Let’s talk about oxymora. (I looked that up just for you, linguiphiles.)

There are many oxymora in the Magic community, but the one closest to my heart is “Commander tournament.” I love Commander for what the format means to many of us who play it:

• Cool interactions
• Laid-back multiplayer madness
• A chance to play any/all of your favorite cards just because

The popularity of the format is driven by how deeply unique (self-representative) we can create our decks, and its spirit is rooted in encouraging that to happen. I’m not going to spend time justifying that because it’s the truth. Commander doesn’t function like other formats, which are driven by shifting metagames and sweeping changes in eligible cards, and are incentivized through competitive play with prizes.

“Commander tournament” is an oxymoron, yet events best described by that term happen consistently. I helped one for my local tournament organizer at Grand Prix: Baltimore. (It also would have been impossible without awesome support from judges Eric Wall and Brent George, so thanks!)

Let’s do obligatory justice and recount the event—three pods formed from fourteen players, with a final three-player pod battling for a From the Vault: Legends.

Pod 1

Anthony Wilson won on turn four. Well, not the turn four, but thanks to his deck’s focus on creating a sequence of infinite turns, he was able to take advantage of the Magus of the Vineyard and Heartbeat of Spring played by another player to make it happen starting on his fourth turn. (Anthony received all of the Dark Ascension packs.)

Pod 2

Dan Powers won on turn two-and-a-half-hours-later after finally breaking through both of the remaining players’ defenses with a Blightsteel Colossus. The first deck out of the pod was a R/G deck; the remaining three rode on a backbone of blue mana. (The R/G player received a pack—after knocking himself out with actual damage—and the remainder went to Dan.)

Pod 3

Chris Shipper played the right cards at the right time, slipping his Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter into play and quickly dispatching everyone. Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Fire and Ice, and several creatures to be thrown away was all it took. (Chris managed to snag the packs in this case.)

Final Pod

With a fairly even distribution of deck types—one combo, one control, and one aggro—the game seemed to lean toward being very expeditious. An early Trinket Mage from Anthony was responded to by Aven Mindcensor from Dan, yet Chris never got off the ground either despite adding an Oath of Lieges (of which Anthony simply skipped to the “fail to find” part). Blightsteel Colossus is just very good at ending games. (Congratulations to Dan, who won the remaining packs as well as the grand prize!)

Here’s what the winning deck looked like:

"Dan Power’s Sen Triplets Deck"

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sen Triplets

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Aven Mindcensor
• 1 Magus of the Disk
• 1 Scrivener
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Voidmage Husher
• 1 Blightsteel Colossus
• 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1 Memnarch

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Spells (49)
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Condemn
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Force of Will
• 1 Hinder
• 1 Jace's Ingenuity
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Misdirection
• 1 Mortify
• 1 Mystical Tutor
• 1 Opportunity
• 1 Repeal
• 1 Spell Crumple
• 1 Stroke of Genius
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Trickbind
• 1 Vampiric Tutor
• 1 Akroma's Vengeance
• 1 Army of the Damned
• 1 Ashes to Ashes
• 1 Black Sun's Zenith
• 1 Bribery
• 1 Cabal Conditioning
• 1 Decree of Pain
• 1 Deep Analysis
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Grim Tutor
• 1 Relearn
• 1 Temporal Manipulation
• 1 Vindicate
• 1 Wrath of God
• 1 Leyline of Anticipation
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Crystal Shard
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Grim Monolith
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Sensei's Divining Top
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Thran Dynamo
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Worn Powerstone
• 1 Mirari

• Lands (39)
• 3 Swamp
• 4 Plains
• 5 Island
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Riptide Laboratory
• 1 Scrubland
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Tolaria West
• 1 Underground Sea
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Flagstones of Trokair
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 The Abyss

Buy This Deck

Let’s Stop Being Nice and Start Getting Real

Commander events are a very conflicted situation. Let’s be clear about what happened in the Baltimore event:

• One player “won” a game by locking everyone else out of it by taking all the turns. (A parting quote from another player was, “At least I didn’t waste $15. Oh, wait. I did.”)
• One game took an extraordinary amount of time to complete because everyone had every answer instead of threats to close the game. (Nudges to move the game along were heeded, but the distribution of threats to answers is always special for control decks.)
• The final pod was won by locking two other players out of the ability to fight back effectively. (The correct answers are always good.)

