Commander Bad Habits You Need to Quit | The Command Zone 507 | Magic: The Gathering Commander EDH

[@Areinu]

Playing at Sorcery Speed, Not apologizing for playing the game - A story related to those things. Once I played a game of Commander where I was in the lead, and I knew that if I survive the next rotation I would win. One of the opponents was playing Korvold. He had nothing on his board, and played Korvold. I had a removal for him, but since he had nothing else I let it live. Then the player proceed to put some other cards on the table, dark ritual, and went off, pumping the Korvold to 27 power, and then he wanted to equip boots to Korvold to give him haste. I had no flying blockers. At that point I played my removal. The opponent basically table flipped, that I should have removed his Korvold as soon as it was played, that I shouldn't have wasted everyone's time by letting him pump Korvold, and that I'm breaking the game for everyone. At that point I wanted to keep up my removal for a bigger threat, as 2 more players would still play, and they had good board states. I only had limited number of answers, and I knew I would need them. And once he played all the pieces needed to loop Korvold there was no good place to play removal, as he potentially could have had protection. The moment he went to equip boots he actually dropped shield and tapped out all his mana, making it a perfect point to attack. I didn't feel bad about it, I didn't apologize when he god mad about it, and when he started to call me a tryhard. I just told him my reasoning, and agreed that I probably made a mistake by not killing Korvold on sight(as you should ALWAYS do), but it's not like I could take it back at that point. It was 2 years ago, or so, and to this day he won't play in a pod with me. I still stand by my opinion that keeping up the removal is just standard proper magic, and not "tryharding at commander".

[@goonerbear8659]

You made a good threat assessment from what you knew at the time. I do that kind of thing quite a bit with my Hinata deck. I at least let my opponents know first to not adjust the game state until the attacking player has declared attackers. Just so they don't do something like scoop or tick down their life totals before I save the table with March of Swirling Mist (which left that guy open to a deadly counterattack) or Disorder in the Court (which was step 1 of the plan to live until I had a giant damage spell, which I got in a Comet Storm).

[@yggdrasilraphael4815]

This is just how you should play (and I’m not even good at Magic 😅).

[@mightyone3737]

Yeah, that Korvold player sounds like a moron, it's 100% the right play to wait until you won't be able to act to prevent damage to you if you wait any longer, but not any sooner so that you prevent damage to an opponent. This is why people love Swords and hate sorcery speed options, you can exile a Blightsteel and save your bacon, and you can also let that Blightsteel eliminate two other opponents before you kill it if you're lucky.

[@Xynic.7391]

No reason to kill it until it's coming at you. Let him take down your opponents for you lol

[@TheRealMonstaa]

That guy sounds like a sore loser to me lol. I think it's only good for you if he doesn't wanna play with you! Saves you the trouble of dealing with his childish tantrums. Great play on the removal though! You did it just perfectly, wasting the opponents resources and all :D

[@FluffyTurbo]

My group always goes "I'm sorry" before doing a game changing play and always someone goes "no your not" they respond "I know" and we laugh about it other good ones is "in response I will cry"

[@hamblance5938]

Whenever there’s a big play with no responses, my pod likes to say “sadness resolves”

[@PalidFingers]

In my group when someone does a game changing play I go "In response, I 'll tap these two lands and look you in the face"

[@allenyates3469]

I play to make big game changing plays more than I do to win. The only time I apologize if my Reaper King deck combos off and destroys all targetable permanents on the board. This obviously makes players salty but it's the only reason I run reaper king. "Sorry, guys. But I'm still doing this."

[@lucasbakeforero426]

I will cry is a classic.

[@definitelybenny]

Some fun ones from my friend group: In response I tap two lands to cast These Hands Crying is a free action Before I pass priority, I give you a disappointed look.

[@brningpyre]

Episode starts at 3:23.

[@austenplant3144]

Not all heroes wear capes

[@DarkPikachuYTV]

@@austenplant3144 doesn’t the flash not wear one if am not mistaken

[@Justadadonthetok]

Genuine question about ads and sponsorships because I'm not savvy to the KZbin rules or sponsorship rules. But is there anything against just doing all the sponsorship babble at the end of the video vs the beginning? I end up 100% always fast forwarding to when the content supposedly starts.

[@JakeAce13]

@@Justadadonthetok If sponsors do their research right they will ask for engagement statistics or find that out themselves. And it turns out - at least from what I have read and heard in videos so take it with a grain of salt - that sponsors at the end of the video are skipped more often than in the beginning and the best engagement usually is in mid rolls since people tend to be engaged with other things or too lazy to skip mid rolls. Long story short what speaks against sponsorings at the end is that they are easier to skip and therefore create less engagement and less engagement usually means less profit for the sponsored channel

[@schrottinator]

@@Justadadonthetok Putting them at the end usually means that people just stop watching the video.

[@Kleion_RFB]

CZ: "Don't apologise for playing the game." Me, a Canadian: "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."

[@mattmmb]

Sorry bud. Board wipe...

[@dracon501]

There are times you will see some bad blood play out in a commander game. Player 1 will non stop target player 2 and finally player 2 will bust out a card that has to be countered by player 3 or 4.

[@timmyg316]

My Canadian blood doesn't let me do this. How do you just not apologize. I'm sorry, but I disagree!

[@ryanwillson2751]

Same but British

[@donvielenio8956]

"Sorry for taking so long, and no, you won't get another upkeep soon." --Casting your 7th Extra Turn Spell in row in an Edric deck.

[@TheRandomeDud3]

Bad Habit / pet peeve: having conversations that drown out what people are playing. Too many times I've been in a game where the other players are engulfed in a conversation and not paying attention to what's being played. If you're not paying attention to what I am doing, I will clearly say what I am playing and if your conversation is more important, then I'll assume that my stuff resolves. Don't be upset that you didn't bother to interact with my massacre wurm / natural affinity combo.

