Which card and presenter would you invest your Fishcoin with? Vote here! Round 1: kzfaq.infoUgkxljSFRS2enIKqCHWNCI8Q5sVKZGcxXbRg Round 2: kzfaq.infoUgkxfHLeXJQHBlQ4YTK8OltAkQdlaBKmC3U_

I do love this format- maybe you could call it 'Fish Tank' lol

Skullwinder demonstrates that commander players play commander but Richard plays commander players

Seth not reading “nonland” on Clever Impersonator was amazing 😂

Classic Richard: I don't play targeted removal but I'll play a card to give my opponents their targeted removal back and ask them to use against someone else.

episodes without tomer to ground them always ends up unhinged. i love it

If only Tomer was here to try and to convince everyone to play Fade Away again.

The chance to hear Tomer rant for half an hour about the best blue board wipe, has faded away.

I love the personalized appeals. "Richard, this could copy a flipped *dowsing dagger*!!"

richard potentially wising the rest of the guys up to his schemes to give a psa about how good skullwinder is was a noble sacrifice on par w/ gideon saving liliana

Richard: skullwinder in fringe cases may lose you the game Also Richard: skullwinder has zero downside

40:14 Seth found a way to punt without playing a game of MTG

"I can just not cast it" Richard sold me on every card they talked about

I always enjoy listening to Phil in these “card recommendation” type episodes. He’s very aware of the shortcomings of his recommendations and doesn’t try to hide them through excessive hyperbole. Also huge props to Seth for always putting in tons of effort into his speeches!

I love how Richard's game plans only work if no one takes his advice

The best part about Richard's card choices is he keeps the multi-player aspect of EDH in mind, front and center. It's great.

I absolutely love Skullwinder. Haven't run Eternal Witness nearly as much as I used to unless I had synergy with E-Wit.

I appreciate editor tomer sneaking in his opinion even when not on the podcast.

Loved Richard just admitting everything, even that being the boss means he doesn’t get attacked-then saying he still wins more outside the pod

the best part about skullwinder is you can choose someone who doesn't have a graveyard, making it a better e-wit

With Skullwinder you can always choose the player without a graveyard.

Eternal Witness can be bounced by Kogla, making it indestructible when it attacks into Skullwinder

machine god's effigy gets my vote. want to try this in a couple of decks.

Skullwinder is an honestly incredible card, and it is SO underutilised. It has the whole E-Wit effect, except it's easier to cast, effectively regrows 2 cards (like Richard points out), and has one extremely impactful part that I've seen so many people overlook: The Solemn Simulacrum Effect (SSE). What is the SSE? Why, it's how everyone goes "oh I don't want to attack into that person, they have a solemn! They'll just draw!" It's like that, except even better, because now the trade is a regrowth for any attacking creature. You really want to swing your commander into a deathtoucher? It is an on board fog that lasts for SUCH a long time, it's incredible. Genuinely an incredible card. (The Advocate Cycle is also really strong for similar reasons!!)

I just started pulling up random commanders on edhrec and looking at their top utility artifacts. Crim is right about mycosynth gardens, it belongs in a lot of non artifact centric decks

I'm not sure what Richard smokes, but I want it too.

Definitely worth mentioning how well Brash Taunter synergizes with Star of Extinction, Blasphemous Act, etc

I have been watching MTGGoldfish for about 6 months now I feel like everyday I'm turning into Richard more and more

Machine gods effigy seems like the best of the bunch, i'd play it more at the 3 drop slot though like cursed mirror.

Yeah man Machine God's Effigy has really impressed me as well. The first time that I played it I copied my brother's Urza and created a construct every endstep :p

The problem with the Spirited Companion argument is it’s cannabalistic as a strategy. If everyone at the table is doing it then it ceased to work. Even more so, it also only works if the bulk of your opponents decks are gumming up the board. Voltron, spellslinger, big mana, and more would love you to spend your early turns on cantrip weenies as they win the arms race through ramp. I think Richards play style is most effective on battlecruiser style formats. Which fair play, I guess if that’s your jam.

