WHAT'S THE BEST CREATURE IN cEDH? - The Play To Win Podcast

This week, Cam and Dylan talk about the to 10 creatures in the 99 for cEDH!
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[@anthonybuck4864]

I put a Gemstone Cavern in my stax deck for the dream to Dark Ritual into Opposition Agent on the 1st players fetchland.. hasn't happened yet, but one day

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

And when it does, it'll be amazing

[@PRrrr_neutral]

One day

[@Tw0diefour]

I had the utmost pleasure of doing this to a friend of mine, and yes it is hysterically fun. Turn one land, crypt pass, flashed in opo on his turn 1 attempt to crack a fetch. Felt douchy but had to do it for the lols, and at the same time we all laughed at it so yeah

[@duncanwalla7014]

So evil. So beautiful

[@thechicken5141]

I did it ones it was beautiful

[@notjohn2774]

I'd love to see you talk about color archetypes in cedh and how powerful colors are on their own or as support colors etc

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

Love the idea!

[@gaddywalls8092]

@@PlaytoWinMTG wats up play to win mtg.

[@jadegrace1312]

@@gaddywalls8092 I assume they're playing to win...

[@egoish6762]

Thats a good topic, i think the interaction between the colours and options are what makes blue farm so highly played. The red vs green ramp is interesting, the blue draw vs black draw is another topic, the blue vs white stax is something to consider, could probably do a whole podcast on tutors for different colours, it's a really deep topic.

[@toctheyounger]

Man, so hilarious. I totally thought I had the top 2 in ragavan and dockside purely because I forgot thoracle was even a creature. That's how little the body matters 😂

[@xtigerbotjoe]

As someone who watches and listens while working, I'd def appreciate card images on the screen so I can peak when I don't know the full text of the card. And leaving them on the screen for longer. Basically the whole time you're talking about the card, unless a new card pops up in the discussion. Love the podcast and looking forward to more!

[@titak7755]

Otawara and Boseiju are important to consider with Grand Abolisher. While Boseiju can't hit creatures, it can if that play has Ashaya (something GW Selvala has to watch out for)

[@jadegrace1312]

In general, it can also hit other cards that could be combo pieces that are being protected by the Grand Abolisher

[@chrisrobertson7878]

One notable thing about Opp Agent that wasn’t mentioned is if you flash in response to an opponent attempting to search, you get to look at their hand (as well as morphs or foretell cards) which further helps navigating your own decisions.

[@duncanwalla7014]

Please more podcast. I love your show and love the cast.

[@imsolikecool]

Can’t believe they missed out multi-format all-star storm crow

[@Solonarv]

21:30 Grand Abolisher doesn't stop abilities of cards in zones other than the battlefield, so for example you can still channel a Twinshot Sniper or cycle a Gempalm Incinerator to remove the GA. There are also a few morph creatures with an unmorph trigger that can remove the GA, but AFAIK nobody plays those. Twinshot Sniper does see play in Magda though, which could come up.

[@mothbag]

Haven't checked the list in a minute but I think Twinshot also sees play in Rocco still to kill arena rector. Still monir at the end of the day

[@Maverickstyg]

Haven't built a cEDH deck yet, but I've been looking into it and this video and your 7&1/2 steps vid have been invaluable

[@stepanmovsesian6299]

Fun fact: 4 mana Teferi stops Grand Abolisher by phasing it out.

[@marlonlam6959]

So happy yall are doing this. Been having a shit week. Now I have even more of you guys to look forward to 😂. Thanks guys.

[@francoispelletier4940]

Hang in there dude

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

Sorry your weeks been lame!!! Glad you’re diggin the content

[@StrataGames]

Serra Angel is in my top 10. I was told by Cam that I'm maybe not wrong

[@jasonthomas9967]

Kinda surprised the Kitten didn't make at least honorable mention. Lately, all I've had to do is resolve it and the table usually just insta-scoops.

[@Jay15199]

Hopefully you keep this going for all the other card types.

