Magic: The Gathering

Becca Scott, Eli Yudin, and Carolyn Page get carded in the nerdiest way possible.
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[@kmb1800]

UM actually wastes are not a basic land type, they're the NAME of the basic land with no type

[@mAssbagflyer]

Good correction

[@MM-lv7iy]

Question then; are there snow-covered wastes? I don’t think that was an actual thing. Edit from 2 years in the future: thanks everyone, for letting me know about the new MH3 snow wastes! Your cheeky comments have made me more than informed at this point!

[@kmb1800]

@@MM-lv7iy no there are not

[@jonathansands3304]

@@MM-lv7iy I’m fairly sure that wastes came about later than snow-covered lands; I played Ice Age (among others) in college, and I don’t recall wastes being a thing yet.

[@GMontag]

@@jonathansands3304 Yeah, Wastes as a basic land card that only produces colorless first appeared in Oath of the Gatewatch in 2016, more than 20 years after snow lands in Ice Age.

[@Seuration]

As an Um Actually fan, glad to have a new episode. As a M:TG player, I was screaming at the screen for most of these questions...

[@judearcher890]

Yeah started to reconsider how ive spent my time after i realized i could get every question right before them

[@commandermilander4674]

This was hard to watch. Totally agree.

[@KingBobXVI]

The set symbols one was painful, lol.

[@Seuration]

@@KingBobXVI BRUH... right? They kicked it off with Alliances, ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS SYMBOLS FOREVER BECAUSE IT HAD THE ONLY PRINTING OF FORCE OF WILL FOR GOD KNOWS HOW LONG... and all these people that claimed to play were like nope. I shook my head on that one... bad.

[@glitchboard9452]

@@Seuration I'll be honest, I wouldn't know that one because I really don't care at all formats and blocks and sets, but I sure as hell know a ton about weird nuance and rulings and interactions.

[@realjanuary]

Um actually, at the start it's not a stack of questions as they're all still in hand

[@jerodast]

I would've loved if he thrw "yes, I put the final question on the stack first" as an aside to the camera haha

[@NStripleseven]

Speaking of Hurloon Wrangler, that card caused one of the funniest rulings I’ve ever seen, which is that “taking off your pants is a special action” and so doesn’t require priority.

[@steffensgary]

Someone left theirnpants behind at our local unglued release.

[@PlaidMagic]

Unglued was my first tournament. During draft, I clarified house rules that you could not change, but be forced to simply remove denim. And it wasn’t jeans specifically, it was denim

[@greywolf7577]

You'd think that they'd make a rule that you couldn't take off your pants (or change your pants) in the middle of a Magic game. That's certainly not something most people would want during a game (unless it was a pretty girl wearing the jeans).

[@psymar]

​@@greywolf7577the rule instead says that you are responsible for any social or legal consequences of taking off your pants

[@Muhahahahaz]

Um, actually… I think Mark specifically said that taking off your pants is spell speed 5 (faster than a Mana Source). You can do it at any time, even if you don't have priority, as long as you're wearing underwear (Note that this is different from a “Special Action” - In particular, all Special Actions explicitly require you to have priority, according to the CR) The funny thing is this means taking off your pants is canonically a game action, so if you Mindslave someone, you can make them take off their pants 😏

[@OrcaIguana]

As a member of the mtg community, yeah this is definitely the most um, actually of any nerd community I know lmao. (I mean, probably because mtg um actuallys sometimes actually matter)

[@deansheets]

I had to stop playing because it kept getting more and more complex, and i couldn't keep up. Havent played since around 2006.

[@jhonea6535]

Ever play Judge Tower?

[@phatkin]

Um Actually the stack priority state based actions replacement effect. Edit: *LAYERS*

[@dude11579]

I feel like the college humor series could be divided into the mtg color pie. Um, Actually is Blue. If Google Was A Guy is Black. Game Changer is White. No Laugh Newsroom is Red. CEO messages is Green.

[@AnOrreoCookie]

@@deansheets don't look at the new sets

[@SidneyBroadshead]

25:59 _Phelddagrif_ is not a real mythical creature nor a manufactured one using a Greek or Latin loan word. It is an anagram of "GARFIELD PHD", for Richard Garfield, PhD the inventor of Magic the Gathering.

[@wchenful]

Um actually, there's no such thing as a "real mythical creature" anyway!

[@greywolf7577]

@@wchenful He means a mythical creature that is part of a past human cultural mythology.

[@CzarBal]

Um actually ... Thrulls were around since Fallen Empires, which predates both Tempest and Ravinca. Easiest way to get Thrulls was from the card Breeding Pit.

[@griefbear2925]

I was screaming that in my head too. FE had fun black mechanics

[@pogeman2345]

Um actually, the question said "appeared in" and not "introduced". Semantically speaking, it is correct.

[@CzarBal]

@@pogeman2345 Nice catch. Since the other two were "introduced in" my mind there.

[@blaze556922]

Came to comment this so I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that.

[@RockOn78]

This is the right answer 😄

[@maxvandalfsen8273]

12:23 Can't believe Becca predicted Strixhaven before Strixhaven was a thing

[@joeystuart2949]

I love how we can date this video by Becca saying M21 was the newest set

[@yohanesparuntu4980]

Didn’t even realize it but she did 🤣🤣

[@morganharrison8065]

The symbols shiny question had me MALDING but their nervous scrambling for the correct set within a block was very funny 😂

[@theyellowninjadude]

I was thinking the same thing, while I was guessing the correct symbols to myself before Mike revealed the right answer. :D

[@timpeters9616]

I got all of them, and they got none. Have I made the wrong choices in life.

[@Sir_Master]

@@timpeters9616 I got myself at least 4 but yeah that’s impressive man lol

[@coppertalon4704]

I missed visions and named morningtide instead of Eventide. Funny to watch

[@benjaminlehman3221]

@@timpeters9616 I got 1 wrong. We are both just bigger nerds than them🤣

[@alexmarinescu1506]

Um, actually, this might be one of the more triggering episodes in the history of the show.

