AND WITH THAT we have finished another review season! Nick and Zak get right to it, digging into possible builds for the two new Commander decks to come out alongside Kamigawa Neon Dynasty! There are six new legends and a ton of new cards, but not all that shimmers in cyber tech is golden. What do the two hosts think about the themes, and how were they executed? What cards are their favorites, and what might have been better served on the cutting room floor? Listen in and find out! And let us know what you&apos;re excited about too! We in no way want something we&apos;re not super excited about to bring you down! (We&apos;re gonna build the decks for science to see how things go, even if they&apos;re not linked here)  DECKLISTS: Kotori, Pilot Prodigy Shorikai, Genesis Engine Kosei, Penitent WarlordYou can reach us on Twitter or Tumblr, and our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content! You can even email us @commandertheory@gmail.comIf you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Commander Theory

NEO Commander Deck Review

A ratfolk on a hoverbike just zoomed by my house and painted graffiti all over the alley. Guess that means Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is out! In this doozy of an episode, Nick and Zak review all the commanders and cards they think you should note in the regular set for NEO (basically anything you can get in a set booster). There is SO much and the episode is definitely fat because of it, and we hope it means there&apos;s just more you&apos;ll enjoy! What is white getting in this set that&apos;s worth looking at? How are these saga&apos;s going to play out? Are there... Too many words on cards?!? Listen in and let us know how you feel too! Because this set is jam-packed with cards that are great in commander! Deck Lists:AoLight-PawsJin-Gitaxias 2.0KairiThe Reality ChipHeiko Yamizaki (the red one)West-side KodamaShigekiTameshiIsshin (NOT from Okami =c )Hinata Value AND Hinata BlinkTatsunariGo-ShintaiYou can reach us on Twitter or Tumblr, and our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content! You can even email us @commandertheory@gmail.comIf you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Main Set Review

Commander Theory focuses a lot on what the format looks like if we observe the whole. Nick and Zak often use language about what you "should do" or "ought to do" or "ought to play" when describing the format, but what do they actually play? Not these decks anymore! That&apos;s for sure! In this episode Nick and Zak talk about decks that just... weren&apos;t fun for themselves or the table. They discuss what to look for to avoid the pitfalls of spending time and especially money on a deck, only to hate the experience once you&apos;re sitting at the table.  And once you&apos;re done let us know what decks you&apos;ve played and hated as well! DECKLISTS: Just DM us, there are a lot of them You can reach us on Twitter or Tumblr, and our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content! You can even email us @commandertheory@gmail.comIf you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

One-And-Done Commander Decks

In this episode, Nick and Zak look at some builds that won&apos;t break the bank! Commander can be an expensive hobby, and it can often feel like you need to keep up in an arms race to compete, but that&apos;s not necessarily the case! Nick and Zak layout 7 decks that can really punish a table, some for under $100! And they work so effectively because the commanders are doing things most decks don&apos;t really care too much about. Who needs a Jeweled Lotus when a Strike It Rich does the same thing! Wait? Realy?!? It&apos;s all here! So listen in and let us know what your favorite budget builds are down below! (They include some of the upgrades we&apos;d highly recommend to expand your collection! And they&apos;re still cheap!!)  DECKLISTS:Teshar&apos;s RobosOrvar, The All-Appropriate Budget ListGrazi-Relaxin Over This Cheap DeckShirei, Shizo&apos;s Budget ListRionya Fire Budget ListDargo and Jeska at TanagraYedora, Great Investment You can reach us on Twitter or Tumblr, and our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content! You can even email us @commandertheory@gmail.com If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Budget Mono-Color Powerhouse Comanders

Nick and Zak do a little different take on a retrospective this year. The twist?  As they look back at their favorite cards from 2021 they have to pick cards that are WAY too good for how cheap they are! There&apos;s a few from every set last year, so come on the ride and use the affiliate link below to buy some cards on the cheap! Did you have some favorite cards from 2021? We&apos;d love to hear about them and why! Always feel free to use the links at the bottom of our episode descriptions to give us a shout and bug us about cards! It&apos;s our favorite! You can reach us on Twitter or Tumblr, and our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content! You can even email us @commandertheory@gmail.com If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Commander Theory's Cheap Pickups From 2021

On this very special episode of Commander Theory Nick interviews Corey Bowen! Magic: the Gathering designer and the representative for Black on the Council of Colors in Wizard&apos;s of the Coast&apos;s Studio X. What is the history of black&apos;s color pie in Magic? What has it gained? what has it lost? There&apos;s talk of treasure, life payments, sacrifice, so much more! So listen in and let us know what your favorite part of Black&apos;s color pie is too! Nick was also recently on an episode of The Legendary Creature Podcast! Kyle, Andy, and Nick get into the nitty-gritty of White, and the vibe is kind of a more laid-back version of what this series has been. If you&apos;ve enjoyed this look into Magic design with us, then you can catch that episode HERE. It&apos;s really fun and we can&apos;t recommend them enough!  This is also a very special episode for us because (with some caveats...) with this episode releasing we&apos;ve interviewed a member of each color on the Council of Colors! We hope you&apos;ve enjoyed this look into Magic design! We had a blast doing it and can&apos;t thank Wizards and all the council members who were a part of it enough. Thank you all! We have more design-focused material and interviews planned for the year, and we&apos;re really excited to share it all with you later! Thanks for listening!  Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Consulting the Council - Discussing Black with Corey Bowen

