What's the Best 1-Drop Creature? Commander Clash Podcast 116
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- čas přidán 9. 10. 2023
- Sixteen 1-drop creatures face off in an elimination bracket to determine which one is the best 1-drop creature in Commander.
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I think what we learned most from this is that you guys need a fifth person on the podcast when ranking things
They have one. It's chat gpt
Chatgpt is hilarious, wdym. This is for entertainment after all, and the best card wins anyways.
Crim and richard are agents of chaos
They really need someone who isn’t from their play group to balance things out. Every deck running Ondu Inversion and 5 other board wipes is insane
Phil! Phil! Phil! Phil!
30 minutes in and I feel like you could revist this episode as two separate rankings- one for staples and one for build arounds.
Or like for turn 1 vs for turn 6
30 minutes in? The very first match up was a discussion of "Generic" v "Specific." It seems like a conversation they should have had before the episode 😅
@@jjvh500 yeah but I didn't comment on a 1 off. I let them have the discussion a few times before I felt like it should be pointed out.
I'm just starting the video but if bodyguard doesn't get mentioned I call shenanigans. BB is at least in the top 100.
for real and a card being more generally usable does not make it more powerful. And this disconnect happens every single time they compare power level of cards.. Still love these guys tho even if they can be insane
9:30 The debate between Birds versus Druid is the debate between whether to use the floor or the ceiling.
I’m glad someone finally pointed out that commander clash has WAY more boardwipes than your average pod, so cards that “die to boardwipes next turn” are way more playable than they’re being given credit for
I faced a Nethroi HB deck earlier today, and I didn't know Arena even had that many boardwipes 😂. That and toxic-ass Superfriends, which works much better in 1v1 commander.
But honestly players should play MORE board wipes. I’m on the Crim side. I played much more wipes than my opponents for awhile, and I was winning more than I should from a well timed wipe. Now a days my playgroup has realized this and run more in their decks.
My pod has even more wipes , we turned to combo focus, we also allow land destruction and stuff but we know how to play into tournament level and play agrro
Someone should’ve told Richard that birds taps for its own Path to ramp
"we put a Ramp in your Ramp so you can ramp while ramping!!!"
And the perfect sword holder with frying and dragon blocker later in the game?
I almost spit out my coffee that would've killed.
i like that richard says spectral sailor is good because you can hold up interaction, and use 3U draw a card as a backup but.. what interaction are you holding richard? :D you don't have any!
Richard: don't use interaction because it makes enemies
also Richard: don't play birds because it will be bolted
what level is this man on
Teferis protection is what he's holding up
@@Dom9606 literally just full of contradictions. If you tried to built a coherent gameplan from Richards "tips" your deck would be just as boring as.... Well Richards decks. Useless 1/1s and literally only going for 2nd because you have no hope of ever closing out a game (I know Richard has won occasionally, but the crew have usually had to make massive blunders for it to be even possible)
@@Dom9606In Richard's make believe world there's a boardwipe every turn but you still need to run 5 fogs in your deck to stop all the creatures from running you over.
Generous gift.
Crim being a control player and not recognizing the power of tutoring a channel land with Weathered Wayfarer at instant speed for a blowout is astounding.
especially since he is ALWAYS low on lands
He has a deep hatred of White mana it seems. lol
I feel like Richard has 1v1 brain assessing Mother of Runes. It's an "on board trick", which makes people less likely to target any creatures you control or attack you. The threat of activation means they won't commit to you unless they feel they have to. If the people you play with spam board wipes instead of spot removal, sure.
I don't understand how Esper Sentinel is "it draws you cards, or makes people play around it", but Mother of Runes is "it's an on-board trick."
I think if opponents are going to spam board wipes, few creatures are relevant. That would not be much of an argument versus Mother of Runes. It’s along the lines of the ever unhelpful “just play more removal” advice.
I think to answer your question, Esper Sentinel always has a significant impact on either card draw or as the alternative, forcing players to go slow to pay the X. Mother of Runes likely just stops one removal then is hit by another while vulnerable and removed (thus it often serves to just absorb one removal). When played very early, it can discourage removal until there is enough untapped mana available for two removals to be played but otherwise it blocks one removal spell/ability. The X cost from Esper Sentinel is frustrating up until end game play.
