Commanders We Refuse to Play Against | The Command Zone 651| MTG EDH Magic Gathering

[@commandcast]

Throw your questions in the comments! We won’t be able to get to all of them, but will answer as much as we have time for!

[@drakko95]

What are your favorite and least favorite strategies/themes to play in EDH, and why? What minutiae makes them fun/not fun to you? The least favorite category obviously barring things like Stax, Discard, etc.

[@WilliamNiles-ro2dl]

I’m all about commander war. 8-12 players all facing off against each other. I am a Tribal player. Planeswalker tribal/Tribal is my thing. The only two cards I rule zero is griselbrand for my Liliana deck (her 4 demons and her contract) and my Iona (from the vault) along with the other mono white angels from that vault box.

[@mmf6236]

Do you all ever consider the player when deciding to play the deck or not? For me you could hand me a lvl 9 deck and im mediocre and you two would still kick my butt unless i got lucky. The same for everyone in my MTG group so we let everyone go as high as they want, but we dont have any 8's and above

[@1notdeadfred]

Who in the office has a knack for taking commanders that have a few very obvious deck directions and building something completely unique? Can we look at the deck building process of them in particular? That would be super fun!

[@Gosagen93]

What to you believe of a Commander format that divides card types in seperate piles, and in your draw step you choose which pile to draw from? To somewhat balance it would look something like this: 1st pile: Lands, 2nd pile: Creatures, 3rd pile: Artifacts/Enchantments/Battles, 4th pile: Sorceries/Instants. This would help Jimmy draw his lands :)

[@TeruMikami819]

Hey I've been a huge fan of the Command Zone for some time. I'm hoping and praying for your Guy's saftey with all the fires over in LA

[@damienjohnson3450]

Agreed! Stay safe you guys!

[@commandcast]

Thank you!

[@only_folls]

What? 🐠‼️I never even got to play them hope they are OK

[@mkdynasty272]

Same! Stay safe, you guys

[@quezer0]

Stay safe guys. Thoughts and prayers including u all in LA county

[@normative]

I think it’s slightly funny that they chose a thumbnail question whose answer turned out to be: “Eh, we’ll play against whatever.”

[@peewee0224]

It’s just a really good clickbait question. Negativity gets clicks

[@atk9989]

​@@peewee0224but their answer is pretty much the same as mine, I show up with 60+ decks to my LGS with decks everywhere from precons to CEDH, and if people want to play salty decks I have salty decks I can pull out to play, I even have enough to let the rest of the pod barrow decks to be at the same level so everyone can be playing salty decks, I find when everyone is playing a salty deck like mil, tergrid, stax, and such then Noone gets very salty because that was stated going into the game and you are already doing it back to the other players. Someone dropping a hoser card against you feels less bad when on your turn you drop a card that hoses them back.

[@maxbodifee3263]

@atk9989 60?? you bring a fork lift as well?

[@doomofthedestiny8065]

I mean, I hit 60 decks finally a couple months ago, I did buy a literal suitcase for times I want to carry all five of my deck cases (the ever popular Stanley toolkits) and a sixth, smaller tool case for dice and similar accessories, even the whole binder of tokens just in case, sadly I haven't been able to go to an lgs in ages, but I have the option to bring it all if I do, or I can just pick pick one or two cases and bring a smaller bag.

[@Paul-ls6zv]

@@atk998960 decks???? Good lord, do you have a hand truck for that?

[@jacobnestle3805]

The "Rule Zero Partners" comment at the end has an asterisk. Everyone I've ever met has been cool with someone playing Gimli and Legolas as partners!

[@kennethandrews1111]

I have a friend who has a wyll & Rowan commander deck. It's pretty busted. Lol

[@stealthgrrr]

As someone who has been "stood-up" a lot in the Commander Pod dating metaphor of showing up to game stores, I was feeling pretty down about continuing to search this year. The first year of the pandemic on Spelltable was probably the only year of consistent Commander play I ever had (with people across the country who were all eager to get back to their physical games). But I really appreciated the point about signaling your intent and interest and trying to break though.

[@commandcast]

You'll find the pod that's right for you. Best of luck!

[@dennisbarbieri8122]

shot in the dark, where are you from?

[@stealthgrrr]

@@dennisbarbieri8122 Raleigh, NC

[@bastian1870]

Finally moved over from only watching commander gameplay to the analysis videos, really helping me understand the game more! Thank you!

[@lilfroag4048]

32:20 Rachel is hilarious "OH he can do bed times!? CONGRATS" 😂😂 saaame...

[@therachelweeks]

Hahaha. Thank you!

[@jaredchristman3380]

❤

[@notjake2089]

I'm almost certain the "other podcast" mentioned at the end of the show is the MTG Goldfish podcast, and it would be really interesting at some point to have them talk about commander philosophy with Richard over there... That dude is on some wild stuff.

[@JakeBros3]

Richard absolutely has some wild takes... He does have a lot of good points though. If anyone has really changed my mind on things, or, better said, made me really ponder on things, it's been Richard.