[@nomizak]

My pet peeve is when someoen comes up and starts talking to a player for 20 minutes. We are all done with our turns and we are waiting on them to do their turn but they just keep talking. Its annoying to have to say something because then I/we feel like the bad guy for making them stop their conversation. Another pet peevee is when you end a game and the person starts doing trades and takes like 20+ minutes. I was in a pod recently where we finished a game and the guy said he wanted to play again. So we waited like 20 to 30 minutes.(the guy went through at least 2 or 3 binders. At the end the guy said he wasnt going to play with us and decided to play with the guys who he was trading with. That left us with only 2 players because our fourth had already left. Me and the other guy just left because all the pods were full and it was too close to closing to find a new player or two and have a game.

[@Kazz1187]

@@nomizak brutal

[@knoble4797]

My playgroup will know who to blame when this happens next game night

[@FelipeSantos-kj7pj]

Thia happen to me and i fell só anger with that...

[@BorealGames]

A group I used to play with would do this, mind you they were all much closer friends than I was to them and they all worked together too, but we would be playing and they'd be busy talking to the point of not playing the game. Even as I loudly announced my steps and stuff by the time I ended my turn we would all be sitting there for someone to go because they didn't realize my turn had come and gone. I don't play with them anymore lol

[@kareth117]

Listen, I get that some folks just dread seeing ads and stuff when we're watching videos like this, but I want to say I appreciate that you run therapy ads like that and show it in the positive light it deserves. Men do not see that often enough, nor do they take it to heart unfortunately. Ultimately, guys, go see a therapist. Worst case scenario they say you're fine and have nothing to learn from them (unlikely, we all need therapy at some point) but best case you find out how to maneuver your own emotions and issues. Anyway, thanks for running ads for therapy.

[@RazgrizAce67]

I'm a big fan of saying out loud, "Untap, upkeep, draw" at the beginning of turn to help remember. Although a lot of times it sounds like "Unta-pkee-dra" like Kyle Hill does.

[@frorociousexpress]

I started playing about a month ago, I came from yugioh so I have a habit of going "Untap, standby, draw"

[@ancientsequence]

@@frorociousexpress mee too 🤣

[@e6staffsargeify]

The more I hear Kyle say it the more I start saying it like that too lmao.

[@derianardor]

"untap-unkeep-ungabunga" my friends kept saying it then suddenly found myself doing it

[@reb286]

My friends and I had a dumb version of this where we’d put a b in front of every word. Buntap, bupkeep, braw. Started as a joke but eventually we’d just say it at the start of every turn without thinking lol. Makes me smile whenever I think about it

[@gamerscare]

The worst habit of opponents I play against regularly is playing a single player game. They never tell the table what they're doing and just expect people to know what their cards do and when their turn is over.

[@moedark4390]

oh man, ya the guys that are too lazy to state the name of the card they are casting or what step theyre on.

[@gamerscare]

@@moedark4390 They don't run interaction and play like no one else does

[@raphaelkroger3141]

Well i used to tell my playgroup everything i do while doing it and what my cards can do. But often they simply didnt't listen and engaging in private conversations. And having to repeat almost everything you do every turn annoys the hell out of me. So i dont repeat myself anymore. Be respectful and pay attention like you expect others to.

[@coddmodd]

I have a habit of reading/explaining every card. For most

[@imnotacat5299]

​@@raphaelkroger3141 Yes that's annoying, but that's a completely different situation and not at all the subject here. We are talking about the people that literally just tap mana and cast cards without making a single sound. Some people even pass turns by just making a hand gesture.

[@danmorgan7775]

I have to admit my worst habit is missing my own triggers. People are usually quite helpful when it happens and it really only disadvantages me so it's probably not the worst one to have but that is still the one I want to resolve to be better at in 2023.

[@r4nd0m1zer2]

I noticed that the better one knows his deck the less likely he is to miss triggers. Thinking about how cards are used and why their in the deck increases playspeed as well. Pre thinking a turn also helps. I always follow the board state and re-evaluate my optimal course of actions during my turn according to changes that occur in real time. Thanks to that it usually takes me less than 20 seconds for my turns before turns with multiple shuffles before combat steps start happening.

[@Blakkichan151]

Me too, I have ADHD and the struggle is definitely real sometimes but it is definitely something I want to get better at!!

[@ODIRGO]

You could use more cards with activated or ETB effects (that you conciuosly decide when to use), instead of so many cards that activate by themselves at certain moments in the game. I've also noticed a funny thing about players that missed their own triggers constantly, they tend to play decks that require a lot of attention to multiple triggers at a time, for example, all my friends with that kind of problem play Izzet/spellslinger as their prefered deck strategy. Most of the times, the rest of the table end up telling them how to use their own decks (while they are distracted with their celphone or something similar.)

[@ODIRGO]

@@r4nd0m1zer2 people with tons of decks tend to forget how to use them more often than people with only a few of decks.

[@SC_Silver_99]

I occasionally miss my triggers when I'm playing a deck I just built but I after getting a feel of the deck I don't miss them afterwards.

[@ODIRGO]

I have a friend that once played the Phage + Fractured Identity combo and when he won, he kept apologizing to the rest of the table (he seemed sincerely embarazed). I told him he doesn't have to apologize for a combo that he INTENTIONALLY put in his deck. If he feels like apologizing to everyone for doing those kind of plays, then he just shouldn't put those cards in his decks to begin with.

[@martinheraud1744]

What do you mean, phage + identity is so fun !

[@Threeve703]

Just another comment reaffirming Rachel should be on the podcast nearly all the time.

[@therachelweeks]

You're in luck! That's my new job! Haha

[@Threeve703]

@@therachelweeks It's awesome! You're doing a great job.

[@TinyLegs15243]

The attack Craig on the checklist was a nice touch lmao

[@avatarofpapermagic]

And also great advice 😂

[@danielscott9960]

I literally had to pause the video to stop laughing when I spotted that

[@craigmoen1430]

Can confirm that this is a rule everywhere.

[@ijuhi]

Never forget to attack Craig

[@andrewtl7988]

Another big phase-move thing I find frustrating at times is when people go right from main 1 to "swing in for 3", without declaring the move to combat phase. Very relevant in some decks to respond in combat but before attackers are declared, and it's frustrating to have to say "can you tell me when you're moving to combat cause I might have a response"

[@troylambert1601]

Let em do it. Turns out you still get to react, but now you have information if they didn't pass priority. They'll learn faster if you punish they're attack with free information.

