I just realized what Commander was all about

I spent the Easter weekend on a gaming convention for the first time in a long good while. It was GothCon in Gothenburg.

My main task was to do an episode of my Isfolket podcast (in Swedish) in front of a live audience. You can find the podcast here: https://itunes.apple.com/se/podcast/sagan-om-isfolket-podden/id1049002630?mt=2

However, when not doing that, I hung out with Isis Nördfeminism. Isis as in the Egyptian godess Isis, nothing else. This is me showing off my new MagicGatheringStrat swag in the Isis room at GothCon:


My main task among the feminists was to teach MTG to new players. While doing so I accidentally played my first game of Commander (it was my first paper magic game at a convention since I was at Pro Tour LA in 2000). I have played some Commander online but did not catch the bug. Note! I have now caught said bug!

My main problem with Commander was that I am a spike and I want to build decks that try to win. I found the format broken on MTGO but that was not at all the case when playing live in a casual setting.

Now I realized you play Commander because it is an excellent way to have some fun! I played Niv-Mizzet, Prossh, the Mimeoplasm and Trostani. Did I win? That is not the point (OK, I won with Niv-Mizzet) - the point was that I had a ton of fun.

For the first time in fifteen years I got home and looekd at my bookshelf full of Magic cards (all very old). I did sell off the most valuable cards when I quit paper magic for $20,000 in cash but I still have a lot of non-expensive cards left. I figured I could use them for fun some day and now I can.

So how do I build my first Commander deck? I think the best way is to buy one of the premade ones (from 2013 onwards they seem to be available for about $30-40) and then pimp it with some old cards.

So which one should I buy? I naturally looked at Mind Seize, being a Grixis player at heart ... but then I stopped. Am I still trying to win? I do like to be able to interact with threats. I do like to sweep the board. Is it the deck for me? I also looked at the red deck from Commander 2014 (Built from Scratch). Maybe I am looking at the wrong deck?

What Commander deck do you feel I should buy and what cards should I replace with the old stuff I have (Tempest and earlier, I think I have almost any non-expensive card, say below $2).

Give me your opinions below on how to pimp the deck you recommend or how to pimp Built from Scratch or Mind Seize.