S3E13: COMMANDERCAST.COM

Posted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS

Season three, you just started and already you're done. Where did the time go? Oh wait, it disappeared into over a hundred hours of recording, editing, writing, proofing and posting material for the site.

This postcast has about five minutes of me thanking people at the end of it for helping support the website, so I'm not going to mention them all again here. I do think it's worth reiterating that the site is only as successful as the audience makes it. For CommanderCast this goes way beyond the realm of just having people look at the site; it's the e-mails I get with constructive criticism, the funny Tweets my Twitter Team throws at me, the comments posted on the site; all been great. But some of our audience takes it to the next level by providing written material, joining the podcast for a show, and hooking me up with free graphics and other materials or resources. It's become a true community project and that's for the best, because if I was doing this alone, it'd be mad shitty.

Season 4 approaches, and with it we move closer to our new website CommanderCast.com. This is a hugely exciting development for us, and hopefully it will be for all of you as well. Bookmark that joint now and join me there on September 19th for the Season 4 Premiere.

That's all for three weeks, and the end of CommanderCast.blogspot.com. I hope you all make the transition to the new site with us and join us--as a consumer or contributor--again for another thirteen episodes of the continued audioscape adventure though MtG's premiere casual format.

LETS GET IT

>>>>> DOWNLOAD IN MP3 FORMAT HERE <<<<<

SHOW NOTES

00:00 to 06:22: Intro: It's a show and we are on it.

COMMUNITY

06:33 to 21:38: Free-For-All Roundtable: The Kokusho Case: This is Byron's jam. Kokusho, the Evening Star has been banned in Commander for around three years. For about a year, Byron has been calling for it's unbanning. Here, we're finally discussing the contentious issue of whether this card should be unbanned or not. What would it add to the environment? Has the recent unfettered escalation of creature's power left Kokusho in the dust?

21:50 to 50:44: The Best/worst Thing About Commander: In something we have oddly never discussed before, in this segment each host provides the reasons they like playing Commander and what they find problematic about the format. It's a simple premise that leads down some winding roads, with complex issues like the identity crisis of the format, the competitive/casual debate, and how the singleton restriction affects the format as a whole.

50:58 to 52:32: Community Spotlight: Three To The Face!!!: Instead of blurbing here, I've prepared a haiku: 

Calvin's blog, ballin'

Commander theme decks for days 

Check this hot fire out

I'm the GZA of the haiku game.


STRATEGY

52:45 to 1:10:48: False Idols: "Life Gain Is Bad": The presence of life gain in a deck is often considered a flag indicating 'new player', 'bad player' or 'funny theme deck'. But this logic is typically ported-over from limited and 60-card constructed formats. Is the value of Life Gain different in multiplayer Commander? We examine the worth of this often-overlooked mechanic.

TECHNOLOGY

1:11:00 to 1:22:42: Lifegain Tech: In a follow-up on the value of life gain, here we're supplying a few cards that we've found useful to us personally in our quests to not die. There's no particular system behind these choices; they're just cards that have served us well.

Carlos' Picks:

Martyr of Sands, Soul Warden

Andy's Picks:

Feudkiller's Verdict, Polluted Bonds

Byrons' Picks:

Arbiter of Knollridge, Collapsing Borders

Donovan's Picks:

Overrule, Shattered Angel

1:22:54 to 1:44:06: Curving Out: CMC 3: Arguably our simplest segment continues. Here we're examining one creature, one non-creature, and one miscellaneous card that you can use to occupy a 3 CMC cost slot in your deck. Each recommendation comes with an explanation of why we like the card, what it does, and why you should put it in your deck.

Donovan's Picks:

Hammer of Bogardan, Chandra's Phoenix, Drift of Phantasms

Andy's Picks:

Blood Moon, Preacher, Sudden Death

Carlos' Picks:

Primal Growth, Adamaro, First to Desire, Realms Uncharted

Byron's Pick's Picks:

Propaganda, Yavimaya Dryad, Recross the Paths

1:44:18 to closing: Outtro.

PERTINENT LINKS

• Andy's 'Douchebag' article
• Entourage Follow-Ups:
• Imshan's Chisei deck
• Cassidy's Celestial Kirin deck
• John's Celestial Kirin deck
• Donovan's Pauper Child of Alara deck
• Cast Through Time by Luke Sonnier
• You Lika The Juice? by Bennie Smith
• Dear Azami by Sean McKowen
• Cassidy's TCGPlayer.com articles

CONTACT INFORMATION

• General show contact/Andy: E-mail CommanderCast(at)gmail(dot)com / Twitter @CommanderCast
• To Contact Donovan: E-mail donokun(at)gmail(dot)com / Twitter @d0su
• To Contact Byron: E-Mail surgingchaos19(at)gmail(dot)com / Twitter @surgingchaos
• To Contact Carlos: E-Mail cag5383(at)gmail(dot)com Twitter @cag5383

