[MCD] Companions are horrible.

[DirkGently]

I do think it's too early to tell completely, but all indicators point to that ruling causing more trouble than it's worth. I think given the potential issues, and the already visible problems with a couple of the companions, keeping a close eye on the further fallout of this rules change is warranted. This is not the same as new cards entering the format. This is the RC making a new ruling, in contrast with both the letter (no wishboards, no edgecases) and the spirit (keep consistency low, avoid pseudocasual cards) of precedent. I think it fair to question such rulings as they are made, and to keep track of where they lead.

I agree it's reasonable to keep an eye on it, though it's still way too early to tell. WAY too early. I mean, are people even playing in paper? In New Zealand that's not even possible right now, all LGSs are still closed and we're still in level 4 lockdown.

It feels like a lot of people wanted it to fail from the onset and are looking for any excuse to cry that the sky is falling.

Which, to be fair, it is: but only in every-format-that-isn't-commander, apparently.

If 25% percent of cards covered under a special rule are problems because of that special rule, it's fair to say that special rule needs to be looked at again.

25% of cards MIGHT be problems in some percentage of commander decks WHEN played at a certain level of power. And to be clear I still don't think they necessarily are problems even in those cases.

Let's not blow this out of proportion. Let the meta settle. Let people actually PLAY with them.

Afaik the cards don't even exist in paper in my country at the moment.

It's the same effect that's I and others have noticed with precon cards, where tables have a harder time house banning say, Derevi than Zur, because "it's made for commander so it can't be that broken". We also saw this with Erayo in WotCmander, where the decision to make a special ruling in favor of a small group of cards sent the signal that they were all ok, even in the face of strong evidence to the contrary. The fact that the RC went out of their way to make Companion do it's thing in EDH sends the same signal.

Will that help? Probably, at least a bit. But will that counteract the strong hatred and competitive power the companions are getting across other formats? I really doubt it, personally.

We really just have to see how it shakes out. Sorry to keep repeating myself, but it's true. And no offense to MTGO but I really don't trust any online version of commander to be a good indicator of what it's going to look like at my - or any - LGS.

[pokken]

The sky just falls slower in commander

[cryogen]

The sky just falls slower in commander

And me without my Acorn Catapult.


=========

Jon Medina made a really good observation about companions today on Twitter - he said that they take the focus away from the general. I can see what he is getting at, since the deck building restriction warps your deck just as much as the general does, if not more.

I don't know if that should be a strike against them, I'm just repeating his point to further discussion.

[Earendil]

a friend in my local shop said ideas on the companion commanders and what they may do to the format to our chat group . i formated it for this forum .

sorry about any typos . english is not my birth language .

Hello everyone! Here are my thoughts on the Companion Legends!

Unplayable:

Yorion, Sky Nomad - This card does not work in the format.

Underwhelming:

Keruga, the Macrosage - The restriction removes a lot of early mana acceleration from the picture. This card is boring. It shouldn't be scary for playgroups.

Okay:

Gyruda, Doom of Depths - I want to like this card more! I almost ranked it as Underwhelming. Its restriction is bad. Its ability is okay. Six mana for a likely, but not confirmed, extra creature from one of the decks at the table? And a tiny bit of milling? It's weak.

Kaheera, the Orphanguard - I love this card a lot! I hope to see a lot of builds with it! Unfortunately, the restriction is large. This card screams EDH! It's the most exciting design of the Companions although less flashy than the rest.

Obosh, the Preypiercer - This has a well-deserved place in a Black/Red Group-Hate deck. It's a nice boost but has a big restriction.

Umori, the Collector - This is okay. The only choices are artifact or creature. This can be good but costs 4 mana. The restiction is severe. Look at creature-only Sapling of Colfenor builds. Black-Green artifact decks? Glissa, the Traitor thanks you for your service. A small bonus.

