Commander Social

By Ryan Greene & Zack Taylor

This is a weekly Commander podcast about Magic: the Gathering. Your hosts Ryan, and Zack attempt to entertain you with interesting anecdotes about the game of Magic, including their experience running... more

4.7

5050 ratings

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Commander Social:

How many episodes does Commander Social have?

The podcast currently has 216 episodes available.

Commander Social episodes:

October 28, 2020Thassa, Deep-Dwelling Budget Deck Tech - Ep 69
Patreon

Patron of the Week - Mike McAbee

Patreon Contest - What is your favorite non Magic hobby! Three Packs of Zendikar Rising

New! We’re streaming with patrons most Thursdays now, so watch out for the message on slack to sign up to be eligible for that week.

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and Microsoft Zune

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@jumbocommander - 0:08, 11:19, 51:01

@ManaCurves - 3:06

@SpellTable - 10:22, 13:37

@GingerJ0E - 12:39

@MothershipGames - 9:55, 56:45

Ep 69 Community Spotlight:

Disclaimer: This deck tech was inspired by DJ of Jumbo Commander

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqRu2q2BaUM

Explain what we mean by budget, no card over $5, save for Thassa herself

$87.09 - https://scryfall.com/@z4ck38/decks/6b668ea6-4282-4324-a0cb-04ce597a6032

Budget Style

Talk about some of the experiences in playing with the deck, and what pushed you over the edge to build it

Why is this deck cool?

Blinking is pretty much the best, and us Commander players love to get our value

Fblthp, the Lost

Master of Waves (explain how during the flicker no one gets priority, so when state-based actions are checked, master is alive and well, and protecting their flock of elementals)

Watcher for Tomorrow

Mulldrifter

Frost Titan

Meteor Golem

Pondering Mage

Cunning Evasion

Barrin, Tolarian Archmage

Blink and you might miss it

Rishadan Cutpurse

Rishadan Footpad

Rishadan Brigand

Here there be Pirates, yarr!

Note: Thassa is worded as follows: “At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one other target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.” This means that you get to keep anything you blink

Overtaker

Chamber of Manipulation

Agent of Treachery

Sower of Temptation (repeatable with Thassa, given enough turns)

Blatant Thievery

Crystal Shard

Conjurer’s Closet

Ghostly Flicker + Archeomancer

Displace

Department of Commander Redundancy Department

Verity Circle (Might even be awesome against mana dorks)

Dismiss into Dream

Willbreaker

Gadwick, the Wizened

Just give it a little tappy

Here is the original decklist from DJ: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/thassa-blinks-the-best/

Spellseaker

Glen Elendra Archmage

Vendilion Clique

Venser, Shaper Savant

Keeper of Keys

Vedalken Shackles

Panharmonicon

Cyclonic Rift

Temporal Manipulation

Time Warp

Ancient Tomb

Homeward Path

Miren, the Moaning Well

Some notable cards cut for costs

Training Grounds (Only works when Thassa is a creature)

Hearthstone (Same caveat as Training Grounds)

Erratic Portal

Notable non-budget cards not in the original list

1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider (If you have the means, we highly recommend picking these up)

Main Topic - Thassa, Dwelling in the Deep

Thassa is the Sea’s Knees! What do you think about this deck? Have you played against Thassa? Is this the kind of deck you would like to play? Did you like the fact that we did some budget content?

Summary

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
59min
October 21, 2020What does it take for YOU to build a deck? - Ep 68
Patreon

Patron of the Week - MoneyMoo (you can find him whooping Zack’s butt in games of Magic)

Patreon Contest - What is your favorite non Magic hobby! Three Packs of Zendikar Rising

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and Werther's Original Caramel Popcorn

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@LennyWooley - 2:02

@MothershipGames - 9:09

@SpellTable - 9:09

@tappedout - 12:18, 54:33

@archidekt - 12:18

@edhrec - 12:18

@scryfall - 13:44

@TheKristenEmily - 19:05

@chrisvondoom1 - 19:05

@jumbocommander - 20:22, 59:03

@CommandersBrew - 25:09

@blairwitchgreen - 43:23

@HenryStukenborg - 52:02

Ep 68 Community Spotlight:

Brewing and Building are separate

Many people brew decks all the time, but never actually put them together. For some folks it’s almost a thought experiment. We’re interested in figuring out what exactly pushes us over the edge, to turn one of those thought experiments into reality.

I used to do this all the time, when I was a kid, scrawling notes/decklists into the margins of notes I was taking in class. This is one of the coolest things about Magic, the fact that there’s so much meta knowledge to explore. Also, having access to card databases, and the internet, in our pockets really makes this easy

I totally did this too. I remember building shells of decks and just thinking about cards to fill other slots. I had a notebook and everything.

I actually do both of these! I wonder how many folks out there do both? Is it like a 50/50 split, or do most folks out there build one way like 90% of the time? Let us know on Social Media!