[@alext.1244]

Yeah the set symbols part was really hair-pullingly frustrating hahaha

[@Metallicity]

Yeah, this was pretty embarrassing. The keyword thing especially, since it had multiple things wrong, with both the original statement and the explanation. "Sweep" isn't a keyword, it's an ability word, which means it has no actual mechanical meaning (even more than "substance" , which at least can be referenced by the rules). "Substances" **was** a keyword, never printed on an actual card, but it was a temporary rules errata that later got reversed long before Arena ever existed. The cards currently just spell out what they do in oracle, without any keyword. "Landhome" technically is a true-ish statement, though only barely. There was a keyword called landhome, and it was removed. But it was originally called "islandhome", and only later updated into the more general term "landhome", except then the keyword was retired and removed entirely before any non-island landhome cards were printed with the new errata.

[@ConnonBallk7]

@@Metallicity you didn’t say um actually

[@Metallicity]

@@ConnonBallk7 it doesn't really matter. I accidentally typed "substances" instead of "substance" the second time, so that invalidates the whole point.

[@OrigamiFolder]

OMG right? I watched this cringing the whole time and was happy to see the comment section agreed but yikes hard to finish. Come on guys get some real fans on here!

[@ryant8162]

For Magic Nerds, they really don't know enough. Oh god I'm gatekeeping

[@cameronp6176]

Nah, it's not gatekeeping! They're allowed to be magic fans, and that is totally legitimate, but it would have been a more exciting episode had they had the knowledge base to answer most of the questions. Carolyn did really well, but the other two weren't really up to snuff for a Gameshow on the topic.

[@connorfarquhar7526]

I agree. Kind of boring for super fans.

[@brianm2242]

@@connorfarquhar7526 That kind of applies to superfans of any topic.

[@connorfarquhar7526]

@@brianm2242 i guess but not only does MTG have more superfans than most fandoms, but the whole episode was about MTG and the BEST contestant got confused on alara block. If DND gets Mercer and Brennan, the least they can do is have some people who has a fraction of that devotion.

[@cavanaughh1490]

@@connorfarquhar7526 Agreed. This was my first episode of this series, and the next advertised has Matt Mercer. I'm left wondering if these are just random people, or if they have a connection to the show, or what. I'm not so involved in Magic to know every single pro, but I don't know who these people are, and their knowledge base makes them seem like people who've played casually at Friday night Magic for maybe a couple years. And if that's so, how did the show get Mercer, but they couldn't get a middling Magic player? There are pros who stream, and streamers who aren't masters of the game but love the game, and probably would have appreciated the opportunity. If sometimes the show gets people who are essentially _the_ expert in the field (love him or hate him, please name a more successful DM than Mercer. I'll wait.), why couldn't they get at least a current amateur, not someone who last played in OG Mirrodin, apparently?

[@XZentag]

Um actually, Divine Intervention was designed as a way to play around Ante. If one of your pricy cards or a key part of your deck you could draw the game and not lose your cards. Now ante is banned and it is less clearly useful, but that's the general idea

[@jerodast]

I also figured in tournaments you have 2 other games, so it creates an interesting strategic context for how the match is going to have essentially 1 fewer game. also matches do end in draws anyway, nobody panics

[@TJForceIX]

@@jerodast The rule for Magic tournaments at the time wasn't best of 3, it was first to 2 wins, which makes a huge difference when games kept drawing. Tournaments took FOREVER when Divine Intervention was allowed.

[@FlockFlysatMidnite]

Umm Actually, Substance wasn't created for Arena - it was created for the 6th edition rules, to restore functionality to a cycle of Auras that could be played at Flash speed but then had to be sacrificed at end of turn.

[@shuboy05]

Umm Actually, Substance was made for Magic Online. When Wizards added Mirage to the game, they needed to add Substance due to the timing changes from 6th Edition breaking those cards.

[@FlockFlysatMidnite]

@@shuboy05 It wasn't just for MTGO. Substance was necessary for the timing rules of 6th edition to work with specific older cards. While this was mostly useful for MTGO code, which is much less lenient than players, it was also necessary for the cards to function as intended in irl games of MtG.

[@thedicehavespoken6234]

18:08 Um actually, the first set symbol with interlocking gears was Urza's Saga, which was one of the early sets set on (Partially) Dominaria.

[@gerrador0]

4:50 - Um, actually, Rabiah isn't a single plane; but rather one thousand and one parallel planes produced by the Thousandfold Refraction.

[@leefisher6366]

35:35 - Mike: 'Any of you who gets this will get the point, and if not, I guess you'll all share it: When creatures with this ability attack, they do so as though they were a single group, except that one additional creature without this ability can also join in and it still works. When this big group gets blocked, the attacking player gets to divvy out the damage from each of the creatures in it how they want to, and not how the defending player wants'. Contestant: 'I turned off after the first few words, but that HAS to be Banding'.

[@evandavis5223]

I built an entire deck around banding and trample. I called it Katamari Damacy.

[@jonathansands3304]

“When blocking one attacking creature (or Banding group) with multiple creatures, only one creature in the blocking group needs to have this ability for it to apply to the blocking group. The controller of a blocking group with Banding may distribute damage dealt by the attacker(s), rather than the attacking player.”

[@jonathansands3304]

Also, Um, Actually: your attacking Band allows the attacking player to divvy up damage dealt TO his attacking band. The player dealing damage in a combat normally gets to decide where the damage gets assigned (or, at least, the order of defending creatures which it gets applied to, so your “not how the defending player wants” is immaterial or misleading. The player dealing the damage generally gets to choose where it is getting applied; one effect of Banding is to allow the receiver of the damage to choose, instead.

[@XoIoRouge]

They knew they couldn't use Banding because it would be obvious. That's why I like the Rampage throwback.

[@daviddelaney2407]

Other contestant, after the first one is told they were incorrect because they interrupted before host was done: "Oh, then it has to be bands with other!"

