EDH Insecurities | Magic: the Gathering | Commander
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Let's discuss some hang-ups that can prevent you from improving at Commander.
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The fact that you missed out on calling it "EDH-Required" makes me sad. 😂
Great video as always!
EDH-Must too
@@vvan3711that doesn't fit the short form though
Honestly, the single most valuable video about MTG I've ever watched. So much truth here, thank you for the opportunity to grow as a player and a person. Keep on being the wonderful person you are, thank you.
Joey, thank you for being awesome and choosing to be so transparent/vulnerable. I know I'm just a rando on the internet, but I (and I bet a lot of other people) appreciate you.
Agreed. Absolutely outstanding human in person and online. This video is another example of how this community can thrive in a positive space.
100%.
I left a game store just because they were basically forcing me to move towards pseudo-cEDH, while I just wanted to play the commander I liked and have some nice games. As a mono white, I started thinking I basically had to go stax, and felt like I was moving towards a list I did not like at all.
I was fortunate enough to find a playgroup that shares the same in-game philosophy! Had a blast!
Been there man. It took me a couple tries, but I'm blessed for choice. I've had a lot of fun the past few weeks, and it's been a great time after fits of groan-inducing "I don't have THAT deck" kinds of games.
It happens. There are a lot of try hards out there. I love me some jank, but always have a Najeela deck handy just in case.
This is how the majority of the Community is where I’m located. One store here is relatively balanced but due to a loss in employment had to lower power my decks and sell my power pieces for bills/income while I’ve been on the job hunt. It’s so bad here that Friday night at one store is just cEDH players pubstomping the table to go into a winners pod and play each other
How I learned to stop worrying about my decks and love putting cards in a deck only because I think they’re cool
I can somewhat relate.
I have all my good stuff cards split between each deck now.
So instead of having 2 or 3 high level decks, I have 9 mid level decks.
It's great
tbh if I decide to cut a card after long consideration and everyone else on edhrec is running it, I'll trust my own judgement over this anytime. There are hundreds of reasons why many people choose to run a certain card and many of those are probably irrelevant to me. But I do exactly know the reasons as for why I want to cut a card from my specific list, so these win out anytime.
same tbh
Bro discovered thinking for himself 💀
There's cards in high percentages in some decks on edhrec that don't even work with the commander like people think. Definitely trust yourself over those dweebs if you've run the deck enough times to see issues that need changing
You are an absolute joy. Fantastic human. Do not ever change. Super relavant topic to keep this community geowing in a connected, positive direction.
I love my EDH therapy sessions with Joey. I'm bringin my best self to the LGS tonight
Tbh when I first saw the video pop up in my notification I thought "ohhh I video about how to become better att EDH" I was not ready to get I life leason about Insecurities and how to handel them!
Thank you sooo much for this video, I really needed this video. I'm going though some sheit right now and this video helped both in real life and in my Magic playing!
Hope you have a great day!!
Having fun loosing is the biggest art of magic
The "don't care so much about what others think" attitude is the "just run more removal" statement of mental health.
Joey, thanks for taking the time put so much thought into addressing how these kinds of things creep into our lives, even in our recreation and recovery activities. You're absolutely not alone in these experiences, and now that you've made this video, neither are we.
lol What a great analogy
this video was so cathartic. it really did feel like joey's therapy session to just let it all out, but i am here just thinking 'mhm mhm mhm yep mhm exactly YES' the whole video
This is why I love Warhammer as a community. It’s not about one upping but about good play and helping your opponents get better.
I love communities like that. For instance, I love seeing the moments in Fighting Games where, instead of the LowTierGod-esque salt, the player who just slapped you sideways asks if you want to run some more matches and tells you cool tech you never knew.
Warhammer is great gameplay wise but the players have a habit of being people I hate to be around haha
@@RNG-esus it’s great to hear other people’s perspectives. I’m the opposite. I find mtg community to be difficult to navigate vs Warhammer. I find different experiences to be fascinating!