I do both as well. I’ll get something laid out online and then once i have all the cards in front of me I build the deck and it’s never exactly the same.

There’s something that makes this feel like old-school Magic, where you just kinda build with what you have

I just go through good stuff boxes and look for things, ie my kenrith deck.

We’ve even talked about “Found Decks” on the show before.

Conversely, some people don’t even actually brew until they have all the cards in front of them. I’ve definitely done this both ways

What percentage of decks that you brew do you actually build in paper? I think it might be interesting to see who out there are the dreamers/brewers. I know for me this varies wildly over time, and depends on my mood/life situation.

Is it when a new Commander gets previewed during preview season?

Is it when you read an article, listen to a podcast, or watch a youtube video?

Do you sometimes just flip through cards, and get inspiration?

Did you get inspired while playing a game of commander?

Maybe it’s been so many months since you last built a deck?

Maybe you get inspired while taking one of your old decks apart?

A fever dream late at night?

Got 50$ burning a hole in your pocket? Or maybe you got a giftcard to your LGS?

Maybe you need some content for your podcast?

We wanted to explore what exactly it takes for us to go over the threshold, and physically build a new deck in paper

Maybe some folks have a lot more time, because they are stuck at home?

The economy has been hit really hard, so maybe folks don’t have the resources to buy cards for new decks

Tangent: How many new physical paper card players do you think we’ve gotten during the pandemic?

Ryan’s New Decks

Winota, Joiner of Forces

Inspired by an episode that we recorded: “Decks outside our comfort zone - ep 49”

I think this one was born out of playing on Arena, or rather, that’s the final thing that nudged me over the edge.

Rielle, the Everwise

Inspired by an article by (@blairwitchgreen)

https://articles.starcitygames.com/premium/commander-top-10-ashaya-soul-of-the-wild/

Ashaya, Soul of the Wild

Braid-drazi

Build from the ashes of emry

Brokkos just wasn’t doing it for me.

Kinnan Infect

Zack’s New Decks

I thought it might be interesting to talk about what got us to build each of the decks we’ve built during the pandemic.

Ryan

Sisay Shrines

Mina and Denn Gruul Planeswalkers

Moist Naya Omnath

Greven, Predator Captain

Zack

Decks we brewed but didn’t build:

Ryan’s Stable Decks

Gonti, Lord of Luxury

Inspired by playing against someone (Henry Stukenborg)

Inspired by a random thought: “Could I build a mono-red, OPC deck? Which commander would I use? Grenzo exists?!?! Let’s do this!”

Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

Definitely inspired by preview season (and my love for the morph mechanic)

Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer

Inspired by watching Jumbo Commander content

Braids, Conjurer Adept

Inspired by art, had lots of Chandras in the deck

Article about Planeswalker Uniqueness rule going away (August 28, 2017)

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/ixalan-mechanics

Original built in 2015, the deck got a shot in the arm mid 2017

Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

Niv-Mizzet

Built in the fall of 2018 when Guilds of Ravnica came out.

It started as a fun spell slinger brawl deck, but when I realized the potential in full on EDH I built it and the rest is history.

Built in the fall of 2019 after m20 came out.

Inspired by my Muldrotha found deck that had a lot of cool etb effects and my love of landfall.

Yarock

Built in June 2019 when Modern Horizons came out.

I’ve always been all about phyrexia, so i figured I’d build it for fun.

Also my first mono colored deck.

Yawgmoth

Built earlier this year around Jan or Feb

I had always wanted to build a five color commander.

When I built it, I used only what I had which were “good stuff boxes” and ended up packing it full of cards that didn’t really fit elsewhere.

Now it’s kind of the junk draw of my collection.

Kenrith

There are other decks, but they are currently being revamped.

Zack’s Stable Decks

Might also be interesting to go through each deck in our stables, to see what pushed us over the edge to build them

Is it harder to get motivated to build a deck during a pandemic?

Biding your time - I tried to play Yarok to set up a play for the next turn, but the board got wiped. If I had waited two turns I could have played Palichron and Yarok in the same turn to get infinite mana to Villainous Wealth.

Zack Gets It Together

We always find it interesting to reflect inwards, and see what is truly motivating our choices. Do folks out there enjoy episodes like this? How many decks have you physically built during the pandemic? What percentage of decks that you brew see the light of day?

Summary

Main Topic - What does it take for YOU to build a deck?

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
1h 5min
October 14, 2020Ashaya, Soul of the Wild Deck Tech - Ep 67
Patreon

Patron of the Week - Dylan Wood

Patreon Contest - What is your favorite non Magic hobby! Three Packs of Zendikar Rising

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and Sherpa Lined Slipper Socks

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@TRayburn - 1:58, 9:07

@case_vickers - 1:58

twitch.tv/10sley - 1:58

@MothershipGames - 6:05, 52:09

@SpellTable - 6:05

@blairwitchgreen - 8:33, 10:38, 17:29, 37:37, 43:51, 51:32

@CraigBlanchette - 9:07

@edhrec - 10:01

Ep 67 Community Spotlight:

NOTE: I got Oblivion Stone wrong, it sacrifices itself, the Karn trick does work with Boompile though.

