How Good Are the Meld Commanders? | The Brothers' War | The Command Zone 500 | Magic Commander EDH

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Show Notes:
The Brothers’ War features legends so powerful they can’t be contained on just one card. This episode, we’re breaking down the Meld Commanders from Magic’s newest set to see just what we get for all our hard work. Are the synergies and combos worth the trouble? How powerful are the front faces on their own? Come find out what these fusible cards can do!
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Relevant Links:
The Professor:
Twitter:@TolarianCollege
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Abbott and Costello Who's on First:
• Who's on First?
Lexi
Socials: @blackgirlmage
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Socials @Graham_LRR
Ashlen Rose:
Socials: @AshlenRose
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[@bulbasaurappreciator]

Sad to see you go Ashlen, thanks for all you've done for the channel. I think the Ixalan episode where everyone cosplayed was one of my favorite moments with her. Best of luck in the future.

[@alanregis6792]

Wishing you all the best, Ashlen! May the Eldrazi grant you all the success in your new opportunity!

[@justinanderson2631]

Thanks for all the hard work you did Ashlen! Here's hoping you enjoy your new line of work! My favorite moment with you was when you played Phyrexian Arena...Which is to say every game!

[@marconator360]

Ash, wish you the best in your career! Hope to see you on the show again soon!

[@c0barsm]

Great Episode guys! Sad to hear that Ashlen is moving on, but she will be missed. Ashlen, your enthusiasm and joy have been felt by me in every episode you have been part of, and doubtlessly many many things I am not even aware of! Good luck with everything you do in life!

[@starmanda88]

Congrats on 500 my friends! Couldn’t happen to better people! I’ve been here since the beginning and it’s been a blast watching you grow. Here’s to even crazier heights!!! ❤❤

[@elliottroose4194]

Congrats on 500, @CommandZonePodcast!! Here's to 500 more

[@Spinoguy03]

Was hoping some kind of special episode was going to happen... but Meld is pretty special in a way I guess

[@Snaglbeest]

It's a pretty well known quantity, but if you use Titania's animate ability on Inkmoth Nexus you can pump it up and then pay one single mana to turn it into an infect flier and use it as a kill strike.

[@rhysfuuma4640]

Best of luck in your new endeavor Ashlen. So many great episodes of Game Knights and Xtra Turns with you in them. Will be looking forward to any special guest appearances you make on here in the future.

[@ErikTheRedd1]

6:30 actual discussion

[@moedark4390]

I love how the biggest mtg channel hasnt said a single word about 30th anniversary ..ts like the nicest thing we can do for you wizards is pretend its not there.

[@1ntegrator]

Sorry to disagree. I think they should comment critically on it. And also they are not the biggest MTG channel

[@ssriceboat]

Ashlen Nooooo! Good for you and congrats! but Nooooo! I'm always pumped when I see you on GK or ET because you're one of my favorite players to watch, sad that will happen less now.

[@janmelantu7490]

1:06:42 I mean you probably don’t want to sack *all* of your lands to Zuran orb in response, then Titania would have 0 toughness and die (it doesn’t have an extra toughness like Tarmogoyf), but it’s a good idea to sack some of your lands in response

[@frostraven]

Thank you for all that you have done Ashlen! You will be missed!!!

[@arielshalem5698]

Ashlen u will be missed! Have good luck on ur next adventure 🎉

[@Stewbiwan]

I do think the Mishra meld is awesome. I may build him as commander, but I'm gonna try him out in my Isshin, Two Heavens as One deck. Double the attack triggers, great for Mishra's front side, absolutely devastating if you get to meld him. Melding him in Isshin, a bit of a tall order, but oh boy magical Christmas land if it happens!

[@Dragonshade64]

I was just thinking this. it would be awesome.

[@quintmarcelis2691]

All the best to Ashlen Rose, consider all future Phyrexian Arena plays I make in your honour, since you opened my eyes to how fun that card is.

[@InTheRedShirt]

Sad to see Ashlen go. She's always been a bright smile anytime she's on the show. Good luck in your new endeavors.

[@DuxBellorum13]

Looking forward to putting rare and meld Mishra in the Mishra Commander deck for the fun.

[@Parthet]

I feel like Titania has one advantage over the other two. A real way to recover your non-Commander meld piece if/when it gets exiled with Riftsweeper. Exiling your melded creature is a big downside, but as you said you want to have alternatives. Also being in green with lands matter gives you a lot of toolbox capabilities with things like Glacial Chasm, Boseiju, and others. I do like the combo of Rootpath and all the fetches to filter out a TON of lands very quickly. You can run all the relevant fetches, panoramas, and new capenna fetches. Lastly for alternatives I really like things like Greensleeves, Ashaya, Multani, as well as the card Awaken the Woods.

