaks every other format, sure standards fine but eternal formats, like commander, just aren't. Like its a surface level ''why?'' cards exist the way they do for a reason. (thats not to say these arent problems its just missing the forest for the trees in this case) Talking about commander products would be more appropriate (like edgar, like yuriko etc etc) but you only featured one, the rest are cards that are broken because of how commander exists, but those are specifically meant to push commander's power level.

[@woomod2445]

Yeah Rielle pretty obviously the +1/+0 is the main ability and it has a cool "Do nothing" that then happens to make it a good commander. Teysa is designed to synergize with a set mechanic. The standard power level thing, the last time I was looking at magic, modern/legacy players were constantly complaining they weren't printing strong enough cards soooo. It looks like they tried to push standard up and it backfired. And commander players were still acting like every legendary creature must be designed for them (whether that means "Must have mana ramp/freespells/recursion and be a competitive commander" or "Must not have those things and be a casual commander".)

[@jamesmayle3787]

Jesus Christ is lord. Please read at least three books of the Bible. The first book of each testament and one you chose yourself. As you do practice forgiveness. It is important. Please.

[@thebobbybabbitt7703]

Thanks for saying this. Lol I feel like Mitch sometimes just views things from the viewpoint of Commander without factoring in the other formats.

[@lordugesh7638]

I forget constantly about teysa',s second ability. It's sad because that can save me sometimes.

[@cc_rex5017]

I just finished building a Teysa Deck. Hopefully i won't forget the Token effect XD

[@Timorio]

oh no do you have a brain disease ? :(

[@kdastronaut171]

I lost a game to my friends burn deck because I forgot about my tokens life link lol

[@GrandpasMagic]

Mitch: lists off some Overpowered Commanders Me who considers myself a casual player: Owns 5 out 8 of the list.... >.>

[@ceribralboy4468]

How you build the deck matters too, though, for casual status

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

Actual casual here with 16 active decks. My most pushed/OP commanders are Yarok and Kenrith. I will be building Kalamax though because his play style kind of reminds me of Xenagos which is my favorite play style: aggressive.

[@igniteaxiom]

thanks for contributing to the ruin of our format.

[@jakeapplegate6642]

So you have all of them except the ones nobody has yet.

[@afk5112]

Same.

[@gallodorogaming9964]

They make tye commander do everything instead of need needing pieces to make it work its annoying

[@SimpleVisionVideos]

Me, a korvold player, talking to my friend who plays teysa: see I told you...oh, wait let's forget about this

[@elipetrou9308]

I love korvold

[@sefilontheultamitetimelord7874]

I keep forgetting that Elsha the Infinite has Prowess......

[@safersephiroth943]

That's a key part of my use of her lol. but yeah, did she REALLY need both? Now she's a silly artifact tron.

[@mahmoudtabsh1886]

@@safersephiroth943 I built her in Storm tbh. Flash off the top of my library I basically win on instant speed on my opponents end step. And if I land Sensei's Divining Top game over. I love Elsha.

[@apocalypticoreos6460]

Teysa's ability is supposed to support the afterlife mechanic from ravnica as it creates tokens when a creature dies

[@calvinbarboza]

The worst part is they always put the sickest art on these commanders so I want to play them because Kenrith looks sick chilling in his chair in the command zone but I also don’t want to build an OP deck that just wins because the commander is so strong. Shoutouts to Urza, Korvold, Golos, Chulane for the same problem

[@SlainOracle]

Go to edhrec and set it to budget: cheap. Sometimes that helps make a more balanced deck

[@el_duck6577]

You should make a part two to this, but in THAT video, you explain how you would nerf each commander, whether it'd be from increasing the cmc, from removing certain aspects of a card, or from nerfing it's stats/increasing the mana price of it's abilities... I don't know I just think that'd be a really cool idea

[@atlasrises4]

Honestly confused that Teysa was your choice from Ravnica when Vannifar was in the same set

[@jaywingate187]

Vannifar is less popular outside of CEDH I'd guess, since she's so linear and dull to play. Tutor commanders are almost always powerful but unpopular because you figure out really quick that nearly every game with then plays out the same.

[@jasondhainaut8834]

Confused to not see Kenrith, the Returned King and Golos or even Yarok in a lesser extent too when you speak about overpowered, superpushed commander. Because compared to teysa karlov ... lol. Yarok literally has the text of panharmonicon in the text box.

