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Many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question, “how do I get WOTC to ignore my format again?”

It was more like "the year of secret lair" lol

I feel like Magic has hit that late 90's comic book phase, where we have holofoil ISSUE ZERO COLLECTORS EDITIONS every week and now they're worth zilch. Quick pump for a quick buck kinda deal.

Wizards needs to seriously slow down with the amount of product in general, it's very much true, one can't enjoy a product if another is been throw at our faces before we can even open the packaging. It waters down the excitement and anticipation big time.

Commander, the cause of and solution to all of MTG's problems

Many magic the gathering players ask: “Why the hell am I still buying into this?”

There really has been A LOT of stuff this year. Like Theros Beyond Death even came out this year and that feels like half a decade ago already

"What does that mean for a format that flourished by being left alone?" Oh man, straight to my heart Prof! I've been playing this format a long time, and I'm very concerned with the unintended consequences of WotC focusing on us.

Year of commander, aka the first year that most people couldn’t play commander.

Pretty rough year to launch a line centered on an in-person multiplayer social format.

It's not that they're giving us a cake when we're already full... It's that they are bringing out one of everything from the whole menu when we didn't order it, but after you've taken one bite of the starter they're already taking your plate away and giving you the next course and the next and the next and by the time you've got that nice triple layer cake you realise yes you're full but you can't remember most of what you've just eaten and the chef is laughing manically in the kitchen because the waitress stole your wallet.

Professor, your outfit was stylish as ever. I especially commend your choice of tie, a very snazzy paisley. Keep dressing to impress :)

How Wizards views Commander reminds me a lot of how Halloween Town viewed Christmas in The Nightmare Before Christmas

Many Magic the Gathering players ask: _"am I now working for Wizards of the Coast?"_

"The Year of simic " is the true Name of the Year

That final point is the key issue. Commander is like a cool part of town which is in the process of being gentrified. Sure, lots of money will be made, but at the price of the soul of the whole area... Ironically what made it special in the first place.

I would argue that the foiling process of Commander Legends "went wrong."

I legitimately adored Ikoria's flavor, but I see where you're coming from about previous precons allowing for a diverse range of characters from multiple planes. Hadn't considered it.

Brilliant analogy about the sweets at the end after everyone has already had pie and cake. And I think that people who did focus on every product that came out this year would feel full already. I think for those of us who didn't focus on every little thing that came out really enjoyed it and, if I may be so bold, think you might have enjoyed it better if it wasn't your job to rate every single product and critically look at every single product. Maybe there is something to be said that for not every product is for everyone and maybe we should focus on the things we enjoy doing.

This year's product blitz was insane. Granted, there was a product for just about everyone, but it was impossible to keep up with. I did buy more this year than any other year since I returned to the game. A box of commander legends, six commander decks, and half a box of jumpstart ( not counting singles and then I'm sure I'm forgetting some things). The worst part is the lack of play availability due to the pandemic. I've busted so many packs, sleeved new decks out of the box, and built several new pauper decks and haven't been able to play with nearly any of it. It's bad beats.

“And when everyone’s super.....no one will be. Muhahaha” -incredia boy

For me, the year of commander was not. I haven't played commander since 2019. I miss my friends.

I literally forgot double master, Chandra, jumpstart, and unhinged came out this year. I literally thought in the back of my mind it was last year

Many Magic: the Gathering players ask the question: "Is there money left in my bank account?"

Honestly I’d love Liliana spellbook but they’ll fuck it up so nevermind

Honestly, I think being forgettable /oversaturated is a good thing! For a while now with so much magic content and being able to netdeck more efficiently than ever, each set becomes "known" really quickly. I think it'll be nice to have some cards that people just forget about. I think this will lead to that hidden gem feeling/the "woah what's that card?" feeling down the road for cards that came out this year. There has been information overload and that will lead to an increased sense of uniqueness and mystery for these cards, given time. So it does feel overwhelming right now, but in five years, I think we will look back fondly on this year as we rediscover what it has to offer.

