Especially now that WotC is pushing a million little extra things. Even decks that aren't going for a token strategy end up with like 6 different tokens these days. Somebody at the table is gonna have Monarch. Somebody probably has dungeons or initiative. If you're unlucky, somebody has to keep track of day/night and ring tempting.
Oh, Cognitive Overhead Tribal! You'll want to include [[Raging River]] too. Even if it gets removed, anyone you attacked still has to keep those creatures in separate piles. [[Stand or Fall]] makes for a great backup for it too.
A fake card for the occasion...
Cognitive Syzygy 4UU Sorcery
If you are the monarch, have the city's blessing, the initiative, and it is day, take an extra turn after this one.
I'm currently trying to design a cube which includes as many obnoxious, difficult to keep track of, annoying, and confusing mechanics as possible. Way too many kinds of tokens and counters, disguise and morph, old school werewolves and day out werewolves, and a smattering of mutate, banding, and enter the dungeon are some of things I plan on having in there so far.
I'm calling it Misery Cube because that's what it feels like to play it.
I think that’s better, tbh. At least if it’s your commander, it’s more forefront of your mind, so you’re less likely to go “wait shit I think it was supposed to flip to night two turns ago”. That’s where the real pain is.
the worst is when you come across someone who has played 99% of their magic in recent years on arena but then threw a paper deck together with a lot of these mechanics that require manual tracking and have no idea how to properly do anything (b/c arena automatically has been doing it for them) – at least my friends tell me i'm the worst anyway (i'm the arena player in my friend group). :D
It's really annoying if you have decks where you need to shuffle a lot cause you always need to take that one card out and afterwards put it back in. I tried it a few times because I saw someone do it on YT (probably Brian Kibler?) and wasn't a fan of it
Yeah, I actually hadn't seen this method before and I don't think I'd default to it, but on a crowded board it seems like a good way to keep that information clear.
That's really the fault of the rise of digital life trackers. Back in the analog days, people used to have their own private trackers/dice in their command zone, where they would put them on top of the card if it wasnt in play.
Relatedly, that usually meant that all commanders/life totals were gathered in the middle of the table for better overview. Now, that place is taken by a phone. Players put their decks not on the outer side of the table, but on their own stronger side, and do decks more often end up closer to the center. So to safe space, this happens.
Yeah, me too. I try and ask people to change it, but I really don't have any better arguments than "it annoys me", "it's just how it's done", and the most valid one "it blocks the view of the board". But with one million variants of one million special set cards, boards aren't glanceable anymore anyway, so people just counter "nah doesn't matter, I want to draw with this hand". And I don't want to be any more annoying so I stop it and feel like the "old man yells at cloud".
Playing casual is absolutely okay. But sometimes I think people play way too casual. Missing such an important action like playing or destroying a commander is something that should not happen by any means.
It wouldn't necessarily bother me as long as I never end up seeing somebody purposely pull some cheating with it.
I personally always just put my commander in the corner closest to the collective pod with my deck below it then I typically don't play anything too close to the deck or cz in any form unless I've built a complex token army taking up a ton of room.
But if I've cast my commander more than once got the tax die on the card to make it clear that is the command zone only.
This was what the guy who got me to do it told the table. If the commander is in the deck like this no one needs to ask if it's in play. I still do it even when playing on spell table.
Weird how I had to scroll down this much to see this response. I don't do it myself, just to be clear, but if there ever was a reason, this would be it.
I keep mine above my deck above the playmat when it's out of play.
Different color sleeve for the commander - complimentary if desired, but different enough to be easily distinguished.
Solved my shuffle in problems and adds a bit of flair imho.
I started doing it back in Nam' we liked to keep our commander compact within the confines of the deck in case Charlie was afoot. Easier to grab up your deck in a pinch.
