Commander Cookout Podcast, Ep 455 - EDH Archetype Breakdown Using Video Games

He listen, Commander who Got Podcast Episode four fifty five. I'm Brandlam here with Gary today. We're gonna teach Gary how to play Magic now in our theme song, Hey Gary, We're back for yet another whirlwind adventure. How you doing?

What is going down? Uh?

Well done? A whole bunch is going down. I'm back with producer Gary yet again because Ryan is off healing his wounds, licking his wounds, if you will, we have some stories to tell, some people to thank, and some notes from our very own Ryan to make sure that we hit on all the points and get all of our dates right this time. But before we get to any of that, we have to thank our official business,

That's good, Thank you, that was very good, Very happy I see them. I seen him coming now this is very well done man, much like we got like the server.

Well, this is so nice. Thank you so much, Brooksy, that is lovely. You are just a gem and a scholar. Right like there, Okay, there's the official advertising. I guess that sort of does lead right into Wait, hang on, doesn't lead right into anything, because we have to talk about Fusion for a second. Yes, so, Fusion Gaming online dot com. They are the best place to get your dusk more in the needs any of the cards we're gonna talk about today. I'm actually we're actually gonna talk

Saying all those things?

And then I'm gonna try and convince him to get involved in the stories the next time I have one. It's gonna be a great deal of fun, and I hope that you guys will we'll tag along with us for that. Yes, Fusion Gaming Online dot Com. If Gary wants to buy any of those cards, he can use special promo code Coco Summer save himself off five percent off of all the things that he will inevitably buy.

Hell yeah, business daddies, bro, They're business daddies.

There it is. Now, where was I going? Before I did the plug?

I wanted to say two things very quickly here. Number one, talking about network Ryan licking his wounds. Is he wearing one of those cones that stops him from licking his wounds.

When he was removed from the studio earlier today forcibly by Rebecca, his wife. Yes, she did attach to the cone. I thought, I thought that maybe he would have it on while he was kind of hanging out here out of the house, because she's, as everybody in the nation knows, Ryan loves to do work. Work is his favorite thing. He works each and every day for his whole life, and now that he can't do work, he's going insane. And Rebecca was like, listen, go to fucking work. Don't

That's so funny, but don't let him do any work.

So we had Ryan here and he tried to He was trying hard to work, and we wouldn't let him, but he gave us some notes, He gave us some insight. It was great to see him. He is doing very well. He wouldn't let me touch his staples, which is bullshit, but maybe next time. I don't want him to get an infection.

That's fair. That's number one. Number two.

If people are wanting to listen to this show but not watch. If you're listening, what should they do other than listening to the audio only podcast?

Should they watch it?

Well, they should probably watch it on YouTube. It just still looks really hard to make us look cool.

God, did I ever mess up? That's set up so bad?

But I couldn't have gone worse.

But you still did all the stuff I was supposed to do.

End something on top.

There is very well done and the screen behind us. Thank you to all of our friends here at the Definitely Any Media Network, including producer.

Lb on the ones in Tuesdaday Man, what a good guy guy.

He's staying late just for us, which is absolutely fantastic.

So we appreciate that a lot.

Yes, we have thanked LB many times on the show. We have thanked producer Gary many times on the show for giving us this great space to record in. And if you'd like to be a part of it, Duffern Avenue dot com is your way into that.

And this is also for me when I'm producing and there. It's also my cue to start the slide show for the back screen. Oh yeah, and then you can see so then he knows okay, and then it's time to.

Go to stage two.

Okay, let's get the notes come out. Let's get the rest of the business out of the way so we can get straight into the magical content. Yes, episode four fifty five, we have a returning patron that we're supposed to talk about. So, as you know, Patreon dot com, slash ceco podcast. If you in a position to help the channel grow, it means a lot to us to be able. It gets us to advance, it gets all that stuff and it just helps keep CCO going. We

What about meets cute?

I just learned that that's an actual thing that people say and it represents something.

What.

Yeah, It's like if you meet someone in a movie and it's super cute, they call it a meat cute and it's the dumbest shit I've ever heard in my life. I gets so angry whenever I even think about that being a thing.

Hey wait, we actually we let Brooksy in the house. She's the voice of the millennials? Is that real?

That real? He's lying? Look at her, she's got her lying face on.

This is I feel like we've debunked it right here. Ugly Kid Joel was the one that told me, man, you can't listen to anything that guy says. But is so good?

What Cat's in the Cradle and the silvers? Ugly Kid Joel? That's ugly kid, Joel?

What what what is happening?

Cute not to be confused with meat flute or meat cute.

One of them is a Penis. The other one is a fart, that's what are we going with? It's one of the two, But welcome back. We're happy to have you back in f you for being here. Indeed, where can we meet our wonderful patriots and our other human beings that like to participate in the show, just like to play a magic movie. Not in the position to help us grow, but they are in a position to help us be successful as we are, and we appreciate

I really want to get to the Calgary when I'm gone.

I have a.

Birthday party on September fourteenth, But obviously the Toronto one might be hard, but the Calgary and I think we're gonna do.

Okay, there we go. If you want to meet producer Gary, and you do want to meet producer Gary, this guy's I want to.

See where all that Patreon money is going, Like these these CCO houses that you have like in Vegas, and the parties you guys throw it make its sound like the greatest time ever.

It's because it is thanks to you.

And yeah, because thanks.

To the way you support this incredible family.

We do very very well and yes well in.

