Sword of X and Y Tier List | Commander Clash Podcast 94

[@MTGGoldfishCommander]

Our tier list rankings and how we define them: S = Auto-include staple. You power down decks by not running this A = Amazing. Powerful for a large percentage of decks. B = Great but narrow. Powerful for a small percentage of decks. C = Average. Not great outside a handful of very specific decks. Could be a budget replacement. D= Have a specific reason. We avoid running these cards unless our jank themes require it.

[@totakekeslider3835]

So Sword of Body and Mind is definitely S-tier with this rating system - of course, only if by “decks” you meant “bulk binders.”

[@Greg501-]

@@totakekeslider3835 10/10 better than Once and Future

[@darkflame9410]

So... I actually think Crim and Richard were absolutely right about B&M. Seth and Tomer, your arguments kinda seemed like the assumption is every deck is a secret reanimator deck, but Richard and Crim are more right: most decks typically will run 1-2 reanimation pieces at most, unless that's specifically their goal. And other then that, losing 1 of cards you need is actually a pretty big deal, not to mention I can't even count on both hands the number of times recently I've been hit by a B&M and they milled my reanimation suite, making it totally useless to me. I've gone from thinking cards garbage to agreeing with Crim, its unironically one of the best swords (though all the swords truthfully have been outpaced, even in voltron decks).

[@josephhawkins7974]

Sword of Body and Mind within Swords: 8/10, ten being best Sword of Body and Mind as an include in my decks? 5/10

[@Gingerbreadley]

Richard has completely gaslighted Seth into thinking removal is bad

[@kylecarlson1228]

Spot removal is bad early to midgame, commander has changed a lot since 10 years ago when we played value removal to grind out the game. The format is much more proactive than it once was.

[@RyanEglitis]

Removal is bad...unless you need it - then it's amazing.

[@Gingerbreadley]

@@kylecarlson1228it’s repeatable which means it’s not really spot removal. And it’s amazing early game because every rock you blow up is mana your opponents don’t have. And instead of making people mad it makes people be nice to you because if they aren’t you will blow up their things. I don’t think it’s too 4 or anything but it’s not bottom 2 or 3

[@kylecarlson1228]

@@Gingerbreadley It's almost never going to kill the best targets in your opponents deck, which is what you want removal to do in this day and age. I dont necessarily buy the aggro thing but the effect is only desirable if it's as powerful an effect as like aura shards which works fast enough to just plague wind the opponents artifacts and enchantments. This will take awhile to make a dent in a lot of metas and at the end of the day you're just getting bits of incremental value that aren't necessarily increasing your win %. The cast is right that lowering an opponents win % in commander doesn't mean you absorb that lost %, it depends a lot on the board and decks being played.

[@darthsnarf]

generic spot removal is kind of bad/average, but if you have removal that even remotely synergizes with your theme it easily goes to s tier , for example, enchantment spot removal in an enchantress deck

[@crss29]

Every Richard scenario: all your opponents are doing nothing and have been doing nothing, until you cast whatever decent+ card is being discussed and then you suffer the terrible wrath of all these 3 undeveloped boards.

[@atle853]

I mean... yeah we see that every episode.

[@vel0xraperio]

When you consider who's in his regular playgroup, this makes way too much sense.

[@kobisjeruk]

Couldnt disagree more. This is more of Phil scenario rather than Richard. Richard is more of an unassuming janky player that seems to be non threatening until he flips the script (not until 1-2 people duke it out and take out each other) and manage to 'somehow eek out' a victory in the end while everyone else say "Why do we keep letting this happen? Why do we let Richard get away with it?". Richard has the highest winrate on commander clash out of anyone. He was never the archenemy (until it was too late). People are aware of it and yet more often than not it still results in him winning anyway. If you think this is a Richard scenario, you musnt have been watching commander clash for long.

[@ammonaustin9081]

​@@kobisjeruk The thing is, Richard arguments only work for the Goldfish meta. At any LGS, Richard is getting crushed

[@crss29]

@@kobisjeruk I was referring to the scenario from which Richard always arguments against good cards he doesn't like. My comment is not about, nor does it refer to, gameplay. You couldn't disagree more with a comment that is not the one you replied to. I do watch Commander Clash gameplay often. And I know Richard has a high win rate. I find Richard's high win rate on Commander Clash an uncompelling argument for him being a good player with knowledge and skills applicable to the wider EDH community. All players in Commander Clash always play the same way and make the same mistakes. They play to entertain, not to win. And have little need to play better. That, or they have no insight into the game and capacity to learn. Or they let the person who pays them win a little more. I have an over 60% win rate in my playgroup. I don't make the mistake of thinking this can be projected into a different meta with different circumstances. It only means I know my meta well. And I can tell you he would be crushed by the wayside in my meta.

[@zeroisnine]

Richard: Cards being good means that cards are bad.