Strong, but not Overwhelming:

Jegantha, the Wellspring - I've seen much complaining about Jegantha. "The restriction is minor. The ability is strong. Many 5-colored decks can run it..." Get over yourselves! Jegantha is strong. But it's not scary. It fills a slot that 5-colored decks didn't have, of a Gilded Lotus substitute. It does that with low cost to the deckbuilder. But that's okay. It's not a big deal.

Lurrus of the Dream-Den - In Type 1 and Type 1.5, this card shines. In EDH, its decks are stronger than it. Like Zirda, the restriction is minor. It's not a format bomb. I can barely rank it as Strong.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker - The restriction is minor. Many ability-based decks and some spell-based decks in RWx can run it. This card is strong, but not scary. The decks that want it, run it easily. It's not format-warping.

Format Warping?:

Lutri, the Spellchaser - I think Lutri didn't get a fair chance. The card is strong. Many decks in URx would run this card. But this format has a lot of built-in resilience. How scary could it be? In blue-red at 9 mana with 2 cards in this format, I can win the game. And one of those cards could be a general.

What's the scariest spell that Lutri can copy, costing 5 mana or less? Time Warp? Windfall? Overwhelming Stampede? Tendrils of Agony? There's over 4000 spells costing 5 or less mana. The most scary aren't much more scary with Lutri. The card is strong. But it's not a format-warping monster.

Conclusion:

You all need to calm down. This too shall pass.

[pokken]

Seems rather shallow analysis to me. It doesn't really seem to say anything at all of substance.

The bottom line for me is if you don't take jegantha seriously you're not paying close enough attention. Differences on Zirda I understand

But making most 5c commanders partner with a souped up summoning sick gilded lotus is the antithesis of this format.

[DirkGently]

The two most obvious/amusing mistakes I saw:

Lurrus of the Dream-Den - Like Zirda, the restriction is minor.

Lol, it can literally only be played in 2 commanders. "Minor" my ass.

Lutri, the Spellchaser - Many decks in URx would run this card.

Lol @ "many".

[Earendil]

The two most obvious/amusing mistakes I saw:

Lurrus of the Dream-Den - Like Zirda, the restriction is minor.

Lol, it can literally only be played in 2 commanders. "Minor" my ass.

Lutri, the Spellchaser - Many decks in URx would run this card.

Lol @ "many".

i believe he meant the decks that can run it are easy to make good .

does URx include less for you than us ? any deck with blue and red is URx .

[DirkGently]

i believe he meant the decks that can run it are easy to make good .

You mean with Lurrus? I mean they're fine commanders, not broken but not terrible.

Even within the deck the restriction is pretty strenuous. I ought to know, I'm working on Ayli. I don't get to run any grave pact shenanigans, no planeswalkers to feed me tokens, etc. It's looking a lot more like an aristocrats deck in modern or something, which probably won't scale super well. It's fun but difficult. Definitely not minor.

does URx include less for you than us ? any deck with blue and red is URx .

The part I found funny is that he thinks only "many" of them would run Lutri. Literally every URx deck would run Lutri (well, minus the relentless rats ones).

[Atraxian]

I've been playing Zirda with Kenrith at the helm, and the main thing you have to watch out for is exile effects on Zirda, as Kenrith can get it back from the graveyard, but gone forever in exile.

Pull from Eternity is waiting to be included as a failsafe.

[Airi]

Seems rather shallow analysis to me. It doesn't really seem to say anything at all of substance.

The bottom line for me is if you don't take jegantha seriously you're not paying close enough attention. Differences on Zirda I understand

But making most 5c commanders partner with a souped up summoning sick gilded lotus is the antithesis of this format.

I do agree that Jegantha is probably going to be the problem child of the mechanic. The rest (barring potentially Zirda, only because I think people may dip on needing all activated abilities) are kind of just shiny toys at the moment that I don't think will have sticking power as companions, though I do think several of them will be neat generals, as their restrictions make for some interesting build arounds when you're making it a focus but not a requirement.

I sincerely hope it doesn't come to Jegantha being banned in favor of the mechanic, however, if he proves to be problematic.

