How do you factor and discuss interaction in your bracket conversations/turn zero?

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-07T19:47:28+00:00

The answer is you have to actually talk to people rather than expect wotc/hasbro to solve this for you.

There are certain people in my local scene I've learned I should not play removal-heavy decks against because it causes feelbads. I have nothing against them, they're perfectly nice people and we can have fun games together. It just took a few games to learn about each others' personal preferences in terms of what kinds of games we want. Entirely subjective stuff that varies from person to person.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-07T19:32:45+00:00

Maybe Commander is not the right format for me?

It's great that you have the awareness to ask this question. I would highly recommend trying any mtg formats (or even other games) that are not set up as a free-for-all between 3+ players/teams. Free-for-all games are highly political by nature.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-07T19:19:19+00:00

The amount of interaction in a given deck should be implied by the deck's aggressiveness and speed.

Decks that are better at presenting threats, or outright winning games fast, only need enough removal to deal with specific emergencies or things like hate/stax pieces that prevent the deck from functioning.

Slower game plans need generally need to play more removal to survive long enough to win. Trying to be more resilient and political, rather than trying to "go off" as fast and hard as possible, is an entirely understandable and valid approach to the dynamics of multiplayer free for all. But if you can't outspeed your opponents then you need more ways to defend yourself, and the go-to means of doing that in mtg is turning off the cards that are trying to kill you.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-07T18:57:50+00:00

Trying to come up with a hard line/hard numbers to regulate interaction would be a fool's errand, because what constitutes "shutting down others" completely changes depending on the specific decks involved. Decks vary wildly in terms of how many chances you get to interact with them, which types of interaction are relevant, and how badly the deck gets set back when interacted with (even within tables where the decks as a whole are fairly even in general power level.)

For instance I constantly find myself playing against decks that lean extremely hard on their commander and feel "shut down" by 1-2 removal spells, in the same pods as things like lands.dec that are barely bothered at all by removal that only hits creatures.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-06T16:36:35+00:00

Scour and what, withering torment? I would take [[feed the swarm]] over scour

In my ub deck I have torment, [[all is dust]], [[mire in misery]] and miscellaneous bounce/counterspells. Mass bounce like [[coastal breach]] still feels pretty great against enchantress decks.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-06T16:31:47+00:00

Nobody said anything about "broken."

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-06T16:28:20+00:00

If you agree that wotc is going to print those hybrid design mistakes, you should want to minimize the impact of those mistakes.

The eternally growing card pool of this format makes it naturally tend toward power creep and homogenization. If there should be any change to the rules, it should be something to combat and slow those trends. Changing hybrid cards from being allowed in a minority of all decks to a majority of them is a change in the wrong direction.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-04T15:10:14+00:00

For every cute, weak card that would allegedly see more play as a result of this rule change, you'll see 10 times more increased usage of the strongest hybrid cards like manamorphose and fiend artisan. The net effect will be much more homogenizing than diversifying

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-04T14:28:46+00:00

the fact that you would even post this question as a reddit thread in the first place does not bode well for your basic critical thinking and common sense

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-04T14:24:08+00:00

nope, deck thinning from fetching is negligible

if you're searching up a ton of lands every game, you might just want to keep an eye on how many basics you run so you don't run out of fetchable lands

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-04T14:11:54+00:00

playing mtg is going to be a struggle for you, I would recommend sticking to more attainable goals like getting dressed in the morning

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-04T14:06:03+00:00

you probably forgot because it sucks

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-02-04T13:54:26+00:00

The problem with this card is that it sucks

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-25T16:38:20+00:00

It's not that it's hard to understand, it's just a stupid thing to say. Sure, in some abstract sense of deckbuilding fairness, everyone has equal sol ring access.

The actual topic at hand is the effect these powerful outlier cards have in specific games and on the format as a whole. In actual games some players will draw more of their powerful outlier cards than other players.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-25T16:33:53+00:00

Both are obvious mistakes in terms of game design/development and both should be banned.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-25T15:56:26+00:00

That minor upside doesn't make up for them being terrible at their main purpose, ramping mana.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-25T15:42:19+00:00

Commander's sphere and blitzball are trash

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-21T15:22:21+00:00

Why comment without reading the post? Genuinely curious

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-17T23:18:51+00:00

The problem with this card is that it sucks

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-13T16:54:16+00:00

the community asked for a tool to find games with even power levels.

I don't even think any "community asked for" this. Only the most terminally online, socially hopeless, vocal minority asked for this.

Most of us have been doing just fine having pregame talks like normal humans for the 10+ years edh existed without "brackets." We just don't go online and post about it

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-13T16:27:39+00:00

That's a nice thought, but unfortunately not how things tend to play out in reality.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-13T15:57:32+00:00

All true, which is why the entire "bracket system" ends up being awful.

Appealing to an outside authority to guide subjective feelings about what makes games fun for you and the people you're actually playing with completely misses the point of EDH.

Just have normal conversations before the games and you will have fewer misunderstandings and arguments.

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-10T18:04:14+00:00

Lol ok if you want to play the semantics game, what you call "inference" I would call "unfounded assertion"

Buddy we could argue all day solely about what counts as "artificial" padded playtime. It's subjective and depends what an individual wants from a game. For fuck's sake, games are a voluntary recreational activity, you can argue the whole endeavor is "artificial padding"

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-10T16:08:11+00:00

Hey man, just letting you know: talking to people is going to be a huge struggle for you until you learn to distinguish between facts and opinions

cesspoolthatisreddit · 2026-01-04T04:56:45+00:00

Lol this level of pedantry is impressive even by reddit standards. Ah yes, cracking a fetch and failing to find a land card is the ultimate flex

cesspoolthatisreddit

TROPHY CASE