[@LVL99Totodile]

I'm not in love with Richard and Seth's "it's bad to blow up someone's artifact cus they'll be mad at you". If you applied that reasoning consistently no one would play any interaction. Don't counterspell, they'll be mad at you. Don't wrath, they'll be mad at you. Don't swords their commander, they'll be mad at you. It's way more fun if everyone learns to play interaction and then people also learn not to be mad about it because interactive games are the norm.

[@falconje11]

Agree completely, take on the biggest threat, and if you are ahead, then everything you can do to hold everyone else back is locking down your win. If you kill my artifact when I'm the threat, fair game, but I'm not going to retaliate unless you have stuff that further threatens me. If you are ahead and trying to hold me back, I'm already targeted on you because you are the one closest to winning. The "don't interact because there will be retribution" is a playgroup problem to me. I don't do retribution, I aim to hit the threats that are likely to prevent me winning, and I expect others to do the same to my board.

[@ammonaustin9081]

They talk like they're always playing scared. More worried about not losing than trying to win

[@MTGGoldfish]

It's not that you shouldn't interact, it's more that blowing up a random mana rock isn't worth making an enemy at the table.

[@CrimsonQueso]

Interaction is only for threats (to you). If you're proactive with interaction you're not only letting an opponent who would've wasted their interaction hold onto it, but you actually are making enemies for possibly no benefit, a net negative for yourself.

[@nathannjh]

If you don’t make enemies the idea is to fly under the radar and come out like a storm. Win the game out of nowhere.

[@lordspaz88]

32:43 welcome to commander clash where playing any removal at all is worse than letting your opponent keep their game winning artifact

[@kylecarlson1228]

You obviously want instant speed removal for game winning permanents, Richard's argument makes sense based on the way he plays.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i agree that was a pretty weird comment. and not a good reason to avoid playing certain cards.

[@liamfoote7164]

I think the argument is repeated artifact specific removal is not great in most cases. You want some amount of an effect that can kill game winning threats. In those cases the sword is not really what you are after.

[@ammonaustin9081]

​@@liamfoote7164 Removal is always good. Repeatable Removal is even better. Being scared is a horrible argument

[@liamfoote7164]

@@ammonaustin9081 it's not bad, but you don't necessarily care to spend 5 mana and make attacks to blow up a signet each turn. If there are artifact decks then yeah I think it's value goes way up.

[@arghanothername]

The main thing I learned in this is to run more bloodmoon

[@MartianTechnoDonut]

Seth's face when hearing Richard's arguments for UG Sword is the same one my father made when I told him I was majoring in art.

[@salfontana3880]

@9:15

[@brandondrake4609]

So the correct face was made.

[@StrykerLee]

Lmfao

[@MakeVarahHappen]

I would make a drinking game out of every time someone's only argument against a good card is archenemy/target/politics but then I would die.

[@bennettwadekamper8238]

It makes sense as an argument for world beaters. But some moderately valuable cards get way overblown as archenemy targets.

[@JoeMac_]

Everything else aside, the fact that Body and Mind’s trigger is “I cut you and a wolf came out of the wound” is top tier

[@anxez]

Missed opportunity for "Sword of Tier and List"

[@fwriggs8731]

List of Sword and Tier 😅

[@BobardeZanzibar]

Tomer in sword discussion: how many different rogue decks can there be? Tomer during blue board wipes: Sea monster tribal!

[@erysecret]

I think he meant rogue as in, Rogue. like the creature type!

[@BobardeZanzibar]

@@erysecret So did I. Way more ways and commanders for rogues than sea monsters.

[@erysecret]

​@@BobardeZanzibar Which Rogue commander is good in sea monsters? I always thought rogues as low to the ground, mill strategies, etc.

[@RadstacheAbides]

Crim killed me with Sword of WAP

[@hanschristopherson8056]

Can’t wait for Richard to say feast and famine is bad lol (Of course his logic was it’s soo good it’s actually bad)

[@RyanEglitis]

tHiS cArD iS bAd BeCaUsE iT's So GoOd PeOpLe WiLl KiLl yOu FoR iT!

[@m424786]

When he says this it just tells me the card is really good. And I ignore the "logic" he's trying to use to say it's bad.

[@altromonte15]

if you think about it, dockside extortionist is bad, really, because opponents will try to counter it before it even hits the field.

[@MistaHoward]

"It draws aggro" is the Commander equivalent of "dies to doom blade"

[@zacdredge3859]

Obviously the solution to is play esoteric combo decks that either win or lose on their pivotal turn.

[@bryankopkin6869]

I am all for a Seth vs Richard rap battle

[@SickOfItAll1988]

Yeah, the voice ai that's used for those president videos should be good enough to have them battle each other, right?

[@SickOfItAll1988]

There definitely is enough material to train it online, probably way more than from the presidents combined?

[@brendans1983]

EPIC RAP BATTLES OF HITHTORY!! 🥳

[@gabe3704]

I feel like body and mind has a niche in rouges, mill, or scarabgod decks. But its hard to convince me past that. Ironically the wolf part is more interesting since that protects your suited up creature from edicts.