[@alexanderwaller7354]

Richard resolving Farewell or Boompile would be hilarious on Command Zone. ...or Urza's Glasses

[@nicolasperrin4518]

I absolutely love the goldfish podcast but those groups of people are very different, and the format they play feels very different too (way less goodstuffy on goldfish while in CMZ only rachel builds weird decks)

[@mrTjstephens1]

Richard is a creator you want to actually create his deck just to see how janky and different it is

[@steveolie985]

just so long as its not Seth. That guy is so annoying to listen to. blocked that channel. Richard, and Crim were both great tho

[@brandonjordan6948]

Huge fan of the Command Zone for the past year and I have been learning so much from you guys so thank you!!! I just wanted to highlight what Rachel said and how it recently happened at my LGS. I play only casual and we have a casual event on Wednesdays. I usually join new pods and we are very beginner friendly. I joined a pod and had 1 player who just started playing, another was play testing a deck, and I was playing a budget deck. The last player pulled out a powerful commander (can't remember what it was) and that player started saying this used to be his cEDH deck but he "had taken out all his combos." We started playing and his first turn was an Alpha dual land, Mana Vault, and another 0 artificat. Turn 2: Bolas Citadel into Omniscience into discard burn engine into Wheel of Fortune. On turn 3 he killed us with another discard affect. I understand you can have that kind of luck with the draw but that seemed to be more of a lie to the table when we had our pregame talk so I packed up my stuff and told him that was not ok nor fun to have played. When he left the store, everyone in the store was in an uproar about the player and other players also were grateful for me saying something to him. I now have started my journey into building an Urza cEDH deck to have ready if I see that player again. I never felt to salty but I ultimately feel bad for the newer players that experienced that so I want to at least protect the fun experience for the others. Is there anything that I can do to make that experience not happen often or better new players experience?

[@Ironeyes128]

Hope you guys are staying safe with all the fires over there.

[@poppamaple290]

I always find it so interesting all the different reasons players have for avoiding going against certain commanders

[@ChristopherPhoenixMusic]

Less than 10% in I'm making this comment. Can we all just take a moment and recognize the episode quality on The Command Zone? Editing, animation, graphics and audio are all very good, and the consistency has been on point this past year. Looking forward to watch the next GKL, as live footage is always the hardest to master. Really great work by all. I'm an audio engineer (25 years) who does multimedia work, so I recognize all the steps that go into creating these and I just wanted to drop my props.

[@YoonnsAvec2N]

true, most people don't realize that kind of thing

[@Blu_Moon_Owl]

Mainly related to this topic at 4:49, that’s how I made Eluge, the Shoreless Sea my first deck I physically bought. I saw the card tried to make a commander for and with a few tweaks became my favorite deck. The effect is unique and makes games intense when you don’t realize it until it’s too late

[@KunushiH]

"The Blue Shell" was the perfect bit in this. Hilarious to see it popping up. Great questions and discussions, y'all! Thanks for the video

[@NKMitch42]

Format speed does feel like an issue in my experience. Brackets might help some if they are well defined and pretty robust, but I think the format can't remain ban averse as it gets larger and more diverse. Rule 0 just doesn't work in many LGS environments. Brackets should actually help find cards that are problematic enough to ban and help make r0 conversations more fruitful, as long as Brackets are well defined and have robust lists of examples.

[@heath1948]

Hate to say it but the brackets are just a cheap excuse for the wizards to not ban high-priced cards. They're basically saying if you don't want to run into these cars don't play it this tier level so they can continue selling these high-price cards.

[@conerchambers1214]

Been following Rachel’s IG story updates and happy to hear that she’s doing alright! Hopefully everyone in the CZ (and beyond), along with everyone in CA is safe!

[@leonfriedemann9151]

For the building fun decks questions: Try to build a deck that doesn't take to much game time. So easy no extra turns or untap in opponents turns, not more than 3 to 4 boardwipes. Cards that don't ask do you pay the one or two every gameaction your opponents take. Most cards should be easy explain so no dauthi voidwalker or agathas soulcauldron stuff with long complicated text lines. Not to many tutors including land ramp as shuffling takes time. No storm stuff so like at peak at most like 4 to 6 spells from you in a turn cycle. Not to many trigger triggers like cathars crusade No combo kills without sorcory speed interaction possibilities or declare forehand this is a dangerous piece you might want to remove it otherwise i most likely will win next turn. Not to much steal your stuff, destroy your lands, counter each spell etc... The general don't likes ... 1 or 2 is fine, but usually decks tend to have 7 extra turn spells and not just one 😅 For fun additions: cards that let your opponents make a choice but one time stuff like fact or fiction prisoners delema is another one i think ... I liked oath of druids a lot. It takes game time, but everybody is involved and can be lucky... Good luck building with that 😅

[@job12342]

Long time listenere here. I really like your thoughts on accepting you are the target sometimes. I've ran into the same problem where I'm often the target even in budget challenges because I'm more invested then some of the other player in the playgroup. Sometimes accepting you are going to be targeted or like josh said pick your spot to win or play different and interesting lines helps mitigate this within your play group. As a side note what I have begun to do for people within my play group is help them build decks if we do a challenge or I help them build decks in general based on their playstyle/ budget. I've found it is a lot of fun and even got inspiration for decks/ colors I wouldn't normally play.

