I was lucky enough to meet the entire Command Zone crew at Vegas, walking into the event. Everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming. I love that what you see on this channel is exactly what you get - Really cool people doing something they love, and not just "the characters" they play in front of the camera. I'm not a fanboy, but JLK did say I can tell everyone we're best friends. 🤣 Thank you all for your hard work. It was great meeting you. I hope you know how much joy and positivity you bring to the magic community.
Just a rules clarification, yawgmoth thran physician cannot target himself with the -1/-1 counter because he has protection from humans and is one himself
Unrelated to the video but I think you guys should have a tournament. And subscribers can vote on their champion and maybe even throw in prizes for the voters who picked the winner. Just an idea I had. Thx for the content
Hard to make a 4 players fun format into a tournament, trust me I tried, unless you play competitive but then it's only 1v1, so not suited for Command Zone Also introducing competition in commander is when deck powerlevel start to matter and limits creativity...
One thing to remember if you are using Backgrounds in the 99. They only work on Commander CREATURES. If you have a planeswalker commander, such as Elminster, then the background will not work unless you turn it into a creature (probably with Luxior).
Just to say, the Basalt monolith filter can be used for any amount of mana Vhal taps for: 1)Tap Vhal for 5 restricted 2)Untap basalt monolith with 3 of the 5. 3 filtered + 2 restricted floating. 3) Use 1 filtered and the 2 left from Vhal to untap the monolith again. Now you have 5 filtered floating.
I really *LOVE* the design of backgrounds, such an elegant way to boost a mono-colored commander's power level in an interesting way that also diversifies its color identity.
I think backgrounds are a cool new mechanic to build decks around. So many different combinations, really gives the variety to choose what you want. Then if you don’t want to have a commander/background they slot into your deck as part of the 99. Really only works if your deck is based around your commander
@@reubenfromow4854 i was thinking the black one for card draw then dive into a revel into riches build with chatterfang and some other treasure things (old gnaw and bootlegger stash) lol
Gold tokens are a seldom-used mechanic that are effectively Treasures that don't need to tap. So you can tap them for a green and then sac them for one of any color.
2 ways to get around vhal's mana restriction is to use prismite or stonework packbeast that way you can turn his colorless mana into calored mana, both prismite and stonework packbeast say 2: add one mana of any color
I had already started making a quad color deck based on casting spells from exile. A possible commander pair for the deck would be Thrasios and Vial Smasher. When I saw how much support this set gave casting from exile, I was super excited. Whether I do Yidris or the partners, I think Passionate Archeologist goes in the deck. (Also, this is my first comment on TH-cam in like 10 years haha Love the show. Love Magic. Much love)
They started out saying they would be talking about their favorite unique Background/Commander combinations - Jimmy even says "don't just play the obvious ones" before they start off with... Durnan and Passionate Archaeologist (ie. the Green/Red precon alternate Background/Commander combination, lol). 🤣🤣🤣
Right now I'm building mono black Burakis/Haunted One. It's a super comboey party deck that aims to establish wild value loops like that Aetherborn Rogue you mentioned that no one would probably make use of with Haunted One. It's a party type, so you can sac it in response and basically Lae'zel's acrobatics your board if you have a vehicle and a sac outlet. The deck also has no tutors, just seeking to put together free form combos because the general synergy seems so high.
I paired Wilson with Agent of the Shadow Thieves. By turn 3 with no ramp, I'm swinging with an invincible trampling vigilant deathtouch 3/3 that's just going to keep getting bigger.
the first background combo that got my attention was the Cultist Wilson combo, which you guys talked about quite a bit. tbh, seeing so many people talk about the pair has kinda taken the wind out of my sails on it, but that's fine since I already have two other ideas for golgari decks I want to build. I'll just find another background pair to build. thanks for the encouragement to really dig in and find something special to do with these cards
Interestingly backgrounds in the 99 with Yoshimaru are really good, more legendary permanents to trigger yoshi and most of them will buff him in different ways as well!
The background I thought of that could go in the 99 of lots of decks is Agent of the Iron Throne. If your commander wants to run Aristocrats, it's another payout. If you have Treasures? This makes them do damage. If you just want to throw a bunch of zombies at your opponents until they are overwhelmed, now your commander turns those deaths into more damage. You guys seem to be all about sac for value, so I would have thought you'd like that one.
Hadn't really thought about it, but the two "tribal" backgrounds have the very interesting avenue of turning one of the Choose commander into a tribal deck. Say, Folk Hero and Jaheira, for a fairly cheap cost, suddenly you have a green white Elves commander that draws you a card whenever you cast a elf mana dork. That's pretty powerful. Sure, a elf deck has Beast Whisperer and such in the deck already, and white is a little awkward for elves, but it makes an interesting design. Might just largely ignore the white in the deck beyond staples. I see he went into Haunted One shenanigans, probably cleric combo with that somehow. Maybe even do stuff with giving whichever Chooser changeling.
Cultist of the Absolute has gone straight into my Olivia; Crimson Bride deck. Gives Olivia +3/+3 with deathtouch and ward. The downside of “at upkeep sacrifice a creature” can be overcome with Olivia’s “when Olivia attacks, return creature from graveyard to the battlefield tapped and attacking”.
