March 2020 AMA

[toctheyounger]

What is your name?

What is your favourite color?

What is the average air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Real questions to follow:
Hope things are going well in for you as always (same goes for the rest of the RC/CAG group, it's not easy being the faces of the format).

Everyone has a favourite commander/deck of their existing builds; Who's your favourite lieutenant (the card/legend/creature that secretly runs things when landed from the 99)?

Naturally with a constantly evolving game like Magic that's been around for years we're going to (and have) seen a lot of 'strictly betters' and stronger cards come through printings in the last few years, and while it isn't a bad thing in most cases, every now and then someone mentions power creep. How much of a concern do you and the rest of the team have around this, generally speaking, given that Commander is a casual format?

There's been a few issues with vitriol from the outliers of the community here and there for both yourself and other RC/CAG members of late. I want to reassure you that the vast majority of us commend the job you all do mediating a particularly obtuse and varied group of gamers, I'm sure it's not an easy task, and I want to make sure it's not thankless - so thank you all for the job you do. That said, what do you all make of these incidents and how do you address them as a group? Do these sorts of issues get any attention whatsoever and if so, do the format concerns the individual raises actually get discussed, or are these cases of the messenger shooting themselves in the foot?

[cryogen]

Everyone has a favourite commander/deck of their existing builds; Who's your favourite lieutenant (the card/legend/creature that secretly runs things when landed from the 99)?

If he doesn't answer this with Coiling Oracle I'm going to be disappointed.

[toctheyounger]

Everyone has a favourite commander/deck of their existing builds; Who's your favourite lieutenant (the card/legend/creature that secretly runs things when landed from the 99)?

If he doesn't answer this with Coiling Oracle I'm going to be disappointed.

Seems like a sure thing. Mine at present is Emeria Shepherd, commonly known as 'why won't your stuff just die'?

[pokken]

Everyone has a favourite commander/deck of their existing builds; Who's your favourite lieutenant (the card/legend/creature that secretly runs things when landed from the 99)?

Spinoff spinoff!

[Sheldon]

Everyone has a favourite commander/deck of their existing builds; Who's your favourite lieutenant (the card/legend/creature that secretly runs things when landed from the 99)?

If he doesn't answer this with Coiling Oracle I'm going to be disappointed.

FFS, that means I'm going to have to pay Cryo for some % of the article proceeds.

[Sheldon]

Hey everyone, thanks for the great questions. Obviously, I can't answer all of them. However, I'll come back to the thread in the next week or so and answer the ones that don't make it into the piece. You'll see some duplication in questions, so consider that one answer to multiples sufficient.

[cryogen]

Everyone has a favourite commander/deck of their existing builds; Who's your favourite lieutenant (the card/legend/creature that secretly runs things when landed from the 99)?

If he doesn't answer this with Coiling Oracle I'm going to be disappointed.

FFS, that means I'm going to have to pay Cryo for some % of the article proceeds.

I'm the reason you can't have nice things.

[Sheldon]

I'd like to first start by asking you to please try answering only (or mainly) the relevant questions that people make.

Like... Since you don't answer all AMA questions, at least try answering all commander-related ones instead of some pointless stuff like "what's your favorite movie?"

As for my question... Why isn't flash banned yet!? >.<

I will indeed answer only the relevant questions, and what my favorite movie is or "how's your health?" are relevant questions.

[Hermes_]

I forgot to ask "why is @cryogen still allowed to play commander?"

[Sheldon]

Hi Sheldon,

Is there any chance that the Rules Committee could do a community survey? I know there's nothing that will perfectly capture community attitudes, but seeing data on how people play beyond the antidotal instance may help end some of the perennial community suggestions or give the RC insight on where the community is on some of these issues.

There's nothing stopping us from doing a survey, but I'm not sure it would yield anything better than actually getting out into the community ourselves (meaning all of us on the RC and CAG) plus adding the input that each of us get via social media and paying attention to online spaces. It's difficult to trust surveys, especially those with statistically small samplings. We're very happy to look at data that anyone else puts together. I'll give the idea some thought, though. Depending on how it's structured, it may yield something beneficial.

