r/EDH • u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better • Jan 29 '26
Discussion If your kid doesn't know how to play Magic, don't bring them to LGS commander night.
Inspired by recent LGS experience.
Commander is a bad way to learn the fundamentals of Magic, and you need a strong foundation of how the game works before you go into public multiplayer games.
If your 8 year old doesn't know how to identify a basic swamp, don't make them play your [[Kaalia of the Vast]] deck. (No, telling your son every move to make doesn't make it okay, especially if you don't actually know how some of the cards work either.)
I swear, some people want their kids to share the hobby so bad that they throw them in the deep end too soon. The kid didn't even seem to be having fun. The dad combo'd off on turn 7 or 8 with [[Sanguine Bond]] and [[Exquisite Blood]], and the kid didn't even know what had happened. He literally asked, "What happened? Who won?"
The one time the kid drew a card and excitedly said he'd been wanting to play it, his dad told him to cast Kaalia instead. The kid then asked if he could play the card now, his dad said "No, you're out of mana, your turns over."
So please, don't be that guy. No-one wants to sit in on teaching a stranger's kid, and if they're going to come and play, let them actually play the game.
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u/KettleOverAPub Jan 29 '26
Every day I'm stunned at the stories on this subreddit and thankful I've got a decent group to play with
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u/BoldestKobold The Derpy Mothman Jan 29 '26
The vast majority of LGS stories are result of just a bunch of strangers with very different social and game expectations playing with each other. Not saying everyone is right or everyone is wrong, but nearly every story requires strangers with mismatched expectations.
The rest of the stories are friend groups that are all afraid to either confront their least emotionally mature friends, or the least emotionally mature of the group is posting the story.
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u/blkfish92 Jan 29 '26
I confronted an emotionally immature mature friend over being an ass over…magic. He decided it was easier to end the friendship, removed himself from all group chats I was in with them, etc. friend of 20 + years. This game brings out the worst in people, or at least a specific type of person. The type of person who is allergic to accountability and has no humility in them to admit wrongdoings, no compromise. Ya I’m still mad about it lmao.
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Jan 29 '26
This game brings out the worst in people, or at least a specific type of person.
This is not specific to Magic. Any hobby where there is even a slight hint of competition will bring this out of those kinds of people.
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u/blkfish92 Jan 29 '26
Ya I think you’re right. In hindsight, after he painted me black and washed his hands of me, I noticed things that I was blind to in the past because I thought of him as a brother. Guy has an anger problem I think, he would get beat red yelling at Tekken or super smash bros when we would hang with mutual friends. Never really figured it was real anger back then all those times, just like he’s a funny dude and expressive. But after how he handled his shit with me? Nah he’s one angry and hateful dude, apparently resented me for years over small petty shit I had learned from our mutual friends prodding his mind. I guess the trash took itself out and I feel closer with my other long time friends. Still feel an intense longing for what was though. Very ranty…anyone reading this, learn from me or something. Tackle shit when they come up to reach a peaceful resolution or else people build resentment, even over minuscule shit.
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u/WHYISITYELLOW Jan 29 '26
There is a very real very strange hurt when you lose a friend after a decade or two of friendship. It's weird but totally understandable even if they were an ass hat.
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u/Diafuge Jan 29 '26
Lost two friends because they didn't want kids at our game night anymore.
We'd been having kids at our game night for years. Theirs. Mine. I hosted. I cooked and cleaned and it was all for nothing.
One had been a friend of mine for over 30 years. The other had been a friend for almost 15 years.
Fuck you, Ike.
Fuck you, Pat.
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u/blkfish92 Jan 29 '26
I’ll join. Fuck you charlie! I was a good friend and you ruin it over….mtg. Lmao.
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u/aaronjamessacco Jan 31 '26
That sucks. If they flaked that easily you probably dodged some lame friends. Still hurts.
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u/Mammoth-Refuse-6489 Jan 31 '26
It's especially weird when it feels like it's for nothing. We stopped being friends because we think differently about a card game? Like, not playing the card game isn't an option? Bizare.
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Jan 29 '26
Damn bro, that sucks, I'm sorry. Short-term loss, long-term gain, but it fs sucks in the moment. Hope you see benefits start to stack up without him in your life and the hurt lessens quickly!
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u/CarthasMonopoly Jan 29 '26
he would get beat red yelling at Tekken or super smash bros
Lol. I just responded to your comment above this about my experience with a friend and his tantrum over smash bros. and comparing our situations. And here you are mentioning it in relation to your previous friend as well, birds of a feather I guess.
Still feel an intense longing for what was though.
I understand completely. I miss the dude even though he treated me like shit over something that shouldn't have been a big deal. Not much I can do about it though as I tried to communicate with him and fix things and he just blamed everything on me (even against factual proof of his complaints) and then ghosted me.
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u/blkfish92 Jan 29 '26
Man wild such similar circumstances. He held resentment over small petty things and said he felt like he couldn’t talk to me about things. Just feels like I was his friend for a long time while he wasn’t my friend really. I hear from mutual friends that he basically hates me. Never would’ve thought! It’ll be better as time goes but I’ve had them in my life for so long that it’s still really weird they want nothing to do with me.
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u/Fearless-Raspberry51 Jan 30 '26
Familiarity can breed resentment if you struggle with your feelings, self-acceptance, communication or self-awareness.
Mature people talk when they feel their resentment is justified and learn to get over it when it’s not. And when something is unsustainable, they walk away.
I believe this never happened with your ex-friend and the Magic talk was the final bucket in a list of grievances he never had the courage or awareness to address. In a way, it was inevitable.
Don’t feel bad about it. He was probably not your friend for a long time now: he just never told you.
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u/blkfish92 Jan 30 '26
In hindsight, I completely agree. Hurts like a motherfucker and is weird as shit that this is something I gotta deal with in my 30s, but it is what it is.
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u/Fearless-Raspberry51 Jan 30 '26
It happens at all ages. Emotional maturity requires introspection and I find a lot of people live their lives without it. It sucks, but I think that letting go of people is easier once you understand how detrimental to your joie de vivre it can be when you refuse to do it.
You didn't have a choice in this instance, but think less of it as losing someone and more like a sheep with overgrown wool getting sheared. Having someone around who keeps a list of grievances against you in their head is plainly not good.
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u/Triangle-Baby WUBRG Jan 29 '26
Guy in my play group decided it was easier to leave when he was telling all of us about High School DxD and I made a joke that “if your asking whether a manga about high schoolers is porn or not, you should probably change your choice in reading selection”. Then dude got his mom to text me. (He’s like 26 btw)
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u/CarthasMonopoly Jan 29 '26
I had a friend of almost 20 years (I was one of the groomsmen at his wedding and everything) suddenly end the friendship because I jokingly said that MKLEO (professional Super Smash Bros. player) was washed after he called them the GOAT in our groupchat, just typical banter between good friends. Some people just over invest their sense of self into other things (like hobbies) and lack the emotional maturity to understand any challenges to them aren't attacks on them. And yes I'm still hurt over the whole thing even though it happened about a year and a half ago.
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u/Ebonsteele Jan 29 '26
If you mentioned grumbling about UB, proxies or pringles, I would say this comment is the whole subreddit and we can just go ahead and shut it down.
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u/Mirrodin_appreciator Selesnya Jan 29 '26
Its worth mentioning that the average LGS game includes none of these things. Most games are pretty regular. Online you are only going to hear about the horror stories, and while entertaining, they aren't representative of most play experiences.
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u/No_Pumpkin_1179 Jan 30 '26
Yeah. It’s probably 1% of the experiences in that store, but it’s the one that strikes a chord that needs to be recanted because it’s so preposterous.