[@devinkerr5474]

Even testing my decks on moxfield by playing 2-7 turns to see what kinda set up I can get in early to mid game, there have been times I've sat back and been like "Great, that works exactly the way I wanted... I am SO gonna be the problem if my deck pops off like this, though" I've also spent a lot of time playing friends where they FELT I was a better deckbuilder than them, so they started targeting me on principal each game. Every night was archenemy with no upside

[@Qdrew78]

Lots of love to Command zone cast and crew while the fires are hitting LA region. Rachel is so on point with the enjoyment of just rifling through the collection to create decks. It is fun to find the most random stuff to work well within a deck. Love and laughter in your lives, cheers friends :) Sorry second note: if you’re the group’s boogieman I suggest something fun and maybe silly. I am making a Storm group hug, still creating the puzzle that is a storm turn…. But everyone benefits. Not putting a strong win con in the deck. Maybe incidental maze end deck with copy land enchantment and multiple ways to copy that…. Something easy to disrupt and is cute. Another favorite is goblin games :)

[@commandcast]

Thanks for the well wishes and support!

[@syntheticsylvie]

tbh there's no commander i refuse or would refuse to play against- its more the player behind the commander who is the issue, ya know? if they are bringing power to a casual game, that's one thing, but if they just happen to love an overpowered commander but didn't tune the deck to cEDH level, why not let them play it? idk!

[@josephcarter500]

You said this very well

[@treytonstratton9544]

I very much agree with this. The cards are not bad...the players are.

[@DadsOP]

I think its also on both though, usually theres a power conversation between me and my friends. We base our decks off of how fast they can win by, my narset being a turn 6-9 game ender or my animus which is more 9-15 ish 9 being super lucky.❤

[@lVideoWatcherl]

So seeing, for instance, a Tergrid in the command zone of an opponent would not lead you to refuse to play that game?

[@jdub4670]

@@lVideoWatcherldefinitely not. I like a challenge, and I’ve have some very fun games with people playing all kinds of unexpected decks. But this is coming from the benefit of having regular games. I’m not too bothered by the chance that one player intends to and succeeds in ruining everyone’s day.

[@oscarthompson7567]

I love Rakdos, Lord of Riots! I recently got back into commander and revamped him from 12 years of not playing. Love the content !

[@christophersheaTCG]

34:16 last Friday I realized I hit that point in my Magic career. I was being targeted by the table and felt like I really wasn’t doing much. Another player commented that I’m always the player who has the most permanents on the board and that I seem like I’m doing nothing then I win and then I realized that because Ive spent time obsessing over building and interactions it’s caused my plan C and/or D game plan for the deck to still much stronger than the tables I normally play at and with how much I’ve analyzed games before I seemingly have an answer for everything now which I didn’t have before. I completely agree and understand the frustration that is being talked about here.

[@cannonballbrad9522]

Rachel, your approach to magic at 1:03:00 is so great. I was so afraid to tell people what I like doing Friday nights that when I told people I went to play cards they thought it was poker. I finally had to just say it’s MTG and it ACTUALLY worked at getting one guy into playing with his whole family. But that initial move in being myself was hard. I think we all think we would be judged for liking what we like by strangers to the hobby.

[@psychot6859]

another question on rule zero, commanders...Nephilim. Mark Rosewater states that they were "technically" legendary.

[@cassiemay2397]

Poor Jim getting his rule 0 deck denied

[@bennguyen4664]

yeah that's what I thought too 😅. which also probably means that this happen around their CRAG extra turns episode.... in turms of time period

[@royal-wolf]

It's awesome you read my question. It was interesting to hear the response, and I agree with needing to keep the power levels fair for Rule Zero Commanders

[@ogre589]

I totally get the feeling that the "fun decks to play against" question has. I have a few decks that I can legally play and they aren't always fun for them. My Shalai and Hallar deck has a "prevent spells on my turn" kind of card in it and 3 ways to just outright win the game, 2 are infinite combos and the last is a huge boardwide player removal with the right set up and enough bodies on the field. I have a Tinybones deck that has tons of discard and the one time I played it, I was near immediately nuked from orbit and made to watch the rest of the game basically on the sidelines. Finally, I have a Zimone deck and anyone who has played against Zimone, even just her precon set, can tell you just how oppressive she can be. Mine runs Vorinclex, World Hungerer so you can imagine how everyone reacts when that thing comes out.

