Ways to Improve Your Commander Experience | Commander Clash Podcast 130

[@imaginarymatter]

I think the best way to compliment other players is interaction. Show them that you respect their alligator combo by counter spelling the pieces.

[@danielsniff6405]

A counter spell is just as likely to make them feel bad. Depends on your playgroup.

[@BigHit9922]

Alligators are a sleeper, be careful

[@Blacklodge_Willy]

​@@danielsniff6405it's a joke.

[@brendans1983]

​@@danielsniff6405 whoooosh

[@nevermorebouquet3681]

​@danielsniff6405 if a counterspell makes your playgroup feel bad, then they deserve to feel bad. They don't wanna play magic, they wanna play solitaire.

[@orpheos9]

I love Seth’s “be the change you want to see” for casual commander. I feel absolutely no obligation to play rhystic study or smothering tithe even though they would so obviously improve my decks.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

Everyone has their own pet peeves. I happen to love both Rhystic Study and Smothering Tithe. Play them as often as I can… if I get to have a lot of cards or a lot of mana, I get to do a lot of stuff and that translates to fun. I know the “You going to pay for that” gets old, so usually I just quietly tap the card twice to draw attention to it and I draw a card or get treasure if they don’t pay the tax.

[@orpheos9]

@@Dragon_Fyre Sure you can like it. I guess I am speaking more towards the newer Commander players who see discourse online that you HAVE to play these cards because otherwise your deck isnt good enough to "hang". Kind of like what Richard was saying towards the end of the video which I completely disagree with in a multiplayer casual format.

[@FishWash]

Same. I know that playing those cards will start an arms race that my wallet can’t win

[@drew-id]

I can't play under you, and combo you on turn 4? But someone's allowed to smothering tithe turn 1 and wheel of fate turn two? That's the same thing, you win on turn 2, just with extra steps. It's pretty similar to fast-mana against 3 intentionaly powered down decks. "Wow. You did it." /S Of course, the real issue is that power levels are so muddled and no one can agree.

[@pierredupont1096]

Ya I don't even play tutors anymore, or fetchlands. Just power that shit down and have a relaxed game pace.

[@kurowasanabe]

It's nice to see Tomer move out of his storage unit in upstate Europe.

[@guico33]

Always some solid content from you guys. If anything, the podcasts often feel a bit too short, like an extra 30mn would be perfect. Hoping for more irl games in the future, I get how convenient it is but the mtgo board is just not for me. Really enjoyed the past couple of episodes, both here and on the other channel. Great to get to know more about the crew 🤘

[@MTGGoldfishCommander]

Thanks! Make sure to check out the first episode of the new Commander Clash season on Friday, I think you are going to like it ;)

[@ashm6416]

Throwing in my agreement. I think most people would love it if these podcasts went another half hour or so, no need to rush to cut it off ay an hour.

[@HJOTech]

@@MTGGoldfishCommander yooo! The leak! I'm excited.

[@VentusVee]

Best Way to make Games more fun: Up your tables' mana curve. 3 mana rocks have gotten awesome, play splashier and more expensive bombs, make your interaction up a bit more expensive but a bit more impactful, etc. In my experience that has what has made my table loads more fun to play at. And also, surprisingly, makes games faster.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

The most important part of enjoying Commander is simply who you play with.

[@jeffe2267]

That's honestly what makes it such a miserable format. Regular Magic you can just sit and go with anyone and have a pretty good time. Commander requires you to know people who see the game the same way that you do.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

@@jeffe2267 I think that is both its strength and its weakness. Being far less competitive than 2 player formats can really make it more enjoyable with a fun group but in the end, one bad apple spoils the bunch. I prefer Commander amongst friends but 2 player formats tend to be more enjoyable at an LGS.

[@marshallscot]

​@@jeffe2267 I think that's partially just because games last so much longer in EDH. In other formats if you find yourself playing with someone annoying, you just finish the game and move on. In EDH you might be stuck there for an hour and a half.

[@VexylObby]

I never want to play a game that I just want to move on from. If that is a situation I find myself in often, then I am just playing the wrong place/game.@@marshallscot

[@lesternomo6578]

@@Dragon_Fyre definitely a strength and a weakness, the casual multiplayer aspect has potential to make each game of the most fun multiplayer tabletop experiences you can have, period (as is evident by its commercial success), or a horrible experience depending on the social cohesion of the group

[@unequalgaming]

Confounding Conundrum is the card Crim is looking for to punish ramp decks. Also shuts down fetches.