[@steveng6721]

If you look at cards mitch hates its one with triggers, he thinks theyre too good. So double trigger = double broken lol

[@AquarialDeloAtlantis]

Simic has 2 very similar commander being Momir Vig and Prime Speaker Vennafar. Momit Vig doesn't require you to sacrifice your stuff tho but both are cEDH played

[@kylehammond5693]

Vannifar also isn't really that broken. The lack of white and red make it harder to go off

[@WUBRGer_King]

I'm personally kind of tired of Wizards creating "made for commander" legendary creatures. Part of the fun of Commander when I started playing (2009) was that there were a lot of janky as hell legendary creatures, and it was cool to "unlock" a legend when building a deck around them with the singleton restriction. They still make some janky but cool legends (Winota comes to mind, IMO) but it seems that there's way too much focus on making legendary creatures stupid powerful either in general (Chulane, Korvold) or for a particular niche (Kadena, Xyris, Brallin/Shabraz). For what it's worth, I've kept my OG Teysa deck intact. I added Teysa Karlov because why wouldn't I, but OG Teysa is more fun and less straightforward.

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

Agree.

[@raidenjeskar2823]

Winota is NOT JANK. You can consistently win a turn after she comes out. Its broken as hell. Winning on turn 4 isnt Jank lol

[@steveng6721]

Teysa Karlov is 100% inferior to Orzhov scion. Idk what juice you and mitch are drinking

[@nolanhoenigess2314]

@@raidenjeskar2823 Came here to say this. If you think Winota is jank, you haven't played against her yet. My friend has a Winota deck and he can become archenemy on turn 4.

[@raidenjeskar2823]

@@nolanhoenigess2314 exactly. If it was the top card, ok not as good. But 6 DEEP FOR EACH ATTACKING CREATURE? Are you fucking kidding me? It sould just say "Grab any Human in your deck" at that point. And INDESTRUCTIBLE TOO? What the actual fuck.

[@wesleymclain9146]

When they do stuff like that, it is actually taking away design space from another potential card. Teysa for example, they could have had the dies doubler on her and the vigilance and lifeline on a two or three mana white enchantment. They are severely limiting themselves whenever they put that many abilities on a single card.

[@clrl936]

The thing is that Teysa was in a standard set. So she was designed to be played on standart, alongside the mechanic afterlife. And even with all those effects, she never got to see play on that format, she is too weak for standard. What wizards needs to stop printing commander cards on standard (or any other competitive format) sets.

[@robot8582]

Also they can still create that enchantment, a little redundancy is ok

[@darksteelmenace595]

That enchantment would have sucked tho

[@wesleymclain9146]

DarkSteelMenace true but I think it could be good enough for a tokens matters deck especially if it was only 2 mana

[@tjcofer7517]

@@darksteelmenace595 no kidding white has enough of those kinds of enchantments

[@dragonlord838]

correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it's a little bit harder than that with Kalamax since you can't cast something like Increasing Vengeance as your first instant unless an opponent casts an instant or sorcery, since it needs a valid target and the copy won't be on the stack to target until you cast the spell and trigger kalamax. Now if they do cast an instant or sorcery you can cast the copy spell targeting their spell, triggering Kalamax, targeting the original copy spell with the copy of the copy spell and going infinite, but if your opponents are smart they won't cast an instant or sorcery spell once Kalamax is on field, someone like when someone gets out a Mystic Remora, at least until they get removal. That's the other thing too, removal still works on him since the Kalamax player will only get 2 copies of the spell that was originally cast, 1 from the original copy spell and 1 from the final copy spell when they choose to end the loop, all the other copies will be of the copy spell, and when all the dust settles Kalamax would be destroyed anyway, losing all the counters. In short, while it is extremely powerful I feel like it's not quite as powerful as you thought since your opponents will just play around it, they won't just bumble into the trap.

[@connerlajoie3142]

I will admit, I have a Teysa Karlov deck, and love the deck!!! and yes, I have forgotten numerous times that Teysa gives keywords to my tokens, I'm too concerned with the triggers!!

[@DJPStudios]

Feel like this list can jump back even further in time to Animar, Soul of Elements. Oh, +1/+1 counters and mana cost reduction for each creature you play? Free morphs? That's strong. Also protection from Orzhov for some reason.

[@sethb3090]

Animar is just insane yeah. I nerfed my Animar deck twice before it was okay for friendly games.

