a friend brought a Narset deck and said something like “dont worry, is not THAT deck, this is low power lvl”, then proceeded to take like 6 consecutive turns with extra combats each

I’ve totally been on the bad end of “don’t worry it’s casual”, but I’ve also been on the other end with an Urza deck that’s Vorthos based with dragon engines and such. Just have to trust but verify and believe people when they show who they really are.

This is partially why I love playing underwhelming/lesser known commanders. You aren’t scrutinized from the very beginning and when you pull something off often people are like “oh, cool! I’ve never seen that before!”

"Its not that deck" he said, knowing full well that it was in fact, that deck.

“I don’t know where you got the audacity, but you can put it back.” Yasss the sass 💅 I’m absolutely using that.

Yes Joey, the whining story existsfor others: one of the staff of my local LGS likes to play a mono green omnath deck revolving around infinite mana combos. One night I play Kogla and fight omnath to destroy it and say I want to attack him to destroy his sol ring with koglas attack trigger. He whines and I attack someone else. He plays Nyxbloom ancient the next turn (needing the sol ring mana) and combos us the turn after. He also plays that deck with precons on the table btw

I think we need to be aware that variance exists in Magic, and that sometimes your 6 will play like a 9 in any given game. It becomes a problem when the overperformant outlier becomes the frame of reference that people base their threat assessment on.

I like the approach that the Worse possible commander show takes. Before the game starts each player reveals the worst possible combination their deck/commander can do so everyone at the table is forewarned.

I had a similar experience. I went to MagicCon Vegas this year and had a Thrasios/Tymna Enchantments deck. And the first time I went to sit down and try it out, I got nasty looks and decided to play Piru instead. I felt like, "Well I understand the power of the pairing, and while I know my deck isn't 'that deck' I didn't want everyone to have that experience either way." Had a great time either way!

Always impressed with how eloquent and comprehensive Joey's videos are.❤

I think the observation about players is a good one: an earnest desire to have fun and be good company is kind of all I'm after in a game. I don't mind being the punching bag, or even having the most powerful deck (though I'm less comfortable with that) as long as we're all playing in the right spirit. I don't tend to opt for tutors or too much fast mana - beyond a couple of rocks in most decks - and it means I'm left with a very simple set of decisions every turn: which cards in my hand I can play and which I can't. I'm responsible for that set of simple decisions, so it's kind of on me to do my bit to contribute to the kind of game I want to play in.

Your timing is impeccable, Joey. I was just talking with my friends about this the other day, about the people who complain you won't allow them to play (some even claim you're 'king making'), yet they are the same people to outright win the game if you give them a millimeter.

I like optimizing decks so I pretty much always play “that deck” and it makes pregame interactions simpler. Except for the commanders no one knows about, but that’s the joy of brewing

Absolutely loved this video! In my LGS' Commander League, I've been a customer/supporter for over a decade and have built the reputation of being 'the fun guy'. I treat every game whether it be casual Commander, semi-competitive Limited/Pre-Release or sanctioned events, as if I'm there to make friends... which IS the reason I'm there. I win some, I lose some, I really don't care... so long as we're all having fun. I have no problem being the punching bag, I get to watch the rest of the game and provide 'MST3K'-like commentary throughout. If I want to win and feel like I've accomplished something, I go to where I can get that feeling. If I want to have fun with friends and make new ones, I play Magic: the Gathering.

I love this episode and other episodes like this. This is probably the 10th time I've listened to this. Keep up the good work Joey.

This is why I like cedh. Everybody knows what they’re getting into from the get go. Can’t get mad at anyone when the objective is “win at any cost”.