Our events like we are so we're just throw big parties and houses that are nicest, like the coolest thing.

We do it for you, guys is what It's what we're here for.

So I really want again. I feel like Calgary might be a good chance.

For that to have. We have some extra stuff kicking around. We like to make sure that our patrons can like be a part of the thing and be a part of the experience, because that's what we're all about.

Here, live the gimmick.

That's right exactly. And can it be difficult? Yes? Is it worth it?

Yes?

Also yes, So Regina, September fourteenth, that's in a couple of weekends, we're going to be down there. We've got the event on Saturday, followed by the after party at the Pile of Bones tap Room. It's got pinball and drinks and US and food and Rusty Trump Jones. Rusty Trump Jones.

Is that true?

Confirmed?

That's true? Okay, I wasn't sure.

Coming off from Vancouver. Man I'm very excited to see him again. We're going to talk Sega, Saturn games and drink beer. Right it sounds like a great time.

Well your life, so wucky will you?

I mean, you're welcome to come out. Everybody's welcome to come out the next weekend. No, this one is, as we're sitting here right now, still confirmed. Our buddy Ryan is going to be at Command Fest Toronto September twenty sixth to twenty ninth. He's going to be hosting an after party with some trivia that I'm currently working on. It's going to be a lot of fun. Everybody's gonna

Man. If I come back to that means they're yours forever.

Oh man, I'm glad that landed. And Jake's the snake plant. He's just off camera.

There, snake. He doesn't get any lovely, but he is sort of an asshole.

He's kind of a dick. He's very political.

And yeah, we put him on the show one time and he just went straight into politics and religion and it's like.

Oh, pa bro speaking snake humor that I lied.

We're not going to get straight to magic. We're going to talk about something else because I think that you will have some some insights on this, and I assume that some of the other people out there might as well. So have you heard about the Mister McMahon documentary six part mini series coming on on Netflix? Yes? I have. Are you excited for that too?

I don't know if I am, because.

Because it's definitely turned into a Netflix hit piece.

Ye, like it's an old baby, like it's I don't know if I'm ready, Just like I want the cancelation of the piece of human garbage that is Vincent Kenny McMahon to go on forever. And I feel like once this is out, people are sort of forget about how shitty he was like.

That I don't know, man, because because he was very horrible because.

They recorded it, but they've obviously got the court case allegations, which we're not going to get into because they actually are pretty gross. But I'm I'm really interested because I'll bet you everybody listening right now, whether the wrestling fans are not, everybody knows what wrestling is. Yes, everybody knows who like Stone Cold, Steve Austin or The Rock or Hulk Hogan. Everybody knows who those guys are. And I have to say it, I have to say it, we

There's no probably, it's a thousand percent we wouldn't.

So the fact that this man, who we probably all figured he was, he was not a good person. We all know he was pretty fucked up.

That was part of the problem, I think too.

But now we're gonna get to see it, like because now he's been disgraced and he has no clout, and I'll bet you they're going to take a shit on that guy for fifteen stories.

And I'm here for the biggest shit. Yeah, just you just bury that act.

Oh just a big old mango sized turd.

Right Like, So, I'm totally with you and that I want to watch it. I just I don't know if it's going to be enough for what that guy deserves.

I'm well, here's hoping.

I've got my I've got faith. I don't have faith in a lot, but I do have faith in the Netflix hit piece because you know what they go. They more money than their Instagram and if any learnt anything, it's the more money you have sometimes but.

For good this time, which is amazing, and this is rate before the ww moves to Netflix.

Funny that works. Hey, bring all the crowd in and be like, all right, watch your show is here.

Oh yeah, I forgot very cool. How much do you how far do you think they're going to push it once raws on Netflix?

Do you think there is talk that we could be going straight up like mature rating, like you think full nudity, full cursing, the whole nine yards.

But do you think Bo Dallas cannibalizes a job? Guy?

I think so.

I think why wouldn't they now because they can do whatever they want. Yeah, the only thing holding them back was ratings.

I'm sorry, cr or whatever.

Yeah, but now they don't have that. I wonder how how do the streaming services get around that? You know, that's a great because we're here on YouTube and there's we can say whatever we want. But there's like an AI there's big Broadway that looks after us to make sure that right we're not doing anything wrong, not that we would.

But ering or being horrible human beings.

I wonder how the Netflix is and the Primes and them like they it's a great question. It's because people make it sound like you can just do whatever you want, you know what I mean literally.

Just did that. Yeah, it's like you could do it there. That's like the rumors are, that's what they're gonna do.

Yeah, So it's I'm excited. I'm pumped.

It's gonna be very cool. Yeah, it's gonna bring a lot of people back to wrestling.

I think, I hope so, because wrestling is a mutual interest of ours and if it's one of yours too, here's a here's a chance. Maybe it'll a little And it's pretty good right now.

Actually a little a little bit of a crossover with all this because a lot of us are nerds in different ways, very.

Very nicely like that other things that we're both into. Yes, video games. Yes, I'm going to try and use video games to to try and determine Gary's intro deck into magic the gathering, and this might work because this is pretty cool because we have a very active community yes, in commandic cookout them and I just thought of this. Now. That's why I'm kind of pausing as I talk, because I'm formulating the idea as I go.

I love it.

The next couple of episodes are gonna be Doskbarren Previews're gonna talk legendary creatures, all those cards. But after that, I ain't got really no plans. So maybe for those of you watching and listening at home, maybe what we should do is in the discord and in the comment section of this video, we could maybe suggest some commanders based on Gary's reaction, that he might like to build

So I accept. I will marry you, Oh yeah.

