Who’s Your Daddy?: Token Advice

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Travis R. Chance

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  1. Like to watch these commander videos, but just curious why you always seem to have this elitist attitude. Seems like you always have something negative to say about other people commanders and plays. Ive played Commander online and always played against rude people, so is this just an attitude of all Commander players?

  2. Always love your videos and digging this deck keep it up. Dont listen to bobby he sucks

  3. I have never, and most likely will never play commander, since I enjoy more competitive formats and multiplayer games just don’t interest me.

    That being said I actually love your videos, even or especially the ones on ridiculous art and containing bizarre asides on superhero basketball players that missed the cut for Space Jam. It is apparent to anyone that has ever made similar content that a lot of work goes into these, so keep it up.

    Also don’t listen to Bobby, people online deserve your scorn, as modo players are only slightly above xbox live players, Youtube commenters, Stalin and Pol Pot.

  5. Bobby, try making videos, have them ruined by the aforementioned jerk-people, do this for 2 years, then let me know how you are feeling. That, and people do not get this format in terms of deck construction. It is frustrating.

    Nick, coughing is the price of admission; deal. If you wanna come over and rub Vicks on me chestacles, feel free – I’ll shoot you a Mapquest link.

  6. This is probably a stupid question as I haven’t played Commander before, but why do people tap their lands at end of turn?

  7. Darric, not stupid at all. People do this online so they can use F8, which passes priority until your turn, as long as you have no mana open, or activated abilities open. Essentially, it saves time. And, as this isn’t a format where things like one-for-one counterspells aren’t as effective as in head-to-head formats, bluffing is just a time sink. So, basically, to save time as a courtesy to others and expedite game play.

  8. On a more serious note, this deck was something of a challenge for me. This is def not my comfort zone–cute little ghosts and soldiers that crash into the flying monstrosities of other players to deal a few points of damage. The curve is top-heavy, no matter how hard I tried to trim. It’s very much a thematic style of deck, which warrants the inclusion of weird cards I didn’t own, nor would of had I not played this.

    The Ghost Council deck I put together with “…dies.” effects was pretty powerful; it just felt like I was playing another Reanimator or Death deck, and I have done this and shared it many many times in my tenure. I really wanted to do something else, something uncomfortably alien for me. I am tired of playing uber combo decks that just crush people. I want a little uphill battle, where I have my balls taped to one thigh, a frying pan for a weapon, and a bull’s eye painted on my face. It’s just not fun any other way now; anything else is just posturing.

    Next video will be a re-retune of one of my favorite decks that I haven’t touched in a little bit. Can you guess which? Anyone have any zany ideas for a deck that isn’t total toilet?

  9. “Just need to draw a black spell and I can kill Urabrask”
    Oh if only there were a white and black spell you always had access to.
    Like, maybe if there were a special zone that held a white-black card so you could cast it whenever …
    That would be nice, wouldn’t it?
    :-P

    As for the relentlessly being disparaging of other people’s cards / decks / plays, I’m totally for that.
    You’re perfectly polite in the chat, which is what matters, and provide what watchers actually want to hear (you ripping on your opponents) over the commentary for us. Win-win.

  10. I would really like to ask is there a way you can put the decklist in a text form? its just easier for me to see all the cards. Love the vids and I would also like to see you build a commander deck for people who may be on a tighter budget,

  12. Giving you a heads up to theme up your GCoO, i’ve got a similar full-of-WoGs version, but added a subtheme of manlands and manartifacts to take advantage of the empty boards. Maybe that would trickle your interest to making her feel more coherent and giving her identity.

  13. wooterman, we have discussed this, as it is a good idea. Weirdly, people complain that I spend too much time on the decktech, which, truly, is the far more informative portion of each contribution. Simply looking at the cards doesn’t give the insight as to WHY I am playing what I am playing–sometimes it’s not so immediately clear. But, yeah, you have a point. I would have to send in a list for the admin monkeys to include; perhaps they will chime in here (hint-wink-elbow bump).

    Pixie, I don’t rewatch the games, or remember the events of each, as I usually record about 15 (2-3 of which I use). I am just as guilty as missing the obv stuff sometimes as the most toadly of noobs–which sucks, bc it makes me look quite silly for all my angsty, chest puffing pontificating. I wish I could more justify this play, but, alas, I don’t remember, so I will defer to the powers of hindsight, and bow kneel before Zod.

    Chris, you have AIDS of the heart; I will so tackle your neck when I see you next week. Not even AJ’s sentient hairstyle will be able to stop my 210lb momentum attack.

