This article is about how the concept of “qualia” applies to Commander. If you're unfamiliar with this concept, you gotta read the previous article (find that here).
“EDH is a flavour-driven format.” That's something you're likely to hear in a conversation about Commander. It definitely feels true, it feels different to play a game of EDH than Standard, even when the stakes are the same. What does that mean, though? What makes EDH a “flavour-driven format”? We're using all the same cards. The stories don't change when you switch formats. We're all still playing random hodge-podges of fluff, taken from separate storylines and settings. The Commander playerbase isn't any more reluctant to strap three swords and a battering ram to a single creature (which might not even have arms) than a Standard player is. Of course, there are the absurd tribal decks and the setting-based theme decks, built on concept and story over mechanical logic, and those decks are fun and awesome, but the same types of decks can be found in any 60 card format played at kitchen tables. So what gives?
“EDH is a flavour-driven format.” That's something you're likely to hear in a conversation about Commander. It definitely feels true, it feels different to play a game of EDH than Standard, even when the stakes are the same. What does that mean, though? What makes EDH a “flavour-driven format”? We're using all the same cards. The stories don't change when you switch formats. We're all still playing random hodge-podges of fluff, taken from separate storylines and settings. The Commander playerbase isn't any more reluctant to strap three swords and a battering ram to a single creature (which might not even have arms) than a Standard player is. Of course, there are the absurd tribal decks and the setting-based theme decks, built on concept and story over mechanical logic, and those decks are fun and awesome, but the same types of decks can be found in any 60 card format played at kitchen tables. So what gives?
Flavour goes deeper than the card, the art, name and text. All that stuff is referred to as “fluff” in the game industry; all the materials that describe what the game is without referring in any way to the mechanical aspects or rules of the game. Magic: the Gathering is actually a pretty fluff-heavy game. Fluff is incredibly useful to a game like Magic, since there are so many different game pieces (cards), and players need help in quickly understanding what they do (“Okay, so this is a catapult, and it chucks my creatures at my enemies? Cool, I get it.”). On top of that are the detailed settings and characters that keep the game feeling fresh, a narrative that's hinted at through the flavour text of the cards, and a yearly novel series for real storyline fans. None of that is extra important to EDH.
Have you ever wondered why flavour is called “flavour”? Why do people call it that, and why is it so easy to understand what they mean? Why would we be talking about how an activity like this tastes, when we don't put any part of it near our mouths? Flavour is a sensation, apart from the sights, sounds, touch and (sometimes unfortunately powerful) smells of the game. I believe it's attributed to taste just because that's the only one of our five most popular senses that we don't use at all for gaming. That sensation is the feel of the game, it's what I refer to as the game's qualia. It's the side of flavour that's underneath the fluff, and I would say it's the much more important component.
The Qualia of the Game
Playing Magic in a competitive setting has a unique sort of feeling. Anyone who has been to a tournament should know what I mean. Even though you've been to that game store dozens of times, something's different about the place. There's the noise and the crowd, but there's also an intensity layered on top of it all. It's like someone's holding a blacklight up to the room. Everything seems a little brighter than it should. The actual games are different as well. You don't notice the art, you barely register the card names beyond your ability to recognize which is which. It's all about the numbers, the costs, resources and damage they can inflict on the game state. It's a chess-like mental joust. Everything is about your opponent. He's the only object in the room that really matters. It's not like when you're sitting down to enjoy the company of your friends, of course. He's probably a stranger, or a casual acquaintance at best. Even if he's not, you're not really thinking about social interaction. Your goal is just to stop him from stopping you from doing what you need to do, and you're relying on him to do the same.
Once you reach that level, the thrill of competition can be amazing, and the deep exploration of the game's possiblilities is challenging and rewarding. It takes a long time to be able to experience those things. Hours and hours of study and practice (which never feel much like work, of course) are required first. When you're first introduced to Magic, you're still mostly learning about what a “planeswalker” is, what “mana” does and what the different varieties of the stuff mean. You can't really see very well the mechanics underneath the fluff, but the art is awesome and the fluff helps a lot in intuitively finding the right plays. “That is an elephant. It will squish my shaman. My dragon can probably eat it, though. Cripes, a kraken! Eat Murder, guy!” The qualia are fundamentally different. You're not thinking yet in terms of probabilities, ratios and hidden information, you're still making plays based on fireballs, rituals and monsters. You're playing as a powerful planeswalker, pulling energy and allies to your side from across the multiverse, not just as Game Store Champion. Each action you take isn't based just on your personal algorithms for optimal play, it's influenced by the narrative of the game, consciously or not.
