Constantly getting focused by one guy in a 4FAA commander match.
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 4, 2021, 5:59 p.m. by Makeborosgreatagain
First. Sorry if this is the wrong channel to post this is. But it seemed most fitting since I don't really ask for deck help or how rules work.
I have 3 brothers and we like to play commander every now and then. It was great fun but one of my brothers started to only go after me for a couple of months now. It's quite unfun and unfair getting focused no matter what the board says. One player has 3 5/5 rats, his combo piece and an okay mana base. One player has a Voltron commander with a bunch of artifacts with various effects and stats. And I have my 4/4 commander and dictate of kruphix on my field. Clearly the better target for his 6/6 trample worms. His reasoning is always based on what I could play. Not the next turn or based on my mana. Just based on the color I play. Boros= I could play a 5/1 haste minion and give it +4 attack and doublestrike and attack him. Simic= I could play a 12/12 hydra with trample. Jeskai= I could draw a bunch of cards or pay X for huge damage. Azorius= I could lock the game at any moment. So his goal is to kill me off first in every match. All the time. With a completely new deck, no lands or a different player being archenemy at the moment.
I think it's legit to focus one player if his deck poses a threat. But this threat being only hypothetical is a weak point in my eyes. Maybe he just doesn't like me very much.
So I guess I'm not really asking for advice on how to talk with him about it (I tried that a couple of times now) but instead I just wanted to write about my problems and want to know if others have these problems in commander as well. Maybe I could just focus him right back with a highly aggressive deck but I think that would ruin the whole game mode and Isn't that fun to me...
Mtg_Mega_Nerds says... #3
Not exactly what you are trying to achieve here? Is it deck help? In that case you should show me your deck list and I can help fix it to combat your brother's decks.
April 4, 2021 6:27 p.m.
Mtg_Mega_Nerds says... #5
Makeborosgreatagain: "I'm not really asking for advice on how to talk with him about it (I tried that a couple of times now)"
April 4, 2021 6:46 p.m.
Even if you have tried talking with him about it, there’s a chance you did so in a manner that was not conductive to resolving the problems. When discussing these issues, here are some tips:
- Address the problem with him one-on-one, not during the game itself when others are present.
- Be sure to provide specific examples. The best examples you can use are times where another player is an active threat at the point where your brother targeted you, and the threat wins the game because your brother went for you, not them.
- Ask him if there are specific threats in your deck that he feels are overpowered for the meta. It is possible you are part of the problem - if you are overbuilt for the meta, that can cause resentment and make other players target you out of spite.
Failing that, surreptitiously ask your play group if they notice this problem. It is possible they might find the behaviour problematic as well. Most players want a fair game and do not like winning because an opponent makes suboptimal choices every game.
April 4, 2021 6:54 p.m.
1) you’ve got a textbook sibling rivalry. I have one brother, but he and I we’re never good at resolving our issues with each other. I can’t help here, but do keep trying to work it out. The worst thing you can do to family is give up on them.
2) specifically regarding this deck building stuff: have him help you build your next deck so he knows what’s in it. It significantly drops your apparent threat level since there’s no “unknown” that you might play.
If you do 2 and he STILL focuses you down... my best advice is to go outside and beat each other up, and that’s NOT good advice.
April 4, 2021 7:38 p.m.
I think there has been a lot of great advice already but if those fail, I recommend building a purposefully underpowered deck. The key here is to still build the deck around a mechanic or theme you are still interested in (that way you are still enjoying the cards you play) but also do it with the explict intent to underpower it. Are you relying on the same couple of cards or strategies in several of your decks? Try leaving them out for this build and go for weird stuff no one has ever seen. It might take a couple games but players will catch on that the other decks are a much bigger problem. You might not win (though you might get 2nd more than not!) but it also gives you a kind of 'soft reset' in terms of how you and your decks will be assessed is other games in the future.
