OK, we are bad at Magic. With Alexios, you can still chump if the table agrees by assigning all the damage to the blocking creature rather than trampling over to face. Also, spot removal is very cope with Alexios because it gets 3 combats a turn cycle as soon as it's recast. You really want a Darksteel Mutation / Imprisoned in the Moon effect.
Since it doesn't come under the next player's control till their upkeep, wouldn't it not be able to attack ever since it isn't there for a player's untap step?
Lovingly, respectfully, you got punished for not playing targeted removal. Once Alexios gets removed once or twice casting it becomes extremely punishing to recast. Are board wipes generally better? Yes. Are there times you need cheap targeted removal to dismantle an engine? Yes
You guys are forgetting how cheap this commander is, to make him not exist each player must be able to remove it at least once, only when it's finally in 2 digits is it even difficult to cast. Also yes you can always ignore your own trample damage if the table agree but that's just you giving free life to an opponent
A big thing that almost everyone (including in this game) forgets, is that trample damage is a ‘may’. Even if the creature has trample, the controller can choose to deal all damage to a 1/1 blocker and none to the player, so if your opponents work together, Alexios isn’t as fast as he looks
I kind of hate that fact- I’ve been around mtg for 20 years so I know how stuff works, but it feels gross that the card will operate completely differently and be more oppressive at less experienced tables than veteran player ones. (Obviously there are benefits to being more experienced but this feels like the biggest unintuitive gap in player experience in a while)
@@Spirited_skiing Exactly what I was thinking! I can already imagine the moment a less experienced player sits with me with his new Alexios deck and I just tell him his commander is far less effective then he thought
@@robinvandepoele2117 okay but surely you see the mile wide hole in that plan right? at a table of 4, nobody's goal is that Alexios player loses. It's that they win, and while I could do you the kindness of letting you chump block with a 1/1 on your word that you will do the same, hitting you in the face or forcing you to trade multiple creatures benefits me. It feels like the plan of an imaginary table that will never last more than 1 round at most
@@MrDegan2 oh but believe me, when people are getting 10 commander damage each turn, players are very keen to team up against the Alexios player and make a deal to always let players chump block
Also think Alexios is just way better than Slicer or any other voltron commanders...attacks for 49 trample commander damage in its first 2 rounds with no other help.
@@danelson128 Yeah, I can't decide if I think it is significantly better than Slicer, since Slicer has other additional benefits, but it terms of raw damage output... Ooof.
It’s worse then slicer if people actually knew how trample works, if people work together they can choose to deal all the trample damage to the creature and not the player they are attacking
@@Seresean right but that requires me, as also your opponent to want to not hit you in the face, and trust that you would do the same for me, it works in a situation where Alexios is arch enemy, and you've put them losing above you winning, but I wouldn't call it a good plan
@Seresean unfortunately thats not how trample works, yes you get the choose how its spread, but you cannot assign more damage than a creature has toughness if you have the option to trample over to the player, so if they block with 3 0/1s and he is an 8/8 he would have no choice but to deal 5 damage to the player, there is no way around that rule
I'm pretty sure Richard can't Dress Down and then attack Phil with Alexios, because Dress Down would get rid of the commander's Haste, and it needs Haste to attack because it just changed control.
@@Andrewlstewart Alexios has a static ability that says it can't attack its controller, so you need to get rid of that ability before you declare your attacks, but you need Haste to declare your attack.
He could flash it in in response to alexios' trigger, making it lose the static ability but still allowing the haste. This isnt what they did obviously but what took place was possible so its fine
@@lloydbeaufils3335 he's already said it this way months ago when Ezio was spoiled in the Mtggoldfish podcast. Hearing him double down on that pronunciation hurt
tying this to the Aggro question in a recent podcast, this is what edh aggro looks like to me. A succesful aggro archetype in commander needs a way to overcome the 120 life you need to wipe out the board, and passing creatures around the table is a great solution IMO. That or if they come out with some kind of myriad aggro commander.
I have a rakdos chaos deck with the master multiplied from the dr who evil commander deck. Who my friends basically kill on sight cause of his myriad and you don't lose the tokens you make with his ability
Every Red aggro deck should play anti-fog spells, like Insult // Injury and Skullcrack. Insult vs. Teferi's means they still take Commander dmg, even if their life doesnt change.
At 32:06, why doesn’t Seth just homeward path? He doesn’t use the mana, so it seems like preventing 9 commander damage for free? Alexios is already tapped, so I don’t think it’s even a blocker for Phil.
@@MTGGoldfishyeah it's an emblem, only card type that makes the ring works the way it does. However your commander is the only non planeswalker to refer directly to an emblem
Just wanted point out that the pick axe gives the ability of making a treasure to the creature, so the person attacking makes the treasure and not the owner of the equipment.
34:10 Some others have mentioned, but I don't believe Richard could have attacked Phil here after the Dress Down. Alexios needs Haste to attack each turn, because creatures gain summoning sickness whenever they change controller, and I believe Dress Down would have removed the Haste it granted itself with its ability.
I think timing-wise he can wait for the gain control trigger to go on to the stack, then Dress Down removing the restriction on attacking Phil? Dress Down comes in, layers loss of all abilities, then the trigger resolves switching control and granting Haste to a creature with no abilities? Yay for layers!? I might be wrong here but I think the stack can be resolved in a way that lets the game state be maintained? He definitely timed it wrong though, cause you're right based on how he did it in-game
Diamond pickaxe gives the creature the ability, so whoever is controlling the creature would create the treasure, even though Phil controls the equipment.