[@krazykilper]

Im my experience this can actually backfire. It can provide extra land drops or etb effects to happen. So much that I actually run this in my landfall deck. Also with mdfc cards it allows you to pick them up and cast their backside.

[@simic0racle157]

confounding conundrum can slow down ramp almost shuting it down, but doesn't really punish it, if you draw it late.

[@jasonhart543]

What we really need is more everyone ramps up to the person with the most lands effects.

[@PrimeShifter]

I was just coming in here to say that

[@MakeVarahHappen]

@@krazykilper 1. CC only works on opponents so check that you're playing it right. 2. It's def super bad against landfall decks but normal green decks that just ramp or multicolor decks that rely on fetches are hurt by it a lot. And it cantrips so it's super duper free.

[@Likely_Chindoku]

No Sol Ring, no Rhystic Study, no Smothering Tide… be the change you want to see in the world.

[@matt21643]

I have 13 commander decks, and I'm wanting to build 3 more just from my current collection. They all give me joy and i wish i could play them all more often. Every time i play, the hardest thing is choosing which one i want for that game

[@thatepicwizardguy]

totally unrelated but you guys all look really great this year so far. whatever self care ya'll are doin keep it up.

[@MTGGoldfishCommander]

Thanks!

[@GrizzneyGames]

Tomer was basically just "Be excellent to each other." And I'm here for it.

[@itslexactually]

That’s just Tomer being Tomer and it’s great

[@bobbye4369]

Chiming in on the “too many decks” topic. I have 62 fully built Commander decks. To answer Richard’s question, no you don’t run staples in every deck and then sometimes you do. Each deck does something different, and some are budget and tuned lower. And yeah, I like keeping them up to date, and I usually get to play 3 decks a session.

[@fallentogether7402]

will there be an episode where Seth plays the guitar, or is that patrion level content?

[@joshuadempsey5281]

Best way to have more fun is to make sure your deck can “do its thing” without that automatically meaning you won. So if you can do the cool thing even on games you lose, you won’t feel like your deck “didn’t work that game”. I’ve had plenty of games where I lost but got to “pop off” (to an extent) and it was still a fun game.

[@ekuude]

Tbh this is my defense for playing "staples" in less than competitive decks. I think it's totally reasonable to sol ring signet demonic tutor if it's just to get your silly strategy online. It's no fun to play against an opponent who just waffles not able to cast their spells.

[@joshuadempsey5281]

@@ekuude yeah I totally agree with that!

[@jdworlow]

For Crim's "how to punish ramp without land destruction" idea, might be worth looking into Zo-Zu the Punisher from Kamigawa

[@DG-ly2po]

Polluted Bonds, too

[@taishoukinjiro]

Shattered Angel? Confounding Conundrum? Probably not Nightshade Harvester. Invader Parasite? Tunnel Ignus?

[@natejablonski]

I believe Dingus Egg also fits the bill

[@jdworlow]

Or Land Tax to see their ramp and raise them a thinning

[@Suppaichu]

I don’t play edh, i just watch. How unacceptable is balance in comparison with armageddon?

[@biinju]

jank decks are fine depending on the playgroup, if you want to play a fun but "underpowered" deck usually the other players won't pick on you, allowing you to progress your gameplan and have more fun with the other players rather than stomp them with a full stape deck

[@tomasyacachury3386]

On playing less staples, i usually lean towards synergy. There are some cards where i say "this deck is the only one where i could play this card" so it goes in, even if its strictly worse than a more staply alternative. That allows me to experiment with more cards :)

[@itslexactually]

I’m currently trying to build Kykar with some weird “Spirit Matters” cards instead of strictly Storm. Hopefully that helps me build a mid-power goofy deck.

[@silverslade7849]

As a big fighting gamer, I gotta say the segment with the MVC2 was so surreal because it felt my two favorite things were merging together. MTG and fighting games! Rock on guys another great episode. PS when we getting the universe beyond MVC2 cross over?

[@corey8378]

This was a great episode! I particularly agree with playing cool looking and weird cards that have sentimental meaning for you, rather than the sweatiest or most sodium-enriching cards. You recently did an episode of the Goldfish cast where you reflected on your predictions for the year to see where you were right and wrong. I would love to see an episode of this at the end of the year where you reflect on these “resolutions” to see what stuck and what didn’t! Thanks for the pod as always!