[@codgodthegreat]

Um, Actually, Sweep is not a keyword, it's an ability word. Keywords stand in for actual rules text so it doesn't need to be written in full on the card, and are formatted like the rest of the rules text. Ability words are formatted in italics on the card, like reminder text and flavour text, and have no rules meaning - the actual ability is written out in full, such that the card would not be mechanically different if the ability word was omitted. They're just used to label similar abilities for the convenience of players.

[@daftwulli6145]

not really correct, when new keywords are introduced they have the full text explaining them, only in later expansions when they are reprinted they become keywords

[@codgodthegreat]

​@@daftwulli6145 New keywords ususally have reminder text explaining them (although this is sometimes omitted, particularly on rarer cards, on the basis players will have seen the reminder text on more common cards), but that is italicised text that has no rules meaning, it just acts as a reminder or brief summary of what the keyword means, it isn't necessary for the card to work because the keyword itself stands in for the actual rules meaning as defined by the comprehensive rules.

[@nuneztrevor]

@@daftwulli6145 Nah, Codgod is right. Sweep isn't a keyword, it's what we call an ABILITY WORD- it has no actual rules meaning, it only exists to lump thematically similar cards together for players. Landfall is an example- you see it on a lot of cards, but it has no actual rules meaning (because it's in italics), and there's cards that trigger on a land entering the battlefield which don't say Landfall on them at all. Keywords are things like Flying, Vigilance, Kicker- words that have rules hard-coded into them, as defined under rule 702. Also while I'm here- Um, Actually, Substance *was* a keyword, not 'is', and it was introduced for MTGO, not Arena. It was used to restore some Tempest cards to their intended functionality for after the 6th Edition Rules Change around the time of Ravnica, only ever existed online for a few years, and then they just tweaked the cards again to function without Substance. It hasn't been an extant part of the game in over a decade.

[@sergiosanmuahahaha]

Thank you

[@daftwulli6145]

@@nuneztrevor I did not say it is a keyword, I was talking about them in general

[@DifunctedReble]

That lightning round was soul crushing... kudos to Carolyn for actually being the closest.

[@samueljames8654]

Um actually, a draw is actually quite an interesting way to end a game of magic because most of the ways to get to a draw are quite esoteric, my favourite is starting a non conditional infinite loop and not having any way to break it

[@ryanyoak1017]

I always forget magic is turning complete and therefore subject to the halting problem 😂

[@moonman4984]

Um, actually, Substance was a keyword that existed only in Magic: The Gathering Online to assist in the function of Aura cards that sacrificed themselves if you played them at instant speed. It was also removed when the devs at MTGO got things more figured out.

[@nuneztrevor]

It wasn't just Auras- there was also Parapet, Waylay, and Thawing Glaciers. The concept was the same, though- these cards were meant to do something that was only good for a turn, but the 6th Edition rules changes made it so the cards would get popped in the End Step rather than the Cleanup Step- for the auras, this was a problem because it meant you could flash in an Armor of Thorns to save your creature from damage, but it'd fall off before the damage was cleaned up, so your creature would die anyway. For Waylay, it meant you could cast it during your opponent's End Step and keep the Knights through YOUR turn, making it the White Ball Lightning since it made 6 power of creatures for only 3 mana. The solution here was to grant these cards "Substance", have Substance wear off in the cleanup step, and build in a second trigger that pops them when they lose Substance. This has since been changed to just "make them trigger in the Cleanup Step to begin with".

[@RaunienTheFirst]

​@@nuneztrevor interestingly, Waylay (and I suppose others) does actually say "end of turn" in the printed text, which means cleanup step. But, it still says cleanup step in the oracle text for no reason.

[@nuneztrevor]

It isn't "for no reason". I explained the reason. "End of turn" worked a little differently pre 6th Edition, so the cards worked as intended. After 6th Edition, they worked differently and not as intended, which is why Substance was invented. The reason they now say "At the beginning of the next cleanup step" is to restore them to the original functionality without the wonky fix of Substance. "Until end of turn" does end in the cleanup step, but it's just a stated duration ending, not a trigger. "These tokens exist until end of turn" doesn't work within the rules. That's why Substance existed, and why the fix to Substance was a delayed trigger that fires in the cleanup step.

[@christopherlundgren1700]

Um actually, Arabian Nights was originally just based on the tales of the Arabian Nights from here on Earth, not canonically tied to any plane. Afterwards it was decided that future sets could take inspiration from out of universe characters and locations, but not straight up BE the same characters and locations. Only later was the set reconned to take place on "Rabia" to better match with the overall flavor of the game as its own IP. (Up until pretty recently when they've been allowing other IPs to mingle in Magic.) Later Um actually: Substance has nothing to do with Arena. It was created for those cards to function properly on Magic Online (aka MTGO aka MODO). Arena wouldn't exist for almost another two decades, and it's unlikely that any of those particular cards will ever even be on Arena because they're from a very old set. The basic premise of the question though, that it's an ability that was never printed on any physical cards, is correct.

[@joeystuart2949]

The story of Arabian Nights (the MTG set) has to do with a Planeswalker who has lost his spark, and has to recombine some pieces of magic stone or some other mcguffin in order to regain his powers, after which he becomes the canon strongest planeswalker to ever exist. I think. It's been a long time since I looked at any of that.

[@YoshiFawful64]

Um, actually, it’s spelled Rabiah

[@daftwulli6145]

@@joeystuart2949 and that story was created after the fact to bind AN into the larger narrative. It was not a thing when AN came out or during it´s lifecycle. It was big retcon as OP said.

[@daftwulli6145]

Yea back when AN was created it was even first planned as a stand alone card game (which is the reason there is an AN mountain and they had also planned other basic lands). But then MTG became a bigger success then they thought and they last minute decided to use it as an expansion instead. Then they started to realize oh shit if we do not develop our own lore and IP and instead use publicly available characters and places, it is really hard to protect our game against copycats.