Guy at my LGS: "It's not THAT Urza, Lord High Artificer deck" Same guy 15 minutes later: *wins by attacking with Blightsteel Collossus equipped with Lightning Greaves

I think everyone has experienced this at one point or another. The best ways to avoid it are rule 0 conversations, open communication during games and having interaction

I really enjoyed this video Joey. It was a fun watch that I felt hit a little bit home for me. I am a rather casual player, my play group created silly rules to limit how we play. Mine is based on what brought me back to magic, D&D an other universes beyond products. I loved the dragon based precons for both AFR and CLB and wanted to mix colors together and went URG and found the only commander that fit my style was Miirym. This has led to a mildly frustrating experience with the deck where it is missing a number of parts and still draws out the removal just for the commander's potential. I don't play blink or clone effects since i just wanted big stompy dragons. And i did not include green ramp spells in favor of rocks since dragons like treasure. But I fight half a table most of the time since the commander is so scary. I don't fault the other players since if left alone I will have tons of dragons burning the board. But sometimes it feels like i am just eating up the tables removal until someone else wins. I like the deck and want to play it, but I am lost on if I should optimize it to go full archenemy or just shelf it for rare plays.

I don't know how long that intro has been around but it's short and snappy. Big fan! Love this not-quiet long form content

Its amazing how apologizing can sometimes have the opposite effect. Played a game against a Tivit player, who got the turn one sol ring into signet off a mulligan and with a turn 2 dark ritual and 6 drop commander proceeded to utterly dominate the game from start to finish. He kept saying things like 'I didn't know it was THAT strong" and the like, but it was clear everyone was looking at him like he was an angle shooter.

If you’re the type of player who likes power, then the key is to own it. I come to my playgroup with everyone full well knowing that all of my decks are huge threats, and I love being the target from the get-go to me defending against three other players forces me to be a better player, the only thing I like more than that is taking underwhelming commanders and making those powerful

Joey you bring the real conversations about being a good person that is not only relevant to this community but most communities! Thank you!

You're a class act. 👏 thanks for reminding me about playing with more grace. One way my play group avoids these situations (we still end up being 'that player') is to have certain upcoming game days be cedh style. Conversions with friends are super important for a healthy play group.

The only deck I do this disclaimer to is my super budget Breya deck and even then I do explain that there are infinite combos. Breya herself is still an incredibly powerful commander by herself, but it just got really annoying getting focused down when my board is just a reckless fireweaver and a skyswimmer koi solely from the 'bad pr' of Breya when the person right next to me is literally Thoracle comboing in front of everyone...

Your Kenrith comments reminded me of how I actively describe my Chulane deck. “I have this Chulane deck that I built using its Brawl precon as a base, then adding a bunch of lands and creatures I had just lying around to get to an EDH card count, and that really limited its potential power… But at the end of the day, it’s still a Chulane deck and it will absolutely just run away with the game if you let me just do my thing.” I’m very much the Crim in my group; I’ve learned how to celebrate when an opponent makes the correct threat assessment to figure out what I’m doing needs to be dealt with.

This encompasses all sliver decks I've ever played against. Someone has been hurt by sliver decks. It didn't matter who the commander was. And we had a wave of new kids excited to play slivers in some form or fashion. If you leave them alone, they take over the game. If you target them, you get the blinders to other threats creeping up on you.

I love beeing the achenemy on the table. It is such a fun experience.

I have built the new Jin-Gitaxias. As a stimulation, I went SUPER budget, and all cards are .50 or under. You can still make a great deck with that in mind, but rather than lab man or thoracle, it is leviathan beatdown. My friends all know Jin is the strength and weakness of the deck, if he goes, no coming back. But every time he loses, I am allowed to change one card for a ~5$ one, because I am always the archenemy and I embrace it.

I'm running out of nails for you guys to hit in the head. You guys just consistently make my favorite magic content

Well said. Great video 🧙‍♂️

Me, combo-ing off with Nekusar: "Some of you may die, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

I have a Meren deck that is "that" Meren value engine aristocrats deck, but on a $100 budget. I'm well aware that putting things like Fleshbag Marauder, Zulaport Cutthroat, Spore Frog, and Skullclamp can make the game feel like it's slowly choking you until I find something like Gary or Living Death to finish it. But it's also fun to see opponents pool resources together to try and kill me first, and I'm very clear that my intent is to dump as much of my deck in the graveyard as possible and pull value from it until I find a splashy spell that leads to a win, as well as because it makes me happy to see all my cards, even if I don't get to use them all that game.

Good EP. There's no right answer, which is why videos like this can be made! Expectations, that's my big thing. People show up with their "Prized project" (deck) and want it to work how they envisioned. Anything from temperament of players, other decks, and card choices can affect it.