Read Ashaya

https://articles.starcitygames.com/premium/commander-top-10-ashaya-soul-of-the-wild/

I was inspired to build this by an article Bennie Smith wrote for Star City games (@blairwitchgreen)

Disclaimer: My list is very much untuned. I’ve played it exactly once, and haven’t made any changes to it.

https://scryfall.com/@greenegeek/decks/2594bc20-fa13-4abf-80c0-d4f37d7957c8

My list:

I have a mono-colored deck of every other color and had been toying around with the idea of a mono-green deck, my previous thought had been a Pir, Imaginative Rascal, Super Friends deck. So, I was pretty much primed to build a mono-green deck.

I had Titania, Protector of Argoth, and it was good, but people didn’t much like playing against it (and it was pretty linear).

I also had a Yeva, Nature’s Herald deck (because OF COURSE I did). It was fine too, pretty much a good stuff deck, but I didn’t really enjoy playing it that much.

I have been wanting to build a mono-green deck for some time now.

Let’s talk for a few minutes about how awesome mono-colored decks are.

So much room for utility lands!

I’m running 7 Utility lands that do NOT tap for green.

Restrictions breed creativity. There’s just a lot of things you can’t do in a mono-colored deck (although Green is one of the better ones I think).

Lots of basics, and lots of ways to fetch basics!

Ashaya does something new/unique. I remember when the card was spoiled, people were like “Yeah, now I don’t care about my opponents playing Cyclonic Rift.” I remembered agreeing with that point, but also noting that they probably just wouldn’t play it, or would deal with Ashaya first. I hadn’t thought about the other side of this coin, but we’ll get to that later.

It’s really fun just thinking about all of the crazy things you can do in this deck, and imagining all of your creatures as lands.

Why is this deck awesome/something listeners would want to play?

Average CMC 3.56 (I might try to bring this down some)

8 Mythic

44 Rare

18 Uncommon

7 Common

---

37 Creatures

1 Planeswalker

8 Artifacts

5 Enchantments

5 Instants

4 Sorceries

39 Lands

Stats

Greater Good (Oh man this card was NUTS when I played the deck. Along with Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar)

Return of the Wildspeaker

Great Henge

Guardian Project

Rishkar’s Expertise

Beast Whisperer

Card Draw

Early creatures are super good because they give you a chance to “setup” for the turn when you play your Commander.

Arbor Elf

Beanstalk Giant

Wood Elves

Harvest Season - Imagine the MCL of having 3 early creatures, say Wall of Blossoms, Wood Elves, and Elvish Reclaimer out. Casting your Commander on Turn 4 (thanks Wood Elves!) and then tapping your 3 creatures to cast Harvest Season, and fetching up 3 Lands. I’m not sure this card is great in here (Might be better in a token deck), but I’ve always wanted to try it out.

Green Sun’s Zenith to go get Dryad Arbor (This was great with Guardian Project in play!)

Ramp

Magus of the Candelabra

Untapping lands (especially more than one at a time)

Oblivion Stone

Boompile

Sword of Feast and Famine

Take advantage of all your creatures being lands (this is the other side of the Cyclonic Rift, that I hadn’t considered, running these in your deck, and being proactive with the effect)

Titania, Protector of Argoth - Hard to wrath if this AND your commander are out.

Gaea’s Liege - I’ve always loved this card, and you can do some broken stuff with it and Leyweaver

Sylvan Safekeeper is a creature sac outlet in this deck. It’s super good in here!

Sylvan Advocate is a 2 mana 4 / 5 that double anthems your whole team!

Quirion Ranger - Imagine Bouncing your Eternal Witness to Untap your Gaea’s Liege. Or your Wall of Blossoms to untap your Ulvenwald Tracker

Scryb Ranger

Temur Sabertooth

Reusing Enters the Battlefield triggers

Cloning your creatures with Vesuva! I did the fun thing, I cast Ulvenwald Hydra, got a Vesuva to copy the Hydra, and then with the hydra-copy, fetched up Reliquary tower (because I had Greater Good in play)

Fun stuff

So what do you think about this deck? Does it sound fun? Are there any spicy cards you would include? Let us know!

