Rules of commander: If somebody attacks you for 1 damage on turn 2, you kill them first. It’s not about threat assessment, it’s about sending a message.
it’s ironic because their other video a couple months ago came out right as I started playing. I’m happy The Command Zone AND Wizards acknowledges the fact there’s more new players now than ever, and actually does something about it. it’s nice to see a hobby community overall a healthy one. (came from sports cards)
Yeah totally agree I've always wanted to play the game and has someone new to the game myself I can definitely tell you that the welcome mat does not come out too often or at least a lot of places don't make you feel welcomed like I understand that this is a process of weeding out passionate people that actually want to play and learn but it can really suck when all u wana do is find like minded face to face gamers and have great time playing MTG
0:03:00 What Makes Commander Awesome? 0:14:30 Key Format Characteristics 0:21:00 Rules of Commander: Singleton Format 0:25:43 Ad 0:28:18 Rules of the Format: Color vs Color Identity 0:41:20 Rules of the Format: Commander Damage 0:44:40 Rules of the Format: Multiplayer 0:56:00 The Social Aspect/Table Politics 0:58:36 The Competitive Spectrum: sub-optimal to optimized 1:02:12 Why We Play Commander? 1:04:20 Common Questions
Best way to start is buy a commander deck that sounds fun to you, get a feel for it, and look into cards to help upgrade it. Otherwise if you want to start from scratch, commander can be kind of weird to get used to. My go-to for a first time deck is whatever kind of creature tribal.
Don't be afraid to just jump in. Someone mentioned edhrec (original name of the commander format was EDH or Elder Dragon Highlander) that's a good resource, or if you already have an idea Wizards site at gatherer.wizards.com can let you search up cards with a large number of ways to filter information and find cards that fit a strategy you're going for. I personally have never started with a preconstructed Commander deck, but it is a viable option. I'm at 20 decks right now, I know people with twice as many. It's a fun and addictive format.
I would recommend building around a legendary creature you already own, if you have one. Aside from the altered rules, it's a relatively similar deck building process, and you have a far superior online database for recommendations, strategies and statistics. If you jive with none of the cards you find, there's also a robust custom commander community online where you can find unique commanders to fill roles that are totally unexpected. Just make sure your play group is okay with those first.
I have been playing magic since 2000 and Commander since like 2013. The best advice I can give is don't be afraid to do dumb things if it makes you happy. There are over 20,000 cards to choose from and finding some hidden gems are a great feeling. 2nd bit of advice: Don't be afraid to start cheap and grow from there. I just built a deck for $20. I plan on adding to it over time, but for now I'm having a blast with it.
Um, it’s easy to first understand but then when stuff gets more complicated as it almost always does in commander then…that’s exactly why it’s so long. And also, it’s Jimmy and Josh, who cares if it’s that long, it’s amazing
I started getting interested in magic a month ago when I watched my nephew play a commander game with his friends. This was exactly video I needed to gain confidence to enter their group. Now I just need to finish my decks.
i prefer jumbo jlk, different but not completely contradicting views. Both can kinda bounce off each other or debate, jimmy is often just josh's yesman and doesn't really add much
And then you're like "what did you think of the video?" and they say "oh sorry I didn't start it yet" and then that turns into a month of back and forth. So you stop being friends with them and move on and cry a lil since nobody wants to play your kiddy game with you 😂😂😂😅😅😅😥😥😭😭😭😭
I've been playing magic arena and I'm hooked to this game. I wanna play in person but I have no clue how to literally play. I've watched some of your commander gameplay and it looks so much fun. I hope to enter a game in person soon
Spelltable actually added the ability to temporarily "block" a player. Makes playing those reveal cards easier to play so the other players can't see what is revealed.
Would love to se an episode wherein you heroes, and guests, come with upgraded versions of old decks that were a big hit. For instance The Enchantress deck of Melissa or that cool Eldrazi deck. Be interesting to see if these cool players have modified their decks with all the new releases.
I'm just getting back in to MTG after not playing since 03 or 04 and there seems to be quite a bit new to learn. I'm glad videos like this exist to make catching up easier and less frustrating.
Oh wow! You guys just posted this! I just started playing magic and my coworker got in on it with me! Watching you guys play commander looks so fun. I can’t wait to lay down some wild combos and make my friends disown me!
I started lately again with Commander and what opened my Eyes to the last rounds i played was your advice of sitting together and talk about what everyone expects and wants from that experience, since that would have changed some of the games probably :) I will keep that in mind for the next time! You guys are really awesome keep it up!
I know this video is 2 years old but thank you for this! I've hesitated coming back to the game because limited was always too expensive and the game has evolved so much 14:39 but thanks to commander I can go back to my comfortable kamigawa ninjutsu block and be relevant!
I also like that there is a kind of social balancing in playgroups. Even if a deck is bit stronger than the rest of the decks on the table, it usually is being taken care of by the group ingame.
