In order to keep things fresh and satiate the variety of Magic Interests in our playgroup we hold scheduled events that cater to individual favorites of the group. You can find more on that concept in my Playgroup Dynamics: Meeting Needs Through Schedule One Time Events intro article.
The Commander format is the backbone of our playgroup. It garners the most enthusiasm and attendance. That doesn't mean everyone takes the same approach to the format though. We have those that love to build janky theme decks aiming at 4 different locations within magical Christmas land. We have a player with 14 decks that have almost no overlap. We have also those attempt to build decks so efficient they "have no soul." I fall into that last category. That's not my description.
This B^3 Event was all about Commander Jank! Here was the pitch…
The Email Invite
Tired of playing the same lines in your commander decks?  Create cat, equip a sword, turn it sideways… repeat.
Tired of seeing your opponents play the same lines they have always played?  Cheat Derevi into play, tap and untap… repeat.
What if you had no idea what was in your deck? What if your opponents didn't either?Â
Well, now you can! For one night only, Blind Commander!
Blind Commander Event Rules
This event is designed to get the creative deckbuilding juices flowing and provide some never before seen gameplay at the table. You get handed a new deck, you can only look at the commander and the cards you draw.  You have no idea what the deck is supposed to do.  But someone else at the table might…
You must bring a deck that YOU have never played before. Decks will be randomly dispersed among the players before each game. A player cannot play their own deck. A player cannot play the same deck twice. Players cannot discuss what's in a deck they have seen, played, or created at any time. No hints. No suggestions. No group speculation on what COULD be in a particular deck. You find out what's in a deck by watching what hits the table. Deck Construction Limitations (detailed below) are imposed to keep the contents of all decks unknown as long as possible.
Illegal Cards: If a player draws a card deemed "Illegal", they may remove it from the game immediately and draw another card in its place. When an illegal card is played, it will be removed from the game immediately with no effect. If it's casting cost was paid, it will not be refunded. Deck builders will be mocked for including cards that break the rules. A Zima will be awarded to the deck's builder on the third illegal card found. When a deck wins a pod, both the pilot and the deck builder will receive a point. We play till we get sick of it. Points don't matter. There is absolutely nothing at stake.
Deck Construction Limitations
These construction rules are intended to keep the components of each deck a secret as long as possible, even to the player of the deck.Â
No building any of EDHRecs All Time Top Commanders. No building any of the Primary Commanders in a WTOC Preconstructed deck. No Tutors. No cards that allows you to search your deck (or the top X# cards of your deck) for a card or a card type. These include cards like Cultivate, Terramorphic Expanse, Mystical Tutor, Gamble. No Cards that search an opponent's deck. These include cards like Surgical Extraction. No Mill Strategies and no Mass Mill. These include cards like Fraying Sanity, Traumatize. Incidental Mill is fine.Â
Things that ARE allowed: Scry mechanics, Surveil mechanics, Hand Attack mechanics. Cascade and similar mechanics. Cards that require you to reveal cards from your library until something happens. Â
The Invite's Reception
It was very well received. We scheduled it two months in advance. Plenty of time to brew. Our normal ad hoc weekend sessions began to be punctuated with short conversations that hinted about what each of us were building. I received a few excited questions clarifying what types of cards were legal. Who they could play their deck against prior to the big night.
Roll call the week before indicated we would be filling two pods of 4, 9 Blind Commander decks, and 4 growlers of beer from breweries across the Twin Cities. Yes, one member of the group couldn't make the date, but he wanted to send his deck anyway.
Blind Commander Night Arrives
In order to keep the night focused on the fun of passing and playing each other's deck, I sprung a few additional rules on the group.
No complaining about a deck you didn't build. 2 Drink Penalty.
Canadian Highlander Mulligan System.
Oreo's may only be given to another player by the person playing the deck they built.
There is nothing worse than letting someone play your deck and listening to them criticize it. In my opinion, if you are playing someone else's deck, you have given up the right to complain about the deck's construction. If something bad happens, you only get to chalk it up to variance. Anyone not remembering rule number one gets a two drink penalty. At least they will have to keep their mouth busy to drink up. You can however, complain about your own deck. Because you won't be playing it. If someone is beating you with your own creation, part of the fun is complaining about it.
Every group has mana screw whiners. Normally, I don't care. I get to say things like, "it's your deck, it's your fault." Or, "if you hate screw so much, play with 45 lands." But, because those phrases don't apply here, I wanted the most forgiving mulligan system I could think of. Hence, we added the free mulligan inherent in the EDH rules to the Canadian Highlander Mulligan System. It helped that I already had a poster of those rules.
Draw 7.
Free Mulligan of 7.
Draw 6 and Scry.
Draw 6 and Scry.
Draw 5 and Scry.
Draw 5 and Scry.
Draw 4 and Scry.
Etc.
Etc.
To my knowledge no one got past second six.
I didn't want my surprise rules to be just a list of prohibitions; I wanted to end on something positive. I asked a someone to bring two packages of Double Stuff Oreos and the "Oreo Thank You" concept was born. Does your opening hand have a Sol Ring and a Signet, it might be time to pass a few Oreos to the deck's builder.
I ended up playing a Locus God Deck first game. I was dead by Commander Damage by turn eight, but had drawn twenty extra cards by that time. What more can you ask for? That's a win in my book.
Second game I drew the Grenko deck. Grenko had yet to be played in our group. It's owner Justin, had dropped it off with me a week before. It took all the self-control I had not to peek. Within our group, Justin is famous for creating debilitating value/combo decks. Once his decks get going, it's going to take the rest of the table to stop it. But his Grenko deck was fast and mean. It shot out the gate and started stealing top decks right away. I died first in that game too.
Blind Commander as a Format
Overall, I'm not sure if the deck construction limitations we imposed on ourselves impacted the games as much as we expected. Overall the games did feel quicker than our average games. I should have timed them to see if it was actually the case. Regardless, it did feel faster. I'm not sure if that was the lack of tutors/fetch lands, or if everyone was just moving quickly. Personally, I did feel a tad bit more "carefree" as I played these decks. The inability to plan your turns based on knowing what your deck is trying to do leads to a "we will see what I draw" approach.
I don't think the limitations impacted the power of a decks. We had a few examples where decks didn't play like they were limited at all. If anything, I'm leaning toward the opposite conclusion: fetches and tutors seem to level the playing field because they allow more targeted responses. In this format, no one is able to tutor for a board wipe when the token deck gets out of hand. If someone can't find double black to cast Phyrexian Arena, they are going to have to wait until they draw into that source.
One aspect of the limitation that everyone seemed to enjoy, was the banned commanders. We certainly saw some new faces. A few of my favorites included Grenzo, Havoc Raiser; Reaper King; and Shali, Voice of Plenty.
I'll throw up a deck tech my own deck build, Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons sometime soon.
Keep Tapping Left,
Benjamin
