Magic: The Gatheringplayers have been sharing their biggest bugbears when it comes to playing the game’s most popular format. From inattentive players to constant moaners, there’s a lot people find irritating when playing Commander.
Commander, also known as EDH,is a social format where four players build decks around their favourite legendary creatures. It’s a lot slower and, ideally, less competitive than regular constructed MTG, focusing on the play experience and ensuring everyone has a good time over necessarily winning the game efficiently.
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Discussing theirpet peeves in the /r/EDH subreddit, Commander players have been particularly vocal about people who “quiet cast” – play their cards without announcing it to the table. This can happen when a table is particularly chatty, leading some people to quietly take their turn instead of interrupting the flow of conversation.
“Hate this. Information has to be shared”says 29aout, while others defended the move, such asdownvote_dinosaur, who replied with their own pet peeve of “Opponents having side conversations and complaining when they didn’t hear when you clearly announced what you’re playing”.
Another common complaint, ironically, was players complaining when faced with any kind of hurdle to them winning the game. For example,AeroTheFallenAngeldescribed a player in their group whose Dragon deck can pop off and take out the entire table in a matter of turns, however will become “visibly upset when any part of his combo gets countered”. Of course, in true Magic fashion, many people had their own take on this kind of behaviour, such aslong92saying “if someone complains, I target them more. The squeaky wheel gets the grease”.
Interestingly, the idea of ‘Commander politics’ was also called out. As Commander is a social, multiplayer format, it isn’t uncommon for players to make deals or try and fly under the radar of their opponents until they’re strong enough to win the game. However, this mindset was criticised, such as byAmdizzlin, who described it as “more tryhard than [Competitive Commander] builds a lot of the time. I think manipulating people in a casual environment is pretty cringe, personally”.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. Some posters pointed out positive experiences.Theblackvneckdescribed a player in their local group who “models good behaviour” for them, by being honest about their board state and not trying to politic their way out of having their own pieces removed. There was alsoBadUsername2028, who mentioned games they’ve enjoyed despite not winning, saying “my favourite games were my deck fending off their alliance, oftentimes finally getting overpowered and defeated by really cool players or neat synergies”.
Personally, my least favourite Commander player habit is when people try and do the maths on other people’s combat steps. If I’m sat trying to work out how much damage is going everybody’s way, the last thing I need is somebody spouting off numbers in my ear as they try and work out their own blockers. Just sit and wait for me to tell you what’s coming your way, and we’ll get through the entire combat step a lot quicker.
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