I remember making a Jadzi deck and I had it at a power level 4 but I couldn’t perfectly put it all together and then I watched your strixhaven game nights episode about a week ago and really took Jimmy’s synergistic cards from the deck list to heart. I ended up adding Three Visits, Sea Gate Restoration, Lotus Cobra, Harrow, Noxious Revival, and others that really helped it out. I feel that taking others suggestions, especially those with experience really helps. Oh and then I also added some blue creatures that helped with some power on the board, thanks to my friend Luke who got me into magic. And I really just want to thank all of the people working at the Command Zone for making these types of videos possible because I was in a really low place until I found this and it put me in a better mood because I enjoyed content like this and it has really helped me out.
I wish I could travel back in time and show Jimmy and Josh this video and watch their jaws drop. I remember when no one played commander and we were the weirdo at the store. Thanks for all these years of amazing content guys!
Congrats on seven years. Your channel really upped my deck building in EDH. I found out about the Command Zone around the time Game Knights 5 came out. Hard to believe it's been 4 years since then.
100% agree. I couldn't care less about Post Malone and other "big names". I wanna see the creators I love -- Prof, DJ, Kyle Hill.... and Gavin Verhey.... but in an actual casual commander game with one of his personal decks, instead of in weird episodes like Unstable and Archenemy.
That moment when you put embercleave on your prossh, swiftly taking down your first mate just to have your second "friend" joink it with karthus to immediatly kill you on the crackback. Fun Times indeed. x)
I really need to thank you guys, something that I didn't liked about commander was that sometimes you don't know all the cards and in game knights you take a lot of time to explain every card effect or every stack, now I loveeeeee commander since now I still don't know every card but I feel so much more confident!
I started playing magic back when it first released in august of 1993. my cousins got me into it, and the first thing i noticed was the art. i'm coming back after 27 years lol. thanks for the video.
I’ve been playing commander regularly either by myself or with friends because this channel popped up in my recommended. This even taught me things still today after a couple years of playing.
What a great video. Thank you so much. I'm a Long time Magic player. Always avoided Commander. But I've decided to finally give it a chance. I'm getting set to make an Anje Falkenrath deck, because I Love Madness!
Just started playing again for the first time in about 10 years. All my friends play commander. Seeing this episode pop up makes me feel like I started playing again at the perfect time.
In the color identity portion, one thing you missed was a brief example of extort. I have had many new players not know that the B/W hybrid is not part of the color identity. Overall this is a well made video for newer players and also for players that might have learned at the "kitchen table" and thus might not be super solid on the regular rules of magic. Thanks guys keep up the good work, plus Ashlen killed it as Avacyn :)
More generally they skipped over the reminder text issue right? Though I don't know if it's common to have reminder text with mana symbols outside of extort.
@@Bob-nc5hz Well, they did say "rules text." People who have played MtG before (this video's target audience) know the difference between rules and reminder text.
Amazing episode, but by the way, as a suggestion, I think it would have been nice to include also the different mulligan rules and turn 1 rules that come with multi-player and commander magic variants. As in that you can get 1 free mulligan and that the first player also draws on turn 1. Other than that great episode and congrats for the milestone!
In regards to color identity, I think an uncommon but important mechanic to mention is "extort". I've known many new players who are confused as to why you can put a Blind Obience in a mono white deck when it has a hybrid white/black symbol on the card. (It's because the hybrid symbol is in the reminder text, which isn't actually on the card and doesn't affect color identity.)
Great, great video guys! OG, played from 1994 through 1999ish, and looking to learn more about this new popular commander game. Ya'll are easy to listen to and were very well organized with this video...great stuff!!
Great episode! Just wanted to let you know guys: In Spelltable there is an option to block other players so they cannot see your hand (The audio and video becomes inaccessible for the blocked player) so there is a way to interact with the hands built in the platform. Keep the great work, huge fan here.
Feels nice to have an episode that isn't a set review. And sometimes just nice to go back to the basics to remember what you may have forgotten from years of habits.
Started playing mtg around Dragons of Tarkir. Learned from a friends mono black (modern) vampire deck. Learned how to play commander through you guys. Now have 4 commander decks. My favorite deck being my mono black vampire (Drana) deck.
Thank you for the great explanation! Been playing modern, standard for a while and my buddies finally picked up magic and we wanted to play commander and this video helped me explain some rules!
Ty for this episode! I’ve been having a hard time wrapping my head around the “Commander Damage” issue and how it works exactly! I thank you for that! It means I need extra dice to keep tracking!
Over the couse of the pandamic I started playing Commander with my friends over the Game "TabletopSimulator". There are some crazy folk out there who converted every MTG card in existence over to the workshop. With a little bit of time and commitment you can put all cards in one room (I did that) and use that to build decks. It takes some time to get used to the controls, but a big upside is, that you do not have to invest money to buy cards.
Thank you for this video. I know there are other videos citing the rules, but you guys actually explain the ones that are difficult for some players to grasp.
Girlfriend and I just got into Commander and it’s such a fun way to play Magic. Games are interesting and longer and can do so much crazy stuff it’s insane. Just built a Gargos Hydra deck and it’s so much fun to play. She wants to build a blue control deck. So many possibilities in this format, we just love it and this channel :)
I just got into magic, and participated in my first prerelease for kamigawa I pulled a borderless Tamiyo and Borderless Bosjiu and was instantly hooked. I have a mono green deck and a tribal shrine/saga deck that slaps about 70% of the time lol
In case people aren't aware - Cockatrice is also a really good resource for commander with people online. It has pretty much all of the cards on it (even spoilers), and you can use advanced search options to really find unique cards that fit your deck. You can play with lots of people in one game (I've done up to 6), but the more people in a game, the harder it is to see all of the cards. The actual gameplay is a little clunky, and certain things require some weird workarounds, but for the most part, it's served me and my friends very well in online commander. Plus, you don't have to buy any cards! It's a really good way to test out new deck ideas without having to buy all of the cards.