[@the.50caliberapple80]

I love the play cards with cool art- the card art is 99% of the reason I’ll choose one card over another.

[@darkchairable]

Dearest Goldfish, Some land destruction ideas: Keldon Firebombers, Natural Balance, Thoughts of Ruin. Some older cards only destroy so many. Thoughts of Ruin is just great 👍

[@RuudAwakening]

first 2 are nice!! Thoughts of Ruin though hits the non-ramp players the hardest.. and likely sets Crim to 0 lands himself xD

[@LivinLikeLane]

confounding conundrum is the card to punish ramp! Also stops fetches, such a nice budget options to contend with green decks

[@DaWasabiHD]

The best way for my group to keep enjoying the game we play each week. Force ourselves to play against our own decks. It keeps us honest and we all understand the power levels we play at.

[@CharlotteMimic]

35:45 land ramp punishers: Confounding Conundrum Fall of the Thran (equalizes lands to 4) Keldon Firebombers (sac all but 3 lands) Limited Resources (sac all but 5, can't get more) From the Ashes Balancing Act (get those additional permanents out of here) Natural Balance (set all players lands to 5) Archon of Emeria (punishes nonbasics, especially fetches, but not ramp per se)

[@VexylObby]

I try to avoid cards that punish the non-rampers as well. I would say the targeted removal options are more favored. ConCon is great, and so is Volcanic Offering.

[@maxmazzel]

57:29 I'm the complete opposite, I have around 70 decks. Love all of them, and keep making more. But I'm also an enabler, I like lending out decks. So this way I can ask "Any preferred colors or themes?" And grab something that matches. (I might also be trying to make 2 of every color combination, without the decks feeling samey)

[@ekuude]

...70? Holy 🙀. I had 5 at my peak and thought it was excessive lollll

[@MrMalorian]

2023 Tomer: "Run more basics!!!" 2024 Tomer: "A Bloodmoon would wreck me!"

[@andyspendlove1019]

I thought the same thing 😂 funny that he only runs one basic in his 5c decks

[@TheSpunYarn]

I'm really big on ditching staples for worse versions of themselves. It's a lot of fun to express creativity and deckbuilding skill, as opposed to just slamming a universally and quite generally good card. Richard doesn't seem to understand what Seth meant by "play less staples, play more unique cards" though. Sure, in a sense, he's playing strictly worse cards, but that's not the same as running terrible cards.

[@ms.sysbit5511]

Unique card that’s a bit worse v staple is a favorite of mine de-optimizing decks.

[@VexylObby]

What's funny is that the cards we are talking about are not even bad for the game at large. It's just that the "staples" are not well balanced for the format to keep a proper pace. It's almost like we are actively fixing the game by making this choice.

[@El_ultimo_Guille]

08:49 commander is a "social game" like other board game, but when 3 players make focus to one is just a "social game" xD

[@jasonhart543]

Crim, Hellkite Tyrant and haste enablers feel the BEST against artifact decks. And in the best color too :)

[@damiend.7392]

That first goal of yours is so admirable tomer. I would like to do the same. Thanks much for the reminder to promote fun rather than fighting.

[@DUBnonymous]

Crim, Confounding Conundrum is good against ramp and its in your favorite color. It isn't great against landfall because you can end up giving them more fuel for for their ETB's but it punishes generic ramp.

[@Yourboydingus]

Confounding conundrum is a card I’ve been adding to my blue decks to help against ramp

[@moshjoshpitchief4418]

100%

[@jaywinner328]

It can end up backfiring against landfall decks though.

[@DUBnonymous]

@@jaywinner328 I run this in my landfall deck to punish other people for trying to ramp. If I I'm playing against another landfall deck I usually will hold it in hand which feels bad but its great against normal ramp.

[@lrdrandom]

I have been playing a lot of "bad" blue enchantments, Land Equilibrium, Dream Tides, Energy Flux, Pendrell Mists, Disruption Field, Meishin Mind Cage... To turtle up, and yeah, sometimes you draw them and it's just bad, but you are in blue, you have looting effects. And if I see more enchantress, maybe Aura Flux.

[@VexylObby]

I have had almost no issue with other people ramping these days. I think the sheer numbers game doesn't always equate as such.

[@andyspendlove1019]

Richard balking at Seth’s last point is super bizarre. “How are you going to maintain your power level without staples??” It’s not about power level, it’s about fun.