I built Wilson with Cultist of the absolute and it’s one of my favourite decks currently. It’s a bit slow but when it gets going it goes hard. I’m looking at possibly building another background pairing in the future
Cultist of the Absolute got highlighted, but I feel like the most underrated BG for Wilson is Flaming Fist (gives commanders double strike when they attack). Took out 3 players with commander damage over 2 games during prerelease draft, thanks to 3 copies of Greatsword of Tyr. I've built a no-rares deck from that pairing and it's already taken out Azami Wizards tribal, 4c Omnath and Kenrith with only commons and uncommons.
I had the same love for Wlson, Refined Grizzly; however, I went a different route. I used the white background Flaming Fist (a common, by the way), which allows me to double up on "hit" abilities, such as mark of sakiko, one with nature, hunter's insight, keen/sixth sense to draw and ramp at a crazy rate for such little investment. I also use Hammer Time (which is lethal with Flaming Fist) and other massive buffs that put Wilson in lethal range with the double strike. I find the double strike allows Wilson to be more powerful and better at sustaining for these reasons. I nicknamed the deck, "Mr. Wilson's Right to Bear Arms."
I’m REALLY surprised you guys didn’t mention the background “Street Urchin” for deathtouch commanders. Especially Prosper. Who is one of my commanders. Lol. I threw it in immediately after I got mine!
I'm tinkering Imoen with Haunted One. Glad I got ahead of the curve by already picking up Opposition and Cauldron of souls. Also Mothdust Changeling. Burakos also pairs well with Haunted One, either a mono black, or with Haunted One in the 99 for him
@@joshholmes1372 Black does have the support for the creature types, but a build in this way is more about spreading an anthem to many creature types at the same time with anti-removal built in rather than forcing life loss and getting treasures.
Played this in a SpellTable game with Jimmy but I paired Dungeon Delver with Wyll, Blade of Frontiers for a D&D themed deck! Its a fun deck and I love it 😆
Can you use a background in the 99? Just as a normal enchantment in your deck? - answered at 15:35 However, I'm a still a little confused. Jimmy said backgrounds never interact with a card that doesn't say "choose a background". If that's true, then what JLK said immediately afterward doesn't make sense as far as them being in the 99 of any other commander deck. It would make sense to me that you could have a background in the 99 and it would fully function when it's in play, but could only have it in the command zone if you have a commander that says "choose a background". That would make it function exactly like partner and friends forever.
@@craig1287 There are not too many thing, it's mostly an episode to clarify some things about Backgrounds, some rules and effects might not be as clear to some players. One thing that I really like is using the Backgrounds in the 99 of a deck with Partner or Partner With (or Friends Forever as well I guess) when the Background has an effect that stacks with each Commander Creature you own.
If you do Vhal with Animation Module, Thornbite Staff is very helpful, because everytime you sac a servo to the background, the staff untaps Vhal so you can use her to pay for the combo and make more and more mana in the process.
One thing that you guys probably just didn't get talked about with these in the 99 is that they mention "commander creature(s) you own." So I think like the 'storm' cycle these work best in partner decks. Agent of the Iron Throne turns both your commanders into blood artists. With 2 commanders Folk Hero expands your tribal options considerably, Inspiring Leader pumps by +4/+4 if both are out etc. On my side the only thing I know I'm doing is converting my red/green landfall deck away from Mina and Denn and into Erinis, Gloomstalker + Street Urchin. Street Urchin gives you the power to pay a mana and sac artifacts or creatures to have your commander deal 1 damage to something. Not very good. But Erinis is a deathtouch creature with the ability to pull lands back on attack. You can sac artifact lands to Street Urchin, let Erinis kill potential blockers in the way, swing, bring a land back, tap and sacrifice it to kill another creature. Lots of cool synergies to be had.
Prerelease boxes had a sheet with "You may use up to 2 copies of "Faceless One" for the draft events. Is this legal for the format or just a temporary allowance granted for the event only?
thats for the draft cause it might be that you have cards you want to play but not commanders to play that cause color identity (unlikely but possible). also faceless one is a little missleading cause you might think cause of him you can choose another background aka 3 commanders, but the reminder say it has to be a second commander. so you cant have a third one cause you can only have one second commander card ;)
I can see Voltron decks making use of some of the backgrounds; the one that gives commander's double strike in particular just seems good here, as does Agent of the Shadow Thieves which gives them deathtouch. I would play both in Zurgo.
Captain Wilson, Sword Coast Sailor, it was quite funny watching my opponents vie to be the person with the least life when my turn came around. Simic Voltron was quite fun!
jimmy and josh got shameless charlatan wrong (and its ok cause new card)! the text is added by the enchantment, means after being another creature your commander still have pay 2 and blue: this creature bekomes a copy of another target creature. if the enchantment leaves then yes its stuck ^^ edit: i got them wrong. they mean it cant transform back to the original and thats right if you dont build around that.
No, they are correct. They are saying that if you turn it into something, you can't then turn it back into your commander because you can't target your own commander with the ability.