I started in commander in ikoria with otrimi as my first precon and the casual aspect is the best thing about it. Our friend group is literally 90% just talking/ catching up and 10% magic.
Imma say this for the people in the bad or those who just need to hear this. Commander is a format where u can play w.e cards u want (if the group says it fine) so if u hear someone say something like "it's to slow, it costs to much, that's a bad card, ECT" u can still play with it if u want. It's ur deck so play what makes u happy.
Thought this was the new game knights. After an hour i was wandering when the decks would come out. 😉Great show. Sent it to a couple of friends who want to learn
I would love to see a video on complicated attacks/blocks, complicated & unique stack interactions, and general situations that are slightly more difficult to understand than normal gameplay please!
I went to a gaming cafe with my son and we played commander. He’s been playing MtG for a while now, since he’s getting older now the opportunities to hang out father/son are less frequent. We had a great night and I bought the arm for battle Wyleth deck for next time. I’d really like to build my own commander deck - the holiest of holy decks angels, knights, clerics and the like 😂 (appropriate for me). Anyway it’s a bit of a learning curve, all this “first strike” and “trample” lark. The card abilities I guess they are - can be quite confusing
I don't think you guys mentioned Extort during color identity. Correct me if I'm wrong, but even though Extort MENTIONS hybrid white/black in it's reminder text, because its not rules text, it doesn't count as color identity.
You're absolutely right. I bet the reason they didn't mention it is because it's a confusing corner case. It makes color identity harder to understand when it's introduced this early
In the meantime they implemented a "block player" feature into Spelltable so you can block people in your pod temporarily so they can't see your board until you unblock them again. Its a nice way to show your hand or something to specific players when they play the probe or something like that. :)
Im just learning commander. and realizing this is how we played back in 2013 with my friends just without the commander per say, double life and single card rules. sheesh. great video
Getting back into MTG after 13 years because we are taking a family trip and my nephew loves commander. Going to try and build a deck from my old casual play decks and see how badly I get smoked. Thanks for the info and help.
Tip for new players: when making or upgrading decks, play with At least 36-38 lands. You’ll want to play your spells and having enough lands in your deck will help you get there. If you ever feel like there’s not enough lands in your deck, chances are that feeling is right
@@shogert2370 hey friend! I do agree that is a valid way to build your deck. I see that many, if not all, high level and cedh level decks run your suggested mana base. A lot of community data, as seen from websites like EDHREC, do show a mean between the numbers we both suggested. Neither of us are wrong here, but we should still remember to respect deck building choices and help grow the community through positive criticism and suggestions, not dismissive takes or rigid rules. It is commander after all!
@@nicks2305 I do agree and that was positive criticism You don't even have to run expensive moxes, mana crypt and so on to play 31-32 lands, even when we are talking about non-green decks Sol ring, talismans, fellwar stone, arcane signet, guild signets(only of you play 2 colours and really need 1 more mana rock!), rituals, mana dorks and pain/check/battle/shock lands are covering all you needs in terms of mana, so don't put more lands inside ruining your deck and draws
Rachel Weeks recently mentioned a commander idea on Twitter, where each player shows their "dream starting hand" before a game begins. That will give everyone a bit of an idea of what to expect and give everyone more info about deck power levels. I think that seems like a pretty smart idea when playing with new peeps.
I've heard multiple channels talk about how Commander is a great place to start however, my wife and I are fairly novice to magic and have only really played standard, constructed. We played our very first game of Commander together with 2 of the Lord of The Rings pre-cons last night, and I have to say we found it to be much more complicated and overwhelming than a normal standard game has been. Cards within those pre-cons seemed to have much more complicated text and abilities than our pre-constructed (Lord of The Rings) decks seemed to have, which we built from set boosters. 2 hours into our first game, we barely even got into the match as we spent so much time looking up and resolving complicated interactions and trying to keep track of which creature has what with counters and abilities. At the end of the 2 hours we found ourselves exhausted and having to step away. We couldn't imagine having to keep track of an additional 2 players on top of what we have to deal with between just the 2 of us. I feel like, from our experience as relatively new players, that Standard play is the way to go when starting out. It's easier to learn the mechanics, build a deck and have more than .5 of a match on a work night.
My buddies and I play house rules 110 card decks or less, 100 life and we have the best time. Every friday night we rotate who hosts the night and it gives us a chance to unwind from the work week, have a guys night and just have a great time.
Hi im a begginer, do you prefer play commander or with the main 60 cards deck? I just bought 2 commander decks when after that i discover that there are diferent type of decks 😆 Is it fun to play 1v1 commander?
