For 45-year-old Gary Nighten the game isn’t about playing . . . the game, it’s about making decks. A Manager at the bad Taco Bell that’s closer to your house than the good Taco Bell, Nighten has some experience with deck-building.
“It started as some innocent net-decking in my budget,” Nighten told us. “When I would finish one deck I had to start another. I just have so many ideas for great decks for so many different commanders. And Wizards just keeps adding more commanders.” Nighten stores his decks in banker boxes beside his floor-bound mattress devoid of any bedding
We asked Gary which one of his decks are his favorite to play.
“I don’t know. I’ve never actually played a game of commander. I think about maybe going down to the LGS here, but I just feel like I’d have more fun crafting a new deck than playing an old one. Plus, how can you just pick one? Someone told me there’s a way to play online using a webcam, but I just don’t have that kind of time. Plus, with as much deckbuilding practice I have I’d probably just win every game anyway, so what’s the point, right?”
Gary went on to tell us all about how bad he feels for people who have to play with others in order to prove their worth, in between bites of something he pulled out of a pizza box tucked between the wall and his light-brown stained mattress. “I guess I’ll give it a shot one day, but it’s hard to know when the right time is.”