[@RyanEglitis]

9 turn clock, baby!

[@51gunner]

Good point about edict. What does WR voltron fear most? Edicts, and boards it can't swing into. Wolf token can protect from some edicts (not Soul Shatter) and pro-green lets you swing past Timmy when Timmy has Timmy'd the board up to the max.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i like sinew and steel. great way to deal with artifacts for colors that don't do it well (black and blue) and is one of the few swords that can hit targets by another opponent. connecting means you can kill any artifact or planeswalker on the battlefield.

[@jadegrace1312]

@@jocas94 Underdark Rift is 6 mana, loses you a land, takes a land drop, and is worse removal. Oh yeah and the land doesn't make colored mana.

[@51gunner]

And because it's "Up to" you can choose to skip the artifact destruction if politicking is really that important. They talk about how there's not that many planeswalkers, but I feel like that's a false choice - the planeswalkers you DO see, you may REALLY want gone.

[@crimsongoat7291]

So according to Ricard's Logic, Sword of FaF is bad because it paints a target on your back. I'm so tired of this logic as it suggest that all tier 0 cards (Dockside, Rhystic study.. etc) are bad too. There is a reason they put a target on your back. It is amazing card.

[@kylecarlson1228]

The way he frames it for content is purposefully a bit overblown but his core concept is correct. I've cut Smothering Tithe from decks for being too scary without the ability to do much with the mana. Your deck needs to take advantage of the power in step with the increase in attention you get, one of the main issues playing Voltron in commander is that it looks scarier than it is and people use removal on swords frequently because they misevaluate how powerful they are.

[@victorperron8092]

I think you got his point wrong. While I disagree that Sword of Feast and Famine is a bad sword, his point is that it's the kind of card that paints a target on your back AND doesn't provide the necessary resources to fight against this archenemy status. Dockside, Rhystic Study and other such generic best card provide the boost to fight back against this. FaF doesn't generate card advantage and the mana it generates requires a few hoops (having multiple lands, a creature to equip, a player without interaction/blockers). Sword of Feast and Famine is a good sword, but perhaps it's problem is that people think it is instantly the biggest threat on the table and that it will generate so much value. Yes it does, but just as much as a Bear Umbra or a mana doubler.

[@crimsongoat7291]

@@victorperron8092 Yeah I think you're right about being able to fully utilise the sword. I just sometimes find it weird when they exaggerate the negatives with a card, because I believe it ultimately comes down to the people you play with and the power levels of their decks.

[@crimsongoat7291]

@@kylecarlson1228 I experienced the same problems and I had to cut out some of my extra turn spells from my Imoti Casade deck as people would just finish me off before I could do anything. Ultimately comes down to the power levels of the decks youre playing against and the mind sets of those players

[@sunstrid3r44]

but he didnt said the card is bad, he gave it an A... he was explaining that the card isnt good in every scenario

[@pauldyson8098]

People, get yourself someone who looks at you like Crim looks at Sword of BaM.

[@rixaxeno7167]

I wanna run it just so I can say "I bam you for 10"

[@owenzaleski7418]

I think there might be something too the swords getting a better based on what colors they protect against. Sword of Light and Dark protect from black and white, two the strongest colors for single target removal spells in commander. It may not make them much better but I think protection is getting slept on.

[@51gunner]

Protection from Green is something I'm starting to really value, and in my Red/White decks I'm starting to really dislike having protection from my own colors because it'll knock off equipment I'm running. The only two green & not-my-colors options are Green/Blue and Green/Black and Green/Black is the most expensive one. It's green that's more likely lately to start chucking crazy amounts of power & toughness on the field and actually block straight-up against a voltron'd up commander.

[@MrEsyphelon]

I am more afraid of Richard with a Dowsing Dagger than Crim with a Body and Mind

[@UniGya]

Sword of Light and Shadow gets to be a B solely because it has the best protection colors for removal spells. Feast and Famine probably has the best protection colors for evasion, but that protection is so good

[@fiendbear4417]

Unironically believe sword of body and mind is better than I used to. It has legit synergies that other swords could never have! Dauthi Voidwalker, recurring your opponents creatures, Guiltfeeder, etc.

[@Cancer_Cam]

We’re gonna need an episode of everyone on Clash playing their favorite sword

[@Kryptnyt]

Am I crazy to think Sinew and Steel is a great A rank sword? It's such a beating to be able to smash an artifact every turn, and it gets nutty with liquimetals

[@RyanEglitis]

Gotta say, I was disappointed they went with their BU sword instead of the one Crim suggested a few months back.

[@Sinistra359]

Ikr once and future is such a bad and narrow card design. Crim's design was a lot more in line with the colors and just generically better.

[@RyanEglitis]

@@Sinistra359 Yup - their's reads as "this is good in Standard"

[@3N3MYKN1GHT]

@@RyanEglitis unless you can cast timewalk or ancestral recall with it. Def bad in commander tho

[@RyanEglitis]

@@3N3MYKN1GHT If you can cast those cards in your format, you've messed up if you're playing _any_ of these swords.

