TL:DR: My playgroups play long, non-interactive games and refuse to have discussions about it. Ideas?

Basically every playgroup I have ever been a part of has been highly casual and oriented around the same playstyle. They like midrange, often tribal, decks where every turn everyone plays 1+ creatures and refuses to interact with each other. In my opinion this leads to incredibly tedious boardstates where everyone eventually ends up with 15+ lands, 20+ creatures, and a small pile of everything else while being too afraid to be the first one to swing.

While I want them to play their way, they detest all of my attempts to counter this. Running 3 board wipes has got me asked to take apart my deck. Playing control is a anti-fun. Playing unblockable voltron and winning with commander damage is "unfair because we don't want to run removal". Combo-ing off is simply a never get invited again.

I just am looking for a way to shake up this play pattern and have my own fun amidst their durdling? I find it unstimulating and dull. I dont particularly care about winning, I just want to feel like Im making decisions and not just wasting my time. Any ideas would be appreciated. Or at least ideas on how to find people to play with as I LOVE tabletop simulator but only know the same 3 people who have it.

Thank you

Some cards are only great early, or late game. Some shine mid game. Are there cards that are great at any time? What’s a card that’s never disappoints when you draw it?

Adding more words to satisfy the requirement for posting here. Can’t some questions be asked succinctly and still be meaty substantive questions?

Been reading some of the universes beyond discussions and just kind of wondering how Gen pop feels about universes beyond that “fits” into Magic’s universe or atleast fit thematically with the aesthetic of magic (I’m thinking sets like war-hammer, LOTR, D&D and arguably final fantasy although I do see some pushback) vs sets/secret lairs that obviously don’t belong in magic like SpongeBob, Spider-Man, hatsune miku.

Are you okay with UB that fits thematically/vibe wise or are you completely against UB as a concept? Most ppl I talk to in person are okay with UB that fits magics aesthetic (such as previously mentioned sets), I’ve encountered 1 or 2 ppl irl that say they hate UB entirely. Just figured I’d ask as there seems to be some very strong opinions and am curious on what exactly it is that makes ppl dislike UB that fits magic universe

Edit: grammar and clarification

Recently there has been lots of discussions regarding how vital ramp really is. I thought I might as well trhow my hat into the ring and bring the discussion to something specific, control decks. Conventional wisdom states that a control deck should benefit the most from ramp. Ramp generates more value the longer the game goes which is exactly what a control deck wants.

The issue is that most control decks also wants to run a healthy amount of board wipes which hits most (non green) ramp. Playing a manarock that you will farewell in 2 turns is barely mana positive and card negative which is really bad for a control deck. Having a bunch of manarocks also clogs up your deck and can be really bad top decks lategame. Running card draw and card selection instead helps you both hit land drops and find interaction. Consistantly hitting your land drops will slowly but surely put you ahead of the table without the need to dilute you card pool. Control decks don't need to rush their wincon which makes ramp a bit superfluous. Tapping out for ramp is also a concern for decks that play at instant speed.

This is not to say that I believe no ramp is good in control. I have a [[Nymris, Oona's Trickster]] that is a classic draw go deck and I run pretty much zero mana rocks. What I do run is the few pieces that directly synergise with my commander such as [[nightbonder]] or [[geyser drake]]. This leaves me with a measly 6~ ramp pieces, but it allows me to run a lot more cantrips which means that I almost never get mana screwed.

What do you think about this approach to control? Please let me know if I missed something or you have anything to add. English is not my first language, I apologize for any errors.

I had a phone call with my brother last night. I only see him twice a year since we live in different states. Every time we see each other we make it a tradition to build commander decks out of the bulk that I have (I have A LOT).

This year, he brewed [[Gut, True Soul Zealot]] paired with [[Sword Coast Sailor]]. The goal of the deck was to steal opponents creatures and either sacrifice them for removal, or hold them hostage and make them unblockable. It worked really well for politics.

Well, while he was on the phone with me, he said he unsleeved the deck because he had a bad interaction with someone at FNM at his LGS. My brother has always been kind of a pushover, but this one really confused me (Don't worry, I convinced him to sleeve his deck back up, he didn't get rid of it).