@@Schwa2182 true, I just was extremely put off by Warhammers recent drama surrounding the women custodians, it seems to have brought out the sexist bigots in the community. But that being said there was a similar (but much smaller) response to the LGBT secret lair last year in MTG.
@@RNG-esusI can’t imagine facing discrimination over a fantasy table top game. That whole ordeal was awful. I’m not specifically referencing the community and their viewpoints but more the play experience. There is no expectation for casual players to know all 26 factions and their rules. There is a community expectation to explain your rules to an opponent and less on “gotcha” mechanics. I find (as a new player) Warhammer to be far more welcoming to beginners vs playing commander with differing expectations at the lgs.
Me agreeing with this whole video then also immediately thinking, "well yeah, you should probably put that card in there," proves to me that I am a scummy little magic player
Just here to comment that this was a fantastic topic and a great episode. Thank you.
My biggest insecurity is that I know, straight up, that I don't make particularly good decks. I want my decks to do well, of course, but any time that I try to pull a deck concept I love into a more powerful direction, the deck loses its identity in the process. A deck that has a 5% win rate is still better than a deck with a 30% win rate if the lower win rate deck is one that you have way more fun playing and your opponents have way more fun playing against. It bothers me when people call a deck "suboptimal" or "too casual" because sometimes the brewing choices that led to that deck were focused on something other than powerful plays.
Gotta say I did NOT see the Grim Hireling bit as a final punchline. Almost made me spit out my drink.
And I can one hundred percent agree. Even when perfect play IS the goal, the game's nature of having imperfect information still makes that virtually impossible especially in situations where things aren't being choreographed to have information to use.
Something, something “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.”
Clearly the public needs EDHREQ - The cards you are REQuired to play in EDH whether you want to or not. The EDH police will hunt you down if you don't play these cards. No need for individual thought there. 😂
You’re a national treasure Joey. Thanks for being yourself
The timing of this video is perfect. I’m building a quirky deck with very restrictive parameters and I keep second guessing myself into going more mainstream. In the end, the deck will probably be at power level 5-6, but that’s okay. I have plenty of higher level decks. Hopefully it’ll be fun to play.😊
@14:30, Joey spitting HARD FACTS
Being hated by some people makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside
Be excellent to eachother
HE SAID MYOPIC 👏 AND 👏 SOLIPSISTIC👏. Y'all don't want smoke from an English major, I'm telling y'all
To be frank, the use of sophisticated words and eloquent dialogue only matters if the audience understands it. Otherwise, it will fall on deaf ears. Like the expression “ you’re too dumb to insult “ 🤣
I’ll have a new point of view when encountering that “sting”in the future.
Also as a trans woman what you said really resonated with me. Thank you Joey. You’ve made my day just a little brighter. ❤
Love you Joey! one of the best voices on the internet let alone the mtg community!
Amazing video Joey like always. I'm super glad you addressed players who seem to always want to villainize people for just wanting to enjoy their commander game and create a good mood. The amount of comments I've seen in episodes of the EDHrecast where people boil your guys' arguments down to whining about the vibe of a game is ridiculous.
Joey you are one of my fav people online. I have some different views on cards and strategy, but that is part of what makes you great. I think I like edhrec so much because you guys are just awesome dudes.
Man, I _live_ to surprise and confuse people with my card choices, haha. My favorite part of the game is seeing cards I've never seen or seeing cards used in ways I never thought of! And while sometimes I'm disappointed that my plans didn't work out, I'm always excited to get to see where I went wrong and make improvements.
It's possible that a lot of this attitude is just due to the fact that I'm... just not that great at these games.(Though, I'm getting better, I think!) A few decades of undiagnosed ADHD meant that for most of the time I've spent playing cards, even just keeping track of the board state or remembering what's in my hand to respond with was a struggle. Failure is an old friend. So I have had to adjust my expectations somewhat. Winning -- even just making good plays -- is a secondary concern to having fun and making sure everybody else at the table is also having fun.
