How To Streamline Your Commander Deck | Untitled Magic: The Gathering Podcast #5

You know your Commander deck needs more UUMPH! but you don't know how to streamline it! How do you identify cards that are not performing? How do you know which cards to swap them out for?
This episode teaches you everything about streamlining and synergizing your EDH / Commander Magic: The Gathering deck for optimal gameplay!
If you'd like to watch Olivia's Commander gameplay channel, you can do so here: / affinityartifacts
or just follow her at: / goberthicks
Huge shoutout and thanks to the talented @livingcardsmtg for developing the opening animation for the show!
All my favorite products are available via my affiliate link at www.CardKingdom.com/TCC It's like a wiki for my favorite MTG items!
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Music Courtesy Of:
"Vintage Education" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Speaking of Commander, learn MTG - How To Build Any 1 Color EDH / Commander Mana Base here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2OlioqafLBsY5I

[@yooigomierdal]

So, does 37 basic isn't the best way to go?

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

@@yooigomierdal Depends on if you run Back to Basics or Tsabo's Web, no doubt

[@williamzhang153]

Me: *take cards out* *puts cards back in* *contemplate on removing basic lands*

[@archmagusofevil]

You should just get rid of all of your basic lands. If they were any good, they would have a higher price.

[@lolimmune]

@@archmagusofevil thats how mtg works, money makes cards good. Get rid of that trash

[@inglebear84]

William Zhang 😂🤣 exactly my pain.

[@jaysalvadoriiisalvosa1625]

this hits me hard. hahaha

[@senoreverything6366]

@@archmagusofevil funny

[@Zorous]

Should honestly be called "Best socks in the game podcast"

[@goberthicks]

Looks like I need to find something besides my Costco puma socks! 🤣🤣

[@jonkirby1880]

This should be called the "Dressing in the dark podcast, " tbh.

[@dsffds8192]

nice sock fetish video right here.

[@thrash208]

Me: Starts sweating with my all vanilla creature deck.

[@williamstewart1883]

But I love Gigantasaurus

[@m1gr3nA]

well, you need to put muraganda petroglyphs somewhere...

[@moritzk4795]

@@m1gr3nA this card is amazing. Indeed this needs a home!

[@darkdragonXD1]

@@williamstewart1883 On selvala :D

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

@@sirquixano7638 If you're asking earnestly, the answer is probably yes, just not for the purpose of Muraganda Petroglyphs. If you are running the card as a Scarecrow and nothing more, it has no meaningful abilities beside its type. If you are leveraging the multifarious typing somehow, a suite of Changelings might be considered non-vanilla, but you would likely need to be playing ChangelingsAndLords.dec

[@nickvanschaick6322]

1) Lower your curve: With cheaper cards, you not only get started earlier, you have a higher chance of double-spelling later in the game to gain tempo, or having mana up for interaction. Specifically, run cheaper ramp and removal. Cut that Darksteel Ingot for a Llanowar Elves, cut that Krosan Grip for a Nature's Claim. 2) More card selection: Tutors aside (run more tutors!), cheap cards that let you tune your draws are the best cards in the format. Ponder/Preordain/Serum Visions/Brainstorm are the first 4 cards that go in any blue deck. Oath of Nissa is amazing. Sylvan Library and Sensei's Divining Top are known to be great, but even a 1-shot of their effects are worth it because they help you find the card you need when you need it. 3) More interaction: The vast majority of people run too little interaction. Counterspells, spot removal, wraths, whatever, just run more! Interaction is the entire reason Magic is even enjoyable, and it is important to always have something. How bad does it feel to have a bunch of haymakers going off and you've got a bunch of dumb ramp cards and fatties in your hand waiting for someone to kill you? The average person runs way too many bombs and way too little interaction.

[@bobdole8830]

So: spend more money

[@alanli6276]

@@bobdole8830 Every card he mentioned besides top and library are a couple of bucks or lower. Counterspells and removal are a buck or two, not every one is Force of Will. The blue card selection spells and Oath of Nissa are very affordable, as are llanowar elves and nature's claim.