[@3N3MYKN1GHT]

@@RyanEglitis vintage stoneblade, is on one max, def not once and future tho, would love to see if it goes in a canlander snap deck, for double the double the snap.

[@ameagher45]

I wish the other thing they could mention for voltron decks is that sometimes it's nice to run Auras and actually the white protection is antisynergistic. I actually cut Hearth and Home out of my Wyleth deck as I had Sentinel's Eyes or All That Glitters or Timely Ward in hand and realized that I actually didn't want to equip Hearth and Home

[@Shimatzu95]

I realy enjoy steel and sinew, it helped me in several decks in colors with bad options for artifact remival. I am just feeling sad we never got a sword to deal with enchantments. Edit: also liquimetal torque exists

[@PhetaFox]

I freaking love torque!

[@xCptKramerx]

Body and Mind is actually top for my Slicer Equipment deck. Slicer suffers from leaving you defenseless against other opponents creatures, being able to pump out wolves gives you blockers that you need.

[@ammonaustin9081]

An equipment with vigilance essentially gives you that same benefit except your equip creature is going to be better than a 2/2 wolf

[@bryanbaker8663]

Bro. It doesnt matter if Slicer has vigilance. He's not on your side of the field to block if you are doing your thing.

[@Optimator7]

@@ammonaustin9081 Why not both

[@ammonaustin9081]

@@bryanbaker8663 Oh you mean that mono red commander. Yeah, way better cards to run than Body and Mind for that. Slicer will give you tons of life gain from multiple attacks. Only thing you have to worry about is commander dmg

[@Darkrider-pr2fz]

​@@Lucarioguild7 your opponents don't get any wolves?

[@DropkickGoose]

I'll say, as someone who plays mesmeric orb in a Sidisi deck, people really can't handle the mill or make use of it as much as I think the Clash Crew think. Maybe it's just my pod, but it really seems like it's better than people give it credit for. Even if they can recur something, now they're having to use that spell once to recur it, rather than playing a card, having it be removed, and then recurring it.

[@Sinistra359]

Also people seems to forgot the fact that when milling you're not just milling recurable permanents, you're also milling instants, sorceries, etc which are harder to recur unless they're a spellslinger deck. And I also have a sidisi deck and mesmeric orb is my all time favorite card!

[@chadcharest9891]

Depends on your meta. Two out of three of my decks have recursion in the command zone. Horde of Notions loves when you mill me. And plays Endurance, so I can just shuffle back up if you're anywhere near milling me out. And I use Ravos, Soultender as a partner in another, with Kodama, and Umori as a companion. So the milling non-creatures is impossible in that one. It's all equally recurable. My table regulars include Teshar, a few iterations of lands... Dauthi Voidwalker is the most hated card at the table. Shuts down pretty much everyone except whoever played it.

[@Nova-zk5gn]

@@chadcharest9891 yeah but you're just talking about your deck. A card isn't bad because you're one maybe two decks can survive it

[@punkypinko2965]

Your conversations are always so fun and thoughtful. Thanks!

[@nathannjh]

Best crew! This is going to be amazing! Can’t wait to listen on my commute!

[@TransformersBoss]

It would’ve been nice to see some focused, broken-out data for each one in this list. Maybe have a discussion beforehand about which colors are good to have Protection from, then the effects, which decks need those effects, how good the Protection is in those decks, yada yada

[@AdamKeeton]

Body and Mind: 2 - Only slightly higher than War and Peace because it does provide a body for chump blocking in return. Multiple times it's saved me because I needed the wall of blockers.

[@wdeborde]

What I learn every time from these discussions is Richard, Tomer and Seth all favor deterministic magic that can be calculated. Crim is 100% yolo make you have it and forced interaction.

[@combosarefun4449]

Sword of Body and Mind can technically burn someone for 20 when its paired up with an active Bloodchief Ascension. Thats something.

[@kylecarlson1228]

Great podcast guys, feels like a late birthday present swords are my favorite cycle in Magic

[@ZypherWildfire]

I just started the video, but if there is no mention of the Sword of Dungeons and Dragons, I'm going to be a little sad inside. I could accept no mention of the Sword of Vengence or the Sword of Kaldra, etc., but the Sword of D&D fits the X and Y parameters.

[@ZypherWildfire]

I am sad now...

[@ChadJShonk]

Tomer needs to start running Wave of Vitriol.

[@vaporeon344]

I suggested this on a commander clash episode! I totally agree with this. This, and Path to Exile, and ESPECIALLY back to basics.

[@nim411]

Sword of Body and Mind; none of the other swords can protect you from Approach of the Second Sun like it can. A+

[@Bongus_Bubogus]

I play Body and Mind in N’gathrod for mill. It performs so well that I have tried it in non-mill decks and it did pretty decent. Great to block against gigantic green creatures.

