Відео

Annoying as commander damage can be, it's part of the games identity and would take away from the game if it would be removed in my opinion.

I can't wait for the brackets! All these dances to not just build a strong deck but to balance and guess what to play is just exhausting.

I am playing 99 plains and everybody loves playing with me.

Rhystic study is for weak uncreative simpletons

I play mostly budget and a lot synergic pieces.

I miss you :(

The thing is when other colors like green, some of red, hell even white can snow ball there deck with mana quite easily, the one deck that I have rystic in is my dimir faerie deck because with my deck it's hard to get mana outside lands and the normal rocks so slowing everyone else down/ speeding myself up is kinda the play.

I like your attitude. In games we often care a lot about winning. That's the whole point, isn't it? But we have to remind ourselves, that we play a 4 player format, where only one can win. Each player is losing more games, than he or she wins. So it's better, if winning isn't all we care about in commander. :)

Peak deck building is when you make your deck powerful and very thematic.

Don't play Rhystic Study? Hell man I don't even play blue. I play EDH to have fun with friends and I put way more money into the game than they do. The last thing I want is to make them feel like they need to compete with my lack of wallet control.

I don't know a single person irl that specifically prefers "theme" decks to "power" decks. It's anecdotal, but everyone I know builds for a set budget or tries to aim for a specific power level (as arbitrary as that can be).

I would say that incompetent decks exist, as in, The current Valgavoth precon kicks ass I have an old sentimental deck, build from my first ever standard deck, I like the deck, but it does not hold up all that well, so it would probably be a 3-6 these days Also, when it concerns power vs theme, is it not possible to be in the middle? For example, I have an Lurrus as companion artifact token something deck whose main gimmick is having all the control and value engines available (that are under 2 mana, because lurrus). A lot of the cards are selected because I personally enjoy them, however, to make sure I can actually play the funny cards (like pull from eternity, magus of the unseen) I also play cards like rhystic remora and approach of the second sun to make the deck work. Mostly for budget reasons, I like staying on theme, and often, this does not necessarily hamper power too much. For example, Springleaf drum does a good sol ring impression in a 4 color deck that where all creatures cost 2 or less.

I love it when I'm playing brawl on arena and my opponent drops rhystic study or smothering tithe. Like alright bro this is one on one and you just practically wasted your turn.

When I’m playing slivers everyone hates me no matter what 😂Rhystic Study is SO on theme

hi Baumi! i heard you talked about Euros, where are you from?

Are you by any chance German?

Baumi what are you doing in magic 😭

wOULD LOVE TO SEE YOURE TAKE ON sIX

I wonder how widely played a 2U enchantment that just makes all your opponent's spells cost 1 more would be

Baumi be like "look at this graph"

Its not a good card, & its not powerful .... it sits there & adds to your advantage in increments.. Just run a tutor or something.

Steelbane Hydra still won't help you against The One Ring.

How can a good card draw spell like Rhystic study in casual edh be too powerful. There are soooo many broken, crazy cards. Just pay the one and play your Farewell

When I am building a new deck I try to identify a fun win condition I want to build around, and I set a budget. Setting a tight budget (I usually try to stick to $50) forces you to find the most value you can from every card. And when the average value of a card in the deck can't be over $0.50; suddenly even a $5.00 card NEEDS to be worth blowing 10% of the budget. As for my actual deck building philosophy, and how I am optimizing? I would say I lean much closer to the power end of things, BUT I also try my best to make sure that I am achieving that power through synergy where possible. Not just a generic value pile. To me my decks are VERY thematic, but that theme is more focused on a mechanical synergy than aesthetics or vibes. I have a [[The Necrobloom]] deck that blends Landfall and Zombie-Tribal because Golgari Zombie-Tribal + Dredge is super nostalgic for me. [[The Necrobloom]] enabled the same types of win conditions and play patters that I loved so much, but in a way that is more consistent for the commander format. About half the creatures are Zombies, the other half are Landfall enablers or token synergy pieces. The WinCon? Get a bunch of zombies to out value the opponent while land ramping. Generating a board full of zombies enables board wipes, life-gain (self), life-loss (opponents), card draw, -1/-1 counters, top deck manipulation, self mill, recursion effects, you name it. I think this probably puts me somewhere on the upper end of the middle of your chart and honestly that is where I think most people land. In the case of both extremes they are just that, extremes. And, as with all things, the extremes are not for most people. With all that said, looping back around to the main question your video was really trying to ask, my deck is probably like a 7.

I can't wait for Universes Beyond to exemplify that 'I want to fit these characters together but can't' problem you mentioned with Tamiyo.

Including Rhystic Study in a heavily thematic deck for more consistent card draw is an ENABLER OF SILLINESS, not a sudden power spike.

I'd run Rhystic Study if I had it because my playgroup is toxic and they deserve the fun taxing.

