MTG in 2023 - Year in Review | The Command Zone 581 | Magic: the Gathering Commander EDH Podcast

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Show Notes:

2023 will forever be remembered as the year Wizards censored the Pinkertons. Or wait, did the Pinkertons take down the MTG Ambassador Program? There were so many controversies these past 365 days that it’s hard to keep them straight! Well don’t worry, we’re going to cover all of it!

This episode Jimmy, JLK and Rachel convene to break down the entire year of highlights, missteps, and controversies in the MTG community. With MagicCons, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, loads of Secret Lairs and more, there’s a ton to talk about. So strap in, everyone, because it’s time for the 2023 year in review!

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GAME KNIGHTS LIVE w/ The Professor:

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MANSCAPED:

SHOPIFY:

STAR TREK FLEET COMMAND:

WHATNOT:

FACTOR:

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CARD KINGDOM:

ARCHIDEKT:

ULTRAPRO:

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Relevant Links:

The Pinkertons:

Secret Lair Censorship:

Troll & Toad Leaves Magic:

Ambassador Program:

Hasbro Layoffs:

Play Boosters:

The Financial Impact of Play Boosters:

Jimmy’s Personal Commander Decks | The Command Zone 579:

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Commander Rules and Ban List:

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:05 - 2023: Year in Review
00:04:50 - Dominaria Remastered
00:05:07 - Phyrexia: All Will Be One
00:06:13 - March of the Machine
00:08:17 - March of the Machine: The Aftermath
00:09:12 - The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth
00:11:22 - Commander Masters
00:13:55 - Wilds of Eldraine
00:15:34 - Universes Beyond: Doctor Who
00:17:51 - Lord of the Rings: Holiday Release
00:21:24 - Lost Caverns of Ixalan
00:23:02 - Worst Set of the Year
00:31:23 - Best Set of the Year
00:40:55 - Game Knights Live @ MagicCon Chicago
00:43:07 - 2023 By the Numbers
00:50:25 - Best Cards of 2023
01:00:02 - Worst Cards of 2023
01:13:02 - Reprints
01:26:40 - Secret Lairs
01:32:58 - The Thing About Bling
01:41:56 - To Universes and Beyond
01:52:47 - Remembering Sheldon
01:53:22 - Commander Rules Committee
02:05:47 - Biggest Controversies
02:42:21 - Biggest Whiffs
02:50:53 - Biggest Successes
02:57:35 - Looking Forward to 2024
03:07:30 - To the Listeners

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

[jorgecrespoapastegui]

3 hours? are you insane? do you think i'm gonna spend 3h on a mtg video? cause you are correct.

[itsalmostunbearable]

Oddly enough, I think the doctor who commander decks were amazing at bringing people back to watch doctor who rather than bringing doctor who fans to magic. I ended up buying a subscription to hbo max just to rewatch and understand the references on the cards and had a blast doing so!

[DorkmasterFlek]

You're right that the layoff thing is a regular practice. That doesn't make it good. It's awful, and Chris Cocks should be ashamed. He is a failure of a CEO and should be fired as far as I'm concerned.

[TeaGarrison]

I played Yugioh competitively for years but I got back into Magic for the LoTR cards and I haven’t looked back. Its been a breath of fresh air getting into commander and playing casually with my brother and friends. They would never want to learn Yugioh because it’s so complicated and full of feel-bad moments, but Magic has brought us all together and it’s all thanks to the Lord of the Rings cards.

[chrisdixon]

And hasbro is a soulless corporation. Laying off employees of the only profitable arm of their company is literally them just shooting themselves in the foot and not only that, it removes the incentive to produce good products

[monkeyfish]

The analogy for the "you see one golf ball sized hail and freak out" and then theres tons of golf ball sized hail and saying its "normal" is ludicrous. A hailstorm isnt a GOOD thing. Its not something you just sit in the middle of thinking you should get used to it. A hailstorm is something to AVOID. this is why people DONT WANT BAD THINGS TO BE NORMALIZED.

[gabepetersen]

If they released like 3-4 sets per year I’d go all in and buy each one, but there are just too many I have to skip a bunch

[pedroaugustorodrigues]

I don't like the way Jimmy dilutes the controversies. "The thing is we see this all the time all around". It makes things seem like unavoidable or unquestionable and we should just accept it because it is the way things are. "Just endure".

[guilerms]

yeah of course anyone would send armed mercenaries to a person's house to fix their own mistakes. completely reasonable.

[_guavo_]

Jimmy: Trauma isn't real, no one got hurt, that is a SPICY TAKE!

[Knives]

"They were just trying to protect their IP, so it's justifiable that they sent the security agency with the worst possible reputation to scare and possibly traumatize someone over one of the most mediocre releases this year."

Yes, the outcry wouldn't be as bad if they had sent any other agency, but you're telling me *no one* at Wizards expected it? If this was on accident, it's a lackluster job from their staff, and if it's on purpose, it's very much scare tactics. I get that the Command Zone is affiliated with WotC and probably shouldn't be extra hard on them, but if they hadn't accumulated such a huge ammount of good will from the LotR set, this year could very much have broken the company with such a terrible move.

[hubertcumberdale]

I really wish I could hear an unedited version of this where they aren't held back on what they can say by WOTC, that'd be super interesting

[noahsaari]

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to find the source of a leak and recover commercially unavailable product, but sending armed mercenaries with a history of strike-breaking, unethical intimidation tactics, and actual murder isn’t something to just be dismissed so casually. Longtime watcher of you guys and this was really disappointing to hear from you.

[unseeliedream]

"we unfortunately just endure" but also we can stop to do that and start to speak about how bad it is when people are laid off and a ceo is getting 8 milions bonus.

<3 thanks for not keeping silent about that!

[Cinomodium]

I didn't realize that the video was 3 hours long until I seen the comments. I'm already 33 minutes in and it doesn't feel like its been that long already. You guys are awesome and congrats on the new studio!

[Silas_MN]

Doctor Who was my absolute highlight of the year. DW has been a huge thing for me, way longer than magic, and I love the decks! idk what everyone is on about, they play so well!

Also, they got me watching your podcast again after dropping it a couple of years ago

[-RTC-]

Ive watched you guys for years, but have been burned out on mtg the last year to two years and haven’t bought much besides a few random packs and singles here and there. I didn’t realize how much STUFF is coming out these days.

Love the episode, very informative, and I’ve always appreciated your guys’ opinions, cheers.

[Thummpur]

It’s kinda crazy, but I wasn’t even a Magic player. But the Lotr set got me started! I am a HUGE Lotr fan and have been for years. I collect just about any and all things Tolkien and middle earth. And that’s how I got into the game so I’m happy to see it was such a universally positive experience for everyone

[EmTekTube]

2:12:07 what’s reasonable is Wizards sending a simple email to that oldschoolmtg guy instead of hitting the nuke button and sending any form of PI/security firm as a first point of contact with him

[quinnwaterman]

My sister is obsessed with Doctor Who and heavily got into magic in general because of the release. It was hilarious watching her get excited about the references