Earlier this month, my wife (known as "Wife" from this point forward) and I went on the Magic Cruise 3. If you don't know what the Magic Cruise is, image a regular cruise with cruise ships; add in Magic players, and you get the Magic Cruise. This is the third year that it happened, and the first time Wife and I had ever been on a cruise.

Having a spouse or significant other who doesn't play Magic can be a little frustrating at times.

"Hey, want to go to San Francisco in November?"

"Why?"

"Well, um, Worlds is held there this year."

"No."

It's not that she's being mean, but when she (or, I imagine, anyone else in that position) hears something is related to Magic, she believes that the whole time will be filled with cards and she'll be left on her own. While that might be the case for a Magic Weekend (why go to something and not play cards?), I was hoping that this cruise might be a little different.

I had been working on her since the last one. After showing her some of the pictures and the stories that had been reported, she didn't know if she wanted to go. A few months later, I tried again. After looking at the cost (which isn't unreasonable, but it's not like you're going for dinner and a movie), she said yes.

Condition: as long as it wasn't cards all the time.

We never really went on a honeymoon after we were married, so this would give us a nice excuse to go on a real trip. Away from family. I love my family and all, but when every vacation is with them, it might be nice to branch out.

Bill Stark—of the Starkington Post(.com)—covered the Cruise on his blog as a reporter. There were also several members of Wizards of the Coast R&D on the Cruise as well, which was an awesome experience. What I'm going to do today is talk about the Cruise, what I learned, and how that applies to Commander.

For days out at sea (where the boat doesn't go to port, but travels), there were tournaments going on. The one I was most excited about was the "EDH Challenge." Since that's all we knew about it, I had a feeling it was going to be one of two things: getting together to play Commander at a designated time, or playing the Commander format in a tournament setting.

We did the latter. And it made me sad.

Here's where one of the decisive issues of Commander rears its ugly head. I really dislike the idea of Commander being used as a formant for tournaments, especially for prizes. Tournament (or constructed) Magic is the idea of building the best deck and trying to demolish your opponents. This is where some of the social contract and "gentleman's game" gets twisted around and people get up in arms over which cards they play. Commander was a format created for multiplayer and a way to have fun. Not everyone's idea of fun is win; some people's idea of fun is to play. By dangling the carrot out there, you're saying "you get prizes for being the first to kill an opponent and be the last one standing." This completely changes the dynamic of the format. I chose a deck that would give me the best odds in a four-person pod—a different deck than I would have chosen if I were just trying to have fun.

I think that if you are going give out points for a Commander get-together, it should be how Armada Games does it, as told by Sheldon Menery on SCG. Sure, the main goal is to kill people, but you get points for doing wacky, crazy things in the format, like having +1/+1 counters on so many creatures, or casting a series of spells that cost 1, 2, 3, etc. in a row on a turn. It encourages people to build different decks and not just kill people in one turn (which makes you lose points).

Of course, this is my opinion, and not everyone agrees with it. Please don't go around saying, "If Robby says it this way it must be this way." While it's cool to think that I have that much power over you, this is just how I feel. Back to the Cruise.

Because this was unsanctioned, WotC employees could play in this event. We were put in pods of four, where I found out that one of my opponents was none other than Ken "I love the fatties" Nagle. As winner of the first Great Designer Search, it was a little odd playing against him, seeing as how I was a contestant in the second one. While I wasn't trying to take over his job per se, it would've made me feel better about not getting in the Top 8 for the Great Designer Search 2 if I won at that pod and beat him.

But that wasn't the case.

In typical Commander fashion, a Blue/White/Green deck was full of shenanigans. Enter the battlefield effects, bouncing, countering, using Eternal Witness to get cards back, with Reveillark, and Crystal Shard, and, well, you get the idea.

However, it was the other Blue/White/Green deck that won the pod when time ran out in the round. Using Enchanted Evening, he then cast Cleansing Meditation to wipe the board but leave him with everything he had on the board (since the wording says, "Then return all cards in your graveyard destroyed in this way to the battlefield," it doesn't say enchantments, so you can do this).

Then we went to our second pod, where I once again was matched up with Mr. Nagle. My attentions were going to go against the WotC employee; however, the Zur player had a second-turn Isochron Scepter with a Mystical Tutored-up Mana Drain with mana to counter spells. Yeah, crazy hand.

I was the first one eliminated from that game because the Zur player (who everyone went after) thought I was the bigger threat. There's a lesson in there somewhere (not today, however).

Some of the awesome things to do on a cruise are the shore excursions. The three destinations the ship embarked to were Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico. At each of the places, Wife and I ventured out from the boat in each of those countries and had fun at each spot. Looking back, there was something I learned about what we experienced that applies to Commander.

LESSON #1 – Jamaica

Sometimes it's just nice to relax.

Our first destination was Jamaica, where Wife and I decided to go to Negril Beach, go swimming in the ocean, and relax on the white sandy beach. With Jamaica having so many things to do on the Island, why, oh why, did we choose to basically do "nothing?"

Because it was fun.