[papa_funk]

I am not too concerned here. Commander has a couple advantages that (Lutri aside) make it a lot more resilient to companion impact.

One is the mere existence of the Commander. That's already baked into the format, and adding another, weaker Commander is not nearly the same delta as adding a Commander in the first place. There are reasons we say the format is broken!

Companion is more akin to Partner, only weaker. You jump through a bunch of hoops and you get a partner Commander you can cast once. That's not to belittle the effect - it's still good! - but Commander survived Partner OK. (Full disclosure: I'm not a fan of Partner. But it didn't kill the format and is a useful past precedent to look at)

Jegantha might be a problem child in one deck that is already pushing the edges of the power scale. That is not, in the overall scheme of things, likely to be a problem for the format. Everyone is freaking out a little because the cards are new, most of us can't really play with them, and they do genuinely appear to be having an impact on other formats. I suspect in six months, we'll all be not really worrying about it, and the occasional companions that show up won't be cause for alarm. On the flip side, brewers are having all kinds of fun with it, and that's great.

And, if I'm wrong and we do have to ban one, we ban one. That's OK.

[pokken]

Jegantha might be a problem child in one deck that is already pushing the edges of the power scale. That is not, in the overall scheme of things, likely to be a problem for the format. Everyone is freaking out a little because the cards are new, most of us can't really play with them, and they do genuinely appear to be having an impact on other formats. I suspect in six months, we'll all be not really worrying about it, and the occasional companions that show up won't be cause for alarm. On the flip side, brewers are having all kinds of fun with it, and that's great.

Jegantha provides a very consistent option to more than just Sisay - it's also very strong in Kenrith, Golos, Niv, and to an extent Jodah. And every future one, and Zirda does very similarly.

I do think they are going to cause more problems in casual play than expected because they raise the power floor in a deceptive way - likely to create a lot of non-games.

More companions is what gives me the most heartburn. I do think that the format can probably absorb Jegantha and Zirda; Dirk made a pretty eloquent statement that the format does a good job of absorbing broken commanders, and both of these skew broken.

This format does not need more things that drastically increase consistency, and while I think we can absorb some of it I think it'll reach a tipping point if it keeps on this way. And individual bans are going to be hard to stomach when there're 100 companions.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker is probably the absolute best example. It's creating multiple of its own archetypes where it brings some really bad commanders up in power level and makes them fun. People are going to love that card and yet it's likely to create a whole bunch of crap as well -- Zirda-Zacama for example is so darned strong it really has no place in a game where it isn't repeatedly removed (and then why do it? I've seen enough Animar players cry foul about having their commander removed repeatedly to see how it goes).

[Airi]

And, if I'm wrong and we do have to ban one, we ban one. That's OK.

Personally, I can't say I agree. I'm not a fan of having to ban multiple cards when the shared culprit between them is the mechanic, if it came to that. Granted, I don't think banning one card was worth the mechanic either, but what's done is done.

I absolutely agree with Pokken though that the idea of seeing more of these is not something I want to think about, at all.

[Wallycaine]

If it's any consolation, Mark has repeatedly stated that the design space for companions is pretty narrow. We're almost certainly not going to see 100 companions on any reasonable timescale, and frankly I'd be surprised if we see another cycle of ten before the end of the decade. The number of meaningful restrictions they can come up with for decks that fit their definition of verifiable is extremely small, and even this set of companions scrapes up against the sides of those restrictions. We might see a handful more as 1 of's or small sets, but this is an extremely limited mechanic for a reason.

[pokken]

Personally, I can't say I agree. I'm not a fan of having to ban multiple cards when the shared culprit between them is the mechanic, if it came to that. Granted, I don't think banning one card was worth the mechanic either, but what's done is done.

I was thinking hard about this one and I was wondering if, say, 2 or 3 of the Partners had proven too oppressive and had to be banned, would we have determined it was the mechanic or the cards?

