(Join Forces | Art by Aurore Folny)

Friendly greetings and welcome to Digital Deckbuilding, the series about using online tools to build Commander decks. I'm John Sherwood, and this week deckbuilding is a team sport. There's no "I" in team, but there is a "we" in brew if you read it backwards. Don't roll your eyes at me; you're supposed to stretch before exercise. Dana Roach of EDHRECast graciously agreed to be my deckbuilding teammate to demonstrate the Collaborators feature on Archidekt.

Tryouts - Adding Collaborators

You can easily add or remove Collaborators in any of your decks on Archidekt. From the deck page, simply click the Collaborators icon on the menu bar or navigate to the Extra Settings tab of Deck Settings.

Archidekt's official description of the Collaborators feature explains the most essential information: "This feature allows users to share their decks with others and update them in real time together. Setting someone as a collaborator grants them privileges to make any changes to the deck that an owner could outside of anything in the Main Settings."

In other words, you can add any other Archidekt user as a collaborator. Be courteous and don't try to add someone as a Collaborator unless they already agreed to it. Just because you can add any user, doesn't mean you should. Even though it is still your deck, you are giving another user the ability to make any changes they want to cards, tags and categories. So don't add anyone you don't trust to make decisions for the deck's contents.

The Collaborators feature is in Deck Settings under Extra Settings.

If another user adds you as a Collaborator, you can see the deck in Archidekt's main menu by clicking on Shared with me. Collaborators cannot change the deck name, format, game type, description or privacy settings. If you agree to Collaborate on someone else's deck, make sure the changes you make are in line with the owner's intent.

Make a Gameplan

Good deck collaboration takes coordination. Start by agreeing on a plan and laying some ground rules. Most of the factors you normally consider for deckbuilding are now shared by multiple minds, so communication is key. I recommend discussing topics like budget, theme and strategy to get all Collaborators pointed at the same goal.

My inspiration for this week's deck came from a Two-Headed Giant variant of Commander, in which each player brings half of a partner deck. I wanted to channel some of that concept into a Collaborator deck with the Backgrounds from Battle for Baldur's Gate. Based on EDHREC numbers, I believe a lot of interesting background pairings are underutilized in the format. After discussing options, Dana and I agreed to build Volo, Itinerant Scholar with the background Cultist of the Absolute.

With about 1,500 decks on EDHREC, this version of Volo is fourteenth for popularity among "Choose a Background" commanders. When Dana and I started this project only one of those decks included Cultist of the Absolute in the command zone. I proposed a strategy of using creatures with Changeling to maximize the number of creature types for Volo's Journal and suggested dividing the build by colors. I volunteered to build the black half of the deck because I tend to avoid black and I wanted to challenge myself.

Spring Training

Archidekt's Collaborator feature works seamlessly, even with two users making changes at the same time. The next screenshot shows a segment of the Deck History, in which Dana and I were both adding cards.

Deck History is useful for retracing your steps in the deck building process.

A couple notable points in the process involved Reassembling Skeleton and Necroduality. I initially left out Reassembling Skeleton because it wasn't a changeling. Dana later recommended the card because it can be repeatedly sacrificed.

Both of these picks demonstrate the advantage of having multiple perspectives to recognize mistakes and find untapped synergies.

Pregame Pep Talk With Dana Roach

As the deck neared completion, I had a few questions for Dana about the deckbuilding in general, and collaborating in particular.

John: "How would you describe your deck building style?"

Dana: "I treat deckbuilding as a creative expression. That's almost always my primary concern. I want to win, don't get me wrong, but I want to win my way. To achieve that I start with a concept that sparks my interest, and then try to find a commander that can enable that. I also want that idea to generally not reflect something commonly played."

John: "What card were you most excited to add to this deck?"

Dana: "Faces of the Past, though to be honest I'm not entirely sure if it will be helpful or just chaotic. But I've always wanted a deck to use it this might be it."

John: "Is there any advice you would give players for collaborating on Archidekt?"

Dana: "Keep it simple. Archidekt has a lot of great advanced features, but you want to make the collaborative process as easy for both parties as possible, especially when you're starting. Once you've got the deck roughed out you can maybe expand out to use things like custom categories, etcetera, but to start with keep it basic."

John: "What do you see as the best application for the collaborator tool in the Commander community?"

Dana: "It's really useful for content creators doing live-style brews. For non-creators, it's just a good way to get help from friends, especially if you're a newer player and find it hard to dig through cards, etc."

Opening Day - Teamwork For the Win

Reddit subs, Discord channels and other forums are overflowing with players asking for help with decks. Archidekt's Collaborators feature takes community deckbuilding to the next level. Like Dana said, "it's just a good way to get help from friends." Let's not forget the subtitle of this game is THE GATHERING. Collaborating on decks is another way for us to gather and enjoy Magic.

You can check out the deck Dana and I built together below. Huge thanks to Dana Roach for Collaborating with me on this deck and this article. For more great content from Dana, check out his articles on EDHREC, or watch the EDHRECast on Youtube.

Read more:

Digital Deckbuilding - How to use Archidekt and EDHREC Filters

Digital Deckbuilding - Archidekt Card Packages and EDHREC Staples

John Sherwood

John Sherwood loves interaction, turning creatures sideways and interacting with sideways creatures. His deck building mantra is, "Run more lands." He has been a devoted Commander player since Zendikar Rising.