Obligatory despite everyone at first glance thinking otherwise, Eternal Witness is a Human, not an Elf. Sadly I’ve wanted a non-Human version forever, and forgot Skullwinder existed so that’s a plus.

Richard 100% sold me on skullwinder, adding it to every green deck I have

Hunted Horror was popular in standard at the time. It only ever had 1 printing until the Horror tribal Baldur's Gate precon. It was a $30-plus card for the longest time.

God these episodes are awesome. The discussions are so fun. One of the biggest strengths of this show is that each host has a different style and perspective and this format of video highlights that wonderfully.

You asked for it, you get it. My pitch for the shark tank is Standstill Standstill is a really fun and strong card. Imagine a secret rendevouz, but with value. Some people may say it is some type of stax, but no. It doesn't cause the game to stop. Players still get to draw their first card and they can play a land. So everything is fine, especially if the Standstill player is a slower player, just like Phil. Each player has one decision to make for each turn. Is my turn/are my spells good enough, to give my opponents 9 cards in total. If not, fine. Just pass your turn. No time consuming actions. If the player does decide to "not care anymore", all the other players draw 3 cards. It's like a minigame, and it is soooooo fun, and worth it. Everytime, when someone cast a spell and triggered Standstill, regretted it afterwards. It's just so good.

I like Skullwinder, but Richard's pitch consolidated my views on Ondu Inversion: this card is overrated, spending your entire turn to reset the game and be the last to rebuild is not a good strategy (outside of decks that exclusively ramp with lands).

I would imagine that one of the reasons Hunted Horror isn't played more is because it WAS more expensive. It got a reprint in the Baldur's Gate precons, but had never had a reprint since it released in original Ravnica. A year ago market price was about $18, according to tcgplayer It's good. I don't know about $18 good. But it's about 30 cents now, so I say go for it haha

“The most powerful thing you can do in magic is give other people cards” Crim: “you’ve insulted my entire existence”

My secret tech is the aura unquenchable fury. it goes insane in my Isshin two heavens as one deck, but I’ve tried it elsewhere and genuinely think it can be slotted in to almost every aggressive deck. There are times where it’s not a blowout, but the chances of it being one are relatively high in my experience. A) If there is anything that commander players love to do it is draw cards, and I like to remind them that they are still mortal :) B) it has a degree of self-preservation since when it hits the graveyard from the battlefield it goes back to the hand like rancor (also underplayed). C) it slows other players down as a deterrent too since my opponents drawing cards is actively advancing my way of killing them. D) dude’s holding a flaming katana

Eternal Witness has significantly lesser risk if you blink/reanimate it multiple times compared to Skullwinder. If you're looking for a creature regrowth that you don't plan on looping then, outside tribal synergies, Skullwinder will usually be better. But let's not forget Regrowth. Without creature tutors, loops or creature synergies Regrowth is a strong contender. That being said, for most decks I can recall, Skullwinder is a easy upgrade to Eternal Witness.

With Sliver Hivelord as your commander you should absolutely play Spreading Plague. Your slivers survive every trigger of Spreading Plague being indestructible and thematically it's perfect with slivers.

I was playing a slicer deck the other day. Killed 2 players by turn 5. Tried to chaos warp brash taunter and the opponent had protection. This card wrecked me hahaha.

Machine God's Effigy works awesomely with Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm or Urza, Chief Artificer if you have Mirror Box. I thought you didn't need it, but it'll have the same name of the commander and, thus, be a legendary copy of the copied legendary model without Mirror Box.

My friend built an etali deck, absolutely hilarious and super splashy. He but brash taunter in it, and it was an absolute house. I've died to it more times than I care to admit

I don't know how I missed Machine God's Effigy (well, aside from there being too many products) but that card is great!

