<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student" href="#" target="_blank">Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/magali_villeneuve/?hl=en">Magali Villeneuve</a></em></p>
<p><em>Salutations et bienvenue</em>, my dear brewers, to a somewhat different piece than usual. Today, I'm not making a tight budget deck, nor am I building Power Rangers X Teletubbies (seriously, please don't ask for that).</p>
<p>No, today, I'd like to share my thoughts as a somewhat seasoned player with both American and French communities. While I believe any Commander player shares something with the rest of the base, there are some differences, significant enough that I feel like sharing some thoughts. And since most of you are probably more used to playing with people from the United States of the North of America That Stands Under Canada And Above Mexico On A World Map, I'm going to focus more on the French behaviour.</p>
<p>Please bear in mind these considerations are 100% empirical, and are not based on any scientific study or statistical analyses.</p>
<p>I only hope you'll take all of this with a grain of salt.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Difference #1 – Power Creep</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Apex of Power"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Overpowering Attack"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Power Matrix"></div></div>
<p>Let's start with what I believe is the most obvious trait. The one major, massive, humongous difference between American and French players is the latter's propensity to play powerful decks.</p>
<p>Now don't get me wrong. I've encountered several players here and there in the Anglosaxon world that enjoyed taking their super-duper cEDH-or-almost-there deck for a spin. But my general experience has been skewed towards Bracket 2 to mid-Bracket 3 decks, rather than going Bruce Almighty.</p>
<p>That's not quite the case with French people. Be it in local game stores or online, most of the players I've encountered have had a huge tendency to play powerful and oppressive strategies.</p>
<p>Allow me to share three anecdotes to illustrate this.</p>
<p>1) I used to play with a very nice guy. Let's call him Lionel. Lionel was what you may call <em>"un builder fou", </em>a mad brewer. He liked to try wild strategies and was skilled enough to turn them into real churning machines.</p>
<p>I distinctly remember him coming to my house one day with what he called a "<em>tame <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student" href="#" target="_blank">Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>". "Don't worry, I've built this with what I had lying around, it's not that good", </em>he said, as I was trying to play my <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Edric, Spymaster of Trest" href="#" target="_blank">Edric, Spymaster of Trest</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> very low-to-the-ground budget brew. Suffice it to say the game did not last more than six turns before he soft-locked us all.</p>
<p>2) Sacri is another such example. This hunk of meat is one of the kindest guys I know (not to mention a phenomenal medieval fencer, but I digress). He also likes to play with power. <em>"This deck? Nah, it only has six or seven combos, it's not that fast. Huh, what's a Bracket?" </em>I would love nothing more to tell you that all of this is pure invention. But my bottom still remembers the double-smacking it received when he proceeded to win two games in a row on turn 4. And that wasn't even his best.</p>
<p>3) How about random groups then? During summer holidays in Southern France – just left of the middle of nowhere – I heard about a group that played on Friday evenings.</p>
<p>Let's slide over the guy who insisted on playing Duel with his tuned deck against my B2 <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shirei, Shizo&#039;s Caretaker" href="#" target="_blank">Shirei</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, to focus on the one I'll call <em>Mr. Stax. </em>I was already nervous when I saw <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Oloro, Ageless Ascetic" href="#" target="_blank">Oloro, Ageless Ascetic</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in the command zone. Again, he told the table <em>"everything's fine". </em>Before casting <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Armageddon" href="#" target="_blank">Armageddon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and then <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Limited Resources" href="#" target="_blank">Limited Resources</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>When I pointed out that card was actually banned in commander, he almost started to sulk for not being able to play annoying cards. Again, true story.</p>
<p>I could go on with the local commander tournaments that focused on fun-plays-and-no-cEDH-because-no-way-but-please-vote-for-the-funniest-deck-oh-wait-why-are-you-comboing-off. Or that very nice guy who could not help but chuckle when someone played something sub-optimally.</p>