[Sheldon]

I would like to know more about how the RC and Commander Advisory Group (CAG) interact with each other?
There might be information on the internet on this, but might as well take the time now in a Q&A.

I feel the more transparent the process of communication between members, the more informed players are.

Things like specifically how often you have meetings. What have CAG members brought to the table as far as potential card choices and how have they influenced decisions?
Really anything you are willing to share with the general level of interaction within the group, even if a lot of it is informal.

This question might yield an entire article's worth of answers. A good deal of the information might be cobbled together from various sources already available, but I'm pretty sure I could write 2000+ words on it, too. Stay tuned.

[Sheldon]

Two commander questions:

1) What's your favorite Commander content to view/read/listen to/etc?

2) Do you feel like there's more discussion to be had on the banlist (thinking particularly about Flash), or has that discussion run dry of new information or ideas?

Life questions:

You're a well noted enjoyer of food and libations, so what's your go-to comfort meal, and what's your favorite meal you've ever had?

Thanks!

Commander questions answered in the article, and I somehow missed the third. My go-to comfort food is a good burger. When a burger is right, it chases away all the bad things that are haunting you. There are times that I simply crave fat, and getting it lightens my mood.

Favorite meal was a nine-course dinner at The French Laundry, which happened to be in the company of fellow RC member Toby Elliott and his wife. Thomas Keller is a genius. Eating that food made me proud to be a human being.

[Sheldon]

Not to mention any names, but some members of the CAG seem to be speaking directly on the behalf of the RC when they do interviews. Is this supposed to be the case?

Would any of the RC members be open to appearing on something like Game Knights, or another content creator's gameplay video?

There are certain topics that are always being discussed in the community, such as planeswalkers as commanders and hybrid mana. Can you tell us if these or any other issues are considered settled among the RC?

Do you get a little disappointed that a lot of cool, old commanders are getting driven to obscurity more and more by newer ones?

On a separate note, I implore the RC not to ban Flash.

I think we've been pretty clear on multiple occasions that the PW-as-Commander and hybrid mana discussions are done. We'll never say never, but something major would have to change.

I think that there are plenty of people keeping cool, old commanders alive. I bet you are.

I'm really curious why you don't want Flash banned.

[Sheldon]

Hope you are still doing well.

1) Status of the official forums? (Really missing them)

1a) Will content from the old forums be retrievable/archive-able?

1b) Will data-centric "posts" from the old forum be made into content on the new website (e.g. the Graveyard Hate and Unique Casting Cost posts) and/or will the RC open up for "community" members to aggregate that (and/or similar) data to be made into informational pages on the new site?

2) What was the most recent "variant format" you have tried and/or you hope to try? EDH specific variants?

3) Do you keep contact with former RC members (e.g. BKM) and are they ever part of the discussion/process with the current RC/CAG?

BKM, Devin, and original RC member Duncan MacGregor have pretty much disappeared, although Duncan recently resurfaced. We talk to Kevin Desprez with some frequency, but it's not about Commander.

[Sheldon]

Have you played Ticket to Ride,if so what is your favorite map pack ? (I've recently picked up the game on my xbox one)

I haven't. What am I missing?

[Sheldon]

No question, keep up the good work. Also, please keep retweeting links to your articles after the 1 week period when they become free to those of us who don't have a subscription to Starcity - it's greatly appreciated.

Appreciate you saying so. And will do.

[Sheldon]

Is there any commander do you wish you could make a deck with but just doesn't work when you try?

What "bad" cards do you love because they work with one commander really well? (Like Nomad Stadium for Darien, King of Kjeldor or Shelter for Feather, the Redeemed)

If you didn't care about if stuff was broken and just wanted to win, what would you ban or unban to make your decks better? To add more chaos to this hypothetical world where you're the rule's evil overloard, let's include silver boarder cards as possible unbans.

