How To Be New: In Defense of Playing a Precon

Sparkmage Apprentice by Jaime Jones

Hello, and welcome back to How To Be New, where I give a new player's perspective on how to start playing Commander in a post-Loot

(Which, for the record, I like him. He's cute and he lets me play an extra land each turn. Solid hang. 10/10.)

I don't like to keep my readers waiting, so, as promised in my last article, I'm here to extol to you the virtues of rocking up to a Commander table with a preconstructed deck that you're currently unboxing. It's a chef's kiss magnificent move, but it makes some newer players self-conscious. I'm here to tell you, definitively, that you should do it. And here's how:

Step 1: Ask a store employee to recommend a Commander Pre-Con

So, when we say "pre-con," we mean a preconstructed Commander deck that Wizards of the Coast releases alongside new sets, as well as for Universes Beyond sets (pop culture tie-ins like Fallout and Doctor Who). They contain a 100-card deck that's ready to for you to play without any alteration that can hold its own at many Commander play tables. They also usually have a life counter and a deckbox, so you'll truly be ready to play right out of the box.

At your local game store, there'll usually be a wall or shelf or some other fixture of retail which houses a number of boxes with a single card featured prominently in the front. Feel free to take a look over them, finding any art or deck themes that speak to you in particular (there will be a brief description of the deck's primary mechanics on the front and back). 

Once you're good and ready, ask for help from an employee. This works especially well if the store isn't too busy, but typically you can find someone there to talk you through this process. They'll usually ask you about your experience, what mechanics or playstyles you tend to enjoy, and maybe even if there are any aesthetics or themes that you're drawn to. Work with them to find something that seems like a good place to start. It should cost you somewhere around $50.

As a note, you will not become legally married to the deck you purchase on this unseasonably cool Wednesday night. But it should provide you with a good place to start playing Commander. You'll find out more about what you like and don't like as you play against other people and see what other decks can do. And the good news is that several of the cards you'll get in this pre-con will be usable in the next deck you make.

As another note, if they try to sell you a Warhammer pre-con, don't buy it. Not that it isn't strong. On the contrary, in fact. Those decks are so incredibly powerful that they still fetch three-digit prices. Very cool decks, but not a place for you to start.

Step 1.5 (Optional): Buy some sleeves

I'm a sleever myself. There's just something in my brain that hates watching unsleeved cards scrape together as you go to shuffle them. Even the thought of bending a basic Plains

However, if you don't feel this same unearned respect for these pieces of children's cardboard, absolutely walk up to the table with an unsleeved deck. In fact, do so proudly. You know the pang of envy you feel when you notice that a friend doesn't use a phone case? That realization that their connection to this metal paperweight that the rest of us have tethered our whole lives into is so casual, so cavalier, that they wouldn't even drop an extra $40 to protect it against the perils of everyday clumsiness? You know the freedom you suddenly notice in their eyes? That cruel lightness which displays, in them, a better existence than you could possibly dare to dream of for yourself? 

It's exactly like that. 

But also, sometimes the sleeves have Pokémon on them, and that's always fun.

Step 2: Find a table

The advice from my first column for your first Commander night applies here. Look for anybody with any sort of "Casual" marking around their playspace. Sometimes the employee from before can direct you to a regular who they know will be kind enough to help you find a group. Otherwise, look for a group who looks like they're having a pleasant time. If they're having too much or too little fun, they're playing a different kind of Commander. 

But this is where the brilliance of walking up with a pre-con comes in, because those players will be able to spot you too. If they see you walking up with a pre-con in one hand and a receipt in the other, they'll know exactly the situation you currently find yourself in, and if they, knowing this, invite you to sit down, then you're golden.

Step 3: Play some Commander

It's honestly as simple as that. You can tell them you're still new if you want, or that you don't really know this deck. Any qualifier that makes you feel comfortable is welcome here. But the wonderful thing about playing a pre-con at Commander Night is that they already know all of these things. 

They can see that you're new. And they invited you to play. That's because this hobby only gets to keep going if new people start playing. As mentioned in a recent Am I the Bolas? article (another great look into the new player experience from the other side of the table), people will want to show you a good time. 

Also, personally, I'd much rather play with a new player than one with way more experience than me. The thing I've come to learn about Commander is that you either hate the BS Merfolk deck, or you play long enough to see yourself become the Merfolk player. And I'd rather have someone on the left side of that equation at my table every time. Because Merfolk are pure BS.

Feel free to ask what cards do if you don't know (yours and theirs). Just have a good time. And if the first game goes well, keep playing! Chances are, your deck has an "alternate commander" (usually they're at the top of the deck, just after the primary commander. They'll be another legendary creature with the same color identity as your primary) that you can try out for a game if you'd like a different perspective on things.

If you're still somehow skeptical, know that I give this advice from firsthand experience! That's right, dear reader. I have actually played a pre-con at a Commander night at my FLGS.

It was early days in my career, and I had become overwhelmed by the piloting of my The Jolly Balloon Man

So please, dear reader, just pick up a precon, sit down at a table, and start playing. It's the shortest route between you, someone who hasn't played Commander, and playing your first game of Commander. Later on you'll find out what you like, and maybe play with another Commander that piques your interest enough to look up on EDHREC. Maybe you just look up some guides for how to upgrade the pre-con you've already bought. But either way, congratulations, you're now officially a Commander player. (Your Infinitokens and Sol Ring