[@Caio22011]

@@troylambert1601 Yep, they will always have to take the attack back if they know how the game works, if they don't they will just learn

[@kl3r1k3r-7]

And after you tell them the amount of damage they either take it silently without letting you know if they actually took it/the correct amount, OR they then realize that they might have done something different, after knowig the amount of damage

[@bouboulroz]

A friendly reminder that you can refuse any shortcut that isn't an infinite loop and force the game to roll-back and be played step by step.

[@shinobu-39]

I think this is a fair shortcut (in a friendly table) because it's an easy game action to reverse. In the long run, it does save more time to skip passive phases until they're relevant. It's more detrimental to the attacker who rushed anyway because you now have more information. I play limited a lot and this is a common thing that's reversed pretty easily without any infractions. Personally, I always declare I'm moving into combat and then pass priority whether I'm aggro or control. But I do understand taking liberties in more casual aggro-centric tables.

[@skyraker7489]

With regards to token representation, I find having a standardized 'language' or protocol for how to treat token tracking helps immensely. In my case, dice placement matters- top left of the card is number, middle is counters, bottom right is P/T, and have all freeform tokens follow that method.

[@mikotagayuna8494]

My Commander Bad Habit: Watching CZ and always ending up buying more cards afterwards.

[@pops91]

I am surprised no one mention the biggest bad habit everyone makes. STOP TELLING PEOPLE HOW TO PLAY.Let them make mistakes because only then they will learn from them. Also a bonus bad habit. STOP BACK SEAT GAMING, SPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN THE GAME OR DEFEATED. I hate when people approach the table and point things out to others or how they should play their hand or even more annoying when they grab the top of your deck to see future turns. Seriously people stop.

[@floridaman6982]

Yeah not everyone wants tips, I play chess too and its super annoying there. Yeah the guy might be higher rated than me, but if I want to become a mid tier player I come find you for help I’m just chilling over here by trial and error

[@airkami]

You mad bro?

[@jehansilva9268]

I love infinitokens as a salt mitigator. When I would usually get a bit salty, I find that enjoying myself by creating goofy tokens takes my mind off of it

[@OmegaMTG]

I've gotten in the habit of when the turn is passed to me, I verbalize each phase as I do them "Untap, upkeep, draw". I guest stream fairly frequently and it just makes the show stream smoother if you declare your actions and steps.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

It also helps to verbalize the end of your turn clearly. You ever have everyone just talking and joking for like 5 mins until someone ask whose turn it even is because one player never announced they were done their turn or no one heard them. It really slows the game down.

[@QWERTY-du4hc]

It's a good way to remind yourself to check what you have.

[@moedark4390]

thats how its supposed to be done

[@moedark4390]

@@Dragon_Fyre yes, no clear end the turn.

[@quayo90]

The “steal your stuff” deck snapping and fidgeting your cards or the “Pizza Eater” grabbing at your cards to read them….Rachel 👀👀

[@bdac5653]

For the Bonus habit: Play with max 2 colours until you reliably play without making mana mistakes, from there step up to 3 colours if you want. With Commander being popular, I so often see new players jumping to a 3 colour commander straight away and getting into problems.

[@BoxOfFear]

I’ve never considered this. Every Commander precon I’ve purchased is three colors…😢

[@PestOnYT]

In the "tapping correctly" category: Some people "tap" their lands just ~45° and when they untap it looks very similar to the other "slightly" tapped cards... This confuses me a lot. The tapped cards should be horizontally and the untapped cards vertically aligned (at least "close to"), not somewhere in-between. Also, if a card costs e.g. a black and a blue plus 3, some people just tap 5 and I ask myself if they tapped the back and the blue or just "any" 5. There, being more explicit on what they tap is helpful.

[@DoctorDucky250]

My main MTG playmate plays Pokemon primarily, where the turns end immediately after you attack. Using his second main phase and other Instant speed things is his main area of focus for getting better 😂 it's a hard habit to break though.

[@VirlymXD]

When my friend was teaching me how to play, he made a simple rule to make me remember how a turn starts. If I forget to untap before I draw, that means "I've elected to skip my untap step". A simple punish, but it really makes you learn fast.

[@keldone3186]

only problem. You CANT skip it.

[@VirlymXD]

@keldone Normally, yes. But when you're learning the game, there's never an upside to skipping it. So it was just a conditioning to not forget the steps.

[@irajohnston5160]

I teach people that they miss it rather than skip it. Speaking more on the quick draw forgetting to untap first player.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

Some players place something on top of their deck. It’s there as a reminder to slow down and make sure you do everything you need to do before you draw.

[@r4nd0m1zer2]

My dad did the same to me. Its a very effective way to teach 😂

[@tuviaschwarcz]

My tip: stop dumping your hand onto the field leaving urself 1 boardwipe away from a bad day. If ur current boardstate is the best already and "winning" and u don't need to drop another creature to secure victory.. leave it in your hand for the time being. Same goes with removal.. save for the best moment not the first scary thing u see

[@moedark4390]

yes, this

[@brandonvoice8941]

But I bet you tell people they can't use mass land destruction...

[@s4ad0wpi]

As far as Tokens go, I like keeping a standard deck of cards on me. Need a 3/3 beast? 3 of hearts! 2/2 zombie? 2 of spaids! Copy of another permanent? Turn it face down! It's not perfect, but it's fairly understood at most tables

[@Argeaux2]

I tap the table as I say "Upkeep". That way you are doing an action for each thing on your "checklist". Untap (untap cards) Upkeep (tap table) Draw for turn (draw a card) When I put a die on top of my library, I have the number of pips on the top equal the number of triggers I need to remember. I find that more useful than just the die on any number.

[@thaddaustentakel7620]

An addition to 'scrolling during the game' or even 'poorly representing the game state' for me are outside the game discussions/conversations. Especially in my friends group but also sometimes at my LGS there is some small talk that has nothing to do with the game which results in people not knowing whats on the board, keeping up with their triggers, rewinding because of mandatory effects or getting angry afterwards because they had a response but just didn't pay attention in that moment. Sometimes you can look at them, play your full turn telling every action in a loud voice and they still won't know what happened.

