I am a casual player, having got into the game playing 5-player Free-for-All and then transitioning to Commander. I currently mostly play just 2-3 player games, both regular 60-card matches and Commander ones, but I also enjoy throwing in other flavorful variants, such as Archenemy and Horde.

I love deck building and getting creative with restrictions: Building decks strict to a block/plane theme or card type, building in colors I don't have as frequently represented, or with restrictions in the numbers of cards at each rarity or to only cards rated less than 3 out of 5 on Gatherer (which thanks to Gatherer’s ratings being disabled for years unfortunately also eliminates the possibility of any newer cards). I aim for decks that have the chance to be powerful but are also disruptable, as I don't want them to seem too daunting to the friends I play with. Comically in retrospect, but not in the moment, I constantly worry I have tipped the balance in my deck builds too much toward power and then often overcorrect and get woefully stomped when I try a deck out.

My first set was Zendikar, and so it holds a strong place in my heart. My first deck was the monoWhite Kor intro deck, which led me into a since-retired Kor equipment deck and an Angel deck that eventually evolved into Angel Ascension. As my first block, it is not surprising that it has spawned so many deck ideas: I hope to rebuild that Kor equipment deck one day and I have since built an Eldrazi deck, plus I have come close to building a green/white ally deck, white/blue level up deck, red/green defender deck with Vault Sentinel, and monoblue Quest for Ula's Temple deck. After Zendikar, I love Ravnica, Shards of Alara, and Tarkir for their multicolored themes and flavor, and I love OG Kamigawa and Ixalan for their interesting tribes. I've had fun building quite a few decks from some of those blocks, including my paper decks Rafiq of the Many Enchantments, the Simic-inspired GU Load Letter, and my casual Kami spirits and Azorius Detain decks.

I used to run an exclusively MtG blog called Disciple of the Cards at sarroth.tumblr.com; I've mostly been too busy in the last decade or so with starting my career and becoming a father to blog any longer, but all of my posts should be archived there, including in-depth ones on Horde Magic and different horde ideas.