Designer Stories from the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander Decks! | Magic: The Gathering MTG

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Let's open all the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander Decks and talk about the cards!
Have a question? Post a comment! You can also catch me, Gavin Verhey, on the rest of the internet at:
Twitch: Twitch.tv/GavinVerhey
Twitter: gavinverhey
Instagram: gavinverhey
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@gavinverhey
#magicthegathering #unboxing #mtgthunder

[@duncanireland9473]

Saddened by the lack of legends of article. I know ones been posted for the heist crew and face commanders, but with so many either old legends or new ones, it'd be nice to know why some characters are here (riku randomly returned, outisde of his original mechanic. Marchesa not leading Fiora.), and what the deal is with the new ones.

[@SC501]

Appreciate the face commander being full art! I hope they keep doing that going forward.

[@sharkysaac]

I always enjoy brewing decks with the odd ball cards I have laying around. It's fun to see someone who designs the set explain some of the thought processes behind new cards as well as what things they hand in mind when making the card. Lately I've been enjoy watching these longer videos while I take a stroll in the park looking at trees. Then I go with my company of friends to let them know fun trivia about certain cards that get played! Keep making these longer commander videos!

[@Natedogg2]

25:54 Gotta love a "rattlesnake card" (one that deters attacking you) that's actually a rattlesnake (although it looks more like a gummi worm to me).

[@zfjosmadhen1212]

Gavin! First of all, great video as always, appreciate you. Secondly! You must bring back the Commander Chronicles podcast asap! You just reminded me of it at the 30min mark. I always liked to watch those podcast episodes with the company of some trees.

[@GoodMorningMagic]

On my list for videos to do for sure! Someday... 😄

[@zfjosmadhen1212]

@@GoodMorningMagic 🙏

[@Yunas_Jet]

Not had a chance to watch the whole video yet but I do want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for making the enemy signet lands (ferrous lake, etc) real finally. They're unironically my favourite land cycle and now it's complete I'm putting them in ALL my decks. I just wish we had Doctor Who themed ones for my Jenny/Vastra deck lol

[@Yunas_Jet]

Also I love/hate the new full art commanders. Love that they exist, hate that that's the only printing of them. As someone who insists on only playing foil normal frame commanders it really throws off my vibe lol

[@Yunas_Jet]

Lmao ok Trees Company has to make it to print someday that's amazing

[@francescognerre2408]

The commander decks have been really good as of late. Every set since MoM (including the non standard ones) have had at least one deck that I was really interested in

[@SnowElf_96]

I had four tree's for company during my stay in Seattle when I visited last year.

[@ShadowSilverBlade]

Great Video Gavin! Seeing all these plant and Trees related card, really makes me wanna start my own Company focused on perserving the ecosystem.

[@ducdurben]

I really enjoy the change of the face commander being special art instead of the credit card. Good luck with your t(h)ree's company deck!

[@admiralsky56]

I do absolutely love the custom sol rings for this set- I'm glad to hear these are going to pop up more frequently! Since they show up in every precon, sol ring (and maybe arcane signet 👀) feels like the perfect place to add a little flavor for the plane. Also super excited to get my Yuma deck! (and yes love the full art commanders, though I will miss the thick ones a bit because I tend to use them like art cards to display cool mtg art) EDIT: After watching the video, I was wondering if you could speak to when/how the decision is made regarding who the face commanders are (especially in relation to the progress of the lore team)? I'm just curious because yuma had a fantastic dedicated side story (which, along with my love of land decks, was what really compelled me to get the deck), stella was a side character in a story, and then olivia/gonti didn't show up in the thunder junction story.

[@bakerbakura]

This was fun to listen to while having dinner. When I look out the window I see that Tree Is Company

[@bondeulv]

Big fan of the in universe reprints you mention a bit after giving us the keyword for the video ^^ And I really liked that you finished the signet land cycle in Fallout and got them in these decks as well.

[@danielvargas3793]

I really appreciate the acknowledgment of why Nashi didn’t get a new card being largely internal development timing stuff. Seeing him get a story was my favorite part of OTJ, but waiting through all the reveals and eventually realizing he didn’t get a card was the most disappointing part personally, since he’s my favorite mtg character. Definitely excited for whenever he comes back though! And a fantastic video overall, I super enjoyed it!