[@VVheeli]

I’m surprised none of the Partner commanders made it on here like Thrasios. 4 generic mana to scry, draw, and play lands is just too accessible. Should’ve been like 2UG to make it a bit more locked in the colors.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker is super good for voltron strategies, and she's blue which gives access to card draw

[@NightOfCrystals]

Yeah, Tymna/Thrasios is like *the* CEDH deck of choice of enfranchised legacy/vintage players looking to flaunt their bling

[@LilBouzy]

Gretchen Titchtillow has entered the chat

[@nharviala]

People complain about things like Muldrotha, but I believe that's the perfect place to have commanders. She absolutely cannot win on her own unless she successfully swings 4 times onto a single player. She provides value for a deck, and because the effect is so simple, you can make a wide variety of decks around her. I'm hoping Wizards goes back to that. Maybe a keyword or two to make swinging with the commander enticing, but otherwise only provides a singular effect to the game that's not back-breaking, simply good.

[@Groovemancer]

While I agree Muldrotha is great power-level-wise, I also think we could use more narrow commanders to build around. I think she's a great card, I run her in my Sidisi deck, but I like when it's a bit more narrow, not to the point that there's only one way to build that deck. That being said, I have no problem with Muldrotha decks. There are plenty of mechanics or areas of design that can be explored without just being generically good. I liked C19 because we got commanders that revolved around mechanics that were underutilized: Morph, Madness, Populate, Flashback. As someone who likes to brew a lot of decks, one of my fears is that a deck built around commander ABC is going to play just like commander XYZ.

[@raydelmartinez2905]

Agree with the Tessa point, I always forget about the second ability every time someone plays it on my table.

[@dreamwriter8423]

I play teysa karlov in my other teysa deck. (centered around orzhov scion). I can see why a teysa karlov deck, with a different build, might forget about the second effect but in my case I never do. Sweet sweet lifelinkers spirits.

[@thomassilone7920]

Even so Mitch, you have to remember that even if they’re selling, people aren’t playing. Sure they see a spike in popularity; however, those decks that are overpowered, tend towards linear play. That doesn’t seem to be a very popular Pplay style among casuals. Thus even if the trend continues upward in power creep, if people aren’t playing those very often, is there really that much in terms of creep?

[@beleakswordsteel]

When you say, "Was that really necessary?" Me: yes absolutely.

[@noahmccormack2685]

Mitch: Cards are like onions. Subscribers: They stink? Mitch: Yes. No. Subscribers : Oh, they make you cry. Mitch: No. Subscribers: Oh, you leave em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin’ little white hairs. Mitch : No. Layers. Onions have layers. Cards have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? They both have layers. Subscribers: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions.

[@markcooper4876]

Everybody likes Parfaits.

[@MH-dn3jz]

True facts I have brewed like 5 Teysa decks and I literally never noticed that second part of the text box until your episode today.

[@justinbowman1342]

I've been building around Teysa recently and I can confirm, I always forget about her token buffing effect.

[@MasterP86]

Tried the 3 mana teysa already?

[@ivolendrich]

We need to have more Mitch who can just comment on things without holding back. Very straightforward and and efficient comments. Kudos.

[@nosniboR_naI]

Kalamax dosnt go infinite with just one copy spell. Think about how it interacts on the stack in order for a copy spell to be cast you need to have one spell on the stack already. And two copy spells already go infinite, not to mention it requires just an instant spell not a sorcery which would be A lot more broken because of extra turns spells and such

[@Volkbrecht]

Plus, even if you go infinite with the copies, Kalamax is still tapped. So you need something else to cash in all that infinity. In summary: somehow tapping a 4/4 without getting it killed, then having the right cards in hand to go infinite, then also having a payoff for your one infintely big creature is overpowered. Yeah... right... Not saying Kalamax is bad, but there is equally good stuff out there. I'd rate Krenko, Mob Boss among that, a card that is 7 years old at this point.

[@arcs696]

@@Volkbrecht You announce him as an attacker which taps him but before damage you go infinite and get +1/+1 counters , then combat damage resolves and he kills your opponent. There is no waiting period.

[@Volkbrecht]

​@@arcs696 Unless your opponent has a saproling. Or something equally powerful. Combat damage is a pretty weak payoff, unless you set up for it with equipments or other ways that make sure you connect. But that'd require setting up two mechanics: the infinite-loop and the combat helpers. Kalamax is still solid if you just play him regular Voltron-style with combat tricks. Again, I'm not saying it's a bad card. But the mere fact that he can theoretically go infinite with fork-style spells isn't all that frightening.

[@arcs696]

@@Volkbrecht Oh I totally agree with you that combat damage is quite weak in commander. I was simply saying that you don't have to waste a turn to use the +1/+1 counters.