@@cartuxo999 commander is a social less serious game 100 card decks, no duplicate cards (in most cases) and commander is definitely more fun with more people. We play house rules so basic game rules but we usually play with 4-6 people and just play to have fun. Most of our decks are the magic equivalent of "hold my beer" shenanigans.
@1:07 you discuss online Commander platforms...Tabletop Simulator (TTS) on Steam is an incredible platform to play. You build a deck on Tappedout, make it public or use an existing deck on Tappedout that is public. Then inside Steam you download tables people have created for Commander. You import your decks right into the TTS (you can search the web for ways to do all of this including how to play TTS). Audio is either directly through TTS or you can set up your own calls. Need a Goblin token...TTS has animated action figures you can use...need dice for a dice role...TTS has those as well. But my Commander deck likes to copy and steal others cards...Great you can use a copy/paste feature for cards. Searching your deck is as easy as typing the card name. I would love to see The Command Zone do an episode on TTS one day.
I'm not even halfway through this video and there is a lot of stuff that I'm already learning I was actually just getting into it because a friend of mine had told me about it and I saw this video on TH-cam and I'm already interested in making all the different ideas I could do definitely a great video
This is great. I haven’t played MTG for about 7 years and have never played Commander, but I’m starting to get back into it and this format seems like it is really aligned with what I loved about the game. Thanks for taking the time to invest in us newbies. Or in my case, someone who has played this off and on since 1994. This format might keep me in it for much longer.
Rules of commander: If somebody attacks you for 1 damage on turn 2, you kill them first. It’s not about threat assessment, it’s about sending a message.
This! Truer words have never before been said.
Consequently if you have the option to attack someone for 1 damage on turn 2, do so for the exact same reason.
I just note it
This holds for 1 damage on turn 2 in the previous game as well.
Amen brother
I'm glad these guys are going back to their roots to help new players enter the format. Hope to see more of this.
it’s ironic because their other video a couple months ago came out right as I started playing. I’m happy The Command Zone AND Wizards acknowledges the fact there’s more new players now than ever, and actually does something about it. it’s nice to see a hobby community overall a healthy one. (came from sports cards)
@@WheelerHomestead no irony there. coincidence perhaps?
Yeah totally agree I've always wanted to play the game and has someone new to the game myself I can definitely tell you that the welcome mat does not come out too often or at least a lot of places don't make you feel welcomed like I understand that this is a process of weeding out passionate people that actually want to play and learn but it can really suck when all u wana do is find like minded face to face gamers and have great time playing MTG
Wow episode 400 finally i will learn commander
0:03:00 What Makes Commander Awesome?
0:14:30 Key Format Characteristics
0:21:00 Rules of Commander: Singleton Format
0:25:43 Ad
0:28:18 Rules of the Format: Color vs Color Identity
0:41:20 Rules of the Format: Commander Damage
0:44:40 Rules of the Format: Multiplayer
0:56:00 The Social Aspect/Table Politics
0:58:36 The Competitive Spectrum: sub-optimal to optimized
1:02:12 Why We Play Commander?
1:04:20 Common Questions
thank you good sir
This should be a pinned comment.
I grew up playing draft and casual standard magic. 100% want to build my first commander deck.
Go to Edhrec, they have a list of every single legendary creature (or even commander-agreed planeswalker) to help you choose your perfect fit
Welcome, Hope you enjoy the format!
Best way to start is buy a commander deck that sounds fun to you, get a feel for it, and look into cards to help upgrade it.
Otherwise if you want to start from scratch, commander can be kind of weird to get used to. My go-to for a first time deck is whatever kind of creature tribal.
Don't be afraid to just jump in. Someone mentioned edhrec (original name of the commander format was EDH or Elder Dragon Highlander) that's a good resource, or if you already have an idea Wizards site at gatherer.wizards.com can let you search up cards with a large number of ways to filter information and find cards that fit a strategy you're going for. I personally have never started with a preconstructed Commander deck, but it is a viable option. I'm at 20 decks right now, I know people with twice as many. It's a fun and addictive format.
I would recommend building around a legendary creature you already own, if you have one. Aside from the altered rules, it's a relatively similar deck building process, and you have a far superior online database for recommendations, strategies and statistics. If you jive with none of the cards you find, there's also a robust custom commander community online where you can find unique commanders to fill roles that are totally unexpected. Just make sure your play group is okay with those first.
Me who’s played edh for over 2 years: “interesting.”
10-year EDH vets: *hmm yes the commander is made of commander*
@@Complexxity_ yah sme 5 years
I love the profile picture
Going on 12 years in Commander. 25 years in Magic in General :)
I've been playing since origins
I have been playing magic since 2000 and Commander since like 2013. The best advice I can give is don't be afraid to do dumb things if it makes you happy. There are over 20,000 cards to choose from and finding some hidden gems are a great feeling.
2nd bit of advice: Don't be afraid to start cheap and grow from there. I just built a deck for $20. I plan on adding to it over time, but for now I'm having a blast with it.
The really good Commander decks cost $55 after taxes
Do you recommend playing Commander 1v1?
Nothing says "This is an easy to understand and welcoming game" like an hour and twenty minutes to explain the basic rules.