....everything you say is so relatable and easily understandable...

I been kinda diggin the social introspective videos with joey.

One of the easiest solutions for this problem personally is to just show people my decks before I play them. I know it takes the element of surprise out of them or whatever, but letting other players know that my anje deck has 2 madness cards in it and showing it’s a non combo reanimator deck, tends to mean I actually get to play my commander!

I agree with the comment talking about the cohesiveness of your videos! So, thank-you.

Love the video, one thing I'd like to add is when you're playing a, as you put it, "bad PR" commander and it's not "that deck" maybe describe the deck. Like my Zur deck or my recently built Nekusar deck. Zur was themed around the card Paradox Haze and having multiple upkeep triggers while my Nekusar deck is a Monarch/Initiative themed deck. Talking people through the process certainly helps. I feel.

I think this conversation is interesting because i like to build high power commanders in a suboptimal, unique way. My favorite deck is my 4c Omnath gates list. Most people see Omnath and groan, but then I play a guildgate on turn one and they go "woah, nice!!" and it starts a conversation. Can i win on turn 5 if i have omnath, a fetchland, and an amulet of vigor in play by casting reshape the earth? Sure. But its only happened one time, otherwise the deck is durdly as hell and absolutely just uses Omnath as a way to have more mana and speed up the gates plan a bit more than winning on like turn 15.

Definitely agree with the "that deck" vs "that player" mentality and have been on both sides of the "that deck" table. Nothing is more annoying than the guy that says I swear this isn't a cedh deck..and then proceeds to combo off turn 3-4. (Guy literally pulled out a list and said see its not the cedh list cause its missing mana crypt and 3 dual lands.) I also feel like knowing what your deck is capable of and being honest about it. My favorite deck is my Merieke ri berit deck. Its main goal is to win using my opponents cards so it doesn't really win the game on its own. But it does have some fairly staxy combos (aura thief and enchanted evening) that make it a strong deck. When I bring it out I try to be as honest as possible about its potential because of how it scales. (If I know someone has a blightsteel in their deck, you might see me play a blightsteel) and that comes from the knowledge of having played the deck for years. If you play a deck only a few times or just built a commander from the newest precon/set you might not be aware of some unexpected combos. And thats ok just be honest about it. If I am testing a new deck I will let the table know. However, if the commander has been out for a little while, try to do a little research about the target your putting on your back. People are going to be a lot more forgiving of a "I didn't realize this Doctor Who commander did that." Compared to "I didn't realize Tergrid could do that".

I'm glad you used atraxa as an example because I've actually said that exactly line when I played my atraxa energy deck. I don't think I hand many counters that weren't energy counters.

Great video.

It's great how the Magic content creator community, the Commander content creator community in particular, enjoy playing with/against each other.

15:00 You said that incredibly well. I love Izzet and I am a total Johnny at heart. The first legendary card I ever pulled was Jhoira and I loved everything about it. I couldn't play it in standard, but then I heard of this format where you play singleton and crazy decks. I was all in, I bought the 2018 Precon got a lot of cheap artifacts and went to my LGS to get instantly and relentlessly hated on for playing artifact storm and not know my deck. It wasn't the ideal version. In my head I was missing all the crazy 0 mana rocks and all that. The fact the deck still played solitaire was a concept I needed to grasp. nowadays I sit down with my pirate deck that is power (and of course izzet coloured) and some people get careful about the Malcolm Glinthorn combo, but I had other people speak out for me and that my deck is fun. That was the highest honour.

Very nice discussion.

My first game at a store was against a "that deck" player. I'm jamming an upgraded Lord Windgrace precon. He brings out an old-school 5c deck, and as soon as he can, he drops an Armageddon. I almost scooped, but something told me to stick around. I didn't end up winning that game, but I still had the most fun clawing my way back to a playable game.

