In our recent Quarterly Update, I dropped a bit of a teaser for a project we’re working on. I really like the idea of providing a more transparent look into what we’re doing, but based on some feedback I’ve received it appears I could have been a lot clearer when describing what it’s all about.
Rather than waiting until the next Quarterly Update (Sept 30), I’d like to lay out a bit more information about this project, where it came from, and what it is and isn’t. I’ll also address some of the more common questions I’ve received over the past 2 weeks.
At the moment, the Commander card pool consists of all regulation-sized Magic cards publicly released by Wizards of the Coast other than those with silver borders, gold borders, or acorn-shaped security stamps.
This project will not change the legality of any cards with silver borders or acorn-shaped security stamps.
What will it look like?
When we’re done, we’ll have classified all of the silver-bordered and acorn-stamped cards into one of three categories:
- These are fine.
These are cards that could mechanically exist in Magic’s existing rules framework, and could be printed into a black-bordered set. - These could be fine if you’re willing to play along.
These are cards that aren’t fully supported by Magic’s ruleset, but are intuitive, and otherwise non-problematic. - These are not okay
These are cards that would probably be banned in Commander in a hypothetical world where all silver-bordered cards are legal. They represent negative play patterns and interactions that you generally shouldn’t spring on unsuspecting opponents.
Essentially, the result of this project will be a guide to help people navigate the world of silver-bordered cards in Commander.
Where did it come from?
I’ve seen a lot of speculation about our motivations for doing this, so I want to be clear. This project was not forced on us by Mark Rosewater or Wizards of the Coast, and in fact they didn’t know about it until about a week before we started.
This project was my idea, and I started thinking about it about a year ago. Several real people have reached out to me to ask why their silver-bordered cards aren’t legal in Commander, and I’ve heard from some of the more casual-focused folks on the CAG that they’ve heard the same from their communities. I emphasize that they’re real people because I’ve seen a lot of people suggest that nobody was asking for more silver-bordered support, or that silver-bordered cards are universally hated.
Silver-bordered enthusiasts do exist, even if you don’t have any at your LGS. Their arguments generally fall into one of two categories:
- Commander talks a lot about how it wants to be the fun, casual format that doesn’t take itself too seriously;
- Many ideas and mechanics that used to be silver-border are now printed in black-bordered sets, sometimes 1-for-1
When people approach me about silver-bordered cards in Commander, the most common topics are (in no particular order) Host/Augment (and Surgeon General Commander), Acornelia, Krark’s Other Thumb (and other coin flipping/dice rolling cards from Unglued), and Contraptions.
My personal opinion
When people ask me to legalize silver-bordered cards, it reminds me of December 2017, when the then-RC temporarily legalized them for about 6 weeks following the release of Unstable. I was writing articles at the time, and here’s what I wrote about that decision:
The intent of this rule [change] was to generate hype around the first un-set in nearly 15 years. Sheldon Menery explained that the change was motivated by a desire among the Rules Committee members to “allow players to play with cards you can’t (or don’t want to) play in other formats”. (Source) His rationale behind making the change is that it would allow people to try out cards they wouldn’t normally for a defined period of time in order to determine whether or not they wanted to house rule them to be legal within their own playgroups for a longer period of time.
There were two fairly major problems with the way this change was implemented. The first being that Commander is played at large events like GPs, and the announcement caused confusion and outrage towards tournament organizers who had to explain to paying customers their decision to either adhere to or deviate from the official rules of the format of the event they were hosting.
The second was that a similar result could have been accomplished with a slightly lighter touch. Although Commander is often known for its wacky interactions, not everyone who plays Commander enjoys the incredibly unique experience of playing with silver-bordered cards. The negative reaction towards this decision was entirely foreseeable given the community’s collective repulsion towards chaos mechanics. I firmly believe that – given the soapbox that Sheldon and the other members of the Rules Committee have – an article extolling the virtues of playing with un-set cards and a sincere personal recommendation to try it would have been enough. The Rules Committee would be wise to consider the fact that changes to the official rules of the format affect everyone who plays with strangers, no matter how loudly they beat that house-rule-social-contract drum of theirs.
