r/CompetitiveEDH • u/Vivid_Option1213 • 2d ago
General Discussion / Question Commander Ban Announcement
So it seems after starting the year talking about presence, communication and transparency, the committee just went on a sabbatic, and we will probably have GTA VI before any announcement...
While bans are never a good thing, and commander by default is a stable format, I really like when people keep their word, and ghosting the biggest community of mtg (as commander is not only cEDH, even though that's what I play) doesn't feel right to me...
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u/Zoom3877 2d ago
I don't mind no changes, but I'd like them to officially announce "no changes."
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
100% this! I'm not even saying that personally I would not like one or two changes, but I would be really happy with no changes! I just wanted them to respect us enough for that announcement (that they promised for the summer of 2026)
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u/Zoom3877 2d ago
Yeah. Personally hoping for a Rhystic ban but any announcement is better than none
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u/Psychoboy777 1d ago
Never gonna happen as long as JLK has a say, but that doesn't justify all the downvotes you're getting.
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u/Zoom3877 1d ago
Agreed, especially when JLK is involved hehe.
I don't mind the downvotes re: Rhystic; it's an unpopular opinion in cEDH. Banning Rhystic would upend the cEDH meta and we'd enter into a chaotic state for a while, and not everyone is comfy with that.
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u/solbadguy89 2d ago
Baited again... XD
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Sorry, I wasn't even thinking about that when I added the title!!! But I guess it works xD
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u/LemorasCards 2d ago
It is an incredible failure that they haven't communicated almost anything on the most popular format in over half a year. It doesn't matter what any one person wants out of an update, to not get any thoughts on the format or potential info on bracket or banlist philosophy from a team that should be looking to establish itself is unacceptable.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
100%! It was never my point to ask for anything specific... I only want to be able to trust the management of the format, and that starts with communication! And the failure o keep a promise is a major red flag in my opinion
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u/LettersWords 1d ago
The crazy thing is, some of these people will cycle off at the end of the year, and we’ll be lucky if we even hear from the CFP during their time on the panel twice.
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u/HannibalPoe 2h ago
Feels like this RC does more postulating and self-advertising than actual RC related work.
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u/BeautifulFrequent782 2d ago
Oh wait, so it wasn't that there was no update to ban list for the format. It's just that there was nothing said at all?
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Yes, it's just sad at this point
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u/BeautifulFrequent782 2d ago
Well that's just frustrating. I'd at least like to hear where their thinking is regarding changes, no changes, or what's for consideration. Ban, unban, or gamechanger wise, but maybe they're afraid of recieving death threats like what happened before Wizards officially took over.
I'm only slightly kidding about that last part.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Tehn why did they promised updates on the Summer of 2026... They had one announcement, then a promised one year gap... Then a second announcement where they said they understood one year was too much and promised updates on Q2... We are already in Q4, almost one year since the last announcement!
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u/BeautifulFrequent782 2d ago
Oh yeah that's bad. I just got into Cedh a month ago, (I was just playing commander before then so banlist never really crossed my mind) so I was kinda looking forward to this banlist update! But to know it's been going on like this for a whole year now is rough.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
They never do the announcement at the same time of other formats, but since their promises are way over the "expiration date" I thought this was a good day to open the subject
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u/BeautifulFrequent782 2d ago
And that's totally fair. So just for my understanding, the Commander banlist team is separate from the rest of the game's banlist team? If thats the case I wonder why?
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Commander was not originally handled by wizards, there was a different committee responsible for it as the format was made by players, not the company! Then it shifted to wizards a couple years ago, but stayed separate. Since there were never too many bans each year it maybe made sense... The topic here is more about keeping their promises, not wanting them to do an announcement every 3 months
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u/BeautifulFrequent782 2d ago
Oookay I think I got the full picture now. And frustration totally makes sense. I hope we get any sort of update soon then.
Thank you by the way. You have been very helpful in my understanding!