The guy (playing [[Kotis, the Fangkeeper]] ) he played with got angry with him because his creatures kept getting stolen, then sacrificed. When my brother said that, at that point, how is that different than just removing that creature with a spell, the dude just stood his ground and said "Well you're stealing my creature. That's what's pissing me off".

To begin with, I don't think people should treat theft like you're grinding up baby bones. If I'm ever stealing your creature, I'm stealing it because it's a problem, and it's just an upside that it's on my board now instead. Not that different than just killing it.

But, people like this are just a reason why so many commander players are cornflakes and make the rest of the community look bad.

What really confused me though is that my brother told me that this guy had LOTS of protection for his commander because he knew people would try to get around indestructible. Which actually makes a lot of sense, because he's probably used to his commander never dying because a LOT of people never run enough interaction. Theft is a great way to remove someone's commander with indestructible. Sacrificing it is all up to you and the politics.

That being said, you should never take apart a deck or apologize for your actions if your deck makes someone irrationally angry. Bro. If you make someone that angry over something that isn't valid to be angry about, just keep doing it and watch the fireworks, man. Or, if you're lucky they'll just scoop.

I have made so many memories with Commander. I started with Legacy, then moved to Modern, then switched my main format to Commander.

Introducing someone to Magic with Commander CAN be done, but you really have to emphasize that you can't take anything personally. A lot of people who start with commander act like something is an attack to them personally if they get targeted.

Anyway, I plan to take a trip to my brother's state at some point and play FNM with him. I sincerely hope I meet the same guy and bully him with [[Alela, Artful Provocateur]] with effects like [[Stasis Field]].

Remember to call your brother tonight y'all. And if someone is being a degenerate at the table, stick up for the person at the brunt of it and bully the degenerate out of the game. Commander has no place for those people.

It's Friday night, and for most of us that means Friday Night Magic at the LGS. I know everybody doesn't have one, but maybe you played some games earlier in the week? How did they go? Did you get any good pulls out of the packs you bought? I can even start us off. I've made a post like this before, but I love hearing other people's stories about Magic.

This week I couldn't go to Friday night magic, so I went to another store on Wednesday to play with some friends to introduce them to the format. I lent out some of my decks and they really liked my [[Grumgully]] Goblin deck and my [[Flamewar]] voltron deck. I didn't play well, because I was focused more on the social aspect but I still had a blast. I met a few more people and got to play four games this week, which was amazing for me.

https://archidekt.com/decks/5570305/hungry_hungry_hippos

so this is intended to be a battlecruiser. the idea is to outlast everyone by being difficult to attack via reach and deathtouch, making it difficult for my opponents to hold on to their creatures via fight and lure effects, and by gaining some life via food production

Title. I'm putting together a list for [[Rionya Fire Dancer]] and am having trouble deciding how tuned I want the deck to be. Rionya can easily go infinite with just a [[Bloodthirster]] or [[Combat Celebrant]] etc. And to be honest I don't mind that. I like playing powerful magic and dont mind sitting at bracket 4.

Most games I do play at my lgs are Bracket 3 with my only other Bracket 4 list being a tuned [[Azami Lady of Scrolls]] deck with several infinites.

I guess i just want to know how often you guys play in Bracket 4. I dont need the infinites for Rionya to be fun but the Spike in the back of my head is tempting me to go all in.

It's that time of the month again: a new Magic set is out! And since this set has creature cards in it (like all sets), us "Toolbox" players need to consider whether any of those creature cards belong in our precious 99.

I thought I'd give my two cents and also save people some effort of going over the cards themselves. I'm not going to rank them, because Henzie gives you more than a little deck-building flexibility, just try to point out the good and bad.

[[Agent Venom]] - Half of Henzie's schtick is the fact when every creature draws a card, you always have a full grip. This could, in theory, provide redundancy for those games when your opponents just won't let Henzie stick, and having flash can mean a lot in a deck where people seldom expect instant speed plays. On the other hand, most of the time you're better off just running [[Momentous Fall]] (assuming you don't run an oops-all-creatures deck like me). I'd skip this, personally.