Mid-Week Update: August 17th

MisPosted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS

This mid-week update will unfortunately mark the final article by one of our authors, Matt. His hand has been forced by real life, and he's no longer going to be able to sacrifice a bunch of time to work on my stupid hobby website for free. Everyone who does work at CommanderCast is a volunteer, and he has certainly been an incredibly consistent, hard-working, and amazingly thorough worker for somebody receiving no compensation. Matt's primary role on the site was functioning as an editor. He mentioned offhand once to me that he enjoys writing and the result was the True Conviction series he he been writing throughout the season.

Thank God he decided to throw this out there, because the man's writing is as brilliant as his editing. In case you're wondering what else he's done, this is the book he wrote.

Below, we have Matt's final installment of True Conviction, "The Worst Ban List In Magic". In his typical style, it's a confrontational look at an issue facing the Commander player base. As always, I don't agree with him all the time, but he sure as hell rolls out some great arguments for his final shebang here.

It will be painful to lose such a diligent editor and creative writer. I really hope that Matt's future endeavors bring him the success he deserves.

True Conviction Finale - The Worst Ban List In Magic

By MATT

I’m not about to preach to you about how Kukusho should be unbanned, or how Sway of the Stars is no more insulting than Time Stretch (even though both of these things are granted).  And frankly, my dears, I don’t give a damn that a whole whopping 43 cards out of 10,698 cards are banned, which is just 0.40% of all the cards available to you in Magic.  In other words, I’m not at all swayed by the slippery slope alarmists who think that an unreasonably huge ban list is coming and will inevitably destroy this or any format. So let’s move on.

What I’m preaching about today is hypocrisy and mixed messages.  I’m talking about a ban list that aims to keep Commander flavorful and “in-spirit” while recklessly encouraging degenerate deck building to both newbies and veterans alike.  I’m talking about the most disputed topic in all of Commander: the terribly inadequate ban list given to us by the Rules Committee.

Yes, yes, before I go on, I acknowledge that the RC themselves have attempted to shirk their responsibility by going on record to encourage local groups to adapt their own ban list, but that doesn’t change the fact that players are still going to construct decks based around this universally accepted standard.  Given the migrant nature of Magic and especially considering the now ubiquitous nature of Commander, players have to use a common reference point that they can depend on from group to group. Like it or not, RC: you’re responsible for making this optimal universal ban list.

The main problem with the mixed message of the current ban list is one that I’ve hinted at before: players who build optimal decks are seemingly welcome to the format but are then met with opposition when the currently prevailing Casual Inquisition crucifies the strong players for bringing “degenerate” decks to a “casual” game.

But it’s awfully difficult to make the case for Commander as a casual game when fast mana, tier 1 tutors, and the majority of Magic’s most devastating combo pieces are all legal to play under the RC’s ban list.

So, unsurprisingly, a large number of new players excitedly dig out their otherwise banned pieces of cardboard and rejoice in their new-found avenue for winning optimally, in ways that would make Vintage tournament players’ naughty bits taut.  Sometimes these players — who do comprise a significant portion of the player base — delight in their 3v1 challenge, but often they long for high-level duel games.

But do you know what happens in duel Commander?  Of course you do.  Whether you’ve sat down with the intent of dueling or not, you’ve surely seen a multiplayer game whittled down to the two hardiest players. And now, finally unfettered by counter magic from three sources, one player goes for the silver bullet with the Demonic Tutor he’s been gripping all game, and the game ends in some sort of combo, likely infinite. When this inevitable end comes, the crowd moans, and not in a sexy way.

Now either NYC has the lamest meta in the entire world, or this is indication of a bigger problem at large.

Think back a moment.  Did the prevailing players out-tempo everyone else because they were fortunate enough to have fast mana in their opening hand?  Let me rephrase: did the prevailing players partial mulligan (again, an RC-encouraged rule of Commander) 6+ cards until they had Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, and/or Mana Vault in hand?  Did they sit back and wait for their opportunities to play Tier 1 tutors?  Did they win, despite having done little or nothing to interact with the rest of the game?

If you answered yes to one or more of these, you’ve probably seen games play out like this so many times that you’ve just taken these oddly-contradictory-to-the-spirit-of-the-format facts of Commander for granted.  Maybe you’ve even witnessed the degeneracy that the above-mentioned cards had on sanctioned eternal formats like Legacy but believe earnestly that Commander is a different enough format that it requires a very different ban list.  Maybe, when you first began playing Commander, it didn’t occur to you that Commander is absolutely in the same category as Legacy and Vintage and that over-centralizing cards are problematic no matter what banner they hide behind. And maybe, like me, you’re starting to wise up.