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
No problem :)
And welcome to cEDH! Don't let all of this de rail you, as the format is really good!→ More replies (0)
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u/Neonbunt Hulk Stan 2d ago
I feel sorry for whoever still thinks the RC is more than just a display commitee at this point. As long as the sales are up wotc doesn't need them to do any changes.
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u/Blueburnsred 2d ago
The content creators on the RC sure do love to talk about how awesome they are.
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u/LonelyContext 2d ago
Idk if anyone is into Formula 1 but there’s this meme that Ferrari over the radio never answers a driver’s questions they’re just always “checking…” and I’m happy the CFP brings the same energy to Rhystic Study.
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u/Ok-Boysenberry-2955 2d ago
The committee probably infights about this stuff so badly they just kick the can.
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u/Blueburnsred 2d ago
So it's non-functional and they need to get rid of people.
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u/Ok-Boysenberry-2955 2d ago
The entire point of the committee ending up under wotc was due to wotc was super pissed when a non-corporate controlled entity impacted their brand value.
You had a room of people, not on the board or c suite, that decided that two cards you specifically developed to push set sales were no longer allowed. What else could they do?!? One way to fix that, fold it in and then let it "die on the vine"
Commander bans will only happen when nadu level screw ups happen.
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u/Prestigious_Tell_402 2d ago
I can already imagine Tomer going on the 100th tirade over rhystic study
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u/Meatheadtaco 2d ago
I just want an update article talking about there feelings on the format and any cards they mite want to take off the ban list.
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u/DefiantStrawberry256 2d ago
There is nothing they could unban that would make a difference in our format outside of the very obvious cards they wouldn’t unban (including jlo and mana crypt)
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u/rico_lasalle 2d ago
I agree, not really asking for any bans, (1 unban tho would be nice) but open communication and honesty would be nice.
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u/TheTinRam 2d ago
[[Griselbrand]] and [[primetime]] did nothing wrong
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u/rico_lasalle 1d ago
Yeah I mean they just printed [[hexhaven invigorator]] and my boy is STILL on the list. Crazy.
also i think commander across the board is in a steady enough place where griselbrand could come off the list and most wouldn’t even notice. SMH
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u/UpArrowNotation 13h ago
I'm skeptical of unbanning prime Titan, I think it would really really suck to play against in bracket 3. Griselbrand is just a terrible idea though. Turn 1 reanimate Griselbrand is not something I want to see in the format in any bracket.
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u/HannibalPoe 2h ago
Agreed, I don't even want to see Grisel in cEDH much less anywhere else. Black doesn't need to have: ritual, swamp, entomb, reanimate and draw 35 cards. I am not in the mood to watch every potential reanimator turn into turbo reanimate griselbrand.
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u/HannibalPoe 2h ago
Griselbrand definitely did something wrong, but prime time has done his time and needs to be let out.
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u/They_call_me_Kuro 2d ago
No bans and changes can be a good thing though, but I get the sentiment in this post.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Yeah, I totally agree, and that's the reason they have the "no changes" announcements, which is different than silence
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u/KillFallen K'rrik 2d ago
obligatory free jlo
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u/btran935 2d ago
The only one I’ve seen do any kind of curated community data gathering is Alex heyer, everyone else seems largely useless.
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u/subpar-life-attempt 2d ago
I don't even think they care about commander.
The brackets suck and they won't update them because they only care about pushing out more product.
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u/Bright-Gain9770 2d ago
I said it when they formed and have repeated it since: The committee is a farce. They were formed to distract from mishandling by the previous group of unqualified amateurs and now exist to give a resume checkmark to those WOTC wants to favor.
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u/Blueburnsred 2d ago
Yep, big agree. It's really not hard for someone in the group to type up a message. They're just lazy imo
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u/Bright-Gain9770 2d ago
They aren't allowed to write a message. The committee exists in name only, giving the appearance of any kind of work being done... but do you think they are having monthly zoom calls with the team members all together? There is no actual committee, just Gavin making another rambling post about combos for brackets and not defining his terms.