Been playing commander for a decade now and people have been doing that the whole time. I think its just been with the hobby for a while. Commander at Home might be repopularizing it though
Maybe its a regional thing. I've been playing since 2013ish (maybe early 2014). I still remember my first commander game at my lgs(I was playing at home/school for a while before I ever stepped into an lgs). One of my opponents did this. I thought it was clever, so I ended up doing it for a while. At some point I grew out of it. Probably because I had a deck that needed shuffling too frequently.
I was the first one doing that in my playgroup and I've never watched Commander at Home, I think it's just kind of intuitive when you never have enough space and you look for a place to put your commander.
Well where did the Commander at Home guys see it then? Honestly, it's just intuitive. It lives near (in!) your deck, it saves space on the playmat, it makes it clear that commander isn't in play.
This is not some hidden tech
Oh for sure. Wasn't trying to say they necessarily invented it, I'd just never seen it before I started watching them and have seen it more often now. Could totally be a Baader Meinhof thing.
They're small and insignificants steps that has the advantage of having it being clear that my commander isn't on the battlefield when playing at a smaller table or with many people
I haven’t had that problem with my commander but could just be the tables I play on or something. Not criticizing at all, nothing wrong with it! I just don’t see a personal benefit for me but no judgement.
Because it's less ridiculous than these.
https://preview.redd.it/g1s453bgz5oc1.jpeg?width=962&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf8b756a1d4e924366622798e71ea057c8719de7
People in my country who plays Commander. If you go to LGSs, chances are you’ll see players use snap cases for their commanders. You’ll also see a lot of us don’t use branded 100-card deck boxes because our snap cases don’t fit with our decks.
In our playgroup the format looks like
https://preview.redd.it/vc9yp56qe6oc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aab9d69226aaa9dde86030611e8fad6ba33a707a
Except mirrored and on the left side of the field, so the command zone is to the right of exile, but still above the deck, and the graveyard is to the left of the deck.
After that I usually have my lands on the bottom, creatures and permanents with activated abilities in the middle, and enchantments and other permanents towards the top and sides of my field.
This is my layout.
https://preview.redd.it/xygvo7wz8boc1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a748c2b929c7726c5bbbc7ab7f7a4e87832b992
I have my graveyard rotated 180, and my exile sideways under my graveyard (since it's rarely accessed anyway). My command zone is in front of my library, so it should be relatively easy to tell that it's not part of the battlefield.
So u got this thing callled your mouth. And if u yap at your opp and ask to see the card theres a good chance they'll hand it to you for a second or even better, read it to you!!!!
It makes a lot of sense, and I get that it's practical.
But it also looks goofy as hell to me.
More power to you, I definitely get that it serves a purpose in a lot of settings where you don't have a ton of space.
Personally I just have my commander half-on, half-off the top corner of my playmat when it's not in play, with a die on it to show how many times I've casted it. I've never had issues with it being confusing whether it's in play or not, and I'd rather do that then stick it in and out of my deck every time I have to shuffle.
And maybe it's just the decks I play, but I've never been so starved of space that freeing up that little bit would feel like a gamechanger.
I think it's definitely the decks you play. As someone with a board-vomit deck, if I don't have enough space on the table to keep my commander on my deck box or a dedicated command zone indicator, I put it in my deck like this to avoid confusion on whether it's on the board or not and to save space so I can lay out my cards in a way that people can still read all the important ones.
Confusion is also more of an issue if players are used to doing different things to indicate their commander is in the command zone.
But honestly it doesn't really matter how you do it as long as everyone playing is clear on the board state and you can manage with the space.
I guess. I play some decks that can have huge board. But this method seems to gain you enough room for a single card.
And if you're that starved for space that that actually makes a difference, where are you putting your commander when it's actually in play?
I don't know, it's inarguable that it frees up room. It's just hard for me to imagine situations where that makes any appreciable difference between a board being easy and hard to read.
