Hey everyone, would mean a great deal if you took a minute to click and watch my newest video, "Merfolkless Merfolk | A $50 Budget Pioneer Mono Blue Tempo Deck" here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/briTkpqS29OZkZ8.html

4:55 - Fail to consider your deck's power level. 6:45 - Rely too much on your Commander. 10:15 - Cards that become "no text" without your Commander. 10:40 - Run too many "interactive" cards. 24:40 - Hating on the player who played to win at the right time. 29:00 - Fail to think about your turn before it happens. Slow rolling. 35:20 - Not providing free information.

"1-3 cards that don't have text unless your commander is in play" *Looks at my Feather Deck* Not you, none of the rules apply to you.

"Doing nothing is so much better than doing something that is bad for you." 10:22 Emma just deadass inspired me to quit my job

I have low vision and the fact people don't even question me when I ask about what is on the board makes me feel comfortable playing the game even with strangers.

I played in that pod with you Professor! I was the Glissa the Traitor. I was happy for you getting your combo, but I was bumbed out because the player next you resolved a possibility storm which made the removal I was going to use in my hand worthless to stop you lol.

Getting a free education is always wonderful, but when it comes from an individual wearing socks such as as those... you know it’s going to be special and informative. You sir, are fearless. Thank you as always for the wonderful content! Thank you Prof and the team!

What I'd like to add to the last point is to also warn your opponents when they make an action that is clearly a mistake because they didn't read every single card on the table and let them take it back. Especially for new players 4 big boards is way too intimidating to completely check before playing a card, so it saves a lot of time for everyone to just let them play and inform them if there is anything they have missed. An exception is that one player who always looks at their phone and doesn't pay any attention when it's not their turn. No mercy there =D

“Commander is a broke format that the social contract makes unbroken” I paused the video to clap. This is so true.

Thank you for the "put actual win cons in your deck" segment. The worst kind of games for me are these 3 hour boardstalls with no way to end it.

Untitled? What about “Tolarian Talks”? Kinda a spoof on TED Talks Or “Between two FernStriders”?

"I don't think, commander can survive, if that mentality gets adopted." Absolutely correct.

If I had a dime for every time I missed a rhystic study trigger...

"you're not running into duress" Tergrid: "Please allow me to introduce myself"

I mean a decent name for something like this, a general magic the gathering podcast, could be something along the line of 'Tolarian Electives' ? Keep the academy theme but its the fun stuff you take because you want to learn more, not the main curriculum...Just an idea.

Haven't played magic in years but still watching the Prof

Mu group does this all the time: "Flyers? Flyers? K cool. Beers? Beers? Anybody need a beer?!"

I really enjoy the interview format that you have been using. Thank you for all of your videos Professor and Emma. Very insightful and a wonderful place for new players to start.

Weirdly on the subject of interaction I actually feel new players run too few cards. Often causing certain cards or synergies to appear more powerful than they are, because players just do not have a way to deal with it. Maybe over time there is an over-correction down the line, but I feel the new players do not value interaction enough. This then can often cause gauging power level to be hard, because maybe as a more seasoned player you sit down with a deck that is not overly tuned but has good interaction, card draw, and win potential. Then when you sit at a table and rate your own deck at a 7 then proceed to stomp the other players the can get frustrated because they think you undersold your deck, when really they just have not played long enough to know what to value. Just a subjective observation I have seemed to notice at particularly green tables.

yes more episodes please. loved the last one and this one so far as well. i need more mtg commander podcasts in my life

I really like the format of this episodic content on the line of a "Tolarian Master Class" sort of thing. Great work all of you, thank you!

My biggest weakness is my greatest flaw tbh, in edh I'm too nice, I feel horrible pulling the I win lever

"No way to play Commander is better than others, but here's a video on the best way to play Commander." --Prof, 2020

Loving the discussion of the Untitled Podcast, covering Commander in the first two episodes. More please.

I'm that player who runs a handful of random cards. I fogged someones craterhoof turn 😭💀

More excellent content Prof! Love these discussion videos. I'll be sharing this with my playgroup.

“Many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question...” Such an iconic line that never gets old. Excellent video, very informative. Keep up the great content Professor 👍

This was a stellar conversation. More Emma, please, Professor!

Professor, excellent dialogue, I really like that You allow Emma to fully explain herself, and you often compliment or expand upon her points, rather than pivoting the conversation.

I just recently got back into mtg and I'm really enjoying your videos. Thank you so much for including stills of the cards that are mentioned!

