By Mike Carrozza
Cards I don’t know are already familiar.
I love Commander. I love discovering cards, whether for the first time or rediscovering them in a new context. With an ever-growing pool of cards and nearly infinite ways to combine them into decks,, it makes sense that if a certain effect works really well in a deck you’d want to include as many as you can. However, you can’t discover too many new interactions if fifteen slots in your deck do the same thing. Sure, it “makes sense” but I’m over decks that make sense all the time. I want cards to hit the table that make my head tilt like a puppy’s. Round out your orchestra with a gong instead of another violin. There’s an excitement I crave from Commander that isn’t just about the game play, it’s about finding buried treasure. If Commander is a video game, I’ve beaten it already. Now, I want to play against players that make me feel like I just started New Game+. Recontextualize the tools we have to put a spin on the game we all know very well.
