Okay, so, a while back, I got this itch to get into “Commander” in Magic: The Gathering. I heard it was a fun way to play, but honestly, I was a bit lost on where to even start looking for people to play with. I mean, I could play with my usual crew, but we were all new to this format.
So, the first thing I did was hit up the local game stores. You know, the ones with all the cool board games and stuff. I figured those guys would know where the action was, right? I walked into a couple of places, and just straight up asked the folks behind the counter. “Hey, do you guys host any Commander games or know where I can find some?”
Some places were like, “Nah, we don’t do that here, but you could try this other store.” Others would say they had groups come in, but it was kinda random, not really organized. I even found one store that had a bulletin board where people could post if they were looking for players. Not exactly what I was looking for, but it was something.
Feeling a little stuck, I figured, why not use the internet? This is where things got a bit interesting.
- First, I started searching for local gaming groups. Searched stuff like “MTG Commander groups near me” and stuff like that. Found a couple of pages, but most of them were kinda dead. No recent posts, you know?
- Then I remembered the Wizards of the Coast website. I mean, they make the game, so they gotta have something, right? They have this thing called the “Event Locator”. I typed in my location, selected “Commander” as the format, and boom! It showed me a list of stores near me that supposedly hosted events.
I went to a couple of these stores on their “Commander nights” or whatever. Some were cool, with a bunch of people playing. Others, not so much. It was pretty hit or miss, to be honest. Sometimes it would just be a handful of players, other times it was packed. Also, I went to see the so-called MagicFests, but it was not really useful. There are so many people and it was very hard to find a group to play with.
I ended up joining a few online groups and chats dedicated to Commander. There are a few groups specifically for finding players in your area. I just introduced myself, said I was looking for folks to play with, and waited.
Eventually, I did manage to find a few people to play with through those online groups. We met up at a local game store a couple of times, and it was pretty fun. It wasn’t a super regular thing, but hey, it was a start. I also kept going to those store events, and slowly started to recognize some of the regulars. It took some time, but I eventually found a decent group of people to play Commander with somewhat regularly.
So yeah, finding a Commander playgroup took a bit of effort. It wasn’t as simple as just walking into a store and finding a game. But by checking out local game stores, using online tools like the Event Locator, and connecting with people through online groups, I eventually made it happen. It’s all about putting yourself out there and not being afraid to ask around. If you are persistent enough, you can find a group that you enjoy playing with!