I will never stop shilling for Crop Rotation. Everyone's been talking about how good Mana bases are these days, all the crazy effects you can get. What if you could get one of those effects, at will, instant speed, for a single Green mana? Instant speed Bojuka bog, Buried Ruin, Plaza of Heroes, Glacial Chasm, Thespian Stage, Mycosynth Gardens, Lotus Field (to sac a land being exiled), a bounceland to recur played MDFCs, Khalni Garden chump duty, Kessig Wolf Run, Field of the Dead, Sunscorched Desert for that person who is alive at 1, a Mayhem Devil trigger, put that Dakmor Salvage into the graveyard, Mystic Sanctuary, Witch's Cottage... You can do it all. Crop Rotation is cracked and stacked. Yeah, you do need to sac a land. Who's gonna counter a Crop Rotation, unless you're very explicitly playing a Dark Depths deck? People who have played Crop Rotation in their own Dark Depths decks, that's who will counter your ass because they know how stupid Crop Rotation is - and not enough people run it in generic decks.

Skullwinder is such a great card, I've been running in over EWit nowadays, it's pretty much only bad if you're on 1v1 or if you are the guy who is way ahead.

I've been toying around with adding hunted horror to a couple of decks, but you finally sold me on it. Nice job!

"Wow...rough" -Phil When Seth misses non-land permanent on clever impersonator. 😂

I'm only 2:29 into the video and Phil's expression made me spit out my coffee 😂

i love this podcast so much i ussaly listen to each episode like four times, keep it up!!!

Love the shark tank episodes. More please!!!

The problem with cards like Spirited Companion is that a lot of decks need critical mass of certain effects. Most decks need enough card advantage, ramp, removal, and lands. Also, the cantrip and durdle till boardwipe strategy that goes with it assumes (usually correctly) that players will develop on board without furthering some combination of their hand, land count and ways to protect/recur/redeploy their board that is more meaningfull than cantrips without card selection. That being said, some amount of early board presence is essential and if your main theme/plan doesn't involve low cmc creatures that you're willing to block with then Spirited Companion and Wall of Omens are great.

Great segment. Thank you all for the creative content

I fell in love with skullwinder when I played him in my fight deck, but now I play him everywhere. i don't remember the last time there was ever a downside to it. You winder the empty graveyard, he costs a green less for your three color decks, and that deathtouch very relevant.

45:34 funny German slip there from Phil. "is weg" (=it's gone) xD

Thanks Crim. I didn't know about Spending Plague. My playgroup is going to love it! 💕

Richard's defense of Skullwinder is weird. He talks about never playing basic lands, yet assumes everyone will just have a basic in their yard. Generally the worst card in a yard is a cheap creature or spot removal (something he tells you not to play). Crim can not judge salt level since he is a pillar of sodium. Hehehe.

Skullwinder is just better eternal witness, but Secret Rendezvous, no way.

This needs hyperlinks to commander clashes where we see the actual effect in action. :p

49:00 Spirited Companion & Wall of Omens and their green versions of Elvish Visionary & Wall of Blossoms (there are also multicolred ones) are really good in decks that care about bodies, etbs or need sac food. Especially in budget decks you almost never feel bad to play them, they offer some early game play or a set-up and make the deck a bit more consistent. They are the spellslingers cantrip versions.

This did just convince me to "invest" in Machine God's Effigy. I had no idea it existed but it sounds very fun to play.

Machine God's Effigy is very hillarious in Orvar....

38:37 I like gardens. I’ve really enjoyed it with cards like phyrexian metamorph. Turning your land into a creature(roaming throne, miirym, etc.