Bill Stark told us a story about why he chose the Commander deck he was playing on the Cruise. Whenever he was gunslinging or the like, people would always ask him if he had a Commander deck to play against. He would have every other format with him except Commander. Finally, he decided on his Commander:

Ashling the Pilgrim.

Yes, Bill Stark built the 99 Mountains deck. But why did a smart man who's played and currently reports on the Pro Tour build one of the easiest Commander decks ever?

Because it was fun.

He didn't want long decision trees, or complicated decks to keep track of. It's fun to play that deck. Is Ashling in play? No. Cast him. Do I have mana open? Yes. Pump Ashling. It's a relaxing deck to play, and he has a good time doing it. There is nothing wrong with that. Commander doesn't have to have complicated effects where you need to memorize the rules to play a turn. It can be as simple as seeing if your Commander is in play.

This is a game we play. If you're not having fun and relaxing when playing Magic, why are you playing it? In a format like Commander, it's all about fun. Of course, everyone has a different definition of "fun" (spoiler: what I'm talking about next week), but don't play this format if you're not having any.

LESSON #2 – Cayman Islands

Do something different than you normally would do.

In the Cayman Islands, we decided to go on a more adventurous—um, adventure. We went with a group of other Cruise members and went to a sandbar about a mile offshore. It was there that we jumped in the water and swam with stingrays.

If you didn't know, stingrays were the animals that killed Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin.

So, we were standing in the water, watching these dangerous animals swim between our legs and brushing up against us. Of course the lawyers wouldn't let us do this if it were truly dangerous, but like sleeping on a bed of nails, there's a trick. If you don't agitate the stingrays, they won't attack you.

Wife described them like cats; they would brush up against you and wait for you to feed them. Our guide picked up a stingray and gave it us to hold and kiss. Yes, Wife and I kissed a stingray. As long as part of it was in the water (the gills part), it stayed pretty calm. She held a piece of octopus and fed it to a stingray; she described it as a vacuum cleaner.

These are things that we normally wouldn't do. Just the hint of danger while still having some control is a thrilling thing. Wife and I don't go skydiving or bungee jumping, or participate in extreme sports. But this was the most fun thing we did the entire week. Why?

It was outside our normal, day-to-day life.

You might have played Commander enough that your playgroup or friends at the card shop know what deck you're playing and what style you're famous for. If you don't change things up, you will not grow as a Magic player. Not only that, if you always play a certain way, your friends know your weaknesses and know how to win. By changing things up, you can keep your friends on their toes and stay one step ahead.

Is there a theme deck you've always wanted to try? Do it. How about a combo that you want to throw in your deck? Switch things up. A wide variety of tactics and decks keep your opponents guessing. Not only that, you might discover something you like that you never would've tried in the first place. While I'm not suggesting you don't play with your all-foil deck unsleeved, it's nice to just go and shake things up.

LESSON #3 – Cozumel

Don't forget the past and keep digging.

The one excursion I was most excited for on this entire trip was the Mayan ruins and Tulum. I'm always interested in old civilization, and this would be the first time that I would be able to visit such a place. While I was sad that I wouldn't be able to walk up the steps to the temple or anything like that, it was still an amazing experience. The time was short, and I could've easily have spent way more time there.

What made the experience even better was our tour guide, Juan. Being part Mayan himself, he took great pride in sharing his ancestry with us. For him, it wasn't just another job working for the man; he honestly wanted to teach us all about the Mayan culture. He was a proud, smart man, and I don't think that Wife and I would've had as much fun or learned as much if we'd had a different tour guide.

He told us that the Mayans believed in cycles, as they worshipped the sun and built their temples for the summer and winter solstices that the Mayans predicted. The whole junk about the world ending in 2012 is nothing but a new beginning that the media has been running wild with (much like they did with the year 2000). The history in that place was amazing; it was as if I'd walked into one of those documentaries and were able to experience history.

That's what we need to do as Commander players.

I don't want players to be dismissive of old ideas; sometimes, they're the best ones. Commander is a different format from any other Magic format, and it's also the one that's least explored. Much like the Mayans, we're still learning about the format. But we can still have something to compare to by reading about the multiplayer Magic of old. The ideas of politics and what kind of cards one should play in those formats are buried in those pieces. It's what some of us grew up reading years ago.

Archeologists didn't believe that the Mayans knew about the wheel because they believed that using it for work would be a disgrace to their God (since both the sun and the wheel are round, with major symbolism). However, in a newly found tomb, there was discovered a children's toy, a horse on wheels, just like the Trojan Horse. It seemed silly that the Mayans would try and do something better when it was right there in front of everyone just waiting to be re-found. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to have fun in Commander, you just need to understand what has happened in the past.

The Cruise was an amazing, fun time, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in it. The rumor is that the Magic Cruise 4 is going to Alaska next year. It's going to be leaving from Seattle, my hometown and current city of residence. Seattle is also the location of Wizards of the Coast, so there is a good chance that more of them will be coming next year.

If you have any other questions about the cruise, I would be happy to answer them in the comments down below. I didn't want to fill the whole piece with little Magic content.

And for those of you significant others who don't like Magic and are worried if you'll like the cruise, Wife is considering going on next year's depending on our finances.