Your content has been on another level recently, love the added elements past just deck techs. Keep up the great work

Don’t be ruthless it’s key when playing against someone not as experienced. My wife wouldn’t be still playing if I played to my outs against her

This channel needs to blow up. I've been playing a long time and your channel keeps impressing me with all these ideas.

Great video! Love how you hit on also being one to help your playgroup too, stopped trying to win with my playgroup a long time ago. Now I just go for shenanigans that help their decks shine haha.

Shoutout to DeckTeck for all the good content

Great video probably the best power level discussion video I’ve seen

First off i want to say that I appreciate the video and all of the thought processes being framed towards new players. There are a lot of resources out there that simply glaze over these points with an assumption that the viewer has already been playing for years, and that is not always the case. With that being said, I offer my opinion on the greater topic of power level. There will never be a great way to objectively look at commander deck power level, because there are way too many variables at play. The numeric scale is worthless, because it is entirely subjective. Everyone will have a different opinion on what deck is what number and why. The broad "casual, low power, mid power, and high power" labels arent much better, in that they are still pretty subjective even when considering what turn you goldfish a win at. Goldfishing alone doesnt consider deck redundencies, different permutations that can lead to similar or better results, the pod composition, the gameplay dynamic of each individual game, the cards your opponents are playing that can inadvertently accelerate your gameplan, etc. A better approach to the whole discussion would be for everyone at the table to be honest about gameplay intent. Are they trying to hangout and do wacky stuff while letting everyone do their decks thing, are they trying to grind out a fun interactive game which will have back and forth play and ultimately come to a close in a reasonable amount of time (where every player may or may not get to do their thing), or are they simply trying to win as quickly as possible by any means necessary? With the agreed upon intent of the pod set none of the other variables like individual card choices, the decks goldfish win turn, subjectively applied power level number, etc really matter. As long as everyone is honest on intent then no one is going to bring a hyper tuned cedh deck to a casual game, because that would be dishonest. Dishonesty of gameplay intent is why the term "pubstomping" even exists. People who pubstomp are being dishonest about their intent for the game, and really need to win against people playing in an entirely different way to feel validated (probably because they cant win in a fair fight). I think this is one of the reasons that cedh is starting to gain popularity, because at the very least everyone has agreed upon gameplay intent (regardless of what deck people brought to the table). Keep making great content and much love man ❤

I love how i just build my decks with stuff i find in my bulk and it just works/wins some times I love to say, lets play weak commander decks, as this also shows who wins because of his deck or because of his skills

Love the game theory lately!!!

You have to keep in mind that when you goldfish a CEDH deck, you can normally find a win turn 1-3 for turbo decks and around 3-5 for most other decks. The reason that CEDH games go to turn 6 ish on average is because there is a lot of interaction in the games so it’s unrealistic to compare tournament average turns where there is interaction with straight gold fishing a deck since gold fishing doesn’t usually account for other player interaction

I played a lot in high school (2003-2006) but it was only standard, I learned commander just about two years ago so I'm still getting the hang of commander. My first commander deck was built in a similar fashion to my favorite standard deck, and I quickly learned that strategy doesn't work in a multiplayer format. Since then I believe I've gotten better and have built two decks that I feel are decent, but i have no idea how to rate the power level, this video is a very interesting take and I appreciate it.

His deck techs realy help me to understand the commanders

Very good commander advice

Awesome video! The one thing that is a little hard here to evaluate is control decks, as those intend to win slower and are very hard to goldfish imo.

Thank you for bringing up skill gaps. No one ever brings that up.

Just got into magic a few months ago. Only have 2 people I get to play against and it's rarely for both so usually it's just 1v1. My best deck can probably win at maybe turn 10 most of the time sometimes earlier sometimes later. I love this deck but Idk how to make it any better than it already is. You seem nice wish I could play/learn from you irl. Take it easy man appreciate the video it kinda helped a little. Oh yea also the first time I ever played both my friends they both used mana web and defense grid against me and I didn't even know what the cards did. They both said they took the cards out but then put them in before we played. Made me feel like I didn't get to play the game at all. Still though I tried and learned and got further than I thought I could.

Thanks for the helpful video! I run an mtg club at my school and I keep winning and have been wondering if it's just that I understand the decks better or if it's that the commander decks ar completely unbalanced. I run Nekusar, first sliver/overlord, Slimefoot & Squee, and Saruman army upgraded precon

Great vid

This is the best video i have seen about power level. I do think about telling everyone how your deck works so they can have a chance at stopping you and being fair. What i didn't know was the concept of goldfishing and how to use it to check the consistency of a deck and how it will work against real people. Also i like the ideas you give to help new players and keep the game fun for everyone at the table. (Sorry if my english is not perfect. It's not my first lenguage) Great video as always! Nice to see new type of content here!

Thank you for your awesome content. My son and I are just getting into Magic. What is “gold fishing”? I totally sound like a newbie, which I am. 😂

What do you mean by gold fishing? I know that you can play a few solitaire style rounds but how do you account for removal and interaction.

