Commander Theory

About a third of all colorless commanders have been printed in the last 2 years. The family is small, but they sure are mighty! And with more confirmed on the way combined with a fairly large swath of exciting designs to choose from, Nick and Zak thought it would be a good time to talk about the best things you can do in a colorless commander deck! What payoffs exist that you should be focusing on? What staples exist in these colors, and what traps should you avoid? It's all here! So let us know your favorite colorless commander and enjoy!

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

LAST CALL! Boy, I sure am glad everything is one! But it's time to move on, and we had fun! Right? In this episode, Nick and Zak spend time looking over the cards that were most popular in BRO and make some guesses as to what cards people will like best from ONE. There are the card-by-card discussions, debate, and a final top 10 list that surprises even the cohosts! So let us know what cards you think will be popular as well! 

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

ALL WILL BE ONE... top ten list! Normally we'd do the legends, and then the main-deck cards, but we had gotten some feedback and wanted to try something different this time. Here are Nick and Zak's 10 favorite cards from ONE! Both cohosts drop their top 10 cards, as well as why and what they think about the format at large, so you better listen and then tell us what you think too! 

If you like this episode format let us know and we'll keep doing it! If you miss the older, more in-depth dive please let us know as well.  And to note, one of the perks of being a patron is that you get access to our show notes, and can see that we reviewed most of the cards in the set there! So if we didn't cover something you were thinking about, feel free to check there and let us know if you agree! It's probably in there with some words about it. 

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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)

ALL WILL BE ONE. Unless you're this review of ONE which is broken up into multiple parts. In this episode, Nick and Zak look at the commanders in the main set/theme boosters and see what each legend is doing. Are there any new archetypes? What's the deal with the allied color-paired commanders? DOMINI?!?! It's all here! So let us know what your favorite commander is and we'll see you in our maindeck cards episode (which will be a little different than normal!) 

Decklists: 

Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines 

Unctus, Grand Metatecht 

Drivnod, Carnage Dominus 

Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres 

Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut  

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)

Welcome to preview season! Is that some oil dripping from your eyes, or are you just happy to see us? All Will Be One is here and with it, two whole commander decks! As is tradition Nick and Zak get into the nitty gritty of all the new cards, the decks as a whole, and their favorite (and least favorite!) things about the decks. Let us know what you liked the most (or least!) and enjoy! 

Decklists: 

Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa 

Neyali, Suns' Vanguard 

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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!

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

Nick and Zak are off this week, but here's an episode from about a year ago they 

"Many content creators on the internet have posted episodes of shows and podcasts where they discuss a baseline way to build decks. They're usually heuristics like, "You need 10 ramp spells" or "you need 3 board clears" that are easy to follow and remember. But what do the Commander Theory hosts use...? In this episode, Nick and Zak lay out their process for deckbuilding in as simple a way as possible (which sounds worse than it is!) We get into the weeds about why decisions are made, how to use a hypergeometric calculator, and just why to do this at all in the first place! So listen in and let us know what you think about deck-building and your favorite deck compositions! Is there a list you made you were super proud worked out? Tell us all about it!

Here's a link to a super easy-to-use Hypergeometric Calculator"

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

Since the story is out, and so are we, why not try this fun module Nick put a lot of effort into? 

"You read that right: this week on Commander Theory Nick and Zak discuss a project Nick has been working on for a while.  Phyrexian Rebirth is a fan-made module to be run using the 5th edition DnD rules that allows players to explore the world of New Phyrexia just after the event of the Mirrodin storyline.  The GM and players will be able to use the rules to create phyrexians of every type, or just a sad elf that got stuck on this plane that's so inhospitable to natural life. Nick did a great job with this 100% fan made module that we think you'll love. We in no way own the rights to any of the material inside, so please, download for free, have fun, and...

Welcome to New Phyrexia! We can't wait to show you the potential that lies just beneath your skin...

Link to the Download (for now)

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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)

Recently Sam Black Tweeted about lands in commander which started a whole fire of people online getting upset and discussing something that's just probably true: you probably run too few lands in your commander decks. Most people will say that they supplement the lack of lands with ramp, as 2 mana rocks and others are all fairly ubiquitous within the format at this point. Sam Argues there's a point at which the mana rocks are a scam, and that you're probably better off just hitting your land drops and not playing some do-nothings that might lack synergies with your deck or are easily destroyed. So on this episode, Nick and Zak discuss some of their own decks and look at land counts, ramp, and what types of decks should be running ramp. Which decks are probably better off slimming down on rocks for more action and lands? It's an interesting topic, a little heady, but we assume that's what you're all into if you're listening! So let us know what you think, and what categories of decks you like to play the most. And ESPECIALLY let us know if we're forgetting an archetype here! We love to hear your thoughts! 

I know I posted otherwise, but we will be on hiatus for the next two weeks as life has found a way to get too busy. We will be back with a bang as the All Will Be One spoiler episodes start Jan 26th, so we'll see you all then! 

Also, we said we'd be better about card names and ABSOLUTELY were not this episode, so having your phone out with scryfall open probably wouldn't hurt if you're not too good with card names. Sorry! We are going to be A LOT better about it this preview season, and thank you all for letting us know how you felt about it! We want to make the show more accessible for everyone and sometimes we just get excited when we make the episodes and forget to slow down. 

CT's Deck-Building Template 

Frank Karsten's How Many Lands - Number 1, and Number 2 

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)

Magic is hard! Sometimes there are corner cases in the rules that people never learn or interactions that don’t quite work the way people expect them to. Are there any cards that people are just playing wrong? Today friend of the show and CAG member Charlotte Sable joins Nick and Zak (who's just kinda hanging out) to talk about some card interactions that are not very intuitive! And worse yet, tons of people are including them in their decklists on EDHREC! We learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and hope you all do too! 

This is the last show of the year! We'll probably take a break after the next set drops, but for now, thank you for staying with us through this crazy year and a million new cards! We couldn't do this without you all, and we're so thankful for the community that's grown because of so many creative and wonderful people who listen in! Thanks, and happy new years! 

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)

What a wild time it was for Magic back in 1998! Cards were crazy powerful, interaction was basically non-existent, and there were bannings galore in the only real format at the time. People were leaving in droves! And yet, most people look back fondly to Urza's Saga and laugh about it, the cards, the power level! In this episode, Nick and Zak look back at one of the most influential sets of all time: Urza's Saga. What was happening at the time? What cards and mechanics made a splash? And what were the two host's favorite cards? Listen in and find out! And be sure to tell us YOUR favorite card from Urza's Saga too! 

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)