Casual Compliance

We're back from outer space and it's time to return to our regularly scheduled programming! This time, we're looking at Flash - a 2 mana instant that'll let you just drop a creature into play. There's a little more to it, but that's the gist. Seriously. What's the problem with that? Support the show! casualcompliance.fun You can find a video version of this episode at https://youtu.be/NRvZWGPcqAE...

A new set means new Commander decks to build! With the launch of Edge of Eternities recently, we take another crack at finding a random Commander from a Collector Booster each and building a deck around it within 30 minutes. A big thank you to Wizards of the Coast for sending us the #MTGEternities goods! #gifted #ad chillybin's Syr Vondam, the Lucent deck: https://moxfield.com/decks/Eiu3XD31qkmSYU...

A new set has landed in Edge of Eternities and we're back again with another round of Precon Precon. Wizards of the Coast kindly sent us the World Shaper deck from the set, and we took a run at it with our Moxfield tags and analytical minds. We've grouped the cards by their functions and we'll give you an idea of how well balanced this deck is and how likely it is to hit its stated goal, as well a...

Getting in just as prerelease week starts for #MTGEternities, we've got a new banlist episode featuring our first card from the Power Nine: Time Walk. Extra turns are a hot button issue with the recent advent of the Brackets system, but what about an extra turn spell for only 2 mana?! Get in here and find out just what we think about the idea of unbanning Time Walk. Cozy Magic Club episode mention...

A truly wild Magic card, Shahrazad asks you to pause the current game and play an entire new game all the way through to determine how the spell will resolve. It's been banned in Commander for quite some time, but maybe not as long as you might think? Either way, we look at whether this card could work in Commander, and some of the weird situations we'd need to consider when playing it. Support th...

It's been a minute, huh? After a couple of weeks detouring through #MTGxFinalFantasy, we're back to our bread and butter with another episode on a card from the banlist. This time, we're looking at: Hullbreacher. If you thought Orcish Bowmasters was bad, wait until you get a load of this guy. Support the show! casualcompliance.fun You can find a video version of this episode at https://youtu.be/B3...

We had some hot Final Fantasy Collector Boosters we were itching to open, and it wouldn't be a Casual Compliance video if we didn't make it about Commander somehow. Like the Precon Precon before this, here's a new occasional series we're calling Deck%. We each open a booster pack, randomise it, take the first available Commander we see, and then try to build a full deck list for that Commander wit...

It's been a long time coming - mainly because we said ages ago we'd do this and then procrastinated for months - but we've finally launched our own website and membership platform! To state the obvious: no, it's not Patreon, but it's basically the same sort of thing. Head to https://casualcompliance.fun/ to find out more and support the show! You can now sign up to financially us, and in return, t...

We were lucky enough to be sent the Counter Blitz Final Fantasy Commander deck, and we've got a very special video for you based on it: in a new occasional series we're calling Precon Precon, we'll take you through a Preconstructed Preconversation about this deck and how it works. We'll organise the cards according to how they support the deck's stated goals of "adding counters and moving them aro...

In late January 2025, we sat down to record an episode of this show. The wheel gave us Fastbond and we did a whole episode on it. Then, something went wrong with one of the cameras, and we had to scrap it. Cut to a couple months later and the wheel once more provided us with Fastbond. If you're worried that we just rehashed the same talking points as the first time around, think again. Neither of...

It feels like we've talked a lot about board wipes recently, especially with the recent set of cards getting unbanned in Commander. Upheaval is one that has never seen play in Commander, and it seems like there might be good reason for that. We talk about what a card like Upheaval would do to a game of Commander, how it stacks up against similar (legal) board-clearing effects, and whether there's...

Nearly two weeks ago, the Commander Format Panel released the first update to the Brackets beta, as well as taking 5 cards off of the Commander banlist. Immediately, this means we've got a whole lot of new cards on the Game Changers list. These articles also included clearer guidance on what the goal or intent for Brackets is. We're here this time to quickly walk you through the changes and what w...

