It's probably not unusual, but every time I have to change the calendars and remind myself to put a different number at the end of a date when I write it, I take some time to think back over the previous year. I consider what I am glad about, what I'd like to do differently, and try to remember all the things I promised I'd not forget (what was that cookie I made everyone liked so much?).

According to this very website, I wrote 40 articles in 2023. That's not bad! It could have been better; my friend Paige Smith wrote 70 and my buddy Abe Sargent wrote 110. I'm lucky to work with a bunch of really talented Commander writers, and if you're looking to up your game you can't go wrong with any of them. Stephen Johnson consistently challenges my thinking about the game and implores me to become a better player, and Jason Alt was a big part of why I started writing about Commander in the first place. (You can still catch him over at EDHrec.com.) Abe's budget series continues to astound me with both his great budget finds (I own several of these decks in paper - they're so cheap!) and his encyclopedic knowledge of the Magic card pool - I don't think there's a card he can't name. (Abe also keeps us honest; he reads all the articles and gives really excellent feedback in our staff discord. Thanks, Abe!) Paige has started a relatively new series called This Week in Magic that I hope gets continued; it's a great compilation of what's going on in this game, and even if you're like me and basically just a Commander player, it's good to know what's going on in other parts of the Magic world. It's inspiring to be published alongside them and the other Commander writers on the site, but it's also simply helpful: they put out excellent content with great ideas for actual Commander players.

But the ones I'd like to talk about are my 40, if you'll indulge me. I'd like to highlight a few specific articles I think are fun or particularly informative. If you want some new ideas for Commander decks or some deck-building tips for new and seasoned players, this is a great place to start!

In April, Wizards of the Coast surprised us by making Oathbreaker an official format. It seemed like a good place for Commander players to land: much like Brawl or Tiny Leaders before it, it was a format similar enough to be familiar but for two players and shorter games, so great when a five-player three-hour epic is going on and two players have been knocked out. However, because I'd been burned by those other formats, I approached Oathbreaker with an eye to budget; I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a format which no one else played. (As it turned out, no one in my playgroup got interested, so I'm glad I did it this way!) However, my take on Samut, the Tested was fun enough I really wish I could play this format some, because that deck looks like a hoot. Sometimes it's great fun to smash someone with a big Creature, right?

Building to a strict budget is a great way to do a bunch of things. It can add another deck to your arsenal without being a big deal, offering options and refreshing what might be a stale deck box. Really cheap decks are also good ways for new players to get into the game, either because it's not much to buy in or because you can just give the deck away. I thought it'd be fun to build a super budget build while working on The Lord of the Rings cards, and this mono-black take on Grima Wormtongue was what resulted. If you're like me and love to pilot challenging no-one-gets-any-toys Mono-Black decks, you'll have a great deal of fun with this one. It won't be the best, strongest, or most winning deck of its type, but that's not why you play this deck. You do it because you can, because you want to, and because you're more interested in fun than winning. I need to get around to building this one in paper; I think it'd be perfect for my playgroup.

The rate at which WoTC is releasing new products is so brisk, a lot of cards often get overlooked. The showcase, premium cards quickly rise to the top, and everyone writes about them. But there's a Commander deck in every Legendary Creature. It may not be the deck that will win every pod it plays in, but it can be fun and interesting and enjoyable to play with and against, plus it's sometimes nice when the deck doesn't just build itself. Torsten, Founder of Benalia is one of those Legendary Creatures which got overlooked. However, just because it doesn't immediately leap out of the binder with incredible stats or undercosted abilities or whatever doesn't mean it can't build a really interesting deck. I also took this opportunity to look at deck-building more holistically: we often just see where Wizards is pointing us, but there are a lot of parts to each card, and they're all worth considering. You could build at least four different decks around Torsten, and they'd all be interesting and fun builds.

I tend to be a fairly laid-back player, too. I like to play lots of different decks, I highly encourage coming up with goals for decks other than winning, and I try to be fun and easy to play with and against. However, sometimes it's fun to build something that's just nasty, and somehow a poison deck around Skrelv, Defector Mite was what came out. For some reason, poisoning people makes them really mad, and doing it in Mono-White with this innocent little 1/1 for White? Jerk move. This shouldn't be your only deck, but it or something like it should be in your stable for that time when everyone else pulls out the decks you hate to see across the table. Shove some poison down their throats and see how they like it! (Then go back to playing a fun game and being a cool player. No need to burn bridges.)

One thing I mention frequently is building with a theme or limitation. One such theme this year was a series of decks I built for my family, starting with this Trample-heavy list for my wife around Ruby, Daring Tracker. This is another example of a deck which would be great for a new player, especially if they're borrowing from you. It has huge Creatures, a relatively straightforward game plan, and enough game they'll actually feel like they did something. Whether it's this one or something like it, I recommend having a deck like this in your stable as well; something you enjoy playing but is easy enough to pick up with just a little instruction. You never know when a friend might come along and want to learn to play!

Finally, I'd like to lump three different articles together. All three of them talk about a specific aspect of deck-building: ramp, mana rocks, and card draw. There are lots of different ways to build a Commander deck, and how much of any given thing can be difficult to discern. I see all sorts of different numbers for how many Lands to run (it should be 40, by the way), how much ramp to run, what kinds of ramp (I once saw a writer bemoaning the fact that everyone she played with the night before was running "terrible, 3-mana ramp"), and how much card draw. I feel like the thing we hear the most is "run more Lands, run more ramp, and run more draw" and then we see the deck they built and it's got 35 Lands, two ramp spells, and nothing but incidental draw. Huh? These three articles attempt to lift the veil on some of these topics, and try to back it up with actual facts. I'd suggest you read them, but really I suggest you actually try adjusting your numbers: If you've been running your decks with 37 Lands, seriously go through and raise that number up to 40 in a couple of them, then try them out again and see if you don't find yourself with fewer mana issues. Try adjusting your ramp and rocks to really fit your deck's goals. Build in card draw and card advantage, even though it means running fewer "fun" things, and watch as your deck becomes more effective, efficient, and fun to play.

I hope you had a good 2023 and are looking forward to a better 2024. I appreciate each of you who reads my articles and hope you got something from them. I'll see you next week with my next series!

Thanks for reading.