HOW DARE YOU Also you're correct

This is a great topic, but I would love to see another one where the question is turned on its head: What are the best Commanders to play against? What Commanders promote fun for both sides of the board?

I built Derevi and I love watching people's reactions when they play against it the first time. They're like "oh no. Derevi" and then the game starts and they realize it's Bird Tribal and not a threat at all.

Interesting to hear Josh say he hates playing against “Durdly” decks yet I watched him play Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath and Athreos/50 Shadowborn Apostles 😂😂

CZ: Talks about Korvold Sacrifice and Windgrace Lands getting incidental value that ends up spinning wheels but doesnt combo out. Me: Looks at my Korvold Lands deck (with Windgrace + Gitrog) Me: I'm feeling very attacked rn

4:21 to skip to the start, here you go

Craig and Kyle in a Game Knights together would be awesome!

I imagine Craig is like Ultra Instinct Shaggy: “I haven’t even used 10% of my power”

Another commander I really don't like to play against is a "Tutor Chain" commander. The best example I can think of is Prime Speaker Vannifar, where as soon as you untap with the commander you tutor for exactly Corridor Monitor -> Deceiver Exarch -> Breaching Hippocamp -> Disciple of the Ring -> Great Oak Guardian -> Protean Hulk and then win. It's not that I don't like Combo decks, but I don't like decks where if you ever untap with your commander, you win, by executing the exact same play every game. See also: Zur the Enchanter

It feels nice to watch something that isn’t about the virus, this makes me feel good takes some of the edge off

Josh: “ I do think it’s fun to play high.” 41:30

I have a "Child of Alara" - Player in my Group, but he usually tries to win with "Maze's End" and use Child like two times in the whole Game, which is fine for me.

41:30 "I think it's fun to play high..." - Josh

Need an episode on what decks you DO like playing against, please :D

child of alara looks like the space baby from 2001: a space odyssey went super-saiyan

KZfaq subtitles, " It's Josh Leake why"

21:20 "Didn't expect a pre-con to make this list... but this one did." I'm pretty sure Derevi was a pre-con... and yall talked about him like two seconds ago.

Here is a tip if you ever find yourself wanting to build a Child of Alara deck: Put in Athreos, Shroud-Veiled and then watch your table weep the moment you start putting coin counters on your commander.

Jimmy: *Is cast for a major movie* Josh’s degree in theatre: “Am I a joke to you?”

Narset: Rogue's Passage, then I swing again. Let's do the Time Warp Again.

Damn last time i was this early. Jimmy had over 5 lands on gameknights

11:11 the way you defined korvold Reminded me of josh's uro deck that was on game knights was probably more durdling than any korvold deck ive seen. Then again thats pretty much every simic commander lol.

I'd like to nominate Niv-Mizzet, Parun since its the commander that I've played against that has most often required the table to whip out pen and paper to resolve the stack.

Y'all are quickly becoming my very favorite YT channel. Keep up the good work!

Wow first time being early for an episode. Turns out this whole work from home thing has its benefits! Thanks for helping us out during this time!

Me adjusting my Korvold deck while watching the episode: .........but is it really that bad?? Lolz

i remember having a narset deck that was focused on chaos themed effects. cards like possibility storm and thieves auction with a commander that is seen as a huge threat is something that reveals an expression that is amazing to behold.

I actually had a bad day, so... The song fitted just perfect! Thank you, guys!

That is so awesome that Jimmy was on the Red Carpet... Congrats man... also funny watching you throw your phone to your brother on the Red Carpet :D

Them talking about korvold Me: wait a minute, that's exactly how my muldrotha deck works

I'd love to see an episode where you all choose decks from this list to play.

One fun way i have found to turn around one of the decks was a Urza, High Lord Artificer Voltron deck due to the fact that Urza's ability allows the equipment to tap to pay for its own equip cost.

Pulled 2 foil Sen Triplets from my Mystery booster box...

