The Commander Player's Path of Discovery
Hey folks, I'm Chris and I'm YOUR Commander Mechanic. You may recognize me from my YouTube Channel or from guesting on major streams around the community: I'm a deckbuilder and brewer with an analytical view of Commander.
Some have said I take a competitive mindset and apply it to casual Commander, but I prefer to think of it as taking an efficient look at deckbuilding. More of the game is played before you ever sit down at a table with other players.
Throughout this series I'll look at how you can improve play experience, your own and that of others, before you ever play a game. Avoid not being able to play the game due to deckbuilding issues, avoid imposing poor scenarios on others, and ensure you have concentrated efforts in mind when deck building.
But, as always, Commander is about having fun YOUR WAY; don't let anyone tell you there's a right or wrong way to play this game.
Discovery and Understanding
Magic isn't an easy game. It may be quick to pick up for some, but try and get someone to understand what a Chains of Mephistopheles does and you'll have even veterans of the format scratching their heads.
In life, you really never stop learning or striving to understand, and Commander as a format is very similar. Beyond just mechanical understanding of the game, you have the added aspects of social understanding and self-realization. This may sound deep for someone who writes about deckbuilding, but this is about one's enrichment and enjoyment of the format, especially when it comes to what you end up playing.
A player discovering Commander goes through a journey with a beginning, middle, and end. I myself have gone through this journey, as well as many of the players that come to me for help about their decks, their playgroups, or trying to proceed on this Path of Discovery.
This quest takes players through differing journeys and reveals much, but ultimately all players reach a point of enrichment. Achieve your Commander zen. Find your perfect place in this format. Let me share what I've seen, and be sure to let me know at which stage you're at in your journey within Commander.
Understanding the Format
The first step on a player's path of Commander discovery is understand what Commander is about. The Rules Committee's format philosophy isn't where everyone begins; sometimes players may just pick up a precon or be handed a deck at a game night, but the first step is always to understand the nuances of the format. This is something that new player and veteran player alike sometimes take a while to grasp.
As a new player learns the game, Commander may be the ONLY format they know. They learned to play the game in Commander, it's the only format they play; as Bane says: "I was BORN in it." That's fantastic, but it may still take players a while to really GET that cards that mention 'each opponent', like Dockside Extortionist or Exsanguinate, are a lot stronger in a format with multiple opponents, or an effect that says 'each turn', like Ledger Shredder or Mangara, the Diplomat, get a lot better when there are more turns to be taken.
This isn't only about new players. Lately, 60-card format professional players, like Brad Nelson or Corey Baumeister, have been taking very public journeys in the Commander space, and watching them slowly shift their understanding from "this is a good card" to "this is a good card in one-on-one formats" to "this is a good card in Commander" has been FASCINATING to watch. There's a learning curve to Commander, and the more time you spend on this leg of your journey, the better a player you'll become.
This is also the stage where you begin to understand the social aspect of the format. Yes, there's a game being played, but there's a meta-layer to the game. Conversation. Time with friends. Meeting new people. Whether that's just getting to know people or bargaining and striking deals, there's an entire unwritten half of the format that you don't GET simply reading about it or watching it happen. It needs to be lived, earned, understood.
Some players speed right through this leg of discovery, to their detriment. This stage is where you understand that 30 lands isn't enough for most decks, or how much card draw you need to be comfortable with, or what's the right balance of ramp or rocks in your decks. This is the stage where you say "that's a really cool card" or "that's a good combo" or "that's a neat synergy" and the gears start to turn. You see what works together, what doesn't, and you come through with a better understanding of the format.
Understanding Your Opponents
Once players begin to understand the intricacies of the format, many take the next step on their journey: understanding the competition. This may be once you've settled into a regular playgroup or a Local Game Store, and some of the patterns you've understood about the format begin to emerge. And you begin to think "now, how do I be better?"
For many, "better" means "win more". The competitive aspect of a game where there's a winner pops up. How do I optimize my experience?
It's at this stage where players may look at a deck built in their early journey and begin replacing cards, cutting for what they've now discovered are "better" cards, because, with format experience under your belt, you've seen what other players bring to the table. You may have looked across the table from a Rhystic Study and now want to go out of your way to be the one playing it. Maybe you played against a stax deck and now want to inflict a Winter Orb upon someone else. Maybe you were Expropriateed and saw how powerful extra turn spells can be, and now YOU want to do that.