I'm still kinda inclined to think the whole partner mechanic is flawed, but silas/akiri are not ruining a lot of games and it'd probably hurt more people to remove them all than leave them...maybe?

I doubt that they will ever print any more universal partners at this point, so maybe it'll be like that with companions that they just won't revisit it?

If they just ban 2 or 3 companions and we never see the mechanic again, I think it might be better to let people have their Keruga decks, but I'm not really sure.

If they wind up needing to ban some number of them every time companions are released, though, that's a whole other animal? Ugh.

If it's any consolation, Mark has repeatedly stated that the design space for companions is pretty narrow. We're almost certainly not going to see 100 companions on any reasonable timescale, and frankly I'd be surprised if we see another cycle of ten before the end of the decade. The number of meaningful restrictions they can come up with for decks that fit their definition of verifiable is extremely small, and even this set of companions scrapes up against the sides of those restrictions. We might see a handful more as 1 of's or small sets, but this is an extremely limited mechanic for a reason.

If they never print any more, and I just have to give a handful of companion pairings the Leovold treatment and avoid them I will live with that I guess. I think it's a net negative for the format and should not have been done, but it's not going to kill it.

[Airi]

I'm still kinda inclined to think the whole partner mechanic is flawed, but silas/akiri are not ruining a lot of games and it'd probably hurt more people to remove them all than leave them...maybe?

I doubt that they will ever print any more universal partners at this point, so maybe it'll be like that with companions that they just won't revisit it?

If they just ban 2 or 3 companions and we never see the mechanic again, I think it might be better to let people have their Keruga decks, but I'm not really sure.

If they wind up needing to ban some number of them every time companions are released, though, that's a whole other animal? Ugh.

It's kind of the same thing with what they wanted to avoid with Lutri. Since it was announced to work, people got excited, bought cards, and it's probably too late to just axe it, as bitter as that makes me. And its not like I outright hate the companions, if my signature is anything to go by. I think a lot of them make for really neat generals. But the whole explanation for it and process behind getting them to be legal has been immensely frustrating. As have the arguments around it, since not liking the mechanic invites a lot of ire.

[Silver Serpent]

I am not too concerned here. Commander has a couple advantages that (Lutri aside) make it a lot more resilient to companion impact.

While I understand that Lutri is able to be played as a companion any of the decks in its colors, and that makes it strong, calling Lutri an auto-include in any URx deck appears to me to be naive thinking. Saying that it's game-breaking to have access to a free 3/2 with flash in these decks appears even more naive.

Out of the generals that can actually run the card, here we have the numbers.

Not much potential to be strong (or you'd almost always run a different companion instead) (31 Generals):

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Akim, the Soaring Wind - Zirda instead.
Animar, Soul of Elements - Meh.
Atogatog - Zirda instead.
Breya, Etherium Shaper - Zirda instead.
Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer - Meh.
Child of Alara - Zirda instead.
Cromat - Zirda instead.
Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders - Meh.
Gavi, Nest Warden - Zirda instead.
Horde of Notions - Jegantha/Kaheela instead.
Illuna, Apex of Wishes - Meh.
Jodah, Archmage Eternal - Zirda instead.
Karona, False God - Zirda instead.
Mairsil, the Pretender - Meh.
Marchesa, the Black Rose - Meh.
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy - Meh.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn - Zirda instead.
O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami - Zirda instead.
Omnath, Locus of the Roil - Meh.
Pramikon, Sky Rampart - Meh.
Reaper King - Umori/Zirda instead.
Scion of the Ur-Dragon - Zirda instead.
Sedris, the Traitor King - Meh.
Sliver Hivelord - Jegantha/Umori/Zirda instead.
Sliver Legion - Jegantha/Umori/Zirda instead.
Sliver Overlord - Jegantha/Umori/Zirda instead.
Sliver Queen - Jegantha/Umori/Zirda instead.
Surrak Dragonclaw - Meh.
Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice - Meh.
The First Sliver - Jegantha/Umori/Zirda instead.
The Ur-Dragon - Jegantha/Keruga/Umori/Zirda instead.

