Or how to build too many decks because you gave in to your brain’s OCD tendencies.

I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this here before but I like playing Magic: The Gathering. However, I don’t follow the news about the game closely nor am I a fan of the decisions made regarding its development in the last few years (at least). But I do like playing and opening packs. Oh, by the way, we’ve started uploading pack openings in the last few weeks. You can find them on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

In my close friend group, I’m the one with the largest collection and, therefore, the one providing the most decks when we meet to play. I prefer playing with my friends than with strangers but I don’t want to burden them with having to get cards, so I make sure there are enough decks. We either play Jumpstart or Commander. Jumpstart is an excellent idea but today I want to talk about Commander.

I recently came across a challenge online that’s about deck building. I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I decided to try it. The objective is to build a Commander deck for every colour combination to a total of 32 decks. Now, this challenge scratches the back of my brain for two reasons:

1. I like collecting stuff
2. I like completionist stuff

Other, more “serious”, reasons I find this challenge interesting are that it will allow me to stretch my deck-building muscles, try colour combinations I haven’t tried before, and try archetypes I haven’t even touched yet.

Other than the objective of building 32 decks of different colour combinations, there are no other rules or restrictions. This means I can set any that fit me. And here’s the ones I’m considering following

1. The decks should be relatively close in terms of power. Of course, some colour combinations or archetypes are going to be a tad more powerful but I should make sure they won’t go too far. I’m looking at you Ulalek. Which brings me to the next rule.
2. I can use precons. I have quite a few preconstructed decks and it would be silly if I didn’t use any that I like. Specifically, I’m probably keeping the Dogmeat, Mothman, and Imperium decks. I will also review some older precons I have because I remember some interesting decks.
3. I can modify any precons I keep. A lot of them try to do multiple things so I’d like to reduce that and improve the things I keep.
4. Budget is an issue. I don’t want to go overboard. I’m not planning on making Pauper Commander decks but I’d happily swap cards with ones I already own. And if I end up really liking the deck, I can always upgrade later.
5. I should try to cover as many archetypes as possible. I won’t like some but I want to try them all.
6. Don’t stress about it. The idea is to have fun, try more decks, and slowly increase my collection.

I took a quick look around the internet, and Reddit has been a great source of deck ideas but also for ways to organise the decks. There’s a nice template and a google sheet. I’ll slowly fill this in hopefully. What I really like is that the template includes the names of the colour combinations. I only remember the Alara Shards and the Ravnica Guilds, to be honest.

Looking at the template now I feel the decks I will like the least will be the monocoloured ones unless I come up with something really interesting and fun. I also feel it will be very difficult to settle on a deck for specific colours. Esper, Grixis, and 5-color have a special place in my heart and it will be a challenge on its own to decide what to do with them.

Since I decided to do this a few minutes ago, I have done almost zero research, other than looking up the name of the challenge so I could see what comes up. So the first thing I want to do is get a list of the Commander archetypes and themes to see what I’m dealing with. Then I’ll just browse for deck ideas online. After that, the sky, and my patience, are the limit.

And that’s what I’m going to do now, to be honest. I’ve been working most of the day today so I have earned the right browse decks before sleep. I will be back to this topic when I have an update.

And until next time, have fun!