[@austink.9223]

@@arcs696 Please explain to me how you would go infinite after announcing Kalamax as an attacker? Then gaining infinite counters before swinging? The ONLY way this is possible is if the defending player or another player plays a card at instant speed that you can copy (being an instant or sorcery) So you are relying on them to give you a target for your reverberate or whatever. Point being is you can't rely on that.

[@austingreene9982]

The thing that just about all of these have in common is that they have a good ability and then they added essentially the second part of a combo to them. Part of the fun, for me at least, is finding how to make cards work together, I don't need it all wrapped up with a bow for you to convince me to use it as my commander.

[@cwhip9]

Mitch: here are op comanders Wizerds: so...keep pushing? OK 👌

[@arthurvandenbergh1881]

For rielle: I feel like that was meant to make it playable in standard, where the effect would otherwise be pretty mediocre

[@franciscovega7022]

Need a second part of this kind of video! A lot of OP creatures are missing. Najeela, atraxa, animar, k'rrik, etc.

[@Volkbrecht]

When everything is overpowered, nothing is...

[@austink.9223]

K'rrik should've definitely been on here

[@Leivve]

Even as someone who plays Urza, the mana outlet is what really pushes the card over the top. I intentionally don't build my deck around it for that reason.

[@RetroMaticGamer]

These are not overpowered commanders. It’s about damn time they printed some commanders that can compete with the likes of Muldrotha the Gravetide, Nekusar the Mindrazer, Oloro Ageless Ascetic, and Gin-Jitaxias. My local meta was getting stale as hell before the lockdown set in; bunch of CEDH players masquerading as casuals so they can get some cheap thrill-kills...

[@Ravenpoe121]

None of the commanders you listed are cEDH commanders. They can be built into high end decks, muldrotha probably being the most potentially powerful of that list, but they are far away from cEDH level.

[@steveng6721]

FUCK LMAO holy shit this is mitchs fanbase

[@tangyblueberry5013]

None of those are overpowered commanders. Closest would be Muldrotha, but then she ain't actually that strong in edh since she needs to remain on the board to be functional. To me OP commanders are the ones who win turn 3-5 consistently, the only 2 commanders in this video are Urxa and Kinnan, maybe Yawgmoth. The rest are just value.

[@tangyblueberry5013]

@@willemboele2079 The only cEDH commanders in Mitch's video are Urza and Kinnan, maybe Yawgmoth. The rest are not cEDH level powerful. Teysa being the closest next one but even then the 2nd part of her ability has 0 real impact in a cEDH match, so Mitchs point on this one is irrelevant.

[@NightOfCrystals]

I can’t stand when CEDH players insist they aren’t CEDH players so they can get easy wins. The power differential problem is one of EDH’s biggest issues. It’s the kind of thing that makes people quit the format.

[@lazydroidproductions1087]

OK, but you do forget, Animar was printed right at the start of Commander.

[@nedcurfman3486]

Judging from the thumbnail, I agree. Blue IS too good.

[@puffin-onehandedgamer1164]

how to kill the table with Kalamax: rogues passage: kill the first player, cast Spark double, copy Kalamax, cast a copy spell, this makes both Kalamaxes infinitely big, fling 1 kalamax, cast another copy spell to copy the fling, targeting the Spark double and fling that at the last player :) Now.. before you say "this costs a lot of mana", it is assumed you have infinite mana in this example :)

[@centurosproductions8827]

Step one: play the rare Ral from War of the Spark. Step 2: copy a spell as above. Everybody dies, and you didn't even have to cast more than three spells after your commander. (reminder that the copy spell *does* need a target to put it on the stack, and that target cannot be an instant spell you cast or Kalamax would already have triggered its copy for the turn.)

[@kindrogue5586]

When I first saw kalamax I was excited to finally see a cool commander for the copy spells theme, a commander that let's you copy spells with a condition? Hell yeah. Then I realised you can attack with kalamax, cast a flash sorcery whatever (it's simic not like it's hard) + fork just gives you a easy one shot. Then I hated wizards for ruining a fun commander with too much text. Well I'm not making a temur copy spells I guess.

[@Discollama217]

I agree with you on Teysa. My only theory is that they were worried that Afterlife, as a mechanic, would be overshadowed in Standard. As a Teysa player, I quickly moved away from the token aspect that I built her with and focused more on the Blood Artist effects. I almost never remember that all four of the tokens that Wurmcoil Engine will create with her out have Lifelink and Vigilance.

