Commander in 2024... So Far | EDHRECast 313

How are 2024's Commander offerings stacking up?
Want access to exclusive content, the Challenge the Stats spreadsheet, EDHRECast Discord, and more? Support the cast on Patreon! / edhrecast
Want to see the decks we play? Check them out here: edhrec.com/articles/edhrecast...
Follow the cast on socials:
@EDHRECast
@JosephMSchultz
@danaroach
@mathimus55
General: bit.ly/EDHRECast
Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/EDHRECastApple
Spotify: bit.ly/EDHRECastSpotify
Google Podcasts: bit.ly/EDHRECastGoogle

[@CrabBaskets]

I really love this video format of doing like quarterly vibe checks in place of set reviews in years past! Absolutely fantastic!

[@adrianj8370]

Same set reviews are so over saturated

[@sean21209]

@@adrianj8370if you do set reviews, unless you’re doing daily videos, your channel just becomes a set review channel now

[@TedMattos]

I'm glad to see Matt, Dana, and Joey dune so well.

[@TeaGarrison]

Ive heard a lot of players talking about how recent sets don’t “feel like Magic” and I kinda agree. I started playing as a kid and the aesthetic was a huge part of what drew me in. After taking a break and then returning last year, Magic feels very different now for me too.

[@lightfut]

The dune puns 👌

[@sweatyluxury4701]

I love the intro hearing Dana laugh in the background.

[@gabrielharvey956]

Edhrec is an elaborate scheme to tell dad jokes and get away with it each week lol

[@iryanmadayana1904]

I would like to propose a Challenge the Stats! Among decks for Rhonas the Indomitable, currently only 22 of the decks run Majestic Myriarch. And this number should be higher. Why is that card amazing for Rhonas? Well, Rhonas has deathtouch and indestructible. So the Myriarch will automatically have two of the strongest creature keywords (and can acquire more depending on other cards in the deck). Meanwhile, if you control the myriarch and Rhonas, then you have at least 2 creatures, making the myriarch a creature with at least 4 power. This automatically fulfills the prerequisite for Rhonas to attack or block. It's a perfect match! -Iry

[@joewaid]

Having a peaceful transition of Challenge the Stats puts me on edge... it's like when your parents always argue, and it feels wrong when they don't

[@deaconobvious]

Dana in with the UHF reference. Brother, rest easy, you are seen.

[@Cheesewiz]

This year I deliberately jumped off the non-stop Magic Hype Train, to actually dedicate that precious Magic time to focus on playing way more games with great people! Honestly never had more fun 🍻

[@CrabBaskets]

This year as well as last year I've been way more excited about the commons and uncommons with each set over the rares and legendaries. From what we have seen so far this year, I really love Hard-Hitting Questions and Pick Your Poison as more ways in green to remove creatures.

[@Momo_pstat4]

Tato farmer is a massively underrated card for self mill landfall decks. I made a simic selfmill/ landfall deck recently… and that thing slaps. I can mill 10+ cards a turn easily

[@OneMoreMana]

So like who do we talk to in order to have "Bruh" score voting alongside the salt score votes?

[@nathanpavolko5861]

My best friend made a dune themed deck with Hazezon at the helm. Had worms in it and all. Super fun to play against too

[@thriftypsgr]

7:07 that was one of the best openings ever. It felt the most relaxed and natural that I have seen. Keep that up! I laughed so hard l.

[@magiqbeenz4436]

I agree with Joey and Dana with waiting for Bloomburrow. It's giving me major Redwall vibes, and I'm here for it.

[@EDZ1LLA]

Love to see the One More Mana shoutout. Those guys are great!

[@sheahon1179]

Between the absolutely insane amount of product that they've been pumping out since Ikoria, all the universes beyond, and the "Magic the Hattening," I find myself kinda lukewarm on magic right now. I appreciate the break to slow down and take a breath and ask how many sets has it been since I went over my decklists again. But I do admit that the gimmicks haven't been my favorite lately. Karlov Mannor really felt out of place, like it gave me good cards in Massacre Girl and Judith and Aurelia and all, but as a set, as a whole, this felt like it was supposed to be New Capenna. I wish it had been because I love NC it's a cool plane with plenty of awesome lore and world to explore. But yeah, I need this break, but it definitely feels like I'm still waiting for the first set of the year.