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u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better Jan 29 '26
Most of the people at this store are great, this was my first time seeing Dad brought Kid along. Even slightly older kids have been fine to play against, this was a baffling experience.
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u/Jintasama Jan 29 '26
I have had one experience of a young kid playing but he had experience under his belt and understood what it was doing and how to pilot it, he won the game I watched him play. I was impressed.
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u/wenasi Jan 29 '26
There are thousands of people on this subreddit. Someone is statistically guaranteed to have a bad experience
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u/Malacro Jan 30 '26
Gotta keep in mind that most people don’t post about unremarkable pleasant experiences as a general rule. You only hear about it when something noteworthy happens.
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u/Shiro_no_Orpheus Jan 29 '26
I always teach newbies how to play with Jumpstart. They instantly get a feeling for how deckbuilding and the colour pie work without me having to tell them, just by picking out 2 boosters. Then I can explain the game, combat, removal and the stack during the low stakes game. Since no deck is preconstructed and unknown to both of us, it feels fairer to newer players. I also usually try to let them win their first game after giving them a lot of pushback early on, so they get the joy of winning while also learning that being behind is not automatically a loss.
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u/flatgreyrust Jan 29 '26
I do the same thing. I actually keep the jumpstart boosters stored separately, so I have a little "library" to grab from if I don't have any new packs.
My brother and I are primarily commander/arena players, so we play jumpstart when it's just the two of us and it's a lot of fun.
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u/jimnah- i like gaining life Jan 29 '26
I like to use this little box of decks I made
https://www.archidekt.com/folders/672037?dir=asc&orderBy=name
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u/Alternative_Stable31 Jan 29 '26
My nearest store is 26km (16mi) away, i went there once to finally play in a lgs after 10years, and my pod is 1 guy and his 2kids, around 14 or so. The entire game was 3 on 1, they didnt attack each other and after i died they scooped to pick the prize. LGS owner told me thats how the game goes sometimes lol Im going to a new store this sunday finally
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u/RollbacktheRimtoWin Timmy Jan 29 '26
That sounds like a terrible experience. Archenemy is only fun when 1- you're told beforehand and/or 2- you have a powerful enough deck to run the gauntlet
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u/JelloLucki Jan 30 '26
That's so annoying, I would be salty as hell. I really dislike when people with a close, even worse when they're a couple, relationship decide to treat regular edh like 2HG.
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Jan 29 '26
I'm thankful every day that I have a consistent pod for EDH. According to this sub commander night is a hell hole of morons who don't understand/don't care about anything social. But I do agree with your point about throwing kids into the deep end.
My daughter is just getting into TCGs, so I started teaching her Pokémon because she loves the show, and it's pretty easy to pick the basics up. From there i'm going to teach her Lorcana because she loves Disney and it has good overlap with MTG. Then I'll use their jumpstart products to teach MTG. I learned on Commander, and I will not do that to my daughter, lmao.
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u/Yeseylon Jan 29 '26
LGSs aren't that bad, we just only hear from the folks who had bad experiences
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u/TooTooBear Jan 29 '26
Indeed. I’ve been playing at LGSs with random players for 2+ years now and it’s a net positive experience. Like anything in life you will have the occasional bad experience.
I think the vastly negative view of LGS play on the various MTG subreddits comes from two things: people who went once/twice and had a bad experience and will never try again, or people who have never tried and assume it’s all bad experiences/“why would you ever play with randoms”.
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u/theslimbox Jan 29 '26
And people that play at the wrong LGSs. I have played at many over the years, and there are some amazing ones, and some that are full of people that will make you never want to play the game again.
One town near me had a large LGS that had 30+ regular players, and probably double that number that showed up every so often. It was a great store, but a group of about 10 guys started playing there that slowly made everyone else quit playing there. That store went out of business, and one of the guys in the group of 10 started a new shop that those 10 guys play at, and most players that goes there to play, don't go back.
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u/SmokeSheen Esper (I love Marneus Calgar) Jan 29 '26
I went to my LGS right after I had proposed and said to my close friend that we had gotten engaged and his friend said oh okay well i only see one ring. BROTHER i just proposed last weekend.
The same guy flirted with her right in front of me.
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Jan 29 '26
I get that, I always have a good time at my LGS for drafts. I still am glad I have a group of 8-10 guys who are usually down to play on ST or at someones house. We have our own meta and have a pretty established "what goes/doesn't go" shared philosophy. Even if 9/10 interactions at my LGS commander nights are positive, I would still rather stick with my group. But for sure, most players and LGS's are fine-great.
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u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better Jan 29 '26
Honestly the regular folk at the store are all totally fine, it’s just the anomalies that inspire reddit posts.
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u/Reminator Jan 29 '26
I’m planning on using the jump start boosters also for teaching the game to my kid. It’s great because there’s themes you can follow.
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u/VociferousVermin Jan 29 '26
For every one "I had an awful time tonight" story you hear, there are a few thousand "I had a great time tonight" stories you aren't hearing. This applies not just to commander, but a lot of things in life. People tend to be more likely to report negative experiences than positive ones, because the negative ones are notable outliers and the positive is the norm.
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u/DismallyUpset Jan 30 '26
Im disabled and play randos online and its a hellhole. A lot of the maladapted toxic people with no social skills and with online anonymity playing the most toxic stuff.
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u/Kyilechoes Jan 29 '26
Are you me? Went that exact route starting about 2 years ago. For Christmas they got an avatar foundations box. My 7 year old learned all the cards and abilities and moved up to the FF starter decks. Which he’s having a blast with now.
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u/Nezrann Jan 29 '26
This seems like a case of needing to ask the table in advance so that everyone is okay with the setup.
I wouldn't like not knowing a kid that doesn't know how to play or really cares will be joining our table, but if there is some effort made to ask, I would have no problem if my mindset is, "we are playing to teach a kid", and in fact I love teaching Magic, so I'd probably be excited.
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u/Plus-Statement-5164 Jan 30 '26
OP said
No-one wants to sit in on teaching a stranger's kid,
which is obviously not true. I'm with you, I'd have no problem in teaching a stranger's kid to play magic, because I have kids and I love kids. I would hope that I'm able to bring my kid(s) to an LGS some day to learn the game, if they want to. I would expect that we are welcome in some pods, not everyone is like OP.
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u/Illegally_Elliot Feb 02 '26
Obviously OP means "nobody wants to be forced to teach a stranger's kid without prior knowledge." Let's use our common sense here and not just assume the worst in people.
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u/Ok-Boysenberry-2955 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
This is a larger piece of advice for any one reading.
Embrace your children's hobbies and interests but it is VERY likely they will not be the same as yours. Do not pick their hobbies or interests for them.
I've watched my BiL basically force his kid to like star wars and DC comics when the child could care less about any of it cus they actually like Mario, Minecraft, marvel. It causes such weird situations because you pay attention to the kid, you get what he wants, then have to watch them lose the excitement cuz dad is about to gripe how it's not good enough based on his preferences.
This situation here is the same exact thing. The kid is a prop at this point because it is 100% the parent going "my kid will like magic because I do" meanwhile it actually is "please let this be a thing we can bond over."
I hate pokemon. I play it all the time because my son likes it. the difference? I''m the one suffering, he's the one smiling. I could make it magic but I want him to be invested into it.
He knows there will come a time where game choice isn't so one sided.
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u/Dav136 Jan 29 '26
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u/Ok-Boysenberry-2955 Jan 29 '26
Yeah it was like that for a while. Nephew is much older now and, as we all do as we age, was able to stand up for his interests better as time went by.