Gotta love when a player has Narset (War of the Spark) and another player has Locust God out on the field. The other 2 players decide. Maybe getting rid of the Narset is a good idea. Me in my head watching a collapse of a wall to a flood of locusts coming to eat everything alive

I had the most wonderful experience playing with Jimmy Wong and Josh Lee Kwai at Commandfest last year. Last year at Commandfest I went to the event with the intention of playing the Elder Dragon Highlander format of Magic: The Gathering with great people and walked away (limped away) with so much more. I sat down at an empty table and started pulling out my playmat and decks when I heard a familiar, succulent voice from across the table. "Howzit? Are you looking for players?" I looked up and saw Josh Lee Kwai and Jimmy Wong from the Command Zone Podcast, my destination for all things Elder Dragon Highlander. He extended his massive, muscular arm for a handshake and I shook his hand; his handshake was VERY firm. Jimmy looked on at us as we shook hands and I saw the longing in his eyes. I responded with "yeah, haha I'm a big fan of your show! I'm really good at asking about powerlevels now." Josh put his hand on my shoulder and replied, "you, champ, are a pillar of this community. Thank you. Now, what powerlevel would you like to play at, king?" I blush and respond with "UUhhhh, maybe a 7?" "7 it is!" Josh said as he turned to Jimmy. I pulled out my freshly put together Omnath Voltron Deck and prepared for battle. After I got Omnath to a 17/17 I swung at Jimmy for lethal Commander Damage. Before picking up his cards the phrase "Oohh senpai, your commander is too big!" Slipped through his moist lips. I thought it to be odd at first, but looking back on it should have caught on earlier. End of turn Josh cast an overloaded Cyclonic Rift and I lost all my mana. "Damn!" I say, "nice moves!" "These aren't even my best moves, if you know what I mean." He turned to Jimmy as he said that and winked. Jimmy then chuckled and looked at me. Again, I should have caught on. A couple turns later, he cast Expropriate, and the tables next to us immediately stop what they're doing and turn to look on. "Don't pick time! Don't pick time!" Jimmy wailed. "Don't pick time! Don't pick time!" the onlookers repeat. "Hmmm. Champ, if you pick time, I'll make sure that your time at the Command Zone, your destination for all things Elder Dragon Highlander, is unforgettable." Knowing that losing Omnath would mean I could not win, I decided to go with time to give myself a chance. "Awesome, nice move King! I'll make sure you don't regret it." Jimmy picks up his water bottle and took a big swig, looking me dead in the eyes while he sipped. It was so hot knowing that Jimmy stays hydrated. I lost that game, but I still had a blast. We decided on playing one more game, before Josh and Jimmy had to go. I pull out my Grenzo Goblins deck and begin shuffling. Jimmy's eyes lit up and he said to me "Mono red! Hey nice dick bro!" "What?" I ask bewildered that he would say that. He began to stroke his water bottle and “repeated himself,” saying "nice deck bro." I lost that game to Josh's Triumph of the Hordes, but again, I sure had a blast. Josh began to pack up his things and as he did, said to me "That deck was sponsored by Wizards of the Coast, thank you so much for providing us with these awesome decks, they are so fun! If you plan on buying decks like these make sure you head on over to Card Kingdom and use our affiliate link in the description below. It's a great way to support the show!" Jimmy grabbed Josh's sexy, manly shoulder and said to him, looking at me, "wait a minute, aren't we forgetting something?" "Oh right!" Josh exclaimed. "If you would like to spend more time in and around the Command Zone, your destination for all things Elder Dragon Highlander, and would like to enjoy your stay, why don't you come visit our hotel tonight? It's the Hilton just down the road, room 1109. It's the power and toughness of Void Winnower, surely you can remember that, Champ." He came around the table to give me a hug, and after his warm, soft body enveloped mine, he whispered into my ear words that I will never forget.... "Hey, bring your A-game, OK? I want you at your best." At 8:30 PM Pacific standard time I knocked on the door to room 1109 at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Seattle, Washington, and unbeknownst to me, my life was about to change forever. Josh answered the door and I could feel the steam and heat from his shower come out the door as he opened it. Standing there proudly, with a towel wrapped around his waist, hair still wet from his shower, showing his beautiful chiseled abs, was THE Josh Lee Kwai from the Command Zone podcast, my destination for all things Elder Dragon Highlander. I was shocked, and he could tell. "Champ!" he proclaimed. "Hey Jimmy! Our champ is here!!" From around the corner Jimmy Wong from the Command Zone podcast comes into view, wearing nothing but a smile. "We are so glad you could make it!!" Jimmy exclaimed as he slowly climbed into bed. I notice that while the room is large, there is only one queen sized bed. "We've been expecting you." Jimmy said. Josh grabbed me and pulled me into the room. I was very excited to play more Elder Dragon Highlander. I set down my backpack and began to pull out my playmat but Josh put his hand on mine and told me that we wouldn’t be needing any gaming supplies. Which was unfortunate, as I was looking forward to playing my highly-Tuned 75% Nekusar. Josh turned me around so that I was facing the now closed door to room 119 of the Hilton hotel in downtown Seattle, Washington. He brought his body closer to mine so that I could feel his Paradox Engine rubbing against my butt. "Do you like that, Champ?" I respond with affirmation. "Good." I'm still sad that the card was banned, but I didn't want to upset my host by talking about the EDH banlist. After a minute or so Josh directs me to Jimmy's Paradox Engine, which was now front and center of the queen sized bed. He guided my head by grabbing my neck and shoving it into Jimmy's Paradox Engine. I began to repeatedly untap his permanents, and Jimmy threw his head back and screamed. "Oh yeah, make that infinite mana!” he yelled. “Yes! I want to cast the world's biggest fireball!!" As he said this, Josh unbuckled my belt and took down my pants. I felt his Foil Paradox Engine bump against me as he stood back up. Jimmy noticed this and screamed "Oh my god! He's about to storm off!" Josh grabbed my love handles and planted his feet. I could feel him slip his Paradox Engine into my bottom, still warm from the recent banning. He began to tap and untap my bottom like a Derevi Stax deck, and as my lands got held down I can feel the storm count rise and rise and rise. Josh's deck was obviously too strong for the table, but he is so amazing and handsome, that I just had to let it happen so I could learn from him. Jimmy grabbed my face and brought it up to him and he kissed me, his phyrexian oil still dripping from my mouth. God his infect deck is so hot. "I'm...going to...pass the turn to you Jimmy." Josh said out of breath. Jimmy got up and moved to where Josh was standing, planted his feet, and began storming off. Josh Lee Kwai put his Foil Paradox Engine in my face and I was blown away by its beauty. I was so happy to have the opportunity to play with it that I put it in my mouth and began to tap and untap his permanent. He threw his head back and between moans was able to muster “Ask...your...playgroup." After Jimmy filled me with Phyrexian Oil, Josh domed us both with his Aetherflux Reservoir. His head immediately jerked up and he extended his arm. "Good Game!" he exclaims. As I gathered my things and got ready to catch the bus home, Josh stopped me on the way out, still naked and covered in sweat. I will never forget his last words to me: "You're going to be buying cards from Card Kingdom Anyway, so you may as well use the Command Zone affiliate link. Champ, thank you for giving us an unforgettable play experience. I hope you continue to ask your pods what the powerlevel of their decks are." I love The Elder Dragon Highlander Format of Magic: The Gathering. It feels like yesterday that this all transpired, but it was so long ago, and sometimes I wonder if it was a dream. For now, I will live my life as if it did happen, always asking the pod what their power level is before I decide what deck to play. Next time you see someone playing an Omnath Voltron deck at Wednesday night commander, ask him if he watches the Command Zone, your destination for all things Elder Dragon Highlander. Maybe I can show you my A-game.