I did this and not only did it rebalance our collective threat assessment, but it also started to ease our group's internal competivness. It might just take one jank deck to crack the cycle of one-upping each other's builds :)
April 4, 2021 9:36 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #9
My mind went to what Peoyogon said, but that’s not always a lot of fun for some folks. The only other thing I wanted to add to all of these suggestions was this: from one random internet stranger to another, it does get better with siblings. I didn’t get along with mine until we were all moved out and living in different places. It’s a tough thing, cohabitation. Don’t lose hope.
April 4, 2021 10:17 p.m.
He's your brother, you're allowed to punch him in the dick if he's being a turd.
In all seriousness though, it sounds like either he's got a beef with you about something not magic related, or he's just being a little turd because he hasn't grown up yet (not sure how old he is, but this kind of behaviour typically screams early highschool age).
The first one involves talking with him. I'm not going to tell you how to do that, becuase he's your brother (and you've mentioned you don't need help with it).
The second one unfortunately involves time. And however long that is is unfortunately how long it is. Basically he needs time to grow up (maturity wise). It also may never happen.
Either way, I would avoid playing MtG with him for now. As much as is stucks, what's worse is playing a bunch of crappy games which actively makes you dislike the game. You're better off finding other people to play with. Or you could try the dick punching.
April 5, 2021 2:42 a.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #11
I'm personally a fan of building a more degenerate deck than the table and just pubstomping him and scooping but I'm petty.
April 5, 2021 3:18 a.m.
Why not make some kind of super pillow fort deck? Just build something he can never beat down even if he's hyperfocusing on you with any of his decks.
Even better, build a goad deck and just make him attack your other brothers whether he likes it or not.
That may make the rest of the table unhappy, though.
All I am saying is adjust to your local meta.
April 5, 2021 2:16 p.m.
MagicMarc being passive aggressive on this situation wont help
April 5, 2021 3:16 p.m.
Another option you could is 1)kill him before he can kill him i do this with my kefnet deck quite often, basically a deck that you have a clear quick kill of 1 person early game where the deck can then shift focus to controlling the board to survive and possibly win late game. 2)do my specialty and convince other people to go after the person but to succeed you can have to be super persuasive and use the actual facts of the board to your advantage or even promise aid against another if they can do certain things. 3)which i don't recommend is before a game ask everyone else about taking him out early game to see how he feels when something like that happens but again i do not recommend that. i am used to everyone teaming up against me to try and kill me. (it doesn't tend to work.)
April 5, 2021 3:18 p.m.
I don't know where you came up with what I posted being passive aggressive. I gave advice on how to win games. Which is overt, obvious and which is kind of the opposite of "passive aggressive".
The OP clearly did not want advice on how to deal with or talk to his brother; "So I guess I'm not really asking for advice on how to talk with him about it (I tried that a couple of times now)" . In spite of that many posters here did it anyways. I chose to respect that.
He also states the following; "It's quite unfun and unfair getting focused no matter what the board says." He is clearly dissatisfied with the games they are playing and gameplay during those games.
All I did was point out he should adjust his deckbuilds to deal with the game issue and make games fun for himself again.
By his tone he is clearly tired of being focused on by that brother every game. If thats going to be the case every game, he needs to adjust his gameplay and address it mechanically with his decks. Adjusting for your meta is the core of good deckbuilding.
Or quit playing with his brothers.
All I did was point out a couple of archetypes that handle being aggressed well and will still win him games.
April 5, 2021 11:17 p.m.
grudge match!!
lol this happens a lot in edh, people seem to be upset about something you did in previous games or just get tilted in general about how you play
talking it out normally doesn't work because its only a matter of time before you break one of there precious toys / or drop a combo loop and its on again
i vote go for the grudge match and let it work itself out
ether they will knock you out of the game and feel better
or you will break them and they will give up
eventually everyone will have to face the facts
people have the right to attack who ever they want as much as they want regardless of motive
people also have the right to break anything you put on the board, combo loop, stax, counter what ever way they wish to win
is its just a game and you cant let any of it get to you.
