Cards

Dockside Extortionist is banned

Jeweled Lotus is banned

Mana Crypt is banned

Nadu, Winged Wisdom is banned

Other

Update on the Silver Border Project and other new initiatives

Detailed explanation for each of these is below. Bans will be live on MTGO at noon Pacific.

Cards

The philosophy of Commander prioritizes creativity, and one of the ways we have historically reflected that in the rules and banlist is to encourage a slower pace of game than traditional formats. This gives decks time and space to develop and do different things. We have a goal to make it easier for players who enjoy slower, more social games to have an environment for them to explore.

Commander has always had the potential for someone to get out to a fast start and be the first arch-villain in the game, but that advantage has been balanced by having multiple players gunning for them once it happens. In the past few years, notably since Strixhaven, we have seen a pattern of stronger mid-game cards and that’s leading to the player who skips past the early game being able to snowball their advantage straight through to the win. Occasional games like that are fine, but it shouldn’t be common, and we’re taking steps to bring that frequency down a bit by banning three of the most explosive plays in the format.

• Mana Crypt – Coming down for no mana on turn 1, it’s quite possible to have the explosive start of Mana Crypt into a signet or talisman, land, and another signet, leaving that player untapping 5 mana on turn 2. In games going 12+ turns, the accumulated threat of damage from Mana Crypt provides a reasonable counterbalance for its explosive effect, but when you are snowballing to a turn 6-8 win, it’s a meaningless drawback.

• Jeweled Lotus – another card that can give you five mana on turn 2, Jeweled Lotus does it without even needing a good hand. Though you’re restricted in what you can do with the mana, four- and five-mana Commanders can pack a significant punch nowadays, often draw cards to make up for the one-shot mana, and defensive abilities such as Ward can’t be interacted with that early in the game.

• Dockside Extortionist – Dockside isn’t normally quite as explosive in the early game as the other two cards, but it can still go mana-positive on turn 2 and start generating substantial treasures after that. It’s been on the border for years, and we’ve shied away from taking action in the past because the card has scaled well with the power level of the table, but it’s a frequent contributor to the more egregious snowballing starts.

We should also talk about the elephant in the room. We’re not banning Sol Ring and have no desire to. Yes, based on the criteria we’ve talked about here, it would be banned. Sol Ring is the iconic card of the format, and it’s sufficiently tied to the identity of the format that it defies the laws of physics in a way that no other card does. Banning Sol Ring would be fundamentally changing the identity of the format. We aren’t trying to eliminate all explosive starts – it happening every once in a while is exciting – and removing the other three cards geometrically reduces the number of hands capable of substantial above-curve mana generation in the first few turns.

• There’s another ban here, and it’s explosive, but in a different way. Given that Nadu, Winged Wisdom has been ejected from multiple formats at this point, it’s no surprise that we took a close look at it for Commander. Sometimes, hugely problematic cards in other formats (Oko, companions) are fine for Commander, but our observations of Nadu suggest its inherent play pattern is going to cause problems.
  
  Part of the problem is the way in which Nadu wins, where it takes a really long time to do non-deterministic sequences that can’t be shortcut and might eventually fizzle out. These aren’t dedicated combo lines that you have to build a deck around; dropping Nadu into a “normal” Simic shell still runs the risk of grinding the game down to a slog of resource accrual. It interacts badly with cards that are staples of casual play, most notably Lightning Greaves, meaning that decks where it gets thrown into without abuse intent can still create a situation where the player is monopolizing all the time in the game. That’s not an experience we want to risk, so Nadu gets itself another ban.

What’s Coming Up?

Hopefully quieter updates! 

We talked in the last update about providing players with better ways to communicate about silver-bordered cards in their deck. That project is going well, but isn’t quite ready for release, so we’re holding off announcing it here. We expect it to be out by the next announcement at the latest.

We’re working with the folks at Wizards to provide some new tools to use in pregame conversations to help folks find like-minded players and are pretty excited about some of the possibilities there. No promises on a timeline yet, though.

Whatever happens, we’ll be back with our next update on November 18th, after the Foundations prerelease! In the meantime, tune into the charity stream and keep on brewing!

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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:

1. Commander talks a lot about how it wants to be the fun, casual format that doesn’t take itself too seriously;
2. 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.

