Post #10: Let's Talk Casual

Now that the Commander product is in stores and the first wave of product completely sold out all across the internet, what type of impact has it had in the casual community so far? I can't speak for every casual pod out there, but I'll account my experiences with the product. So far, it's one amazing product and has many people who I haven't seen play magic in a while really get excited about the game.

After Scars of Mirrodin block, a lot of people in our group started to shy away because there was something about Mirrodin that rubbed some people the wrong way or a New Phyrexia victory that left die-hard Mirran fans disappointed. The number of people who normally drafted weekly went to only 1-2 a month. Personally, I feel Scars of Mirrodin has been very narrow minded and has left the Casual community very lonely. With really only variants of Myr tribal and Proliferate strategies, the entire block didn't add much to casual archetypes, rather gave some utility cards to older strategies (Equipment, Mono-Red, and Tokens). Since WotC designed cards more 'safely' in Scars of Mirrodin than in the original Mirrodin block, to avoid designing cards that have an outrageous power level, the cards in Scars of Mirrodin definitely didn't have the same flare and most cards felt like poor reprints.

I also feel that the block got completely overshadowed by Jace, the Mindsculptor and Stoneforge Mystic completely warping the Standard format. The two cards were just so powerful that opening a pack of Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, or New Phyrexia felt sub-par because you had no chance of opening a $100 card. Even worse, the casual players who had to compete against decks with 4 copies of each had to struggle to stay competitive with home brew decks, which left them disappointed in new cards that just weren't as good. The two cards were recently banned (explained here by Aaron Forsythe). Hopefully the ban will help revitalize interest in the Scars of Mirrodin block and spark some innovation with the M12 and Innistrad releases.

So far, I've been extremely impressed with the Commander product and I picked up mine asap. Playing at one of the release events was a lot of fun and I had the opportunity to play with a lot of people interested in having a good time. Over the past couple weeks, a lot of people who I haven't seen play magic in ages have been coming out to play in large multiplayer games. I feel that the Planeschase and Archenemy formats will get a lot of love from the Commander release. The Commander product is exactly what casual magic has needed for a couple years and it didn't come a moment too soon.

For those people in my playgroup, I did make the decision to move my singleton 60 card decks to Commander, but I will definitely be preparing to play my commander decks against the 60 card casual decks. I'll be testing out some new singleton 60 card decks very soon (beginning with Rith, the Awakener). I'll be working on the new Commander decks soon and I"ll be anxious to test them out very soon. I've already been testing Teneb, the Harvester and it's been doing pretty well so far. If you want to learn more about the Commander Product, check it out here in this Commander Overview video by Wizards of the Coast.

New Planeswalkers?:

Jace, Memory Adept

Another Jace? Well, he's pretty awesome. At 5 mana for 4 loyalty, I'm not complaining. His upside ability (+1 loyalty) draws you a card and could mill one of your opponents 1 card. You could also mill yourself 1 card which works very well with The Mimeoplasm EDH. Jace's 0 Glimpse the Unthinkable ability is very strong for the B/U mill decks and will definitely push mill as a stronger force in the casual strategy. I think Jace will be a very strong support card for the milling strategy, but doesn't carry the same finishing power that Nemesis of Reason, Sewer Nemesis or Guiltfeeder carry. The ultimate on Jace feels more like a synergy kill card, with cards like Underworld Dreams, Psychosis Crawler, or the Howling Mine/Turbofog strategies. Overall, I really like the card; however, unlike the other two Jace cards, this one is a bit more narrow in its capabilities. 

What's upcoming for Casual players? Well, first the premium deck series: Graveborn will be coming out on Nov 18th, 2011 which will feature an all foil deck of graveyard shenanigans and alternate art. Also coming out, Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas on Sept 2nd, 2011 giving you two 60 card decks and alternate art, foil planeswalkers. Finally, there's From the Vault: Legends for those of you looking for some alternate foil art commanders, this product is perfect (to buy the singles, because the whole product is so damn expensive!)

Thanks for listening guys. I'm looking forward to playing some Commander with you guys very soon!

-David J.