But lots of good insights here. It never really occurred to me that some people could feel insecure about some of these things. But like I said -- I'm always excited to see where I'm wrong. It's a chance to learn and grow. As humans, it sharpens our minds and enriches our lives to be able to understand the perspectives of people who think differently from us. 💙
You rock dude! I also think your 'Withering Gaze' joke back a while was one of the absolute out of nowhere, spit your coffee out laugh I've had while watching MTG content. Keep doing what you're doing. These vids and your podcasts are genuine highlights of my week. Thank you!
As far as the pressure to play the most common cards goes, I'm one of those people who really enjoys finding some comparatively obscure piece of tech and using it to maximum effect, so I don't really get that kind of pressure. I do sometimes get the pressure of being the one who knows a lot, and people relying on my expertise. But, I'm human, and imperfect, so I know I'll make mistakes. (In fact, would you like that list of mistakes alphabetically, categorically, or chronologically? 😆)
As for other people's fun... I find that complicated. On the one hand, it is certainly poor form to deliberately ruin someone's fun. On the other hand, I do not have control over what someone else thinks and feels, and I certainly can't _make_ them have fun. All I can do is try and foster an environment where fun can be had. The rest is on them, you know?
I think my biggest insecurity is building a new deck only to find in the first couple games that i no longer like it.
And I'm working on that just being more okay with proxying, playtesting more before assembling in paper, and generally being okay with the fact that some ideas take time and new cards being printed to make a thing work better
You are an absolute treasure to the community and bring so much joy to mtg as a whole. And so even if it is just from a random person on the internet. Thank you for all you do! and I love your take on close minded comments and people keep up that attitude.
This is a really thoughtful video, and I'm happy to see you talk about this. For me, personally, I've really lost my trust in myself as a deckbuilder, and I feel very paralyzed when it comes to improving my decks, or deciding what to build next, and I worry every choice I make might be a wrong one. It's something I'm trying to deal with, and it can feel like everyone is just smarter than you
I feel like a helpful habit I’ve eventually come around to utilizing is when switching cards out to keep track of the swaps and see which card I would rather more often, even just in goldfishing the deck. Definitely not perfect, but I think it helps in making sure you make the right decision for you.
"...myopic and solipsistic..."
Thank you.
(Reaches for dictionary) 🥴
This video was helpful for me in very non-magic ways. It helped give insight into the way insecurities work in general. What an unlikely place to receive a mental health level up.
you rock man keep up the great work
Commander psychoanalysis Joey might just be my favorite Joey
Second favorite is "I don't get that reference" Joey. But it's not even close.
Watched this after stumbling on r/freemagic bashing trans people and being shaken up.
Thank you.
P.S. I also removed Grim Hireling from my Burakos deck, it functions very well enough without :)
Of all the videos I've watched on this channel, this is my favorite. While the majority of our community is fairly decent, we always have those people who are intentionally or unintentionally rude about things, and tend to try to force their opinions on others, regardless of intent. One of my favorite quotes of all time (paraphrasing) goes something like this: 'There are 7,000,000,000 people in the world. If one of them is unkind to you, they're doing you a favor. They're telling you that they're not worth your time, and giving you the freedom to move on to the other 6,999,999,999, where you're likely to find others that aren't."
we've all had interactions that have been less than exciting, and have left us questioning - I've even had interactions with well-known creators that left me questioning whether or not I even wanted to be part of the community anymore. But for every one person that's been a jerk to me in my 30+ years in this game, there are a hundred that have been amazing. So play what you'd like, how you'd like, and the right people will want to be there to enjoy playing with you.
Thanks for all you do, Joey. Stay amazing!
Thank you for being vulnerable and encouraging me to be more introspective Joey. I haven't played much since moving across the country, but this was the step i needed to put myself out there and make some friends!