  14. If you record 15 matches and only plan on using 2 or so, does that mean that you tell anecdotes such as chris kool avoiding you 15 times to get it in? Pretty funny if you have to do that if you want to tell a story

  15. Travis, I’m not entirely sure that playing Teysa was even the right play, it was just a funny moment given that she’s sat right there in the command zone and you’re asking your deck to give you a black spell you can cast :-)

    I was mostly being facetious – everyone misplays and no-one ever thinks of everything (and if you did, it’d probably be dull as hell to watch because you’d take forever to do anything. Not to mention we wouldn’t get to feel all smart when we see something you don’t)

    Definitely dig the vids and I was in no way trying to show you up or anything – I just live to be a sarcastic bastard, I guess.

  16. Pixie, no worries, man. I was being sincere. I was just disappointed I couldn’t provide you with insight into my thoughts, or lack thereof. I took no insult, at all :)

    Mr. Brule, beware of pruppets!!! My “process” for making these is weird. None of it is scripted, at all. I usually start with organizing the deck in piles, which is an OCD nightmare, bc inevitably they could be in multiple piles. I hit record, and just start talking. I usually don’t get the right rhythm the first couple of tries, I erase the vid, and start over, keeping portions of what I say. Almost everything is ad lib. The games are entirely on the fly. If something is funny that I wanna share, or, critical to the deck, like a change in the list or something (this is the worst because I have to redo this over and over sometimes), then I repeat that, but, for the most part, I just start rambling. Sometimes I forget I am filming, hence the long pauses. It’s weird, and, despite my coughing, talking to Jen (my lady-gal), yelling at my cats, eating, getting up to pee, and whatever the hell else I do in the moment, I feel like the vids are different and an honest representation of who I am.

    For those of you that have contacted me via chat, etc., it should be evident that I am very grateful of the time people take to say hi, ask questions, and encourage me to keep doing this. Despite the millions I make a year here at the Academy, I am really just in it to help people.

  18. Because it’s worse than Linger Souls, which isn’t even that good, and playing it on turn 3 is unreliable in a 2-c deck that has double black spells that are better.

    I talk about this in the video to a fairly lengthy extent.

  19. I think for your next deck you should try to work within a restrictive theme. Something like, “Nothing allowed but creatures and basic lands,” “All cards by the same artist” or “Only cards with one-word names.” I say this because I really enjoyed your Chaos list where everything was a three-drop.

  21. Nice new gravatar picture. For the record, I call my new hairstyle Mullet-filet.

    Wooterman, what we can do from now on is make the deck downloadable as a .txt file linked from below the vids so that you can easily import it into MTGO if you’d like. However, I respect Travis’s decision to make the decklist something you can’t just scan your eyes over passively, so I don’t know if we’ll be listing his decks in the posts themselves like we do for other formats and contributors.

  22. Deck techs are the heart of this series; I will not be omitting them or even reducing their frequency or length. I can provide a finished list that is represented throughout the games.

  23. Awesome videos.

    Why did you not use Teysa’s ability on Balthor when that “you lose the game”-spell was on the stack?

  28. Just dropping in to say howdy, will check out videos later maybe.
    As for trash talking, being obnoxious, and/or pestering.
    I think it is all in good fun.
    You should hear my clans voice chat sometimes. ^^

  30. Wow, Matt, I consider your grammar terrible and I consider your comment utterly ignorant. Please do not impose upon Travis’s knack of deck-building: he has a skill that is rare to the Magic community. His decks are not “bs” (or as I refer to it: “belligerent stupidity” en lieu of “bull $h!t”) as they are incredibly sought after. Please refrain from comments destructive to the casual atmosphere; keeping in mind that it is not a home to annoying individuals, such as yourself. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.

  31. Haven’t seen the vids yet, but the decktech is great. I consider the decktech the main course anyway. The games are often a bit sluggish, but the decktech is non-stop informative and entertaining.

    The elitism is both justified and quite entertaining, so I hope it won’t be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness any time soon.

    About Knight-Captain of Eos: I think that’s a lance, not a sword, so it’s supposed to be that tall.

    The deck looks interesting and fun to play. I hope to give it a try sometime.

    To matt: why don’t u lern 2 ar-ti-cu-late?

  33. In the Pre-Game Edit you mention Sacred Mesa being underwhelming. This cannot be right, because I’ve seen the card dominate pretty much every game it was in. Part of the reason you gave is that saccing a token to Skullclamp is only half a Divination. It is, however, a double Divination. Divination is 3 mana and a net gain of 1 card. Sacred Mesa + Skullclamp is 3 mana and a net gain of 2 cards. You would have to be playing Vintage to do better than that.

  34. D***** Travis, please make another video already. I’m going through withdraw on behalf of my lack of magical, elder dragon highlander, video content. I need you to change this as soon as possible.