Yeah, will limn very me? Oh yeah? We were all there, man, Why.

I just keep derailing. I'm so sorry. I just get so excited, don't don't.

I really think this is an incredible plan because we were finally talking about the first actual step of getting into this thing that I've been on the outside looking in for so long.

Yeah, and we're gonna try and get some other people in here as well. Yes, And here's the let me hit you with this. We talked about it a little bit on the pre show. I'm gonna tell I'm gonna tell a gameplay story that I think people are gonna be hopefully interested in. Okay, So the necro Bloom came out in a set called Modern Horizons three. We recorded that episode here. You might not remember that I said it was the most powerful commander in the set.

I do remember that. Marii Ho ho ho.

That's the one. Yes, very good. And that's that's including Toucan Sam, who is so irrelevant at this point. We've forgotten his name, even though he ruined a bunch of formats. We talked about him last week.

I saw the car literally with Toucan Sam painted there.

It is. That's the thing. So I got the neckro loom. I finally got it built to a point where I was willing to show it in public.

Wow.

Okay, and I've taken it out. It's played three games and with the exception of me taking a card out of it to put in a deck because I wanted to talk about it on the show and because I physically did that in real life as well. I forgot to put it back in and so I needed that one card. But it has a hundred percent win rate.

The card does this.

The deck does except for one game that I would have won, but I forgot to put this one card back in it. So like, but I'm still I'm counting that for the purposes of this story. So what's what's been happening is I'm playing Dredge, and Dredge is my very favorite legacy deck of all time. It's my favorite mechanic within magic. If you were to classify it under the four basic categories of decks that we'll talk about a little bit or a little bit more a little bit later. Now here we.

Go, got it.

It's a combo deck. It's a very strange combo deck because Dredge is the only deck in magic that does what Dredge does. Only Dredge does Dredge things. And that's why it's so good, because most decks, especially at like the casual alert tables, just aren't equipped to deal with it. It's like if you were to show up and you're playing you bring street Fighter to Reu to the Fighter. Okay, okay, so you're playing street Fighter too, re You no throw, cancel,

Deadpool he is, He's everywhere. That's his staff.

So it's just that's what Dredge and other magic is like playing. It's just it's not the same, and I'm discovering that the way my deck is built, it's doing exactly what Dredge does, but what we used to call it around here. I don't know if this is a common term in magic, but maybe it is. Her If you've heard it, please let me know. I'm Game one Dredging everybody and in six in six and four Magic Game one Dredge is Dredge just beats you Game one. That's just what happens.

So just to clear so I can stick with your Dredge is the name of the card.

Dredge is a mechanic that goes onto cards. Ok So it'll it allows your cards to do instead of drawing a card on your turn, it lets you take a specific number of cards off the top of your library and put them.

Into your face.

Okay, and then the deck is designed to interact from there, so instead of from your hand.

It's like opening. Oh that's so cool.

So it's basically like if you were to use a sports reference and Overran would love this.

It's like a.

Pitcher throwing a pitch, same pitch, fastball, but different arm slots or different angles of throwing it, and the way you present it makes it a totally different pitch. So if you come right over the top of the forcing, fastball's going to go straight. But if you put an angle on it, or if you side, it's gonna have a little bit spin and it's going to act differently when it's hitting the thing.

Yes, that is very accurate, but we have to push it a little further by adding the rule to baseball in this case where if you beam the batter very possible, they're out.

Oh I like that.

Instead of being on first place here. Yeah, okay, right, that's the difference. So game one dredging somebody is or like the deck is. Their deck isn't designed to beat it or interact with it, so you just kill them. And in sixty and four Magic, there's a whole bunch of things you can do to mitigate the damage in games two and three because it's the best of three format. In Commander, it's not, it's one and done. So you're game one dredging everybody. Hey thanks, yeah, fucks, and that's

Like you said, the fact you have a one hundred win rate, you're like the You're like the team that wins all the time forever that everyone hates the Patriots, and.

It's across six games. That's not a small sample size, and in Magic, that's that's a lot, right, Like that's a big win percentage. And again there's an asterisk on there because I would have won the game, but I forgot to take a card out of another thing and

And is there a reason why most decks don't have a counter for dread.

Because it just instead of Magic is a game of archetypes and stand I want to say standard lists. It makes it sound like everything's the same, but that's not that's not true. But Magic is a game of like kind of being prepared for X and Y and Z, and in a lot of cases, Dredge is Q. And because it's fallen so far to favor, a lot of people don't necessarily pack hate for it, like they don't necessarily have the counter for it, and if they do,

It's literally the opposite. You're unhappy that it's so good.

Yeah, I'm unhappy that because I've been trying to make it be less good and it's not working. And it's very frustrating to me because I want it to be Dredge because I love Dredge, but it's my favorite.

Imagine how the losers feel when you're getting angry and frustrated because you're winning.

Yeah, it's like, I got got down. Just make the deck as good as I can't. I can't do it. Like it's just goddamn it happened. So that's the It's one of the decks that kind of saved my interest in the game with Dregs. The legacy Dredge was one of the things that kind of got me back in was like, oh, I can I can interact with the game because I love If you watched the show for a long time, and you've listened to the back episodes and stuff, you'll know that my favorite thing in magic

Stuff or the own thing.