[@JakeAce13]

I like to small talk about different topic but only in two cases: A) A player is searching their library or resolving other stuff that takes some time and mentions when they‘re finished. B) We pause the game to talk about a topic that came up. Otherwise when we are clearly in the midth of a turn with many points and possibilities of interaction there is only game talk and game banter. 😊

[@Sodmaster111]

If I couldn't banter with my friends during games id quit EDH entirely

[@thaddaustentakel7620]

@@Sodmaster111 It is ok as long as you dont interrupt the game flow

[@SCKentrol]

The point about apologize: I play in Canada, and we just can't not say sorry for every removal or counterspell or attacking people lmao

[@DoctorDucky250]

Midwesterner here, we have the same tradition.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

Yeah a Canadian sorry is really just a way of being polite and not an actual apology.

[@dr.revenue3636]

@@Dragon_Fyre "I'm playing blue, sorry lads"

[@nathanchampion7016]

they said shouldnt say sorry, you can still say Sorey

[@PantheraLeoKing]

It's equivalent to "My condolences"

[@mborchik2007]

I think the #1 mistake is definitely reacting before it’s your turn in priority. The amount of times someone who was last in priority immediately responds when I had planned on dealing with the same card is laughable. It’s always better to let someone else deal with the problem if they can. Responding too quickly makes you utilize resources you may not of had to use 🤷‍♂️

[@dr.revenue3636]

Yeah our pod struggled with this for a while, thinking if you had an instant you could just kind of interrupt whenever you wanted and wherever you were in turn order. Us learning together about priority really helped progress, especially as the more you play you run into more complex interactions. And, like you said...if someone else wants to counter that spell...please do!

[@AndyG3173]

One of the playgroups I am in plays that way. They didn't know what priority was, and when I explained it to them, they said it sounded boring and would rather just slam down instants, "first come, first served" style. I can't play with them lol I am very by the book with phases and priority, and they're just chaotic

[@Haph3us]

"There are no cards for bad people" Mel felt differently when Craig played that OG Vorinclex back in the day lmaoooo

[@matthewrobert1810]

“Jerk card for Jerks”

[@TheLibertybellz]

Jimmy! I did the 12 resolution thing last year! Did it for about 6 months. Keep em simple enough, and don't just pick something difficult you would be doing anyway. That's what made me fall off the resolution wagon. Best of luck! My resolution is to journal everyday so I can track my progress and better understand my shortcomings.

[@danacoleman4007]

Nice! Good luck!

[@VeryShawkward]

This couldn’t have come at a better time! Best way to cruise through the rest of my day!

[@floridaman6982]

One thing is the politics of commander is probably the most important part. If you are going full steam and creating a massive threat it just becomes a 1 v 5. Looking inconspicuous is an art

[@BoxOfFear]

I feel like it was a huge accomplishment, the day I finally figured out to focus on the person with the best board state, and not automatically go after the person with the most remaining life.

[@Narmoriel42]

Poorly representing board state is why I love having blank dry-erase tokens. They're lifesaving, and also you get to make your own silly tokens.

[@apophis456]

A lot of these come from a “you play magic to win” perspective when in commander you play for fun first (yes there’s a grey area of I have fun by winning but I’m not going into that). You should aim to win every game you play but the priority in commander is fun shit

[@danacoleman4007]

Indeed!!!

[@matthewrobert1810]

You can still play to win while having fun. Board games do it all the time. People need to start understanding that

[@apophis456]

@@matthewrobert1810 I literally mentioned that in my comment.

[@matthewrobert1810]

@@apophis456 you mentioned a grey area. I’m basically saying there shouldn’t be one. More players need to think that way

[@apophis456]

@@matthewrobert1810 then problem is that many people who have fun by winning get angry and tilted when they *don’t* win, which is why there’s a stigma around it to beginning with. History shows that they’re not fun people to have in your pods. There’s nothing wrong with having fun by winning as long as you’re not treating casual games like paid tournaments where you’re blowing up lands of players who are behind, playing cEDH combos in casual games, and aren’t a poor sport when you lose

[@seankeane769]

A good way to help you while tapping for mana is to say out loud what your tapping each mana for… most times, you will catch yourself tapping incorrectly, or realize you could tap better (like using an island for a blue instead of a duel land)… it also helps your opponents keep track too if you make a mistake… they could notice that you tapped your watery grave for a green lol

[@Gloryofthereef]

I have little dragon eye counters, and will put one on my library when I have an upkeep trigger so that I remember to do things before drawing. It looks at me disapprovingly when I reach for the draw without interacting first.

[@RazgrizAce67]

49:23 OMG yes, glad someone said this. I HATE "the roll to see who I attack" or "roll to see what I use this removal spell on." Just make a decision based on the current board or what makes sense for the long game! I'd much rather get attacked by an opponent who made a decision based on gameplay reasons (even if I think it's the wrong decision) rather than based on a bad dice roll.

[@Bob-nc5hz]

20:30 this is also an issue because it becomes a tell if you're only engaged when you have something that you *could* do (e.g. a zero-mana counterspell or something). It's probably fine if you have a deck which is designed to play at sorcery speed and will not do interactions on other players' turns, but if you have a deck with instants, abilities, flash, ... anything which *could* be relevant on an other player's turn, disengaging becomes dangerous to your gameplan (unless you use it to create bluffs).

[@KellyUnekis]

The "stop scrolling" bad habit covers disengaging with the game though. The way they present it makes me feel like it's just reskinned "play interaction".

[@SakuyaFM4]

The resolving part, there are a few Japanese card games that I play that flip the Untap and Draw Phases, but MTG and Vanguard are so engrained with me that I flip the phases in those games, because TBH they're non-standard. I always declare "Untap Upkeep Draw" or "Stand and Draw" whenever I start my turn, which also helps with upkeep triggers since I have Phyrexian Arena and/or Sylvan Library in decks that can run them, and also I have a Shrines deck.