Thanks for your review Prof. As considered, eloquent and erudite as ever. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year pal.

Please let it end. Please let the commander overload end. Can magic go back to normal? I’ve had enough change this year. Please let’s just have everything go back to normal

I feel like hating on this year just being commander products is a bit of a misnomer when you consider that, had there been no pandemic, I imagine the circuit of Command-fests would have shined brightly and that Commander Legends would have had that chance to get drafted and be that celebration that everyone was hoping the year of commander would be. that being said, we still would have had the deluge of products, the print-for-secret-lair evil, the splashy and unwieldly set that is Ikoria, the standard-warping legendary creatures pushed for the commander space...

Professor, the ending speech at the end of the video was beautiful and powerful and I loved it.

Great review of the year Prof!

the last time I was this early Prof had no hair

My hot take of commander this year: "What the heck were you hyping about in white again?"

I loved your outfit in this video, prof. Very stylish! Oh yeah, year of commander...um...too much stuff - I basically tuned out halfway through the year and just tinkered with a Zirda deck (without any infinite combos).

I do agree that this year was an overload of new potential commanders. At the beginning of the year, I saw the cycling precon and had plans to buy it, use part of it to reinforce my Anje deck, convert another part into a Kykar tokens deck, and use the last bit for a Rielle wheels deck. By the time commander legends came about, I wasn't inspired to build any new commanders from a set ostensibly FOR commander. I feel that if this had just been the random mid-summer special set, I would have probably reconsidered building a pirates tribal deck or maybe a Belbe deck. Also, regarding the Zendikar commander deck's availability, I feel a large part of that has to do with the decks not containing new cards that are staples of the colors (Fierce Guardianship, Deflecting Swat, Flawless Maneuver, etc.). People who bought these decks did so because they wanted the decks or the reprint, not because it was the only source of a single card they wanted.

Thank you for articulating this. The amount and frequency of products kinda made each one a feel little less special, even though they are different from each other.

What I really wanted is to attend a CommandFest. Imagine, throngs of players all jamming Commander without the rigors and pressure of hardcore competition. Then, a pandemic dashed my hopes.

Thanks for all you do prof I really love watching these

amazing video as always this year just felt like you couldn't take time to enjoy a product because as soon as you got 1 new product a week later something brand new was out and you forgot about what you were previously excited about, I really hope next year they slow down the commander products it's like you said the format works well because it is left alone

The year of Commander made every format feel more like commander, and made commander feel like standard

My decks say yes. My wallet say nooooooo

Despite all the setbacks and upsets that came with this year I was blessed to be able to still play commander with some friends and still do to this day and we’re still having fun in our own little commander world lol

Always putting my thoughts in words. Thanks prof! 🙂

i mean, the biggest problem with the year of commander is that we didn't played much commander right ???

Honestly, whenever I saw spoilers and price all I did was say "pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass". It almost seems as if the Bobs at WotC said "With the lock downs people won't be able to play Magic... what if they forget about it and spend their money on a different hobby?! We cannot allow that! Let's just throw a lot of product all over the year, and in limited amounts so we play on the "don't miss it" factor, that will totally work"

Not even addressing the effects the Year of Commander had on other formats, this is still quite an analysis. Thanks Prof!

Loved this video, and your great breakdowns never disappoint

Last time I was this early it was still 2020... Wait OH NO

"If it isn't broken, don't fix it" as a whole feels wrong, Wizards is completely capable of making new exciting tweaks or just overall positive changes to their products and design methods, not working to better something just because it works as is means you are left with something that will never change and evolve until people find a problem. I do agree with the sentiments in the video, I just think the philosophy of only making improvements to solve problems is wrong.

Hey Prof, awesome video, I loved and agree with all your arguments. Two suggestions for future videos: 1) Magic products that in 2020 went unnoticed (not great, not failures) but that could’ve been great if WotC hadn’t released so many products; 2) A review of all the supplementary products released since 1993 (modern event decks, duel decks, masters sets, planeswalker decks and so on) so we could have a clear picture of the direction WotC is going.

