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I know that you saw that title and you're probably one of two people:

1. You will not read this article, and you'll rush to the comments to tell me how it's actually better to learn Magic through Arena, Jumpstart, or Pauper
2. You will read this article, but still tell me how it's actually better to learn Magic through Arena, Jumpstart, or Pauper

So, I'm at peace with being told I'm wrong here. I'm writing this one for me. Or, if perhaps I'm wrong about you, and you can be persuaded to see it my way, welcome.

The "Best" Way to Learn "Magic"

There is an obligatory distinction I must make here. Sometimes when we talk about the "best" way to do something, we don't clarify our intentions or our goals. Two people's goals with being the best at something might differ greatly. In some cases, the "best" way to learn Magic prioritizes being a fun person to play with. For others it's about your ability, your skill, your stratagem.

Before you all think I'm moving the goalposts, I'm not. I genuinely think Commander is the best way to learn the rules of Magic. For the purposes of this article, I'm talking about the "best" way to learn Magic in terms of strategy, not just how to have fun; I mean the best way to hone one's ability at Magic.

Also, in terms of intention, when people talk about the "best way to learn Magic" it is always in the context of how people are currently learning it: the most popular current format, Commander. This is going to be a conversation about the best way to learn Magic to be the "best" player in the format you want to play. Which, statistically, will be Commander. Keep that in mind.

The Easiest Versus the Best

Now, I want to address the Arena, Jumpstart, and Pauper discourse. The argument as to why these formats are the best to learn the rules of the game is that these are the least "complex," least front-loading formats to start with. They have the fewest internal meta strategies, the fewest number of players, or fewest cards to cover. Well, compared to Commander of course.

Magic is an incredibly complex game that can feel like drinking from a firehose when you first start. Especially with formats like Brawl, Commander, and even Standard that can be really overwhelming. Minimizing all the things you need to learn might be the ideal way to teach, right?

There are two concepts I want to introduce here: productive struggle and a growth mindset. Let's talk about productive struggle first. It is "intended to help students develop strong habits of the mind — perseverance, flexible thinking and active learning," according to the University of San Diego. I went on to read this article called The Neuroscience Behind Productive Struggle that cited this study. The article said:

"Two groups of 8-year-olds tossed beanbags at a target three feet away. For the next 12 weeks, half of the kids continued to practice with the same target, while the other half practiced with targets at two and four feet away. At the end of the experiment, both groups completed a final test with the original target, three feet away.

Surprisingly, the group that practiced with targets two and four feet away performed significantly better than the group practicing at three feet...The increased difficulty [was] created by productive struggle. Sometimes the learning strategies that are most effective for students can feel like the least effective. Productive struggle leads to better learning."

Again, the most direct and streamlined strategy might be the least efficient in building a skill. Learners need a reasonable challenge to engage their brains better in the process of learning. This article goes more deeply into the science of myelin—the part of the brain's process of making brain signals stronger and faster. Feel free to read the article linked above for more information, but ultimately, "Anytime a student learns a skill or concept, myelin is produced, making brain signals faster and stronger." Productive struggle is necessary in better learning.

Before we explain how that works in Magic, let's talk about a "Growth Mindset." I'm normally very resistant to any self-help, easy-fix-to-your-life schemes or concepts, but it's not as self-help as it sounds. According to a Stanford University article, "Research has shown that when students have a growth mindset, they are more likely to challenge themselves, believe that they can achieve more, and become stronger, more resilient and creative problem solvers."

What is a growth mindset? Stanford professor Carol Dweck coined the term in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006). It simply means, "a learner’s belief that their intelligence can expand and develop." The opposite of this is a, "fixed mindset." This is the belief "their intelligence is a fixed, immutable trait." This fixed mindset becomes problematic because learners will believe that challenges and setbacks are beyond them, resisting the challenge altogether.

In her study in 2014, Dweck's team learned that "students with a growth mindset will often see challenges or setbacks as an opportunity to learn. As a result, they respond with constructive thoughts (e.g., 'Maybe I need to change my strategy or try harder'), feelings (such as the thrill of a challenge), and behaviors (persistence)."

I'm bringing up these two ideas to explain why the avenue of the easiest thing might come from a fixed mindset about learning. John Carroll and Scott H. Young argued that "the difference between students isn’t in their potential to learn particular things, but in how fast they can learn them. In short, some people learn quickly, and some people learn more slowly, but they could all reach the same destination if given the proper support." Anyone can learn everything, but it's a matter of time, not ability.

Speed might be a factor, but even with something like Jumpstart or Pauper, there might not be enough of the kind of productive struggle necessary to hone someone's skill the way we are measuring. If someone is learning Magic to play Commander, but learns how to play through Pauper, there might not be enough productive struggle to increase their ability for the more taxing job of playing Commander. If you're playing Pauper to learn how to play Pauper, I think that's fine. Same with Standard.

Chunking and Overwhelmed Learners?

I've mentioned that productive struggle is important and Commander is probably one of the more complex formats to get a hold of, especially for a new player. What if it's too much? What if all this information is so overwhelming that the learner backs out and doesn't play at all? Surely it's easier to start with baby steps and ramp up the difficulty with Commander after they've gotten their feet wet, right?

I'll give you a little credit. Some of the sources online partially—sorta, kinda, maybe—agree with this. They talk about "chunking." According to Pearson, "at its core, chunking refers to the process of breaking down large amounts of information into smaller, manageable 'chunks' which act as a scaffold for our novice learners. This technique takes advantage of how our brains naturally organise and process information, helping students grasp complex concepts more easily and maximise learning efficiency."