To be clear, I’m one of the folks who doesn’t enjoy the “incredibly unique experience” of playing with silver-bordered cards. The style of humour and quirky gimmicks just never really resonated with me. I’ve gone into it with an open mind, tried it, and determined that it’s not a product for me.
Clarity and communication
Beyond my own personal aversion to the cards themselves, silver-bordered cards as a whole are a bit of a challenge. As of today there are about 800 silver-bordered or acorn stamped cards, including things like Wizards of the Coast Holiday and SDCC promos. These cards exist on a really broad spectrum.
On the one hand, you’ve got card designs that are really obnoxious, especially in a multiplayer setting. These cards can be pretty toxic when you’re trying to cultivate a positive social environment.
On the other hand, there are some really interesting and creative designs. Some of them were so compelling and popular that they formed the foundation for future card designs in tournament-legal sets.
When it comes to silver-bordered cards, it’s not always immediately evident which ones are babies and which ones are bathwater, and when someone asks whether they can play their silver-bordered Commander deck, it’s often met with groans and eye rolls. People (myself included) assume that they’re going to be shot with NERF guns, or have to sing something or high five a stranger.
Short of a PowerPoint presentation, it’s difficult for silver-bordered enthusiasts to quickly communicate the type of experience they’re bringing to the table.
The RC’s role
In April 2024 we updated the Commander Philosophy document to highlight the three pillars of the format. The new document lays out our responsibilities and serves as a roadmap for us. At its core, Commander is Social:
Each game is a journey the players share, where every player is considerate of the experiences of everyone involved. Magic is a competition in the same sense that all games are competitions, but whenever the act of competing comes into conflict with a social atmosphere, Commander prioritizes and protects the social atmosphere. Format management decisions are intended to:
- Encourage positive, communal experiences where people can bond over the shared experience of gaming
- Help players communicate their preferences and arrive at a shared set of expectations
When I think about the folks who want to play Acornelia or Surgeon General Commander, I don’t see a problem that’s solved by a blanket legality change that shoehorns silver-bordered cards into the format. Rather, I see a communication problem that could be alleviated by useful shared language, and that’s really what’s at the core of this Silver-Bordered Project.
We already use heuristics like this in the Commander community in a number of ways. You generally don’t have to describe your deck card-by-card if you say you’re playing cEDH, or playing stax, or playing elfball. The terms themselves carry enough information that your opponents can make a quick, informed decision about the type of experience they’re signing up for.
I’ll consider it a success if the working group is able to come up with a manageable number of snappy, descriptive names to describe the groups of cards that I see in the silver-bordered cardpool. If the names actually catch on and start seeing regular use within the community, there may even be other applications for this type of framework that can help to alleviate other clunky aspects of pregame discussions.
Q&A
Q: Why start with silver-bordered cards and not something more broadly applicable?
A: We’re relatively new to working group projects like this. I wanted the problem statement to be something with relatively defined edges, and one that had some personal significance to the folks who are working on it. This also is not the only thing we’re working on at the moment, but I can’t always share the details of our other projects.
Q: Will I have to play against more silver-bordered cards as a result of this?
A: It’s possible that more folks might try out silver-bordered cards if there’s a reasonable chance they might get to play them. The default position is still that these cards are not legal, so if these cards are not your vibe you do not have to opt-in to playing with them.
Q: Will [specific card] be considered [specific category]?
A: The classification work is currently underway and we plan on sharing the results with the Duskmourn quarterly format update on September 30.
Q: Are you looking at Mystery Booster/Unknown Event playtest cards as part of this project?
A: No.
Q: Are you looking at Acorn-stamped Mystery Booster cards?
A: There are only 7 of these. They weren’t part of our initial analysis because we didn’t know about them until after we started, but we’ll be adding them to the list and they’ll be part of the project.
As a huge silver border fan, and one of the players always rooting for stuff like Clam-I-Am to be playable SOMEWHERE, this excites me greatly. Thanks for doing this gang!
Another step in the wrong direction.
Silvel border should remain 100% opt in and not opt out, i hope that this position doesnt changes.
Its kinda bafling that “banned as a commander” and “banned as a companion” is too much, but silver bordered cards may be ok.
This is explicitly saying that Silver-Border cards will remain opt-in. It’s just giving more guidance to which cards are the easiest to opt-in.
