WHO'S THE BEST CASUAL COMMANDER FROM COMMANDER LEGENDS - Play to Win Gameplay

Today we're changing things up and sitting down with some casual decks. No combos here, but these decks still pack quite a punch.
Nymris - www.moxfield.com/decks/GgP000...
Nevinrral - www.moxfield.com/decks/Yr6ycE...
Aesi - www.moxfield.com/decks/tU1NYQ...
Liesa - www.moxfield.com/decks/H_-NrY...
PATREON - patreon.com/playtowin?...
BUY SHIRTS HERE - www.bonfire.com/store/play-to...
PLAY MATS / NEW TOKENS - www.playtowinmtg.com/merch
TCG PLAYER AFFILIATE LINK - shop.tcgplayer.com/magic/prod...
TOKENS/DONATE HERE- blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
-Then forward us the receipt to [e-mail]
-Include your mailing address, and we'll send you a pack of four of our custom treasure tokens.
PODCAST Spotify! - open.spotify.com/show/0jkKhZ9...
PODCAST iTunes! - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
TWITTER - @playtowinmtg
INSTAGRAM - @playtowinmtg
Link for iOS Lifetap app: apps.apple.com/us/app/lifetap...
Link for Android Lifetap app: play.google.com/store/apps/de...

[@iambensummers]

Finally, a Snapcaster Mage casting Snap

[@GeorgBauer]

„Remember, it is casual, we can spite play“ - that was gold :)

[@joskajiri]

whats spite play?

[@GeorgBauer]

@@joskajiri making plays that effect outcome of the game despite you being dead this turn - kingmaking or other stuff, just because you have the card in hand, despite you being essentially out of the game (like for example with leather damage incoming).

[@rexone9564]

More true words have never been spoken. In my play group it’s like, ‘hey remember when you attacked me with that elf on turn 2, well get wrecked for no other reason”

[@TCG9777]

@@rexone9564 the reason was because the player attacked the other with an elf

[@blobloblobify]

Even better is spite plays because of things from previous games, or even non magic stuff. "Hey remember that blue shell last month? Yeah this is revenge."

[@nazgir5343]

Tyler: casts bone ward. Entire table: proceeds to ignore bone ward preventing half their plays.

[@prnl7399]

Casual in a nutshell: Dylan: Play my commander, put five lands into play, draw six cards Tyler: Play Barrier of Bones....

[@mgarratt101]

Cedh in a nutshell: Cast Thassa's Oracle Hold priority and cast Demonic Consultation

[@prnl7399]

@@mgarratt101 You forgot to mention tutoring

[@mgarratt101]

@@prnl7399 lol my bad

[@enoeht]

I definitely think a big part of the reason this game dragged on for 4 hours was due to a serious lack of win conditions in any of your decks, this is what allowed Liesa to nickel and dime everyone to death. I'm really surprised that Aesi isn't running an Avenger of Zendikar or something similar, just looking at the decklist it's pretty much all engine and no closing power. It was definitely a fun watch though, thanks for the game!

[@Dirpman42]

Yeah it was still 4 control decks with nothing going on to them. They think casual means cEDH with no Thassa's Oracle.

[@d9_1056]

I think its hard to mentally turn off being competitive. If your only restrictions are no fast mana, or thassa's, that doesn't stop players from staxing, removing, or countering everything in sight, than I wouldn't call it casual.

[@pro711200]

Avenger of zendikar wouldn't have mattered since every time he had a board advantage he got wiped. I would consider field of the dead and dark depth to be pretty decent win cons. Also sounds like no one here plays cEDH and are just a bunch of casuals trying to stereotype cEDH players.

[@enoeht]

@@pro711200 while you are correct that plenty of removal went around this game, having a bomb like Avenger is better than not. Especially considering that Dylan was playing Emergence Zone and would have been able to flash it in on end step, do his land drop dance, and present a lethal board state. Only Cyclonic Rift gets around that, and there were plenty of moments during this game where this line could have happened. A Craterhoof Behemoth also would have provided the closing power he needed after doing the field of the dead land dance. If you have four or so zombies in play and then make 6 more, that is a way to go wide enough to present ton of damage all at once. As it currently stands, especially as someone who plays a fair bit of both casual and cEDH Commander, I stand by the fact that the Aesi deck was still fairly unbalanced in terms of engine and closing power. Dark Depths is good, certainly, but a single large threat against a table packing this much interaction isn't enough to get you there on it's own.