If you could cast, have, or summon any Instant/Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact, or Creature in real life, what would you chose for each?

Is there any question you've wanted to be asked in the AMAs that no one ever does?

I've failed with Aurelia, the Warleader a few times. Not sure, but it's been several years, so I should probably give it a retry.

It's hard for me to tap into "just want to win" in Commander. That said, I would unban the hell out of Recurring Nightmare. And Grand Calculatron.

I can't think of a question that I've really craved someone to ask that hasn't been already. The community has been so supportive through my health struggles that I don't think there's more to answer there. I suppose there could be more questions about baseball. Love me some baseball.

[Sheldon]

What is the justifications used that explains why Griselbrand is too strong while Razaketh, the Foulblooded is fair game given finding the exact card you need for two life is superior when compared to a random seven off the top?

You've stated before that Library of Alexandria is banned due to perceived barrier to entry (which is fine, I suppose, though library is hardly power past t3, but I digress), why then is Timetwister legal (please don't tell me it's because twister is colour locked, we all know U is by far the most popular colour) given it's price is ~3× that of library? If you're banning on cost to enter, it would seem to me that Twister has to go, or library could stay. Similar reactions to, say, Mishra's Workshop and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Personally, I don't think cost should ever be a factour in this discussion but if it must, consistency would be welcoming to see.

If on the other hand, Library of Alexandria is really banned because of it's strength in the opening game (a fair point, but this IS a Vintage format after all, where mana is king, not card advantage), why then do we still have the Serra Ascendant debacle?

Thanks for all your hard work. I hope my questions are challenging in a philosophical bend, and don't come off combatitive. All the best!

We don't really compare cards to each other when considering a ban. "If this, then that" would lead to a series of cascading bans that would swell the list to unmanageable numbers. Cards aren't banned for what they do, they're banned for what they do to the format, if that makes sense.

We don't use the Perceived Barrier to Entry criterion anymore. Those that were banned back then have no good reason to come off, but it's highly unlikely that we invoke anything close to that again.

[Sheldon]

I have two questions.

The first one is regarding the argument I often see people make about how if Flash were to be banned, it would inevitabley unleash a chain of other cEDH bans as "there is always a best deck". Usually people who say this will point to Demonic Consultation & Tainted Pact as the ones taking over. However, given the numbers form the cEDH Metagame Project (which analyzes cEDH matchup data & winrates) pure Consultation decks (without Flash & Hulk) can only put up a 23,4% win rate in the current meta. Mind you Consult is considered to be a good strategy vs Flash. After a Flash ban things like stax & other techs against Consult would return to the meta and this number would likely drop even lower.
Considering this number, do you think Consultation decks would take over in a post-Flash meta? If so, why?

My second question is about the philosophy of the ban list. When discussing the banlist with other people they often tell me that the RC can't possibly ban based on powerlevel, because they ban solely based around cards that create unfun play patterns in casual games.
My question here is why those two would be considered to be mutually exclusive?
The number of cards that would have to be banned for a balanced cEDH is miniscule, definitely significantly smaller than what is currently on the banlist. The vast majority of these cards are considered to be unfun by casuals anyways.
Wouldn't banning those cards and then in addition banning all the cards that need to go because they are solely unfun in casual but not too powerful result in a banlist that makes both sides happy?
One of the answers I'd anticipate here is that the RC doesn't want to/doesn't feel capable of taking competitive balance into its own hands. In that case, why not create a sub-committee in the CAG consisting of big cEDH names that could weigh in on problems regarding balance?

I wouldn't dare to speculate on what the competitive metagame currently looks like or would look like if any particular card were banned. It's not something that I'm conversant enough on.

The RC is more than capable of taking competitive balance into its own hands. We have a pretty good grasp on competitive Magic. We don't have any desire to balance Commander for competitive play because that's not want we want from and for the format. It's a respite from competitive play. Our core demographic are the folks that want something different. It's the reason we started and it's the reason we persist.

