Commander Players Are Destroying FNM - LGS Owners Need To Do Better!? | MTG Reddit Story Discussion

[@runcmd1419]

Some kind of table fee that goes to store credit is entirely reasonable to me. Not buying at your local and expecting it to stay open is crazy.

[@fitnesshunter6302]

My store just has a troll toll where you need to spend a minimum $5 and it works well.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

Never played commander. I understand the struggles with standard and modern, mostly cost related, but pioneer should be more popular than it is.

[@bradcallahan3546]

Standard is the absolute worst format and always has been

[@TheGoodColonel]

Pioneer suffers from being a boring 3 deck format in the best case scenario due to too many outlier cards that power some archetype by too much.

[@tripleeyeemoji2685]

Pioneer is just boring modern 😂

[@juanlopesss]

​@@bradcallahan3546 Bro standard is thriving right now with at least 8 meta decks and probably +10 viable rogue decks. I'm currently playing an online league organized by someone of my city's community and the top 8 is conformed by 7 different decks

[@orangetomato9747]

@@TheGoodColonel Modern right now has the same issue, just even worse. The so called "big three" in pioneer (rakdos, control, phoenix) are about 30% of the metagame together, where boros energy is also about 30% of the metagame. I honestly don't know why people hate pioneer so much for literally no real reason.

[@TheVeeOhla]

As someone who sometimes runs my LGS I noticed the casual commander players don't want to spend money and are extremely loud

[@ComradeVenus]

yup. my LGS almost exclusively has commander, sometimes people play modern on wednesdays if enough people want to but its only ever commander and the occasional standard event. i wish i could play modern or pioneer (or pauper wouldnt that be the dream) but ive lost all interest in going there cuz people dont have interest in 60 card constructed.

[@Aaron-l3l6g]

Same here. I switched to Yu-Gi-Oh.

[@christopherfeerin7526]

Mtg has evolved over the years since I worked in an lgs, but where I worked we couldn't rely on the games to be the hook that made players come to the shop. We had food/snack options, we had an Xbox and a GameCube with a couch that gave people a couch multiplayer experience, weekly events in different formats and games. We built a shop that was gamer bait and we were rewarded for giving players a casual hang out spot with everything you needed for a hours long gaming binge. You gotta give people an experience and atmosphere to encourage people to become regulars. Find what your players want and provide it, you will never go out of business.

[@unclebuck7145]

I find commander to be more fun due to greater player interaction, and I have a greater choice of cards to build my decks, but mostly I play commander because I don't want to spend money buying multiples of cards that will just rotate out.

[@hpruyle9406]

My lgs hasn’t had a fnm in atleast 2 years

[@astrowerm]

My lgs has drafted cube almost every fnm other than prerelease and drafts since they opened just before covid

[@hpruyle9406]

@@astrowerm before pio it was a semi large standard crowd (for the size of the store) then it was a good pio crowd till covid, now after covid there hasn’t been 1 fnm event

[@cobblertcg]

Same here. All formats except for modern are in great places. Just sad. Really tired of everything being geared towards commander

[@Aaron-l3l6g]

So what your saying is that Commander killed Magic.

[@hpruyle9406]

@@Aaron-l3l6g I think wizards focus moving off eternal formats and forcing commander down people’s throats is what truly killed it

[@kozad86]

My old LGS just faked their WPN stuff, but even with that, there just weren't enough players to keep it afloat. Schisms happened within the local playgroups for varying reasons (a few dudes with bad hygiene stinking up the store, people being rude and salty), folks wouldn't stay if others were there, and other playgroups just flat out refused to patronize the store because they didn't like the owner. I miss having cards available locally, but if you just sit on the sideline and let your customers stink up your store and start drama with people, you've brought it on yourself. Pricing is another issue. When an LGS thinks they can price a $35 Commander deck at $65 or $130, people are gonna start voting with their wallets.

[@astrowerm]

My cousin has been playing commander only since he started playing magic 5 years ago, and i doubt he could even tell you what order the stack resolves in haha

[@pridefulworm]

Power creep is killing constructed.

[@sambrown9475]

I live in Washington and have found a couple of stores that have FNM constructed events. It was mostly modern, but i did find one that did modern, legacy, and pioneer all at the same time, which was awesome to experience

[@lukes9550]

The more I hear about other people's LGS the more proud I am of my own. We just have a weekly rotation between Commander/Pioneer/Modern with Standard Showdown/Draft on Saturday. They also give away the prize pack at random for Commander which I'm surprised more LGSs don't do.