Right, this is my thing that I'm playing and we're all here having fun, but I'm having different fun because magic is fun, but like, it's way more fun when you're playing something else. Right, It's super fun. So that's the thing that got me into it. And I got to think, and what would it take to get Gary into magic?

The gap?

Like does the deck I just describe to you sound like something you'd like to do? Or does it sound like, Man, I want to feel like a scumbag piece of shit all the time.

You would think that I would want to win, but you made winning sound so shitty, So I don't.

Want to do that. I don't want to do whatever it is you just described. This sounds horrible.

I don't want to win at all. We talked about it last week. The commander is different in magic because it's a social format and it's kind of a I hate talking about rule zero, which is the conversation you have before the game, and you talk about the game experience you want. I don't believe in it. I don't think that people do that. They're like, well, you know,

I imagine that doesn't have very much the competitive games.

It does because the people who play Commander Command competitive DH are there to play competitive DH, so they know what's up. They know that everybody's just there to slit each other's throats and cut their balls off and fucking stick up your ass and win.

You know, have fun.

Yeah, exactly, That's how they have fun. Right, that's fun for them, and it's not fun for everybody. But that's not the point. The point is there's a way to play Commander that is fun for everybody, and we're gonna try and find out yours.

I'm very excited.

We're gonna do it today. We're gonna do it right now.

Find that out.

And the first thing we gotta do is find out what's the the the type of deck that Gary would like to play. We talked about architects, architect types archetypes last time, Yes, And so we're gonna run those download, but I'm gonna describe them to you and you were going to tell me whether or not you like them. And at the end, we're gonna pick the archetype that we're gonna build for Gary, it's.

Like a questionnaire.

Yeah, that's what we're gonna that's that's what we're gonna do. And we're gonna start with my personal, all time favorite type of deck because obviously, everybody, I'm gonna give you to the count of three to guess what archetype is my favorite.

Counter of three, Gary, one, two three, it's Agro.

Everybody said it was Agro. Everybody knows it's Agro.

I even knew it was as crazy. I didn't want to say it because I thought I would embarrass myself.

But that would have been awesome. I would have nailed it.

That would have been very good.

It's only because that's only one I know.

You should have said it, and you know it because it's the best, because it's my favorite. If you were to compare it to a type of video game, and Agro deck would be like a a non competitive multiplayer shooter game. Think Borderlands. Oh we love think Doom. I think maybe, I guess maybe Quake. Do people still play Quake? Is that still the game? I don't even if Quake is still the game?

But it was, it had its spot, that was the game. It has for so long, That's what.

But it's one of those games where you can you're interacting with other players. You're not necessarily on a team with anybody, but you can kind of haula take your way into well, I'm doing this, so you shouldn't stop me from doing a thing. So you get to interact with your bodies at the table, and you get to do like the big kind of splashy things, and you're available to play like the biggest, meanest, scariest creud. You get big numbers on the table. Which people seem to like.

Is the brash Taunter a member of an aggro deck.

Sarah right here, rash much better? Thank you.

I think I blew my voice for the record.

Brash Hunter goes in every deck.

Brash Taunter, see I was trying to do it.

Like that, goes in every deck. Of course, he's he's the best card of all time. He's the handsomest, he's the strongest, he's the most versatile. That's why he goes in every deck. Brash Taunter in an aggro deck would typically come into play and then use his brash tauntur ability to fight one of your giant bros that you've just slapped somebody's lips off, to stomp somebody else's dink into the dirt.

That's what brash Chunter guys. Every time we talk about brash.

Resh, I figure out more and more why you love me so much?

If you want to get around having to say it like that. Every time our boy beat, let's call him more boy beat, that's where he would go on an agro deck. So agro is about playing big creatures. It's about turning them sideways during the combat step, stomping people into the ground. And again, it gives you a lot of play with your opponents and it's like nah, man, I'm doing this thing, don't hit me, or like, man, you're a total piece of shit. I'm gonna get you right.

I like that because well, mostly because it's it's your way, Yeah, brandos, So I'm gonna talk it up because yeah, they make it sound very enticing, of course I do.

Does it?

Does Wendy sound enticed by that? Thumbs up? That sounds good?

That's a thumbs up.

I like that lots, Yeah, I like that. So that's a that's Agro. Typically with Agro, you're gonna play red or red and or green. That's gruel. You might see a little bit of white splashed in there, depending on if you've got a token strategy going on where you're gonna have it instead of like a few giant dudes you have a bunch of little ones. Typically you'll have

So Agro is very versatile when it comes to colors. Yes, okay, you can play Agro.

In any color that you want. Typically you're gonna have red and green, though those are your dumb Those are the big slap you around creature colors. I like that the next type of deck, we're gonna go from my most favoritist to my least favoritist. And it's not my least favorite because it's bad. It's my least favorite because I'm bad at it. And that's control decks. Controlled decks are and people might disagree with me on this, but I don't think they will. They're the most social kind

Please explain more.

I love it where somebody goes, I'm gonna do X or Y, and you say, that's me raising the eyebrow at you. I raised the eyebrow. I don't know, if I don't know if you could hear it on the on the podcast feed, smell it, I hope so some day people are able to smell us. You're like, man, those guys are sweat and silvera those lights are bright and hot, well done. And so the commander deck is you can like you can talk somebody out of doing something, even if you don't.

Have action like the diplomat, right.

It's the most political. You're talking to your buds. You're like you're you're You're involved in every game decision if you want it.

Is there a lot of scheming?