Im confused. At 15:20 Jimmy says that "unless it has the text choose a background it wont interact with backgrounds and backgrounds wont work unless the card says choose a background" but is that how it really works? Backgrounds just say "Commander creatures you own..." I am still confused on this. Can I not throw in a background to any deck I have and get its effect? Or does it have to be a "choose a background" commander?
Thinking about an Ellyn Harbreeze/inspiring leader deck, or Ellyn/Feywild visitor. Both sound like a lot of fun to me. Also a Volo/Scion of Halaster deck could be really interesting, especially if you're able to consistently untap volo each turn
Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant has some potential with the Haunted One background, only thing is, you'd need some way for creatures to share a type with it more easily
I added Street Urchin and Agent of the Iron Throne in the 99 of my Prosper deck. Street Urchin let's me use my treasures to kill stuff off with Prosper's deathtouch and Agent gives me another drain to go with him. I need to get a copy of
For folk hero I think if ur playing a white human or angel general I think it's a auto include cause those types are really easy to just have a good amount of them incidentally and it makes those common types cantrip which is mono white or in the mardu colors wedge is just really good.
Yknow? Normally the commercials are more cringeworthy than entertaining, but i really liked this batch. Rocco was fun and on point with the puns, and the backstory you guys made for combat Celebrant was pretty sensible. Good work to the writers.
Currently building a Burakos Party leader/ haunted one deck! Burakos is an orc, cleric, wizard, rogue and warrior and has party support and haunted one cares about creature types of the commander so a Sacrifice party!
I had made a Yoshimaru/Reyhan Legendary matters deck, and was strongly considering dropping some backgrounds into that deck. Not only affecting both commanders of the deck, but also triggering Yoshimaru for playing a legendary.
In Prosper alone I added Tavern Brawler, Agent of the Iron Throne, Street Urchin, and Passionate Archaeologist. Whenever one of them hits the field Prosper feels that much better if that's even possible.
Ok so what about Faceless One it's a "colorless enchantment creature background it says choose a color at the beginning of the game and of course it also has choose a background" so with this can you technically have three cards?
jimmy and josh what do you think about akroma vision of ixidor and another partner commander with flaming fist background to get a keywords plus one counter deck ?
Backgrounds seem like they could be broken in the 98 of Partner commander decks. I slammed Guild Artisan and Agent of the Iron Throne in my Max/Will stranger things food/clues/treasure tokens deck. Both low drop commanders that drain all opponents for 1 each when I sac a token and/or both create treasures when they attack is really strong.
I got the Party Time precon purely because I really love Burakos/Folk Hero. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it party, or move to cleric tribal but I really love that background combo. I feel like Folk Hero is really, really powerful. Narrow, but great for white card draw. It's definitely also going into my Giada deck
@@titanium0002 Orah never really appealed to me tho tbh Its not that I want to do cleric tribal, its more that I want to play Burakos/Folk Hero, and if I choose not to play party then clerics are the next best option
I've Made a B/U Venture into the dungeons and initiative deck using Shadowheart, dark justicar and Dungeon dweler background. Its hella fun, It was janky but It definitely showed a lot of potential. Now im looking forward to tunning the deck up
I ended up making a G/U Dungeons&Dragons deck using Durnan and the dungeon dweller background! Uses pretty much any and all take initiative, venture into the dungeon, and roll a D20 cards as possible
I'm putting Cultist of the Absolute in my Hapatra deck. It seems like a slam dunk because it's evasion, protection, and more commander damage (which isn't that important but it's fun)
Yeah, I'm putting Candlekeep Sage in my Hargilde-Wernog artifact flicker deck because the backbone of the deck is, in fact, flickering Wernog over and over to generate a mountain of Clues.
I'm looking into building a Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant deck with Candlekeep Sage as the background. Lulu with the revolt effect and being able to draw 2 cards from blinking Lulu sounds like fun to me.
I brewed an elmar + wernog friends forever deck, slapped like 20 backgrounds on it. I ended up with a combat-centric enchantress, clues deck. I have yet to playtest it though. (in theory, 2 commanders + multiple backgrounds on the board make for some very interesting set-ups. Hardy outlander + raised by giants with 2 commander's on board nets you a 30/30 and a 20/20 creature swinging at the player with the biggest life total. 😂)
The only background I plan to run is Shadowheart + Master chef. All the little tokens get a good meal before I sacrifice them to draw cards. I call it the last potluck.
I think they could make 2-color commanders with "choose a background that shares a color with this" and keep the mono backgrounds, or maybe 2-color backgrounds. But yeah, they'd need a "share a color" restriction or something like that.
It would be interesting if they did more small cycles of backgrounds or choose a background commanders, like one of each color in a commander product, or one of each color in a set in the future. I think that would be more interesting than adding a whole batch at once
Passionate Archaeologist is amazing in a Prosper deck. Tavern Brawler is also nice, though that deck will already have so many ways to get impulsive draw and usually doesn't care about boosting that 1/4 statline very much. Also, I'm surprised you didn't go very much into Partners and the fact that you can effectively double up on Background power that way. Two Master Chefs giving each of your creatures a pair of +1/+1 counters on ETB? Two Inspiring Leaders to give your token creatures +4/+4? Even just a pair of 10/10 commanders on the board (though of course they track Commander Damage separately).
