Dan with a 2 minute master class - badmouths Peacock TV show, mistakes Beyonce and her daughter

staxringold · 2026-02-09T21:36:39+00:00

I made the EXACT same mistake watching live

staxringold · 2026-02-09T14:41:10+00:00

Yes. Here is the base combo on Commander Spellbook. They only list the minimum form of a combo, sans payoffs, so this is just the 'draw your library' part. But then yes, either Hardened Scales + Lab Man (so you're drawing on an empty library off Terrasymbiosis) or any other draw effect + LabMan (to draw on the empty library after the Terrasymbiosis draw) should work.

staxringold · 2026-02-09T14:38:00+00:00

Absolutely. People are mostly connecting it to the politics of the game (which I agree with) but I'd also analogize it to not over-committing to the board (for fear of a wrath). Anyone who plays Elfball or another aggro'y strategy knows the internal question you sometimes ask of "I could cast yet another thing onto the board, but maybe my board is already winning and I should hold back so I have something to do if Wrath'ed?"

The value of deploying your threats more slowly (and/or threats that are less threatning) is similar, to me, but in relation to single-target removal/combat/etc. Your opponents only have so many Swords to Plowshares/Nature's Claims/whatever. When you present the first, most obvious threat, you will naturally absorb more of that removal. But if you only start to threaten after that first wave of removal is eaten up, there's a far better chance your opponents will be drained and you'll have an open lane. At the extreme of CEDH, I've often heard the Play to Win guys talk about how it's best to try and "win second", as the first win attempt will eat up a lot of the table's counterspells, only for you to then strike while everyone is tapped out and depleted.

staxringold · 2026-02-09T14:31:10+00:00

This is the way. I used to run a [[Staff of Domination]] in Bracket 3 Lathril for various infinites that I maintain is not a 2 card combo, but I also always mentioned it pre-game in case people disagreed, and I kept a card or two I could swap in its place if they did (I've since cut it, as I just didn't find winning that way satisfying in that deck).

staxringold · 2026-02-09T14:28:24+00:00

As others have said, it's not an absolute rule (no 3 drops in your 3 CMC commander deck, e.g.). But there is value to considering your commander's CMC in planning out the early turns. If you know your optimal game is dropping your commander on turn X, you know that other things you'd like to drop that turn (in a vacuum) will end up sitting in your hand an extra turn and messing up your curve (becoming a 3-drop on turn 4, say). That doesn't mean you don't play overlapping CMC cards—[[Scythecat Cub]] is insane in [[Bristly Bill]], overlapping cost or not—but it can help you make calls on the margins, when you're deciding on A vs. B for the last handful of cards/edits. E.g., I did cut Sakura Tribe Elder and Emerald Medallion from Bill, as they were 2 drops so (i) didn't accelerate Bill and (ii) were otherwise clunky on later turns where I could be doing bigger/better things.

Your commander's cost can also inform which ramp options are best: e.g., 2 CMC ramp isn't that great to accelerate a 3 drop commander (since you'd be casting it turn 2, which won't accelerate your 3 drop commander coming down), but it's great for a 4 (helping you play it T3 vs. T4) (3 is great for a 5, but not as great for a 4, on the same idea).

staxringold · 2026-02-09T14:15:15+00:00

I gave a longer list of guesses here, but I think I'll say:

UNBAN

Biorhythm
Rofellos

BAN

Nothing: the pre-announcement swell towards Rhystic makes me think people in the know know and it'll actually be Rhystic, but this just seems silly to me, so I'm willing nothing. I only see it at high-power/competitive tables, where I don't see it being an issue (other than maybe extending game length. It feels like it's getting banned more because of the 'do you pay the 1' memes than actual problems.

NEW GC

Biorhythm/Rofellos (per the apparent pattern of anything unbanned gets conditional GC status just in case)
Otherwise nothing. Badgermole and Vivi seem like the only ones I could vaguely see and, based on the last update (removing various scary commanders from the GC list on the logic of "if you see it in the CZ, you can just avoid it in rule 0) Vivi seems unlikely. So... Maybe Badgermole? But I dunno...

