Part 2 is out.
Here is a link for those who want to listen:
https://media.wizards.com/2020/podcasts/magic/drivetowork713_h2hcommanderpart2_Ko12Djs9.mp3Points raised in this episode:
1) Wish Boards - Cards that let you get any card (for example, the second mode on Mastermind's Acquisition). Usually these just refer to the sideboard. EDH has no sideboard, so should these cards let you get anything from your collection?MaRo: Doesn't really care as it's such a small issue. Generally in favour as long as the whole table is fine with it. It's largely up to the player wishing to deal with it so the impact on others is small. Appreciates that it somewhat negates the point of 100 card singleton. Wish cards essentially make your deck have more than 100 cards.
Me: fine, as long as it's agreed by all parties beforehand.
2) Change Mulligan RuleMaRo: No official change. Thinks rule 0 is sufficient. Casual tables can be free to be more liberal with their mulligans.
Me: Same.
3) Life total change - change that starting life total, most likely to 30 or 35.MaRo: Life total is too ingrained, changing would cause too many problems. If he were to start over and build from scratch, then probably (to reduce game length and give aggro a chance), but no need to change currently.
Me: Same. I can see the argument, but people are used to it and it's part of the charm. K'rrik is not nearly as broken with 10 less life, and I love K'rrik.
4) Planeswalkers as commandersMaRo: Yes. Commander is wonderful because you get to choose a character to lead an army and it's very flavourful. Planeswalkers are some of the most prominent characters. He suspects most people wont use them anyway, and those who do want to should be able to.
Me: I'm honestly undecided on this one. I've never tried it. My only experience with it is watching people like Commander Vs. try it. It didn't seem that broken, but they tend to build decks that are entertaining to watch rather than powerful. And one of them ultimated
Liliana, Dreadhorde General and still lost because of
doubling season, so there is clearly some busted stuff going on. I think I'd ultimately say yes, but I'm a filthy casual.
5) Change the Partner Tax - tax applies to both rather than either. If you cast A and it dies, when you cast B it needs +2 anywayMaRo: Yes. Partner is strong enough as it is and it helps
balance it. Also a lot easier to track and remember.
Me: My first thought is that this change would be fine, but I'd want a bit more context and to know more statistics to back it up. I know partners see a lot of play at the top end of the power level, so if this would hose their strats too badly then I don't think it's worth it.
6) Commander death triggers - should commanders still count as dying if they go to the command zone.MaRo: Yes. Is very unintuitive as it currently works. So much so that it is affecting design (
MaRo said that they will specifically avoid giving death triggers to legendary creatures, even in standard sets, not just the commander products).
Me: Yes, for the same reasons. Seems like a very minor change and it would be far more intuitive.
7) Silver Bordered cardsMaRo: Yes, sort of. He would make a second, alternate format called "Un-Commander", that has it's own list of legal silver bordered cards. Mostly because people like official rules. Strictly for the casuals.
Me: I would fucking love this.