I’ve never played competitive Legacy and I’ve only been playing Magic since the Time Spiral block, yet I recognize what these otherwise banned cards do to an Eternal format.  I recognize that the majority of the cards that are banned in Legacy but aren’t banned in Commander are practically auto-includes and worth building around (instead of building around your General as you’re meant to do).  Ban-Ki Moon, an RC member, says that the worst thing that could happen to Commander is official sanctioning and inevitable net-decking from tournament results.  I disagree; the worst thing that could happen to Commander is already happening: casual players are colliding with competitive-in-denial players who are filling their every deck with overpowered auto-includes, the fault of a ridiculously unsuitable ban list.

That said, I’d hate to be predictable about this ban list topic and state the obvious, that the big trouble with the ban list is that you’re unquestionably at a disadvantage in Commander if your General doesn’t have Blue or Black in its color identity; being able to play Mana Drain and Vampiric Tutor are reasons enough to forget that there are three other colors in Magic.  In fact, there’s a third color that benefits from this sub-optimal ban list as well: Green.  When it comes down to the end game, the player who built around cards like Survival of the Fittest, Hermit Druid, and Oath of Druids will win, most likely regardless of their choice of General.  AKA the worst thing that could happen to Commander: every goddamn deck playing out the same way, abusing cards in Magic that have long-since proven problematic, while ignoring the use of the General altogether.

Quickly: rank the colors in Magic from best to worst in Commander!

Anyone who’s played for any substantial length of time and who has an intimate knowledge of the meta will answer Blue, Black, Green, White, and then scratch their heads for a minute and eventually remember that Red is also a Magic color.

To be blunt about it, Blue’s huge and uncontested advantage in Commander is having fast mana options available to them.  Black’s advantage is being able to say “lol what Singleton restriction?” by playing broken tier 1 tutors.  Green’s advantage is in cards that can be built around that have caused major degeneracy in Legacy.  White and Red mix together to make Pink.  Are you seeing my point here?  There’s a seriously lopsided representation of colors in Commander, and for obvious reasons.  With broken cards not on the ban list, Commanders become secondary and we have something more akin to a cutthroat 100-card Vintage, which is not at all what the RC was aiming for.

Tantarus of MTG Salvation conducted an interesting topic several months back, allowing players to ban 5 cards with no justification needed, essentially giving them RC powers.  I tallied the results several days into the informal poll, and the results were unsurprising. At the very least, we can agree that the majority of players intuit — either through tired ubiquity or from witnessing all the degeneracy that ensues — that fast mana is a problem. For reference, here were the top 20 player bans (note that 25% of these votes are for Sol Ring and Mana Crypt):

20. Armageddon
19. Bribery
18. Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
17. Hermit Druid
16. Mana Vault
15. Necropotence
14. Shahrazad
13. Iona, Shield of Emeria
12. Consecrated Sphinx
11. Power Artifact
10. Mind Over Matter
9. Primeval Titan
8. Sensei’s Divining Top
7. Time Stretch
6. Mindslaver
5. Sundering Titan
4. Magister Sphinx
3. Sorin Markov
2. Sol Ring
1. Mana Crypt

In fact, fast mana may be the source of problems in developed metas.  Players are far less united on their view of tier 1 tutors, as they insist that they should be available to stop degenerate early game plays that are, no doubt, enabled by fast mana (just take a look at half of the posts in the “Crazy Plays” thread at Salvation for proof of this).  And although you won’t hear much of an outcry from the general Commander community about the aforementioned problematic green cards, they have proven absolutely detrimental to the well-being of certain duel Commander circles, where all of the top decks are built around banned Legacy cards.

And now we get to the real issue: not only is the current RC-sanctioned ban list unsuitable for normal Commander (given that it brings Timmies and Spikes crashing bitterly into each other due to mixed messages from the RC), but the ban list is unsuitable for ALL environments, multiplayer and duels alike. It’s both irresponsible and disrespectful, effectively saying “to hell with everything the DCI says about eternal cards!” and “to hell with old Highlander, too!”  In trying to be unique, the list is a disaster that only works in some kind of alternate universe run by Timmies who have long since massacred all other player types.

Well, we don’t live in that universe.  There are Spikes and Johnnies in this universe, and there are mixtures therein.  But currently, when venues host tournaments of either the multiplayer or duel persuasion, the format is constantly made un-enjoyable for new and old players alike as their mentalities clash.