[@thewildcard600]

i went full on afterlife and aristocrat with her

[@bigscrub1875]

That sigh after explaining the Yawgdog...

[@crosshroomhead]

I get the thought process on teysa's token line being a bit overkill, but you have to think of the set she came out in. It was heavily focused on afterlife, so the death trigger of the set made tokens. I forget it all the time, but the point of it being there makes sense.

[@Jm-rv7mm]

I always forget about selvala heart of the wild's draw portion, I only have her for the mana ability.

[@thektorMK1]

she's disgusting

[@Jm-rv7mm]

@@thektorMK1 disgustingly good, and is why my table doesn't let me use her much

[@afk5112]

What level of patreon would i need to join to get you to make a focused edh deck that breaks Rule 0?

[@sirrzoidberg3771]

There are people watching this like. Commanders who are going to be my next commander lol

[@Ian-to2vo]

Literally me, lol

[@TB317]

Yup, lol

[@TresBS1]

The thing I'm seeing less of with these new commanders is the lack of hoops to jump through. Like look at Chulane. You cast a creature spell, you draw and get a land. Even without his ability, that's still powerful. Make the land come in tapped or make it so you only get the effect on your second creature cast. Something that tones the commander down and forces person to really have build the deck to compensate for that. Shoot, Kess is a powerful commander without all this extra stuff attached. She let's you play an instant/sorcery from your graveyard. But it's only once a turn and only on your turn. She's still powerful as heck but there's no win-more effects on her.

[@traugottbauling8100]

Yeah too many broken Commanders, and too many broken cards in general recently.

[@user-hdhdhhdhdhsnjdjdjdioowj]

It is this exact reason that so many EDH players are extremely worried about commander legends. We do not want our format to get the same treatment as the tournament formats

[@nathanfriedman7367]

Yeah, Kinnan and the Companion Buddies are heralds of the oncoming apocalypse. I would argue that while Kalamax is very good, it does need to be able to successfully attack or otherwise tap itself to be really useful, and the fact that it can run as a instants-matter voltron deck instead of only a spellslinger deck (or both) is an interesting concept for brewing.

[@igniteaxiom]

wotc has noticed the popularity of commander and they're trying to use it save the popularity of magic in general. printing pushed cards has always been for one reason and one reason only. to get bad magic players to buy cards. push cards allow average, mediocre, fairweather magic players the ability to compete with better players. wotc doesn't want magic being an elitist game, they want everybody playing it. this philosophy began with eldrazi i believe. no need to be good at magic, just put an emrakul in play and you win. simplifying the game allows crappy players to do well, and if people do well they buy more cards.

[@movezig5]

@@igniteaxiom That's an interesting take. In that sense, it's kind of like a side effect of New World Order.

[@centurosproductions8827]

I played a Brawl game against Kinnan. He was overwhelming me with mana, but I managed to answer all his threats. I breathed a sigh of relief - I couldn't stop him from having absurd amounts of mana, but maybe if I got lucky I could kill him before he had anything to do with it. Then he activated the 7-mana ability three times in one turn.

[@magicmindsedh5176]

Wow! Great Video! Wizards has made a bunch of boring, OP, commanders recently that just ramp you and have a mana sink that doesn't require them to tap. (Golos, Urza, Kinnan) It is honestly kind of boring. Our channel might release a video about the new Ikoria commanders soon. Make sure to check it out!

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

I think Kenrith also belongs in this discussion.

[@evanbutler7736]

Magic Minds: A MTG Podcast is a great channel, wow

[@magicmindsedh5176]

Definently

[@samus2205]

Thanks for the deck ideas

[@jackstax4035]

You forgot: Muldrotha and Golos. They shouldn't put "draw a card" on a commander. Its just too good.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

Griselbanned lol

[@Odaff33br]

Golos didn't draw cards

[@thektorMK1]

muldrotha is aids. Never wasted so much time watching someone shuffle

[@nosniboR_naI]

Odaff33br golos has so many things wrong with it If it only drew cards that would be more fair than casting them all for free

[@nosniboR_naI]

It’s bad in play and it’s bad out because you get a cast it and search for land which pays for his commander cost if you play a land and then you ramp again it’s dumb

[@supernoodles908]

My opinion is that a lot of the cedh generally have to be built that way. Often you can build it to be casual which is great for both. The issue is when it becomes really hard to build a not over powered. The commander itself causes it to be busted. That's when I think there's an issue

[@riccardocalosso5688]

I keep forgetting that growing rites of itilimoc does things before transforming into a better gaea's cradle... I know what you mean, Mitch.

