Commander: A Casual Play Experience

Hello and welcome back. With a break between sets, at least for the moment, I wanted to discuss something other than the cards themselves. Recently, I went to my local game store and had a few bouts of Commander with the people there. The experience really got me thinking, since it probably ran almost the full spectrum of the casual commander experience, excluding the extreme ends of it.

With that in mind each game had its faults, and honestly I might gloss over them a bit. Some players couldn’t play cards for a while because of mana screw, or were collaterally damaged from effects other people were doing but weren’t targeting that player with. A game of Commander is still a game of higher variance, but I’ll address that if necessary when it comes up.

BALANCED, A GOOD FEELING

The very first game I played stands out the most, and not only because I got to use my just upgraded Feather deck, though I’ll admit that counts for something. It was probably the most interesting game I’ve had where the board got wiped as much as it did. I’d consider 4 mass wipes in a game fairly back breaking on average unless a deck is built to withstand or come back from that much destruction.

Besides the Surrak Dragonclaw player, each player could either recover or save their board. There was a great back and forth, with the Muxus player constantly threatening lethal and wiping out our other opponents’ boards with Goblin Sharpshooter and Basilisk Collar, with Mother of Runes saving mine by stopping the damage on target.

The Disa precon was slow, but was eventually trying to swing with 6+ power on each Goyf and had a decent sized ‘yard, and the Surrak player got to breathe after the initial wipe, being able to get creatures and sneak things into play at a discount. Power shifted back and forth between players during the game, and I think that is generally the best experience a Commander game can have where everyone gets to play and affect the game state at different points of the game. Not all games transition so well and evenly, as you know and I’ll describe.

THE SPIRIT, OF SACRIFICE

While some games can feel perfect and balanced, sometimes you have to force that a little yourself. Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. A good portion of us do play to win, and I’ll get to that. Sometimes though for the good of the experience, you might feel the need to “pull punches”. That is to say, purposefully play less than you optimally could.

This is the game where I played The Ancient One, a deck I have that can, given the right cards lining up, threaten defeat pretty quickly and repeatedly deny a board state to my opponents. This is exactly what I had at my disposal this game, but pulled back on playing it that way a bit.

The reason I did this was because the players of the pod had switched, as some left to leave or join other games with their friends and were replaced with new players. One new player had asked what level of power we were using, and I replied with what I thought were the correct answers. Namely, I don’t use Xyris often because it can be explosive, whereas The Ancient One isn’t always capable of that. Actually, it quite often durdles a bunch. We began the game, and as I said prior, I got the power I needed to make the game miserable. To honor the spirit of the format and my opponents, I didn’t continuously wipe the board with Massacre Girl and edict effects, but I did go for the larger creature damage win and commander damage.

I did win that game. Fairly handedly too. I pulled back and still overwhelmed my opponents. Looking back, I might have pulled the wrong lever that game to lessen my deck’s potential as a flying 8/8 commander is hard to block and across my opponents, none had an answer.

Point of this is that if you can tell early in the game, or even before the game that you’re just going to stomp on people, maybe consider a lighter approach if there is room to do so. That doesn’t mean you give up playing to win. I didn’t, and while I might have still not pulled back enough, I did try to keep the game from being one sided and dull for my opponents.

SETTLE IT, THE OLD WAY

Other games, not everyone is consequential. Unfortunately, sometimes non-games will happen. Happened to me during this visit, happened to others in those same set of games.

The first game I was a non issue was playing Sophia Dogged Detective. I just couldn’t get a Green mana source to let me cast my cards, and so the game for me was four cards to the table while watching other players beat up on each other. I think it’s important to play through these non-games though. There is always a chance that you could make a comeback and I’ve won a lot of games being left alone long enough to sneak out a win. I didn’t win this one but I won’t give up if there is a game to be had.

Other games it will largely be you and one other opponent. This is always a bit awkward to play a 1v1 in a game meant for multiplayer, especially when the other two opponents get to sit there and stare at you while you play a game they can’t. Unnerving to be sure.

Well, that’s exactly what happened in the next game with Sophia. Needing to make sure it was a fluke and enjoying the simplicity of the deck, I used it for another go. The game quickly boiled down to myself and the Liesa 1 player, with each of us unfortunately using the Jaxis player for on hit damage triggers to fuel our strategies.

As we concentrated on each other, with some interaction being taken between us and our other opponents, we both needed to answer each other to claim victory. In this, I did come out with the win, even if it was a bit of a bad feeling. I had animated my artifact tokens for an attack and swung for lethal. My opponent accepted this though they had voiced that the tokens weren’t clearly defined. To their credit and mine, I had claimed what the dice were multiple times, but I did forget all my tokens at home. Fair is fair.

Another game where this happened, but to a lesser degree in competitors and more along the lines of strategic decisions of destruction, was when I played Isshin against Liesa and the table. The Liesa player had life gain, I had commander damage. The Liesa player Darksteel Mutated Isshin to control my triggers and commander damage, and I used my Kor Haven coupled with Glaring Spotlight to keep him from gaining any life for his triggers and to get through Swiftfoot Boots. I lost this one, but only barely. All around a better game than the second with Sophia, with the other players being able to participate in our friendly feud.

In these experiences it’s important to remember to play strategically and not out of spite or without reason. Some opponents won’t see it that way, but if you’re trying to win the game most anything you do during should be towards that end after considerations to the table like in my The Ancient One game.

TALES, TO TELL LATER

Whims of the Fates - Seb McKinnon

One of things that I’ve always loved about Commander is the higher variance of cards, deck strategies and players. You can’t completely solve a meta even within a single group much less across other environments. You certainly can’t “solve” a player, as people are always evolving in their own way, but you can be exposed to different temperaments and play styles that a player prefers.

The variety of experience with format and with the game is really its greatest strength. It also is a weakness, but I’d argue the trade is worth it for the better experiences. I do say that with the knowledge I’ve worked hard not to be tilted by things as much as in my younger years and that I’m lucky to have a friendly and welcoming LGS. Not everyone has that kind of space to experience Commander.

That said, when we do have those good experiences, we often want to tell the tale no matter where we might experience them, be it at the LGS, a kitchen table, a stream we were in or over an online client. I’ve seen countless people walk up to a player in my pod to relay an awesome play they did a game prior, or relay what an opponent managed to pull out at the last minute to gain victory.

That’s what I wanted to do today. Win or lose having something happen that is significant, entertaining and fun enough to remember and tell afterward is often a tale we want to tell. Despite having some non-games and dominating in others the games were eventful and enjoyable enough I wanted to share them not only to do just that but also to describe the spectrum of games you can. Don’t let one non-game keep you down when there is another game to play and enjoy the challenge to overcome your opponents!

Until next time, keep on shuffling up.