Unrelated to this video, but I'd really love to see a video from you guys discussing not just throwing in all the powerful cards/staples into decks. Most of the MtG community talk about how the format is getting increasingly powerful all the time, how various cards are no longer "playable" or "fast enough" etc. I've had people comment on my card choices for decks, saying I should cut them for stronger alternatives, but those choices had been made to lower the power to make for better games with certain groups. It's a problem in the community that people feel pressured to play the 2 mana rocks, for example, when these choices should just be made to fit the power you're going for. I think it'd be really helpful for the community as a whole to adjust their perspective on this so that it's "okay" to play sub-optimal cards and not always feel like they need the best decks to have fun, or even to win. Having a voice like yours at the CZ express this to people would be a great step forwards for all players, I feel :)
Yep. People watch these shows and are inspired to build insane expensive decks and try to play against their friends who's decks are half bulk. It sucks. I did the same shit and my friends were like wow this is... not fun at all!
Are backgrounds able to slot into the 99 and interact with your commander if it’s not a choose a background commander? I have been trying to find an answer and have been unsuccessful everywhere I look. Very interested in putting inspiring leader into one of my token decks and am wondering if that’s legal. Thanks in advance!
I'm a little confused by the Faceless One. It's a legendary creature with "Choose a Background", but it itself has the type Background- can Faceless One be the Background of another Commander? Can you have more than once Faceless One in the Command Zone?
Yes it can be the background of another Commander, so long as that legendary creature is one of the ones from this set with Choose a Background. There can’t be two of them in the Command Zone because Commander is a singleton format
47:38 Well, you could just tap her in response to Caller of the Claw's ETB and then sac all you wanna sac still in response. no untapping ahannenigans needed.
Got a question about faceless one. It says choose a background on it but it also is a background itself, so can you build a 3 color deck using it? Take for example, I pick a commander with choose a background, pick faceless one as my background so faceless one is now also my commander, can I then pick a second background because of faceless one also saying choose a background?
My personal favorite combo is shadowheart + shameless charlatan relentless rat / rat colony. Sac beeg rats for beeg draw and when the time is right, turn ypur commander into a beeg rat that deals commander damage
Boros Goblin Tribal with Gut and Folk Hero is one of my ideas. i think it gives goblins a funny option too use white interaction AND keep the hand full. or i just take inspiring leader and go aggro with big skelletons x)
Anyone knows if you could pay the multikicker cost of something like Everflowing Chalice with mana from Vhal? Seems like it could be a good card in the deck if you could.
I was lucky enough to meet the entire Command Zone crew at Vegas, walking into the event. Everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming. I love that what you see on this channel is exactly what you get - Really cool people doing something they love, and not just "the characters" they play in front of the camera.
I'm not a fanboy, but JLK did say I can tell everyone we're best friends. 🤣
Thank you all for your hard work. It was great meeting you. I hope you know how much joy and positivity you bring to the magic community.
nice!!!
Awesome dude. Jealous
X
Fuck yeah!! That's awesome! I met them too! They were super nice and super cool!
Just a rules clarification, yawgmoth thran physician cannot target himself with the -1/-1 counter because he has protection from humans and is one himself
Unrelated to the video but I think you guys should have a tournament. And subscribers can vote on their champion and maybe even throw in prizes for the voters who picked the winner. Just an idea I had. Thx for the content
Hard to make a 4 players fun format into a tournament, trust me I tried, unless you play competitive but then it's only 1v1, so not suited for Command Zone
Also introducing competition in commander is when deck powerlevel start to matter and limits creativity...
@@lasterman94100 plus what’s the point if josh is going to win
@@enriquemeza5291 then eliminate josh first.. EZ
@@hepsdaveed8057 lol!! I like it! But these guys never do that. He’s the boss.
The mind sculptors had a very good tournament recently, it is very possible for 4 player play
Are the guys that do the Extra Turn games going to use partner background pairing decks in that episode? It would be really awesome and fun to watch.
One thing to remember if you are using Backgrounds in the 99. They only work on Commander CREATURES. If you have a planeswalker commander, such as Elminster, then the background will not work unless you turn it into a creature (probably with Luxior).
Definitely making Wyll the Master Chef deck with a dice matters theme.
sir i did not know you were a Magic fan but it is a nice surprise!
Love your videos, huge fan!
Just to say, the Basalt monolith filter can be used for any amount of mana Vhal taps for:
1)Tap Vhal for 5 restricted
2)Untap basalt monolith with 3 of the 5.
3 filtered + 2 restricted floating.
3) Use 1 filtered and the 2 left from Vhal to untap the monolith again.
Now you have 5 filtered floating.
Wow guys you forgot to tell a patron that they rock.
I really *LOVE* the design of backgrounds, such an elegant way to boost a mono-colored commander's power level in an interesting way that also diversifies its color identity.
I think backgrounds are a cool new mechanic to build decks around. So many different combinations, really gives the variety to choose what you want. Then if you don’t want to have a commander/background they slot into your deck as part of the 99. Really only works if your deck is based around your commander
That's the thing! Some of these are essentially: "Auras that don't fall off of your Commander when they leave." Voltron tools
Didn't realize Jaheira also affects no creature tokens. Food, clues, treasure and blood become mana rocks that add G.