I really like Mother of Runes but I think Esper Sentinel is more impactful.
Idk this is one of the few areas I agree with Richard on, 1 out of 10 games I feel like Mother of Runes is super annoying but in the rest it's just irrelevant, and I'm usually the heavy on spot removal guy. I also can't think of anything worse in a White deck than drawing into Mother of Runes when you don't have anything else going on.
@@Spaced92 Another argument for cards like Mother of Runes is the re-direct factor. If you cannot target my creatures while she is in play, there is a good chance that you will eventually use your removal on one of the other players rather than just holding it in your hand waiting for her to be removed. Mom is not just protecting your creatures, but potentially turning those removal spells to your advantage.
None of this changes my opinion that Esper Sentinel deserved to be crowned the winner, but just that Mom can be very impactful as a card.
Mom is really strong in 1v1
@@Spaced92
As someone who runs Mother of Runes myself, she without fail elicits a ton of groans if I play her turn 1. She is very good at protecting my commander in the early game for little investment.
"You have to play welder and untap with it" I think I'm going to be way to triggered to make it through this one lol
Vs a card that needs to attack to do what it does anyway too
Yeah I don't think welder is the best of the list by far, but in this world they live in where the only acceptable ramp is rocks and cultivate how is welder a do nothing card lol
@@Lucarioguild7 I think it's only one of them that's that stupid, birds did still win the bracket, just that one guy that says mana dorks don't do anything...
I think Deathrite Shaman should’ve definitely been in the bracket given its utility, but other than that gripe great video guys
Deathrite shaman is so versatile. I love it, definitely would have chosen it over spore frog
I think they went with popularity and Deathrite Shanan goes in way less decks since it is two colors.
Yeah I'm pretty pissed there was 4 different 1 mana evasive creatures while Deathrite Shaman and other 1 drops with unique effects were left off
Yet another card that's way better than BoP.
@@Lucarioguild7lol, imagine getting your feelings hurt over a tcg bracket
Wait, why are there three Slither blades and only one mana dork?
Richard has had a lot of wild takes over the years but Spectral Sailor is better than mom is wild even by his standards lmao
his takes are usually utter nonsense lol
Richard's take on mom is crazy. Knowing it's there is part of the power. Half the time the removal you would have to burn safekeeping to stop is just used somewhere else instead. The fog that stops a dozen attacks because its known to exist is way stronger than the fog played only once to stop 1 attack.
Agreed. Say the opponent had 3 removal spells in hand. More often than not mom is basically 3 safeties against removal spells rather than just 1. Not to mention, it incentivizes players to target opponent creatures that are not urs so that they don’t just lose the removal spell to mom, giving u even more free value
his take is plain wrong. He says there is no removal that Mom counters but forgets that it is because of Mom that no removal is played. Though I know he'll debate that's virtual card advantage because that removal spell will now stay in opponents hand and be cast after the next board wipe blah blah
Mom is so good I play step mom and bug mom just because that effect is so strong.
Birds vs heritage druid is like debating Cultivate vs Walking Ballista
I guess they're debating within the framework of "in a deck that wants this effect and doesn't have enough of them"?
Walking balista
Cultivate is better. 😉
The ceiling of Cultivate is two lands, whereas the ceiling of Walking Ballista is your opponents control zero lands. Therefore, Walking Ballista is a better ramp spell than Cultivate :)
Birds of Paradise is a BoP, and Heritage Druid isn't.
To explain Richard's question about why the anime art spectral sailor is wearing a school uniform, that uniform style is called a sailor uniform. So the spectral sailor is wearing a sailor uniform.
I think it just feels out of place and confusing because while the name is spectral sailor, the anime sailor uniform is influenced by old-fashioned naval uniforms and this creature is a pirate. It just doesn’t make much sense.
@@Dragon_Fyrehow so? Many olden day pirates were former navy, either officially or hired by them to work inder their flag
@@direkitsune They wouldn’t keep wearing the Navy uniform once they were a pirate.