[@jorjor500]

Niv Mizzet is another Cedh deck that probably wouldn’t exist without dockside. Many lists run cards like goblin Matron exclusively to tutor for dockside to make the colored mana needed.

[@Benstra93]

Hey Cam and Dylan, love the new content (as well as the games!). I would be interested in some information in how to get a crack at creating your own competitive deck and/or how to make your commander deck competitive. I know it has some cross-over with this episode as well as the getting into cEDH one but I still think it would be a good topic. Cheers! Daan

[@Gentraf]

In fact there was a 3mv white dockside extortionist with flash that was legal in edh, but first things first, it was not white but blue, second, it was not dockside extortionist but hullbreacher, and third, it was banned.

[@RitzyJ]

Honorable mention wiffs: Notion thief, Ragavan nimble pilferer (could be a commander so I can see it being left off I guess), phyrexian metamorph (better than phantasmal image purely), and the kitten (displacer kitten). Updated list following Lotr lol: Add orchish bowmasters and drop opp, drop birds and add delighted halfling imo. Honorable mention is Latho.

[@benjaminking3677]

Good podcast! Seems like a solid list. If I had to edit it, you could maybe argue deathrite shaman over BoP but it’s just so generically good. Something I’ve thought about Thassa’s Oracle is I do think it’s good currently. With the emphasis on currently. I think it will eventually get outpaced when we get something new that breaks the format. But right now we are indeed in a Thoracle world.

[@thatglockguy21]

I liked this format a lot. I'd be interested in one for your top 5 or 10 deck lists and why!

[@Envykhan]

I feel like protean hulk should be at least an honourable mention. The card is so good and it sets up the win so easily

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

if flash were legal, it certainly would be

[@SackofDooDoo]

22:40 That's fascinating; when I did Thecommandzone's mulligan exercise, I found myself choosing Drannith as one of my "god hand" keeps (in my monowhite deck), as it's just that reliable of a card.

[@Lodesify]

Love this more podcasts please 🥰.

[@DaxVerus]

Greens power is eventually that if everyone plays green dockside gets turned off more often. It's not exactly a true power but that's where green can shine.

[@FullFatMayo1]

Archon of Emeria and Collector Ouphe would be in my top 10.

[@noahparker9882]

I usually get walking ballista from ranger captain of eos. I got a degenerate heliod deck since I found out how many great white cards are in the format. Ranger captain protecting my combo has been so perfect.

[@thomasnoonan2039]

Hadn't noticed the lack of impactful green creatures till you said it, but that's true!

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

The reason rograhk is the best creature body is because of the manipulation potential. And I’m not talking about just the polymorph. I’m talking about the hullbreaker lines, the cloudstone curio lines, the equilibrium lines, the cryptolith rite, druids repository, guild artisan, honor worn shaku, relic of legends, and other ramp lines, along with the sac ritual lines. It’s insane how much rograhk really does.

[@mothbag]

Part of me wanted to say Thalia could be at least an honourable mention but jeez the format has really power crept with creatures these past few years.

[@kennethpolsky8369]

I feel like archon of emeria beats out Thalia now a days

[@mothbag]

True, I’ve found myself cutting her from lists that don’t run tymna

[@SackofDooDoo]

6:41 I see what you did there, Dylan. Bravo.

[@willmatson3103]

Touch the Spirit Realm (and other channel cards, e.g. Moonsnare Prototype) also get around Grand Abolisher.

[@joskajiri]

"shuffle your creature.. nope" while talking about ranger, yep i felt that 💖 yersterday i was casting snap and said "casting brainfreeze" coz i had it in a hand and went facepalming for years

[@samuelbeall439]

The fact that you 2 switched places, my mind is like it's Dylan-Cam, Cam-Dylan, no wait, ahhhhhhh. And then I was ok.

[@commanderpower99]

Hey guys, great content as always!! One thing.. why is the camera moving? You guys not using a tripod :P

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

Lol ya we got new cameras that track and move a little bit. Still not sure if I hate it or love it

[@ecclesiaandune687]

this makes me realise how good white creatures are tbh - just that i guess it doesn't have it's own commanders that are that competitive enough perhaps? or just the lack of 'burst' mana from red or card draw black has or the ability to interact on the stack blue has holds it back - which are really important in cedh

[@Flip4Crypt]

Holy shit, another play to win podcast drop?!? Fuck yeah!

