2025: The Year of Forgetful Fish - Herald's Horn Newsletter: Issue 2
Also: Alex Ullman
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Welcome to the Herald’s Horn Newsletter: Issue 2!
On this issue, I’m thinking about Forgetful Fish, AKA DanDan, the delightful shared deck format. Also, we have an excerpt from an article you should read & some other roundup stuff. Let’s get into it!
2025: The Year of Forgetful Fish
Stop me if you’ve heard me say this before, but I deeply love & adore Forgetful Fish, AKA DanDan, a shared deck format designed by Nick Floyd that is based entirely around the card DanDan.
If you would like more background before I jump in, I would recommend Nick Floyd’s original design document & format primer, Tolarian Community College’s gameplay video, Rhystic Studies’ “Games Within Games | A History of "Forgetful Fish,” and also my former articles on the format & related awesome design work by players just like you:
It’s a new year, so I have more to say about my favorite format. I haven’t had much time to ruminate on it until recently, when I’ve had some cards, thoughts, and more that I wanted to share with you! I honestly believe though that this year, 2025, is when more people than ever before will get to discover the joy of this truly unique way of playing Magic.
Forgetful Fish Tournaments at MagicCon Chicago
Perhaps the biggest piece of news for Fishheads is that we have a very interesting event coming up at MagicCon Chicago - The Forgetful Fish Qualifiers and Finals. Two qualifying tournaments spread over two days, Friday & Saturday, each with a Top 4 cut that feeds into an 8 person Finals event on Sunday. The prizes are pretty cool too:
Top 8 participants: Forgetful Fish Top 8 Playmat and Sleeves
1st Place: Graded Foil Dandân, Champion Mat and Forgetful Fish Trophy
2nd Place: Graded Arabian Nights Dandân
3rd - 4th: Graded Timeshifted Dandân
5th - 6th: Graded 5th Edition Dandân
7th - 8th: Graded Chronicles Dandân
I know that I am especially interested in whatever that Champion Mat & Forgetful Fish trophy will look like - and I will be participating! I would love to see you there & jam some Fish against you but for some silly stakes!
There is something to be said about these tournaments though - something about them does tickle my brain slightly in the wrong way. Forgetful Fish has never exactly felt like a format that is “supposed” to be competitive, it instead was started and I believe has continued as a very interesting diversion from the rest of what Magic has going on. There is something pure about a more casual format - but I don’t think a one-off tournament changes that. Heck, a one-time tournament of a chill casual format seems awesome to me, but still. If this becomes more of a consistent thing, I may have more negative thoughts concerning it. For now, the implications are exciting. Hopefully more people get exposed to this awesome way to play the game through the tournament - even if it’s just by watching games and getting curious.
Also of note, this tournament will use the original Nick Floyd list - so be sure to be familiar with that version if you’re planning on participating! A tip - having multiple DanDans in play is terrible, you’re asking to get Vision Charmed. Control of what your opponent draws is incredibly important, focus on depriving them of the best cards & feed them as many Dance of the Skywise & Ray of Command tier cards as you can.
New DanDan Cards & a New DanDan Brew!
The back half of 2024 introduced some VERY cool potential DanDan options for the enterprising brewer - it may not be a mystery that these kind of cards are showing up now, I know there are plenty of fans of the format on the inside of Wizards but I may simply be huffing Copium. Anyways - new exciting cards!
Scene of the Crime is an interesting add for lower-power or specifically slower Forgetful Fish experiences. It rewards having DanDans in play - especially extra DanDans - that you can cash in to make a Blue mana (or another color if you’re on a splash, such as Red). The part that interests me most is the final line - you can cash in this land for a card if you eventually value being +1 card more than having your eight land or so. Probably a very narrow-use-case card but since it’s something that may have slipped people by, being an uncommon in a nearly universally panned set, I figured I’d raise it!
This Town Ain’t Big Enough is currently a Standard all-star but also boasts plenty of potential for our silly Fish decks. Five mana at instant speed to bounce two of your opponent’s DanDans isn’t the worst rate - but where this card really shines is being able to pay 2 mana to protect a DanDan of your own while also bouncing one of theirs. Talk about a tempo play! There is a world where this card is too strong in many DanDan lists, causing too hard of a swing in one card, but I am going to try it regardless - probably over the likes of Supplant Form or Crystal Spray.
Brainsurge is about as obvious of a Forgetful Fish card as they come. Since both players share the same library, top of the library antics are some of the most fun you can have - and Brainsurge is Brainstorm on slight steroids. This may be hard to find space for, given that there are already so many potential card draw-focused cards one could include (Brainstorm, a litany of cantrips [Opt, Consider, etc.], Accumulated Knowledge, Predict, Chart a Course, many more), but I personally will be looking at moving Chart a Course out of my list for the time being & seeing how I feel!
If you’ve been playing a more Tempo oriented version of Forgetful Fish but just plain hate the relatively standard Gone Missing, Uncharted Voyage plays in much of the same space while being an Instant and one mana cheaper. While you don’t get a Clue out of the card, Surveil 1 is still a very relevant line of text with a shared library (and graveyard) and is a mechanic I would personally like to expereiment with. Also note- this is by no means a one-to-one replacement for Gone Missing and maybe instead should replace something like Supplant Form or whatever two-of is your least favorite (please remove Mystical Tutor from your list).
Saving the best for last. Inspiration from Beyond is the most hyped I’ve been for a DanDan card in some time. Why? Mystic Retrieval has been a thorn in my side for some time - adding some very important recyclability of two-of-spells but introducing the dreaded menace of the Red Splash. Okay, the Red splash isn’t THAT bad - especially now that it gives you an excuse to play Thundering Falls - but it can create a lot of have and have-nots inside of a game, especially if one player is the only one with Red and can Flashback both Mystic Retrievals. No losing that one.