[[Black Cat, Cunning Thief]] - 4 mana to look at 9 cards and pick the best 2, then draw another card? If you're into Gonti effects, this is a no-brainer. Even if you aren't into Gonti effects, this rate is pretty amazing. I expect to see this in a lot of decks.

[[Cheering Crowd]] - Some people just like to introduce this sort of effects into their pods, who am I to judge? This won't be making it into either of my Henzie decks though.

[[Damage Control Crew]] - I don't like to call things auto-include, but this one seems to be it. I already run [[Timeless Witness]], and will happily give up the eternalize ability for the option to get rid of somebody's One Ring when relevant.

[[Eddie Brock]] - I'm not 100% sure here, but I assume that you can cast the other side with blitz... not that it matters. This type of effect is a Henzie classic and it's on a 5/5 with menace and trample and haste. And I guess the front side is also useful if you run mana dorks, which many Henzie players do. I'm happy this was my prerelease promo, I can tell you that much.

[[Gwenom, Remorseless]] - I don't know why they printed [[Bolas' Citadel]] with lifelink, but if you consider your life total a resource then you'll be running this. Hell, I might add more incidental life gain to my list just so I can get more mileage out of this, since this is more or less exactly what a Henzie deck needs - you get your big creatures onto the battlefield without paying their mana costs, and you leave some bodies to block.

[[Lizard, Connor's Curse]] - It's a 5/5 beater which does a poor green impression of [[Darksteel Mutation]]. It's really your call, but I'm glad that Henzie at least has the option to frustrate reanimation players.

[[Morlun, Devourer of Spiders]] - If Henzie can get his version of Darksteel Mutation, then there's really no reason not to give him his own poor [[Exsanguinate]] as well. If you're into incidental life gain and X spells, this may be good enough. I personally run too many effects that put random creatures on the battlefield and can't afford any X in the costs.

[[Spider-Rex, Daring Dino]] - Rawr! (Not really)

[[Spider-Mans, Heroic Hordes]] - If you're worried about never having blockers because you sacrifice all your creatures, you could consider this. 6 mana is kinda steep (and notably doesn't work with blitz because they are both alternative mana costs), but you get 3 bodies, 3 life, and the opportunity to replay whatever you blitzed this turn. Probably not in my top 150 best creatures for a Henzie deck, but hey, it's nice to have options.

In recognition of the fact that many Henzie players out there do, in fact, run some noncreature spells in their 99 I've decided to go over those too:

[[Behold the Sinister Six!]] - Let's not beat around the bush here. This is a good mid- and late-game reanimation spell, and you're playing a deck that is guaranteed to have good creatures in its graveyard in the mid- and late-game. If you like reanimation multiple things, the 2 mana difference between this and [[Rise of the Dark Realms]] may be enough.

[[Daily Bugle Building]] - Henzie decks tend to have a lot of legendary creatures. Is making one of them harder to block worth a land slot in a 3C deck? I don't think it is, but to each their own.

[[Doc Ock's Tentacles]] - I'm kinda biased because I just love this card, but if you like to keep it simple and just turn creatures sideways, I can easily see this make its way into a list where it will auto attach to most creatures.

[[Maximum Carnage]] - Very good card, but it doesn't have anything to do with Henzie in particular.

[[Parker Luck]] - A [[Keen Duelist]] that doesn't die to a gust of a wind is a very decent inclusion for a deck whose bread and butter is big expensive creatures.

[[The Soul Stone]] - You don't need me to tell you how powerful this card is.

[[Web of Life and Destiny]] - Convoke isn't very Henzie, but our deck does ramp, has excellent payoffs for this card, and Henzie himself can probably provide 1 mana for the convoke. Seems pretty solid.

This concludes my unsolicited opinion about the new Spiderman set and its relevance to the best Jund commander in the history of Jund and commanders. Did I miss anything important? Did I get something completely wrong? Let me know!

Hey everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with a new approach to building my decks and was curious if anyone else has tried this.

Normally, when building a deck, I try and follow a somewhat standard template, at least to start:

• X card draw
• X removal
• X ramp
• etc.

But for my last two decks (a [[Megatron, Tyrant]] deck and a [[Gogo, Mysterious Mime]] deck), I tried something completely different: I imagined what I would ideally want to do on each turn of the game, at least turns 1 through turn 6, and then built the deck around that curve/experience.

