Monday, March 28, 2011

CommanderCast S2E7: Spicing Things Up

Posted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS
Once again CommanderCast is joining forces with another independent intertron Magic the Gathering venture; this time, our partner in SICK ASS PODCAST CONTENT PRODUCTION is Shoe of WOOBERG.com, a site devoted to alternative formats for Magic the Gathering. This episode we're beginning our series on discussing alternative ways to play Commander, so I figured Shoe is the closest thing to an expert on the topic I can think of. Hopefully, you agree with me and check out his own site. It's pretty rad.


Otherwise, we got some exciting stuff jumping off this week, including the downright TREACHEROUS Season 2 contest; the return of the Free-For-All Roundtable; two-headed giant stuff; and a thing on free cards (no, I'm not doing a giveaway... yet).


Show notes and pertinent links below. Enjoy.



SHOW NOTES

00:00 to 02:36: Intro: Andy, Byron, Donovan and special guest Shoe open things up. HARD.


02:34 to 13:39: Free-For-All Roundtable: Tuck Effects: If you've been playing Commander for while, you've no doubt had your general hit with a Spin Into Myth, Bant Charm, or Hinder, and watched helplessly as they vanished into the abyss of your deck. This is one of the more controversial and counter-intuitive elements of the format's rules... and yet, it seems to be an important part of retaining whatever semblance of balance the format has. This week we're discussing whether Tucking is good or bad for Commander.


13:43 to 18:22: Community Spotlight: WOOBERG.com: Shoe is going to talk about his website. This makes sense I think. You might disagree. You should still read his site.

18:30 to 28:58Community: Alternative Formats and Commander: Variant formats of a variant format? I can feel a singularity forming somewhere... but really, it's not that bad. Templating something like Star, Planechase, or Respawn can help keep things fresh in your playgroup. If Commander is getting tiresome but you burned all your 60x4 decks for some reason, then segment might point you in the direction of some much-needed variation.

26:06 to 31:59: Community: Contest 2: Do you ever think, "man, I wish there were more MtG podcast contests!"? Because if you do for some reason, then I guess we've got what you need. Our season one contest was successful enough to motivate me to create this new, shiny contest revolving around what has proven to be our most popular segment... SECRET TECH.

Want to learn more? Listen to the podcast, then check out this sweet-ass sweet page for clarifications and details!

32:09 to 55:31: Strategy: Two-Headed Giant: Shoe is running things as we delve into the world of Two-Headed Giant. What do you need to know before playing this alternative format combined with EDH? How do you prepare, if you decide to at all? What kind of rules do you need to be aware of? How does card valuation change, and which strategies have their stock increase or plummet? Shoe has the answers, and I have some offhand comments.

55:43 to 57:19: 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. 
This week's card to break is Infernal Genesis.

57:28 to 68:50: Technology: Alternative Casting Cost Cards: Byron has been experimenting with Alt. Cost/'Free' cards a lot. Submerge, Massacre, and the like have been getting played with positive results and he's going to share his wisdom with you on the subject. Like catching people by surprise? This segment is for you.

69:01 to closing: Outtro.

PERTINENT LINKS
CONTACT INFORMATION
  • General show contact/E-Mail Andy: CommanderCast(at)gmail(dot)com
  • To E-Mail Byron: surgingchaos19(at)gmail(dot)com
  • To E-Mail Donovan: donokun(at)gmail(dot)com 
  • To Contact Shoe: Follow this link, freak
  • To Tweet Andy: (at)CommanderCast on Twitter

1 comment:

  1. Had a great time recording with you guys, Hope you have me back for the next variant format related episode...Planechase maybe?

    I might have to go out and buy a USB mic next time tho. Totally worth it to not have to stop recording over and over. Stupid internal laptop hardware.

    Thanks again1
    -Shoe

    ReplyDelete