Pair her with a red background and go into blood tokens? Relatively easy to make!
Street urchin for easy pinging
@@reubenfromow4854 i was thinking the black one for card draw then dive into a revel into riches build with chatterfang and some other treasure things (old gnaw and bootlegger stash) lol
Gold tokens are a seldom-used mechanic that are effectively Treasures that don't need to tap. So you can tap them for a green and then sac them for one of any color.
2 ways to get around vhal's mana restriction is to use prismite or stonework packbeast that way you can turn his colorless mana into calored mana, both prismite and stonework packbeast say 2: add one mana of any color
I had already started making a quad color deck based on casting spells from exile. A possible commander pair for the deck would be Thrasios and Vial Smasher. When I saw how much support this set gave casting from exile, I was super excited. Whether I do Yidris or the partners, I think Passionate Archeologist goes in the deck.
(Also, this is my first comment on TH-cam in like 10 years haha Love the show. Love Magic. Much love)
They started out saying they would be talking about their favorite unique Background/Commander combinations - Jimmy even says "don't just play the obvious ones" before they start off with... Durnan and Passionate Archaeologist (ie. the Green/Red precon alternate Background/Commander combination, lol). 🤣🤣🤣
Right now I'm building mono black Burakis/Haunted One. It's a super comboey party deck that aims to establish wild value loops like that Aetherborn Rogue you mentioned that no one would probably make use of with Haunted One. It's a party type, so you can sac it in response and basically Lae'zel's acrobatics your board if you have a vehicle and a sac outlet. The deck also has no tutors, just seeking to put together free form combos because the general synergy seems so high.
I paired Wilson with Agent of the Shadow Thieves. By turn 3 with no ramp, I'm swinging with an invincible trampling vigilant deathtouch 3/3 that's just going to keep getting bigger.
I went Wilson and Flaming Fist for the Double strike instead.
@@MunchKING that pairing is nuts
Passionate Archeologist feels like an auto include in any Prosper deck, I know I plan to pick it up and add it to mine
the first background combo that got my attention was the Cultist Wilson combo, which you guys talked about quite a bit. tbh, seeing so many people talk about the pair has kinda taken the wind out of my sails on it, but that's fine since I already have two other ideas for golgari decks I want to build. I'll just find another background pair to build. thanks for the encouragement to really dig in and find something special to do with these cards
Interestingly backgrounds in the 99 with Yoshimaru are really good, more legendary permanents to trigger yoshi and most of them will buff him in different ways as well!
I instantly subbed after that opening. Well done.
The background I thought of that could go in the 99 of lots of decks is Agent of the Iron Throne. If your commander wants to run Aristocrats, it's another payout. If you have Treasures? This makes them do damage. If you just want to throw a bunch of zombies at your opponents until they are overwhelmed, now your commander turns those deaths into more damage. You guys seem to be all about sac for value, so I would have thought you'd like that one.
Hadn't really thought about it, but the two "tribal" backgrounds have the very interesting avenue of turning one of the Choose commander into a tribal deck. Say, Folk Hero and Jaheira, for a fairly cheap cost, suddenly you have a green white Elves commander that draws you a card whenever you cast a elf mana dork. That's pretty powerful. Sure, a elf deck has Beast Whisperer and such in the deck already, and white is a little awkward for elves, but it makes an interesting design. Might just largely ignore the white in the deck beyond staples. I see he went into Haunted One shenanigans, probably cleric combo with that somehow. Maybe even do stuff with giving whichever Chooser changeling.
20:50 first commander
30:42 second commander
Another awesome episode you guys rock also in episode idea throwback. Upgrade like the very first precons with modern cards now.
The Wilson and Raised by Giants Combination should really play Belt of Giant Strength, +10/+10 and free equip! xD
Doesn't work, both effects set it at 10/10
Cultist of the Absolute has gone straight into my Olivia; Crimson Bride deck. Gives Olivia +3/+3 with deathtouch and ward. The downside of “at upkeep sacrifice a creature” can be overcome with Olivia’s “when Olivia attacks, return creature from graveyard to the battlefield tapped and attacking”.
I think that this is a good idea however with the way the power level is going up each year you have to choose 2 lower mana options .
I actually really like the partner mechanic, I think it can shape up to make some pretty sweet decks
I built Wilson with Cultist of the absolute and it’s one of my favourite decks currently. It’s a bit slow but when it gets going it goes hard.
I’m looking at possibly building another background pairing in the future
Big Timmy energy picking Wilson not just nice but twice
Cultist of the Absolute got highlighted, but I feel like the most underrated BG for Wilson is Flaming Fist (gives commanders double strike when they attack). Took out 3 players with commander damage over 2 games during prerelease draft, thanks to 3 copies of Greatsword of Tyr. I've built a no-rares deck from that pairing and it's already taken out Azami Wizards tribal, 4c Omnath and Kenrith with only commons and uncommons.
I had the same love for Wlson, Refined Grizzly; however, I went a different route. I used the white background Flaming Fist (a common, by the way), which allows me to double up on "hit" abilities, such as mark of sakiko, one with nature, hunter's insight, keen/sixth sense to draw and ramp at a crazy rate for such little investment. I also use Hammer Time (which is lethal with Flaming Fist) and other massive buffs that put Wilson in lethal range with the double strike. I find the double strike allows Wilson to be more powerful and better at sustaining for these reasons.