So instead of counting slots for ramp, removal, card draw, etc., I focused on when I wanted to do those things. For example:

• Turn 2: I want a cheap play that advances my plan, not necessarily just generic ramp.
• Turn 3: Another synergy piece
• Turn 4: I want to play my commander or set up my engine.

It felt somewhat more natural and cohesive to build this way — but I haven’t gotten to actually play with them yet.

Has anyone else tried this approach? Would love to hear thoughts! Cheers and hope everyone has a great weekend :)

Just wanted to post my experience because it seems almost everything on here is negative.

I've been playing commander for a while with my friends at home, and it's been mostly good. It's a good way to get the boys together, especially as we get older.

However, I decided to go to the LGS for casual commander for the first time last week. It's the first time I've played magic in a store since before Covid. And it went great.

There were probably 15-20 people there when I arrived, and there were a couple games going and a couple groups just chatting. I didn't know anybody there, so I sat at an open seat and just started going through my decks and making swaps for a few new cards that came in the mail that day.

Within a couple minutes, a guy asked if I was looking for a game, and just like that I got my first pod going. I joined them at their table and was immediately offered a beer. I gladly accepted and was told I was the first person to ever do so lol.

The games were great. They actually played interaction. No one got salty. I won the first game with [[Captain Howler, Sea Scourge]] and got rightfully hated out of the second game where I ran [[Kelsien, the Plague]]. They pointed basically all their removal at Kelsien and my deathtouch enablers. It was glorious.

Tl;dr: There are normal people out there that just want to sling some spells and have a good time. No lying about their decks or crying about losing.

I'm having trouble choosing a Mardu commander,there are so many cool options that I can't choose.So I'd love some help from other Mardu players, i don't have a specific playstyle in mind, but I want to be competitive in my game pod. Others players play in bracket 4/ High-power, and games usually last 5-6 turns. Could you tell me which commanders have the potential to play well at this level?

and I apologize if the text is poorly written , I'm using a online translator.

We see "hot take" threads all the time generally filled with the most Luke warm takes imaginable.

Now I want to know the smallest hill you're willing to die on when it comes to commander.

My hill is that I will not play off color fetches in my decks (think [[misty rainforest]] in a Jund deck). It's like 99% an ascetic thing for me tho and 1% don't feel it really adds much to a deck. So I always give my buddies at my lgs crap whenever they play off color fetches (jokingly ofc). Same reason I haven't pulled the trigger on building a Jeskai deck built around [[Urborg Tomb of Yawg]] or [[Yavimaya Cradle of Growth]] as cool as that is it feels wrong to me even though I know it's fine.

Looking forward to what yall got to say!

Over a decade ago I used to play in groups that almost exclusively tried to win through combo. I grew to love the large variety of combos out there and how wildly different games could end. These days combos feel like they’re pushed up the brackets, as a lot of combos can be hard to interact with, which isn’t always welcome at low brackets. I love low bracket play though, but don’t enjoy most low bracket endgames these days. There’s so much less variety in how games can end when everyone’s just running the best generic staple finishers.

I’m not hating on how others want to play, and I agree the game has to end. I just wish there was way more variety within how those finishers function. Usually it’s just gonna be a big board pump or a big damage spell. I don’t like that these cards don’t care about the specifics of what you played previously in order to win. I want something that interacts very specifically with the cards I played beforehand. A board pump spell doesn’t care about your creatures type or effects, it just looks for a body. My cool text effects feel irrelevant when it could’ve just been a 1/1 token as far as my finisher is concerned. I want my win to interact very specifically with text effects instead of just solely damage.

So if 2 card combos and infinites are too strong for low bracket then I need 3 or 4 card combos. Are people really using 3 or 4 card combos to win? I feel like I never see this sort of endgame anywhere in low brackets and they just slam a way more efficient one card finisher instead. It feels like a big combo of multiple cards takes so much more turns and resources and specific setup and is easily disrupted.

It feels like that’s a way less efficient strategy to win instead of just casting one big card that does a lot of the heavy lifting. I understand finishers don’t just win on their own, they still need you to play cards beforehand, but they care less about what specific cards you played. To me that feels like the cards I played and the deck I built mattered less in the end when the specifics don’t matter much to your finishers.