[@AntonioMartinez-ph8rv]

Im gratefull that i can play modern every week . But commander predating everything is a thing

[@Frontline35]

Commander is the worst thing to happen to magic. You can really only run cedh commander events, which most commander players don’t play. On top of that wizards is destroying other constructed formats by adding commander to every set. Not only that but the power creep comes too fast. For example Ragavan, printed 2 years ago, went from people complaining it’s too strong to barely playable in modern. When’s the last time you seen Wrenn and Six? Wizards have made non rotating formats rotate just as much as standard. So the only way to play with the expensive cards that’s not longer playable in regular constructed formats, you have to play commander. I don’t usually play commander, but I built 4 decks so I would have something to do with my ragavans. I now play Nadu in legacy for the same reason. Most people don’t have the time or money to invest in all the different formats that rotate every 2 years and for those people commander is their best bet. Which takes me back to the beginning, you can’t really hold events for commander unless it’s cedh.

[@dokkabaerpg7896]

🤓

[@Onbutteredtoast]

TLDR

[@WarlanderTV]

There needs to be more constructed products. The only thing to come out each release is Commander. Getting rid of the theme decks was a really bad move and pushed people like me out of buying product with each release.

[@Azeria]

I think most 1v1 players play online because it’s just too expensive in paper. Why would you ever want to spend £600 on a deck that’s just gonna get rotated or MH4ed or banned out from under you? If you build a Commander deck that can’t happen unless you choose to run a new, obviously broken on release Commander like Golos or Nadu.

[@d.barrett578]

The LGS I go to the most does limited on Fridays. Has been that way since Scar of Mirrodin and gets really good turn outs. I'm honestly not against what they do in many parts of Europe which is table fees. Essentially to sit and play non-sanctioned magic for the night has $2 or $3 per person. I'd rather pay a few bucks to play for the night if it keeps my local LGS in buisness.

[@ericjohnson6105]

I stopped playing after Hour of Wallet Devastation, and that LGS subsequently dies. Around 2021 I went into a new LGS and asked what format FNM was and they said Commander. I laughed.

[@Izelor]

Commander turned Magic from a competitive 1vs1 game into a multiplayer board game. What's sad is that there are dozens of other board games out there that are way better, cheaper and easier to learn. People think that Commander brought new players to the game, but they are wrong. It just brought Commander players. If regular Magic was a party organized by WotC, Commander came, took every space available for itself and the guests it brought and confined the other formats in a small room, hidden somewhere in the house. Meanwhile, the rest of the players decided to leave and started their own party away from WotC, aka they created the pre-formats and 93/94.

[@TheRMJQandA]

@@Izelor if commander is a board game so is standard modern etc... we share the same game piece and mechanics. Just cuz it's multiplayer makes it a board game? Weird a board game usually implies it's played on a board. Monopoly risk etc... commander is a card game.

[@PressXtoDoubt]

Well when Modern basically became a rotating format can you blame people for wanting a more stable format?

[@Bigsaucebig]

My lgs is connected to a commercial kitchen and they let them free advertise it’s a cool thing.

[@jarnopiispanen3483]

Table fee is an existential question for many stores, in this case the owner could just charge something from commander players. Openly hating the only format that still brings players in is just idiotic business move.

[@cherry9787]

My LGS charges $8 for the door and for the first game you get a "free" booster pack and the winner gets 2

[@pokedadsam9041]

Kitchen table magic was always the largest format…. Not sure how this is surprising to anyone. You made the most played format the most popular; ofc it’s the most played format at an LGS now.

[@SSolemn]

I live in Chile (lived in the US for a few years too) and FNM in my city is cEDH in one store, and Dragon Ball on another.... both stores have a commander day (Thue/Wed) with a "budget commander league" ($160usd) that is like a mini cEDH, very competitive and focused on winning faster than the other players. One of those stores has Modern on Saturdays but there is hardly more than 8 players for that. Pre release events pull more than 20 players in each store the same days, that is a lot of people around here... and that's it. Hope this helps to see how MTG is working on other places besides the US

[@zombemaster481]

Thank you for your perspective!

