Cursed RecordingCursed Recording | Art by Kim Sokol

Hello and welcome back to How To Be New. This is perhaps my most relevant article to date for new players, as it concerns something that often takes place long before you'll ever sit down at your first Commander game. Honestly, this stage of Commander-curiousness may even take place before you get your hands on any of that sweet, colorful cardboard we all know and love.

We're talking about YouTube Commander shows. They're an important step in the journey of the modern Commander rookie, so it's worth our time to take a look at them and their usefulness as a resource for those seeking to learn the game.

This list will loosely be organized in terms of most accessible to least accessible. And, of course, it won't be exhaustive. But it will cover many of the larger channels one might expect to run into based on the capricious whims of the YouTube algorithm.

Shuffle Up & Play

If you've ever seen a Commander gameplay video on YouTube, I'd GambleGamble that it featured The Professor. I'd also wager a Final Fantasy Collector Box that he lost. But win or lose, The Professor has, through Shuffle Up & Play, created a vast Treasure TroveTreasure Trove of welcoming and entertaining Commander gameplay content.

The Professor does yeoman's work in ensuring that he reads the rules text on the cards he plays, in describing clearly what's happening in the game and the effects of spells on the game state, and in having his guests do the same.

When you sit down at an actual table at your friendly local game store to play Commander, you can see how lax some more experienced players are at explaining their cards and their effects, simply assuming shared knowledge. So it's extremely refreshing to have Prof and his guests, who I'd guess have played thousands of games of Magic each, take the time to slow down and explain their games to the level that even a player who's never played a game of Commander before in their life can often follow along.

And speaking of The Professor's guests, the man simply gets a who's who of the Magic community. I don't think there's a single other show represented here whose hosts haven't featured on the Tolarian Community College channel.

So if you're new to the scene at large, it's an incredible space to start. You'll start to find out which personalities you gravitate towards, and then you go through their channel and watch their videos, many of which often feature other MtG content creators, and within no time at all you'll be getting TikToks about which Commanders can "get it."

Also, I've had this thought for a long time and just need to get it out there into the world. The Professor is to "The first mulligan in Commander is free" as Bob Barker is to "Spay and neuter your pets." Some people simply devote their whole lives to ensuring that you hear and retain one piece of good advice, and the world is better for them all.

Recommended Episode: Is Cosmonaut Marcus' Commander...Michael Bay?

This is my absolute favorite episode of Shuffle Up & Play. Is it necessarily the most basic and easy place to start? No. But it does feature three of my favorite personalities to ever feature on Prof's channel. And all of them are playing some of the most chaotic Magic: The Gathering I've ever seen.

Rhystic Studies locks them all into a mutually assured destruction-type scenario, Spice8Rack is going not-so-slowly insane, The Professor is trying to keep up with the logistics of the absurdity happening around him, and Cosmonaut Marcus is simply playing with Transformers.

It's one of the best examples of Commander gameplay that I can show to someone unfamiliar with Magic to demonstrate to them just how beautifully deranged Commander can get when it's really at its best (best in this case meaning "most uproarously fun" and not "CEDH").

The Worst Possible Commander Show

In the interest of journalistic integrity, I'll disclose up front that I have a working relationship behind the scenes with CovertGoBlue, the host of The Worst Possible Commander Show. But I'll also say that I became familiar with CGB very early on in my Commander career through his videos with non-Magic players, having them evaluate and discuss some of Magic's most iconic cards. Those videos are an invaluable resource for any Commander neophyte.

In his conversations with people like Rarran and Cimo(ooooooo), comparing Magic to the card games they're more familiar with, CGB gets right at the heart of the things that make Magic so special. As his guests come to discover cards, play patterns, color combinations, and strategies that make them excited about the possibilities that Magic presents, you do too.

These videos provided me with some of my earliest exposure to cards which I'd go on to dearly lovedearly love throughout my Commander career. And though some may argue, especially in the case of ExpropriateExpropriate, I'd say that I'm better off for having watched them.

This brings me to my favorite thing about TWPCS. It's the offer that the show presents right in its title: As guests go around and introduce their decks, they give us a brief overview of their deck's "worst possible."

The "worst possible" is the card or two in the deck that exemplifies the pinnacle of what this deck was designed to do. It lets you as a viewer, especially one who's unfamiliar with the Commander of the deck, to orient yourself towards the strategy that the player will be looking to employ. It helps you to follow the action, practice threat assessment, and see what these excellent players do to ensure that their strategy can come to fruition.

Recommended Episode: I invited Cimo to game night...it was a mistake

The payoff for the videos I mentioned above is watching Cimo and Rarran play their first games of Commander on camera. It's almost like an extended Worst Possible segment, where you get to see them develop a strategy they'd like to play over the course of several videos and finally see it come to fruition at the table.

I'd definitely recommend Cimo's first game rather than Rarran's. While Rarran gets quickly introduced to the dark side of Commander (Crim plays a mill deck and politicks Rarran to within an inch of his life), Cimo's first game of Commander feels anointed by blessed winds*. When you watch Cimo, whose game of choice treats a simple "Draw 2 Cards" like it's Black LotusBlack Lotus, play a turn-one Mystic RemoraMystic Remora and then a turn-two Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, it's like watching Keanu walk the dog at the end of the first John Wick. In a single moment, you see a man who's struggled for so long, asking for so little, finally find peace.

*The fact that I can't add a hoverover link to a Yu-Gi-Oh!** card in an EDHREC article feels like a lack of imagination on someone's part.