I nicknamed the deck, "Mr. Wilson's Right to Bear Arms."
I’m REALLY surprised you guys didn’t mention the background “Street Urchin” for deathtouch commanders. Especially Prosper. Who is one of my commanders. Lol. I threw it in immediately after I got mine!
I'm tinkering Imoen with Haunted One. Glad I got ahead of the curve by already picking up Opposition and Cauldron of souls. Also Mothdust Changeling. Burakos also pairs well with Haunted One, either a mono black, or with Haunted One in the 99 for him
Don't think you want to mono color a commander that requires specific creature types to function. Haunted one in 99 makes sense though.
@@joshholmes1372 Black does have the support for the creature types, but a build in this way is more about spreading an anthem to many creature types at the same time with anti-removal built in rather than forcing life loss and getting treasures.
Played this in a SpellTable game with Jimmy but I paired Dungeon Delver with Wyll, Blade of Frontiers for a D&D themed deck! Its a fun deck and I love it 😆
Can you use a background in the 99? Just as a normal enchantment in your deck? - answered at 15:35
However, I'm a still a little confused. Jimmy said backgrounds never interact with a card that doesn't say "choose a background". If that's true, then what JLK said immediately afterward doesn't make sense as far as them being in the 99 of any other commander deck. It would make sense to me that you could have a background in the 99 and it would fully function when it's in play, but could only have it in the command zone if you have a commander that says "choose a background". That would make it function exactly like partner and friends forever.
Oh, I've got a video coming out soon that goes over the cool shenanigans that you can do with Background.
Like what kind of shenanigans?
@@craig1287 There are not too many thing, it's mostly an episode to clarify some things about Backgrounds, some rules and effects might not be as clear to some players. One thing that I really like is using the Backgrounds in the 99 of a deck with Partner or Partner With (or Friends Forever as well I guess) when the Background has an effect that stacks with each Commander Creature you own.
@@ThisIsACommanderChannel Very cool!
Guild Artisan is going straight into my Norin the Wary deck. That card is pure gas when my commander can attack freely and never fear dying in combat.
So in my prerelease pool, another player and myself both played Lae'zel and Master Chef. They go real well together.
If you do Vhal with Animation Module, Thornbite Staff is very helpful, because everytime you sac a servo to the background, the staff untaps Vhal so you can use her to pay for the combo and make more and more mana in the process.
I'm throwing haunted one in my wilhelt deck for even more zombie recursion shennagins.
Love it!
56:43 Arcane Adaptation cant use changeling as it is a keyword not a creature type
One thing that you guys probably just didn't get talked about with these in the 99 is that they mention "commander creature(s) you own." So I think like the 'storm' cycle these work best in partner decks. Agent of the Iron Throne turns both your commanders into blood artists. With 2 commanders Folk Hero expands your tribal options considerably, Inspiring Leader pumps by +4/+4 if both are out etc.
On my side the only thing I know I'm doing is converting my red/green landfall deck away from Mina and Denn and into Erinis, Gloomstalker + Street Urchin. Street Urchin gives you the power to pay a mana and sac artifacts or creatures to have your commander deal 1 damage to something. Not very good. But Erinis is a deathtouch creature with the ability to pull lands back on attack. You can sac artifact lands to Street Urchin, let Erinis kill potential blockers in the way, swing, bring a land back, tap and sacrifice it to kill another creature. Lots of cool synergies to be had.
Prerelease boxes had a sheet with "You may use up to 2 copies of "Faceless One" for the draft events. Is this legal for the format or just a temporary allowance granted for the event only?
thats for the draft cause it might be that you have cards you want to play but not commanders to play that cause color identity (unlikely but possible).
also faceless one is a little missleading cause you might think cause of him you can choose another background aka 3 commanders, but the reminder say it has to be a second commander. so you cant have a third one cause you can only have one second commander card ;)
The singleton rule doesn't apply in limited. You can use any number of any card (following color identity etc etc)
I can see Voltron decks making use of some of the backgrounds; the one that gives commander's double strike in particular just seems good here, as does Agent of the Shadow Thieves which gives them deathtouch. I would play both in Zurgo.
Presence of gond would synergize well with Jaheira if you have a way to untap her multiple times a turn
Captain Wilson, Sword Coast Sailor, it was quite funny watching my opponents vie to be the person with the least life when my turn came around. Simic Voltron was quite fun!
jimmy and josh got shameless charlatan wrong (and its ok cause new card)! the text is added by the enchantment, means after being another creature your commander still have pay 2 and blue: this creature bekomes a copy of another target creature. if the enchantment leaves then yes its stuck ^^
edit: i got them wrong. they mean it cant transform back to the original and thats right if you dont build around that.
I actually missed this too, thanks for the clarification, any commander having the combo potential that volrath/scion has is actually neat!
Its totally how I read it the first time. Good comment 👍
No, they are correct. They are saying that if you turn it into something, you can't then turn it back into your commander because you can't target your own commander with the ability.