[@davidcrain453]

I love how intense this convo got this is a good episode

[@SmashCentralOfficial]

6:20 yes sure, if you go to edhrec and look at the top 100 commanders, over 50 of them have Blue or Green. You can also pick any other 2 colors and start counting the top 100 list, and you'll find over 50 commanders in those colors as well. The issue is if you look at all those Blue and/or Green commanders, how many of them do things that target creatures? How many of them are usually attacking or blocking? The protection doesn't matter LOL

[@MakeVarahHappen]

I think Forge and Frontier is overrated. People say Feast/Famine has a downside since you can just not have cards to play (and they're not wrong, if you get it out quick you're likely equipping, untapping two lands, MAYBE playing another mana rock, and passing), but by the same metric, anyone who plays coiling oracle, explore, or uro knows you often don't have lands to play (that's why they cantrip, it's a sub-two mana effect), and all those cards let you at least keep what you draw. 50% of the time Forge flips a useless card and with every hit you're less likely to have a land to play. No one plays explore (granted, it's green and you can just play actual ramp), I'd rather run sword of the animist every time.

[@vjvkdblbclqbowf2330]

THEY MASSACRED MY BOY, SWORD OF ONCE AND FUTURE IS INSANE Alright, actually though, Sword of Once and Future is the newest sword, so I get the fact that the Commander meta game hasn't grasped what this sword ACTUALLY is suppose to do, this is not a general value sword where you're casting draw spells, but this easily ONE OF THE BEST REPEATABLE reanimation effects, in the game, AND letting you put your reanimation cards in the graveyard. A deck filled with cards like: - Reanimate - Persist - Living End - Stitch Together - Goryo's Vengeance - Exhume - Unmarked grave (Which can find Non-Legendary CARDS, including cards like reanimate, allowing you to cast it, put reanimate in the yard, the hit, and then reanimate using whatever reanimation spell you fetched) - Entomb (For the same reason of Unmarked Grave) - Shallow Grave - Literally any Non-black reanimation spells, such as Brought back and (Kinda) Regrowth if you're in green Sword of Once and Future is good in basically ANY reanimator deck, because of the semi-repeatable reanimation effect, protection from black being relevant to protect your commander, and since you'll (probably) be in black, can cast you're other generically good value cards that you're (also probably) running such as Night's Whisper, any removal spell ever, or Demonic tutor and other tutors like it. I think Seth missed that the best creature-spell mix deck, are usually reanimator decks. I will not stop posting this until this CRITICAL error, is rectified.

[@raedien]

Yes thank you! And arguing you need a certain level of creatures is silly in a format where you are gaurenteed access to a creature if you want it from the CZ!

[@thegeardude]

Also crazy in Feather Decks!

[@jeffreycarey1641]

I think Crim has a point about body and mind's mill aspect actually being pretty useful. The other guys talked about how since mill is random, it's bad, but unless the person getting milled has some way to draw extra cards, they're randomly drawing ONE card to B&M's TEN cards milled. Having been milled before, not necessarily by B&M, I've definitely felt what Crim has talked about where I only have so many ways to use my graveyard and so I'm then essentially hoping on 10 to 1 odds that I draw one of those few ways before it gets milled.

[@LVL99Totodile]

Eh, the one time I played against it everyone was literally volunteering to get hit by it... If people actively want me to use my "S+" tier sword on them maybe that's a sign I missevaluated the card by a tier or 5

[@Sinistra359]

It's even better if you're able to mill their recursion cards lol. Also most recursion spells recur permanents, and since you're milling sorceries, instants, lands, etc also, I think the mill has some upside and it's not all downside like they say.

[@Icameron259]

Here's the issue: any time that you failed to mill a key card, what you actually did was mill them 10 cards *closer* to drawing their key card - so on average it does nothing in a vacuum. Then as mentioned on the podcast, many decks utilise their graveyards in one way or another, either through recursion or Delve/Escape. I will grant that it can help to mitigate tutors, though, since you reduce the pool they can tutor from.

[@uphillwalrus5164]

Your deck is randomized. The odds of you having seen those cards you milled are just as likely as the rest of your library. Is it suddenly impossible to win with 90 cards because 10 cards you really like got milled? Hating mill is a meme

[@jumpsteady1777]

I think once and future is incredibly slept on. I mean maybe if someone hits me with body and mind sword imagine how more amazing once and future is lol

[@STS-qi1qy]

Surprised at the arguments against Sinew & Steel. Even if you don't want to take out mana rocks how many combo pieces are artifacts or artifacts used to protect combo pieces. You don't even need to hit the danger player to get the trigger, either, so you can politic in the hit. I still wouldn't rank it high, because cost to value, but the idea 'there might be no good targets' is baffling to me.

[@cheezybred]

Finally completed the set of swords for my ragavan edh deck.

[@BobardeZanzibar]

You're a monster.

[@tygy3088]

"we're in the sword of Body and Mind meta" Funniest thing I've heard in a minute

[@MatchaDough]

If you are playing all swords you should be trying to have double strike as well. Milling 20 cards with sword of body and mind can easily finish a player off late game.