[@ArsanCraft]

Stranglehold is the card to punish Ramp Players (and also prevent extra turns). It seems like it doesn't do a whole lot, so try it out in your meta in Decks that loot a lot so you can discard it if you don't need it. But you should definitely try it.

[@a.t._hall827]

1:22 in and I gotta say I love Crim trolling the table. Dont kill Crim first 😂... but if you do, since I just found out about Crim's music talents from the other podcast, Im putting in a request that if Crim dies first, he picks up a guitar and rocks a background soundtrack for the rest of clash (whilst simultaneously giving commentary of course)

[@VexylObby]

Crim is a special breed of player that WANTS to be knocked out first to prove he got a reaction. I know that would not fly well with most circles I play in... I think people enjoy it more when everyone is at similar play levels and have fair chances towards the end. I'd hate for anyone to have to be knocked out early.

[@lesternomo6578]

i'm so with seth on the not feeling bad about killing someone, I have a tron deck and if i get off to a good start i will just kill someone on turn 4 but the act of killing someone just feels so bad in the early turns 😭

[@Zarbon000]

If they have no defense they deserve it. Magic is NOT ramp ramp ramp bombs. Gotta show folks that.

[@LightPink]

For Seth's last point there could be an added restriction where you can't use cards that were in a previous deck. This could be a short run of episodes or something that's done every once in a while with an evergrowing list of used cards.

[@-homerow-]

1:08:07 "Squirrels have skeletons too - on the inside" 😂😂😂

[@Spotifist]

Nice, this is what I'm always striving to improve while playing commander. Excited to hear your opinions!

[@Pinfeldorf]

Specific advice for Tomer on learning to play faster: the only way to get better at playing faster is to just force yourself to play faster. Get yourself a chess timer and set it to a number that's slightly uncomfortable (but doable) and adhere to it. Every so often, take 5 seconds or so off the timer. People will say "the best way to learn how to play faster is to just play more" and that's absolutely untrue. If you play methodically 100% of the time, playing more will just reinforce your ability to play methodically. You may also find some success in just learning how to think about lines faster by playing a video game where APM truly matters and quick thinking goes hand in hand with winning.

[@joekendall8401]

For playing without staples, I feel like this group is well set up to experiment with this concept. What if you took a whole season where you put a limit on the number of times you can play a card? Teferi's protection can only be in one of your decks in the season for example (or maybe 2 if that seems crazy).

[@ethanglaeser9239]

I do agree on the weaker combos needing to be more permitted. I run a Slimefoot and Squee deck, and I can combo kill with Atsushi, the Blazing Sky, Ashnod's Altar, and Zulaport Cutthroat. There are a few redundancies in the deck, but I never feel bad when I win that way. It takes my commander, a very specific creature, a specific artifact, a payoff, and like 8+ mana to set up. It can also be relatively easily interacted with, especially by people who know the deck.

[@pokedadsam9041]

Landfall usually has land recursion and 2-4 pieces of it or a payoff for killing lands. Like Titania or something that gets out of control when their lands die. 40:52

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

@53:00 - Yoichi Ishikawa ? Designer of the art style of Metal Gear Solid/2 !! Amazing MTG artwork !

[@jewpcabra666]

53:00 You introdcued to me this card tomer and i appreciate it! I need to get it - I love the fact that its the only card of its kind and that I can read it without translation :)

[@M3taPhy5ical]

If you want to punish ramp, you can use Confounding Conundrum or Tunnel Ignus. Nice video guys!

[@bartoffer]

I don't think you need infinites to get noncombat wins - they can win incrementally, or with big bursts, the same as combat-style decks. About all they definitively lose to with that strat is the same suite of things that incremental combat does: the easy from-hand infinites. So long as you have a group that avoids them, or you just 3v1 whoever is clearly running them, it works just as well. Slot them into control or tempo rather than combo, and while it might be harder to win, it'll be easier to have fun. Complimenting decks isn't really something you can force yourself into - if anything, it makes the urge to salt worse. Because complimenting just comes naturally when someone assembles a rube goldberg machine, but when someone rolls out staples and then puts the square block in the square hole, trying to come up with something positive verges on patronizing. If the S-tier of cards is something like 100 cards, the A-tier of cards is something like 1,000 cards. That's usually why I find lowering the power-level to be more interesting, because you start to contend with having to make actual choices and trade-offs. Further, the power gap between the A-tier and the B-tier of cards is microscopic compared to the power gap between S-tier and A-tier.

