Well, it’s about time! Remember the articles I did with Abe about how to teach new players to play commander in an effort to build the player pool? Shortly after completing that series, I built them in real life and put out feelers for who might want to try to learn this crazy game. I got good response, but it turns out getting four busy people together at the same time is a challenge! We did it, though, and learned a lot. Let me introduce the group.

This is Mary, holding her new Surrak Dragonclaw deck! She has a bunch of friends who play Magic, but had never played herself and has been interested to learn. She’s also a great friend and was really honest with me, which helped focus this first time attempt at this process.

Here’s Julia, with her new Johan deck! She’s played a few times but definitely considers herself a beginner. She also has a lot of friends who play and would like to learn more about this crazy game.

Finally, this is my pal James. He’s part of my weekly playgroup. He’s also a very good player of multiple formats and a creative deck-builder. Most importantly for this process, he’s kind and patient, which is great when trying to teach both a couple of newer players and help along the teacher. He played the blinky Obzedat, Ghost Council deck.

That left me with Zombie Chomp, which I was happy to test out — Abe’s decks are always clever and fun.

We played a single, hands-showing game in just under three hours. Unlike Abe’s test experience, neither of our two new players are serious gamers with lots of experience in CCGs or other game types. That meant some of the basics, like mana, mana cost, and the different colors, which make sense to people who play other TCGs or played a bit of Magic back in high school, were trickier to figure out. So we took our time and let the game play out naturally. Here are the lessons I came away with, some of which are similar to Abe’s, and some of which are a bit different:

• Mary wanted Surrak immediately, and Julia chose Johan. The idea of a fairly straightforward, large creature deck was appealing to the players with little or no experience with deck types. Both decks played relatively well.
• The game is plenty interesting with nothing but sorceries and creatures. We had a fun, swingy game and were never bored, despite lacking other card types. I suspect we are at least two more games away from wanting to add in even a single additional card type, and I bet I would add instants last, just to keep everything happening during the main phase. Even keywords on creatures (aside from flying) caused difficulty, although the new players were fine with it when we said “just ignore that for now” (like the Flash on Surrak). It always felt bad to the experienced players, but we had to remember the point of the session was to recruit and teach, not confuse.
• A chart listing the steps of a turn was very helpful; Julia had one and Mary found it, and both of them kept it up on their phones. There are many such charts and graphics available online, and Wizards includes a “how to play” poster in many of its products. Next time, I’ll bring that.
• Multiple colors and 100 card decks work fine for teaching, if you take it slowly and patiently. They help convey some of the excitement of the format we love.
• James felt, and I suspect rightly, that the Obzedat Blink deck was probably too challenging for a beginner and too strong for the rest of the field. It’s a player’s deck, so James with his years of experience had a great time with it, but ultimately the game ended with a combo from that deck, and there were just too many things to track for a new player. I frankly felt that way about the Zombie Chomp deck as well, though not to the same degree. It was a good demonstration of the tension between the complexity which makes the game interesting for experienced players and the simplicity needed to start new players. That said, I was glad our two learners had Surrak and Johan, and I suspect I’d keep it that way. There may be some value in replacing Obzedat and Zombie Chomp with some more creature- and bomb-heavy decks, so that the first few games are nothing but playing mana and swinging big dorks. This provides a slower game with fun interactions (should I swing my two 6/6 creatures into her 7/7?) without having to monitor much past power, toughness, and mana cost.
• On the other hand, in a situation like Abe’s, the two decks with in them may be great options, because people who spend much of their free time playing complicated board games and other CCGs are naturally going to be comfortable tracking a lot more information (this is why Magic players are often good at complicated games like Pandemic: Legacy). So there may be some value in considering who wants to learn before putting together the four decks to play.
• There is also a lot of flexibility in the decks. These are great shells, but there’s no need to build them exactly. The biggest key is to lean into simplicity — Abe’s substitution of Eternal Witness, for example, is great. The card is only weird when it first enters the battlefield, and it explains exactly what it does. Use your draft bulk.
• Giving the deck away is key, especially if the new players don’t have any cards. Mary actually said out loud after I gave her the deck “oh good! I was thinking this is worth trying again, but I wasn’t sure what to do without any cards.” It may end up costing you $10 or $20 worth of cards, but what is a new friend, or new regular player for your group, worth? I’d say a bunch more than that.

I’d like to share a couple more fun pictures. This is Mary playing a Gatecreeper Vine, her first creature ever:

And, in a fitting way for this to go, I was the first one knocked out of the game, and Mary killed me. Here’s the death blow, with Blaze.

Neither Mary nor Julia would likely ever want to play Standard or draft, but they both like the social and more casual aspects of Commander. I think they are good examples of the kinds of players who probably would not be attracted to learn another format, and the reason it is worthwhile to teach with a hundred cards.

One more final note before we wrap up this series. In the article where I introduced the Obzedat deck, I spent several paragraphs talking about different learning styles. The key point I drilled was this: don’t offer any more than necessary. Let the player ask for help, rather than offering before asked. Letting the new players guide how they learn will make sure they’re learning in the best way for them, rather than having to adjust to your way of teaching.

Well, I need to learn to take my own advice. I’m lucky to have such a great friend in Mary, because she told me clearly I was talking too much and needed to let her just try — that she’d ask if she needed help. She was right, I quieted down, and she walked away feeling like she had a grasp on the game, and was interested in playing again. So, despite my best efforts, success!

TL;DR

Consider your new player(s) and build according to their level of game experience. More advanced gamers can handle more complicated decks.

Explain mana, one land per turn, and the difference between creature and sorcery. Then start playing and let the player read the cards and try things. They’ll ask if they need help.

You don’t have to build these decks exactly. Use them as guides, and lean into simplicity.

Plan to give cards to the people you’re teaching. They need to walk away with their own decks.

I hope this series has been helpful and encouraged you to try teaching this game of ours to someone who’s been wanting to try. If you have any experience with teaching Magic — Commander or not, gamers or not, whatever — please leave them in the comments. Suggestions of how to do it well are especially welcome! Now get out there and teach some people to play.