Like do you have absolutely kind of be kind like like we talked about decks before a little bit like is there any of.

That involved with this?

Yes, yes there is, and but it's also in the same way I say group hug doesn't truly exist. Our boy Thomas I was going to invite him to come in with us today.

We saw him at So Sweet.

And we were going to talk group hug and then at the end c if you thought that it was real, but he couldn't make it today.

So so here we are you telling me that I could have saw Thomas today.

Yep. He's a he's a nurse. He's an e our nurse. He does great jobs and great things that none of us here are capable or willing to do, and he does them for us so that we don't have to and we appreciate that very much. So instead we're here.

Ooh, that's good, right.

I don't necessarily like that example, because you know what the stick's gonna do, obviously be fetched by the dog, who will now be your friend. But that's kind of what controlled us.

Sort of turn my phone off.

I'm so sorry, it's okay, I'll have to just it doesn't work anyway.

Phones are the worst. I'll apologize.

I'll give you the garden hose later.

Yeah, again, deserved, So control deck just when I say, I'm gonna turn it off, put it in the fridge. How do I I'm gonna message, I'm gonna say sorry, I can't talk right now.

There you go.

There it is that freaking guy. Control decks typically are gonna be you're blue and you're white. Blue is the counterspell thing. I'm going to play big purple and gray dragon. Yes, you say counterspell asshole, and then it just goes into their discard pile and that's it.

That's it.

That's the end of that. And that's why it's so political. Thing.

You shouldn't say it exactly that counterspell asshole.

Oh absolutely, you can't perfect. Oh perfect. We encourage that around.

Yeah, I was just gonna.

I just realized how dumb that question was, because that's all the game is.

Fuck you damn. Yeah, that's how. That's how you playing magic around here. I don't know how anybody that magic. Yeah, that's how easy. You know how it works. It's easy, knows all the rules. So control decks typically are blue and white white, having a lot of interaction where it will take all the things that are in play on the table and just get rid of them, just dumpster them.

I feel like Network Grind would be a control deck guy.

He was. He was at first, but when we started doing the show, I think he kind of leaned more into a thematic combo player and he does sort of the same thing that what he'll do is he'll build, Oh don't worry, it's just crabs, and then he'll kill you with some grease bag infinite combo.

Or don't worry, that's control move, dude, that's a control move exactly.

That's exactly what it is he's learning. Or oh don't worry, guys, it's just mill oops. It's actually in fact, which I know Gary doesn't know what that is, but people who out there out there who know are like fucking Ryan, what are the piece of try.

I know enough about infections to know you don't want.

Them, see my man, my man say, and nobody wants. In fact, it's a perfectly valid deck type, but it's not necessarily the thing that you want in your life.

I feel like I don't want to control deck.

You don't want to control deck because it does have the social aspect that I know you like and are good at. But it's also got like a bit of a stigma. And I hate to say that because like.

People, Oh, what's the that's a good impression.

What is the video game comparison?

The video comparison to a control deck would be like playing a Final Fantasy game.

See, and I love those. I see we're talking to people, You're talking to people questing. You're always questing.

You're always questing on your way from point A to point B to do your thing and.

Your friends, but you're people in the way.

In a lot of cases, you're just doing your own ship.

Yeah right, okay, See, I love Final Fantasy, But I don't know if I.

Like maybe it's more of a world of warcraft. That might be because you're interacting with more people. Because you're interacting with everybody, but you're still on the quest to do the thing right.

That's great.

It's a world of warcraft situations. Now we're playing Wow, so they're plan.

So far as Borderlands is in front, Wow, not for me. Okay, couldn't really, couldn't really handle it.

Let's move on to our next archet. Okay, and I we're I'm changing my order on the fly here. We're gonna do Combo next. Okay, because Combo is Final Fantasy all right. Now you're on a quest and you don't give a shit.

About other players, So this is straight up you like, you're taking four fighters and you're just destroying everyone.

There's no time for magic.

We're all armored up, we got huge ass weapons, and we are destroying yourself.

You're going in, you're gonna get what's what's that first? What's the guy's name? Vaughan Veldez. I can never remember the villain in Final Fantasy One?

Does any oh? Garland?

Garland? Yes?

One?

One? What the hell am I thinking about? It?

Sounds like the guy who made coffee for the first time, Bob or something like that.

It's like our master coffee man, one valadez in your cup.

Everybody out there's mister Horton your Canadian. You a bunch of connects. I can't even do a Canadian accent. I can do a cowboy guy. I've been working really hard on my Irish accent, and right like, it's not very good yet, but I'm working on it. I'm working on it, but I.

Can't do it good.

I can't do a stereotypical Canadian accent, only the one that I already have.

I think we are the stereotypical Canadian. This is saying say lots of a Do you know what I'm saying.

No, I've never heard you say that, saying do I say A A lot? No? Take it back, see like we're maybe we're just atypical.

That's maybe I'm just saying it that the letter A A.

A you are a typical With that response.

Oh no, I've stepped into a trap. I've stepped into.

A trap kind of like a dual threat deck that we were talking about.

Is that the one that we're on.

Combo deck, sorry, combo deck, combo deck, combo deck, yes, combo deck.

We talked about these last week. They're the Rube Goldberg machines.

Love those machines so much.

We talked about this before the beginning of Peebe's Big Adventure.

Yes, or Back to the Future or any of those things.

Where it's like you just have this giant mousetrap, great big machine that just.