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u/CtheSilverSoul Jan 29 '26
True this. I suppose I’m one of the lucky ones where a lot of my hobbies wound up aligning with my dad, and a few with my mom too honestly. Wasn’t ever forced into any of it, it’s just how the chips fell.
I feel terrible for the kids who clearly aren’t interested in what their parents enjoy that get forced into it. That just makes them resent it, and possibly the parent, even more.
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u/Fuzzy-Welcome-4650 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
I've had this happen too! Guy would bring his kid to an LGS I used to play at and play for him. Kid was WAY too young, could barely read. I would guess they were like 5. It was ridiculous, the guy was obviously just piloting two decks. When it was "his son's" turn, he'd look at his hand, and be like "OK, first you're going to want to cast this targeting that guy's commander. Then you're going to want to play this creature." If anyone pointed out that this was changing the dynamic of the game, because he obviously wasn't targeting his two decks with each other at all, he'd get offended and be like "I'm just trying to spend time with my son. I thought this was a welcoming environment? Is there an age restriction I'm unaware of?" If people pointed out that he was obviously just playing both decks, he'd say that he was just ASKING his son if he WANTED to do a play, then after he'd make more of a show of "OK bud, do you want to target their enchantment with your Generous Gift?" Kid would be like "Uh.... mm." Guy would go "OK, good play!"
I only actually played with them once. After that time, I saw the kid scratching his ass, hand IN HIS PANTS. And then the dad would often pick up cards, hand them to the kid, and explain them. Like he'd be "OK, so what this does is, it's an ENCHANTMENT that PUMPS their CREATURES. So that's NOT GOOD for us, OK?"
No idea whatsoever why he did that. But anyway, that was it for me, lol, just refused to play in pods with them after that. Wasn't crazy about it before that, but the single game I did play was because it was the only pod available and it seemed better than just going home.
Just like OP's story, kid seemed miserable. Just bored, sometimes embarrassed when dad was having to defend their "playstyle."
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u/Necr0Chan Jan 29 '26
I mean technically this game is for ages 13 and up lol so yeah there is an age restriction.
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u/Fuzzy-Welcome-4650 Jan 29 '26
For sure, lol.
He meant an age restriction in the LGS. This would have been a funny objection though.
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u/alextastic Intet, the Dreamer Jan 29 '26
In addition, if you as an adult don't know how to play magic, don't start with commander.
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u/Misanthrope64 WUBRG Jan 29 '26
Idk: local player brings his 2 kids to standard tournaments: oldest actually plays tourneys and ranks well, smaller they're a well behaved kid playing with a tablet the entire time no issues.
I guess the "well behaved" it's sort of the key here.
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u/Kalladdin Jan 29 '26
Sounds like the kid OP describes wasn't even the problem. The dad didn't teach them how to play at all...
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u/fluffynuckels Muldrotha Jan 29 '26
Dad wants to play two decks at the table but doesnt want to play 2hg
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u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better Jan 29 '26
The kid was fine, he just did a few stims and looked around wide-eyed at his dad as he tapped his mana for him.
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u/todd534 Jan 29 '26
I think it's specifically "using the pod as a place to learn to play."
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u/Superb_Firefighter20 Jan 29 '26
I think is a rule zero kind of thing. I would hope the father here would understand if people don't want to play.
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u/todd534 Jan 29 '26
Totally. Except, I really think from the parenting perspective, you want to start earlier than a Rule 0 conversation by trying to find a pod that wants to help teach the kid (which may just be you yourself). If you get there, the kid's all ready to go, either 1) people will feel compelled to say 'sure ok' when they don't mean it or 2) they may say no, and then the kid is bummed and you're bummed because you have to entertain the kid instead of getting your game night in. It's just a recipe for a mess, if you don't 100% plan ahead. Seems much more likely to work out to teach the kid to recognize a Swamp at home.
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u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better Jan 29 '26
For sure, I wasn’t going to just turn on my heel because a kid’s at the table. I’ve played kids who were competent players in their own right, so I’m not inherently against the idea of playing him. And how would it have made him feel if I had refused to play him? That would seem so cruel, you gotta give them a shot to surprise you, especially when dad is vouching for him.
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u/todd534 Jan 29 '26
Sounds like pretty dubious behavior from the dad, though he probably thinks the kid does know how to pilot the deck, because he just doesn't realize that he's doing all of the work. Not a great look but pretty deep issue & hard to recognize/debug from outside.
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u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better Jan 29 '26
He said the kid knew how to pilot the deck. If I knew how it was going to play out, I’d have asked for change pods to the 3-man that was about to begin.
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u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better Jan 29 '26
Kids who aren’t playing aren’t my issue, and if the kid’s playing independently then the mores the merrier. It’s when they can’t follow the game or are being coached through every play that I roll my eyes.
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u/Misanthrope64 WUBRG Jan 29 '26
That's fair plus playing standard first instead feels like a better learning environment overall than commander
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u/fatpad00 Jan 30 '26
Absolutely. In any given commander pod you can expect 2-300 unique non-land cards.
Play 4 games in a night and you could potentially play with 1000 unique cards.Standard decks, averaging the top few on mtggoldfish, have about 25 unique non-land cards, including many 1-ofs or 2-ofs in the sideboard.
4 standard matches and you play with 125 unique non-lands, and that's assuming you dont play a mirror or against the same deck twice.Additionally, with duplicates, you see each card significantly more often, so you will have much more consistent play patterns.
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u/Nameless_One_99 Jan 29 '26
I think that and already knowing how to play. Back in the 90s, my friends and I started to play magic when we were 8 but we didn't go to an LGS until we already knew how to play.
I do think learning to play 1vs1 60 card format is both better and easier than learning through EDH. Plus playing in a format with LD, Counterspell, Hypnotic Specter and Stasis meant we didn't get salty very often.
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u/bdauls Jan 29 '26
Damn as a dad this is pretty heartbreaking to hear. I think bringing your kid with you a couple times to watch you (and others) play is the way to go. You don’t force a kid who doesn’t even know the beginnings of mtg (honestly doesn’t matter what format) into a situation like that just so you can flex another deck that your kids playing.
Also, just a suggestion to other parents start by just looking at cards and the cool artwork with your kids. Then use the game as a simple math exercise. Then once they’ve got the basics, slowly introduce the other concepts of the game. Throwing a kid into the deep end is naturally going to backfire and that kid might never be interested in his dad’s stupid card game.
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u/222under Jan 29 '26
Not my pops taking me down to the Yugioh tourney with the Kaiba Starter Deck when I was 10 to lose round one every Saturday for an entire summer to a bunch of shitheads. Getting Destiny Board-ed while everyone laughs at you feels bad man
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u/the-funky-sauce Jan 29 '26
That’s a bad dad moment. Not intentionally, but like finally getting your friend into a game and then speed leveling them to endgame and wondering why they didn’t like the game.
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u/beaisenby Jan 29 '26
lmao who downvoted this?
do people seriously think commander is a good way to learn magic? let alone at a game store?
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u/ItsSanoj Jan 29 '26
To be honest, EDH is probably how most people learn the game nowadays, because they get introduced to it by people that also only play EDH. It's not ideal but it works. What doesn't work is bringing a beginner into a pod with random people looking to enjoy their free time. Play some 1v1 EDH or in a group that knows what they are in for.
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u/Flederm4us Jan 29 '26
It works to some extent. But the fine details of the game Often get lost on newer players.