Thanks for bringing up those who say they aren’t responsible for their opponents having a good time because it was a very toxic pod I was apart of for a long time
I used to only play commander to win and the social aspect was a bonus.
When I flipped the script and played for the social aspect and winning is just a bonus, my enjoyment in general went way up.
Risky plays, whether the result was good or bad, brought another dimension of entertainment that playing safe all the time can't provide.
The only time I haven't enjoyed commander is when we have a blue and white control deck in the pod.
But that is the players enjoyment, so we meet halfway.
Love you Joey ❤ You bring so much positivity into the world 😊
Thanks for this video Joey. Both in a gaming sense, and life in general sense, this was just what I needed today.
Self reflection is the only way to grow. It ALWAYS sucks in the moment, but if you allow yourself to be just a little vulnerable and learn from the experience, you WILL be a better player and a better person in the end.
Peanut brain: "I play commander to win!"
Normal brain: "I play commander to have fun!"
Galaxy brain: "I play commander to make the other three players in the pod have fun!"
15:40 I forget where I picked up this particular bit of wisdom, but doing the right thing often makes some people angry, so don't assume you messed up until you take some time to examine it.
So much of this was relatable. It's really appreciated that you touch on these topics. Hope to play some magic with you at Command fest Tacoma!
I’ve only been playing in person at game stores for the past couple months, and particularly as an AFAB queer individual a lot of these thoughts have been running through my brain as I try to find my place in a male-dominated space. Thank you, Joey, for speaking out and making this reassuring video!
Taking responsibility for everyone else's fun has the side effect of pinning the blame on others when you don't have fun. This is an extremely unfair position to hold people to, especially for adults. It is much better to focus on our building and playing what we personally enjoy, not just because we have much more control over it, but because we don't decide what other people like or dislike. If people are playing by the rules and behaving appropriately there shouldn't be any issues. Characterizing this as a lack of empathy feels off-base to me.
As for the comments about card choices, you may not be communicating. If someone asks why I run a particular card or make a specific play, I will just explain to them why. If someone else is giving suggestions, even if I might not agree with them, I will at least listen and consider what they are saying. There is no need to be insecure about getting criticism for deck-building choices or potential misplays when the stakes are low. Even the best players in the world still take time to reflect on how they could have played games better, so there is really no point at which we are above taking feedback that could help us improve.
I loved this topic, came up just as I was getting ready to binge more of this channel 😂
aw Joey you're a fkn treasure I love you - thankyou for being you and sharing with us all 💛
this video was so insightful and actually really comforting knowing that other people feel the same way I do. Great one Joey!
12:00 to be fair, the more competitive players can’t really afford to care about others having fun. Most commander players are like me or you, we WANT everyone to have as much fun as possible and while we don’t mind losing, we still want to win… or at least do the ‘cool thing’ our deck is meant to do. But as you get more competitive, you naturally have to stop caring as much about others’ and whether or not they are having fun and focus more on what will win you the game. So I don’t think there is anything inherently flawed with either thought process…. As long as each type of player sticks to their own preferred play group and don’t try to force their mindset on a group that wants nothing to do with it 😅
Came here for some good edh tips and got life lessons and good edh tips
It’s amazing that you’re in tune with your feelings about commander so that we can have these kinds of discussions which are super super niche and interesting
Amazing video for being transparent, and also being vulnerable to many people, I respect what you do to the edh community.
Thank you Joey. You're so flippin' fabulous. Meeting you was the highlight of my year. Hope we can catch a game next time. 😎
"They don't like me? What a relief"
Get. Fuggin'. REKT!!
Well done, sir, on all counts. You would make an excellent bartender… Maybe a new business venture is in the offing? ;-)
This is probably my favorite edhrecast episode so far!
When Joey said "if they're judging off an end result, you know that's bunk" I, a person called Bunk, felt personally attacked in that moment. Still enjoyed the video!