Builds toast and it does. The deck is basically designed to do the one thing every time, and every single card in it is a piece to either make it happen or find the things that will make it happen, to get you to the point where you want to be. That's what that's the Dredge deck with Dodor about earlier. That's a subset of combo. There's also there some of

Deck, which is look at me, mysy.

There you go, right, and you're gonna play a bunch of spells. You can play a whole band spells and play one thing that then makes you win the game. You're gonna take one great, big turn and win the game.

So it's all about building up to that one big.

Yes, I would say I would all decks are social. I would say that the combo deck is the one that gives the least fucks about the other people at the table, like that they're only there for you to mow them down. That's exactly. They're just bodies for you to create sand bags out of. It's like you don't want the water get into your front door, what are you gonna use to block it?

Your friends see their bodies.

Yeah, that's that's combo. That's what free metal do, right. That's a metal right, that's pretty hardcore. And there's there's lots of different ways you can do it. There's lots of different things that kind of these lots of people come up with these. These are the ones that are funny. I had one that was a breaking dam where I used this one card that when it had flying you sacrificed it, and all the islands went away, and I used all the islands going away to make my team big.

This is this is this might be somewhere where I can get to.

Okay, okay, we love that one. Now here's the one based solely on video game similarity that I think we're gonna get you is the Vultron deck. And the Vultron deck is akin to your Hollow Nights, your metroids, your Mega Man's where you have your main character, and the point of the deck is to make your main character as big and bad and kick ass as possible, so that you can then use that character to kill all your friends in the game, not in real life, of.

Course, very important, Like you're might be morphin Power Rangers. Yes, but I like, we say Vultron your megas.

Yeah, yeah, I get like you could call it a megazor deck. I guess if you were so inclined, are you LB Are you a Mega Metroid, not Metroid Megazored or Vultron Guide.

You know what? Either of those things are Power Rangers. You ever hear the Power Rangers.

Have the big bad guyau they turn into their Power Rangers have the robots or the cars they drive in and I'll go together to make the big robot. Jesus Christ. The kids really not know about Brooks. Do you know about this? Oh? Thank god?

It looks like her fake smile.

But does she not know? Of course does Okay, So you saw them make the big sword and they fought in the city.

And they moph mightily.

Oh goodness, okay, okay, with power for three at a four bat three at a four en back, we're back. So that's what a Vultron deck is. So what you're gonna do is you're gonna have your Commander creature. That's the card that is, it decides what colors your deck can be. And in a sense that people can usually tell what kind of deck you're playing based on it being the community, based on your commander and you want to play him, and then the rest of your deck

It feels like there's not a lot of opportunities for winning.

Oh, there are there. The opportunity is there. It is there, It is there.

It's not as common.

The reason that the reason why it's an archetype at all. In Commander, you have forty life, and the main way that you beat your opponents is by removing their forty life from them. But there are some decks that are designed to pad that life total by gaining more life. Okay, and it's not super unheard. We have our buddy five colored monoen Angel Aeron loves life gain decks, of course, so it's not unheard of to see him at two three hundred life.

So the combo hold on starting with forty and getting all the way up to the hundreds.

Oh yeah, it's not unheard of. It's it's more common than I'm willing to admit. But it does feel really good when you still take them down, right.

I was just thinking, I've watched Sidewalk Slam and those forties were always just have fortyes, so no one must have been playing those big giants.

Typically, life gain decks are not really prevalent because they're a little They can make games go pretty long in a lot of cases because it's like, what are you doing besides gaining life will not much of anything, but you're just kind.

Of making it longer. What's it called you're delaying the inevitable.

Yeah, and and in some kinds that sometimes those attrition games do work because like I've got two hundred life, you're doing twenty a turn. You have forty and I'm doing ten. You're gonna die before I do, right.

I was a on math. I don't know.

I hit you with. I hit you with a lot of brandonomics. There, brandology, there we go.

You can't see you.

Thank you, thank you very much. But your Voltron decks were designed to deal with that situation where like, I'm unkillable because if you hit somebody for twenty one damage with a commander, they die. It doesn't matter how much life they have, it doesn't matter what they've got in play. If they can lose and you hit them for twenty one over a course of a game.

That's it.

They're dead.

Now, that's just the rule.

That's just the rules, just the rules of the game, okay. And so typically these decks are found, usually they'll have green in them or white because they have kind of overall the biggest dudes, yea, the monsters. These are the big These are like the giant dinosaurs and the huge angels and the fucking UFOs that come out of the sky and shit angels out the side of them while they laser the ground to kill the unstoppable army of zombies covered in fucking metal.

Any garps.

Glarp is not a vultrunk, I don't know.

He is a we love He's a would he be besides a handsome fellow?

Besides just the most devastatingly handsome if you come into our discord. By the way, I now go by his moistenss rando.

People love that word.

Because that's what they call garb. He is his moisteness because he's king of the frogs. And I'm like, that's awesome. I want to do that. And because I have the power and I can do whatever I want, you could be whoever you want to be on the Internet is moistness.

Listen to it's me.

You do have the power, thank you. Yes, that's very good. Voltron. I think voltron Man Glarba is not the one. But I used to play a urial the mist Stalker deck. That's a pretty classic Vultron deck. It's a creature that's big, very difficult to to interact with and remove, and he can get very large, very quickly destroy your opponent. Our buddies, our buddy Big Ben plays a runer battle hammer deck like that same kind of deal. It's very very easy to make him large over and over again if you

Wow, So that's like the army of darkness. Yes, the walking did if you will and I will.