Summary

Main Topic - Ashaya, Soul of the Wild

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
54min
October 07, 2020Omnath, Locus of Creation Deck Tech - Ep 66
Patreon

Patron of the Week - Sebastian Tinsley

twitch.tv/10sley

Played some games with Sebastian and Case last night

Patreon Contest - What is your favorite non Magic hobby! Three Packs of Zendikar Rising

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and Softalk Antibacterial Landline telephone shoulder rest

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has set up an online store!

twitch.tv/10sley - 1:32

@case_vickers - 1:46

@MothershipGames - 8:52, 58:10

Ep 66 Community Spotlight:

https://archidekt.com/decks/788821#Omnath_Landfall

https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Fetch_land

Onslaught/Zendikar fetch lands

Mirage fetch lands

Shards of Alara panoramas

Miscellaneous fetch lands

https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Bounce_land

Undiscovered Paradise

Might be worth running “Amulet of Vigor”

Talk about landfall

Ramp

The Usual Package - Cultivate, Explosive Vegetation, etc...

Azusa, Lost but Seeking

Ramunap Excavator

Wayward Swordtooth

Exploration

Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Path to Exile

Krosan Grip

Chaos Warp

Beast Within

Removal

Roil Elemental

Emeria Shepherd

Zendikar's Roil

Moraug, Fury of Akoum

Phylath, World Sculptor

Valakut Exploration

Landfall

Karametra, God of Harvests

Radha, Heart of Keld

Shalai, Voice of Plenty

Tatyova, Benthic Druid

Zacama, Primal Calamity

Scute Swarm

Dope Creatures

Scapeshift

Splendid Reclamation

Nahiri’s Lithoforming

World Shaper

Life Gift

Searing Meditation

Ryan’s Top “3” Inclusions for the Deck

Slots

So what do you think about this deck? Does it sound fun? Are there any spicy cards you would include? Let us know!

Summary

Torment of Hellfire for 37 (potential 111 damage)

Cadaverous Bloom

Zack Get’s it Together

Main Topic - Omnath, Locust of Creation

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
59min
September 30, 2020A League of Your Own - Ep 65
Patreon

Patron of the Week - Angel Rivera III

Patreon Contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 20$ gift card to Mothership

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

Twitter contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 10$ gift card to Mothership

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and Deluxe Bingo Set from Pottery Barn

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@CMDRCentral_Max

@CMDRCentral - 0:34

@wisesquishy1 - 0:34

@danaroach - 0:34, 5:30, 11:25

@MothershipGames - 2:57, 10:29, 23:19, 50:35

@OrzhovDunn - 5:15

@EDHRECast - 5:30, 49:06

@mathimus55 - 11:25, 49:06

@JosephMSchultz - 11:25

@Top8Games - 13:25, 15:20, 43:03

@SheldonMenery - 13:25

@Marshall_LR - 15:20, 24:45, 44:19

@TolarianCollege - 19:57

@LennyWooley - 22:40

@GingerJ0E - 35:11

@dpkrausejr - 40:57

Ep 65 Community Spotlight:

This topic was inspired by the Boxing League that Brian David-Marshall

Before Sheldon wrote the article Max and I were both like, “What’s a boxing league and I believe, one of CMDR Central’s patrons told us”

https://articles.starcitygames.com/premium/an-introduction-to-commander-booster-box-league/

Sheldon wrote an excellent article on SCG:

http://lrcast.com/limited-resources-560-paper-magic-at-home-with-brian-david-marshall/

Seriously, how cool is this boxing league!?!?! And it is also a fun thing that people can follow along with content creators, like “What did BDM add to his card pool this week?” etc

Can watch a bunch of this on Stream

Learned about this through listening to an episode of Limited Resources

@Max: To me a league is a way to help people play EDH the way they want without having to worry about power level. I’ve heard of leagues that are tailored for higher power decks or leagues tailored to keep the power level for all participants at a lower power level.

Rewarding / punishing players for doing certain actions in game ie First Blood (+1) point, Infinite Combo (-2) points

This can be done via a point system.

What exactly IS a league?

Zack and I have, in the past, run a league where we met every other week, and we had a lot of fun doing it

A group of us from my LGS have done Pre-Con leagues. I think we did this for C15 & C16. Week 1 is precon as is, every week you get $5 in cards to add, you can bank your money if you don’t want to make any additions. Kept track via paper. These days it’d be super easy to create a google doc to track it all for everyone.

Played for about 5 weeks. It’d always be our 1st game of the night then we’d play our “real” decks

Max, have you ever been part of a league?

Ryan - I even played in some in store leagues way back in the day

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_gYz_k66upbRTBVal9QLUNvc2c

An example league from TCC that Zack and I used as a basis for our Commander league

Committing to a continuous play schedule

Keeping in touch with folks (This is especially important during our current times)

Nice things about having a league

Schedule, schedule, schedule! Make sure folks know when/where they will be playing

Make the rules clear and explicit

Be prepared to answer LOTS of questions

Try to make it fun for EVERYONE!

Be kind to your Commissioner, it’s a lot of work!

@Max - Get everyone's opinion. Biggest thing I remember from the pre-con leagues was spending a few weeks discussing the point system and budget for each week.