@@clokedman883 your right, sorry ill change it.
Rasaad yn Bashir + Raised by Giants?
Im confused. At 15:20 Jimmy says that "unless it has the text choose a background it wont interact with backgrounds and backgrounds wont work unless the card says choose a background" but is that how it really works? Backgrounds just say "Commander creatures you own..." I am still confused on this. Can I not throw in a background to any deck I have and get its effect? Or does it have to be a "choose a background" commander?
You should be able to put them in any deck. Background is a subtype.
Thinking about an Ellyn Harbreeze/inspiring leader deck, or Ellyn/Feywild visitor. Both sound like a lot of fun to me. Also a Volo/Scion of Halaster deck could be really interesting, especially if you're able to consistently untap volo each turn
Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant has some potential with the Haunted One background, only thing is, you'd need some way for creatures to share a type with it more easily
I added Street Urchin and Agent of the Iron Throne in the 99 of my Prosper deck. Street Urchin let's me use my treasures to kill stuff off with Prosper's deathtouch and Agent gives me another drain to go with him. I need to get a copy of
Passionate Archaeologist for it too.
For folk hero I think if ur playing a white human or angel general I think it's a auto include cause those types are really easy to just have a good amount of them incidentally and it makes those common types cantrip which is mono white or in the mardu colors wedge is just really good.
Yknow? Normally the commercials are more cringeworthy than entertaining, but i really liked this batch. Rocco was fun and on point with the puns, and the backstory you guys made for combat Celebrant was pretty sensible. Good work to the writers.
Currently building a Burakos Party leader/ haunted one deck! Burakos is an orc, cleric, wizard, rogue and warrior and has party support and haunted one cares about creature types of the commander so a Sacrifice party!
I made a Gut / Scion of Halaster deck for skeleton tribal. I'm having a great time with it.
Folk Hero is really good in partner decks since you can now get two draws per turn off it.
Agent of the iron thrown in my Regna/Krav sacrifice deck is a beast.
Progenitus and all of the Backgrounds! Progenitus, who happens to be a master chef who also has a criminal background!
I had made a Yoshimaru/Reyhan Legendary matters deck, and was strongly considering dropping some backgrounds into that deck. Not only affecting both commanders of the deck, but also triggering Yoshimaru for playing a legendary.
I'm sorry i fell asleep hearing about Josh's Game Knights deck
In Prosper alone I added Tavern Brawler, Agent of the Iron Throne, Street Urchin, and Passionate Archaeologist. Whenever one of them hits the field Prosper feels that much better if that's even possible.
Durnan with alpha authority and madcap skills. Best part is that both are ways to make it harder to block effectively
Ok so what about Faceless One it's a "colorless enchantment creature background it says choose a color at the beginning of the game and of course it also has choose a background" so with this can you technically have three cards?
jimmy and josh what do you think about akroma vision of ixidor and another partner commander with flaming fist background to get a keywords plus one counter deck ?
Backgrounds seem like they could be broken in the 98 of Partner commander decks. I slammed Guild Artisan and Agent of the Iron Throne in my Max/Will stranger things food/clues/treasure tokens deck. Both low drop commanders that drain all opponents for 1 each when I sac a token and/or both create treasures when they attack is really strong.
Lulu and Guild Artisan seems decent. Lulu has flying and can produce the treasure tokens which will trigger lulus effect when sacrifced.
I only count 26 backgrounds? 5 in each color and 1 colorless. Where do the other 4 come from?
From the precons. Each of those decks have a mono-colored Commander with “Choose a Background” and a Background to pair with it.
Ahhh. I guess ManaBox just hasn’t updated to have the commander precon cards in it yet.
Starts at 6:15
Is there any ruling to Have 1 cmdr 2 facless one and 3 backgroung enchantment? Faceless one is a background and also says choose a background.
I got the Party Time precon purely because I really love Burakos/Folk Hero. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it party, or move to cleric tribal but I really love that background combo.
I feel like Folk Hero is really, really powerful. Narrow, but great for white card draw. It's definitely also going into my Giada deck
well if you do cleric tribal i do believe orah would be pick for the commander
@@titanium0002 Orah never really appealed to me tho tbh
Its not that I want to do cleric tribal, its more that I want to play Burakos/Folk Hero, and if I choose not to play party then clerics are the next best option
I've Made a B/U Venture into the dungeons and initiative deck using Shadowheart, dark justicar and Dungeon dweler background.
Its hella fun, It was janky but It definitely showed a lot of potential. Now im looking forward to tunning the deck up
I ended up making a G/U Dungeons&Dragons deck using Durnan and the dungeon dweller background! Uses pretty much any and all take initiative, venture into the dungeon, and roll a D20 cards as possible
Would haunted grounds undying not stay on the creature through multiple deaths without untapping and tapping because it says until end of turn?
I'm putting Cultist of the Absolute in my Hapatra deck. It seems like a slam dunk because it's evasion, protection, and more commander damage (which isn't that important but it's fun)
Yeah, I'm putting Candlekeep Sage in my Hargilde-Wernog artifact flicker deck because the backbone of the deck is, in fact, flickering Wernog over and over to generate a mountain of Clues.