[@barneyhogue6203]

Fetches, Panoramas and Capenna Fetches all search Islands, Mountains... and not "basic lands" so that doenst work with Rootpath Purifier :/

[@Parthet]

@@barneyhogue6203 yeah my phrasing was a bit off. That should have been really 2 different thoughts. You can use Rootpath like they pointed out in the video. But apart from that all the other various fetches are good in Titania as well.

[@SingerOfW]

Just for the record, I'm pretty sure you can't play Mighstone and Weakstone in Mishra, since its backside is Urza, whose color identity is WU.

[@Onlyjesuscansave777]

Let’s u in arena

[@Ellie-Angela]

Mishra's powerstone option is probably best if you expect a removal spell on it fairly quickly? It enables you to Unearth the dragon more easily.

[@michaelshine8837]

Lady Danger's pirate Ad for indeed is a treasure

[@Jaebird88]

Currently compiling a list around Urza, Lord Protector, which I was fortunate enough to acquire via the prerelease. Just need to get The Mightstone and Weakstone.

[@TMGTCG]

gonna to miss Ashlen Rose! she is one of the best !😭

[@chrisgebben2043]

looking forward to the game knight episode i will mention this but jimmy and josh mentioned earlier on their commanders on the episode jimmy is playing - Queen Kayla bin-Kroog and josh is playing - Ashnod the Uncaring

[@maxxchop4466]

I’m surprised with all of that talk of discarding cards, playing creatures from your graveyard, and effects that give haste to the phyrexian dragon engine you didn’t mention Chainer, nightmare adept. The perfect combo!

[@ty_does]

Chainer I feel is one of those commanders who never gets mentioned but goes in like every Rakdos 99, he’s in 4 decks of mine and I’m needing a 5th already which is insane.

[@friedpinnapple]

Hes fine. He’s a reliable way to recast things in the graveyard. An important thing to note is that when you cast a card it enters the battlefield from the stack and not the graveyard. So PDE doesn’t get its wheel trigger.

[@ty_does]

@@friedpinnapple chainer isn’t just a recaster, he also is a better anger for decks like prosper or graveyard decks. Hell, that extra land in your hand on turn 9 could be useless unless chainer is out then you discard it to get a game changer out of the graveyard. His second ability is what drives him from mediocre to insane, you just need to know how to use him. Every deck he’s a part of for me loves him and uses him to his full potential every time.

[@friedpinnapple]

@@ty_does you think i have that chainer trivia randomly stored in my head? I play a nightmare adept, its one of my favorite decks. You said your self his 1st ability is mediocre, its taking advantage of both abilities that makes him good. And this doesn’t strike me as a deck that really utilize both abilities well.

[@ty_does]

@@friedpinnapple I genuinely don’t understand why you’re trying to argue with me, but if Mishra, Lost to Phyrexia gets destroyed (which it will be, because it’s a major threat) chainer just allows you to recast original Mishra, then you unearth PDE, and BAM you’ve got Mishra LtP back. Chainer is most definitely worth it in almost any rakdos colored decks, I stand my ground.

[@bashlindsay7618]

I would go for the Titania, Voice of Gaea and Argoth, Sanctum of Nature for my Lord Windgrace Deck

[@TheLivingDeadPunk]

Jimmy's shirt has me wanting a shirt with all the text from Questing Beast on it.

[@matthewjurgens6912]

A good strategy with Titania is to sac all of your lands other than Argoth to Zuran Orb on the player before you end step, while having the Titania from mh2 out to make a ton of 5/3 with pseudo haste and return all the lands back on your upkeep

[@EpicGamerz01]

I’m thinking of building the Mishra as a menace tribal deck. While he doesn’t have menace, he pays you off for creatures attacking, which generally is pretty safe for menace creatures to do

[@Gshadewolf14]

Josh be lookin like he’s bouta fight Dio Brando

[@ThatHoodlum19]

Shout out to Ashlen!! All the best in the future.

[@canoli62]

How do you not mention Sensei's Divining Top with Urza? Don't tutor the meld card - tutor top and draw your whole deck with Reality Chip or Mystic Forge giving top deck access. This card is basically its own win con.

[@jakeshortt2479]

I somehow didn't realize it was Jimmy in Bonelabs until now 😳

[@ZidaneTribal1989]

Mishra, lost to forrexia has a 120 different ways you can use its ETB trigger/attack trigger.

[@seththeace6217]

I have a Titania, protector of argoth deck and both new titanias are going to be amazing in it

[@evapilotcas]

Good luck to Ashlen, the best Eldrazi commander. Can't wait to see what is next.