Or just any chump blocker. For some reason the CC crew just decided to ignore the fact you could assign trample damage to the creature instead of the player
Good games, just saying 36:50 The Diamond Pick-Axe Gives the ability to create treasure to the creature, is not in the equipment itself, so the controller of the creature creates the treasure even if they do not control the equipment
@@brningpyre sure thats playable, in an enchantment, flash or permanent matters deck. But as a generell card? Not so much since to many things snowball nowdays.
"If you swords it you're just down a card!" says Richard as he dies to an aggressive commander with absolutely no protection. Thank goodness he didn't go down 1 card, though. That'd basically just be a fog! I think this shows how myopic commander clash has gotten. They've done the thing where they keep trying to go over the top of each other with value and power because Commander is a "slow" format but if someone is actually legitimately aggressive they just fold like cheap laundry.
Also if Richard had cheap removal in his deck he wouldn't have to worry about running a reliquary tower in 5 colors, can now see how he struggles to make colored mana for a 1GG costing card
@@winter945 It's kind of funny because Richard has such a good winrate so he knows what he's doing in this select group and has been gaming the system for awhile. In general he's right to build his deck this way, it's just everyone's always playing his game instead of punishing him. But when punishment happens he gets hit the hardest.
@@TwoToneShoes Richard has been playing in a vacuum and therefore is creating a scenario where his “insight” and “knowledge” becomes much more narrow. Personally I just tune him out when he says silly little things like that; same with Crim when he decides to play kingmaker.
36:50 Crim gets the treasure, not Phil. Diamond Pick-Axe uses the wording of "equipped creature has". So the one to create the treasure token from the triggered ability is the controller of the creature, Crim, and not the controller of the equipment, Phil.
"Every game you let Crim get away with it...and he just passes with 4 mana up. You should've just got the T Pro out of his hand." This, from *Richard* of all people, is hilarious.
@@brningpyre I actually missread the comment above, they are correct that it wouldn't have haste and does have summoning sickness, so Richard couldn't attack
@@winter945 eh same effect happens if they change the timing. You just dress down with the control change effect on the stack because that is all 1 single effect and it would lose the static ability of can't attack phil.
I like the idea of emblems from non-planeswalkers, but i hope they keep it to interactable things, like the final step of a saga or the reward for a battle or something.
Clown Car is legit. I run it as a protection piece with Lost in the Maze, you can crew to give your stuff hexproof at instant speed. Great in Zaxara since they're both X spells as well.
"Capleen trio" "Capitoline Triad" As in, the Capitoline Hill, thats not even an Assassins Creed makey uppy word, thats a real very famous historical place in Rome.
Very fun games! I think Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos is really good but I still think Slicer is stronger because double strike is huge. Slicer also has haste and you can play for 1 mana less initially. Sad Richard's deck didn't get to do anything but loving to see the guys just attacking him and not letting him silver tongue his way to victory. I'm wondering though, how does Seth's The Capitoline Traid deck if he doesn't draw Krak-Clan Ironworks? It seems very difficult to get 30 mana value worth of cards artifacts into the graveyard without it.
Amazing episode ! 😀👍🏽Alexios and Capitoline Triad are very intresting Commanders to build a deck arround 🤔 Haytham with his protection from Assaasins could be a nice counter against some of these new AC cards and as a fan of FiveColour Commanders and 'AssassinsCreed' Ezio is my favourite Card from the Set 💚 Thank you for showing this awesome new cards in action 👍🏽🤗
The line of text that gets me on team Alexios is that his 'cant be sacrificed' effect is a static, where Slicers is part of his trigger so in a way Slicer is easier to get rid of in my eyes. Jus takes an Altar type effect on anybody's board. Edit: Been proven otherwise!
The way Slicer’s ability is phrased still doesn’t let the player who gains control of him sacrifice him though. Since it says “if you do” instead of “when you do” there isnt a window for the receiving player to sacrifice him.
36:50 the treasure would be created by crim nit phil, because the equipment gives that ability to the equiped creature. There are others that work like you thought but in this case this is a mistake.
@@Shimatzu95 Yes, Alexios needs the haste, which is why he gives himself haste. He starts the turn under control of the previous player, and changes controller at upkeep.
@@TMidander to make it clear we talk about the same thing. He needs haste cause it was the first turn he was around (which i cant remember if that was the case) and not a conception of yours that he would need it cause he swiches sides.
@@Shimatzu95 In order to attack with a creature, you need to either continuously control it from the start of the turn, or for it to have haste. Thus, summoning sickness is a bit of a misnomer (but its so entrenched in the magic slang that it will never go away). Edit to add: In the comprehensive rules it is 302.6. It is not something I've made up.
So Clown Car has been an absolute all-star in my Mr. House deck. Just absolutely wrecks. Just rolling x die is bonkers but the deck has all sorts of token doublers and artifact anthems and playoffs. Just absolutely cooks.
Crim doing artifacts? You were supposed to be the chosen one! On the other hand, this is the best way to use Circle of Loyalty, the best card from Throne of Eldraine.