@Max - Compromise - You aren’t going to make everyone happy but you can do your best to make it fun for everyone.

League Dos and Don’ts

Playing for points changes the fundamental way multiplayer Magic is played

Will people show up consistently if it’s for casual?

If competitive, how will you track standings? (Hint: Spreadsheet!!!)

Should your league be casual or competitive?

Our experiences with running a league

Organizing a league is very similar to organizing something like the Vegas Rotisserie

So much fun! A lot of the fun was had around seeing what cards people drafted, etc. Meta-fun!

Not quite a league, but man, how much fun was the rotisserie?

This should be awesome!

Folks at home can definitely do something like this, and it’s the perfect way to stay connected with your playgroup during this pandemic, also, since most of us won’t be playing in stores (Support your LGS if you can!), this is a good way to have an authentic Commander Legends experience

We can stream opening card pools, as well as games, how cool is that?

We’re gonna do a Commander Legends sealed league

Leagues are fun! And they have lots of benefits. Have you ever participated in a league? Do you think you want to, now that you’ve heard this episode?

Summary

Zack writes 100 times on a blackboard “I will not cast a board wipe when an opponent controls Revel in Riches”

Zack Get’s it Together

Main Topic - Running your own Commander League

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
53min
September 16, 2020Zendikar Rising Top 8 - Ep 64
Patreon

Patreon Contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 20$ gift card to Mothership

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

Twitter contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 10$ gift card to Mothership

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and “Ink pot and quill.” Mike thought we might find ourselves wanting to make a map for our adventures on Zendikar

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@MothershipGames - 1:23, 7:10, 54:22

@schmandrewart - 8:18, 27:01

@HipstersMTG - 9:07

@dpkrausejr - 14:25, 23:07, 42:15

@CommanderReplay - 23:07

@chrisvondoom1 - 42:15

@Cathaoir1 - 48:19

Ep 64 Community Spotlight:

https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2020/09/zendikar-rising-previews-begin-cards-mechanics-expeditions-and-more/

Kicker

Landfall

Party

modal double-faced cards

Mechanics

30 lands, with both foil and non-foil versions

They will include all 10 fetch lands, the Battle Bond crowd lands, and powerful lands like Cavern of Souls and Wasteland.

Expeditions are back!

Disclaimer - This is only for the cards previewed between Sept. 1st - 7th.

We did not include the Dual Land DFCs on our lists

Zack sets the over/under

Secret List Top 8

Which cards from Zendikar Rising are you most looking forward to? Anything that should have been on your list? What is the number one card that is getting jammed into one of your decks as soon as you can get your hands on one?

Summary

Main Topic - Zendikar Previews

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
57min
September 09, 2020Top 8 Kill on Sight Commanders - Ep 63
Patreon

Patreon Contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 20$ gift card to Mothership

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

Twitter contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 10$ gift card to Mothership

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and doilies

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@MothershipGames - 1:05, 6:15, 49:00

@BillandTed3 - 3:04

@TeneberusOne - 6:15

@LennyWooley - 11:12

@TheTokenOtaku - 17:56

@edhrec - 47:49

@SpellTable - 49:30

Ep 63 Community Spotlight:

Disclaimer: This is strictly for Casual EDH, cEDH players don’t necessarily face this issue, but I bet they do key in on Thrasios/Tymna (or whatever the best Tier 0 deck is). Also, I imagine our local meta could influence this a bit.

There are lots of Commanders that fit this description. The first one of these I remember was Narset, Enlightened Master (September 26, 2014). The combination of hexproof and lots of extra turn/combat steps makes the deck super hard to interact with. It often feels like you have to have a board wipe on the exact turn they play Narset. I was so bummed, because I opened up a foil copy.

You know this type of Commander, because when you sit down to the table, you immediately feel defensive. For example, when I sit down with my Emry deck, I always immediately let people know that it’s construct tribal, but still has some power/ramp in it.

We’ve got some patrons that have some pretty unique takes on some decks, for example Lenny has Mono-White Chulane, and Gumball-Urza. This is potentially a whole show topic on it’s own

Ryan’s turn to set the over/under

Secret list, top 8 style

What is a KoS Commander?

Which Commanders make your KoS list? Are there any on our lists that you disagree with? Any we forgot?

Summary

Main Topic - Kill on Sight Commanders

Mothership Again.

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
51min
September 02, 2020Commander Legends A1 Bold Predictions - Ep 62
Patreon

Patron of the Week - Case Vickers (@case_vickers) Came in and immediately shared his Yuriko Deck.