[@jimjordan29]

Veil of Summer + Avenger or craterhoof + finale of dev is my win con in my semi casual Aesi deck. Its wild fun and actually wins pretty fast

[@keep7smiling]

There is a hidden mode on Dark Depths. You can actually pay mana to remove counters from it!

[@owenmartin3786]

I know it’s hard to turn of the cEDH part of your brain, but you will have a much better experience playing casual decks if you pack less interaction and more bombs. I wouldn’t play EDH if it was a four hour slugfest every game. The longest game I’ve had in a long time with my group was 1.5 hours.

[@jeffkuykendall3189]

1.5 hours? Those are rookie numbers my dude.. gotta pump those numbers up lol

[@Pookie2112]

I hate when games end too fast and I dont get to play the game. I want the game to last as long as possible

[@awfulwaffle4281]

I feel like people who like long edh games are not even really mtg fans they are dnd players who have friends who play edh.

[@elvisleong6358]

The absolute longest game I've ever played was a 4 hour game of nothing but stax and counters and man, never again.

[@greyaye8565]

@@elvisleong6358 I've also done a 4 hour game, except it was a Jhoira chaos game against 3 combo decks, we were drinking hard, and it was a fucking blast.

[@rara2ra2yrra3racjj2]

Casual is great! The problem is that you're not good casual deckbuilders, if these are your own lists.

[@turnugin5645]

Lmao

[@silminnee4876]

Lol?

[@hectormorales4090]

That is the best way to put it man.

[@CraigArgyleAudio]

100% agree, this was a "stax n' tax" deck, 2 hard control decks, and a Simic value pile with cEDH levels of interaction. This is pretty far removed from casual and just comes across as a comp game without the fast wins.

[@loganhoppe7234]

@@CraigArgyleAudio deprive is really cedh level interaction, you right. XD

[@CorsairJoshua]

This is certainly a... Weird casual game. Most "casual" decks don't have nearly this much interaction paired with no actual win cons.

[@vengray8055]

@Trey Curet He means everyone played blue control and had much more interaction/removal/answers to win conditions than actual win conditions in thier decks.

[@Usama824]

Usually, addictions are bad. But this channel hits the right spots. Amazing work lads. Keep it up.

[@owen9wilson]

This comment is beyond perfect 👌🏼

[@splitthesoulgaming7431]

@@owen9wilson wow

[@EvolutionMeister]

This game had so much going on. Not only did Cameron get that character development of not listening to nate and tyler, but we also got a sneak peak into "play to win: Best stax deck" Beautiful game thanks for taking the time to edit 4 hours of pure slug

[@chachi_arcola]

I'd definitely be interested in seeing more casual play every once in a while just to change it up a bit, however probably more tuned or high powered lists so there are clear paths to victory in order to avoid the 27 hour game nonsense

[@Dracomandriuthus]

I mean their issue is just their decks don't have closing power. It's an unfortunate side effect when you build a deck with the understanding of how to properly build a deck, but not with the feel for building a deck to consistently threaten for wins without being *so* powerful it classes as a cedh list

[@CherryDad]

Kambal shows why he's one of the strongest hatebears out there, lots of missed triggers I think tho?

[@signisakanades1329]

Just to say this to all of the comments screaming about Ward of Bones. It only stops you from playing cards when you have MORE. If you are equal, you can still cast cards and play lands (if they have 6, you can play a 7th). There are a lot of comments misreading this card going "Lol, you all failed".

[@EDHNeoRoyal]

The amount of interaction was extremely high for the quality of your wincons 😂 Playing less removals lets the game end in a casual setting :P Good job on actually finishing the game.

[@ElderDrunkenHighlander]

I mean, it’s fine to run combos in casual. It’s just casual games call for more impressive/janky combos than cEDH’s fast/efficient combos. Something like a bounceland combo where Dylan blinks Aesi to allow him to spam lands and draw his whole deck would be completely appropriate for a casual game as it’s still projected and easy to disrupt.