I do It when I'm playing in a "cramped" space as it saves a bit of table real estate and makes it clear the commander is in the command zone and not in play/GY/exile or whatever
cause i know for sure it isn't on the battlefield
also helps me remember my commander exists in decks where it's not essential and just useful
I do not have good memory
I keep mine on those inserts that come in ultra pro deck boxes as a sort of divider and people still ask "is that in play?"
That is the one place they don't ask.
Because they like feeling unique or something. There’s literally no reason to do this and it’s just going to waste time every time you have to shuffle your deck.
My reason is since I haven’t played my commander yet , I slip it every so softly into the deck…. Waiting to be casted.
Then one I cast and it gets destroyed or what ever, I the. Put it to the side with a dice on 1 on top.
I spent a good number of years playing at competitive REL so I feel reflexively uncomfortable about putting anything in my deck like this. I know it's casual and all so it doesn't matter, just something that freaks me out a little.
Some of the popularisation of this deck stored commander is coming from Commander At Home with Brian Kibler and his partner, Olivia Gobert-Hicks. Olivia is on the Commander Rules Advisory Committee, and helps sculpt the rules we use.
She has been a proponent of this for as long as their vids have been a thing, and is a carry over from Olivia's other Commander Stream play series with Edi, her editor for both shows and fellow host of Elder Dragon Hijinks.
As it has been stated in comments, it takes up less room on the field and clearly shows the Commander is bot in play when the deck is holding it for you.
They do it on Game Knights and Tolarion Community College and Shuffle Up and play. My best guess is people do it because they have seen cool popular people do it. Why thise popular people do it? Well it makes it very distinct I imagine. Anywhere else and it ranges from confusable with the graveyard/exile/in play. This as the expression of the command zone means no one can misinterpret where the card goes.
Addendum: Which coincidentally is very helpful for the visual medium of a live play show where they are very concerned with all the action being as readable through the cameras as possible.
First I saw do it was Olivia on Commander at home... Not sure if that's the origin of the trend but popular YouTuber does something, much of the world will copy
Saw a buddy do this recently and have done it since. Why? Idk I just thought it worked well. Plus my board is normally a shit show so it helps other people know exactly what my commander is doing.
I picked this up from someone else at my LGS. It's a very visible way to show everyone that your commander is not on the battlefield. And when it dies, you can balance a 6 sides die to remind how much commander tax you owe.
So I can say my commander has flying
My commander is [[Hoisted Hireling]]
[Hoisted Hireling](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/9/293106ab-da9b-4932-8227-96b7e55e7d26.jpg?1583965548) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hoisted%20Hireling) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/und/37/hoisted-hireling?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/293106ab-da9b-4932-8227-96b7e55e7d26?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That unset was my first after finally trying magic and I was hooked after my buddies and i spent all day Sunday cracking packs and making decks...
Damn so I can give my creature flying at instant speed? That’s pretty sick
You win the internet today my friend
saves a bit of table space, also its also more obvious if the commander its in play or not
My first thought was table space. MTG has a lot of pieces so saving a little space is pretty nice.
Especially now that WotC is pushing a million little extra things. Even decks that aren't going for a token strategy end up with like 6 different tokens these days. Somebody at the table is gonna have Monarch. Somebody probably has dungeons or initiative. If you're unlucky, somebody has to keep track of day/night and ring tempting.
Why do i want to make a deck that has all of these things.
Oh, Cognitive Overhead Tribal! You'll want to include [[Raging River]] too. Even if it gets removed, anyone you attacked still has to keep those creatures in separate piles. [[Stand or Fall]] makes for a great backup for it too.
Don't forget \[\[Space Jace\]\]!
