Headed for Seattle

[Sheldon]

I just announced that I'll be headed to Seattle for a few months to work with WotC on some upcoming projects. I won't be moving there full time, since I still have to come back for immunotherapy treatments every other week, but it'll be full time work. You can guess that something involving Commander will come up. If there are thoughts you'd like me to carry along, feel free to share.

[Serpent_Steve]

Hi Sheldon, firstly I say keep up the good work I like Commander as it stands mostly now but if you could bring up one thing with Wizards I'd appreciate it.

Because Commander is a format with a very large pool of cards there are quite a few cards that some consider staples for the format but the fact that said cards are either very old/hard to acquire (such as Scroll Rack and Rhystic Study for instance) or released more recently but have spiralling prices purely from Commander players (such as Oracle of Mul Daya and Exquisite Blood) or even cards of lower rarity that don't get reprinted enough for the format (like Ashnod's Altar and Vandalblast) would it be possible for Wizards to consider a "commander masters" style release where such cards can be reprinted?

In addition it would be nice for players to get copies of cards from previous Commander sets in foil (I know I would like to get a foil Thunderfoot Baloth and any chance for players to get a foil Teferi's Protection is definitely going shift boxes) that could also be included within the same product.

[Serenade]

Make sure you check out Biscuit B i t c h! (I guess you can't type that out normally on this site. It's a restaurant, guys. Don't warn me for this.)

[ilovesaprolings]

My advices:
1) put some quality reprints into the products. We need cards like oracle of mul daya to get a reasonable price again.
2) keep pushing out niche but interesting commander instead of broken, goodstuff ones. Using eldraine brawl as an example, more Syr Gwyn and less Chulanes

Good luck and i hope you'll have fun while being there!

[pokken]

Can you please get them to stop printing stupid hypercentralizing bombs like Thousand-Year Storm and Swarm Intelligence for me?

(and Bolas's Citadel and all that nonsense).

Cards don't need to be quite so win-the-gamey. mid-high mana spells are feeling quite a bit too pushed these days for me.

[Hermes_]

I second the reprints and and i'm happy that you're able to do this and do your immunotherapy. It frightens me to travel for more than a few days due to my asthma and having to get bi-weekly injects for it.

[bobthefunny]

Quite the exciting trip! I hope you have fun!

Please distribute a generous quantity of high-fives to everyone!

As far as cards go, I'd like a few less near auto-include level cards, such as Arcane Signet. I do like that the design means that it will be a cheap staple for newer players (if printed in enough quantities), but I'd love to see some drawbacks/building considerations/constraints on them to compensate for their great power - I like being able to take something that has a restriction in deck building, and make it work for me full time. I like some more choices and agency in deckbuilding.

Speaking of, I love the new takes on the old characters like Chainer, Nightmare Adept, and Greven, Predator Captain. These are flavorful throwbacks to their old abilities and themes, while still leaving their builds open ended. There are so many possibilities with this round of Commanders, without being too open, such as Chulane. More of things like those would be lovely! (Also, more high-fives to everyone!)

[vandertroll]

I just announced that I'll be headed to Seattle for a few months to work with WotC on some upcoming projects. I won't be moving there full time, since I still have to come back for immunotherapy treatments every other week, but it'll be full time work. You can guess that something involving Commander will come up. If there are thoughts you'd like me to carry along, feel free to share.

Please please try to get them to make a new Commander's Arsenal type product, or even better a Commander Masters!

[Toshi]

I still have to come back for immunotherapy treatments every other week

First and foremost, i hope your treatment will keep going steadily. Always happy to hear good news from you.

As far as our beloved format goes:

- Keep the right Reprints flowing. Sure, i'd love to see big money cards reprinted, but for the player base and format as a whole i think it's a lot healthier to spread the value over several cards to keep common includes cheap.
I'm talking Anguished Unmaking, Austere Command, Heroic Intervention, Path to Exile, Skullclamp and the likes, heck, maybe even stuff like Cyclonic Rift, Strip Mine and Toxic Deluge! The format has to have a reasonably low paywall to keep players interested.

- Make the Precons more functional out of the box! Why not include Signets, Talismans and useful lands in each and every of these decks? There's no reason to shy away from printing BBD Duals, Checklands, Painlands and Battlelands in them. Veteran players would like to pick them up, Newbies would have to invest less in functional mana bases and the decks wouldn't feel like limping 2 turns behind everyone else.