Cards
A couple major things have happened in the Magic world since our last quarterly update in April:

On May 13, Wizards of the Coast banned all cards that bring a sticker or attraction into the game from all tournament formats in which they were previously legal. This action did not ban stickers or attractions in Commander, and we’d like to reaffirm their legality here.

Modern Horizons also brought us Nadu, Winged Wisdom.

Nadu has become synonymous with drawn-out, non-deterministic turns that may or may not end the game. In a lot of ways, this card resembles Paradox Engine, but it remains to be seen whether Nadu’s impact on the format will rise to that level. We’ll be closely monitoring Nadu (and the online conversations about it) to see if it self-selects to tables and pods that are prepared to deal with it. If you want to share your experiences playing with or against Nadu, reach out to folks on the Commander Advisory Group or hop into our Discord and join the discussion.

No cards are being banned or unbanned in Commander at this time.

Rules
No changes

SIlver-Bordered Cards
Last month, inspired by the Sticker and Attraction changes in other formats, we started a project that’s focused entirely on Silver-Bordered cards. This includes UN-set cards, as well as a number of promos that are not officially legal in Commander.

The intent of this project is to equip players with the tools they need to communicate their preferences and arrive at a shared set of expectations.

We know that silver-bordered cards are often contentious (and often with good reason), but we want to put the collective expertise of the Commander Advisory Group and Rules Committee to work in classifying the cards that are generally fine, the cards that can be fine with a little work, and the cards that people should generally steer clear of. There’s a group of folks out there who love playing with silver-bordered cards, and we want to remove as much friction as possible in their pre-game conversations.

This project is set to conclude at the end of August, and we’ll hopefully have more to communicate in September’s Quarterly Update alongside Duskmourn.

Bloomburrow Rules Notes
By all accounts, Bloomburrow looks to be an exciting set packed with incredible art and a strong thematic framework. We don’t anticipate any format-level changes being necessary as a result of anything in this set.

Our next quarterly update will be September 30, 2024.

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!

I recently had a chance to sit down with one of the writers from Draftsim to talk about the Planechase Draft format I’ve been spending a lot of time playing/developing for the past year. If you like Planechase, or just generally hijinks in your Magic games, I’d recommend checking it out… or come find me at MagicCon Chicago: I’ll be playing it there all weekend!

https://draftsim.com/mtg-planechase-draft/

Cards

No changes.

Rules

No changes.

Murders at Karlov Manor has some returning mechanics, so here are some rule refreshers:

Face-down cards are in the set, so a reminder: normally, you don’t have to reveal what any face down card is, but if your Commander is turned face-down, it is still a Commander card that deals Commander damage. You do need to make the other players aware – no surprising anyone with lethal Commander damage from a face down card!

Surveil is also returning in this set, and some older cards have been errata’d to have the keyword “surveil” in the rules text (like Search for Azcanta.) Worth checking out things that had the effect (but not the keyword) if you’re playing a Commander like Mirko, Obsessive Theorist.

Split Cards are back as well! Seasoned Commander players are likely already well aware, but for anyone that’s new, the color identity of BOTH spells on split cards must fit with your Commander’s Color Identity.

The example here of Cease//Desist is an Abzan card, requiring WBG to be in your Commander’s Color Identity, even if you only want to cast one side. 

Slime Against Humanity joins the illustrious club of “Can Run More Than One of This Card In Commander” along with Relentless Rats, Shadowborn Apostle and Persistent Petitioners, among others. While it allows you to ignore the singleton rule, it does NOT allow you to ignore Color Identity. 

General Commentary

The format continues to be in a pretty good place overall, and MKM doesn’t appear to contain any cards that challenge or detract from our vision for the format. 

Our next update will be Monday, April 15th after the Thunder Junction prerelease! 

We have four preview cards for you today. When I first opened them, my immediate reaction was “I have to explain Trenzalore?” Yikes. The Matt Smith era was definitely high on the timey-wimey stuff. But more on that later. We’ll start with… relatively easier stuff and go “chronologically.”

The first card we have today is a phenomenon, which is a special kind of Planechase card that acts like a triggered ability. You walk to it, something happens, then you walk away.

We’re seeing a significant event late in the Tenth Doctor’s run. Donna Noble (his companion at the time) has, in desperation, touched the severed hand of the Doctor, which is at the time filled with regeneration energy (which is itself all a long story).