As far as I understood from the article they aren’t talking about making silver bordered or acorn stamped cards legal in commander. They are categorizing those cards so in rule zero discussion it’s easy to tell the other players what level of silly they’d be signing up for if they let you play your silver bordered deck. For example are you doing augment and host (silly but no more strange then meld), denimwalk (really weird but not completely gamebreaking), or asking some random person to play your turn for you (just no in all context).
They said explicitly that silver-bordered cards would stay 100% illegal.
They did pretty clearly say that they are still opt in so I don’t think you have much to worry about there.
Q: Will I have to play against more silver-bordered cards as a result of this?
A: It’s possible that more folks might try out silver-bordered cards if there’s a reasonable chance they might get to play them. The default position is still that these cards are not legal, so if these cards are not your vibe you do not have to opt-in to playing with them.
Could you clarify why gold-border WCD cards are not part of the commander card pool?
If you’re working on making silver border cards OK, couldn’t you please just legalize all gold-border cards in commander?
Completely different situation. All the gold-border cards (except the ones that already don’t function as magic cards) are already either legal in commander or banned.
The question you’re asking is around the legality/playability of a physical gold-bordered card rather than [CARDNAME].
Having non-standard backs makes the gold-border cards, as per WotC’s official definition, Playtest cards (or counterfeit cards, depending on how you interpret the rules).
That’s not something that the CAG can influence.
Please oh please make this true! Please! Gold-Bordered, WotC-produced cards made legal! Please!! (and while we’re at it, let’s free Library of Alexandria as well! Why isn’t this so-no-broken card legal yet??? Why???)
Tell me you’ve never seen how broken Library of Alexandria can be without telling me you’ve never seen how broken Library of Alexandria can be.
Card advantage is huge. If you can find a way to do it with a land, with such minimal restrictions, you can just go nuts with it.
For instance, I have 7 Cards in hand, you go to cast a spell I object to, I can Tap to draw a card, counter your spell, and then still have exactly 7 Cards in my hand…
I draw for turn, lay my land, have 7 Cards in hand, Tap to draw another, play a spell, and have 7 cards…
Now add in twiddle effects that can untap lands, like Candelabra of Tawnos, and/or ways of copying Library of Alexandria, like Vesuva or Thespian’s Stage…
2004-10-04: You may tap multiple of these [Library of Alexandria] in response to each other because the requirement for 7 Cards is checked only at the time the ability is announced and not again when it resolves.
I appreciate this work. As the voice of the format, y’all can really help broaden the definition of what is possible in people’s minds, so if the result is a list of “Rules Committee-favored Un-cards” that I can describe my dice rolling or Contraption deck with, and my opponents know I’m not gonna Gotcha! them, I think this will be a huge success. As you say, many silver-bordered cards could just be black bordered, and my local play group usually approves a Rule 0 allowance of cards like Krark’s Other Thumb and Booster Tutor, so we are all definitely in favor of this project.
You mentioned gold borders at the top but then didn’t discuss them at all. There’s really no good reason they shouldn’t be legal, when the vast majority of players are playing with opaque sleeves. At a bare minimum, they should be included in the silver border category 1. Not allowing them seems to go against commander being the “fun, casual format that doesn’t take itself too seriously”
So Silver-Border Ponies are good to build?
Considering the default commander you need to run all of them is basically Divine Intervention on a body… no.
Don’t even think about it. The purple one is degeneracy.
I think this is a good step. I’m a silver border fan and I completely see where you are coming from in saying that not all of them jive with both the general public, as well as the environment Commander/EDH seeks to encourage. Given this is more a categorization system rather than a new set of rules, I hope it leads to reevaluating the dismissal of the “Banned as commander” rule and how wishboards/companions work. I don’t expect any of those to be changed at a rule level, but a category of “reasonable in the 99” might be nice to see. Especially for those of us who were disappointed to see Lutri get banned from the 99 and command zone in the same breath as their reveal.
I hope this means cards like Amateur Auteur or Sword of Dungeons and Dragons will be playable in the format.
The end result is every casual event ever just banning silver bordered cards, but it sucks that people think they’ll be able to play these cards when any normal commander player will just scoop and leave instead. These are silly and to be disregarded, not for trying to jam into any kind of normal play.
As an example, wizards is never printing them again. That’s how bad they are for the game.