WE ARE BACK! It&apos;s 2022 and we&apos;re kicking things off with a wonderful interview with Chris Mooney! GDS3 competitor and full-time Magic designer since 2019, working on wonderful sets you might have heard of like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow! In this interview, we talk about Chris&apos;s old job as the Colorless Council Member, their new job as the White Counsel Member, and just what these slices of pie have to offer! What is white&apos;s new relationship with card draw? Reanimation? Treasure production?!?! It&apos;s all here! So listen in and let us know what you think about what white&apos;s doing too! Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Consulting the Council - White and Colorless with Chris Mooney

As you&apos;ve probably heard by now, the sky is falling! Oh wait, there are more digital-only cards! And a... new format? What does this have to do with Commander? And what does this mean for design in the future? Join Nick and Zak as they lament some changes to the easiest way to pick up games of magic, talk about what they do like about the changes, Historic Brawl, and in general T H E  F U T R E! It&apos;s all here! So listen in and let us know what you all think as well. Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Alchemy and The Future of Magic Design

Back so soon? You hardly finished your first few MID drafts. But that&apos;s alright, because on this episode Nick and Zak look at some preliminary numbers for their Innistrad Midnight Hunt predictions! The two take some guesses as to what&apos;s gonna be the top 10 most popular cards from Innistrad Crimson Vow! What&apos;s different this time around? Can we see anything about the general design philosophy between the two sets? How do the commanders from the Precons play now that we&apos;ve gotten our hands on them? All this plus more individual card discussion on this episode! Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

VOW Predictions and Pre-Con Gameplay

A new installment, a new series! Now officially named Seasons Past! Where we look back at old designs to see how we got to where we are today. In this episode, Nick and Zak get friend-of-the-show Charlotte Sable - CAG member and excellent writer of magic knowledge - to look back at one of her favorite sets: Alliances! What cards stuck with us? How did they end up designing the "final" set to be paired with Ice Age? And... Gorillas?!? It&apos;s all here! Along with favorite cards and just, a lot of reminiscing, so listen in and let us know what you think!  You can find Charlotte HERE, and you can read her excellent writing HERE (seriously, it&apos;s awesome!)  We apologize for the mic problems in this episode, but for sure we&apos;ll be up and running again for next week. Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Seasons Past: Alliances

In a short and sweet episode, Nick and Zak talk about, well, what it was like at MTG Las Vegas! We got to go and meet a ton of new people, some old friends, play a ton of Magic, and generally get a good look at what the future might hold for the Commander Community! (We&apos;re playing a game while recording so there&apos;s a little bit of that happening too) In the future we plan to go to as many of these events as we can, so always feel free to contact us and let us know if you&apos;d like to meet up and jam games! We did a review of the main-deck cards from Crimson Vow with Kyle and Andy from the Legendary Creature Podcast, and you can find it HERE. We&apos;re really into a lot of the cards and it was a blast to hang out with those guys! A small warning, there is cursing so be careful if you usually listen with kids in the car. Other than that, we&apos;re excited to get back to your regular scheduled Commander Theory programming! Yay 2-ish months without previews we hope!  Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

MTG Las Vegas 2021 Dispatch

Watch out! Behind you! It&apos;s the two Crimson Vow commander preconstructed decks! And they have dozens of new cards to brew with! In this episode Nick and Zak get into, you guessed it! The new cards from the Innistrad: Crimson Vow commander decks. We look at what&apos;s cool, what&apos;s new and inventive, and if reanimation needs more... reanimation spells? It&apos;s all here! So listen in, and let us know if anything has inspired you to brew! Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Crimson Vow Preconstructed Commander Deck Review

Time again so soon - Grab your finest cloak and gown, stow your weapons at the door, and help yourself to the... blood fountain? Because Crimson Vow is upon us! And with it, a bevy of Magic: The Gathering cards to build around and with! In this episode, Nick and Zak get into the nitty-gritty of the legendary creatures! What cards do they want? What do they remind us of? And even.... why does this exist?!? It&apos;s all here! So listen in and let us know what your favorite (or least favorite!) commander in the set is! Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Crimson Vow Legendary Creatures Review

In 2017 Mark Rosewater released an article/resource for Magic: The Gathering fans and home designers called the Mechanical Color Pie. The article includes TONS of drop-down menus and various ways in which every mechanic used on a magic card at the time was sorted into color, by color, and in alphabetical order.  It was a HUGE undertaking, and incredibly helpful to passionate fans like CT hosts Nick and Zak. It had its downsides though, mainly that it was backward-looking. You could think of it as more of a snapshot of the color pie around 2017. So when Maro finished the 2021 update to the Mechanical Color Pie, with the help of the Council of Colors, AND it was forward-looking this time? Well, that means a ton to people who care about the future of the format! So listen in as we get into the changes made to the color pie, and let us know what you think too! Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Mechanical Color-Pie Gets a Tune Up

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! For this week Nick and Zak get back to the original set to bring horror to the MTG universe! Not Innistrad in 2011, but The Dark! Originally released in 1994 the cards have left lasting impressions on the two hosts for a long time! So for this spooky weekend take a trip down memory lane to see the set that made mana rocks the way they are and top-down sets possible. For each color-pie break there&apos;s an equally flavorful card that... well it probably doesn&apos;t do much, but it&apos;s interesting and fun! And there&apos;s a lot to look back on and learn from and pet cards galore! So join us as we delve deeper into The Dark! Last note, if you like this retrospective let us know! It&apos;s something we&apos;ve talked about doing more of since there&apos;s a lot to learn from the past and it makes it easier to see what&apos;s coming down the line! (Also, it&apos;s just cool to see how far design has come and take some trips down memory lane) Edited the name to reflect it&apos;s the first in the series Seasons Past. Our YouTube has videos for even more Commander content!If you like our podcast, please support us on Patreon!If you&apos;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 show (https://www.patreon.com/commandertheory)

Seasons Past: The Dark

Expert analysis of the Commander format of Magic: the Gathering

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Commander Theory

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