Greetings, and to all those for whom this time of year is festive, happy holidays. I'd like to spend this last article of 2024 doing a wrap-up. My colleagues here at Coolstuffinc.com have you well in hand with best ofs, top 10s, and all the other cardboard-related things worth talking about for a year, so I'm going to take a slightly more personal approach and share some lessons and thoughts from the year. I'd also like to talk gifts for Commander or Magic players in your life. (And if you happened upon this article because you're not a Magic player but want some gift ideas, skip down to that next section!)

Lessons Learned

A phrase has been in my mind a lot these last several weeks: "you catch more flies with honey." Like most people, I have good days and bad days. I've done things I'm proud of and things I'm... well, not. But I have found, reliably, that kindness and understanding get better results than rudeness and close-mindedness.

My personal thoughts on Wizards of the Coast are as varied as the next person, but I generally think they are not evil. They sometimes make choices I don't like, but they also have different motivations than I do - I want cards that help me have a better experience and sets in worlds I enjoy. They want to make a living selling a card game. Sometimes, those two things are going to disagree with one another.

That said, I am of the belief that Commander, as a format, falling under the control of WoTC is a bad thing. One of the things I liked most about the format was it was not beholden to the company at large, and each move to coordinate with the mother company has, I think, weakened the game. This will further move the format under the thumb of our reasonably benign overlords at WoTC.

What I mean is this: when EDH started, it was a highly creative format, not designed for strong competition, but instead casual fun and a way to show off through your cards. You had to get clever, finding cards that worked well and figuring out how to play that giant spell no one would ever play in a "real" format. As soon as WoTC started making Commander-specific cards and decks, we stopped having to do that nearly as much. You can - but most people won't, when they can spend $30 on a deck which will compete right out of the box.

I still love the format of the game, and I enjoy the creative process that goes along with a new deck, but the power creep and cards designed for multiplayer play have changed the way the format is played demonstrably over the last decade or so. The way I see it, this is the function of people being unkind.

The Rules Committee made a ban announcement which angered many people in the community. That's fine - people are allowed to respond and speak up. But threatening them? Making people legitimately fear for their lives and safety? Come on, friends. This is a game. No one gets fed less if they ban a card. But by the same token, why didn't the RC consult with their Commander Advisory Group about the ban list? If they'd acted with understanding, perhaps they would have seen the ground ahead of them more clearly and known they needed to rethink the decisions about the bans.

We need to talk to each other. We need to share our feelings, and we need every table, every pod, and every event at every level to be a safe space where people can share what's going on. Played a game where someone played Death and Taxes and you hate that? You need to be able to say, "hey, cool deck. You crushed it. Do you mind playing something else next game? The D&T isn't my jam all night." And the D&T player needs to be able to roll - know that's not a personal attack, but rather a kind admission of honesty so everyone can have a good time.

But we need to think larger than that, too. Friends, when we are upset or frustrated by a decision (especially one made by a governing body, like WoTC), I ask two things: first, consider that you may not understand the full reasons behind the decision, and seek to try to grasp reasons outside your own for why they might have made it. If you still disagree, share that, but do it calmly, kindly, and with respect. It's a game. It's for fun. And remember you can always make a house rule to ignore a ban or change something you don't like.

I'd also like to sing the praises of this game and community for a moment. The last two and a half years have been among the most difficult in my life. I'm married and have a young daughter. (She's now seven!) I have a full time job that keeps me very busy, often long past normal working hours. And five days ago as of this publication, I graduated with a Master's Degree. It took me five semesters and has been very, very hard to do everything I needed to do.

Some things, necessarily, dropped away - I have barely touched my woodshop in this time, and painting, another, newer hobby, has also been ignored for the time being. (Both are starting up again in the spring!) But throughout it all, Magic: The Gathering has been there for me. My friends understood when I had to skip Commander night because I was working on an essay. They celebrated tests aced and projects completed, and sympathized as they watched me drowning in the responsibility of it all. And when we played, they made jokes and laughed and we cheered each other on with successful plays and fun new interactions.