[@mightyfangs]

I refuse to play against Zimone. It gets an automatic no from me it’s totally cracked

[@ogre589]

@@mightyfangs My buddy has his own version of this deck, which includes cards that I want for my deck like Abhorrent Oculus and Crucible of Worlds, and me and our other friend locked down his commander with Imprisoned In The Moon for the whole game and he still won thanks to a +1 lands per turn and a Scute Swarm that we didn't have a boardwipe for.

[@BaconJake14]

I remember either from a tweet or his podcast Shivam said he would prefer to build a deck without the option than sandbag the option in hand. In reference to self regulating power level, in addition to removing things like tutors and fast mana and all that, just remove answers and make your win cons bigger. When my buddy started playing I would build decks with almost no interaction. If I wanted to deal with something it had to be in combat. If an artifact was problematic I had basically no way to stop it. If I was setting up a combo it would be like 5 or 6 cards to really go off rather than 2 or 3. It really helped him learn card interactions when he was able to just do his thing and not have me blow up the new creature he pulled that he wanted to try out. And it really helped me enjoy games more when I didn't have the answer in hand and could try to outpace building my board, rather than stare at my Swords to Plowshares or whatever in hand and just let it be a dead card for a few turns. Now I would say he is definitely on par with building decks as me, maybe even better, and even though I still know the rules more, he is in general a much more skilled player than he used to be and our games are almost always really close.

[@supertux2998]

As soon as you said it was a UB ozilith deck I knew exactly who you were talking about. I love that bree she made.

[@prufrock1977]

I used to play against a guy who often played with Gengu of the Realms, but then would say no to other players rule zero commanders. I often thought about saying no to him because he would say no to others.

[@coltonbrown26]

I would have absolutely shut him down, that's a wild ability that can easily get out of control

[@mattfrisone3961]

I think a great way to control power level is to give your deck weaknesses or parameters. "This blink deck is going to have these 8 insane cards, but I'm going to avoid mass fog effects." "I'm going to run tutors for consistency but not grab Mikaeus / Triskelion unless I'm against a combo deck." "I'm going to pay 20 life to draw cards but not include lifegain." "This deck is going to use attack triggers but not include extra combat cards to go infinite." This is especially relevant when building REALLY strong or hard to interact with commanders. IE: Narset planeswalker build with no extra turn cards. Niv-Mizzet, Parun but no card is worth more than $2 on the cheapest print. Or play really busted cards with a C+ level commander. Sure, you won't win as many games, but it'll allow your deck to "do the thing" without being the big bad end boss every turn cycle.

[@TRemIk42]

i got really into magic cause my friends played it, and going with them to the store for a few days really made it easier to hang out with random players, cause no matter what there is one thing that we all have in common :) and that is we like to play our decks and that's something that can be arranged even with random people :). plus it doesent have to go into a "now we are super friends" direction at all. The community is good people

[@tornillo009]

I don't have a question,i have an opinion,i honestly think that the "problem" with red is that is being played like the other colours,and not to it's own strengths.

[@christianjonker8181]

Red is good in 60 card format with 20 life, it falls down when you can only have one lightning bolt in 100 card decks and your trying to kill 3 people with 40 life each. No t enough gas in card draw and you can't burn people enough, really there isn't enough of what red does well in 60 card formats that would work in commander.

[@1notdeadfred]

I will say this about the "32 deck challenge" trap: I'm doing it specifically because I want to better understand the color pie, and doing this the way I tend to brew (I avoid building decks "the way that everyone does" or playing painfully popular commanders unless there's a specific reason for it) has made me a much better player! Once I complete the 32, I'm just going to focus on my theme decks that feel the most like they clearly illustrate who I am as a person.

[@danieldepass180]

What should I bring to Magic Con? "What you would bring on a long hike. + 4 decks" What are some things you should know before making gameplay content? " Cue Shia La Beouf meme!" Good stuff guys!

[@cameronrobertson9800]

17:20 I have a Malcolm, Breeches and, Francisco rule 0 deck. Mainly because I already had a Becket Brass commander deck and I didn't want to take it apart but also because pirates don't care about the rules. The deck also still has a hullbreacher and dockside in it. Very fun to play when some of my friends play their rule 0 decks. If I'm playing against randoms, I use Becket Brass as my commander and swap out the banned cards if they don't want to play against it as a rule 0 deck.

[@cameroncaler5062]

When it comes to playing your powerful decks against your local pod. I have found that it’s fun to just play those on spell table with others who have similar decks and strength. Then taking your more casual builds to meet your friend’s expectation in deck strength. I don’t have a card shop. I can go play with random people so I mostly just play spell table with randoms. Most people there know what they want to play against.

