Commander Theory

Kaldheim brought a lot of stuff with it when those longboats landed on the shore. Standard was shaken up and very importantly Brawl and Historic Brawl were rocked pretty hard. What decks are you gonna see the most in this new world? What are some key cards and strategies for success? Nick and Zak dive into their experiences and favorite decks so far, now that the Vikings are here to stay. Historic Brawl Deck Lists:HamzaTyvar KellBirgi/HarnfelOrvarVegaNarfiFollow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter.Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!If you're planning on shoppin

On the 25th of February, we got a pretty large announcement, and a lot of the Magic community was up in arms over it. Crossover IP's? In Magic: The Gathering? But what does Universe's Beyond really mean for the future of Magic. Nick and Zak take a deep look now that the dust has settled. Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter.Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continenta

What if I told you that tutor commanders might have a place in this world? What if I told you that the gameplay doesn't have to be repetitive and tiring? Well do we have some news for you! The phenomenon of "Secret Commanders" ie a card inside of your deck that you build around instead of the commander you picked, has many opponents and fans. But what are the benefits? Can you make it fun for the table or will you always be doomed to repetitive, boring, and samey games? On this episode Nick and Zak meet with friend, supporter, and collaborator Russell Holley-Hurt who brewed an amazing secret commander deck around Zada and Orvar. The "commander" in question? General Tazri! Overview and case study in one episode? What's not to love! Russell's Tazri listFollow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter.Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the sho

Faster than the flick of a wand! Quicker than uttering a true name! Strixhaven is already showing off some of what makes it tick! In this episode, Nick and Zak get into the lore, style, possible mechanics, pretty much everything there is so far released about Strixhaven and what it could mean for Magic moving forward. Oh, and there are some new preview cards too! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter. Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing

If there's one thing people have been led to believe it's that the Magic: The Gathering color pie is confusing. In this episode, Nick gets down into the weeds about Blue and Magic design in general with Ethan Fleischer: Blue Mana Guru on the Council of Colors, winner of the Great Designer Search 2, and all-around great guy!  What blue cards shouldn't have been printed in recent sets? What does the future look like for a color that's already so powerful? Listen and find out! You can reach Ethan Here at his twitter (as long as you're respectful!)Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the

Feeling like Kaldheim left you out in the cold in regards to some tribal rewards? Well some creative friends and listeners try to remedy that on this episode! Nick and Zak look at some tribal designs that could have been left on the cutting room floor for Kaldheim propper, and go into other designs that were just too cool not to talk about as well! If you work for wizards skip this one, otherwise, listen in and let us know what you think about these designs and more! Thank you to everyone who submitted! We will be doing more custom commander episodes this year so always feel free to submit designs! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter

Tribal is a big component of design in Magic. Good tribal mechanics can make or break limited environments, and tribal legends almost always facilitate new decks in Commander. But what happens when your tribe gets pushed aside? Replaced by little green babies and grape jelly men? In this episode, Nick and Zak talk about how and why changelings can push out members of a tribe from their own tribal list. This episode gets into precepts of designing for Commander, and what designs make it easy for the night hags to swap their own children into your tribal deck's ranks. Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like

We made it everyone! Made it through this turbulent spoiler season that is! In this episode Nick and Zak get into the final commanders and main deck cards before going deep on what this set and its design means for the future of Commander. There are also predictions for what will see the most play, and a look into how we did with Commander Legends predictions. There's a lot to glean, tears to be had, laughs to share, and brews to discuss, so please, enjoy! DECKLISTS:OrvarBirgi // HarnfelIf you want to listen to the year in review Legendary Creature Wrap Up Episode, then this link should do it. Kyle and Andy do great work, and if you like our podcast you'll probably like hanging out (virtually) with them too! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The

Another week, another MASSIVE amount of spoilers! Kaldheim is here, and so is snow, some boasting, and a whole mess of other commanders. In this episode, Nick and Zak really get into the legends and dive straight through the maindeck cards and the various possibilities they might have. If you have any cool ideas let us know in the links down below! DECKLISTS:Nick and Zak's Cosima // Omenkeel lists ( they're just Omenkeel lists of various flavors) FynnMajaAegarJorn // Kaldring (but really just Jorn)Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episo

IT'S TIMEThe first week of spoilers has come (and gone) and Nick and Zak had to process A LOT of information. This episode is what was thought based on what the community knew this weekend, before more spoilers have been revealed. So enjoy our speculation and musings on some topics that have since been revealed. And enjoy the builds and discussions on broader topics, like what's the tier list for Golos archetypes? And what should you do with all these snow lands? (The answer is play them).  This set looks awesome and we're really excited to play with these cards!! DECKLISTS:TegridToskiVorinclexTIBALTFirjaKomaKollFollow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the sho