So there's ways around Vultron is. I think it's probably the least played archetype in magic.

Maybe that's the one to go with. Maybe we bring the spot like actable.

Does that sound like a deck that you'd like? That sound pretty good?

Man? They all sound good. That's the problem.

They're all good, right, and they're.

They're all two typical beginners start with.

I think that the typical beginner starts with agroll because everybody thinks that it's the easiest deck type to play.

Okay, are there any advantages to starting without the easiest deck type?

You gain a substantially higher level knowledge of how magic rules work if you were to start with a combo, because typically what combos will do will they'll they'll break the rules. That's what makes them so good is they're designed to do things, to do more things in a way that play one land, do this thing. They're designed to get around, circumvent all that crap, right, that's what So they're they're the ones that you're gonna learn more

So maybe a control.

Deck is designed to interact at those those nexus points right totally, here's where something's happening, you're gonna do something about it with with with.

Your deck, and then you learn yes, and then you.

You get an education in magic by doing that. A agro deck, you're gonna learn about threat assessment, when to attack, where to attack. You're gonna learn that your dude's dying isn't necessarily the worst thing that's ever happened. You're gonna learn about sacrificing your guys. It's like you, you're gonna resource management if you will. All dull decks have resource management, but I think that AGRO has the most easy to

How much time we have left on the show.

We've got about ten minutes. So I've told you about the four basic types. I've told you relatively the kind of interaction you're gonna have with your friends at the table. Do any of those sound like something that our good friends in the nation could begin a typical build with you start a list of commanders. Maybe what kind of video game do you like to play that you always have fun doing? What's your favorite video game that there is?

You're not gonna like this comfort game.

You're gonna sit down like I just had a rough day, you know, I just want to sit down on my couch, get blazed up, and play a fucking video game. What's the man?

It's probably the game most in my entire life because I've been doing it every Tuesday for how many years?

But it would be any s Open Golf eight bit Nintendo.

It's soothing, it's comforting, it's it helps me unwind.

Why wouldn't I like that?

Well, just because it doesn't.

Really play into any of these arte types that we're looking for.

Of course it does. Oh boy, okay, of course it does. We solve it as if I'm not an expert. I'm not an expert, but I play one on I play one on this podcast. So you play typically by yourself, any s Open, But I know every Tuesday you play with your friend.

That's true. Big boy.

Big Boy comes over, right, it comes over and you guys play together and you compete with one another, but it's fairly friendly. There's a mild amount of interaction with him. You care about what he's doing, but you don't necessarily want to interact with it per se. And if things get really intense, and maybe you'll hit him in the head with a cubeall in the sock because you really want to take that game down. Okay, that's an agro.

Game, Gary, Am I an agro guy?

Any s open is an agro video game?

Wow, I'm an agro guy. You're an agro guy. I'm an agro negro. Are you gonna take me under your wing? Like the young Pada one that I am.

I would take you under my Mustley wing. And by the time I'm finished, you'll have thirteen abs. Wait, thirteen pecks. You can only have eight abs, but thirteen pecks. That's where you could be there where the ps go, Well, they just like the first two are kind of here, right, and then the rest of them kind of like talk underneath I.

Right, like exactly like that.

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, if you're watching on YouTube, you'd see that there it is there.

Yeah, Agro Agro.

I think that you might be an agro guy. And I'm not even saying that because I sold you on it, but that is based on the favorite comfort game.

We have X analysis on the record that shows this, this is where I should be going.

We signed it.

Yes, that's what you brandologized it.

Yes, that's right, and I think that I think that that is a good jumping in point. And as we said, it is the typical kind of on ramp type of deck, which is good. But what is and this is I'm not asking you this, I'm asking the nation out here. What kind of agro deck would we build for our good friend Gary, producer Gary so he can play it on sidewalks slam as we teach him how to play magic. Based on what he is about to ad, I'm going to ask him some more stuff and he's going to

Is so fucking sweet man.

We're we're converting a guy sports. He's a sports guy, and he's coming over to the He's coming over to the side of the light. Right the nerds won. We got him, We got him help us out there. It is so when you are when you are are gaming in general, are you chill or are you a little

That's right.

But so so so, how do you how do you do you like to be really hyper aggressive like right out the gate? Do you want to just get in there or do you want to like take your time and like kind to let it roll?

See And if I'm with sorry these flies, I was gonna say we almost got through without the flies by so they just started moving in on scum if I'm playing like Overwatch.

I get aggressive. I'm going in there and I'm gonna blow it up.

It's like team you better follow me because I'm not doing any other strategy but going in there and destroying everyone.

Okay, But if I'm any.

S opening, it's a slow build up, not too aggressive, but I will take some aggressive shots at some points if the round calls for it.

Yeah.

I like that. I like that you get you get aggressive when necessary. If you were playing like a Give or Play Call of Duty, yes, were you like grab the helicopter and then not let anybody else onto it and then crash it into their spawn point and hope you kill them?

I have done that, Nuss.

Or were you like a Noobe tube guy where you just like launching grenades over the building and hope they die.

Or were you just so would do that where I'd sit on the top of the stairs and just launch the grenades down and so the bomb the stairs with everyone run in front of you just pop them. Sort agree to like that best because I'm so bad at that. I was bad at call It.

I'm also very bad at it as well. It's like that's why the two strategies that I just said, those are the two things that I did. Actually in the hell was it? Is it call of duty or medal of honor? I was just I figured out, like, you can drive the boat. So instead of going and storming the beach, I like, how supposed to do? I swam out and got in the boat and then just crash the boat into another boat and hoped that.