@@Dragon_Fyre many did, after all they were made to last on the sea. They would get torn, or parts removed, but many kept the garments they had. They would be replaced in time, and some got ride of them entirely out of some principle, but many definitely kept them for practicalities sake
@@direkitsune They would have to be significantly disheveled or otherwise marked/defaced so as not to be confused with any active navy sailor or it would very likely get them murdered.
Okay mtggoldfish fans when are we having a intervention for Richard?? He might be suffering from some post partum depression with some of these takes. SPECTRAL SAILOR OVER MOM?!? This is clearly a cry for help
i can't believe deathrite shaman isn't here, it's so underplayed
Did Deathrite Shaman get folded into the mana dork category?
I think it’s because it’s based on the 16 most commonly run 1-drops. Deathrite requires the player to be in two specific colors instead of just one.
They took the top 16 one drops from EDH rec, there is no categories.
Doesn't make sense to include a planeswalker into a creature bracket, right?
@@ray_the_red8047there is categories, they even said it at the beginning. Hence the fact ignoble hierarch isn't on there despite being the second most used.
@@joewhite4456Then why tf is there 2 unlockable creatures, functionally 4 on the list?
Crim is so spot on about Welder. Even if you don't have explicit artifact synergies, someone else may. I feel like maybe the crew has completely forgotten just how much of red is based on discard. Incidentally. The impulse draw maybe overtook looting in their minds. Welder is a red staple while ascendant is just a beater
100% my thoughts as well. Since it is a sacrifice effect, it also gets around artifacts that are indestructible.
Even if they have artifact synergies it's not guaranteed at all they have artifacts in their graveyard and cycling some mana rocks is so meaningless. Strong with build around yes, but serra is so busted in every level of commander and in any white deck.
The crew completely ignoring that you can swap out your opponent's good artifacts for anything bad in their graveyard is just complete madness to me. Killing an Aetherflux Reservoir, Bolas's Citadel, or even a Skull Clamp can be fantastic plays that Serra Ascendant can't even come close to competing with.
Not to mention, with the abundance of treasure and food tokens these days. Red has limited card draw options and welder does what it does welding those weaknesses - getting artifacts that draw card, or just swapping for better artifacts. It's also a 1 drop that does well to disrupt artifact shenanigans yours opponents have. I have cut down the use of serra ascendants in most of my white decks. Just doesn't make the cut anymore.
@@kennethchua4910 Actually, that's a great point we all missed - treasures, clues, food, blood, etc. So many things create them incidentally that artifacts are likely around for most players anyhow. And in red, most of the cards you play for card advantage are going to loot or rummage things into the bin.
It never ceases to amaze me how Richard can so consistently be so wrong 😂
I think he is right most of the time, but sometimes his takes are a bit extreme
He was right about heritage druid
@@lach10211nah birds is better in like 49/50 decks or whatever which automatically makes it better even though heritage Druid has a higher ceiling in its one specific deck. It’s really not even close in any way whatsoever lol
@@lach10211 how is getting 3 mana turn 2 bad?
@@lach10211no he objectively wasn’t I’m a elf ball player I love my elves heritage Druid is literally only good in one deck and birds of paradise is good in that same exact deck and even more.
I love how in an argument about the best one drops in the game we’re talking about “dies to doom blade” as a reason why a one drop is bad when that literally applies to every creature in this list already. “Birds will die before turn 4 guaranteed. But Soul warden is amazing. Play it turn 1 and 5 turns later you’re at 60life!”
Love you guys!
Richard is digging this time super far
Not to doom blade to a wrath. Any creature that doesn’t draw a tone of cards or stay post wrath is bad
Richard is such a troll, he doesn't even play targeted removal just wants other people to take care of it for him lol
it doesn't apply to that changeling or gravecrawler :P
@@kevinthecarpathian to be fair it’s quite easy to do this it just sucks when you’re at a table with them
Serra ascendant over goblin welder is crazy, this episode is gonna be tough to watch
They ranked it based on general use, not on ceiling power level. Goblin welder only works well in specific decks, while ascendant is an insane beater in any deck that can play it.