[@erband8454]

I'm glad my lgs has started doing more formats, though instead of cramming all of them for fnm they've been spread out throughout the week, like vintage cube/legacy constructed on tuesdays, thursday modern, friday commander and usually saturdays are either draft or standard

[@jamescarr9347]

One of the things I have done to help is having an extra deck to lend out to new people who want to try the format.

[@halvsketchy9293]

Dont wanna pay 400€ on a playset of the one ring that i fully expect to be banned and wasted so maybe i try modern one day post ban

[@C42ST3N]

Proxy the card or play a non ring deck. I played rcqs and together with my brother we have 6 modern deck and not one has the one ring in it. We hate the card. There are enough good decks out there

[@halvsketchy9293]

@@C42ST3N modern isnt a proxy friendly format though. And non ring decks just arent as good. Theres a reason it sees play in more than 50% of the decks out there

[@C42ST3N]

@@halvsketchy9293 storm, ub frogtide, belcher are all good decks without the ring and won turnements. In our store proxies are allowed for fnm but not in scc. 50% also means that one half is not playing the ring. So there are options which are still strong.

[@warpig3443]

​@halvsketchy9293 Dimir Frog & Domain zoo are 2 higher tier decks right now, not running the ring & putting up decent numbers. The only decks that are playing the ring are enegry variants (boros, jeskai, mardu) tron & eldrazi

[@ETK_]

Oregon player here. I played constructed and limited during my early years of playing magic. My friends got me back into magic during the pandemic. Things like there interest, game knights, and even Arena, got me back into magic. I love playing standard, tbh the meta is one of the most interesting time in standard I’ve seen during my entire mtg career, BUT, I’m playing on Arena when I get the itch. Commander is wonderful because it gets me to play for fun, competitive, and I get to play with the collection I’ve built over the past 10 years of my life. My LGS throws standard and modern events in the store, but, they hardly ever run. Seeing this story play out over many different regions is interesting, and maybe just a new era for MTG.

[@DannyOE4]

I think people should try a fun experiment. Go to an LGS you don't normally go to, pull out some deck boxes and sit down somewhere by yourself and just chill. See if someone comes up to you and asks if you want to play a game. I would put money on the outcome of that scenario being the person coming up to you either asks you if you want to play commander or just pulls out a commander deck and assumes you're playing commander. I made a post to organize a Pauper event and someone DM'd me about it saying he was building some pauper "random uncommon legendary guy" deck and I had to tell him it's not commander. From my experiences, a large portion of the magic community doesn't even know other formats exist.

[@YoRHa_1D]

I think part of the problem is that some commander players are interested in 60 card constructed, but why would they build an expensive deck if the events are dwindling? In a way, once the numbers get low, if you can't do anything they'll just get lower. I don't think shunning commander players is the right move though. A lot of stores that I've seen get through this do so by inviting people to a store discord and advertising events there, and making people feel welcome in the store and community so that they'll try new formats and games because they like the people.

[@atheistmantis1264]

The price of cardboard is too high. People don't have money to buy overlypriced glorified pieces of paper.

[@psych0CS2]

My LGS had a really hard time holding any events catered towards standard for a long time. Bloomburrow was the first time they were able to get consistent attendance for standard events, and they are doing a ton of drafts now. Funnily enough, there has been such a massive influx of players recently that going to the building just to sit down and play is no longer free. You pay 10 usd for unlimited access to the building for the night, and you get a 10 dollar coupon to spend in the store. The reason being is that most people weren't in there as customers, they were in there just to use it as a place to play and it got to a point where they had no room for DnD games or hosted events.

[@RowanKelsen]

We run Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Canadian Highlander, and Duel Commander, with Legacy sometimes firing instead of Standard or Pioneer

[@HashD2]

I personally stopped playing modern upon the release of mh3, and have been playing commander since. This is simply because the 2 modern decks that I had essentially became irrelevant overnight and I just wasn’t in the market for spending hundreds of dollars to update them. The freedom and variety of power level in commander is what makes it a way better format for the average player to commit to

[@deanblanchard3816]

We need a Collector Edition Booster for commander staples. I notice a lot of commander players love shiny variants. I’d buy a 1-2$ variant to a commonly used cheap card, I already am buying the more expensive variants. I know there are some nice variants for cheap staples, but I wish there were more, and I reckon they’d sell well. There’s also a work around a few shops have found where the people obsessed with opening packs they don’t bat an eye at their cash deals, because they know they don’t buy singles. Less money ends up in their hand, but some of those people some nights just want to make poor financial decisions, and open another box ideally. You can’t stop them, so why not partake in cards being there and now… and watch them make another mistake… after mistake… buying another box…

[@superretrogamerbros.8492]

I commented on that post when it happened. Commander and its proponents have made MTG worse. The player base is toxic to the game and a plague to the future of MTG. I agree with the store owner in this scenario. Thankfully, WotC is shifting their focus from commander back to standard.