Spreading Plague is a sweet card - I had it built out in my UB artifact deck way back in the day. All my Wurmcoils and Battlespheres were unaffected, but I could also drop Baleful Strix or my commander to wipe any other UB creatures if needed. I also ran with The Abyss for a similar effect, as that also doesn't kill off artifacts. I can see it being annoying, as it's a weird version of stax combined with game theory - the table has to work together if they want to not waste a ton of resources. I'd liken it closely to Void Winnower, where it arbitrarily makes a ton of your opponents hands unplayable until its removed.

the Spirited companion discussion totally resonate with me, having random bloquers is the reason I prefer to ramp with creatures, like wood elves, they chumpblock

I agree with Richard's point on cantrip creatures. I always want to put in cards like that to smooth out draws and have a board but see they aren't played much and end up cutting them. Not anymore!

Ok here's my pitch: Narset's reversal. First of all it's 2 mana ramp in blue if any of your opponents are in green. The floor is also quite reasonable with forking your own spell but it also interacts favorably with basically any stack deeper than 2 spells. Redirect a Counterspell up the stack, save your own countered spell for later and un-counter it at the same time. Reuse a flashed back or self exile card like teferi's protection and oooohhhh so much more. My favorite interaction is with Jin-gitaxias progress tyrant: opponent casts a spell I want to reversal. Cast reversal targeting it. Jin copy trigger, copy reversal targeting my original reversal. Copy resolves, returning the card to my hand and creating another copy which can target the original spell my opponent cast. Absolutely brutal, especially when it's a removal spell targeting Jin.

Once again, CRIM has shown the me the light. Spreading Plague, never heard of it, but it _needs_ to be in my Athreos deck. :O

Another thing that makes Spirited Companion so underrated, especially for White, is its potential to move early game actions up one turn. Being able to take advantage of combat triggers like Mask of Memory as early as turn 3 can be significant in defining the quality of your turns in the mid to late game. Compare this to its other analogs, like Wall of Omens, where you aren't going to swing until turn 4 at the earliest (unless you have a 1-drop creature). Add to it the fact that it can be recycled and synergizes with all weenie effects, and Spirited Companion as a LOT more value to offer than many realize over the course of a game.

After seeinh Richard talk about Skullwinder the first time I picked one up and I put it alongside my E Wit in my Sidisi deck.

Phil kind of mention it but Imposter Mech has been my pet card in some of my most competitive decks, when on a polymorph plan it can't get hit and is much more cost effective then any other 'clone' effect and as mention the non creature clause is very useful. I don't know if I'm convinced about MGE but will try and find a home for it in something.

59:51 not many creatures sac to bargain but this guy does. I know this is post episode but man sac’ing this dude to beseech the mirrror is a win. Koch knights conquest turns this doggo into a threat real quick lol.

I had a non the pain artist deck back in the day with stuffy doll in it. Sadly brash taunter wasn't printed back in the day.

Skullwinder is great with mutate commanders since all the green ones have trample, so that combo is sweet. Also you can't mutate witness (icky human).

As a person who is fully on the support of the Spirited Companion crew, the main turn off is simple: The card is boring. This isn’t a flashy draw 10, or a big massive threat. This isn’t your game ending card. I think the main issue is that the card doesn’t do ENOUGH to further the game plan, to most people. I personally am a huge fan to subtle benefits that slip under the radar like this, provided I don’t have a greater game plan going on or a way to make it better than a cycling 1/1. Sun Titan synergies in Ao Reanimator? Heck yeah. Brago blink? Yeah. Lurrus? In. All of these decks support subtle effects that can slowly be reused for value, or provide just enough push before a board wipe. It’s the fact that it’s JUST enough, that pushes some people away.

It’s funny to me how Richard always talks about how everything will get blown up super easily when he doesn’t play spot removal

The perfect group doesn't exis..... Oh my god

The Mycosynth Gardens should be in every coin flip deck, because those are only two colors, and copying Krark’s Thumb is extremely strong off a utility land. Edit: Nvm the artifact is legendary

Mycosynth Gardens is definetly going in my Ardenn and Esior. Double Colossus Hammer sounds great and I already have non-basic tutoring in the deck.