This is the stage where you see what other players are doing and begin to think how you can counter that; sometimes LITERALLY counter it. This is where your understanding of the format needs to survive contact with the enemy, or at least what you may perceive as an enemy. Here's where you find The Arms Race, a "trap" many fall into where their playgroup begins to escalate in power level or format ideology to the point where you may be verging on the highest power levels the format has to offer. This is where I found myself, years ago. Player A makes a good deck, Player B makes a better deck, Player C builds a deck to counter both of those, and Player D brings Demonic Consultation and Thassa's Oracle to the table to try and destroy it all by winning faster.
My personal playgroup, years ago, found ourselves in this situation. We saw what each other was up to, and, since we only played with each other, we began building decks just to stop what the other players were doing. Then we started to win faster. Then we were played decks from the cEDH decklist database.
This is the part of the journey where you begin to concern yourself with what other people are doing and how you can do it better. This is where it stops being about playing the game and starts being about winning the game. Everyone goes through this phase of their journey, no matter how long or how brief, and some players return to it. That's not a bad thing; don't misunderstand. Seeing the competitive edge in the format is beautiful and nuanced and a lot of players enjoy it. However, this is often the stage where you begin inflicting your decks and strategies upon others, and it's important to be cognizant of that.
Understanding Yourself
The final leg on the player's journey is of self-discovery. Enlightenment.
This is where you discovery what YOU enjoy about the format, where you find the joy in the aspects you want to engage in, and where you find a playgroup that you truly enjoy playing with. Once you've grown to understand what the format is about, once you've found what you like playing and don't like playing against, you move to Commander Nirvana, where you know what you want for yourself.
It's not about "I don't like playing against control so I need to beat it" anymore. It's now about "I don't like playing against control so I won't play it". This is moving towards enjoyment, and enjoyment of everyone around you. The Vibes. The company. Drawing a card and smiling because YOU like it, not because it gives you some wicked Grinch-like sneer because you know everyone will hate playing against it, but rather because it brings you joy.
This is where learned empathy carries you from "I don't care what everyone else is doing, I'm the only one that can have a good time" and toward "I want everyone to be chill", and that stage is where the most enjoyment comes from. The most personal fulfillment.
For some this stage may be about playing your favorite tribe or your favorite cards. For others this may be finding the right playgroup where everyone is feeling the same way, whether that be super competitive or super casual or somewhere in between.
This is where I find myself in my Commander journey, where "optimal" isn't always what I'm striving for because I want to do something that makes me smile, or makes my friends laugh, or makes them scratch their heads, and it took me a long time to get here, over 10 years of playing this format. I can still look to make super tuned decks, top-tier competitive brews, help people find the sweet spot in their decks, but I can also make goofy gimmick decks that give me a chuckle. That's where true understanding stems from: why do YOU want to play this game? Now 'HOW do I play this game?' or 'WHO do I need to beat?', but what YOU get from this game.
The Long Road
This journey isn't easy, and is filled with ups and downs, but that's what a journey IS; it's not all smooth sailing. You may find people or cards or interactions you don't like along the way, and it may cause salt, but discovering how to deal with that is an important step too. Some may take that discussion to their playgroup, others may cry out to the format's leadership to fix their problems, others still may just learn to get over it. But these ARE lessons to learn.
So whether you're learning what makes the format tick, learning what people can do to tick you off, or learning what ticks your boxes, think to yourself where in this journey you are and what it would take for you to move to the next stages and IF you're ready to move to the next stages. Regardless, enjoy the format and find the enjoyment in the format, when you're released from the burdens of being concerned about what others are doing and concern yourself with the EXPERIENCE of Commander, is when you can truly enjoy.
At which stage are you at in your Commander Path of Discovery? Be sure to let me know in the comments, and be sure to take into consideration where other players you sit down across from may be in their journey. Taking a moment to do that, alone, can give you perspective on how to approach each game of Commander for an enriching experience for all players involved.
And of course, as always folks, good luck & have fun!
