Bring it in, everyone.

First, I’m going to apologize about the epic post I promised last week. To have it be really epic, it needs to be written right; otherwise, it will be a disaster. So at the moment, I’m currently researching it and making the best it can be.

But luckily, this gives me the time to talk about a very important issue I think we need to address. Next month, there are going to be a large influx of new Commander players due to the release of the Commander product. There’s something that I want you to do, and it’s very important:

Treat them well.

I hope this is something that you do anyway so you don’t need to be told this. However, this might not be clear to everyone, so I’ll explain it. When you play Magic, you are an ambassador of the game. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing it in a game store or if you’re playing it at a bar; people who see you play the game will define the game by how you treat them.

Yes, there’s already the preconceived notion we get as gamers, but with more people who grew up gaming, that idea is rapidly changing. We can’t always escape it, but at least it’s getting better, and we’re moving beyond playing in our parents’ basements. The USA show Fairly Legal even has a legal aide (although a major geek) http://www.thestarkingtonpost.com/articles/_/1833">talking about Magic and even playing Duels of the Planeswalkers at the office.

I know a ton of players who used to play in middle and high school but stopped playing for various reasons. Now in their early to middle twenties, they have disposable income, and some of them you see getting back into Magic once they find that the game is still around. Wizards of the Coast has smartly tapped into a niche in this marketplace with the Duel Decks and the summer multiplayer products. It gives these players who grew up gaming a new place to start without having to invest a ton of money. These products get sold in not only card shops but at places like Target and Wal-Mart, where dropping $20 to $30 on two ready-to-play decks with their friends is a huge boon to getting people back into the game.

And this is where Commander will fit in.

Commander will also be sold at card shops along with Target and Wal-Mart and the like. There will be people who might decide that this is a great time to come back into the game and see all of the changes. If they still have their old cards in shoeboxes, they can pull those and play with them as well in this format (in fact, they will be the envy of some of those who have played in recent years but didn’t play in the “old school” days). But there’s also the players who will buy the products who have been playing Magic for a while but have never given Commander a try. Unlike Planechase and Archenemy, where there was no starting format, there is a huge following for Commander; this column and the growth of other blogs and columns in the Magic blogosphere are evidence of that.

And there are those Magic hipsters who want to remind you of that every opportunity they can. You know the people—mimicking the real-life hipsters who are too cool for mainstream and love everything before you did and love to hang it over your head. “Yeah, I started playing Magic when it was called Mana Clash.” Yeah, no one did. “I liked it better when you would summon a creature.” But the game works so nicely now. There will still be people who call it EDH—even I do that all the time—but I don’t want these Magic hipsters representing something I love.

It’s these people with the snotty attitude who can completely turn off people from coming in and enjoying this fine format. Would you want to play with people who make snarky comments and dismiss everything you do only because you’re new to this? They might be mad that Commander has become too popular because WotC has added it to their rules and now everyone is playing it. “It’s not cool anymore,” they might say.

You want Commander to become mainstream. You want players embracing this format.

This isn’t something you only want a few people playing, and there’s very good reason for that. I’ve felt the loss of a format because no one else was playing it. It was Highlander 150, and people were moving into EDH, so I dropped my 150 deck and heavily invested my Magic time into EDH. It’s not like I’m disappointed in this decision; however, I do feel the loss of a pretty fun format. But it’s not like this is the first time we as Magic players have seen something like this.

How often do you seen Vintage being played anymore?

Yeah, you’ll see it in pockets here and there, and there are some fanatical people who just love it. But walk into a card shop and see if anyone has a Vintage deck to play against. Now try that with Legacy. I’m sure you’ll get several, if not more, to jump at the chance to play that format with you. Both of these formats have two things in common: They have a higher barrier to play cost, and they don’t have a premade product going into stores worldwide.

Commander will take the Magic world by storm more than it already has. One of the most common things that I see newer players ask about is a place to start. It seems like these products will allow that beginning place that they’re craving. By being targeted to both existing players and players new/returning to Magic, this creates the perfect storm of a huge surge in the format over the summer. And I’m not even counting the players who are already playing the format and are excited by the brand-new cards and Commanders. From kitchen tables to bars to FNMs, Commander can be played anywhere and with anyone who has another deck. It is a format that everyone who plays Magic can get into.

Let’s look at it this way. With more players interested in the format, you’ll be able to find more trading partners looking for foils or obscure rares/cards that are sitting in your binder. It’s this format that has kept the prices of Doubling Season, Gauntlet of Might, and Sword of Fire and Ice up for this long after seeing print. When you see Jonathan Medina talking about how Commander has affected prices on old cards, imagine what it will be like in a few months with even more players wanting those cards they’ve seen played against them.

This shouldn’t be seen as an opportunity to take advantage of them in trades or otherwise, but rather to welcome them into the world of Commander and Magic. I do believe that Magic has one of the best gaming communities out there. The idea is to grow larger and to make sure you still have people to play against in a few years. The more Commander they sell (I hope to a large number of people instead of a few who only want the singles if something happens to be broken), the better the chance they’ll do this again.

Remember, you are an ambassador of this format each time you play, and others watch you. Turn that into a positive. Show how much fun the format can be to newer players. You might not meet a new lifelong friend, but at least you’ll get a new player in the community and a potential trading partner.

Stone-Cold Commander of the Week the Century

Let’s take a look at a random Commander chosen completely at random and not even chosen up until this point. Big money, no whammy, stop!

Ah, the Red Scion of the Ur-Dragon. Obviously, what you want to build here is a Dragon tribal deck, or it’s a waste of a Commander. Luckily for you, there are plenty of Red Dragons that you can use to populate your deck. Here are a couple of fun ones:

Bogardan Hellkite, Dragon Mage, Dragon Tyrant, Flameblast Dragon, Hellkite Charger, Hellkite Igniter, Kilnmouth Dragon, Knollspine Dragon, Moltensteel Dragon, Mordant Dragon, Ryusei, the Falling Star, Steel Hellkite, and Thunder Dragon

These creatures have enters-the-battlefield, or leaves-the-battlefield, or when-it-deals-damage-to-an opponent effects. The Dragon is getting Haste anyway, and you might as well take advantage of it.

The obvious downside is either (1) drawing the Dragon or (2) exiling it at the end of the turn. Cards like Scroll Rack and Winds of Change can handle the first issue, allowing you to put the cards from your hand back into your deck. Scroll Rack is just good in the first place (And isn’t on the Reserved List, so I would love it to be reprinted somewhere sometime, if you’re listening, WotC) and with shuffle effects like your Commander, you can constantly get new and exciting hands.

The exiling of the Dragon can be beaten by either returning it to your hand or by sacrificing it. Both Dragon Mask and Erratic Portal both can do that, then you can shuffle it back in with your Scroll Rack. Red doesn’t have any good Reanimator spells, so the creature might be stuck in the graveyard. Oh, wait—Reito Lantern to the rescue. Oh, and once you put it on the bottom of your library, you can re-tutor it over and over again. Tel-Jilad Stylus says hi, too.

Red has been called by many one of the worst colors for multiplayer, and to a degree, they’re right. Dealing damage to only one target and not much besides destroying and Dragons, and you can sit there being destroyed. Zirilan isn’t one of the Commanders that you can take to a more competitive group, but one you can sit around with some friends and do some crazy things. Everyone loves Dragons, and with Cool Stuff Inc. having them on sale for $2 apiece, I’m sure you have some extra Dragons sitting in your binders that you can throw in a deck for fun.

I mean, you’re not really doing anything with the Dragon deck from your Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons, are you?