Summary: A three-man show this week, CommanderCast has Andy hosting Justin and Neale as they continue their investigation of Commander with a W5-style, hard-hitting journalistic approach. The following tough questions are explored: - Where is the place of fast mana in the format, if it has one at all? - What are some ways to get your friends excited to play Commander? - When should you play proactive decks instead of reactive strategies? - Why should you bother basing a strategy around a single, non-Commander card in your EDH decks? - Who is Braids, Conjurer Adept, and why is she so awesome? All this and more in another hard-edged, gritty episode of CommanderCast, where we're divulging the secrets THEY don't want you to know! For more Wrexial-approved content, hit us up at http://www.commandercast.com/, including information on the Gifts Given charity drive. This week’s CommanderCast is a very special episode. Just like every other one. I have Justin and Neale aka Wrongwaygoback joining me in our first three-person show of the season. While one might predict the lack of a fourth mic would lead to a DRASTIC drop in quality, we managed to bullshit our way through the hour and a half pretty effectively in my mind. This week’s show is a variety of topics covered in shorter segments than usual, closing out with a single, explosive and extended technology segment where we craft the Braids, Conjurer Adept deck; truly a crack-pipe dream, but a dream nonetheless. Also this week the Gifts Given charity drive continues to function as an explosive success. Monies are being raised, cards and being mailed, and soon funds will be inbound to the good folks at Child’s Play. As always, more information can be found on the right side of this website by following the link. SHOW NOTES 00:00 to 02:22: Intro: It’s CommanderCast! What is this show about and who’s on it? In case you didn’t know, we’re going over it again. Neale’s writings and his website, which is also his name and handle COMMUNITY SEGMENTS 02:33 to 15:29: Free-For-All Roundtable: Fast Mana: For the purposes of this discussion, we are considering ‘fast mana’ to be cards that are colourless and produce large quantites of mana for minimal investment. The usual offenders are Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, that kind of junk. What is their place is the Commander pantheon and do they belong there in the first place? Are we concerned about the impact of fast mana on Commander’s balance, or we give these mechanically-busted cards a free pass because of other factors? 15:39 to 26:51: Charity Cases: I speak on the contribution people have made to the charity drive and read their messages. The Gaming Goat, where you can find Matthew’s writings, and Matthew’s YouTube channel 27:03 to 40:34: The Hype Machine: This is a Twitter topic from @JustSomeLurker, who says: “I love commander, but my friends not so much. They humor me, but I’d like ideas to get them more excited about playing.” Suggestion one: GET BETTER FRIENDS Suggestion two: Listen to this segment for some ideas on building excitement about playing EDH with groups of friends who also like other games. WOOBERG.com, the hook-up for MtG alternative formats STRATEGY SEGMENTS 40:46 to 56:12: Proactive VS Reactive Strategies: Are you the guy who sits around for forty turns without doing anything, then swoops in and wins games? Are you also the same guy who complains about Armageddon? you don’t have to answer that question (you bastard), but you do represent the dichotomy between the more-commonly-accepted passive playstyle versus the more difficult proactive playstyles common to Commander groups. How does one move from being the person resolving problems to the one issuing the threats, and why should you bother? Why is playing proactive gameplans a good idea when being reactive seems so much easier? 56:23 to 1:10:01: Single Card Strategies: When you build a 99 card singleton deck,