[@sethputnamscrackpipe6204]

Nice! I love watching cEDH players play casual and vice versa. Also Dylan has great taste in music, half the fun of this channel is seeing what band Dylan is putting on for, love Red Death

[@chrislloyd4388]

I loved watching you guys play casual. Your gameplay in general is always a treat but this was a really cool endeavor and change of pace. Would love to see more of this!

[@carettcake8752]

Love love love the casual games. Also am I the only one who think it’d be hilarious to see these guys do a commander boxing league 😂😂

[@loganmaclellan7056]

ayyy this was great. You guys are one of my favourite cEDH channels on youtube. You guys are great! keep doing what ur doin

[@aaronhooker7588]

Love your cEDH games. Love this format too. It was a really good change from the norm.

[@Manifibell]

Love the chatter between you guys during the game xD

[@animekingz02]

I learned that putting win cons in a casual deck is a must to avoid long annoying games that just drag on for too long watching cedh channels etc. Playing your wincon right away might not be cool all the time and make you look like a pub stomper but games should only last so long. I can understand why Liesa was targeted so much but her draining ability whenever a player casts a spell would have made this game not last as long or may be a Vito would have helped too since the life gain would have killed the table faster. No casual games I play drags like this at all and it is mainly because people I play with have wincons in their casual decks and know when to play them to avoid a game like this. It was still a good video and since Liesa is my favorite commander from legends so far it is nice to see her win for once. It would have been nice to see a Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond combo or some way to truly take advantage of the life gain quickly to win the game potentially in a reasonable amount of time.

[@ChromeDome72]

Lol as someone who loves cedh and casual, the stax is great in cedh because the decks can deal with them, casual games don't have to go so long if you don't bring so much tech to slow the table down.

[@ChromeDome72]

Also half my casual deck do combo it's part of a healthy meta imo. The difference is the combos might have more cards, cost more mana, and/or aren't tutored for as aggressively as my cedh decks

[@vengray8055]

@@ChromeDome72 Right on, i dont understand the misconception of casual decks having no combos. They might be rare or difficult to pull off without tutors but we got them. Games have to end sometimes.

[@robertburns22]

awesome vid! its really fun to see competitive players play casual :D a fun experiment to see lol

[@Edawg1180]

I have been binge watching PTW and I’m so glad to see a new episode I love y’all and keep up the great content please

[@Customerbuilder]

Also, I like the casual game! Quarterly or so is a great interval to toss one in.

[@ericcooney329]

i think this was actually more interesting to watch than the usual cedh, as it was much less predictable due to much less of the "usual" cedh cards in the decks ... also just nice to see fun stuff out there.

[@mightyone3737]

Certainly a nice change of pace to see a real slug-fest. A slow but nifty game.

[@beausaccount88]

I'm still surprised that everyone seems to miss the CEDH capability of Nymris. It's a reeeally good Oracle deck. Having flash and adding a consider to each instant is great in an interactive deck looking to control the stack before untapping with a combo-win.

[@jonathandoherty9082]

Personally, I prefer more casual. More interaction (deals, player to player talk), longer games, more fun. Short fast games aren't really my thing, I'd rather have a fun long game then a short one sided game. That being said, I do enjoy watching CEDH here, cause seeing games end by turn 2 is nuts to me

[@cole10002002]

I am so excited by the result. this game was hilarious.

[@jadenpaber1952]

Play to Play :) hahah great job guys and happy holidays to you and all the planeswalkers who visits your games :)

[@LPchief]

Love IT that you guys are also playing this casual and it gives me insight in that casual edh can also be strong, i van tweaks my Decks somehwat with lower cmc cards. I also love your playmat, but the 20 dollar delivery cost is top much :-(

[@Broken_Colossus]

I ran aesi for a while, i love the bounce lands in this deck. 2 guarenteed land drops because it can bounce itself

[@miguelflorendo7771]

Its the grindy games that are memorable. Gratz to Nate for pulling the win!