[@resolvegaming2263]

Hey Gavin, thanks for talking through the decks. I'm curious how much focus is put on the identities of the face commanders when you're coming up with the decks? I was surprised to see Gonti in Green (Blue feels reasonable already), and i was also surprised to see the outlaws face card be Olivia as it's strange she doesn't care about Vampires at all given that's been her main theme historically. Is there a bit of give and take in that you want to use known characters even if that means pushing them slightly out of their usual space? On a personal aside, it was a shame that the Grand Larceny deck went Blue/Black/Green as I have Jeleva deck which is focused on only casting opponents cards and the chaos of that has always felt far more Red than Green. Does open the archetype up to another style of deck though and I suspect there may still be some cards in there I can mess around with. Thanks for the videos, as always :). Tree's Company :)

[@hectormancer]

I'm casting Resurrection to bring back your bones from the dust ! We still need you and your awesome videos , Gavin !

[@ChillSwan]

I picked up the Gonti and Stella Lee precons. Steal/Theft is my favourite style of gameplay, beating people with their own dudes is deeply satisfying. I did however feel a little let down with the ceiling of Gonti himself compared to the other commanders and Felix for a few reasons: - no protection on a 5 drop commander, Felix got it with arguably more powerful effect, Gonti could have easily been 4 mana I feel for a 4/4 or 2/4 deathtouch or something with the same effects. - generally max 3 cards per turn from his ability that don't synergise for the price of antagonising everyone and that's only if you were actually able to get in with 3 creatures. - no keywords feels quite sad personally. While I appreciate there is only so much space in that text box, the cost reduction didn't feel super necessary given the rampy nature of being in green and almost always hitting your land drops with opponents lands if he sticks around, id have much preferred that space filled with Ward 2 and a keyword like Felix had, maybe death touch and lower the power so he can go into the zone sometimes or any other keyword befitting Gonti being in sultai. This at 5 mana with the current one or more rider would have still been reasonable in my eyes. Justification for why Ward 2 would be reasonable is that theft commanders usually draw a lot of removal by their nature, it is somewhat unjust in my opinion as they usually don't get a lot of synergy out of the cards they take. Card draw would be better than "gonti-ing" in almost all cases for decks without a theft theme and fairly regularly it is better even for theft decks as it draws them into to targeted theft which is better usually than "gonti-ing". Yet people really don't like to lose one of 99 cards in their deck (see peoples reactions to mill in commander for an example of this) just in case it was their best card or a super important piece when ~50% of the time its actually a land or ramp and very very infrequently a card they desperately need to see play over any other of their cards. The theft theme is a pet favourite of mine but I am still searching for the perfect commander, this Gonti was a near miss for me. I would be curious if you or anyone else had any opinions on the design of this card in particular or any commentary on theft commanders in general.

[@bryceduyvewaardt8136]

I for one wanted two say that I really like the redesign of white ramp and Tree’s Company is indeed a cute name 🌵

[@SifSehwan]

While I personally skipped these precons and I buy a lot of them, because there aren't many cards I want and I don't like the setting/art direction I have to admit these are very well made. It's good to see a nice mix of casual and powerful commanders for once. Full art commanders is a nice change. If you are adding new art for specific cards consider adding them as full art to collector's boosters, some new art is nice but is very hard to replace for people with blinged out decks.

[@JasonOshinko]

Why wouldn't Wayta and Felix have worked in the prior rules? What specifically was changed to make them work? I noticed Slither Blade is still a Naga. Was the plan scrapped to errata that creature type to Snake?

[@Medicinalmagic911]

Shout out from YUMA Arizona!! 🎉🎉❤❤ needs cataclysm. 30:33. More palm trees in Yuma than 🌵 but hey trees company.

[@robertmitchell8052]

Awesome work as always @GoodMorningMagic cheers! Where is the art in your playmat from?

[@GoodMorningMagic]

It's from this story in Houston I love called Coral Sword!

[@robertmitchell8052]

@@GoodMorningMagic Cheers for the reply, it's a very cool mat. Also I understand the initial concern about making Grand Larceny; theft can be salt-inducing. But yeah, given it's from library it's much "nicer", so that's fine. I'd love to see another dedicated theft deck in Grixis, then you can include Etali and Stolen Strategy (I don't count Don Andres as the deck wasn't built around him). Have a good one!

