MTG

Tbh, I think having a baseline competency is almost essential to true casual play (not just magic). I think we've all had our kind of garbage tier commander taken out with premium removal because, uhhh, it has deathtouch. Beginners should actually be trying to play as competitively as they can, learning on the most effective tactics. When they do that, they will inevitably get good enough to build their cat deck that only has odd mana costs.

@nokturne213 @mike so yes this hasn't changed much since I started playing in the 90's. I always felt those playing type 2(showing my age) or limited events enjoyed it more and we're great fun to play against.
I enjoy playing commander but only against a few people who don't take it too seriously.. But prefer limited events as everyone is on the same level.

Always completely hated drafts, jumped on the commander train as soon as I discovered the format. Pretty cool the game has all these formats :D

I never really got into commander either, but the bracket system makes it more appealing to me at least. No need to worry that someone's just going to go off turn 2 when going against a sand tribal deck, a madness deck, and a mono green control deck.

Either way, standard always interested me the most, but they absolutely shafted standard so now if I play it's basically just brawl these days because of the matchmaker.

Draft is fun as well, just expensive to get into :(

It's a fun format where you get to use whacky cards no longer viable in Legacy/Vintage, like Palnichron or Hazezon Tamar. Unfortunately, the banlist has been rather arbitrary, so instead of getting something like Prismatic, you just end up with more expensive, imbalanced Legacy. The higher life totals don't help, either.

As a Johnny-Spike, I kind of loathe the so-called casual players. They are """"casual"""" only when they're winning, then turn into sore losers anytime they lose. I've seen more meltdowns at EDH tables than I have at comp REL events. I gave up on the format when they unbanned Metalworker.