I’m excited by this! There was a previous attempt at something like this, trying to pick through the Silvers and say which ones are problematic, called the UnCommander project, but that project was over road and lacking in nuance, banning 157 of the 800 silver bordered cards because of their own idiosyncratic understanding of what magic as a game is about and what should be considered acceptable. Anything that cared about dexterity, or physical real world ability or appearance or presentation, or anything that cared about specific card printings were all outright considered a non starter and it seemed like it was missing the point of un. “If you’re willing to play along” is the name of the game with Un and it’s a great measuring stick by which to measure these cards.
I’ve been contemplating an “UNbanlist” where I curate acceptable UNcards to fill a list that matches the number of cards in the Banlist. Actually putting a grade to each card is so much bigger of a project. Kudos for the attempt if nothing else.
I love this! Definitions, suggestions, and clarifications are an important part of what the RC does, I’m looking forward to seeing more.
It looks like it has no sense. While we hoped you would let us play at least some of those cards, you did nothing. No matter what you think is ‘fine’ or ‘not ok’ it has no sense cause it is still ellegal! So what do you think? Is it fine? No one cares.
I feel like a bunch of the dice-rolling stuff is going to be safe to be added
One step closer to freeing Rainbow Dash.
Julius Jumblemorph lord tribal will have its day!
I’ve said for years that a substantial number of silver bordered cards would have no negative impact on gameplay while increasing variety and in many cases have less complexity than regularly legal cards. I really appreciate the time you’re putting into this and look forward to seeing it completed!
I like this somewhat as an idea, but this only makes it more indefensible that “banned as commander/companion” isn’t allowed for being too complex/confusing or not being streamlined enough. This is far more complex and annoying to keep track of, but this comes first?
I feel like more categories should be set up. Things like “art matters” and “side deck used” should be specifically demarcated in my view.
As I said, I do have some experience organizing these cards: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/8f7EYeEGxEqDh3rFAVEurA
Even though it’s another thing, if EDH is such a “casual” format, it’s odd that gold bordered cards aren’t legal if silver borders are.
I really hope playtest cards are brought into this concept in a future project. They feel like they exist in the same space as silver/acorn.
Will there ever be plans to address gold bordered and gold backed cards?
I can understand the sentiment around silver border cards, they often can create interesting and unique synergies, as well as board states. That said I don’t see how this is worth the time of the RC when the community has, as I see them, much more pertinent concerns regarding the inconsistency of the ban list and the ever growing default to Rule Zero conversions rather than enforcement of any kind of rule.
Sure this may help a few people who are interested in playing silver border cards in discussions with their playgroup or occasionally random pods that are open to the idea. However, I’ve never encountered a silver border card in any rule zero talks since I’ve been playing commander and even if I did, I doubt it would meaningfully change the game unless they were specifically building around it. In which case I would be hesitant to allow it.
All that said, I sincerely hope that this project will manifest some good, but I wish there was more focus on the actual rules rather than an endeavor to classify non-legal cards for a hypothetical rule zero conversation.
I agree. Adding my +1 to the above – this endeavour is only useful to a minority of players, you could improve the lot for the majority with work directed elsewhere
I like the idea, but I like limitations, my favorite is to just use a silver border commander and the 99 must be legal. I made a Gruusilda using infect, persist, and undying. It’s stupid. It’s slow. But it came out to be $12. It will cost more to sleeve it than to get the cards…
Bravo! I only ask you extend this to include the Mystery Booster play test cards, please.
I can’t express to you how disappointing and unnecessary this is.
I find it very confusing why, with so many cards already legal in Commander and with tons of new cards added every year, why you feel the need to push product that has not sold well? (that may answer itself actually).
Disappointing, as instead of working on the ban list, something I see people complain about in youtube comments and on Reddit all the time, you choose something I have never heard anyone express (that goes from being a regular on the main EDH reddits to many channels and the LGS).
The result will be to create more antagonizing social interactions, where someone is playing with illegal cards and now its up to the other players to accept them…which puts the onuses on those of us who have no interest in playing with these cards. Do we act like a jerk and say no to the guy? Does he have to take his deck apart now if he wants to play? Have you even considered this?
