Commander Theory

WE ARE BACK! It's 2022 and we're kicking things off with a wonderful interview with Chris Mooney! GDS3 competitor and full-time Magic designer since 2019, working on wonderful sets you might have heard of like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow! In this interview, we talk about Chris's old job as the Colorless Council Member, their new job as the White Counsel Member, and just what these slices of pie have to offer! What is white's new relationship with card draw? Reanimation? Treasure production?!?! It's all here! So listen in and let us know what you think about what white's doing too!

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The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

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You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

As you've probably heard by now, the sky is falling! Oh wait, there are more digital-only cards! And a... new format? What does this have to do with Commander? And what does this mean for design in the future? Join Nick and Zak as they lament some changes to the easiest way to pick up games of magic, talk about what they do like about the changes, Historic Brawl, and in general T H E  F U T R E! It's all here! So listen in and let us know what you all think as well.

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Back so soon? You hardly finished your first few MID drafts. But that's alright, because on this episode Nick and Zak look at some preliminary numbers for their Innistrad Midnight Hunt predictions! The two take some guesses as to what's gonna be the top 10 most popular cards from Innistrad Crimson Vow! What's different this time around? Can we see anything about the general design philosophy between the two sets? How do the commanders from the Precons play now that we've gotten our hands on them? All this plus more individual card discussion on this episode!

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

A new installment, a new series! Now officially named Seasons Past! Where we look back at old designs to see how we got to where we are today. In this episode, Nick and Zak get friend-of-the-show Charlotte Sable - CAG member and excellent writer of magic knowledge - to look back at one of her favorite sets: Alliances! What cards stuck with us? How did they end up designing the "final" set to be paired with Ice Age? And... Gorillas?!? It's all here! Along with favorite cards and just, a lot of reminiscing, so listen in and let us know what you think! 

You can find Charlotte HERE, and you can read her excellent writing HERE (seriously, it's awesome!) 

We apologize for the mic problems in this episode, but for sure we'll be up and running again for next week. 

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

In a short and sweet episode, Nick and Zak talk about, well, what it was like at MTG Las Vegas! We got to go and meet a ton of new people, some old friends, play a ton of Magic, and generally get a good look at what the future might hold for the Commander Community! (We're playing a game while recording so there's a little bit of that happening too) In the future we plan to go to as many of these events as we can, so always feel free to contact us and let us know if you'd like to meet up and jam games!

We did a review of the main-deck cards from Crimson Vow with Kyle and Andy from the Legendary Creature Podcast, and you can find it HERE. We're really into a lot of the cards and it was a blast to hang out with those guys! A small warning, there is cursing so be careful if you usually listen with kids in the car.

Other than that, we're excited to get back to your regular scheduled Commander Theory programming! Yay 2-ish months without previews we hope! 

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Watch out! Behind you! It's the two Crimson Vow commander preconstructed decks! And they have dozens of new cards to brew with! In this episode Nick and Zak get into, you guessed it! The new cards from the Innistrad: Crimson Vow commander decks. We look at what's cool, what's new and inventive, and if reanimation needs more... reanimation spells? It's all here! So listen in, and let us know if anything has inspired you to brew!

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Time again so soon - Grab your finest cloak and gown, stow your weapons at the door, and help yourself to the... blood fountain? Because Crimson Vow is upon us! And with it, a bevy of Magic: The Gathering cards to build around and with! In this episode, Nick and Zak get into the nitty-gritty of the legendary creatures! What cards do they want? What do they remind us of? And even.... why does this exist?!? It's all here! So listen in and let us know what your favorite (or least favorite!) commander in the set is!

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

In 2017 Mark Rosewater released an article/resource for Magic: The Gathering fans and home designers called the Mechanical Color Pie. The article includes TONS of drop-down menus and various ways in which every mechanic used on a magic card at the time was sorted into color, by color, and in alphabetical order.  It was a HUGE undertaking, and incredibly helpful to passionate fans like CT hosts Nick and Zak. It had its downsides though, mainly that it was backward-looking. You could think of it as more of a snapshot of the color pie around 2017. So when Maro finished the 2021 update to the Mechanical Color Pie, with the help of the Council of Colors, AND it was forward-looking this time? Well, that means a ton to people who care about the future of the format! So listen in as we get into the changes made to the color pie, and let us know what you think too!

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! For this week Nick and Zak get back to the original set to bring horror to the MTG universe! Not Innistrad in 2011, but The Dark! Originally released in 1994 the cards have left lasting impressions on the two hosts for a long time! So for this spooky weekend take a trip down memory lane to see the set that made mana rocks the way they are and top-down sets possible. For each color-pie break there's an equally flavorful card that... well it probably doesn't do much, but it's interesting and fun! And there's a lot to look back on and learn from and pet cards galore! So join us as we delve deeper into The Dark!

Last note, if you like this retrospective let us know! It's something we've talked about doing more of since there's a lot to learn from the past and it makes it easier to see what's coming down the line! (Also, it's just cool to see how far design has come and take some trips down memory lane)

Edited the name to reflect it's the first in the series Seasons Past. 

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Best friends and mindflayers and clues, oh my! SLD Stranger Things features a bunch of new commanders and a special but familiar new mechanic. So Nick and Zak dig into builds, preferences, and what this means for design in the future! Because ethics aside, the designs are pretty interesting! It is a proto Universes Beyond deal after all! We also are almost done with some research, digging deeper before we get into some new series for you all. So stay tuned! Listen in! Let us know what you think! Do you like the ethics of this? What about The List stuff? We always love to hear from you. 

Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)

Support the show

You can reach me on Twitter or email me here

If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!

If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!

The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)