[@gabriellecureux5528]

You know what that explains why i like this set of of commander decks Was a big fan of both of both of those set

[@fractalsloth]

(the way this gets phrased it sounds like a loaded question, sorry) In the Commander Chronicles on the second set of PW decks, you mentioned the need to commit to a theme after people hated the back up commanders not being lands matter themed. Why was the back up commander for the yuma deck also not a lands matter theme? Also, are there other payoffs in the works for land decks that don't involve also being a go-wide tokens deck?

[@davidmacarthur705]

They’ve changed their stance on the back up commanders, going back to wanting them to do something different then the face commanders while playing well with the face commanders

[@johnstevens6063]

Gavin, why is it that only one of the decks is really playable? i was really disappointed about most wanted in particular

[@DakrahWizard]

Yeah gonna need more of these and commander chronicles please. Tree's company.

[@simonisphording]

Hey Gavin! Question unrelated to the video: wasn't there going to be a pauper format panel video last month? Is it still on the way?

[@GoodMorningMagic]

Still coming!

[@MysticLeviathan]

disappointed in no horsemanship at all. was there any discussion about making a horsemanship/mount themed deck?

[@garethNP]

The trees company is always appreciated

[@craigcaski]

Always look forward to these videos!

[@Fake_Name_MTG]

A Trees Company card would be great in a Dad Jokes build.

[@villageflippinidiot]

You know, i loved threes company back in the day. I wish it stayed called tree's company!

[@dariocampanella7992]

Indemnity angel is great for my ghirred deck and possible inclusion for gisela broken blade. I consider tree company as another inclusion but is a little off theme. The lack of sudden substitution in the gonti deck is outlaw!

[@TheCommandSphere]

Hey Gavin, It is my dream to be a card designer for Magic, but I don't know how to get started doing that. Do you have any tips or information on how to become a designer. Where does one apply and look for positions?

[@TheLord_of_ForbiddenDecks]

I'm really not enjoying being destroyed by these precons...any clue when the power creep will come down?

[@3OOM9]

trees company seems like a great pun. I can see a new formed group that plants trees for society calling themselfe that

[@mibs9151]

I do wish they would print Trees company, but vengeful regrowth is also quite good

[@finks1]

Please never change the art for the commander classic Temple of the False God! It will make it too hard to find and instantly remove from my deck.

[@fuzsyskunk4252]

I watch lots and lots of your videos but this the first time I felt like actually bothering to post that I watched the entire thing because four new Commander decks are awesome but tree is company 😏

[@TravisGafford]

Tree's company

[@GoodMorningMagic]

And fern's a crowd

[@matthugenberg8869]

Awwww booooo, tree's company is the best name and it definitely should have been the real name of that card. XD

[@RodRombauer]

That little tree's so cute and brings back a treefolk each turn and no treefolk tribal cards main deck like Rootgrapple? I feel like I'm in good company when i say that's a big miss. =)

[@endersgamer72]

I preordered the spellslinger and outlaw decks before they were spoiled, lol

[@grumpycroc]

The third commander deck I built was Doran the Siege Tower and I call it Tree's Company.

[@obsidiansiriusblackheart]

Trees deserve some company too

[@matthewkoehler6079]

Trees company but four is a grove.

[@AsmodeusTyr]

I know that I'm in the minority here, but I hate the new full-art commanders. I generally don't like any kind of special treatment and was actually quite disappointed that these full-art cards aren't additionally included next to a normal foil card for the commanders but are the only treatment you'll get. More options are always better of course, so I hope that there'll be at least the option to have a normal foil card as your commander in future precons.

[@benjaminlehman3221]

18:30 the only good thing about the THICK cards is the reserved list. Reprint Sliver Queen as a commander.

[@K9affirmative]

What on earth is the purpose of the "Sample Pack" in these products? It genuinely feels like a transparent attempt to justify charging $45 for them when we've had great precons for half the price in the past.

[@benjaminlehman3221]

Why isn’t QUEEN Marchesa a noble?