I've only played commander for about a year or two, and when I opened a Korvold, Fae-Cursed King awhile ago I immediately thought it would be cool to build. When I decided to start building it I started as a treasure token theme but quickly realized that was going to be incredibly strong to have a free sacrifice and also gain mana for it, I decided I didn't want to go that hard and wanted something a bit less common so I decided on making food tokens and rat tokens when I saw how much support was in Wilds of Eldraine for those tokens. I had no idea how much Korvold was hated when I built the deck, and I feel like I'm not playing "THAT Korvold" deck, but also I recognize that Korvold is just super powerful no matter what, so I still expect to be archenemy and have added in more protection into the deck, and I'm not going to argue that someone should let Korvold live because the deck isn't optimized, he definitely deserves his kill on sight rep. I've asked some people to look through the deck and have been told it's not nearly as oppressive as it could be, but to expect a lot of hate regardless, because it is still Korvold.

I have to make this speech every time I play my Atraxa Energy deck. “Yes it is Atraxa, but there is no infect or planeswalkers in here.”

I had play with the seme people for several years; We had some of the situations that you talk about. for me what has worked the most its to play in a kind of "stair" were i get to play my jankiest decks first and as the games progress i got to play my fav deck wich its optimized, this has teach my friends when to keep me in check while playing some decks and when to spare me some hate and has though me how to play in a more relaxed way, sure im gonna lose some games with low power decks, but eventually i got to play mi higher powered ones in hopes to win

Meanwhile, me during FNM:" Hey guys, I brought my Jodah deck and YES it's THE Deck." I enjoy my Archenemy status

I have an Ur-Dragon deck and I do run Korvold, Fae-Cursed King as part of the 99 knowing he definitely does have a PR problem with many people. My friends were pretty chill about it especially since I only use him as a face beater who happens to be a dragon that draws you cards as oppose to a big combo piece. I can only imagine when I start playing with others though lol.

"It's not THAT deck" "Hey, is there anyone at this LGS that has played against it and can verify that claim? No? You're going down, buddy"

I've never felt so called out in the first 30 seconds of a video haha. My Yidris deck is my dragon tribal deck built to cast Dragonstorm. Hopefully you'll get to play against it this weekend at CommandFest!

I'm not in any EDH groups but lately I'm thinking of finding one and intentionally being The Heel sounds really fun lol

I had a buddy a few years ago that would scoop the second anyone countered or removed his Gishath. Even if he had enough mana to recast it next turn. It became a running joke that it was an easy way to win the game.

I am a very old school player and I remember hearing groans every game because I played Rafiq of the Many. My deck didn't have a single sword and was actually more of a bant control deck. I mostly used Rafiq to close out the game. Once my play group figured that out it was no longer an issue so much so that when a new player would join the pod my friends would let them know I wasn't playing "the Rafiq deck." I found it comes down to mentality like you said. When I showed that I am not trying to smash face via Rafiq with a sword, the stigma went away. But I had to earn that trust. It takes time and if you are not willing to go through that step then perhaps "those commanders" are not the best experience for you. Honest communication is key (much easier with a regular play group).

I had this happen at my LGS last week. Sat down with a couple of players I hadn't met and asked who they were running. One guy says, "Oh, I'm running a pauper deck just testing it out." It was Tatyova. I asked if he ran all of the combos in it, and he looked at me funny and said there was only 1 combo. Long story short, dude followed the entire cPDH decklist and primer and won lol I saved all of my interaction for him and he still pulled through.

But ive also been the guy at a new pod who sees someone plop down a narset, panics, playes my hyper tuned vohar reanimayor deck and anccidentally RUNS the table over

It's ok to give up too! I tried really, REALLY hard to make my Kiki-Jiki deck not have any infinite combos, it's just not possible! the second I introduce any kind of synergy I run into different 4 to 5 cards combo. But I like the deck, so I warn people and well if it happens it happens! Owning up to it makes it a much more fun experience for people that play against me, because they're not suprised when it happens and can even try to figure out what cards could end up going infinite, and that's fun! So yeah, sometime the awnsers to your deck problems isnt to make deck swaps, it's just to accept thats what your deck does.

For a while the only deck i had was my Atraxa deck. It was "that Atraxa Deck". I usually tell the table that they have to put in all of the removal and stifles they can.

I’ve found that the best way to alleviate the power level issue in general is to discuss the basic strategy of your deck. How does it accrue value? How does it want to win? What’s its play pattern? Is it more explosive or consistent? The more communication, always the better!