[@110019a]

I would say very wrong about the surveil lands they are so good even if you dont want to put it in the graveyard better then the temples

[@Fluffy_Kun]

To answer your question at 9:00 Dana, the tapped desert lands are amazing with scavenger grounds in my budget Marchesa crime deck. They cause a crime and can be sac offed to scavenger grounds, however their is better desert lands than these if your using scavenger grounds. Use the new desert explosive vegetation to get scavenger grounds and arid archway or the many other desert lands.

[@shaydeinsun]

If you guys would compile all the challenge the stats into their own videos I think that those videos would perform well. Even if it was just once a quarter or like an annual thing.

[@hanschristopherson8056]

The dune puns were too good 😂

[@burningpapersun1]

The emblem for big score cards remind me of the enterprise.

[@xTobsecretx]

My friend has a Mirko clones deck and it’s such a cool deck honestly! He plays creatures with up to 2 attack and ho boy is there some spicy stuff. Hostage taker, that octopus whose name I forgot. Lots of cool shit!

[@obsidiansiriusblackheart]

46:17 one thing you didn't mention about Unexplained Absence: Elesh Norn turns this card into a targeged removal per player with zero downside

[@BroncosDaBomb19]

On the challenge the stats section, clones in Mirko are so fun! I grasped onto that idea the second I saw the precon and them being so versatile (like Spark Double becoming another Mirko even) makes the deck a ton of fun and made Mirko one of my favorite commanders of the past year.

[@jaya-prime]

Y'all nailed it! Arid Mesa having the Desert type adds an entirely different vector, as Sand Scout acts as a 2 MV Kodama's Reach for mono-white, or "Search your library for a desert" becomes ramp for 2, not to mention the other bounce effects that pay off with it. Been loving OTJ!

[@RibusPQR]

Speaking of power creep, Archdruid's Charm has 3 modes that do 5 things.

[@samuelgreen2443]

Loved the ending discussion. You’re right about magic’s audience growing. I’ve been playing since August and when someone says “this doesn’t feel like a magic set” my first question is “well, what is a magic set?”. I’d love a set that explains who Liliana is… not just the purple necromancer lady. Who is Jace? How was a story told in previous sets? What IS Magics actual universe? I can spend hours watching Spice8Rack videos or Wizards could try to onboard all us new folks on this awesome IP!

[@harryyeatman5718]

Surveil lands are insanely good, you don't need to be using a graveyard strategy at all for them to be busted.

[@jacquesdespadas]

Just like how we hope for land cycles to be completed, I really wish WotC would revisit mechanics with more consistency.

[@Woollieriowa8]

the new catchup ramp tech mixed with deserts for scavenger grounds has been great for my boros deck. Especially good with sevinne's reclaimation since deserts often end up in the yard. The new dual color desert and the archway are massive redundancies for all of them. so much land value in boros!

[@Wojtek36762]

I think those cheap overruns look good for my Hakbal deck. That deck doesn’t ramp a lot but always hits land drops, and I don’t necessarily want to wait for the very late game for a big hit. Overwhelming Encounter potentially giving counters is even better in decks with any kind of counter synergy (and the Mothman precon just came with four counter increasers, they’re cheaper than I’ve ever seen them). Even if having a mid game buff like that helps Hakbal have an attack when he wouldn’t otherwise, that draws me a card and already pays for itself.

[@shawnpanzegraf5642]

I’m an absolutely obsessive Mono Green +1/+1 counters player, so I’ve tried subbing out O. Stampede or Triumph for Overwhelming Encounter, and my results at least were generally coming up a bit short of ending my last opponent, *but* being set better for their retaliation. It kinda came out to six of one, half a dozen of the other, *except* in those cases where someone, say, saved the table with a Fog-effect. *Then* I was super glad for O. Encounter having given everything Vigilance, of course. For someone who doesn’t already have Triumph and O. Stampede, though? Definitely *definitely* a slot where you can save some $$ to afford expensive bruisers or one of the many low-teens enchants you need for so many base-Green decks. Least that’s my mileage, YMMV.

