Posted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS
This week CommanderCast's team of goons (consisting of myself, Carlos, and Jeremiah) is being joined by the decidedly more civil Adam Styborski, author of various championship-caliber articles series like Serious Fun on WotC's official site and on Mananation.com. Adam is here to share his perspective both as a connoisseur of Commander gameplay and consummate casual gameplay commentator. When Adam's article on Arms Races in EDH hit the streets like crack cocaine (only instead of the streets, it's the internet, and instead of ruining lives, it provided a rich reading experience) we knew we should have him on the show. Preferably without kidnapping him. Fortunately, no masks or guns with serial numbers filed off were required as he happily agreed to speak on the subject with us.
So enough about this guy. What else is going on this week? Well, for starts, how about a little bit of a rundown on prison decks from your main Strategy man, Carlos? But wait, there's more... SECRET TECH (this week lacking in recklessness and collateral damage via Inferno)!
Show notes and pertinent links below. Enjoy.
So enough about this guy. What else is going on this week? Well, for starts, how about a little bit of a rundown on prison decks from your main Strategy man, Carlos? But wait, there's more... SECRET TECH (this week lacking in recklessness and collateral damage via Inferno)!
Show notes and pertinent links below. Enjoy.
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SHOW NOTES
00:00 to 05:38: Intro: The gang introduce themselves, and give y'all a little podcast news.
05:48 to 20:28: Free-For-All-Roundtable: Upheaval: We fight to the death over Upheaval. Why is it banned, and does it still need to be? Jeremiah has an interesting theory on the issue. SPOILER: none of us actually die OMG
22:45 to 56:24: Community: This Is An Arms Race: So, I used to have Gaea's Skyfolk in my deck, but I took it out somewhere along the way... now I have Time Stretch in that slot instead. What happened? Adam talks about Arms Races in your playgroups, how to recognize and handle them, and what they do to influence your games both locally and abroad with strangers. Are they a problem, or positive influence? How to you roll out your own personal treaty to put the brakes on power levels spiraling out of control?
05:48 to 20:28: Free-For-All-Roundtable: Upheaval: We fight to the death over Upheaval. Why is it banned, and does it still need to be? Jeremiah has an interesting theory on the issue. SPOILER: none of us actually die OMG
22:45 to 56:24: Community: This Is An Arms Race: So, I used to have Gaea's Skyfolk in my deck, but I took it out somewhere along the way... now I have Time Stretch in that slot instead. What happened? Adam talks about Arms Races in your playgroups, how to recognize and handle them, and what they do to influence your games both locally and abroad with strangers. Are they a problem, or positive influence? How to you roll out your own personal treaty to put the brakes on power levels spiraling out of control?
56:44 to 67:18: Strategy: Archetype Rundown: Prison Decks: Who hasn't imagined, at some point, turning their kitchen table into a reenactment of Oz? Carlos shows you how to be the warden in this rundown of one of the nastiest archetypes out there. A great compliment to our Hated Out: Prison Decks! segment from S1E13.
56:44 to 67:18: Strategy: Legendary Plays: Adam wipes out a table using Citanul Heirophants, and Andy recounts a submitted story from a listener involving Planechase.
67:36 to 70:30: Technology: Break My Card: It's our new thing on Twitter. STRICTLY for our followers there because before this our e-mail guys got all the love (and the contest). Here's how it works:
- Once a week, I give you a single card. It can be anything.
- You let me know how to use it via Twitter. It has to be in one Tweet. You can use short versions, abbreviations, and acronyms, but if I can't decipher them you're busted. You can't send a second tweet, e-mail, or telegraph to explain what you mean.
- You have to tell me what Commander will be in charge of the deck the card is used in. After that, you can say whatever; a combo? Some synergies? The type of deck it works in best? It's up to you to do something awesome with the card.
70:44 to 84:01: Technology: Secret Tech: Adam STYBORSKI Edition: The regular Adam on the show is pretty cool but now it's ALTERNATIVE ADAM running things.
Commons: Reclaim, Echoing Truth, Whitemane Lion
Uncommons: Martyr's Cause, Selesnya Guildmage, Necrogenesis
84:14 to closing: Outtro.
PERTINENT LINKS
- Adam's article 'This Is An Arms Race'.
CONTACT INFORMATION
- To E-Mail Andy: CommanderCast(at)gmail(dot)com
- To E-Mail Carlos: cag5358(at)gmail(dot)com
- To E-Mail Jeremiah: jeremiah(at)s1group(dot)com
- To Tweet Andy: (at)CommanderCast on Twitter
For me, alternate Adam's voice came with a goatee and extreme emotion as a bonus.
ReplyDeleteAnother solid cast and I do have to give you guys credit for exploring the "Prison" archetype. While not my cup of tea (if you sit down with Erayo you will most certainly die first, as my very first formal four man pod at a store involved an Erayo player wanking his way to victory...a memory that doesn't sit well with me) I recognize that not everyone has the same goals/expectations. This is by and large a good thing, because if everyone played and built like me this game would be dead faster than any Gorn shot by a primitive weapon crafted by none other than James T. Kirk!
Also, Altar of Dementia + Geth = good times (well, for one player at least). The Geth deck I run, which I mentioned in an email to Andy, is the one I have tuned the least but it comes out being one of the most powerful in many games. Other than Geth and Cabal Coffers it appears fairly innocuous until the insanity starts. The more I play Geth, the more I am compelled to call him Cheatyface. After all, he never has an empty hand as long as your opponents have graveyards. With that kind of card advantage it's amazing he's not blue!
PS - Hate the Paris Mulligan rule. Losing 1 card in a casual format where games generally last at least an hour due to mana screw/flood? Sounds like some rule made up by a total hoser (and not the color kind).
-Wheel_of_Armageddon