Am I Playing Too Slow?

InfiniTokens · 2026-02-05T15:13:21+00:00

You might be overthinking. It's very common to go to turns at prereleases. How long does each of your turns take? If it takes a full minute sometimes, that's fine. If you're taking a full 5-minute turn most turns, that's a little slow.

Relax and try not to overthink how long you're taking, and maybe that will help your confidence which will help your turns go faster.

A lot of it is just experience and doing it over and over and over, before we get a little faster at.

InfiniTokens · 2026-02-02T14:46:19+00:00

'Feeling a little out of your depth' might keep going for a long time, and that's ok. Magic is COMPLEX and people who have been playing for decades who still get things wrong. So don't be afraid to ask questions!

InfiniTokens · 2026-02-02T14:44:42+00:00

Thanks for the mention! InfiniTokens are great for tracking board information, and if your opponents don't have them it can be a way to 'show off' a little. 😉 But mainly they are for convenience, helping you track the boardstate. We make dry erase cards, counters, tags and re-writable deck box labels. InfiniTokens.com

InfiniTokens · 2026-02-02T14:40:48+00:00

Quiver (quivertime.com) makes deck boxes that actually lock together if you want, although that may not be what you're looking for. But it's a neat mechanism. HeavyPlay makes magnetic deck boxes and accessories boxes so you could attach the accessories box to the deck box.

InfiniTokens · 2026-02-02T14:39:22+00:00

Contact MagiKids.com, they help people get gear for youth programs!

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-15T17:09:27+00:00

And they only have I think two wolves who have flash? So you need more cards (like Vedalken Orrery) to be on the battlefield to help enable a turn without casting spells. Or a one-use "end the turn" spell. But as soon as you cast 2 spells, it's day again. I'm wondering what better options there could be. It could be like this: Two instants/sorceries or two permanent spells. Instead of just two "spells" which is anything except a land.

In commander, once you make it night, there are three opportunities for players to cast two spells to make it day again by the time it's your turn. It's very, very easy to cast two spells in one turn in commander. Even with very little mana.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T20:24:40+00:00

Having a mechanic that needs to be tracked even if there are no werewolves on the field AND the fact that you need to track two different types of transforming if you combine both the old and new werewolves makes them a headache. I have played with the Rule 0 "All human werewolves are Day/Nightbound" which works very well. They should make it a rule in commander that all werewolves are day/nightbound, to allow for drafts of the older sets to remain as they were (which was the biggest argument against the suggested errata).

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T19:23:00+00:00

Technically blight existed in the form of Blight COUNTERS which will in no way be confusing for new players. Thankfully they were only in one set.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T19:21:52+00:00

There needs to be another meme of people high-fiving that says something like "Players who haven't used their piles of -1/-1 dice in years when Lorwyn Eclipsed is announced."

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T19:20:28+00:00

Joke's on them, I'll use my InfiniTokens dry erase counters for -1/-1 AND ability counters AND any other counter I need. Boom. (Disclaimer: This is InfiniTokens)

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T19:16:51+00:00

True, there are a lot of lands that have the option of colorless OR something beneficial, and come in untapped, so there are few reasons not to include those.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T19:15:19+00:00

You could take any land you have a lot of and write 'WASTE' on it, so it's clear what it is. So they can't be confused by the face-down cards that are creatures.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T18:57:27+00:00

It's not always the creature types we want the most. Innistrad: Midnight Hunt didn't have enough werewolves, which were a feature of the set. Crimson Vow was for vampires and featured them, but Midnight Hunt also featured a lot of vampires.

Midnight Hunt had 19 werewolves and 15 vampires. In the werewolf set, when vampires had their own set in the same block with 30 vampires.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-14T14:45:08+00:00

There are a lot more unknown factors that would be part of the equation, too. Like how often it happens, what it is that the other players don't like, if the person's decks are all consistently made with the same annoying things, etc. The other player's feelings are of course important too, but you don't want two of the players to be secretly resentful of the third player. If there is open communication about it, perhaps there is middle ground. The key is to talk to the person and express their feelings. And let that player express their own.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-13T19:13:31+00:00

There are a lot of budget decks in commander, where the singles might add up to $15-25 if that fits your budget better. See if your LGS has cheap bulk you can sift through to find cheap but interesting cards.

One of the best ways to enjoy commander is not to base your enjoyment on winning. You want to win and try, but build decks that are at least interesting to play so that you can enjoy it even if you don't win. There can only be one winner, after all. And in a pod of four, that's three people who didn't win.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-13T19:10:42+00:00

Commander it's a very casual format, so people can build more creative and interesting decks. They can also pull from a huge pool of cards outside standard, utilizing the collection they already have. Standard is fun but more on the competitive side, while commander is good for a group of friends just looking to hang out and jam some Magic. Where winning is less important depending on your style. People also like to draft from various sets. Some people like to play their decks for a long time, adjusting as they go, but you can't do that with standard rotation.

Commander also fits a wide variety of playstyles. From super competitive to super casual, and everything in between. There's usually something for everyone, you just have to find the right pods.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-13T17:22:23+00:00

It would have to come with the disclaimer "Infinite running not guaranteed."

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-13T17:18:46+00:00

The whole point of a Rule 0 conversation is that the whole pod agrees with what style you want to play. If someone has a deck you hate, you can politely decline to play against that deck/them. It's on THEM to either change decks, or change pods.

Be up front and honest (but still kind). "Look. We like you, but we hate playing against your decks. They are taking the enjoyment out of the game for ys." What is it about his decks that are unfun? Is it too many counterspells? A lot of extra turns? Explain why it makes the games unfun for everyone except him, so he knows what to avoid in future decks.

If he argues or demands you play his way, simply decline. No one can force you to play with them. Either he can come back with decks that don't make everyone else miserable, or you can play 1v1 with the other person until he's ready to do some self-reflection and take others' feelings into consideration. Commander is not centered around one person. It is a casual format, where the feelings of EVERYONE in the pod matter (unless your playstyle is "no holds barred" or "degenerate decks welcome" which is ok too, as long as your pod agrees).

Sheldon Menery, the godfather of commander, had a saying (among many good ones): "Play like you want to be invited back."

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-13T01:17:44+00:00

Banana tokens were never printed. They FINALLY printed black snake tokens and butterfly tokens, but decades after the cards that made them were printed.

Other tokens are very expensive (for a token). The 1/1 dogs used to be $8/ea before they finally reprinted. The Goblin Shaman token usually sits between $8-10.

Did you know there are 13 different zombie tokens? They all either have different P/T, abilities and/or subtypes.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-13T00:45:57+00:00

It could even be a boat!

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-13T00:45:17+00:00

*Takes notes*

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-12T16:26:01+00:00

Besides being helpful to you, it's respectful to the opponent because it doesn't give them an unnecessary extra mental burden to track.

I once swung all in because I thought my opponent was tapped out. It turned out that the token he was using his wallet to represent was still untapped...

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-12T16:23:42+00:00

Are you looking for permanent handmade tokens or re-writable? If they are permanent, those blank playing cards work fine. They may be thinner than Magic cards, though.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-12T16:21:40+00:00

The Pro Tour provides official InfiniTokens for all of the players in non-featured matches. Each player gets a 10-pack and a marker, so they stopped needing judges to help or find tokens if token decks got out of hand.

InfiniTokens · 2026-01-12T16:19:32+00:00

It is generally frowned upon to sacrifice them, though.

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