[@vengray8055]

There is good grind and bad grind. I remember the 4 hr grindfest we had once. We all do. PTSD when those decks are played together now.

[@harrisonheppelmann7938]

That was the longest casual game I have ever seen. Usually I’ve seen them go more like hour- hour and a half. Where was all the top-end gas?

[@skimpos]

Can I just say, I love all your vids and EVEN more so the casual vids. Would love to see more of these from you guys. Happy Holidays to all you guys!

[@chrispy6953]

I pulled Thrasios and Tymna from my collectors box. I was never gonna pay the 100$ for T&T alone but pulling them made me curious 🤔 I upgraded my Tasigur Golden Control to Medium Green and wow.. having to cut like 50% of my pet cards and fat foils made me cry inside, cutting my favorite types of removal cards and everything hurt. I've always been a reactive player but wanted to try something new, I added lots of hate pieces in place of my old removal cards, mostly hate bears, but I'm loving the way medium green plays. Just super value town and my 1st game was crazy. (Not related to video but wanted to tell you guys, it's not the medium green list online, its more of a basalt green list.

[@Slapthatham]

Combo is healthy for casual, but if all your deck does is draw-tutor for the combo-counter responses, then that's something different. Good gameplay, love Liesa

[@nicholasbowdler9447]

You guys have a VERY interesting definition of EDH

[@junitovaledon]

great game guys, i realy enjoy it

[@jgmclellan]

Feel dirty liking this game but you guys always produce phenomenal videos! Keep it up

[@turnugin5645]

All these decks are sick, but Dylan man that deck is gangster

[@ericadams2045]

Of course the epic song comes on during Dylan’s turn

[@joshuaspector8182]

I had no idea who would be dominant here. I would have guessed aesi. And I like liesa but I kind of thought the card advantage from nym would possibly be a sleeper. I feel your pain. That game was an absolute slog. Also these some expensive casual decks. 😂😂

[@TrixerFerKids]

The life gain player feels pretty safe until the voltron player rolls up.

[@darinwittmeyer5071]

I know you guys are a competitive edh channel, but I'd love to see more casual games. You guys have a good group culture and are very entertaining to watch, but its nice to have a variance of different commanders it gets old watching the same 2-3 infinite win conditions every game

[@thehomiee6288]

From my experience when 2 people are fighting for who's the biggest threat and keeps having to rebuild opens up the door for someone to just come outta no where and take the dub. In casual life gain is a viable strat.

[@harounjusttrying6650]

Great game!!

[@suntitan4419]

Great game that was actually really entertaining I think the only reason the game went so long is you guys pack so much interaction and know how to use it better than the average causal player

[@vengray8055]

No shit?

[@Mokibu]

6:50 Im Not sure but you can not play the notion thief, because of ward of bones? Right? An the new merfolk too '-'

[@robjackson1674]

The red death sweater 😎

[@JimbobTwentySeven]

Hello everyone, where can you get proxy cards like that kambal on nate’s battlefield?

[@hjrosas071]

Wow, I was screaming WARD OF BONES at 6:45 LOL

[@Mokibu]

Me too

[@ODIRGO]

It was like watching 4 Tomers playing against each other. Before watching I thought that as CEDH players, you would be able to pull off some cool plays casual players normally can't spot. but men I was wrong! That game was so sloppy. I still enjoyed it though, but not for the reasons I thought I would. (Sorry for my English, my native language is Spanish).

[@labranehit7687]

I don't understand the Nymris deck, how are you suppose to win with it? Isn't there a Narumeya combo that would of worked with sublime epiphany? Or your classic demonic consultation? I'm saying this because I'm getting ideas to build on myself. But black and blue control is really out of my comfort zone.

[@ronanlambert-hill2875]

A deck i would love to see you guys brew is kydele, chosen of kruphix partnered with jeska, thrice reborn storm scepter style deck.

[@aalagerwaard]

What are the black sleeves with gold dragon?

[@darkdestiny9106]

Hoping to see maybe a Budget cEDH game sometime?