I really agree, professor. Until now, I hadn't considered the fact that locating the commander decks alongside the expansion's Planes took away some of the value in viewing new legends from distint parts of Multiverse. Still, I think it can also be seen as an opportunity to further expand the lore of each expansion. Anyway, thanks for giving voice to what many of us think: this year was saturated. Thanks, and happy holidays.

Legends was nice, I was just hoping it woulndt have stuff that'd leave me feeling like id need to rebuild most my decks.

The commander legends pre-cons were created before Zendikar, Gavin said this in good morning magic

Well said sir. There has been a over saturation of product this year. It's hard for my pocketbook to keep up with.

As a new player who just got into commander a few months ago, the constant spoiler seasons, while they may have been a lot to keep up with, really kept me engaged in the game as a new hobby, and there were a lot of great reprints that were extremely useful for building up my collection. You made a lot of good points though, and I think if I wasn't a new player I may have felt differently about the way 2020 was handled. Thanks for the great content as always!

WotC: TOO MANY PRODUCTS. Make your releases a regular, predictable thing for the consumer to plan accordingly what they're going to get. Too much unpredictability and not enough time to test if a card is good or not.

"Don't ask questions. Just consume product and then get excited for next product"

When I did English at school, I was told that the conclusion was really important in an essay - you can really tell the Prof was an English lecturer when the conclusions to his videos are so impactful!

I enjoyed the year but it was a lot for commander players, specially since we get cards from every set, not only commander.

Politics in Commander is one of my favorite things, you can’t win without being good at both.

For those who play mono white? no

Excellent conclusion at the end.

I love your channel! In my opinion new commander players like me it was an good entry point. I bought one commander deck from each set and thanks to that I now have 3 small collection to play with. Before ikoria, I just had 1 deck and had to borrow one from my friends, if I wanted to change things up. But I also hope wizards stops with the emphysis on commander for the next few years! Greetings from germany and keep up the good work :)

I think the zendikar rising precons were made after the commander legends ones. Thats why those were not as good

Many magic the gathering players ask: please wotc get rid of the reserved list

Thanks for the perspectives, Prof! I agree that we got a little legendary-snowballed

Covid preventing us from using our fresh commander cards made the product saturation feel even worse

They should’ve just called it the year of green.

The year of commander but not the year of gathering. 😢

Jump start was actually awesome. Picked up a 4 pack for 20 off Amazon. Pulled a 40 dollar unicorn and the unlimited Mana elf from the dino part.

You mentioned the planeswalker decks and I bought the Basri deck and honestly with a few slight upgrades to make it more +1+1 counter focused, it's quite good

I'm happy to hear your analysis, but in my opinion, no. While I appreciate the sharp price cuts a lot of singles have taken, I'm not crazy about a lot of other things. Too many products and maybe too much focus on my favorite and ONLY format. It may be the hipster response of I liked my band until everyone else liked it. Commander Legends was good, but not the great success that everyone was hoping for. All my opinions only, just the way I feel.

nice

Well said. Oversaturated is exactly how I feel about it. I used to love commander and enjoyed keeping up to date with legendary creatures and looking at new sets to spot potential commander cards. Now I’m lost, i feel like I did when I first started playing magic... lost in a sea of cards.

As usual, you hit all the nails on the head. Well thought out and well articulated

I saw both :) Sadly a very good take on the year ... My only thought is .. please wotc, please, please, please slow down ... I know the whales youre trying to scalp can buy anything & everything that's not for us normies, but please slow down so we can remember cards & sets, as you say the biggest take is: 'when everything is special then nothing is special!'

I feel like this was the year of “limited” most of the products were either limited focused or had many new mechanics which only was viable in limited.

Great vid proff. Very well argued. As someone who has left magic for a few years, every time I come back I feel like Troy in that Community gif where he brings pizza to an apartment that's on fire. Everything seems like a mess, it's difficult to understand where to start.