[@nickvanschaick6322]

@@bobdole8830 As Ye Li said, not every good card is pricey, and the only cards I mentioned that are more than a couple bucks are Library and Top. The average person can definitely stand to spend 10-20 total on a stack of solid upgrades, and that is by no means budget-busting unless you're flat broke (and shouldn't be worrying about buying cardboard in the first place). To be quite blunt though, yeah, if you want cards you don't currently own in order to tune up your deck, you're probably going to have to spend some money. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@djcochrane]

3. Yes. Yes. Yes! Don’t be afraid of 1 for 1’s. Not everything needs to be a wrath. But do have those wraths.

[@jacobwatts2367]

I grab every copy of llanowar elves, elvish mytic, and arbor elf that I can.

[@heatherkamp114]

Excellent, well thought out discussion, I'd really like a followup talking about the reverse scenario, how to approach a new set for upgrades when you're looking to add cards first, instead of make cuts. That's where I tend to get bogged down, rather than the other way around.

[@inglebear84]

Heather Kamp very true. My first deck I ever built, Neheb the Eternal, went through many iterations before settling upon something that works well. My biggest piece of advice: study and focus on the commander and his abilities, and how best to utilize them, and how soon to get him out. I now run far more mana ramp cards, mana dumps, removal, protection and extra combat phase spells than before, with tons of card advantage to give me options. Flashy X bombs and specialized artifacts are awesome, but not if you can’t play them.

[@johnbuscher]

@@inglebear84 The ramp part is something I had to actively tell my friend who said "2 mana rocks is enough" for an Obosh deck I have a bunch of 5 cmc things for win cons... Like, how am I supposed to get my commander out if I get stuck with no mana hits for several turns?

[@SmolPP694]

Prof: I'm questioning my devotion to blue. Best quote. 5:55

[@copoli2541]

I just finished putting together my own commander deck after YEARS of borrowing from my play group. I’m glad to have such pleasant advice to consider when making future tweaks to the list.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

What did you build, out of curiosity?

[@copoli2541]

Alexander Whiteclay Chulane hatebears with an Aluren combo finish.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

@@copoli2541 Bet that's got some teeth to it! Grats on the new deck--the advice in this episode might be particularly poignant when the time comes to update the hatebear suite.

[@moritzk4795]

"Show me your deck and pull out cards you think won't work" - me, as a proud clone tribal player, show appreciation to all the decks of the pod. And sometimes my appreciation overwhelms them all and I am the only one alive. :)

[@TheRealQwade]

One thing not mentioned that can help tremendously when you're considering a 1-for-1 switch of cards is to keep the card you're thinking about dropping in your deck, but take the card you're considering and put it on a small slip that you slide into the sleeve. Using Prof.'s example, he'd keep the Phantasmal Image in, but write "Sakashima's Student" (and possibly its rules text too for reference) on a slip of paper inside the sleeve. That way, it becomes real obvious when you draw it or have it sitting in hand which card you'd prefer to have on a case-by-case basis. Using slips like this can also make it easier on your memory so you don't have to remember which cards you swapped out for which other ones, and it can act as a "before proxy" step where you consider if the card even has worth before putting forth the effort to even proxy it first.

[@daredewley9231]

Great episode! I always love Olivia's takes and spirit in regard to the format. Honestly one of the best guests on any commander themed show

[@silash.5535]

right? Love the episodes of Game Knights with her as well

[@turbofrog_froggy]

This was eye opening, especially the bit about mana curve and "what does this two drop actually *do* for me?" I feel like I had some serious lightbulb moments here.

[@darkkitsune7757]

I'm really happy I love when Olivia shows for any magic video. It's just nice to here her talk about commander.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

Loving that the sideboard conversation is persisting with this guest. Scaling decks up and down or tweaking decks so matches are in better conversation are a great way to improve the shared play experience.

[@BackyardRonin]

I enjoy this series and the guests you've gotten so far. Very relevant and interesting conversations

[@rickylingenfelter4039]

I've learned so much from watching your videos Professor. Thank you for all that you do.

[@kristennorth3268]

I have an entire separate deckbox (and it's full!) for my Teysa Karlov maybeboard. I'm always swapping things in and out or adding cards I've just discovered.

