Hello everyone and welcome to CommanderCast Episode 367! This week Mark and Adam are join by a returning guest to the show: Phil. Today the guys are going over a type of play style that doesn’t get the kind of attention it deserves. A way to play Black in Magic that is often overlooked is attacking the deck itself. No, we’re not talking about milling your opponent, but actual cards designed to remove cards directly from your opponent’s deck. Sounds interesting doesn’t it? Well, today you’re going to learn all about it. But first, we wouldn’t be a Commander-based podcast if we didn’t take a moment at talk about the recent banned list update and the changes made to it.

So sit back, relax, and Click the IB!!!

CommanderCast Episode 367

Posted: July 15, 2019

Intros: 

GUEST: Phil

Adam

Mark 

Keep up with the conversation on Facebook & Twitter.

Community

• Ban list controversy! Nobody liked Iona, Shield of Emeria anyway, so get over it! 
• Also, something something, Paradox Engine… I was looking at my phone while you took your 20 mins turn, so now I don’t have to. Yay!
• Justice for Painter’s Servant!

• First Annual Commander Climate Survey

Strategy

Limiting your opponent’s options by removing problem cards from their decks (Or: Hating on libraries for fun and profit).

The controversy:  Is it worth the deck slot(s) to prevent your opponents from having access to   key cards in their library?

• They may never draw the card – it’s a version of Schrodinger’s Cat

• They may have already  drawn what you want to exile (it happens more than you think)

• You are using one or more card slots on an effect that does not advance your boardstate and does not directly hinder your opponents’ board

• These effects usually don’t win you the game but are ideally used to prevent your opponent from winning

• Combo players by definition hate these cards because it keeps them honest

Phil’s Circular Library Hate Posit: Higher prevalence of tutors in your meta = more of a need for library hate

• Generally the more tutors you run, the less of these cards you want in your deck for the sake of consistency.  To the point you can get away with one to two as a silver early-game bullets; freeing up card slots; especially when Praetor’s Grasp pulls double duty.

• The more tutoring you do in a deck correlates to higher power level deck naturally and throttling tutor density is a popular knob to turn to tune decks up or down (hello 75% theory).

• The social contract demands that powerful decks only play other powerful decks.

• Therefore, Your opponents playing more powerful stuff only reinforces the need to have the effect in your deck because you have more and better targets you will want to proactively address.

Technology

All the library hate, all in one place.

Color Theory:  A rarely tasted portion of the color pie

• Black – a clear #1 (in Phil’s opinion)
• Colorless sources – a distant second
• Blue cards are #3
• UB “Leverage” creatures
• Almost everything else is just shitty multicolored spells
• Sorry White, Red, (no surprise there) and Green

What you came here for: The sweet, sweet TECH!

Pure Library Hate

Black:

• Memoricide/Stain the Mind/Cranial Extraction family of cards
  • Likely not worth it unless you see RR, Shadowborn, Petitioners
• Bitter Ordeal
• Neverending Torment
• Nightmare Incursion
• Praetor’s Grasp
• Sadistic Sacrament – Phil’s favorite
• Gonti, Lord of Luxury

Colorless:

• Grinning Totem
• Jester’s Cap
• Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Blue:

• Raven Guild Master
• Supreme Inquisitor
• Denying Wind
• Extract

UB Leveraging their deck against them (all UB):

• Oona, Queen of the Fae
• Nightveil Specter and its variants

• Fallen Shinobi
• Thief of Sanity

Other Multicolored (for completeness sake):

• Unmoored Ego – UB
• Thought Hemorrhage – RB
• Hide // Seek = WBR

Honorable Mentions:

• Etali, Primal Storm
• Stolen Strategy

Outtro/Contacts:

GUEST: Phil – in the comments, as Beltfed Weapon

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 // (at)thetrinisphere

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!