The Most Dangerous GamerThe Most Dangerous Gamer | Art by Aaron J. Riley

I played 311 games of Commander in 2025. I kept a spreadsheet, which keeps track of my wins and losses, how many players were in the pod, and if there was an infinite combo. I got pretty lazy with it so I'm sure I missed a game here and there.

Anyway, I've played approximately 0.85 games a day. Here is what I learned from all that gameplay in 2025.

Rando Calrissian

I've played a lot of games online and in person with random people. I'm on Magic Twitch streams often and am a Commander gremlin so I'm always looking for games when my usual pod isn't available.

I have had every bad rando interaction: lying about your deck's power, misrepresenting how a card works to your advantage, social faux pas, hygiene concerns, and just angry salty behavior.

As much as I'd love to say that's all I experienced, there were some really lovely games and new friends made. I don't think we should give up on rando games because of the roll of the dice. Your new play pod could be formulated from a random person at the LGS. Risk it! I have, and it was worth it.

Icetill ExplorerIcetill Explorer Is That Good

I don't need to get into detailed research about why Icetill ExplorerIcetill Explorer is such a powerful card. It definitely feels like the power creep of a set of landfall cards has been topped.

This card is so much better than so many previous additional land drop cards. It seems to go almost infinite with cards like Teval, the Balanced ScaleTeval, the Balanced Scale. That's an exaggeration, but it feels so good in some decks that it's astounding. I feel this way with Traveling ChocoboTraveling Chocobo as well.

Some cards printed lately feel so much better than a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if this is a problem or more like an observation. I learned to keep my eye open for new sets, even if the theme doesn't fit me, which is exhausting with seven sets next year.

Wombo Combo

I have always been a certified hater of combos. When I first built Tivit, Seller of SecretsTivit, Seller of Secrets, I took the Deadeye NavigatorDeadeye Navigator out because I didn't like the combo. I felt less guilty winning with Time SieveTime Sieve because it was sort of not infinite, but whenever anyone saw it, the game would be over.

However, after playing a ton of games where combat and ping damage is mitigated, I had to get creative. I learned what my partner had been preaching for a long time: Always have a combo in your back pocket.

It doesn't have to be a two-card combo with your commander, but you need to be able to set up an alternative way to win if locked out of your initial strategy. I've won some very difficult games by having a hidden infinite in my Dihada, Binder of WillsDihada, Binder of Wills deck. Sometimes you hit an attrition situation against a player and need a way out.

Combo is actually an okay way to win. I've come around. It used to make me so salty to lose against it, but not anymore. I even play them now. It seems as reasonable as a Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth.

Bracket 3.5 Titania

It's so brutal having to explain that the Bracket system is a guideline for conversations about power levels, not strict rules. It's hard because when you have a deck that is too strong for Bracket 3 but too weak for Bracket 4, you're in a nasty predicament.

I have a Titania, Protector of ArgothTitania, Protector of Argoth deck that is too strong for Bracket 3, constantly winning, but always losing in Bracket 4 because it just can't accelerate fast enough.

I tend to avoid it, if I'm honest. It's such a cool deck but it does a lot of nothing in Bracket 4 and too much in Bracket 3. It's hard to place it, even with conversations trying to sculpt the perfect scenario.

This isn't shade on the Bracket system. It's helped immensely in identifying this problem with the deck and allowing me more freedom in explaining it. But what I've learned is that I just haven't found a good time to play it. I need to find it's niche, play it more in higher Brackets to understand it's lines.

Maybe in 2026 it'll become a Hearthhull, the WorldseedHearthhull, the Worldseed deck? Unlikely.

Precons? More like Procons

Please laugh at my joke. We've all played against the Edge of Eternities precons and thought, "Hm, this is way too strong to be a precon." We have these weird expectations of the power in precons. It's even evident in the initial concept for the Bracket System. We believe that precons should be weak. However, it's not really a requirement for a precon.

And notably it's not the first time precons have been so insane out of the box. I'm looking at Bloomburrow. I'm looking at Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

These decks stand out as being very exceptional. Edge is no exception. However, I have come to learn that precons should be allowed to be broken. It's the skill to pilot them that we're cultivating with a precon, not its ability to win. Hence, why I encourage people to stop saying their decks aren't powerful because they're precon commanders or their deck is only slightly upgraded.

Anyway, I wonder if Hearthhull, the WorldseedHearthhull, the Worldseed is too confusing to play. That's the bigger, more important concern with modern precons. In the grand scheme of how confusing Commander can be, I don't know if I'd say the deck is that confusing, but that's not what the gauge is here. Is a new player going to find it difficult to pilot and understand? I'm sure there are confusing bits like stationing for the first time and the fact that your commander isn't always a creature, and isn't a creature on the stack.

