An Introduction

My initial introduction to Magic the Gathering happened during a long rehearsal for a show I was directing. I noticed some of the actors used the downtime to spar against each other Taunts and braggadocio were exchanged between factions. I thought they were just playing War with a standard deck of 52 cards. It wasn't until I heard one of the actors say, "I play a swamp, tap it with another swamp and three additional mana and summon Sangir Vampire..." that I knew there was more to the moment. 

My curiosity piqued.

After rehearsal, I asked them what they were playing. They showed me their cards and quickly explained the game. One of them offered to build me a deck of his extra cards. These were pre-Commander days. Forty cards made a deck at the time. I think we went as large as sixty in the coming years. We met regularly to game. I introduced my son to the magic. Oddly enough, I discovered people I'd been friends with for years also played though we had never discussed it until one day we were out and a buddy of mine made a reference to using a card to boost his power at a casino. I laughed and said he didn't have enough mana-- or money.

Then I stopped playing. I sold off my old cards.  I was done.

My son moved to Colorado for a few years. When he returned, he introduced me to Commander-style gaming. We actually just duel. He has tournament experience and creds.  I do not. He has built some very solid and powerful decks. I've built some pretty bad ones based on all the extra cards I've collected from booster packs. I also buy prepackaged sets then cull them to build off some of the legendary characters included in the set.

The decks I'll share here are designed by me because I look for new and interesting combinations to challenge him. He recently introduced a new deck that pummeled me before I delivered any damage to him. 

 These are not going to be perfect decks. It's all meant for good-natured battling on a dinner table. And to see if I'm any good at this game any more.