[@garthmichel]

Not sure if you've done this before, but I'd really like to see a top list of cEDH creature decks. Any deck where the main wincon is actually winning through creature damage, and not necessarily leaning on a combo to win, like a elf-ball deck or something

[@johnweinhandl8890]

Cam needs headphones let’s make this podcast more official!

[@scorcher267]

Podcast was great :D, the moving camera was a little nauseating but the content rocked

[@B1gBingus]

Just wanted to say that Cabal pit can also deal with grand abolisher which is why I love it so much.

[@T_v_W2]

That posibility storm + dran scenario came up like 2 weeks ago with my krark saka deck 😂 24:37

[@shawnosnap3462]

With Opp agent, you basically take what you can get with it. In cedh, if your holding up mana for opp agent, take what you can get any spot is worth it imo unless you have other plays.

[@VanHornJosh]

LOVE this video style guys *chefs kiss* 🤌

[@smack80]

ranger captain also gets walking ballista in Heliod

[@M3XYPZ]

Is the slight camera movement made in post or is it from the table's vibration? either way, its nice

[@AresVishnu]

Please do a top 10 most powerful CEDH commanders. We would love that.

[@UVAFoozle]

1. Partner pair 2. Partner pair 3. Partner pair...

[@jakehenry6839]

Best oppo agent i ever had was the opponent sacd a protean hulk, and i flashed the oppo in repsonse. Best part was my oppo was on top of the deck and i had a sensei's diving top. I knew ut was there but it was still a cool line

[@mauriziocaracas2949]

I'm surprised you didn't mention that opposition agent also lets you see that players hand, since you control them when searching you can also do anything they can while searching, like looking at your own hand. loved the podcast by the way

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

very relevant and actually comes up in our upcoming gameplay that i'm editing right now haha

[@Ianova]

Maralen the Mornsong is a fetchable stax lock with Oppo agent through protean Hulk. Not sure how valid it is, but it feels good

[@matthewbell4897]

Hey Cam I like your shirt :)

[@ingolf82]

I play Possibility storm with Dranneth in my Winota deck. it's not quite cEDH, but it's very high power. I lack all the super fast rocks to get Winota out early to get it to cEDH, but its ok, noone in my playgroup plays cEDH yet, high power is just fine.

[@JohnDoe-vc5qb]

Shure headset, respect my g. AND a toon dragon shirt!? Damn dude is drippy.

[@flniggl5016]

i would switch places of archivist and oppo agent. In all my decks which have both colours i would opt for archivist over oppo. Sometimes you want to keep mana open for oppo and nobody tutors. The archivist you simply flash in

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

you could flash in oppo too

[@flniggl5016]

@@PlaytoWinMTG but then you aren't sniping the tutors. Than it is just a stax piece. It looses alot of its power imo

[@AndrewWoodford]

Dang is it me or does he seem like a better Magic Player with the Headphones on?

[@savior117]

Grand abolisher can phase back in after my teferi gets rid of him at instant speed. Dont expect a lot of people to play it but I've always felt good with him in play.

[@andrewrobles8814]

That blue-eye toon dragon goes unfathomably hard

[@Mynamedoesntreallyfi]

Do people play torpor orb in cedh? Seems like a good answer to a lot of things like thoracle, dockside and ranger captain.

[@KirkulesMagicTheGalavanting]

Other Grand Abolisher answers, Cabal Pit, Barbarian Ring, Ifnir deadlands, and Mouth of Ronom

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

Well that depends: if you mean as a commander it’s obviously inalla. If you mean overall as a creature body, rograhk

[@toms1782]

Maybe not cedh but I love Baleful Strix for any deck playing those colors.

[@vansinkalliandrios8997]

Yugi, my boy! It took me until 42:41 into this video to realize Dylan has a fucking toon Blue-Eyes on his shirt!!!!