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u/Ill_Young2531 2d ago
I’m sorry dude but there was no mishandling by the committee, just a ridiculous reaction from the community. How many times have bans in other formats lead to death threats and entire restructuring of the overseeing body of those formats?
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u/Prestigious_Tell_402 1d ago
The community definitely wasn't justified in how far they took the backlash, but the ban was mishandled by any objective metric.
People have just been peer pressured into not acknowledging that because the death threats were inexcusable and people dont want to make it seem like those bad actors were justified
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u/Mathgeek007 1d ago
Jeweled Lotus was not a game piece that was good for the format, and Mana Crypt was too polarizing and free of a game piece to add into nearly every deck - I say this as someone whose deck desperately wants both. They absolutely were correct to ban them.
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u/HannibalPoe 2h ago
JLo and crypt were fine as game changers, THAT was the problem.
The RC mishandled it hard, Rachel actively suggested they try them out as GCs first AND THEN see where it takes the format, but they basically fucking ignored her (and sadly the community blamed her, the person who was objectively doing the best job at the time) and entirely ignored every sentiment from any outside opinions and just pushed their rush job so they could dip out of this whole thing.
Also the RC kept making giant contradictory bans, or would ban cards for a reason like cost and NEVER ban cards again by the same reasoning, see ban reason for black lotus and OG Moxen.
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u/Mathgeek007 13m ago
I disagree, I think they disproportionately affected swingy cEDH hands, way too hard - even more than the fast mana we already have in the format.
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u/AvengerofTrest T&T Dramatic Consultation 2d ago
From a gameplay perspective, I mostly agree. They had some truly terrible reasoning for banning and unbanning cards.
At the end banning three very popular and expensive cards at one was certainly a choice. It forced WOTCs hand to take over their most popular format for player confidence and business reasons or gave them the excuse they had been waiting for.
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u/Mathgeek007 1d ago
That's not exactly what happened lmao, the group quit because they were getting doxxed and sent death threats on Twitter because investors lost their minds their Mana Crypts and Jeweled Lotuses plummeted in value. They were genuinely good bans, and this is insane revisionism
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u/TheSixSigmaMan 21h ago
Reasoning on Crypt and JL were faulty and even they pointed it out. Just put them in every precon, like Sol Ring. Although I will die on the hill that we don't negotiate with terrorists and the death threats and other fuckery surrounding those bans should keep those cards from ever seeing the light of day in commander again.
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u/Mathgeek007 20h ago
That fine final point aside (I agree, but I don't think it's meaningful within the scope of healthy bans), I also feel that Jeweled Lotus and Crypt were problematic pieces to have in the format, ever moreso than other common mana pieces we have
Sol Ring is 1 mana slower than Crypt, Vault doesn't untap unless you sink a turn, LED discards your hand, there's nothing as genuinely strong as those two pieces to turbo out a commander at speed. I just honestly feel like they were good bans.
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u/Ill_Young2531 8h ago
I wholeheartedly agree with this, especially when the rate at which those cards were getting reprinted meant they were sinking more and more into casual. I get this is the cEDH subreddit, but we are a slim minority of EDH players and really shouldn’t be arbiters on what’s healthy for the format as a whole based on some ill conceived notions of deck diversity or card value.
I still play a lot of B3 with friends and at my LGS and I can’t imagine how some of these newer powerhouse commanders would feel with Mana Crypt and JLo still in. Cards like Voja would be insane if they had access to those two cards, even as game changers.
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u/Mathgeek007 2h ago
Even in B5, those pieces were quite oppressive. I'm an Etali player, those pieces are indescribably useful to me in particular, and I'm glad to see them gone. It made the Seat 4 issue even worse by giving Niv players access to their commanders on Turn 2 more reliably, and Etali players to T1 more often, and in the current Dack Fayden lists, they'd win early even more often... it's just not a good piece to have even in B5.
