Casual Commander League

The Casual Commander League runs every Thursday at The Coffee Guild in Jericho, and this week's session is on Thursday 29 October. It's a dedicated night for Magic: The Gathering Commander, the multiplayer format where everyone brings their own custom 100-card deck and takes on a few other players at once. The league keeps things relaxed with a bracket 2/3 system, so you're playing for the fun of it rather than sweating over a high-stakes tournament.

The Coffee Guild (or TCG, as it's known) is at 106 Walton Street, and it's a late-opening, alcohol-free café and events space that stays open until 11pm every day. There are tables on site to play at, and they keep league tables for their card games, so you can track your progress over the weeks. The Casual Commander League is part of a wider weekly round of game nights at the venue, which also include One Piece, Riftbound, Flesh and Blood and Gundam, and the shop is listed on the Wizards Play Network.

If you're new to Commander, it's a great way to get into the game without needing to build a competitive deck from scratch. You pick one legendary creature to lead your deck, and from there you build around them. Because it's a multiplayer format, the games tend to be more social and political than the head-to-head matches you'll find in other MTG formats. The 'casual' in the name is the point here: it's about the experience of the game rather than the win rate.

It kicks off at 18:00 every Thursday at The Coffee Guild, 106 Walton Street, Jericho, OX2 6AJ. Since the venue is open until 11pm, there's plenty of time to get through a few games and still have room for a coffee.