Oh no! A single target is threatening the table! If only there was a variety of low-cost cards that deal with single targets! Maybe it could even exile it?
Alexios seems like one of the most unfun cards to play against I’ve seen in a while. Even if you run heavy interaction you can’t guarantee people will use it, they might wanna use Alexios to kill someone, the trample makes it impossible to chump, and it’s not too expensive so a mono deck can probably get out enough treasure and mana to just keep playing it. The equipment is useful but it literally just grows on its own and becomes massive. Slicer was already annoying but this is something else.
Some good games, but a real shame we barely got to see two of the decks do very much at all. I'd definitely like to see those two decks appear again, as they look like they'd be fun.
A commander clash with cards above a certain % played in their colours banned (hipster/no staples week) would be really cool to see. Showing off some cool staple alternatives might be fun
I know it is stated below, but just a reminder - the ATTACKING player assigns damage at the combat damage step. You can assign all damage from a huge creature like Alexios to the chump blocker and have NONE of the damage trample over. Crim, Seth, and Richard had a lot more agency in the game than they realized. And they play every week - most players will miss this fact!
Slicer style commanders can be fun, but I don't find them particularly fun as a viewer because the whole game necessarily becomes about that one commander. All other decks (except for whichever ends up in the 1v1) bately get seen. Of course targeted removal is the right answer for these kinds of decks, but then the slicer player does nothing. I have something like it, but its strictly a last game of the day "known challenge" style deck
Why did Alexios die to the Blasphemous Act in game 1 (18 min in the video)? His P/T was 22/22 (4/4 with 8 +1/+1 counters and the +10/+10 from Excalibur) which was large enough to live through the 13 damage from Blasphemous Act. Phil would have won on the next turn with his commander still being around and able to attack. Edit: Excalibur does not buff toughness.
Alexios doesn't give Phil the treasure when Crim attacks, because it gives the creature that ability, it's not the Diamond Pick-Axe that has the ability
I think Seth missed the part why Altar of Dementia is in his deck? Why sac it for playing the clown? Just mill yourself by 18, then sac the triad, mill another 9 and your commander usually costs 20 less to play then? xD
I just want to say that I really miss the wrap-ups. With the change to paper, there's a lot more time that gets cut out and a lot less time dealing with MODO triggers, time that used to get filled with banter and chatting between the group. Seth's wrap-up questions here were relevant and intriguing and really helped show the highlights of Richard's deck that didn't pop-off as well as the flaws in Phill's deck for those who want to build it. Yes, we get more gameplay now, but I miss the slower, chill pace the games used to have.
I have a Kitt Kanto Goad deck that runs Slicer, and may end up running Alexios. Slicer in the 99 instead of the commander brings it down from busted to just pretty good, and Alexios is probably be the same.
If you want to play a Slicer style deck just play Kharn, the Betrayer. You get to be all group slug then kill your opponent with a Temur Battle Rage. 10/10 fav commander
I'm not convinced bad Slicer is bad. Having played Slicer, being chump blocked is an issue, as is Slicer converting back when it's 1v1. Trample and the upgraded goad is very important.
A big thing that almost everyone (including in this game) forgets, is that trample damage is a ‘may’. Even if the creature has trample, the controller can choose to deal all damage to a 1/1 blocker and none to the player, so if your opponents work together, Alexios isn’t as fast as he looks
I don't think Diamond Pick-Axe works with Alexios, because it gives the creature the trigger to create a treasure instead of the equipment creating it, like with Beamtown Beatstick for example.
I really like that they made Haythem Kenway UW. Despite him being the main antagonist in AC3, he really does embody UW. Also, he is by FAAAAAAAAAR the best antagonist in the franchise.
Key Combos and Card Names: Alexios of the Cosmos (Phil's Deck): Sword of the Animist: Equipped to Alexios to ramp mana. Excalibur: A legendary equipment card that boosted Alexios' power. Magnetic Theft: Allowed Phil to attach equipment instantly. Ezio Auditore (Richard's Deck): Tree of Perdition + Ezio Auditore: Set a player’s life to 13, then using Ezio to execute them. Hatred: A classic combo to boost Ezio's power and potentially take out an opponent in one hit. Vanquisher's Banner: Assisted with drawing cards and boosting assassins. Connor Kenway (Krim's Deck): Adeline, Resplendent Cathar: Generated a large number of human tokens. Knight Exemplar: Made all knights indestructible. Mythril Coat: Provided indestructibility to key creatures. Artifact Self-Mill (Seth's Deck): KCI (Krark-Clan Ironworks): Generated massive mana by sacrificing artifacts. Metalwork Colossus: A free-to-cast large creature based on the mana value of artifacts. Altar of Dementia: Used for self-milling to fuel the emblem creation. Springjack Pasture: Produced 9/9 goats using the emblem. Clown Car: Created a swarm of 9/9 creatures. Key Moments: Phil's Aggressive Alexios: Alexios' ability to be passed around and attack different players each turn created significant pressure. Krim's Token Swarm: Adeline’s tokens overwhelmed the board, dealing substantial damage. Seth's Artifact Combos: Seth's strategy of using KCI and self-milling to generate massive amounts of mana and creatures allowed him to establish board dominance. Overall, the game highlighted the unique strengths and synergies of each deck, with Seth's artifact and emblem strategy ultimately proving to be the most resilient and effective in the endgame.