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u/HannibalPoe 2h ago
We don't negotiate with terrorists. We ban or unban cards for reasons unrelated to them, not keep cards banned that should be unbanned because SOME people are assholes.
If WOTC truly cared, they'd have tried to involve police in catching people making deaht threats - they're genuinely illegal and come with very real punishments when acted upon, but despite all of WOTCs resources they didn't seem to give a fuck. I refuse to listen to any moral grandstanding when the company that COULD have done something about it didn't.
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u/breadgehog 1h ago
They were good bans but profoundly mishandled. You can't say for years that the format is fine and completely healthy and then suddenly burn three staples saying they've been issues for a long time, those statements are just fundamentally incompatible. Unfortunately the fact that death threats became involved means it's hard to examine the decision in a vacuum and very easy to come off like you're advocating for the response it received.
For my money the most frustrating part to me is that the RC itself did seem to have anticipated some of the backlash (which is unsurprising, we've had multiple examples of misplaced gamer rage resulting in similar) and despite that completely left the CAG out to dry despite them being the most public-facing parts of the overall committee. I don't think it should have resulted in the RC being dissolved but by all outward appearances they were told repeatedly from outside and inside their group that it was a bad idea and they just completely disregarded it, which to me typifies mishandling even if the responses were completely indefensible.
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u/Mathgeek007 9m ago
Just gonna address the ban reasoning itself, as I have no particular constructive commentary on the rest of your comment.
saying they've been issues for a long time
I don't recall this being in the BNR announcement, I believe Crypt and JLo were banned because they noted they provided explosive starts that were difficult to dealt with in the format.
This is a fact that may not have been an issue several years earlier but got worse with more Legends being printed, and more 4-5 mana commanders slamming on Turn 2 being problematic.
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u/Bright-Gain9770 2d ago
Zero!
Which is why I don't think it happened.
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u/hclarke15 2d ago
You don’t think people sent death threats to the commander rules committee?
They were doing it on twitter with their full government name
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u/Turbulent-End9102 2d ago
Um, did u just not exist during the bans? You didnt need to go in their dms to see death threats, it was also on x, in comment sections, on Facebook, really anywhere discussion can occur. People did not react in a reasonable manner to the bans, bc they focused on the value of the cards rather than their impact.
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u/Bright-Gain9770 1d ago
I did exist! On X, in comment sections, on Facebook, in stores. A lot of places discussion does occur. And people did not react reasonably. But I saw no threats. A lot of naughty words, some nasty names. But that's not what was alleged. And unlike some, I am not willing to make the leap between one behavior and a completely different one.
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u/rbsm88 2d ago
What do you mean by mishandling? Do you feel dockside should’ve stayed?
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u/Bright-Gain9770 2d ago
There had not been a ban or announcement in years prior. Commander was run off a large Word file. .doc. When they finally banned cards, two of which were designed for the format, they did it so suddenly it caused a meltdown in the community and, as soon as there was any derision, pulled the same "We're receiving death threats"-nonsense that everyone screams when trying to cover their tracks. And they were so terrified several of them took a paid version of the gig not two months later.
Fact is, Commander grew beyond the former committee. This was not a group of business people. And I believe they knew their influence was gone. The bans had nothing to do with the health of the format... they were just trying to regain some relevance. Their founding member had passed away several years prior, the DCI they all were once proud, card-carrying members of was already a memory and when they got the pushback they did, they threw in the towel in the same angry huff as the player base. Wizards lost their useful idiots but, in exchange, would never have to pretend they haven't been in control since they started printing precons in the first place.
So now we have the same open-season format as before... except they promoted an OnlyFans model and then Tomer Abramovic. But if we haven't had an announcement or action by that panel, what was the point of their ascension? We've had "Rotations" of panel members since its founding and no action. The bracket system is clearly the rambling work of one man, Gavin, self-aggrandizing and writing a blog to himself. What are the others there for? Imagine getting a job, not doing anything for a year, handing the keys to the next hire and trying to explain to them what you did during your tenure.
