Commander Theory

Nick and Zak are busy, which means more time away from the game table and friends. So how do they cope? Historic Brawl! The cohosts have sung the praises of the format before, but in this episode the two talk about what could be done to improve the format. What are queues like and how can you game them? Is that they best way things could be? Wether you play the format or not, there's some car...

There are so many new cards, maybe you'd appreciate a blast from the past? This episode looks back at Portal, one of the first supplemental products for Magic: The Gathering that was intended as an on-ramp for new players. But did it work? What did they do differently? And what was the set's lasting impact on commander? Join Nick and Zak as they look back and talk about some stories of t...

So you saw a cool legend on the backside of a battle and were wishing you could play it as a commander, huh? Well, Nick and Zak look back at not just battles, but a lot of cards that are part legendary creature, just not in the way you can helm a deck with them. The "Flip" commanders! Whether it's MDFC or actual "flip cards" from Kamigawa block, we hope you might be inspir...

Does it count as lying if you didn't know it wasn't going to be true in a week? Nick and Zak have one last (we mean it!) spoiler episode for this cycle, and it's some of the most notable cards from March of the Machine: Aftermath! This set is interesting for a lot of reasons. It has 5/6 card boosters, a 50-ish card set (don't look at the variants), and some rad new commanders!...

Nick and Zak try to stay on top of what people tend to want to play from sets as a thermometer on the format, so predictions are here! What happened with All Will Be One? Did the two co-hosts hit the mark? And what do they think will be popular this time? The co-hosts get in the weeds about specific cards and reasons people might like them, so if you're into some nitty-gritty card analysis th...

Another set another bunch of precons! What's that? This set is special and concludes a years-long, multi-set storyline about the Phyrexian invasion of the multiverse? Huh! In this episode Nick and Zak discuss the new cards you can find in the newest planechase release, I mean 5 pre-constructed decks for the MOM commander set. There's a ton of stuff to talk about, so listen in and let us...

Not much to say here! Nick and Zak get into the main deck cards they thought were notable and talk a whole lot of shop. Listen in and let us know what your favorite cards from the set were! Did you like incubate? Hit us up!  Support the show You can reach me on Twitter or email me here If you like the podcast, please support it on Patreon ! Now with ad-free episodes! If you're planning on sho...

That time again! With a huge swath of 33(!?!) new commanders, Nick and Zak get right to it! Digging into what decks might look like, what cards are really great within the decks, and the general designs they like and don't like. A standard CT approach to a very not standard set! So listen in and let us know what new legendary creature you like the most (or hate the most! Hating is fun too som...

Much like the MOM story, we had problems too! While recording we didn't realize Zak's mic was being bypassed by the laptop mic (weird!) so please forgive the less-than-optimal quality on this bonus episode. THAT SAID, Nick had a lot of thoughts about Phyrexia and this "event set", so we recorded this episode about it! This is a MASSIVELY spoiler-heavy episode, so if you haven&a...

With the release of the Dungeons and Dragons movie comes a new Secret Lair Drop, complete with commanders for each main character from the movie, and one... large one! Did Wizards do a good job representing the characters on the cards? Are they too pushed? Not pushed enough? All this and more in this short little episode for y'all this week!  Decklist:  Themberchaud   Support the show You can...

What would your favorite non-Magic characters look like as a magic card? We asked and patrons and other followers responded with some rad designs! In this episode, Nick is joined by Andy from the Legendary Creature Podcast to talk about some cards that don't exist! They dig into what new design space exists, what the new commanders could do, and how fun they'd be to play. It's an in...

Today's episode highlights community member, CT friend and fan Jason Belk, who is back again for an episode about brewing better! Sometimes a deck concept sits in your mind for a bit too long. Sometimes you buy cards you want to play with, but they end up just sitting there. Well, Jason is here to help! From concept to construction to destruction, Nick and Zak join Jason as he discusses his p...

Ever feel targeted because someone at the table didn't like that you were milling them? Ever get irrationally angry when you see someone play a plague stinger? Well, this episode might be for you! In this episode, Nick and Zak are doing a collab with Valerio, Twitter's very own GolgariGuy! Valerio uses the Golgariguy Twitter account to run polls and talk about cards and topics in command...