[@derekgorlewski7870]

@37:25 Although risky, I've found Confounding Conundrum to be a solid piece of anti-ramp when in blue. It has its ups and downs, as it might allow an opponent to abuse ETB triggers multiple times, but when MLD (or even single LD) is so frowned upon, it's an option.

[@YellowEyedPuggle]

Crim gripes about artifact recursion but plays Karn in every deck to recur his exiled ones. 🤔

[@karlvestin7975]

The world need 14h Seth shuffling ASMR!

[@marshallscot]

I think it's just so hard to balance land destruction, especially in a 4 player format. It seems like it's either not impactful enough to be worth it, too punitive to one player, or simply grinds the game to a halt. Targeted land destruction either effectively removes one player from the game, or doesn't do enough against the green player, who can usually ramp out more lands for less mana than it costs to destroy them. Mass land destruction is almost never played because unless you build around it, it hurts you just as much as it does everyone else. The biggest problem with land destruction in EDH though is that it's usually just not worth it, especially since so many utility lands can deal with non-basic lands. Non-land forms of ramp such as mana rocks and treasures are so easy to come by that green land ramp is a lot less of an edge than people typically think it is. In my red decks now I usually include some land destruction for the same reason I include artifact and enchantment removal in white and green. Not to punish certain players, but because there are certain lands, artifacts, and enchantments which will take over the game if they are allowed to stick around. Having the ability to remove those threats benefits the other 3 players at the table because it prevents that one player from winning by default.

[@ryanfohrman7911]

The amount of people that forget about “fade from history” when discussing mass artifact/enchantment removal is crazy! Perhaps my favorite bane of progress type effect

[@VexylObby]

Also, Volcanic Offering is such a good card to consider to correct the unbalance of ramp at the table. Not sure why that one was lost here... I feel like sometimes the solutions to the problems you guys face so often tend to be extreme. I agree with comments here that Confounding Conundrum is another type of card to consider too.

[@NeilBFormy]

I think the thing that helped my play group the most was enact binding deals. When you make a deal with someone both parties have to abide by the deal to the letter. It leads to way less salty betrayals. But it makes the politics way more interesting because it makes you have to really watch the wording of your deals. You can still betray someone but it happens in how you word the deal.

[@griffingovernment]

One thing I realized about my father, after 35 years of playing games with him, is that he cheers on his opponents. My father has never been salty in any game we played, and he's inspired me to do the same. I've realized what Tomer realized, that complementing your opponent's game really does make the game more fun, even if you are losing. Treat your opponents with the respect my father gave his opponents and don't get salty just because they are doing well.

[@jonart8433]

Blood Moon is casual in casual games. 😎

[@simonchi5372]

Contamination too 🙂

[@paradoxbees3280]

Blood Moon is casual because it only punishes non-casual decks 😎

[@Lyr00]

I never played against blood moon. Is it really that bad? Cuz the nonbasics turning into mountains still makes u mana and ur basics can pay for the colors. I wouldn’t be salty if I got punished for not running basic lands

[@jonart8433]

@Lyr00 their recent video they were making sound like Blood Moon is worse than Armageddon lol 😆

[@representativejoints1188]

Blood moon in mono red deck, just a regular thing you can do. If you need a few turns to do something slowing down the multicolor decks with fetches in casual is understandable. Calm your Omnaths.

[@Lit-erallyEveryone]

Aside from his lack of appreciation for art, Seth’s speaks my language in magic. It’s all about “everyone” having fun, and after years of playing magic and commander, I’ve finally gotten to two decks that I love playing so much that I don’t need anymore… and they’re pimped out because of that.

[@VexylObby]

I feel like that was my habit when I first started. But then the game kept releasing new cards every other month. Plus, if I am spending money on just 2 decks, then I am probably going to get bored real quick/not playing a variety of power levels, etc.

[@TheGtDragoon]

“Play suboptimal cards with better art” is literally how I dealt with universes beyond. I hate the style of the boarder and I hate the outside ip’s but it’s hard not to play them when wizards is power creeping UB to force us to play and see them. The only thing real magic cards have over them now is the art by a country mile and thats enough for me

[@charliemarlow647]

My favourite way to deal with ramp decks whilst avoiding negativity is Nature's Balance. It makes everyone end up with 5 lands (either by sacrificing down, or tutoring up basics into play). Great way to level the playing field to a state where everyone can still play their cards. Also allows for breaking symmetry with things like bounce lands.