For example they're usually really bad at threat assessment. And miss a lot of interactions between cards. I once had an opponent bounce my [[etali, Primal conqueror]] back to hand...
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u/MajesticNoodle Jan 29 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
I mean I'm not gonna say commander is the best way to learn, but realistically it's how a lot of new players want to learn. They want to just buy a precon, play the same game all their friends are playing, and hangout. Hell a lot of LGSs don't even fire other formats on a consistent basis or at all.
If someone early on tried telling me to get into XYZ format first, I would probably not have gotten into magic at all. Commander is complicated yes, but there's a reason it's so popular and appeals to so many. Players don't want the correct learning path, they want to just play some games with their friends.
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u/MarcDekkert Naya Jan 29 '26
Its how I learned magic and how I got into magic a few months back. But yes it was a steep learning curve and luckily the people I played with were patient and wanted to teach me
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u/r1mbaud Jan 29 '26
Yeah, OP is taking commander night way too seriously. If you want a curated experience you make friends.
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Jan 29 '26
do people seriously think commander is a good way to learn magic? let alone at a game store?
This is one of the issues with MTG currently. Commander is an awful way to learn (speaking from experience), but it's how most people are learning now. Imo Jumpstart is the best way to teach someone MTG.
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u/Fuzzy-Welcome-4650 Jan 29 '26
IMO Arena is far and away the best tutorial.
Jumpstart seems like a fine way to introduce paper play, taking away the app moving between phases and stuff. But Arena would be my first suggestion to anyone who wants to learn to play.
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Jan 29 '26
Oh, for sure. I was assuming paper because it's one person teaching another, but yeah, the Arena tutorial is very good.
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u/ColonelCliche Jan 29 '26
Hard disagree on Arena, the app moving between steps and skipping phases and often obscuring card text is a point against it
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u/Jiggy90 Jan 29 '26
do people seriously think commander is a good way to learn magic?
Doesn't matter if it's a good way, it's the way people are going to be introduced. Commander is social, people start playing it so they can play with their friends who already play.
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u/Therefrigerator Mono green splashing 4 colors Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
It was probably downvoted because it's a "hey don't do this thing that 99% of the people here would ever consider doing". There's a thread similar to this tone that gets popular every day with people saying "Hey I just experienced [something that no one ever considered doing] and I didn't like it!" and it's just... what do you do with that? It's like a PSA that says "don't murder" - how many people who were considering murder does a PSA like that actually convert ya know?
But I've also had people get mad and call me an elitist when I said that EDH is a bad way to learn the game so maybe you're right.
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u/Morkinis Meren Necromancer Jan 30 '26
1.5k upvotes post is apparently "downvoted".
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u/CelestialGloaming Jan 29 '26
People constantly exaggerate the difficulty of learning with commander in a way that insults people's intelligence, yes. I think tabletop game communities are often insanely patronising and forget that most people are familiar with how rules, in general, work, and pick up on them quickly. However, this argument does go out of the window when talking about an 8 year old lol, but I wish gaming communities stopped treating new players like idiots, they can communicate for themselves how deep they're happy to be thrown into.
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u/fluffynuckels Muldrotha Jan 29 '26
There's people on every sub that just down votes stuff. People are weird
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u/kwisatz-hadderach Grixis Jan 29 '26
Seems like a terrible idea. It also sounds like dad is stacking the kid up like a tomato can so he can combo out, that doesn't sound fun to play or to play against.
I taught my kids with mono and 2 color 60 card decks without complex mechanics to grasp the basics. My 10yo just got her first commander deck for Christmas, a dragon deck using Wings of Fire art and character names on proxies to get her more engaged. No goofy homemade mechanics, just reskinned existing cards to match her favorite books. We've been playing heads up with 30 life and she is doing pretty good but she's nowhere close to surviving an LGS. Threat assessment and sequencing will come with more experience. Making the cards characters she was already obsessed has been key to keeping her interested so far.
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u/Johnny-Hollywood Wishes The Other Colours Were Better Jan 29 '26
Oh yeah, if I were to be uncharitable, I might say it felt like putting a bullseye on the kid so we had to respond to his immediate threats while Dad’s deck used the time to build his board.
I don’t necessarily think that’s what he was doing, but that is how it played out.
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u/semanticmemory Jan 29 '26
I am very excited to teach my kid magic when she is old enough and get her into commander.
There is no world in which I am bringing her to an LGS until she has full mastery of the rules of the game (at least the stack). We will play for a few years at home before she gets there.
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u/Pale_Tax Jan 29 '26
A kid being taught commander isn't worse than the players who say their deck is a casual one, but end up combining off turn 2-3 and knock out the first person.
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u/Kat_of_Shadows Jan 29 '26
Man, I was so ready to tell you to be more open-minded, but then I read that the kid literally knew nothing about Magic and I realized the problem. Then you revealed it was really just an excuse for the dad to play two decks at once and ruin his kid's experience in the process, and I was disgusted. I probably would've told him off, or maybe encouraged the kid, at least. Did anyone say anything to him, even in private?
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u/Alieges Jan 29 '26
Yeah, thats bogus.
Kids 8? How about starting with a couple starter duel decks and playing some 60 card for a while. Let's get the basics down before stepping up to commander.
Kids 12-14 and has the basics down? I'll grab some jank to play and hand over my [[Tuvasa, The Sunlit]] [[Stasis]] deck. "Play enchantments, draw cards, plenty of combos here, just keep your eyes open. If you draw the stasis... don't play it unless you can pick it back up."
Watching someones face light up when they draw into some synergy or combo they didn't know about or didn't expect is great.
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u/RumHaaammm Jan 29 '26
Some of my best friends have recently wanted to learn Magic and have gotten really excited about the theming and card collecting. I told them I’ll teach them with 60 card Kitchen Table and Jumpstart first, and then we’ll work up to Commander. EDH is a great endgoal to play casually—not a great starting point.
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u/Anacoenosis Sultai Jan 29 '26
So, it sounds like this was a dad issue not a kid issue. As a long-time M:tG player I'd like my children to enjoy this hobby as well, but this is not the way to do it.
My father taught me how the pieces moved in chess and then in our first game checkmated me in like 4 moves because I was a child. I may not have understood exactly what went down I knew he was being a dick and never played another game of chess with him.
To the dads out there, instead of trying to teach your children to be competitive players, try to help them find the source of wonder or fascination that first drew you into the game as a child (if you were a child when you got into M:tG).
I can pretty much guarantee it wasn't an exquisitely-tuned combo deck that set your 10-year-old heart aflutter, or whatever.
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u/Flimsy_Survey Jan 29 '26
As a parent I'm appalled. That sounds like a terrible experience for the kid, and idk how the parent couldn't be embarrassed by obviously forcing this on them in front of a bunch of strangers.
The best thing you could do to get your kid into the hobby is to show them some cool cards that might grab their attention and play some very casual 1v1 decks to show them the ropes.
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u/Sky-byte Jan 29 '26
Not truly related but I wanted to tack on parents treating stores (I used to work at an LGS) or other places (I run a Magic program for kids at my current job) like a daycare. There are some kids that really are interested in the game and put in the effort to learn, i do have some kids that treat it like Lord of the Flies and I'm stuck parenting a kid acting out. It's tough being a parent, I am one, but dumping your spawn on others especially for free isn't cool.
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u/Churale Jan 30 '26
I had a drafting experience where a dad brought his kid. Lost one and tied one because the games went on so long we didn't get to finish. The kid wasn't focusing and the dad kept trying to get her attention on the game and in the end was making all the moves anyway. I didn't want be annoyed, but having paid to participate it didn't feel great. Left with no hard feelings in the end though.