[@DrOmnipotent]

Hey Congrats on 500 fam. Truly inspiring

[@sorok8742]

Bonne route ahley. I wish you the best from France

[@xxpercevaalxx2275]

I wish you all the best Ashlen. We will miss you a lot

[@nik700]

27:03 Good luck trying to path Brisela! Snarky jokes aside, congrats on 500 episodes! Edit: Best of luck to Ashlen!

[@olivierdebilde4292]

Let's spread some Ashlen love ! Good luck to you, Ashlen !

[@piecho99]

27:05, Hey Jimmy, just thought you should know that you cannot path to exile Brisela because path has a cmc of 3 or less and therefor cannot be cast.

[@herra16]

Congrats on Episode 500 guys heres to stability and longevity

[@jaredarquette6320]

Tempt with Vengence is definitely a good card honestly could just be a game ending card if you are allowed to go into combat and have mishra out

[@friedpinnapple]

Mention all the splendid reclamation effects accept for the best one, The Mending of Dominaria.

[@prestonjohnson1537]

The planeswalker side, is NOT that hard to kill. Hero's downfall? Dreadbore? Burn? I think you meant to say that it'd tricky to get through to it via combat damage. And that could be difficult if they have blockers.

[@SyouSociety]

I think for the meld cards, they are not really ideal commanders, because if the other part got exiled, the full potential is just gone. For Mishra & Engine, I think it would be very nice as part of the 99 in a Isshin deck for example 🧙‍♂️

[@Onlyjesuscansave777]

Mishra without meld is beautiful in a token goblin deck

[@damo9961]

You guys should get Rudy to do an episode of Game Knights. I know he isn't everyones cup of tea, but he is very entertaining lol.

[@ertai222]

Good luck Ashlen.

[@RoadDeerGames]

When josh talks about how exile won’t happen after a meld and then the next statement is jimmy saying the same thing… at least josh listens to his co-host

[@Marlax-101]

if commanderness is tied to the card does that mean a commander that turns into an equipment would still apply the equipments damage as commander damage even if its on another creature?

[@jeppekjr4618]

Congrats on 500 boys!

[@rhysfuuma4640]

Tbh, meld creatures should have the cmc of both cards on the back if thats how they want that to work. Otherwise the cmc of the melded creature should be 0 regardless of what the other sides are.

[@anikensanchez5040]

Avengers End Battle? Where to I find this movie? Sounds amazing!!!

[@spiderverse4380]

Also what's really good after Urza melds is the chain veil and oath of teferi

[@DM-Oz]

Unfortunately Oath of Teferi dosnt work because of the wording in Urza

[@spiderverse4380]

@@DM-Oz Please elaborate. They should work.

[@TheBobaJames]

The way not to get confused is to say, THE one set, not THAT one set.

[@crawdaddy2004]

I play Tireless Provisioner in a deck and had no idea it made Food tokens. 😂

[@stevethe1362]

i love to put gisela into my graveyard and cast bruna then flaming fist so next turn i can do 18 commander damage

[@xor5000]

I love you guys, but I literally lol when you talk about how fast Card Kingdom's shipping is. I live in LA and order from them all the time and have never once had an order ship out in under 4 days.

[@LouieSloven]

So if they Path to Exile your melded commander, then the second half of the card is... exiled? Seems like a really big flaw in any gameplan to win by using the melded version -- very fragile, can be exiled and then an ingredient you need to meld is just *gone* for the rest of the game.

[@janmelantu7490]

Correct, this is why you need to have ways to protect it. Counterspells, Hexproof, be able to blink/flicker or bounce it, etc. I mean, you should be able to protect a non-meld commander or a regular wincon anyway.

[@barneyhogue6203]

@@janmelantu7490 If you blink / flicker / bounce your meld card, both cards enter on the front side. Better than exiled, but you'd have to meld it again

[@FunkyGamerGuy]

Card kingdom can be more expensive but I will admit I was able to find some weird cards super cheap like Urza, Lord going for $15

[@thetruth4654]

I look forward to that commander game the meld commanders seem insane

[@TheBagwell269]

That titania will go well with Ashaya

[@LynxLord1991]

Does Amulet of vigour and root maze work as a combo? As in all land an artifacts enters tapped and u then untaps yours but everyone else is still hit by slowness

[@jacobbrj]

Mishra meld cards in a sedris deck appeals to me, because then you can mil half your deck at a time and do entomb effects, and use obeka...

[@ryans.5843]

Titania sounds good in slogurk

[@Jhyrryl]

Going to put Titania (and Argoth) into Baba Lysaga.

[@I.H.R07]

Love your videos

[@andrewlindenschmidt5533]

The only constant in my life for the past like 6 years is me watching every video the command zone drops

[@EmperorsTeeth]

So... a BR Mutate deck with meld-Mishra? 😈

[@joshfigs]

Josh where did you get that jacket ! Please someone let me know ! I need it !!!!