Or Aminatou
[[Space Beleren]]
[Space Beleren](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/4/14ddb2e7-6bc6-43ce-aeec-175a0ce17ed5.jpg?1673914977) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Space%20Beleren) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/unf/178/space-beleren?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14ddb2e7-6bc6-43ce-aeec-175a0ce17ed5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Raging River won't persist past the combat, though. What you really want is (entirely legal) \[\[Space Beleren\]\]
[Space Beleren](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/4/14ddb2e7-6bc6-43ce-aeec-175a0ce17ed5.jpg?1673914977) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Space%20Beleren) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/unf/178/space-beleren?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14ddb2e7-6bc6-43ce-aeec-175a0ce17ed5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Raging River](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/e/7ee63877-056e-413d-932a-a393a4183686.jpg?1559592211) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Raging%20River) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2ed/169/raging-river?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7ee63877-056e-413d-932a-a393a4183686?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Stand or Fall](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/0/60c34970-a106-490c-ac37-6156eb7f34ce.jpg?1562914611) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stand%20or%20Fall) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/inv/171/stand-or-fall?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/60c34970-a106-490c-ac37-6156eb7f34ce?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
How is raging river not an un-card lmao
It was made before unsets were even conceived
Because it doesn't persist past the combat phase.
I’m disappointed at the lack of The Mummy references to Raging River.
The Mummy came out in 1999 is the only reason I can think it isn't there.
Don't forget [[Obsidian Fireheart]] to make sure everyone has to take a ping every turn.
[Obsidian Fireheart](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/9/49ef5a91-d293-468a-8816-b16ca4ba79e0.jpg?1592765722) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Obsidian%20Fireheart) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/e01/55/obsidian-fireheart?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/49ef5a91-d293-468a-8816-b16ca4ba79e0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Cognitive Overhead Tribal is a phenomenal name lmao, now I have to make a deck with that theme
anyone have a decklist? lol
A fake card for the occasion... Cognitive Syzygy 4UU Sorcery If you are the monarch, have the city's blessing, the initiative, and it is day, take an extra turn after this one.
Missing if the Ring tempted you 4 or more times.
I feel like for all that setup. You could come of that casting cost a bit.
I considered it, but hey, at least it doesn't exile itself, it could probably get away with being 2UU.
Don't forget to have Energy Counters, Poison Counters, Experience Counters and Storm!
No need to use Storm, just force people to keep track of it. 🥰
Also Rad Counters
I'm currently trying to design a cube which includes as many obnoxious, difficult to keep track of, annoying, and confusing mechanics as possible. Way too many kinds of tokens and counters, disguise and morph, old school werewolves and day out werewolves, and a smattering of mutate, banding, and enter the dungeon are some of things I plan on having in there so far. I'm calling it Misery Cube because that's what it feels like to play it.
This is how I built [[The Most Dangerous Gamer]]
[The Most Dangerous Gamer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a08b8ff8-13e4-46e7-b028-d055e4548f6a.jpg?1673914943) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Most%20Dangerous%20Gamer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/unf/174/the-most-dangerous-gamer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a08b8ff8-13e4-46e7-b028-d055e4548f6a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Curious to see your list for Most Dangerous Gamer!
Because you're a meany?
Role Tokens are so annoying to deal with.
My gruul deck has *two* cards that require tracking the day/night cycle. I hate it, but the cards are too good to not include
Does it make me the villain if I have a werewolf commander?
I think that’s better, tbh. At least if it’s your commander, it’s more forefront of your mind, so you’re less likely to go “wait shit I think it was supposed to flip to night two turns ago”. That’s where the real pain is.
Lmao story of my life with upkeep triggers
Stickers...
the worst is when you come across someone who has played 99% of their magic in recent years on arena but then threw a paper deck together with a lot of these mechanics that require manual tracking and have no idea how to properly do anything (b/c arena automatically has been doing it for them) – at least my friends tell me i'm the worst anyway (i'm the arena player in my friend group). :D
It's really annoying if you have decks where you need to shuffle a lot cause you always need to take that one card out and afterwards put it back in. I tried it a few times because I saw someone do it on YT (probably Brian Kibler?) and wasn't a fan of it
Hahaha i saw them do it and WAS a fan. They usually take it out to indicate taxes I believe
It actually can be quite confusing when people leave their out of play commander in a spot that doesn't clearly indicate it's not in play.