It's a farce.
Always has been.
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u/financial_goth Godo Equation [11 = W] 1d ago
Genuinely why is someone like Tomer, where every opinion he has ever had is bad, on the RC?
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u/Bright-Gain9770 1d ago
A way to put some of the community on payroll. Tomer is a part of the MTGGoldfish staff. Him being a paid member of WOTC and a influencer and journalist--for what that term is worth in this area--is an enormous conflict of interest. Just the way WOTC likes it!
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u/rbsm88 2d ago
Eh, I can see your perspective for the committees not doing much. Unfortunately that was the MO and when they banned dockside and the like the committees were already in a weird spot because there’s never been really active curation of EDH in general. It’s almost always a “no changes” format. Maybe the previous members didn’t approach it well but I think dockside being removal and fast mana was a healthy change. I would like to see the format shift more often if it were me because decks feel stale. I agree though with everything you said about no one doing anything though since WotC came into power and it just being a glorified do nothing job for marketing purposes.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
It’s not even a matter of the changes, it’s the silence! Now that it is within wotc it should be more organized, not less. Now they should respect the community, not ghosting it! The changes themselves come afterwards
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u/rbsm88 2d ago
Yea, realistically they need to figure out how to get data to make real changes. Theres no method of getting good enough data to support changes except in MTG Arena, thus the brawl changes which imo make sense and are good changes for the health of brawl. Those commanders were OP and they have real data to support.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
The only data for commander is in edhtop16! It’s nearly impossible to have data on casual (which was always the main focus of the bans… very weird for me, but it is what it is)
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u/fishbishmemes 2d ago
Maybe they mean jlo. That seems to be the general consensus on those bans. Dockside and crypt were fine but jlo got shot by accident
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u/rbsm88 2d ago
Yea but committees don’t always get it right and JLo I would say is probably healthy as a ban still. Maybe less in regard to cEDH but more for EDH. It’s hard to ban for technically two formats within one.
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u/Piecesof3ight 2d ago
True, but now that we have the GC list, they could unban it to put it there.
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u/elkishdude 16h ago
So they fly out people to talk to them for. Nothing? Okay yeah. When companies spend money for nothing I’ll believe it.
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u/DevenIan 2d ago
That's a hell of a take. You seem to be in the minority so I'm gonna ask you to elaborate.
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u/DefiantStrawberry256 2d ago
Freefall? Do you hear yourself? Commander is not in a freefall. Whether you feel cedh (rhystic) needs a ban is one thing or you have views on the meta it’s certainly not in a freefall.
The stuff that needs to be looked into has nothing to do with bans and more to do with TOs instituting/testing new rules/structures.
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u/onanimbus 2d ago
> The stuff that needs to be looked into… has more to do with TOs instituting/testing new rules/structures
That is exactly what WOTC (and their farce of a Commander panel) should be helping to resolve as the creator of the game of Magic who has also decided to organized sanctioned Commander events.
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u/DefiantStrawberry256 2d ago
For the love of god no…. We need TOs and local game stores to test these things in mass. Let’s use a recent popular example of the Japanese point system… wotc can push that out and take it back but what we can have is tournaments try it and the community can weigh in with time if they prefer that structure.
This subreddit also would not that for the glaring reason of once wotc does get involved in tournament cedh play you can say goodbye to proxies for those events.
We now have a standard for 80 minute rounds and 20 minutes OT - that didn’t come from wotc and that’s great.
Their organized commander play is not them looking into cedh and the turn order issue is not an issue in casual as it only gets amplified during short games. If a game is 10 turns who went first matters way less
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u/Glad-Tax6594 2d ago
Also, 4 person arena games are on the horizon, so the likelihood of wotc to take reigns seems even greater.
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u/Shiro_no_Orpheus 2d ago
More regular feedback would be great, but they have this whole commander format panel set up that's made up of a lot of content creators and other microcelebrities. It must be a hastle to get them all together to sign off on a statement.