Fantasy is a large part of the new player experience, but it's also the discovery of the game. The seasoned player's exploration is like a drill through bedrock, hard and slow, but it earns her tiny diamonds in return. The newbie is still churning through the topsoil, unearthing tons and tons of material that he's never seen before. That's exciting, it all has to be tried out, and it feels like there's no bottom. That brings us back to Commander.
“EDH is a Flavour-Driven Format”
When you start to find that bedrock, something is gained and something is lost. The strategic depth in Magic grows the more time you spend with it, but at the same time some of the Magic is lost. It's unavoidable that cards will eventually turn into small packages of data, and the planeswalker you once were will fade into the background. Commander is a way to get some of that back. EDH certainly is a flavor-driven format, and when people say so I believe that they generally have an intuitive grasp on the concept of fluff versus qualia. A fresh batch of qualia is what Commander is designed to deliver, but fluff tends to be the only thing people talk about when there are explicit conversations about this stuff. Focusing on the fluff in Commander is problematic, though, and you'll run into logical inconsistencies pretty fast.
"I can't use other colors of mana because Borborygmos doesn't know how? Alright, probably not, but I bet Teferi would be able to figure it out."
"Maybe I can't make other colours of mana because Azusa has moral hang-ups? Okay, maybe, but Kaervek wouldn't have a problem!"
Ultimately, the Rules Committee has zero control over the fluff of the format, since every storyline, creature concept and legendary character is provided to us by WotC. What we do control, in terms of flavour, is the qualia of the game. By putting a legendary creature at the helm of each deck, we've given players a protagonist to root for, and at least one antagonist to struggle against. This changes the qualia of the game, since we're taking one step away from abstract strategy back toward a representation of an epic fantasy battle. This provides goals and consequences for the player to achieve and avoid, even when they are subconscious or transient, that aren't tied in any way to the game mechanics. Each of Commander's special rules for your legend (the command zone, colour identity and commander damage) are designed to reinforce this characterization of the game in a way that's difficult to ignore.
Just as important are the other deckbuilding restrictions. 100 cards, no duplicates. EDH gives old hands whole new holes to dig. An EDH deck is never “complete.” With at least 60 - 65 or so interchangeable slots for different spells, there's always something to tinker with and explore. The colour identity restrictions pull duty here, too, making sure that players can't just splash their favourite spells into every deck. New commander, new colour identity? New deck. The format's increased starting lifetotal also plays a big part in opening new territory to explore. In addition to ensuring a relatively leisurely pace in game (which makes a whole range of unusual strategies viable to play), starting with 40 life simply changes the power level of almost every card in Magic. You get to reevaluate old favourites, and especially old disappointments, in the new context.
Modus Operandi
Wizards of the Coast has a keen focus on minimalism wherever possible, evidenced most strongly by the removal of the mana burn rule. We certainly can't fault them for that, it was a clunky rule, pretty irrelevant in almost every game, and the fewer rules the better for players trying to muddle through their first matches. It's WotC's job to be inviting to curious gamers, and a lean rulebook is one way to do that. That said, while mana burn may have been strategically useless, a bit of the spice of Magic was lost when it was culled. It was a strong description of the concept of mana, built into the rules of the game. “Mana can hurt you if you're not careful with it. It's a powerful energy, and difficult to control. You're playing with fire (maybe literally).”
Wizards of the Coast made the right choice there, for Magic as a whole. We on the Rules Committee have a different set of priorities. The list is mostly the same, actually, and simplicity is definitely on there, but the list is in a different order, with “Be Awesome!” right at the top. Commander is defined by rules like mana burn, because even if some of them don't count for much during gameplay they still make the game better in their weird, subtle way. They taste good.
Why is it important that you can't make off-colour mana when you're not even allowed to put off-colour cards in your deck? Because then someone might accidentally activate an ability of one of their opponents' permanents, after stealing it somehow, and we can't have that.