None of this is bad from the perspective of a competitive event. It’s exactly what’s to be expected in tournaments. I even pointed it out clearly when I announced it in my Serious Fun article.

However, it’s also exactly what isn’t expected for Commander.

I could be nice, warm, and accepting of a diversity of perspectives of how Commander is a format for everyone. But Commander isn’t for everyone. Commander wasn’t set up, and isn’t maintained for, any competitive play.

There are four major formats for competitive players occurring constantly:

• Limited
• Standard
• Modern
• Legacy

Break down the multiple flavors of Limited and add in more obscure Magic Online formats that fire often as well, and the total potential for playing in competitive formats rises dramatically. Playing specifically for the benefit of an earned reward is easy. The barrier to entry is an Internet connection and cash—or just cash and a local store. Thanks to the beefed up schedules of third-party tournament organizers, increased local demand for events, and a massive Grand Prix schedule, events (at least in the US) seem to be pushing a glut.

Competing is easy if that’s what you want to do. Fact. Now, what about the rest of us?

I don’t mean to take away anything from competitive incentive. I want there to be more prizes, better bonuses, and greater benefits for my friends to battle! What I also want are events in which my friends who are less interested in battle—and more interested in having a great time—can have a chance to get something, too.

What I mean is this: A Commander tournament encourages approaches to Commander that are controversial in the format. Overwhelming powerful strategies aren’t banned, strictly forbidden, or purposefully excluded in every way, but the banned list and format structure was never intended for competitive application. This has been repeatedly reinforced through the discussions and changes implemented by the rules committee.

Is it possible to hold an event for Commander that provides the best of both? Can we see open and Commander-intended gameplay and reward for players to battle?

Seeing the Light

I don’t think I can convince those of you who bring the most powerful, tuned, and brutally efficient decks that you shouldn’t. I won’t even comment on the absurdity of one-on-one Commander. But what I want to find is that sweet spot for all the parties involved in events so that more players enjoy things at Grands Prix and similar events:

• A cost and reward structure that is sufficiently appealing to non-competitive players (players need to feel that they didn’t waste their time and money)
• A cost and net profit structure that is sufficiently appealing to tournament organizers and staff (organizers need to benefit so future events continue to provide support and growth)
• A matching/queuing and registration system that is easy for judges and staff to track and report (judges and staff need less complication and paperwork at events as it is)

Ideas such as points leagues, for engaging in certain and specific activities incongruent with efficient victory, and diplomacy points, a voting structure in which players cast ballots to award points after a game’s conclusion, aren’t the solutions—the overhead and paperwork are a logistical nightmare, and the systems aren’t universally accepted additional rules.

What are some solutions closer to an ideal? Costs vary by organizer and venue (and keep going up), but some that may make sense are:

• $5 entry. Receive one booster pack upon losing; winner receives two.
• $1 entry. Choose one $1 bulk rare, foil rare, promo, or whatever upon losing; winner chooses two.

Since I’m not an organizer with perfect knowledge of all situations I can’t say these are “correct” solutions. They certainly aren’t either exhaustive creatively or particularly sexy.

Running Answers

What’s the best way to handle this? What would be exciting for the average Commander player—a net profit for structure for organizers of events, and a bar set too low to reward genuinely competitive desires? Is it possible to effectively support competitive Commander—since there is clearly a demand as noted by the booming double-digit Commander pod calls late into the Top 8 in Baltimore—and casual Commander?

I believe it is, and I also believe it’s in the best interest of every major event to begin looking at making this happen. Magic is booming, but we’re nowhere near the sky. Bridging and supporting more casual gaming, at the biggest shows of year, can only make the game better. Ensuring that existing competitive players continue to enjoy the highest levels of support, but layering on more casual options, seems to only have upsides in the long run.

It’s going to take much more than just my thoughts. What do you think?