In Strange Seas by George WIlloughby Maynard (1889). Talrand, the Sky Summoner by Svetlin Velinov.
Let's play a game.
You and I each roll dice and the highest roll wins. Sounds simple, right? We do this all the time in gaming and most games of EDH start with a die roll to see who goes first.
I think it's possible that rolling dice to see who wins might just be a good analogy for playing EDH. Not a perfect analogy, but a useful one because it helps to explain why some players have such strong feelings about "fairness". There are players who refuse to play against combo decks, or won't shuffle up at a table where someone is playing infect. In casual gaming, which describes a lot of EDH games, fairness matters and it matters a lot.
If a player perceives an opponent's deck as being "unfair", they might wind up being a bad loser, they might scoop, or they might not even play the game in the first place. Friendships can even suffer if your EDH games consistently result in arguments and players leaving in bad moods.
In a format where the rules are relatively clear and easily followed, it seems like we have an incredible number of players who can't bear to abide by them. It's like they have an additional set of rules in their head that they abide by and they really wish everyone else would too. Infect is legal. Combos are legal. Killing someone on turn 2 is legal. Why can't everyone just accept that there's an insane range of decks in the format and take their losses without getting upset.
I think a lot of this has to do with the perception of fairness in our format, so today I'm going to try to explore that a little.
Back to rolling dice
So, you and I rolled dice, right? What did you roll?
Did you roll a 6?
I bet you did.
This is a thought experiment after all, so let's say you rolled a six.
You can't roll much higher than that, so good for you!
Too bad I rolled a 20.
Of course, when you're rolling a d6 and I'm rolling a d20, I'm going to have a pretty easy time rolling a higher number than you.
Some EDH games have match-ups where one deck's "ceiling" is much, much higher than any of the other decks at the table.
In EDH you could have a table where three decks are essentially rolling six-sided dice and one deck is rolling a d20. If the best deck is tier one and can reliably win on turn 3, they might as well be rolling a d100. Sure, a d6 might theoretically be able to beat a hundred-sided die, but the chances of that happening are remote.
Let's try that again
Maybe you should roll a d20 as well. Now that we'll both be rolling twenty-sided dice that should work a lot better, right? So let's roll.
What did you get?
You got a 13?
Too bad I rolled a 20.
OK, let's try again.
You got a 9? I got a 20 again! Wow! What luck!
One more time, just for fun.
You got a 20? I bet you're making that up, but it doesn't matter because I got a 20 as well.
I'm sure you've figured me out by now.
The 20 sided die I'm using this time has a 20 on every side. We can both roll to see who wins and even if we tie, eventually I'll win the tiebreaker.
That brings up the question - was I really winning or was I cheating?
We both rolled dice and we both understood this time that we were rolling twenty-sided dice. It was never clearly stated that the game had to be perfectly fair with everyone having an equal chance at winning. You assumed as much, and it was a reasonable assumption.
You could insist that I roll a 20 sided die that actually has a 1 on it, and then I could roll a die with a 1 and with nineteen 20s. I'd win 95% of our die rolls.
You could insist that we both roll dice that have 20 sides, with numbers from 1 to 20. If my die were a spindown that was weighted so that it reliably rolls high numbers I'd still win a disproportionate number of our die rolls. Even if it wasn't weighted, one could find a way to gain an advantage when rolling a spindown d20 if they really wanted to.
That would of course be cheating.
EDH players don't generally stand for cheating, nor should they. Everybody wants to play fair games and "winning" in a way that's clearly unfair doesn't feel like winning - it feels like cheating.
When rolling dice, it's clear what constitutes a "fair" die roll, but in EDH all bets are off.
What is "fair play" in EDH
The funny thing about our format is that when you move on to playing the actual game, "fairness" (short of outright cheating) doesn't matter.
All considerations of what is "fair" usually go out the window once the game starts. You do what you want, you make no apologies, and the player alive at the end is the winner. Unless you are actually cheating, it's OK to do all manner of tricks, shenanigans, combos and strategies that are within the bounds of the EDH Rules Committee's guidelines for the format.
So why do groups feel the need to institute house rules?
It has a lot to do with the perception of "fairness" in the games we play.
A lot of players who get mad when they lose are players who expected to play what they consider to be a "fair" game of EDH.
Sometimes a salty loser is just mad because they got outplayed, had a run of bad luck, or lost because politics at the table left them drawing the proverbial short straw. Players get mad for all kinds of reasons, some of which have nothing to do with the game at all.
When a player gets it into their head that they are playing a "fair" deck and then they lose to someone who is playing what they perceive to be an "unfair" deck, they're much more likely to get salty about the loss.
Is this where we tell them to "git gud"?
It might be tempting to just take the attitude that anyone expecting a "fair" game of EDH is simply a new player who needs to be taught the reality of playing Commander. They need to get good, or as online trolls like to write, "git gud".
While I'm tempted to agree, I think that attitude is bad for the format. Don't be a troll.