In my playgroup my Alesha deck is considered "that guy" as it has Master of Cruelties and a lot of combos. I enjoy winning immediately with an unfair animation, but that being said- I don't mind being useless all game

I usually try to give the benefit of the doubt as something similar happened to me. My pod we usually play upgraded precons and we try not to kill someone right away so everyone has a chance to do something (if someone is mana screwed or mana flooded we live him alone some turns and so on) so games tend to go up to almost 2h and maybe like 15 turns or so. So we decided to brew and build a deck from scratch with a 150€ budget. As I loved kamigawa and had always wanted to play the hondens (tried to make a 60 card deck a few time to no avail before we started playing commander) I decided to go for go-shintai and play the new shrines, and the sanctums which i didnt even knew they existed prior to this. Used all the shrine cards, got some of the enchantress deck core and added a bunch of fun and busted enchants I found while searching randomly for enchants on gatherer and goldfished a couple times to see how it would work out. Coming in to the game I knew it would eventually pop-off but I thought it would take 10+ turns at least as when goldfishing it usually took 8 turns on average without taking my opponents interaction into account. Game night comes, I got sanctum of all on my opening hand, a couple draw enchants and an early drawn hallowed haunting and the green sanctum shrine which gives mana. With sanctum of all tutored into the green honden and by turn 6 I took half the life from each opponent and by turn 7 the other half. It performed a lot better than I was expecting and the next 2 games got targeted so hard the ur-dragon player ended up stomping xD Nowdays I only play it at the end of the night when we wanna get a fast game while waiting for dinner to arrive and usually get the win. My favourite game was one in which I managed to kill one opponent with the honden of infinite rage, kill another through battle damage with my spirits + spirit clerics and mill the last opponent with the bmue go-shintai, all in the same turn hahahaha

shoutout comment just for Joey being able to sneak the word mensch into a video

i had a „it’s not that deck“ situation with my own deck online on spelltable. I was playing my Ur-Dragon deck and the other guys didn’t listen to me during the pre game talk, the thought i was playing a way to overpowered dragons deck for the table. but my deck is a real „it’s not that deck“. It’s an othersized card only with 40 basics, 59 oversized creatures and planeswalkers and Ur-Dragon as the commander because he gives my the colour identity

It’s usually THAT deck unfortunately

I was playing with a new deck at my LGS with some people I had played with for a few times. I did t realize I had put an infinite combo in the deck on accident and when I drew it I just asked the table about it and if they wanted to keep playing and I just decided to not assemble it. I was still proud of the deck even though I didn’t win, and I still had fun.

I’ve had a “baunt” golem tribal deck for a few years. Basically I wanted to play all the original splicers in one deck. I originally chose Chulane as the commander, but eventually switched to Amareth. Now, that deck is about to go onto its third commander with Brenard

Alright this is off topic but Joey you've got the hairstyle down! Looks great my guy and keep up the great content! I love these videos!

I was watching this video thinking about the Koma deck I'm building and whether or not I'd be able to make it strong, but not overpowered, so that I could be a challenging opponent to my plaugroup without actually being a problem... and then Koma gets name dropped at 8:36. Well played, Joey, well played.

There are two main solutions to this problem from my experience 1.) Send people your deck list before the game so they know what to expect 2.) Play niche commanders so there are no expectations

Assume it's that deck until you have reason to believe otherwise.

This is me with my Derevi Bird Tribal deck. They see the commander and think “oh god stax”, but once I play a few 1 cost 1/1 flyers people usually calm down.

This is why I've mostly stepped away from commander. I built some decks i was really proud of and kept showing up to play at my LGS and it eventually ended in a game of Archenemy where i became the villain. I can't build decks that don't align with my play style, and that play style revolves around building a strong deck that stands a chance at winning. I've just come to the conclusion this format isn't necessarily for me. However, I do love when everyone plays pre-cons. That's fun.

