Commanders We Refuse to Play Against | The Command Zone 651 | MTG EDH Magic Gathering

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Show Notes:

It’s a mailbag episode! JLK and Rachel sit down to answer all your burning inquiries: Which Commanders do we REFUSE to play against? Which colors do we find the most powerful? What’s the best way to find a new playgroup? What do we think about Rule 0 commanders? And so much more! No question will go unanswered, so you’re not going to want to miss this one.

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GAME KNIGHTS LIVE - CHICAGO:
The Greatest Show in the Multiverse returns to The Windy City for MagicCon Chicago! Don’t miss this epic and hilarious Commander battle as four fierce competitors race to the finish line on Friday, Feb. 21st starting at 6pm.

Find Event Badge Info here:

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RAYCON:

SHOPIFY:

ROCKET MONEY:

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CARD KINGDOM:

ARCHIDEKT:

ULTRAPRO:

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Relevant Links:

Cards that Change Your Deck's Power Level | The Command Zone 584:

Magic has changed A LOT since 1994 | The Command Zone 642:

DJ:
Twitter: @jumbocommander

TheProxyGuy:

ALK Alters:

The Professor:
Twitter: @TolarianCollege

Jacob Holloway:
Twitter: @JacobHollowayIV

FAN vs Game Knights | Episode 24:

Crim Nguyen a.k.a. TheAsianAvenger:
Twitter: @Theasianavenger

Game Knights Live w/ Mark Rosewater & Becca Scott | MagicCon Las Vegas 2024:

The Blue Beetle Plays MTG Lord of the Rings | Xolo Maridueña | Game Knights 62:

Exactly How Good is Sol Ring? Commander Gameplay STATS (pt1) l CZ 238:

Which Color is the Strongest? Gameplay STATS (pt2) l The Command Zone 239:

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THE END STEP:

Once Upon a Galaxy:

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Commander Rules and Ban List:

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:49 - How Do You Choose a Commander?
00:12:39 - What Do You Think About Rule Zero Commanders?
00:17:40 - What Commander Would You Not Play Against?
00:22:09 - How Do You Control Your Power Level?
00:27:27 - How Do You Build Fun Decks to Play Against?
00:40:51 - What is Your Favorite Card That You Own?
00:44:57 - How Can We Slow Games Down Again?
00:53:40 - Any Advice for Someone Attending Their First Con?
00:59:09 - How Do You Find a Playgroup?
01:04:30 - Any Advice for Making Gameplay Content?
01:11:49 - What Performance Training Do You Have?
01:17:38 - How Do You Plan Game Knights Live?
01:22:37 - What Game Knights Episode Are You Most Proud Of?
01:26:14 - What's the Most Powerful Color?
01:38:45 - To the Listeners

#magicthegathering #mtg #commander #mtgcommander #edh #podcast #commandzone

[commandcast]

Throw your questions in the comments! We won’t be able to get to all of them, but will answer as much as we have time for!

[TeruMikami]

Hey I've been a huge fan of the Command Zone for some time. I'm hoping and praying for your Guy's saftey with all the fires over in LA

[IronRage]

A buddy's alternate "Fun Con" is equipping all 5 of his boots to Felix five boots. We as a playgroup have accepted that if he pulls it off, it's an "exodia" effect where he wins the game on the spot. It's always extremely hilarious when the final boot touches Felix and we all play 300 card pickup.

[jacobnestle]

The "Rule Zero Partners" comment at the end has an asterisk.

Everyone I've ever met has been cool with someone playing Gimli and Legolas as partners!

[stealthgrrr]

As someone who has been "stood-up" a lot in the Commander Pod dating metaphor of showing up to game stores, I was feeling pretty down about continuing to search this year. The first year of the pandemic on Spelltable was probably the only year of consistent Commander play I ever had (with people across the country who were all eager to get back to their physical games). But I really appreciated the point about signaling your intent and interest and trying to break though.

[normative]

I think it’s slightly funny that they chose a thumbnail question whose answer turned out to be: “Eh, we’ll play against whatever.”