Patreon Contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 20$ gift card to Mothership

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

Twitter contest - Show us the one card that you play that people always have to pick up and read. #WaitWhatsThatDo. You can win a 10$ gift card to Mothership

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and the Metamucil

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@BearMaulings - 1:00

@case_vickers - 1:09

@MothershipGames - 1:49, 6:56, 1:06:15

@jasonsudeikis - 3:05

@rebeccasugar - 3:05

@danaroach - 3:05

@SpellTable - 7:26

@ChannelFireball - 8:07, 1:04:17

@GavinVerhey - 8:45, 12:42, 39:07, 45:28, 57:38

@SixthComma - 8:45, 9:10

@JulesRobins - 8:45, 48:05, 56:09

@scryfall - 9:10, 35:17

@blairwitchgreen - 9:39

@TolarianCollege - 12:42

@maro254 - 16:11

@sebmckinnon - 25:15

@SheldonMenery - 49:03

Ep 62 Community Spotlight:

Disclaimer: We’re recording this the week after Command Fest Online 2, huge shoutout to CFB! Very cool to participate and raise some money for charity at the same time.

Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcnTf1caAUM

They announced the entire Commander Collection Green (Designed by Ari)

https://scryfall.com/sets/cc1?as=grid&order=set

Chord of Calling

Cultivate/Kodama’s Reach

Eternal Witness

Sylvan Caryatid

Greater Good

Beastmaster Ascension

Rampaging Baloths

Sakura-Tribe Elder

Our predictions are BOOOOOOLLLLLLLD

Back in episode 31 we predicted the following cards for Commander Collection Green

Ari talked about “White in Commander” and what they are looking to change (or already have that we haven’t seen yet)

Congratulations Gavin! So crazy that Gavin has been working on this for 6 years! If I ever need a confidant, I’m picking Gavin!

The set’s flavor can pull from any place AND any time

Any A1 Bold predictions here?

I wanna see old stuff! -Z

Ryan Bold Prediction - We’ll see at least one card set on Phyrexia

This means, only 4 non-evergreen mechanics, 3 old, 1 new

A1 bold predictions for the 3 old (Does partner count here?)

Ryan Bold Prediction - 3 old mechanics: Kicker, Renown, Flashback

Zack Bold Prediction - Storm, Affinity, Shadow.

It isn’t mechanically Commander Horizons

Draft is 3 20 card boosters, Draft 2 cards from EACH pack. you end up with a 60 card deck.

2 legends and a foil in every pack

Sengir, the Dark Baron

I’ve been wanting this since partners released in 2016

Mono-colored Partners!

Hal and Alena! How cool is it finally getting to see these 2?

Prismatic Piper

Ryan Bold Prediction - 1 prismatic piper, 10 rare mono-colored legends (2 of each color). 30 uncommon mono-colored partners (6 of each color)

Ryan Bold Prediction - Teferi, mono blue rare Partner (pre spark, so a creature)

Zack Bold Prediction - Mono color weatherlight crew partners

41 monocolored Partners! Over 1500 partner combinations now :)

71 Total new Legends in the draft boosters

30 non-partner, 2 / 3 color legends (so this means no 4 or 5 color legends in the set, if my math checks out)

Keeper of the Accord

Ryan Bold Prediction - Teferi’s Protection will be reprinted!

Zack Bold Prediction - Blind Obedience will be reprinted

Powerful white cards

Extended Art

Commander’s Sphere and Command Tower extended art

Ryan Bold Prediction - Cultivate extended art

Ryan Bold Prediction - Arcane Signet extended art

Zack Bold Prediction - Brainstorm Extended Art (ice age)

Zack Bold Prediction - Blood Artist

Many other common/uncommon stables will get this same treatment

32 Popular legends will get reprinted with Etched Foil treatment (These can appear in draft boosters)

Each new legend (71 of them) can also appear in Etched Foil

Etched foils appear in draft boosters infrequently

Etched foils appear in every Collector booster

Zack Bold Prediction - There will be a Niv Mizzet, Parun Etched Foil

Man, this is giving me a conundrum, cause I want to draft the set, like BADLY, but also may be a while before I can get together with folks, and the extended art cards look awesome. Also are there extended art etched foils?

Extended art cards ONLY appear in Collector Boosters

Video of the treatment on Gavin’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3p0xlcQJU

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher

Ryan Bold Prediction - Kess, Dissident Mage will be one of the reprint commanders

Ryan Bold Prediction - Teysa Karlov will be one of the reprint commanders

Etched Foils

No double-faced cards

Ryan Bold prediction - This will be a changeling, because the two legendary options don’t seem like fun draft environment cards: https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=%28type%3Alegendary+type%3Akithkin%29 (Could also be a non-legendary creature, but the way Gavin said it makes me think it was a Ruse)

Zack Bold prediction - it will be a five color sliver.

At least one kithkin

They used a spreadsheet to test the partners (so you know it’s serious!)

Jeska will likely be a Planeswalker that can be a commander

Ryan Bold Prediction - This will be a new card, the current options aren’t great: https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=type%3Acreature+commander%3AG+cmc%3D6+rarity%3Ac&unique=cards (Or Elvish Aberration is downshifted to common)

Zack Bold Prediction - It will be Vorstclaw.

