Gemstone Mine cEDH Podcast

Have you ever faced off a Commander deck where it just kind of felt like your opponent was two steps ahead of you? While you're still ramping and Getting Ready, they're establishing value engines and applying pressure? And no matter how many times you tried to stop them, they just kept bouncing back? If they were running a deck with a cheap commander, John may have some insight this week on how th...

John's back from hiatus and he's got the itch to start brewing again. While putting together some new low-color decks, he got to thinking about utility lands, how they can help decks eke out additional value and help them compete with higher-color shells common in cEDH. If you're still a Reliquary Tower believer or you've never heard of War Room, be sure to check this episode out! 00:00 Introducti...

On April 22, 2025, FIVE cards came off of the Commander Banlist! How will these unbans impact your games? What are the implications from a competitive standpoint? Are any of these cards standouts? Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:45 Sway of the Stars 02:43 Coalition Victory 03:58 Panoptic Mirror 05:58 Braids, Cabal Minion 07:28 Gifts Ungiven 09:39 Closing Thoughts https://www. FusionGamingOnline.co...

Not every brew comes together. When you brew as many decks as John does, a lot of them come up short, and the cutting room floor is littered with deck ideas which, for one reason or another, failed to come together. This week, John talks about many of the common deckbuilding mistakes you may make while coming up with your new decks, and he explains how the secret to building your next great comman...

"Few tutors" isn't in your #EDH deck ain't "no tutors". This week, John is looking at what more tutors means for #mtg deckbuilding in the lower brackets, and he has some tools for Moxfield users who may want a starting point for introducing tutors into their own decks for casual play.  https://www. FusionGamingOnline.com Want a 5% discount off all of your MTG order? Head over to Fusion Gaming Onli...

"Few tutors" isn't "no tutors". This week, John is looking at what more tutors means for deckbuilding in the lower brackets, and he has some tools for Moxfield users who may want a starting point for introducing tutors into their own decks for casual play. Introducing Commander Brackets Beta: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/introducing-commander-brackets-beta Tutors - Brackets 1-3:...

WotC has announced a new matchmaking system for Commander players and it's their Brackets system! John has some thoughts on the new proposed brackets and their list of GAME CHANGERS that he wanted to share this week. Introducing Commander Brackets Beta: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/introducing-commander-brackets-beta https://www. FusionGamingOnline.com Want a 5% discount off all...

We've been exploring how many lands and how many mana sources to include over the past month, and today we're going to put that theory to practice as we focus on Reid Duke's article which argues that the simple answer is that adding more lands rarely hurts and will almost always help. John's got a casual brew this week that focuses on utilizing mana sinks to squeeze the most value out of every man...

John has always hated building manabases for his #mtg and #edh decks. So, he went on a mission to learn from the pros and turn a weakness into a strength. After a deep dive on counting how many lands a deck needs, he decided to go even deeper and learn how pros like Frank Karsten balance all of the colors of mana that a deck needs to cast its spells reliably! If you can't stand building manabases...

Lands are an intrinsic part of how the resource system of Magic works, and there are some very bright people who have poured thousands of hours into trying to solve for the optimal land base. This week, John reviews the work of pro players like Reid Duke and mathematicians like Frank Karsten to understand how players are optimizing for 60-and-4 Magic and what we can learn as Commander players. 00:...

New decks are always coming with the never-ending tidal wave of new releases, but sometimes the most satisfying thing for a brewer like John is to take a long, hard look at an old deck: Trelasarra's Sweet Soul Sisters. It's been a favorite of his ever since the commander came out, and a staple of all of his MagicCon and CommandFest decks! If you want to see how to tune up one of your old favorite...

There are a *lot* of combos that Commander players can take advantage of, and with the flood of new sets coming down the pipeline, there are new ones being discovered every day! Which ones are right for your cEDH deck? How do brewers in cEDH integrate the new tech into their decks? This week, John tackles the oft-requested topic of how combos are built for cEDH! 00:00 Introduction 02:26 Combos in...

John got a little excited when he heard about the new Marvel Secret Lair Superdrop, and not just because two out of the five new cards are members of the X-Men: there's also some really interesting options for cEDH builds here! This week, we take a look at how to analyze a potential commander from a cEDH perspective, then apply that to the five Marvel legends coming out this year! 00:00 Introducti...