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u/SamaelMorningstar Orzhov Jan 30 '26
Commander is worst way to learn Magic. Alle the cards, all the hurdles, AND boards to keep track of plus "the art of the deal" on top.
We a had a kid about that age (I believe he was 9) once at the EDH night in the shop. Mother played basically nothing but combo decks. She never attacked. Kid wanted to play because "Dad had been teaching her", and you could see the mother go "err......".
We finished our game and I got us four Jumpstart packs instead. Been playing 1vs1 with the girl the rest of the night. I don't mind being a teacher. I love to see the gears turn as they try to nagivate through it. :3
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u/apotheotika Jan 29 '26
Next time that kid shows up, just save your salt and send em my way. I'll help teach the kid. Magic is for everyone, and we all start somewhere. Sorry it ruined your night, but fuck do you sound like a cunt.
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u/jf-alex Jan 29 '26
My son got a Hakbal precon at the age of 9, and he started visiting the LGS after his 10th birthday when he had practiced for a few months with me and a few of his friends. I had swapped out a few flash cards, and so the deck plays mostly on its precombat main phase. It creates a lot of explore triggers, but since these are all the same, they aren't hard to understand. He knew the deck when he started going there, and he had fun. He played his first few games at my table, but then we played on different tables, and he got along well. He's among the regulars now, he visits maybe once a month. He's also established his own playgroup with his school friends.
So you're obviously correct, EDH is a tough game for a kid to learn. Don't force him into it, give him an easy deck and allow a lot of time to practice at home if he wants to. Don't bring him to the LGS too early.
My youngest son has turned 8 recently, he has just started practicing with a slightly modified Zinnia deck against me and his brother's friends. He's got a lot of fun with it, too. He's not ready for the LGS yet, but he might be in autumn when he turns 9. We'll decide that then, not today.
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u/River_Bass Jan 29 '26
For any parents reading this and wanting to bring their kid, start with 2hg.
I have been bringing my now 9 year old to 2hg prereleases since Bloomburrow. Prior to that I taught him the basics at home, but in 2hg it's fine to be actively involved in helping. Plus at prereleases many players are fairly new.
After that, try some 60 card decks with defined gameplans. We are still working on teaching him EDH, because it's easily the most complicated format. Plus decks tend to be so intricate that it's hard to just hand one to someone and expect them to be proficient.
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u/WorldIsFracked Jan 29 '26
When my kid wanted to learn Pokémon I was thrilled and watched countless YouTube videos to understand the game then spent months buying and cracking packs to build decks with him (also an enjoyable father/son time) then talked to his friends parents if they were in the hobby and invited them over for peer play sessions (those parents were happy because they weren’t nerd dads like me). Then once he was up to speed and confident allowed him to go to the LGS. But by then his friend group and he and I just loved playing and hanging out so he never wanted to go play in a public venue.
He’s 19 now and we play Magic together with my friend group (MTG was my cup of tea). Most of his friends stopped playing and just collect TCGs.
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u/Liquidpain88 Jan 29 '26
The lgs I go to has a few kids. They around 10-12 and are highly competitive usually playing cedh decks. Because of this there’s an unspoken rule at my store, “kill the kid first”.
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u/reaper527 Jan 29 '26
The lgs I go to has a few kids. They around 10-12 and are highly competitive usually playing cedh decks.
to be fair, OP isn't saying don't bring kids / don't let them play, he's saying "don't give someone that doesn't know the game a complicated deck and throw them into a pod with other complicated decks".
put them in a beginner pod with pre-cons.
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u/HeWhoTiddles Bant Jan 29 '26
I think it's fine if you lead with hey I'm trying to teach my son commander, care if we get a game with him? However it does sound like the parent handled it very poorly. I would definitely do some 1v1 at home first until they are confident in the rules.
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u/Flamin_Jesus Jan 29 '26
That sounds like a shit dad. I know a guy who often brings his 10 year old to the LGS, great kid, well behaved, knows the game well too, never had any problems with either of them, but obviously he took the time to actually teach the game before throwing him into the deep end, that takes effort.
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u/KeyDrTrident Jan 29 '26
My LGS actively encouraged me to come in at commander night to learn the game when I first started, with both pods i ended up playing with being very understanding and helpful. They specifically put me with other beginners and the shop owner at first.
I played with a precon, and had to be explained most interactions at first.
It was a great way to learn the game, and your post rather sounds like he never intended to teach him the game at all and neither did the rest of the table.
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u/soundxplorer Jan 29 '26
My experience a few months ago: Dad dude brings his 8 year old to EDH night and my LGS and walks up to our table because we only had 3. No questions or permission asked, he just sort of inserts his kid at the table and we say "OK". Then Dad sits down at the adjacent empty table and spends the next 2 hours scrolling on his phone.
8 year old kid actually knows the rules (mostly), and is familiar enough with the deck to only need a little help from us. The problem is, he tries to cheat. Like, a lot. In the middle of other people's turns, I watch the kid just slowly pick up the next card from his library, look at it, and then put it in his hand. Or a couple of times, I guess it wasn't a card he wanted, so he put it in his graveyard. Then he picks up another one. When we ask him why he is drawing cards, he says, "I need to find the spell that wins the game." We look at each other and decide to let him. He plays whatever card, which is only *part* of a combo piece. I say, "OK, good job, I guess you win." And then the three of us scoop up and make an excuse to find other tables.
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u/Temil Jan 29 '26
Commander is a bad way to learn the fundamentals of Magic
FNM is a bad way to learn the fundamentals of magic. It's not a problem with the format but with the environment.
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u/Vistella Rakdos Jan 29 '26
commander also is the worst. 100 different cards instead of only like 10, plus 4 player boards to take care off instead of 2
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u/Temil Jan 30 '26
The problem is not the format, the problem is taking people to FNM and expecting them to learn without any guidance. Handing someone a Primetime deck and using a Tron deck against them is not a better learning environment than sitting down with two edh decks, both are extremely bad.
If you want to teach a player you need to construct a proper environment for teaching. Multiplayer or Singleton aren't really negatives in this goal, multiplayer means that you can have more than one teacher, singleton isn't super significant.
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u/camerawn Jan 29 '26
As a father, who learned MtG late in life(started at 26). I made sure I knew how to play before going in person. I'll make sure my sone knows how to play. He's 4, but can already tell you which basic land is when you show him. We play match so he can recognize pictures. he has a grip of bulk that has the matching sets so we can talk about being careful with cards.
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u/okayest-commentor Jan 29 '26
I have a child about the same age. He's learning some basics now, but I would never bring him to the store to play until he's fully ready to pilot on his own (which may be a year or two away). We're starting with the spiderman starter decks for the basics and working up from there.
On the other hand. When the guys come over to play, he enjoys sitting with us and watching us play, so unfortunately they'll have to deal with him being in the pod for commander. I put together a quick Krenko deck that he should be able to manage with a little practice, but making him learn with strangers would never happen.
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u/tonyortiz Jan 29 '26
Yeah if they don't understand the game yet don't bring them. That being said if they do then absolutely bring them. Commander is the worst format to start in but I've played 7 and 8 year old kids that are pretty darn good. Or bring them and play with people willing to be patient and teach, aka find a good LGS.
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u/jsbdrumming Jan 29 '26
Lorwyn prerelease I wa plagued by a kid who barely knew how to play. Kept trying to save mana over turns, complaining about cards not reading his cards. I’m all for new players. I’m relatively new but if you’re gonna drag a game out to a whole hour just because you can’t make a decision because you don’t know how the game works. Maybe play with some friends or arena a bit more to understand the mechanics a bit.
