Tuesday, April 5, 2011

S2E8: Hugs and Hatervision

Posted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS
Better late than DEAD!

This week Andy, Jeremiah and Carlos are bursting through your speakers and into your ears with the latest edition of CommanderCast. Joining us, we have a guest; Neale of WrongWayGoBack, acclaimed Commander blogger, Aussie living in Hong Kong, and the ONLY guest who swears more than me. This episode is a bit more... uh... 'unbuttoned' than usual, so be advised, there's a bit of strong language up in here.

As a reminder in case you read the show noes and don't listen to the podcast (YOU ARE A WEIRDO), we're running our Season 2 Contest right now! Be sure to check out the rules and submit YOUR Secret Tech for the chance to win our superb, fully-decided-upon prize; a custom art card from Derfington (check him out doing his thug thizzle on ManaDeprived)!

Also, remember to vote on the next restriction for Carlos' DECKBUILDING CHALLENGE! Last restriction decided on was a $40 budget; now, we're working out the colours. Vote for 5C, tri-, bi-, or mono-coloured this week in the poll in the upper-left corner!

Show notes and links below. Enjoy.




00:00 to 02:42: Intro: We are introducing ourselves, providing a bit of a preview to the Mid-Week Update, and a reminder about the contest.

02:52 to 05:18: Community Spotlight: WrongWayGoBack: Neale is on the show and he's going to talk about his website. This makes too much sense y/n

05:29 to 24:24Community: LOL INTERNET vs In The Real: As internet play of Commander blossoms, we see a difference between play 'in the real' and online, and even differences between play on MtGO, Cockatrice, and Magic Workstation. How does online play differ from kitchen tables? What influence does the online player base exert on the format as a whole? All this and more in a very broad-ranging discussion.

24:40 to 25:28: Deckbuilding Challenge: Phase 2: In the first phase Carlos' Deckbuilding Challenge, the votes have spoken; the $40 restriction is now in full effect. This week (and this week only), you vote on the colour setup: 5C, tri-, bi-, or mono-coloured? Check the poll in the upper-left corner. Next week, we'll figure out the actual colours!

25:43 to 39:07: Strategy: Hated Out: Mass Land Destruction: It's been a while since we turned on our Hatervision goggles. This time, they're actually used defensively, talking about Mass Land Destruction. The most hated strategy in EDH? Possibly. But how warranted is this? What is the value of Mass LD as a strategy, and when should it be deployed? What are the good reasons to hate it, and what might warrant reconsideration?
 
39:23 to 56:00: Strategy: Archetype Rundown: Group Hug: Hatervision googles deactivated: Hug Mode ENGAGED (Jeremiah forgot to turn the goggles off). Neale and I both play 'Group Hug' decks quite a bit, which benefit opponents, play politics, and try to navigate the mass of resources you've given to your opponents to come out on top. How do you play one of these decks, and why? What are the pitfalls?
 
56:14 to 72:53: Technology: Retro Cycle Review: We're reviewing the Kamigawa dragon cycle, best to worst. Cards below, then our rankings.


Jugan, the Rising Star; Keiga, the Tide Star; Kukosho, the Evening Star; Ryusei, the Morning Star; Yosei, the Morning Star.


Andy's Picks: Yosei, Kukosho, Ryusei, Keiga, Jugan
Jeremiah's Picks: Yosei, Kukosho, Keiga, Ryusei, Jugan
Neale's Picks: Keiga, Kokusho, Yosei, Ryusei, Jugan
Carlos' Picks: Yosei, Keiga, Kukosho, Ryusei, Jugan


God why is Jugan so bad

73:08 to 81:40: Secret Tech: Neale Edition: I hope you like THICK Aussie accents and swearing. If so, you're in for a treat. The cards are pretty cool too.

Common: Night Soil, Furious Assault, Obulette
Uncommon: Inheritance, Defensive Formation, Arboria
Rare: Earnest Fellowship, Celestial Convergence, Dual Nature

81:55 to closing: Outtro.

PERTINENT LINKS
CONTACT INFORMATION
  • General show contact/E-Mail Andy: CommanderCast(at)gmail(dot)com
  • To E-Mail Carlos: cag5383(at)gmail(dot)com
  • To E-Mail Jeremiah: jeremiah(at)s1group(dot)com 
  • To Contact Neale: Follow this link
  • To Tweet Andy: (at)CommanderCast on Twitter

10 comments:

  1. Funniest fucking secret tech ever.

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  2. OH SNAP ADAM'S SWEARING PREPARE FOR THE LOCUSTS NEXT

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  3. I think you inadvertently revealed why mass LD as a strategy works; when you use it as a STRATEGY. When you're using mass LD as part of the plan and a stepping stone on the way to victory, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If it's a problem, you adapt. You play cheaper threats or beat that player out of the game first and foremost.

    When you use an Obliterate as a wrath substitute or because you're behind on the board state, you're a terrible terrible TERRIBLE human being and you deserved to be ravaged to death by feral pigs. You deserved as much you horrible person.

    I can actually spread some light on the weird casting cost of the dragons because I have a big fat stiffy for Magic design. As it turns out, they were costed as they were depending on how appropriate it was for that color to have a big fat flying dragon as a creature. Red is the primary dragon color, and blue is the flyer color, so their dragons are highly splashable. White and black not as much, so theirs are less splashable. Green doesn't get flyers. Period. So Jugan was made very unsplashable.
    http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af38

    On a personal note; I like Jugan. I enjoy it as a card because it's a big green flyer and that really appeals to me. Much the same with the Kirin cycle. Yes, I am very much aware that objectively Jugan is by a veeeeeeeeeery wide margin, the worst of the cycle.
    As such I would like to submit a very late submission to your 'make the legendary creature less shitty' contest:

    When Jugan, the Rising Star is put into a graveyard from play, you may distribute X +1/+1 counters among creatures you control, where X is the combined power of green creature cards in your graveyard.

    I would actually play that.

    That secret tech was pretty damned funny.
    Would it be racist if I said that I imagined Neale wearing naught but cutoffs and a cowboy hat while he murdered crocodiles with a kukri the entire time he was reading off his secret tech?

    Finally, are we allowed to submit more than one entry for the secret tech contest?

    Thanks for the great ep.

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  4. This might be the most reasonable, insightful, and awesome comment I have ever read on the internet.

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  5. What seriously?

    I'm not sure how to take being complimented thusly while projecting racist stereotypes on the hosts and wishing death via pigsex onto people.

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  6. In fairness Carlos is kind of weird. He built an Akuta deck and isn't even embarassed by it

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  7. Fascinating...
    I could do a thesis on that.

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  8. Also, that was the hilarious part.

    Everything else was reasonable and insightful.

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  9. There is one important thing you are forgetting in your Whole Massive-Landdestion episode:
    - Even though it might be arguably a valid strategy to play Armageddon with enough treads on the board, to then win!
    It never is garanteed if you do.
    Often some player still have removal in hand to response to your Armageddon to wipe out your board position. This is something that very realisticly will happen in a 4 or 5 player game. As there is allways floating some spare removal in the players hands.

    ---> Following this premise it leads very easily to quiet the same outcome, as your in the cast mentioned situation where you play Armageddon on an empty board.
    While a player might have a gameending move in mind... it not allways is that easy and often rather leads to bored stalling games!
    This is the main reason why I despise Massive Landdestruciton.

    Yours Dominik
    from completelycasual.net

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  10. Just to mention it... I really liked your opening in this episode! It was very energetic and catching!
    It really got me hooked to your voice ;-)

    Yours Dominik
    from completelycasual.net

    ReplyDelete