[@chillinon3263]

Joey isn’t that hot on Outlaws commander decks but wow, Quick Draw might be the only precon I’ve ever not wanted to immediately dismantle, it’s so much fun to find storm lines even this unoptimised product

[@brenp403]

My Mirko Clones deck is one of my most powerful (casual) decks, which surprised me... ~ 16 creatures/artifacts that Loot (to get card filtering and get clones and other creatures into the graveyard) ~ 16-18 clones (including the ones Joey mentioned in the vid) ~ 6 bombs with evasion and strong ETBs. I pref ETBs that ping/burn or act as removal (good clone targets, non-legendary is ideal, but having a few legends is ok too if the ETB is strong enough. Think Archon of Cruelty. Then think of cloning it a bunch of times, reanimating after a board wipe and doing it again. Or Gary.) ~ Reanimator package to cheat in bombs after discarding them via looting (i.e. victimize works great if looters have outlived usefulness) Notes: - you can add a package to ignore the legendary rule, but I've found it to be less impactful - if you can add cards like help your decks main goal (looting, reanimating, cloning) but also pump Mirko as another way to reanimate bombs, I've found it useful. Same goes for protection and removal spells etc. - a package to remove finality counters was useful, but ended up removing it entirely since things like flicker can do the job and also retrigger ETBs or let you choose new clone targets - goes without saying that since you're in dimir you'll want a juicy package of instants/interaction

[@Dragon_Fyre]

I’m surprised they didn’t mention Simulacrum Synthesizer from the big score cards which while far more impactful in 60 card formats, is probably the most absurdly OP card in 2024 and over $50 already.

[@Blacklodge_Willy]

It's a slam dunk in Urza and Mishra decks especially!

[@nikothecat4500]

28:14 Overwhelming Encounter actually seems really good in a Sovereign Okinec deck, especially if you’re building around +1/+1. With the commander out, at worst its a +4/+4 buff to the board, at its best you could be putting 8 counters or more on all of your creatures

[@dullestpenguin4151]

I like that you guys talk about cards the average player will actually play.

[@ClexYoshi]

It's okay, Joey. I understand. not everyone has tiem to consume every seminal work, and... the dune jokes went over my head too!

[@andrewfornes5320]

Nexus of Becoming is so good in a tribal Golem deck. Allowing you to use cards outside of the Golem Typal that gives great etbs or attack triggers.

[@dullestpenguin4151]

Your point at the end is totally how I've felt. For me, I've discovered I can like a set without caring about the lore.

[@VexylObby]

44:00 Even a year ago, I saw that white had caught up in ramp and draw. I think we might have asked for too much. Because white is the best removal color, and now has just as much fuel.

[@broodwarjc1517]

Overwhelming Encounter is actually really good as a green finisher and probably the best non-combo overrun effect. Vigilance and (a good chance) for a permanent buff really push it up a peg over the others. As for why some cards don't pop off right away (like Grim Repear's Sprint) I think is because we have gotten so MANY good and new cards recently. It becomes expensive and time consuming to keep having to update my decks with the new tech every week. Bloomburrow definitely is the set I am waiting for as something that feels like the first true MTG set of the year (I was okay with some of these first sets, but they feel goofy).

[@g_grunz]

Prof's vid on the mini sets is perfect. Wotc saw we didn't like the epilogue boosters and solved the issue of already having new ones built in the most ass backwards way. All they had to do was reduce the price of the mini set boosters, and instead they shoved a fairly large card pool of 2 mini sets into ONE slot of regular boosters.

[@joelmacgregor2615]

Let’s shout out the good reprints thus far this year, including terror of the peaks

[@thork_tv]

Smugglers surprise was Put in my Hans Eriksson Deck AS soon AS i opened it, wich was on the prerelease weekend. note it was Not in my seald pool. There i only Had the goldvein Hydra railway brawler and three steps ahead

[@burningpapersun1]

I use grim reapers sprint in my anzrag deck.