This was a great video. Many could keep these things in mind while playing any game. The Internet and our game needs more positivity. Magic is awesome and for me it has kept my friends coming to my place once a week for years. The gathering is important and it is important for players to treat people like people and not just opponents.
I love this channel and this segment because it's not only about Magic but at the same time will affect your deck building, skills and the way you approach the game. Thank you, Joey.
Solipsistic is a word I have never encountered before. thank you for helping me grow my vocabulary as well as deckbuilding and play styles!
I really needed this video. Thank you for risking so much for it. This elevated my already high regard for you.
And just for the record, I make perfect decks... for MY play style
One of the great Commander podcast episodes. Thanks, Joey. ❤
IM NOT ALONE ABOUT THIS HAHA!!!!!
life enhancing video ❤
Absolutely stellar video
For someone who's been having a bad week, this helped
Lots of love Joey! Awesome video. I feel all these emotions.
Really good video, loved listening to this one especially
A lot of great things discussed here!
The biggest sting is worrying about the power level of a deck as you don't want to stomp but you don't want to have the weakest that does nothing as no one literally no one can fucking agree on how to rank decks on the 1-10 power scale, hell people can't even agree on competitive decks like if they are competitive or not as there are just too many fucking factors to take into account that gold fishing you deck means fucking nothing outside of tuning your mana base.
Hell try gold fishing a Stax deck and tell me how fast you consistently win in a vacuum when in reality you probably handed the win to someone else as your stax did not work on them because stax cards are not made equal they are all situational even the lockdowns can be beaten easily other than counter spell. Like with Stax you literally need to know the fucking game and not play it against specific decks or archetypes as they win 100% of the time against stax, and even then if you play the wrong stax card at the wrong time or in the wrong sequence you fucking lose making Stax the hardest thing to rank competitively, yes harder than Control. Stax and Control do not seek to win by turn 4 so by definition they should not be power level 10 decks HOWEVER they can hold their own against 10's and win a lot, so should they not be 10's? Like there is a lot of shit that defies how decks or even individual cards are ranked on a scale of 1-10 because it is so fucking arbitrary and there is so much to fucking take into account in order to rank accurately, such as there needs to be a standardized scale of 1-10 that everyone agrees on for it to work
It's so fucking much anxiety to fucking worry about if a deck is too strong or too weak while tryign to make sure the others have their arbitrary fucking fun while the game is just boring for you as if you wanted to play Minecraft you would hook up the Xbox 360, the anxiety and stress trying to make sure the others are enjoying themselves is so much that it can drive people away from the game or make them go "Fuck you all i am the arch enemy time to actually have fun and not babysit" especially if it was a deck they genuinely enjoyed playing if they actually got to play it the way they wanted
Unless the game is balanced around competitive or even revolves around it and all you literally can not have a accurate 1-10 scale for a decks power, and even then WHY THE FUCK IS COMPETATIVE PAIRED WITH CASUAL ON THE SAME SCAL? as it literally makes no sense as competitive should be on a scale of it's own even if it is the same format as 9's currently have a VAST power gap between a 8 because they are the 10's of old what used to be meta but fallen out as newer and better cards got printed however some people keep[ saying a 8 is a 10 because they never seen a 10 in their entire life.