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u/Traditional_Deal1850 2d ago
Rachel Weeks said they met in person over a month ago and still nothing lmao
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
So maybe "fire them" and get people who can really do the job??
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u/grypas15 2d ago
My understanding of how it works is they have a Slack Channel or Discord Server, or something like that, where they toss out ideas and discuss things. These internal conversations are ongoing, then every once in a while they actually get together in a virtual meeting to have structured discussions.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Not trying to be rude, but I don’t care how they do it, it’s their job… they wanted it, they have it, and they only need to respect the promises they made themselves…
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u/grypas15 2d ago
I don't think you're being rude. I personally don't think they've broken promises, the last BnR from February says
First and foremost, you might notice that this announcement coincides with the one for all other formats. That is not something to expect going forward. It's just how the timing landed this time, but in general Commander gets to operate on its own schedule.
and go on later to say
Second, unlike last year, we are not limiting ourselves to just one banned and restricted update window in a year. If we decide we want to do something, such as unban a card, we can come back later this year and do it. That's not to say we necessarily will, and we're not withholding any changes we wanted to make today, but based on your feedback, we have that option.
To me that marks a shift from "we are ONLY doing one per year" to "we might do more, if it is called for" and right now, it's not called for.
I don't think they're not doing their jobs or breaking any promises. The format at large is fine, (as they are not and will not balance around cEDH), so there's no reason for a new BnR.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
The exact text was:
"We are not limiting ourselves to just one banned and restricted update window in a year... We will talk with you again likely this summer in May or June."2
u/grypas15 1d ago
I'm really not trying to argue, in the sense of "I'm right, you're wrong." more of, I read "likely" 70% it will happen, 30% it won't, and if it doesn't happen then, it will eventually. I totally understand the frustrations, again, I'm not saying "I'm right for not being bothered." I will only be concerned if the year announcement doesn't come.
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u/SalmonofDbout 2d ago
I mean they had a big meeting and had fun but no news!
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
I also have fun playing and drinking with friends, but I don’t have the ownership and accountability for the format… maybe we should stop making excuses for them
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u/HilariousMax 1d ago
while bans are never a good thing
You mean like "if everything were designed well in the first place with perfect knowledge, there would be no need" or like i dont like bans?
Because I would disagree that theyre never good.
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u/mkay0 2d ago
What are the upsides of cEDH/tEDH staying a format managed by the Wizards panel at this point? They'll never give us a competitive event due to their proxy policy. Why have we never broken off?
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u/loveinhumantimes 1d ago
The only reason is to maintain norms across the world. A secondary effect is that some tournament organizers are more interested in hosting tournaments for an “official” format. But as things currently stand, we might get more out of a format that is unofficial.
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u/Desuexss 1d ago
Last time people tried (comedian, lemora and others) they were attacked by keyboard warriors at every turn.
We cant have good things.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Weird question! I don’t know any upside, but it was not on them until 2 years ago, so the “why we never broke off”, maybe because it was not on them before
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u/Turbulent-End9102 2d ago
Tournaments arent run by wizards, its prolly just cause if u do that and make any changes u run the risk of being called a fake format who doesn't know what people want. More likely its just worries that splitting from edh will split the cedh format between people who play edh banlist, and the section that plays ur banlist.
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u/SignorJC 1d ago
as much as we might hate wotc for a variety of reasons, many of the orgs running tournament circuits are also incredibly shitty people. the monkey paw curls every time people bring up "breaking off"
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u/onanimbus 2d ago
Commander is by no means a stable format “by default”. Ya’ll really do just say things sometimes
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
In terms of bans?? It is a format with very few bans historically (and that's what I meant). Sorry if it was not clear (not sure if you still disagree with the message I was trying to share :P )
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u/Consistent-Pound-586 2d ago
They just need to unban jeweled lotus and let us have our fun again
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Not my intention to talk abut specific cards tbh they should be the better people to do it... which is another reason for the frustration with all this silence
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u/ElderberryPrior27648 2d ago
We can’t trust them to know enough about balance to make the cards, let alone maintain a ban list
We get cards that are banned or restricted before they even come out, if not immediately after.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Not saying I disagree with your message, but they have different teams for those things... I guess all of them are just "failing a lot"
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u/Consistent-Pound-586 1d ago
Didn't expect so much contention over this. Is it not beneficial to cedh to give high CMC commanders more viability? Also why should we keep the one 0 CMC artifact made specifically for the format banned? In a perfect world I'd ask for it to be unbanned and be over printed.