@@brningpyre I checked the decklist and no landfall effects. Only crucible of worlds, so the only thing i could think of is getting crucible to make sure later in the game you don't miss land drops, but that just seems very inefficient. Just replacing it with card draw seems way more logical
@MTGGoldfishCommander The games keep getting faster. Probably, in part, due to no longer being on magic online and editing but I think the deck power levels keep increasing. I noticed it at first when y'all played MH3.
I wonder how many people were even aware of this set releasing today. It's literally everything people have been complaining about in Magic and absolutely no one is talking about it outside the big commander channels.
I knew it’d be better than slicer when I saw it. Trample and no conversion issues for it. A good trick against alexios though is anyone using a tap ability or spring leaf drum etc. won’t attack with it. But people are greedy. Even the guy with the tap ability will still use it cause he got hit with it before his turn. So tapping opponents creatures with anything that stuns it helps too. Idk. Good commander though.
OK, we are bad at Magic. With Alexios, you can still chump if the table agrees by assigning all the damage to the blocking creature rather than trampling over to face. Also, spot removal is very cope with Alexios because it gets 3 combats a turn cycle as soon as it's recast. You really want a Darksteel Mutation / Imprisoned in the Moon effect.
Since it doesn't come under the next player's control till their upkeep, wouldn't it not be able to attack ever since it isn't there for a player's untap step?
It gains haste when someone gains control of it
Lovingly, respectfully, you got punished for not playing targeted removal. Once Alexios gets removed once or twice casting it becomes extremely punishing to recast. Are board wipes generally better? Yes. Are there times you need cheap targeted removal to dismantle an engine? Yes
@MTGGoldfishCommander "spot removal is very cope"
proceeds to name an excellent example of spot removal
You guys are forgetting how cheap this commander is, to make him not exist each player must be able to remove it at least once, only when it's finally in 2 digits is it even difficult to cast.
Also yes you can always ignore your own trample damage if the table agree but that's just you giving free life to an opponent
A big thing that almost everyone (including in this game) forgets, is that trample damage is a ‘may’. Even if the creature has trample, the controller can choose to deal all damage to a 1/1 blocker and none to the player, so if your opponents work together, Alexios isn’t as fast as he looks
Underrated comment. I think this knowledge would have changed the outcome of the whole game.
I kind of hate that fact- I’ve been around mtg for 20 years so I know how stuff works, but it feels gross that the card will operate completely differently and be more oppressive at less experienced tables than veteran player ones.
(Obviously there are benefits to being more experienced but this feels like the biggest unintuitive gap in player experience in a while)
@@Spirited_skiing Exactly what I was thinking! I can already imagine the moment a less experienced player sits with me with his new Alexios deck and I just tell him his commander is far less effective then he thought
@@robinvandepoele2117 okay but surely you see the mile wide hole in that plan right? at a table of 4, nobody's goal is that Alexios player loses. It's that they win, and while I could do you the kindness of letting you chump block with a 1/1 on your word that you will do the same, hitting you in the face or forcing you to trade multiple creatures benefits me. It feels like the plan of an imaginary table that will never last more than 1 round at most
@@MrDegan2 oh but believe me, when people are getting 10 commander damage each turn, players are very keen to team up against the Alexios player and make a deal to always let players chump block
Obligatory comment about how commanders that are Slicer-like are one of the many reasons to run targeted removal.
Maybe even low cost instant speed targeted removal so you can kill them early and in response to maybe fizzle another spell
Shhhh you will scare Richard when you see Targeted removal 😢
@@fakename3168 maybe even some exhile based removal, this way even if they have indestructible it can still work...
Also think Alexios is just way better than Slicer or any other voltron commanders...attacks for 49 trample commander damage in its first 2 rounds with no other help.
@@danelson128 Yeah, I can't decide if I think it is significantly better than Slicer, since Slicer has other additional benefits, but it terms of raw damage output... Ooof.
Zero targeted removal meta is more fragile than we thought
Crim had it he just didn’t use it lol
Richard losing twice to commander damage and still says that using sword to plowshares it's a disadvantage
Then Seth says “but we live”
alexios is very good, but even better in a meta where nobody plays spot removal lol
It’s worse then slicer if people actually knew how trample works, if people work together they can choose to deal all the trample damage to the creature and not the player they are attacking
If you're spending multiple creatures to reduce the trample damage you're losing against Alexios anyway lol
@@bruvaroni That's not what he's saying, a 0/1 can absorb the entirety of the damage if player controlling alexios wants it to.
@@Seresean right but that requires me, as also your opponent to want to not hit you in the face, and trust that you would do the same for me, it works in a situation where Alexios is arch enemy, and you've put them losing above you winning, but I wouldn't call it a good plan
@Seresean unfortunately thats not how trample works, yes you get the choose how its spread, but you cannot assign more damage than a creature has toughness if you have the option to trample over to the player, so if they block with 3 0/1s and he is an 8/8 he would have no choice but to deal 5 damage to the player, there is no way around that rule
I'm pretty sure Richard can't Dress Down and then attack Phil with Alexios, because Dress Down would get rid of the commander's Haste, and it needs Haste to attack because it just changed control.
Could declare attackers then dress down though I think
@@Andrewlstewart Alexios has a static ability that says it can't attack its controller, so you need to get rid of that ability before you declare your attacks, but you need Haste to declare your attack.