6 mana common green creature that is NOT Colossal Dreadmaw

Ryan Bold Prediction - We will see a mono-Black Aetherborn uncommon legend

Zack Bold Prediction - people holding a piece of fence

New Characters

All mono-colored legends have partner. Any 2 color or more legends won’t have partner (Stand-alone as Jules said)

Enemy Crowdlands (Battlebond) are in this set!

Releases November 6th

Questions

Anything goes here, let’s each at least put 3 bold predictions

Ryan Bold Prediction - We will finally see the W/B Angel that is a sister to Sigarda, Bruna, and Gisela

Ryan Bold Prediction - A pre-spark U/R Dack Fayden legend

Ryan Bold Prediction - We will get a legendary creature that is a hint about the Wanderer, and it somehow involves Fblthp

Zack Bold Prediction - Praetors will be reprinted.

Zack Bold Prediction - Primeval Titan will be reprinted / unbanned

Zack Bold Prediction - Urza Planeswalker

Final Bold Predictions

Booster Fun

Commander Legends!!!

Gavin Verhey, Ari Nieh and Jules Robins (Lead final designer of Commander Legends)

Commandfest Preview Panel

What did you think of the Commander Legends panel from Command Fest Online 2? What cards are you most excited for? What predictions do you have for Commander Legends?

Summary

Main Topic - Commander Legends

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
1h 8min
August 26, 2020Pregame Scenarios - Ep 61
Patreon

Patreon Contest - Most unique deck you’ve seen out in the wild - 2 Double Masters packs

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

Twitter contest - Most unique deck you’ve seen out in the wild - 1 Double Masters pack

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and the Rolodex

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@MothershipGames - 8:15, 48:58

@SpellTable - 8:52

@edhrec - 45:02

Ep 61 Community Spotlight:

The idea: We each take 2 decks from our stable, and the other co-host comes up with 3 “interesting” commanders to play a game with. We go through our thought process about coming up with an initial plan.

Disclaimer: This is in a vacuum. Initial plans can give us a place to start talking about strategy, but even good plans need to be adjusted, and most initial plans can probably go out the window quite quickly, but it’s probably worth talking about having a plan in general, and how this can apply later in the game when you reassess..

Zack details the high level version of how Deck 1 works, and how it tends to win AND lose games. (Mention there is a link to the deck in our stables)

Any notable/important cards in your deck?

Ryan reveals the 3 SECRET opponents!

Initial thoughts

Which person do you think you should take out first?

What about your deck makes this a good idea? Silver Bullets?

Which person do you think you’d have the best chance against in a heads-up scenario?

Anyone you think might make a great early game ally?

Any cards/typical effects these decks tend to run, that might be problematic for Zack’s deck?

Ryan, why did you pick these 3 particular commanders?

Zack Deck 1 - Niv-Mizzet

Ryan details the high level version of how Deck 1 works, and how it tends to win AND lose games. (Mention there is a link to the deck in our stables)

Any notable/important cards in your deck?

Zack reveals the 3 SECRET opponents!Initial thoughts

Which person do you think you should take out first?

Which person do you think you’d have the best chance against in a heads-up scenario?

Anyone you think might make a great early game ally?

What about your deck makes this a good idea? Silver Bullets?

Any cards/typical effects these decks tend to run, that might be problematic for Ryan’s deck?

Zack, why did you pick these 3 particular commanders?

Ryan Deck 1 - Gonti, Lord of Luxury

AudienceLand, what did you think of this? Was it interesting? Useful? Entertaining at least? Do you do any sort of pre-game analysis?

Summary

Main Topic - Pre-game Scenarios

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
51min
August 19, 2020Level Up: Learning From Mistakes - Ep 60
Patreon

Patreon Contest - Most unique deck you’ve seen out in the wild - 2 Double Masters packs

Ryan - @greenegeek

Zack - @z4ck38

Together - @commandersocial

Twitter contest - Most unique deck you’ve seen out in the wild - 1 Double Masters pack

You can find us on Twitter

Mike Condon for audio engineering and serial cable to hook up printer

Thanks

https://store.mothershipatx.com

SOCIALSHIP - free shipping on orders of $50 or more

SOCIAL10 - 10% off in stock MTG singles

spelltable.com

https://discord.gg/MMXQJqf

Thursday nights come play at mothership!

Our LGS has setup an online store!

@BentzMr - 2:26

@MothershipGames - 7:07, 52:02

Ep 60 Community Spotlight:

Disclaimer: Commander is a SOCIAL game, winning isn’t everything, so watch with care how far you go down the competitive path.

That being said, winning IS fun. And I’m sure there are lots of folks out there that would like to get better at Commander.

It’s so much easier to make an episode about building better decks, it’s much harder to make an episode about how to help folks get better.

Step 1: Admit that you are making mistakes.

