My first GP and I'm playing commander -need advice
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 11, 2019, 3:54 p.m. by Deadpoo111
So I'm going to the new jersey GP on the 29th and I've never been to one before. I got the commander pass so I can't wait to play some crazy games esp. with my new specter tribal deck. As I have never been to one, I'm looking for advice on Gp's and maybe playing commander in general. Thanks so much!
Deadpoo111 says... #3
Thanks for clearing that up! I was wondering what kind of meta I'd be facing. How would you suggest finding players who have more casual decks?
January 11, 2019 5:07 p.m.
Just go up and ask. Most people have several decks. Making sure that everyone's on the same page helps.
January 11, 2019 6:39 p.m.
bushido_man96 says... #6
That's what I would suggest. You'll find some players who just want to have fun, interactive games, and you'll have some who show up and plan to win just as many games as they can with the spikiest turn 4 combo decks they can. As suggested, ask around and surely you'll find a group that works for you.
I envy your opportunity here...so have fun!
January 11, 2019 10:15 p.m.
Wait, the commander package means you're planning on joining events during the event correct? Those likely will have a much higher than average chance of being the cedh pods and you might just get lumped in with a random 2-7 players (most of the scheduled events will be 2 pods and 2 games, I'm guessing 1st and 2nd of game one pods up with the rest making the 2nd pod for game 2). In short I highly suggest building an extra commander deck at a higher than what you're used to power level, at least for when you're playing in commander events (it's also good to pack decks of varying power level in general for experienced commander players, so you can be prepared to play commander at any level)
this reddit is full of articles on how to build a competitive commander deck on a budget, though really cedh is overall more a format where the most of your deck is cards that help you dig for a handful of combo pieces, combo pieces, and cards that interact with opponents trying to assemble their combo, a commander with a card draw activated ability with Dramatic Reversal imprinted on an Isochron Scepter with a bunch of nonland mana sources is a common budget combo.
Also don't forget to check out the vendors while you're there, you can often find some great deals on some singletons, vendors often buy up collections when they're there and a lot of those cards they don't want to pay to transport them so will sell them at lower than usual prices.
Arvail says... #2
Clear up expectations for games beforehand. A ton of hyper-tuned competitive EDH decks get brought to GPs because it's hard to find people who actually rock that kind of decks at your local shop. If you have a better idea of what people are bringing to the table, and they understand what you're doing, you're going to have a better time. In the grand scheme of things, specter tribal is pretty low-power, so getting stomped every game by decks worth thousands probably isn't the funnest experience. I would say avoid the cEDH crowd if you can.
January 11, 2019 4:15 p.m.