The Problem with Rule Zero 

I usually gage if I want to play with a group based on their reactions to certain mechanics. No counter spells? This just shows you dont want to play the game. Interacting IS magic

paraphrasing: “I dont want to play with that combo”, while a relatable sentiment, doesn’t align with the philosophy of rule zero. *Exceptions* to the rules should be agreed upon, not the other way around. That said my heart is with the shop that banned sol ring 😂

I love the video, but I have one minor nitpick. The cEDH Decklist Database is not a collection of decks that have done well in tournaments or events. Performance in events may be a good cue to how good a deck is, but performance in events is specifically not a criteria we look at when evaluating decks for the DDB. That said, great video!

I appreciate your thoughts.

It's an old video, but I still wanted to leave my thoughts here anyway. I disagree slightly with what you said about keeping Rule 0 brief. Although it's preference, from personal experience, I would have preferred an over-explanation of a deck's win plan, rather than people that are too afflicted with Smol Bean syndrome to the point of severely downplaying their decks. Despite not having played EDH for that long ( approximately 2 and a half years now ), I regret not having talked more to spark discussion among my playgroup. It would have led to less blow-outs that feel like they wasted my time. Despite having more time on my hands than the average EDH player, I still value it greatly. My friends don't always have time, and I like a fun experience. There needs to be a baseline level of trust to keep these conversations brief. So, in short, I think overexplaining is still WAY better than not explaining enough. Lest you have games with players that argue their Enchantress deck is at Precon level, but once you start playing with your unupgraded Precons, the experience is horrible. Or games in which you have players playing Atraxa, the Grand Unifier, that claim their deck is a "seven" or comparable to your deck, but in reality, they do something way more powerful than the rest of you. Once you build enough trust, the over-explanation will go away. Also, a shop that bans Sol Ring? Count me in! lol.

Rule 0 exists for established playgroups imo. If you go to game stores and try to rule 0 40 cards and 6 deck archetypes, you're either a new player or a whiny ass baby. I don't think rule 0 should exist at all with random players, having expectations for ANYTHING other than power level is just not based

This is why I just play pauper.

GRENZOOO

I dislike rule 0 because I hate having to justify my deck. I'm all for trying to have a general power level so games can be interesting, because blow outs are lame, but casual players are so entitled with what they play against, who they play with, etc. It's what drove me into cEDH and I'm glad I did. Love high power, love faster games. The worst magic experiences I've had are 3 hour long slogfests of commander because everyone is wiping the board but don't have a follow up to win. I think the longest cEDH game I had was 1.5 hours, and even that was plenty.

R.I.P

LOL a shop that bans Sol Ring. I guess I woldn't be playing at that shop, which reminds me of a store locally I won't play at. You lose tournament points for winning before Turn 4, and you also lose points for blowing up lands. I have several issues with this because I play decks that can win before turn 4, and I play land destruction. I don't like a shop telling me I'm going to be punished for playing the game the way it is intended to be played.

What about individual cards that represent play ideology? "Banning" as a group, cards like magister sphinx in a slow casual pod makes sense to me. Stuff that dumpsters one player

I have met groups who kinda rule zero to their own detriment it is nice that they keep their play group within themselves but at the same time it is quite an isolated group in their own bubble which discourages them to mix with people outside their group and actually get better at the game so it is like using training wheels for too long sort of situation and yea the myth of cedh players are just pubstompers is very muched debunked as we all know how scary of a weapon we carry around not to just join a table of precons just because we wanna win

5:25 HOW is this a jank combo? These cards all work well in Grenzo and are each useful on their own anyway. This isn't jank, it's just some nice synergy for things you'd probably be running anyway.

'Difficult to interact with'. And yet Thoracle is somehow NOT banned despite being borderline impossible to interact with outside of blue, a handful of forced card draw effects, and a hate bear or two. Labman and Jace are perfectly fine as they're permanents that need to be ON THE FIELD and every color can deal with that. Thoracle leaves a triggered ability on the stack.... which almost nothing can interact with.

Rule 0 and an official banlist are terrible combo