Um, it’s easy to first understand but then when stuff gets more complicated as it almost always does in commander then…that’s exactly why it’s so long. And also, it’s Jimmy and Josh, who cares if it’s that long, it’s amazing
@@CoastalWizard I think he was just making a joke, I dont think he meant that in a sarcastic way
Huh? This episode isn't explaining the rules...
It explains differences from main formats and the nuances of what the different commander rules make happen
@@buddatello Exactly. Good games have a lot of nuance to them, regardless of how welcoming and easy to understand they are.
Jimmy: "-when you draw your card of seven hands."
Me: *Having a stroke.*
Yup i think i broke my brain trying to work that out. lol
A makuta profile picture? I see you are a man of culture.
Jimmy also taps his creatures to play his lands, and draws from his graveyard.
@@RowanHeartwood You jest but this deck HAS to exist somewhere in the wild. There is no way it doesn't.
@@MakutaNazo I know. It's Magic, the craziest technical wackadoodle game ever designed, and Commander is the spiciest format.
I started getting interested in magic a month ago when I watched my nephew play a commander game with his friends. This was exactly video I needed to gain confidence to enter their group. Now I just need to finish my decks.
Pro-tip: If someone asks if you would like to pay the one, always do it
as someone who plays a golos deck you should always pay the 1 if i ask 😂😂
Also, if someone asks you "Time or Money" always choose Money for fuck's sake!
@@HeirophantCarneus some of the people i play with always pick money as extra turns on golos dont go well for them usually
Unless you're Stephen Green he don't pay no taxes
Noooooo, shhhhh, keep your bad habits :P
Good to see jlk and Jimmy back together. Love dj, but miss this duo
exactly
Agreed
i prefer jumbo jlk, different but not completely contradicting views. Both can kinda bounce off each other or debate, jimmy is often just josh's yesman and doesn't really add much
Finally back together...... AND THEY DIDN'T SING! 😭😭
Playing Commander for 2 years:
Ah, so that's how it works, noice
This came at a perfect time because I was about to teach my friend tonight! I can just send him this video so he can get a head start!
Good luck!
Its almost like they new....
And then you're like "what did you think of the video?" and they say "oh sorry I didn't start it yet" and then that turns into a month of back and forth. So you stop being friends with them and move on and cry a lil since nobody wants to play your kiddy game with you 😂😂😂😅😅😅😥😥😭😭😭😭
Just got my wife into playing so I have a play test buddy. Perfect timing
I'm trying to get mine to play but she gets mad everytime I hit her with a board wipe.....idk why.
Well done soldier
Not sure if you’ll see this guys but finally jumping back into magic after decades of being gone thank you for this video guys !
Thrilled about this video even after playing EDH for 3+ years
Same
Same here.
Same
I got back into MTG (after 5 years) and play Commander thanks to The Command Zone. So much has changed (in a good way) and it feels like coming home.
I've been playing magic arena and I'm hooked to this game. I wanna play in person but I have no clue how to literally play. I've watched some of your commander gameplay and it looks so much fun. I hope to enter a game in person soon
Showing this to my son on his 13th birthday before giving him his first Commander deck ❤️.
Spelltable actually added the ability to temporarily "block" a player. Makes playing those reveal cards easier to play so the other players can't see what is revealed.
@@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai exactly!
Would love to se an episode wherein you heroes, and guests, come with upgraded versions of old decks that were a big hit. For instance The Enchantress deck of Melissa or that cool Eldrazi deck. Be interesting to see if these cool players have modified their decks with all the new releases.
I'm just getting back in to MTG after not playing since 03 or 04 and there seems to be quite a bit new to learn. I'm glad videos like this exist to make catching up easier and less frustrating.
Oh wow! You guys just posted this! I just started playing magic and my coworker got in on it with me! Watching you guys play commander looks so fun. I can’t wait to lay down some wild combos and make my friends disown me!
I started lately again with Commander and what opened my Eyes to the last rounds i played was your advice of sitting together and talk about what everyone expects and wants from that experience, since that would have changed some of the games probably :)
I will keep that in mind for the next time!
You guys are really awesome keep it up!
I know this video is 2 years old but thank you for this! I've hesitated coming back to the game because limited was always too expensive and the game has evolved so much 14:39 but thanks to commander I can go back to my comfortable kamigawa ninjutsu block and be relevant!
Congrats on 400 episodes everyone. You knock it out of the park every week, and I always look forward to everything you make.
Just...I LOVE your mid roll ads. They are straight up awesome in every video and I will admit that I look forward to them.
I also like that there is a kind of social balancing in playgroups. Even if a deck is bit stronger than the rest of the decks on the table, it usually is being taken care of by the group ingame.
I remember making a Jadzi deck and I had it at a power level 4 but I couldn’t perfectly put it all together and then I watched your strixhaven game nights episode about a week ago and really took Jimmy’s synergistic cards from the deck list to heart. I ended up adding Three Visits, Sea Gate Restoration, Lotus Cobra, Harrow, Noxious Revival, and others that really helped it out. I feel that taking others suggestions, especially those with experience really helps. Oh and then I also added some blue creatures that helped with some power on the board, thanks to my friend Luke who got me into magic. And I really just want to thank all of the people working at the Command Zone for making these types of videos possible because I was in a really low place until I found this and it put me in a better mood because I enjoyed content like this and it has really helped me out.
