Do you intentionally misplay/hold back?

(Unrelated to deck strength) Do you intentionally misplay or hold back while playing commander?

I play cEDH, and am therefore not of interest to this poll, sorry (but presumably I try to make the best plays I can)
0
No votes
No, I may make mistakes but I always (or at least almost always) make the best play I can find
14
24%
Sometimes, I'll occasionally make a subpar play for revenge or if it's really funny, or hold back if I have a very early win
34
59%
Often, I frequently think more about what will be more entertaining rather than correct, exact revenge on enemies from previous games, and I often hold back on wins until I think the game has run its course
9
16%
Always, my only consideration when making plays is "what's the most amusing play I could make right now?"
1
2%
 
Total votes: 58

knight_seb
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Post by knight_seb » 3 years ago

It depends on the game. I usually play the best way I can. However, sometimes, I hold back depending of the sitution. If one player is really left behind and if the card I will play will hurt him more than the other, I might ask if it's ok for him.

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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 3 years ago

Against newer players.
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RowanKeltizar
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Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

Wow ZERO votes for "I play cEDH" Interesting...

I think most people are middle of the road. Commander is ultimately about having fun IMO, which is of course highly subjective. But also most people enjoy winning I would assume.
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motleyslayer
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Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

there have been times where I've not won the game because I wanted someone else to win or made worse attacks so the player I wanted to win would

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Rumpy5897
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Post by Rumpy5897 » 3 years ago

This is a surprisingly complex topic, with my stance on it evolving over time. I remember I chipped in on a similar discussion when I was at my most lenient, which didn't go over smoothly. Currently I'm in the "sometimes" majority.

I try to avoid going on prolonged win streaks. Winning feels nice, and given the social nature of the activity it's good to spread this around if possible. I use a variety of tools to assist with this, with holding back one of the options at my disposal. My primary go-to is just picking a lower power deck than the rest of the guys if I've been winning more than my share, or had a particularly crushing victory recently, but you can't control for variance and can't force the others to run particular decks. So sometimes I find myself in a scenario where I have the option to execute a more powerful line than I assumed I would. If the game is fun and doing the thing would ruin it or terminate it prematurely, I'll sandbag the thing.

There was a time period where the group as a whole sandbagged everything. Games were all about every single deck getting to do its thing, and the victor not mattering. That grew stale. When you take the stakes out of EDH, it stops feeling like there's a game, a purpose. Inventing little side quests to delay victory grew hollow. The solution was to dumb down the deck instead. Yesterday I faced off against a Cockatrice friend, who found it hard to believe that me having a lot of cards in hand and a lot of land on the field did not actually translate to having a way to pressure him. If the deck is stuck trying to piece together a very poor win condition, there's still the thrill of pursuing it.

This predominantly applies for games with my group, by the way. Within said group, I'd say I probably pursue winning the most actively when building. Earlier in the year we had a series of games where the gloves came off, and I went on a 5-0 streak. Only one of those games was a proper stomp, the rest were relatively evenly matched and then I'd have a way to close while the others did not. I've been branching out a bit and playing with others outside this group, and I am a lot less restrained then. I put Splinter Twin on my Eternal Witness to keep spamming Path to Exile, a move I wouldn't have ever done in the playgroup. However, that particular table had a Portcullis come down after a Pernicious Deed crack, so a bit of a different flavour than what my standard guys are up to.
 
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