[@jerodast]

I would have considered giving the substance point to Caroline - I think having never been printed on a card is close enough to not being an ACTUAL keyword that she deserves it in the absence of better answers. With that said I'm not that familiar with MTGO and if it ever visibly appeared on cards there (NOT just "behind the scenes" of the game programming) then OK fair. anyway the story of substance is kind of fascinating to me as a programmer and lover of weird janky game design interactions haha - one I don't think they handled very well tbh but then, several 6th Ed changes were like that :P

[@Furry19931993]

This one got me so pumped! When he pulled up the "Spot the fake"-images i instantly was going through the images in my brain "Stasis, no clue, pheldagryfff, frog tongue (my friend plays a frog - tribal commander deck), no clue, no clue but i've seen it!"

[@KaldarisX]

I only knew it had to be the center bottom one because I knew all the other cards. For the top-center one, I knew it had to be real because it had the OG Artist name Phil Foglio signed across the art itself. Shout out to Phil and Katja Foglio! Great MTG artists.

[@evernewb2073]

similar, the fake had me really confused though because I know the zebra is on a card (multiple I think but I've only seen 1 in person to have something more concrete than a standalone image from a computer screen in my head), I'm pretty sure the orbs are on a card, and I _think_ the background is part of a card but I could very easily be messing with myself on that one. I was actually leaning towards it being bottom-right for the fake because the image has been lifted and used in other things including a couple cards and I couldn't remember the magic card it was from (one of them even with permission! some of the artists retain ownership on some of the cardworks so if you find MTG art somewhere else don't instantly assume it's stolen, especially card-associated computer games)

[@ArsenicDrone]

I would not blame anyone who thought the bottom middle was real because they were thinking of Zebra Unicorn, since there are a lot of similarities in the art. (Besides not being a unicorn.)

[@AutumnReel4444]

This

[@Uber_Jester]

This episode was made for me. I love umm actually, no matter the theme it's one of my favorite shows on youtube, I have played MtG for about 25 years, and I have celiac.... I freaking crushed this episode lol. You guys are awesome, the only sad thing is there isn't more each week to watch. Keep it up.

[@blindbrad4719]

I started playing at 12 but didn’t find a decent community until I was 27 and then had to stop because I went blind. Maybe you could answer this question for me? Weren’t artefact lands a thing? I had an awesome artefact deck and remember them having no colour. Are they the basic lands he was talking about during the snow covered lands question

[@NinjaDimes]

Hey, old comment but I just watched this episode... and I was like, 'yikes' at the comments with all the people ragging on the contestants because they didn't know every single question or were slightly wrong. I just wanna say your attitude is great, you got them all right and didn't rag on anyone about it and had a really positive comment. You seem like a cool person! Have a great day!

[@Uber_Jester]

@@blindbrad4719 sorry I don't actually look at my own replies very often lol There were artifact lands, very powerful in some situations. There was one for each color and a colorless one. These aren't basics. Snow covered lands can be basic lands and usually when that term is used it means the basic snow covered lands. However snow covered is a super type so it can apply to a variety of things in theory.

[@jamestrevelyan1268]

This was great to see, but... SO painful. So INCREDIBLY painful. Especially the set symbol question.

[@VerbumAngeli]

Day[9] would have been the perfect guest for this episode.

[@blakerobinson4198]

Um actually, interlocking gears is a set symbol for urza's saga, and it's one of the older sets.

[@damien4197]

18:08 - Um, actually, that's Urza's Saga, 1998, and it's pretty iconic and recognisable. But, yeah, as time has gone on it's been harder from them to be cleanly and simply stylised... or at least immediately distinguishable.

[@LK90512]

"Angel wings and a brass knuckle"

[@BuildinWings]

They whiffed hard on Urza & Mishra topics. Brothers' War is a blindspot for their researchers.

[@KingBobXVI]

Some are more and some are less elaborate. Urza's Saga had the gears, and much later was Zendikar, which is literally just a diamond shape/quadrilateral, and later New Phyrexia was the Greek letter phi. Much more recently, Ixalan is a ship's wheel...

[@wchenful]

@@BuildinWings There were over a hundred expansions and over twenty thousand cards in MtG at the time of the recording so they'd necessarily have to skip over 99% of MtG lore (considering half of the questions were technical).

[@jerodast]

@@wchenful I feel like expecting Urza or phyrexia to come up is not a huge leap even if they don't cover everything haha. with that said I don't mind it either. was funny seeing Caroline so psyched about the Eldrazi. "One of the earliest major storylines concerned the war between Urza and the Phyrexian Mishra. the end of the war was near-apocalyptic for Dominaria when the Sylex Blast was set off, triggering Urza's planeswalker spark and causing the plane to enter the Ice Age."

[@SenorCabby]

As a long time magic player and enthusist, this episode was somewhat upsetting to me.. i love the people in this video, they just didn't know enough. esp during the expansion symbols section! i volunteer as tribute to rep the audience for the next Magic episode, or re-do. Big fan. not trying to be a shit head. heart you!

[@wallyfarflinger]

I'd love to see them bring people like Kibler or Saffron Olive who are already big names in the MTG community but also super fun and entertaining.

[@TomGalonska]

Um actually, substance is not about "coding" the card. It was an errata to keep the function of a certain cycle of enchantments close to the intended way after they had some rules changes. The basic gist is, that you can play these enchantments at instant speed, but if you do, you gotta sacrifice them at the end of turn. Normally such an effect is worded as a delayed trigger (e.g. "at the beginning of the [next] end step"), but that would mean, that the enchantment would fall off, before "until end of turn" effects end (they are removed in the cleanup step after the end step), but that would mean, that "Soar" couldn't save your creature from damage (because Soar would fall off before damage is removed). The keyword substance created a delayed trigger in the cleanup step, so it would only fall off after damage is removed and "until end of turn" effects end.

[@YourPalJamieEllis]

It still "codes" the card to work a certain way on paper, but I hear what you're saying, it sounds like he was exclusively talking about digital platforms. Magic effects and rules are actually remarkably similar to a programming language when you start digging deep into them.

[@aqueousmink5128]

Um, Actually!!! Arabian nights was originally set on EARTH, but later retconned to be Rabiah when wizards decided that they wanted all sets to be magic IP!

[@BuildinWings]

Also, the plane of Phyrexia is referenced multiple times in Antiquities.