The top 20 Commanders over the last two years is one of the most interesting features on EDHREC. It's interesting to see it change over time and to see what commanders have the go-get-'em attitude needed to break into the top spots, but what can it teach us about design? In this episode, Nick and Zak look at the top 20 commanders on EDHREC and try to analyze what makes them popular? Why should Muldrotha succeed when Chainer, Nightmare Adept and other graveyard strategies don't even make it to the top 100 most popular commanders? Listen and find out! We especially want your feedback from this episode, so please let us know what you think, see, and feel about this kind of topic! What decks and cards do you see the most of? What have the beginners in your magic playgroups been drawn towards? Next week will be our first Kaldheim spoiler episode, so stay tuned! It's gonna be big! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please s

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! On this very special episode, Nick and Zak have the red mana guru -Jules Robins - on to talk about, what else, but the color red in Commander! Jules was lead set designer for Commander Legends amongst so many other things and enlightens us: what red can and can't do, where might red go mechanically, what experiments has WotC tried, and so much more! This is a great conversation and we hope it lets you all ring in the new year with some rad new CONTENT. And if you're reading this THANK YOU to our patrons. We couldn't do this without your amazing support. Here's to a great year for Magic in 2021!! You can reach Jules here (it's his Twitter)Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental b

Happy Holidays! Nick and Zak's gift to you all is this nice little (maybe not so little) episode talking about what we know about Kaldheim! Wizards was kind enough to spoil cards from their Set and Theme boosters, as well as the face commanders for the two Commander preconstructed decks the will release as part of Kaldheim. There's a lot to take in, hopes, fears, treasure, changelings, and more! So listen in and tell us what you're most excited about too! What's this? DECKLISTS:MagdaRanarLathrilFollow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud) Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-fr

Life and the holidays might have gotten in the way of finishing some new stuff, but Nick and Zak have been talking about this episode a lot lately and figured it was worth a relisten! Zak for sure gets the episode number wrong in the intro so don't mind that.  But we hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane as we continue to work on other content for the future! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud) Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns

On this very special episode, Nick and Zak have a special guest, Ari Nieh! Great Designer Search 3 winner and the current White Mana Guru on the Council of Colors within Wizards R&D. He discusses what it means to be on the Council of Colors, what it means to be the White Mana Guru, and what's going on with White's slice of the color pie, in commander and beyond. This is an excellent conversation so please enjoy! You can reach Ari Here Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud) Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you

Sometimes a deck is just not quite in the right spot for a fun gameplay experience. Sometimes another color exists that might handle it better. On this episode, Nick and Zak get into what a world would look like if some popular (and not popular) commanders were shifted into a different color identity, much as commander legends did with Blim. How could lead to better or new gameplay experiences? Is this something Wizards of the Coast should do more of? Listen and find out! Decklists:Darien, but RedThassa, but WhiteShirei, but WhiteGitrog, but Red/GreenEzuri, but Green/BlackFollow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud) Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you lik

On this episode Nick and Zak get into some tech that's so secret, EDHREC doesn't even list them on the commander's page! They discuss the cards themselves, why they're uniquely good, and what this means about how people are building their decks. Thank you to Alex Whiteclay, Mark Churchwell, and Kevin Kelley, for dusting some of these bad boys off and starting a series we're excited to continue into the future! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support th

RE-REUNWe apologize for the "heat" of the recording here. This was recorded a while ago with older equipment. The gain is pretty high(spicy even), but the conversation is relevant to what Nick and Zak, and the community at large have been having in the last few weeks due to CMR and the topic of white in general. Buckle up, enjoy, and we'll be back next week with a new episode just for you! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episodes!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate l

The second half! Nick and Zak finish off the legends and some notable main-deck cards. But stay tuned, because there's set and color analysis as well as a look at what the two of them think this set's design means for Commander at the end! (Honestly, it's pretty interesting and it starts around 2:14:30 !!) There's also a look at what Nick and Zak guessed right and wrong about the most played cards in Zendikar rising, and predictions for what will be most popular in Commander Legends as well. WOW that's a lot! Deck Lists:Sakashima and KodamaFalthis and JeskaNuma and MiaraKeskit + Tormod & Tormod + Kydele by Dr. BunniIch-Tekik + Akiri & Ich-Tekik +  Rebbec by YggdrasilAraumiTuyaHamzaImotiWylethJared Carthalion by DionaeaArchelosThank you to everyone who helped with decklists and helped evaluate cards / talk about tech with us. We'll be taking a week off (there's gonna be a re-run episode) and then we're gonna be BACK AT IT BABY. And lastly, Dragon Tier Patrons wil

Get ready to hit that times 1.5 speed, this episode is a doozy! Nick and Zak get through the first batch of spoils for Commander Legends, talking about tech, color pairs for partners, cards that maybe shouldn't exist, and more! Also, there are decklists! Keleth and ReyhanMalcolm and Vial SmasherJeska and DargoKrark and TymnaKodama and ThrasiosBlimObekaGhenColfenorWe'll have EVEN MORE decks next week, and a few we weren't able to finish in the notes of next week's episodes, so stay tuned! Follow Commander Theory on Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube for more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you're planning on shopping with TCGPlayer, you can support the show by using our affiliate link. It costs you nothing and earns money for the show!The opening theme is Lincoln Continental by Entrophy (now Nic Cage on Soundcloud)Support the showYou can reach me on Twitter or email me hereIf you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon! Now with ad-free episo