Was WotC's embrace of Commander a good thing?

[Avacyn Believer]

I think WotC sees the money-maker Commander is for their bottom line and has no choice but to embrace it.

This is rather amusing to think about, that a company has became reliant on a format that they didn't come up and do not fully control. I am sure top execs would love to get rid of RC and ruin the format their own way

I don't even play cEDH and I see it freaking everywhere.

Always find it fascinating how different experiences people have. I play with a number of different groups and keep trying different LGS because I travel a lot with work, but it has been rare for me to see the Oracle in games, can't even think of the last time I saw it. But I agree that it would get boring real quick outside of cEDH.

[NZB2323]

I guess there's still a chance that WotC rights the format by printing the cards that we want, and coming up with more answers and less busted cards.

Doorkeeper Thrull is a great answer to Thassa's Oracle, Dockside Extortionist, and Craterhoof Behemoth and I don't think anyone is complaining that Doorkeeper Thrull is too busted.

Baleful Mastery is a great answer to Thassa's Oracle, and I don't think anyone is complaining about it.

Vengeful Tracker is a great answer to treasure, and I don't think anyone is complaining about him.

Clever Concealment is a great answer to Cyclonic Rift, and I don't think anyone is complaining about CC.

Red and White have gotten cards like Demand Answers and Smuggler's Share, which aren't busted and can help them keep up with Sultai when it comes to card advantage.

Looking at my decks, the only one that has a commander before Wizards paid attention to Commander is Captain Sisay, who is pretty busted and spends a lot of the game shuffling my deck.

[BaronCappuccino]

Aside from the existence of super legends for several archetypes, such as Korvold, Fae-Cursed King that render everything they overlap obsolete, I don't have a big problem with Commander's NWO, so to speak.

[krakked]

I'm sure I'm making the same points that others have in the thread, but another positive side is that it makes EDH more accessible. But again it's become a competitive format with power creep. Seriously, I wonder what bandwagon Wotc will jump on in an effort to make a few cheap dollars. And I'm not sure if the people over there realize that people play other formats too. Modern has fallen to the wayside since Wotc has dropped one toy and started playing with another. Not to mention than a lot of cards in these new sets are unable to be used In other formats since they only care about commander centered cards. I feel that between them wanting to exploit EDH players and fandoms at the exact same time, I've been considering getting into Old School. I just feel fatigued with the flood of product that Wotc has been pumping out. It's not like it's going to stop either. I know they make untold amounts of money from precons and universes beyond %$#%$#%. Hell, their lord of the rings set was their most successful set in their entire history.
Overall, I do kind of agree with the mixed bag, but it's going to be like superhero movies in the cinema industry. Some people are going to get fed up and move on.

[PrimevalCommander]

*Not pointed at anyone in this thread*
I don't think anyone has a problem with the Preconstructed decks. My opinion is those are what make the game so accessible, not the $40+ chase mythics that push the sale of packs. powercreep is not designed to increase accessibility to the game, it's designed to increase revenue. The Precon decks are great, and I love what they are doing with those. Keep the precons, and scrap everything else WotC has been doing to "promote" commander and get a format that is just as accessible to new players, and less work to keep up with for casual MTG enjoyers like myself. The past 2 years the precon decks have just been getting more and more playable right out of the box. Only having to spend $50-$70 to get a highly playable deck that can then be upgraded to a very impressive level for maybe $15-$20 more if desired. I've won games with my stock precon from New Capenna that I bought for $35 off Amazon

[pokken]

powercreep is not designed to increase accessibility to the game

I *generally* agree but to quibble a bit, making old cards eclipsed by new cards does in some sense devalue old cards, which makes the game more accessible after a fashion.

That said, the way of doing it with:

the $40+ chase mythics that push the sale of pack

is a godawful experience. so tired of "and now you need to buy four copies of The Great Henge" (which is the first one of those that jumped out at me and became emblematic of the "we created a new mythic staple" problem.

[Hermes_]

It seems WotC UB plan has run into problems

https://mtgrocks.com/hasbro-report-reve ... yond-cost/

[Avacyn Believer]

Not gonna complain if we see less of UB.

[yeti1069]

*Not pointed at anyone in this thread*
I don't think anyone has a problem with the Preconstructed decks. My opinion is those are what make the game so accessible, not the $40+ chase mythics that push the sale of packs. powercreep is not designed to increase accessibility to the game, it's designed to increase revenue. The Precon decks are great, and I love what they are doing with those. Keep the precons, and scrap everything else WotC has been doing to "promote" commander and get a format that is just as accessible to new players, and less work to keep up with for casual MTG enjoyers like myself. The past 2 years the precon decks have just been getting more and more playable right out of the box. Only having to spend $50-$70 to get a highly playable deck that can then be upgraded to a very impressive level for maybe $15-$20 more if desired. I've won games with my stock precon from New Capenna that I bought for $35 off Amazon

If WotC hadn't ditched MSRP, this would ring more truly, but it's hard to be accessible when the precons with valuable chase cards inflate to over $100 in price themselves.

[PrimevalCommander]

If WotC hadn't ditched MSRP, this would ring more truly, but it's hard to be accessible when the precons with valuable chase cards inflate to over $100 in price themselves.

Very true. But most of the hyper inflated ones have been UB products, outside of the current Dino precon. There are many playable precons for standard Walmart price or lower.

[RowanKeltizar]

Idk, this is a complex subject and a great discussion.

There are a hundred ways to stop Thassa's Oracle. The problem is, most decks probably aren't running a high enough interaction density to consistently interrupt it. But this can be said for any compact and consistent combo deck tbh. I have a friend who is annoyingly good at building these types of decks and I am pretty much forced to play my control deck against him everytime. It can be fun if all decks at the table have a similar amount of interaction or combo potential, but otherwise is downright torturous.

Personally, I am enjoying the current state of EDH overall. I tend to play at a higher power level and I enjoy tribal decks. I get excited when new cards get printed that fulfill a certain niche in my deck. The first card that comes to mind is Spiteful Banditry. It's fulfilled an itch I've had for years where board wipes sit in my hand early game and ramp spells are bad draws late game. It's a fantastic card from a design point of view. It's usually a great draw at any point in the game. I bought as many copies as I had red decks, lmao.

Gameplay wise, yes some matches can be very fast but then again, I just played a nearly 2.5hr game where I was playing my best deck and other decks were relatively evently matched. It was fun. Lots of interaction and back and forth.

As far as power creep is concerned: if they printed a strictly better Force of Will or Cyclonic Rift I would be worried. VERY worried. But they haven't. They leave powerful cards alone and don't power creep to the point where I feel like rage quitting in the singles buying game. Some of the mobile games I've played have shown me just how bad power creep can get for the sake of $$$ and magic is nowhere near that tipping point.

They've been introducing new archetypes like "clue tribal" for example and I think that's a great thing for the diversity of the game, while adding support for existing archetypes.

At the end of the day, I'm still having fun and feel good about buying singles and building new decks.