{"ops":[{"insert":"Played this game since I was a kid in the early 2000s, have fallen in and out of standard and modern, but the LOTR set brought me back in force after about a 7 year hiatus with the game. I love commander, and I love learning new ways that I like to play and attempting to create scenarios that others like to see. \n\nWhen I played constructed I was really drawn to the Esper color-pie, and when I first got back into commander, I thought I would enjoy similar control strategies...I won a lot of games when I first started playing commander, but of course it never felt RIGHT. \n\nNow that I have realized I actually care about the people across from me and their sensibilities, Naya calls to me most often, but I am at the stage in my commander journey where I am tryin to power down and still take really interesting game actions (of which are probably still too numerous for most people's taste). The less colors a commander has, the better. I find four and five color decks to be an embarrassment of riches, and find it hard to shut off my optimizing brain before things get too out of hand.\n\nI enjoy building 3s most, I enjoy budgeting for 2s best, and every once in awhile I enjoy indulging my ego with some hard fought 4s. I try to build 1s, but they always seem to maintain too much synergy!\n\nThe CEDH meta is stale as the farts I smell when I walk into my girlfriend's office. I'd like to play, but there isn't an archetype that I'm interested in smashing against a sea of meta-slaves.\n\nMy biggest influences in how I build and play commander are Rachel Weeks, Joey Shultz, Trinket Mage, 3/3 Elk, Josh & Jimi, and of course The Professor! I am an educator and former community college instructor myself, and connect a lot with his genuine concern for the health of this game against the whims of corporate greed.\n"}]}