A fellow Wernog/Hargilde player in the wild. My new favorite deck.
I'm looking into building a Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant deck with Candlekeep Sage as the background. Lulu with the revolt effect and being able to draw 2 cards from blinking Lulu sounds like fun to me.
I brewed an elmar + wernog friends forever deck, slapped like 20 backgrounds on it. I ended up with a combat-centric enchantress, clues deck. I have yet to playtest it though.
(in theory, 2 commanders + multiple backgrounds on the board make for some very interesting set-ups. Hardy outlander + raised by giants with 2 commander's on board nets you a 30/30 and a 20/20 creature swinging at the player with the biggest life total. 😂)
The only background I plan to run is Shadowheart + Master chef.
All the little tokens get a good meal before I sacrifice them to draw cards. I call it the last potluck.
Burakos and Haunted One makes a sweet mono black party deck!
I think they could make 2-color commanders with "choose a background that shares a color with this" and keep the mono backgrounds, or maybe 2-color backgrounds. But yeah, they'd need a "share a color" restriction or something like that.
It would be interesting if they did more small cycles of backgrounds or choose a background commanders, like one of each color in a commander product, or one of each color in a set in the future. I think that would be more interesting than adding a whole batch at once
Passionate Archaeologist is amazing in a Prosper deck. Tavern Brawler is also nice, though that deck will already have so many ways to get impulsive draw and usually doesn't care about boosting that 1/4 statline very much.
Also, I'm surprised you didn't go very much into Partners and the fact that you can effectively double up on Background power that way. Two Master Chefs giving each of your creatures a pair of +1/+1 counters on ETB? Two Inspiring Leaders to give your token creatures +4/+4? Even just a pair of 10/10 commanders on the board (though of course they track Commander Damage separately).
I have a Tana/Ravos Saprolings deck and a couple backgrounds are going in the 98 of that deck
Now I want to make a Zur background deck. Have him tutor all the backgrounds out.
Backgrounds were confusing. Thanks for the explanation!
I could see a Partner/Background version for artifacts. Maybe an equipment of 1 color and a legendary creature for another 1 color.
Unrelated to this video, but I'd really love to see a video from you guys discussing not just throwing in all the powerful cards/staples into decks. Most of the MtG community talk about how the format is getting increasingly powerful all the time, how various cards are no longer "playable" or "fast enough" etc. I've had people comment on my card choices for decks, saying I should cut them for stronger alternatives, but those choices had been made to lower the power to make for better games with certain groups. It's a problem in the community that people feel pressured to play the 2 mana rocks, for example, when these choices should just be made to fit the power you're going for.
I think it'd be really helpful for the community as a whole to adjust their perspective on this so that it's "okay" to play sub-optimal cards and not always feel like they need the best decks to have fun, or even to win. Having a voice like yours at the CZ express this to people would be a great step forwards for all players, I feel :)
Yep. People watch these shows and are inspired to build insane expensive decks and try to play against their friends who's decks are half bulk. It sucks. I did the same shit and my friends were like wow this is... not fun at all!
Are backgrounds able to slot into the 99 and interact with your commander if it’s not a choose a background commander? I have been trying to find an answer and have been unsuccessful everywhere I look. Very interested in putting inspiring leader into one of my token decks and am wondering if that’s legal. Thanks in advance!
I'm a little confused by the Faceless One. It's a legendary creature with "Choose a Background", but it itself has the type Background- can Faceless One be the Background of another Commander? Can you have more than once Faceless One in the Command Zone?
Yes it can be the background of another Commander, so long as that legendary creature is one of the ones from this set with Choose a Background. There can’t be two of them in the Command Zone because Commander is a singleton format
@@zipzip4562 Oh yeah, I should have thought of that, lol. I always overthink things, thanks for the answer.
You should have done "you spin me back round baby back round like enchantment baby" for the opening song
47:38 Well, you could just tap her in response to Caller of the Claw's ETB and then sac all you wanna sac still in response. no untapping ahannenigans needed.
Got a question about faceless one. It says choose a background on it but it also is a background itself, so can you build a 3 color deck using it? Take for example, I pick a commander with choose a background, pick faceless one as my background so faceless one is now also my commander, can I then pick a second background because of faceless one also saying choose a background?
The gatherer website says it doesn’t allow you to have three commanders so i’m guessing the answer is no
My personal favorite combo is shadowheart + shameless charlatan relentless rat / rat colony. Sac beeg rats for beeg draw and when the time is right, turn ypur commander into a beeg rat that deals commander damage
Boros Goblin Tribal with Gut and Folk Hero is one of my ideas. i think it gives goblins a funny option too use white interaction AND keep the hand full. or i just take inspiring leader and go aggro with big skelletons x)
Anyone knows if you could pay the multikicker cost of something like Everflowing Chalice with mana from Vhal? Seems like it could be a good card in the deck if you could.
Going to try : volo and acolyte of bahamut.
Changeling tribal with the best simic lords !
Green Black Morbid Bear Cult is my new favorite deck next to the Blue Green token Fairie Dragon Bearrage
Volo+folk hero works good for creatures with several types, fe vedalken wizard and bird wizard would trigger both journal and background
Shadowheart and the Haunted One, is really fun.