I've used chunking as a teacher. This seems like a slam-dunk for you all, right? Jumpstart or Pauper teaches the basic strategies to learn about Magic in a way that is in more manageable, chunked pieces of learning. Yes-ish, but mostly no. Again, Pearson says, "When we overload students with information, it can lead to cognitive fatigue and disengagement. This is where chunking comes in: by breaking content into smaller units, we reduce the mental load, enabling students to move information from working memory to long-term memory more efficiently."

To implement chunking, you must take a preexisting set of steps necessary to achieve a specific goal and break that down into manageable parts. Teaching Commander through Pauper doesn't exactly do that. Understanding mana efficiency, removal theory, combat strategy, life total management, and the meta are completely different. Not only that, it's actively teaching bad strategies for the meta they're learning for. Even talking about priority is difficult to conceptualize and transfer knowledge from because Commander has multiple opponents and Pauper doesn't.

Granted, the kinda-sorta-yeah part is that tapping mana and going through phases are bite-sized things you could teach through Jumpstart or Pauper — but you could just as easily cover those basics in a five-minute conversation or a non-game demonstration, outside any format. If someone is learning Commander, another format shouldn't be used. Instead, we need to take a game of Commander and chunk that experience into bite-sized portions. Teach with straightforward decks with commonly seen cards, to build that recollection, identification, and strategy.

This might overwhelm learners, yes, but the question is if it will make a better player, and sadly Pauper and Jumpstart don't stack up here either.

Beef with Mistakes

One little tangent before I move on to my final point: I think everyone is resistant to teaching through Commander because of the sheer number of mistakes that will need to be corrected throughout this process. Magic is super complex, and even more complex in Commander. Mistakes happen even with seasoned players. Surely, a ton of mistakes will ruin the learning process, right? It is actually really effective learning to make a ton of mistakes. According to MedEd University:

"The research from Johns Hopkins University reveals that making mistakes during a learning task can actually lead to faster learning. When individuals make mistakes, their brains not only remember the correct information better but also learn faster from those errors, even in completely different tasks. This enhanced memory of errors helps the brain generalize from one task to another, making it more likely to retain and apply the correct information in future situations."

Making mistakes actually makes you learn faster. I will even go further. Actively correcting a mistake when you make it helps even more. Psychology Today even says that "mistakes are essential to the learning process, and probably most important. When mistakes happen, stop, isolate the mistake, and correct it. Perhaps repeat the process several times. This is how identification and solidification of a specific skill occur." Correcting things in the moment is more effective than waiting until another moment to correct it.

I've seen it a million times with casual games with beginners — heck, even with longtime players — that when a mistake is made, they'll say, "I'll learn better if I don't correct, and just do better next time." But that's just false. "Watching [children] fall down, struggle with pronunciation, and get their fingers tangled in the laces become special memories that build the child’s self-confidence and capacity to learn via mistakes."

The Real Reason I'm Talking About Commander the Most

I'm sure a bunch of you are grumbling that I'm framing learning Magic in relation to Commander. "What if they want to learn Standard? Your whole argument for Commander falls apart." Well, reader, I've been baiting you to my final point. I do this with love.

Commander is actually the best way to learn Magic in general because it's the most fun way to play Magic. I know this isn't completely true, but statistically, the people who love Magic probably love Commander. TCGProtectors said "Commander is MTG's most popular format in 2026 — over half of players enjoy it for its creativity and social feel." Even on the Magic MTG Format's page, Commander is listed first among the most popular formats, followed by Standard and then Draft. Not Jumpstart or Pauper. I guess Arena is popular enough to reference against Commander, that is if you are teaching by throwing them into the meta of Standard immediately.

Why does it matter that Commander is more fun to play? What does that have to do with learning better? Everything, really. Joy, buy-in, and investment is everything to the learning process. I told you before that some of the articles I've read talk about chunking, but personalization or emotional investment being necessary in effective learning is mentioned in a lot more.

• According to The School House, "Helping your child pursue what genuinely interests them can dramatically shift from passive disengagement to active curiosity."
• Ali Abdaal and Scott Young argued: "So the general principle here is that we learn best when we’re in the environment where we’re actually going to be using the skill."
• Alex Garoffolo on Medium stated: "Whether you’re selling somebody a used car, teaching them how to operate heavy machinery, or trying to get them to exercise more, always remember and directly answer WIFM. I want to know what’s in it for me. If you don’t tell me WIFM (up front and repeatedly), you’ll lose me."
• The Grad Partnership stated that learners, "who are behaviorally engaged are more likely to stay on track academically, build positive habits for long term success, and develop essential relationship and self-regulation skills."
• Instructional Empowerment stated that a neuroscience expert, David Sousa, noted: "that engaged students: Have more motivation to participate in class, Enjoy achieving their learning goals, Are more likely to persist through challenges in learning, Feel intrinsically motivated to gain new and deeper understanding."

I could list a lot more, but my editor is probably worried about how long this article is getting. Sorry Nick.

My point here is that most people playing Magic enjoy Commander. Engagement and investment are vital to learning. You can't teach someone to love and engage with Magic with a format or experience that didn't drawn them to the game in the first place. If your enjoyment of a skill affects your ability to learn, Commander is the most efficient and effective thing to reach for when teaching the Magic skill. If they like it enough, they'll stick around through the firehose lessons until they can play more and more effectively.

They might not learn the rules as quickly or as easily as a person learning by playing Pauper, who just wants to play Pauper, but if they want to play Commander — which statistically the people learning this game want — they'll learn how to efficiently play Commander by playing Commander.

At least that's what I think. Let me know what you think. I'm @strixhavendropout on everything.