Originally titled, "The Comprehensive Guide to Commander Theory, Part 1"

My name is Jeremy Blair, and I am an addict. My drug of choice: Magic: The Gathering's Commander. When I started playing Commander, the street name was Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH). Through a sort of grassroots movement, this casual style of card-slinging has grown into one of the game's most popular formats. In Tampa, Florida, there are three successful EDH/Commander leagues that sport regular attendance of fifteen to thirty players. Every week, I meet new and experienced Magic players who want to know how the format works and how to build decks, and want access to key information needed to join and play in our league.

Introduction

When I first started playing Commander, I found deck construction mind-boggling. Hundred-card singleton lists are very difficult to comprehend without some framing or explanation about card choices and synergies. Some folks try to assemble a "good-stuff" list that just plays a bunch of powerful cards, but this is almost always a surefire way to end up with a suboptimal deck. Synergies and card interactions put Commander decks over the proverbial top. Therefore, you need to identify the most amazing cards that fit together to accomplish a deck's game plan.

Aside from learning the rules, studying the banned list, and finding a playgroup, new players typically could benefit from learning how core gaming concepts are translated and applied to the format. Players are hungry for this information. It is very difficult to build successful decks and shop for optimal cards when you are lost in the theoretical wilderness. To satisfy this hunger and meet the needs of a burgeoning player base, I have written "The Comprehensive Guide to Commander Theory."

Building the Commander community ranks among my most important goals. Two years ago, I started a YouTube channel dedicated to EDH. My Elderdragonhighlandr videos operate like a sort of Web-based magazine. My wife and I interview popular pros and Magic personalities about their takes on Commander. We have had appearances ranging from Patrick Chapin (professional Magic player) to Aaron Forsythe (director of Magic: The Gathering's research and development department). There are history lessons told by Sheldon Menery (Level 5 judge and "godfather" of EDH) about the origins of the format and deck features about the format's "Most Hated Generals."

The channel covers rules, banned cards, the social aspects of play, and deck-building, and features Commander game coverage from league play, Grand Prix events, and large gaming conventions. However, the channel does not offer much in the way of theory. Sure, you can hear folks offer opinions on their favorite and least favorite cards and strategies, but the video format does not lend itself to in-depth overviews of gaming theory applied to the Commander format. Each of the following selections has application in both multiplayer and one-on-one Commander gameplay; however, most of my experience and suggestions come from group tournaments. Consider this bias throughout each of the following sections.

Deck Archetypes for Commander

In card games, there are a number of deck-building and game-play strategies that have endured the test of time. These Darwinian survivors proved fit to succeed. We have beat-down, control, and combo. Beat-down decks tend to jump into the game with guns blazing. They look to compile a great deal of damage and deliver pain and destruction through severe beatings as they rush toward victory. Control decks look to sweep the leg, keep a player off-balance, and win the war of attrition as they march late into a game with counters and superior card advantage. Combo decks tend to park themselves somewhere in the middle and look to bring together incredible, undeniable synergies to close the game in a single, terrific finale.

White Weenie and Red Deck Wins are two variants of beat-down decks. Blue is synonymous with and typically serves as a cornerstone of great control decks. While combo decks like Time Sieve, Elves!, or the Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle–anchored Scapeshift combos exemplify the honed synergies and complex interactions that folks abuse to achieve alternate win conditions.

These three archetypes seem ever-present in the game of Magic. However, the viability of certain strategies tend to corrode when you alter enough variables in a game of Magic. For example, when life totals are doubled and the relative power of early drops are minimized, the rush archetype tends to struggle. One- and two-drop beaters become less effective as they face down an onslaught of giant Elder Dragons and some of the most epic removal spells ever played in Standard. Board wipe is commonplace, and the expected value of a 3/1 creature diminishes over the course of a game in which you are likely going to battle 6/6 fliers and 11/11 indestructible creatures with Trample.

Commander also introduces a compounding variable beyond the 40 starting life points. Many folks choose to play Commander in groups. Multiplayer games enjoy new complexities of politics, slower pacing, and the propensity to punish the player who jumps out in front with an early threat or overwhelming board presence. Therefore, the beat-down player is susceptible to the group's wrath and often ends up on the wrong end of the beat stick.

Control decks flourish in the format. The player who has answers, generates the most card advantage, and dictates the happenings of the game through counters and removal is often the last person standing. The control player has a natural advantage in the slower, multiplayer format due to the sluggish start and oft-cumbersome requirements of complex mana costs. It might be hard to pay for a Cruel Ultimatum on turn seven in Standard, but the same task is child's play on turn twenty of a Commander game. The mana is typically available, and few folks blink at paying 7 or more for a single spell. The game tends to reward doing "big things."

The variant format also proves a breeding ground for combo players. While some players aim to deal 21 points of Commander damage to each opposing player, and control players bide their time and counter the most harmful effects and disrupt the most troubling spells, the combo player sneaks into position and springs a trap. I have watched players watching other players. Like clockwork, the combo players begin to dig for pieces of their wicked puzzles. They seek. As time marches, they assemble the makings of their win condition and then wait for the Blue players to tap the last of their mana. They wait out the counters and pray for a chance to pounce when the shields go down.