The simple solution, you might think, would be to stop making Commander competitive.  Well, it’s a bit late for that!  The 2/3 of player types who aren’t Timmies also love Commander for their own reasons, and there will always be venues for them to flex their deckbuilding muscles.  Unfortunately, no one can agree on how in the hell that environment should conduct its business.  Hence the whole problem.
I suggest that the RC does one of two things to solve the problems of A) dissimilar players ruining each other’s games, B) a single ban list that encourages degeneracy and C) tourney organizers having to work with rules and a ban list that are an unmitigated catastrophe for high-level play.  The first solution is to keep using the current ban list but add the VERY FEW cards that are also on the Legacy ban list.  The second solution is to make two separate ban lists, one for multiplayer and one for duels, which means that the RC needs to stop ignoring all of the other types of players who enjoy Commander and work with the community to give high-level players the best format that they can give us.

Adding the difference in cards from the Legacy ban list only puts 34 more cards onto the ban list, which bumps up the % of off-limit cards to .72%, an entirely acceptable amount in this writer’s opinion, especially after you understand what these cards do to a developed meta.  The following cards would be added:

• Bazaar of Baghdad
• Black Vise
• Demonic Consultation
• Demonic Tutor
• Earthcraft
• Flash
• Frantic Search
• Goblin Recruiter
• Gush
• Hermit Druid
• Imperial Seal
• Land Tax
• Library of Alexandria
• Mana Crypt
• Mana Drain
• Mana Vault
• Memory Jar
• Mind Twist
• Mind's Desire
• Mishra's Workshop
• Mystical Tutor
• Necropotence
• Oath of Druids
• Shahrazad
• Skullclamp
• Sol Ring
• Strip Mine
• Survival of the Fittest
• Timetwister
• Vampiric Tutor
• Wheel of Fortune
• Windfall
• Worldgorger Dragon
• Yawgmoth's Will  

For reference’s sake, here are the cards that are banned in Commander but not banned in Legacy:

• Biorhythm
• Coalition Victory
• Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
• Gifts Ungiven
• Kokusho, the Evening Star
• Karakas
• Limited Resources
• Lion's Eye Diamond
• Metalworker
• Painter's Servant
• Panoptic Mirror
• Protean Hulk
• Recurring Nightmare
• Staff of Domination
• Sway of the Stars
• Upheaval  

It’s been suggested that certain cards like Staff of Domination and Kukusho, the Evening Star have remained on the ban list because one member of the RC (who I’m trying really hard not to name) had a traumatic experience with them years ago.  I’ve traumatized NYC with Dovescape, but that doesn’t mean it’s ban-worthy, or that, given the chance, anyone who’s played against it would add it to a universal ban list.

Likewise, banning one lone and hardly ubiquitous combo piece is inconsistent when Power Artifact, Mind Over Matter, Curiosity, Pestermite, Earthcraft, Guilty Conscience, Umbral Mantle, Knowledge Pool, Helm of Obedience, and others are acceptable. And, lo, what’s this?  Worldgorger Dragon has been recently unbanned, despite anyone ever using it as part of a two card infinite combo, arguably like Staff of Domination?  Wait, wait — I promised myself I wouldn’t do this and just look at the bigger picture, but my God do I have nothing good to say about the ban list or the inconsistent thought processes that went into most of the banning and unbanning decisions.

I think I speak for most players when I say that I don’t want to take on a management role for my friends in trying to fix an obviously inadequate ban list, especially considering the NYC meta is fairly Spikey.  In fact, I made an effort for nearly a month to encourage my playgroup to look at the findings of the more highly developed meta, MTG Salvation, and consider some new bans based on their experiences.  This was both confusing for new players and outright rejected by everyone else, who would rather have placed their faith in the founders of Commander, whom they viewed as the authority.  The dissent was even more pronounced in those who played in multiple groups and didn’t want to have to edit their decks between Magic nights.

This same experience was mirrored in developing a 1v1 tournament scene at a local store, which ended up being a huge flop as no two people could look at the ban list or any suggested ban list objectively and come to any sort of agreement.  And yet, decisions were made and lists presented, but attending tournament-goers couldn’t keep up and were confused about why the multiplayer list on the official website wasn’t being used.  The lack of a central authority acknowledging high-level play and thus acknowledging that their ban list is not suitable for most developed groups resulted in the inevitable downfall of duel Commander in NYC. This refusal by the RC to acknowledge high-level play is resulting in increasingly skeptical players who are growing tired of doubtlessly lopsided group games that are ruined by cards that ought to be banned.

It may not show when you consider the tone of this article series, but I absolutely love Commander.  Despite my harping on all its flaws, its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses.  I’ve never obsessed over a hobby more than this one, and I’ve owned nearly every Blizzard game.  But for all its greatness, Commander is a very broken format with a terrible ban list, dubious rules decisions, and a highly exclusive attitude perpetuated by irresponsible leaders.  If I’m going to continue this long-term relationship with Commander, then I expect the format to grow. I expect changes, or else this format will suffer the fates of Highlander and 5-Color before it.