- Consider how Precons work with their 2nd and 3rd Commander option. For the last few sets i felt like going from the face cards makes for a major downgrade. Either the options have to function a lot more alike or tone it down with the options with the benefit of having less themes to squeeze into a single deck (see Morphs and a Keyword theme).

- Stop printing so many high powered Commander options. Looking at tier lists there's a clear trend of more recent sets usually containing one or more top tier options. It's annoying to see us go through season after season of the best thing since sliced bread. Give us less plug and play and good stuff options. Give us cards to wrap our heads around, to get creative and explore. Isn't that why we all fell in love with the format?

- Consider what you could do to make Aggro and Voltron more viable in the format. For 4+ players midrange control and combo are at an imense advantage. Maybe go to a life count of 30 life and/or commander damage of 18 - a swing less for lethal can mean the world for the Archetype.

- I can't recall, where i've read about it, but "cumulative" commander damage is a bad idea - especially when raising the total amount. Once players realize a deck is a dedicated Voltron deck they will not help that deck to reach lethal, which essentially means those decks become even less viable.
Big body commanders with evasion that aren't necessarily Voltron commanders like Atraxa, Praetors' Voice could easily take out players that have taken punches by others already. Even less reason to build dedicated Voltron decks.

- The last one will never happen, i know, and i hope i won't spark a huge debate, but why not ban Mana Crypt and Sol Ring? I know Sol Ring is one of the face cards of the format and in every Precon, but it's so omni-present and obvious how the community reacts to its usual game warping effect (even if only politically) when hit early.
Why jump through the hoops of hand-crafting decks when the flip of a coin makes such a big difference?

I know this might read like a lot of criticism, but to be honest i'm happy with the format as it is right now and only hope you keep making the right decisions.
Keep up the good work!

[ilovesaprolings]

Please distribute a generous quantity of high-fives to everyone!

Nooooo, don't steal maro's favourite job XD

- The last one will never happen, i know, and i hope i won't spark a huge debate, but why not ban Mana Crypt and Sol Ring?

Just out of curiosity, why not mana vault too?

[ISBPathfinder]

Good luck and have fun Sheldon. I hope we get to hear more about your participation in the project as it comes out.

P.S. Tell them to stop making planeswalker and eminence commanders.

[xeroxedfool]

Have fun! Thanks for doing what you do.

Don't give them control of the format...

[bobthefunny]

Please distribute a generous quantity of high-fives to everyone!

Nooooo, don't steal maro's favourite job XD

I am a firm believer that High-Fives are not zero sum. You can always have more high-fives!

[Toshi]

- The last one will never happen, i know, and i hope i won't spark a huge debate, but why not ban Mana Crypt and Sol Ring?

Just out of curiosity, why not mana vault too?

For the sole reason that it doesn't untap by itself.
Either your deck comes with means to do so or you're playing hide and seek with your mana.
I know, that's a small obstacle, but it's - besides the price tag - what keeps it from being included in every single deck, like Sol Ring.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Howdy Sheldon, hope you're feeling well and that you remember your umbrella!

I have only one small thought: please restore tuck rules. Commander tax is not always a sufficient floodgate against certain generals such as edgar markov, etc, and it would incentivize players to build decks without such overreliance on their general being available.

[Yatsufusa]

In addition it would be nice for players to get copies of cards from previous Commander sets in foil (I know I would like to get a foil Thunderfoot Baloth and any chance for players to get a foil Teferi's Protection is definitely going shift boxes) that could also be included within the same product.

This. As a foil player, over the years my interest in Commander products dropped to almost zero simply because it becomes taunting instead to see about 50 new designs, many of which are interesting gameplay-wise just not get foil treatments and therefore a non-consideration for purchase. Only 1 or 2 designs make it out to Judge Foil or Masters product and only about a year after release.

There's probably over 200 cards designed-for-Commander cards out now that don't have foils, there's literally no way to reasonably get them out now unless they do some sort of all-foil Commander Masters. At first I thought they were moving forward with Collector's boosters featuring Brawl cards, but turns out Arcane Signet can't be foiled either, so now the problem is accumulating even faster with Brawl.