It's OK for a new player or even an experienced EDH player to want to play a "fair" game of EDH. If you want them to grow into the format, become better deckbuilders and players with a deeper understanding of the game, don't just push them away by being an unsympathetic jerk.
For your part, you really shouldn't want to be rolling a d6 when your opponent is rolling a d100. For the most enjoyable games, you're going to have everyone playing decks that are fairly close to the same power level. That will result in as close as we can get to a "fair" game and a good experience for everyone.
I have a Narset deck, so I'll be the first to admit that it's occasionally fun to wreck a table of bad decks, but don't do it in a way that will make your opponents never want to play with you again, or never want to play EDH again. If you don't have the social graces to be able to pull off a win like that without hurting feelings, don't do it. Play at their level, or as close as you can get, and it'll be fun for everyone - not just you.
As always, if money is on the line or there is prize support, you can't blame anyone for bringing a top tier deck to the game.
None of us really want to "play fair"
Almost no experienced EDH deckbuilder is going to try to build a "fair" deck. To win you generally have to gain some kind of advantage over your opponents and you can't assume your opponents aren't going to do the same thing.
Fair and unfair isn't a black and white thing. Anything more complex and effective than swinging with vanilla creatures is moving up the scale towards playing an "unfair" deck. What matters more than anything is how fair your opponents perceive your deck to be.
You can't control what new opponents think about your deck and the strategy you pursue when playing EDH.
You can and you should talk to them about it and you should be as honest as you can be before you start playing the game.
Players tend to talk about the power level and "tier" of a deck or of a commander but I think that's all just shorthand for talking about fairness. That's really what they are driving at. If they lose will it feel like they at least played a "fair" game of EDH, or did they know they were headed for a real uphill battle that would be really hard to win? Sometimes having that kind of advance warning is all they need to be able to lose the game but not lose their cool.
Fairness is also very subjective. Some experienced players who have played a ton of EDH actually think it's unfair to play fast mana rocks like Sol Ring. Others have never played against a tier 1 deck and play decks that are going to have to get to turn 10 to even have a chance at winning the game. A new or even an experienced player might find it patently unfair for an opponent to combo off, mill them, or play infect.
You may not care about how your opponent feels when you beat them, but I think you should care. Players who come away from games of EDH feeling like it's an unfair game played by uncaring trolls who want their opponents to "git gud" are less likely to want to come back and play more.
That doesn't mean you can't build and play mean decks that salty losers will declare are "unfair". Do what you want. Win. Just try not to be a dick about it, because it's hard to play multiplayer EDH when nobody wants to play with you.
My own answer to the question of fairness is to build a range of decks and to try to win while playing at roughly the same power level as my opponents. When something's on the line, I feel free take out the long knives and get nasty, but I'm going to have more fun if I'm playing games where everyone's at the same power level.
You can play as fair or as unfair as you want, but try to be sure that you are all on the same page. Don't pretend you're rolling a 6 sided die when in reality your Tier 1 deck might be the equivalent of a d100 or better. That's certainly not "winning" in any way that I would be proud of, even if doing it every once in a while can be kind of fun.
Other News
After winning my second month in a row in our EDH league, I'm going to be playing Zedruu for all of November. My goal is to land one particular big dumb combo but the deck is chock full of dumb things to do and if I can get a few of them off I'll be happy. I don't expect to win the month but if I'm somewhere in the top 5, don't have too many quick exits from tables, and maybe even win a game that'll be enough. I won last year's top point total and as the league organizer I'm actually excited to see someone else win this year.
My goal of writing every week for a year is rapidly approaching its end. While there is some small temptation to move on to other things in 2018, I think I'm going to keep at it. The artwork at the top of each post is always fun to produce and I've definitely grown as a writer over the past year. There is a very real possibility that my work is going to find a new home with a bigger audience than I currently have here. I'll share more information when I can, but it's very exciting to possibly be taking this to the next level.
My work on promoting EDH League play is also looking like it may be finding a bigger platform. Again, I don't yet have details but I'll share them when I do. My hope was that a year's worth of hard work would eventually pay off in the form of being able to share my ideas with more people and see more leagues come into being as a result. The dream of having EDH Leagues spring up around the country or around the world using some variation on the "Gen points" system I've developed may seem unrealistic but it's something to work towards and something worth working for. We'll see how it goes.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found this an worthwhile read, even if it isn't my usual fare. I'll definitely be back to less philosophical topics in future weeks.
This was a more difficult piece to write than my usual article. I wrote and re-wrote sections of it trying to get my point across. I found the analogy of rolling different kinds of dice to be strangely fascinating. Metaphors can sometimes bring clarity to a conversation where it's hard to get through to someone.
I'm working on an Abzan green/white/black vampires led by Anafenza the Foremost with a goal of winning with boardwipes and a well-timed Living End or Living Death. I didn't want to build yet another Mardu vampires deck and I think an Abzan vampires build will be an interesting project. That write-up might be ready as soon as next week.
As always, thanks for reading and remember - don't be that guy who thinks it's hilarious to roll a d100 when everyone else is rolling six-sided dice. There's no glory to be found in those games, and precious little challenge.