@@danielsniff6405 I still think this is wrong. Goblin welder might be at its best in an artifact deck. But it certainly has great value outside of it too. Repeatable artifact hate if your opponent has a threat out (swords, ashond's altar, etc), while also bringing insane value for any red deck. Red generally has a higher amount of artifacts than other colors, and also lends itself towards discard effects. Welder is great is both situations. Welder is also good no matter when you draw it, unlike ascendant.
@@trehenry413 "Welder is also good no matter when you draw it, unlike ascendant." This is just patently untrue. You can't even activate it if nobody has any artifacts in the graveyard and you can't hate on your opponents' cards with it by discarding your own. It of course has a way higher ceiling but the floor of both cards is "this draw lost me the game" and an average play pattern of "this card got to do its thing once or twice."
You should have Phil as the tie breaker
1:16:32
Richard: "There are many, many, many ways to draw cards in white(...)"
Time traveler from 2018: "what the hell did this guy say?"
Richard has somewhat of a point that if you creature ramp to other creatures, you make yourself very vulnerable to wraths. However, my experience with dorks in these decks is that you want to use them to turbo out your engines, so that if you do end up getting wrathed this won't impact you as much. You don't birds into a creature, your birds into elemental bond, or hardened scales, or whatever your strategy is. I also find that wraths are a lot less prevalent then MTGGoldfish suggests.
I wish there was an actual conversation at the beginning of the podcast about what 'best' entails. Is it versatility, power, consistency, other? BoP falls under the consistent value due to it being bad enough to not be removed while a welder requires instant removal and frog just shuts down entire decks strategies. Without nuanced discussion prior, everyone was often talking past each other
Side note: serra avatar vs goblin welder was like saying dark ritual is better then paradox engine because it can go in any black deck vs the engine which requires a mana rock package
I put the starting bracket in front of my local edh chat group so people could fill out their own brackets. Thanks for the great discussion and the extra discussions the bracket caused with my playgroup. :-)
I don't fully agree with Crim's opinions on artifact decks but I do think the crew are getting trapped by the word artifact on Welder. Most decks runs a recent amount of artifacts and it'll only increase as we get more colorless staples. The ability to sac a Treasure to get back a utility piece is good. The ability to cash in a mana rock for a big bomb that got answered is *great.* And then you get combo potential. I think Serra Ascendant still wins out but Welder has so much utility for such a cheap cost.
I am suprised, that there was no dowsing dagger argument for birds 😂
Tomer’s “shitty eraser” analogy for Spectral Sailor is the funniest thing I’ve heard on here in a while 😂 so on point too.
I don’t even like Mother of Runes, I think it’s only good if you’re playing voltron or some deck that’s desperately reliant on its commander. But Spectral Sailor is damn near unplayable unless you’re getting extra value out of it, like in a Millicent or Edric deck.
Raffine would be good
Seth makes a great point - how can you judge creatures like this if your meta runs sweepers every other turn? This sounds like a brutal group to play with but I'm used to more battlecruiser I guess, maybe 1-2 board wipes a game max
Yeah, I understand board wipes are a healthy part of magic. But this playgroup sounds awful unless you're playing a creatureless deck that durdles
Richard is basically saying don’t play any card that don’t provide card advantage
@@swiftdragonriderRichard both doesn't like removal... And argues everything is bad because removal exists. It's a self defeating argument
Most people only run 1-3 in their deck max whereas crim and richard run 5+
@@hanschristopherson8056 That sounds miserable haha. I mostly listen to the podcast and don't watch the clashes so how do their games usually run? Is it a bunch of sweepers until someone combos out?
With goblin welder, i think they underestimate how many generically powerful artifacts show up in commander. Both for yourself and your opponents, there is always going to be something good and bad in both the graveyards and the field.
Yeah, it is at is best if you are also playing an artifact deck. But, it can also be repeatable artifact hate too. Especially for powerful artifacts like a Darksteel Forge.
Stunned by the Ragavan vs Spore Frog debate...