[@esrohm6460]

this games shows why you need a combo deck or agro deck in casual. if you don't have something that says i will win after a certain number of turns if you don't stop me and just because its casual doesnt mean your not allowed to play combo the difference is when you expect to combo. also aesi is nice and all but tatyova is still better because the difference between 5 and 6 mana is big and all you want from that kind of commander is the card draw and thats of cause out of the view of someone who made tatyova somewhat cedh viable where 1 mana difference means even more.

[@mightyone3737]

I feel like I'd rather draw in Aesi in Tatyova than draw into Tatyova in Aesi, but both are pretty big drops. What I suspect is that needing to get to 6 mana before you get Aesi out vs 5 is a pretty huge problem when it's rare to have a playable +5 land hand, meaning by the time Aesi is out, you're running on fumes land-wise more often than not, and his bonus does a lot of nothing. Drawn into in Tatyova though, I think that could work, since you might be able to use another land drop, and the extra card is very, very handy to dig for combos. I just don't think you can count on having enough lands to make Aesi really viable over Tatyova.

[@tomsugg5220]

Nylea's intervention does twice X to all flying so you did 12. You demolished those flyers Dylan. lol

[@jamesd8169]

can blast zone be used to destroy creature tokens since their cmc is 0?

[@xgxwills2857]

I have a casual Kenrith deck and I can confirm that lifegain will put you miles ahead of your opponents, especially in the late game. Really though, any commander with an effective mana sink on them (Golos, Kenrith, etc.) thrives in casual when people aren't able to effortlessly combo kill you in the first few turns.

[@agenecrobiosis]

Imo you should of kept that bounce land Dyland for when your commander is out and use its bounce ability on itself to draw 3 cards per turn.

[@xgxwills2857]

I was literally about to say the same thing. With Aesi out, that just gives a disgusting amount of card draw each turn. Not to mention a ton of zombies with field of the dead.

[@StompingGroundLures]

I would like to see how competitive Araumi of the Dead Tide can actually get... maybe Oracle/Consultation combo?

[@antonio2708]

This game make me think about how victories in cEDH are so dependents of combos pieces almost of times. For example, Dylan talked about the life gains strategy, but in EDH the main phylosofy is about Commander, and we can win the game give 21 of commander's damage, regardless of the opponent's hit points, in cEDH games this seems to be put aside.

[@TCG9777]

EDIT: All I got from this was that Nate either really hates casual edh, or just hated the decks (cuz, while not poorly made they didn't have many win cons)

[@AdamKeeton]

Seeing this kind of game, I understand why you guys prefer CEDH. ;)

[@enricogazzato2833]

What do you think about krark/sakashima storm deck? I'd like to know ur opinion! Thx for these amazing contents

[@olafthemoose9413]

Sakashima + anything with a cool trigger is basically a good combo

[@enricogazzato2833]

I know, but i'm Building that deck! So i Just wanna know what play to win thinks about that :D

[@Customerbuilder]

Ward of Bones is real nice. Used to run it in Daretti stax about 5 years ago. Picked up a cheap German one at the time. Made it even more confusing.

[@JBeleren]

So you are from Germany like me?

[@Customerbuilder]

@@JBeleren sorry no. You have a pretty cool language though!

[@vengray8055]

Whats confusing about looking on your phone for the english translation?

[@Customerbuilder]

@@vengray8055 not confusing for me.. for others. And I don't know.

[@CommanderColosseum]

The clues would have been actually 2 draws for cam as if the clues were cracked in response to the rift then the notion thief would get the draws.

[@nobodystaco7366]

As it has been said before, the problem with this game is the lack of win cons. Its fine to have an opener that starts with land, mox diamond, mana crypt but what makes the deck casual is the followup of something like Pack Leader instead Najeela or the most effecient mana dorks/lock pieces/tutors. Its all about intent, so as long as the intent is not to be most most effecient avenue to voctory as possible its not really a competitive deck. This sort of video is a nice change of pace and you could make them as a way to show how to tone down cEDH decks to a more casual level. Also the fact that you guys use mutiple $25 poke'mon cards as tokens is funny to me.

[@xwraiths]

You guys needed some win conditions in those decks! That out of the way, fun match! P.S. Lifegain is not a good deck in casual. Except in control Oloro I guess.