<p>I'm not trying here to compete for the Bolas among Bolases. My point with all this is rather simple : most French players love their power plays. So if you ever happen to play with random people in a French LGS, make sure you do a thorough Rule 0 talk before starting, or you may be in for a nasty surprise.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Difference #2 – Language and manners</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Saltblast"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Brash Taunter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rowdy Crew"></div></div>
<p>This one may come (or not) as a surprise. French people are known for being rowdy. I've met Americans that consider us downright offensive and rude. To whom I'll respond that we simply don't beat around the bush, but I digress (again).</p>
<p>Well, Commander is no different. We call ourselves names <em>–Ah mais t'es un gros enculé en fait ; Ah le bâtaaaard !!!* – </em>and trash talk is rather commonplace, much more so than with Americans.</p>
<p>I have a hypothesis that can partly explain this. In French, we distinguish the "tu" and "vous". The first is colloquial, for close friends, and the "vous" is more formal, when there's a distance between the speakers.</p>
<p>In English however, there's only the "you", used for all situations. Since <em>Magic</em> is a social game, players always use the "tu" around the table. This leads to more relaxed social interactions, and possibly extended banter and name-calling. That's just an idea, and I'm no scholar, so feel free to prove me wrong if you have more knowledge on this!</p>
<p>Now, I'm not saying that's never the case elsewhere. But in almost all my games online on American servers, be it with newcomers or old chums, I've never ever heard that kind of language (barring a couple of bad experiences).</p>
<p>To a foreigner, this might seem weird, appalling even. I can't blame you. Nevertheless, in most cases what happens at the table stays at the table. I may occasionally call someone a haemorrhoidal asshole, that won't stop us from sharing a beer afterwards.</p>
<p>Don't take everything that French people say too seriously, and most of all don't expect us to sugar-coat anything.</p>
<p>*No, I won't translate this, not here. If you're that curious, Gtranslate it.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Difference #3 – Duel Commander</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Keen Duelist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dueling Grounds"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Trueheart Duelist"></div></div>
<p>It's no coincidence that Duel Commander is also colloquially called French Commander, and is played basically only in France, aside from a few other exotic locations.</p>
<p>I was there when the format began, and while I haven't played in a while, I've battled against a few decks, enough to make up my own mind.</p>
<p>What first started as a 30-life duel quickly went down to 20, with some of the most brutally oppressive strategies I've seen in this game. It's also a format that openly bans some cards as commander only, but not in the 99.</p>
<p>I won't delve too deeply on this topic, as I've lost interest rather quickly. I'm also not going down the rabbit hole of the endless controversies it has suffered, especially the various shitstorms against the rules committee. Like all formats, it has its ups and its downs.</p>
<p>What I find most interesting is how closely it ties in with the first point. Duel Commander is an extremely competitive format, eager to beat down on whatever stands in its way.</p>
<p>Somehow, I find it not too dissimilar to what Legacy has become, only with singleton 100-card decks rather than the usual 60. This is rather fitting with what I was illustrating above, with the French propensity to lean towards high power.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Conclusion – <em>Cordialement de va te faire cuire un oeuf</em></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Taunting Elf"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jabs, Mistress of Mockery"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Impractical Joke"></div></div>
<p>I hope you enjoyed this somewhat tumultuous journey in the French meta.</p>
<p>Again, I insist that you should take all of this with a grain (or a teaspoon) of salt. These few comments are based solely on my experience in the 30 years or so I've been playing this game.</p>
<p>I'm positive there are a bajillion counter-examples to everything I've said. And I'm not saying that each and every French player answers to those criteria.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I'm rather positive on the general trend.</p>
<p>How about you? Have you had similar experiences with the <em>Gaulois</em>? Have you played with the most charming and exquisite persons?</p>
<p>Let me know in the comments below, and I'll see you next week!</p>