I wish I could travel back in time and show Jimmy and Josh this video and watch their jaws drop.
I remember when no one played commander and we were the weirdo at the store.
Thanks for all these years of amazing content guys!
Congrats on seven years. Your channel really upped my deck building in EDH. I found out about the Command Zone around the time Game Knights 5 came out. Hard to believe it's been 4 years since then.
Trying commander for the first time this weekend and i'm so pumped to get into the format! I built decks around Locust God and Gishath
i just got into magic, starting with a Gishath commander deck
How are you doing with Commander now? I'm just getting into the format myself. Long time Magic player.
@@pmaac1564 How are you doing with Commander now? I'm just getting into the format myself. Long time Magic player.
@@Zarbon000 Doing well, been playing a lot with the warhammer precons lately, also having loads of with Zaxara running hydra x-cost tribal
I hope you guys bring back The Prof, Mel Li, and the other older guests back soon for Game Knights and Extra Turns.
I want Kenji!!!!
Preach, u right, u right
Kenji and Melissa, pls *__*
The Prof + Kyle Hill! Terry Crews maybe? He plays D&D, might play magic...
100% agree. I couldn't care less about Post Malone and other "big names". I wanna see the creators I love -- Prof, DJ, Kyle Hill.... and Gavin Verhey.... but in an actual casual commander game with one of his personal decks, instead of in weird episodes like Unstable and Archenemy.
Fun fact, you can be dealt lethal Commander damage by your own Commander if stolen.
Not something I've ever allowed to happen.
But good to know.
Also if your Commander is turned face down it still counts as Commander Damage
I was just about to ask this. Thanks.
That moment when you put embercleave on your prossh, swiftly taking down your first mate just to have your second "friend" joink it with karthus to immediatly kill you on the crackback.
Fun Times indeed. x)
I really need to thank you guys, something that I didn't liked about commander was that sometimes you don't know all the cards and in game knights you take a lot of time to explain every card effect or every stack, now I loveeeeee commander since now I still don't know every card but I feel so much more confident!
Seven years old...
Jimmy "Math is for blockers" Wong: So, we're in Middle School?
He sure isnt a blocker
Well. He isn't wrong....
@@lethalsandwhich Yes he is. 7 years old would be elementary school
Congratulations on 400 episodes!!
I started playing magic back when it first released in august of 1993. my cousins got me into it, and the first thing i noticed was the art. i'm coming back after 27 years lol. thanks for the video.
I’ve been playing commander regularly either by myself or with friends because this channel popped up in my recommended. This even taught me things still today after a couple years of playing.
What a great video. Thank you so much. I'm a Long time Magic player. Always avoided Commander. But I've decided to finally give it a chance. I'm getting set to make an Anje Falkenrath deck, because I Love Madness!
What I like most about commander are situations where things like: "i play this, play that and... Wait I kill myself by accident"
I have done that to myself more than once.
Just started playing again for the first time in about 10 years. All my friends play commander. Seeing this episode pop up makes me feel like I started playing again at the perfect time.
In the color identity portion, one thing you missed was a brief example of extort. I have had many new players not know that the B/W hybrid is not part of the color identity. Overall this is a well made video for newer players and also for players that might have learned at the "kitchen table" and thus might not be super solid on the regular rules of magic. Thanks guys keep up the good work, plus Ashlen killed it as Avacyn :)
More generally they skipped over the reminder text issue right? Though I don't know if it's common to have reminder text with mana symbols outside of extort.
@@Bob-nc5hz Well, they did say "rules text." People who have played MtG before (this video's target audience) know the difference between rules and reminder text.
Amazing episode, but by the way, as a suggestion, I think it would have been nice to include also the different mulligan rules and turn 1 rules that come with multi-player and commander magic variants. As in that you can get 1 free mulligan and that the first player also draws on turn 1. Other than that great episode and congrats for the milestone!
My playgroup goes old school. You can only Mulligan if you reveal All land or no lands. It's the only way to fly.
In regards to color identity, I think an uncommon but important mechanic to mention is "extort". I've known many new players who are confused as to why you can put a Blind Obience in a mono white deck when it has a hybrid white/black symbol on the card. (It's because the hybrid symbol is in the reminder text, which isn't actually on the card and doesn't affect color identity.)
Play an island, tap, sol ring, tap, dimir signet, pass turn.
Best opening I ever had was T1 Plains - Sol Ring - Rakdos Signet, T2, Mountain - Kaalia
My best first turn ever was swamp, Dark Ritual, Tiny Bones, Sol Ring, Anvil of Bogardan.
I once got a turn 1 plains into colossus hammer, then turn 2 plains into kor outfitter for a turn 2 12/12.
This triggers me so bad 🤣
Shock in a Steam Vents, Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Hullbreacher, Winds of Change.
Great, great video guys! OG, played from 1994 through 1999ish, and looking to learn more about this new popular commander game. Ya'll are easy to listen to and were very well organized with this video...great stuff!!
Best part of the Monday and congrats on the 400!
Congratulations on 400 guys. Josh, Jimmy and all the podcast crew...You Rock!!
