There are myriad reasons to love Magic. At a time in our history when we find ourselves more and more separated along artificial lines, this game truly is all things to all people. We have players of all kinds, each capable of using the thousands and thousands of cards in their own unique ways. Nowhere is this more true than in the Commander format.

I'm not asserting that Commander is qualitatively better (or worse) than any other way of playing Magic. Sure, I play it almost exclusively. But for every player like me there are scores who consider Standard or Modern or plain old kitchen table Magic their first loves, with Commander being an every-once-in-a-while kind of thing. I'm not any more right or wrong than those players are.

But I do happen to believe that among all the formalized Magic formats, none provides more opportunities for players to come together and weave experiences that are fun and worthwhile for everyone at the table. That right there is the key - for everyone. None of us has to lose in order for each of us to win.

Commander brings together players of all stripes. Timmies and Jennies can sit down with a Spike and someone who doesn't fit neatly into any one box - as I very much do not - and when it's all over, everyone is capable of having had a good time. That doesn't happen magically, pardon the pun. It takes just a little bit of work, a bit of empathy... a bit of humanity for a group of players to take full advantage of what Commander can be.

This format is often labeled a "casual" one, a label I've come to hate. I don't know quite how or when, but somewhere along the way "casual" developed a negative connotation. There are many who believe that if you're not playing Magic as competitively as possible, pushing the rules and formats and cards to their limits to extract every last bit of power you can, that you're not a serious player, and somehow lesser than those who grind their way up the competitive ladders.

That is false. From its inception Magic has been a game that can, will and should be all things to all people. Wizards of the Coast is fond of reminding us that while Commander has become the most popular format in the game, the most popular way of playing Magic is and has always been around the kitchen table without any of the rules, regulations and trappings of even the most "casual" formats.

Even so, I've found myself describing Commander as a "casual" format less and less. I prefer instead to call it what it is: Magic's most social format. When players sit down together to jam Commander, very often the vast majority of the conversation isn't about what's happening in the game. It's strangers getting to know one another, friends catching each other up about their lives, families reminiscing about treasured memories. When groups play together for a long time they develop languages and memes and story arcs all their own. All of that is possible because Commander facilitates and encourages it.

There's no timer on the games, no limit to the number of turns they can take, boards that can be wiped or twists and turns that can materialize. We can misplay because we were so engrossed in what each other is saying that we forget about Magic for a moment. Sometimes the game can come to a complete halt for seconds or minutes or hours at a time because the cards take a back seat to the conversation.

And even when we are keeping focused, the premium is on the social experience, not the win or the loss. Of course there are players who play Commander to win. But I'm willing to bet that many if not most of those competitive players would rather lose while having had a good time than win while having been miserable. Commander is a format that welcomes players, decks and experiences of all kinds, but it does not welcome toxicity.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a competitive Commander player. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being an unskilled Commander player, a wealthy Commander player, a budget Commander player, a young Commander player, an old Commander player, and so on down the line.

The only time we're going to have a serious problem is when people come into our format with the express intention of depriving others of a good time. Beyond that, Commander is truly the one Magic format that is for everyone.

It's been that way since Commander came into being and, if I have anything to say about it, will remain that way for as long as the format exists. Commander players take care of each other. That's the whole idea. We play the way we play, use the cards we use and avoid the ones we avoid because we believe the greatest sin is not losing the game, it's failing to cultivate a positive experience for everyone at the table.

In fact, there's an entire archetype of Commander decks predicated on that very idea. Group Hug has been a thing for a long, long time and it truly could not be a thing anywhere other than in Commander. It is the ultimate expression of what Commander has always endeavored to be. It is a player's way of saying, "You having a good time is how I have a good time."

Because games of Magic have winners and losers, when we build decks we tend to cast a wary eye on cards that help our opponents as much as they help us. Cards like Concordant Crossroads and Mana Flare are considered risky. Group Hug decks LOVE cards like that because, in many cases, Group Hug decks don't intend to win.