[@riccardocalosso5688]

@Mike W true, but you can't search cradle with idyllic tutor. Itilimoc is better only in a vacuum, otherwise wouldn't cost so much less than cradle. Throw me a bone here, bud.

[@DemonWolf100]

Most of the list I can 'get' from a casual standpoint. Urza is very easy to make strong. Kinnan is a 2 mana powerhouse that spirals out of control easily. But Rielle? Kalamax? Freaking Teysa? There seems to be two different arguments in this video: 1. Recent Legends have strong effects 2. Recent Legends have too many effects. I'll address the second mostly as the first is a whole can of Wurms in itself. Commander is typically a multiplayer environment. An average player at an average table will see a removal spell played almost every other turn. Versatility is a big part of making commanders fun and interesting. If I play Yawgmoth with no other creatures on my board then I can look for ways to -1/-1 big threats to death. If I play Rielle with an empty hand and a full graveyard I can slap a runechanters pike on her and pray for a turn that no one removes her. Commanders like these can't be viewed in a vacuum. Sure you can play Increasing Savagery and copy it to get a big boi that swings for 21+....if it doesn't eat a counterspell. Or the Kalamax gets C-Rifted. You can fling in response and kill a guy. Maybe. Once. Now you have two players looking for blood cause they think you'll do that again next turn when all you have in your hand is a Goblin Electromancer you drew on turn 15. Basically commanders aren't the problem. Removal is evolving. It's getting cheaper, more efficient, and coming in ways that would be unprecedented in the times of the Legends set. The power level of the game is increasing as years go by. Commanders need to put up or get shut down.

[@realMemberberries]

I am desperately waiting for a new good Dimir commander. I'm tired of milling i want something else, like they did with Yuriko

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

I mean, Scarab God reanimator, and the new Dimir Companion opens up some interesting opportunities.

[@Olvrin]

What about Lazav - steal and copy everything?

[@sulaimanhyatt-butt1453]

Theres etrata that doesnt involve milling its pretty intresting if you cheak out some of the deck decks etc.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

Identity theft is a cool deck, but I agree Dimir needs to mess with more than just the grave

[@notreallyhere67]

What about Etrata, the Silencer? Get 3 exile counters on 3 different creatures and it's bye-bye opponent.

[@loudmouthmatt55]

Notice how some of these are from commander deck box sets/brawl deck box sets? Sounds like wizards is making these OP commanders to make more money than just selling packs.

[@corvoattano6765]

I guess it's time for me to get building!

[@mushnib]

Fun fact: My playgroup actually banned Urza because one of my friends found a combo that gives you infinite turns, draw out your deck, and play everything for free all at once. We didnt ban it only because of the combos, hes also just SO powerful by itself

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

Yea, I have one but I don't build him because he's just clearly OP.

[@ROMANTIKILLER2]

I mean, honestly I found it laughable when there were people boasting on how competitive their Urza deck was ... I mean, it's a card that turns you silly Fountain of Youth or Phyrexian Walker into a Mox Sapphire - the deckbuilding challenge with him is to make it NOT competitive!

[@mushnib]

@@ROMANTIKILLER2 agreed. But not only Phyrexian Walker, but other 0 cost artifact creatures like Ornithopter and Memnite. That's THREE mox sapphires in your deck.

[@Kyrmaal]

So ... Blue ones ?

[@justinbowman1342]

Well, basic island is the most overpowered card in the game.

[@Kyrmaal]

@@taranmellacheruvu2504 I totally get that. Originally Simic is my favorite color combination in Magic, but I've never played a Simic deck in EDH, all this value feels ... dirty to me.

[@fidly4]

Teysa was designed with standard in mind. She gives you more afterlife tokens but also makes those tokens stronger. The second line exists for the additional synergy with the guild mechanic.

[@andreusemanuel4868]

Finally Mitch made a list for the next commanders that I'm going to buy

[@aidanpembleton6322]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think for Kalamax to go infinite with one spell would require you to already have cast an instant or sorcery spell before. You cannot cast something like Increasing Vengeance without it having a target to begin with (rule 601.2c), so you would need to have cast a sorcery spell before casting Increasing Vengeance in response in order for Kalamax to trigger on Increasing Vengeance. You could also copy an opponent's spell with another sort of copy spell like Reverberate or Twincast. Though I do agree, Kalamax is very pushed, even without the opportunity you mentioned.