But as a result of that, Donna changes. She gains all the knowledge of a Time Lord (and, as we’ll learn later, gets her DNA rewritten some, too.) This is actually a gigantic problem as she can’t actually contain all that knowledge, but for a brief while she’s superpowered and saves the day.

The phenomenon essentially creates DoctorDonna, the merger of the two.

The second card is from a beloved episode of the series titled “The Doctor’s Wife,” written by Neil Gaiman himself. It’s a standalone in which the TARDIS’ consciousness (yeah, it’s sentient) is trapped in a mortal vessel. Yes, it’s so that another being can drain all the life from it, but while the Doctor has to figure out how to save it, it’s an opportunity for the Eleventh Doctor to have a heart to heart with his longtime travelling companion.

The card represents Idris, who had her mind wiped for the purpose, hosting the TARDIS for a brief period. Warning: it doesn’t end well for Idris.

Lake Silencio is the location that kicks off the main plot of the second season of the Eleventh Doctor’s run with a mystery that will last the season.

The Doctor meets with his companions (Rory, Amy and kind of River at that point) and an astronaut rises out of the lake. The Doctor orders them not to intervene and goes to talk to the astronaut who he seems to know and, a moment later, the astronaut shoots him. He’s dead, for real (and they even burn the body for good measure.)

But then the doctor steps out of a back room in a local diner and the mystery commences. And there’s time travel involved, of course. Learning the identity of the astronaut and why this is all happening occurs over the course of the season, and by the time we return to Lake Silencio with all the details… I won’t spoil it all here.

But, part of that mystery requires that Lake Silencio be a fixed point in time, which you can’t change with time travel. And the plane reflects that perfectly by giving everything split second. No putting things on the stack to retroactively alter events that have already happened!

And then there’s Trenzalore. I’m not even going to try to explain Trenzalore to you; it’s the culmination of the entire Eleventh Doctor run, tying together plot threads from the whole series. We’d be here all day.

But the design of this card is beautiful, so let’s try to give you enough context to understand why. The Doctor essentially retires to Trenzalore and lives there for 900 years, fighting off a series of alien invaders (the planet is the last link to Gallifrey, where Time Lords hail from) until he’s no longer capable of doing so.

But he’s out of regenerations. And old. And the final enemy, is, of course, the Daleks. So he goes to the top of the clock tower to do what he can to stave them off. But before he does, he is given a poem that, in part, reads:

Eleven’s hour is over now,
The clock is striking twelve’s.

In the final confrontation, he makes a connection to Gallifrey and the Time Lords grant him a new cycle of regenerations (and thus the strength to defeat the Daleks). And this card reflects that, giving you a new hand to help your Time Lord defeat their enemies as the clock ends the eleventh hour and strikes twelve.

Thus far, Doctor Who looks like a design slam dunk, and we’re excited to see the rest of the cards. If you haven’t had the chance to play Planechase with Commander, give it a try. It will certainly add to the chaos!

Sheldon passed away last night after a seven-year battle with cancer.

We all strive to leave behind a lasting legacy. It is a measure of Sheldon that he did it twice.

He first picked up the judge program and instilled a vision of fairness and proper behavior in competitive Magic that carries on to this day. Until his retirement from judging in 2011 he was the face of the program; the judge that all the other judges aspired to be.

And then, there’s Commander. Though he was always quick to credit Adam Staley as the creator, without his efforts we would not have Commander. He saw the potential of the format as a vessel for social play and tirelessly advocated for it as a way to make and spend time with friends. Along the way, he picked up many of them and unlocked a tidal wave of a community that had often been ignored. He championed that diversity, always looking for a way to raise up underserved voices in the community.

He faced down the challenges of his cancer with the relentless verve of one of his beloved Shakespearean characters, refusing to let it stop him living life to the fullest for as long as he could. Even a week ago, he refused to rule out getting to Las Vegas for MagicFest because he so wanted another chance to make his fans, friends, and everyone else happy as they celebrated the game together.

Sheldon always said a great leader planned for a future without them, and took the steps to ensure that the RC and CAG could continue after he was gone. We will deeply miss his wisdom, but look forward to honoring his mission.

Goodbye, friend. Safe travels.