**As much rigmarole is involved in typing the name Magic: the Gathering (including the required italicization), I'll thank Birgi, God of StorytellingBirgi, God of Storytelling that I don't have to regularly deal with the hyphens and exclamation point involved in Yu-Gi-Oh!

Elder Dragon Hijinks

This show delivers strongly on its premise. Shenanigans and hijinks abound. And if you want to understand what the vibes of a good Commander pod should look like, look no further. No matter who's on the show, it's always funny. And no matter what absolute devastation the players rain on each other, everybody is always having a good time.

That sounds like a recommendation of the show. And while it is very much that, it's also the major thing a new player should take away from watching Elder Dragon Hijinks. There is nowhere better to go to watch how people have a good time playing Commander. They're joking around with one another at the table while playing competent Magic.

When someone gets dunked on, it's taken graciously and powerful turns are complimented. This is something that you may or may not get at the tables in your FLGS. But it's always something you can bring to the table yourself.

Recommended Episode: NEW TARKIER DRAGONSTORM COMMANDER GAMEPLAY!

This episode features Joey from EDHRECast, so I had to shout it out. But it also features one of those round-one, turn-one plays that's so absolutely brutal that you throw up in your mouth a little bit.

Commander Clash

Commander Clash is one of my less frequent watches, but when it hits, it really hits.

The show definitely has a couple of accessibility details that I appreciate. Like The Worst Possible, it begins with each player briefly introducing their deck and showing a couple of its featured cards. The view of the playfield from above without camera cuts back and forth to different players helps you to better follow the action and the game state, especially for those less familiar with the cards that are being played. But where the show really shines is in its diversity.

Commander Clash's regular players clearly have a lot of fun building within a theme. Just in the last few videos, I can see a video where players can ignore color identity, where players use nonlegendary commanders, where they play decks themed around different Final Fantasy games, and even a video where everyone just plays Jumbo CactuarJumbo Cactuar.

Just in those alone, there's a treasure trove of possibilities which get your mind racing at all of the possibilities a Commander game presents, especially when you have buy in from players and a willingness to slightly bend the rules (an ethos which I firmly support).

Recommended Episode: Somewhere Between CEDH and Jank

At the risk of over Valeyard-posting***, I first became familiar with Commander Clash when I, as a newbie with a vague idea that I wanted to play The ValeyardThe Valeyard, searched online for Valeyard Commander gameplay. They were one of the only results. In watching their video, I learned how to play and build my new deck, as well as the awesome power I could wield with it.

Also, not for nothing, it made me feel less alone in my decision to play an off-meta, overlooked Commander. As a new player with a lot of Jenny and Tammy**** tendencies and nary a Spike bone in my body, it can feel like you're in the wrong for not wanting to play the well-supported, frequently-used Commanders that are in half of the backpacks at Commander Night.

So seeing someone who has so much experience with Magic build for your Commander, have fun playing it, and absolutely demolish with it, goes a long way to helping you feel included.

***Like that's even possible

****Referencing Mark Rosewater's three player psychographics. Also, we need to acknowledge the superiority of Jenny and Tammy to Johnny and Timmy. Playing with Johnny, Timmy, and Spike sounds like a nightmare where everything's sticky and every turn gets interrupted by a shouting match. Playing with Jenny, Tammy, and Spike, however, sounds like an excellent night where they over-pour the wine, relentlessly bully you, and invite you back around for next week when Jenny's making her signature stew.

Extra Turns - The Command Zone

The Command Zone is one of the best places to go on YouTube for Commander content. Full stop.

I do put them towards the end of the list because sometimes I feel a little out of my depth with their content. I'm sure I'll grow into it. I'm just not quite there yet. But the times I've watched their gameplay videos or listened to their podcast, I've come away with my brain full to bursting. So if you're ready to jack directly into the mainframe of MtG information, this should be you're very first stop.

For example, the linked episode of their Commander play show Extra Turns features every player playing a mono-blue Commander. Strap yourself down for this one. If you're not ready, all of the mono-blue shenanigans may just rip your brain in halfrip your brain in half.

Recommended Episode: Mono-Blue Battle

This is the absolute best example episode I could find for my assertion that these people are on another level. In this episode, everyone plays mono-blue. And the brain-breaking spells they're flinging left and right are genuinely inspiring.

Watching it brought me back to my childhood, playing on my little plastic basketball hoop in my living room and then turning on the TV to see professional players doing things I couldn't even imagine. Extra Turns shows Commander played at its very best. And for that reason, it's a must-watch.

And Two Honorable Mentions

Like I said earlier, there's just so much Commander gameplay content out there. And I've definitely left off some of the most prominent from this list. So if you're ready to broaden your horizons, and stretch your wingsstretch your wings, here are some other channels you might want to check out:

Commander At Home - This show really does often feel like friends just gathered around the table to have some fun playing Magic. It's maybe as close to cozy-core as Commander gameplay gets. This is somewhat of a double-edged sword, however, as it regularly features extremely skillful players (including Brian Kibler, one of the show's hosts), who can play this game casually with each other a little faster than I'm able to keep up with.

In terms of the linked episode, it will become clear very quickly why I'm recommending this video.

This Critical Role Video - Occasionally the folks from Critical Role will invite over some friends for a game of Commander. And in this episode, Matt Mercer uses some of Magic's dustiest, oldest mechanics with the same merciless virtuosity as he does emotional devastation to his PCs during their actual RPG campaigns.