Potential to be strong (48 Generals):

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Adeliz, the Cinder Wind - Type-Focus.
Admiral Beckett Brass - Maybe.
Arjun, the Shifting Flame - Type-Focus.
Crosis, the Purger - Maybe.
Elsha of the Infinite - Type-Focus.
Garza Zol, Plague Queen - Maybe.
Gwendlyn Di Corci - Maybe.
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist - Maybe.
Intet, the Dreamer - Maybe.
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge - Type-Focus.
Jhoira of the Ghitu - Maybe.
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain - Maybe.
Jori En, Ruin Diver - Type-Focus.
Kalamax, the Stormsire - Type-Focus.
Keranos, God of Storms - Maybe.
Kess, Dissident Mage - Type-Focus.
Kraum, Ludevic's Opus - Maybe.
Kykar, Wind's Fury - Type-Focus.
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis - Maybe.
Lord of Tresserhorn - Maybe.
Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist - Maybe.
Maelstrom Wanderer - Maybe.
Melek, Izzet Paragon - Type-Focus.
Mizzik of the Izmagnus - Type-Focus.
Narset, Enlightened Master - Type-Focus.
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Maybe.
Nicol Bolas - Maybe.
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager - Maybe.
Nin, the Pain Artist - Type-Focus.
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius - Maybe.
Niv-Mizzet, Parun - Type-Focus.
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - Maybe.
Numot, the Devastator - Maybe.
Progenitus - Maybe.
Rielle, the Everwise - Type-Focus.
Riku of Two Reflections - Type-Focus.
Ruhan of the Fomori - Maybe.
Saheeli, the Gifted - Maybe.
Sevinne, the Chronoclasm - Type-Focus.
Sol'kanar the Swamp King - Maybe.
Tetsuo Umezawa - Maybe.
The Locust God - Type-Focus.
Thraximundar - Maybe.
Tibor and Lumia - Type-Focus.
Vadrok, Apex of Thunder - Type-Focus.
Xyris, the Writhing Storm - Maybe.
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder - Maybe.
Zedruu the Greathearted - Maybe.

Out of those 48, the cards with "Maybe" means that you're doing a non-insignificant amount of build-around to justify making Lutri enough of a boost to be likely to be relevant in a game. Those can sorta be ruled out, as while it might happen, it's not nearly as relevant, and not as likely to be forced as a deckbuilding trend in the long run. (In my opinion at least. Maybe I'm misguided, but I'm not the one who freaked out over the potential format skew of a Reverberate in EDH.) Again, I am aware of how format warping works. I just don't believe it is very likely or very devastating for most of the relevant generals. Also, how strong is reverberate in a URx control deck at this time? Strong enough to be a problem? Consider the strength of Lutri as a general if it didn't have companion. Do you think it would severely warp the format towards Lutri decks? Unless you do (for some unknown reason), the boost to URx control decks is probably not so bad...

Type-Focus (19 Generals):

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Adeliz, the Cinder Wind - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Arjun, the Shifting Flame - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Elsha of the Infinite - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge - This is one of the decks in which Lutri would shine. This'll fit in VERY well, but is not much scarier than what the deck is already doing.
Jori En, Ruin Diver - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Kalamax, the Stormsire - Oh hey, more copying! This'll fit in VERY well, but is not much scarier than what the deck is already doing.
Kess, Dissident Mage - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Kykar, Wind's Fury - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Melek, Izzet Paragon - Oh hey, more copying! This'll fit in VERY well, but is not much scarier than what the deck is already doing.
Mizzik of the Izmagnus - This'll fit in VERY well, but is not much scarier than what the deck is already doing.
Narset, Enlightened Master - The most common Narset instant/sorcery builds would get a boost. This is EXTREMELY strong, but Narset, while quite strong, is not overwhelming the average casual meta at the moment. That said, I also wouldn't be surprised if the majority of players would rather see a Narset ban than a Lutri ban any day if this specific combination of cards would lead to one of them getting banned.
Nin, the Pain Artist - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Niv-Mizzet, Parun - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Rielle, the Everwise - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Riku of Two Reflections - Oh hey, more copying! This'll fit in EXTREMELY well, but is not much scarier than what the deck is already doing.
Sevinne, the Chronoclasm - Oh hey, more copying! This'll fit in VERY well, but is not much scarier than what the deck is already doing.
The Locust God - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Tibor and Lumia - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.
Vadrok, Apex of Thunder - Probably boosted no more than any other URx control deck.