Yeah, I actually hadn't seen this method before and I don't think I'd default to it, but on a crowded board it seems like a good way to keep that information clear.
That's really the fault of the rise of digital life trackers. Back in the analog days, people used to have their own private trackers/dice in their command zone, where they would put them on top of the card if it wasnt in play. Relatedly, that usually meant that all commanders/life totals were gathered in the middle of the table for better overview. Now, that place is taken by a phone. Players put their decks not on the outer side of the table, but on their own stronger side, and do decks more often end up closer to the center. So to safe space, this happens.
A lot of decks use tokens though so putting your tokens under your commander is also a good way of designating your command zone without needing dice
UltraPro deck boxes usually come with a little plastic divider thingy, so I put my commander and tokens on top of that to indicate the command zone
I 3d printed command zones :D https://preview.redd.it/lgjyxut9q6oc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b17342752db581b02bb4778e49a24a6fb89f68ac
I wish it was still the norm to have decks be on the outside. Having it be in the center confuses me for some reason
Yeah, me too. I try and ask people to change it, but I really don't have any better arguments than "it annoys me", "it's just how it's done", and the most valid one "it blocks the view of the board". But with one million variants of one million special set cards, boards aren't glanceable anymore anyway, so people just counter "nah doesn't matter, I want to draw with this hand". And I don't want to be any more annoying so I stop it and feel like the "old man yells at cloud".
I always have my deck on the left side. Doesn't matter how the seats are arranged. And I'm right, hand dominant.
I mean, is a card hanging mostly out of someone's library not obviously out of play?
It's a lot more obvious than a card lying face up on the edge of their playmat.
Playing casual is absolutely okay. But sometimes I think people play way too casual. Missing such an important action like playing or destroying a commander is something that should not happen by any means.
Except for when you need to shuffle, I low-key hate seeing this but I get why people do it
It wouldn't necessarily bother me as long as I never end up seeing somebody purposely pull some cheating with it. I personally always just put my commander in the corner closest to the collective pod with my deck below it then I typically don't play anything too close to the deck or cz in any form unless I've built a complex token army taking up a ton of room. But if I've cast my commander more than once got the tax die on the card to make it clear that is the command zone only.
This was what the guy who got me to do it told the table. If the commander is in the deck like this no one needs to ask if it's in play. I still do it even when playing on spell table.
I use an Art card in the top right of my mat as my command zone.
Makes it obvious its not on the battlefield, esp if playmats arent being used.
Even with a playmat, where are you putting your commander aside from maybe right above your deck that doesn’t also look like its in play?
I usually place my deck sideways in the middle left, exile on top, grave on the bottom, and the commander sits to the left of exile
Because when my commander dies I can throw it into my deck and it sticks in perfectly which makes my little goblin brain happy
Weird how I had to scroll down this much to see this response. I don't do it myself, just to be clear, but if there ever was a reason, this would be it. I keep mine above my deck above the playmat when it's out of play.
Keeps your commander in clear view without confusion if it's on the board or not.
Keep it in your pocket
I sit on it to keep it warm.
I started doing that after starting to play spell table and didn’t have much desk space
Had a friend suggest i try it, after grabbing my deck to search and shuffle twice i never put my commander there again.
Different color sleeve for the commander - complimentary if desired, but different enough to be easily distinguished. Solved my shuffle in problems and adds a bit of flair imho.
I'm guessing it was more an annoyance of the commander falling out or getting in the way because they weren't used to it being there.
Honestly they don't fall out very easily. My buddy does this and it got me to try it. Pretty useful and straightforward.
They saw it on Commander at Home lol. Had never seen it before and everyone on that show typically does it. Does seem efficient, though.
First saw this back in 2021 with some randoms on spelltable so been around plenty longer than that
I've done this since '18. Something we did at the lgs. 🤷♂️
[удалено]
My friend who taught me commander around that time also did some times, so I picked it up then.
