Advanced Deckbuilding: Mastering Your Mana Curve | The Command Zone 453 | Magic: The Gathering EDH

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Show Notes:

Mana Curve may seem like a simple enough concept, but there’s a lot more to consider than just keeping your CMC low. This episode, Jimmy and JLK are going to tell you how to truly master your mana curve. We’ll discuss play patterns, deck construction considerations, and how to think about the mana value of your cards at every stage of the game. Don’t miss it!

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COMMAND ZONE LIVE:
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Craig Blanchette:
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Truc Thai:
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Game Knights #1 - The Best 4 Color Commander 2016

Game Knights #52 - The Fans Strike Back

Command Zone #156 - The Importance of MANA CURVE

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Anchorman (Movie)

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Commander Rules and Ban List:

[KeysofIDproductions]

I'd love to see an episode where you build a commander deck from scratch.

[bahamut]

The only problem with trying to get lesser cmc spells in your deck that function the same as high cmc ones is that they're typically more expensive. Sometimes, *really* expensive. So I usually resort to a ton of ramp in my decks that have green, because while it make take up more spell slots, at least I don't have to blow a bunch of money to effectively do the same thing

[drunkgerbil]

I would love more deck building episodes! They help so much!

[Daavee]

You might add all the deckbuilding videos into a separate playlist so all the fans like me can find them very easily any time! :) Thanks for the great content guys and keep up with it!

[fredericgilbert]

I think this is one of the episodes that we all waited for and needed!

[scott]

I always think of lands that enter tapped as 1-drop spells. You are effectively paying 1 for that extra value you get, whether it’s a temple, or a bounce land, or an MDFC, etc.

[Spencer]

You make a very good point about spending your mana on each turn.

People often say life is a resource so is your mana, use it!!!

[minikuiyosei]

As a long time casual commander player, started playing at tenth edition, I keep clicking to your videos and constantly learning new things. Just gained a new subscriber my good people! 🎉

[patrickwills]

When I first started playing Commander two years ago, I tended to have 14 pieces of ramp and 36 lands. Now I am finding that I am using more two mana ramp with 16 pieces of ramp and 34 lands or a lot of card draw to consistently make land drops. A part of this is because of MDFCs and the games ending sooner than it did back then. Also, I use to have 3.3 - 4.0 average CMC and now it's more like 2.5 - 3.5.

Because of your original podcast about mana curve, it helped me think about playing appropriate ramp for the deck. Gargos was one of my favorite commanders. Originally I played T2 Rampant Growth into T3 Explosive Vegetation. Now it's T1 Llanowar Elves into T2 Llanowar Tribe so that he comes down consistently on turn 3-4 instead of turn 4-6.

[plain]

Careful when reducing mana curves! Cheaper effects need to be impactful and your deck need more cards velocity and advantage to keep up the value train.
Reducing mana curve is not a universal advice: it comes with a cost of time in deck building, a weaker late game, a dilution of the theme of the deck and a monetary cost.

[chibichanga]

56:05 This is part of why I think my favorite big spell these days is Reshape the Earth. Getting any 10 lands out of your deck is a big game and they're very hard to interact with; you can put combos in like Dark Depths/Thespian Stage, but even just a bunch of utility lands (maybe some that can draw you cards) plus a Field of the Dead to make 10 zombies and you're set to win that game and the chance of a blowout is much lower than other big spells.

[jonahcoffman]

Thanks for the tips! I was a noob and blamed budget. Now I understand playing on curve is more important than not playing at all

[Ghostly]

Just watched your videos going over possible mistakes you guys made during game knights and loved them. Please make more of them. Really helps going back and looking into them more to help me learn to break down scenarios more in depth to make decisions.

[komodo]

One of my favorite lower cmc spells is Quest for Pure Flame which is a 1-drop that often gets forgotten about right up until it doubles your burn damage to insta-kill everyone at the table.

[finks]

Your section on evaluating your commanders true MV really hit home. I’ve been treating my Scion of the Ur Dragon as a 7 MV card for years.

[datSorel]

I think a segment that was missing from this episide is card draw, or card advantage. Yes, lowering the curve and having it be personalized around the commander is great, but way too often I play agaisnt decks that their builder clearly lowered average mana cost because they heard that it makes for better decks. However, with a lower curve, you also need a lot more card advantage. So many times someone pukes their hand on the battlefield and are empty handed on turn 4 or 5. A single boardwipe would completely remove them from the game and sometimes even without a boardwipe, they are stuck top decking for the rest of the game. Yes, being able to double spell and spending all your mana is important, but if you top deck a land on turn 6, all the effort of spending all your mana on early turns was completly useless...

[mfitkin]

Skyshroud is so much better than other 4 mana ramp, not only untapped like you mentioned, but it can get duals

[Death_by_Tech]

to me, one of my big level up moments was watching your stats episode a long time ago where you analyzed how many 6 and 7 drops people play per game. Instead of stuffing my deck with them, i focused my deck on doing basic stuff like drawing, ramping etc, then included ways to get the 2 or 3 high mana value cards (e.g. tutors) so that if i feel like it’s time to play them i can get them

[arthurbozelli]

Great video! I think you should make a "mastering your draw" video. I used to not balance mana x draw in my decks and recently, I've been adopting some repeatable draw 1 effects in many forms (Bonders' Encalve, Endless Atlas, War Room, etc) and it's been making my games much more consistent, and I think it's a skill every player would benefit from learning.

[worldofkyle]

When I first got into playing magic the gathering, mana curve was one of the first things I have mastered. Took sometime but I got done. So it's good to see and hear some people's tips, tricks, and knowledge