[@Pupalah]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who builds that way, Olivia.

[@lolimmune]

Im loving all these guests!

[@edwinfranco3986]

This is such a great a thorough video on the process. I few years back I found myself in a new state and as a standard player came across a play group that was mostly Commander (Lake Wales/Winter Haven, FL MTG Community!). I had a commander deck, which was not at all optimized nor had it seen much play (Alesha!). Needless to say, i was getting steamrolled constantly and consistently. Some of the players there were some of the best players I've ever had the pleasure of playing against thus far in my MTG experience. After a few months of research and discovery I found a decent build that helped me stay competitive and keep me interacting against any commanders. The process you describe in the video is exactly the process through which I went to refine and "fine tune" my build. THe profe is correct in saying that it is a journey of discovery and learning (paraphrasing?). The more fine tuning you do and the more you get input from others the more you learn about the game, your style of playing, synergy, mechanics, and interaction, among other things. This was a great video and reminded me of how great of an experience I had discovering and putting together a well-rounded deck for semi-cEDH (which I know is not a thing because you are either making people cry or you're wanting to set your deck on fire...no in between). Thanks for a great vid!

[@Sir_Francis]

I like the whole Commander Sideboard idea, but then there's the whole "is it still 15 cards?", "can we use Wishes?", etc etc But having an Unofficial Sideboard for power levels / different playgroups is a great idea! This is also a good place to put any realistic Un-cards that may fit your deck (Strategy, Schmategy here I come!).

[@coinswaptrader2915]

One card sideboard would be one card too much lol

[@Kazz1187]

I love the power up/down sideboard

[@TheAlmalong]

My sideboard is a box of about 500 lands matter cards to build anything from mono green omnath, to 5 color golos, karametra landfall to gitrog cedh, it is my current only project when it comes to commander building, improving the contents of the box

[@Kazz1187]

Ooh, that’s real spicy, what do you do to keep track of the plethora of cards you could toss in?

[@hectorcobos3368]

I am a commander player and I would say I play the format 80-90% of the time. I do get into standard and pioneer some. I really have enjoyed these commander talks. It's been very helpful.

[@scottgary6668]

Enjoyable and informative. Great as always professor.

[@josephs.4813]

Love these podcasts about Commander Prof. Keep up the awesome work!

[@danacoleman4007]

Great conversation you two! Thanks a lot!

[@andrewroy5677]

I like the idea of proxy... try before you buy....or trade. With some of those big cards, they can be so fun to cast. Just like crazy win conditions, like revel in riches, thassa's oracle, lab man, countless others - they are just fun to pull off. Always good to see Olivia!

[@Solemnyty]

I have a lot of pet cards that I wish I played in some of my Commander decks, but I also love synergizing my decks too much to do so. The struggle is real 😑😂

[@zacharywages8153]

To be fair, Jeremy Noell does love his Villainous Wealth.

[@xakuyer]

Always mill Justin, always

[@ramarrevan]

Yeah if you're in a playgroup that gets cutthroat and takes advantage of you playing a learning game with your hand open you're probably in the wrong playgroup lol. Love the commander podcasts, keep it up 🙌🤙

[@eric0967]

I love these podcasts, keep them coming.

[@shaman009]

Great episode Professor! I hope to see and play Commander with you AND Olivia at MagicFest Reno this weekend

[@upstartgoblin5536]

I know this is about commander but it’s really useful in pretty much any format. I have to ask those questions about cards in my standard decks all the time.

[@CrazyPete316]

Quite the informative video. You two play well off eachother. Good job!

[@Dalenthas]

Olivia: Just look for the videos with me, they're the best. Me: Truer words have never been spoken.

[@jadewheatley2559]

I try to think of floors and ceilings when I'm tinkering with a deck. If a card has a really low floor, then I consider cutting it. If I don't have enough cards with a game-winning ceiling then I need to add more.

[@sirrslipp]

i’m lovin this new podcast series

[@derekkey2803]

This was a great discussion! You and Olivia play really well off of each other. Sakashima's Student is 30 bucks by the way because it was a planechase ninja so it was only printed twice lol

[@pattap9033]

And the prof is right. switching decks with friends is a HUGE benefit. Sometimes you or your friends see or finds things and ways in the deck, you/they had never thought about before!

