u/mkay0

My extended playgroup is talking about starting a 1v1 Commander league, and I'm looking for advice from anyone who's played something similar.

Our group's meta is mostly Bracket 4, or what I'd describe as "off-meta cEDH." We generally welcome cEDH commanders and decks after the appropriate Rule 0 discussion, but it's often just the most powerful stuff you'd see from people who don't follow cEDH meta. Think of it as people trying to make their favorite homebrew compete in a cEDH environment rather than everyone showing up with the established piles. I like this meta for pods, and we have a weekly after-hours after FNM that's a blast.

Our LGS also runs 1v1 Commander for FNM, and that's where the idea came from. The store is pretty loose when it comes to power level, so you occasionally end up with wildly mismatched games. That creates feel-bads for everyone, and we'd like to avoid that in this league.

The goal is to have everyone bring Bracket 4 or stronger decks and simply play for higher stakes. We're aiming for more of a "poker night" atmosphere where everyone knows they're bringing powerful decks and nobody feels bad because they showed up underpowered.

My biggest concern is that nobody wants to adopt a dedicated 1v1 ban list. They'd rather use the regular Commander ban list, and I think that's going to lead to some very lopsided games. I'm far from an expert on duel Commander, but I'd imagine commanders like [[Urza, Lord High Artificer]] and [[Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy]] become significantly stronger when there isn't a full pod to keep them in check. Also feels like fast mana in your opening hand is an insane advantage.

For those of you with experience playing competitive 1v1 Commander:

• Have you found the regular Commander ban list to work ok, or does a dedicated 1v1 ban list create a healthier format? If so, which ban list is the one to use?
• What life total has worked best in your experience?
• Are there any house rules that helped keep the format balanced?
• How would you explain the benefits of a 1v1 ban list to a playgroup that has never used one?
• What commanders would you recommend for a competitive—but still interactive—1v1 environment?

Part of me wants to build the most broken deck I can and let the results speak for themselves if the group sticks with the multiplayer ban list. Right now I'm considering [[Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers]] to cheat out a few absurd creatures and threaten wins on turns 2 or 3, but I'm curious if there are even better options to smoke these guys. I think that a bunch of fast mana and rituals are going to be even more powerful in 1v1, but haven't played enough of this style to be sure.

If you've run or played in a league like this, I'd love to hear any advice, lessons learned, or things you'd do differently.

My extended playgroup is talking about starting a 1v1 Commander league, and I'm looking for advice from anyone who's played something similar.

Our group's meta is mostly Bracket 4, or what I'd describe as "off-meta cEDH." We generally welcome cEDH commanders and decks after the appropriate Rule 0 discussion, but it's often just the most powerful stuff you'd see from people who don't follow cEDH meta. Think of it as people trying to make their favorite homebrew compete in a cEDH environment rather than everyone showing up with the established piles. I like this meta for pods, and we have a weekly after-hours after FNM that's a blast.

Our LGS also runs 1v1 Commander for FNM, and that's where the idea came from. The store is pretty loose when it comes to power level, so you occasionally end up with wildly mismatched games. That creates feel-bads for everyone, and we'd like to avoid that in this league.

The goal is to have everyone bring Bracket 4 or stronger decks and simply play for higher stakes. We're aiming for more of a "poker night" atmosphere where everyone knows they're bringing powerful decks and nobody feels bad because they showed up underpowered.

My biggest concern is that nobody wants to adopt a dedicated 1v1 ban list. They'd rather use the regular Commander ban list, and I think that's going to lead to some very lopsided games. I'm far from an expert on duel Commander, but I'd imagine commanders like [[Urza, Lord High Artificer]] and [[Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy]] become significantly stronger when there isn't a full pod to keep them in check. Also feels like fast mana in your opening hand is an insane advantage.

For those of you with experience playing competitive 1v1 Commander:

• Have you found the regular Commander ban list to work ok, or does a dedicated 1v1 ban list create a healthier format? If so, which ban list is the one to use?
• What life total has worked best in your experience?
• Are there any house rules that helped keep the format balanced?
• How would you explain the benefits of a 1v1 ban list to a playgroup that has never used one?
• What commanders would you recommend for a competitive—but still interactive—1v1 environment?

Part of me wants to build the most broken deck I can and let the results speak for themselves if the group sticks with the multiplayer ban list. Right now I'm considering [[Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers]] to cheat out a few absurd creatures and threaten wins on turns 2 or 3, but I'm curious if there are even better options to smoke these guys. I think that a bunch of fast mana and rituals are going to be even more powerful in 1v1, but haven't played enough of this style to be sure.

If you've run or played in a league like this, I'd love to hear any advice, lessons learned, or things you'd do differently.