[@EvanPlaysPc]

Lol around 8 minutes it's sounds like an orchestral version of the coffin dance meme hahhha

[@bigdon9999]

did he flashback evacuation on a different turn?

[@julianvickers]

Cam casted Hullbreacher but I don’t see it in the decklist.

[@balintmolnar7471]

Proxy arena art kembal oh yeah

[@matthewrobert1810]

Decided to watch this game again for funzies. The main reason life gain in casual is so good, is most of the ways that can stop it are frowned upon. Ie commander damage, infect, combining off

[@krazykilper]

What were the constraints that you guys used to build your decks for this casual game? 2 hours is a nightmare of a game!

[@matthewrobert1810]

You can tell this is normally a high level play group playing a more casual game lol. So many responses and answers to people going off. It's refreshing to see, but them again that's how y'all ended up playing for like 4 hours lol

[@jacknelson8640]

YAY Nymris ! :D

[@jayckyhim]

Tyler was done dirty in this game 😂

[@gregorybrannock5796]

I know I was salty.

[@jayckyhim]

@@gregorybrannock5796 Right! I really wanted to see at least something.

[@Gorrbo]

Dylan should put ashaya soul of the wild in the deck so he can’t get rifted and get more landfall triggers

[@Foxthejuke]

Hilarious that this was casual. Where was the Wincons? This game would have only lasted an hour if any of the decks had legit plans. Was entertaining though.

[@travisa2812]

I advise you to suck it Nate 🤣🤣🤣 Feel like my atmosphere in our pod. Man I love EDH.

[@Smilkma]

Damn you guys forgot about the ward immediately after it hit the field lmao

[@rudyreyna5680]

why did Dylan sac both lands i thought the legend rule allows you to keep one?

[@EPICLYFATALERROR]

I'm missing how they keep flashing in cards and replaying cards they already played?

[@MarcoMBaca]

Feature Siskol and Ebert by StackedEDH. Krark & Sakashema.

[@uriahatkinson2103]

Wow, guys long game...but I loved it...life gain for the win. I'm immortal...need the list, please

[@Papa_Bear93]

Where did Nate get that Playmat?!

[@dangerfield6855]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I'm a fan of cedh decks played as cedh but hate casual being forced into cedh. Good gameplay, quality, good interactions don't get me wrong, but it feels so awkward just swapping commanders for the normal cedh deck list.

[@mclark347]

Yes, that is why casual players think lifegain is good. Casual EDH is just a LOT slower, so decks with slower strategies are better. There is combo though, but it's like... Azami. So very slow combos that are primarily control decks.

[@wesley147208]

Cameron played a seventh land while Tyler only had six. And people keep carrying creature spells. Ward of Bones needs more attention.

[@Funder1Nk]

6:19 Cameron also cast a third artifact when wars of bones was his only artifact.

[@signisakanades1329]

Ward of bones is only more. If you have the same number, you can still play cards. So you can play a 7th land when the controller has 6. You just can't play an 8th.

[@wesley147208]

@@signisakanades1329 Sorry, I'm used to stax pieces being good

[@Funder1Nk]

@@signisakanades1329 so it should have still stopped his sol ring. He already had 2 artifacts when he cast it.

[@signisakanades1329]

@@Funder1Nk If you watch closely, he untapped the mana and pulled back the sol-ring. They likely caught it, but didn't remove the "casting" portion from the video, so no problem there. If it had been cast then yes, that would be a correct problem.

[@jekanyika]

29:27 Does it not deal twice x damage?

[@ricardoalves1642]

Everybody forgot the ward of bones kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[@mimiklureaegis9906]

This game was an ORDEAL...

[@Customerbuilder]

Do you guys think a cedh Kambal is viable in the right meta? Was thinking something similar to Snoop Thar.

[@PlaytoWinMTG]

Could be. What would your win con be

[@Customerbuilder]

@@PlaytoWinMTG Razakats/Altar of the Brood? Yawg Will/Rituals into a decent storm count for Reservoir or Torment of Hailfire? That all feels pretty bad.

[@nicnackscorner1031]

It was great to see you guys do a casual game.

[@connorl0204]

I play casual and i still couldnt imagine a 23 turn game.