At any rate, if Sheldon Menery gets re-elected, I’m moving to Canada.

Whoops.

CommanderCast S3E12: Call-InFerno

Posted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS

It's our second listener participation show! The Call-InFerno returns from season two with more of our mans from around the world being jammed into a Skype room to contribute to CommanderCast's ongoing audioscape adventure! I had the privileged of being joined by nine insightful/funny/awesome guests who volunteered their time and voice to help me craft a new episode of CommanderCast. This one went extremely well, with virtually no hiccups on the technical side. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

On a quick side note, I'll be at Canadian Nationals in Toronto this weekend. If you want to play some Commander, throat-punch me for something I said on the podcast, or just haggle for drugs, hit me up via e-mail or Twitter and let me know your intentions.

>>>>> DOWNLOAD IN MP3 FORMAT HERE <<<<<

SHOW NOTES

00:00 to 03:30: Intro: A brief explanation of what you're listening to.

03:42 to 1:39:14: SUPER COMMUNITY TOPIC: CALL-IN SEGMENT

Caller: Dominic

Topic: Flavour Decks

• Dom's Link: The Ocean-Themed Deck
• Eyebot Memnite and some other alterations
• Farming-themed deck
• Elephant deck

Caller: Austin

Topic: Monocoloured VS Polycoloured Decks

• Atomic Baby decklist and article

Caller: Uriah

Topic: Foils, Foiling, and Alternative Pimpology

• CMDRDecks
• Sandreline and the alters she did for me
• Hippo Genocide 01
• Derfington, CommanderCast's Grand Imperial Archduke of Pimpology

Caller: Christian

Topic: International Magic

• The Ib Made of Ibs and Giant Sharks

Caller: Eli

Topic: Sacrifice Outlet Secret Tech

Eli's Choices: Viscera Seer, Martyr's Cause, Altar of Dementia, Skullmulcher

Donovan's Suggestions: Krovikan Horror

Andy's Picks: Sadistic Hypnotist, Read the Runes

Pat's Picks: Phyrexian Tower, Helm of Possession, Shivan Harvest, Carrion

• Bonus: Eli's 3D Wurmcoil Tokens and his cash-money Wrexial

Caller: Pat

Topic: Precons and Netdecking

Caller: Sean

Topic: Is Animar OP?

• Here's Sean's Animar List, should you be interested in building it yourself
• Sean's bonus link

Caller: Matt

Topic: 1v1 Commander

• Rules Committee's banned list
• French banned list (I have no idea how up to date this is)
• MTG Salvation banned list

Caller: Imshan

Topic: Playing Expensive Cards in Commander

• Pretty proxies in this thread
• Imshan's Chisei list (the only one I've seen so far)

1:39:28 to close: Outtro

Friday Flashback: August 12

Posted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS

Friday rolls around and this week there's all manner of links to peruse, an article to soak in, and just all kinds of STUFF to investigate. Do you like stuff? Then this is your jam son. Take it in.

On Monday, the call-in episode will be available for downloading, but if you can't wait, might I suggest an excellent new podcast for your listening pleasure? World At War #4 has taken their show in an entirely new direction and it's a good one. I highly recommend you check it out.

AFFILIATE LINKS

•  On Three To The Face!!!, Calvin's next theme deck project is "I UnSummon You!", a theme deck based around using the Un-cards.
• It's the return of Dominik and Completely Casual with "Who Needs Sensei's Advice Anyway?", an essay on Sensei's Divining Top's auto-include status.
• The Command Zone also has returned to active status with "Infected Rafiq", a poison-heavy second take on the tiny-headed (if we're going by the new art) Bant jackass.

CMDRDecks:


DOUBLE UP

Line In The Sand 04 - I Sold My Soul To The Internet

By Brionne

I knew that if I didn’t topdeck a Revoke Existence or a Return to Dust I would not get another turn. I had only five lands out, too little mana for a more drastic solution like Planar Cleansing. I eyed the Survival warily. Normally Adam would restrain his inner Spike until the game had gone on much longer, but I knew his shiny new Necrotic Ooze combo was too much to resist. He would probably combo off turn six just to prove that he could.

The other players at the table weren’t going to be much help. My dad was too busy setting up for Thraximundar, and Mike was biding time until he drew the True Conviction that would make his UWB fliers truly terrifying. They were not expecting an early combo win, because even the biggest Spikes in our playgroup normally wait until the late game to go off. It’s part of our unspoken gentlemen’s agreement. This game was different, though. All the combo pieces had fallen in his lap. The early game Fungal Reaches would provide the extra mana necessary to go off this early in the game. He hadn’t even needed to tutor for the Survival.

