GI Joe quotes aside, my fiancee asked me kind of a neat question while we were hanging out last night. I've been really into Dragon Age: Inquisiton the past few days, but her question caused me to set the controller down and give this some thought.
Her question was, "How do you choose which guys to build decks around?"
A hell of a question.
When my playgroup first got started, legendary creatures were in relatively short supply. I had exactly three to choose from: Darien, King of Kjeldor, Rafiq of the Many, and Rhys, the Redeemed. I wound up eventually building all three, but Darien was first. So a limiting factor is supply.
Supply not withstanding, Darien seemed like the most fun and the biggest challenge to build. He was. A six mana 3/3 is already pretty rough. Add that to the ease in which his ability can be played around, and white's limited ability to damage self for fun and profit, and you've got something of an uphill battle.
Privileged Position was out. Aceticism? Nope. Even if I pulled off Indestructibility, he gets sacrificed. If they have no answer, I just don't get attacked. This is cool, but then how do I win if I can't make a bunch of dudes, gain the life back with Soul Warden, and crush someone?
Darien can be a powerful general, if a needy one. He needs a lot of support. Other ways to make tokens, Soldier Tribal cards, graveyard recursion (I don't want to pay 6 for a 3/3; why the hell would I pay 8? Or more?). And I have to reliably hit 6 mana in white?
That deck didn't last all that long.
Cool effects are another reason to choose a Commander; but note: some will be worth it; others will not.
One of my earlier posts goes into detail about my group's transition to Commander. CB in particular built a Uril, the Miststalker deck that made every effort to win, or it'd collapse by turn 7. Uril is a powerful Commander that a lot of people dislike. He's in colours that can tutor up and recur enchantments, he's Hexproof, and he gets out of hand very quickly. Pretty powerful, and the deck does sort of build itself. Power level is another factor in choosing a Commander.
The flip side to this is the multiplayer aspect of the game. Strong Generals like Uril can get hated out very quickly because of their overall strength. When Rafiq of the Many was my main deck, I brought it with me downtown when I first got posted to the West Coast. Everyone knows Rafiq is powerful, but I wasn't prepared for having to take on 4 other guys at the same time just for bringing the deck. I killed two of them before I was eliminated, but everyone was pretty upset that I brought a "competitive" deck to play with.
Not all playgroups are created equal, I guess; and people are very willing to judge you for playing the cards you play.
This kind of leads us into another reason: mind games.
I sat down to play a game of Magic last week with my fiancee and an acquaintance of mine. His general? Johan. Yes, this drag queen Darth Maul that can give your team Vigilance at the cost of attacking. I made the choice to ignore him and try to knock my fiancee out of the game (Suspended Ulamog is scary, yo). I succeeded in that, only to be Scapeshifted when he landed an Admonition Angel. Whether or not he ran Queer Eye for the Jedi for the colours, to hide what his deck could do, or becasue of some kind of attachment remains unknown to me, but the deck was effective.
I think that covers all the reasons I can think of that one would play a given Commander. If I've missed any, let me know!
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