Ninjas have always been my favorite tribe, dating back before yuriko was a thing. Got yuriko the moment it came out and played it for years with my playgroup who knew it had no extra turn bs. For reasons I won't get into I'm not in that group anymore, and now I do wish there was another ninja commander, since ik I won't be able to get good games with yuriko while the table assumes I have stuff that I just don't

I put all my decks on moxfield with a little blurb on its wincons, combos, amount of fast mana and tutors as well as a general bit of strategy. Stuff like "ub superfriends with chainveil combo, some counters and boardwipes, no stax, only pw tutors, no fast mana other than sol. Wins via turns or +1/+1 counters on creatures, all boardstate based." I find this gives people enough to base a judgement call of the deck on to decide how powerful it is.

There are so many less played commanders out there that if you choose to play a commander that's well known for being extremely powerful I'm going to expect it to be powerful. Whether or not it's the most powerful build doesn't matter to me. If you don't want to be scrutinized like that the answer is simple: use a different commander! It's so easy!

Literally could not agree with this more. As 'the sliver player' in my group (still my favorite deck), and really when playing any of my decks, I do my best to make sure that regardless of power factor and even if I'm the Big Bad(tm) for the moment, I try not to be *that* player. Make sound tactical moves, keep your position, etc, but don't be a social villain as well as the tabletop one because they are VERY different things. Sometimes that means missing out on really strong plays that would have won a game NOW vs winning a bit later but having a more fun time with the group. Sometimes that just means not winning even though you COULD have if you did that special combo that runs away with the table. But for me at least, I don't care about winning nearly as much as I want to play the game and have fun. If I win and everyone is salty about it or I had to gut people's play or sucker punch my way there, that's a loss in my book. And in all honest, the victories I manage that are by the skin of my teeth and the last couple points of life are the most gratifying. Similarly the losses that were hard fought and well played by the opponent without making it so I COULDN'T play at all are the most enjoyable as well.

my friend made a svella big creatures deck and it seemed really fun but i didnt want to make the same commander so i went to a particular simic 2 drop that does something really similar.... same problem tbh people hated me once i hit freed from the real off of a genesis wave and dumped my entire deck full of giant creatures great vid

I get the same thing from my "Yarok, the Desecrated" Deck. People automatically assume I'm abusing ETB's but the deck is Dungeon focused, mostly initiative. Yes he can pop of (went though 3 dungeons after playing one card because of so many other things lining up) but I will often get those looks when I break him out.

I've got a friend who built a Nicol Bolas control/discard deck. Well actually, what he built was a cool Nicol Bolas themed Vorthos deck, containing a lot of cards the referenced Bolas or actions he did in the story. So it's got a lot of Jank cards in it with Amass themes.... But it also holds brutal counterspells and gain control and discard effects that will make the average EDH player cry. But the point is, it's still a really fun deck that I dont mind him pulling out to the table. It's honestly pretty neat a story deck functions this well. But we are able to navigate the game carefully so that there are not as much feels bads with such a famously irritating (But still valid) strategy

Thing with this being a multiplayer game is that people have different ideas of fun. I tend to play in a more casual pod, someone brought their friend who had only played at his lgs, the guy played a full control with tons of land destruction and had a blast doing it. We politely asked him to bring something else or just play with his other group. He brought Urza. Really nice dude outside the game tbf.

As someone who used to run Derevi as bant tokens, I feel this.

Feels like my bridge deck with my friend group

Had that experience with my eldrazi deck. We were playing a 5 player table and i brought an eldrazi deck, even though it wasnt "that" deck, i still got focused down by 4 people and i didnt have the time to do anything before i was dead. I understand a lot of players have ptsd from anihilator triggers, but it would have been fun to be able to live to turn 7

I did a ship of theseus with my Kenrith deck because one player in my group really *really* hated it despite it being very slow (on purpose). So now it's "oops, all activated abilities" Tazri, and I still get to use Kenrith's abilities but they are in creatures in the 99 and, to my surprise, it's much more fun. On the other hand, my "it's not that Zur" is actually not _that_ powerful (taking into account the high floor of a repeatable tutor). Its game plan is animating a bunch of enchantments and beating face, but I still don't dare to use it with strangers on Spelltable because I know he's a really scary one. I also have a warrior-typal Najeela without the ability to generate infinite extra combat steps, but again, try explaining that to someone who got stomped by a top tier Najeela!

