Commander Ban List Update - No Changes

[cryogen]

https://mtgcommander.net/index.php/2020 ... ly-update/

It has been a quiet quarter for Commander, and we are going to keep it that way. We don't have any changes to the Rules or Banned list this time around. We will continue to monitor the format, player experience, and so forth.

As always, we're interested in your feedback. You can pop around to the free RC Discord server and be pretty likely to run into an RC or CAG member in a chat (or four).

We are making one small change regarding our announcements. This is the last quarter in which our regular announcements will take place on the Monday after a new expansion's prerelease weekend. Starting in January 2021, quarterly Commander announcements will happen the Monday before a new expansion's prerelease weekend. The reasons are two-fold:

1. Since new sets are legal in Commander as of the prerelease, it only makes sense that any announcement take place before then.
2. This will get any possible bannings/unbannings and rules changes out of the way prior to the prerelease. Commander players can attend their prerelease (well…someday), acquire cards, and not be worried about rules changes the following Monday.

The Rules Committee, some of the Commander Advisory group, and a few "friends of the format" have been playing a format variant for the last 4 month. Dubbed the "EDH Boxing League," it has proven itself to be a very different, fun way to play Commander.

The short version is:

1. Each player opens a booster box or a normal release expansion or Core set cards.
2. Players build their Commander deck from this pool.
3. Starting each subsequent week, each player can open 6 boosters of another set and add those cards to their pool. They can't select a set for which they have already opened boosters in that league.
4. All Commander Rules are in effect (including banned cards).

There's a full write up of the rules here. There's also a dedicated channel for it on the Discord server.

If you'd like to see the format in action, join us on the RC Twitch channel (http://twitch.com/CommanderRC) on Thursdays at 8PM EDT and Sundays at 2PM EDT.

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone. Our hope is that Commander has provided some small sense of relief from the crazy over the last 6 months. See you again in January!

[ISBPathfinder]

It isn't very surprising with covid that commander takes no changes. I am not even really sure what is on the radar for bans / unbans / changes as of right now but with the slow down of magic played, no change seems right.

I suspect we will continue to be hampered in playing moving forward but man...... it would be nice to get back into playing some games. Soooooo much new stuff has come out since I really got to sit down and play a bunch of commander.

[Airi]

Disappointing but predictable. I was still hoping to see an eventual update to see companion (the mechanic, not the cards) go and stay go, but that's probably a fool's hope.

------------

If there's going to be a problem child that needs to be addressed in the future, we probably won't see a banlist update on it until after Commander Legends, as that's where I imagine potentially problematic cards will pop up.

[BeneTleilax]

Will Legends have more Companions?

[Airi]

Will Legends have more Companions?

No, but it does have partner as well as cards built for EDH, the later of which tends to have some power level issues baked in, though WotC has been better about that lately. That was more a separate comment to my disappointment.

[Mookie]

Not entirely surprising. That said, I've barely played since the covid started (and haven't played with new cards in months), so I probably wouldn't have noticed if anything broken had been printed. I'd argue that it hits EDH even harder than other formats due to it being such a social-focused format.

....I should really hunt down a remote playgroup sometime.

That said, I'm expecting at least a few broken cards to be printed in Commander Legends, so that should be a more exciting banlist update. :D

[cryogen]

Updated with full announcement.

[DirkGently]

Disappointing but predictable. I was still hoping to see an eventual update to see companion (the mechanic, not the cards) go and stay go, but that's probably a fool's hope.

Personally I was hoping to see the companion mechanic reinstated to its original functionality, given that it isn't problematic in commander. It was super fun in draft, too. Standard/modern/legacy ruining fun things for everyone else, blech.

[3drinks]

Ofc they would spotlight a "new format" designed around buying packs. In the wake of this TWD malarkey. Tone deaf.

And the WotC shilling begins.............

[Airi]

This announcement is prior to the Walking Dead card announcement. We should see the RC make an update on that some time prior to the sale period of the cards.

A friendly reminder to all wanting to participate in this thread, the RC members are often members here as well so please avoid making inflammatory remarks.

[Legend]

WE LOVE YOU RC! The "Sealed Box Limited Format" is about as old as Magic itself. That being said, it's still cool and building a Commander deck that way sounds MUCH more fun and challenging than building a 40 or 60 card deck. The process of adding 6 packs a week seems... arbitrary and not as fun, to me. And frankly steps out of Limited in spirit of not literally. I'd rather play one of these Sealed Commander decks until I tired of it, then buy another box and start over. If a deck is particularly fun, it could be kept together and upgraded.

[3drinks]

WE LOVE YOU RC! The "Sealed Box Limited Format" is about as old as Magic itself. That being said, it's still cool and building a Commander deck that way sounds MUCH more fun and challenging than building a 40 or 60 card deck. The process of adding 6 packs a week seems... arbitrary and not as fun, to me. And frankly steps out of Limited in spirit of not literally. I'd rather play one of these Sealed Commander decks until I tired of it, then buy another box and start over. If a deck is particularly fun, it could be kept together and upgraded.

What happens when you have that guy that decides to build with ultimate and double masters? Haha.

[cryogen]

WE LOVE YOU RC! The "Sealed Box Limited Format" is about as old as Magic itself. That being said, it's still cool and building a Commander deck that way sounds MUCH more fun and challenging than building a 40 or 60 card deck. The process of adding 6 packs a week seems... arbitrary and not as fun, to me. And frankly steps out of Limited in spirit of not literally. I'd rather play one of these Sealed Commander decks until I tired of it, then buy another box and start over. If a deck is particularly fun, it could be kept together and upgraded.

What happens when you have that guy that decides to build with ultimate and double masters? Haha.

They're saving that for Season 2 with Cassius Marsh, who will choose a case of Collectors boosters as his box to open.

[3drinks]

WE LOVE YOU RC! The "Sealed Box Limited Format" is about as old as Magic itself. That being said, it's still cool and building a Commander deck that way sounds MUCH more fun and challenging than building a 40 or 60 card deck. The process of adding 6 packs a week seems... arbitrary and not as fun, to me. And frankly steps out of Limited in spirit of not literally. I'd rather play one of these Sealed Commander decks until I tired of it, then buy another box and start over. If a deck is particularly fun, it could be kept together and upgraded.

What happens when you have that guy that decides to build with ultimate and double masters? Haha.

They're saving that for Season 2 with Cassius Marsh, who will choose a case of Collectors boosters as his box to open.

Oof. High roller table indeed 😮😎

Though also what if you don't get a legend in the whole box?

[Legend]

WE LOVE YOU RC! The "Sealed Box Limited Format" is about as old as Magic itself. That being said, it's still cool and building a Commander deck that way sounds MUCH more fun and challenging than building a 40 or 60 card deck. The process of adding 6 packs a week seems... arbitrary and not as fun, to me. And frankly steps out of Limited in spirit of not literally. I'd rather play one of these Sealed Commander decks until I tired of it, then buy another box and start over. If a deck is particularly fun, it could be kept together and upgraded.

What happens when you have that guy that decides to build with ultimate and double masters? Haha.

He whoops your ass lol. I wish I was that guy!

I swear I'm going onto get my Magic crew to do this.

[3drinks]

Reading is pretty pro, so I hear. After completely missing the link to the article at the bottom of the quote, the reprint sets is specifically addressed;

Un-sets, Masters sets, reprint-only sets, and other anthology products are not allowed.