@DechTecksForDecks what power level would you say your newest Dino deck is at? I just got into the game and I got pantlaza, put 500 dollars into the deck, but when I goldfish I typically win around turn 9. It feels to also for the money spent. I have tutors and other stuff but it takes a while to ramp. I need help!

When you're goldfishing to go for the win at turn 7 do you still slow down to hold up interaction or just full solitaire see how fast you can execute your wincon?

Thx for the video and the advice! One question: to which life count do you goldfish your deck? 20 or 40?

Super cool video. I have a favor to ask of you Caleb. Could you make a video on how to goldfish? My thoughts are: do i assume no removal? Do i assume no blockers? Do i assume i never leave blockers up, never use my own removal? A boardwipe never happens etc? Or do i pretend i have to deal with something on turn 6 or what ever? Thx

Regarding combos, I like to have a sideboard card or two that I can switch in if a combo piece isn't warranted at a particular table :) Easy way to quickly tweak your deck's power level a bit.

Price wise what should a power level 7/8 look like new to commander but by no means new to magic so I've got a lot of high priced cards

How do you goldfish effectively? I don’t understand how to think through turns to understand if I’ll win by turn 7 or if I’ll stall out. I feel like I’m more confused (not saying that is your fault I loved the video)

Very nice video, you really get the idea of a casual play. I wish those ideas were a fundamental part of the RC mindset, but I don't think they are, tbh, which is very unfortunate.

I win more often than i would like in my playgroup. Obviously its great to win but in our playgroup there is a player who plays krenko, slivers, edgar markov constantly and i felt like i needed to make better decks to compete. But our other two players are 1. Prefers mid power janky strats and 2. More restricted by budget and mostly plays the same deck each week. Ive built a couple of decks to try and be at a lower power level and also upgraded one of the new precons and ive encouraged the tribal player to build some lower powered stuff since he has the biggest collection out of all of us. I try to find good cards and 2 card combos for the budget player to encourage him to power up his deck a bit. Its a constant balance to try and get everyone around the same level but we still have fun.

The most important thing: it must fit to the play group… mine is from: look at this funny deck every card has a hat on it up to turn 3 i have endless mana and can tutor my library… if you play a cedh deck casually in a edh pod, it’s often fine…

i'm kind of new.. what do you mean by "goldfish it"?

This is something I have been struggling with recently. I have some mates who just got into Magic and my decks seem to be outclassing them on every level without truly understanding the why. When I started EDH I had some good mates of mine who were running some optimised decks which have skewed my understanding of the power levels in the game. Been trying to help my new player mates, but they shut down once a half-decent combo gets played that doesn't even win a game. Very hard balance.

What would you recommend for someone who wants to encourage their group to build at higher power levels? I have been tuning all of my decks down to the power level of my playgroup, but a lot of the time it just kinda feels bad to work super hard on a deck just to find out it mows down your playgroup and is essentially unplayable because of it.

I play a mono black reanimator deck. Dump big boys with hateful abilities in the yard, cheat them into play. No infinites allowed in the play group. The deck is strong but has yet to put up any wins, any advice?

Do you consider lotus petal or dark ritual fast mana?

What's your thoughts on the doctor who commander's starter decks??

I wanted a deck that cares about rolling dice, I made one. Then it sucked so hard that I had to weed out these precious “7 mana, roll a D20” cards from D&D set :D Still low power, but I love how silly it is.

Hey my mono white angel deck needs all the fast mana it can get. 😭

Most of my decks are a 6.9 but I do have decks with power levels over 5000 💪🏻

What is goldfish? Never heard the term till this video so an explanation b4 I heard it 9 times would help me understand this whole video better?

As a disclaimer, I played MTGA for about a year and a half or so when it launched and hadn’t played any more Magic until summer of 2023 when some of my friends got me to try commander (which I’m loving, by the way). However, I’m interested in homebrewing decks, and I want to make sure that I don’t go overboard and start making or using decks that are too powerful. For the record, I’m not interested in making decks that cost more than $100, so I’m not going to be running a bunch of expensive, crazy powerful cards. With all that said, I have two questions after watching your video. 1) What is goldfishing? 2) I still don’t really know how to rate my power level; are the power levels “casual” and “pub stomping?” I don’t know how to decide whether my deck is too strong on average compared to them other than if I’m regularly winning or if I’m winning and the games aren’t close. How do I get an idea of a more specific power level from my deck other than “casual” and “pub stomping” to compare to their decks?

I am so unfamiliar with magic culture 😂 ive been playing for a couple years but still don't know alot of the stuff you covered in this video

I used to run a lot of infinite combos and I still have the Shalai and Hallar deck but I rarely play it because it is just not fun.

What’s goldfishing? I have some pretty optimised decks but very rarely win turn 7 or before

Im the most knowledgeable player in my play group but my win rate is mid because i usually get ganged up on if i have an explosive start or if i play what my group percieves as a strong commander (like Gargos the Vicious Watcher jn a mono green only hydra tribal deck)

Quick question. When you say "goldfish a win at turn 7" does that mean i should be winning on turn 7, or should i be close to winning on turn 7? That seems a little fast for a casual game to me.