[@danielscott9960]

The sorcery speed thing I do on purpose sometimes. My playgroup are learning now that I love alternative cost cards so I will tap out and go but I can return a land to hand or pay life and interact instead and I got people all the time with the false sense of security

[@Cobracon7]

I played during Ice Age, and was told to play my lands in front, stopped playing when they switched it, came back and never adjusted... it drives some people crazy, but I'm not changing it, I keep my field clean...

[@buddatello]

I love that Jimmy's Self Help voice is a cowboy partner

[@ColorwaveCraftsCo]

Haven’t finished the episode yet, but I have a little something to add to the “playing at sorcery speed” conversation. A lot of times, you don’t need to put pressure on yourself to remove every single threat. There are 2 other players that can help you deal with it and many times the scary thing doesn’t even affect you as much as it affects your opponents. I’m just saying this because I used to be so guilty of it and now I’m trying to be better about holding my answers longer instead of firing them off prematurely.

[@rodrigoavila4133]

bad habit no. 413. countering the first spell you can, when you should be countering the torment of hailfire.

[@Hemlocker]

I think everyone should play mono blue (and not just a Baral deck with 20 counterspells) to learn this skill. It's basically just threat assessment, but with much less time to think.

[@AC_DriftCaster]

I try not a keep sketchy hands, though there was one hand that was high risk/high reward: Two lands, three 3 mana cost ramp spells, other two were good support cards. HAD to keep it! Proceeded to not draw any land or two/one cost mana rocks for the next six turns...

[@canoli62]

"There are no amoral magic cards. There's no magic cards that are for bad people." Rachel - you just became my favorite MTG commentator. Next time Command Zone does a Salt episode, this should be the theme.

[@canoli62]

Also - Commander Clock is the worst idea in the history of MTG. Its use is worse than any of the bad habits discussed herein. You should all be ashamed.

[@canoli62]

"Slow Down!"... but remember to use our terrible, awful, format-warping timer app. and speed up because we have ADHD and want games to be faster... so messed up. The cognitive dissonance is real.

[@starmanda88]

@@canoli62 good thing it’s optional bro. *relax*

[@mightyone3737]

@@canoli62 I think you might be missing their point, they're saying most players that aren't paying enough attention will result in a much slower game that feels very tedious/repetitive, and that at the same time people rushing through steps can result in 'feels bad' moments like when you've got interaction at step 2 out of 3 and the opponent tried to rush to 3, assuming nobody had anything. You can both hurry up by wasting less time and be more careful by taking your time when it's helpful. A timer is a handy tool if someone in your playgroup tends to get lost in the options in Commander a bit too often, this will help train them to make faster decisions. It's not for everyone obviously, but I think chess is much better with a timer, and I'm bad at timed chess.

[@Loyalsoul56]

@@canoli62 swing and a miss, not the point they were trying to make my guy.

[@WulfLovelace]

I think the apology one though comes from a twofold problem. I started to get into the habit of apologizing because I would play with groups, who were relentless. You would make a solid play like, removing a key piece from their board, like an Ashnod's Altar, and then they would swing 20 damage at you next combat in retaliation. Or lethal commander all over one card. And sure, take a piece off my board, deal me some damage, but kill me or take me off the entire board because I got rid of a single artifact.

[@nerdlabmtg]

Rachel, was a huge get for you guys. Best Free Agency Acquisition of the year.

[@TopLevelJiuJitsu]

100%

[@BigDaveKeasby]

Free agency? Commander Sphere should be getting a hefty buyout

[@nerdlabmtg]

@@BigDaveKeasby they got a compensatory pick in next years EDH draft.

[@sagejackson6886]

As a CEDH player that also plays a fair bit of casual, THANK YOU for bringing up respecting and passing priority. In CEDH, we are forced to very carefully pay attention to priority, as instant speed interaction from 4 players can jump onto the stack at any point in the game. However, in a lot of casual pods that I've played at, players are often very sloppy with passing priority, not jumping phases, and jumping out of priority order. It results in all kinds of oopsies and take backs, misplays, confusion, and overall a big headache. As a public service announcement to magic players everywhere: Please give your opponents an opportunity to interact, and respect turn order. THANKS

[@SmashCentralOfficial]

46:35 this is the absolute worst when someone rushes through like 3+ actions and you wanted to stop and respond to Action #1. Now you have all this additional information about the next few things they planned on doing and it's not fair to anyone. The other night someone did this and I was like well obviously I should do X now, but if you hadn't rushed through that whole play I wouldve just done the suboptimal Y option. But because I'm a nice person I'll still do the suboptimal option even though YOU are the one who screwed up by giving ME extra information.

[@Hemlocker]

It's not an easy thing to solve though, because we clearly can't play the game by literally passing priority on every single game action we take. There's a balance to be made, and sometimes it might not be obvious to the acting player that others may want to respond to what they're doing. Not saying there isn't a problem there, but it's also often not the fault of that player.

[@DCII]

During my beginning phases I try to make it a point to say out loud Untap, Upkeep, Straw and I very pointedly roll the R in straw as if I were speaking spanish. I use that weird pronunciation as a reminder to help me build the good habit of never forgetting the order. Plus if I do that every time in front of new players it'll help them to remember.

[@DCII]

And then from a properly represented board state you can move to a perfectly represented board state by placing all creatures in their proper place (I like to put non-summoning sick in the front row, summoning sick behind) and all together, mana rocks in a group and separate from each other and from lands, lands laid out so your opponents can see, ...

[@MaleusMaleficarum]

And then you get the chaotic play who uses the chaos to their advantage. I know I'm spoiled by the layout of Arena.

[@joeycrack1213]

One of the biggest problems my playgroup is currently having is extreme saltiness that is affecting peoples decisions.

[@stevenr0]

Totally understand this

[@joeycrack1213]

@@stevenr0 it’s annoying and gives wins to people who shouldn’t haven’t gotten them because people won’t interacts with them because people are afraid of pissing them off

[@animesfreakify]

I'm guilty of this

[@MaleusMaleficarum]

Lol... seriously? I'm much more inclined to be, "Bring it on bro. You just got angry over a game!? Seek professional help."

[@Dryblack1]

@@MaleusMaleficarum That'll definitely go well.