[@KyleTremblayTitularKtrey]

100%

[@scruffyryan]

Commander and its proponents are the only reason many of these shops are open at all.

[@MrMarvelMike]

@@scruffyryannot true, there are other card games out there.

[@rickmel-q7m]

@@MrMarvelMike but how many of them are as popular as commander?

[@rickmel-q7m]

if MTG was better before commander, why did commander become the most popular format?

[@JaxonRabbit]

my lgs has a commander night and just has an 'entry fee' of a modern horizons pack that u get but they obviously get a split on, food and drinks which are probably high margin too, and then they give out promos at random, idk if this is common or rare (or mythic) but it seems like a reasonable way of monetizing the playspace in an organised manner

[@SeismicViking]

My LGS has given up on any FNM firing that isn't a prerelease or release event (maybe even a store champion event). The people who show up on Fridays only play Commander. It has gotten to the point where other TCGs have had their tournament nights moved to Friday in order to drum up business. The competitive people have moved on to other shops in the area to find more people not playing Commander. I gave up ever going back to Modern or Legacy and only own a couple Commander decks.

[@thomasmenard1799]

My LGS has a membership program with different tiers the top members pay $100 a year and get 25% off singles a couple free drafts a year usually a hoodie or backpack and a discount on some sealed product. This is great because it encourages me and others in that tier to shop there first. Their margins are roughly 45% on singles as cash trade in 70-75 on store credit. Even if the top members are really abusing the system the store is still moving singles. Other stores could try something similar to help encourage people to shop there and people usually play where they shop.

[@TheUniversalEclipse]

My LGS has only commander, draft and old school, it’s really annoying. There’s actually 2 more LGS a little further, there’s 1 that does standard, but the only places I can play modern are 40-60 minutes away.

[@sambrown9475]

Draft has always been a fun concept to me, but actually taking part in one is rough

[@rainbowcrash6990]

@@sambrown9475 I used to enjoy drafts when packs had simple/vanilla cards. I feel like packs full of cards with paragraphs would hurt my brain. Power creep to sell cards is destroying the game.

[@sambrown9475]

@rainbowcrash6990 it feels like now a days you can only win a draft off of some busted rare you pull from your first pack and pray people pass you your colors. To be fair, I've only drafted a few times over the years( I am 25)

[@peace957]

I play at a smaller lgs and attendance and participation for constructed has gone down to zero. There is only commander and the constructed players have all quit magic or stopped showing up for fnm.

[@joshuaturner4602]

I think draft can be fun as a newer player but only if you are also against other players who are on your level. Your first deck will be crappy and held together with hopes and dreams (mine was) but sometimes you get lucky and you manage to win one game out of 4 by turning a hill giant sideways and that victory feels so sweet. I agree from a financial angle drafting constantly gets real expensive real fast but buying a competitive deck costs several hundred dollars. I think there is probably a middle ground here that could be fun, where if you trust your players not to cheat (which would be very crappy of them.) You hold a Season of games (say 13 weeks) where they start buying a sealed Draft (Not draft the other one where you open a set of packs and can only use your own cards) and then they get 1 pack to add to their sealed pool every week after that. They spend the bulk of the money upfront but then each week they attend they expand their collection a little more. By the end of it they will have opened 18 packs and will probably have an interesting array of cards to start working towards a standard deck. If they want to do that, but even if they dont running three of these seasons a year could be really fun. $180 sounds like a lot but its $60 upfront and then $10 every week after that which is manageable expense wise.

[@Manakid]

The problem with my LGS is that the owner is old school cash only. He has alot of the nicer magic cards (+$~75) and will not take store credit for them. Every one there is annoyed with it as there's a few people that wanted duel lands and nicer ver of cards, but dosent have the cash for it or rather have the points/cash back on card.