[@byotip]

On the "How do you build fun decks to play against" (and also "slowing down game" too) In my play group, we've fallen behind mtg release (for motivation reason toward the game as is it going right now) So we build cubes. 20x3 packs, 2 cards picked at a time, At the end of the draft, you choose a legendary creature, shuffle, and every card is a MDFC Command tower, no basic. It takes 20min to 30min to draft, there is no building step, if a cards isn't in your commander identity you can try to mana cheat it, use treasures, or use it as a command tower. We keep two stables cubes: an entrypoint cube with 500 curated cards (basically cards with easy to read and understand text boxes, lot of support of synergies) and one unhinged 1000+ cards cube with strong effects. Cubes let you play those cards you never put on your decks, and even with the chaosiest pool of cards, you probably will have fun. You can also control the power level or speed of the game. An other thing about the speed of the game: I think the main factor of power creep is cards doing too many things, most recent cards are both the engine, the fuel and the pay off. Where you needed 3 cards to build a synergie, you only need one. Where you had niche redundancy, now you have go-everywhere good stuff ready to combo. Creatures that had to deal combat damage, only had to attack, then only had to see other creatures attack. Creature effect which triggered after a turn now triggers when they enter too. The game speeds up because you need less resources and less turn to do the same splashy effect. If I had a magic wand, I would just ask: split all cards that make multiple effects into that much simplier cards.

[@CraigStevenLikesStuff]

"I'm an adult. No one is going to stuff me in a locker."

[@therachelweeks]

💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

[@topherrobeson4446]

They keep talking about from this set forward in order to slow things down. I actually think of doing the opposite. If we draw a line at the original commander precons and go back then by definition it will be like old commander. Kind of like the Premodern format

[@AlexMTG_]

29:20 A commander Cube might be worth looking into for this playgroup. Brody could build the cube given his investment

[@LordPyro0]

I built a Gisa, the Hellraiser and Geralf, the fleshwright rule 0 partners deck recently and my main pod decided to just remove ward and giving zombies menace. It worked over very well and felt balanced. Sometimes it takes little tweaks to make it more fair. Dimir zombies definitely has lots of support, but these two felt right paired together

[@SmugLookingBarrel]

Is there a specific process you go through to power *down* a deck? I recently put together a 5 colour Scion of the Ur Dragon deck and found that I can't really play it because it's too good for regular tables, but I like the deck and don't want to take it apart.

[@adambandurak8913]

Take out 3 lands and your 2 strongest finishers, and then add a jank 4 card combo finish that has 1 substitute card. Then, when you play, actively try to hit this new wincon. You will miss land drops, which will slow you down, and by playing towards this new goal, your in-game decision making will change. Your deck is now lower power.

[@crawdaddy1234]

Only use dragons that have ETB and/or dies triggers? This would change how the deck functions significantly.

[@ceronmachtdinge]

and regarding red as weakest color: There are a lot of busted cards in mono red, especially for commander. Descent to avernus comes to mind, Sneak Attack / Boar, Magdha, most of the treasure dragons - with some fast mana love, Red can close out games quite quickly. And with chaos cards like Confusion in the ranks, Chaos Wand and Etali, it is definetely the most fun. And you can actually make a Chandra Typal deck. Try to do that with any other planeswalker. anyway, keep up the great content!

[@king.eternal5980]

My favorite "bling" deck is an unsleeved deck if VERY heavy played cards. Like Josh's "wave" deck. Cards from as far hack as ABU. Scuffed from the sidewalk, faded.. well loved. It's the deck i play in contrast to my (work in progress) actually blinged deck of my judge foils and old frame foils.

[@cbinette100]

The easiest and best way to lower power level is raising the curve. If there's an effect you want and they have a 3 CMC option and a 4 CMC option opt for the 4. Instead of mostly 0 or two mana rocks opt for 3 mana. Reducing efficiency is the best antidote for power.

[@bnnnaanananannn]

A way I like to control my EDH-decks are the I can't have the same card in two or more decks; i.e. if I want to play demonic tutor and have 2 edh decks with black in them, only one of them can have demonic tutor in it. I've got 6 decks right now and it gets really tricky AND fun to try and put together decks NOT using obivous staples but having to find different options. I also get to see and play with more and different cards..

[@nkling02]

1:04:50 Go get it Thats what i did!!! Love you guys, love the content. Keep it up! ✌️

[@Omaly360]

As far as deciding deck power level I break it into 4 things. Combos, tutors, fast mana, and who the commander is because some commanders are inherently better. Usually if you have 2 or less of these your deck is typically fine.

[@lexwoychik9647]

I have a tergrid deck that is my absolute baby, and I totally do the “one game per session” rule with it. I know nobody wants to do this all evening but MAYBE JUST ONCE it’s fun cuz the table can band together and try and knock me out first!

[@guspsp]

Personally, i don't like high power tables. I used to build decks, still have a kindred collection, but nowadays i only enjoy playing with precons and if someone doesn't have one, i try offering them one from my own collection and they usually accept, maybe because it's a new experience playing with a different deck.

[@prufrock1977]

29:56 I would also suggest trying out group hug…there are fun strategies that can aid everyone at the table. I build a Maze’s End deck with Pyxis of Pandemonium…it was a thing of beauty. Pyxis allows you to say to the table. Keep me alive X more rounds and then I will crack open the Pyxis. Amazing insane games.