[@FigNewton911]

My buddies and I play cedh every now and then. Every single game the last 3 games of cedh we played a buddy turn one Op Agent vs me fetching. Every single time. I must be cursed. 😂🤷‍♂️

[@loganschwartz4790]

It's me, I'm this guy. Haha

[@thatguycam1989]

I also really like ruthless technomancer. I suppose it's not ubiquitous, but it has proven to be quite a bit better in Korvold than Temur Sabertooth.

[@lavandereisly4194]

I can't believe it took you 47 minutes to just say "Dockside Extortionist"

[@frankdetank9126]

Thanks for the video! Have you ever considered making a best enchantress deck in cEDH video?

[@NewSchoolPOKERstrat]

It’s Sythis. There you go guys I took care of that video for you to free up some time to get onto the next one ;)

[@frankdetank9126]

@@NewSchoolPOKERstrat lol. I mean, probably. But I'd like to see the gameplay. Also, Light-Paws can be pretty gross.

[@colinstaub455]

What’re the deck boxes that I see that display the commander in the background of videos?

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

unrival 3d boxes! (They are currently making some more ptw custom deckboxes as w speak)

[@web_buddy3860]

i think the top cedh card is Eruth, Tormented Phrophet. (is not but is my favorite commander by far)

[@hawkicelol]

Simian even has synergy with pod decks being a 3 cmc able to find felidar and others goodies

[@LinksCow1]

Spot on list. The only thing I would add is Deathrite Shaman as at least an honorable mention.

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

in other formats I would totally agree, but in cedh, I put deathrite a bit lower since the lifegain/loss isn't as relevant

[@LinksCow1]

@@PlaytoWinMTG That’s fair. Being restricted to only G/B/x decks also makes it less played than in other formats. Still, BoP that’s also grave hate feels pretty good.

[@GTIBROS]

Would love too see strongest combo of something along those lines

[@NewSchoolPOKERstrat]

It’s thoracle consult. Another video P2W doesn’t have to do.. I’m on a roll and you are all welcome;)

[@micahlaremore8224]

I would put ledger shredder over spirit guide personally. Still great video.

[@paulomalley3211]

I’m shocked to not see spellseeker here, I can see why as it’s easily interacted with but still it is one of the easiest things to make a one card wincon with very little damage to your other win conditions in stuff like inalla or even a white addition to grixis which with tymna kraum running wild is kind of incredible

[@benhepburn9782]

Gilded Drake is great with sword of hearth and home

[@thatguycam1989]

I'm strongly considering putting essence warden into Korvold.

[@M3XYPZ]

Welcome to the comments section, where we talk about the contents of the Play to Win cEDH podcast, I'm CodeDiCode!

[@carettcake8752]

I’d be interested in seeing a top 10 sorceries lol

[@christianroberts1121]

I think a top 10 non-partner, and a top 10 partner cmdr (but individually, not a partner pairing) would be a good topic

[@drakeiguess7881]

On the topic of Gilded Drake, I despise it when people take my Krark! Like sure, it's great at slowing me down, you remove my primary win condition and now I'm just a subpar izzet deck that has to hope I draw into breach/twinflame combo, but in doing so you go down a card and get a commander that can easily screw you over. My deck is built to abuse Krark triggers, yours is not. It's "Win the game", not "Make sure that guy in particular doesn't win the game".

[@Bennyjackson1]

Blows my mind how little decks play endurance

[@theodorealkro3583]

If you're really desperate, you can activate diving witch naming thoracle, and hope it's not in the top six.

[@jacksonb4444]

I think theres a good argument for deathrite shaman vs bop

[@irt3hsaint]

Our meta has a Selvala bro storm and Krrik that are absolute powerhouses, so Gilded Drake is so gas at shutting off those decks

[@ladragaux470]

Everyone forgetting about touch the spirit realm. Another grand abolisher (temporary) solution.

