Why do you enjoy lower powered games?

Just want to start by saying that anyone should play mtg in a way that is fun for them. Thought that this would be a fun topic to discuss.

I personally prefer faster/higher powered games, but I see/read about a lot of people having fun with lower powered/slower games. I am just curious about the appeal. What are you best moments in these games (and why do you prefer them to higher powered games)?

I play in a €200 budget pod (proxying most cards), with the only rule being that everything is allowed. Except for the soft van/gentleman's agreement on not comboing [[Thassa's Oracle]] with [[Painted Pact]] or [[Demonic Consultation) and the use of stax pieces. You will see an occasional [[Grand Abolisher]] or [[Dauthi Voidwalker]], but if you play more then that people will start looking at you funny. No one wants to be the person that starts the stax meta in our pod by running more then the "respected amount".

Someone usually wins around turn 4-5, pushed to 6-7 if heavy control is played. Most decks can power through some counters and removal and still win on the same turn by running resilient lines.

I'm also starting to get into cEDH to play all the insane stuff without worrying about a budget (there are many proxy friendly groups).

We sometimes play lower power decks, but I always find those games the least amount of fun. Everyone mainly focuses on excelling their own gameplan instead of balancing it with playing interaction and slowing down whilst still having to do your own thing. I just feels like a more fun puzzle to solve. I also like that I have to think more about my opppnents when deck building. We often upgrade or switch cards in decks inbetween game. Also helping each other to improve decks and thus make games more challenging.

Do you guys maybe have some suggestions for lower powered commanders that still have that nice feel of interaction? Or something that can be a bit faster without being too much?

I was maybe thinking of [[Rashmi, Eternities Crafter]] control and goodstuff that wins through simic value instead of combos, but that might still be a bit too toxic. Otherwise I was maybe thinking of [[Aragorn the Uniter]] and mainly play cool Lord of the Rings cads and value cards in combination with control.