[@cooldes4593]

1:15:27 Technically, in a strict sense, plusing yourself and minusing your opponent are both “card advantage”. As in an advantage over your opponent. So feast and famine does actually ramp and card advantage like the other two. People just see you drawing as less threatening to their gameplan (for good reason). Also, richards point only proves just how far and away more powerful feast and famine is on its own than the others. The fact that even a bad deck durdling becomes archenemy from a sinlge equipment just means the equipment is THAT GOOD.

[@bios_4885]

On the Sword of Hearth and Home discussion. It's so crazy to me that people run so few basic lands now. The best and most efficient ramp is typically grabbing basic lands (Cultivate, Kodamas Reach, Rampant Growth etc..) I'm more prone to running at bare minimum 10 basics even in 5C just so I have access to the best ramp in the format. There are cards like nature's lore and three visits which can grab duals efficiently but there are far more that grab basics.

[@LucasRoth42]

Just because there are more it doesn't mean they're better. There are so many ramp that fetch non-basics that there's no reason to play cultivate, kodamas reach and etc at all

[@darkflame9410]

Honestly, I think that's actually a point against H&H. The more basic land ramp you run, the worse H&H gets, since your other ramp is actively taking away the number of times it can actually do anything (rampwise). H&H would be best in a deck where its your only land-based ramp, AND you run a lot of basics. So ironically, its best home is probably in mono-black decks where lots of swamps is a plus, and that's about it.

[@dira_versal]

Richards evaluation always seems all over the place. Worst case scenarios painting himself being archenemy in all scenarios. Killing "random" artifact is seen as a bad thing? You don't even need to hit the person who will loose the artifact. So it can be used for political moves as well. So often there is a pair of boots or greaves around. Totally agree with Seth about FaF being better w/o the discard effect. But Tomer is totally correct about seeing FaF more like a Dockside rather than a Rampant growth.

[@coreysierchio4650]

I've never been able to use swords in Commander, but the blue/black sword is a sneaky addition to my Historic Burn deck. *Thanks for the Content* !

[@Simon-ow6td]

I love these ranking videos. On every card at least one person has a completely wild hot take.

[@almogdov]

Honestly, I've found myself cutting all the swords from my decks, it doesn't fit any of them. Even my Skullbriar voltron deck only plays fire and ice for a bit of CA (and I might cut that one too now for the new Ozolith), I prefer something more synergistic than just raw power. And if you don't play white and can equip for 0, then rebuilding a board and paying that 2 mana to equip can get annoying.

[@ArchetypeGotoh]

I’m very curious about this conversation. I started playing the game on Arena around the end of BroWar, and my first deck that ever won “consistently” revolved around putting Sword of Forge and Frontier on the DoubleStrike Jawbone Duelist. Double Strike is already a powerful KeyWord, but getting to see (and maybe play) two cards off the top TWICE if you get through, i love that

[@kevinanderson2540]

How in the world could the forget the best one of all: Sword of Dungeons and Dragons!

[@TheCommunistGamerTV]

Crim memeing Body and Mind like it's going out of style. (Which it is. lol)

[@nykthosacolyte5710]

You are assuming he is memeing.... When really it's great in specific decks which does favor crim getting extra targets to animate and being able to exile their yard

[@adammorin2955]

@@nykthosacolyte5710 not even in specific decks heck i run it in angels and its the only equipment i run

[@Pinfeldorf]

Sword of Once and Future has a use in Sunforger decks, too. It can't cast ALL of the spells Sunforger puts into your bin, but it can still hit some of the better ones (Swords, Path, Deflecting Palm, Steelshaper's Gift).

[@51gunner]

I really like it in red/white Voltron decks because it lets you re-use those tutors, and the colors it provides protection from aren't your colors. You'll never nonbo out something like being unable to equip other pieces of equipment in your deck. White/red also tends to struggle a little with card advantage, and while Once and Future isn't drawing cards, being able to surveil away something you don't need at the moment is nice.

[@shonmatthew]

Tomer, we need a tier list just for slicer swords

[@13okto13]

As the resident equipment player in my group id definitely say sword of hearth and home is my favorite sword. Even if I have like 6 basics. If I can ramp 3 times off of it I'm probably winning.

[@Schmanton]

Feast and famine is bad, because you become arch enemy. This quote alone proofes that its insane xD

[@ShadWickBrand]

Sword of War and Peace is fantastic in Karazikar. You're actively drawing you and your opponents cards and losing life, so this compliments that gameplan perfectly.

[@TheSpunYarn]

The War and Peace opinions are strange. "Dealing Damage isn't good". what does this mean? People get cagey at 25 life. Two hits from War and Peace adds up to dealing about half somebody's life in most cases. Damage is undervalued these days.

[@Slim3398]

Once and future actually fits perfectly into my Octavia deck. Can’t wait.

[@crimsonleg4237]

I use Body and Mind in my Egon Voltron/Stax deck. I use Leyline of the Void in conjunction with the sword, so when things are milled into the graveyard, they're exiled instead and opponents can't recur anything.