The difference between a 9 and 10 is consistency that's it both can win by turn 4, while a 8 that's not a insane commander like Nekusar does not even stand a chance and yes Nekusar alone is a 10 but with shit deck building he is a 8 or a 6 if you literally have no wheels he can abuse. The reason why Nekusar is a 10 is because disruption ruin's the consistency of the opponent's decks making the game go longer sure HOWEVER Nekusar is a very fats commander if you get him out turn 1 as they literally have about 4 turns to do something or they all die to wheel burn damage. Competitive EDH is mostly based on the commanders used not the 99 as that's the card(s) you always have access to otherwise it is less consistent and would result in a 9 or if you are lucky a low 10. Any wheel deck can easily be a 10 if you abuse a commander like Nekusar or Xyris who benefits off of you using a Whelldotdeck even if it is not a great wheel deck just a few bad ones will work fine literally if ya don't wanna proxy
A deck that's a 10 their commander's can not really be built in a fair way often times as they just run away with the game such as K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth or even Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire as one is a tutor in the command zone and the other is like Sliver Queen on crack but for Mono black as all your pips are now gone and you pay life for it yet black is the color where you gain life
I say K'rrik is Sliver Queen on crack as there is just a lot of cards that break with him even if he is just in the 99 while Sliver Queen just breaks with Slivers yet Sliver Overlord is the best commander for Slivers as again Tutor in the command zone. Colors are also a important part in competitive as the more colors a deck has the better it is and the harder it is to build a fair version for casuals especially if you have the two best colors in the game Black and Blue, funny thing is Green is actually the weakest color but in casual White is the weakest color. Competitive players don't really care about ramp they have their fast mana artifacts which is also why MLD is shit to play in competitive they don't care much about lands very few competitive decks do
Thank you for talking about all this.
I don’t view this as insecurity but just surprise or a time to reflect. I’m building Akul right now and a lot of people are using really slow and frankly expensive token generation that doesn’t meaningfully improve the “burstiness” of the deck. I ended up including Bitterblossom from looking at this, but there a ton of others that make no sense.
I for one struggle greatly in putting feelings into words. Joey is extremely talented in his craft on this channel. Sick burns at the end too my guy lol. Love the EDHRECast
Interesting, I'm a huge neurotic with diagnosed severe anxiety disorder, but I never have this with MTG
Well said and I think well thought out
It's such a relief to know I'm not the only one.
Also 😃 AYYY I DID NOT KNOW YOU WERE GAY! I AM GAY TOO AND ALSO TRANS X3c HELL YEAH
I cut sol ring and all ramp from my the first sliver deck. Proud to be leading this movement. In all seriousness, i feel the sting when not having tutors or playing perfectly. It helps caring more about fun instead of perfection.
That edit at 6:30 was great
These videos are quickly becoming some of my favorite mtg videos on the Internet. Not only do you have a grounded perspective on the game itself, but you offer great life advice for those that may need it. ❤
Probably late on commenting and this will probably get lost in the void but after watching this, it made me think about a lot of experiences I have had playing Commander in recent months.
My friend and I have quite differing philosophies when it comes to deck building, so I usually am unsurprised when he has many different ideas for building some of my decks.
-I know that Nine Lives more often than not will run the risk of me losing the game, but it's a cats and dogs build. It's on theme. Plus if I can, I can fling Harmless Offering to make someone else lose instead.
-EDHREC does not have Liege of the Tangle as a recommendation for Omnath, Locus of All but I put it in my deck anyway for some crazy high risk/reward play. Yes, it did backfire on me once as I put awakening counters on all my lands one game and ended up losing everything on a board wipe. But I wasn't going to be salty about land destruction because I'm the one who risked throwing my lands into the fire. However, I had the opposite happen in a different game and having all my 8/8 land elementals swing out for a win was rather satisfying and so worth putting that card in the deck.
-And then the biggest thing that it made me think about was a round I played with my Toxrill Infect deck. I was playing at my LGS near where I lived at the time. I lost the first round with Toxrill, but the guy that won had to leave early so he offered me to sit in for him at the winners' table because "That deck is cancer." Ended up controlling the game pretty well at first, had three mana rocks that I was proliferating for mana, but only three lands. So not the greatest situation, but I was taking control as best I could. Had my opponents up to four poison counters before my game took a nose dive. Rakdos player in pod plays Dockside, gets a bunch of treasures and gets ready to set up their winning combo on their next turn. Another player goes to exile all enchantments on the board. I responded with a counter spell to stop it because I would have been left with three lands and no way to get any of my maana rocks back. And the amount of vitriol I got for that play was unbelievable. "YOU IDIOT, YOU JUST WON HIM THE GAME!" Then he proceeded to scoop as he knew the game was over but not without taking a few more shots at my obvious misplay. Safe to say it made me just feel awful about the whole thing and I almost didn't go back to that LGS for another commander night. But I decided not to let one misplay be the reason I didn't go because I was determined to still go and have a good time with my other decks. Did at least get one win with that version of the deck later. And I even inspired someone to want to make a infect deck of his own and another to make a proliferate deck.
