Commander Theory

The top 20 Commanders over the last two years is one of the most interesting features on EDHREC. It's interesting to see it change over time and to see what commanders have the go-get-'em attitude needed to break into the top spots, but what can it teach us about design? In this episode, Nick and Zak look at the top 20 commanders on EDHREC and try to analyze what makes them popular? Why should Muldrotha succeed when Chainer, Nightmare Adept and other graveyard strategies don't even make it to the top 100 most popular commanders? Listen and find out!

We especially want your feedback from this episode, so please let us know what you think, see, and feel about this kind of topic! What decks and cards do you see the most of? What have the beginners in your magic playgroups been drawn towards? 

Next week will be our first Kaldheim spoiler episode, so stay tuned! It's gonna be big!

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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 NEW YEAR!!! On this very special episode, Nick and Zak have the red mana guru -Jules Robins - on to talk about, what else, but the color red in Commander! Jules was lead set designer for Commander Legends amongst so many other things and enlightens us: what red can and can't do, where might red go mechanically, what experiments has WotC tried, and so much more! This is a great conversation and we hope it lets you all ring in the new year with some rad new CONTENT.

And if you're reading this THANK YOU to our patrons. We couldn't do this without your amazing support. Here's to a great year for Magic in 2021!!

You can reach Jules here (it's his Twitter)

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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 Holidays! Nick and Zak's gift to you all is this nice little (maybe not so little) episode talking about what we know about Kaldheim! Wizards was kind enough to spoil cards from their Set and Theme boosters, as well as the face commanders for the two Commander preconstructed decks the will release as part of Kaldheim. There's a lot to take in, hopes, fears, treasure, changelings, and more! So listen in and tell us what you're most excited about too!

What's this? DECKLISTS:
Magda
Ranar
Lathril

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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)

Life and the holidays might have gotten in the way of finishing some new stuff, but Nick and Zak have been talking about this episode a lot lately and figured it was worth a relisten! Zak for sure gets the episode number wrong in the intro so don't mind that.  But we hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane as we continue to work on other content for the future!

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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)

On this very special episode, Nick and Zak have a special guest, Ari Nieh! Great Designer Search 3 winner and the current White Mana Guru on the Council of Colors within Wizards R&D. He discusses what it means to be on the Council of Colors, what it means to be the White Mana Guru, and what's going on with White's slice of the color pie, in commander and beyond. This is an excellent conversation so please enjoy!

You can reach Ari Here

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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)

Sometimes a deck is just not quite in the right spot for a fun gameplay experience. Sometimes another color exists that might handle it better. On this episode, Nick and Zak get into what a world would look like if some popular (and not popular) commanders were shifted into a different color identity, much as commander legends did with Blim. How could lead to better or new gameplay experiences? Is this something Wizards of the Coast should do more of? Listen and find out!

Decklists:
Darien, but Red
Thassa, but White
Shirei, but White
Gitrog, but Red/Green
Ezuri, but Green/Black

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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)

On this episode Nick and Zak get into some tech that's so secret, EDHREC doesn't even list them on the commander's page! They discuss the cards themselves, why they're uniquely good, and what this means about how people are building their decks.

Thank you to Alex Whiteclay, Mark Churchwell, and Kevin Kelley, for dusting some of these bad boys off and starting a series we're excited to continue into the future! 

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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)

RE-REUN

We apologize for the "heat" of the recording here. This was recorded a while ago with older equipment. The gain is pretty high(spicy even), but the conversation is relevant to what Nick and Zak, and the community at large have been having in the last few weeks due to CMR and the topic of white in general. Buckle up, enjoy, and we'll be back next week with a new episode just for you!

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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)

The second half! Nick and Zak finish off the legends and some notable main-deck cards. But stay tuned, because there's set and color analysis as well as a look at what the two of them think this set's design means for Commander at the end! (Honestly, it's pretty interesting and it starts around 2:14:30 !!) There's also a look at what Nick and Zak guessed right and wrong about the most played cards in Zendikar rising, and predictions for what will be most popular in Commander Legends as well. WOW that's a lot!

Deck Lists:
Sakashima and Kodama
Falthis and Jeska
Numa and Miara
Keskit + Tormod & Tormod + Kydele by Dr. Bunni
Ich-Tekik + Akiri & Ich-Tekik +  Rebbec by Yggdrasil
Araumi
Tuya
Hamza
Imoti
Wyleth
Jared Carthalion by Dionaea
Archelos

Thank you to everyone who helped with decklists and helped evaluate cards / talk about tech with us. We'll be taking a week off (there's gonna be a re-run episode) and then we're gonna be BACK AT IT BABY. And lastly, Dragon Tier Patrons will be getting a collector's booster of Commander Legends for sticking with us and being the amazing people they are. We couldn't do this without the support of all of our patrons, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!

If you like our podcast, please support us on Patr

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)

Get ready to hit that times 1.5 speed, this episode is a doozy! Nick and Zak get through the first batch of spoils for Commander Legends, talking about tech, color pairs for partners, cards that maybe shouldn't exist, and more! Also, there are decklists!

Keleth and Reyhan
Malcolm and Vial Smasher
Jeska and Dargo
Krark and Tymna
Kodama and Thrasios
Blim
Obeka
Ghen
Colfenor

We'll have EVEN MORE decks next week, and a few we weren't able to finish in the notes of next week's episodes, so stay tuned!

Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for 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)