I think it was 2021 that you called the Year of Removal or something of that kind. The year before that was the 'Year of commander', but really it was the heart of the "Let's break every single other format except for EDH" era. This year 100% was all about the manabase. Lands and mana changed up in a huge way this year, not just in cards added but also cards banned. 3 land cycles of MDFC's, Surveil Duals, new tainted esque cycle, more support for land types like Desert & Gates, and that's before talking about Utility Lands. We also got some new cards to search for any land, cards to turn our lands into all basic land types, a card that literally just searches for Command Tower. Thank me later, there's so much to cover on this that you could honestly make a 3 video series talking about how massive just this one year was to changing how we handle the manabase and mana as a whole.
Other than the mdfc’s from mh3 my favorite card this year is parting gust and it isn’t really close. It is essentially 3 cards stapled onto one: exile removal, blink, and a soft counter/removal dodge. I’ve started cutting swords to plowshares for it mostly and have never been upset to have it in my hand
Honestly felt like a banger of a year for good commander cards. Reprints on stuff like Urza's Incubator, Terror of the Peaks and Cover of Darkness dropping prices on expensive stuff is worth a shout out. You covered a lot of the new tech I really love but a couple of my new favorites I didn't see are Fanatic of Rhonas and Smuggler's Surprise. Several of my decks immediately got both of those lol.
I run a lot of green, and both of those are amazing. Fanatic is one of the best mana dorks of all time, and the Spree cards are stronger in Commander than people realize, I think.
Demo, gotta implore you take a look at two Duskmourn cards that I think are very solid in Commander in black, Sporogenic Infection as a two for one aura that forces a sacrifice and is super flexible, and Nowhere to Run as a single target removal on anything with 3 or less toughness and a nice ward/hexproof hatebear, at instant speed.
There were some super solid white cards that came out this year. Aven Interrupter, Final Showdown, Claim Jumper, Trouble In Pairs, Metastatic Evangel, etc. I could go on. I agree that they could scale it back a bit, but I do think there is probably more variety than ever in EDH. I’m hoping that starting with Foundations, they’ll stop focusing so much on the format and try to revitalize other formats. It’ll be better for EDH I think.
I like when they print more stables/generic cards because if you're playing a theme or strategy with little support or just bad support and still want your deck to have some punch you need all the help you can get. Same thing with powercrept value engines in the command zone. If you're playing a bad strategy then having a busted commander will help you actually do something every game
I have a Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy // Master Chef deck that's built around Slime Against Humanity and it is one of my favorite decks to play, simply because it feels like I actually accomplish a board state as I cast more and more spells, instead of most spellslinger decks that are just 30 minutes of playing solitaire with myself before ending the turn without actually advancing the board in any way.
Redirects are super powerful, but I always thought 3 or 4 mana was too much to hold up for them in most situations. Untimely Malfunction is for SURE a case of power creep, but one that actually feels really natural to play. 😬
Agree on a lot of these. Trouble in Pairs is the best card of the year imo, that is an actual staple, power wise there is no reason not to include it in every deck, even 5 colors. Draws more than a One Ring and doesn’t draw hate like Rhystic Study.
18:59 I totally agree with the impact a set symbol design has on a card’s appeal. I get that I’m probably in the minority but I weigh the set symbol a lot 😅 If a card is a reasonable price and has a set symbol I really don’t like I will buy a new one just to swap. (Some S-tier set symbols imo: Ultimate Masters, Dominaria Remastered, Dominaria United, Modern Horizons 1, Strixhaven, Guilds of Ravnica)
Re blasphemous edict, 13 creatures on the field is honestly quite the threshold. Re split up, I love it for also forcing opponents to tap their creatures
Why not do a video on your favourite 5 commander builds of the year instead? They could be from any set, and utilise cards from any year in the 99, but with a special nod to cards from 2024 that really help the deck to tick?