[@PortestdorFlamvoldt]

I particularly enjoyed the weekly patron shadout mapes this week

[@thork_tv]

Good Point in the scavenger grounds. I still cannot understand that some people think bog is a better piece of grave hate. Bojuka bog: +No Mana cost +/- Single target, leaves your Yard Just fine, would Not Stop a rise of the DARK realms - sorcery Speed - one Shot Effekt -tappt Land Is played in 620k Decks, 31% Scavenger grounds: + Instand Speed + Multiple uses + Untappt Land + Colorless +/- Hits all graves - costs about 3 Mana and a Land (3 Mana is about Premium removel) - needs to sac Deserts Is played in 140k decks, 4% I dont get why bog is played in sooo many more decks. Why?

[@AdmiralSnakbar77]

Dana really put into words for me when he said "I feel like I'm still waiting for the first Magic Set of the year." I'm really missing the high fantasy with an emphasis on storytelling. LCI was the last set to do it for me, and even then, the story was okay.

[@eveninghat8715]

Thank you for pointing out the unscrupulous contractor to me! That and the new Rutstein are going right into my Karador deck

[@WarrickRanger]

I’m with Dana on Overwhelming Encounter. I opened one and it slid right into my Selesnya tokens deck

[@Thespqr1997]

is my favorite thing still coming? absolutly! i mean devoid eldrazi! i have been praying & hoping for sth like that since i made my 5 colour colourless eldrazi deck in 2020 (just to find myself in the lockdown the week after having it put together...that was a real bummer at the time)

[@michaelcollins4534]

MKM may have been a dud, but doppelgang is my favorite card probably ever released. Such a sweet design

[@T_Peazy]

5:50 not the shai-halussy

[@d.a.d.-ohgosh]

Comment section Challenging of the stats here. Just throwing it out there. The Irencrag sees 1% of play in decks it could be in. It's Colorless so i kinda get it, but it's a 2 drop rock that taps for Colorless with the upside of turning into an equipment for equip 3 and gives+3/+3. Happens when a legendary hits the field under your control. *Cough* your Commander *Cough*. It says at the end "and loses all other abilities". People might be noping this card thinking it nullifies the equipped creature's abilities. No sir. The Irencrag itself loses all other abilities (tapping for mana) when it turns into Everflame. Just a solid mana rock turning into an equipment when you don't need it as a rock in the mid-late to late game. So good!

[@Blacklodge_Willy]

I loooove Vaultborn Tyrant and Nexus of Becoming!

[@bkyang624]

I thought Matt was going to say the car was a dune buggy. Haha!

[@BurgerSmother]

I think nexus of becomming is going to be SUPER sweet in an extra combat deck. Stuff it into Karlach + Green stompy and for six mana cheat into play 2 huge creatures with powerful statics and etbs. I dont even necessarily think the 3/3 body is a downside since there are a ton of creatures that augment their own power, not to mention stuff like craterhoof and pathbreaker makes all those dumb 3/3s very scary very fast. Also gets way scarier once you put token doublers into the deck if youre already doing a treasure subtheme or the like. Card is going to do some work in the right deck.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

I grabbed a Nexus of Becoming for my Yennett deck. It’s going to be fun… 😊

[@Blacklodge_Willy]

I picked it up for Ghired!

[@Z-S-H]

as a non fallout fan the best part of that set was absolutely the lands

[@janderson9413]

You call them "signet lands," but I call them "bad filter lands." Hopefully they'll finish some actually good land cycles soon (like the bicycle lands).

[@patdion1161]

It's okay Joey, I have also not seen Dune 2, or the first. Will I? Tune in to find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!!!

[@Dragon_Fyre]

I think you might be missing out… Dune is alot like Dragonball Z. 3 hours later and nothing happened…

[@LeBecBec]

Yesss Unscrupulous Contractor! Love that card! Let my graveyard grow! (And draw me cards!)

