Still another rekative newcomer question, sorry!
I’ve finally started finding my footing in draft a little bit, and I’ve found some cool unofficial formats that I’ve enjoyed deck building for, but this is something that’s stuck in my craw a little bit for a while and I’m curious what my options are.
My friends all play EDH, so if I want a casual game I have to play that. They have a number of decks I’ve been able to borrow, and I did buy a precon I saw at a toy show (Prosper, Tome Bound – Planar Portal), but so far, I’ve just not really found the fun, and I’m wondering what I’m missing.
The main problem is that during each of these games, I wind up mostly sitting there waiting to play the game. Not just hecause of long turn times (although when someone has a lot of triggers, that is a factor), but also due to my commander getting instantly removed, or having little in hand to play, or someone having only flyers and my not having any kind of protection or removal in hand…ever. Maybe my luck is phenomenally bad, but I mostly sit there with a near empty board after a couple board wipes or targeted removal or just…well I assume my precon must just be kind of bad because i wind up with a bunch of treasure tokens and nothing to spend them on. In short, for almost any game, my turns have been draw > land > pass, with an occasional play > removed/countered > pass. I’ve thought about trying to buy a different precon or maybe finding a budget deck list on edhrec and buying that, but I’m hesitant to spend more money on a format I haven’t really enjoyed or even gotten to actually play in so far.
So I guess I’m looking for advice. Have I just been playing the wrong decks? Is it because I’m bad at the game (Only about 2 years in, so this seems plausible)? Is it something else? What do I have to do to enjoy it?
What I’ve been enjoying is Primordial. I got the group to try it but I can tell it’s not going to replace or even really augment EDH as their social format. But I dont want to be completely locked out of the social angle with my friends, so I’m determined to find a way to have fun with commander and get into it with them.
Honestly just consider proxying the cards; after having spent a bit too much on colored paper I’m realizing that buying actual cards is nothing more than cosmetic (if you only play with friends). That way you can try out ALL the cards you feel like trying, without wasting money.
You can either print the full card with this site (https://mtgprint.net/) or an ever more ink-saving version with this one (https://playtestproxies.com/).
Of course always keep in mind the power level of the decks used in your group and ask them if they’re okay with it.
Regarding your OP, it sounds like your pod is playing at a level higher than precon; when we play precons only we see maybe two single-target removals and maaaybe one boardwipe, which is normal since stock precons have very little removal. Ask them to bring precons next time
Asking them to bring precons sounds good. UT at least two of the people in that group don’t even own any precons. For them, the deckbuilding is the fun part, so they’d just as well not play than run someone else’s deck.
I think trying to proxy something more powerful is the last chance here, and if I still don’t “get” commander after that, I’ll probably just throw the towel in and do something else when they break out the commander decks.
Another friend (not in this pod) pointed out that it’s for cards you love, a commander youre dying to build around, etc, so if you have to ask where the fun is, it’s not the format for you, and I guess I get that.
You do have to like the commander and what it does (and the singleton and multiplayer format), but it sounds like you don’t have the time to find out what that is, since yours get removed often and quickly. Getting obliterated is never fun, even when you love the format and the commander
If they have only high power decks, yeah you’re better off trying to find a new-ish commander and proxy a whole deck around that. Keep in mind that usually older precons are pretty underpowered compared to newer cards. Still, since you sound new to EDH they could at least make a sacrifice once and either borrow a precon or build something low power with the spare cards they have, if possible.