[3drinks]

What is the justifications used that explains why Griselbrand is too strong while Razaketh, the Foulblooded is fair game given finding the exact card you need for two life is superior when compared to a random seven off the top?

You've stated before that Library of Alexandria is banned due to perceived barrier to entry (which is fine, I suppose, though library is hardly power past t3, but I digress), why then is Timetwister legal (please don't tell me it's because twister is colour locked, we all know U is by far the most popular colour) given it's price is ~3× that of library? If you're banning on cost to enter, it would seem to me that Twister has to go, or library could stay. Similar reactions to, say, Mishra's Workshop and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Personally, I don't think cost should ever be a factour in this discussion but if it must, consistency would be welcoming to see.

If on the other hand, Library of Alexandria is really banned because of it's strength in the opening game (a fair point, but this IS a Vintage format after all, where mana is king, not card advantage), why then do we still have the Serra Ascendant debacle?

Thanks for all your hard work. I hope my questions are challenging in a philosophical bend, and don't come off combatitive. All the best!

We don't really compare cards to each other when considering a ban. "If this, then that" would lead to a series of cascading bans that would swell the list to unmanageable numbers. Cards aren't banned for what they do, they're banned for what they do to the format, if that makes sense.

We don't use the Perceived Barrier to Entry criterion anymore. Those that were banned back then have no good reason to come off, but it's highly unlikely that we invoke anything close to that again.

Thanks for your responses directly! Much appreciated.

[Sheldon]

Of course, start it of with I hope things are going well, I know from social media things have been generally positive so hope that continues!

How frequently are you at Johnnie Bs these days? I keep meaning to drive down again but forget to ask if you will be there before I commit to the drive.

It has been about a 2 year turn around from when you start working on something until it gets printed in Magic iirc, but I think you mentioned while you were in Seattle you worked on several projects, so when is the closest thing you worked on that we will see?

How much pressure have you been putting on WotC for Avacyn's 4th sister (b/w)?

If you could design a Secret Lair: EDH what 3-5 cards would you put in it?

I haven't been to the shop in a while. Things have been in a bit of upheaval and I don't expect it to clear until May or so. If you want to drive down, let's set up something.

Nothing about anything that I worked on is public yet.

Now, all I want to do is making Avacyn's 4th sister. Thanks.

[Sheldon]

Do you think that its important for Wizards of the Coast to have an experienced team of players and deck builders at the highest level of Magic behind the banned list for formats like Vintage, Legacy, Modern, Standard, Pioneer, Historic?
If yes why?
If no why?

Do you consider yourself an experienced player and deck builder at the highest level of commander?

This question is only answerable if you further define "highest level of Magic."

By one definition, I'm the most experienced player and deck builder of Commander. By another I'm not. I suppose I'd need you to define that as well.

[darrenhabib]

Do you think that its important for Wizards of the Coast to have an experienced team of players and deck builders at the highest level of Magic behind the banned list for formats like Vintage, Legacy, Modern, Standard, Pioneer, Historic?
If yes why?
If no why?

Do you consider yourself an experienced player and deck builder at the highest level of commander?

This question is only answerable if you further define "highest level of Magic."

By one definition, I'm the most experienced player and deck builder of Commander. By another I'm not. I suppose I'd need you to define that as well.

I would say a person who would be able to have a reasonable chance of coming in the top 8 of a tournament against some of the best players in the world.

[Hermes_]

Have you played Ticket to Ride,if so what is your favorite map pack ? (I've recently picked up the game on my xbox one)

I haven't. What am I missing?

It's an award winning board game, here's the blurb from the official site:
Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America.

The longer the routes, the more points they earn.

Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway.
https://www.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/usa/ There's a number of maps that add new rules (like tunnels)

[cryogen]

I forgot to ask "why is cryogen still allowed to play commander?"

"we're still exploring our options. Stay tuned for more details."