Cards
No changes.
Rules
No changes.
Document Updates
The format philosophy document is perhaps the most important page on the Commander site, serving as a north star and communication tool. The RC, led by Jim, has spent the last few months updating and revising that document with the aim of making it clearer for both the community and the RC. We’ve had extensive conversations about what we want the format to be, how to get there, and how to know if we’re making progress.
The new version does not change any fundamental tenets of the format, nor is it a change in vision. What it does is be more specific about what we’re trying to do, so that our decisions are easier for enfranchised players to understand and relay to the larger, less enfranchised community. Transparency was something we set out to improve in last year’s state of the format, and we think this is a concrete step in that direction.
An updated philosophy document is now live, and we’ll schedule office hours on the Commander Discord server later in the month for anyone who’d like to discuss the changes.
Outlaws of Thunder Junction Rules Notes
There aren’t any major implications for Commander in the mechanics of OTJ. There are a few things like the timing of crime-triggers (on cast, before the targeting object resolves) that are worth remembering and reminding newer players of, if they ask. Good luck out there, partners!
If you want the game to be controlled by Rule Zero and player communication, then you NEED to abolish the ban list. It serves no purpose at this point and is inconsistent on why cards are and are not on it.
Orcish Bowmasters has been warping the cEDH meta for a while now. It has eliminated creature decks that were competitive and made Tymna-Kraum the consistently best deck in the format. This has been going on for several months now. When will the commitee adress this?
Hello
Please do not be afraid to ban cards. Playgroups with friends do not care about the ban list anyways, but strangers do care and do want a ban list because they do not want to spend their time talking about “rule 0” every time they meet a new playgroup.
These are the cards that I would like to see banned from the format: Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Gaea’s Cradle and Synod Sanctum. I’ll explain in full detail my reasoning and why I believe it should be done.
These cards provide too much power on the early game and make the game provide too much swing in one direction. Either that player takes the game too early, or the player gets taken out too early. This dichotomy creates for bad experiences.
People also tend to mulligan repeatedly simply to find these cards because of their huge power swing, further harming player experience before the game even started. Even in CEDH, these cards are double the power of the current moxes without requiring a card to be discarded.
This bans would be merely consistent with the current bans on og moxes, which are half their power level. So I don’t see why they shouldn’t be banned. I believe the time is now.
I understand the biggest problem with these bans: People spent a lot of money buying this cards, and Wizards keep reprinting them, but I believe it is possible to convince these people that having fun is more important that the financial that went into these cards.
Every playgroup who has play tested these changes has agreed that their experience has improved dramatically playing without these cards.
Maybe 10 years ago commander games lasted 5 hours, and these cards were not banned to accelerate gameplay. But games today can last less than 30 minutes, which I don’t think its ideal for casual games. I believe Sheldon would agree, as some of his lasts complains were also pointed at these cards.
Ban list is mostly directed at strangers, and I think its important to provide a good experience to strangers since a lot of these players are new to the game, and they do not want an experience where the game goes too heavily into one direction too early in the game.
I look forward to your next updates and hope that you can take this into consideration.
Thanks.
bruh no sol ring ban
All the following cards punish you for playing the game, so please consider banning these for the future of the format:
Blue= Rhystic Study
Red= Dockside Extortionist
Black= Orcish Bowmasters
White= Drannith Magistrate
Green= Gaea’s Cradle (Maybe because it is unreasonably strong)
Please ban Orcish Bowmasters, Rhystic Study, and Dockside Extortionist. They literally punish you for playing the game.