How Much Information About their Deck Should a Player Provide Before a Game?
General forum
Posted on Aug. 12, 2025, 9:05 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I just read this article on EDHREC, and I agree that a player should provide at least some amount of information about their deck before they play a game, but I wonder how much information is appropriate to share, since a player would not wish to reveal the entire strategy of their deck, as that would make the game less fun and also give their opponents too much information, as well.
What does everyone else say, about this? How much information should a player reveal about their deck, before a game begins? I certainly am interested to hear your thoughts, on this matter!
Enough to make the game fun. I generally start with general strategy with maybe a modifying word (evasion aggro, reanimator combo, discard control). If it's Commander, I'll add official bracket and why it's that bracket (game changers, fast combos, land denial, broad tutors, extra turns). If I feel like I need to add a little nuance, I'll add that (Bracket 4 only because it has Blood Moon, otherwise it's Bracket 2).
Expanding on FormOverFunction, and the article touches on this, a lot of people make snap decisions as soon as they see the commander. If a deck does something unusual but the commander's known to be a problem, it's not a bad idea to say so, so your deck has a chance to do its thing before it gets hated out. Personally, I don't mind being the one with the "What weird thing is this deck going to do?" reputation.
This all assumes a reasonably casual setting with people reasonably familiar with the game. In a more competitive setting, the only information you need to give out is that you're prepared to do what it takes to (legally and fairly) win the match. With less experienced players, it's polite to be a little more detailed in your win conditions and key cards, to help them with learning how to read and evaluate the field.
August 13, 2025 1:32 a.m.
Something that I'll credit the Bracket system with is that it is fairly handy for broadly setting expectations for the general sort of game that your deck is looking to play. Beyond that though, some of the things that I think are worth mentioning when playing with new people are:
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The main theme that your deck is based around. If you are playing a fairly notorious commander then, as FormOverFunction demonstrated in their comment, it is probably worth mentioning if you've built the deck outside of normal expectations.
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The fastest turn that your deck could possibly win and the average turn that you might aim to win by. (While the course of the game will determine how many turns a game actually takes, I think that mentioning how fast a deck aims to be can convey a general sense of how refined and aggressive it is. More experienced players will have a better sense of what you are conveying while newer players will at least know how fast that is in comparison to the games they usually play. I generally expect a casual game to end around turn 8 but if other people are expecting the game to go beyond 10 turns then it's good the clear that up at the beginning.)
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If your deck has a high amount of interaction. (Some people just don't build their decks to deal with being interfered with a lot and are looking for more laid-back games where people build their engines and swing haymakers at each other. I think that it's good to gauge what the expectations at the table are in regards to that if you think that it might be a problem.)
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If you are running any infinite combos or not. (The bracket system focuses its criteria on 2-card combos so technically 3+ card combos could be interpreted as getting a pass, but I think that it's good to be clear about the table's expectations regarding that before playing. Each bracket also has its own power range within it so saying something like "This is a bracket 3 deck but there are no infinite combos" helps to narrow down the sort of game that the other players could expect from you.)
Beyond the details about your deck, it could also be worth asking how cutthroat people are expecting the game to be. One group of players may just be playing as an excuse to socialize while players in another group may be focused on the game and looking to snag the win however they can. Knowing what the vibe at the table is and picking a deck to match the game expectations should hopefully result in a better play experience.
August 13, 2025 1:36 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #5
I agree with SaberTech, I think those are all great points. I will say, however, I don’t know if I can remember a single time where a game ran as long as people said it might lol. “This can win turn three” has never let me off the hook that fast… even if I get to the point where I wish it did. The vibe point is really huge, to the extent where I’m sort of embarrassed I didn’t think to mention it. It’s a weird/soft topic that’s hard to define clearly, and people will sometimes struggle with that sort of social interaction, but the value in getting that conversation out is enormous. The goal for everyone is to have fun, and that’s a pretty sizable split in /how/ people “have fun” with magic. Great points, SaberTech!
FormOverFunction says... #2
I think you can split most of the player base into two groups: people who have a good-enough/strong knowledge of the different archetypes of decks (saying “it’s a Nekusar deck” tells them almost everything about what the deck will be doing) and the more-casual/perpetually-surprised players who haven’t played against basically all of the commanders before. The first group, which many of us here are in, probably doesn’t need any sort of extra insight beyond knowing which commander you’re using. The second group could probably do well to be given a heads up on what’s probably going to be happening. I think the best time to disclose extra information is specifically for group one /when their immediate reaction is likely going to be wrong/. When I play my Nekusar deck I generally say something like “this is my no-wheels Nekusar” and then follow up with “…actually there -is- one wheel, but it’s wheel of torture so it’s not doing what you think it is…”. This is mainly so that they don’t (a) just kill me immediately, and (b) accidentally save their interaction or whatever for something that will literally never arrive. It has made for smoother experiences for me, and hopefully this helps give a vector for the discussion. Good topic!
August 12, 2025 10:49 p.m.