Fr. I feel like sometimes they're just saying crazy stuff for discussions sake lol
@@tobomy even if we take into consideration the goldfish crew's meta, the fact that it's a one drop red manadork that color fixes is insane. That's the best part- it color fixes, creates a token, and artifact token, and draws a card
If you get in a single hit, it's already worth it. Just 1 hit. I'm not sure if the goal is to be contrarian for content or for the algorithm. Idk
Just really mind boggling
Came here to specifically say this
spore frog is better tho
@@bluenewwave13 but monke is superior
As someone that does not play manadorks normally i personally think delighted halfling is the best one, if only for the uncounterability
I guess it depends on whether you often have your Legendaries countered. It could be potentially very impactful, but mana of any colour for non Legendaries can be equally important. It would depend on your deck and your opponents decks.
@@Dragon_Fyre It also survives getting got by an end of turn Bowmasters.
@@kylegonewild this isn't cedh where everyone is playing orcish bowmasters you don't need to build your decks around it
Weathered wayfarer can drop you down a 20/20 indestructible by turn 3 or enable tron lands on demand
Richard as he pulls out ChatGPT once again: "the beatings will continue until morale improves"
The more I play Haywire Mite, the more busted it seems..
Tomer isn’t my favorite goldfish crew member but I agree with him, 12:33 what have we walked into? Is there 3 simultaneous gas leaks across the country?
I can't believe they actually used "dies to removal" as an argument.
Sylvan Safekeeper is a bit niche but can be the best card in your deck sometimes
Whenever Richard says he's "debated" with himself he really means "I thought about it and continued agreeing with myself. I was right all along"
Honorable mention for Allosaurus Shepard. I know it’s basically specifically for an elf deck, but it’s an absolute powerhouse for 1 mana. It can’t be countered, the rest of your green spells can’t be countered, and a buff effect 💰
As far as birds vs heritage druid goes i would agree with richard that the druid is more powerful or has a much higher ceiling it also has the lower floor since you need two other elves for it to do anything so i have to give it to birds since it has the lower floor dince its always going be able to tap for mana. On top of that birds fills the role of being a one drop much better where youre always happy to slam it down turn 1 where druid is a card youd rather hold on to until youve developed your board and you're ready to pop off
To be fair and in defense of goblin welder, the floor for serra ascendant is just a 1/1 with lifelink and also needs a turn before it can attack. Not arguing, just pointing out that the floor for both cards are just as bad lol.
I though that was the closest in power was those two
I think the reason that I might go with Serra Ascendant is that it basically works well in any deck as long as you play it while at 30+ life where Goblin Welder is more specific to the types of decks it is useful in (where you can sacrifice artifact tokens to get artifacts from your graveyard into play, which admittedly is still a lot of decks); Also, when played early to plan, opponents may not have answers to Serra Ascendant, but Goblin Welder typically takes a few turns to be relevant, where there should be removal available by then for a 1/1. Several turns in, the Serra Ascendant has already done its work. The welder is a powerhouse but I think it’s like 55/45 for the Serra Ascendant.
@@Dragon_Fyre people forget goblin welder targets other peoples stuff too tho🤷🏽♂️
U don't have to untap with it to block w a 6/6 lifelink.
@@colecarmichael5724Tomer mentioned it
21:07 I love when Niuttuc gets to make these little edits xD, almost as good as Tomer screaming from beyond about the crew's opinions when he's not on the cast.
I think Tomer edits the Commander Clash podcasts and he was telling future him to roll the clip.
It's actually baffling how wrong Richard and Crim are about Mana Dorks.
His argument against Birds of Paradise is literally "it helps you cast your spells which is bad" like how do you have this level of dissonance
If anyone wants to try getting chat GPT's opinion on some of these cards I've had very good luck using the following prompt:
"In a game of magic the gathering commander, which card is better between x or y? You must be decisive in your answer and generalize on the format.
Richard, how can u decide between two cards using an argument that fits both? Spore frog is a slow board trick that also gets wrathed, i don't get it lol
im with tomer in most of these decisions. everyone knows ragavan can run away with a game but no one looks at spore frog and think i gotta stop this
Tomers been the only non meme opinion for a long time now, love all these dudes though.