I think that the only generals that one would realistically look out for there are Narset and Riku.

Would the format see a surge in Narset and Riku decks because of Lutri? Possibly. Would it skew the balance of the format significantly towards these decks? Probably not.

Jegantha might be a problem child in one deck that is already pushing the edges of the power scale. That is not, in the overall scheme of things, likely to be a problem for the format. Everyone is freaking out a little because the cards are new, most of us can't really play with them, and they do genuinely appear to be having an impact on other formats. I suspect in six months, we'll all be not really worrying about it, and the occasional companions that show up won't be cause for alarm. On the flip side, brewers are having all kinds of fun with it, and that's great.

All 10 of them probably have this property to varying degrees, including Lutri...

TL;DR - I'd like to try that extra shark in my custard!

[tstorm823]

While I understand that Lutri is able to be played as a companion any of the decks in its colors, and that makes it strong, calling Lutri an auto-include in any URx deck appears to me to be naive thinking.

Lutri would be an auto-include in any URx deck without a different companion.

Normally calling something an auto-include anywhere is a stretch, because when picking cards for your deck you have to prioritize one thing over another. Every card you play comes at the opportunity cost of playing something else. Lutri's only opportunity cost would be not playing a different companion. There is, to my knowledge, strictly no downside to have Lutri sit next to your deck even if it doesn't have a single instant or sorcery in it. It doesn't make you cut something, it can't be used against you, and sometimes just having a creature available is worthwhile.

If you aren't using a different companion or making the specific decision to limit yourself in some way, there isn't a deck that shouldn't have it.

[Mookie]

While I understand that Lutri is able to be played as a companion any of the decks in its colors, and that makes it strong, calling Lutri an auto-include in any URx deck appears to me to be naive thinking.

Lutri would be an auto-include in any URx deck without a different companion.

Normally calling something an auto-include anywhere is a stretch, because when picking cards for your deck you have to prioritize one thing over another. Every card you play comes at the opportunity cost of playing something else. Lutri's only opportunity cost would be not playing a different companion. There is, to my knowledge, strictly no downside to have Lutri sit next to your deck even if it doesn't have a single instant or sorcery in it. It doesn't make you cut something, it can't be used against you, and sometimes just having a creature available is worthwhile.

If you aren't using a different companion or making the specific decision to limit yourself in some way, there isn't a deck that shouldn't have it.

To take this to the very extreme, I have an Animar, Soul of Elements Primal Surge deck. Lutri's ability to copy instants and sorceries is completely irrelevant to me (given that copying the only one in my entire decks is completely redundant).... but being an extra creature I can cast with absolutely no cost for running it in the command zone is extremely powerful. It triggers Animar and Soul of the Harvest effects, plus it's a flash blocker.

But even if instead of being a respectably-costed creature it were, say, Scornful Egotist or Force of Savagery, I'd still run it as a companion, because there is absolutely zero downside to doing so, and it has some marginal utility by virtue of being a creature. The only way to make a card weak enough for me to not run it would be to stick One with Nothing or some other terrible effect on it so I would need to be concerned about Mindslaver effects.... and even then, I'd probably still consider it. ....except because it's outside the game, opponents can't actually access it. So, once again, no downside.