All in all, it made me aware of how I like to play the game but also be wary that sometimes even the worst plays and decks will still make you determined to be a better player and deck builder later on.
Well Said. There are times where I care so much for my opponents suffering I will show them mercy by taking them out of the game. 🤣
I love these videos you do man. To me it's like listening to a video philosopher describing your truth. As a Commander player with over 50 decks, I try to tailor my games to always create the most joy between my wife and our friends who are our only playgroup. Please always stay being you Mang. You're one of our favorite people on the internet and I wish we could hang out and play with you and your peeps. Cheers 🥂
Advice to my younger self:
Always blame the deck. “All my ramp/card draw/answers/whatever got shuffled to the bottom” or “I swear there are 37 lands in here somewhere”. 😂
But for real, I am not afraid to admit that I stand proudly behind my pet cards ( I❤U Nacatl War-Pride!!), my Sol Ring-less decks, my Rube Goldberg five+ card (all permanents, mind you) combos, and my Azorius “Happily Ever After” deck. How you win, how often you win, whether you win-really don’t matter anywhere near as much as how you engage with the other players. Are you friendly, or at least polite? Are you doing the Rule Zero thing with integrity? Are you playing honestly (in other words, not cheating)? Are your decks true to you? Those four are on you. How other people act or react is 1000% on them.
There are some real dickbags out there, and min/maxing your deck is not going to change that. It will only encourage them to carry on. Ice them out, call them out, or search elsewhere for that one special somepod-it’s out there, I promise, even if you have to build it from scratch. But remember it’s a game, it’s a recreational activity, it’s supposed to be fun. YOU deserve that.
And Happy Pride Month, everyone! This cis-het dude celebrates you 24/7/365. 🙌
I literally went through this exact thought process last night mulling over a few cuts for my Jirina Kudro deck. Glad to hear I’m not the only one!
It looks like 65% of Nekusar, The Mindrazer decks play Howling Mine. I think I got the idea from an older EDHRECast episode, but I don’t run Howling Mine or any group hug, incremental card draw in my deck. The card draw I have is all wheels or huge draws at once, to burn the table down quickly, without them slowly accumulating value. I think this is my most “against the grain” deckbuilding decision.
I played a Dr.Who precon game a few months ago and during the game one of my friends said "how do you win?"
(I was playing the thirteenth doctor)
This has haunted me with every deck i have built since.
Just his voice echoing in my head during deckbuilding.
Note: He didnt say it in a mean way, just confused as to what that deck was supposed to be doing. (Great, you cast a thing from exile. Then what?)
This has caused me to undervalue every deck or idea i have.
I see a cool commander and think, "wow this guy is so cool. He does X and Y and i can really mess with Z" take some cards out my binders that synergize with him and think
"Now that i have the idea and the cards, how do i win?" (Even though i have 3 different wincons)
It has made me insecure in my deckbuilding skills and the ideas that i have.
"A 12/12 will just die"
"I can't mill all of them"
"Aristocrats pingin for 1 is hardly damage"
"I can bring this 5/5 back pretty easily, but he is only 5/5, he doesn't do much."
"Ward 2, they'll just pay the 2"
It has made me insecure toward my deckbuilding.
I bought a precon just 2 weeks ago and played it twice before i just unsleeved it because i didnt feel like it did anything impactful even though i upgraded it.
A deck that can't win is disrespectful towards the other players.