And at most games no one will care about ragavan because everyone will randomly have blockers and he can't attack, but if frog is in the field they need to keep it in mind
Spore frog can completely shut down aggro decks. There's not many one drops I'm afraid more of than Spore Frog. I can't count how many times it shut my deck down, fogging me every turn, leaving me sitting there helplessly and my only hope was to draw 1 of my 2 grave hate cards.
@@olafwulfgarson1224 the decks that run it are made to abuse it. Ragavan doesn’t have to built around and it’s always a problem. So I’m terms of power it is the more in general powerful card.
This is gonna be fun, I loved the last time you called on ChatGPT to break your ties.
Richard just here to start fires
This bracket format is great at cultivating divisive, argumentative debates over the tiniest semantics and I'm here for it!!
Surprised how much Richard hates mana dorks. They rush out your toskis and draw cards
I'm appalled by your conclusion on ascendant vs welder.
You can cut ascendant from any deck its in and barely notice.
Welder is such a powerhouse and one of the best cards in every deck it's in.
I think the conclusion was that welder was stronger but can’t go in every deck whereas you can put ascendant in any white deck but choose not to because synergy is more important in commander today
You could also cut welder and barely notice. Its effect isn't unique or necessary and is pretty much unusable turn 1 anyway. Everyone is aware it has a higher potential payoff than ascendant. The argument breaks down like hans here was saying. One thing people are forgetting is that it either forces a removal spell because it's *too much* value that's immediately available or makes you untouchable via creatures for several turns without ever having to actually turn it sideways. The Baleful Strix effect but it *can* go on the offensive. All for a throwaway single mana at the beginning of the game. Obviously a welder in any artifact deck will be better than ascendant in white weenies or whatever though.
Wonderful video guys, good job
Really love this bracket sytle video, and ngl im pretty happy its been a while since we got an endless spoiler season video
Also goblin welder got robbed hard
Too many Mana Dorks, so we'll just use birds as the best, but we'll have 3 1 drop unblockable creatures that basically accomplish the same exact thing. That was a choice.
Should get Phil to rate the cards from highest to lowest as the tie breaker
Just a few days ago I remember posting on Twitter about how at least one person has to be Devils Advocate and be contrarian…and that is perfectly exemplified by the BoP/Heritage Druid debate.
This bracket had it out for Crim 😂😭
seth saying grave crawler isnt good in zombie decks outside of combo is just insane. Its one black mana trigger all your sac and death triggers as many times as you want. I was running it without combos and it was so obscenely good i took it out
The floor on Esper Sentinel being a 1 mana asymmetrical Thalia is still insanely good. Even if you don't draw a single card you are often half a turn ahead of everyone else.
In cEDH the ranking criteria is a lot clearer:
T1 (Birds / Ragavan) - go into almost every deck that can play them
T2 (Esper Sentinel) - goes into a lot of decks as a value play
T3 (Gingerbrute, Slitherblade Viscera Seer, Mother of Runes, Changeling Outcast, Serra Ascendant) - goes in a handful of decks (mostly Yuriko)
Rest is unplayable :)
I should also mention that Ragavan is practically a red cEDH staple - run in the majority of red decks as an additional mana / card advantage source. An opening hand Ragavan generates so much mana and card advantage that it is generally better than anything short of sol ring / mana crypt - and the smaller pool of played cards in the cEDH format means that you have much higher chances of hitting something useful for your gameplan (card draw / fast mana)
So personally I think the best one drop out of these is mother of runes. Blocks for days, allows your commander to get in for damage, and gives protection from targeted removal. Yeah it folds to most boardwipes but so does almost every card so thats not a great argument
Seriously dies to board wipes isn’t a valid reason to hate on any utility creature because yeah I see way more board wipes on clash than ever occur in any game I’m actually in
I loved this ep and would love to see more brackets
Just built a Ragavan commander deck and it’s absolutely hilarious to get to play your commander first turn every time.