If you are new to the format, it may be worth considering the implications of the most effective archetypes. If you rush to build your Red burn deck or assemble your ninety-nine-card army of mini-beaters, you may be disappointed during your first games. It happens more often than not that opponents easily neutralize the beat-down threat, handicap the rush player, and leave him as a wounded spectator as the rest of the table rolls out 10-cost spells and build the loyalty counters on their Planeswalkers.

The best advice for the newly initiated to Commander is this: go big or go home. EDH was formed to offer players a chance to have fun. Playing giant dragons and popping off a continuous stream of epic spells is a blast. You should join the movement. If you are looking for outstanding cards for your deck, bench those two- and three-drops in lieu of six- and seven-drop creatures. Play giant Legends and the very best creatures to ever grace the mid-game and late game in Magic. In many cases, you only use cheap creatures for mana-fixing, as slaves to a game plan, or to distract others while you prepare to unleash the true onslaught.

Gameplay and Getting Started

I thought that it might be relevant to mention some of the most important concepts that a player, tournament organizer, or playgroup might want to consider when developing a playgroup, league, or tournament scene. After piloting and setting up a couple of Commander leagues, I have learned a number of important tips and tricks that you might like to employ when you embark on your organized play adventures.

Establishing Rules for Gameplay

There are obvious rules that most players follow. These are outlined by the rules committee for the format and include banned cards and mulligan decisions, and guide deck construction. However, some groups design "house rules" that fit the culture of their particular group. Some leagues are one-on-one, while others are multiplayer. One-on-one groups tend to employ an even more developed banned list based on work by French playgroups. Fast-mana cards like Sol Ring are banned. Hit the Web up for examples if this applies.

Multiplayer groups should establish a couple of extra parameters that are rarely discussed. Group games seem to function really well when there are four players. I have played in three-player games. They are okay, but have some inherent problems that can reduce the "fun factor" in a given game. If one player establishes a dominant position, the other two players must find answers to survive. The chances that three players will have the answers tend naturally to be superior to two players having the answer. This seems obvious, but makes the gameplay a bit more balanced. Four players can keep shenanigans in check and tend to even out gameplay.

Keeping the last point in mind, it is also important to recognize that the length of time needed to complete a game seems to increase almost exponentially with the addition of new players. Five-player games have decks filled with lots of board-wipers, resets, counters, and—often—early nonaggression. Therefore, they can take longer to finish up. I have been part of some eight- to twenty-player games that took hours and hours. Some very large games were so big that the group was literally begging for someone to end it! Very small groups are tough, and groups with too many players can be exhausting. Optimal group pairings might be four to five players.

Aside from simple pairings in our tournament, we have a time limit on rounds. We collect "head hunter" points for kills and "sportsmanship" points for strong social play, and we wrap up rounds after two hours. Most playgroups of three to five can finish a multiplayer game in two hours. If your tournaments are running long, consider timed rounds.

The final rule is a sort of social rule or negotiation. In most playgroups, there are some unwritten lines that players don't like to cross. You have to understand your group's culture, but might consider a system or way to discourage "broken combos," "financial advantage," and/or "anti-social behaviors" not tolerated by the group. These negotiations are essential but delicate. It is important to know that degenerate combos and antisocial player behavior are the leading causes of stagnant and declining tournament sizes. It might seem like a laissez-faire—or hands-off—approach to social rule-making is best, but I have seen it ruin games, leagues, and social group play.

Promoting Social Play and Developing Numbers

Winning can be great, but rarely at the expense of fun and socialization. The Commander format should aim to reward the latter while tolerating the former. Therefore, you might want to construct your tournaments or playgroups using social incentives and rewards that encourage participation, consecutive attendance, good sportsmanship, and collaboration—rather than simply competitive play.

Our group uses an incentive program that focuses on in-game and out-of-game achievements. We reward players that earn the most kills, but also reward those who contribute to the fun. With twenty players, you could reasonably generate first-place prize pools greater than $50! However, the moment that the prizes become giant, the positive social interactions seem to diminish. Therefore, split those prizes up and reward multiple players in a tournament for completing very different (and often competing) initiatives. It is hard to earn sportsmanship votes while killing everyone at a table. Therefore, the prize pool might be divided among both end-goals. Balance your rewards and keep the single payoff for in-game achievements low.

In Part 2 of this article, I'll be talking about a very important aspect of Commander play: tempo. Traditional Magic formats pit one player against another. Tempo is somewhat straightforward. This is not to imply that it is easy to understand, but it is far easier to make real-time game decisions around tempo-based questions in a one-on-one game than it is to make similar decisions in a four-player game. I watch players who are new to multiplayer formats or Commander make key tempo mistakes all of the time.

We'll be talking about many aspects of tempo—going too fast, going too slow, politics, the end game, and card advantage. Be sure to join me tomorrow for the second half of "The Comprehensive Guide to Commander Theory."