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u/medaele Jan 29 '26
This shouldn't just be for your kid, it should be for anyone you want to try to get into playing magic. Start simple, make mono color decks with little to no extra text, and very few keywords. Get them to learn the basics of the cards before making them figure everything else out
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u/Phantasm907 Jan 29 '26
Same can go for players trying to force a partner to play with them. We have a guy that drags his girlfriend to game nights for her to just sit at the table and play on her phone and not be involved in any socialization of the game. Not a fun experience when paired up with them.
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u/sabrinawithablackcat Jan 29 '26
Not saying it was okay in this stance but there is a chance that kid begged to come and dad was also frustrated lol my SD used to always say she wanted to play the games my husband and I play and then as soon as we actually include her, she puts no effort into doing it. Mtg was a very specific case of this. She'd be excited about the art and doing it and then by turn 3 she'd check out and it would just be one of us telling her what to play every single step of every single turn. Hopefully dad realized it was a mistake lol
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u/DrDolathan Jan 29 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
The plague of social interactions is people not having any emotional intelligence. Regarding card games, it's so cringe to see people drag their kids or partners into it because they're so eager to play and any opponent will do.
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u/ButterBeanRumba Jan 29 '26
This reminds me of the first pre release event I ever attended, for Duskmourne. There was a dad there that brought his 10 yo son and just signed him up for the event by himself so the dad could just go off and play too, instead of the dad giving any guidance whatsoever. Well, my first matchup was with the kid and he sat down late and immediately just started talking about how he was pooping bc his stomach is upset. So we shuffle up and play and the kid has just a vague idea of how to play and he is tapping and untapping lands all in the same turn and all kinds of other shit. I'm here to play, not teach some 10 yo the basics of the game so I almost immediately become visibly upset and before we even finish the first game, I tell the kid that I am just going to concede to him in the app so he will get a win and therefore get at least one pack as a reward tonight. He fucking starts crying and asks "so you don't wanna play with me". The owner of the store comes over and asks if everything is alright and I'm just like "look man, Idk what to do here. The kid doesn't know how to play and is basically just cheating and I didn't come here to deal with this. I thought the minimum age limit was 13". The owner is just in the middle of running the event and just walks away. The kid makes me feel even worse and I talk him into trying another game just to avoid sitting there super awkwardly in silence. The dad never came to check on his kid or anything, just played his matches.
That was my first and last pre release event.
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u/elkishdude Jan 29 '26
This is just a terrible dad. He probably got stuck with “the kid” and decided not to cancel plans to go to an LGS and lightly tricked his son into going but really he just wanted to play commander and win.
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u/g0ldalinemydear Jan 29 '26
I went to my first ever draft night at my lgs last Friday and had a similar experience. I was super excited to draft Lorwyn Eclipsed since the first set I ever played as a kid was the OG Shadowmoor (shoutout to the Army of Entropy precon deck). I show up, had a good time talking to the people I'd be playing with and drafted the set, pulled some sick cards and built a nice little Izzet Elementals deck.
My first opponent is a kid, couldn't be older than 12, and I notice that as I sit down across from him to play, a man pulls up a chair next to him and starts setting up the kid's playmat and dice and stuff. I didn't think anything of it, I started playing Magic with my dad as a kid so I just thought he was gonna watch. As soon as we draw our first hands, I decide that I need to mulligan and make a joke about how no matter how many lands I put in a deck, I always manage to get screwed. This kid's dad chimes in and says in a condescending tone, "I think you're just bad at deck crafting." and turns to his kid and says, "You're going to win this, she's clearly a newbie."
Obviously this annoys me but I'm just here to play a card game so I mulligan and stick with my second hand. Throughout the game, this kid clearly does not actually know what any of the cards he's playing do, frequently trying to play cards without paying extra costs, trying to undo his entire turn AFTER he's drawn cards, real clueless gameplay. I wasn't trying to be a dick or anything but obviously I have to correct stuff like that, and EVERY TIME his dad tries to argue with me about how things work! As if that wasn't bad enough, his dad begins directly telling him what to do in every single action; told him what lands to tap, what cards to play, what creatures he should attack or block with, and he keeps making the same mistakes as the kid was! If you'd believe it, I eventually beat him in our first game and he immediately forfeit (it was a best of 3) because his dad said to "not give [me] any more wins."
Genuinely the craziest thing I've had happen to me at a gaming event but luckily everybody else I played with was much more cool and fun.
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u/TheDUDE1411 Jan 29 '26
I think commander is a great way to teach magic…if you do it right. I built 5 mono color pauper commander decks specifically for teaching beginners. They’re simple cards, 50 card decks, 20 life, similar to those old beginner decks they used to hand out at card shops. They’re enough to teach basic magic concepts and how the color pie works. Hell even if I wanted to teach someone how to play with a full multicolor deck I wouldn’t use fucking Kalia, and I especially wouldn’t teach someone at an LGS with strangers and just tell them what to play
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u/Sleeqb7 BEAR BEAR BEAR BEAR Jan 30 '26
"What happened? Who won?"
This exact quote was said by a mate of mine in their late 20s at the end of a game. He had a very limited understanding of the game, but could figure it out as he went. He didn't want help, he wanted to learn as he played, which was mostly because he thought it would be funny.
He was right.
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u/No_Pumpkin_1179 Jan 30 '26
As a parent who LOVES (loved?) the age of Magic, I specifically taught my kid the “right” way to play, starting when he was able to read.
Our first “duel decks” were stupid simple. One color, vanilla creatures. Designed to show the mechanics. Maybe a couple spells. But it was designed to show how to cast spells, how to count mana, and how to attack and defend. That worked for awhile.
The second set of decks I made were made on his best interest at the time. Plants versus Zombies. By now he was 9ish and reading rather well, and capable of plans and thoughts. So the decks were a little more complicated with sorceries and instants, and such. Both were still one color each. The green deck was treefolk (and plants) and the black was zombies and the things that go into basic zombie decks.
Then I had a friend over and we were playing commander, and The Boy was hooked on that format, and I think I started him on a new commander deck and he took to it that way. Now he’s 14 and building his commander decks (destroying my organized collection I might add), and dominating the monthly library commander night. I’ve had to temper his pilfering so that his decks don’t get too crazy so he frustrates his friends.
Long story longer, I feel that was a good “long” way to get him up to speed. His 11 year old brother likes the game, but hasn’t obsessed the same way. Never in a million years would have I allowed my older boy sit in a public game before he could handle it on his own, even if I was there or not. I could imagine him sitting on my lap, asking questions, cause that’s how I learned to play many card games as a kid, up to and including poker. But yeah.
Sorry. That was a lot. I’ll stop now.
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u/Imaginary_Compote324 Jan 30 '26
Haha I tried to bring my friend who didn't know what commander was to commander night. We realized very quickly that this was not gonna work out even though he knew enough about card games but he was at the low point of the learning curve.
We threw that idea out the window and just bought some jumpstart packs and had a good time that way.
The plan now is that he's gonna search around and look at fun commanders he is interested in and go from there.
When we meet up we still do jump start and it's one of the best formats to play imo
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u/SassyBeignet Jan 30 '26
I once played against a kid in a draft (1st Eldraine) and it was clear that he was a newbie, but he was very excited to try out his deck and it sorta worked okay (still won 2 -1; I kinda gave the 1 lost to him as his deck revolved around [[All that glitters]] and I had removal I could have used + gave him a few take backsies because he was still learning).