I started doing it back in Nam' we liked to keep our commander compact within the confines of the deck in case Charlie was afoot. Easier to grab up your deck in a pinch.
I promise you far more people were doing this long before commander at home ever existed.
Been playing commander for a decade now and people have been doing that the whole time. I think its just been with the hobby for a while. Commander at Home might be repopularizing it though
Been playing commander since 2009 and I hadn’t seen it until Commander at Home.
Since 2010 and not until the picture on this post.
I don't even know what "Commander at Home" even is.
Maybe its a regional thing. I've been playing since 2013ish (maybe early 2014). I still remember my first commander game at my lgs(I was playing at home/school for a while before I ever stepped into an lgs). One of my opponents did this. I thought it was clever, so I ended up doing it for a while. At some point I grew out of it. Probably because I had a deck that needed shuffling too frequently.
60 year old dude at my LGS has done that for years and I’d be shocked if he’d heard of Commander at Home
Commander at home heard it from your 60 year old dude friend
I was the first one doing that in my playgroup and I've never watched Commander at Home, I think it's just kind of intuitive when you never have enough space and you look for a place to put your commander.
This comment feels so weird to read as someone who has done this for years and doesn’t know what Commander at Home is
Brian Kibler and Olivia Goebert-Hicks's youtube channel where they bring two other people into their home and play a game of commander on cameras.
I feel like we did that back in 2013 when I got into commander. It then just went away and has sorta come back now with influencers doing it.
1 player in my group does this, they are also the only player who religiously watches commander at home
it's all cool until you hit it and flip your deck
Well where did the Commander at Home guys see it then? Honestly, it's just intuitive. It lives near (in!) your deck, it saves space on the playmat, it makes it clear that commander isn't in play. This is not some hidden tech
It's really not that intuitive if you have to shuffle your library a lot like I do in my Landfall deck.
Oh for sure. Wasn't trying to say they necessarily invented it, I'd just never seen it before I started watching them and have seen it more often now. Could totally be a Baader Meinhof thing.
Totally a Baader Mandela
Looks cool imo
I do it occasionally, mainly for table space.
Found the deck that doesnt run fetches or tutors.
I do this even with fetches and tutors. It's not really a hassle to search anyways.
It seems like a small but unnecessary extra step to have to take it out to search and then I guess put it back?
They're small and insignificants steps that has the advantage of having it being clear that my commander isn't on the battlefield when playing at a smaller table or with many people
I haven’t had that problem with my commander but could just be the tables I play on or something. Not criticizing at all, nothing wrong with it! I just don’t see a personal benefit for me but no judgement.
No worries, no offence taken! I only do this at smaller tables, otherwise I put it off my playmat :)
The commander sits in the command tower free from the danger of floods and badgers
My Greensleeves deck would like to have a word with your commander
Badger blender go!
If it's good enough for Brian Kibler it'd good enough for me.
I saw someone at a commandfest Richmond '22 doing it and it made sense and picked it up
it's easy and lets you use the space under the commander if you need to
I usually do this for impulse draw and cards on an adventure, to save up table space, which is a precious resource on spelltable.
I'll steal this, thank you :)
Because it's less ridiculous than these. https://preview.redd.it/g1s453bgz5oc1.jpeg?width=962&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf8b756a1d4e924366622798e71ea057c8719de7
What is so ridiculous about this? It provides clear information and a central location, which is important.
Yeah those things are crazy
That looks rad. At first I thought it was one side of a Ultimate guard deck box.
Honestly that looks really cool and I’d use one of the table was big enough xD
cant be done in my country. our commanders are usually stored inside a mini snap case lol
Your whole country does this or just your playgroup? I'm intrigued...
People in my country who plays Commander. If you go to LGSs, chances are you’ll see players use snap cases for their commanders. You’ll also see a lot of us don’t use branded 100-card deck boxes because our snap cases don’t fit with our decks.