Was definitely on the receiving of this when I first built Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm. I first built it as an upgrade to my Baldur's Gate prerelease deck, which was green blue dragons with the Guild Gates as the mana base. It's reputation, as well as my own for building powerful combos, got me targeted. I felt slighted, so I decided to be the bad guy everybody assumed I was. Been curb stomping ever since.

Keep this in mind: just because you have the turn one sol ring, doesn't mean you have to play the turn one sol ring. My point being that you decided to put those cards in your deck, but you can also decide not to play the most optimal play if you see that the rest of the table is not punching that high. Take the opportunity to create more positive tension at the table and make more interaction. If you are a "I play to win" player, go play with other "I play to win" players. Read the room...

On the topic of "Not that Deck" I gave up on Rafiq due to its PR, as you say. What's funny is that I built it in the same manner as my Mr. Orfeo deck, yet Rafiq would always be removed IMMEDIATELY, whereas Orfeo is almost never removed. The style of the decks had to do with the use of creatures that got bigger/scaled with what my opponents would do; the more broken things my opponents do, the bigger the swing via the damage doubling. It just goes to show how much PR alone will affect how people threat assess a commander, even if it does almost exactly what another one does. The other reason why I find Orfeo almost never targeted is because people's initial reaction to seeing him is, "Oh, so it's just a weaker Xenagos, but with black."

"Do you dump your entire deck on the table?" I do run Guided Passage, yes :P

People love Darth Vader. Boos from the crowd are his applause. He is the villain and the threat and almost never apologizes for it. People love him for it. If you're going to be darth vader, be Darth Vader.

You have literially named two of my decks. Deveri, Bird Tribal (which I built as soon as it was printed) and I relatively recently built Beamtown Bullies group hug/slug, I need to explain every time that I am not playing leveller or eater of days. I am playing a whole lot of all players or all opponents cards. Its the Beamtown Bros, they aren't bullying anyone I don't know what you mean. When one of my win cons is Living Death I can' have too many nasty cards or I ruin myself. Deveri does still have the capacy to go completely nuts because that card is very strong but on a very different usually easily solved by a wrath kind of way.

I've had fortunately good experiences w/ this - lately been seeing a lot of competitive commanders that are built in a way that they are unique and not broken to play against.

I remember when I removed a Deadeye Navigator from the board, and the player playing it threw a fit, saying, "I wasn't going to combo off anytime soon, I just needed a creature on the board!". That's all well and good, and probably true, but it's also almost certainly true that he wouldn't give us a heads up and let us take a turn cycle to respond if he had drawn that Peregrin Drake a turn or two later. When I eventually comboed off, several turns later, he was still pissed off about losing his Navigator in the early turns and blamed me for ruining the game. The other guys were talking about how cool my win was and how powerful the combo was and such, but he kept butting in to gripe about the one removal spell that went his way against a decidedly powerful card. It ruined the rest of our conversation and put a serious damper on what should've been a really great moment, as it was a combo I'd thought of months before being able to build and play the deck. I'd never seen it before or since and it should have been a cherished memory. (Since I know someone will ask, I landed a Followed Footsteps on a non-legendary copy of Adrix and Nev, Twincasters) Anyways, this is a great example of how much worse it is to be "that player" than it is to play "that deck". He might not have had the combo, but he ruined the rest of our experience just because he felt my removal spell was unfair since he didn't have the combo. But seriously, what's more unfair, ruining a whole game for everyone or ruining just one turn for one player?

I think it's worthwhile to bring up the possibility to hang on to the OP deck for when there are other players with similar PL

I run a Narset, Enlightened Master Superfriends deck. I used to just say “it’s not extra turns”. Within the last three years, I’ve had the deck for 5 or 6 now, I’m always honest that “it’s not extra turns, but it is superfriends and it is easily my strongest deck” when I play it. It’s opening the conversation honestly. I know I underestimated its power level early into having the deck, by a lot. Now I’m honest that I think it’s easily the strongest I have and what’s in it. If I get targeted out of the game for running it, I accept that fate.

I need a supercut of Joey saying "That" a million times XD

I was unaware of Food Chain when I built my first General Tazri deck. I just thought it was Ally Tribal...

It's so weird to think there are some players that don't understand "not that deck" it's not wrong you don't know what tergrid does but it is wild to consider how different our experiences of the game are.