CommanderCast Ep 499 – Ahoy there, Whales!

PODCASTS – CommanderCast

Hello everyone and welcome to CommanderCast Episode 499! This week Mark and Adam talk about WotC is doing its best impersonation of Captain Ahab as they chase whales. With a recent announcement of the $999 product being released to celebrate 30 years of Magic, it has become clear that WotC wants Moby Dick more than your mom. We then move on to try to cleanse our palates by talking about some of the biggest boogeyman that are still a part of our format. We then wrap things up with a look at our favorite commanders by several categories.

All that, plus our usual interstitial fodder, and all you have to do is Click the IB!!!

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CommanderCast Episode 499

Posted: October 17, 2022

Intros:

Adam

Mark

Keep up with the conversation on Facebook & Twitter.

Community

CommanderCast comes full circle: Final Fantasy is coming to Magic in Universes Beyond “from 2024” (and Assassin’s Creed too, if that’s your thing).

Doing our due diligence: since the article above contains no links to Wizards of the Coast president Cynthia Williams’ announcement during Hasbro’s Investor Day 2022 presentation, you can get an indirect confirmation by checking WotC CFO Deb Thomas’s remarks posted on Hasbro’s website for the event: “As Cynthia mentioned, we are expanding this [co-brand arrangement] aggressively for Magic with new partnerships planned with Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed along with our just released Warhammer 40,000 themed set.”

I’m mixing my metaphors here, but the sentiment still feels appropriate

Wizards of the Coast goes all-in on whaling with $999 fancy proxies

• “30th Anniversary Edition is a commemorative, collectible, non-tournament-legal product celebrating 30 years of Magic… available on November 28 [in North America]”
• “Nearly every 30th Anniversary Edition card included matches the rarity of its counterpart in Limited Edition Beta. There are no mythic rares, and no rarities have been shifted. These cards do, however, have modern wording and modern corners, and we’ve slightly touched up some of the art for a clearer, modern look.”
• “Each display of 30th Anniversary Edition will contain four packs of pure nostalgia reimagined in a modern context. Each pack contains 15 cards, 13 cards in the modern frame—1 rare, 3 uncommons, 7 commons, and 2 basic lands—plus one basic land in the retro frame, one additional retro frame card, and a token”
• “[E]ach dual land appears twice as frequently as any other non-dual land rare. This is true for both modern frame and retro frame dual lands.”

Interstitial fodder:

• Potato Flowers in Full Bloom is a chill, low-poly Grimrock.
• Adam moves on to Final Fantasy IV
• “Mike Conner v. The Pain,” by Joshua St. Clair
• Is Korean BBQ a scam?

Strategy

Trends in EDH: bugbears of Commander’s Past (that are still legal in 2022)

• Arcum Dagsson
• Armageddon / Ruination / Sunder
• Blightsteel Colossus
• Bribery
• Hermit Druid
• Insurrection
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• Kokusho, the Evening Star
• Metalworker
• Palinchron
• Rhystic Study
• Serra Ascendant
• Sharuum the Hegemon
• Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• Tooth and Nail
• Yawgmoth’s Will
• Zur the Enchanter

Technology

Our favorite commanders, by category

Favorite Glass Cannon commanders

• Adam: Seton, Krosan Protector
• Mark: Karn, Silver Golem

Favorite Casual commanders

• Adam: Hazezon Tamar
• Mark: Eligeth, Crossroads Augur + Siani, Eye of the Storm

Favorite Pubstomp commanders

• Adam: Merieke Ri Berit
• Mark: Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed / Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

Favorite Derpy commanders

• Adam: Masumaro, First to Live / Angus MacKenzie
• Mark: Phage the Untouchable

Favorite Tribal commanders

• Adam: Marrow-Gnawer
• Mark: Nath of the Gilt-Leaf (but Lorthos, the Tidemaker is the answer in my heart)

Outtro/Contacts:

CommanderCast – Email: commandercast(at)gmail(dot)com // twitter: (at)CommanderCast

Calvin – Email: captainredzone(at)gmail(dot)com // twitter: (at)CaptainRedZone

Mark – Email: mahlerma(at)gmail(dot)com

Adam – (at)squire9999

Be sure to check out our CommanderCast Facebook page.

And a big thanks to everyone here at the CommanderCast Network. We’ll see you next week with more community, strategy, and technology. Until then, LET’S GET IT!