[@gregflorez7891]

Great sock game by the both of you 🔥🔥🔥

[@mattman8436]

I always learn something here. Thanks!

[@packcrackinthecardboardcas2626]

Love the information that you share

[@kiranm8569]

I find it helpful to sort out the cards in my deck be what they are supposed to do (e.g. I have 17 counterspells, 8 draw spells, 3 spells that give me no maximum hand size, etc.), and decide whether that is about the ration that I envisioned for my deck. If not, I will be like "I need a few more counterspells" and cut stuff of about the same CMC for them. I also find it really useful to do the opposite: find cards that I want to put in the deck and swap the in all at once and see whether I like the changes. This helps ensure that I will get a couple of them the first game.

[@corporalkills]

My recent experience with tuning a deck is playing my optimized locust god deck, and not realizing that upon casting Kindred Discovery and drawing a card, I killed myself. Did not do what I thought it did XD it in fact went infinite in an unbreakable loop.

[@thedoctor559]

You probably won't do this but you can flash lab man for emergency situations like that.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

Or you can know in your heart that you've won in the ways that really matter

[@JediMB]

I'm thinking about taking Smothering Tithe out of my Alesha deck. It's rarely doing my any good, and the CMC often makes it very unattractive to cast in this deck. Thankfully, there's Dockside Extortionist as a card with a similar function that synergizes better with the rest of the deck, and I hadn't considered it until just now. Also swapping Fulminator Mage out for Avalanche Riders and trying to find a slot for Reconnaissance...

[@MTGLexiconOfficial]

Another great installment Prof (and Olivia)! Excited to see more of these collaborative podcasts from the various Commander content creators out there

[@yoshipaul3896]

The end skit is hilarious. “High-interest? Loan? Mister?” Howling over here, so funny

[@bisharp2176]

You talked about pet cards and I have pet card cycle scry lands, I love them they fix mana they’re digging into your deck and they’re always useful

[@bisharp2176]

SirQuixano ah yes but I was more talking about the temples but that’s another good one I forgot about

[@Crawver]

I actually did this with my first deck, and it's ended up being quite different to what I started off with, and a lot stronger for it. I began with the tyranid precon, with the intention being to ramp hard, in order to get my X creatures out with token on, and just keep drawing and cycling. So at first I started using the token buff cards, and they worked fine enough, but the deck could still just choke. I had put in a copy of temur ascendancy and gurraks uprising at an early stage to help the cycling nature of it, but looked into increasing my consistency in those anthem style draws, and added more. I then had a re-examine of my commander, because I was rarely dipping into it, and found Kodama the east tree (and kraum, luwigs opus. He was right for the colours, and an inbuilt draw engine fits right at home for things I wanted), and realised since the point of my deck was to slam down big guys that do things, kodama helps me turbo out twice the number than before. The deck lost a lot of that initial precon, which is a shame. But now it effectively plays Kodama on turn 4, and turn 5 is spitting out powerful, large lads and drawing multiple cards every turn with ease. I've still managed to keep about 10 cards worth of instant response and interruption, and the deck feels a lot more tuned for it all.

[@GamingBear_Q_E_D]

Very interesting, thanks again :)

[@MJC962]

Yay! Podcast todayyy. Im digging these 1 off podcasts about commander keep em coming

[@phoenixraven5692]

^ What he said

[@eskimoprime09]

From Blatant Thievery to Expropriate... what a jump. I'd say Clone Legion is another viable option in that category. And it's also good to get someone else's opinion on what cards to cut. Sometimes you play a card and feel great about it and think it's doing a whole lot, while from the other side of the table, they may not have even viewed it as a threat.

