How To Evaluate Your Commander Deck's Power Level | Untitled Magic: The Gathering Podcast #1

How strong is your Commander deck? Many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question, "How do I evaluate my deck's power level in relation to other decks?" For this Untitled MTG podcast, I am joined by Olivia Gobert-Hicks of the Commander Advisory Group to discuss how to evaluate your deck's strength and level, how to power it up or down, and how to deal with difficult players who may not see things the way you do.

Huge shoutout and thanks to the talented @livingcardsmtg for developing the opening animation for the show!

Check out my other videos:
The Tolarian Tutor MTG Study Series:

Music Courtesy Of:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[lordbattlefield]

Just out of curiosity, where are these shocklands that cost 4 bucks. Because I would love to get some of them....

[Mwarrior]

I love how Liliana is over Olivia's shoulder sitting in the same pose as her all through this.

[ZanZerejin]

After listening to this I have realized how great my playgroup is. We try and match the powerlevel of each others decks with similar powerlevels and we don't play them too often. Example: I have a grixis Nicol Bolas themed deck with extra turns (as it has a lot of planeswalkers) with Vial-smasher and Ludvic (partner commanders) as my commanders. I know that if I hit a few extra turns spells in a row that people will get bored. So if I play it and win, I wont touch it again for the rest of that day. The same goes for the others too.

[pedroyoshinaga]

with this video i could finally understood why i get frustrated, loads of times, when i play games. The mentality of the other people is very important to consider. Keep up with the great work professor, thank you

[sethb]

I remember playing against a Contamination once. I looked over at the Elves guy and asked him, "If you had green mana, could you take that thing out?" He said yes, so I cast Spectral Searchlight and gave him a green mana so he could Naturalize the thing.

[DMASupport]

I really like the “Giving other people” your deck aspect of the conversation. I have done this with my playgroups and it helps people realize how I build my decks and where the “fun” is to be had, but also gives me a good perspective of how they look across the table.

[jaredwonnacott]

One of my favorite power level comments I ever had was, "I will almost certainly surprise kill someone if the game goes for 7-8 turns, then die the next turn from the backlash.". That's how you do it, no power level ranking system, just an explanation of what your deck does and what you expect to happen paired with honest personal reflection. And, for the record, that's exactly what happened.

[ntsmith]

I went to a Thursday Commander Night at my LGS but I definitely got the sense that most players were aiming for turn 3-4 combo victories. When I told them I don't have competitive EDH decks, they replied, "Neither do we." I didn't believe that when I saw individual cards valued over $150.

[davidhobbs]

My favorite house rule for a bit was if you go infinite, you win, but everyone else finishes the game and you get to sit out the rest of said game.

People stopped running infinite cheese because watching other people play fun commander games from the sidelines sucked. (Mike didn't mind... he'd just talk smack about being in the winner circle drinking.)

Now it depends on the playgroup.

[irlylikecanada]

Hey- thanks for acknowledging that (most) cEDH folks don't look to pubstomp! We really just want a competitive game, and it's no fun for anyone if deck levels at a table are vastly different.

[zacharywiesel]

I find that a scale is not always ideal, especially a 1-10 scale as no one realistically will classify their deck as a 4 or less. I feel like the discussion let's you get to a better understanding of power.

[DylanSweeney]

The best way that I've found to determine power level (and to be honest i'm only 3:22 into the video so you may say this, but I wanted to type it before I forget lol) is to ask what everyone's win condition is. Your win condition usually determines how you play the game. If the answer is "idk kinda just beat down eventually" probably around a 5 or lower? if the answer is "craterhoof around turn 8" then that's maybe closer to a 7" if its "combo asap" then closer to a 10. Usually people only get salty when the lose, so if they know how they're going to lose, and can prepare, and I've noticed less salt.

[JohnS-pgnm]

Wow, Olivia Gobert-Hicks has some awesome ideas that I hadn't considered before. Great guest and great conversation. The idea of judging decks by "what turn can this go off" (for decks that aren't just infinite combo), power level side-boards, giving your deck to a friend so you play against it, and of course just talking.

[Pilsnerpc]

Olivia is an excellent guest. I know Kenobi is only able to film twice or three times a year, but I really enjoy this format and hope you continue doing face to face podcasts with other people from the community.


Thanks for the videos Prof.

[jpickens]

I find the pilot of a deck has far more impact on how it behaves than most people think.

[soorian]

Had a great time watching auto generated captions have a stroke transcribing Olivia's name

[lucamorelli]

At my LGS when we have commander tournaments you can bring any kind of deck you want (it's a tournament and you win real prizes). There's one simple rule: if you kill all your opponents instead you get the first place and leave the table. This way the other players can continue the game and enjoy their 1 hour match even if they actually lost at turn 3.

It worked out well and I highly recommend this even during casual games

[lucasenraraujo]

I agree with Olivia. Asking how long it takes for a deck to goldfish a win is a good way of measuring power level. And I'm also for the addition of a sideboard to allow not only those small changes to powerlevel, but the use of wish effects.



I also feel like some people don't understand that the fun in games lies (at least to me) in being with friends and feeling like it's anyone's game. Yeah, someone might have the advantage at some point or have a slightly more powerful deck, but, as long as the others don't feel hopeless, it can still be fun.

[kyleellis]

I have to be honest... One of your top 3 videos ever! you had a perfect balance of input and listening proff. its really nice to see someone actually take criticism well and incorporate it.

[daredewley]

You did a great job of conversing and letting Olivia talk this episode Prof! Vince doesn't get that lucky.