[@TripsAhoy]

We all know the #1 card is Geist of St. Traft !!! The card is just unbeatable! Hexproof and makes 4/4's!?!?!?! It's a staple! ;) Nah, just one of my favs 😍

[@paradoxicalsg3522]

That camera is tripping me out man. Is it rocking around because it was loose or is it autofocusing on any exaggerated movements? Edit: nvm found you answered somebody else way way down in the comments that it tracks. For what it’s worth it’s a neat effect for emphasis (on like intros or stuff) but I’m not sure I like it running for a whole podcast

[@PubStompMTG]

If I were ever to fix thassas oracle, I would give it a small sentence to add. "Your devotion can't be zero."

[@aaronupward]

Your devotion will never be below 2 with Oracle as it has 2 blue pips in its own casting cost

[@PubStompMTG]

@@aaronupward It's more for a point if someone removes Thassa's oracle on the trigger, it will fizzle because your devotion wouldn't be 2 anymore. Just a layer to make it a little more balanced.

[@xOptoger]

I really dont know why they put "Less than or equal" on a 2 mana card that says win the game, "Less than" would have been fine.

[@summerof893]

Probably between dranith dockside and bowmaster

[@kauwgomboom]

I'm quite sure I would have put Collector Ouphe above Duathi at least.

[@jancerny3385]

I'm pretty sure cabal pit can stop grand abolisher once you have threshold

[@batboibob4910]

I think deathrite and bop are pretty close

[@connormraz6628]

maybe I'm biased because I play Najeela but I'd say elvish spirit guide is just as good as simian.

[@raulluna5845]

Sick shirt Dylan tho

[@commanderpower99]

Question for you guys: With so many good creatures in the format, why do you think we don't we see Fire Covenant more often? I feel like people have moved away from it and then get hosed by good stax creatures.

[@joshkay1530]

I think in the many turbo-naus decks specifically in black-red-whatever (Blue Farm, RogSi, Kess, etc.), Fire Covenant is significantly worse than in a vacuum. They're directly in competition for the same resource (your life), and while Fire covenant can eliminate any of the cards stopping you from winning or otherwise benefiting your opponents, considering the high toughness most stax pieces have (drannith, archon, oophe), fire covenant means your ad naus is 2-3 cards less per creature removed. If you're in the position where you need to remove 3+ stax pieces (i.e. active winnota), fire covenant becomes a better answer than the typical bounces/bolt/paths, but more often than not if you need to remove that many creatures its either to set up an ad naus or to prevent a win.

[@unwucht1529]

What's the best Creature in cEDH - and why is it Dockside Extortionist?

[@tylercraft8484]

Can you sack ranger captain in response to someones non-creature spell causing it to fizzle?

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

Nope

[@mimiklureaegis9906]

“Dockside should be a white card…” As a joke I use, what’s a white deck’s favorite condiment? Ketchup. 😆

[@Dragynstone1202]

What about Abrade-ing the bird?

[@mightyone3737]

You didn't mention it in the preamble about near misses, do you guys not like Wandering Archaic? It seems like an auto-include in any cutthroat non-Blue deck, and it's fine in Blue as well. Having to hold up 2 extra mana to use a counter vs my win con, and each opponent that plays a win con that gets countered might well face two counters, but also nobody is paying 3 for a Brainstorm right? I feel like Opposition Agent is better than you're letting on, it does get punked hard by Winota and decks like it, but many decks are just a pile of crap if Oppo is out. For the record, Grand Abolisher can fall victim to a Planeswalker that can interact with him on the opponent's turn, like a Teferi to Phase Abolisher out and let your stuff get dealt with. Green Enchantment ramp can be hasty effectively, but it's not free to play obviously. I look forward to Free-to-Cast Wild Growth. It's not just Thoracle that removes the incentive to use removal, but Dockside is another huge reason. Killing it or one treasure does nothing. Dockside is a major reason I liked the idea of Dance of Many in Zur, you can fetch up a ton of mana sometimes.

[@DctrJimbo]

26:15 Well the Yugioh equivalent of Rhystic Study is banned because you can play it on turn 0. Makes sense