People will celebrate androgynous and have gender envie for those who can pull it off
...

When in fact, it's just being skinny and internalised fatphobia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Give me 2-3 hours, longform discussion about a deck, style of deck, old cards, the use of certain combos, variations of combos. Why playing X over Y. The feel of playing pet cards or flavorful cards that are not the most efficient for what you do.

Like every podcast I listen to, I feel like I'm losing my time. Talking about the brackets, the current discourse, the new hotness.
It really feel like fast food, talking about one subject and the others. Spending like 30 secs on a card, saying it's good or bad, next. Set review, always

Okay, I need podcast suggestions.

I would be interested for in-depth deck tech, strategies or concept exploration. The thought process of "what's good or not", card evaluation, deck evaluation, every power level consideration, etc

I don't want anything about the discourse, the new sets, etc.

Staple interaction is fine.
Play those removal. It's good and needed.

Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt (underplayed), Beast Within. Those are great and you should definitely play some amount on your deck.

But I don't want to play Gary again and again and again
I've played Gary for the last 15 years. It's not an interesting win con anymore

Let's say it's Gray Merchant of Asphodel
It's cheap, played in basically every black deck cause it's "just good".

I'm building a deck with some life gain theme. So it would be amazing... But I don't want to play Gary in more decks :|

You're building a new commander deck. One card would be perfect in it. That card is also a staple in that color pairing and a bit boring to play.

Do you still include the card or not??

Sorin + Hidetsugu's Second Rite : kill 1 player.
Land Tax + Scroll Rack : mono white draw!

Those are Classic old school commander tech.

What's your favorite old tech you use(d)? 👀

WOTC, a small, independent, family company. Right?

Anyway, doing Errata in 2 cards before releasing the set. Not like they also did that in EOE and a couple other times before.
Maybe they should work on those sets more carefully and do less sets... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just a thought.

Happy birthday!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

*Finishes a workout session and compares with what I was able to do before HRT*
... Testosterone sure was useful for that :')

12 mana over 2 creatures that can be interacted with. It is easy to disrupt. Players had time to showcase their deck.

"expect to be able to play at least eight turns before you win or lose"

Unless you cheat those creatures, play fast mana or whatever, this is at least 8 turns.

Maha + Elesh Norn
Keep some protection spells in hand

There. No one can have creatures in play and you'll deal 10+ damage per turn.

If that's not proactive and Bracket 2, I have no idea what it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And yes. This is control.

Control =/= mono counterspells

Creatures decks can be control

The win condition could even be a 2/2 soldier (if it comes to that).

There are ways to go through attrition games, slowly, in a unoptimized manner, with incremental damage to win the game. This is LITERALLY what brackets 2 is about.

It's one of the three main deck strategies since forever

2026-02-09 - Gavin : "The brackets are meant as a tool to guide pregame conversations"

Pic from the 2025-10-01 update on the bracket system.

A control deck is not optimal per say and doesn't need game changers or combos. It's about creating an environment where inevitably you'll win.

I mean, if you play CEDH, it's a super friendly proxy environment and you definitely should proxy

Now if you play casual, you can proxy anything as well, as long as power level wise is similar between the players. I don't want to play games where 1 player is clearly stronger, proxy or not

If you play a deck that is bracket 3 with game changers and powerful stuff, optimized and all, I won't play my deck that is bad (I play many bad decks). I'll use one of my better decks to match the power level, so the game is interesting

Let's have a pregame discussion before, rule 0 and stuff

Let's play with Gwendlyn Di Corci, Hazezon Tamar la, Chain of Mephistopheles and other weird old expensive stuff. Doesn't mean it's gonna be powerful, they are just behind a paywall called Reserved List

In no way Divine Intervention is a good card, yet it's over 145$. Print it. Who cares

I mean. It is a hot take to say that you shouldn't be the only one proxying, since I disagree with that

And if you play Mox, Urza, or anything powerful... That's not a matter of proxy but a matter of power level. Proxies have nothing to do with that

If you play a deck with OG duals and perfect mana and expensive good cards or whatever... I don't care, as long as I match your power level.

It's not a proxy problem at all

The temptations to proxy a Rhystic Study is not real. Do it. But say that you have it in your deck and I'll match the level

Oh that was back in the days. Info only have 5-6 decks at the moment and kill my babies often.

Also, expensive cards are not necessarily a problem. It's the power level of the deck. Could be all proxied or not. Proxies are just a means to play magic.

Every strategy can be found in every bracket. It's not about the strategy but the power you're putting in
I can see a control deck as a bracket 1

Not all control is mono blue counter magic. White boardwipe, Red group slug, Black discard, etc... All sorts of control variants and viable at each level

Disagree
I've been proxying Sol Ring at some point cause I had like 15 decks but didn't want to buy more than the 10 Sol Ring I already had.

Proxying is not just about expensive cards. Some cards can be unavailable in your region or more difficult to find.

Proxy can enlarge creativity as well

You should play this card more chat.

Right?!?!

To be fair, if someone was to come see me right now, I would probably let them do whatever they want xD

Headache, laying in bed, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, feeling sick, bored AF.

Can I just pass out already?

I know I'm "gay" (read as queer), but why am I getting targeted for PreP ads :')
I'm not a gay guy!