[@noltingcr]

I wish the contestants were more knowledgeable, having funny people make silly guesses about things they don’t know is fine but it’s way more entertaining when they know their stuff. More community experts (like Mercer in D&D episodes)

[@AutumnReel4444]

Also having the facts be more correct would be nice, many in this episode are just untrue

[@TennyConductor]

I agree. Unless I misunderstood, one of the "Magic players" hasn't played since they were a teenager and only played for a little while. You'd expect to either have all current players or at least former players who played for a big chunk of time. It saps the fun when it's so cringey.

[@noltingcr]

@@TennyConductor also the one who did the absolute worst is an active spokesperson for the game, yet knows very little about it…

[@vincevvn]

Um actually you said black lotus is banned in most tournaments. It is banned in most formats is the correct way to say it.

[@TennyConductor]

Um actually, to be more specific it is not legal in most formats and banned in 2 formats (restricted in 1).

[@Delarissa]

Just a small piece of trivia regarding the second shiny question. The purple Phelddagrif, the name of the card is an anagram of "Garfield PhD", based on the creator of magic and the fact that he has a phd in mathematics.

[@evan_j_peterson]

This makes me feel more confident in my knowledge of random MTG things

[@Vaishino]

I went through my deck back in the day and ensured that I didn't have any swamps or mountains with the same art. It's not as big a flex as foiling your lands but it's something

[@Furry19931993]

You're not alone there! In my play-circle we have a few decks that try to tell a story, in my dinosaur commander deck i specifically picked only jungle, grasslands and volcanic/most beautiful mountain looking lands, because well its inspired by the jurassic park movies.

[@ccggenius]

Well, that's completely backwards. REAL players use all the SAME art, so you don't accidentally give any additional information when you make land drops after getting hit with a discard spell.

[@jerodast]

@@ccggenius and this is why pretending to be a pro player, despite being overwhelmingly the common fashion, is less fun than being "backwards" and enjoying the variety of cards 🙄

[@shorv]

I could watch an entire show that was just MTG Um Actually every week

[@carboncuber3147]

Um actually. Black Lotus isn't banned in most tournaments. Black Lotus is only banned in Legacy and Commander. Those are the only 2 formats it's banned in. It is not banned in any other format. The reason as to why is because it's not legal to play in those formats in the first place due to format restrictions. (for example, Standard only allows you to use cards from the most recent sets printed). Since it's not legal to play in the first place, it can't be banned. Also to note, out of the 2 formats that it is banned in, only Legacy has any legitimate tournament play. So even if you argue that saying "banned in most tournaments" assumes to only consider formats that the card could be legal in, it would still only be banned in half of tournaments and not most as it's still simi-legal in vintage.

[@gustavowadaslopes2479]

Um, actually, Commander is a sanctioned format. Sanctioned only means that the Wizards Play Network allows to be run at official events. It is in fact the most played Sanctioned format, followed by Standard and Limited. It does however indeed not take part in tournaments as a competitive element in them, being a casual oriented format.

[@ccggenius]

@@gustavowadaslopes2479 Wait, sanctioned Commander has outstripped sanctioned casual? Or did they drop that as a category?

[@daftwulli6145]

@@gustavowadaslopes2479 erm actually commander has it´s own tournament format CEDH where you play 1 on 1

[@gustavowadaslopes2479]

​@@daftwulli6145 Those tend to be closer to kitchen table than sanctioned events.

[@gustavowadaslopes2479]

​@@ccggenius "Sanctioned casual" isn't a thing. Sanctioned events are, by definition, always following a format. Players can play formats casually, but that doesn't make the event sanctioned casual. In all the years I've been on the game, no such thing has been tracked.

[@Morkim287]

I’ve been waiting for this episode!

[@chandlerstone2573]

Right here with ya

[@nooneknows3520]

I got into MTG thanks to a couple friends, and I entered the game when SOI was being introduced into standard. Thanks for doing this episode, It was a blast watching it.

[@NStripleseven]

Eli gettin all the “yeah you’re close enough”s

[@TennyConductor]

It's certainly interesting when the winner's points are mostly "that's close enough." It'd be awkward if they had zero or very few points I guess.

[@ThAlEdison]

I immediately got the Arabian Nights one because the Rabia scale for planes is analogous to the Storm scale for keywords.

[@TheNidhogg]

Um actually it’s Rabiah

[@blakewilliams8148]

I'm too big of a Magic Nerd to watch this lol I'm mentally screaming the answers for the first 3 unjustifiably frustrated at how long it takes them to answer lol. Nothing against them or this episode I just have personal issues

[@cavanaughh1490]

Nah, you aren't the only one. It's kinda weird that they got casual fans for MTG, but Matt Mercer for DnD. One of these things is not like the others.

[@TennyConductor]

It's a natural reaction when they choose "Magic players" who seem to know less than the average FNM player. Heck, one of them apparently hasn't played since they were a teenager. It's cringey and a bit of a let down when the Magic episode is 2 years old (M21 wasn't out yet apparently) and pales in comparison to the DnD episode. We can love the channel and mean no disrespect while also giving constructive criticism.

[@Helixcards]

the flying mechanic one i was with eli thinking shadow instead of the obvious answer

[@Talinsword]

Shadow specifies that they cannot block or be blocked by a creature without flying. Flying can still block non-flying.

[@Helixcards]

@@Talinsword the statement was "cannot be blocked except by creatures with this ability, or other abilities that specifically supercede this rule." it works for flying, horsemanship, and shadow.

[@Talinsword]

@@Helixcards Again, it does not work for Shadow because Shadow reads "Cannot block or be blocked except for creatures with this ability." The extra add of "Cannot block" changes it.

[@wchenful]

@@Talinsword Correct - however, I would also argue that Horsemanship doesn't count either since there are no abilities which specifically supercede the rule (unlike Flying which is superceded by Reach)

[@Lazren]

I've been waiting for this episode.