Great episode! Just wanted to let you know guys: In Spelltable there is an option to block other players so they cannot see your hand (The audio and video becomes inaccessible for the blocked player) so there is a way to interact with the hands built in the platform. Keep the great work, huge fan here.
Feels nice to have an episode that isn't a set review. And sometimes just nice to go back to the basics to remember what you may have forgotten from years of habits.
Just played 3 games at my LGS unperson for the first time. It was a lot of fun!
I've never found being treated like an unperson to be fun at all. 😁
Awesome episode guys! I love the support for new players, this is why I love commander.
Got a commander deck for Christmas. Found this video. It’s my first one, congrats on 400.
Started playing mtg around Dragons of Tarkir. Learned from a friends mono black (modern) vampire deck. Learned how to play commander through you guys. Now have 4 commander decks. My favorite deck being my mono black vampire (Drana) deck.
Thank you for the great explanation! Been playing modern, standard for a while and my buddies finally picked up magic and we wanted to play commander and this video helped me explain some rules!
I actually started getting into the format not too long ago. Thanks for making this video! It was really helpful to me!
Im sure this has been said, but the production value of these videos is second to none
Ty for this episode! I’ve been having a hard time wrapping my head around the “Commander Damage” issue and how it works exactly! I thank you for that!
It means I need extra dice to keep tracking!
Over the couse of the pandamic I started playing Commander with my friends over the Game "TabletopSimulator". There are some crazy folk out there who converted every MTG card in existence over to the workshop. With a little bit of time and commitment you can put all cards in one room (I did that) and use that to build decks. It takes some time to get used to the controls, but a big upside is, that you do not have to invest money to buy cards.
got back in to magic after 9 year and starde playing Commander thanks to you guys I'm picking up some awesome tips
FINALLY after six years of watching your show, I now know how to play the game!!
Everythingmakessomuchsensenow
Good to see u back with a regular episode! Really enjoyed this.
Thank you for this video. I know there are other videos citing the rules, but you guys actually explain the ones that are difficult for some players to grasp.
I've been playing commander for years but I still watched the entire video because why not?
Girlfriend and I just got into Commander and it’s such a fun way to play Magic. Games are interesting and longer and can do so much crazy stuff it’s insane. Just built a Gargos Hydra deck and it’s so much fun to play. She wants to build a blue control deck. So many possibilities in this format, we just love it and this channel :)
I've been following Dan Sheehan for a long long time, I just recently bought Not a Wolf! That's really awesome to find out he works with you guys now
Congratulations on your well deserved longevity!! I really appreciate all your hard work. Here’s to another 400!!!
Not an episode for me as a veteran commander player, But a fantastic episode to have out there at this production level! Good job guys!
I just got into magic, and participated in my first prerelease for kamigawa
I pulled a borderless Tamiyo and Borderless Bosjiu and was instantly hooked. I have a mono green deck and a tribal shrine/saga deck that slaps about 70% of the time lol
Still new to edh so this is gonna be good
In case people aren't aware - Cockatrice is also a really good resource for commander with people online. It has pretty much all of the cards on it (even spoilers), and you can use advanced search options to really find unique cards that fit your deck. You can play with lots of people in one game (I've done up to 6), but the more people in a game, the harder it is to see all of the cards. The actual gameplay is a little clunky, and certain things require some weird workarounds, but for the most part, it's served me and my friends very well in online commander. Plus, you don't have to buy any cards! It's a really good way to test out new deck ideas without having to buy all of the cards.
I started in commander in ikoria with otrimi as my first precon and the casual aspect is the best thing about it. Our friend group is literally 90% just talking/ catching up and 10% magic.
Imma say this for the people in the bad or those who just need to hear this. Commander is a format where u can play w.e cards u want (if the group says it fine) so if u hear someone say something like "it's to slow, it costs to much, that's a bad card, ECT" u can still play with it if u want. It's ur deck so play what makes u happy.
Thought this was the new game knights. After an hour i was wandering when the decks would come out. 😉Great show. Sent it to a couple of friends who want to learn
I would love to see a video on complicated attacks/blocks, complicated & unique stack interactions, and general situations that are slightly more difficult to understand than normal gameplay please!
Congratulations on 400 guys !
I went to a gaming cafe with my son and we played commander. He’s been playing MtG for a while now, since he’s getting older now the opportunities to hang out father/son are less frequent. We had a great night and I bought the arm for battle Wyleth deck for next time.
I’d really like to build my own commander deck - the holiest of holy decks angels, knights, clerics and the like 😂 (appropriate for me).
Anyway it’s a bit of a learning curve, all this “first strike” and “trample” lark. The card abilities I guess they are - can be quite confusing
You can target any permanent or spell with hydroblast. It will only destroy or counter the target if it's red.
really?
Jimmy: “im gonna play edgar markov”
Me: “no your not. Hes gonna sit in the command zone and win you the game”😂
I don't think you guys mentioned Extort during color identity. Correct me if I'm wrong, but even though Extort MENTIONS hybrid white/black in it's reminder text, because its not rules text, it doesn't count as color identity.