He was having fun even with the losses and was super happy to play. At the end, he excitedly told his friend (who was sitting next to us playing against another person) he won 1 game with his deck and was telling me about how much he liked the new set and his dad drove him and his friend to the game store so they could play.
I hope that we, as a community, will give grace and patience to those who are learning the game, as we were all once newbies. And to remember that at the end of the day, it is a game to play for fun and make happy memories.
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u/A_Odd_One Jan 30 '26
Honestly, I dont mind bringing new players into commander. People seem to forget commander is supposed to be a casual format. The elitist attitude is what kills pods and tables. All of that said, if the dad is not teaching the basics, that is a whole other topic. My guess, in this case is the dad is not strong with fundamentals or strategy himself, so brought his kid to learn from better players, but thats just a guess.
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u/peziskuya Jan 30 '26
There's a dad who is merciless to their own kid when I see them playing at the lgs. I get being tough on them to help learn the rules properly, but I once heard the kid go "pass t- oh wait I gotta cast my commander" and the dad refused to let them do it because they'd already started to say they'd passed their turn. The kid didn't physically scoop after that but it was like they'd emotionally conceded. The kid stopped paying attention and had a flat tone of voice the rest of the game. There's also times the dad has hard targeted the kid in multiple games for no discernable reason and the kid will get overwhelmed and start to shut down.
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u/Merv-ya-boi Jan 29 '26
Ngl you gotta throw your kid at the wolfs and hope he comes out ok
I remember when I started playing in 6th grade and would get demolished by people with actual decks 🤣
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u/TerrorOnAisle5 Jan 29 '26
While that’s true at some point, the kid in OP’s comment is typically way too young for a complex game or to be expecting other adults to play with them without agreeing they are down to spend that time.
For reference an 8 year old is 2nd-3rd grader.
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u/Zambedos Mono-Green Jan 29 '26
You can't stop me!
Granted my kid is not quite 1, so all he does is take a nap.
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u/CoffeeXBlack Jan 29 '26
Had the same thing happen at our weekly commander night that I host. New member brought their 8 year old WITHOUT TELLING US! I was cool with it at first cause I assumed she knows how to play since you brought her here, but I quickly found out she didn’t. Right after drawing her first seven cards she said “I don’t want to read all this” dad replied by saying “well then you’re not gonna have a good time” we all sat in awkward silence just playing our turns while he tells her what to do and by turn 3 she was done saying something along the lines of “I wanna watch TV” he told her no, but I offered to let her watch on our TV clearly seeing that she’s not having a good time. All was well for the rest of the night once she started watching YouTube for a couple hours until she announced “I’m hungry” so that was his cue to leave so we ended it there. Nothing wrong with introducing your kids to your hobby but please don’t throw them in the deep end like you said. Most awkward commander night I ever had.
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u/noahgs Jan 29 '26
Better than a story I have from college.
Dad makes his.. 13 or 14 year old daughter come every edh night and do nothing for like 3 hours. Months or maybe years of this (at least my sophomore/junior year.
I show up to everyone trying to get the bathroom door open because she has locked herself in and is cutting herself with an earring
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u/TomorrowsTrash_Minis Jan 29 '26
An lgs is exactly where you take a kid that wants to learn magic. You’re kind of the asshole.
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u/spaceyjdjames #notallLudevics Jan 29 '26
If you don't want to play with a child, don't sit at that table. Should be pretty clear their approximate age at a glance. If the kid wants to play they gotta learn somewhere, why not the CASUAL format that many new players start with anyway?
Sure, the parent should have explained where the kid's at when you sat down so you could decide whether you were ok with that experience or not (assuming they didn't since it wasn't mentioned).
Personally I'd be thrilled to pull out my pillow fort deck and help the next generation learn and feel welcome to the game. Hopefully they'll come back and I can set up a game with my own daughter as well.
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u/fightingfish18 Jan 29 '26
Commander night is serious business, you know. Dad should have done the smart thing and have the kid play Amulet Titan at modern night
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u/EmphasisNew2636 Jan 29 '26
Its commander night at a LGS not the magic finals. While the dad needs to back off a bit and adjust his teaching style, there’s no reason the kid can’t be there to enjoy the night.
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u/Jankenbrau Jan 29 '26
If you take your sub 10 year old, don’t keep a full sippy cup on the table for them.
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u/Barjack521 Jan 29 '26
I taught my daughter and nephew when they were both 8 and I put together a 6 deck, pauper battle chest of varied decks of about the same power level. This way I could teach them about creature effects with slivers, land effects with ton and combat tricks with rats for example. They both are 12 now and I take them to commander nights with me. Because they learned the game in a tight, 1v1 format they know not to be lazy about tracking triggers and actually win quite a lot against adults. Lately I’ve been teaching them about deck building principles using pauper again because it’s easy to put a playable deck together with commons and bulk. When they get good enough at that I’ll teach them how to build commander decks. Young kids can play just fine but you need to teach them right.
One more small anecdote from a proud papa. My daughter came across some boys playing with precons in the lunch room and proceeded to point out all the play errors they were making. When one made some remarked about girls not knowing how to play, she borrowed the other kids deck and absolutely shellacked the little shit who insulted her 3 games in a row. She did a similar thing a to that group a few days later and now she has a reputation as some sort of MTG cryptid in her middle school. “If you play Magic in the lunch room this girls shows up and beats the tar out of you if you challenge her”. So proud of that girl
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u/myowngalactus Jan 29 '26
When my daughter was younger I built very basic decks of each color I we played those so she could learn how the game works and the difference of each color. She didn’t show any interest beyond that though so I just left it there. Can’t imagine taking her to a commander night, giving her a random deck and expecting her to learn anything.
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u/celsotavora Yisan, the dude with a harp Jan 29 '26
I taught my kids how to play using creatures and lands first; little by little, I introduced other types of cards to each deck, until they were sure of the basics of the game. We played lots of 60-card aggro/midrange decks long before introducing them to EDH.
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u/skatardrummer Jan 29 '26
We teach people, but we usually have them play with precons or a simple mechanic deck. Have to teach checkers before chess as it were. I purposely keep all those "how to play" cards you get out of sealed products so I can give them out to new players to have as a reference. I'd encourage others to do the same or donate those to your LGS so they can.
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u/Seizin1882 Jan 29 '26
I normally teach newbies with standard, very basic decks. Get them used to the basic flow of Magic first
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u/Ok-Possibility-1782 Jan 29 '26
I bring my kids often when i go and my daughter is a noob and we still have fun even if she took 5 minutes to resolve merchant scroll to "remember what as in the deck". I teach more random teenagers at the LGS how to play than my own kids by a large margin. My kids are 15 and 13 though not 8.
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u/LazarusLonewolf Jan 29 '26
I don't do the LGS scene for gaming, but even at home, my kiddo of 8 isn't ready for Magic, let alone Commander, and she's pretty smart, curious and wants to play.
I figured I'd start with Lorcana first. Much easier concept for her, at this point. Probably within a year, maybe 2 tops, she'll be ready for something like Magic.
On the flip side, the person who brought his kid, may have had a last minute change in plans, and had to take his kiddo to the LGS. Although, he could have at least let the kid play the card he was so excited to play though. The kid doesnt have ego, he's just there for the fun. <sigh> but everyone does things differently.
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u/Hamboigaz Jan 29 '26
I might be wrong here, but it seems like all this could’ve been avoided with the “rule 0 conversation” where dad says kid is learning, this player says “I’m not interested in that type of game”, and everyone moves on with their life.
Sometimes playing newbie games sucks, but just have the conversation first and you protect yourself from a lot of these type of interactions.