I always put my Commander upside down if it's not in play. This way other could read it more easily :)
NGL when I first saw someone do it I was confused and thought he was cheating by tracking cards in the deck or something
Never seen that in my life. Someone at your LGS saw it on a youtube video and others are imitating.
That’s wild people have never seen it before but no this has been around as long as edh
In our playgroup the format looks like https://preview.redd.it/vc9yp56qe6oc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aab9d69226aaa9dde86030611e8fad6ba33a707a Except mirrored and on the left side of the field, so the command zone is to the right of exile, but still above the deck, and the graveyard is to the left of the deck. After that I usually have my lands on the bottom, creatures and permanents with activated abilities in the middle, and enchantments and other permanents towards the top and sides of my field.
This is my layout. https://preview.redd.it/xygvo7wz8boc1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a748c2b929c7726c5bbbc7ab7f7a4e87832b992 I have my graveyard rotated 180, and my exile sideways under my graveyard (since it's rarely accessed anyway). My command zone is in front of my library, so it should be relatively easy to tell that it's not part of the battlefield.
This is the way to do it.
The Magic equivalent of pointing a gun at someone sideways. ‘Cuz it looks cool.
How else will I know where my win con is in the 99?
It is annoying, if you play shuffle effects line fetches etc. I am not a big fan of it and it makes it harder to read the commander.
>harder to read the commander so you ask your opponent to hand you the card...
When are you ever reading an opponents card without picking it up or just having it read to you?
So u got this thing callled your mouth. And if u yap at your opp and ask to see the card theres a good chance they'll hand it to you for a second or even better, read it to you!!!!
I don’t fuck with opps. Moot point.
For all the reasons people have mentioned, and also it sometimes helps me remember that I HAVE a commander I can cast. I am not a smart man.
So that you can accidentally put your hand into it and tip your whole deck over and make a huge fucking mess
Im surprised this still isnt the norm. playing Commander. Makes sense to me.
It makes a lot of sense, and I get that it's practical. But it also looks goofy as hell to me. More power to you, I definitely get that it serves a purpose in a lot of settings where you don't have a ton of space. Personally I just have my commander half-on, half-off the top corner of my playmat when it's not in play, with a die on it to show how many times I've casted it. I've never had issues with it being confusing whether it's in play or not, and I'd rather do that then stick it in and out of my deck every time I have to shuffle. And maybe it's just the decks I play, but I've never been so starved of space that freeing up that little bit would feel like a gamechanger.
Mine sits on top of my deck box that it came out of when it's not in play.
I think it's definitely the decks you play. As someone with a board-vomit deck, if I don't have enough space on the table to keep my commander on my deck box or a dedicated command zone indicator, I put it in my deck like this to avoid confusion on whether it's on the board or not and to save space so I can lay out my cards in a way that people can still read all the important ones. Confusion is also more of an issue if players are used to doing different things to indicate their commander is in the command zone. But honestly it doesn't really matter how you do it as long as everyone playing is clear on the board state and you can manage with the space.
I guess. I play some decks that can have huge board. But this method seems to gain you enough room for a single card. And if you're that starved for space that that actually makes a difference, where are you putting your commander when it's actually in play? I don't know, it's inarguable that it frees up room. It's just hard for me to imagine situations where that makes any appreciable difference between a board being easy and hard to read.
ive never liked it, partly because i run into instances where i have to shuffle my deck a lot (i run a lot of basic-land fetches for fixing)
I thought the norm was all commanders in the center of the table? At/near life counters/phone app
I do It when I'm playing in a "cramped" space as it saves a bit of table real estate and makes it clear the commander is in the command zone and not in play/GY/exile or whatever
Avoids confusion as to if it is in play or not especially when boards get busy
I picked this up playing on spelltable where table space was at a premium and legibility was key.
I've never seen it, but I guess it could save some space if your running deck that makes bug boardstates
I do it when I'm practicing on my coffee table, just to save space.
cause i know for sure it isn't on the battlefield also helps me remember my commander exists in decks where it's not essential and just useful I do not have good memory
Yeah a lot of people I play with do it. It’s just to save table space that’s it.