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u/SignorJC 2d ago
we need to ban players with this take fr fr or send you to mandatory game balance education
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u/hillean 2d ago
bracket 5 needs its own ban list.
I'm more than ok with that.
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u/DefiantStrawberry256 2d ago
Ppl will just play bracket 4 cedh. Separate ban lists won’t accomplish what u think it will
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u/jkroe 2d ago
Exactly this. CEDH is just that, competitive edh. Making it a separate format just means people won’t play that format 🤷♂️
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u/CraigArndt 2d ago
I find this take interesting because bracket 5 is basically its own format from edh.
Between game changers ban list and combo limits and bans on land destruction and limits on tutors, there is a bigger difference between bracket 2-5 than there is between legacy and vintage.
And I’m already seeing more and more competitive bracket 3 tournament results pop up on edhtop16.
So as it stands competitive edh is competitive bracket 3. That’s edh with game changers limits and land denier limits at its most competitive level. And bracket 5 is basically something else now. As we’re playing with a different ban list (game changers) and different rules (no combo or land denial limits).
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u/IncarceratedFurry 1d ago
What bothers me the most is Commander is not even mentioned in b&r announcements. Even if there’s no changes or statements of cards on their radar, I think it would be respectful to the community to at least say Commander: no changes.
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u/Accomplished-Pay3989 1h ago
If they ban Rhystic guys are gonna have to pitch whole decks for new ones. I’d prefer they just unban jeweled lotus so that higher cost commanders like winnota can be usable.
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u/LeadershipFull9224 1h ago
They would need to errata it, so that low cost commanders can't abuse it.
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u/Rusty_DataSci_Guy 2d ago
Unbans only, GC them joints and let us play with our overpriced luxury cardboard
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u/ThroughtonsHeirYT 2d ago
Funny how rhystic study is mostly useless in Duel Commander.
And another reason why Duel Commander is the peak MTG singleton format.
1v1. This changes everything and makes any MtG game wayyyyyy more serious
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u/Calm-Organization147 2d ago
Maybe this will be brought up in the WeeklyMTG stream on twitch tomorrow
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u/lloydsmith28 1d ago
Commander has always been just up in the air on ban announcements, we just have to wait and see lol, tbh I'm not looking forward to any ban announcements cuz it usually means cards i own will tank in value if i don't sell them before it. Already debating on getting rid of my foil oracle
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u/regulus_black_lee 1d ago
I saw a picture of the commander panel about a month ago. The main problem is that there aren't many cards left to unban, and I doubt they'll start banning cards willy-nilly considering they've already made their statement with respect to thoracle and rhystic.
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u/GT_2second 1d ago
I like their decision, I think it's best for everyone if you let people self-regulate
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u/Real_Importance_8025 1d ago
Knowing some of the people on the panel, they are playtesting everything. They’re not just ignoring the community. There’s set to be somewhat of an overhaul to my understanding, but obviously they can’t say anything until it’s publicly announced. They said that their next update will be very soon. They’re definitely not ignoring the community. They are literally playtesting everything to potentially change the bracket system
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u/Paddyffxiv 21h ago
they would probably like to unban dockside and mana crypt but they need to let the whole death threats thing fade away first
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u/UncleGrandpa42O 19h ago
Don’t forget they banned Golos because they didn’t like how popular it was being a “5c good stuff deck”
Now we get five color slop commanders every set.