Thanks for your videos in Confinement Time! Helps a lot! 😘

Am i the only one who thinks dragon shield sleeves are the best and not those ultra pro sleeves with art? 2:20

"Cant believe a precon made this list" Talked about a precon commander shortly before...

It’s so awesome to see how proud JLK is of jimmy. True friendship when you can be so supportive and excited for your friends success.

I have a lot of these... I also have the Locust God, which thanks to you guys, inspired me to make an amazingly awesome/terrible wheels deck!

There was one commander: Horobi, Death's Wail. So many cheap targeting effects such as Squee's Toy. So innocent, yet so deadly. RIP equipment.

While Korvold Brawl never really bothered me much in Arena, I never want to see anything like a Cauldron Cat deck in Standard ever again.

Can’t believe i didn’t know about you until a week ago. Thank you for doing what you do. I have been playing magic since ‘The Dark’ / ‘Fallen Empires’ Love the game and Commander has become the most played format amongst my friend group which has thrown me off a bit. I love watching your videos to give better understanding of the cards in a commander setting. Keep it up guys.

Nice to see a video about this topic. I hate some mechanics in mtg, decks solely focused on counterspell, discard, poison, destroying land anything that hampers you or makes it anti interaction

Never a bad day with these guys!!

Command Zone - Talks about Durdle decks Also Command Zone - gives a meer passing Mention to Muldrotha 😂 It took me so long to understand why I and a tabel didn't have fun when I played her, even though she's my favorite. The Durdle is at 11 with her

I've got a derevi tokens deck. It's just filled with cards that tap to produce tokens. It's sort of a death by a thousands cuts deck in that every time you hit your opponents you untap and tap your token producers to grow your army (+throw in a few value tap creatures like arcanis to help deal with other situations)

A lot of powerful strategies in this video. Personally I play Urza and Gitrog (referenced a lot). I’d like to build commander decks with power levels between pre-con and cEdh. It would be great to see what you guys have built in that space with deck lists.