[@industrialillusionist1305]

Hey i have 31 decks, plus more of each color. Proxies for lands and interaction spells galore! Also, im from LA and hope everyone on the Command Zone is safe, thank you for putting this video out during such a stressful time for LA

[@harleybaker4684]

Commenting on the rule 0 commanders, specifically the “there’s a power cap on rule 0 commanders” bit: For pride last year, when they had the “all commanders have partner” event, I made a Delney/Shirei deck. Both solid commanders with strict limitations that keep them in check. But once I was able to put them together, wow was it busted. Who knew multiple triggers of blood artist effects could be so strong /s I obviously took it apart because it was too strong to justify keeping it together in a pod that’s mostly casual. That being said, I’ve been allowed by my pod to remake the deck for pride again, so I guess every year it’ll just be my deck of the month lol. Cause GOSH was it so fun to play! Using Preston the vanisher with shirei? Getting multiple copies of your stuff and even more copies with delney? WILD

[@nkling02]

With my magic wand I would get rid of any cards with the same mann costs and new abilities. More abilities and more power meets more mana or loss of life or downsides to play them. There are so many cards with the same manna values and more powerful effects every set. The legendary rule applies now to card converted manna costs

[@bassfingas11]

Another thing about Power Creep is say that there's a new card or mechanic that pushes an older card or mechanic.

[@russellee5216]

Yeah. It’s also nice to see when something comes back and even if it doesn’t make an old card or mechanic good, but makes it a little more robust. Thunder Junction is finally letting me live my Mercenary deck dreams. Maybe. I’ve been out of the game for years, so I’m missing a lot.

[@monsieurm0u731]

I know they'll do it eventually, it's inevitable at this point, but I would love to see a background like mechanic that can apply to any legendary creature that doesn't have partner already. It could have building restriction like companions but I think it would be super interesting. Would it be broken? Probably. But the possibilities would be endless

[@tiantuatara]

My LGS has had Commander night for a year now. It started because one person who knew the store owner said "why don't you try this?" And now we have 4 tables every week and we're growing. If your LGS doesn't have a Magic night, see if you can start one.

[@alexandergartner8877]

I think the average casual EDH table might be closer to PL6 than to PL7, considering that recent precons are maybe PL4 or PL5 right out of the box, and a lot of players here use moderately upgraded versions of these. Most of our other players attempt to homebrew at roughly the same level.

[@atk9989]

I did the deck of every color, and i have multiple more decks. I do so because I love to play trolling type of decks and i know people would hate to play them every game so i have multiple decks to change things up every game. Like i love chaos, group hug, pramacon, and my O-Kagachi "are you sure you want to do that?" Deck that plays cards that punish people that try to attack me, deal damage to me, or combo. Like deflecting palm.

[@NightyKnight09]

11:36 my first blue/white deck was Millicent and I only picked her up because I was at my LGS and somehow I completely missed that precon. I picked it up and liked the way it can cheat commander tax And didn’t own a god token deck but I fell in love with it after a few games where I dropped an angels’ trumpet and watched it warp and accelerate the game plan. I really wanted to find a place for that card and as a bonus it made blue/white which are normally control colors wish in a way where it plays control then shifts to aggro out of no where and that play pattern is incredibly fun

[@killtrend]

Balancing playgroup power is one of the hardest things to do. The best way to judge it is to see how it *feels* to play the decks.

[@chrisdaman4179]

We have players who build fun theme decks, and then a single player who exclusively builds to win at all costs. It is a rough toss up. He is the guy who will lose to leathal damage and then boardwipe in response just to jack up the table on his way out.

[@leadpaintchips9461]

I know that just feeling out decks is how I have to assess how I built them. For example I got a Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student from a release, and decided to toss together a deck that was pretty much all draw and payouts for draw. Turns out that my goofy deck that was just focused on touching all the cards in my library was grossly overpowered compared to everyone else that I played.

[@crunchynut007]

I use Delay instead of counterspell because it makes that boardwipe a strategic counter. Do you fill the board for 3 turns blowing away your opponents or do you stockpile for that final counter to go off and go ham - likely with the rest of the table. Its not, better, just adds more flavour to games.

[@ryanpope9320]

Finding out Rachel is in the stand up world as well is wild.

[@narvuntien]

I felt really bad about this but someone had a Narset, Enlightend Master deck that he has fully proxied in characters from a book he had written and I refused to play against it, or rather I'd play a counterspell deck and never let him resolve his commander. My sentimental card is FNM promo Judge's Familiar, which was the first FNM I won, thanks pack rat :). Its in my bird kindred commander deck. I think the whole advice section was amazing, so inspiring.

[@Shimatzu95]

I realy hope we gets news on the bracket systhem soon. If done right it could help pregame discussions and online lobby coordination so much. Also, i sure hope they put "enough" cards in each bracket to make it a clearer thing than the "everything is a 7".

[@stephenbradford8524]

Honestly, one of my favorite ways to find a commander to build around nowadays is to participate in things like the Archidekt deck building challenges. My newest favorite deck came from their “hidden commander” challenge. Alternatively, I tune into podcasts like this one or SAWLM and listen to what other folks are enjoying. I don’t tend to mirror exactly what other people do, but I like to springboard off their ideas and take them in different directions.