I drew my card — a plains. Feeling annoyed, I passed turn. Adam untapped, tutored up the chain of creatures he needed, and killed us all with infinite suicidal Oozes (Losing to Mogg Fanatic is humiliating, by the way). I started picking up my cards to shuffle up for the next game. I wasn’t upset that he had won so early; I was just annoyed that I hadn’t been able to do anything about it. Mike, however, did not take it so well.

I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it went something like this:

“Hey man, I would appreciate it if you didn’t play combo decks in the future. It was cool and all, but I really don’t like playing with that sort of thing in this casual of a setting. I just build my decks with cards I like, so when you play decks like that it ruins my fun.”

Adam proceeded to apologize for ruining Mike’s game, explaining that he just wanted to show off his new combo. Mike accepted the apology and we went on to another, much longer game. Everything was cool and everyone was happy. Which was a much better ending than this next game.

I was at SCG Dallas on Legacy day. I had dropped out the tournament a few rounds in, and had spent most of the day playing EDH pods. I had played several great games. The third pod seemed like it was going to be business as usual until the Scion of the Ur-Dragon player went infinite turn five. There were muttered exclamations of “douchebag” and “jerk” all around the table. The Scion player offered to play another game, but everyone declined. The poor Scion player was called all sorts of other nasty names, and there were several accusations that he had violated “the spirit of the format”.

That is what the Internet does to people. It turns them from polite, rational human beings into an angry mob of nerdrage. It also creates a large community united by their mutual enjoyment of Magic. So which, in the end, is better for the format? I’ll start with “teh internets”.

Pros
The Internet is a place for the exchange of information. EDH players get online to talk about a wide variety of subjects. On MTG Salvation (MTGS), the threads about card choice range from those devoted to a single card to archetypes and deck lists. This helps players to streamline their decks and share tech. I’ve even seen threads devoted to making decks less cutthroat. Such an exchange allows players all over the world to have a better EDH experience, no matter what their play style. The Internet is the place where Commander players can talk about their decks to people who are actually interested. Your girlfriend probably doesn’t care about that Japanese foil you spent $70 dollars on, but we do. The Internet is also home to tons of great Commander content such as articles, comics, and podcasts. There is even a thread on MTGS completely devoted to proxies (even those of you who hate proxies should check it out, because the Photoshop pros that live on the thread also make amazing tokens).

Cons
The Internet is a place for the flaming, insults, and rants. As Andy is so fond of pointing out, most of us take this format way too seriously. I can’t speak for the official Commander forums, but I know that MTG Salvation is definitely proof of that fact. So many threads that had great potential for discussion have been locked because they broke down into childishness. A lot of people get on the Internet to rant about bad play experiences, which normally leads to even more ranting and hurt feelings. Speaking of hurt feelings, another thing forum dwellers love to do is harass members of the RC, Sheldon in particular (although I know there are some who would argue that this is a good thing). This pastime has not gone over well with the RC. I’m not quite sure why, because I think that “You guys are idiots. Unban my favorite card plz?” is an example of truly great rhetoric.

Now for the Commander players who aren’t on the Internet:

Pros
Players who haven’t spent much time on the Internet, on the whole, tend to me a lot nicer and more laid back. The Internet comes with its own propaganda, such as “EDH douchebag”, “spirit of the format”, and “social contract”. People who haven’t been exposed to this language have to take the time required to formulate a complete thought, because “jerk” doesn’t come with a host of implications and accusations like “funwrecker” does. My buddy Mike in the opening story was much more logical about and polite about his problems with Adam’s play style than we were with the Scion player. I think that the reason non-Internet players have to be a bit more rational is because name-calling is normally considered childish and the sign of a sore loser. The Internet condones this behavior because when the nasty words you are throwing around have a connotation that could fill entire books, it isn’t considered name calling. It’s considered a valid, logical argument.

Cons
The Internet exposes you to a wider variety of players and decks. Many EDH players don’t frequent a forum or read articles, so when they come up against players who do, their decks often fall short in-game despite their best efforts. The more thought that goes into your deck, the better it will be. It’s an inescapable fact. Other than that, I really can’t complain about Commander players who don’t use the Internet as a resource. They’re still great fun to play with, and they tend to play with more unique and interesting cards. They help give the format the variety it is so famous for.

The problem with the Internet is that it is a chicken and egg sort of scenario. Did the Internet make people competitive and obsessed with card choice, or did all the crazy deckbuilders just gravitate toward the Internet? I don’t feel qualified to make a definitive choice, but my bet is on the crazies finding the Internet. I mean, only insane people spend hundreds of dollars on foil and foreign cards, and MTGS has a thread devoted to it.

Case in point.