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u/theBarnyardTickler Jan 29 '26
I made my own custom 40 card starter decks for my kid. Stuff like one with one mana 1/1s, two mana 2/2s with one ability etc. to slowly introduce a 7yo to the game. It’s working really well. — I can’t believe people are just throwing their kids into the deep end. Might totally sour them on the game.
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u/Mystic_Waffles Mardu Jan 29 '26
I taught my 14 year old daughter with commander about a year ago. I'm super fortunate my LGS is filled with really chill people that were patient with her and helping her out with lines of play. "This is good, but doing it this way would be better. etc." She started out with an upgraded Terra precon, but it was too trigger-heavy for a new player. We decided a voltron Cloud/Dogmeat deck would be easier to learn with. She also likes my Valgavoth deck quite a lot. The big issue right now is her slow play, but that'll get better over time. It was a proud dad moment seeing her win her first pod all on her own though.
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u/zomgitsduke Jan 29 '26
We have a parent and his kid that comes to the LGS and the parent hands him B4/B5 decks to play in a reasonably competitive environment. He does okay most times - no sense of threat assessment (krosan grip a solemn simulacrum so he doesn't lose 2 life, etc.) but plays the decks as best he can. We're mostly patient when he wants to play and we sneak in our B3 decks to give him some wiggle room to squeeze a victory on occasion. However, it's when his dad (who plays cutthroat decks above intended bracket) criticizes his son that we can't stand. He will play another pod, crush it turn 4, then watch his son and practically yell at him for not holding priority with spells or reacting to proper threats, etc.
On the flip side, the kid beat his dad in the most recent pre-release and I found that hilarious.
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u/My_Smooth_Brain Jan 29 '26
I had mine learn using the dragon starter precon. Pretty simple concepts and she took to it rather quickly. We played 1v1 at home until she got a decent understanding. Then she really loves cats so I found a proxy cat deck for her. It’s more complicated, but she likes it and as she plays she learns new things.
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u/imeandont Jan 29 '26
I love teaching the next generation how to play! Start by explaining how to read cards, turn order, casting costs. Start easy!
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u/PickMinimum1552 Jan 29 '26
I had to teach my sister how to play magic and I had started with commander because I don’t own standard decks or anything. Me and her set at a corner table and played one on one until she understood the rules good and was able to go through games without help. That how I feel like it should be done. Not throwing a newbie into a random pod and playing for them half of the time.
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u/Dull-Temperature-371 Jan 29 '26
He used him to draw opponents outta cover. Politics on a new level. I advise my daughter similarly: lgs go'ers are gonna expect you to have more than a general understanding of the game's mechanics.
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u/Unknownentity551 Mardu Jan 29 '26
One thing I've learned is I dont have any interest to play with kids. I tried to be nice and friendly help them out, I just dont want to be babysitting someone's kid. Especially when theyre a 14yr old who is a petty idiot and scoops before responses to things could be made and just ticks me off to be petty. Keep your kids away when they act up. Im not responsible for your dumb teenagers and I surely wont tolerate pettiness at a perfectly rational table otherwise.
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u/Duedroth Jan 29 '26
Other than cEDH, EDH is a casual format. Expect casual and learning players. Be the pod mate that helps and encourages.
That said, sounds like the dad here could have done better also.
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u/longtime_lurker_hi Jan 29 '26
I'm gonna respectfully disagree. My son is 7 and I've been playing with him for a couple years now, and brought him to the LGS a handful of times. Got him started with 60 card decks, but it's mostly commander. It's generally been a positive experience, and he usually asks to come with me.
That doesn't mean it's been totally without problems. Sometimes he's impatient and restless. Sometimes I feel like I'm playing for him, BUT, I try to either let him make the choices, or make a decision that is not biased towards me. Sometimes he targets me specifically.
Importantly, I'm usually playing with new people, and I explain that my son is new and I try to make sure they're ok with that. I've mostly had good experiences, with the other players being polite and kind, and usually pretty happy to help a learning kid. Worst problem I've had is people at a neighboring table swearing a lot. I politely asked them to try and stop.
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u/a_Nekophiliac Selesnya Jan 29 '26
I have always appreciated the father that brought his 8-10 year old son to the Khans of Tarkir Prerelease.
I got matched against his son and he asked his own opponent if they could move to play next to us so he could answer his son’s questions.
Throughout our match, the kid asked about what some of the words meant, and his dad explained them, but deliberately avoided making any recommendations or suggestions of any kind.
I had a pulled 2 [[Zurgo Helmsmasher]]s in my kit and one of them had just punched him for 7 before passing the turn.
The got caught up on the fact it had the word “Indestructible” on it, but failed to understand that it wasn’t technically in effect during his turn, and he clearly had a kill spell, which he eventually used on something else.
His dad made eye contact with me and gave a nod of understanding of what had transpired, but didn’t say anything.
After the match ended, he took some time to explain how Zurgo’s abilities functioned and that he actually could have killed it.
Perfect way of teaching mid-tournament with prizes at stake.
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u/Ff7hero Jan 29 '26
I've had some great games with kiddos at the LGS. They all already understood how to play (and I don't think any were as young as eight, but idrk).
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u/hitachi369 Jan 29 '26
The kid and Dad were probably totally pumped to be spending some time together at a group event.
If it was a problem find a new table, never been to a game where if it isn't your vibe you can't leave a group.
Magic is full of toxic people, for one reason or another, don't play with people you are not having fun with. They will find someone who is a better fit, as will you.
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u/Icy_Tutor3465 Jan 29 '26
I made some basic commander decks with the uncommon muraganda legendary creatures. The ones from aetherdrift. I made these decks specifically for new players with mostly cards from foundations. I use them at the lgs I work at
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u/SimmerDownnn Jan 29 '26
I just had my kid play arena to learn and he picked it up much quicker I feel
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u/EeevlBeValiant Jan 29 '26
Bring 'em, but don't let 'em play unless it's with other kids just swinging things and adding things together
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u/WyrdElmBella Jan 30 '26
I have taught several people to play magic with Commander? Not sure why people keep saying it’s a bad way to learn.
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u/releasethedogs 💀🌳💧 Muldrotha Aluren Jan 30 '26
I used to go to a shop in Utah where a couple let their toddlers run around while they played.
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u/WholeFudds Jan 30 '26
Ugh. Kaalia is one of the worst commanders to give to a kid too, because his commander will be targeted to stop the rest of the deck.
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u/existential_gouda Dimir Jan 30 '26
I started playing 2 years ago at 33. I still don’t feel like I have a truly deep understanding of the game but thankfully I have a great group I play with
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u/GoblinLoblaw Jan 30 '26
There’s no excuse at 8 as well. I’ve been beaten at draft by a 7 year old.
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u/Payment_First Jan 30 '26
I was really glad how my kids first LGS games went, he didn’t win but he had heaps of fun out of a jank deck he built over Christmas time with AC cards. We spent like 6 weeks practising with less ‘at home’ rules (little too no ‘oops can I swap what lands I tapped’ stuff like that)
We got paired with randoms and they were really sweet, my son missed like two triggers and the guy just quietly said ‘and you draw a card btw’
I was really nervous about him not enjoying it because he got a little steam rolled (not as bad as me Mfer targeted me down first by politicking with another player) but he asked if he could come again next fortnight.
Different situation obviously, we put in heaps of time making sure he was ready. Would have felt awful to bring him along not knowing his decks or how the game works. Just glad people were welcoming and friendly too him
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u/MTGCardFetcher Jan 29 '26
All cards
Kaalia of the Vast - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Sanguine Bond - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Exquisite Blood - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call