Love the fact that tomer defended goblin welder because he said he leans into synergistic decks, but just 10 minutes ago he was having a mental breakdown because they were defending heritage druid over birds
Absolutely wild that half the cast is so anti mana dorks
They aren't strong because they last forever, or even because of creature synergies necessarily. They're strong because they're, on average, cheaper than land ramp
Tournament style I agree with everything. Up to a esper sentinel losing it should have won Ranking
16. Spectral Sailor
15. Slither Blade
14. Changeling Outcast
13. Gingerbrute
12. Gravecrawler
11. Heritage Druid
10. Soul Warden
9. Ragavan
8. Mother of Runes
7. Spore Frog
6. Viscera Seer
5. Goblin Welder
4. Serra Ascendant
3. Weathered Wayfarer
2. Birds of Paradise
1. Esper Sentinel
You forget that Goblin Welder can target any player. So you can make people sac indestructible artifacts like the Ring and Darksteel Citadel.
Tomer mentioned using it on opponents
You can't target them if they have nothing in their graveyard. It requires removal to already be used against your opponent to later act as removal against an opponent, but yes, it is a niche answer to indestructible artifacts, or just problematic artifacts in general, in decks running enough artifacts to get one in the graveyard.
Their interaction amongst each other, especially debating rankings, always has me smiling.
Goblin Welder so undervalued here, lol. RIP lil guy.
Not surprised by the lack of love for mana dorks for this podcast. Your crew is so BOARD WIPE HEAVY that your argument make sense there. On streamed games and onlines games, I barely see any boardwipe. I would gladly take the turn 1 acceleration over rampant growth or Wood Elves in a heavy creature decks even if a board wipe mean I will be set back. I just gained so much advantage from this turn 1 acceleration
In the end though I think the finals was spot on for those 1 drops . 3rd would be Mom for me . 4th would be Serra Ascendant
really enjoy the tournament podcasts
Crim: "There are a LOT.... a LOOOOOHT.... of things I LOOOOOOVE..... about SLITHER BLAAAAAADE!"
One thing I think would have been interesting is asking everyone at the end which of the 16 would be their personal pick for the number one spot.
I also think it would be good to identify in advance what the criteria are. I think that would have helped in picking between cards that are S tier in certain decks, and cards that are A tier in very many decks.
Richard lives on another planet from the rest of us.
Ragavan dashing in at points of opportunity, like after chump blockers from the previous player, or after a board wipe, is relevant. IF you happen to find evasion or something synergistic, then you can cast it. Also, exiling the top card is good for disrupting some occasional opponent strategies. In terms of popularity, Ragavan is not going to be in more decks because it's expensive but if it were for the card itself it would be plenty popular.
the only reason I won't be using it... $$$
The way Richard describes things makes it seem like he runs 8 board wipes per deck😂
It's obviously elixir of immortality. That's the best way to stop Crim from getting you with his unstoppable mill sword and honestly what else is there going on in commander
This went from an infuriating mess to at least a happy ending lol
"So Esper vs Ragavan?"
Close, but could never predict the AI wildcard.
The more I watch these guys the more I realize I agree with Tomer way more often than I agree with everyone else.
The struggle between "best" and "most powerful" is real
This episode made me really happy with my play group, if there are 4 board wipes in a single game I'd leave and never play again with that group
*looks up from Child of Alara commander* Hmm?
4 board wipes isn't even that much
Imagine Crim's opinion if they told him "Birds of Paradise lets you cast body an mind on turn 2 and then equip it to a flier on turn 3!"
The Weathered Wayfarer take beating out Changeling Outcast just absolutely had me putting my headphones speechless haha. The amount of combat damage focus in the design space is absurd! Factor in how most tribal decks tend to be naturally synergistic with the combat step and you’ve got legit gas that just fits more archetypes and decks as a whole.
But I have to agree with Seth. Playing a changeling in place of an actual tribal card just feels lame as hell, even in decks like rin and seri where a changing is debatable better since it has both creature types.
You see, clearly it's the matter of perspective cause I was just wondering wtf are we even talking about here. It's not even close and WW is just MUCH better in my opinion.
So... I don't put a lot of faith in the winners of this, but this was fantastically fun to watch.
Great content!