[@harrisonhinton4859]

If I was that store I would be taking votes either in store or on Facebook a week in advance to see what event people wanted that week and what ever won the popular vote I’d just run it

[@l.schaefer9274]

My main lgs does commander, pauper, flesh and blood, lorcana, and star wars. Of the above, I only play commander, and it never gets event support but is around 80% of the population. All other groups seem to have stuff going on. Once in a blue moon, a draft fires, and there was a short stint of cedh and 2v2 French edh last year. I also think a good portion is burned by the bans because it's just more empty.

[@brandonjensen586]

I’ll always buy a booster pack and some snacks every time i go to my LGS I calm it my “ticket” for entry

[@L1GHTGAMING]

Prized pods, not really a tournament. My LGS charges like 5/6 bucks per player in a 4 player pod, each players get 1 normal prized booster draft/play/set. You play 2 games and the winner gets an additional pack for each win.

[@LegionWarrior]

My LGS runs commander as the FNM format, but that is because we noone shows up for other formats. We used to have a large Legacy playerbase but most stopped playing magic

[@Gio_lk]

Standard can be played online, Pioneer is shit, Modern is losing popularity with recent years of printing & banning (since Arcum's Astrolabe), Legacy & Vintage is generally too expensive for players to enter the format (but actually both are the most balanced and fun formats), as a player who played all constructed formats is sad to see the downfall.

[@tspin5642]

My lgs is the only one that is not 30 min away. They do commander nights on Tuesday and draft on Friday. And usually have every table filled both days. The play modern on Mondays and pioneer on Thursday but very few people shows up. I would play most pioneer if other people were willing to play. And if I didn’t need to drive for hours to find a group

[@lunatic-db6mp]

You need to pay an entry fee in lgs of north america? Here in Brazil its always free to enter stores to play unless its happening a tournament or some events but then its just to enter the event itself, you can still enter to play normally

[@BACON-nf2rr]

Personally i started playing commander because the fact that you can make a deck or two every year and they will always be USABLE is huge. I can still play with decks i built years ago when i am bored or feeling like playing them which is a big + compared to the 2 modern or whatever decks i have that are "illegal cardboard".

[@reversalwizrd7651]

As an LGS owner I can tell you it’s really hard for us these days. If you ever want to hop on a call and talk about we can. We are in some discords together

[@cread13]

From my experience commander has only helped the local shops we even saw more open up after the format took off heavily. After arena I've seen a massive drop in draft, standard, modern, pioneer, etc because it's easier/cheaper now to get your 1v1 fix on arena.

[@silphcolapras2573]

When coming to the new area I'm at a couple years ago, I found only one LGS and their FNM is commander. Haven't been in a while (no shade to the lgs, everyone was great--players and employees--just have no time during my PhD) but I was mildly disappointed because I wanted to try out modern or any other constructed format. It's nice being able to do FNM events every week and I do love commander, but it's just kinda sad to not have access to other formats in paper.

[@zacharyjacobs2667]

My small town lgs can usually get constructed events to go But for commander night its free but if you spend at least $5 (packs, drinks, snacks, or whatever) yoi get a random promo card

[@ZiskaR-m6o]

The problem with Modern is the force rotation and having to spend big money each time pushed me into legacy after dipping my toes in modern. Note I did end up into cedh and have collected 9 dual lands prior one of each for now but having to spend big money I might as while play legacy

[@aVICadoMTG]

My LGS offers 3 dollar store credit for showing up to the commander events. Genius move that makes the player actually want to come and spend at the store instead of staying home and playing with friends.

[@GhostMasqerade]

The idea of 8-20 being small is fucking with me

[@lomalindasmogcheck1]

A 'no outside food policy' doesn't work, otherwise you'd have a hard time getin full pods of players that hopefully dont hat each other.