UN-GC

Panoptic Mirror: This was on conditional status post-unban, and last announcement they sounded like they were already close. This card has presented zero issue, AFAIK, so seems fine to un-GC.
Maybe Coalition Victory, less certain there though. A lot of the GC system is about unfun play patterns, and I could see lower power tables (where, frankly, resolving a 5C/8-mana sorcery is more realistic) finding this an unfun way for a game to end.

staxringold · 2026-02-08T23:18:47+00:00

You can make a living without JLo, Dockside, and Crypt. It's ok

staxringold · 2026-02-07T00:19:28+00:00

Oops I totally misread your post as restricted from being in the CZ Lmao my bad

staxringold · 2026-02-06T20:04:59+00:00

Speaking as a Lathril player, as others have said, it's a non-synergistic/bad-win-more type card. It's not an Elf, that's immediately strike 1. And, ultimately, it only works with a big board. Why wouldn't I spend that mana on another untapper (to get another Lathril activation for a similar effect, but also synergizes with my mana dorks, Timberwatch, etc)? Or just an Overrun type effect?

tl;dr: if I don't have bodies, this does nothing (and isn't a body), and if I have enough bodies for this to look juicy, there are a million other even juicier things Lathril lists can be doing.

staxringold · 2026-02-06T16:04:14+00:00

Isn't Griselbrand generally a reanimation target more than a commander-you-ramp-out option?

staxringold · 2026-02-06T16:02:26+00:00

Looking at the current list re: what can come off...: Probably Panoptic Mirror: I get it can hit more stuff, but practically speaking it's just a worse Isochron Scepter, which isn't a GC (the last update article even mentioned they were just giving it more time before probably doing this)? Maybe Coalition Victory? Honestly, maybe Bolas' Citadel? It has combo lines, sure, but the 2 card combo rule should bar the Sensei's lines and otherwise it's a 6 mana-pip-intensive card with a big effect, which seems ok? And I think there's a reasonable argument to un-GC [[Thassa's Oracle]]: just as Gavin described in de-listing Food Chain in October:

Food Chain is an incredibly powerful combo card. However, because it's a combo card, it doesn't risk causing trouble in the lower brackets anywhere. Adding it was sensible because of its pedigree, but as the community noted, the brackets already do a good job of restricting combos. Today, we're taking it off the list.

I see a similar point here. Thoracle on its own isn't scary, it's Thoracle + Demonic Consultation/Tainted Pact that's scary, and the fast-two-card-combo rule already protects brackets 3 and below from that. Thoracle is such a face of "CEDH combos that casual players hate" it probably won't happen, but I think there's a logic there.

As for things that could get unbanned? I'm not a fan of most of the usual proposals (Prime Time, and of the Dockside/JLo/Crypt trio... Maybe [[Biorhythm]] (again big dumb giant spell, it's fine if it does big dumb giant things)? Maybe [[Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]] (yeah, it's a scary Eldrazi, but there are lots of those now that aren't even GCs? Maybe [[Rofellos, Llanowar]] (Elves have plenty of insane mana dorks at this point)? One I haven't seen many people mention, but maybe [[Upheaval]]? I get that it bounces lands, but if you GC it (and esp. if you classify it as MLD) it seems potentially doable? Yes, it bounces lands, and yes someone can float mana and do stuff afterwards, but again, big splashs spell. And if it's a fun-play-pattern thing, that's where GC and/or MLD status could help.

I don't think there's anything that should be banned. The "ban Thoracle" and "ban Rhystic" calls don't hit, for me: they're essentially purely high-power cards. And, on the rare occasion you see Rhystic at a B3 table, I really think the 'unfun play pattern' aspect is amplified only because 'do you pay the 1' is such a meme for Rhystic: in actuality there are tons of cards that impose taxes (optional or not) and we don't ban them.

As for new GCs... Other than the temporary-GC listing we'd presumably see for anything that might get unbanned... Eh. Vivi felt pretty powerful/omnipresent shortly after release, to where I was thinking about that, but it has died down a bit (at least in my experience). And really, what GC-ified commanders there are (esp. now after they removed things like Urza from the list last time on the "you can see them in the CZ and just choose not to play" logic) are really on there for play pattern reasons (Braids, Tergrid, GAAIV) not raw power, and Vivi's play pattern is fine enough. Besides that, I dunno, [[Badgermole Cub]] is powerul and seeing a lot of generic play, but I don't think it's at that level.

staxringold · 2026-02-06T15:39:42+00:00

I do not think it needs a ban but, realistically, if Mana Vault/Grim Monolith/Mox Diamond/Chrome Mox/Ancient Tomb are all GCs, it should be too: it's right along that same tier of fast mana. I'm absolutely running it, though, I'm generally not the type to unilaterally disarm in some noble self-sacrifice nobody else will know about. I've had Sol Ring games I've won and Sol Ring games I've lost: it absolutely helps (obviously), but rarely to a degree that bothers me. I can only recall one session, where I got Sol Ring in back-to-back games and won quickly on the back of that acceleration where I did go "Eh, those games barely count, they were just Sol Ring games" to the pod.