It feels like so long ago that Jeweled Lotus got banned, what with all the tumult and disruption that follow its ban and that of Mana Crypt, Nadu, and Dockside Extortionist. It's pretty fitting that this would be the first one to come up for us, seeing as this card was so emblematic of the Commander format as a whole. Could we really unban this card after everything that happened? You can find a v...

We're pleased to resume our regularly scheduled programming with a look at another card on the Commander banlist - and this time we brought the wheel back to choose it! This time, we're talking about Lutri, the Spellchaser. One little otter, a chill little guy, a fiesty wee companion. Lutri just wants to help you copy instants and sorceries. How much trouble could Lutri really cause? You can find...

Gramps is back in the interview host chair, this time chatting with Tomlin. We met Tomlin playing together on a live Commander game for Cozy Magic Fest 2024 and have been big fans of his energy ever since. One of the nicest guys around, he approaches Commander with the kind of social mindset we love. Additionally, he's a BIG anime and Final Fantasy fan, so it's an exciting time for both him and Gr...

Get your tinfoil hats and Reddit logins ready, it's Conspiracy time! A special case on the Commander banlist, Conspiracy refers not to the card named Conspiracy, but to the entire card type of Conspiracy. This card type also shares its name with the Magic sets that included them, the first of which was Magic's first ever set designed for drafting into multiplayer games. Just to make this one extra...

We liked interviewing people so much, we're doing more of it! Now in a dedicated format, we bring you Casual Chats: interviews with interesting folks with some relation to Magic: the Gathering. In our first instalment, Gramps talks to RubeePlays of Cozy Magic Club fame. They discuss her journey of discovering Magic, rediscovering it after moving to a new city, and building the kind of community an...

Oh boy, an emergency Casual Compliance release! Earlier today, we were treated to a major update from Gavin Verhey, on behalf of the Commander Format Panel. This update contained the release of the beta version of the Commander Brackets matchmaking system - a tool intended to improve your "rule 0" pre-game conversations. We've got some first impressions and early opinions on Brackets. Find out if...

(Editor note: due to a scheduling snafu at our new recording space, there was someone recording guitar in the next room while we recorded this one. We didn't realise until afterwards that the mics picked it up and we've guaranteed that this shouldn't happen again in future. Big oops!) Boy oh boy, do we have an exciting new episode for you! Not only is this the first episode we shot in our new reco...

You might be familiar with the Imprint mechanic from our repeated mentions of Isochron Scepter. Our card from the banlist this episode is another Imprint classic in Panoptic Mirror. What could possibly go wrong if you could pay for each instants and sorcery once and play one of them for free on every future turn? You can find a video version of this episode at https://youtu.be/veSHVmBp-Uc Social l...

There are many ways to win a game of Magic - at least 20 - but one of them has been on the Commander ban list for a long time. We take a look at that very card in this episode with Coalition Victory. An 8-mana sorcery that lets you win the game sounds like a reasonable thing to have, right? You can find a video version of this episode at https://youtu.be/LuQ-DBS-bLE Social links: Patreon Bluesky T...

In the last instalment of Casual Compliance Nights, we discussed Wizards of the Coast taking over management of the Commander format, and teased that we'd be back for Part II of that discussion with someone who's actually on the new Commander Format Panel. This video is just that, as we welcome Tom from AttackOnCardboard to the show. He's here to talk us through his relationship to the format, how...

Like Emrakul in our previous episode, Braids is a character that has cards in Magic: the Gathering both in and out of the Commander banlist. The banned one - Braids, Cabal Minion - is the subject of this episode of Casual Compliance, and she's a bit of a bad lady. It might not sound like a lot at first blush, but is she really too powerful for Commander? You can find a video version of this episod...

It finally happened! In our 13th episode discussing cards on the Commander banlist, we hit Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Gramps has this as his favourite card in all of Magic, and yet it has been banned in Commander for years. She's got a whole lotta words, and brings a whole lotta hurt, but do we think that's enough to keep her banned? Stay awhile and find out, friends. You can find a video version of...

This one has been a month in the making - it's finally time for us to talk about the September 2024 Commander banlist update and the waves of fallout that followed. We've got a lot of ground to cover between the banned cards themselves, the fallout that immediately followed their bans, and the further fallout and eventual result of a complete change in management of the format. What a month! Stay...