I think the shift to half price precons was great, this in a set of 4 or 5 is a great starting point for new players / pods and also a good point to start a new casual build. My other highlight for the year was some of the creative and fun legends in commander legends. I agree with the oversaturation of product, might be the fact in Australia we are only getting Commander Legends releasing today (yeah, 18th Dec), but I am just not as excited to crack my booster box open tonight.

Haven’t watched the video, but the answer is “no”.

discord notification goes brrr

Damn is that a sick tie! Nice look Professor

So... Little story of my experience with MTG. Fire & Lightning was actually one of my first two MTG decks ever. My late uncle had apparently been into Yu-Gi-Oh! and MTG (though he had only taught me how to play Yu-Gi-Oh! before his death). After he died, I got his stuff, which included (by my estimations) about 4,000+ MTG cards as old as Unlimited Edition (but a TON from Torrent and Invasion). Anyways, those sat unorganized in a binder until recently (I've sorted and bindered 720 cards so far). So around 2011 (freshman year of high school), I had reunited with my best friend that I had originally known between 3rd and 5th grade, who had moved away. We originally played Yu-Gi-Oh! (and continued to for a while after reuniting), but one day when he came over, we went to Walmart and looked at the cards. We saw Magic: The Gathering, a card game we weren't yet familiar with that looked like Yu-Gi-Oh!, but cooler (way nicer art and card frames, and cleaner foil). So I got that, and then my friend and I both got a Core Set 2011 Intro Pack. I chose the Red/Blue and he chose the Black/Green. We played for quite some time, going up to the Innistrad block before I stopped playing and went back to Yu-Gi-Oh! (I returned to MTG during the Return to Innistrad block, but really got back into it with Amonkhet, playing through Hour of Devastation until I got mad at not having enough money to keep up. I finally most recently returned to MTG with Core Set 2021. I just ordered the M21 Chandra deck, some sleeves, and Showcase Mountains. I had also gotten Commander Anthology Vol.1 when it came out. I missed Vol.2, unfortunately.

MaRo is your typical control player. Of course he hates commander.

Simple no

Excellent points that are well-reasoned. I think the effect of the pandemic on distribution and release schedule is partly to blame for the feeling of over saturation. The time to "savor" sets was a bit wonky because of that. However, I still believe that Commander Legend was one of the best sets that's been released in a very long time. It was amazing to have such an unrestricted set that tied together so very much Magic's history and it's future. Thanks again for your thoughtful and heartfelt opinions and ideas!

so much product, i agree with that saturated overwhelmed feeling where I'm not even sure I follow along with x product

Wait, Unhinged was this year?... Jeez

100% agree that I don't like all the attention Commander got this year.

Great outro music!!

Mystery Boosters and Jumpstart was probably my fav products this year

This was more like the year of "Not playing paper magic because pandemic" but that's not Wizards fault.

Many Magic the Gathering players ask the question: "How much money do I need to buy every commander product that's coming out in 2021 - and will that leave me with enough to pay my bills?"

Prof coming in with the tough love questions. I only play commander, with a brief foray into Modern, and this was way too much product this year. Give me normal sets, 1-2 batches of the duo commander releases, and the mid-year Precon drop. We were doing fine without the added attention.

Excellent questions.

They ruined it with the dumb Walking Dead. They betrayed the whole commander community. :(

2020 was a Disastrous year wrt MtG. Feeling entirely sick of this game and the producers and designer. Bored senseless. It is not interesting.

You summed it up, bro. I could not get excited for commander legends if I tried and started collecting warhammer 40k which I am loving. Commander is a format where you don't need to constantly update decks so I've stopped for now.

Zendikar rising commander decks have been two of my absolute favorite sealed products next to the brawl precons from last year, inexpensive and focused on the single commander that didn’t leave me with a feeling of being ripped off. Swapped out a few inexpensive cards and am having a blast, really hoping they continue with this theme and boost the value of their main commander precon sets.