I'm sure that might create some learning pains for players, but I think we're looking at it from the perspective of people who know the game already. We think this deck is particularly unique. To a new player it might be all they know and learning it that way might set up bad expectations, or stretch their learning early on. I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, or even difficult when compared to an enfranchised player sifting from crew and other mechanics.

Maybe I'll write a whole article about this, but in summary, for right now I don't know.

Scalping UB Isn't Going to Work Out

So when we saw the sealed prices of Final Fantasy and how crazy the market was, I was really worried that sealed Universes Beyond products would be lost forever to those with wallets that could crush a full grown person. Then I saw Marvel's Spider-Man. Lots of scalpers bought a lot of product and couldn't move it. I was wondering if it was because of the lack of success for Spider-Man that led to the decline. But then Avatar: The Last Airbender, a set that did well, had hikes in sealed but then came down.

Maybe that means scalping has proven too be too risky in this fickle market. I'm not sure. I'm not an economist, but it seems like we might be okay for a few sets coming up.

Three Is Better Than Five

This is desperately biased, but I played 70 games in three-man pods this year out of 311 games. I crave four-person pods. It's perfectly balanced as all things should be. Some decks like Tivit and Heliod, the Radiant DawnHeliod, the Radiant Dawn struggle to win in pods with fewer players (I play both). Three-person games were weirdly balanced.

The few games that I played with more than four players were so incredibly miserable and long that I couldn't manage it. I actively played fewer games of Commander to avoid five-person pods. I already knew my feelings on this kind of game, but I wanted to highlight it again.

My mind hasn't changed: three and five bad, four good.

Zimone, Mystery UnravelerZimone, Mystery Unraveler Has Too Many Triggers

I've played 31 games with Zimone, and I won nine of them. Not too bad. However, the board state and the triggers were always so difficult to parse. Sometimes I'm resolving a Threats UndetectedThreats Undetected, a Field of the DeadField of the Dead, Zimone, and Kodama of the East TreeKodama of the East Tree triggering all at the same time.

It was a messy board state, but my biggest lesson here was to take it one at a time. Isolate my triggers and reassess my board state.

My turns were long, but at least I didn't miss anything. It's important because missing triggers has cost me the game so many times. I also play Prosper, Tome-BoundProsper, Tome-Bound, which is for some reason easier to track triggers for.

It might just be that I've played a lot of Prosper since it came out. It's important to learn your deck to the point that efficiency in resolving triggers is first and foremost, and the speed will come later.

I Salt Out, Too

Before the last year or so, I'd been the kind of player who never salted out in a game. I didn't win very often in general. I imagine I didn't really get a taste for it until recently. I've been winning more and more lately, feeling stronger and more confident in my abilities.

It was a double-edge sword. Now I can get let down when I get close to winning and lose. It was weird, learning how to salt out at first. I felt overwhelmed with all this negative emotion after a loss that I didn't know what to do with, how to cope with. I became explosive and then demure, quiet and avoidant, and then sassy.

Sometimes I would cry. Let's be honest, I cried a lot about losing games of Commander. I felt like losing made me a loser, you know? I didn't want to be a loser. All of these feelings, I've learned - and advocate in defense of - are normal. It's normal to invest time, money, thought, and creativity into something to see it fail and feel poorly about it. It's all about how we treat others.

If you need a moment, take a moment. If you need to scoop because you want out of the game, ask politely. Cry if you need to. I like to pretend to get a snack and knock out a one-minute power cry in the bathroom. It is relieving.

Losing games of Magic doesn't make us losers. It makes us better, more thoughtful, more critical, more careful players. It's why I think I'm such a good player now, crying and all.

I Lost 17 Games with Coram, the UndertakerCoram, the Undertaker This Year, and I Keep Playing

My biggest lesson learned this year is that losing can be fun! I love my Coram deck. I get to put stuff in the graveyard, ReanimateReanimate, use rad counters, mill, swing for tons of damage, play Chandra's IgnitionChandra's Ignition, play Black Market ConnectionsBlack Market Connections, and do the Jund Graveyard shenanigans.

What more could I ask for? Well, winning would be nice.

Of the 20 games with Coram, I managed three whole wins. One win was extremely lucky. The second was in a three-person pod where no one really understood how my deck won. A win is a win, nonetheless. But what I noticed was that, while I often take decks apart for their poor performance, I was enamored with how fun Coram is to play that I play it knowing I'll probably lose. I learned to just enjoy the journey again.

This is huge for me, a perfectionist. And a lesson we all need to learn again and again.

Tell me what you've learned! I'm @strixhavendropout on everything.