If I can't activate them anyway, what's the harm in including cards with off-colour abilities that I don't even intend to use? Because that hurts the qualia of the deck. If I put some dirt in your lemonade, are you still going to drink it? Why not? It's only a little!
What about hybrid stuff? I can use the whole card! Same reason. A blue card is a blue card, no matter how green it is.
Well, how often is commander damage relevant? Definitely a lot more often than mana burn was, but most losers are still getting killed by traditional stuff. Shouldn't we get rid of it, then? Hahaha, no.
It's this concept of qualia that makes me uncomfortable whenever we try to decree the format's flavour, since in my view Commander's most important contribution to flavour is all on the qualia side. I've never written down my own thoughts about “what commanders really are,” or “what they do,” or even “what the command zone is,” since trying to force our own fluff into the game is disruptive to that. Qualia is subconscious, unexplained, and most players are probably unaware of it at all. If we provide flavour (fluff) explanations that conflict with their own metaphor of the game it will still shake their rationalizations. That's dirt in their lemonade. The rules and the decks speak for themselves, and I prefer to let the players interpret their stories.
Have you ever wondered why flavour is called “flavour”? Why do people call it that, and why is it so easy to understand what they mean? Why would we be talking about how an activity like this tastes, when we don't put any part of it near our mouths? Flavour is a sensation, apart from the sights, sounds, touch and (sometimes unfortunately powerful) smells of the game. I believe it's attributed to taste just because that's the only one of our five most popular senses that we don't use at all for gaming. That sensation is the feel of the game, it's what I refer to as the game's qualia. It's the side of flavour that's underneath the fluff, and I would say it's the much more important component.
The Qualia of the Game
Playing Magic in a competitive setting has a unique sort of feeling. Anyone who has been to a tournament should know what I mean. Even though you've been to that game store dozens of times, something's different about the place. There's the noise and the crowd, but there's also an intensity layered on top of it all. It's like someone's holding a blacklight up to the room. Everything seems a little brighter than it should. The actual games are different as well. You don't notice the art, you barely register the card names beyond your ability to recognize which is which. It's all about the numbers, the costs, resources and damage they can inflict on the game state. It's a chess-like mental joust. Everything is about your opponent. He's the only object in the room that really matters. It's not like when you're sitting down to enjoy the company of your friends, of course. He's probably a stranger, or a casual acquaintance at best. Even if he's not, you're not really thinking about social interaction. Your goal is just to stop him from stopping you from doing what you need to do, and you're relying on him to do the same.
Once you reach that level, the thrill of competition can be amazing, and the deep exploration of the game's possiblilities is challenging and rewarding. It takes a long time to be able to experience those things. Hours and hours of study and practice (which never feel much like work, of course) are required first. When you're first introduced to Magic, you're still mostly learning about what a “planeswalker” is, what “mana” does and what the different varieties of the stuff mean. You can't really see very well the mechanics underneath the fluff, but the art is awesome and the fluff helps a lot in intuitively finding the right plays. “That is an elephant. It will squish my shaman. My dragon can probably eat it, though. Cripes, a kraken! Eat Murder, guy!” The qualia are fundamentally different. You're not thinking yet in terms of probabilities, ratios and hidden information, you're still making plays based on fireballs, rituals and monsters. You're playing as a powerful planeswalker, pulling energy and allies to your side from across the multiverse, not just as Game Store Champion. Each action you take isn't based just on your personal algorithms for optimal play, it's influenced by the narrative of the game, consciously or not.
Fantasy is a large part of the new player experience, but it's also the discovery of the game. The seasoned player's exploration is like a drill through bedrock, hard and slow, but it earns her tiny diamonds in return. The newbie is still churning through the topsoil, unearthing tons and tons of material that he's never seen before. That's exciting, it all has to be tried out, and it feels like there's no bottom. That brings us back to Commander.
“EDH is a Flavour-Driven Format”
When you start to find that bedrock, something is gained and something is lost. The strategic depth in Magic grows the more time you spend with it, but at the same time some of the Magic is lost. It's unavoidable that cards will eventually turn into small packages of data, and the planeswalker you once were will fade into the background. Commander is a way to get some of that back. EDH certainly is a flavor-driven format, and when people say so I believe that they generally have an intuitive grasp on the concept of fluff versus qualia. A fresh batch of qualia is what Commander is designed to deliver, but fluff tends to be the only thing people talk about when there are explicit conversations about this stuff. Focusing on the fluff in Commander is problematic, though, and you'll run into logical inconsistencies pretty fast.