It’s going to be hard to fix mistakes if you aren’t making any.

It’s also MUCH harder to identify some types of mistakes in Commander vs Limited or Standard/Modern. This is because the consequences of making a mistake in a 1v1 game happen quite quickly after you make them, and often lead to the game being over.

Changing the way you think about variance may also help. Think about what information you had instead of complaining about why you didn’t win.

My opponent had the exact spell they needed to win! (Did they tutor one or more times that game?)

I just needed one more turn! (Did you fail to realize an opponent was just a card away from a combo?)

I got mana screwed/flooded! (Are you playing enough lands in your deck? How about ramp? Should you have mulliganed?)

Everyone ganged up on me! (Were you playing Atraxa? Did you get off to an early lead?)

Your first instinct should be to avoid blaming a loss on variance. This is not to say that variance doesn’t happen, and often-times variance does lead to bad times for you, but it your first instinct is to blame variance (Blame Variance!), then you may take the easy way out, and not really take the time to think about how you played that game

Think about the things you played, and how folks responded.

Did you make a play that aligned the whole table against you? Could/should you have waited to play it till later?

Did you misidentify the biggest threat at the table?

Did you leave a problematic permanent on the table for too long, hoping someone else would take care of it?

Did you fail to realize that two of your opponents were going to team up, and 1-2 punch away your pillow fort?

Did you take out the wrong player, when you had your chance to kill any of your 3 opponents?

Should you have mulliganed?

Ask them if they noticed any misplays on your part.

Ask them what cards they had in their hand at the end of the game.

It really helps if you can talk with your opponents after the game, especially if they are people you think play well!

Think about your game, immediately after you play it. Reflect on how the game went.

Sequencing!

Can be something as basic as playing your lands in the wrong order. Or tapping your lands incorrectly.

Sometimes this is obvious, sometimes it’s not. Like sometimes you might not notice that there was a better way to sequence things, but sometimes you might not even think about sequencing things

Honestly, this is one of harder things in Commander, because board states get so cluttered, so quickly. And you may forget you need to take out that Blind Obedience before you cast your Hasty creature.

I think this is sometimes tricky for newer players, especially when playing against new opponents, or decks in an unknown meta.

This can also include playing a card that is going to scare the other players into attacking you, thinking that it’s less scary than what some other opponent already has going on. An example could be playing Aura Shards, and not knowing that one of your opponents has 3 very important enchantment/artifacts in hand. You may not know this is a likely scenario, unless you’ve played against that player’s deck more than 1 time before.

Incorrectly assessing threats

Forgetting that your opponent played a Sylvan Safekeeper on turn 2.

Not doing the math on how much damage you were going to take from 2 of your opponents having a Zulaport Cutthroat in play before you cast a board wipe

Failing to notice an onboard trick

These are not the droids you are looking for (or not hitting your saving throw versus a savvy political opponent

So many times people make a deal, and get nothing out of it. Like someone promising not to attack you for two turns, when it’s obvious they weren’t planning on attacking you anyway

Making a bad deal

Making too many deals, and painting yourself into a corner

Picking the wrong person to go to the final 2 with.

Political

Types of mistakes

This can be a tricky thing. We are all getting together to have some social fun, so sometimes it’s not the greatest to be very strict with the rules. I know oftentimes I encourage my opponents to take stuff back

You want to make sure you have a conversation about this before the game starts. It might be great to play with some stricter rules enforcement if the folks you are playing with are up for it. (It also could EASILY be NOT fun to do so).

Maybe hold yourself to a higher standard? Essentially owning your mistakes. You don’t have to always do this, but it’s hard to learn from a mistake if there are NO consequences from making it. (If you’ve ever played with me, you KNOW I don’t often hold myself to a higher standard!) I think this is something especially hard to do if you’ve only ever been a casual player. Playing a lot of limited, and grinding at PTQs etc, really helps here, because you are often playing at a higher REL, and take backs aren’t an option.

Take-backs?

How to learn from your mistakes

Learning from your mistakes is CRITICAL to getting better at Commander. Two of your best tools for figuring out the mistakes you are making are “Thinking critically about games immediately after playing them” and “Talking with people who you respect, and getting their feedback”

Audience land: Do you look for mistakes? Do you have any great lessons you’ve learned? We’d love to hear some of them!

Summary

Main Topic -Level Up: Learning From Mistakes

Keep it Social!

Komiku - Battle of Pogs

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Zack Gets it Together Theme

Consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/commandersocial

You can check us out at commandersocial.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/CommanderSocial

You can email us directly at [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commandersocial

On twitter @commandersocial

twitch.tv/greenegeek

Ryan individually @greenegeek

Zack individually @z4ck38

Contact Info

© Copyright 2020 Leaky Dinghy, LLC
...more
54min

FAQs about Commander Social:

How many episodes does Commander Social have?

The podcast currently has 216 episodes available.