Games have to end, and that’s ok. Means we get to play another. That being said I don’t include some of the big “I win” buttons because of theme, but I always try to find something on theme that serves that roll. I like the challenge.

I'm watching this and I've literally made ALL of these mistake, and I've worked them out well, other than my borderline addiction to playing an easy infinite combo that me and my playgroup was only possible in normal magic.

I'm very happy to be seeing more of Emma and hearing her drop knowledge bombs.

This was an excellent episode, Professor and Emma! 😁

Honestly, if I were to add 2 things to the list: 1. Failure to communicate board state. YOU PLAY THAT SELESNIYA DECK WEEKLY, HOW DON'T YOU HAVE A 1/1 SOLDIER TOKEN IN THAT BOX?! Ok, so having a face down land to represent 1 token (like Treasure) is fine, but if you need to then represent a 1/1 U Flying Faerie, 1/1 UB Flying Faerie, and 1/1 UB Flying Faerie Rogue.. face down cards can get really mess is what I'm saying. 2. Learn about Priority, and how it works. I've played many games where somebody threatens the board with something, I'm about to spend removal, and then another player jumps the gun and does it for me. Great! 2 players just lost a card, and I still get to keep my interaction. That is one of the BIGGEST mistakes commander players make.

That's why I love cEDH. Very fun and interactive.

Love your videos! Especially these last 2 podcasts.

This is some great stuff, sharing this video with my play group.

Finally a guest who has a normal accent and is easy to understand

I just have to have the Chulane brawl deck was outstanding. Good job, Emma. Keep up the good work prof.

The "too much interaction" bit is misguided and assumes only one player is taking care of all the threats. If you're that player, then yes, you're "doing it wrong" and you need to convince your table to take some of that removal burden themselves. The actual mistake she's talking about is assuming that ONLY YOU must be the interactive player, not that you have too much interaction. Also, I think they missed an opportunity to talk about one of the biggest mistakes I see from certain players, and that's how vindictive many of them can be. They get mad when you destroy their stuff so they make the rest of the game about them destroying/stopping your stuff regardless of what's happening or in play already. Trying to tell them that they're making a bad move falls on deaf ears because they always retort with "shouldn't have targeted me, bro" and things of that sort. It makes playing with these people incredibly frustrating or volatile because you either let them sit back and amass an army to eventually force their victory or let their 10-turn late recursion engine function, or you get hated out of the game for no reason.

Man, my Talrand deck broke all the rules lol. It’s entirely counterspells and cantrips that do nothing without Talrand on the board lol. Still stupid fun to play.

Great to see Emma on your show!

I hate decks that have so much value and severely locks me out the game but then doesn't win for like 10 turns. My example is Muldrotha with extra land drop cards and strip mine, kill my stuff then not do anything for like 10 turns.

Prof i think these conversational videos have been some of the best.

I enjoyed the frank and open discussion of a format I'd like to try. Thanks!

Great video! These are great tips that will really help me be a better edh player!

Thanks! This is very helpfull! I was strugling a bit with this!

This was pretty sweet. I enjoy these guest interviews.

Super interesting podcast. Love it!

I played in one formal EDH event at a store and in both games people combo-ed on turn 3/4 and I just left. It was advertised as casual /w $5 buy in and get a pack. Have not done a formal event since, just casual with players between rounds or with friends.

For interaction, I found running cards that have similar activated abilities to normally played interactive cards to be nice considerations due to the balance of opponents disrupted to resources used. While these type of cards tend to be more mana to play and may require other resources to activate, they have the benefit of recursion and synergistic boosts. For example, look at Doom Blade and Attrition. Both cards allow you to kill a nonblack creature, serving a similar role. Doom Blade allows that ability to happen at instant speed for a cheap price of one and one black. However, it will usually only ever kill one creature. While Attrition's initial cost is higher than Doom Blade's and requires a creature to sacrifice to work, Attrition allows for any number of activations, as long as you have creatures to sac and mana to spend. This ability synergies well with creatures that can be brought back from the graveyard easily, like Gravecrawler and Reassembling Skeleton.

Damn, I feel like I don't know jack about my own decks after watching this. Great guest, thanks for the video!

Would LOVE a pro/tournament vid with do's and don'ts for beginners!

Just popping in to say I like this video style a lot. I don’t even play MTG anymore but I still watch all of your videos, and I like these discussion style videos.