[@keldone3186]

52:11 in my opinion one way to slow games down is to stop playing infinite loops or infinite dmg things... Recouring effekts just happen one time every turn and now you don't have to worry about somebody to win on the spot. Impact tremor is a good example for a card. If this happens only once... sure the card is bad now. But it will not whipe a whole table and we play magic again.

[@lionbartlegends]

I love the rule0 commanders! As long as it is reasonable of course. The 2 rule0 commander decks i have are a 5 color mutate godzilla deck with surgeon general commander as commander (5c manadork who lets you draw a card whenever you mutate) and a azorius dungeon deck based around the baldurs gate draft dungeon as undercity. The draft undercity has more powerful but generic last rooms, but take longer to get there. Both decks are strong, but nog stronger nor weaker than my other decks.

[@Matthias-pj6th]

Just started watching the video and going to say this now (see later if you actually touch on these ones...): Nath and Tergrid. Those decks exist purely to make the table as miserable as possible and I will never willingly play against them unless there's an Archenemy Agreement in place beforehand.

[@RBGolbat]

1:17:39 They didn’t mention it here but in episode 1189 of MaRo’s Drive to Work podcast Jimmy and Josh talk about some of the pre planning that went into that Game Knights Live.

[@scottcalnan595]

Following up in rule zero commanders in partner, does your opinion change if the two creatures have Meld? For example, a mono white Gisela/Bruna deck, or a rakdos Mishra/Dragon Engine deck? The deck still functions legally as a non-partner deck, but does benefit from having Partner.

[@joaocisne556]

my next commander project; make a mono-blue deck that is only lands and creatures

[@tanvirrahman7339]

As the hosts said, removing tutors and fast mana is an easy way to curve the power of decks. Another thing you can try is to not use the same cards across multiple decks. If you use wood elves, three visits, and natures lore in one deck then don't use those ramp cards in other green decks. Look for other ways to ramp. If the colors/commander offers too many options, pick multiple themes and look for cards that overlap. I have an Averna brew that's enchantress landfall cascade tokens - it used to brick a lot but it's gotten better over time and can easily snowball. Bello and Wildsear are great additions to it as well as the Enduring cycle. I also have a Galea enchantress that's focused on voltron. There are very few cards that overlap with Averna deck despite being enchantress. Within enchantress there are different options for ramp, card draw, removal, protection, finishers, etc.

[@alexanderhall9625]

for the Brody question what i did when some of my play group started getting a bit frustrated was offering to help them build a deck if they wanted if they felt like they were struggling to do it cause 2 heads are better than one. Need to be careful bringing it up cause it can come off a bit rude but at the same time it definitely helped with equalizing things and help ease frustration. I also do some unbiased advice when talking about removal by pointing out the biggest threats to them in particular cause sometimes its not the fact the deck is bad or weak just they aren't quite there in some of the more niche parts of the gameplay and just miss somethings like triggers being willing to reverse things a bit to allow a bit more "optimized" gameplay can help As i stated before gotta be careful with this though as you don't want them to feel like you are just running their decks for them .

[@nickchaput219]

I'll play against anything but I have many decks for many power levels.

[@zephyrus2569]

On the flip side of the "what commander would you refuse to play against" question; are there any decks that you don't play anymore because others don't like playing against them? For me, it would be Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls. I modified the Endless Punishment precon and wound up with a pretty powerful pain deck for the pods I play in, but people seem to get really salty when I use it! Being punished for doing anything feels bad.

[@Xalyn937]

They have a good episode or two about decks they stopped playing and why

[@rko218932]

My rule Zero deck is using Legolas, Counter of Kills, and Gimli, Counter of Kills as a temur fight deck. The theme is Legolas and Gimli counting how many creatures they kill and how much damage they throw. It's not great, but it's a ton of fun.

[@NickolasBaker-dm5bk]

I've found that finding a playgroup is easiest if you draft at your LGS. I really enjoy drafting but also it's a format that is like speed-dating Magic players. You will quickly find people you enjoy talking to and playing with and those are the people you try to make connections with.

[@jkjackson91]

Rachel! We wanna see your stand-up!!!

[@corymon3]

I actually have a rule 0 companion deck. It's Yenett and Obosh. I asked my friends if I could rule 0 bend the rules of how companions work so that I could have it be a 4 color deck for my 32 deck challenge. It's actually a whole lot of fun since all my spells in the deck are odd costed, I almost never whiff with Yenett. Obosh just doubles the damage.

[@JustforKikX]

EDH is, at its core, a social format, and all it takes is good judgement. My pod will play against any commander, and they'll assess threats accordingly. If we need to up the power level, we do that. If we want to play a non-legal commander, we just ask. People seem to struggle so much with this format lol. Just be open about your intentions and roll with the punches.