[@DraygaFlight]

Mishra in Alesha!

[@julialindgren190]

I like the meld commanders

[@troycrockett8886]

Ashaya ,soul of the wild will it work with Titania, voice of gaea

[@davidcrain453]

Bought a foil Mishra for 18$ off card kingdom 3 days ago, still waiting for them to process that now 42$ card.....

[@Pers0n97]

The thing about Titania is that her land isn't legendary, so she is probably the easiest one to meld in non commander decks.

[@rubyseverinwhitworth9066]

OG Titania needs it to go from the battlefield

[@carlosbravo6669]

I was really expecting something ultra special for their 500 episode! What happened!?

[@deanofcool]

What happens to a melded pair if you cast a if it dies return to battlefield card, like undying, does it return both and you need to remeld them?

[@johnlundblad2840]

I am a new to playing magic and I could use some guidance. I am wondering if the Urza meld cards would be worth it in a Brago deck. I think that they don't work well as a melded card because as the planeswalker blinks, it would separate into the single cards, right? That being said, the artifact seems effective to blink and the Urza card gives a good mana reduction. Comments?

[@CaptainDave9000]

Why isn’t there a video on the whole Magic 30th debacle? Can’t you guys talk about it because you are sponsored by Hasbro?

[@spearhead2054]

Why is Argoth not a forest? It's even in the art!

[@dangottsacker2061]

How are you casting path to exile if your opponent has Brisela?

[@damo9961]

Love you guys keep it up.

[@hepsdaveed8057]

What if you steal someones commander and attack the onwer with his own commander?

[@Pithon369]

Dude I so want to get my hands on Josh's hat 🤠 any one we know where I can find it?

[@juts89]

That mana value of the clone seems off. I thought MV was a copiable trait of a permanent, so it should carry over regardless of having no flipside.

[@nickking6525]

Check the release notes for the set. Mana value is copyable, but the MV of a melded card is determined by the front faces, and a clone of a melded card has no front faces.

[@twitchster77]

I have a question... Is it considered wrong or bad...or is it frowned upon...to be a hyper competitive Spike? It's in my blood. It's just who I am...and yet, I often feel like I'm almost a bad person because of it. Maybe I'm just not playing in the right environments. I know full well that casual isn't the right space for me, yet it's the only space I'm currently able to play paper in. My very casual friends recently talked me back into paper commander. I built a 5 color deck...and being the Spike that I am, I min/maxxed the heck out of the deck and put tons of the best staples in the format in the deck. It's insanely more powerful than any of my friend's decks and I'm fully aware of this...but the thought of running less efficient cards just goes against everything I desire. Being a Spike is in my blood. But...now I feel like a bad guy for having such a competitive deck. Is it considered bad to be a Spike?

[@Hallowed_Shrine]

I'm not really a big fan of melding cards, i dont like the idea of having to buy extra cards to make another card work. For example, Imagine i buy a box and I get 1 of eachof the 3 meld cards, but none the corresponding partners to flip them; I know that i'm going to be very dissapointed. I honestly think I'll just be getting the singles of the cards I do want from this set. On the flipside - HAppy 500ith Episode!

[@seasnek7024]

Start 14:04

[@The_Og_Cracker]

With the phyrexian dragon engine, can you unearth it, and then swing and meld it? And then at the end step would you lose it or not?

[@andreabimonte7688]

It will meld, and the exile clause will fizzle when no Phyrexian Dragon Engine exists at your end step

[@The_Og_Cracker]

@@andreabimonte7688 so you keep the melded card.

[@TachyPlays]

Always thought Titania be pronounced as Tee-Tah-Ni-Ah

[@ThePowerfreak]

Do they post this anywhere as a podcast?

[@WeebsUnite]

They used to put them on Spotify. Idk if they still do.

[@commandcast]

we are on most major podcast outlets- spotify, apple, etc. Just look up Command Zone Podcast!

[@Pers0n97]

Meld is a cute mechanic that just like the rest of the two sided card totally forgot how the game, the physical cardboard game, is actually played, ie everyone use sleeves. I honestly hate it, but at least, unlike the wherewolves and other flip cards, this one HEAVILY incentivize you to bring a melded proxy (oversized or not) to ease of actual use.

[@nathaniellazo5912]

12:58 HEY!! Don't dis mutate!! It understandable!!

[@hunterstrong3318]

Crop rotaion...

[@TotalProductions123]

14, 6

[@kw8295]

So since it enters both tapped AND attacking, it does choose 3 twice....

[@barneyhogue6203]

When something enters attacking, you don't get attack triggers

[@nickking6525]

They literally explained that it doesn't...