He could flash it in in response to alexios' trigger, making it lose the static ability but still allowing the haste. This isnt what they did obviously but what took place was possible so its fine
He could put the trigger on the stack and then dress down in response, I think that works.
@@aneurintaylor8084 Richard didn't have blue mana so it actually wasn't possible
Reminder for around 37:00 that Diamond Pickaxe gives the treasurr ability to the creature, so the controller makes the token not Phil
Noticed that too.
Yep
Was looking for this. Comment Section Rules Lawyer Gang still has it.
I expected Seth to fumble the name, but hearing Richard let me down today
"Ezio audi-tor da fear-enz"
@@callumreilly9107 "Essio"
@@lloydbeaufils3335 he's already said it this way months ago when Ezio was spoiled in the Mtggoldfish podcast. Hearing him double down on that pronunciation hurt
tying this to the Aggro question in a recent podcast, this is what edh aggro looks like to me. A succesful aggro archetype in commander needs a way to overcome the 120 life you need to wipe out the board, and passing creatures around the table is a great solution IMO. That or if they come out with some kind of myriad aggro commander.
New Ghired is great with myriad
Yeah. I like decks like Isshin that can generate the requisite damage and value, but Jetmir is just nuts.
I have a rakdos chaos deck with the master multiplied from the dr who evil commander deck. Who my friends basically kill on sight cause of his myriad and you don't lose the tokens you make with his ability
There’s a sword that gives equipped creature myriad. And in this case I think the copies still can’t attack the owner of Alexios.
Blade of selves. So equip this commander w it and it would do exactly that.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that all of Seth's odd rolls were 3's and all of his even rolls were 2's
and the amount of 2's he rolled was 3, giving him 3 counters on his car which he could represent using one of the 3's he rolled :D
Every Red aggro deck should play anti-fog spells, like Insult // Injury and Skullcrack.
Insult vs. Teferi's means they still take Commander dmg, even if their life doesnt change.
Stomp
I like the wrap-ups! Giving everyone a chance to talk a little about their deck is nice. Hopefully those return
Everybody playing assassins and heres crim who took the commander who just gives everything protection from assassins i love you crim
Didn't matter, Crim was going to die first anyway. Richard just murdered the only one with a potential way to save them
Only one person was playing assassins though.
At 32:06, why doesn’t Seth just homeward path? He doesn’t use the mana, so it seems like preventing 9 commander damage for free? Alexios is already tapped, so I don’t think it’s even a blocker for Phil.
Even if it was a blocker you can return it after blocks are declared to make it not be able to block
Tip for playing against Alexios - If someone chumps, the controller can still choose to assign all the damage to the chump blocker even with trample.
Another tip: Run spot removal 😅
Richard losing because he had a fog not targeted removal, fitting
but... crim won because he had a fog... makes you think
@@dogmonolith
Tpro is a little better than a fog, to be fair. Fogs usually don't keep your board safe as well.
@@TheAverageGuyTAG true but if dress down is a fog in this context then tpro can be as well
Tempted by the ring is an emblem too!
Is it? I thought it was just a token.
@@MTGGoldfishyeah it's an emblem, only card type that makes the ring works the way it does. However your commander is the only non planeswalker to refer directly to an emblem
@@winter945Technically, emblem isn't a card type because they aren't cards, they are physically cards but by game rules they are "markers"
“Esio Auditor, de Firens”
So it’s not just Seth
Etseeoh ow Dee tore ee Da feerenzheee lol it drives me insane hearing the non AC pronunciations
Just wanted point out that the pick axe gives the ability of making a treasure to the creature, so the person attacking makes the treasure and not the owner of the equipment.
You guys know that trample is a may for the controller of the creature so I would say slicer is way better
Was going to say the same thing! :D
Why would I, also as your opponent want to not hit you in the face with a massive trample creature?
34:10 Some others have mentioned, but I don't believe Richard could have attacked Phil here after the Dress Down. Alexios needs Haste to attack each turn, because creatures gain summoning sickness whenever they change controller, and I believe Dress Down would have removed the Haste it granted itself with its ability.
I think timing-wise he can wait for the gain control trigger to go on to the stack, then Dress Down removing the restriction on attacking Phil? Dress Down comes in, layers loss of all abilities, then the trigger resolves switching control and granting Haste to a creature with no abilities? Yay for layers!? I might be wrong here but I think the stack can be resolved in a way that lets the game state be maintained? He definitely timed it wrong though, cause you're right based on how he did it in-game
@@Strikenior198 because the creature is given at upkeep. Richard would not have drawn the dress down yet since it was tutored to the top.
@@brandandixon3943 Oh I forgot he tutored to the top. Thought he got it to hand and just needed to untap. You're right
Diamond pickaxe gives the creature the ability, so whoever is controlling the creature would create the treasure, even though Phil controls the equipment.
Seems like spot removal would be good against phil’s commander 😂
Or just any chump blocker. For some reason the CC crew just decided to ignore the fact you could assign trample damage to the creature instead of the player
Turns out when Phil plays aggro instead of simic ramp and card draw he’s incredibly scary 😅
How did Alexios die to the Blasplehmous Act at 18:08? He was a 22/22 at that point with no damage marked on him, wasn't he? What am I missing?