Finally, their is the issue of access to these cards. Players may feel the need to go out and buy the cards which may be rare or hard to find (or in Unifinity’s case, buy much of WOTCs unsold inventory, which seems the most plausible reason for this so called “project”).
While I know you won’t reconsider, I strongly advise that you do.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for the clarification that the cards will not be made legal, and thank you for communicating more about the project prior to the next quarterly update! Hopefully this is the start of a new era for the RC where we get more activity and communication between you guys and the players!
With all respect, i believe that silver bordered should 100% remain opt in and not opt out. I hope that future decisions in this regard dont change it.
Can i at least get to know what it takes for a negative feedback to be accepted? Or this comment section only allows positive feedback?
Because, well, a comment sectiom is usually a way for people to discuss and show both approval or disapproval for something.
And the contact section isnt working, so i cant even get in contact or get to know what im doing wrong in the first place.
I noticed that the statement of ” This will not change the legality of silver bordered cards and cards with acorn stamps” does not say that gold bordered cards being legal will not change. Does this mean that Collector Edition, Magic 30 and Pro Player deck cards will soon be legal in Commander?
Any card from any set should be allowed as long as they are not overpowered or disruptive to the game.
We’re okay with picking apart the entire compendium of silver bordered and acorn cards but it’s too much to ask for a mere ‘banned as commander’ list?
Honestly, I like this area.
I can see a lot of cards become legal due to how the rules work nowadays. Some will be a bit wonky (Blast From the Past), while others would be really easy (Sword of D&D).
Not a fan of silver-bordered stuff in EDH. I’m already really averse to Attractions and stuff like Comet and they’re legal.
This should really be a Rule “0” thing and not something the RC should concern itself about as it seems to be the purview of individual tables and tastes.
How do you feel about cards such as Krark’s Other Thumb or Target Minotaur? I understand your principle in this, but some of these cards in my mind could have been black bordered in the first case without anyone raising an eyebrow.
I think this a great idea, there are some cards like Free-For-All which are essentially black bordered effects given one extra piece of errata (“set aside” becomes “exile”), as well as cards like Krark’s Other Thumb which, when was printed before the popularized dice rolling mechanics are AFR / Fallout Commander, or Target Minotaur which reads basically as a normal card and would be giving support to an EDH typal theme that needs it. I would argue in cases like these unbanning such cards would cause no issue due to their effects proximity to “real cards”.
I realize this whole thing is a very sticky situation though since a majority of silver bordered cards do not fall under this category, a silly example being Denim Minotaur.
This is really simple. Were the cards designed to work in the same context as each other. I believe un sets are strictly designed to work as a set and outside the broader context of magic . Therefore they should not be included in the broader context that is EDH. It’s pretty simple. If you’re in doubt just ask the design team. It’s that easy.
Except Mark Rosewater specifically said the original intent for silver border was for them to be mixed in with regular cards in a casual setting. “If it’s not tournament legal, it’s not casual legal” is an attitude created by the community, not the designers.
I’m just curious, the “banned as commander” list was too much to keep up with/too complicated for the players but somehow, someone thinks this isn’t going to be for newer players?
I play silver border cards with my playgroup already and haven’t encountered any issues; it’s generally not hard to tell what feels fair/normal and what doesn’t. No Gotchas, no infinity symbols, no involving people outside of the game, etc. Honestly, there’s legal black-border cards that cause more confusion and disruption than any Un cards I run. Played against a Chains of Mephistopheles the other day and I’m still not sure we did that interaction correctly.
I’m excited by this announcement! I run an edh deck that runs a few silver-bordered cards to shore up a dice rolling strategy, and having a term for the simpler, less rule-bending cards will make explaining that much easier. It’s also hilarious to see people doing exactly what you called out and screaming “nobody wanted this!” and “can’t believe you’re being paid off by wotc!” when clearly both of those statements are false. Looking forward to future announcements!
I feel like you could better spend your time creating a list of cards you deem as ‘non-casual’ as guidance for stuff that shouldn’t be seen at non-cedh tables. That would be FAR more productive than this silver border nonsense. It wouldn’t be expanding the banlist, but would provide some unified guidance on table expectations and some framework for that rule 0 conversation.
You could also/instead put out an “official” rule 0 power level talk guide, so we don’t have QUITE as vast a gap between one person’s concept of a PL7 deck and another’s, for example.