I don't get Richard's point about using "creature rampant growths" over mana dorks because Sakura Tribe Elder or whatever *isn't a one drop*. The advantage that mana dorks give you is that they get you extra mana on to use on turn 2. It's like saying Darksteel Ingot is better than Arcane Signet because it's indestructible. You shouldn't rely on only mana dorks to ramp you but ramping faster is a big deal
I appreciated the entertainment value of this podcast. It's also great to hear white get a shutout for their 1 drop creatures. This bracket showed the range of effects & power of white one-drop creatures.
i love serra ascendent its so good. Glad those White cards got some love here
Richard- “don’t play mana dorks cause they die to removal.”
Also Richard- “who plays targeted removal?”
His argument is that birds dies to board wipes pretty easily. Birds dies to board wipes, land ramp doesn't.
@@henrilitor1646 by the same logic, lands die to armageddon effects, birds don´t.
@@AdaWongMistress Now count the number of armageddon effects and compare that to the amount of creature destruction that exists. It's perfectly fine this logic goes in both directions because there's the additional layer of "what are people actually playing."
@@AdaWongMistress Kyle's already said the basic point, but people don't play land destruction. If I could choose to have a birds of paradise or command tower on the battle field, I'd choose command tower, as it's stickier and doesn't die to *common* removal and wipes.
The argument for birds letting you drop a 3 drop on turn 2 is good but also that means when someone wipes you fall way more behind that the rest of the table
First two debates were 😂🤣 can't wait to hear more
This was very interesting to hear all the dif views and the way you all seem to sway each other at times. Was surprised that nobody mentioned that Bird o Paradise has flying which is great as a blocker in a pinch. Many nasty flying creatures and commanders out there and not always that many fliers in green so I think that's a point that makes it even better.
The floor on ascendant is much higher? The floor is a 1/1 with lifelink.
I agree with Crim about Goblin Welder - reasoning being, that literally all red decks produce a LOT of treasures. Which in turn gives you so many opportunities to get a really powerful Artifact out of your GY. Any mid-high powered deck play some Artifact that either ramps you or does something powerful.
Every time Richard says that anything that isn't a rampant growth is bad ramp, I add more land destruction to my next deck. Man's crazy that he thinks waiting two more turns for ramp is a good idea. Birds gives you back your mana turn 2. Wood Elves gives you back your mana turn 6. The rest of the cast really needs to start packing more sinks holes and cleansing wildfires and volcanic offerings if he thinks lands are indestructible.
This is kinda a non argument though. Everyone knows land destruction is good. And everybody knows that landfall decks are good.
Yet no one runs MLD effects since it's soft banned in most pods.
Richard is making an argument for their/regular pods in which case dorks do have the draw back of being sweeped. And lands don't.
I do think your "you get your mana back quicker with mana dorks" arguments is solid though.
@@jaspertenhaken9751 note how none of the cards I listed were MLD effects; they were answers.
@@MakeVarahHappen And also note how in many playgroups that will still turn them against you outside the game. Stasis is an *answer* to ramp but it's not making you any friends. It's not *how many* lands most people care about it's *lands at all* that they care about if they're already soft banning mass destruction. You can go somewhere else if that exists at your LGS or pod or whatever and you don't like that kind of pod I guess, nothing wrong with that, but it's fairly common. Seth also pretty much always runs Strip Mine and I see the cast regularly running Field of Ruin or whatever the other one is that's basically the same card. I would never personally run more than 2 or 3 targeted land removal cards to begin with and having them on lands is more powerful than spells on average. Something I see people regularly forget though are cards like Beast Within totally being able to snipe lands so a lot of decks have incidental land destruction that people just don't use that way.
@@kylegonewild you cannot seriously be comparing volcanic offering to stasis right now my guy.
Just FYI chatgpt's database is only up until 2021, so most likely wouldn't consider new cards or meta changes or edhrec deck listings
Richard forgot to mention one of the best arguments for heritage druid in commander, because of LOTR and MOM/Aftermath, we got significantly more Elf commanders into the format. As a result, I would expect and hope, to see its popularity rise as people try out these new commanders.