Umm, Urdnan, Dromoka Warrior is in Foundations, and it’s one of the best/cheapest sources of conferrable Doublestrike in the game. Its counters matter, but still. Edit: Bristly Bill, Spine Sower is my favorite card of this year, hands down.
hey, i know it's off topic, but i was wondering where I could get some banners like the ones in the background of your vids. as usual, great content, keep it up
I think people just dont like hexproof and indestructible anymore. We want thingd to phase out. Because indestructable has so many downsides. Sacrifice, exile. Eh
Unfortunately, Plot is probably too complicated of a mechanic for them to just shove into a core set. But I could see interrupter being dropped into a commander deck; it's a pretty popular card. I still can't believe how atrocious the aesthetics were this year. I liked Bloomburrow but I get not liking it, and it's the kind of thing like Lorwyn: as the odd-one out, it's sortof whatever. But Foundations being the only mainline set that really 'felt' Magic, with 3 of the 5 being the most phoned-in, vapid, lazy, zero-effort visual design possible? They had to have had a big personnel change right back in '22, there's just no other way to explain how abrupt their expression of total contempt for the IP was.
My only problem with Flare of Fortitude is the second comma. It's unnecessary. They're treating the first sentence in the second ability as a three-item list when it's not.
Make a video showing off your favorite patron decks you've played against
This seems neat
I third this
Banger of an idea. All credit to u and whoever else suggested this before.
I think it was 2021 that you called the Year of Removal or something of that kind. The year before that was the 'Year of commander', but really it was the heart of the "Let's break every single other format except for EDH" era.
This year 100% was all about the manabase. Lands and mana changed up in a huge way this year, not just in cards added but also cards banned. 3 land cycles of MDFC's, Surveil Duals, new tainted esque cycle, more support for land types like Desert & Gates, and that's before talking about Utility Lands.
We also got some new cards to search for any land, cards to turn our lands into all basic land types, a card that literally just searches for Command Tower.
Thank me later, there's so much to cover on this that you could honestly make a 3 video series talking about how massive just this one year was to changing how we handle the manabase and mana as a whole.
I live vicariously through this channel, all my friends are cEDh players. All my jank just exists in theory.
I think people are sleeping on the Seasons from Bloomburrow. They are great modal spells! The green and blue ones have won me games.
"silly ass cowboy hat set symbol" 😂😂😂
that's the most apt description i've heard for that set
@ 100% 😂
Other than the mdfc’s from mh3 my favorite card this year is parting gust and it isn’t really close. It is essentially 3 cards stapled onto one: exile removal, blink, and a soft counter/removal dodge. I’ve started cutting swords to plowshares for it mostly and have never been upset to have it in my hand
Honestly felt like a banger of a year for good commander cards. Reprints on stuff like Urza's Incubator, Terror of the Peaks and Cover of Darkness dropping prices on expensive stuff is worth a shout out. You covered a lot of the new tech I really love but a couple of my new favorites I didn't see are Fanatic of Rhonas and Smuggler's Surprise. Several of my decks immediately got both of those lol.
I run a lot of green, and both of those are amazing. Fanatic is one of the best mana dorks of all time, and the Spree cards are stronger in Commander than people realize, I think.
Another great year of EDH Deckbuilding!
Just discovered your channel based on a golgari staples video you did the other year. Instant sub and glad for it. Great content man, keep it up.
welcome aboard.
I enjoy your channel for the General Deck Tech ideas and opinions. I have 10 commanders & I’m not going to build more.
Demo, gotta implore you take a look at two Duskmourn cards that I think are very solid in Commander in black, Sporogenic Infection as a two for one aura that forces a sacrifice and is super flexible, and Nowhere to Run as a single target removal on anything with 3 or less toughness and a nice ward/hexproof hatebear, at instant speed.
Nice - I think I'll put Sporogenic Infection in my Killian deck.
There were some super solid white cards that came out this year. Aven Interrupter, Final Showdown, Claim Jumper, Trouble In Pairs, Metastatic Evangel, etc. I could go on. I agree that they could scale it back a bit, but I do think there is probably more variety than ever in EDH. I’m hoping that starting with Foundations, they’ll stop focusing so much on the format and try to revitalize other formats. It’ll be better for EDH I think.
I like when they print more stables/generic cards because if you're playing a theme or strategy with little support or just bad support and still want your deck to have some punch you need all the help you can get.
