My playgroup is boring

Dr.Praxi avatarDr.Praxi 14 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"Hi, i've recently joined a playgroup of edh in new city i live and want to try out my new runo sea monsters commander (nothing crazy powerful but still neat), but as soon as we started playing i see 2 out of 8 decks are landfall omnath combo (food chain, infinite zombies, infinite mana etc) which dominate all other decks (edgar, zombies, other tribes) because don't have the time to respond, when we are in turn 3 they are just in turn 9 with so much land and things to do on their board and this is getting pretty boring for me who just want some relaxed fun with my big monsters.\nSo i was thiking to build a new deck to try overspeeding the two omnaths because gaming is fun, but it is also winning. I was looking to elves or ninjas (yuriko and lahtril) but as far as i've seen on turn 4 to 6 the game is already ended and idk if the two tribes can go so fast to even speed match the horrible Omnath. \nSo i'm asking you how should i move in this situation, go for a new deck? Exit the playgroup? Anything else? "},{"attributes":{"color":"var(--color)"},"insert":"Maybe zo-zu is the solution?"},{"insert":"\n"}]}
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John_Sherwood avatarJohn_Sherwood 14 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"The key to solving every social problem is communication.\n\"Hey friends, the play patterns in this group are [insert polite descriptor.] Are you cool with changing things up?\"\nIf no one wants to compromise, then find another group.\n\nA power level arms race might give you the gratification of a few more wins, but it probably won't lead to a healthier or happier social experience. I cannot emphasize enough that communication is key. \n"}]}
Edited 1/27/2023, 9:52:10 PM
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Endlessor avatarEndlessor 14 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"Hi,\nI agree with Piando with first trying to communicate and find a compromise that will ensure that everyone have fun. It can be something like you build a powerful deck at their level and they build some less powerful decks at your Runo deck powerlevel and you try mixing up so you don't always play at powerlevel that you don't find fun and same thing for them.\n\nDo you know about Timmy, Spike and Johnny demographics? In short this is kind of categorising what MTG players find fun. Timmy like splashy things, don't really care about winning and care more about having a good time with his friends. Spike likes to show that he is capable and a great player and cares a lot about winning. Johnny finds fun in doing quirky things, finding new combos or cards interractions. I'm talking about this because it is important to understand what kind of player you are and what kind of players other people in your playgroup are. It may help in finding a compromise. It may also help if ever you want to enter a new playgroup. You can present yourself, what you find fun in playing, the powerlevel of decks you enjoy, etc and see if the others are mostly on the same wave length.\n\nMy personnal experience... I have a friend that organise commander nights during weekends. There is a circle of about 12 people that she invites. So when I go there I don't always play against the same people. That said, I play against a bunch of different kind of players. At one point she often invited a guy (a Spike) for whom he is not satisfied with his decks unless they are all optimized. The kind of decks that you already have lot of pressure on turn 3 and games where turning Archenemy against him. I didn't found it fun as all games we were playing turned Archenemy against the same person. I am a Timmy. So, I started increasing the powerlevel of my decks and including infinite combos in them, etc. Still, I had no fun playing such deck, I find winning on a combo very boring. I share that, because you may find like myself not much satisfaction in going the route of playing at the level of the others in your playgroup. I think it is important to discuss and try to balance the powerlevel of the group as in my opinion games are more fun when the powerlevel of the decks are similar around the table. We talked to that Spike guy and since then he has powered down a bit his decks. They are still powerful, but he built new decks that are less focus on combos and fast mana acceleration (ManaCrypt, Chrome Mox and things like that). Recently we played at my friends house and she invited 12 people. We made 3 tables of 4 players. The Spike guy I was talking about ended up playing at a table where their was two cEDH players. Even if his decks are powerful, he was not on par with them. He told me during the night that he had no fun playing against these guys. So, I think it goes back to what I said earlier, whatever type of players we are, it is more fun when the powerlevel is on par.\n\nIf nothing change adn that you don't have fun playing against them then the solution maybe to find another playgroup. If you can try to find ways to meet new commander players (LGS, Facebook groups, etc). \n\nHope that helped.\n"}]}
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