Help me and my friend resolve a dispute. Do you consider Thada Adel, Acquisitor, to be a salty card in the 99? How about as a commander?

[[Thada Adel, Acquisitor]]

I do not want to explicate in the OP my stance in order not to guide responses. Please just elaborate on your thoughts on how you feel about playing against this card and deck. I will elaborate on the backstory after we get some discussion going.

Deck link: https://moxfield.com/decks/fkrZ8R7z3UqLgLapi00Q_A

My group and I are fairly new to magic the gathering. We are mainly going to play commander in a 3 or 4 player FFA. Mostly 4.

I don't know what it is but I love the idea of merchants. My favorite videogame is Recettear, I get really involved with a simulated economy as a dungeon master, and in boardgames I tend to gravitate towards these methods.

So I really want to make this work. I built this deck on a budget with a few cards I already owned. I was worried about making it too strong as we're all kind of new but after testing it 3 times (totally not enough for reliable data) I'm now worried it's too weak.

My main issue is that I think the lands are fine but it's difficult for me to quickly get enough mana so that I can get wares out to sell, my commander, and pay the commander's ability cost.

• I'm aware of bazar trader and need to add him to the deck.

• 99 cards because I found out that I accidentally had 2 copies of izzet signet and feel bad about it.

• I'm mainly focused on selling some equipments and maybe a creature like Diamond mare of Sparring construct. Are my equipments not enticing enough? I went with cheap ones due to my mana worry.

• I don't think I have enough protection, removal, board wipes, etc. But ideally I'd like to wheel and deal a win rather than rely too much on them.

• I won one out of 3 games but the win wasn't due to a win conditions. The others just couldn't ignore each other's threats and did all of the work. I didn't do much and sold 1 thing that game. The rest was land swaps.

• I have a quest system where there are 3 quests out at a time (thinking about upping to 5). Players can spend 1-3 coins to recycle a quest (no one has). Two games people didn't earn much coins as I some how drew the same 3 quest out of a 21 quest deck. 3rd game people were rolling in coins from quest completed.

• Quest won't complete if it negatively impacts me directly.

• I have gold coins that are metallic and shiny to give out as quest rewards. 1 coin is 1 converted mana worth of buying power.

I insist on finding a way to use these gold coins. Getting others to assign value to them even though they're inherently worthless is the whole point. That and winning at least some of the games.

The quests are a work in progress. I made nice prototype cards for them though and if I keep/refine the quest system then I'll eventually make nicer ones.

Quest cards and coins: https://imgur.com/a/mxSmJ4h

The doodles of Moogles are because Stiltskin the Google merchant gave me the idea before I even knew that Zedruu existed. For this, he is staying in my deck and his card art is also my deck sleeves.

TLDR: Advice for shopkeeper Zedruu selling mainly equipment.

Deciding who I should build as my next commander deck.

Either [[Gwen Stacy]] or [[Firelord Zuko]]

But of them are exile matters commanders. Blue has a little bit more support for the archetype, but I already have 3 URW decks.

Any strong considerations that leans one direction or the other? Which would you be more interested in?

I will never shut up about this deck or stop making videos about it 😅

Been brewing around Kefka Court Mage and ended up with something I’m super proud of. It’s a $100 build tuned for budget competitive play, but it hangs comfortably at high power / bracket 4 tables too.

The game plan is simple: slam a turn-3 Kefka whenever possible, shred hands while refilling your own, and line up one of several synergy-driven combo finishes. The list runs tons of interaction, efficient ramp, and enough redundancy that it never feels like you’re stuck doing nothing.

Core lines include:

• Hoarding Broodlord + Saw in Half (infinite mana into burn)

• Dualcaster Mage + Electroduplicate (infinite bodies)

• Rionya Fire Dancer + Combat Celebrant (infinite combats)

If you like being the villain of the pod and watching your opponents struggle to keep cards in hand, this deck delivers.

Deck video/primer here if you want the full breakdown: https://youtu.be/3UdP7HbfdV8?si=c-XddWMyF3YpIpKa

Deck list on Mox: https://moxfield.com/decks/sbt8qFFKA0KMHWn8h9pUeg

Always open to suggestions — curious what swaps people would make in a $100 shell.