Me playing Atla Palani as a commander for Dragons…
Them: You have to play Palani’s Hatcher…
Me: Not a dragon
Them: You have to play Dinosaur Egg
Me: Not a dragon
Them: You have to…
Me: Let me stop you right there…
I love this, Joey! Great insight and life advice. I think more folks should find value in caring for others these days, in general and in a game of commander.
Just recently came across your channel as I’m getting back into mtg- was not expecting such a great reminder of why I love the game and I’ll be sure to bring this mentality to playing with new friends while finding a regular play group in a new town. (Moved to El Paso from Austin, TX about a yr ago).
Subbed and loved, not just liked, brother! I appreciate you
Never worry about EDHRec stats. After all, 0% of Silas Renn & Tana decks run Hearth Charm despite Esper Sentinel existing, both commanders always wanting to get in if still at 2 power, or Tana and her presumably large army always appreciating a buff and the extra saproling it would create, and all this flexibility for a single mana. Or the other way, any colorless deck still running Myriad Landscape such as 13% of Zhulodok decks that have never read their Wastes.
One of the things I struggle with is being dismissed or doubted when I interrogate someone’s interpretation of the rules or card interactions, despite having played the game for a really long time and knowing how those things work, and knowing it’s because I’m a woman. It sucks. The guy that’s been playing for 6 months doesn’t have to pull up a Gatherer ruling to be believed and I’ve been playing for 12 years. It makes me feel ashamed (i.e. “why did I let them talk to me that way?” or “does this person I otherwise trust and like really think I’m stupid?”) There’s nothing to be done. Just sucks!
But staying kind, and taking steps to make mutual understanding and growth possible, is always worth it. This was a good reminder of that. Thank you!!
I don’t really ever experience that feeling. I build to synergy, which changes depending on the strategy that I’m trying to deploy, which often isn’t what others are trying to do.
The best example I have is Extus, Oriq Overlord, the latest deck that I’ve put together. Everyone seemingly builds toward his Awaken the Avatar side, making some variation of token creation/aristocrats. Simply making a conscious decision to build toward his front facing side, to take full advantage of his Magecraft ability and double strike, automatically selects a different set of cards than would go into a standard build. Trying to see what others are using then becomes kind of pointless.
There are times where I do like to see what others are using. Sometimes there’s a card that I may have overlooked or an effect that may work better than I was originally going for. Going back to Extus, even though I swore I was done, I did make a spot in the lands for Witch’s Clinic. The deck ended up being built upon protection from swords of x&y, so being able to give him lifelink from a colorless land ability ended up being a huge boon.
Main point being to pick a theme, build doggedly towards that theme by looking for synergistic cards, and you won’t ever feel insecure again. It keeps from falling into “good stuff” territory, it gets you to mine sites like EDHRec and Scryfall for obscure cards that don’t otherwise fit anywhere else, and you won’t have FOMO because those popular cards might not fit what you’re trying to do with the deck. People want to play against decks that specialize in some aspect, not decks that are generically powerful but boring.
As soon as I saw this video pop up I wanted to create a new account called "Joey's Existential Dread"...
Seriously, I'm pretty sure someone important once said that, "Love is just a game". And clearly NO ONE has ever gotten their feelings hurt in Love...
Thank you for this video, Joey. This is a very important topic in our social format.
I see a lot of the 'auto include' comments when it comes to brewing Slivers, specifically around Queen and Duals+fetches. Dual lands don't bring as much value as some people think. Often times, another Basic provides the value the dual does: having an untapped land to cast a spell. It's high value is in the early game if you are missing a color. Mid to late game a dual has the same game value as a basic. For the dollar value, a dual could pay for 25% of the rest of the deck or 50% of the upgrade costs. Isn't having 10 to 15 Enhanced pieces worth more than just 1 card you may never see in that game?
I’m a high risk, high reward player. This has lost me as many games as it has won. It’s never boring, though…for me or my play groups. They (and I) understand this going in. We typically play quick games, 10-20 minutes max. When the game is over, we chat for a moment, then shuffle up and play again.