The Sodium Content Difference Between USA and France

<p style="text-align: right;"><em>Image by the author</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.cardmarket.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cardmarket</a> originated like many of today's most successful <i>Magic: The Gathering </i>websites do: with a single laptop and a pile of cards.</p>
<p>From that beginning, Cardmarket has grown to become Europe’s premier marketplace for trading cards of all varieties, following the surge in popularity of TCGs themselves to become the premier source Europeans look to to acquire what they need.</p>
<p>Before Cardmarket, buying and selling trading cards was challenging. Players in Europe relied on magazines or generic marketplaces, with little transparency or efficiency. In 2007, Luis Torres and Dr. Matthias Knelangen set out to change that.</p>
<h2>Humble Origins of Cardmarket</h2>
<p>Founded by Torres and Knelangen in Berlin in 2007 under the name <em>Magickartenmarkt</em>, <a href="https://www.cardmarket.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cardmarket</a> was built with the purpose of connecting players and shops across Europe and bringing transparency and innovation to a market that needed it. Those beginnings were modest, said Knelangen.</p>
<p>Torres, a computer scientist, had noticed that trading cards sold for different prices in different countries, a concept they learned later was arbitrage. Existing platforms like eBay and Cardshark were impractical, so Torres decided to build something better himself.</p>
<p>Shortly before launch, Knelangen joined in. At that time, Torres was programming from his bed, while Knelangen sat on the floor sorting cards. The pair started their project without any debt financing, relying almost entirely on their time and minimal savings from their time attending university.</p>
<p>To create the first listings, they went to FUNtainment in Berlin, bought two <em>Future Sight</em> booster boxes, opened them, and manually entered every card. One of the very first sales was a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tarmogoyf" href="#" target="_blank">Tarmogoyf</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for €1.30, a moment that Knelangen said still feels "surreal" in hindsight. In their first month, total income was €30.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tarmogoyf|FUT|153"></div></div>
<p>But growth came steadily. Two years later, in 2009, the first employee joined the company, and <em>Yu-Gi-Oh!</em> was added to the marketplace alongside <em>Magic</em>. By 2013, the launch of the Cardmarket API empowered users, and in 2014, marketing efforts began as Cardmarket’s vision expanded with the introduction of Powersellers. It wasn't long after that when <em>Pokémon</em> joined the fun in 2015.</p>
<h2>The Boom</h2>
<p>Community and visibility became increasingly important to Cardmarket leadership.</p>
<p>In 2017, the first Cardmarket YouTube channel launched with external content creators, followed by the 2018 rebrand that united all games under the Cardmarket name. In 2019, GBP currency was introduced and the first tournament series was run. Leadership evolved in 2020 with a new CEO, and by 2021 Cardmarket began producing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/CardmarketMagic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in-house YouTube content</a>. In 2022, the company had grown to 55 employees.</p>
<p>That same period marked an unprecedented boom across the entire TCG industry. Demand surged sharply at the end of 2020 and into early 2021, particularly for <em>Magic</em> and <em>Pokémon</em>.</p>
<p>According to Knelangen, broader economic conditions, pandemic-related circumstances, and increased liquidity drove interest in alternative assets, trading cards included. Social media amplified the effect, with Twitch and YouTube streamers showcasing rare and extremely valuable products, keeping attention high.</p>
<p>As a marketplace that grows almost one-to-one with the market, Cardmarket felt this boom directly. Demand pushed the platform beyond its technical limits at that time, requiring significant adjustments to keep up. Collectors began rediscovering cards long forgotten in basements, realizing that familiar cards from the past had become highly valuable. This resulted in increasingly notable and high-priced transactions.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Black Lotus|LEB|233"></div></div>
<p>At the very top end of the market, Cardmarket has even supported six-figure trades. One such example in 2022 involved a BGS 9-graded <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Black Lotus" href="#" target="_blank">Black Lotus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> from <em>Beta</em>, valued well over €100,000, handed over in person in Berlin.</p>
<p>For transactions of this scale, Cardmarket’s Trustee System holds the funds, and the exchange is managed directly to ensure proper handling, demonstrating how trust and responsibility scale at Cardmarket alongside value.</p>
<h2>Sky's the Limit for Cardmarket</h2>
<p>Growth continued. In 2024, the Seller Milestones Program, which awarded sellers that reached a minimum of 100k in sales, officially launched. Today, more than 80 employees from over 25 countries serve millions of players, shops, and collectors across Europe.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reach for the Sky"></div></div>
<p>From a laptop on a bed and cards sorted on the floor to Europe’s premier trading card marketplace, Cardmarket’s journey has always been shaped by transparency, innovation, and the community behind it. As the future unfolds, the story continues, for Cardmarket and everyone who trades, collects, and plays.</p>
<p>As <em>Magic </em>was the original reason Cardmarket was created, it's no surprise that many of today's transactions on the site are driven by Commander players throughout Europe. And that's where the partnership with EDHREC comes into play. Cardmarket makes Commander more accessible, and EDHREC makes it more digestible.</p>
<h2>Cardmarket Partnership With EDHREC</h2>
<p>Cardmarket does their part by providing the European community with the best possible marketplace, and on the platform, anyone can get the cards they want at the lowest prices and can sell those they no longer need to the biggest audience. And for many users, that's all in service of their Commander decks.</p>
<p>In that sense, Cardmarket and EDHREC are natural allies, and to support each other's operations is a goal that benefits both organizations and the community at-large. After all, EDHREC helps plenty of people discover the cards they want, and Cardmarket helps them acquire those cards.</p>
<p>To that end, Cardmarket shares price data with EDHREC. You can find Cardmarket prices on the cards you see on EDHREC by adding them as a dedicated Price Source in EDHREC's Settings cogwheel.</p>
<p>Together, the users of Cardmarket determine what the definitive, fair market value of any <em>Magic</em> card is across Europe, and having these values on another website benefits everyone: <a href="https://www.cardmarket.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cardmarket</a>, EDHREC, and the whole community.</p>


european

The Sodium Content Difference Between USA and France

Introducing the Cardmarket x EDHREC Partnership for EU Users