[@gage4330]

I feel like it has alot to do with commander being friendly to proxy and as I've tried to play other formats they don't allow them even in casual games

[@bubbado8333]

I had purchased Commander decks over the years, and tore them apart for cards but didnt officially convert to the format until 2018 when i bought all the planeswalker decks except for lord windgrace and started learning how to play Now commander is the only thing i play, Ive built a deck of every color and color combination, ive built Planeswalker commanders, partners, played around with companion decks, and i do NOT play competitive, because i enjoy the chill fun environment commander creates I also refused to pay to play magic aside from pre release, I'm not a competitive person, i am not going to buy into an event of any kind, standard, modern, or commander I like commander because it is something i can just pull stuff from my collection and build something dumb to play with my friends for free Do i spend money at my LGS? ABSOLUTELY! I buy singles, packs, dice, TTRPG rule books, but i am not going to subsidize the prizes for a couple of tryhards who paid to put together top decks FNM is dying, in my eyes, because the formats are expensive, and just unfun Commander is honestly the only reason i havent sold my collection

[@sunstrid3r44]

did your friend from the stack situation came from ygo? bc i have some ygo friends i'm teaching how to play, and one of them had the same issue (their stack, the "chain", works the way you described)

[@Hunter-sw3rl]

I feel like I’m one of the few comments here who don’t mind commander my old lgs had commander nights where you pay a fee. And sold snacks and drinks to make money from people who stayed for hours

[@rainbowcrash6990]

Same, i know some stores that run paid commander nights.

[@sordieo]

Cedh should be a pushed format with prize support by wizards and casual should have a separate ban list. Magic and times are changing

[@hunterbowman98]

At my local game store, a Friday night typically has around 30 plus people. I can barely even run a four-man modern event, my group has around 15 modern decks and no one wants to try it.

[@C42ST3N]

Kind of the same here. I just hate commander. I play it from time to time but in general i prefer any 60 card format.

[@hunterbowman98]

@@C42ST3N Yeah, commander got so stagnant and it feels like a 4 person solitaire. I love how dynamic 60 card can be

[@C42ST3N]

@@hunterbowman98 this, i often had games where everyone just did their stuff and then boom combo, game over because nobody is playing any sort of interaction

[@kyuuchi1276]

24:20 Yeah this is something i had to learn when i started to play since i came from yugioh where that games version of the stack stops all interaction when the stack resolves

[@KyleTremblayTitularKtrey]

Finding that post was cathartic but people also dont blame most content creators enough for encouraging this

[@Flock_of_Seagulls]

Its funny cuz around my part of the world EDH saved LGSs and brought there FMN back to life ,$5-6 dollar entry or free play on sundays pull in so much foot traffic that an lgs opened in a small town around me and is making gangbusters. I do love small growing group of ppl being like "i dont play commander blah blah im different and special" like i remember i went to my lgs with 4 other friends on tuesdays and as commander grew tuesdays are still there commander day 10 years later and going strong i also moved away after like year 4 of commander tuesday. I do agree that comannder players these days dont know rules well and i feel if you are learning magic you should play some 60 card games and draft.

[@Crushanator1]

My local has pre release events and basically just acts as a place people can go to play commander so they don't have to have a game room set up at home. It's really a bummer seeing Standard in a good spot, be having a good time with Arena Standard, want to get into paper, and seeing Magic advertising cool promos for standard events... But there's like 3 local LGS that I could go to that are just choosing not to run them. And like, why would they I guess? They sell out every pre release, every commander deck, every collector box and don't really have to do much

[@Aaron-l3l6g]

@@Crushanator1 gotta love the Commander Master Race.

[@guto5009]

My lgs just canceled fnm modern for the rest of the month cuz of lack of players, we play commander on Thursdays in our lgs and we filled the store last week

[@Cloud7648]

The number of time my LGS tried to make event of standard, modern and 1v1 commander is insane and yet nobody show up... i think people dont care much about the other format anymore 😢

[@C42ST3N]

Maybe because they would have to learn how the game really works and cant hide their bad plays as good. I feel like it is rare to find a commander player that knows the stack, priority and defenetly not the layers.

[@pbailed8007]

Great video!, made me think about a lot of different things. I’ve been playing since 1995 and I’ve kind of always just played whatever my friends were playing format wise. I really dislike commander in the beginning. It’s kind of grown on me but the modern horizon sets really ruined modern as far as I’m concerned.

[@ConfessionGang]

"commander" takes up space me laughing in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar

[@Mississippi_Jack]

Proxies are such a slap in the face to an LGS. Putting money into bootleg magic sites, Etsy artists, or just low effort printed cards while hanging out at a LGS and spending no money is just awful for business. No wonder LGS owners hate commander players.

[@PressXtoDoubt]

I mean most commander players probably play with actual magic cards but ya if everyone Proxied the game would not exist.