This seems kind of pointless in that, groups who want to play with silver-bordered cards are probably already doing so, and if this is just a guideline, I feel like the RC’s time would be better spent on other things.
The RC could make a list of cards they deem as “non-casual,” which they recommend not seeing play outside of cEDH or high-power games. This wouldn’t be a banlist, but would provide some guidance on what to build toward and expect for games that are described as being mid-power.
Another idea would be for the RC to put together some sort of standardized metric or talk track for a rule 0 discussion on power level. I don’t know how much Spelltable and the like have proliferated, in terms of what percentage of Magic players have turned to these options for playing outside of a standard group, but I’ve found it incredibly frustrating that no 10 games labeled ‘PL 7’ or ‘PL6-7’ have even close to the same expectations. I’ve seen several different guides for these kinds of measurements, but no one method serves as a universal framework. The RC could adopt one or make one.
I appreciate the thoughtful approach you’re taking! Much as I enjoy an Un-set cube draft sometimes, I appreciate that the default is “no”.
Thank you for also taking the time to classify cards that must be discussed and communicated with your table. Also for pointing out when WotC literally reprinted “The Cheese Stands Alone” as a legal card 🤣
Assuming I understood the article correctly they aren’t talking about making silver bordered or acorn stamped cards legal in commander. They are categorizing those cards so in rule zero discussion it’s easy to tell the other players what level of silly they’d be signing up for if they let you play your silver bordered deck. For example are you doing augment and host (silly but no more strange then meld), denimwalk (really weird but not completely gamebreaking), or asking some random person to play your turn for you (just no in all context).
I don’t think the Silver Bordered Project does any harm, but I don’t like it, as it gives an impulse in the wrong direction:
If you like Silver Bordered cards, you were already free to discuss and include these cards. Making categories for SBCs takes a lot of work and implies that WoTC seems to push players to buy and play such cards – but not every player likes the sillyness of these cards, and though most players understand English good enough to play with English Magic cards, most of the jokes of SBCs don’t translate well into other languages and are therefore not smooth for most players around the world.
Another thing is, that the RC “dodges” about making a suitable banned list for commander, but pointing towards the basic rule that players should discuss and argue about the style they like the game to be played and therefore maken their own personal list. So, this IMHO contradicts the now made list and categories for SBCs — so for SBCs it is possible to make recommendations but for “Normal salty cards” it is not ?
THE RC should invest their power better in projects like 2HG suitable adjustments to the format of commander (like Teamcommander) or make categories like: salty cards which we highly do recommend not to be played in Commander.
I really like the concept for this project, and would love to see this process of grouping cards and discussing what impact they have on commander gameplay extend out into other Commander-legal cards. Specifically, a similar discussion and grouping of cards that don’t necessarily harm commander as a format, but which may be better suited to more competitive (i.e., cEDH) environments would be really interesting. I think it would benefit the social element of the game if there was a more specific language and/or grouping of cards that formalized the more vague, vibe-based distinction between competitive and casual card pools.
As an example of what this might look like, the categories could be something like: *cEDH-only cards* (cards which only really show up in competitive settings due to their cost, power-level, or niche yet competitively viable interactions; Example: Demonic Consultation), *cEDH-light cards* (cards that are powerful, are played in competitive magic, yet see wider play in casual magic), and *Power Casual cards* (cards which see little to no competitive play that nonetheless are recognizably powerful in casual play, or which have been ubiquitous into the wider EDH card pool). This could also help to ease some of the frustrations commander players seem to have around certain touchy cards like Sol Ring or Dockside Extortionist or might help explain to beginners why a card like Expropriate is powerful, yet isn’t technically considered a “competitive” card by most players despite its sheer power in a multiplayer format like commander.
All things to think about at least. A lot of the discourse in recent months has been frustrating, and anything to start cooling the temperature and put out more fires would be, in my mind, a net positive.
Only heard about this after the handoff to Wizards… but really hope this can continue to develop. There are a lot of dice rolling cards that come from un sets that seem would be completely at home in a black border set now that they’ve eliminated the distinction that un-sets roll dice and standard sets flip coins.
I really hope this project is still in the works even after the hand off. The rc may not be officially in charge any more but I still trust them to make improvements with things like this.