The Keen Commander, Checking in

06/03/2016 Commander 0

Hello team, and welcome to the new website for The Games Cube! I’m Myles, and you have no doubt seen my pretty mug around The Games Cube. Some geniuses thought it would be a good idea to give me some creative control over content on their website, now it’s going to populated with bad jank beautiful cards and far too many articles on Commander, just how we like it.

Before we get into it, I want to take some time to give you some history on yours truly. I started playing Magic: The Gathering back in the tail end of Shards of Alara. My friends and I were captured by the joy that came from building your own decks out of the cards you cracked from boosters. This was on a literal kitchen table, and it was great. We would always have new decks randomly thrown together, especially after Zendikar was released, which meant “What cards can I put with Vampire Nighthawk now?”. Around the time of Scars of Mirrodin release, the cards were put down, we slowly moved away and Magic would be forgotten about for years to come. In 2013 I heard conversations from my friends about Magic, and that they were playing again, so I borrowed someone’s deck and re-entered the magic world, and what more fitting way than a kitchen table game of 4v4. Enter Theros, I started buying boosters from new sets, experimenting with cards, and eventually going to FNM and playing in a constructed format. The rest happens as you would imagine, and now here I am, a kitchen table casual in a big boys world. The formats I primarily play are Commander (If you hadn’t already reached that conclusion on your own) and Legacy, but I will happily dabble in whatever the people are playing.

My primary writing and musings will be on Commander / EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander). I will be writing about decks, cards, decisions and everything involved in all aspects of playing the game. It is a place where the Free-For-All social aspect is not only relevant, but a crucial aspect of the game. A place of freedom and social (in)justice. I play Commander for fun, and I get that from laughing, from manipulating people in the friendliest way possible, and from putting my playmates into tough positions that they have to work together to get out of.

So, what is Commander to you? Is it an outlet for you to play odd and obscure cards? Maybe it’s a place where you too find joy in the politics of the game? Or is it a place where you can play cutthroat combos that don’t play as well in the 60 card constructed formats?

Commander is a format of many choices.

Not just in your deck building, but in the assessment of the playstyle you want to incorporate into it. If you build a hyper aggressive deck that is hell-bent on winning as soon as possible, through utilizing powerful cards such as Doomsday, Splinter Twin, Craterhoof Behemoth, you better be ready for the heat and ‘hate’ from the rest of the table. Or you can build a deck that flies under the radar, controlling and manipulating the game, with the intent of taking everyone out at once with something like Comet Storm. If you don’t like aggressive decks or being controlled, you can be the deck that makes everyone else’ game plan moot, with things like Winter Orb, Tangle wire, Humility. It all depends on you and your playgroup. Before we even get to the deck choices that are oh so fun to make, we need to first review who we are playing with, as this may have implications in our choices! An important aspect to note, if playing Commander casually, is that certain groups do not enjoy certain cards or strategies. There’s no harm asking a new playgroup before a game if they have anything considered taboo, so you don’t step on anyone’s toes. On the other side of the fence, sometimes you will lose in a way you don’t like, but it’s important to understand that can be because Commander is such a wide and varied format, that some decks and generals can only win through obscure or what is potentially deemed as mean win conditions.

If I had to, I would put Commander decks into three different categories:

Competitive
These decks are fast and aggressive, either in the kill or in achieving their goal. Cards that tutor for pieces of the puzzle are very common, as are wins out of nowhere. But on the opposite side of the spectrum, other competitive decks will seek to lock you out entirely, and stop you from playing. Varied in type, brutal in nature, these decks should typically only be played with other competitive decks.

75%
Fits into most playgroups, backwards compatible with casual and can rumble with the big boys in competitive. This deck type typically has a high threat density (whether creatures, combo, or other) but substitutes some of its power for interaction and fun cards.

Casual
These decks are usually thrown together, maybe a pre-constructed deck with a few changes. Games are slower, and plays can be very dramatic. Interaction is typically lower, and everyone has fun doing their own thing. These decks will likely not have too much fun against Competitive ones.

I will be primarily writing with the intention of fitting into a “75%” category, with an approximate budget of $250, but not afraid to go higher if we really have to.

Over the next 3 weeks, I will be posting articles in the form of deck techs or primers, if you like using fancy words. These will be focusing on three archetypes for Commander. Politics, Aggression, and Control.

Coming soon to a blog near you:

Politics – 11th June, 2016
Arms Dealer, War Maker, Twisted Confidant

Aggression – 18th June, 2016
The Lady of the Land

Control – 25th June, 2016
Second Time’s The Charm

 

If you have any commanders or cards you want to see more of, let me know. I love a challenge and will take a shot at anything!

Thanks for reading, and see you next week.

With the deepest of love
Myles, The Keen Commander