For Commander players who want to play with friends across the country or even across the world, several online options are available.

For players willing to buy digital cards though an official client, MTGO is Wizards of the Coast's (WotC) official offering and offers a relatively cheap Commander starter kit. For players who want to use their paper cards, there is SpellTable. Free options which are entirely online include the software Cockatrice which has a limited rules engine.

Finally, there's the option we'll be discussing today: the Tabletop Simulator (TTS). TTS does not provide any rules engine but instead allows for the recreation of the kitchen table Commander gameplay experience by providing you with a table and a built-in voice chat.

How To Play Commander on TTS

Tabletop Simulator is a game that is sold on the Steam client and developed by publisher Berserk Games. TTS is typically sold for $19.99, but you may get lucky and find it cheaper at one of Steam's semiannual sales.

Because this is not an official WotC game, the tools you need to actually play Magic are not available natively in the app. Instead, they are developed by Magic fans and made available for free online through the Steam Workshop.

Once you've bought and downloaded TTS, the next step is to upload your deck. Technically, once you have the base game, you can upload a file to any image hosting website which contains every card in your deck. This is useful if you have a deck with fully custom art but requires a lot of finesse.

You will use the custom deck tool which will replace the front face of a deck of playing cards with your Magic cards. A better option is instead to add the Workshop items you need to play the game. To add a Workshop item, you need only navigate to its page on the Workshop website and click subscribe. They are all free.

At time of writing, the most popular table for playing Commander is made by a user with the name Oops I Baked a Pie (Pie for short). Pie's four-player scripted table contains many features which will smooth out your gameplay experience, including a deck loader.

Their optional tools add even more features like easy attachment for Equipments and Auras and easier Cascading. Each of the objects on Pie's table can be saved and loaded into other worlds if you find Pie's table is overwhelming for you or for your computer. If you want to subscribe to a deck loader without saving the one on Pie's table, Rikrassen's loader accepts decklists from most popular deckbuilding websites.

A third option is to use Frogtown. Frogtown is developed by a small team but allows users to easily select the specific card version and card back they want to use. Decks are exported as a .JSON file which can be placed in the Tabletop Simulator Saved Objects folder in your PC's file explorer.

If going this route, the file path is:

This PC > Documents > My Games > Tabletop Simulator > Saves > Saved Objects

Before creating your deck in Frogtown, you will want to create a folder somewhere on your computer where it will store some data locally about your decks.

Controls

Once you have your deck and your table, the next step is to learn the controls. Open up TTS and you will see two options, Join and Create. If you're hosting or want to check you can load your deck without issue, click Create, and select the number of players.

Next, you'll see a number of games you can play, including the workshop tables you subscribed to. Open the 4-player scripted table and you'll be assigned a seat. You can change your seat by clicking on your Steam username in the top right corner and clicking Change Color.

The movement keys are W, A, S, and D and they will pan your camera around. Right click and move your mouse to change the angle. Scroll to zoom in and out.

The first time you play TTS, you'll probably want to change the object turning angle to 90° so that you tap cards in an apparent and easy way. You can tap with E and untap with Q. Holding ALT will magnify objects for easier viewing.

If you're using the built-in deck loader, navigate over to the deck importer, double click, and put your URL in the prompt box. If you're spawning the deck from a .JSON file, click Objects in the top bar, then select Saved Objects. This will open your Saved Objects folder, where you can spawn any of the items you have saved.

You can save objects in the game by right clicking and finding the menu option to save item. Gameplay aids like dice and live counters can be spawned in using the Objects menu and then clicking Components.

Clicking on an object will let you pick it up. You can pick up a stack of objects, i.e. your deck, by clicking and holding for a short while before moving your mouse. Move your deck to the marked Library Zone and right click to search for your Commander. Drag it into the Command Zone.

Next, hover over your deck and press R to shuffle. Alternatively, you can pick the deck up and shake it wildly to shuffle. Hover over your deck and press 7 to draw your opening hand. Your hand will appear in two locations, your Hand Zone and at the bottom of your screen.

You can hide the cards at the bottom of your hand by pressing H. If you want to mulligan, navigate to your Hand Zone (the true location of the cards), left click and hold, then drag your mouse to select all objects in a region. Press F to flip them upside down and drag them onto your deck. They should all combine.

Pie's table adds a lot of additional options to the game, which can be controlled using the buttons by your hand, the many useful items on either side of the battlefield, on the cards themselves, or in the bag on the side of the table with the cannon that contains "Pie's MTG Enablers." Drag an enabler tool out of that bag and then search it to find 27 useful experimental tools which you can drag into the world for additional functionality.

Careful inspection of cards in play will reveal buttons on the left side card border which put counters, modified power and toughness, or Loyalty on your card. On the right side are options to clone the card and summon in all related tokens.

Even if you find Pie's world too laggy for regular play, it is a good idea to open it once and save all of the gameplay aids you enjoy, so you can selectively spawn them in on more simplified worlds.

Finding Games

If you believe the best way to play Magic is with friends, playing over TTS is the best way to recreate the tabletop experience with friends who no longer live nearby or who are not free to travel on game nights.

One person will need to be the host. They can create an invite-only world or a password protected public world. The latter can be found through the Join option on the first menu. You can also invite friends through Steam or even through Discord.

You can also find publicly hosted games. Open the Join menu and search for "MTG" to filter for Commander games with the game listed as "MTG EDH 4-player." Check the server name for the bracket the other players are targeting.

You will need to give TTS access to your microphone, which can be toggled on with C. Check that you aren't in push-to-talk mode by clicking Menu in the top options, configuration, and then sound.

Playing with strangers over TTS can be a good way to find new playgroups, much like visiting a new LGS. Public games can introduce players to people with different decks and play styles, and many players are willing to discuss the type of game that they want before starting.

There can be some preconceived notions about online Magic players being more particular about their preferred games. While some requests such as "no interaction" or "no ramp" can happen, it is not the norm and it does not necessarily make online games less enjoyable.

In practice, public TTS games can be quite similar to sitting down with a new group at an LGS. Players are typically honest about their decks' brackets and are generally willing to play against whatever kind of decks others bring to the table. Technical problems can still happen, especially with voice chat, so expect the occasional microphone or connection issue.

Some Thoughts To Consider

Tabletop Simulator games take a little longer than paper games, perhaps because it is harder to have a conversation and simultaneously communicate what gameplay actions you're taking or that you have passed. You lose facial expressions and, especially when someone is quietly thinking, it is unclear whether they're considering their options, waiting for someone else, having connection issues, or have stepped away from their computer.

Finding and maintaining a playgroup is always a challenge, and TTS doesn't necessarily solve that problem. Players may have difficulty getting a full group together as schedules change or people lose interest in playing over TTS.

Time zones can make scheduling even more difficult, especially for groups with players in different countries. Despite these challenges, TTS can make it much easier to stay connected with friends who live far away and can support more than just Magic.

If you have a large group of Magic playing friends scattered across the country or the world, it may even be the best way to play, since larger tables, supporting 6- or 8-player games are available and cards can be read without requiring high quality cameras.

A large enough group can rotate players each week or run multiple tables simultaneously. Without anything beyond what has already been discussed, you can even import custom cubes for 8-player play.