MTGNexus

Sheldon Menery, the Godfather of EDH, has passed away after a seven-year battle with cancer. He created this formerly niche format with three friends in Alaska decades ago. One could say that Commander is Magic at this moment. Through Commander, few, if any people have made such a huge impact on Magic; his creation has shaped the direction of the game. Over the years, regardless of whether or not you agreed with the RC about something, I think it was impossible to doubt Sheldon's love of Magic and Commander.

Rest in peace @Sheldon. Thank you for everything.

Just saw on Twitter/X.
Condolences to his family. I hope he passed away peacefully.

o7

Wishing all the best for those who love and miss him and thanking him for all that he did for our beloved game.

His vision and passion will live trough many players that both know him and people who never heard or will hear his name, great legacy

Very sorry to hear this. @Sheldon, thanks for everything. RIP

Sadge he used to talk in the official thread back in the day on salvation

A great loss for all of us.
My condolences and respects.

I may not have always seen eye to eye with Sheldon, but I could tell he loved this game, the commander format, and most of all the people who play magic, aka, the gathering. And, fittingly enough, of that gathering, he was a legend.

Rest in peace sir.

Very sad. He was young. A great loss to his family, and certainly to magic.

Said it in the other thread, but this is sad for sure.

I was reflecting on Reddit that after Garfield and MaRo, I don't know if anyone has had as big an impact on this game as Sheldon Menery did. I had forgotten until WotC's article on it that Sheldon was a Level 5 judge and key figure in the wild "live on ESPN2" days of competitive magic when the Comp Rules were still a lot to handle.

Respect and wishes of peace to him and his family.

I made a lot of great friends thanks to this format. May he rest in peace.

Hope he didn't feel too much pain in the end. And that his family and friends are okay.
We probably wouldn't be here together without him and some other folks. Seldom a single person, who I never met, had so much influence on one of my hobbies and friendships.

Rest well and long.

May he rest in peace!

I've been thinking a lot about Sheldon over the last 24 hours, especially when it comes to the discourse I've had about him or the RC's decisions over the years. I was mostly polite and constructive, but there were a few times I was not. I'm 41, but I was in my mid-30's before I reined in my more aggressive or insensitive tendencies of online discourse. I know he read at least one of them. I wish I hadn't been so rude to someone who was not only a nice, thoughtful person, but who also created and nurtured one of my favorite things ever to exist.

RxPhantom wrote: ↑

8 months ago

I've been thinking a lot about Sheldon over the last 24 hours, especially when it comes to the discourse I've had about him or the RC's decisions over the years. I was mostly polite and constructive, but there were a few times I was not. I'm 41, but I was in my mid-30's before I reigned in my more aggressive or insensitive tendencies of online discourse. I know he read at least one of them. I wish I hadn't been so rude to someone who was not only a nice, thoughtful person, but who also created and nurtured one of my favorite things ever to exist.

I did not know Sheldon and can't talk for how he took it in good faith. But I interacted with him on some occasions and once was pretty harsh on my criticism of the lack of latin american people in the CAG and RC. I think @Hermes_ was in the discord that day. He assured me they were thankful for people speaking out and that he would take that into consideration. Before that other members of the chat, and even people in "power" positions were pretty quick to dismiss what I said, I think it was Tim Willoughby(?) who dismissed pretty quick. Sheldon did not have to answer, and if answer the discord was pretty much saying they were in the right, I was pretty astonished to see him admit their shortcomings, and say they would be better. I share this because I think this anecdote might shed a light on how open and understanding he was towards us when we got passionate over cardboard.

I ended up feeling so bad because I was pretty harsh on something that I could be as firm as I was but in a much more polite way, cant change much now, only do better from now on

I never interacted with Sheldon but he seemed like a good person and I can't say he hasn't effected my life since commander is my favorite format. I agree with Hawk in saying I think after Garfield and MaRo, Sheldon likely has had the biggest impact on the game by making what is now the most popular magic the gathering format. I hope his passing was as painless and peaceful as possible and condolences to his love ones, its never easy to lose someone

The Man, The Mythic, The Legendary. I really do hope he RIP cause him and his friends really changed magic.

It super sucks. As much as I disagreed with him on things here or there, he was an excellent human being.

The first comment on EDHrec's tribute to Sheldon reads:

You could equip Blackblade Reforged onto Sheldon Menery and it would only cost 3 mana.

I quite enjoyed that.

This %$#% sucks. RIP to a real one.

From Scott:

https://twitter.com/ScottLarabee/status ... mDb5Q&s=19

(Reposting this to correct the location)

Sheldon's family is trying to collect tributes for Sheldon in a single location.
If you could please post your tributes at https://t.co/zrsCx9YTKR it would be appreciated.

Please re-post for visibility

Rest in Peace, Sheldon. The Commander community owes you a lot. You will be missed 🫡

You don't realize how much you have, until it's taken away forever. I got to interact with him many times, most recently in the PreDH section of the official Discord server. He didn't need to interact with me, I'm just that one diehard player trying to keep stax alive over fast combo and rampant power creep, but he did. Now that's all gone. Hardly seems worth it.

Father Time is undefeated, and that won't change...but could he at least take the legitimately awful people like dictators and hate mongers, rather than good genuine people from this planet? At least try to make this world better. Alas, I suppose Sheldon didn't have the WR up to D-Palm it back to Father Time...

I remember his somewhat recent struggles with cancer a few years ago. Last I knew he was doing somewhat better and it was looking like it might be in remission so I didn't expect to see this over the weekend. My condolences to his family first and foremost. The magic community as a whole is lesser without him but its nothing in comparison to those whom he personally called friend and family.

Awwww no, the best L5 of all time but also loving family man. I can't even begin to imagine what they must be going through. 🥺

Rest in peace. I have followed him since the very first precons, I modeled my Karador deck after his signature deck.
Really sad news.