[@bisharp2176]

This would’ve been an awesome live stream

[@jacobcohen2009]

Hey Prof, just so you know, I don't think the link to Olivia's gameplay channel made it into the description

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

grrr, yooooouttuuuuuuube! I'll fix that

[@Slo-Mode]

I'm actually building a combo elves deck that I'm making a side board for. The deck can combo as early as turn three but to make it more fun more casual tables im putting in a side board to slow it down

[@DevineAbyss]

Phantasmal Image was one of the strongest blue cards back when Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial were legal. Most decks had green and pretty much all green decks were running these. A Phantasmal Image was just a great way to ramp 2-3+ lands for 2 mana with lots of additional upsides. Since the bannings there are noticably less big ETB-effects in circulation on most tables. There is far more luck involved to get big value out of a clone these days. I have since taken out the Phantasmal Images from all of my blue decks. If these 2 green cards ever get unbanned, I will put them right back in though (:

[@djcochrane]

Yes. All this. There are cards I love that were mostly auto-includes like Leyline of Anticipation. I really had to sit down and look at how many cards would I actually play or want to on other people’s turns. How many of those cards don’t already have flash or aren’t instants? If there weren’t enough left, it had to go.

[@nathanfriedman7367]

I am running a budget Alesha deck, and my main wincons are Master of Cruelties and a Kiki-Jiki/ village bell ringer combo. I play against Karlov, Atraxa, Torbran, and Vorel. Suggestions?

[@ry7hym]

you and Olivia have such nice voices to listen to as a podcast

[@jonarvaez8232]

I'm a firm believer of the comma der "sidebosrd". I also am a firm believer of a commander sideboard lol. I just wanna play deathwish man...

[@pinballwitch5256]

Does Olivia have a youtube channel or somewhere streams get archived? Some of us can't watch live often.

[@Isheian]

Mortify instead of murder if it’s a viable option? That kind of fine tuning. I changed the tempting offer land ramp card for sylvan scrying, my group never takes the offer. So it always ends up being pay 3(G) fetch ,usually, krosan verge. Now I just pay 1(G) to fetch krosan verge.

[@djcochrane]

Gotta love modal cards.

[@SacredCharizard]

The difference is that Tempt with Discovery puts it into play untapped, while Sylvan Scrying puts it into your hand. There's also Reap and Sow, which reads: 3G, Sorcery Choose one: - Tutor for a land and put it into play untapped - Destroy target land Entwine (do both if you pay (2) more). It's just a worst case Tempt with targeted land destruction stapled onto it.

[@ashtonbenz]

but my murder foil card looks so nice:o

[@B1gLupu]

or you know, Anguished Unmaking since in a 40 life format that's not really that relevant

[@flametitan100]

Hell, if you're in WB, look at Vindicate. Same CMC, no restrictions on target, but comes at the cost of being Sorcery speed, which can be a problem in Commander.

[@FriendlyNewt]

I love ophiomancer too. Oger Slumlord is similar. Visit A & C when you come to Toronto.

[@Bladezeromus]

Me: *Sits down with Syr Konrad deck* Pod: "Oh, you got Morality Shift in there?" Me: "What's it do?" Pod: "Oh, you're gonna love this." *shows me* Me: "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

[@jessejames9684]

Ok

[@jonarvaez8232]

Thanks for the amazing video prof. Olivia is always a pleasure to listen to.

[@melanpiriks]

"I'm questioning my devotion to blue" happens to all of us at one point, Prof

[@lorenzkarbach1352]

Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior LSV?

[@EloquentTroll]

You need to question it whenever you want to play Thassa.

[@Dragon-ts4bm]

I just started making Commander decks and I'm very grateful that you made this video :) thank you

[@hotwasabi8312]

I pit my decks against one another a bunch of times when I make them. Get a feel for how it plays. Overall did I feel like I didn't have enough or too much mana? Are the interactions working and worth it? Am I satisfied with my removal, is it easy to shut down, is there something missing that I feel like I need after using it?

[@craigivarson5191]

Wow, that background or playmat you used for elenda the dark rose card at time stamp 27:19 is stunning beautiful. I want it. Where do I get one.

[@craigivarson5191]

Well actually the playmat behind all the cards. I just happened to notice it at 27:19. It's amazing. I want it.

[@vitorvilasanchez]

Amazing socks, Prof!

[@Solemnyty]

Speaking of playing other people’s decks, something me and my friends like to do is put all of our Commander decks together and then pick one at random to play. We usually to Alexa to pick a random number.