April 6, 2021 1:52 p.m.
personal experience
i have an edh rival known to the play group as "the shade"
1st he hates that i call him a rival because we are actually really good friends, i consider him a rival out of respect because he is one of few people that constantly finds new ways to challenge me and force me to improve my game play
in pod games no matter the board state i always keep at least one answer off to the side just for him
because i know how much of a threat he can be even if he has no board state and only 2 life left
i can not tell how many games i have gone right at him out of the gate and shut down every play hes made
not only that but hundreds of times he has had to sit there while everyone at the table gains up against him
but you know what?
he never tilts. he never lets it bother him.
he considered it a honor and a privilege that everyone feels he is that big of a threat
that is the kind of attitude you need to bring to the table
April 6, 2021 2:21 p.m.
I agree. I don't like getting primaried but it generally means you are presenting a winning or going to win table state. That usually means your deck is doing what it's supposed to.
April 6, 2021 3:28 p.m.
RambIe thats what i have to deal with every single game of everyone ganging up against me basically every single game and i have to convince like my life depends on it cause it really truly does to the point some of them will even agree they don't mind losing so long as i don't win. Which i do 97% of the time regardless of what kind of deck they make, but it gets really really annoying real fast because of this.
April 6, 2021 5:23 p.m.
It's rare that i have issue
True nerd showing but i spent years tanking in mmorpgs like coh, n wow where threat manipulate is key and it really is suprising how well the same strategies work in games like magic
Pay close attention to the entire boardstate and dont advance to far off the average
Example:opening hand may let you drop a land with two rocks and a dork, but if your opponents played tapped lands. just land pass
always keep a balance of advancing just under the level of becoming a threat untill your ready to tank on all the agro
April 6, 2021 8:26 p.m.
RambIe i lost all that possibility of not being a threat so long ago when i beat their strongest decks with my litteraly weakest decks i literally won games with a deck based around zendikar risings party mechanic multiple times and i find that deck weak.
April 7, 2021 11:19 a.m.
Mm i see,
we have encountered people like that in the play group that eather can't or won't step up there play level
When that happens shade and i take turns being arch enemy
That way everyone stills gets to have fun
its not so bad when everyone is suposed to focus just you, combined with the extra life and arch cards its pretty balanced
April 7, 2021 1:35 p.m.
I mean if its going to happen anyways misawell just own it and give it s title lol
April 7, 2021 1:37 p.m.
O speaking of that
Were currently working on a party version of arch
We're everyones decks are designed to function like a rpg character class. And arch gets a minion of denial (wich is just another player with a counter spell deck to assist the arch enemy)
So far we figured out tank, cleric, and dps decks. were currently working out other suggested classes like necro, druid, etc.
April 7, 2021 1:45 p.m.
RambIe hmm what do you use to play just real life or online, but your really aim for warriors since they have such a huge variety of possibilities but i also recommend knights since you can have it go like a death knights kind of route or even a holy order route of knights with both being able to do black and white.
April 7, 2021 7:01 p.m.
They do upgrade their decks to the point 1 of them uses stuff like demonic tutor and vampiric tutor combined with a ton of other high power cards but somehow i end up winning.
April 7, 2021 7:05 p.m.
golgarigirl says... #27
Pass the salt card!
Make a salt token. If you do something that makes him upset, give him the salt card. He gets to turn that in, and next time you'd get salty at him for a removal piece, an attack, etc, you get to put the salt token back in a neutral space.
It keeps the grudge to a 1-time exchange instead of a focus for a whole match/series.
Alternately, I have a friend who tends to focus only on people he sits next to...he didn't realize he did this until we mentioned it, and it seems to be a subconscious thing he just does. Shuffle up seating arrangements if you suspect this.
April 7, 2021 7:50 p.m.
RambIe, edge_dino: I don't want to kill creativity here however I would ask that you keep this thread on topic. I would ask for you to move the conversation into a new thread (especially since I'm sure there would be other users on the site interested in this).
RambIe: I would also ask that you please try to avoid spamming this (and other) threads with multiple posts in a row. I totally understand that sometimes you think of something after you've already posted, however please try to use this as an exception rather than a rule.
Caerwyn says... #2
This thread was moved to a more appropriate forum (auto-generated comment)
April 4, 2021 6:24 p.m.