[@griffinith]

Good news! I've successfully completed everything on this list. Now I just need to stop playing at instant in the middle of my opponents turns, and wait patiently until their end step. Also, over extending my board.

[@jeppekjr4618]

I’m so happy Rachel is here more now:))

[@jessianderson3959]

I'd just like to mention seeing as you didn't bring it up when talking about timers; they add a new dimension of strategy to the game & learning to work with that actually increases your real world skills to cope with time pressure, which I for one could use.

[@QWERTY-du4hc]

It also forces you to know how your deck works with each piece of it. It removes the ability to just buy a deck and play.

[@jessianderson3959]

@QWERTY idk about you, but most of the deckbuilders I know already discourage playing a deck at a table till you understand how it works. Like, I expect when I show up to a game night that you aren't spending 15 minutes a turn understanding your deck, that's not at all why I came. I came to play HOPEFULLY 3-4 games, and a player who is taking exceptionally long because they aren't sure what their deck does gets in the way of that goal. While it's fine to figure things out 1 v 1, it's less advisable to play this way when you factor in the other 3 people who came to play's time.

[@argonnas2]

Bad habit numero uno: not doing the math

[@simopen]

what do I look like, some kind of blocker?

[@peadrianlastname]

I'm here to cast splashy spells and play big plays math is for blockers

[@brningpyre]

Even if you don't feel like it, consider: doing the math makes you better at doing the math, and it gets so much easier in future games.

[@thomashiggins4689]

Do i like look like a blocker with a lack of mana, what is this math? Thats that science shit from breaking bad, right?

[@eduardogutierrez3753]

Math is for blockers, I'm going all in lol

[@LogoMotive11]

Really love episodes like this that address overlooked mistakes in the game like these. I'm sure some of these don't seem like a big deal to some players, but everything mentioned can really affect games deeper than surface level.

[@lisdexik5484]

Biggest problem for my playgroup (me included) on occasion: Not knowing if we played a land each turn because we didn't play it on MP1.

[@therealax6]

A simple fix I've seen is to put a die somewhere as "land plays remaining". This also helps when you get extra land plays from random effects: you always know how many you have left. You just set it to 1 on your untap (or to whatever it should be: if you have Azusa out, set it to 3, of course) and tick it down as you play lands. When the die's gone, you can't play another one!

[@IneptCardCollector]

Thanks for linking the episodes y'all referred to. As a new player, the biggest two that keep happening are people attempting combos when they literally can't do them (possibly trying to either show off or assuming newer players like me won't make them explain it and ask a judge if it sounds sus), and taking forever to do something small, then complaining that someone else did something big to them.

[@ethanL337]

I was the new guy at a local gaming shop that was not my regular store. We were playing commander, and one of the players at one point started making infinite 1/1 tokens. And then he said “ I will keep making tokens until you all scoop!” The other two players started picking up their cards. So I started asking, Do your tokens do anything when they come in to play? No. Do they have haste? No. Do you have a win condition that says you win if you have X number of tokens? No. To which I said, “I’m not going to scoop just because you have an infinite number of tokens.” One of the other players pipes in “You can’t block that many tokens when he attacks next turn.” To which I said “He has to make it to his next turn to attack. The three of us still have a full turn to draw a board wipe or come up with a solution.” They reluctantly say “okay sure” and we’re frustrated that I wanted to play it out. The two other players basically fly through their turns and do nothing. I take my turn as I should and I find an answer. I pass to the infinite token dude. And they’re all like “You didn’t do anything! He’s going to win! Just scoop!” I said no. If he wants to win he needs to actually win. So the infinite token dude smugly speeds through the steps to combat and attacks just me. Not even the other guys. Just me. I declare no blocks. He yells “Got you!” And I slow roll the overloaded Cyclonic Rift. They all get pissed and they’re like “He’ll just replay it all next turn!” And I’m like “If things resolve.” And they don’t because I was playing blue in Mimeoplasm reanimator dredge. I end up winning the pod because I found momentum after the Cyc Rift. I spoke to one of the employees after the game and I guess that is the meta in that store. People skip steps. Don’t demonstrate combo loops. And scoop prematurely. I haven’t been back since.

[@thomaspetrucka9173]

Ugh! The premature scoop can be so frustrating to play against. Commander is supposed to be the casual format, not the competitive one!

[@eXJonSnow]

Similar thing is people playing some weird combo and just going “I have infinite golem tokens now.” Uhhhhh, no, how about you actually describe it. Had it one time where the guy didn’t understand how the cards interacted and, instead of making infinite tokens, it was like 40 of them 😂 Def agree with prematurely scooping. I’ve seen people make infinite mana and stall out or have an infinite board of non-hasty creatures that have to make it through an entire turn cycle before they can do anything.

[@peggle09]

For the first one I have a special playmat for new players that has all the phases on it in order and you can use a dice to mark what step your in

[@jacobnordquist3448]

People who do removal on non-threats super early just as a joke because they have nothing else to do. Please people, hold onto removal until they are actually needed... also if you kill my mid-tier commander as a joke I will full swing each and every turn to punish the aggro pulling move.

[@johnganeric4105]

22:56 is may favorite moment from both Rachel and Jimmy, Great show, I love that Rachel is around to stay on Command Zone.

[@dennisyoung6122]

Two that fit together... Dumping your entire hand on turn 1, and being threatened more by the person with no real boardstate or hand over the one with a full hand and a lot of mana.

[@freakycrawler]

Great way to learn your phases as a beginner is to announce them out loud. It helps you and the whole table to keep track of what you're doing during your turn. It makes reacting to your plays far easier for the other players since when you go "Combat" other players can interact with "before you go to combat" and similar things. It's a great habit to develop as early as possible

[@Fishlampclock]

This was hilarious. I had a friend rage on me because they moved too fast during combat and after damage resolved they wanted to change their attacks. I said, "woah, let's slow things down," and was cut-off mid sentence and they raged at me. 🤣

[@floridaman6982]

Legendary

[@Kinson007]

I try to always have the tokens/emblems for my decks. I get them with the rest of the cards for my deck. If always trying to find tokens, store them, etc is a big hassle, one can always buy the dry erase cards. Ex: write Soldier on it, and in the bottom corner, 1/1. Ta-da, you have a 1/1 Soldier token.

