We Can’t Control The Table, But We Can Control The Board
Yes we know Sen Triplets is a thing. Shut up.
There’s a moment in some Commander games where you look around the table and realize the world is absolutely on fire. One player has a combo engine humming like a nuclear reactor. Another has a board state that looks like an imperialist army massing on the border. Someone else has quietly drawn fourteen cards and is smiling like a dictator with their finger on the “war” button. And you? Well- you have…not much at all other than the creeping realization that the table has collectively decided You are the problem. Yeah, Magic, much like life, has a brutal sense of humor. It feels scary and overwhelming and impossible to grasp. When faced with such flooding, there’s a psychological concept that comes to mind. What I’m talking of is a type of locus. No, not lotus. Locus. Specifically, the locus of control. Basically, it’s the idea that some things are within our control and some things, unfortunately, absolutely, catastrophically are not. Commander players and people in general struggle with this constantly. We want to control everything. We want to control the pace of the game. We want to control the board. We want to control whether someone combos off on turn five. We want to control whether the green player has the mana to cast that God Damn Craterhoof Bahemoth. But, my love, if you’ve played this format for more than about fifteen minutes, you know the truth: There are things we can control and things we can’t. We don’t get to control the world around us. We don’t get to control the universe. And sometimes, the universe topdecks like its fetch land was actually a vampiric tutor.
When the Game Goes Sideways
The hard truth that we are all forced to learn in this hard, scary world is that bad games happen. You get mana screwed. You get mana flooded. Your deck refuses to cooperate. You become the archenemy because you cast one mildly threatening permanent three turns ago. Sometimes the whole table just decides today is the day you die and The Table launches an entire campaign trying to criminalize your existence. Therapeutically, we know that when people feel powerless, they often start trying to control everything around them. After all, if we grasp at enough straws, we’re bound to find something.
In Commander, that shows up as frustration:
“Why are you attacking me?”
“Why didn’t you counter that?”
“Why is everyone targeting me?”
These questions assume the table should behave according to the script we wrote in our head. But rarely does our world follow a script. We’re playing a social game where merfolk and bugs team up to beat the @%#& out of dragons. We don’t get to decide the outcome. All we get to do is decide how to react. The moment we accept that, dear reader, the game becomes a lot more fun.
So What CAN We Control?
This does not mean that there are not elements of control available to you.
You control your deckbuilding. You control your threat assessment. You control your attitude at the table. You control whether you scoop in frustration or laugh when someone steals your God Damn commander for the fourth damn time. You control how you show up for the people sitting across from you. But my loves, we do not get to control:
- whether Kenny plays their counterspell
• whether Megan somehow topdecked the exact answer..again
• whether Ben plays politics like a Machiavellian genius
• whether the table collectively decides that you must die immediately
We may wish we could. God I know we may wish that we could control everything. The world table can get really scary really quickly.
Focus on Your Turn
“Okay fine, Dr. Foxglove. So we can’t control anything and everything is hopeless. Got it.”
No. You don’t got it. When the table is threatening and nothing is going our way- we still have choices. The first choice is choosing to focus on the next decision rather than the entire disaster unfolding around you. Things seem hopeless? What is the best play you can make right now? It’s not about asking, “how do I win this impossible game?” Rather, it’s about taking a beat and figuring out, “what’s the best play on this turn?” Sometimes, that play is clever. Sometimes it’s desperate. Sometimes it’s throwing down a blocker and praying. We may not win every game. We shouldn’t win every game. But no matter how the game ends, it’s still your turn. There is power and strength in refusing to let a hopeless game dampen your spirits.
The Real Win Condition
Commander isn’t just about winning the game. It’s about building something ridiculous with your friends. It’s about the moment someone pulls off a wild combo and the whole table groans in admiration. It’s about the story you tell later. But you’re certainly smart enough that you’ve figured it out that I’m not just talking about commander here, my friends. Life is scary. There is so much in the world that wants to dampen our spirits and break us down. Please remember that, sometimes, the bravest act of defiance is refusing to let a seemingly hopeless situation dampen your spark. It’s making the choice to control what comes next for you. Hold that power. Nobody can take it from you.