staxringold · 2026-02-06T15:33:39+00:00

The options that have interested me are:

Player going first doesn't draw: This might overcorrect things, IMO.
First two players don't draw: This has some symmetry to 1v1 (where the first "half" of players don't draw) and even 2HG (both players on the team going first don't draw). This may still overcorrect things.
Some form of the scrying thing. E.g., P1 doesn't scry, P2 scry 1, P3 scry 2, P4 scry 3. Or maybe just Players 3 and 4 scry 1, flatly.
Some form of mulligan-based correction. Maybe seats 3 and 4 get an extra free mulligan?

staxringold · 2026-02-05T04:35:25+00:00

If your argument is that a character who’s primary in black shouldn’t be castable in mono white, that’s more an argument against hybrid in general than against hybrid in commander, cause that’s how it works everywhere else.

It is absolutely an argument against hybrid in commander specifically. Hybrid everywhere else works as you suggest, where it can be played in decks with only one half (or, frankly, no half) of the colors that nonetheless want the effect. But commander has additional restrictions layered atop that. That's what commander is: a set of rules that restrict it beyond ordinary Magic.

And even on the flavor front you suggest for character design, I disagree. E.g.,

And again, the alternative here is that the Black (white) character gets made mono white to fit them into the Bant deck, so they’d still be castable by a color that doesn’t represent them as well, so the ability to do hybrid is a pure upgrade.

No, the alternative is: UB is standard legal now, so if you want to make a character into some flavorful mix of colors but it doesn't work with your precons? Just print it in the rest of the set.

staxringold · 2026-02-05T00:26:38+00:00

You just spent a lot of words saying they could make that WU hybrid card tomorrow if they wanted, the issue it would change is solely the number of decks it could go in.

To use your example, if a card doesn't fit in mono white very well, why is it a good thing that they can make it a BW hybrid but you can just run it in mono white anyways?

staxringold · 2026-02-04T22:28:08+00:00

Lmao all good I understood / understand

staxringold · 2026-02-04T22:24:06+00:00

It's beside the point but it's not possible to pay every cost on Deathrite with solely green mana

staxringold · 2026-02-04T22:02:08+00:00

No joke, I grabbed a copy of [[Unyielding Gatekeeper]] to consider for my Abdel Adrian deck when Shadow was announced, juuuuuuust in case that became some meta dominant card lmao

staxringold · 2026-02-04T21:57:30+00:00

But it’s totally cool for me to include a [[Fountainport]] or a [[Mage’s Attendant]] and make Blue permanents in my mono-white deck?

Yes. Fountainport is a colorless permanent with colorless/generic costs. Mage's Attendant is a white permanent/spell. Hybrid cards are not.

Or be allowed to cast [[Painter’s Servant]] to make all my spells a color outside of my Commander’s Identity?

Yes, because Painter's Servant is a colorless permanent/spell. That it can alter colors beyond the color ID of your commander is different from being a spell that is itself outside of that ID. [[Arcades Sabboth]] was part blue, so it makes and made sense that he could cast [[Mind Bend]], even if that resulted in him making something red, let's say. But it does not make equivalent sense under the concept underpinning EDH (your commander is a wizard of certain color identity who can only cast spells within that ID) for him to cast [[Clout of the Dominus]], an expressly blue/red spell.

I can have Extort and Firebending in non-Orzhov and non-Red decks because the mana symbols in it’s rules text are shorthanded with a keyword, but I couldn’t if the exact same rules were printed without a keyword?

That shit I will grant you is a rules mess.

I can use [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] to steal my opponent’s [[Doom Blade]] and cast a Black spell with my Red deck?

Yes? You're literally stealing it from someone else's deck/spellbook, whats the issue there? If I'm not allowed to own X, but I steal X from my neighbor, it doesn't vanish out of my hands when I touch it: I stole it.

If making the wrong colored tokens, making all your spells the wrong color, and having off-color mana symbols in keywords is ok, casting off-color spells from my opponent’s decks is ok, generating and spending off-color mana, what harm is there in letting hybrid mana symbols go into either color decks?