[@creditroll176]

for dana’s challenge, i think that viviens stampede is another good alternative

[@d.a.d.-ohgosh]

Joey: don't yell at me Internet! Internet: I'm an internet. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

[@jenniferpeet2748]

Me, who hasn't seen either dune movie: can't believe Joey hasn't seen dune 2, smh

[@mfsoab]

Don't have a problem with new sets and a bit of power creep, I just wish we could go back to the basic 4 sets a year plus a few selected bonus products instead of the constant flooding that's happening since at least 2021. The aesthetics bothered me some times, but I just grew to ignore it. If a card I want to play doesn't vibe with me I can just print a new artwork and stick it on the inner sleeve, or make a whole custom proxy.

[@Uri6060]

It feels like in newer sets, they just go craaazy with big mana creatures since they know that people wont play em in standard but its jsut aaaah

[@AlwaysGrowing0]

My favorite card of 2024 so far is Roar of Resistance.

[@imaginarymatter]

Grim Reaper's Sprint is a strong card. The problem is that it's a strong card because extra combat effects are strong and there's 30+ other cards that give additional combat phases that Grim Reaper's Sprint has to compete against for a slot. And those other cards are probably better. They are either on permanents that are easier to chain into multiple combat phases or infinite combat phases or have additional utility. Even the bog standard one-use Sorcery versions of additional combat step cards don't suffer the risk of being blown out by a removal spell used in response to the creature being enchanted. Even if you specifically want an Aura version of an extra combat phase Breath of Fury is probably the better choice.

[@minine6508]

Im gonna be that fallout fan, because I definitely am: I genuinely didn’t think we were gonna get any cards for fallout 1, fallout 2 or even new vegas because none of those were Bethesda games. And while some of the cards seemed a little arbitrary or weird (Ian for example), I was still so delighted that they gave us so many cards referencing those games. Nowadays it feels like the only fallout games that exist to Bethesda are 4 and 76

[@jeppekjr4618]

Your point about Bloomburrow is so right! I’ve never been this excited for a magic set before, and the fact that we haven’t gotten a “real” set in a while, just gets me more hyped

[@cablefeed3738]

I'm finding it really annoying. We're calling outlaws at thunder junction, not a real set War of the spark is a real set just because thunder junction is more like war of the spark doesn't mean it's not a real set

[@andrewpeli9019]

I like seeing some dies effects that are just stapled on, such as Vaultborn Tyrant. I feel like creatures rarely die with all the exile effects these days. You can barely play a card that just has a dies effect these days because of those.

[@kitsung03]

MTG 2024 - Year of the Hats MKM - Clue hats Thundergun - Cowboy hats Bloomburrow - Fursuits

[@Tuss36]

For the statements near the end, I think the real issue is that we got two narrow-themed sets in a row that has rubbed players the wrong way, especially among Universes Beyond stuff. 'Cause we've had several Magic takes on themes like Theros, Innistrad, Eldraine, Kaldheim, etc. which have worked out and many enjoy. Muders and Junction I think were simply attempts at that, but there just wasn't enough meat there outside the references. Which is a shame, especially for Junction since a Wild West plane was the most in-demand theme for a while. But unlike something like Eldraine, where you can just have "a knight" or "a fairie" among all the fairy tale references, *everything* in Junction feels "westernized" which makes the theme feel overly present. Same with Murders, with the meme about everyone wearing detective hats. Even New Capena at least had different flavours of mobsters, even if the constant crime felt off.

[@shryke1013]

Grim reapers sprint is an awesome card. I would play it in a second. Sadly it's universes beyond, and there is a good contingent of people who won't play those.

[@anthonycrew2239]

I love overwhelming encounter, although I feel like every time I have suggested it people look at me like I have lost all sense of my sanity

[@user-tc9fn9ux2u]

Joey probably thinks that Edric looks more like an elf and not like a meerfolk :D

[@unseeliedream42]

Dune is an amazing book - I cannot stress it enough. especially for someone smart and curious, it unveils a world. I can't think anything nicer than having to still read and discover that amazing world, so do yourself a favor and read it

[@islarf5095]

I must ask, i struggle a lot for the past while to find a commander/deck i enjoy playing that people at my lgs are ok playing against. Were not high power, and mid.

