Hapless Researcher | Art by Ron Spears

The redesign of EDHREC is launching today (if you don't see it yet, we are rolling it out incrementally to all users, so stay tuned), and there's a ton of new stuff to explore, from filters to precon pages and more. But none of that work just happened. It was the result of months of hard work by EDHREC's core dev team. Led by keattz, the team featured efforts by Adam, GGards and Kaz, who together rebuilt the majority of EDHREC from the ground up.

And it was more than just a fresh coat of paint — these devs worked on nearly every aspect of the site.

For the nitty-gritty on exactly what's different, what's new, and what stayed the same, head over to the accompanying Changelog, which goes into granular detail about the changes and the process to create them.

A Chat with EDHREC's Dev Team on our Site Redesign

Here, we sat down with these four to get a bit of lighter insight into the process. And, incidentally, revealed that at least two of them are the villains of their Commander tables.

Introduce yourselves: Who are you? What's your job title? How long have you been involved with EDHREC/SCM?

Adam, EDHREC senior data engineer

Adam: Hi, I'm Adam, senior data engineer at Space Cow Media (SCM). I've been working on EDHREC since August 2025 and started full-time at SCM this past January. I've been slowly migrating our data-ingestion pipelines and number-crunching analytics into AWS to get more data on the redesigned website faster, such as the new color identity filter on Card pages.

GGards, EDHREC senior software engineer

GGards: Hello there, I'm GGards, senior software engineer and designer on the EDHREC dev team primarily working on the front-end and UI. When SCM hired me just over a year ago, they had all these cool ideas they wanted me to do, but I convinced them to do this redesign first. Hopefully they forgive me now that it's out 😛

Kaz, EDHREC senior data engineer

Kaz: Heyo, I'm Kaz, senior data engineer on the EDHREC dev team working on all things data and backend. I have been working for SCM for almost three years now modernizing the data-processing backend and API. I am a huge WoW speedrunning nerd and like to make things go zoom.

Keattz, EDHREC co-founder and lead software engineer

keattz: I'm keattz (David), the project lead. I started working on EDHREC in 2015, back when it was just a Reddit bot and simple website — Advanced Filters was my first contribution.

Which commander or Magic character would you say your colleagues are most similar to?

Adam: GGards is Braids, Cabal MinionBraids, Cabal Minion because he spent thirty minutes casually convincing me that I should trade it to him so he could build a sealed Commander deck with it. I didn't want it because it seemed like a great way to irritate your opponents. Hard to say for Kaz and keattz, but that's only because I am relatively new to the game.

GGards: Adam is Ms. BumbleflowerMs. Bumbleflower: I have no idea what he's doing most of the time, but he always does it extremely well. Kaz is Yuriko, the Tiger's ShadowYuriko, the Tiger's Shadow: Dude just gets in, gets things done, and then vanishes without a trace. keattz is Muldrotha, the GravetideMuldrotha, the Gravetide: First of all, he's Sultai AF, and second of all, he just does it all.

Kaz: GGards added this question because he knew Adam and I would have no idea how to answer it.

keattz: This question is too hard.

Most-argued-over design decision internally: a color, a border radius, or a hill somebody died on?

Adam: Took me several recommendations to get GGards to finally let me press / to start searching for a card.

GGards: The filter sidebar. Forever and ever and ever and ever. I have seen more iterations of that filter sidebar than I've lost games to mana screw.

Kaz: Precon pages should have adds/cuts on the same page.

keattz: GGards and I spent countless hours debating every little detail; it's difficult to remember individual arguments at this point. But a few that stand out are: which side the labels attach to cards, navigating between page sections on mobile, and everything about Advanced Filters.

How would you describe your own Commander tendencies? Are you a villain, goofball, group-hug enthusiast, person who always dies first because they play the salty cards?

Adam: I played Magic in my early teens and have only recently picked it up again since starting at SCM. I'm still re-learning the game, but my current strategy is to lay low and let everyone kill each other. Then I'll swing big with all my creatures and hope I figured out the opponent's blockers. Works like 10% of the time.

GGards: Well, Adam already mentioned I played a Braids, Cabal MinionBraids, Cabal Minion sealed Commander deck. I also have an Azami, Lady of ScrollsAzami, Lady of Scrolls + Mind Over MatterMind Over Matter + Laboratory ManiacLaboratory Maniac deck (found here). So, ya know, you are free to draw your own conclusions.

Kaz: It depends who I am playing with. With some non-EDHREC friends, I am Mr. EDHREC and I am the baddy. With EDHREC folks, I can't follow 90% of turns.

keattz: For whatever reason, I tend to gravitate toward slower value-generating decks that appear nonthreatening but have a strong late game. I guess it's easier to sit back and let my opponents kill each other? In response, my playgroup has developed the "kill keattz!" strategy: they know they must take me out before I become a problem. So... I think I must be a villain?

What deck you're playing right now would you consider your "signature"?

Adam: I picked up the Avengers Assemble precon to get back into MTG, and I've been tweaking it a bit. Recently started an Amareth, the LustrousAmareth, the Lustrous deck that needs a lot of work (this is when GGards took my Braids).

GGards: Gitrog & Friends. He eats trash, he throws trash, he is trash. Just like me.

Kaz: King T'ChallaKing T'Challa

keattz: Sidisi self-mill has been my answer for a looong time. I don't expect that to change any time soon. It's a great mix of graveyard value and Zombie beatdown.

The old site in one word, the new site in one word.

Adam: Distinguished. Rejuvenated.

GGards: How about emojis? Old: 🫩, New: 🧐

Kaz: OG, Modern

keattz: regular, crispy

A New Era

We can't say enough about the effort these four put into creating the new-and-improved EDHREC you see today.

If Adam, GGards, Kaz and keattz were new terms for player archetypes, which one would you be?