Test of EnduranceTest of Endurance | Art by Denman Rooke

Competitive Commander tournaments can be daunting affairs, both for new players and battle-tested veterans. A single all-or-nothing match, triple the number of opponents, all intertwined with a wholly unique political element.

So, how can we make sure to bring our A-game, time after time? Here are five ways to get an edge, before the match begins.

Track Your Games

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that, if you're playing in a cEDH tournament, you've probably had some experience with the format before. Kitchen table cEDH, game night at the local game store, anywhere and anyway doesn't matter, as long as everyone is playing with a competitive mindset and a high-powered list.

So, with that assumption out of the way, let's start with the most important thing you can do for tournament (and long-term) player improvement: track your games.

Keeping a sheet handy that lists your average win turn, standout cards from games (both best and worst performing), and most detrimental cards from opponents can provide crucial insights into how your deck plays.

cEDH is in a slower meta overall right now, but that doesn't mean that your deck necessarily reflects that. Maybe the newest set made it a turn faster, or it did nothing at all. That pet card you added a few months ago? Maybe you never end up casting it, despite loving it to bits.

Spreadsheets have a tendency of revealing hidden information in a brutalist fashion, exactly the kind which will benefit any players with tournament aspirations.

Study the Tournament Structure

Since cEDH tournaments aren't official Wizards of the Coast-sanctioned events (by-and-large), the individual structure of each event varies wildly. The average tournament structure usually centers around a series of timed, pre-cutoff best-of-one matches, with a number of rounds being determined by player count.

After these conclude, the players with the best records are invited for semifinals, which are untimed and single elimination. The top four pod is singularly structured: an untimed, single match.

Importantly, however, there is plenty of room for variability in this structure. For example, are draws worth any match points, or are they functionally identical to losing? What about the length of a game - eighty minutes, plus an untimed final turn? Or is the last turn timed, too?

These individual details can provide valuable insights into what kinds of decks - and what playstyles - will walk into the tournament with a hidden edge.

If draws are worthless and the final turn is timed, for instance, then turbo decks start off with a structural advantage. Slower decks might not have enough time to really get their positions cemented, providing faster pilots with every incentive to play full-throttle. In less time-crunched environments, such as those with untimed extra turns and/or rounds lasting longer than an hour, midrange decks are presented with ample flexibility to play slow and reactive.

If this resolves, do I get one point or none?

Fortunately, just about any-and-every well advertised cEDH tournament will post their structure well in advance. By reading up on this information, you'll not just be clued into something as simple as "How long will this take?" but the hidden edge of individual strategies, as well.

It's also worth noting one piece of general rules documentation that's becoming more and more universal across cEDH tournaments: the competitive rules addendum (linked here). Currently hosted by the tournament organizer TopDeck, this document has become uniquely popular with tournament organizers (regardless of whether or not TopDeck's software is being used to run the tournament). As such, reading up on it is well worth the time.

Follow Meta Lists

Unlike 1v1 competitive Magic, cEDH's multiplayer format significantly complicates the ability to predict how any one deck will interact against another.

As such, attempting to understand your deck's matchup against a another deck is a largely futile task. A game of cEDH is a complex phenomenon which is emergent from the interactions of each deck with each other deck at the table, rather than the sum of each individual 1v1 matchup.

So, how do we deal with this conundrum? Learn how opposing decks work from the pilot's perspective.

The simplest way to start learning what another deck seeks to do is simply to look at its decklist. For many of cEDH's top contenders, the strategy is pretty self evident.

Blue Farm plays the best cards in a midrange fashion, then assembles a compact A+B win-con when the time is right. RogSi rams mana and card advantage as quickly as possible, seeking to spike the game before other players can get a footing. Kinnan, Bonder ProdigyKinnan, Bonder Prodigy runs just about every efficient piece of mana in the format, dumps it all into some spooky creatures, and finds a way to get infinite mana after commanding the board.

Seeing these cards can immediately flag how a deck works.

cEDH is absolutely a diverse format, but that diversity is topped off by a small cohort of dominating decks. By reading through the stock lists and primers for tournament-winning decks, a savvy player (yes, that's you!) can sit down across from three other opponents, make a rough guess of what everyone is trying to do, and chart a course from there.

Don't concern yourself with understanding how your deck plays against those of your three opponents - try and focus on how you play alongside. 

Stock Up on Supplies

Commander decks are massive. Couple that with a long day of shuffling, and the odds are decent that a sleeve will split - or, at the very least, get nicked in a way that'll make it stand out against the rest of your deck. Bringing extra sleeves may sound like a mundane step, but - in the worst case scenario - it can save you from a tournament disqualification.

I once had to resleeve my entire deck with a new box of freshly-purchased sleeves in the 20 minutes before the first round because I forgot to bring extras of the same color I was already playing with. Don't be me; bring backups.

This one was obvious.

Similarly, cEDH is also a format that's overflowing with information to keep track of. Cards revealed off of tutors, hands revealed off of Gitaxian ProbeGitaxian Probe - the number of times an important bit of information gets revealed is just about as high as the number of game actions taken.

So, to take the most advantage of this, grab a pen and a notepad. Trying to retain a mental list of every card in every hidden zone is mentally taxing, to say the least, so cut yourself some slack and write down what matters. Losing the game to something that was revealed turns earlier but simply forgotten by the table doesn't just suck - it's preventable.

Sleep and Eat Well

Speaking of mentally taxing events, let's zoom out for a second and appreciate just how exhausting a day of cEDH can be. Even if you're staunchly opposed to the deal-making and info-sharing that is so common in multiplayer, the odds are pretty good that you'll be sucked into it somehow, even just as a hostage in the table's broader shenanigans.

Couple that with the regular mental toll of playing Magic for five or more hours, and it's easy to tire out.

Eating and sleeping well isn't just something that'll make you more comfortable or give you extra energy in the early rounds; rather, it's core to maintaining the ability to laser focus on the many details moving around the multiplayer environment. Writing down which cards were revealed is certainly helpful - otherwise I wouldn't recommend buying a notepad - but this skill is only as useful as your ability to first identify what cards are worth noting, as well as remembering to check your notes as the game goes on.

Similarly, going into a game well-rested and well-fed is conducive to reducing irritability, a crucial factor for cEDH's social element. Less sleep, more misplays, more frustration, more misplays, and the cycle continues.

Talking with the players in your pod is critical to proper threat assessment as the game goes on, and an irritable player is less likely to be welcomed into those conversations. So rest up, have a good breakfast, and play Magic comfortably - it'll earn you wins.

Wrap Up

Like most competitive ventures, preparing for a cEDH tournament means covering all your bases - strategic information, backup supplies, and personal health. Once you've got that trifecta down (to the best of your abilities), you'll be ready to bring your best to any and every tournament that faces you.

Good luck in your games, and don't forget to enjoy the competition!