[@Haunchable]

Um, actually...unless you're restricting the 'keyword text,' question, there are a few keywords that could include that rules text, but it just does something else as well. For example, there is another keyword that mentions "creatures being unable to block except by other creatures with this ability." You accepted 'flying,' and WOULD have accepted 'horsemanship,' but 'shadow,' is another keyword that does the same thing, it just also has extra rules text tacked on. Same with the 'first strike' question, because it could also be referring to the 'double strike' keyword, it just has other abilities.

[@wallyfarflinger]

Also, strictly speaking neither first strike nor double strike fit the criteria because they both can't always attack before creatures without the keyword, since they attack at the same time as each other.

[@incrediblefrown1288]

shadow is not actually the same thing as flying, because it doesn't have to account for a reach equivalent

[@kronos1794]

All the best blue players were people who were constantly counterspelled until they decided to counterspell the counterspellers.

[@Prohass]

Caroline unable to not do jeopardy answers was hilarious

[@Nvenom8.]

Um actually, the oracle text for _____ uses exactly five underscores. It therefore has a five-character name and isn't the shortest Magic card name.

[@AutumnReel4444]

If true I love it. Yep, true

[@cavanaughh1490]

Never having seen the card, I wanted to nitpick you, but the actual card has an underscore _way_ longer than 5 characters. Gatherer is being conservative with only 5!

[@MetFreak42]

I was looking through the comments specifically to see if anyone else caught this. 👍

[@jerodast]

and yet you chose to use only 3 here...

[@KchulaRrit2]

Um, Actually... Yawgmoth and the Phyrexians are mentioned in Antiquities - and I would say that the set therefore featured the plane of Phyrexia as well as Dominaria.

[@naughtscribe]

You should do more single-subject episodes! Loved it.

[@raulmiranda737]

I know nothing about Magic The Gathering and I still watched every second of this episode.

[@sillysimic79]

Upon having watched about half the episode: YOU FILTHY CASUALS

[@GRIMHOOD99]

You silly simic go evolve instead of this.

[@Nvenom8.]

Um actually, there's more to shadow, but you also could've accepted shadow for the flying/horsemanship question.

[@andoom]

Um, actually there aren't any abilities that supersede shadow like reach does with flying, so it's still correct.

[@FishVet]

@@andoom Um actually, Wall of Diffusion, Aetherflame Wall, and Heartwood Dryad are all cards that have the ability to block creatures with Shadow, but don't have Shadow themselves.

[@oppositecatchyghost8025]

Um Actually, Horsemanship does not have a keyword for cards that can block other cards with Horsemanship, so it could not be used for the question that was talking about Flying because in the question it mentioned Reack.

[@jerodast]

Um actually it mentioned hypothetical "other abilities" that specifically blocks it, and there's no reason they can't print Glue Manufacturer eventually. You can tell it's hypothetical because not even flying has other abilities, plural, that supersede it.

[@andyortman9907]

This was the most exciting episode for me.

[@jonathansands3304]

I’m going to go off my head and not research this, but, regarding the original dual lands: While they would count as each of the basic lands they represented, they were not themselves counted as basic lands. So, if you could “search for a Forest” you could also search for the white/green or red/green dual land. But if you were to “destroy all non-basic lands” the dual lands would also be destroyed.

[@mathewsloat6848]

This is pretty much correct. The original duals, as well as other lands have basic land types, but are not themselves basic lands.

[@jerodast]

when first printed it was all a little fuzzy but modern rules have clarified that subtypes like Forest is what you're searching for or getting the mana ability from, but you can be non basic yet still have the subtype. Whereas the five classics themselves are both basic AND have the subtype identical to their name.

[@Trollzarro]

Um, Actually, it's Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest (along with Snow-covered versions). Only Plains is plural. :P

[@piemaster831]

Um actually, the substance keyword is no longer used on any cards and because it was never physically printed on a card it effectively no longer exists.

[@liampoulton-king7479]

I believe Substance is still included in the comprehensive rules

[@naszfluckah7314]

@@liampoulton-king7479 It is not.

[@liampoulton-king7479]

@@naszfluckah7314 fair enough, my bad. There was a listing for a comprehensive rules code in the wiki, but I guess it’s the old one

[@jacobd1984]

This is the one I’ve been waiting for.

[@timmiejozwick1070]

Wizards of the Coast should totally make a counterspell called "Um, Actually"

[@BeyondTheVoidUK]

Um actually... creatures with double strike and triple strike will also deal damage at the same time as those with first strike, so those would also be valid answers. Those abilities functionally add the same ability as first strike, but are counted as different keywords.

[@wchenful]

Um actually, although they have the same partial function, the question was phrased to encapsulate the entirety of the keyword mechanic.

[@jerodast]

@@wchenful Um, how so? it was phrased "before creatures without this ability." Double strike is not "this ability" if the ability is first strike.

[@somethingnew3517]

26:35 Becca takes a drink straight from the growler. That girl deserves all of our love.

[@ccggenius]

Might wanna make that link 26:34. The drink is over and we've cut to the art by the time it starts.

[@joeystuart2949]

Best way to enjoy a growler, Becca just knows

[@DifunctedReble]

@@ccggenius 26:30 Why are both of you off?

[@MagicalSpoon]

No. I hate her

[@jerodast]

@@joeystuart2949 knows how to get a lot of admiring commenters with her opaque growler apparently 😆

[@Oznej]

Fun fact: the un-card with denimwalk led to the amazing rules clarification "removing your pants is a special action". (That is, it doesn't use the stack, can't be responded to, and takes effect immediately.)

[@carlschneider4229]

I LOVE how many old school references were in this episode.

[@peterbraunschweig2779]

Um Actually! Substance is not only a keyword that only exists in errata, it is a keyword that briefly existed in errata for twelve specific cards and further changes since its introduction have resulted in substance itself being obsolete. It no longer appears in any Oracle text either. Furthermore, it has nothing to do with Magic Arena and was obsolete before Arena even came out.

[@BuildinWings]

Um Actually, Phyrexia is another plane to appear before Weatherlight. It's hell for artifact-creatures, part of the Antiquities block. It has 9 concentric layers, a callback to Dante's Inferno.