I don't understand either
Pretty sure the equipment gives +10 +0 so it would have been a 22/12
@@kstrohmayer88 that’s it! We’re just dumb haha
@@kstrohmayer88 That explains it, thank you! Somehow I was sure the equipment gave +10/+10 ^^"
If only that fog was a Swords to Plowshares huh?
Good games, just saying
36:50 The Diamond Pick-Axe Gives the ability to create treasure to the creature, is not in the equipment itself, so the controller of the creature creates the treasure even if they do not control the equipment
an run Goldvein Pick instead
a swords to plowshares would have dealt with Phil's commander a lot better than a fog...
As would a pacifism, but even then i still belive single use interaction to be bad outside of combo/highpower metas
@@Shimatzu95 The new Dog Umbra is a great version of this.
@@brningpyre sure thats playable, in an enchantment, flash or permanent matters deck. But as a generell card? Not so much since to many things snowball nowdays.
A 0/1 blocker would also deal with Phil's Commander
"If you swords it you're just down a card!" says Richard as he dies to an aggressive commander with absolutely no protection. Thank goodness he didn't go down 1 card, though. That'd basically just be a fog!
I think this shows how myopic commander clash has gotten. They've done the thing where they keep trying to go over the top of each other with value and power because Commander is a "slow" format but if someone is actually legitimately aggressive they just fold like cheap laundry.
Also if Richard had cheap removal in his deck he wouldn't have to worry about running a reliquary tower in 5 colors, can now see how he struggles to make colored mana for a 1GG costing card
@@winter945 It's kind of funny because Richard has such a good winrate so he knows what he's doing in this select group and has been gaming the system for awhile. In general he's right to build his deck this way, it's just everyone's always playing his game instead of punishing him. But when punishment happens he gets hit the hardest.
@@TwoToneShoes Richard has been playing in a vacuum and therefore is creating a scenario where his “insight” and “knowledge” becomes much more narrow. Personally I just tune him out when he says silly little things like that; same with Crim when he decides to play kingmaker.
I bet Richard suddenly decides Swords and Path are worth it again.
This game was recorded before the recent hot takes episode and he still doubled down on "spot removal is bad" so nope
36:50 Crim gets the treasure, not Phil. Diamond Pick-Axe uses the wording of "equipped creature has". So the one to create the treasure token from the triggered ability is the controller of the creature, Crim, and not the controller of the equipment, Phil.
I can't wait to play both Slicer-esque cards in the same Slicer-esque desk. MAXIMUM SLICERING!
"Every game you let Crim get away with it...and he just passes with 4 mana up. You should've just got the T Pro out of his hand."
This, from *Richard* of all people, is hilarious.
Oh god the confetti and trumpet sound had me on the floor
Pretty sure game 2 Richard couldn't attack Phil when dress down was played as it would take away the haste
@@winter945 It wouldn't have the ability that triggers.
@@brningpyre I actually missread the comment above, they are correct that it wouldn't have haste and does have summoning sickness, so Richard couldn't attack
@@winter945 eh same effect happens if they change the timing. You just dress down with the control change effect on the stack because that is all 1 single effect and it would lose the static ability of can't attack phil.
@@atk9989 it would then after resolving lose haste because of the static ability of dress down, so still couldn't attack
@@atk9989 that doesn't work since the dress down isn't drawn until after he gains control of the creature. its on top of library.
Important thing about alexios is that you can over assign trample damage when you control him, so he’s practically useless if you co-operate as a team
I like the idea of emblems from non-planeswalkers, but i hope they keep it to interactable things, like the final step of a saga or the reward for a battle or something.
An enchantment with indestructible would be better in my opinion.
I WHOOPED at the Unfinity card. Love Clown Car.
Clown Car is legit. I run it as a protection piece with Lost in the Maze, you can crew to give your stuff hexproof at instant speed. Great in Zaxara since they're both X spells as well.
"Capleen trio"
"Capitoline Triad"
As in, the Capitoline Hill, thats not even an Assassins Creed makey uppy word, thats a real very famous historical place in Rome.
You really expect Seth to know about the Capitoline Hill?
This is why I run as many "damage can't be prevented" effects in red volition decks. Opponents still due through t-pro
They laughed at the goats until the goats laughed back. 😂
I love Seth just staring down his webcam in disgust with Alexios at 31:07
I'm glad Richard leaned into the one-shot. I'm brewing an Ezio Assassin/"Sudden Death" tribal as I call it.
This episode is a banger! I'm stoked for Seth and Phil's decks.
Very fun games! I think Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos is really good but I still think Slicer is stronger because double strike is huge. Slicer also has haste and you can play for 1 mana less initially.
Sad Richard's deck didn't get to do anything but loving to see the guys just attacking him and not letting him silver tongue his way to victory.
I'm wondering though, how does Seth's The Capitoline Traid deck if he doesn't draw Krak-Clan Ironworks?
It seems very difficult to get 30 mana value worth of cards artifacts into the graveyard without it.
Honestly richard isnt the kind of person I'd play commander with regularly if at all with how he is in these videos ive been watching
i really liked the wrap-up!