Stax is back in cEDH, #mtg Commander's most competitive format! - Malcolm/Kediss Decklist: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/CNk1WWgAIEyKEsNJhn6Wgw  - Izzet Vhal Decklist: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/BeSZq1KvzE-rWlh9grRXZw  https://www. FusionGamingOnline.com Want a 5% discount off all of your MTG order? Head over to Fusion Gaming Online and use exclusive promo code: CCOSUMMER at checkout. For a l...

09/23/2024 brought four new bans to the Commander format, and if you're going to be playing Commander competitively, you need to know how the bans are set to shake things up! This week, John shares his thoughts on how cEDH is set to change after the bannings! 00:00 For the Academy's Consideration... 01:00 Introduction 02:20 A Word from Future John 03:19 The Bans 06:15 Mana Crypt's Influence 08:57...

It's called "the Storm Scale" because Storm is a fundamentally powerful mechanic, so dangerous that designers are Wizards of the Coast are loathe to revisit it for fear that a format becomes dominated by spellslinging decks. This week, takes a look at how to play Storm in commander (and keep track of all of those triggers)! 00:00 Introduction 02:22 What is Storm? 03:55 Storm Finishers 05:21 Storm...

Goblins. The bane of many tables with commanders like Muxus and Krenko striking fear into the hearts of players everywhere have yet to crack into the cEDH metagame, at least until FENIX of THE MINDSCULPTORS got his hands on a brand new commander from Bloomburrow! This week, we have a brand new HOT BREW featuring Gev, Scaled Scorch with a layered combo deck which pivots seamlessly from one win cond...

cEDH is a metagame where breakneck speed is almost taken for granted. Rakdos is a color combination that gets all the 0-mana artifact-based ramp in addition to the best rituals in the format and the added consistency of unconditional tutors, making it a powerful shell to build turbo decks in. This week, John breaks down the core strengths of Rakdos in cEDH, how to use the tools this color gives yo...

You've taken your new deck out on its maiden voyage, played a few games with your group or at the LGS, or maybe you got to premier it at a convention. Now that you *know* that it's a keeper, how do you tune it so it plays *just right*? This week, John is sitting down with his deck from CURBSIDE PICKUPS to analyze potential additions to make the deck more flexible while also taking on that most pai...

This week, we're taking a look at Imskir Iron-Eater through the lens of cEDH! It's time to draw a bucketful of cards, cast our Dockside Extortionists and combo down the table. Plus, everything you ever wanted to know about how Affinity works with Treasures (but were too afraid to ask). 00:00 Introduction 00:59 Fusion Ad 01:38 The Commander 02:40 Affinity and "Locking In" Costs 03:57 More Imskir! 0...

Games of Commander can get incredibly complex, and decision making can be incredibly difficult. What's the optimal line? What should you tutor for? What cards even make the cut in your deck in the first place? This week, John breaks down 3 steps to winning more games of Commander! 00:00 Introduction 01:25 Fusion Ad 02:31 Play to Your Deck's Strengths 07:42 Play to Your Seat's Strengths 11:15 Play...

There are a number of popular strategies in Commander, and one of the most popular is Landfall! Lands decks in Commander can sport some very powerful value engines. This week, we Explore the strategy of Landfall, delving into what Enablers they tend to favor, what their Payoffs are... and of course, how to tackle an opponent's Landfall deck! https://www. FusionGamingOnline.com Want a 5% discount o...

John's been covering LESSONS FROM cEDH for a minute now, but he still enjoys a game of casual Commander. In fact, some of his favorite casual decks have come about specifically because of innovations made by brewers in the cEDH metagame who have found new tech and blazed new trails to make the decks in this video possible! 00:00 Introduction 01:30 Fusion Ad 02:11 Why Play cEDH? 03:07 Temur Nyssa T...

For years, high-color cEDH decks have had a go-to partner in the form of Tymna, the Weaver. It's easy to see why: she's cheap and she helps you draw more cards while giving you access to black and white. This week, John brings together our Lessons from cEDH for this the Arc of Sans-Red with the radical suggestion that not every Sans-Red deck needs Tymna at the helm, and maybe dorks *can* find a pl...

Commander was once defined by 2- and 3-color decks, but the printing of Commander 2016, enabled by the raw power of a manabase built on Fetchlands plus typed-dual lands created the conditions for one of the earliest cEDH metagames to take shape. Want to know how we arrived at a world dominated by Blue Farms and Sisays and Najeelas? Tune in to this week's episode as John dissects the design choices...