[bastian]

Finally moved over from only watching commander gameplay to the analysis videos, really helping me understand the game more! Thank you!

[cannonballbrad]

Rachel, your approach to magic at 1:03:00 is so great. I was so afraid to tell people what I like doing Friday nights that when I told people I went to play cards they thought it was poker. I finally had to just say it’s MTG and it ACTUALLY worked at getting one guy into playing with his whole family. But that initial move in being myself was hard. I think we all think we would be judged for liking what we like by strangers to the hobby.

[lilfroag]

32:20
Rachel is hilarious
"OH he can do bed times!? CONGRATS" 😂😂
saaame...

[Landril]

As an entrenched obsessive player I found one of the best remedies to address the "winning too much" issue is to help the other members of my pod improve their decks! I feel like it addresses both sides of the issue I don't need to nerf my own deck but rather help make my opponents stronger. Currently helping one another is a big part of our pod and now most games are a total crap shoot as to who will win and rare someone wins more than twice in a row. Then we rinse and repeat with new decks as time goes on

[notjake]

I'm almost certain the "other podcast" mentioned at the end of the show is the MTG Goldfish podcast, and it would be really interesting at some point to have them talk about commander philosophy with Richard over there... That dude is on some wild stuff.

[ColdCryomancer]

My friends who introduced me to magic in 2019 still have NO concept of chilling out and playing to the power level of the tables decks. They still cling to their CEDH decks from back then and refuse to play anything less. heck they even refused to admit cedh was a thing in 2019. saying "Were all just playing commander." (Tatyova flash hulk, vs Kriik, vs my Ur dragon precon.)
Its a shame, because I can't invite them out to magic night if everyone doesn't want to or cant play cedh.

So I started playing with a new playgroup and have been now for about 4 years now.
The lessons I learned early on playing this game taught me well. They made me a better stronger player who doesn't care about winning every single game.

Just this last Friday I didn't win a single game and was focused down every game. my friends apologized saying "Dude you must feel awful." I said "No not really I actually had fun."
Nothing will ever make me feel worse than having a pod that refused to adjust power level. or at least try to make sure everyone else was having fun.

[Ironeyes]

Hope you guys are staying safe with all the fires over there.

[Qdrew]

Lots of love to Command zone cast and crew while the fires are hitting LA region.

Rachel is so on point with the enjoyment of just rifling through the collection to create decks. It is fun to find the most random stuff to work well within a deck.

Love and laughter in your lives, cheers friends :)

Sorry second note: if you’re the group’s boogieman I suggest something fun and maybe silly. I am making a Storm group hug, still creating the puzzle that is a storm turn…. But everyone benefits. Not putting a strong win con in the deck. Maybe incidental maze end deck with copy land enchantment and multiple ways to copy that…. Something easy to disrupt and is cute. Another favorite is goblin games :)

[poppamaple]

I always find it so interesting all the different reasons players have for avoiding going against certain commanders

[conerchambers]

Been following Rachel’s IG story updates and happy to hear that she’s doing alright! Hopefully everyone in the CZ (and beyond), along with everyone in CA is safe!

[syntheticsylvie]

tbh there's no commander i refuse or would refuse to play against- its more the player behind the commander who is the issue, ya know? if they are bringing power to a casual game, that's one thing, but if they just happen to love an overpowered commander but didn't tune the deck to cEDH level, why not let them play it? idk!

[Blu_Moon_Owl]

Mainly related to this topic at 4:49, that’s how I made Eluge, the Shoreless Sea my first deck I physically bought. I saw the card tried to make a commander for and with a few tweaks became my favorite deck. The effect is unique and makes games intense when you don’t realize it until it’s too late

[chrissullivan]

The idea of a go-pro style making of Game Knights Live documentary sounds incredible. Please make that. That would be so good!

[KunushiH]

"The Blue Shell" was the perfect bit in this. Hilarious to see it popping up. Great questions and discussions, y'all! Thanks for the video