[@MrMarvelMike]

I use bootleg cards but I try to spend $5-10 every time I go to my LGS. I usually buy non-magic realated stuff

[@vaazon]

Commander players just come in without any table fee at my local LGS but it is still thriving because of Pokemon and Lorcana. There are a few players playing Standard. Without other card games and strategy games the shop would have been done by this point. Meanwhile at the other LGS Pauper is the most popular. Last time we had 18 people. Usually it caps at 12. Obviously the cost entry is low, hence people are inclined to try pauper instead of any other competitive format and it is non-rotating. Modern has been destroyed with costs and anyway it is just a format of modern horizon 3 and the one ring and the orcs so what's even the point of trying it out lol

[@cherry9787]

Modern Horizons murdered Modern. I was excited for MH bc I thought it was going to be "here are a few cards that would support weaker archetypes" but it literally just changed into MH Block lmfao. I love a lot of the MH Commons (Cabal Initiate being my favourite even if it is a super pushed Putrid Imp)

[@vaazon]

@@cherry9787 modern should have been a flagship competitive format for WotC. Your decks do not rotate out, just go up and down in tiers. Push weaker archetypes like elves or other tribals when needed. They actually printed good elves in MH3 but they also printed other busted cards so we are back where we started... The potential for this format is there but WotC took a completely different approach turning Modern into niche Legacy 2.0 Also the cost for mana base should be addressed. I returned to Magic this year and when I saw Cavern of Souls and that I need it 4 copies of it, I instantly dropped the idea of upgrading my old decks for competitive modern. The card should have never been printed anyway, it's ridiculous lol RIP mono blue

[@Vasiliosx2]

I haven't been in a LGS for a while, but I think it's rather rude for an adult to spend over an hour at a store and not purchase something. I just about always bought a pack when I went to my lgs and as far as magic is concerned, I only played commander so far.

[@jimboweezer]

Moved from a big city to a small town. Went from multiple LGS with all sorts of formats to a single store in a whole county. We are lucky to get 8 ppl for draft on Friday. And no 60 constructed days. Only commander. Makes me sad.

[@cherry9787]

I'm surprised Pauper or Pioneer hasn't popped off in paper as much as they should be.

[@colinhobbs7265]

​@@cherry9787WotC needs to reprint lotus petal for pauper to really kick off

[@cherry9787]

@@colinhobbs7265 I thought lotus petal was banned anyway lmfao

[@C42ST3N]

Pioneer sucked for to long.

[@jimboweezer]

@@cherry9787I try to promote both. Pauper seems to be getting some interest so we will see 😅

[@cedrikDGAF]

I play cedh to fulfill the competitive need, and then I get youtubers will say "cOmMaNdEr iS a CaSuaL fOrMaT, go for play 60 card." I currently play commander because I can't play anything else in paper nearby. The shops will even advertise standard, pioneer and modern on FMN but none of those players will show up. I wouldn't as upset if duel commander was just as popular.

[@juanlopesss]

And do a format where your starting win rate chance is 25% and most of the time your winning chance depends more on the other players than you fulfill your competitive needs?

[@bakaronii]

I would love to play standard, but the cost of the meta seems inaccessible.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

well we had one who was pioneer moreso... and now less than a year after i started collecting magic they stopped pioneer cuz WOTC are kicking pioneer to the curb.. commander has taken this one over. The one i got o the most are doing Duel commander (the 1v1 edh where sol ring has been banned for AGES) ans normal commander (full power, no limitations, it is casual but competitive minded casual)

[@noneofyourbusiness3288]

More LGS need to do pauper leagues.

[@CasualKing21]

I'm not a business owner but I'm baffled why the owner hasn't catered to the audience they have. EDH League, Themed EDH tournaments, budget of $20 or less only. Halloween is coming up, do a horror themed tournament, Innistrad and Duskmourn only or something. EDH draft or a cube, something. I get betting annoyed by WOTC pushing cards designed for EDH in other sets. But don't take it out on the players dude, it's your business. Edit: Precon only tournaments

[@behemoth9543]

I don´t really get all the "standard is fun right now" people seem to say a lot. Perhaps its me mostly playing standard on Arena but it seems like you´re stuck between Mono Red/RG killing you turn 2/3 or having all these dead 1 and 2 mana exile removal spells for Mono Red that are just dead cards vs heavy control decks, leading you to either BE Red or build your deck with the main focus to BEAT red and then have to figure out how to turn that into something that can face other control decks. I don´t think thats that fun.