[@grimbourne]

Worst bad habit in the game is.... winning! Don't do it! Makes everyone else salty when they lose. Hahahaha.

[@jaywinner328]

The only time I'll apologize is when I incidentally harm somebody. For example, if I Vandalblast because Urza is getting out of hand but I also end up killing a Sol Ring from a player that's clearly far behind, I will apologize for killing the Sol Ring. It was collateral damage. Main thing from the list that I need to work on is board state. I'll stack lands, I'll stack mana rocks and that's fine. But sometimes there isn't enough room and artifacts/enchantments end up needing to be stacked up and that doesn't result in the clearest of board states and I'm not sure how fix fix it.

[@kevinluttrell1885]

My least favorite habit is when players tell other players what they should have, or should not have done. Many times i see this happen in an agressive way. I see this a lot at my LGS and even in my play group. It is one thing to make recomendations, political deals, or rule corrections, but blatently telling someone they are making incorect plays takes away from their individual agency and feels super bad.

[@Dryblack1]

Yep, I see this a lot. I always remind them this is a casual game, there's no prize, and I'm not working on starting a pro mtg career. I'm going to make mistakes and who cares

[@carlosquall15]

Couldn't agree more, I hate unsolicited advice especially if they bring the competitive meta in a casual game

[@Tombombadyl]

Great video! Could relate to a lot of these, have seen them in games and have done them in games. Ironically, LOVED seeing the two things I HATE come up: poorly representing board state and scrolling during the game. Overall, all of these things really come to one thing you both mentioned, I think: being mindful and present to the game that you're supposed to be actually actively playing with your friends.

[@amarmehta01]

Saying the phases out loud helps me keep track of triggers

[@Greg501-]

Remember: Phase Day/Night Untap Upkeep Draw Scheme Saga Attraction

[@ilovebrownies1]

An important point that has probably been covered a lot, but is worth repeating: Plan your turns before it’s your turn. Players not doing this makes games excruciatingly long. Also, something I like to do during downtime when an opponent is taking a long turn is to read flavor text and appreciate the artwork on my cards

[@truedarkaegis]

Yes! There are so many cards that I have looked at more closely while waiting for my turn and noticed things I have never noticed before! Great way to spend downtime (provided you have already planned your next move!)

[@Jidayun]

That better help ad definitely knew my sense of humor. Nearly cackled at work.

[@KellyUnekis]

Re: "Sorcery Speed" I think we're forgetting that this is a casual format.

[@darkflame9410]

Yeah, several of their "habits" kinda just rubbed me the wrong way as "hey, stop playing casually you filthy casuals" (but said more politely, which somehow makes it worse)

[@KellyUnekis]

@@darkflame9410 I don't feel as strongly about the other points, those make more sense to me. Sorcery Speed felt like it just belonged lumped into Stop Scrolling. It was more like deckbuilding advice randomly inserted into a bad habits video. Battlecruiser is fun and shouldn't be called a bad habit.

[@insertnamehere9566]

my biggest commander pet peeve is ppl not just understanding threat assessment, but actively ignoring everyone at the table saying "this person is one combo piece away from a win and they just tutored it last turn" and they target someone else out of spite, "funsies", or the aforementioned "i cant decide who to swing at so ill roll a dice". It can lead to some real feel bads from everyone at the table.

[@insertnamehere9566]

i cant tell you how many times ive explained what a specific commander does, and that player goes "nah, it cant be a problem. Id rather counter your sol ring." and then the kinen player goes infinite next turn with the non countered basalt monolith T.T

[@MissingNovice]

I take slight issue with the no scrolling during the game bit, cus it really depends on the environment. My playgroup is a buncha nerds with ADD, we're all aware that our usual 5 man pod can take ages to get around the table, and nobody mistakes casually scrolling through memes while other people figure out their turns as them not being interested in the game - especially when they're not holding up mana for something, or aren't regularly asking for plays to be reversed. There's certainly an amount of inattentiveness that can be rude, but at the end of the day we play magic to wind down and escape our responsibilities, and being shamed for looking at my phone is something I'd expect out of like a workplace meeting or a classroom, not a chill game of commander with friends.

[@MaleusMaleficarum]

Can you acknowledge that bri ginger that same behavior to an LGS is a social faux pas?

[@Dryblack1]

Anything is fine if you're playgroup is fine with it. These are more for when you're playing with people you don't know as well

[@MissingNovice]

@@MaleusMaleficarum I did say in literally the first sentence that it depends on the environment. But unless the opponent is literally ignoring the game, I don't really mind. Theres a threshold for sure, but I don't personally find it particularly damning. Some folks brains just get stimulation in different ways. As long as they got enough attention to play the game, I'm not gonna fuss them about it.

[@danacoleman4007]

Sounds awful

[@OdinMagnus]

Playing a fetch card that puts the land into play tapped as your first action of the turn and not passing the turn until you find the land and look at your hand again just to say, "go ahead"

[@gerudo4sale861]

Suggestion: can you add chapter for each topic, trying to rewatch a segment and playing with the bar is a little inconvenient

[@TheSpectralFX]

"Reading the cards explains the cards" If competitive players always re-read cards we all should know... so should you. I am guilty of it to... but WORDING MATTERS... always read a card you are trying to resolve, both for yourself... and your opponents. Edit: As a Canadian, I am sorry that you don't like to hear that I am sorry, I will make sure to try to be less sorry in the future but for now, I need to communicate that I am deeply distraught by the fact my apologies are currently not good enough for you.

[@seamusmkeating870]

“There’s no amoral magic cards, there’s no magic cards that are for bad people.” ::stares in Invoke Prejudice::

[@the7A7dude]

Any and all land destruction is amoral

[@nerotoxin0661]

the art was drawn by a stinky person, the card itself isn't bad (I mean it's probably not very good but yk what I mean)

[@moedark4390]

says the guy that no one wants to play with anymore

[@danz107]

When it comes to resolving phases on spelltable (particularly upkeeps), I generally just chime in my triggered abilities (most players say "ok, np", and if I need/want to do anything else I'll pause them while they untap if they seem to be hurrying. It works for me. I also like the idea Josh sometimes does of putting a coin or counter on your deck to hold you from drawing to remember upkeep triggers. Also, my board state strategy is to print any un-had tokens from mtgproxy, a few infinitokens just in case, dice by top of card for number of tokens, dice by creature stats to define +1 counters.

