How i feel about competitive players and casual players in EDH: The competitive are german tourists, the casual are italian tourists, both in a italian beach. The italians asking themselves "why are the germans here?" make a legitimate question, the answer is because the beach is beautiful, no matter the country you came from. The italians wanting to ban the germans are dumb, because if the germans pay for their stay and follow the rules like everyone else, they have the right to be in the beach. Hovewer, if the germans started to ask themselves "why are the italians here?"... they would be dumb as hell.
I know your signature has been around for a while because I remember reading it a couple years ago, but I've never found it more fitting than a thread like this where people insist Commander has evolved past the RC and that they're out of touch. It makes me wonder who is actually narrow-minded.
As to your second point, I'm not sure why you're being so combative.
...New players enjoy the RC's style..., and for the most part very quickly evolve their play into something more inherently interesting as they grow.
I'm going to jump in and suggest it may have to do with the dismissive assumptions you state as fact. There is nothing "more inherently interesting" about your preferred playstyle over another person's preferred way, and the fact that you assume it is inherent means you are blind to your own bias.
Now, I happen to agree that new players don't appreciate things like watching their mana curve and running less-splashy utility cards. I also think that they can grow through experience and speaking with more experienced players. But growing does not equate to changing playstyle. You can grow and build better decks that are still intended to achieve more casual fun. It's all a matter of what you want to get out of the game.
Not everyone gets to the point where they find a cEDH level of interaction and complexity enjoyable, but I've been playing EDH for a decade and watched new players slowly lose interest in the stale ramp>dragon>swing format the RC advocates and move into more complicated, interactive decks with more engaging play patterns and knobs to turn.
I've been playing EDH since 2009, and I've seen it go both ways. I've seen people try to go more competitive, and I've seen people get sick of competitive and just want to have fun and be social. I myself have fluctuated multiple times, whether to match an evolving group's power level (down and then back up as they got better) or simply because I found combo decks super boring and linear.
Interaction and complicated gameplay is a spectrum, not a binary state. Your rather dismissive opinion of the RC's playstyle makes it sound like there isn't any way to play casually and be interactive, but that's just a disingenuous strawman.
One of the great things about Magic is it can be played different ways. The RC likes one pattern of play - great! The format has grown steadily under their supervision. Wizards started promoting it, and it grew more - great again! You know what hasn't had the same consistent growth? Standard, a format entirely under WOTC control, with so many bans that players get whiplash. I've seen lots of players leave standard because they got sick of the format when it was dominated by one deck/playstyle or because they got sick of cards they bought not being usable anymore either due to bans or rotation.
Personally, I tend to side with the RC even when I don't always agree with them. I'd rather see a conservative approach to managing the format than a meddling, micro-managing one. You can't please all the people all the time, and even attempting to do so would be a disaster. The format has been doing well under their purview, and I hope to see it continue.
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Now, I happen to agree that new players don't appreciate things like watching their mana curve and running less-splashy utility cards. I also think that they can grow through experience and speaking with more experienced players. But growing does not equate to changing playstyle. You can grow and build better decks that are still intended to achieve more casual fun. It's all a matter of what you want to get out of the game.I've been playing EDH since 2009, and I've seen it go both ways. I've seen people try to go more competitive, and I've seen people get sick of competitive and just want to have fun and be social. I myself have fluctuated multiple times, whether to match an evolving group's power level (down and then back up as they got better) or simply because I found combo decks super boring and linear.
Interaction and complicated gameplay is a spectrum, not a binary state. Your rather dismissive opinion of the RC's playstyle makes it sound like there isn't any way to play casually and be interactive, but that's just a disingenuous strawman.
One of the great things about Magic is it can be played different ways. The RC likes one pattern of play - great! The format has grown steadily under their supervision. Wizards started promoting it, and it grew more - great again! You know what hasn't had the same consistent growth? Standard, a format entirely under WOTC control, with so many bans that players get whiplash. I've seen lots of players leave standard because they got sick of the format when it was dominated by one deck/playstyle or because they got sick of cards they bought not being usable anymore either due to bans or rotation.
Personally, I tend to side with the RC even when I don't always agree with them. I'd rather see a conservative approach to managing the format than a meddling, micro-managing one. You can't please all the people all the time, and even attempting to do so would be a disaster. The format has been doing well under their purview, and I hope to see it continue.
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter