Commander

Transitive Roku Properties | Brainstorm Brewery #545

DJ (@CardgardenMTG), Corbin (@CHosler), and Jason (@jasonEAlt), breakdown all the latest Magic: The Gathering news about, you guessed it, finance and Commander. 04:00 Minneapolis Command Zone 09:01 Breaking Bulk 20:59 Hot Rosewater Commander Takes 25:30 All About The Benjamins 42:00 MTGstocks Mini Game 45:45 Pick of the week https://linktr.ee/BrainstormBrewery Support our Patreon! www.patreon.com/bsb Need to…

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Bad Commanders, Great Names

When it comes to choosing a general in EDH, you’ve got a lot of great legendary creatures to choose from. Budget or no, there are plenty of high powered, ready to kill, commanders that can have innovative and solid strategies built around them. There are also a lot of bad commanders and a quick look…

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Ruric Thar Brings It Back To Reality

Sometimes, when things get a bit too ridiculous, a bit too unfair, one needs a return to the basics. A simpler time. A time when we just played sweet creatures and theme decks, with no wrath effects or busted artifacts. [card]Shivan Dragon[/card]s and [card]Craw Wurm[/card]s everywhere. Well, not for me, I played [card]Hamletback Goliath[/card] and…

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Mono Brew #2 – Ignoring Reality

It’s been a few months since the first edition of Mono Brew, which I ended with the promise that my next article would be a primer on my Modern pet deck, “Bringing Gifts” (five color [card]Gifts Ungiven[/card] with [card]Bring to Light[/card]). Much has changed in the world of Magic since then, as the release of Oath of the Gatewatch turned Modern season into “Eldrazi Winter”. I’m sure that most of…

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The Hero, The Saint, The Chieftain & The Interview

(Spoilers: There’s no heroes or saints here. It’s just based off a great song.) Welcome, dear readers, to the first of my interview articles. I promised in my first article that as this column goes on, you will begin to meet more and more of the diverse cast of characters that makes up my weekly…

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The Grandest Truths: An Origin Story

In the beginning, there was Jesus. Adrian De Jesus. Adrian is a friend of mine, who I first met towards the end of my freshman year of university. He’s been a pretty influential figure in my Magic life, having been the one who first introduced me to the Commander format. When we first met, I…

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Kozilek and the Four Es of Running a Commander Night

Life is hectic. Our schedules are conflicting. We can never seem to find the time to get a group together for a game. Many people have trouble trying to get games together, or are forced into Commander nights at local game stores (LGSs) that can often involve griefing or gaming whatever prize support system is…

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Nothing but Value: An Introduction to Ephara, God of the Polis

I’ve been struggling to put words on the page. For years now, I’ve been wanting, nay, dreaming of being a Magic writer. Until now, I’d not found a topic I’ve really wanted to write about. Due to ever-tightening life constraints, I’ve been forced from grinding 4 local tournaments and a PPTQ or an SCG Open…

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Is Stoneforge Mystic Really That Good?

Let’s face it. Commander can be expensive. Though commander is a casual format, it is becoming harder and harder to build a good commander deck without draining your wallet. As much as we want to, we don’t have unlimited amounts of money. There are often cards that would make your deck really powerful, but are on the other…

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Unified Theory of Commander: Synergy

Repeat after me: “Synergy is not the same thing as having a game plan.” No. No. Don’t just read it. Say it out loud with me. For real. Let’s say it again: “Synergy is not the same thing as having a game plan.” Good! Now that we’ve got that in your head, we can really…

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To Ban or Unban?

It has been a while since I’ve contributed to the site and I’ve missed writing, missed seeing your comments, missed feeling like I’ve contributed to the community that I so enjoy being a part of.  Due to some personal commitments, I haven’t been as active a participant in the current Standard season, though I have…

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Jolrael and her Killer Lands

Land Destruction (it’s not what you think) People generally hate land destruction in EDH and I think that’s okay. Land destruction is not terribly fun for the affected and tends to make games last forever. So we’re a no go on land destruction – but what about land DESTRUCTION? As in, destroying people with your…

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You Can Counter on Ephara

Some people hate fun. Whether they’re the dickhead boss that refuses employees nap time and Rock Band in the break room, or are simply an avid fan of TV’s Gotham, having a good time simply doesn’t appeal to some people. The same is often said for those who run a lot of counterspells in EDH….

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Darien and the EMO-tional Commanders of EDH

If any of you are like me, you love EDH. If you are even more like me, you don’t have a whole lot of money and you love EDH. If you’re disturbingly similar to me you love EDH, like to play on a budget and your downstairs neighbor only listens to early 2000’s Emo music….

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Commanding Opinion: Narset, Enlightened Master

I may have accidentally jumped on the bandwagon way too early on this one. Though on the financial side of things, that’s probably a good thing. This little card has caused the majority extra combat card/extra turn cards to spike ridiculously in price. [card]Aggravated Assault[/card] – $3.00 to $10.50 as of now [card]Beacon of Tomorrows[/card] –…

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Unified Theory of Commander: Political Answers

You may have noticed that the further we’ve progressed into the Unified Theory’s MDTAS system, the more we’ve discussed the “character” of your deck. This isn’t a coincidence. Every deck needs mana sources, and the rules that help players improve their mana base can be broadly applied. Every deck wants card draw, so resource acquisition…

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Unified Theory of Commander: Answers

Up through this point in the Unified Theory of Commander, we’ve been primarily concerned with what our own decks want to do. Threats define the goals of the deck, while Draw and Mana give us access to those threats and the ability to cast them. As we move into the fourth element in our theory,…

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Commanding Opinion: Sedris, the Traitor King

I started playing Magic with New Phyrexia,  the spring of my sophomore year of high school. I had been playing the Yu-gi-oh! and Pokemon TCGs for quite a while, but I had never really tried to play Magic. My brother finally convinced me to actually give it a shot. Needless to say, I played and…

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Commanding Opinion: Angus Mackenzie

[card]Angus Mackenzie[/card] is one of the legendary creatures that are simultaneously exclusive to Legends and on the Reserved List – making it extremely expensive now. I’m surprised it didn’t spike again when Tiny Leaders became a popular format. So what does he do? Well, for WUG, you get a 2/2 Legendary creature. Nothing too impressive, but he’s…

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Commanding Opinion: Toshiro Umezawa

Sorry for having not written anything in quite a while. I’ve been very, very busy with work and family life, so I’m going to be making some edits to guest posts I received a while back and reposting them on here so people can still enjoy them. This was originally a guest post from when I…

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Commander Spotlight: Eight Great Ways to End a Game of Commander

Most people who love Commander love it because you can play all sorts of wacky cards and sweet theme decks that you can’t play in Standard.  But unfortunately, sometimes this leads to huge board stalls where nobody wants to attack anybody and the game drags on for two hours or more. To combat this, let’s go over…

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Pimp My Deck: Commander 2014 – Built from Scratch (featuring Bosh, Iron Golem)

Hey, guys, sorry for the long hiatus. Between the holidays and the Fate Reforge release, I haven’t had much time to do any research for this series.  But here I am, back again to bring you some Commander goodies. I won’t be including price ranges for the upgrades (it simply takes too much time for something…

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Commanding Opinion: Ghoulcaller Gisa

Ghoulcaller Gisa is definitely the better of the two zombie masters. To recap what she does: Ghoulcaller Gisa 3BB Legendary Creature – Human Wizard B, tap, Sacrifice another creature: Put X 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the sacrificed creature’s power. 3/4 I’m also a fan of her flavor text;…

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Commanding Opinon: Stitcher Geralf

As per WUBRG order, I’ll be talking about [card]Stitcher Geralf[/card] before talking about [card]Ghoulcaller Gisa[/card]. Be forewarned, however: this is not a strictly competitive deck. If you want a competitive mono-blue deck, play [card]Azami, Lady of Scrolls[/card] or [card]Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir[/card]. This deck will be focusing more on the flavor aspect of stitching zombies together…

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Commanding Opinion: Stitcher Geralf, Ghoulcaller Gisa, and the Innistrad Storyline

Before I begin, I should introduce myself. I’m David Rowell, formerly SolemnParty over at WinTargetGame, where I began the Commanding Opinion series a few years ago and never quite got to where I wanted to with it. A couple of months ago, the site finally closed down for good. While some of my old articles…

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