[@austenmurphy3545]

One habit that I find annoying is when you play with a play group often, they know how good your deck can work so they focus on preventing you from doing anything to the point another player runs away with the game. Its one thing to stop a deck from comboing off, but to continually ignore threats from other players while doing so can be rather aggravating.

[@cloudroth6]

I mean that's commander. It has game memory. They are probably fine with the other person running away with the game as long as it's not the deck that always kicks there ass.

[@RJMM]

Build another deck boiii.

[@tylerkley]

Get a new group lol

[@joeycrack1213]

This is another big problem I’m having I have the “you make good decks” tax

[@Bongus_Bubogus]

I love meta gaming in my own playgroup. You should’ve seen the Morophon Tribal-Tribal player’s face when they read the Suleimen’s Legacy I played.

[@Steven-rb7ph]

Priority is often important when resolving board-wipes 👍

[@nomizak]

Not tapping correctly solution: Use your opponent's turn to figure out your next turn. I know you have to pay attention to their plays but if a player is taking a long turn you can start thinking about what your next play will be. Dont wait until your turn to figure out what youre gonna do and how you're going to tap for mana. I had a situation recently where I had doubling cube out. So ahead of my next turn I figured out that I would have 5 mana free after paying the activation cost of doubling cube. Then I looked at my hand and figured out what I could cast for 10 mana on my turn. I paid particular attention to any double colored pips since they would take priority if I wanted to cast that spell.

[@bigbags85]

The other night my group just had a prime example of you never know what is going to happen. All our decks were playing abnormally slow and one guy was just slowly killing players with Avacyn. No one was drawing any removal and we had experienced 4 board wipes. We were all down to 20ish life and being slowly killed (except Avacyn). As soon as he killed one guy, another was able to ult nissa and swing for 121? On the Avacyn guy. Avacyn guy could only muster 108 life and was killed. Then the very next turn another guy top decked a card to let him choose who blocks this turn and was able to kill nissa guy. Then the very next turn I overloaded cyclonic rift and won the game lol. It was crazy how everything happened at once.

[@wadewilson2605]

I'm legit and am at a loss for words how nit picky this seems. Stop picking on and making jokes about the less fortunate that don’t have the experience or cards to always “play to win” like i dont play to win i just want to watch ever deck hit its peak and then get set back right before they win kinda like counterspelling a flashed in craterhoof before combat damage style removal i really hope they see this and think about it for future reference and maybe do a video on how reading the card explains the card.

[@williamtuck7059]

There was a situation recently where I knew I wasn't going to win and I removed a piece on the board of one of the other players bc it was funny and guaranteed a win for the 3rd player. I did apologize in that instance but definitely added 'but funny'

[@Rheinguard]

"There are no amoral magic cards" *Stares at Tegrid*

[@jacobalbert2603]

Not a damn thing wrong with Tergrid...and no, I don't personally run Tergrid

[@ssjecm]

Overloaded Cyclonic lol

[@mibbzx1493]

Craterhoof is amoral 🤣

[@goretoriumgaming8600]

Dies to removal, denied by counterspells. Shrug, run more interaction.

[@samuelrobinson4638]

That BetterHelp add might be the best thing I've ever seen on your channel

[@gregslingland3576]

On the note of interaction and powerful synergies being “amoral”, did you mean immoral? My understanding is that immoral things are bad and amoral things are neutral.

[@danacoleman4007]

You are correct

[@JankDiverGaming]

I made a video similar to this a month ago (mistakes people make in commander), a lot of my callouts were represented here. On huuuuge one that’s not here that’s easy to fix is using mana from treasure tokens before using lands for mana. I.e.: using temporary mana sources before permanent mana sources.

[@Dryblack1]

I think I'm actually ok with other people shortcutting their combos as long as they're not cheating. Once you've seen one combo, you've seen them all and I'd rather move on to the next game.

[@frorociousexpress]

When I play with my friend group, either in MtG or YGO, we usually will go "hey I'm boutta do a combo is that cool or you have a response?" Cuz we've played with each other enough to trust each other to not stack/cheat

[@Dryblack1]

@@frorociousexpress That's how I want everyone to be. Once you've seen one combo, you've seen it all. "Yeah, I get it. The game is suddenly over without a climax. Let's move on"

[@goretoriumgaming8600]

If I'm playing a combo deck, I play my combo cards ask if it resolved. Then I will explain what it does and ask do I win or can anybody interact. Let the table think about it. People know if I ask does this resolve it's an oh shit what's about to happen moment. But it also helps people know what's going on.

[@artemisd6343]

I just played my first commander game. It was all precons and I top-decked a sol ring and popped off. During the middle/end of the game, there was an opponent who was low and I knew that I could eliminate them or swing at the other opponent and pump the first one more. When I was making the decision, the first guy was complaining that he was ganged up on.. I really appreciate your comment about not apologizing because I felt bad in the moment but was also thinking, "it's just a game.."

[@chrismarlow9585]

A really bad habit I see is people tapping and untapping lands while preparing to cast a spell. Also, moving tapped lands around on the board (worst of all is putting them in one pile). It's extremely confusing for the opponents and often leads to cheating/mistakes. I hate having to stare at someone tapping and untapping lands for 30 seconds and later asking them "Can you show me all the lands in that pile". It also feels horrible when you have to point out "No you haven't tapped correctly" or "no you can't do that, you already used your (black) mana". I don't want to be seen as the killjoy or policeman of the group, I just want people to play properly and show me what I need to see. The fix: Get everyone to announce what mana (including colours) they are using when they play a spell. It's clear, and also helps them be aware of mistakes at that moment so they can correct if necessary before playing the spell.

[@loganator326]

I've been audibly saying "untap, upkeep, draw" to help with maintaining triggers and phases, even when I don't have those triggers

[@finfangfo0m]

PLEASE don't make the Clock become a thing.