[@AwwhHex]

Coming back from the commander clash where Crim proves the usefulness of Body and Mind makes his fervent defending of the card so much funnier.

[@dylanthomas2393]

I definitely think body and mind is somewhere inbetween Crim and Tomer’s views… which means Richard is of course right lol

[@WarpedPhoenix710]

Sword of Feast/Famine is my fave !!

[@matwhang]

I love Crim’s input on Body and Mind 😂 so entertaining 😊

[@nicholaskandas]

I'm loving the live fact checking. Very fun way to add legitimacy to arguments.

[@jo_ken]

30:46 Sinew and Steel I think is on the middle or higher end of swords because it’s removal even for the players’ stuff you aren’t hitting.

[@jackrosen1]

Coming from a planeswalker heavy meta it is so frustrating to see people hating on that sword.

[@leandroesperanza8853]

Its the best sword, because its the only that can kill the others =P

[@crayyonnyadrav4055]

Crim is just selling something that cannot be bought. A true genius of Trading.

[@hinatasninetailedfox]

Sword of Body and Mind is one of my favorite pet cards and the only sword that makes a pet so S+. 😂

[@3N3MYKN1GHT]

One of 4 i have in foil and the only one I have in borderless foil, from a very expensive 2xm vip pack. I have to like it, at least for its art, gameplay wise, at least it makes a dog and ducks some very good exile removal (reality shift, resculpt, tear asunder) or really efficient blue removal, (pongo, rapid, suspend, cyc rift) not a fan of the mill unless i have a reanimate ready or mnemonic betrayal effect ready.

[@hinatasninetailedfox]

@@3N3MYKN1GHT it's got a lot of nostalgia value for me. I remember being a poor kid and finally getting most of Get Er Dungrove built and before this tournament really wanting to get a couple of them for the sideboard. I figured they'd be decent against Naya Pod and the mirror. Well I didn't have the money at the time and I ended up playing the mirror and losing to the sword and it was such a funny memory in my mind. This sword isn't great but I'm more attached to it than the others so I'll always enjoy seeing it.

[@AbyssArray]

I remember when I started magic, that was Sword of Fire and Ice for me.. back in 2008 lol I had no semblance of how good cards were, just that fire/ice seemed edgy and cool lol

[@hinatasninetailedfox]

@@AbyssArray I miss those days. Scars was actually my first set and I didn't know anything about what cards were good. I remember specifically wanting Engulfing Slagwurm more than any other card in the set and was hyped beyond belief when I pulled it. Ah, the simpler days.

[@AbyssArray]

@@hinatasninetailedfox Back then too I remember just buying packs and slamming whatever I got into my deck if it met the colours lol. Accidentally playing singleton format without trying

[@איתיגלעדכהן]

I use the sword of once and future in my yidris wheel deck to recast the sorceries with no cost and suspend, the options are a tutor, a bribery or a wheel, its awesomeeee

[@Sinistra359]

Body of mind isn't that bad lol. Definitely not S but also not D. The mill can be devastating and even more devastating if you mill their recursion cards lol I mean 10 cards is a lot and youre milling instants, sorceries, lands etc. I'd like to think of the mill as pseudo removal, more akin to like discard. Everytime I see it I pray they don't swing at me lol. I agree with Richard, the best of the worst swords lol so I'll give it a 6 out of 10.

[@spacesquid4298]

Mill is not removal, come on man

[@Sinistra359]

​@@spacesquid4298 I said, pseudo removal since they don't have access to it normally without some sort of recursion.

[@burnsboy101]

@@spacesquid4298reading the comment explains the comment

[@spacesquid4298]

@@Sinistra359 its just not removal - they lost no card advantage

[@samsprague3158]

@@spacesquid4298 unless you mill a critical tutor target

[@castlemanpunk4436]

Some bad takes Richard. “Sword is bad because it requires you to hit” yeah, they all require that.

[@damonhymer5960]

Seth calling Crim to the carpet is good fun

[@kwagmeijer26]

I like Light and Shadow. I think Disentomb effects in general are underrated. Maybe not as good as card draw early game, but past turn 4 I would rather play disentomb effects. What is likely to be in your graveyard? The best creature you've played so far, which is likely better than the average card you will draw.

[@RooKalfas]

I was just thinking about this the other day!

[@redram9]

Sword of War and Peace is bad because it's protection colors work against you. Lizal Blades, Lion Sash, Cloudsteel Kirin, Gift of Immortality, Robe of Stars all are red or white and are staples in boros equipment/aura decks.

[@Kitsuraw]

Feel like once and future is being slept on. A lot of tutors are 1 to 2 mana and being able to cast them multiple times in a single turn can rocket your win con or give you access to all your answers. Not to mention surveil two is fantastic for reanimation and stacking your draws.

[@jo_ken]

Talking for Body and Mind I haven’t personally used it, but I have thought that gearing up a double strike creature or double combats like Aurelia and you almost have a mill engine in 1 card getting 20+ cards in a turn.