Amazing episode ! 😀👍🏽Alexios and Capitoline Triad are very intresting Commanders to build a deck arround 🤔 Haytham with his protection from Assaasins could be a nice counter against some of these new AC cards and as a fan of FiveColour Commanders and 'AssassinsCreed' Ezio is my favourite Card from the Set 💚 Thank you for showing this awesome new cards in action 👍🏽🤗
Very good product placement Phil, A+
The line of text that gets me on team Alexios is that his 'cant be sacrificed' effect is a static, where Slicers is part of his trigger so in a way Slicer is easier to get rid of in my eyes. Jus takes an Altar type effect on anybody's board.
Edit: Been proven otherwise!
The way Slicer’s ability is phrased still doesn’t let the player who gains control of him sacrifice him though. Since it says “if you do” instead of “when you do” there isnt a window for the receiving player to sacrifice him.
@@OceanicBacon I see, thank you for the clarity!
36:50 the treasure would be created by crim nit phil, because the equipment gives that ability to the equiped creature. There are others that work like you thought but in this case this is a mistake.
I don't think the Dress Down play works since I'm pretty sure he loses the haste he needs to attack.
Did he need haste that turn? I guess all of them missed that part as well.
@@Shimatzu95 Yes, Alexios needs the haste, which is why he gives himself haste. He starts the turn under control of the previous player, and changes controller at upkeep.
@@TMidander to make it clear we talk about the same thing. He needs haste cause it was the first turn he was around (which i cant remember if that was the case) and not a conception of yours that he would need it cause he swiches sides.
@@Shimatzu95 In order to attack with a creature, you need to either continuously control it from the start of the turn, or for it to have haste. Thus, summoning sickness is a bit of a misnomer (but its so entrenched in the magic slang that it will never go away).
Edit to add: In the comprehensive rules it is 302.6. It is not something I've made up.
So Clown Car has been an absolute all-star in my Mr. House deck. Just absolutely wrecks. Just rolling x die is bonkers but the deck has all sorts of token doublers and artifact anthems and playoffs. Just absolutely cooks.
Loved slicer deck and the artifact self mill.
Crim doing artifacts? You were supposed to be the chosen one!
On the other hand, this is the best way to use Circle of Loyalty, the best card from Throne of Eldraine.
I found it really funny Richard doing the clown melody
Oh no! A single target is threatening the table! If only there was a variety of low-cost cards that deal with single targets! Maybe it could even exile it?
Alexios seems like one of the most unfun cards to play against I’ve seen in a while. Even if you run heavy interaction you can’t guarantee people will use it, they might wanna use Alexios to kill someone, the trample makes it impossible to chump, and it’s not too expensive so a mono deck can probably get out enough treasure and mana to just keep playing it. The equipment is useful but it literally just grows on its own and becomes massive. Slicer was already annoying but this is something else.
You can choose to assign trample damage to the creature instead of the player.
Some good games, but a real shame we barely got to see two of the decks do very much at all. I'd definitely like to see those two decks appear again, as they look like they'd be fun.
A commander clash with cards above a certain % played in their colours banned (hipster/no staples week) would be really cool to see. Showing off some cool staple alternatives might be fun
I know it is stated below, but just a reminder - the ATTACKING player assigns damage at the combat damage step. You can assign all damage from a huge creature like Alexios to the chump blocker and have NONE of the damage trample over. Crim, Seth, and Richard had a lot more agency in the game than they realized. And they play every week - most players will miss this fact!
Which means WOTC, Alexios is not a good commander design!
Alexios Deck should run Homeward Path in the deck for the commander.
Slicer style commanders can be fun, but I don't find them particularly fun as a viewer because the whole game necessarily becomes about that one commander. All other decks (except for whichever ends up in the 1v1) bately get seen.
Of course targeted removal is the right answer for these kinds of decks, but then the slicer player does nothing.
I have something like it, but its strictly a last game of the day "known challenge" style deck
Why did Alexios die to the Blasphemous Act in game 1 (18 min in the video)? His P/T was 22/22 (4/4 with 8 +1/+1 counters and the +10/+10 from Excalibur) which was large enough to live through the 13 damage from Blasphemous Act. Phil would have won on the next turn with his commander still being around and able to attack.
Edit: Excalibur does not buff toughness.
its a 4/4 and had 8 counters. so it's a 12/12, and then gets +10 / +0 making it a 22/12 not a 22/22. excalibur only buffs attack
@@thatepicwizardguy ah, weird stat buff on that sword then. Didn’t see it was +10/+0.
It might be greedy but I am running a few more historics in Sidisi, Brood Tyrant to turn her zombies into 9/9 zombies with Capitoline Triad.
Alexios doesn't give Phil the treasure when Crim attacks, because it gives the creature that ability, it's not the Diamond Pick-Axe that has the ability
I think Seth missed the part why Altar of Dementia is in his deck? Why sac it for playing the clown? Just mill yourself by 18, then sac the triad, mill another 9 and your commander usually costs 20 less to play then? xD
"We've been betrayed.", huh? Richard, there was no "we" there. It was just you.
I just want to say that I really miss the wrap-ups. With the change to paper, there's a lot more time that gets cut out and a lot less time dealing with MODO triggers, time that used to get filled with banter and chatting between the group. Seth's wrap-up questions here were relevant and intriguing and really helped show the highlights of Richard's deck that didn't pop-off as well as the flaws in Phill's deck for those who want to build it. Yes, we get more gameplay now, but I miss the slower, chill pace the games used to have.
Seth is the GOAT in commander clash.
I love these commander games.
Canon events here. Mono red voltron always finishes second, it's a law.