[@jovial8192]

wait she has a second abillity? I thought that was flavor text and I never actually read it lol

[@deuscognito8900]

I absolutely love Chulane. The deck I have build cost me around $200, and it only takes a couple turns to get it going, and by round five, I’m so far ahead of everyone else, by the time they draw answers, I already have a handful of lands, monsters, planeswalkers, and counters. So if they do get past my counters and wipe the board, I just restart with the 20+ monsters I tend to have in hand. I also have ways to make all my permanents indestructible.

[@WaveyZRL]

I Always Forget About Vigilance & lifelink

[@networkzanimex]

What you describe with Teysa Karlov is exactly how I feel every time I read Atraxa. Proliferate once per turn for absolutely free would have been cool enough. Giving her flying because she's an angel makes sense. But, did she really need four combat keywords on top of the EoT proliferate trigger? (Not that I'm complaining because the Empress of Counters is one of my favorite generals).

[@The_Nerd_King]

Urza was crazy good with paradox engine! *Urza:* Give me my engine back! I can't start my car!!🚗

[@drakko95]

While I do agree that these commanders are pushed, and that the potential is there to be overpowered, I think that the majority of players are going to play with them fairly, or at least the ones that want to still have friends (aside from Urza, though, it's hard NOT to make an overpowered deck with him). I do have a bit of a problem with the offhand remark about Chulane having vigilance, though. Creatures with tap abilities have had vigilance stapled on them before, and I think it gives players a healthy option to be able to swing with their commander, while still being able to use their ability. Roon has it, and even Kelsien in the new Mardu humans deck has it, so Chulane having it doesn't surprise me, nor do I think it warrants that kind of response to a keyword. Other than that, your points were well-made and you got the overall theme of the video across, although I will say that this new style of video is kind of off-putting. Not so much for there being video now, so much as it is for the general tone and personality. I don't know what's changed, of if this is just you being you, but it genuinely doesn't feel like I'm watching the same person anymore, and it almost seems like you're playing it up for the camera. Whether or not that's actually true, I don't really know, but that's just my take on it, and as a fan, I felt like I should say something. Sorry for the wall of text, but I wanted to explain myself without causing a misunderstanding.

[@Groovemancer]

A co-worker of mine recently, well a few months before the pandemic, built a Vannifar deck that played as you'd expect, just chain up to a wincon and it did just that. It was fairly strong, though not without its weaknesses, but he seemed kinda bored with it. Idk what my point was, but sometimes it's easier to power down an overpowered commander, other times not. Chulane is definitely one of those that's tough to power down since every creature you play replaces itself. It's kinda why I prefer running Roon as my commander for that style of deck, he also isn't a big target as a result. The deck functions without him, but he helps do the thing I want to do with the deck.

[@Papitas_y_Vigilancia]

It's weird how the mtg community in general has overcome the anger on Wizards and now it's just plain dissapointment. Also I always forget about the token thing on Teysa.

[@HouseofSen]

Its like Sevinne having “Sevinne takes no damage” and “copy your first instant or sorcery from the graveyard”

[@bigmookie27]

Wizards getting so heavily involved in commander will eventually be the death of the format. The power creep, or that they keep making cards that become auto includes in every deck, will eventually send commander the way of vintage. Welp, you better build your deck exactly this way with these cards or you will never win!

[@eustacemcgoodboy9702]

100% true.

[@ROMANTIKILLER2]

sadly I agree

[@adi9075]

did i understand the Kalamax infinite combo right? First i must attack with Kalamax or tap it, than i must cast a sorcery and while she is on the stack i must copy with fork or something the sorcery. than kalamax triggers and i copy infinite times the fork? and than kalamax get infinite counters? is that correct?

[@thumper3662]

To fix Korvold and Chulane, they should’ve removed one of the “and” abilities. I think Korvold should’ve just had the counters, not the draw. And I hate the new simic commander. Why is she even just 2cmc? Could’ve been 4-6cmc and that still would’ve been powerful

[@cryogencrypts7484]

I have a Kinnan combo that will make you a target immediately if it has to hit the field: Kinnan -> Basalt -> 3 Islands -> Infinite colorless to very early Omnicience -> Guardian Project -> put creatures onto the battlefield until you don’t draw into a creature

[@MrHanderson91]

"Hey lets make a commander that cheats the tax" "Great idea! How about we give it card advantage too!" "Awesome! What could go wrong"

[@danielnn5508]

Golos?

[@callmemxculture]

Yuriko?