You're absolutely right. I bet the reason they didn't mention it is because it's a confusing corner case. It makes color identity harder to understand when it's introduced this early
In the meantime they implemented a "block player" feature into Spelltable so you can block people in your pod temporarily so they can't see your board until you unblock them again. Its a nice way to show your hand or something to specific players when they play the probe or something like that. :)
Nice to see full explanation
Im just learning commander. and realizing this is how we played back in 2013 with my friends just without the commander per say, double life and single card rules. sheesh. great video
Thank god for this guide, I've been watching 400 episodes of this without knowing how to play it, it was really confusing
Getting back into MTG after 13 years because we are taking a family trip and my nephew loves commander. Going to try and build a deck from my old casual play decks and see how badly I get smoked. Thanks for the info and help.
Tip for new players: when making or upgrading decks, play with At least 36-38 lands. You’ll want to play your spells and having enough lands in your deck will help you get there. If you ever feel like there’s not enough lands in your deck, chances are that feeling is right
Don't give bad advices please
31-32 is enough if your deck have adequate amount of mana dorks and mana rocks
@@shogert2370 hey friend! I do agree that is a valid way to build your deck. I see that many, if not all, high level and cedh level decks run your suggested mana base. A lot of community data, as seen from websites like EDHREC, do show a mean between the numbers we both suggested. Neither of us are wrong here, but we should still remember to respect deck building choices and help grow the community through positive criticism and suggestions, not dismissive takes or rigid rules. It is commander after all!
@@nicks2305 I do agree and that was positive criticism
You don't even have to run expensive moxes, mana crypt and so on to play 31-32 lands, even when we are talking about non-green decks
Sol ring, talismans, fellwar stone, arcane signet, guild signets(only of you play 2 colours and really need 1 more mana rock!), rituals, mana dorks and pain/check/battle/shock lands are covering all you needs in terms of mana, so don't put more lands inside ruining your deck and draws
Havent played Commander yet, but it seems like it's just a MTG game that is mainly chill than being competitive.
Rachel Weeks recently mentioned a commander idea on Twitter, where each player shows their "dream starting hand" before a game begins. That will give everyone a bit of an idea of what to expect and give everyone more info about deck power levels. I think that seems like a pretty smart idea when playing with new peeps.
I've heard multiple channels talk about how Commander is a great place to start however, my wife and I are fairly novice to magic and have only really played standard, constructed. We played our very first game of Commander together with 2 of the Lord of The Rings pre-cons last night, and I have to say we found it to be much more complicated and overwhelming than a normal standard game has been. Cards within those pre-cons seemed to have much more complicated text and abilities than our pre-constructed (Lord of The Rings) decks seemed to have, which we built from set boosters. 2 hours into our first game, we barely even got into the match as we spent so much time looking up and resolving complicated interactions and trying to keep track of which creature has what with counters and abilities. At the end of the 2 hours we found ourselves exhausted and having to step away. We couldn't imagine having to keep track of an additional 2 players on top of what we have to deal with between just the 2 of us. I feel like, from our experience as relatively new players, that Standard play is the way to go when starting out. It's easier to learn the mechanics, build a deck and have more than .5 of a match on a work night.
18:02 "Draw your card of seven hands"
My buddies and I play house rules 110 card decks or less, 100 life and we have the best time. Every friday night we rotate who hosts the night and it gives us a chance to unwind from the work week, have a guys night and just have a great time.
Hi im a begginer, do you prefer play commander or with the main 60 cards deck? I just bought 2 commander decks when after that i discover that there are diferent type of decks 😆 Is it fun to play 1v1 commander?
@@cartuxo999 commander is a social less serious game 100 card decks, no duplicate cards (in most cases) and commander is definitely more fun with more people. We play house rules so basic game rules but we usually play with 4-6 people and just play to have fun. Most of our decks are the magic equivalent of "hold my beer" shenanigans.
Great to see the guys back to doing this rather than endless set reviews. True roots of the show.
@1:07 you discuss online Commander platforms...Tabletop Simulator (TTS) on Steam is an incredible platform to play. You build a deck on Tappedout, make it public or use an existing deck on Tappedout that is public. Then inside Steam you download tables people have created for Commander. You import your decks right into the TTS (you can search the web for ways to do all of this including how to play TTS). Audio is either directly through TTS or you can set up your own calls. Need a Goblin token...TTS has animated action figures you can use...need dice for a dice role...TTS has those as well. But my Commander deck likes to copy and steal others cards...Great you can use a copy/paste feature for cards. Searching your deck is as easy as typing the card name. I would love to see The Command Zone do an episode on TTS one day.
I'm not even halfway through this video and there is a lot of stuff that I'm already learning I was actually just getting into it because a friend of mine had told me about it and I saw this video on TH-cam and I'm already interested in making all the different ideas I could do definitely a great video
i found this channel from the post malone video. now after watching several of your videos im now building my first deck.
CONGRATS ON 400 EPISODES!!!
This is great. I haven’t played MTG for about 7 years and have never played Commander, but I’m starting to get back into it and this format seems like it is really aligned with what I loved about the game. Thanks for taking the time to invest in us newbies. Or in my case, someone who has played this off and on since 1994. This format might keep me in it for much longer.
I can't wait for commandfests to come back and meet some new friends!