[@ant2343]

Antiquities takes place on Dominaria. There are some cards depicting things from Phyrexia, but they got through the portal that is in the Caves of Kolios.

[@BuildinWings]

@@ant2343 Right, but phyrexia *is* a plane and it *does* appear separately from Dominaria, in the Brothers' War lore (Urza v Mishra)

[@ChiefChar]

This is one of my favorite channels on KZbin

[@emily_232]

I watched this whole video not knowing a thing about magic of the gathering but so happy that my allergen training for catering job pulled through at the end there.

[@malbogia8003]

Ah man back in the day I had so so many cards. Like several hundred. Including two black lotus. Then the satanic panic took over my mom who burned them while I was at school. She nearly died when I guesstimated how much just a handful of those cards were worth. Urza block supremacy. Also, this particular episode is my heaven. Also also, removing interrupt cards made me sad

[@gmjjjones]

I would have 100% cleared this episode possibly a full sweep

[@Foyoon]

heck yeah love um actually and magic is my biggest hobby was waiting for this to happen

[@VizPhoria]

Um actually, there's a practical purpose to using snow-covered lands outside of just flexing on opponents. When using the card Extraplanar Lens "Whenever a land with the same name as the exiled card is tapped for mana, its controller adds one mana of any type that land produced." The fact that Snow-covered lands have a different name means that the benefit is provided only to "Snow-Covered Lands" which prevents opponents using other basic land cards from getting the benefit.

[@greywolf7577]

Also there are cards these days that require snow covered mana to cast or activate.

[@jb888888888]

It depends on the soy sauce. Modern cheap soy sauce has wheat (some only have wheat and no soy) but high end soy sauce made with only soy doesn't have wheat. And some uber-cheap soy sauces such as those that you get free from your local Chinese takeout have neither soy nor wheat. It's literally just water, food coloring, and salt.

[@shaekm333]

Haha thank you! I don’t play mtg but I am celiac and that was MY um actually moment (my face when he said soy has gluten LOL)

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

I have an Invoke Prejudice. I found it going through my old cards. It is worth some money, but nobody wants to buy it except people that I never want to sell it to.

[@jacobd1984]

I’ve considered buying Invoke Prejudice, though I’m afraid to see what it goes for these days. It’s not like the artist gets any money from sales of it at this point, and it’s great for mono blue devotion

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

@@jacobd1984 Looks like the current price on ebay is around $500. Mine is in reasonably good condition, but nowhere close to mint. So maybe 300? Maybe I'll revisit selling that thing.

[@WhiteWizard42]

@@jacobd1984 Problem is, it's banned in virtually every format. So unless you just want to be a colossal jerk at your kitchen table, the use is limited.

[@r.mar.673]

At the end when they were at talking about doxxing each other, the sub titles changed it to docking. Really different meaning.

[@jerodast]

oh man, I forgot about that...that...was a really fuckin weird threat to make. it's like, not over the top enough to be funny, and hey, I don't know your background, maybe thats a thing you do! stick to "I will burn your LGS to the ground" or "feed a pile of black lotuses through a shredder on your doorstep just to spite you" or somethin

[@NerdByAnyOtherName]

Um Actually Slivers are not "snake-like", some of the first Slivers looked kinda looked snakey but slivers are actually far more insect/arachnid-like, they have exoskeletons, live in a "hive" and even have a "hivemind" like many insectoid aliens in media

[@megamagicmonkey]

I have a commander deck I've wanted to make for a long time called "The Mom Deck" that's all about empowering other players while also removing their ability to basically do anything aggressive or painful to each other. The win-con for the deck is Divine Intervention.

[@RBelmont007]

this sounds hilarious, and I want to see it in action

[@alannash2778]

That would be a lot of fun to see everyone's faces when it hit the table but Divine Intervention is a very expensive card to buy just for the laugh. That being said, if you can acquire it, all the power to you!

[@Walrus907]

Oh, well Hello Satan lmao talk about a deck that would instantly pull aggro every time it gets played haha

[@jacobd1984]

I assume you included Mother of Runes in this.

[@h4rt203]

It's a shame they did an MTG episode where seemingly everyone knew almost nothing about magic.

[@williamdonnelly3266]

Exactly this was an episode I was so excited to watch and as it went on it just hurt I just yelled at my screen these were all questions I knew and I’ve only been playing for a country or years

[@zacheryfrasier672]

I know of a few entertaining streamers that would have made much better guests for this episode

[@gustavowadaslopes2479]

Yeah.

[@daftwulli6145]

even worse not even the host knew nowhere near enough. At least have a real expert to help out the host, can´t be that hard to find say a level 5 judge for example , or a long term player. For example dual lands are most def not basic lands, they do have the basic land types so they can be searched for , but they are still fucked by a blood moon

[@RockOn78]

Uhhm actually they were…ok. Felt like Carolyn mayyybe had the most knowledge on the subject and was deece. BUT, like most people here, I’m guessing me and the entire comments section here would’ve beaten any of them at naming the expansion symbols lol.

[@ryangottlieb9939]

Um actually, Thrulls were introduced in the set Fallen Empires along with Homarids.

[@BuildinWings]

One of my first-ever sets. Goblins, Homarids, Thrulls, Thallids, and Townsfolk

[@jonathansands3304]

@@BuildinWings Ah, yes. The Thorn Thallid could spend its tokens to deal points of damage, thus earning itself the loving nickname “Thallid Thooter” among my college gamer community. (If you know old infomercials, you know what I mean.) I have no idea if we came up with that or got it from Scry or something, but it existed.

[@whthorse25]

I love the shoutout to Rockville, MD

[@Johan323232]

Um Actually, Sweep is not a keyword, Sweep is an ability word, and one of the many reasons why drafting triple Saviors of Kamigawa is a terrible idea.

[@christopherlundgren1700]

You are technically correct, the best kind of correct. Keywords come with rules text attached to them, while ability words are basically just flavor text to help thematically unify different cards that work in a similar way.