[@Thoughtmage100]

Speaking from personal use, in the right deck it's an all-star. My Haunt of Hightower Voltron deck loves it. +2/+2 on equip, and +10/+10 on hit with flying and lifelink feels so good.

[@DrukenReaps]

Always interesting to listen to these lists. It is like a constant reminder that y'alls meta is weird :P Okay, mine might be the weird one... Hard to say. But I often find myself disagreeing with 2 or 3 of you for every card in every tier list lol. Makes it even more fun to watch.

[@BobardeZanzibar]

The milling also blanks tutors making them worse draws later or it makes your combo more fragile if youve been forced to use a recursion spell. Having an important spell in your graveyard is also revealed information and is kind of like quarter playing your combo.

[@kirkebel2194]

I’ve been liking once in future in my Balmor deck.

[@Awesomesausages]

27:22 In the case of a full grip, this card deals *nine* damage! That's almost a quarter of the way there, plus whatever the body itself deals. It's not more than a C, but it's actually a very relevant amount of damage with good protection colours.

[@piotrgruchacz8195]

The War and Peace Sword is not useless, but super narrow - I'm running it in my Neheb, the Eternal deck: gives protection grom all my red board wipes, deals damage, what gives me more mana after combat and additionally gives some life points, which can help me survive dancing on the edge of burning the board.

[@psychozen7169]

Duathi with sword of body and mind equip is gas. Don't forget duathi already has shadow! In my muldrotha deck most of the creatures have invasion of some sort and most player go crap I can't block that.

[@Red_Mage__]

On Random milling vs graveyards: As someone with a (2 mana) Lazav graveyard deck, indiscriminately mill me as much as you like. I wouldn't have Mesmeric Orb in the deck if I was scared of getting the wrong cards milled.

[@DHGcrimson]

this weekend i was using sword of hearth and home and blinking stoneforge mystic. super busted

[@newhampshirenate]

Now WOTC needs to make a set called 'Swords of Excenwye', featuring reprints of all 10 swords, and all sorts of equipment shenanigans cards!

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

Richard’s really gotta work on his transitioning tactics. I do appreciate that he’s trying to keep the podcast moving and avoid everyone getting stuck on a card for too long, but he pretty frequently straight up cuts people off mid-sentence to talk about the next card, which is annoying to me as a viewer, and probably more so to the other members of the podcast. At least let them finish the sentence first.

[@Pandajannick]

I was so excited today for my simic Imoti deck in Historic Brawl today... THREE TIMES, three times Sword of Body and Mind appear to wreck my day, savage

[@Raptr121]

Sunforger+ Once and Future. Still narrow but the value can't be denied.

[@Roll-Penut]

Honestly they somehow completely nailed my order for these cards in the tier list Forge and frontier Body and mind Feast and famine (then way below those 3) Fire and ice Truth and justice Body and mind Light and shadow (honorable mention wealth and power goes right here) Sinew and steel War and peace (and waaaay far at the bottom) Once and future

[@surfinggarchomp2820]

I have an extus spellslinger deck that’ll love once and future. Double strike baby!

[@ammonaustin9081]

As someone who runs a Swords themed Raiyuu, the Storm's Edge deck, lemme give my personal opinion on the swords in the perspective of a hard-core voltron. Sword of Feast n famine = S tier. Pro-black is amazing for anti-removal and green is very good to get by the best blockers in the format. Also there aren't many good green swords so FnF's pro-green stands out Sword of Fire n Ice = A tier, the protection is often not that relevant outside of dodging Chaos Warp or Wild Magic Surge. However the shock and draw a card is very nice, especially with Raiyuu's double attacks. Sword of Body n Mind = D tier, the pro-green would be nice but the triggered abilities just suck for voltron Sword of Hearth n Home = C tier, it's good for value decks that want to blink but it's actually a non-bo in voltron as blinking ur voltron will unequip. Pro-green and white however is good in a general sense. Sword of Sinew n Steel = B tier, pro-black and red is very good. The kill planes walker ability is very meh but it's cool to destroy any artifact. Sword of Truth n Justice = B tier, pro-white is nice, pro-blue is kinda irrelevant. But it gets your voltron big very fast by giving a +1 counter and proliferate. Sword of Forge n Frontier = S tier, pro-green and red is very saucy and the abilities are tons of value. Very much appreciated in voltron. Sword of Dimir = F tier, trash in voltron. You literally have to build your deck around this Sword in order for it to be useful. Sword of Light n shadow = B tier, the best protection colors in the game. The life gain is very meh but the 3cmc creature Reanimate is nice. It's the Dimir sword if it was actually playable. Sword of War n Peace = C tier, the protection is usually very relevant and the abilities aren't as bad as ppl say. It punishes value players quite well, helping you be aggro & lifegain is appreciated in voltron as you're vulnerable to backswings. tappedout.net/mtg-decks/army-of-one-ii-raiyuu-storms-edge