I realy like mizzix with "x" spells, that get biggers and biggers

Me a nekusar pilot in the first 35 mins: awwww~ neky isn't on the list :3 Me when they mention locust god because of the constant wheeling:.....but not nekusar....right?? :'(

When it comes down to decks like korvold, windgrace and other decks that have durdle troubles, I think it comes down more so to the player rather than the commander or style of deck. If the player is the kind that is hyper focussed on always making the optimal play or best decision, then yeah, they durdle like crazy and it's awful, but if the player just goes impulsively and without overthinking every little detail, the turns go quite quick and there's no real problem

I used to play in a group with a regular narset player but i just added cards like arcane lighthouse and or player sacrifice creature spells and always kept those players in check. Ive never forgotten those games and now always play with cards that remove hexproof. They made me a better deck builder :)

Surprised they didn't mention Zur, the Enchanter. The ability to tutor for perfect removal, card draw and stax and combo pieces is nauseating

So the big themes here are: Decks that don't let people play the game (Stax/ridiculous levels of permission) Decks that are only really playing with themselves until they get the win and usually take long turns (Solitaire combo/durdley non-interactive decks)

My friends and I were putting together some budget decks. I made a Maze's End deck with Child of Alara as the commander for the 5 colors but also just as an insurance policy in case the deck isn't working fast enough. It goes most games never casting it and the deck is pretty fun.

I love all the shade thrown at Craig! Hope you guys have him on for another Game Knights!

Just started magic love it so much thank you for inspiring me

If the love of my life Korvold is on there I will be mad! Edit: Well, I hate you but I also get your point and I'm definitely guilty of it

GAAIV is my favorite EDH deck. I play mine much more conventional UW control. The tax package is still real but I avoid the symmetrical tax effects in exchange for diversifying my win cons. Augie such a safe proactive piece to play consistently on turn 3/4. It baits out removal, is easy to cast a couple more times in the game. There is something very powerful feeling about putting a stranglehold on the entire table. I love being the arch villain.

I'm currently building Derevi with Opposition, Primal Order, Winter Orb, and a bunch of small birds with which to untap and tap stuff via Derevi's abilities. Sephara to keep my birdies safe, and Isochron Scepter with Counterspell and stuff like that on it just to make sure about answer effects.

When's Kyle going to play on Game Knights again? I'd love to see you guys all play Kyle made decks like how you played Craig decks. MAKE IT HAPPEN

Only remember playing one of these sort of decks the last MF i went to, the person started taking infinite turns. Myself and one other person looked at each other and thought "Well, I'm at an event, I'm not gonna sit here while this person digs for their win condition" (which they didn't have in their hand), so we both politely conceded and went to go look for more games after maybe three or four of the extra turns (person hadn't won yet.) Full credit to the one remaining player who made them take their turns til they either died or something else happened (I had left table and didn't find out outcome of the game). I take this situation case by case now, but I do in some (albeit small number) cases make people take their 25 extra turns. I just want you to *do* something with your infinite turns. Kill me. Don't waste my time; don't waste two other people's time, especially if its at an event.

1 of them. Had a Narset deck sleeved up, my playgroup faded out of playing for a couple of months, and during that time the older forums began hating on Narset decks. I still wonder how fun she would have been, even if just once.

A player in my group built a Thassa, Deep-Dwelling (the new one) deck. It was extremely powerful and unfun to play against. He proceeded to rebuild it (to power it down) twice before finally taking it apart.

"if you have friends that play a lot of commander, just count the ones they have made" well, that's pretty much all of them

Jimmy's in Mulan?!?!?! Now I have to see it when it's out!

I love using Narset for off the wall ideas, such as non-creature token generators. So every swing is about building up a mass of tokens.

Saw the Movie "John dies at the End" and was surprised to see ur face Jimmy!!! Great performance Fred lol

I’ve put the most time and money on Korvold, because it’s EXTRAORDINARILY fun. Yet I agree with literally everything they said. Apologies to anyone’s whose had to deal with my 10 minute turn that eventually ends with rise from the dark realms, a sac outlet, and Zulaport cutthroat.

I personally can’t stand Golos. It feels bad to kill him since he’s almost always pays for his own commander tax and letting them untap with it feels just as bad. Maybe that’s just me but the golos strategy always feels the same.

Great episode! Super bummed about the Mulan premiere delay but I understand. The trailer makes me cry! I didn't realize Jimmy was Ling, that's so cool! Stay healthy and safe guys!

My big one from the list you gave that I have a very fun build for is Daretti, but that's because mine isn't stax in any way, it's bird tribal and it's super fun and casual.