[@atk9989]

Not everyone has a pod. I play at my LGS, and regularly play with new people iv never seen there before, or don't play with the same people more than once every few months.

[@Cybertech134]

"If we need to up the power level, we do that." Problem is that I find most people who say this won't power DOWN if they need to.

[@JustforKikX]

@Cybertech134 I own several precons, jank decks and fun theme decks. I enjoy powering down, playing a slower game.

[@breathofire1449]

42:00 I have one blinged out deck and I would recommend, if you're so inclined, to at least try it once.

[@TheUniversalEclipse]

I have a Liliana, Heretical Healer Vorthos deck. Every card in it is either has Liliana in the art, is a “Liliana’s something” card, has a Liliana quote, or is tied to her in Lore. I have never once been allowed to rule 0 Griselbrand into the 99. So I have Ormendahl 😢 as the fourth demon. It’s a land so it doesn’t break my rules of all Liliana as much.

[@Shimatzu95]

2 variation of commnder i'd like to propose: A variation of pauper edh where commander is rare, rest of the deck is uncommon or common. A variation of regular edh, except decksize is 100+ cards and with a vastly larger/stricter banlist. Maybe allow a sideboard for wish/lesson purpose.

[@richardmckenzie-bean8797]

Good vid. loved all your answers and it makes me think about stuff i never thought of. I do feel bad that even though i have been watching you guys since around 2017 and i have only made like 4 comments in the whole time i have watched you all. question that i have for you is this " is it bad that i have mostly basic lands in my decks vs non-basics lands?" for me this question keeps popping up when i build decks cause most of the cards i end up putting in the deck search for a basic and not just a land, was hoping you guys had a thought on this or maybe it happens to you guys too. anyways love you guys and your vids hope to see more great and amazing ones in the future.

[@hungryhungryhobo196]

I always thought a variant of commander that can only use cards from say 2018 and older would be interesting. Still a lot of powerful things to play with, but also misses out on a lot of the new power crept cards.

[@brandonweaver4122]

Oh I have been using Teferi’s veil in the war doctor paired with Clara choosing blue! Haha it’s fun

[@DuskyPredator]

Regarding the become the target of the pod, it makes me think of how I had a few failure decks that just didn't jell well with how the rest of the pod worked. Other players did not like the idea of me copying everyone's tokens, or I guess consistent one player removal by turn 5 commander damage. I asked the other players what sort of player I get seen as, which apparently is a playing strong combos. I like combos, my interest is cards that normally might not do much but in a combo can be a surprise. I do think my more recent decks have been a better fit. New commanders I have used are a bit more passive, my deck can just do the silly little combo without quite looking like an immediate threat. Granted the one deck I played a couple times to show it was not a consistent show stealer, Rats. When I played I got myself in the mindset of earnestly just a small bean that couldn't do much, and my fun with the deck being what would be small rats do their thing in becoming a dangerous swarm. Just being seen as the threat at that point felt like a win and I was okay to lose then. I am finding ways to still have fun, even if a bit less requiring me to have a better chance to win, and so I guess taking less from others.

[@Pullituz]

I don't know what happened during the years in matter of how I build my decks, but I can't build decks without flavor or theme anymore. Also artwork is really important to match that flavor. I just don't like to mix random characters, planes etc. It also cuts out some of those most popular stables and gives room to use something else. For me it's fun way to build my decks.

[@DaveyDAKFAE]

New format pitch: Desparked EDH. You can only play cards that have been printed in the same plane (or universes beyond IP) as your commander's native plane. Doctor who only with doctor who cards. Gishath only with ixalan cards. Memnarch only with mirrodin cards

[@frandynamo2143]

I have a Q. How do you think red can improve in Commander? The draw and discard style of draw in red can be great for certain decks but detrimental to others. Same with impulse draw.

[@rundinj]

Glad to see my first deck is still getting respect, Purpharos!

[@Notorious_G.O.O.S.E]

What's the best way to prevent a group's decks from developing into an arms race of sorts where the power level keeps escalating? I admit I was what started this with some of my decks but I've stopped and was wanting to know how I can determine whether it's gone too far

[@RoscoeKane]

I loved 32 deck challenge. Also adding more mono color decks since I like those.

[@brandondaringer8615]

Omo excites me, I'm working on building her currently.

[@jamesbelliston4444]

Was there ever a deck archetype that you were resistant to trying but after you did you love it

[@councilofautumn]

QUESTION: what do you think about a rule where Sol Ring also goes in the command zone, with a rule like the signature spells from Oathbreaker (you can't cast it without your commander out)? Alternatively, simply saying it can't be played turn #1, but you can play it whether your commander is out or not. Then people could tech for it with spells like mental misstep or fast artifact removal, and its presence would just be there to accelerate the game on a somewhat equal front for all players? (Mainly since Wizards put it in basically every precon deck, I know its not great for *every* deck).

[@Hot_Dog_Jones]

"He's bad at obsession and good at moderation" oh man I'm with you with NOT being able to be like that haha but we all have our own special things about us hahaha