~ Brionne 
snapple.coffee(at)gmail(dot)com

(Editor's note for the slow: those are crazy Brionne's cards on crazy Brionne's playmat)

Mid-Week Update: August 10

Posted by ANDY aka GHoooSTS

Wednesday means an update, as usual. This week we have the return of Old Man Fred, this week talking about Old Man Cards. Gather 'round, everybody, as he regales you with tales of Magic before there were things like 'Cycling' and 'Cumulative Upkeep' wasn't even a running joke. After talking to you about Mill strategy last week, he's returned to tell you about deckbuilding restrictions with an awesome retro twist.

Watch this space on Monday for the Call-In episode! It was super awesome and I want to thank everyone who participated yet again. This show can obviously only work with the help of our listeners. I really think you will all enjoy it.

LAST-SECOND ADDED BONUS: Peep this hotness courtesy of GU Doug aka Season 2 Contest Winner aka Mr. Mad Sick Alterations:

On to the article!

Creativity Thrives on Restriction
By Fred Cole
Fred’s General EDH Disclaimer:
What I’m about to say, while written to be as broad as possible, is not applicable to every person in every play group everywhere. If some guy in your play group uses Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore in every deck, and that somehow makes what I’m about to say totally wrong, don’t flame me. Your mileage may vary.

As long as Mark Rosewater isn’t talking about EDH, he often has interesting and insightful things to say (this is not a dig at MR. I like MR. However, he stated in his article about EDH that he doesn’t play the format, and then went on to pontificate about how it should be changed). Before he came to work for WotC, he was a writer, including for the TV show Roseanne. He has lots of interesting things to say about writing and the idea of creativity.

One thing he wrote once, that the more I thought about the more I realized how true it was, is that creativity thrives on restriction. It’s very true. There are examples all throughout history and all over the world of people being restricted in some way, and finding a way because of sheer will. I am a firm believer in the idea that “where there’s a will there’s a way.”

Now in his discussion of creativity thriving on restriction, Mark Rosewater was talking about the limits of card design. I am not a card designer. I am a deck builder. So I’ll be talking about limitations in deck building.

Some History
More than ten years ago (my brief research on the subject could not yield an exact date) Extended rotated. My understanding is that now this is a normal occurrence, but the first time it happened, it was a shock.

Let me explain: Back in the day, there were two constructed formats: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 was every set plus a banned and restricted list. Type 2 was more recent sets plus a banned and restricted list. Yes, once upon a time, Type 2 had a restricted list.

Then they wanted to make seem Type 2 less luck based, so the restricted list became a banned list. Now you didn’t win or lose because you drew your one-of restricted power card. That’s when they created Type 1.5, with the same premise, the restricted cards from Type 1 became banned in 1.5. That’s why, for so many years, the 1.5 banned list was tied to the Type 1 restricted list. But back in the mid 1990s, people were afraid of power cards like Kird Ape and Hypnotic Specter (no, this is not a joke), so the format known as Extended, or Type 1.X was born. It was like 1.5, except better, because a few power cards like Kird Ape and Hypnotic Specter and Juggernaut were banned (no, really).

And everyone was happy, until WotC decided to screw with everything again around 1999.

They decided to rotate older sets out of Extended, including Revised and 4th Edition. Everyone went bonkers, because by this time, Extended was known as the format you could play dual lands in. Since they were so expensive (20 bucks each!), they made an exception; Revised and 4th Edition and several other expansions were rotated, but they made a specific exception for the ten original dual lands. But they said there would be another rotation in a few years, and they’d be rotated at that time.

And everyone was happy, except for me.

The Birth of Fred Block
See, I started playing in January of 1995. My first ever cards were from Revised, and my first expansion was from Fallen Empires. To clarify how long ago 1995 was, it was before the new tap symbol and before the new white mana symbol (did you know there was an old white mana symbol?).

I have a sentimental attachment to Revised and 4th Edition. For example, 4th Edition was the last time for several years they reprinted Lightning Bolt, Savannah Lions, Stasis, Serra Angel, Sengir Vampire, Swords to Plowshares, and several other cards that defined Magic for me in my early years.

So I was annoyed that I wouldn’t be able to play Lightning Bolt in Extended anymore. I knew of Type 1.5, but I didn’t play it regularly, nor was it as common or mainstream as Legacy is today. So, I piled all these cards that were no longer legal in Legacy into one box.

Then I hit on an idea. I could create a format where all these cards were legal. So I did.

Since I’m an egomaniac, I called it Fred Block. In it was any pre-Ice Age cards, and a very specific banned and restricted list, based on what was banned and restricted back around 1995, like Regrowth, Wheel of Fortune, and Balance. Things like Black Vise and Strip Mine, that I had seen first hand unrestricted were restricted. I exempted from the banned list Chaos Orb and it’s bad knock off cousin from Legends. Instead, I restricted Chaos Orb. I figured if someone had a Chaos Orb and wanted to play it, they were welcome to.