I see Lord Windgrace, I click, such a fun commander!

I'm surprised they didn't mention chaos decks/commanders that make the game take 4-5 hours

In my play group we decided that the best way to deal with green is target their lands so a lot of players in our groups have 1-4 land destruction cards in their decks although it’s rarely mass land destruction. We treat it similar to if you destroy the esper players mana rocks.

1. Korvold. There’s actually 3 in our playgroup and they’re all similar. But they are more punchy than just value. Off the list a friend of ours made a golos deck taking inspiration from the core 2020 game knights and it involved activating golos 4 times a turn. It played just like the narset example you gave.

For me it's the locust god once it gets stated it's difficult to get rid of and the aggro potential of that deck, leads me to regardless of the game go for the locust god first, due to the feel bads I have towards that commander. :S

THAT HARMONY AT THE INTRO!!!

About the Sen Triplets: If your group allows Un-cards, play Clocknapper and have a regular means to bounce her (Deadeye Navigator works great!) bounce her, take the next opponents Beginning phase, which includes untapping and upkeep. You get to untap and they can't play spells for the rest of that turn. Rinse and repeat to lock the table down.

If you want to snuff out storm, Whirlwind Denial and Summary Dismissal are also really great.

When they were talking about the kess storm deck i had a bit of an awkward shuffle moment. I dont play kess, i dont play storm. But i have an arjun the shifting flame that is all about spinning its wheel to find the right answers at any given moment, as a result ts winning turn is very similar to a storm decks win even though it uses none of the same cards. I also play a lands deck though i switched from windgrace to golos to make the deck more proactive and less durdly. I also have just built a hatebears deck. *checks for skulls on his hat.* Are... are we the baddies?

Korvold is my favorite deck to play right now!

Great video once again and thanks for the subtitles! I am not surprised for most of the commanders on this list and it reassures me that the players felt the same. Personally, I built Mizzix in the past but on the one hand, fortunately the experience counters are on the player but on the other hand, I understand the frustration. The deck quickly annoyed me because there aren't many interesting spells that go with Mizzix (whether draw X, inflict X or take an extra turn). On the other hand, I who really like Izzet decks, I really like the design of Mizzix with X spells.

Well I have build a very fun Derevi deck that focuses on things like Gilder Bairn and counters, Cryptolith Rite. The idea is to use multiple tap/untap effects to quickly buff your creatures.

I do‘nt get locust god. My friend has one, and its not that bad although its pretty heavily powered up Also I missed Chulane. If its built correctly, your turn just slows the game down.

In addition to some of Comand Zone's choices, I have a few ones I tend to "dislike": Momir Vig, Simic visionary: just because of the amount of tutoring it has. It takes a lot of time. I like to have torpor orb on turn two if possible against such decks. Teferi, Temporal Archmage: because it's a recursive planeswalker and mono-blue. Kaalia the vast: cheating out dirty monsters is not fun

Any clue on when the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths episode will launch? I'm awaiting a bit of game play and review to see what is worthy of the purchase.

I've got my Korvold up to about an 8 or 9. The thing is it's a very sleeper esque kind of feeling. You don't realize the Korvold deck is comboing off until it's too late. I actually have my Korvold watered down a bit because I wanted to plug in the Vraska Ballista combo.

The Ides of March are on March 15 just in case anyone was wondering this was in regards to the End Step

My friend ult'd lord windgrace when he was introducing us to edh. I was like k this is how its gonna be

Easily your best song intro to date! You guys are awesome haha

I had a Locust God deck for a while, I recently turned it into a Nekusar, the Mindrazor deck. At one point i built a Grand Arbiter deck and within a week I took apart after feeling too dirty from playing it.

Aww I'm happy for Jimmy. Soo adorable

I literally only watched this so that ik which toxic commander decks I should build

I remember watching that episode where you guys talked through Expropriate but I cant recall which mode was said to be better for playing against it. Its definitely the money option right? You want to give ur permanents up cause that's better than extra turns? (As far as playing against it)

Excellent takes guys!

4:20 when the video starts

*Pulls out mono blue deck* Everyone at the table: Omg kill the control player! Me: But I'm playing Mistform Ultimus :(

I stopped thinking about the "no land removal" contract line when I played a Sisay deck that could fetch lands to shut me down. Same with Golos. I am still careful (use as a last resort/I can win in the next turn) but as you say, making certain types of removal OOB makes it easy to abuse.

I had a God tribal deck with Child of Alara. Very fun. Most or all of your creatures are indestructible and chances are good that you'll get enough devotion for all colors. Very expensive though.