I absolutely love these videos!!

super useful tips, the one for one reminder made a lot of sense

Prof is really nailing it with these recent guests, the discussions are fantastic and really showcase the our fascinating community ^^

I like the idea of being a little more competitive in commander but never at the cost of being an ass to the other players. There are aspects like answering peoples questions to help the health of the match in the social contract that need emphasis over other aspects. Great video Prof!

Nice work! Will finish later, but quite a contrast from last time.

The social contract is paramount. I was sitting down last friday night with three other people at my LGS. One was my buddy who was new to EDH, one was a BRAND new player to MTG and EDH, and the third was a super sweaty tryhard that played nothing but oppressive decks and was super obnoxious about it. People that play like that drive people AWAY from the game. Sure, it's neat to see a deck pop off a make all these triggers, but infinite mill and infinite damage and infinite snark isn't fun for ANYONE. It doesn't just hurt your playgroup or your LGS, but it hurts the game by driving people away from it.

I would like to have a game of commander with the Prof and Emma once...sounds like it could be a nice round of magic :)

These two seems to really respect and admire each other and thats amazing to watch

My fav combo was Vapors+Teferi's Protection. I skipped 1billion turns and left the table grab a coffee while the opponents looked at me astonished 🤣🤣🤣

Helix Pinnacle is my primary wincon in few stax decks of mine. Armageddon + Planar Birth/Splendid Reclamation is often amazing. Not exactly a wincon, but still, often provides such a massive advantage that it leads to a win.

Thank you. Great episode

It's not that I dislike 'I win buttons' being in EDH decks. The game has to end at some point, clearly. I just get tired of people acting like there are only 2-3 I win button options in a color or color combination, leading to many decks of the same color just defaulting to the same 'best way to just win' card in the color regardless of deck itself. There are just such a massive pile of win conditions in each color and color combo that, yeah, watching *yet another* blue deck win with lab man or green deck win with Craterhoof when the decks share no connective tissue beyond being the same color and having the ability to benefit from the effect does get pretty old and tired when people could be winning in a more varied way that has more to do with the deck they are playing specifically. The issue is pretending like their is no alternative to people being so unimaginative or curious about the depth of the field they can select from for win cons. The entire format is suppose to be about unique player and deck identity and flair; like, be creative enough about how you win that you at least look for a different final card to win with across the several decks you play that share a color for fuck sake. If every deck you own that has blue in it wins with Lab Man and every deck you own that has black in it wins with Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond it feels like you didn't really put any thought into it and are perfectly fine with ostensibly different decks always winning off the same cards in the end. It doesn't feel unique or like your various decks has an identity if now matter what you play through the game in each you end up with the same final spell to win. It feels generic and low effort. It feels lame.

I think I would throat punch someone if they said "you can check" after asking them what's that goyf at. SMH "Pro" players ...

Did anyone notice at 25:30 they both reach for their cups, but decide against taking a drink? Lol. I love little social subconscious synchronicities that almost look awkward lol.

This might sound strange, ... but could you make an Episode on shuffling?

I don't entirely agree with Emma's take on counter spell keeping you and one other opponent further from winning. If an opponent is playing a combo piece and you counter it, you get them farther from winning and you closer to winning because the game could have just been over. I do see where she's coming from though because the next one or two opponents could win and now you're out an answer

That moment later in the game where you can say "See if you can stop me but if you can't..." is something I really like about Demonic Consultation+Thassa's Orracle and ways to get back the Consultation - I don't know where the Oracle IS so I can name it, if you can't answer it I might win on the spot, but also I might just lose to the Consultation.

What are your thoughts about cards like Forbid with a reliable draw engine? Is it considered medium power or “fair play”.

Gotta agree with Prof The I win button is absolutely necessary, I don't want to play a 2 hour long game. I dont mind if it's someone else who goes into fifth gear either.

Loving the content as always, but I have a request - will you be doing any more analysis of Standard or deck techs in the format?

I enjoyed this video. Many thanks.

35:23 THANK YOU EMMA. Being a snarky a-hole to your opponent is almost always the wrong thing to do.

A most excellent video 😎🎸 Thanks 🍷

It would be great if you could discuss 'tilt' or 'salt' in CMDR. What causes it, how to prevent it and how to deal with it. Thanks a lot and great episode! 😎

This was very informative

It's funny because a few of my decks are egregious examples of exceptions to these suggestions.

Bro I’ll never get over the professor with them Sox haha

Dang, Emma's insight was honestly REALLY helpful, especially in simplifying decklists and timing your removal!