[@DylanMarkTwo]

@@behemoth9543 this is definitely a problem if you are using playing bo1 but bo3 with sideboards makes this a lot better

[@MENTOSDUDE77]

as an LGS owner I can definitely say arena killed the game store experience

[@posisteve]

our lgs got hijacked by edh. no events just edh players sitting there

[@Alhazzred]

28:14 if my lgs had some of the ube kit kats I got from an international candy box I tried one time I might get a little hungrier when I go there

[@isambo400]

You say not to promote draft but that people should buy packs? Draft is the main reason to buy packs Draft was my first format. Its 100% new player accessible.

[@alphaspursncowboys]

8:40 wait commander is supposed to be free. Every LGS in my city charges and only some give a pack.

[@stevekeenan9673]

Used to be a hard choice between draft n modern on FNM

[@PALIGames]

My lgs tries to keep standard alive but if they dont have enough they wont bother lol.

[@isambo400]

Commander players have been destroying fnm for at least 10 years

[@SaltySparrow]

Arena killed FNM. Commander just fires randomly throughout week. FNM is just draft in 90% of stores, but once a handful of drafts fire, it dies. 10+ years ago I would go out to standard FNMs with friends and it was great. I have been enjoying standard a lot recently and that one store champs got people to come out... but since then it has fallen off again. Gone to two that didn't fire. One LGS by me has a random weekday modern with people that aren't playing top tier, just decks they enjoy. IMO people need to feel comfortable to brew again, stop net decking and have some fun constructed at FNM.

[@HeWhoisHim.]

Given the long history of "Orcish Librarian," a low price point below $1 for over 20 years likely indicates significant attrition and market neglect. Attrition: Many copies would have been lost or damaged over time, especially for a card that isn't widely played. Low Demand: A sustained low price suggests that collectors and players haven't prioritized this card, leading to fewer copies being maintained in good condition. Considering these factors, it's plausible to refine the estimate. Instead of thousands, the total number of existing foil copies might be closer to a few hundred or possibly less than 1,000.

[@rickmel-q7m]

i get that youtubers exagerate their titles to catch people's attention, but "commander players are destroying FNM" isn't at all the subject of the video

[@bradcallahan3546]

It literally is

[@rickmel-q7m]

@@bradcallahan3546 what did the commander players do to FNM?

[@Mobius_ll]

I read the original Reddit so I knew what he was talking about, but I agree that's some clickbait. Truthfully this is a problem for WotC. They have to make these formats affordable and accessible for people to be interested. Until then, each format aside from EDH will continue to languish

[@superretrogamerbros.8492]

Still true though. Commander has made MTG worse and I’m thankful that WotC is shifting their focus from commander back to standard finally.

[@KyleTremblayTitularKtrey]

Found the commander tourist lol

[@chicksandwich]

Commander doesnt "force you" to keep buying cards. Its also way cooler. RIP that other crap.

[@Guru4hire]

The internet and easy availability of cards ruined competitive. Nobody is really that interested in buying a meta-deck off the internet and playing that, unless you really like the guys at the event. Then I thought I wanted to take a break from commander and play standard because I really think urborg scavengers is cool, so I made a riff on the current golgari midrange with urborg scavengers, innkeepers talent, and goldvein hydra. Its fun to play, but it was just in time for leyline of resonance and the sheltered by ghosts hellscape. I probably have all these cards in paper, but the motivation to go play until they ban duskborne broken nonsense just isn't there. I don't have time to dedicated to that unfun nonsense.

[@joshuaadkins2491]

Competitive magic has died. Players are priced out of the game. Eternal formats have changed a lot since the release of the straight to eternal formats era. The last 3 modern sets have put a lot of players out. It’s hard to keep up. If I play modern I see every deck has 4 the one ring. 4 phlage. Etc….. commander players are fine. I do not interact with them as far as play goes. I enjoy the 60 card formats. But I will say that if there is a commander event going on its standing room only. Tons of commander players. A fnm event might get 3 people because no one plays the 60 card formats.

[@Capie1]

My store doesnt charge for play space and on fridays we give every commander player a pack of cards for free. Just for showing up do we lose money yes but community is all that really matters to us.