Inspiration from Beyond allows one to replace Mystic Retrieval if one so wishes, while also having some upside of milling cards into the graveyard. A seven mana Flashback cost causes the doubling up on this spell to also be much more difficult - this strikes me as a bonus. The printing of this card has caused me to revisit my old mono-Blue Dan-Dan concept to give it a second draft. No games played yet, so a massive grain of salt, but here it is!
I’m not sure if Inspiration from Beyond will replace Mystic Retrieval in my “main” list, but we’ll see how I feel after I cast it a few times.
Play Forgetful Fish
That’s the thoughts I have about my favorite way to play Magic this week! Thanks for reading - and if you have your own DanDan list (or Forgetful Fish inspired deck) throw it in the comments!
I don’t want this newsletter to only feature me. If you would like your writing to be featured in the Herald’s Horn Newsletter (or separately), I would love to work with you to get it published. It can be about Magic or about making things, either one. A little of both is even better. Shoot me a message here or send an email to editorial@heraldshorn.com!
Excerpt: Untitled Commander Series 1: Mavinda, Student’s Advocate
by Alex Ullman
First, an editorial aside from me, Cal. Alex is and has been one of my favorite writers in the space for years. He’s one of the real ones who’s been Doing the Work for so long, writing about Pauper & so much more to the benefit of many. I asked him for permission to highlight this most recent article of his & he graciously accepted. Thanks Alex!
Every so often I decide it’s time to attempt writing about Commander again.
When I started playing, Magic was not a social event. I made acquaintances through the game but I viewed Magic as a way to prove myself at an endeavor. As I got older, however, Magic morphed into a way to just hang out. Compared to other adult activities it’s (relatively) easy to get a few friends together or head down to the Local Game Store to get sling some cardboard. I get to relax, shoot the shit, and just enjoy playing Magic.
It’s nice.
So what has been the hold up with putting my thoughts on Commander down on digital paper? I’ve been writing about Magic in some capacity for the better part of two decades. My long standing view is that Commander is a deeply personal format and everyone has their own approach. The way I see things may not hit home for a wider audience. The internet might say there is a “right” way to engage with Commander but the reality of the situation is drastically different. There is no one true way to play the format other than the one you and your podmates agree upon for that specific game. So much of the run up to that is about how you, as an individual, feel. Who is at the helm of your deck? What cards do you include – or exclude – and why? Which Basic Lands are you running and what is that story? There is no matchup data to pore over nor metagame to attack. There are simply people playing cards and looking for stories. How, then, can you write about something that means drastically different things to the various pairs of eyeballs that may read your words?
For the longest time I left it alone. I would try to write about Commander but it felt forced; the words rang hollow. A few weeks ago something changed. I was winding down from the day and excited about a deck I had just built: Mavinda, Student’s Advocate. For some reason I thought it was 2012 and decided to search the internet for anything written on the card. I found almost nothing. Sadly it made sense. These days there are so many Legendary Creatures printed that there’s no reason to write about all of them.
Given the current state of Magic content and the attention economy it tracks that only those cards that would reasonably get clicks should have dedicated articles. In that moment I realized that if no one was writing the kind of Commander content I wanted to read then I might as well do it myself. While I may not be able to write something that resonates with everyone the things that matter to me may well matter to other players. If that is the case then there is absolutely no reason to not share my thoughts.
Given the current state of Magic content and the attention economy it tracks that only those cards that would reasonably get clicks should have dedicated articles. In that moment I realized that if no one was writing the kind of Commander content I wanted to read then I might as well do it myself. While I may not be able to write something that resonates with everyone the things that matter to me may well matter to other players. If that is the case then there is absolutely no reason to not share my thoughts.
Finish the rest of this incredible article on Alex’s website →
Latest Podcast Episode: WotC Cuts VML Support, D&D Promos & EK on Building Better EDH Decks - Episode 33
On the latest episode of the podcast, Cal & Dan discuss Wizards of the Coast cutting monetary support and invites from the VML. Of course, we also have Aetherdrift stuff to talk about - how do we feel about it? After the break, Cal is joined by the one and only EK to discuss how you could build a better Commander deck. Give it a watch/listen!
Stuff Cal Liked This Week:
The latest Rhystic Studies essay/video is here & I, as always, enjoyed it greatly. Reading the card doesn’t always explain the card - something I’m reminded of more and more when I’m playing Commander with newer players. I read a paragraph of text & they say “okay cool, I didn’t understand that but let’s move on.” And that’s with cards that aren’t that confusing! Sam exploring the craziest stuff is a joy.
MagicCon Chicago is the latest convention to feature tattoo artists on-site. I think this is pretty dang cool - I do wish the website had more information about what flash each artist will have available / also wish there was an easier booking process than “find the artist you want & DM them on Instagram” but hey, that’s tattoos baby. I’ll probably explore getting one myself.
The coverage for the European Regional Championship was awesome, especially decisions like interviewing Magic Artist RK Post during downtime! More of that please.
I saw the astoundingly awesome jazz-fusion-metal-? band Sungazer this last Thursday in a small venue near my house - it was so worth it. Go to more small shows you aren’t so sure about.
Speaking of Music, if you enjoy my writing about Magic, perhaps you’ll enjoy my ongoing exploration of my personal Top 100 songs of all time. Read it right here on Substack.
That’s all for issue 2! Thanks for reading. Subscribe to keep up with every issue here:
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See you in two weeks!
This was a fun read, I really liked Alex Ullman's piece and finished reading it on his website. It's to the type of writing about Commander I'd like to see more of. I'd also be interested in hearing more of your thoughts about a consistent Forgetful Fish competitive scene.
Thank you for sharing your writing!