I also realized that most people do not/did not have the card pool that I have, and since I wanted to play this format, I built several decks to play with: a white weenie, a black weenie with Mind Twist (also restricted), a bad red/green aggro deck built as an excuse to play Barbary Apes, a control-ish blue deck, a red/blue Urza-tron deck, that kind of thing. It was fun to play with these ancient cards, but eventually it got old and I got tired of playing against my own decks, so I disassembled them. However, I still keep a Fred Block binder. Every time I pick up something really old that I’ll never use anywhere else, it goes in there (Fishliver Oil ftw!).

Fred Block meets EDH
The notion of Fred Block never died. I still have the binder. So I set out to build a Fred Block EDH deck.

The card pool of pre-Ice Age sets is very limited:

Alpha
Beta
Unlimited
Revised
4th Edition

Arabian Nights
Antiquities
Legends
The Dark
Fallen Empires

It’s not as big as it looks. Alpha, Beta and Unlimited are, for all intents and purposes, the same 302 cards. And Revised and 4th Edition have reprints, but only up through The Dark. So the total card pool is only around a thousand cards.

On top of that, certain card functions that we take as commonplace did not exist back then. For example, there are only two land search cards (Untamed Wilds and Land Tax), there’s very little mana fixing, there’s no Brainstorm or Impulse type effects, comes-into-play abilities were unheard of, and there are literally ZERO mono colored legendary creatures.

I began this project with a general. Since it’s Elder Dragon Highlander, I figured I’d use an actual Elder Dragon Legend. I have tons of reprints, but the only one I have from Legends at the moment is Arcades Sabboth.

So I had my color combination and I built the deck. Then one night, as the deck was coming together, I traded for a Legends legend that fit my colors, and would be an amazing general: Angus Mackenzie!

He is white/blue/green and costs WUG to cast. He is a 2/2, and his ability is pay WUG, tap: FOG! This guy is a repeatable fogger! This change, this last minute audible I called, ended up defining the entire nature of the deck.

What I did with this deck was take modern concepts of deck construction, mana curve, mana balance, card advantage, and applied them to this very restrictive and very primitive (not putting it down at all, just stating a fact) card pool.

The result was an amazingly fun and functional EDH deck.

Why this tale? Why did I tell you about the first Extended rotation, creating my own format and about building an EDH deck in that format? To prove a point: creativity thrives on restriction. This deck is a blast to play because the restriction means I end up playing and making people fear Book of Rass. It gives me a chance to build something interesting and awesome. Try to tell me that isn’t an accomplishment.

You’re reading this because you play EDH and probably love it. And if you love EDH that’s because you love building unique and creative decks. There’s no pro tour deck list of EDH decks that people copy. I would want to punch anybody who copied some kind of winning EDH deck card for card. It’s ok to steal ideas, steal concepts, steal combos, but we build for EDH and we play EDH because we love a format where creativity and ingenuity are rewarded.

So I challenge you to challenge yourself. Come up with your own restrictions and build decks around them. You will find it is a very satisfying enterprise.

Fred’s Bonus:
I teased you enough, here’s the deck listing. Two notes: I built this out of the cards I have and I built it out of what was available. Yes, Tundra belongs in this deck, I only own one and it was in a better deck at the time.

General:
Angus Mckenzie

Creatures and creature makers:
Arcades Sabbath
The Hive
Azure Drake
Vesuvan Doppleganger
Time Elemental
Serra Angel
Preacher
Phantom Monster
Clone
Rubina Soulsinger
Mahamoti Djinn
Air Elemental
Phantasmal Forces
Apprentice Wizard
Witch Hunter

Counters:
Counterspell
Avoid Fate
Remove Soul
Spell Blast

Land Search/Mana Generation:
Land Tax
Wild Growth
Untamed Wilds

Card Advantage:
Regrowth
Recall
Disrupting Scepter
Jayemdae Tome
Brain Geyser
Book of Rass (Fear it!)
Sylvan Library

Control Cards:
Crumble
Control Magic
Dust to Dust
Unsummon
Disenchant
Hurricane
Boomerang
Twiddle
Flood
Tranquility
Swords to Plowshares
Icy Manipulator
Steal Artifact
Desert Twister
Horn of Deafening
Presence of the Master (Einstein ftw)

Fog Effects/Life Gain:
Ivory Tower
Festival
Holy Day
Fog

Artifact Mana:
Sol Ring
Copy Artifact
Fellwar Stone
Basalt Monolith
Mana Vault

Lands:
Maze of Ith
City of Brass
Havenwood Battleground
Svyelunite Temple
Ruins of Trokair
Savanah
Tropical Island
Strip Mine
12 Forest
12 Plains
13 Island