[@jamespooh2]

That's always a great time

[@rabbithole8858]

Trying to create The Scorpion God as a plague type commander. Any low key cards that could fit? Been through edhrec and arkidect, looking for some obscure rakdos gems. Btw Prof, thanks for the knowledge

[@RossBox]

Contagion engine. Everlasting torment.contagion clasp. Glistening oil. The Mana rocks include diamonds, locket, signet, talisman, Sol ring, mind stone, sphere of sun's, keyrune just off top of my head.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

Check out the Red and Black cards from Shadowmoor--lot of good gems in there, since Wither was the theme of that color pair. Infect and Proliferate are obviously on-theme, too. But tbh, edhrec is probably on point, since -1/-1 counters are a narrow enough theme.

[@jek__]

3:03 Just call it stropping lol, its what comes after sharpening, between sharpening, when the edge is already made, but you just want to align it a little better

[@leehunt4930]

This was one of my favorite videos on commander, thanks!

[@TheDerpyDeed]

Hey, where can we find the Prof.'s decks online? I'd love to go over them and see "hey why did he do that? how does this synergy work?" and maybe, MAYBE one day I'll get to recommend a card he didn't try yet 🤔

[@BLKCLVR]

The reason I like cards like Sigarda's Aid is the same reason I like Kodama's Reach. I play Cultivate, so I'll play two. I'll play Sword of Feast and Famine, I'd even play it at 3W.

[@dragonmastersk7913]

Another great way is to use 3-5 pet cards as replacement for yur best cards when you want to change your deck's power. In my Teysa deck I have Revel In Ritches/Smothering Tithe and of course Bolas's Citadel as my best cards, But I will swap them for Teysa Envoy of Ghosts/Serra Angel & Liliana Heretical Healer if I want to play with a lesser power Strategy

[@ry7hym]

8:12 I play this card in my Kaseto, Orochi Archmage deck. Opinions?

[@TheWeirdlyenough]

Olivia: we cant just ban cards just because we dont like them Iona: *am I a joke to you?*

[@DDNEV]

Played edh for like 7 years now and the only person I knew who ever played Iona was me, and that was in Sisay Fetch Legendaries as an end to a curve. She rarely had an impact at all.

[@weirdmusicmixmaster]

Ive found when this happens to me personally, its over adherence to flavor, which can usually just be fixed with a few swaps to more optimal swaps. Dropping 1-2 tutors or carddraw in or sometimes gets you past the stall point.

[@mleet3125]

I had a turn 3 necropotence 'not work' because I immediately became the target and got brought down to

[@RiverGloom]

I also have a question ? Are those red chairs really comfy? They just look hard and stiff

[@atmmachine11]

I don't even play MTG but I love the Professors videos.

[@dsffds8192]

awesome video.

[@Duskraven377]

I think The Shoebox Archives would make for a great MtG channel/podcast title

[@darksteelmenace595]

Tbh Im considering to take out smothering tithe from some decks. It just draws so much hate, not every deck can take that or protect it so the 4 mana are well invested.

[@NekoSauce]

I play useful or cool cards. Alot. I don't go by a cards monetary value. Anyone else? My fav deck is a simic sea monster tribal card draw/mana engine with an obsurd amount of creature board controll. Also most cards are foil. I'm very proud of it and the professor has really helped my understanding of how to effectively build a strong deck since I began my magic journey

[@spelldeck]

The best commander deck have cards that synergies with your strategy, but also have answers for the board state that also support your deck.

[@elvenskyarcher7874]

It’s interesting to me that people struggle to cut cards. I’ve been known to shuffle the deck back into my collection and start from scratch again. I do archive my decks before I do so, but I usually don’t need to check old versions because the refresh is better

[@eatmoretidepods2499]

How to streamline your decks Step 1: play flash hulk variant Step 2: win P.s. just leaving this here for anyone on the CAG or RC to see

[@redstonepro5412]

step 3 is hopefully: loose your money because flash gets banned

[@eatmoretidepods2499]

Funny enough flash pieces are relatively cheap and go in a shell that's built around staples in the format.