Same thing with powercrept value engines in the command zone. If you're playing a bad strategy then having a busted commander will help you actually do something every game
I have a Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy // Master Chef deck that's built around Slime Against Humanity and it is one of my favorite decks to play, simply because it feels like I actually accomplish a board state as I cast more and more spells, instead of most spellslinger decks that are just 30 minutes of playing solitaire with myself before ending the turn without actually advancing the board in any way.
That's a super intriguing build idea! I feel inspired. If only I had twenty copies of Slime...
I love your deck techs and commander videos please don’t stop
Redirects are super powerful, but I always thought 3 or 4 mana was too much to hold up for them in most situations. Untimely Malfunction is for SURE a case of power creep, but one that actually feels really natural to play. 😬
Agree on a lot of these. Trouble in Pairs is the best card of the year imo, that is an actual staple, power wise there is no reason not to include it in every deck, even 5 colors. Draws more than a One Ring and doesn’t draw hate like Rhystic Study.
Yes, true. If it wasn't for the strange artwork debatte of that card I'd certainly put one into every white deck of mine.
@@sunsfssb7699 Agree. Stealing artwork is a no no for me. Don't care how good the card is.
Great round up Demo!
Split up is so good in my Narset, enlightened exile deck. Get to cast it during combat at instant speed to wipe all the untapped creatures
Just pretend that the OTJ set symbol is a stealth fighter jet instead of a hat
18:59 I totally agree with the impact a set symbol design has on a card’s appeal. I get that I’m probably in the minority but I weigh the set symbol a lot 😅 If a card is a reasonable price and has a set symbol I really don’t like I will buy a new one just to swap. (Some S-tier set symbols imo: Ultimate Masters, Dominaria Remastered, Dominaria United, Modern Horizons 1, Strixhaven, Guilds of Ravnica)
Lovely episode as always!
Re blasphemous edict, 13 creatures on the field is honestly quite the threshold.
Re split up, I love it for also forcing opponents to tap their creatures
Your opinion on which color is "weakest" in current commander state?
Red
Red
Brown and Orange
Why not do a video on your favourite 5 commander builds of the year instead? They could be from any set, and utilise cards from any year in the 99, but with a special nod to cards from 2024 that really help the deck to tick?
I didn’t even know half these cards existed! I haven’t been following new MTG lately
Smoke Bomb + Master Transmuter = Unending shroud.
Umm, Urdnan, Dromoka Warrior is in Foundations, and it’s one of the best/cheapest sources of conferrable Doublestrike in the game.
Its counters matter, but still.
Edit: Bristly Bill, Spine Sower is my favorite card of this year, hands down.
Surely there has to be another reason Nexus Of Becoming is in your Bennie Bracks deck, other than it creates a token for you to trigger Bennie?
hey, i know it's off topic, but i was wondering where I could get some banners like the ones in the background of your vids.
as usual, great content, keep it up
If I remember correctly they are actually just tshirts that he hung up like that.
Love your content man, but you are sounding a little bitter in this video.
Word gifting iz lame
17:41 Omg you haven’t become of Nexus until you’ve cheated out a Portal to Phyrexia or 4 out on turn 6 with a token Doubler in play.
I think people just dont like hexproof and indestructible anymore. We want thingd to phase out.
Because indestructable has so many downsides. Sacrifice, exile. Eh
You are such a hipster lol
Lowkey gets kind of annoying lol
What makes him hipster?
I totally disagree.
Unfortunately, Plot is probably too complicated of a mechanic for them to just shove into a core set. But I could see interrupter being dropped into a commander deck; it's a pretty popular card.
I still can't believe how atrocious the aesthetics were this year. I liked Bloomburrow but I get not liking it, and it's the kind of thing like Lorwyn: as the odd-one out, it's sortof whatever. But Foundations being the only mainline set that really 'felt' Magic, with 3 of the 5 being the most phoned-in, vapid, lazy, zero-effort visual design possible? They had to have had a big personnel change right back in '22, there's just no other way to explain how abrupt their expression of total contempt for the IP was.
My only problem with Flare of Fortitude is the second comma. It's unnecessary. They're treating the first sentence in the second ability as a three-item list when it's not.
V.A.T.S. is also cool because it doesn't target so it avoids hexproof/shroud/ward
It does target, you choose "target creatures"
It literally says target on the card