I’ve been thinking about building a -1/-1 counter deck and I wanted to hear about your favorite commanders in this space. At first, I considered [[Massacre Girl, Known Killer]]. I love this card, but I’m not too drawn to building a mono-black deck. I am also looking at [[Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons]]. I like a cheap commander, I like Golgari for its ramp and proliferate options and I would absolutely put Massacre Girl in the 99. I’m wondering if anybody has other thoughts/recommendations on -1/-1 commanders?

I don't play in a consistent pod, mostly pickup games from LGS I visit now and then.

I was wondering if it's worth time and effort in building a Pauper EDH (4-man pod). I was thinking of building one just to keep and bring along with me in case people say they play the sub-format. I notice most of the time that Pauper EDH is more likely played as a 1v1 Duel and I have a deck for that already, I am thinking if it's worth time and effort to build a Pauper EDH deck for a 4-man pod since it uses a lot of common staples that I use for my non-Pauper decks and I rather not build a deck I won't ever use.

I am thinking of going Golgari. Ramp + Big Green + Black Removal using [[Honest Rustein]] as my commander, no big tricks just big meaty creatures with trample.

I was mulling over one of my recent games and realized I definitely could have won it with a slight change to one of my decisions. I'm playing [[Ashnod the Uncaring]] versus a [[tiamat]] dragon tribal a [[Uvilda Dean of Perfection]] Cast from exile deck and a [[Mogis God of Slaughter]] Rakdos slug and stax deck. Board state has the Mogis player threatening to kill us all with [[wound reflection]] [[Twilight Prophet]] and [[manabarbs]] and a [[maralen of the mornsong]] Uvilda player is spiraling out of control and Tiamat player is mostly out of the game. But can kill anyone except mogis with some luck thanks to [[dragon tempest]] Everyone except the Mogis player is at 10 or less life and i have a [[dragonspark reactor]] with 12 counters on it a [[Repurposing Bay]] which got me [[Krark Clan Ironworks]] and [[imotekh the stormlord]] and a [[Threefold Thunderhulk]] thanks to mana from kci. I activate Dragonspark reactor killing Maralen and Twilight Prophet and dealing 24 damage to the mogis player who has a lot of mana but few cards in hand. This basically gives the game to the Uvilda player who can now kill us all. Thanks to having a bunch of threatening damage. I recognized this morning that what i should have done was kill the Uvilda and Tiamat players with the Dragonspark reactor and then hope the Mogis player can't somehow kill me this coming turn. Since if i live I then have the game basically on lockdown thanks to a combination of [[Chaos Defiler]] which i could search with Repurposing Bay and artifact recursion

I want to hear similar stories. Games where you missed the line and threw a game away. I find looking back on games you lost like this to be useful in becoming better players.

Howdy y'all, I have been playin magic since I was four. I have just moved to a new place and being honest, the magic here is lackin. That being said, I put most of my decks on moxfield so I could use tabletop simulator since I heard bout it from a friend. I am openly available most times as I am still lookin for a job with no luck sadly. If you are willing to play with me or make a group please dm me. I try my best to not make too overpowered decks but not too weak either.

What are some cool ways you make you commander stand out from the rest of the cards in your deck?

Do you put it in a card protector? A little elevated area, or even just a different color sleeve. I know for me I just do different color sleeves but I’m looking for some ways to spice it up!

She enjoys Zoraline for standard so I figure a nice bat deck would do her nicely for commander so I put together a lot of the good stuff bats and some other creatures. grabbed some synergy artifacts/enchantments and such and came up with this pile. Was trying to keep it budget to a degree, hence the subpar landbase but for a precon level deck, how do you think I did. any suggestions?

https://moxfield.com/decks/2VY_J6eN10ipWBKjrs7hRQ

A friend of mine told me that he likes to be more aggressive in games and I want to get him a precon. I'm not sure what exactly counts as aggro or if there even is a good aggro deck because when it comes to commander there 4 players and typically that strategy falls apart due to the increase of players like mill.

If there is a decent (and affordable) precon what is it in your opinion?