[@B1gLupu]

@@redstonepro5412 Hopefully

[@jahpal9275]

@@eatmoretidepods2499 This is so true. The flash pieces, including all the specific tutor, are about 60€, while the flash pieces themselves are about 10€

[@rend7979]

It’s so true, sad, and funny 🤔😢😂

[@superchef_trades4213]

What about a Commander & Sub-Commander" deck? kind of like a 1st and 2nd general.. Would that work?

[@SliderFury1]

28:50 this is good up to a certain extent I guess but not sure I really agree. Misplays are part of the game. If anything, taking advantage of someone's misplays and punishing them for it will make them far less likely to ever make that mistake again.

[@claytonwilliams3984]

You should have that guy from cure for the common game on your show. He is all about commander.

[@Habeev07]

Hi Prof! Im making my first commander deck. Its a green,white,blue, enchantress/card draw deck. I wanna play a lot of creatures that draw me cards but also play a slight element of control with cards like krosan grip, asceticism, disallow, Avoid, beast within, Bind, elephant grass, and running multiple FOG's. I have yet to fully get my mana base to 37 ish cards and I have too many mana rocks and enchantments still. I hope I can make a decent deck with your video help

[@V2ULTRAKill]

Howd the deck go?

[@EloquentTroll]

I like commander sideboards. I have a Ruhan of the Fomori Voltron deck, but I can swap Ruhan for Narset and swap out Assault Suit for Blatant Theivery, and suddenly it's very different.

[@jesusmunguia5236]

"Pass the turn and now I'm sad." Relatable

[@SimpleVisionVideos]

Honestly, the fact that they're not wearing shoes is a little relaxing and comforting.

[@StrongButAwkward]

One of the best examples of 'this is a good card but' and 'am I getting the amount of value I could for the cost I'm paying' I usually give people is Insurrection vs Mob Rule when you can only slot one in a deck. Insurrection is great. It can win games when cast, or at minimum take out the scariest player on the table and open the game up for you to close it out. I've done it, I've seen other people do it. Problem is it costs 8 cmc with triple red. For that much mana I kinda don't want to have a good chance of winning the game so long as the board state is set up for Insurrection to capitalize on it; and that I have to both resolve the spell and make it through a combat. If I'm spending that much I want the win to be more assured and I want it to be based of what I'm doing, not what my opponents are doing. Insurrection is *best* at winning games you are probably losing badly, and for which a 4 cmc wrath (or better yet a one sided wrath) would be similarly advantageous, if not quite as good. Mob Rule, on the other hand, costs 6 cmc with only double red. Some might argue 2cmc and 1 less colored mana is trival but in terms of a) curving into it and b) when it generally lands, it is both a) significantly easier to get 6 consistently vs 8 and 2 red vs 3, and b) Turn ~5-6 is often as or more relevant time for a mass threaten effect than turn ~7-8 in my experience because the board state that is a problem in turns 4-6 is usually going to have people trying to deal with it by turns 5-7, leaving you with board to steal. I've had games where I knew I wanted to Insurrection in a turn or so because it would win the game or just about, only to someone else get nervous about the board and wipe it before I could cast. Mob Rule tends to be timed better and I rare end up staring at an empty board with a now dead card because I couldn't curve into it before someone wrathed, this is especially true if you have mana sinks that essentially tax most or all of your turns (I play Mob Rule in my Yasova deck for example, which most turns have a 3 mana effective tax on them). Finally, almost every single time that I resolve a Mob Rule, it is nearly as good as an Insurrection; the problem creatures are very often either a few creatures that are all too big or a pile of creatures that are small. The last 3 times I cast Mob Rule it was as game winning as most Insurrection's I've ever cast

[@michaelperrett5869]

Would you recommend proxying a new deck?

[@EvertfromNederland]

Are shoes illigal in commander? J.K digging the socks prof.

[@pattap9033]

I broke my head a thousand times about streamlining and what i learned is: you have to play to See if it works the way intended! You can Analyse all your cards for weeks, but some games Show you, what really works. And when testing, try testing it against a similar Power Level or it will get harder to test, what you want. I especially find it sometimes hard to streamline, when you dont try to streamline with obvious staples but with fitting cards from your own Pool, because,... Well you want to use your Pool or want to try New stuff.