[@enricogobbo7327]

During a draft I saw a 6/5 trample... For 4 mana? Oook that's pretty strong, then I saw vaultborn tyrant😢

[@Matazuma]

Starts at 6:46

[@magnusprime962]

It's okay Joey, I love the original book and I still didn't immediately get Matt's Dune joke. Your fans won't desert you.

[@ajaydassani9931]

Nissan al ghahib 😅😂

[@debbid]

Matt could have used "Beast RaBun" for the haircut joke lol

[@shanaeverowe9626]

Don't worry, all I remember dune being was a kinda mid book. Glad to hear someone tried to make it interesting

[@gordonbusseau9349]

Joey!!! How dare!!! GO TO YOUR ROOM AND READ THE BOOKS!!

[@MatthewOstergren]

Joey, I can't believe you haven't watched Dune Part 2 yet.

[@SSolemn]

I think that we have too many cards designed for commander flooding the format (part of the fun was brewing with regular cards), and they have even commander decks in MH3.... now precons are almost a must buy if you don't engage with the Collector's boosters, and most of the time the price of one of the cards make you buy the precon even if you don't use any of the other cards.....

[@shawnpanzegraf5642]

I get people being frustrated about WotC pushing the 60 card format design considerations onto the back burner, but barring something like the # of people showing up to sanctioned Standard and Modern events spiking by +50-60%, Hasbro isn’t going to order a WotC priority-shift. 60 card magic can’t turn new players into dedicated players when box prices keep jumping upward and 30-35% of every deck is made from 30-50$ cards (minimum). It is a stupid cycle being perpetuated by WotC/Hasbro to their detriment, but there’s just too much competition out there for MtG now, with nothing like commensurate price-barriers to equivalent participation. Except for one 25 year old I’m now showing the Singles-shopping ropes to, *every* new player that’s shown up to Commander night recently is asking for Proxy-maker recommendations. If *Commander* feels too pricy for that crowd? ……

[@Haaskeer]

Not even my Gaea's Cradle is double sleeved. In my 25 years of playing this game, it never happened that someone put his 5 gallon tank of maple syrup on the table and an upsie dopsie happened. So im fine with single sleeving.

[@Byteside546]

"being a fool on insta" hurts ears every time

[@MetFreak42]

Dammit guys... now I have to go build a DUNE deck.😅❤

[@ianshevlin299]

I dont get the general outrage at molten duplication its twinflame with artifacts instead of strive

[@raonair]

Don't worry Joey, I also haven't watched Dune, neither do I want to

[@thomtuck]

Dana... that's a Weird Al joke, surely. #uhf

[@dustinmartin648]

Personally, I don't necessarily LOVE the idea of 2 Universes Beyond sets a year. I just recently got into magic about 2 years ago and it was a blast learning about the lore and the characters and the world. But as of late it just feels like that world is getting tainted with so much extra shit that's quite literally not of our Magic world. Like, I really do enjoy the Universes Beyond Secret Lairs, especially when those cards get a Universes Within treatment! That just makes me appreciate the work they did to tip their hat to a franchise AND keep people that like the world of Magic happy. But stuff like LoTR, Fallout, Assassins Creed just feels so pushed, like "Here's something you've loved for decades and now we did it too! BUY OUR STUFF" But theres also insane power creep in modern sets... It just sucks because I'm so new and I fell in love so fast, but now there's just so much disappointment because of corporate greed 😮‍💨 and I don't even have time to enjoy a set because the next 3 sets have already been spoiled and there's a new set coming out in a week, but didnt I just play the prerelease for the previous set a week ago? But who cares because here comes more spoilers.. Just so much stuff... too much, too be fair.

[@SocratesSenpai]

Only liked for the Dune jokes

[@bryankopkin6869]

Yeah the first time I read Vaultborn Tyrant I did say bruh

[@ajaydassani9931]

Battlebond lands or surveill lands?

[@stephenbradford8524]

Oh no. Bloomburrow better not suck.