The Journey Begins...

My friends think I'm insane, though in a good way.

I play Magic: The Gathering quite a bit. At the time when Magic made its first push nationwide, my mom worked with an afterschool program for kids. She picked up a couple of starter decks (of Unlimited), but when she got to the rules about ante, she decided the program shouldn't have it. Instead, she tossed them to me (aged 11) and told me to "learn how to play this and teach me later".

I've always been an avid gamer. My parents both played Dungeons and Dragons in college and after, and they started me early with the "First Quest" boxed set when I was in second grade. So I eagerly got into this new game, and it was a match for me from the very first. I played it (and other CCGs) avidly throughout middle school and high school. I sat out during most of college, but towards the end some of my roleplaying friends got me back in and dragged me to the Guildpact pre-release, and I've been back ever since.

Fast forward several years, and the format of EDH (now Commander) comes along, and it's like a whole new ball game of interesting interactions and decks to discover. In Magic, I've always been a builder. I never had the cash as a kid to build competitive decks, so I went for interesting themes and crazy ideas. This format was perfect for me. I can't seem to stop coming up with ideas and building new decks. Over the past two years I've gone crazy over it. Perhaps maybe my friends were right about my insanity, because I've decided to do something that definitely sounds pretty nuts.

With a deadline of two years from now-ish, I am attempting to acquire and then build an EDH/Commander deck for every commander in Magic.

Here's how it's going to work:

• The first and most important rule of this quest is that every deck must be built in actuality with real cards, including no proxies and nothing that requires swapping cards between decks. Yeah, that last one may be the one that kills me.
• Not all of these decks will be optimized! I am going to need more than 45000 cards for this quest. Making about 40% of that basic land may be the only thing that keeps this from breaking the bank. I am going to be doing the best I can with what I have, and when I run out of cards, I will use whatever I can get my grubby little hands on. I will, of course, be attempting themes and synergy wherever possible and will not be just throwing sixty-odd cards in a deck with forty lands or so.
  
• I am separating this quest out into two year-long sections. Year one I will attempt to get all non-Portal: Three Kingdoms commanders, with the second year focusing solely on that set.
  
• If I have counted correctly, there are 453 legends not in silver borders, plus 5 from Unglued / Unhinged. Since 5 more decks is nothing compared to the monumental task still in front of me, I might as well throw those in. Besides, I've already got a half-built Richard Garfield deck.
• I am, of course, not including flip cards that become legends, as these are not legal generals.
• I am including currently banned generals in the binder in case they become unbanned during this time, but will not be building decks for them until such a thing actually occurs.
• I will be keeping up with current Magic releases and building decks for legends found in those sets. Here's hoping next year isn't a return to Kamigawa/other legendary block.
  
• I will not be attempting to acquire and build a deck for the 1996 World Champion card. Obviously.

So it seems like this includes over 450 different decks I will have to build to complete this quest. Due to my rabid EDH obsession, 36 of these are already complete (with several more in progress). I have organized a binder with space for each legend to help mark my progress. You can see a list of all the commanders I currently have a deck completed for at the right.

So, you may be asking, what is this blog for? Glad you asked! This is where I will be keeping interested parties updated with my progress in the quest, hopefully at least a couple of times per week. I may, if requested, also post decklists that people want highlighted, though only with the promise that any such decklists will be critiqued with my limitations in mind.

Before I end, I want to put out a few words of thanks. First, to Ben, who made a significant donation of signets, talismans, and generals to help me in this quest, and who I promised to give thanks to first. Second, to my other Magic playing buddies for their support and derision. Third, to the valiant workers at my local gaming store for their support, and for setting up an EDH night where I can test my abominations. Fourth, to my parents, who I really ought to push into getting them playing again (I did eventually teach them and they played for several years). And finally and most importantly, thanks should be given to my wife Susan, who lets me play with little pieces of cardboard and never calls me silly for it.

And with that, I say so long for now. The quest is ON!