[@hallofitzgerald8200]

It was nice having Tomer wave back at you in the beginning of the video :)

[@flapjackwars]

An underrated way to punish ramp decks is with Mind Twist effects. If somebody goes all-in on ramp you can snipe the payoff before they get to cast it. I like Mindslicer, Awaken the Erstwhile, Mind Twist, Head Games, etc, for achieving this result.

[@XAD_the_impala]

I have 20-odd decks. A lot less then crim though!

[@tsukikofudo]

Opp agent is okay IF you erase the 2nd paragraph. Why? Ashiok, Dream Render, Aven Mindcensor, etc etc. The part that make Op Agent ban worthy and deserving of a ban is that second text box. 3 mana, tutor a craterhoof, and cast it in a not green deck. Or play an Avacyn. Or steal a triome. You can steal things from whatever you can search for. That is fundamentally broken

[@lVideoWatcherl]

Yeah but it's not you playing the tutor. It is a very good piece of tutor hate, and it is necessary in the format I'd say. You, as the Person tutoring, just need to be aware of it if somebody has the mana open. Also, you would have tutored your best piece just as well. Why should it be prohibited for the other player sacrificing the deck space to actually reverse your spell on you?

[@tsukikofudo]

I just play a ton of card draw. I dont run tutors except in my stupid decks

[@CameronSMoore]

As they were listing off all of the best artifact hate, I realized why crim hates artifact decks so much. The best artifact hate is in Naya, and Crim plays dimir!

[@dee-wreck]

I hear the conversation about reducing decks or building less decks, but then I ask myself what good is having all my cards sitting in a box without being played? Now i'm trying to make 36 decks, one for every possible combination of color/less as a goal. Maybe once I've done that I'll stop making decks, but that project will take many years to finish.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

My personal rule is that every deck I build plays different than all my other decks. I don’t need 2+ decks that are basically trying to do the same thing.

[@Dubbakendall]

Crim you’ve gotta jam the confounding conundrum to punish the ramp. At the very least it cycles, and I can’t tell you how often I’ve even gotten people who crack a fetch into it.

[@crss29]

MTGGoldfish, where goldfishing is VERY unlikely 🤣🤣🤣

[@blue9393]

Confounding conundrum Crim....Confounding conundrum

[@Raikiribokken]

@Crim's ramp punish: Confounding Conundrum is your card. Even fetchable with Muddle the Mixture and has interesting late game interactions against landfall decks that otherwise run out of steam so some subset of the ramp players become elated instead of salty when multiple extra land plays per turn are available.

[@IzzetTempo]

Urza's Sylex

[@ForgetfulPaladin]

Anzrag's rage has been a recent favorite artifact destroyer of mine

[@MeldrickCz]

The moment you are preliminary clicking on segments you are most in tune with and they are all Crim´s. Am I the menace, now?

[@razgriz4977]

For Crim regarding punishing land ramp, manabarbs + War's Toll maybe? Opps pretty much have to choose how much mana to float when they begin to cast their first spell. Do they tap all 12 forests for mana and take the 12 damage or do they only tap 4 for mana and let the rest get tapped down by War's Toll?

[@GoDzJtFr]

I put this on in the background and when i heard Richard struggling with the username i thought, "wait that sounds familiar" lmao

[@light-chemistry]

If I had to suggest one thing for Tomer to work on it’s if he’s playing a tribal deck, play creatures from that actual tribe!

[@jdworlow]

But Maskwood Nexus makes all peoples every tribe!

[@TheBotchJob]

I've taken that Tomer approach to commander since I've started the format. If you can appreciate the magic being played by other people it tends to make it more enjoyable. Gotta be there for the content/memes and then everyone enjoys playing with you and aren't salty when you're popping off. Backwards jedi mind trick confirmed 😅

[@VexylObby]

I feel like that is a way to disguise the fact of popping off too well. I think one can genuinely have a great thing happen for the in game without a way to manipulate peoples' impression of it. I know I would be pretty miffed if someone was trying to pretend they didn't bring a 9 to a 6 pod with funny jokes.

[@dariocampanella7992]

That MVC2 cabinet is sick!

[@jolteon345]

Tomer, if you want to think about upgrades for less decks, pick a few that you have nostalgia for and make a note that they only get artwork swaps. It will help a lot with the “need to upgrade” issue because you already know that the deck is virtually set in stone.

