What was the first deck you made yourself and played with?

I just finalized my very first fully customized from scratch commander deck... I've only got about 20 cards to get my hands on before I sleeve it and maybe bring it somewhere to play. I'm nervous as hell.

I am curious what everyone's "first time" was like with a non-precon deck? Did you already have a solid group to play with? Did you bring it to play with strangers? Did you get stomped, or was it stronger than you thought?