Hello everyone and welcome to CommanderCast Episode 418! This week Mark and Adam are getting ready for the new cards from Commander Legends! Spoilers are back and we’re going deep with a ton of new cards! Legendary creatures, with and without Partner, new cards, reprints, and a whole lot more! But first, has WotC lost it in the creativity department? Find out if the guys think the WotC tab have finally jumped the shark.

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

CommanderCast Episode 418

Posted: November 2, 2020

Intros: 

Adam

Mark 

Keep up with the conversation on Facebook & Twitter.

Community

Has WotC Officially Jumped the Shark?

• Cascade, Cascade, Cascade, Cascade
  • Apex Devastator
• Jeweled Lotus

*The Professor & Pleasant Kenobi’s hot takes on Commander Legends.

*Worth reading: “Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving,” by Benedict Carey

TL;DR: 

• • The solution to a puzzle is only one part of the allure of puzzles. Brain imagery shows that the mental state of preparing to tackle a puzzle is “strongly correlated with positive moods.” 

• My note: sounds like the allure of deckbuilding to me.

• • Likewise, being in a good mood can widen your attention and lead to more success and leaps of sudden insight that can help you solve a puzzle.
  • “The very idea of doing a… puzzle typically shifts the brain into an open, playful state that is itself a pleasing escape… And that escape is all the more tantalizing for being incomplete.”

• My note: this is the problem with “obvious” design in Magic.

• “Unlike the cryptic social and professional mazes of real life, puzzles are reassuringly soluble; but like any serious problem, they require more than mere intellect to crack.”
• “‘It’s all about you, using your own mind, without any method or schema, to restore order from chaos,’ Dr. Danesi said. ‘And once you have, you can sit back and say, ‘Hey, the rest of my life may be a disaster, but at least I have a solution.’”

Interstitial fodder: 

• Mr. Holland from Mr. Holland’s Opus was a creeper.
• Unintentional horror comedies
  • It, Chapter 2 was funnier than it was scary.
• Age of Calamity
• Halloween music is lacking

Strategy

A smattering of new commanders (so far) in Commander Legends

• Non-Partners

• Partners

• Amareth, the Lustrous
• Archelos, Lagoon Mystic
• Averna, the Chaos Bloom
• Belbe, Corrupted Observer
• Blim, Comedic Genius
• Colfenor, the Last Yew
• Ghen, Arcanum Weaver
• Gnostro, Voice of the Crags
• Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist
• Hans Eriksson
• Liesa, Shroud of Dusk
• Nymris, Oona’s Trickster
• Obeka, Brute Chronologist
• Thalisse, Reverent Medium
• “Tuia Bearclaw”
• Yurlok of Scorch Thrash
• Zara, Renegade Recruiter

Technology

Other cards we’re hyped about from Commander Legends 

Adam:

• Laboratory Drudge
• Promise of Tomorrow
• Wheel of Misfortune

Mark:

• Horizon Stone
• Opposition Agent
• War Room

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!