The hype train keeps rolling, and with March of the Machines looming on the horizon Nick and Zak wanted to take a look at some decks they liked from the last few months that ended up being budget options! Some of these commanders you might have glossed over, but all of them offer unique gameplay experiences the cohosts think you'll enjoy!  Decklists: Braids, Arisen Nightmare   Gix, Yawgmoth P...

New sets this, product fatigue that, all these commanders you've never heard of before. Isn't there any hope for a Magic boomer around here?! Well, the answer is, unsurprisingly, yes! So Nick and Zak had friend-of-the-show and CAG member Charlotte Sable on to discuss a format she's been getting into this year: PreDH. The general gist is that it's Commander, except you're o...

About a third of all colorless commanders have been printed in the last 2 years. The family is small, but they sure are mighty! And with more confirmed on the way combined with a fairly large swath of exciting designs to choose from, Nick and Zak thought it would be a good time to talk about the best things you can do in a colorless commander deck! What payoffs exist that you should be focusing on...

LAST CALL! Boy, I sure am glad everything is one! But it's time to move on, and we had fun! Right? In this episode, Nick and Zak spend time looking over the cards that were most popular in BRO and make some guesses as to what cards people will like best from ONE. There are the card-by-card discussions, debate, and a final top 10 list that surprises even the cohosts! So let us know what cards...

ALL WILL BE ONE... top ten list! Normally we'd do the legends, and then the main-deck cards, but we had gotten some feedback and wanted to try something different this time. Here are Nick and Zak's 10 favorite cards from ONE! Both cohosts drop their top 10 cards, as well as why and what they think about the format at large, so you better listen and then tell us what you think too!  If yo...

ALL WILL BE ONE. Unless you're this review of ONE which is broken up into multiple parts. In this episode, Nick and Zak look at the commanders in the main set/theme boosters and see what each legend is doing. Are there any new archetypes? What's the deal with the allied color-paired commanders? DOMINI ?!?! It's all here! So let us know what your favorite commander is and we'll...

Welcome to preview season! Is that some oil dripping from your eyes, or are you just happy to see us? All Will Be One is here and with it, two whole commander decks! As is tradition Nick and Zak get into the nitty gritty of all the new cards, the decks as a whole, and their favorite (and least favorite!) things about the decks. Let us know what you liked the most (or least!) and enjoy!  Decklists:...

Nick and Zak are off this week, but here's an episode from about a year ago they  "Many content creators on the internet have posted episodes of shows and podcasts where they discuss a baseline way to build decks. They're usually heuristics like, "You need 10 ramp spells" or "you need 3 board clears" that are easy to follow and remember. But what do the Commander...

Since the story is out, and so are we, why not try this fun module Nick put a lot of effort into?  "You read that right: this week on Commander Theory Nick and Zak discuss a project Nick has been working on for a while.  Phyrexian Rebirth is a fan-made module to be run using the 5th edition DnD rules that allows players to explore the world of New Phyrexia just after the event of the Mirrodin...

Recently Sam Black Tweeted about lands in commander which started a whole fire of people online getting upset and discussing something that's just probably true: you probably run too few lands in your commander decks. Most people will say that they supplement the lack of lands with ramp, as 2 mana rocks and others are all fairly ubiquitous within the format at this point. Sam Argues there&apo...

Magic is hard! Sometimes there are corner cases in the rules that people never learn or interactions that don’t quite work the way people expect them to. Are there any cards that people are just playing wrong? Today friend of the show and CAG member Charlotte Sable joins Nick and Zak (who's just kinda hanging out) to talk about some card interactions that are not very intuitive! And worse yet...

What a wild time it was for Magic back in 1998! Cards were crazy powerful, interaction was basically non-existent, and there were bannings galore in the only real format at the time. People were leaving in droves! And yet, most people look back fondly to Urza's Saga and laugh about it, the cards, the power level! In this episode, Nick and Zak look back at one of the most influential sets of a...