I’m sorry I’m still fairly new to all this what does goldfish your deck mean

Ja Grüße über den großen Teich, Bartmann!

what is gold fishing

What does he mean by goldfish? I'm so lost.

Im usually on the back end if the group lol, i am not that good at deck building, but i have been learning Edit after finishing the vid: legit the strongest deck ive made is mono green dino's (Galtra, Stampede Tyrant), and according to a couple of the group ive played with, is that for its price ($457.21 according to archidekt) my deck is quite strong (was news to me), and i did enjoy building the deck i just didnt realise how bad it can pop off until i took a 20 minute turn (didnt even know the deck was capable of it until it happened), kinda learned that the deck was above casual after that game

I never win in my games with my buddies. The only times I've won is cause my buddies underestimate my presence and they end up killing each other to the point that I'm fighting 1v1 against weakened players. Also, we play with 20hp cause my group believes that 40hp takes too long. I do play a lot of white and red stuff though, and my Forces of the Imperium deck which is a pre-con.

What is goldfishing?

I got a friend who just got into the game and has no concept of etiquette as he will vindicate my 3rd land

🎉

I use MTG Forge to decktest, the bots are good enough with basic removal to truely test how strong a deck is. The most useful part is you can quickly see which cards are a bit useless and which combos just pop off and cause instant wins. Very helpful as a new player that can only play in person one a month.

Hey man. I think you have a really good personality for contect creation. I hope you stick to it.

I'm known as one of the stronger players in my LGs and playgroup, and I do in fact "sandbag" in games sometimes. I don't need to win every game and its more fun for the pod in general! More importantly, you don't end up becoming that guy that nobody wants to play with.

I remember being a pioneer in my local area for EDH, about 2009 ish. It was such a blast. No rule 0. No crying about power level. Everyone knew to expect to get your butt kicked or dish out Ls.

Acatually I removed Freed from the real and Pemmins-Aura from my beloved Zaxi-Deck because of even that: To strong, to boring too. You know one infinity? You know them all...

1:46 You realize this is based off of other cedh decks right? Of course youre gonna win around turn 6 if you're facing a higher power level. If I were to bring my cedh deck to a casual table, I can easily win around turns 3-4. That's why basing it off of the turn you win isn't a good way to see how strong your deck is.

Sol ring the most expensive card in magic if it wasn't re-printed 3000 times

You dont really discuss slower strategies such as control or stax decks

I like all the advice here, but I feel like you went off on a tangent and the only actual answer to the thesis of the video is "you should goldfish by turn 7". To be fair, I think that's a valid step, but I dont think its the only step. I also think that you dont need to deal 120 damage by turn 7. Its probebly more like 90. Assume everyone has taken *some* damage by the other players. I think there needs to be a deck building component in here, though. Like, if you win hy turn 7 but you don't have any removal or card draw, you'll be hosed by the first combo or board lock piece someone drops, or by the first board wipe that coeans you out. I think that's where a lot of newer players fall down. Their deck may goldfish by turn 8, but if they face interaction or pillow forts, they just fall over.

I'm just picking up relearning magic the gathering

I feel like you need to have a conversation beforehand. Ask what is your deck trying to do, and what turn it attempts to accomplish it by

The hardest part about edh is and will always be the social aspect. Building decks? Easy. Figuring out everybody's decks power level to make sure the games you play are balanced with the amount of interaction and tutors you run? Near impossible. I've found just telling everybody if you win with combos or not at the beginning.

I think we need to stop comparing casual to CEDH, whether a deck is casual or CEDH has more to do with how it was built, then it's power level. Specifically, everyone talks speed. My Vaelomachus of Lorehold deck is CEDH. I would never play it at a casual pod. Wins turn 8-12 usually. The whole deck is extra combats and land destruction. The turn it wins says nothing. I also have a very powerful mono-white planes walker deck that wins turn 12-16. Runs 18 board wipes, humility, etc. It's a casual deck.

I definitely believe your deck should be popping off at turn 7, but consistently winning? no. From my experience "though it could just be do to my areas LGS meta", most games I've played are won turn 8 to 9 with the occasional turn 7 and rarely turn 6 "6 usually due to lucky draws going into infinite damage/mill combos".

I don’t believe in either casual or cedh. Bring your best decks because you can’t get better unless you play the against best.

What the fuck is gold fishing? Am I gold fishing now? Should i stop?

I mean deck is a 7(plus 3) but that still makes it a 7 lol

What the hell is goldfishing

Goldfishing?

The fuck is golf fishing

Algorithm

2 card Infinites are ok in casual in my opinion as long as you don’t really have tutors and none of the pieces are in the command zone.

What is goldfishing? Also pubstomping? Lol.

I will always bring the most ridiculous Etali deck I can, I will do my best to win turn 4. Make a better deck or stay mad.

What is goldfishing?