[tstorm823]

But even if instead of being a respectably-costed creature it were, say, Scornful Egotist or Force of Savagery, I'd still run it as a companion, because there is absolutely zero downside to doing so, and it has some marginal utility by virtue of being a creature. The only way to make a card weak enough for me to not run it would be to stick One with Nothing or some other terrible effect on it so I would need to be concerned about Mindslaver effects.... and even then, I'd probably still consider it. ....except because it's outside the game, opponents can't actually access it. So, once again, no downside.

I assume with the obvious exception of wanting a different companion.

Though all this has me thinking. Lutri, the Spellchaser has to be banned because it would be a problem not too. Jegantha, the Wellspring is being discussed as too good as a companion. Yorion, Sky Nomad is effectively banned as companion. Zirda, the Dawnwaker and Kaheera, the Orphanguard both have value being paired with commanders. For the other 5, I would argue that if you want to play them, you're generally better off with them as the commander, the deckbuilding restrictions are harsh enough that you lose more than you gain by having psuedo-two commanders. (And like, I certainly understand the appeal of building an all odd deck and slapping down the companion to brag about it, but doing cool Obosh, the Preypiercer things sounds way more fun to me than just the gimmick, and as commander, I could recast Obosh from the command zone.)

So imagine a future where Jegantha get's banned, here's a real question: would banning the companion mechanic take away more from the format than it gains in letting people use Lutri and Jegantha as commanders or in the 99?

[cryogen]

So two things here:

First, regarding Lutri - full disclosure that I'm definitely in the belief that we should let it see play and go from see if the worst fears play out. But at the same time I see where the RC was coming from. Basically, if you ha e a card that is a free extra card with zero drawback, even if it was a vanilla 0/1 creature, why wouldn't you run it? Then when you add that this particular card has an actual upside, it makes it an auto-include. That this all-upside auto include is limited to only one color pair means that color pair gets an advantage over the others. With this in mind, the ban wasn't about the actual card itself or how strong it was, the ban was because they didn't want that imbalance in the first place. Continuing, they didn't want to set people up spending lots of money on it only to see that money get pissed down the drain.

Second, more broadly about the companion mechanic, I think the issue with the mechanic is that the "restriction" is much more forgiving in Commander than it is in constructed 60 card formats. So if/when it does return (battlebond might make sense) we will again have to worry about hidden power levels in a format where we a) have access to nearly every card in existence and b) can get away with looser deck building constraints like cmc or tribal matters.

[illakunsaa]

the ban was because they didn't want that imbalance in the first place. Continuing, they didn't want to set people up spending lots of money on it only to see that money get pissed down the drain.

Let's be fair. Colors are already imbalanced. Azorius and gruul also didn't get a companion.

[pokken]

the ban was because they didn't want that imbalance in the first place. Continuing, they didn't want to set people up spending lots of money on it only to see that money get pissed down the drain.

Let's be fair. Colors are already imbalanced. Azorius and gruul also didn't get a companion.

Much like the "5 color commanders are already broken" argument I'm not sure you get a pass on "let's make them more broken then!" because of that.

While I'll agree that the format already absorbs the power discrepancies, that's no reason to add a ton more.

[tstorm823]

Much like the "5 color commanders are already broken" argument I'm not sure you get a pass on "let's make them more broken then!" because of that.

While I'll agree that the format already absorbs the power discrepancies, that's no reason to add a ton more.

So you're saying that Wizards should have printed the zero-downside companion in Boros?

[pokken]

Much like the "5 color commanders are already broken" argument I'm not sure you get a pass on "let's make them more broken then!" because of that.

While I'll agree that the format already absorbs the power discrepancies, that's no reason to add a ton more.

So you're saying that Wizards should have printed the zero-downside companion in Boros?

If they somehow printed it in a way that precluded it being played in every 4c and 5c deck sure

Boros Equalizer : 1 {R/W} {R/W}
Companion - only played if all cards in your deck contain a red or white mana symbol

ETB, Search for as many lands as target opponent has more than you, then draw up to as many cards as another target opponent has.


WAKKA WAKKA