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I've been writing about the social aspects of Commander for a little over a year now, but there's something that I've avoided writing until now. I wanted to make sure I had a good enough angle and approach to this topic before tackling it.

I'm titling this article "The Top Four Commander Faux Pas."

Faux pas (noun) - an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation.

That seems much harsher than I meant it. The topics in this article aren't really embarrassing, and most people don't know they do it, or they don't understand that it can be upsetting. So I googled "tactless" to be sure.

Tactless (adjective) - having or showing a lack of cleverness or skill and sensitivity in dealing with others or with difficult issues.

Having "a lack of skill with difficult issues in a social situation" actually seems accurate to me for the sake of the article.

I didn't write this article to call anyone out. I've observed, through a love and obsession with the Commander format, things that bubble to the top as issues with other players. I narrowed down this list from things that are personal preference or play group-specific. At least, I tried to think about universal experiences as much as I could. Not necessarily that everyone considers these as a faux pas, because no one would do it if everyone was on the same page. I chose ones that could be easily corrected without harm to someone's enjoyment overall to the game.

It's like a friendly nudge instead of a condemnation of a particular person and their play patterns. Once again, this is a top four, so I'm not going to cover everything, and this list isn't in any real particular order.

Honorable Mention - Board Wipe Etiquette

I did want to discuss an honorable mention of sorts. While I was coming up with this article there was something I considered a faux pas that my partner pointed out over and over might just be a preference with most tables. I felt that if you're playing Commander with your play group and it's the last game of the night - it's getting long, multiple board wipes - you shouldn't cast another board wipe? I felt that most people would feel miserable having to prolong the game again.

My partner pointed out that a lot of players like to utilize whatever line that's in front of them, which I couldn't even disagree with. While I find it annoying, it seemed to condemn an entire type of player instead of an isolated action that was correctable. I include this to give insight on how I selected some of the points on this list.

Touching Cards

Magic: The Gathering is as much a collectible game as a competitive game. It's very rare to see players who don't sleeve their decks to protect them. Some players will even double and triple sleeve them. These cards, while in play, are precious items to be preserved. It only makes sense that players would be sensitive about how and who touches their cards.

The faux pas here is players that touch another player's cards without permission. Even worse, if given permission, not treating it with the utmost care.

I know a lot of us play with random people when we play at the LGS. If someone grabbed your cards, bent them while assessing what to do, or tossed it back on the table when they were done, we might get very upset. Anyone would.

How do we avoid this? We can ask permission to see their cards before touching it. Also think about it as fine china instead of how you would treat your own cards. Just because you're flexible with your own cards doesn't mean other players are the same.

Reading Cards

Magic is a very complex game with almost 30,000 different cards. Commander is a format where you might see any of those about 30,000, aside from the less than 30 banned cards of this format. We need to read a lot of cards. It's hard to understand everything just by name.

Also, wording can be tricky. Something entering with counters or entering and putting counters on is relevant information. Draw a card versus you may draw a card might be relevant too. What's the Faux Pas: Not stating what a card does in its entirety.

As we've established before, someone might not want people getting touchy feely with their cards, but we need to know what it does. We need to be able to read it in its entirety. Either you need to tell the whole table what it does, or hold it out for us to curl around to read.

Why is this significant? What if something doesn't work the way you think? What if it's relevant to the board state in a way I might counter it? I need to know exactly what cards do. How do we solve this? Just be thorough. Ask if everyone needs you to read or explain your cards as you use them. It's important to read everything on the card, including keywords like flying or deathtouch.

Counter-Picking Your Deck

This one is a little nuanced. The faux pas here is waiting to see what deck everyone is playing before picking your deck. This is notably not because of power or bracketing, but because it gives you an advantage against the other deck.

Playing a Liesa, Forgotten ArchangelLiesa, Forgotten Archangel that stops death triggers when someone is playing a Prossh, Skyraider of KherProssh, Skyraider of Kher Aristocrat deck is sort of a counter pick. The reverse is more understandable but it's also a bit problematic. The reverse would be changing your Henzie "Toolbox" TorreHenzie "Toolbox" Torre creature-heavy deck when you find out you're playing against a Tergrid, God of FrightTergrid, God of Fright sac-ing opponents' creatures and discard deck.

First, it makes picking decks annoying because nothing stops the Prossh player from counter-picking after that. What's stopping the Tergid player from picking another oppressive deck? It's an endless loop of changing decks. Second, it's not fun to pick a deck that you like and want to play and see someone pick a deck that makes it hard as hell to play. Third, as much as it makes sense to want to counter-pick something that turns your deck off, it shows the weaknesses of your deck to counter-pick.

You should be able to sit at any table with similar power and play through hate. I know it might not be easy or even possible, but it's good to know.

I have sympathy for counter-picking to play through decks that basically turn your deck off, though. The real problem here isn't counter-picking but Stax, or implied Stax, in the command zone, like Tergrid, God of FrightTergrid, God of Fright and Elesh Norn, Mother of MachinesElesh Norn, Mother of Machines. I'm not a fan of playing commanders that make other players not enjoy playing, but that's a personal preference.

Still the principal here is to just pick what you want to play and just play that. The way the game goes is how it should go. Again it's probably something you can discuss as a table on how to avoid counter-picks that feel bad.

Deal Breaking

Commander is a social game. Even cEDH has elements of coercion to gain advantage. It's part of the meta of the game. So making deals is huge. The faux pas here is going back on a deal or improperly representing what you'll do with the deal.

We've all been there when someone says, "I won't attack you for one turn if you let this spell resolve" and it's a board wipe or a Vorinclex, Voice of HungerVorinclex, Voice of Hunger. Another situation is someone says, "I'm going to handle the threat" and it's a Prime Speaker ZeganaPrime Speaker Zegana and drawing 15 cards and not finding an answer, but you have a full grip now.

This solution is going to be different from the others because it's two-fold, and partially on the person who feels betrayed by these deals. Ask more questions. Part of the game is eking out value. It makes sense to only make deals that effectively benefit you. You should be specific about what you offer and what you get.

Also, be honest and properly represent what you'll do. Be specific. Emphasize you're being specific so the other person knows they should be careful. Be honest even when you hold back information. It's not about lying or misrepresenting in these deals, it's more about keeping information to yourself.

Conclusion

The reason I wrote this article is to show pain points we all experience in Commander. The above are all simple solutions that don't dissuade people from who play patterns or archetypes.

Is there anything I might have missed, or a perspective you think I haven't explored? Let me know! I'm @strixhavendropout at Bluesky.