[@Bivanqw]

To be honest when pre-ordering the Grand Lacerny Sultai deck, I was expecting generate manas and steal things at the end. However this deck is basically steal the top cards of player, which prolongs the game even more! Do the designer even have friends to play with? We want decks to interact, not lose friends! I see so many people play with "commander hidden rules" , and this deck is straight up unplayable because everyone will be aiming at this deck... Now i felt wasted to buy or upgrade the deck, because they will remove me first.

[@michaelbecker1093]

Anybody think it's funny how they would make a theft deck in the time where webcam Commander is a viable option

[@Gaming_Antics]

If you’re making commander decks and do not put certain cards into the commander decks, because of the secondary market, you are just diminishing the quality of your products and lessen the chance those products get sold. Here’s a story about the secondary market. Around 2006, a certain game big well known gaming store began to buy out dual lands and other reserve list cards and resold them at many times the price, up to 10x, 20x the price. They kept doing that until other people were also doing buyouts and flipping the cards too. Now, the whole secondary market has become an artificial demand pricing. Forget the secondary market and just print a product with good reprint cards, so your products are guaranteed to be popular and not sitting in local gaming stores. Remember, local gaming store cannot survive on bad products, if the stores close down, Wizards lose sells and promoters.

[@dragoncpu2226]

There was a pbs show back when I was a little wee lad. It was company something. Might have been trees company

[@brianstewart2684]

I love you guys getting rid of the thick commander and giving us a Blinged out commander instead makes it feel like a deck of mine out of the boxes since you know us commander players love are bling

[@counterspellgoon6854]

FINISH THE TANGO LANDS

[@williamsimkulet7832]

9:00 This should have been a land card. You should have done a cycle of colored [outlaw lands] @ (U) for these precons, and spread them across each evenly. You know... something interesting.

[@DAsrada]

Hey guys I'm gonna build Most Wanted. Should I count Professional Facebreaker and Grim Hireling as ramp?

[@doomclaw9787]

Yes especially in multiplayer where on turn 4 face breaker with menace can usually connect at least once.

[@doomclaw9787]

Also you might want to consider Gimli of the Glittering Caves as trees a company

[@DAsrada]

@@doomclaw9787 I've got Zhentarim Bandit on 2 mana, Ragavan on 1 mana.

[@doomclaw9787]

@@DAsrada yeah those are good ramp.

[@jl2704]

Suzanne somers inspired commander deck? Trees company?

[@konuas]

What did the willows say to the pine? Trees company!

[@MrShinyObject]

I really wanted to buy the Izzet deck after seeing the character on the box art, but then her card art didn't have her wielding a crossbow, which really killed my interest in the deck.

[@cameronrattray4374]

Wow, those bounty cards sure seem interesting. So clearly, each pre-con comes with the required 6 that the ruels state in order to use them, right? Seriously I know Hasbro's greedy as heck so it really shouldn't surprise me that in order to use this new mechanic meant for multiplayer I have to buy two of them. Or convince an entire pod to each go in on a precon. Also, I don't know who playtest these decks, but clearly, this must have not come up. Giving a deck one double-sided token to represent both halves of a single card effect like Nesting Dragon. "Is that an egg or a dragon?" Idk. The deck only came with one.

[@roger18975smith]

Tree’s Company.

[@Coliteral]

Trees company

[@ildlyn8966]

first thing i did was throw out the bounty cards.

[@unluckysoul1371]

Gonti; Stealing cards feels bad no matter how you do it. If someone pays $50 for a card and somebody else pays $50 for a deck and you get that card stolen and used against you it makes the most chill ppl want to break your face. Spells that Exile your card and you get treasure or a copy equal to the card in some way feels more magical than i steal your tv and watch it in front of you. Some cards that steal are ok but a whole deck feels bad but gonti looks very cool if you want to play this deck you have to have high charisma.

[@DigitalinDaniel]

Can you please stop making the face commanders unavailable as regular-frame non-foil cards? I literally wont buy any of these decks, nor have I bought any of the foil-only commanders. It makes no sense, you manage to print a few like Lathril and Ranar as non-foil regular cards in the collector packs before... but most of them are only available as foil or some sort of gaudy gimmick.

[@counterspellgoon6854]

FINISH THE TANGO LANDS

[@counterspellgoon6854]

FINISH THE TANGO LANDS