I know some people get custom art. I now need to get Spirited Companion with my corgi on it.

Hey love this ep! The cast should really watch some shark tank footage (even free broadcast stuff) there's a wealth of style and some loose "rules" that help it flow better. Looking forward to more eps like this

I agree with Richard on skullwinder! Except that it’s not always, “strictly better” in every scenario. But I’m also a player that likes the 2nd ability of Loran. I enjoy the politic playstyle of certain cards. Richard would also love healing technique, wishclaw talisman, and scheming symmetry!

Richard, For Machine gods effigy, you can copy an archeomancer in orvar and repeatedly target it with a permanent targetting spell for one. On untap, you'll have infinite mana. It's interesting in a lot of decks and can combo in different ways than regular clones. It's not some game breaking thing... yet..? But it's not quite like a regular clone either.

Richard says, spirited companion, and Phil literally leaves his seat 😂

My pitch. Retraced Image in mono blue decks. It is mono blue ramp. 1 blue mana, reveal a card in your hand, if it has the same name as a permanent on the battlefield, put it into play. So you just reveal an island and make another land drop. You really do need it in a deck that has a fair amount of card draw (it is card disadvantage and you really do need to have enough card draw to have spare lands floating around in your hand, but there are homes for it, and I quite like it in mono blue spellslinger decks).

I play clever impersonator in my maelstrom wanderer deck, which tries to ramp out he wanderer asap. I’m never sad to copy a mana rock with it, especially if I can hit something like sol ring or gilded lotus, and late game it can be another zendikar resurgent

Niche situation, but I once copied my opponents "Vengeful Dead" with Machine God's Effigy (which triggers when *any* zombie dies) and that plus some other copy effects (clone theme deck) won me the game through killing my opponent's creatures. It was a beautiful and incredibly satisfying reverso card win. In my experience, Machine God's Effigy just has all sorts of weird use cases if you're willing to be creative with it.

Machine God’s Effigy also can be reduced to free with enough artifact reduction

Podcast recommendation: cards you're sad are not on/coming to MTGO. Either tier list or Shark Tank style.

Spirited Companion's argument is really for like a 10 card strategy for the early game. It's a good strategy, but I think it requires you to decide that it is your early game plan to congest the board and prepare for the first board wipe. I think playing Spirited companion as the only card with this effect in a deck that's wrath light, or in a deck that has a competing game plan for the early turns, doesn't make sense.

love skullwinder, you can also politic like this with healing technique

I agree with Richard on skullwinder! Except that it’s not always, “strictly better” in every scenario. But I’m also a player that likes the 2nd ability of Loran. I enjoy the politic playstyle of certain cards.

I play Spreading Plague in my Myrkul deck and since the deck wants all of its own creatures to die to become enchantments it does so much work, especially when Myrkul becomes indestructible

Haven't had a chance to play Machine God's Effigy yet, but it plus a Devoted Druid equals infinite green/blue mana. It's a strong card, just making a more resilient clone of a creature that doesn't care about combat.

Spreading plague is a no go. It makes you arch enemy without much upside. It is obvious to work around and usually it is easy to do so as well. If it isn't, it isn't fun. No one wins here. I love playing control and even light stax, but make sure you don't become the villain and spoil everyone's fun.

Spirited companion interests me in its impact. It makes me wonder that EVEN if a board wipe is coming, is it worth it to play it over earlier sources, like mana dorks, or heck just card draw spells like Secret Rendezvouz.

If I were on the show, I’d pitch Fervent Mastery. I know discarding 3 at random is scary, but with all the Flashback and Escape cards and stuff, it has never let me down

In any deck where you have combos to flicker your Ewit, Skullwinder may end up eventually having to put that force of will or fierce guardianship back in their hand. I agree that Skullwinder can potentially be better in some decks, but it would never replace Ewit in my Selvala deck.