[@ciarangrace1425]

literally had this moment last night with someone playing Kinnan. Tapped a bunch of treasure for loads of mana and then started playing stuff off the top of their deck. Didn't even realise the last part was part of the card. I'd just forgotten it existed.

[@azazelmorningstar5631]

Aftet reading the comments I realized I'm the only person who can remember Teysa's second ability

[@vanDaalstad]

While I haven't forgotten about Teysa's token abilities I have never built my Teysa deck to make use of it

[@typoholic]

Identifying cards that are “pushed” is not enough, anyone can do this. What’s the point of this exercise? You didn’t provide any evidence that the game, especially the Commander format, is any worse for it. I’ve yet to run into any games with these that were unfair. I’m thankful that the designers are making cards that get players excited to play them. This video needs a better argument.

[@lmaogottem7380]

Uhhh, who said he's arguing? He's stating his opinion. You can disagree with that (as you have), But he is just said the cards are "pushed" and explained why he thinks they are..

[@nahboi483]

I don’t see this as him arguing against strong cards, or saying this is bad for the format, it’s more an acknowledgement that these cards are becoming more and more common, and him wanting to inform his audience that it’s likely to be a trend. And, to be frank, Mark, the argument, “well I haven’t run into any problems, so...” is less valid.

[@thaneofstuff7340]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but without something to give a sorcery spell flash it becomes very hard to win with Kalamax in the combat step since you need a target for your copy spells that are not themselves or you could potentially do it in your main phase if you have a tapper and an untapper. If there are card ideas I am missing please tell me but I don't think Kalamax is as pushed as something like Kinnan or Rielle

[@Intake2365]

Lovely. I'm diving headfirst into this!

[@gram1438]

How does the infinite kalamax work? wouldn't the first copy spell need a target and by that point wouldn't be the first spell anymore?

[@theopersson2392]

I personally do not feel as if a lot of these are pushed, Kinnan and Urza I can definitely agree with, however, I do not feel as if a lot of the other cards are pushed, they're just good. The other commanders are good but calling them overpowered and pushed just seems like ignorance. I more feel that this video should be called "cards I feel salty playing against. " as that is essentially what I'm hearing. If the title is called overpowered commanders I'd expect things like Thrasios and Tymna but what do I get Kalamax? Now I love this channel and community but things like this just simply aggravate me.

[@oatmilk5]

i defenetly agree

[@joshuasinks1524]

I have a Question With Kalamax The spells that copy a spell can be cast without a target? otherwise they would never be the first spell you cast unless an opponent gave you a target.

[@eliasaurus4461]

second????????

[@calvinckj]

Increasing vengeance wouldn't work on itself right?

[@muffinshorts8993]

Correct

[@Asianmike8402]

I 100% completely agree. I’ve been playing EDH for quite a few years and got into the cEDH scene about two and a half years ago. Our pods have noticed how broken commanders have become the past year and a half. So many fringe/cEDH commanders which is nice for us because gives the decks a new flavor instead of plays like the former flash/hulk. But of course, that’s also an issue with my EDH group. You play these commanders and even without meaning to make them strong, they are border line optimized. Without even trying. The “newest” commander I play with is Najeela which is one of my cEDH decks. I just use old commanders because for the most part, they aren’t as “easily” busted. Love your videos. Thanks for your thoughts Mitch.

[@matsiv5707]

some of those were designed with brawl in mind when they still tried to push it. Some were attempts to make viable creatures for standard in an arm race between creatures and planeswalkers that lead to stapling abilities on top of abilities

[@ryangainey94]

Actually when I built around Marchesa, I made it around both her abilities. And would take advantage of effects that made creature tokens on death, like Ogre Slumlord, Wurmcoil Engine, the Ulamog vampire card that makes eldrazi scions, and Elenda who benefits from both of Teysas triggers, plus other stuff. Plus Anointed Procession is an auto include. The deck was pretty fun to play because nobody wanted to boardwipe, because they knew my already terrifying board would just get worse if they wrathed and set off a slew of death effects and made a bunch of tokens.

[@little-teapotjones9380]

I built my beat friend a Teysa deck, and whenever someone pilots it we all forget about the Vigilance and lifelink

[@PensFan4Lyfe1]

I have Elsha of the Infinite in my Kykar deck and I keep forgetting she gives non creature spells from the top of your deck flash.

[@FeelNFine]

*Sees Teysa* Perfect example! I always forget about her second line, to the point it became a running gag that every time I played her someone in my group would read the second line out loud. *listens* Well I guess I'm glad I'm not the only one.