"I can't use other colors of mana because Borborygmos doesn't know how? Alright, probably not, but I bet Teferi would be able to figure it out."
"Maybe I can't make other colours of mana because Azusa has moral hang-ups? Okay, maybe, but Kaervek wouldn't have a problem!"
Ultimately, the Rules Committee has zero control over the fluff of the format, since every storyline, creature concept and legendary character is provided to us by WotC. What we do control, in terms of flavour, is the qualia of the game. By putting a legendary creature at the helm of each deck, we've given players a protagonist to root for, and at least one antagonist to struggle against. This changes the qualia of the game, since we're taking one step away from abstract strategy back toward a representation of an epic fantasy battle. This provides goals and consequences for the player to achieve and avoid, even when they are subconscious or transient, that aren't tied in any way to the game mechanics. Each of Commander's special rules for your legend (the command zone, colour identity and commander damage) are designed to reinforce this characterization of the game in a way that's difficult to ignore.
Just as important are the other deckbuilding restrictions. 100 cards, no duplicates. EDH gives old hands whole new holes to dig. An EDH deck is never “complete.” With at least 60 - 65 or so interchangeable slots for different spells, there's always something to tinker with and explore. The colour identity restrictions pull duty here, too, making sure that players can't just splash their favourite spells into every deck. New commander, new colour identity? New deck. The format's increased starting lifetotal also plays a big part in opening new territory to explore. In addition to ensuring a relatively leisurely pace in game (which makes a whole range of unusual strategies viable to play), starting with 40 life simply changes the power level of almost every card in Magic. You get to reevaluate old favourites, and especially old disappointments, in the new context.
Modus Operandi
Wizards of the Coast has a keen focus on minimalism wherever possible, evidenced most strongly by the removal of the mana burn rule. We certainly can't fault them for that, it was a clunky rule, pretty irrelevant in almost every game, and the fewer rules the better for players trying to muddle through their first matches. It's WotC's job to be inviting to curious gamers, and a lean rulebook is one way to do that. That said, while mana burn may have been strategically useless, a bit of the spice of Magic was lost when it was culled. It was a strong description of the concept of mana, built into the rules of the game. “Mana can hurt you if you're not careful with it. It's a powerful energy, and difficult to control. You're playing with fire (maybe literally).”
Wizards of the Coast made the right choice there, for Magic as a whole. We on the Rules Committee have a different set of priorities. The list is mostly the same, actually, and simplicity is definitely on there, but the list is in a different order, with “Be Awesome!” right at the top. Commander is defined by rules like mana burn, because even if some of them don't count for much during gameplay they still make the game better in their weird, subtle way. They taste good.
Why is it important that you can't make off-colour mana when you're not even allowed to put off-colour cards in your deck? Because then someone might accidentally activate an ability of one of their opponents' permanents, after stealing it somehow, and we can't have that.
If I can't activate them anyway, what's the harm in including cards with off-colour abilities that I don't even intend to use? Because that hurts the qualia of the deck. If I put some dirt in your lemonade, are you still going to drink it? Why not? It's only a little!
What about hybrid stuff? I can use the whole card! Same reason. A blue card is a blue card, no matter how green it is.
Well, how often is commander damage relevant? Definitely a lot more often than mana burn was, but most losers are still getting killed by traditional stuff. Shouldn't we get rid of it, then? Hahaha, no.
It's this concept of qualia that makes me uncomfortable whenever we try to decree the format's flavour, since in my view Commander's most important contribution to flavour is all on the qualia side. I've never written down my own thoughts about “what commanders really are,” or “what they do,” or even “what the command zone is,” since trying to force our own fluff into the game is disruptive to that. Qualia is subconscious, unexplained, and most players are probably unaware of it at all. If we provide flavour (fluff) explanations that conflict with their own metaphor of the game it will still shake their rationalizations. That's dirt in their lemonade. The rules and the decks speak for themselves, and I prefer to let the players interpret their stories.