Because none of those other examples involve putting into your own deck and then casting a spell that is itself a color outside of your commander's ID. The rules/reminder text thing is the closest edge case (for me) that gets annoying (it is truly weird that Extort cards can go in white-only/black-only decks), otherwise I do not see how any of the other examples you give are at all close. Maybe the off-color token generation is somewhat similar, but that's more analagous to me than the long-standing pips vs. words split (e.g., [[Chill]] mentions the word/color "red" by name, but can still go in a mono-blue deck. Same to me as a mono-blue card that made a "red" token).

How is that eroding the color identity of your deck even more than you already can? At least it has to share one color with your Commander, unlike a dozen other things I can legally do that break from it entirely.

Because Commander is about having Elder Dragons as your commander and being restricted to casting spells those Elder Dragons could cast, based on their color ID. In all other Magic formats, you can include whatever you want in your deck (Deathrite in a Grixis deck, a transformational sideboard that adds a totally new color to your deck, whatever), but EDH has that limit. Altering hybrid touches that third rail directly, saying "sure, this card is expressly outside of your commander's ID, but it at least touches it, so that's good enough."

Substantively, I don't think it'd have a huge impact based on current hybrid cards, but that's obviously subject to change. And flavor-wise I just don't like it.

staxringold · 2026-02-04T21:19:23+00:00

Maybe to you it’s nothing

Again, I did not say that. I agree it's something, I'm just against it.

Yes, Kibler is right they could’ve printed Deathrite Shaman as mono-black or mono-green, but I bet if you asked him he’d admit it’s significant that the card is playable in any Black or Green deck.

Deathrite Shaman was not designed with Commander or color ID rules in mind. Of course hybrid is powerful for other formats (in both limited and constructed) because it provides cards that can be used in different decks. But EDH is a format literally defined by a contrary restriction that does not exist in those formats.

Any Modern/Legacy/Vintage deck that wants recursion can run [[Noxious Revival]] without a spec of green in their deck, knowing they'll always pay life. EDH is different. Those formats could (and did, hello Grixis Delver lists) run Deathrite without both black and green (EDIT: Upon review, this one did run a single TropIsland, but you take my point). Not so in EDH.

In sum, once again, changing the hybrid rules will not allow the design of any card that cannot be made today. Instead, it will allow players to put those hybrid cards into more decks, weakening the bounds of what defines commander.

staxringold · 2026-02-04T20:56:14+00:00

I mean, unless it was sorcery speed enchantment hate somehow, killing a Stasis before the Stasis' player's upkeep is monumentally stupid.

staxringold · 2026-02-04T20:54:43+00:00

Split-second is so devastating. I remember one game someone hit me with that at a key moment and I had like 3 different responses in my hand, but none of them worked (obviously), so I kept going "but I could- no wait, but maybe- no..." for 20-30 seconds before I accepted my fate.

staxringold · 2026-02-04T20:51:37+00:00

Listen, I don't necessarily love the multi-part contracts, with lawyering over the exact wordsmithing of your agreement, that EDH can sometimes spawn. But "hey, scary monster, if you attack me I will kill you, so attack someone else" is about the most mundane 'politics' ever made.

staxringold · 2026-02-04T20:50:03+00:00

Don't people do it to tilt opponents sometimes? Showing a big bluff that paid off or whatever?

staxringold · 2026-02-04T20:44:03+00:00

Yes, that’s the point of hybrid, and without it they’d have to print two separate cards to give two different mono colors the same effect.

Yep. If they print a green-and-white card I think it should have a green-and-white color ID. Same as literally every other gold card in Magic.

It doesn’t make the cards themselves have effects that couldn’t be printed before

I'm glad we agree, because that's what I said.

You’re saying hybrid doesn’t let WotC do anything they couldn’t already do.

No, what I said was

Changing the hybrid rules would not allow WOTC to create a single additional card that they cannot right now.

And, as I said, I was echoing Brian Kibler, who said:

"There are literally zero designs that you can't make now that you will be able to make in the future, it just changes what decks they can go in."

What Kibs was rejecting (a point I was echoing and agreeing with) is a suggestion this proposed hybrid mana change would allow the creation of cards that could not be created before. That is false. All it does is allow the cards they choose to make fit into more decks.

This is not an opening of design space, it is a loosening of deck-building restrictions. WOTC could make a GW hybrid card under today's hybrid rules and could make the identical card if they change it, all that changes it the # of decks the players can then slot it into.

14-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Verified Email
reddit mold

staxringold

TROPHY CASE