But Magic also gave me an island in the storm of my life. When the final draft of a paper was finally submitted, late at night, and the house was quiet - child and wife asleep, dogs in little balls all over the bed - I could take 15 minutes and read an article about Commander from one of my many fantastic fellow writers on this site and many others. I could organize a small pile of cards or finally swap out a change I'd been meaning to make. I could simply dream up new ideas for decks or glance through the latest spoiler, thinking about ways to abuse or use new cards in different ways. Magic gave me a place to quiet my mind, to think creatively, to spend precious time with friends, and kept me connected to a community when my entire life was trying to pull me away from it.

Like you, I've had good and bad play experiences and games. But in the overall arc of my life, Magic has been a force of good, mostly because of the friends I've made and how it keeps my mind sharp, focused, and able to adjust. Keep playing, and keep an open mind. It'll make you better.

Gift Ideas for the Magic Players in Your Life

This section is really for non-Magic players - if you play, you almost certainly already know all this.

The most obvious gift is packs. Any pack will do; Collector boosters are the top shelf choices, of course, with their fat price tags and guaranteed bling, but four Jumpstart packs gives the recipient a whole tournament for about $15. If you're looking to do a large gift, a Collector booster box (or a play booster box) is never a bad thing.

Individual cards are harder; but if the person you're buying for plays at a shop regularly and the people who work there know them, you can visit the shop and ask what the player has been wanting but hasn't gotten. (This happened for me once and it was awesome.) Otherwise, though, stay away from specific cards unless you're certain they want it.

(I'm also not a fan of buying precons for players unless you're certain they don't have it and actually want it.)

Sleeves are always great. I feel like Dragon Shield Mattes are the gold standard here, but I have to say - and I get nothing for saying this - I'm a big fan of the Coolstuffinc branded sleeves. As I write this, they're out of stock, but that happens and they've always come back. They're cheaper than Dragon Shields and I really like the feel of them.

Dice are really useful, and since the D&D set, we actually need a variety of dice. Yes, there are apps, but there's something cool about some fun dice. Look around - I have a couple of nifty sets of metal dice. There are some fun branded ones for things like The Lord of the Rings and other fandoms, too, which could be great. If anyone's ever found a set of Firefly dice, let me know! (I did find this fun Firefly-branded dice bag, which could also be fun.) You're looking for a seven-piece dice set, with a D4, D6, D8, two D10, a D12, and a D20.

Individual deck boxes are generally useful too, but make sure you know what format they play and whether they double-sleeve their cards. Buying a standard-size deck box for a Commander player doesn't help them. These can range from utilitarian to fancy; consider having a custom-made one on Etsy for a special deck, or just a couple of good quality ones for when the player travels or goes to the local shop to play.

Finally, I am obsessed with my dry-erase token cards. A pack of those plus a few dry-erase markers will be a welcome addition to any player's kit. No matter how organized and prepared you are for your token needs, someone always needs something - a random Kobold or Treasure token - and these are awesome for that. My group likes to draw silly pictures representing the thing, which has led to a great deal of fun when someone needs a token.

What They Will Put on my Tombstone

Truly, I think when I die, my tombstone will read: "Here lies Mark Wischkaemper. He ran 40 Lands."

If you've read almost anything by me, you know how much I harp on this, but I continue to see decks built without enough Land. I see people cutting Lands because they don't want to cut the fun things. I get it. But seriously - run 40 Lands to start with every deck. The maths math on this one.

One More Thing

While my deck based on Miriam, Herd Whisperer is rather fun to play (I built it in paper and play it with my group sometimes), the reason I want to point out this particular article is because of the story at the beginning. It's like a Lifetime Christmas Movie for Commander players. If you want to feel good about the game and life, and be reminded why it's worth it to be kind to each other, go check it out.

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you. Thanks for reading.