MTG

I like Commander.

I'm not the first to say this, but it is definitely unfortunate that Commander has become a lot of people's introduction to Magic - it is strategically incredibly complicated, takes a long time to understand if you don't know all the staple cards, the meta and unspoken rules are completely socially dependent, and there's lots of politics - these are all really difficult for players who are new to Magic or a game store or a social group.

That being said, I think Commander is the most fun format for established players who have a consistent playgroup that creates an ongoing culture. The options are limitless, really, so everyone can express themselves through deck construction. The other way I've really loved Commander is in explicitly competitive formats, like budget leagues or tournaments with set-in-stone rules. If the rules are known up front then everyone knows that LD, Stax, or combos are on the table and salt is just clearly bad sportsmanship. You can't really avoid poor sports in any game, unfortunately.

It's great fun... as long as everyone playing has agreed on what 'fun' is.

It sounds like you're playing with the wrong group of people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI
So, anyway. Different people will obviously like different things about EDH. Personally, when I build a deck, I like to do it to play what I find fun or cool, not to build a deck that has the highest win percentage. When you think like that, deckbuilding becomes more like game design, instead of being part of what wins you the game. It's like I'm trying to design a faction of a boardgame - sure, I could design my faction in such a way where it would win every game, but where's the fun in that? Then, when the actual game starts, I do play my deck/faction to win, because where would be the fun in playing if you're not trying to win?
I think you're stuck in thinking about deckbuilding as part of trying to win the game, instead of seeing it as designing an enjoyable game, while trying to win the game only starts at turn 1.

First, I'd like to say you sound like a very uncomfortable person and I'd probably not want to play any games with you, regardless of the format.

Still your point stands and I'm growing increasingly frustrated with commander just like you. I think commander is bad for the game for multiple reasons:

1. It creates bad incentives for WotC. When everyone is playing commander, which is essentially legacy but without any tournament backing to enforce cards are genuine, wizards has to make sure to create incentives to buy new products instead of sticking to yesteryears cards. This leads to the constant powercreep which has ruined yugioh gameplay among others. Modern players complain about this, where every modern horizons set warped the format. You can read jokes that the former top tier splinter twin deck would be a good tier 3 contender should they unban it now in times of ragavan and bowmasters. I imagine this will get much, much worse for commander as long as it stays the premier format. Standard circumvented this problem.

2. Commander is horrible for new players. Since every deck play around 80-90 different cards, picked from a random janky pool of 30 years of game design, new players have to wrap their minds around 300+ cards just to play the game. To play the game good is another thing entirely. Every time we have new players in the store, the owner recommends they buy a precon and get going on commander friday. When these players sit down they have no idea what is happening, they don't understand who is ahead. Suddenly they are dead after the urza player sucessfully convinced them the other precon is the problem five minutes ago.

3. Four player free for all is boring. After the first few turns the turn length goes wayy up and suddenly you look at a ten to fifteen minute break between each of your turns. This gets worse as the boards get filled with value engine permanents, where any game action will put approximately fifteen triggers on the stack. Naturally, the two blue players want to consider their option for each of those triggers and stare at their hands and the board for minutes at a time. I have on multiple occasions started a second 1v1 game with either bored players on other tables or the guy next to me in the same game. Unfortunately most chess clock aren't designed for more than two players.

Yes, I used to have the same problem. It used to feel like it was full of invisible and unwritten rules that all contradicted each other. Getting bullied if cards are too strong or too weak.

Casual EDH, that is: as you point out, competitive EDH doesn't have the same problem.

What I finally realized was that I shouldn't approach it as a game. I should approach EDH deckbuilding like a crossword maker approaches making a crossword:

To try to create something that is a challenge but beatable.

It's easy to create an unsolvable crossword. Just a bunch of white noise in a grid. But that's just no fun to anyone. A good crossbow maker wants the crossword solver to have fun and to enjoy the puzzle, to tease them a bit but keep it realistic and grounded.

Now, a game of EDH isn't a puzzle, but it's an experience.

I started out making my first EDH deck super weak (it's built around Tolarian Serpent) and have gradually been adding powerful cards or interactive cards or cards where I just like the art or the experience or the memory of when I first opened the card. I have a foil Rethink even though there are a lot better stack interaction cards, but it was just the first foil I ever opened so playing it makes me happy. The deck is still weaker than many of precons are out of the box so I still have a ways to go with it but that can be a gradual process of tweaking and modding.

I hope this helps.

U mad bro?

60 card formats are my jam, but I thank the commander players for making the game I like cheaper. Keep selling that boring land you got from a booster pack to the front counter at the store for half it's value. I thank you for your service.

Yeah I also miss the times when 60 card casual/standard/extended decks were the norm. Today you go to a LGS and everyone just plays Commander, which is fine, but is is sad to me that nobody plays their 60 card decks anymore, like for example a fair elf deck. Because of this, I am forced to build Commander decks myself and my 60-cards non-competitive decks became a little bit useless. A lot of those decks are very cool, that's why I also dislike Commander a bit.

For Commander, just build Tax and Stax and live off the tears and anger of your enemies. The less fun they have, the more I do. Nothing better than jamming a winter orb on the table and see 3 grown men REEEE :)

Nope, everyone hates it and only plays it out of spite.

Sounds like you should be playing cEDH. Commander is not for everyone but lots of people enjoy it.