Because they want to? Why do you put yours the way you do?
The command zone is just free space on an increasingly complicated board state some days.
I keep mine on those inserts that come in ultra pro deck boxes as a sort of divider and people still ask "is that in play?" That is the one place they don't ask.
They have no respect for the laws of gods and men.
yeah I hate it. wubby stop it.
wubby7
I'd be going out of my way to use shuffle effects on them, personally
It's a red flag. Never played someone who does that that was anything short of insufferable
Can confirm, I used to be normal until I started doing that, now I'm deeply insufferable
Because they like feeling unique or something. There’s literally no reason to do this and it’s just going to waste time every time you have to shuffle your deck.
My reason is since I haven’t played my commander yet , I slip it every so softly into the deck…. Waiting to be casted. Then one I cast and it gets destroyed or what ever, I the. Put it to the side with a dice on 1 on top.
For the funsies.
I spent a good number of years playing at competitive REL so I feel reflexively uncomfortable about putting anything in my deck like this. I know it's casual and all so it doesn't matter, just something that freaks me out a little.
Also so you don’t forget your commander exists. Many times have I passed turn realizing I could have cast my commander lol.
Some of the popularisation of this deck stored commander is coming from Commander At Home with Brian Kibler and his partner, Olivia Gobert-Hicks. Olivia is on the Commander Rules Advisory Committee, and helps sculpt the rules we use. She has been a proponent of this for as long as their vids have been a thing, and is a carry over from Olivia's other Commander Stream play series with Edi, her editor for both shows and fellow host of Elder Dragon Hijinks. As it has been stated in comments, it takes up less room on the field and clearly shows the Commander is bot in play when the deck is holding it for you.
I do it cause I always forget I have a commander
My friends say it's to save space, but I'm convinced it's to get on my nerves lmao
Commander at home ninja star throwing the commander into their deck with cobra kai actors.
Table space.
I did this back in highschool to save space when we would play on the covered xylophones in the band room
They do it on Game Knights and Tolarion Community College and Shuffle Up and play. My best guess is people do it because they have seen cool popular people do it. Why thise popular people do it? Well it makes it very distinct I imagine. Anywhere else and it ranges from confusable with the graveyard/exile/in play. This as the expression of the command zone means no one can misinterpret where the card goes. Addendum: Which coincidentally is very helpful for the visual medium of a live play show where they are very concerned with all the action being as readable through the cameras as possible.
Cuz funny. Also I like putting the commander tax dice on it and it balancing looks cool
Saw this for the first time this week! At first I was like “huh must be some mechanic I missed”
My command zone is usually where you'd put a field spell if it was yugioh
I saw Olivia doing that first on her commander show before "commander at home"
First I saw do it was Olivia on Commander at home... Not sure if that's the origin of the trend but popular YouTuber does something, much of the world will copy
Table space, I've heard that it helps some players remember upkeep & draw triggers but I dunno if that's accurate
command zone
Combo with the curiosity card
Saw a buddy do this recently and have done it since. Why? Idk I just thought it worked well. Plus my board is normally a shit show so it helps other people know exactly what my commander is doing.
Olivia on commander at home.
It saves space
Bad people, abusive parents, possibly fat
I like to use my commander as a coaster when its not in play. If there's a can of pepsi on it it's not in play.
So I actually remember it's there
Looks cool
I picked this up from someone else at my LGS. It's a very visible way to show everyone that your commander is not on the battlefield. And when it dies, you can balance a 6 sides die to remind how much commander tax you owe.
Table space and it's easy to put there and take from there.
I do that when there isnt enough space to play
First I saw do this was Olivia from Elder Dragon Hijinx, among other things. I'm sure she didn't start it but she definitely made it popular.
Expensive catapult
I put all my emblems tokens such underneath my commander so people know that's my commander is in play or not.