[@bigdaddy35005]

I guess we all know why Brennan was not a guest this episode

[@drewfriend3368]

Um actually, the thing magic players love most is drawing a card

[@anthonycannet1305]

31:36 having snow lands was actually mechanically advantageous before they were reprinted in modern horizons and kaldheim, more than just producing snow mana. The card Extraplanar Lens had the ability “imprint - when this enters the battlefield, exile a land card from your hand.” and “Whenever a land with the same name as the imprinted card is tapped for mana, it’s controller adds one mana of any type that land produced.” By having snow covered lands instead of regular basic lands, which were much less common in the past, you could imprint a Snow-covered Island on the Extraplanar Lens allowing all your Snow-Covered Islands to produce 2 blue mana, while your opponents’ regular Islands didn’t receive the same benefit as the two have different names. Now that strategy is somewhat less common since snow was brought back in modern horizons and kaldheim. You’re more likely to run into someone playing snow lands than before so that strategy is used less frequently.

[@jerodast]

Interesting didn't know about that trick. Are snow lands still common even this long after KHM and MH2 tho? When they brought me up I was thinking how funny it is that originally IIRC it was always a drawback to use them e.g. snow-covered landwalk, so if you blinged out your deck with them it was even more of a power move haha.

[@anthonycannet1305]

@@jerodast It has been a while so snow lands aren't common, however there were some good cards printed in those sets that rely on snow lands for benefit. For example: Blood on the Snow from Kaldlheim. It destroys either all creatures or all planeswalkers, then lets you return a creature or planeswalker from your graveyard to the field with mana value less than or equal to the amount of snow mana spent to cast BotS. If you don't run snow lands it's essentially just a 6 mana board wipe, but if you do run snow lands it could be a 6 mana board wipe that recurs a 6 mana creature/planeswalker from your graveyard. Snow covered "hate" is too selective to be played in most decks. It serves no purpose other than to gain an advantag over someone using snow lands. If your opponent doesn't run any of the cards that rely on snow lands (which there are so few and aren't so unique or powerful to be considered necessary) then there's no benefit to buying and playing them. I'd go so far as to say that 99% of decks in formats that could run them don't. If your card is only useful in 1% of matchups then it shouldn't be in the deck. Not to mention a good enough counter to the strongest reason to play snow lands is just play your own snow lands... When Modern Horizons came out I actually intentionally put half regular and half snow basics in a deck just in case someone played lens with or without basics (if they expected the return of snow basics to cause players to build decks usign them more than regular ones)

[@Senovan1]

I love that they used Phil Foglio's art twice in the these couldn't be actual card art question.

[@DontMockMySmock]

Um, actually, "substance" predates Arena by a lot, and also doesn't exist anymore. It was to make the "insta-chantments" from Mirage block work properly with the updated Sixth Edition rules, iirc.

[@shuboy05]

Umm Actually fun fact Phelddagrif is an anagram for Garfield PHD.

[@bazzakrak]

Ya.... a new one. As someone who hasnt played mtg it is still a fun watch, being a nerd I can see myself in many of those question/answers

[@Coltaine84]

I was one of those Star Wars CCG nerds! Switched to Magic when that game ended due to licensing issues.

[@hey_its_squiggs]

Umm actually, this questions implies that the named cards were tournament legal but Blacker Lotus was from the unglued set and was never tournament legal.

[@ArsenicDrone]

Um actually, although that's true about Blacker Lotus, the question refers to Black Lotus, and Blacker Lotus was not mentioned.

[@connorfarquhar7526]

Um actually, island home was the only printed version of land home. Since bog serpent was not printed until afterwards land home was only used in the form of island home.

[@Smackadoshious]

Um actually, the snow-covered lands were considered non-basic and even were effected within the set by specific cards

[@ant2343]

Umm Actually Sweep isn't a Keyword. It is an ability word. Sweep has no actual rules text associated with it (which is what defines a keyword).

[@RabblesTheBinx]

Um, actually, ending the game early is *not* the only time that reaching 0 LP doesn't end the game. There are cards, like Platinum Angel, that actually prevent the game from ending if the player who has it would normally lose.

[@evandavis5223]

I think they were focusing on forcing a game end, rather than preventing it. There's also Door to Nothingness from the Mirrodin block that makes a player lose the game.

[@Lcngopher]

Thassas oracle is a well known alternate win con from fairly recent magic sets

[@RabblesTheBinx]

@@evandavis5223 right, my issue is that the way they worded it makes it sound like the only way to avoid ending the game at 0 LP is to end the game early.

[@RabblesTheBinx]

@@Lcngopher your point? That had nothing to do with my correction, I wasn't saying that alternate win conditions aren't a thing, I was saying that the statement "most of the time the game ends when one player reaches 0 life points, but there are some cards that can end the game early" is fundamentally flawed because ending the game early is not the only way to avoid a game ending at 0 LP.

[@Littlewh0]

They say "most games end when", with the most covering your examples here. No point

[@leea4469]

Um actually. The thing magic players love above all else is Value

[@greywolf7577]

Do they love value more than they love winning? A bunch of value cards that don't synergize is sometimes worse than a bunch of draft cards that do synergize.

[@psymar]

​@@greywolf7577Most magic players do in fact love value more than winning which is why they've never made a pro tour

[@markmorris2856]

Becca Scott must be one of the most attractive women on the planet. I think its the infectious genuine smiliness.

[@jerodast]

mm yeah love it when its genuine

[@Someonehere56]

Super excited to see a MTG episode! If we're talking about real life specs, I've dumped most of my skill points into MTG 😄

[@bobbyhanson346]

@Nora you have skill points? Lucky!

[@seanm9306]

2:50 Sounds like Trapp’s dad understands the problem with NFTs

[@jerodast]

i mean, you could argue if people are buying them, the answer to Trapp's dad is also the answer to the NFT problem - "yeah but they ARE paying money for them". Of course, NFTs are way dumber fundamentally even than paying for pieces of cardboard...

[@CodyMWI]

Omg I was screaming at the screen for the set symbols

[@xTobsecretx]

It is finally here!!