Hope to see one more assassin creed episode! they had a lot of cool commanders to check out I’m hyped on the new golgari deathtouch matters legend
I was looking for to see Ezio gameplay but didn’t see a lot😂
As soon as saw that guy get spoiled was like it's slicer 2.0
I have a Kitt Kanto Goad deck that runs Slicer, and may end up running Alexios. Slicer in the 99 instead of the commander brings it down from busted to just pretty good, and Alexios is probably be the same.
Crim: People should play more aggro!
Also Crim: attack me once for negligent damage for value and I will spite play you for the rest of the game
If you want to play a Slicer style deck just play Kharn, the Betrayer. You get to be all group slug then kill your opponent with a Temur Battle Rage. 10/10 fav commander
I think an interesting way to counter one of these Slicer-esque commander is Goad. You kinda declare it just not being your problem.
When I played my Alexios they removed him twice
Now my deck is stacked with Hexproof and indestructible.
This game is why I value Utter Insignificance and Mystic Subdual so highly.
I'm not convinced bad Slicer is bad. Having played Slicer, being chump blocked is an issue, as is Slicer converting back when it's 1v1. Trample and the upgraded goad is very important.
Ha, oddly also not having to flip the card back and forth is also a massive quality of life win :D
A big thing that almost everyone (including in this game) forgets, is that trample damage is a ‘may’. Even if the creature has trample, the controller can choose to deal all damage to a 1/1 blocker and none to the player, so if your opponents work together, Alexios isn’t as fast as he looks
Crazy how these slicer commanders completely warp games of commander. Kind of becomes a different game
I don't think Diamond Pick-Axe works with Alexios, because it gives the creature the trigger to create a treasure instead of the equipment creating it, like with Beamtown Beatstick for example.
I really like that they made Haythem Kenway UW. Despite him being the main antagonist in AC3, he really does embody UW. Also, he is by FAAAAAAAAAR the best antagonist in the franchise.
Key Combos and Card Names:
Alexios of the Cosmos (Phil's Deck):
Sword of the Animist: Equipped to Alexios to ramp mana.
Excalibur: A legendary equipment card that boosted Alexios' power.
Magnetic Theft: Allowed Phil to attach equipment instantly.
Ezio Auditore (Richard's Deck):
Tree of Perdition + Ezio Auditore: Set a player’s life to 13, then using Ezio to execute them.
Hatred: A classic combo to boost Ezio's power and potentially take out an opponent in one hit.
Vanquisher's Banner: Assisted with drawing cards and boosting assassins.
Connor Kenway (Krim's Deck):
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar: Generated a large number of human tokens.
Knight Exemplar: Made all knights indestructible.
Mythril Coat: Provided indestructibility to key creatures.
Artifact Self-Mill (Seth's Deck):
KCI (Krark-Clan Ironworks): Generated massive mana by sacrificing artifacts.
Metalwork Colossus: A free-to-cast large creature based on the mana value of artifacts.
Altar of Dementia: Used for self-milling to fuel the emblem creation.
Springjack Pasture: Produced 9/9 goats using the emblem.
Clown Car: Created a swarm of 9/9 creatures.
Key Moments:
Phil's Aggressive Alexios: Alexios' ability to be passed around and attack different players each turn created significant pressure.
Krim's Token Swarm: Adeline’s tokens overwhelmed the board, dealing substantial damage.
Seth's Artifact Combos: Seth's strategy of using KCI and self-milling to generate massive amounts of mana and creatures allowed him to establish board dominance.
Overall, the game highlighted the unique strengths and synergies of each deck, with Seth's artifact and emblem strategy ultimately proving to be the most resilient and effective in the endgame.
I really can't wait to play the Triad now that I've seen it go off XD
I have a question: why does phil run fetches in a mono colored deck?
Probably running Landfall effects, like the extra combat dude.
@@brningpyre I checked the decklist and no landfall effects. Only crucible of worlds, so the only thing i could think of is getting crucible to make sure later in the game you don't miss land drops, but that just seems very inefficient. Just replacing it with card draw seems way more logical
How will phil die first this week 😭
@MTGGoldfishCommander The games keep getting faster. Probably, in part, due to no longer being on magic online and editing but I think the deck power levels keep increasing. I noticed it at first when y'all played MH3.
I wonder how many people were even aware of this set releasing today. It's literally everything people have been complaining about in Magic and absolutely no one is talking about it outside the big commander channels.
Clown car full of goats vs Alexios slap fighting despite having double digit power....
This is Magic now I guess.
Why Alexios doesnt start as a 3/3 since he gets the +1 counter immediately is beyond me
The "all creatures are 9/9s" thing being an emblem rather than a static on the creature feels pretty unfair being so uninteractible
If only a card existed that could, say, remove a creature...
Did anyone else notice that when Seth rolled the dice for clown car he only got 2s and 3s?
I knew it’d be better than slicer when I saw it. Trample and no conversion issues for it. A good trick against alexios though is anyone using a tap ability or spring leaf drum etc. won’t attack with it. But people are greedy. Even the guy with the tap ability will still use it cause he got hit with it before his turn. So tapping opponents creatures with anything that stuns it helps too. Idk. Good commander though.
Am I wrong, or does All that glitters also remive haste from Phil's commander?
Is commander damage not for commander + player pairs, not just by each individual commander?