Decks like these exist to help the other decks at the table reach their full potential, to enable splashy plays and never-before-seen interactions. They can help level the playing field if someone else in the group is just a little disadvantaged in power level or needs just a bit of a speed boost. They push the game toward something it may not have otherwise been able to achieve.

Now, because it's Magic, there are different ways to build Group Hug. There are plenty of decks that only hug for so long, until they decide it's time to take you out. There's nothing wrong with those decks! That's no different than playing a deck that, for example, appears to be a simple creature deck on the surface until the game-ending combo is revealed. But what is more prototypically Commander than a deck that cares not even a little bit for itself?

Selvala, Explorer Returned | Commander | Dave Kosin

• Commander (1)
• 1 Selvala, Explorer Returned

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Arbiter of Knollridge
• 1 Archon of Valor's Reach
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Dawnbreak Reclaimer
• 1 Generous Patron
• 1 Heartwood Storyteller
• 1 Keeper of Progenitus
• 1 Liege of the Hollows
• 1 Magus of the Disk
• 1 Magus of the Vineyard
• 1 Masako the Humorless
• 1 Nullmage Advocate
• 1 Orzhov Advokist
• 1 Platinum Angel
• 1 Protector of the Crown
• 1 Pulsemage Advocate
• 1 Regal Behemoth
• 1 Sheltering Ancient
• 1 Shizuko, Caller of Autumn
• 1 Spurnmage Advocate
• 1 Veteran Explorer
• 1 Wall of Shards
• 1 Windborn Muse
• 1 Wishmonger

• Instants (4)
• 1 Benevolent Offering
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Sylvan Reclamation
• 1 Truce

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Alliance of Arms
• 1 Approach of the Second Sun
• 1 Clear the Land
• 1 Collective Voyage
• 1 Kamahl's Summons
• 1 Nature's Resurgence
• 1 New Frontiers
• 1 Weird Harvest

• Enchantments (13)
• 1 Awakening
• 1 Dictate of Karametra
• 1 Eladamri's Vineyard
• 1 Evolutionary Leap
• 1 Ley Line
• 1 Lightmine Field
• 1 Rites of Flourishing
• 1 Sandwurm Convergence
• 1 Test of Endurance
• 1 Titania's Song
• 1 Together Forever
• 1 Upwelling
• 1 Vernal Equinox

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Dragon Blood
• 1 Font of Mythos
• 1 Gate to the Aether
• 1 Ghirapur Orrery
• 1 Helm of Awakening
• 1 Howling Mine
• 1 Norn's Annex
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Tangleroot
• 1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
• 1 Temple Bell
• 1 Thousand-Year Elixir

• Lands (37)
• 11 Forest
• 12 Plains
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Brushland
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Forbidden Orchard
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Mistveil Plains
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Scattered Groves
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse

Buy This Deck Export text format

Of all the Group Hug decks I've encountered, this one, from my good friend and high-quality human Phil, is my favorite. The rest of us kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did. This deck never planned to win. Sure, Approach of the Second Sun is there, but that's an escape hatch, not an imperative. And this deck helped me make more than 20 copies of Niv-Mizzet, Parun and eliminate the rest of the table - including Phil! - by drawing cards all thanks to Phil's cards.

There's a lot of taxing, awful things going on in the world right now. I'd never be so naive as to suggest that a children's card game holds the long-sought key to peaceful coexistence. But time and time again, Commander has served as shelter from the storm, not just for me but also for thousands of players around the world. Gathered at the table (or virtually in front of our webcams) with our friends -sometimes friends we haven't made yet - we can direct our energy to something we love and cut ourselves off from the darkness outside, even if just for an hour or two. We can talk through our troubles or put them aside altogether. We can take care of each other, just like a good old-fashioned Group Hug deck would do.

There are myriad reasons to love Commander. That's the one I love most of all.

Dave is a Commander player currently residing in Reno, NV. When he's not badly misplaying his decks, he works as a personal trainer. You can bother him on Twitter and check out his Twitch channel.