It's such a sweet move though, because it's explosions, right.

It was so awesome. I was so proud of myself. My team did not. They definitely kicked me off. They just kicked me out of the game.

It's bad when you straight from the team when they're really trying hard to stay together.

Yeah, I'm very angry.

Why is Brandon out? They're driving the goddamn boats? Should I see the boat?

Like?

That was awesome? You're not out there. You should have been watching. It was dope. What I did? It was fun? Okay, So you you can you get a little aggressive sometimes?

Yes?

Okay? Do you often run into situations put yourself into a situation in a video game that is difficult to get out of, and how do you react to those swearing? You swear it? Do you panic problems? Solved. You like to have those answers.

You're what I like to do, and this I'm using Overwatch as a good example of this. When I rush in and I get into those type situations and all of a sudden, your team isn't within your like three v one, I like to use different different maneuvers because sort of each character has that move.

To get you out of it.

Like if you're a may you can you're freeze to heal, or if you're like a tracer, obviously.

You can trace back out. And like these.

Characters that you choose have the ability to get you out of those situations. That's why I allow myself to get into it.

So you kind of rely on your sort of main character ability.

Yes, and learning to character use it properly. Yes. So it's like trial by errors how I learned that it makes sense.

So you'll you're you're you're making the aggressive to calculating the aggressive moves. You like to rely on your your character's special ability to get through. If that ever fails, you do you find it's just like, Okay, damn it, I died. I'm gonna I'll try it again. I've got ninety nine lives let's just throw that same shit at it again, yes, Or do you like to have the ability to work with some of the other intricacies of the game and you're gonna find a kind of a

I think I am.

Let's find another way around the situation, okay as far and I know it's sort of like going against what I've been saying, But as you describe that, in that type of situation where the boss you can't beat, I would never just keep going back, keep going back people thinking I could do it, I'm like, all right, clearly I need something here to beat this guy.

Okay, all right. So I'm not gonna say this isn't a get good moment, but it's like a you're not just you're not gonna rely so heavily on one strategy and can it's so heavily to one thing that if that thing fails you you are unable yes to press forward. Okay, So we've got a so I think that's I'm trying to think, like where So we've got what kind of a deck we're gonna play, We've got what kind of a commander we're gonna use, We've got the overall focus of the strategy of the deck. So now we've got

Enjoyed playing games on the system.

Blue is your high end gaming PC.

Oh boy.

It can do all the things, and the people who have them sometimes will very much like to let you know that they have them.

You gamers are the worst.

Can we say that, yeah we can, we can't. Lots of Now, there's lots of PC gamers out there that are listening to this, But I said, we're gonna make everybody mad.

That's the elite level when it comes to gaming. If you're on PC, you mean business. That's you're you're talking about FPS. You know you got something going on.

You're you're doing something and you want to do it as good as you possibly can. Typically that's the that's that's your blue. You're black is like your og Xbox with a mod chip in it. Yeah, it can do everything, but maybe not in the manner that it's meant to be done. You're gonna you're gonna find a way to play that game, but you're not necessarily gonna go to the video store and buy one. Okay, you know what

And you're gonna You're in the back.

They're in dark Alley, You're in Vim's lair. You're you know what's up? You know what's up about that?

One?

Green is your your GameCube right fun for everyone you can get into it. It can do all the things. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with it whatsoever. It's all just it's just there. If you like it, you really like it. If it's not your thing, then maybe it's not Red. Oh man, how do I because red is my favorite? So how do I not just call it the Supernintendo of colors, thereby crowning it is the pinnacle of.

I'm surprised you went so fast, as Superintendent Willo. They've been mentioning Sega Saturn.

Well, I love my Sega Saturn's that's a good thing. Actual, you know what, Let's call Red the Sega Saturn of of magic colors. And here's why. It's not just because it's my favorite. It's not just because it's the one that I'm playing the most right now. It's because it's a color that typically, and before was kind of marginalized

And I know we're up against the clock here as you don't get editor Joe Matt does he get mad?

Still?

He still gets mad if we go too long. But I think that because he understands the importance of this question. Yes, and because this is a community thing.

I'm gonna say Red, Red.

You like Red the best?

And do you know why I'm gonna say Red tell me because you compare it to both Superintendo and Sega Saturn. Hell yeah, and that makes me happy. It's also your favorite. And I think that we like a lot of the same stuff.

Okay, all right, I like that, And do any other ones kind of jump out like yeah, kind of a little sprinkle of this, little sprinkle of that, don me a.

Little bit of the Saga Genesis just because the other side of the Superintendo.

Okay, little little little red white action. Kay. So we've got hyper aggressive but with room to move. We've got a commander with a useful ability and a deck that isn't so focused on being aggressive and relying on its commander that if those two things don't work, it has nothing else going on. So you got to be a little bit versatile. It's in the Boros color pot CCO nation. We're gonna teach this man to play magic with that deck I just described to you, and we're all gonna

Very exciting.

Yes, that's a good time. So and if you want to like buy some of the cards that you're gonna suggest to either of us, you can get them at Fusion Gaming online dot com. You special promo code Coco Summer say five percent of all that kind of good stuff. You can also grab some super cool beers that were handed to us by the lovely Brooksy, who I totally didn't roast at any point during this episode. That's right, and you can get those from Pile of Bones or anywhere. Better.