I just don't see how a card with the sheer power level of Rhystic Study could be casual in any context. I'm curious why people play it, but I'm probably correct in assuming that it's simply so the deck wins more. That itself is kind of against the point of a casual format

Was always a fan all the way back to your dota 2 videos. Subbing to this new channel. Great commander content.

To me one of the most important things to have in my decks is fluidity. Doesnt matter what i play or what mehanic. I prioritize that i get to do the thing in the mosts games as i can, even withouth wining, just a deck that flows.

I enjoy building underplayed (sometimes bad) commanders and make them optimized by power in my deckbuilding. I ressonated so much when you said that optimizing a theme deck makes it silly, because many of mine enter that zone, either its a bad theme deck that just tries too hang onto the game, or its a cut-throat deck with a lot of soft locks.

didnt know baumi does mtg videos too.. coming from dota 2

I suppose that I am similar that I don't like just good cards that don't match the theme. My most thematic is my equipment deck, which has maybe 10 creatures. It isn't a commander voltron either, as most creatures you would see are actually tokens created by equipment. For the theme I have a lot of the equipment that create a token and then equip to it. The creatures I do have are either support for equipment, or on theme create new token to put an equipment that lost the creature, and are small enough to be paid after a junk token and can be recurred by a particular equipment. The one exception is Eivor Battle-Ready which can be recurred/tutored by an equipment, and has an effect that scales with all the equipment, which is on brand. The deck isn't super strong, and it probably would be stronger if I optimised more, but I think it is fun on theme. I had a few times where people thought something I included was kind of interesting. It is the sort of deck that a boardwipe against creatures can happen, and I can joke that I wasn't really that inconvenienced as I will probably have new tokens picking up those arms.

I have reason to not agree and agree on RS subject to the player that is playing it and the way they build their deck that uses this card. I actually consider RS a good card to be played and have very different opinion of this card, but the issue with this card is that 99% is bad due to the way it is been uses and played in the play group that many have came to hate it

im building a go-shintai deck, it was selected at random by someone who doesnt play magic, and my play group normally plays decks at a power level of upgraded precons. I have been struggling to decide if i want to include smothering tithe and rhystic study, because they fit theme but i feel are too strong for my play group.

I play Nekusar, so they quickly cut it out.

Cool

I heavily disagree with your thoughts on tutors. Decks aren't made less fun by tutors. Players are the ones that make tutors less fun. Sometimes, jank decks need tutors to even function. If I wanted to make a deck based on animating different Planeswalkers and mutating onto them, there simply aren't enough cards in the card pool to make that happen consistently. Obviously, this is a completely out-of-left-field deck concept, but Commander is supposed to be a place where you can make these sorts of decks. When people are Vampiric Tutoring for The One Ring every game, that's an issue of conflicting interests with how Commander should be played. Not tutors.

I'm not attached to the card, but I'll keep playing it till they ban it. Smothering Tithe as well. Fuck Sol Ring though. I'm never putting that card in any of my decks

Sorry, but I am 100% playing it

I’m not spending €20 on a card that just pisses everyone off lmao.

i agree with the video even before seeing it

I have 1 deck (out of like, 20-something) that runs rhystic study, for 2 reasons: 1, Its a deck that is all about drawing cards on opponents' turns; 2, I got the Arcane Secret Lair, so I own a really pretty one and I want to use it somewhere, so I put it in one of my lower power level decks where it fits the gameplan

I like the strategy part of the game. It was difficult for me to learn to play themes. I used to consider elves, goblins, aristocrats, and spell slinger to be strategies only. I took a step toward theme when I tried to make my decks more "iconic" in that they embody the strategy to the point where they stop using cards to win outside that strategy.

Will we see you in Chicago?

the card is way too strong for commander - even for cedh. the current meta is just playing as much asymmetrically card draw as possible. (blue farm) while that you play as passively as possible (not playing wincons) and drawing while the other players trying to win. (drawing for wincos and answers from other players in the process)

Good video

my clickbaited reaction before watching video is that this reminds me of my opinion that being the only player to turn one sol ring is negative Win Probability Added and therefore, Sol Ring is a bad card for winning at a non cedh level

I see a lot of players trying to justify running powerful cards by saying "I need this to prop up the rest of the deck" or "without these cards the deck would be terrible". I always wonder, what's the issue with a bad deck in a casual format? You can have a deck that isn't optimized. It's OK.

14:19 what an awesome, awesome observation. i think it all comes down to us having better rule 0 conversations. and i think your video does a very important job at deeping ones understanding of this beautiful format. i also think, that your observation right here is part (and only part, of course there are many other good reasons) of the reason that when I say "oh you want to play a more layed back game? sure, let me get my proxied radha deck!" i get eyed like i was an alien. because my radha deck is just "haha funny circus animals!", but proxys are just known for the power side of commander. anyways, very eager to see you shape this channel in 2025! best wishes to you!