Honestly all they have to do is a yearly Commander's Arsenal that has foils of all the new cards that year, even if it was priced at the same cost of all the year's precons combined, for a player like me that's literally a much better product than precons I don't buy (and singles I don't buy either because there's hardly any foils). Maybe revert precon commanders to nonfoil (all the foils will only be in the Arsenal) so that we don't run into the reverse problem either (I remembered Kess presenting some problems back then).

[3drinks]

Just take it easy and take care of yourself. If you can, on the way there, stop through the PDX scene with some advance heads up so we can get a chance to play with "the godfather", so to speak.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Just take it easy and take care of yourself. If you can, on the way there, stop through the PDX scene with some advance heads up so we can get a chance to play with "the godfather", so to speak.

Seconded! I know it's in the totally opposite direction of your current pursuit, but do let me know if you ever head north from Florida to North Carolina in future travels, as I too would be honored to meet/play with you. Rest assured, Atomic Empire in Durham would stop at nothing short of an actual red carpet to welcome you and any of your compatriots (and I'd like to think you'd be proud of the humble yet diverse meta we've scraped together over the years).

Travel safe, drink lots of water, and know we're all rooting for you here!

[Outcryqq]

Travel safely, hope your health keeps up, and thanks for what you do for the format.

Oddball request, but I love Atogs. I even have an Atog tribal commander deck that I put a lot of work into. I know there are a ton of tribes that need love, but keep Atogs in mind!

[Cyberium]

More support for combat and mono-color decks! Something universal, though preferred Red and White (not necessarily Boros).

[umtiger]

Less payoffs for using strategies (e.g. "draw a card" for playing a land) and more enablers for using strategies instead (e.g. lands you play enter battlefield untapped, replacement effect not the busted Amulet of Vigor trigger). Stop slapping the "draw a card" clause mindlessly on so many cards.

Playable stax pieces that don't "lock" opponents (e.g. search hate), but force players to make choices and/or put speed bumps on games from spiraling out of control.

For all of the power creep in threats lately, they could definitely continue to re-do characters and flesh out sets/storylines from the 90's.

[3drinks]

Less payoffs for using strategies (e.g. "draw a card" for playing a land) and more enablers for using strategies instead (e.g. lands you play enter battlefield untapped, replacement effect not the busted Amulet of Vigor trigger). Stop slapping the "draw a card" clause mindlessly on so many cards.

This is the second thread this morning I've seen you make this same request about draw a card tacked on. ...Did you just listen to the most recent edhrecast, per chance? Because they were just talking about that as "lazy design"...

[Dunharrow]

I would like to see an improvement in the quality of lands in Commander products. Guildgates, Foul Orchard's cycle, lands that gain you one life.... Why can't they be pain lands? Or the new Battlebond lands?

The same way we have pre-release and draft weekends, can we have a WOTC-driven Commander Pre-constructed deck weekend?

[Cow31337Killer]

I just announced that I'll be headed to Seattle for a few months to work with WotC on some upcoming projects. I won't be moving there full time, since I still have to come back for immunotherapy treatments every other week, but it'll be full time work. You can guess that something involving Commander will come up. If there are thoughts you'd like me to carry along, feel free to share.

Please unban Primeval Titan|M12 and Sylvan Primordial|GTC. My friends and I miss them

Also good luck with this new step in your life! It sounds super exciting!

[RxPhantom]

First, please take care of yourself. I know nothing about the condition for which you require immunotherapy, but multiple trips back and forth would be taxing for even the healthiest among us.

I have all kinds of concerns and suggestions, but I'll limit it to one:

Reprint Equity. First, proper management of reprint equity is vital to the survival of the game, but in my view, they are creating more equity than they're spending. There's a laundry list of cards that are expensive just because of Commander. The classic example is Oracle of Mul Daya. Is there any real reason this couldn't have been reprinted in the past ten years? The pace of meaningful reprints can only be described as glacial, and they're still creating equity with cards like Teferi's Protection, Dockside Extortionist, and Battlebond duals.

If the prices are going to climb, I need better reasons to buy than a deck full of $3 cards masquerading as value. This idea also covers mana bases. The idea that quality mana bases are just for Modern is asinine. Fetches are the biggest offender here, obviously.

I could go on, but must reiterate the importance of not burning yourself out or stretching yourself too thin. Put yourself first.