[@AbyssArray]

Listening to the number of commander decks... I think I have around 30 decks lol - including ones I'm taking apart (which is like... 5 right now)

[@iambensummers]

If you like Wedding Ring, you NEED to play Psychic Possession. It will never give your opponent cards, and triggers on all cards drawn, not just cards drawn during the player's turn. Additionally, with punishing ramp, the best way is to get ahead of them by benefitting from them. Archivist of Oghma and Insight can draw you into your counterspells so that the ramp player can't resolve anything after they do have mana. A great way to stop ramp is to force them to be mana flooded. Unrelatedly, Confounding Conundrum is good too.

[@MattWilliamson747]

Tomer bringing the less salty comment is him MetaGaming his way into everyone being okay with constant Kiki Combo

[@raymondcarter4335]

Every color has an interaction to balance heavy ramp, just some need more ways to interact. Catch up ramp in white LD in red Counters in blue Oppo agent and tutors in black (quality over quantity) Green just races other green

[@joegaylord87]

Wedding Ring plus Teleportation Circle sounds HILARIOUS.

[@pokedadsam9041]

4:21 I want Richard to play a 4+ card combo. I immediately thought of golgari value and something like meren with yawgmoth and mikeaus. A “hidden commander” deck of sorts.

[@bertthebard]

This is months late since I only started recently in the channel, but two options for Crim's land ramp and artifact busting are Confounding Conundrum and Energy Flux, respectively.

[@lukassimonsen2513]

Crim what about confounding conundrum? It stops most of the landramp and it cantrips

[@astrowerm]

Crim! Just play confounding conumdrum to punish extra ramp

[@SteveMichaelMusic]

The answer to the Land players is Urza's Sylex. Kills all creatures, mana rocks, planeswalkers, everything and brings everyone down to 6 lands. You could even use fall of thran, but thats a little more brutal as it will take 3 turns for everyone to get back up to 5-6 lands.

[@l0k]

Tomer: Will try to be less salty. Next week: gets strip mined on turn 1, 2, and 3. Richard proceeds to open a salt mining operation :)

[@VexylObby]

Here, I wish to improve this list so as to ensure it does actually make games fun for everyone at the table: 1) Play surprising new versions of decks/commanders. 2) Aim to make sure nobody can be salty from the experience you bring. 3) Play no clear combos. Be more incidental. 4) Be the change you want to see. 5) Play cards that are unexpected but entertaining. 6) Practice your decks in a more realistic fashion. 7) Play your own ramp, and maybe keep targeted land removal available. 8) Have good reasons for knocking into people and people out of the game. 9) Play cards that look cool, but be ready to explain the unreadable gibberish. 10) Be deliberate about your decks you keep. 11) Understand artifact deck potentials, but also keep artifact removal like "Heliod's Intervention". 12) Play less "staples".

[@thriftypsgr]

51:00 I am building a Dino deck and I am using a lot of the special art versions.

[@kamikazehansu]

I have over 70 decks, some precons that I refuse to upgrade, some I've never updated. I change my decks when I feel like them, it's actually a lot of fun.

[@SmashCentralOfficial]

43:18 a couple of the guys in my new play group do the thing where they roll the dice to decide who to attack. I'm going to tell them tonight that even if the dice doesn't come up Me, I'm going to retaliate anyways to punish them for not owning their decisions.

[@Karolinaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I think Tomer is totally right, goldfishing is super helpful. I think I goldfish more than I actually play, and it helps you know your decks so much.

[@andrueurbane7361]

Crim's New Year's Resolutions - Give win-cons a try in Commander...

[@el_maoo]

as always crim only has the finest of takes and i am 100% with him on the punish train. especially for lands players.

[@worldmedic3187]

Does Crim have a decklists anywhere? Because I might need to steal his Cyclonus list.

[@marvinbuck5984]

@Crim, you gotta play Confounding Conundrum to punish the ramp decks.

[@xEddyTheGr8x]

A friend of mine has an Osgir deck, that I think might just give Crim an aneurysm. It's a Boros artifact deck that usually gets more lands onto the battlefield than most green decks.

[@stormycat0905]

The best thing I've done to my commander deck (in a make it fun way) is to make them less linear. This could be adding in a different way to win, or more often removing tutors that let me find my win con. This way games are a little more random and lead to more fun interactions.

[@L4TMTG]

Crim u need to play confounding conundrum