Emma that control deck sounds super sweet is there a place to see the list or would u rather keep it secret? :) always wanted a EDH control deck but find it rather hard to build

I tend to shy away from two card combos because of the "feels bad" that typically results from it happening. On the same hand, some cards (cyclonic rift, blood moon, back to basics) are just as bad on their own even if they don't win the game that turn. Three or more card combos are always fine, though.

Great video! Even better Bulbasaur socks!!!

"you'll never see duress in commander" me: building tiny bones (shifting eyes)

Regarding “slow play”, would you rather people take longer turns that ends up winning/progressing the game over shorter turns that are maybe more interactive and oppressive but don’t end up winning or causing a feel-bad? For context, I was playing Yarok, and it had a couple of infinite mana combos. I didn’t (on the surface at least) have a way to draw out the rest of my deck, let alone win how I thought the deck was supposed to. I will fully take responsibility for not knowing my deck well enough(it is admittedly a bit of a netdeck build) to know what to do in that situation(now I do), and over the course of too many minutes I figured out the solution on the spot. I did however have an original plan that wouldn’t have been an immediate win but the turn itself probably would’ve been over a lot sooner and I would’ve been positioned to win the next turn, but i feared the feel-bad of everyone else feeling like I was purposely playing with my food or that I was gonna be looked down upon for being in such a prime position and not able to win. So which do people prefer? For reference, i had yarok out and had peregrine drake/man o war combo, no Blue Sun Zenith in the deck, ended up using a bunch of clone type creatures on an end raze forerunners to do lethal, but normal win is retreat to hagra/retreat to coralheim, walking atlas and a bounce land. I thought even if I’m able to draw the whole deck any walking atlas type creature has summoning sickness, BUT I can squeeze a tidespout tyrant into play and clear everyone’s board so I’m free next turn.

I love that song he plays in the beginning of the video, it reminds me of the booster box game

I was very confused by her point about "interactive cards" until I figured out she meant "you need enough cards that contribute to your win condition." She used that version of the explanation eventually, which was nice. I just feel like the initial description of the 'mistake' was misleading.

No one perfect, especially you..... Thus the birth of Prof's personal nemesis, yay! +1 archenemy :)

It seems that the professor has nearly regained all his hair counters!

I admit that I suffer from the not wanting to put in big finishers because of the feel bads. And I need to work on that.

I heavily agree with playing too many cards that rely on your opponent. Usually if I play this kind of deck, I try to play cards that allow my cards to still do their thing without my commander. Like one of my commanders is Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, and sometimes I am trying to sneak a combat effect in but don’t have her. By playing the original Thassa, Rogue’s Passage, etc. I can still facilitate my strategy if she gets removed.

I have an Orzhov deck focused mostly with messing around with and manipulating life totals and currently my favourite win con is Phyrexian Unlife and Axis of Mortality.

Thankfully in my experience with commander, I've never felt embarrassed or discouraged to ask about a board state (The amount of fliers is a great example). My friends are always asking about board states because it saves time, and a commander game can have some very complicated boards with a lot of interactions so it's always good to clarify what's on the board so you don't waste time making a suboptimal play out of fear of asking some questions.

I play an Oloro deck that's pretty much a control deck with counter spells, board wipes, enchantment and artifact removal, but it also has the Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond combo, plus other ways to drain the opponent, like Polluted Bonds. It is usually a slowish deck, but I do have ways to simultaneously deal with opponents health as well as some pretty good game-ending planeswalkers and Exsanguinate and Debt to the Deathless. However, the first draft did not have enough ramp. Ramp and lands are pretty much the biggest mistake I see some players make, including me. Edit: I also have Test of Endurance and Felidar Sovereign, but the earliest I can win is turn four, which gives people ample time to stop those.

Prof, what are your thoughts on reveal in card text in relation to a full table. Say I'm playing dimir, i bounce a problem card because i don't have another way to remove in my hand, and then duress, i know exactly what I'm making them discard, but since they reveal their hand the table wants to manhandle their cards and sit there and read the text. In commander is reveal based on what I do, or what the other players say is their right to look at the hand? Personally since I know the card i want to remove I give their hand a cursory look to see if any are bigger problems and then get rid of the one i wanted and hand cards back, instead of poring over each card and checking my boardstate and hand and doing theorycrafting in my head on their next moves Honestly makes me want to remove reveal cards just because its so annoying to stall the game so 2 other people can make sure they have responses while the player I cast the spell on twiddles their thumbs waiting.

I like this podcast. You know we love commander content! Emma rules! These takes are hot!

My LGS just shut down. Yesterday was the last fnm. It's such a shame. Great podcast btw professor.