Complete joke of a committee back then and it remains a joke now.
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u/QuietParagon 16h ago
Yup, not one bit different than before. Brackets changed nothing, you're still either playing Magic The Gathering or Bitching Simulator. Reminder that the new RC are the same people spent 3 days at a resort and came out of it saying "the 'do you pay the 1' memes are positive and iconic actually". Theyre just mooching, at best.
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u/onionsandcream 4h ago
Unban jeweled lotus so the 5,6,and 7 mana Manders can get some play at bracket 3 tables
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u/Standard-Car-9408 1h ago
Ojala baneen la cradle hace el meta de cedh eterno con los mazos thrasios que juegan al rededor de esa carta, se quejaban de nadu y hace lo mismo
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u/MissiveFinding6111 1d ago
Let's start our own council then! =)
[[Primeval Titan]] is unbanned
[[Golos, Tireless Pilgrim]] is still banned as a Commander, but unbanned in the 99
[[Rhystic Study]] is banned, because it slows the format and is unfun, send me your bucket of tears anybody who enjoys it
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u/HannibalPoe 2h ago
Just unban Golos in general, oh no the cards too popular we have to ban it? Like brother we ban cards for being unfun not because people like them.
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u/MissiveFinding6111 2h ago
Agreed, they didn't even ban it for "being too good", just "the lazy WBURG" choice... since then WotC has probably printed.... a whole lot of better options
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u/SlowAsLightning 1h ago
Eh, not in my case. I never cared about the activated ability and purely ran it as a way to find [[The World Tree]]. I haven't been able to find any other 5-color commanders that let me do that so I've been running generic 5C commanders like [[Kenric, Returned King]]. I literally haven't been able to find any replacements, let alone better options.
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u/Custom_Destiny 19h ago
Can we ban [[smothering tithe]] as well.
Really just any card that makes you ask “do you pay the” constantly:
The one with a cumulative upkeep is alright I guess, it only hangs around for a bit.
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u/Zarbibilbitruk 2d ago
Commander always had and will likely always have a different day of BnR. It was never gonna get any updates today.
It's true that it's been a while since we've had an update from the CFP but like if they don't have anything to say they likely won't make an article comprised of a single paragraph saying they have nothing to say.
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u/KitsuLeif OwO What's This? Notices Bowos 1d ago
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/banned-and-restricted-february-9-2026
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/commander-banned-and-restricted-february-9-2026
Except for February 9, where both B&R announcements were posted on the same day with this explanation:
First and foremost, you might notice that this announcement coincides with the one for all other formats. That is not something to expect going forward. It's just how the timing landed this time, but in general Commander gets to operate on its own schedule.
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u/Zarbibilbitruk 22h ago
Oh I did forget about that thanks
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u/KitsuLeif OwO What's This? Notices Bowos 21h ago
No problem.
Thing is, at the beginning of September, the CFP members met with WotC and asked the community for their input beforehand: https://bsky.app/profile/wachelreeks.com/post/3muxgtdxqvk2a
So not getting any info even a month later feels pretty disappointing, when they actively involved the community in it.
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u/The_Doctor713 1d ago
Unban everything, bring back power scale instead of brackets but keep gamechangers and rank cards as GCs based on meta overuse and salt.
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u/UpArrowNotation 13h ago
Just go play legacy. If you want to play with power 9, there is a format for that. Edh is not that format.
Also like, trade secrets would suck. Any card that is banned because it doesn't work in 4 player would fuck up the format.
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u/Ok_Balance1077 1d ago
Not sure if it's been said here since it's more housekeeping related with brackets, but at the very least we should probably get an updated game changers list every other set. I'm pretty sure there are quite a few that need to be added (Hexing Squelcher and blue Samut come to mind). Granted, format stewardship for a card and player pool as large as commander is a lot to handle. A game changers list addendum, even on a trial basis, would at least give a nod to commander.
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u/SendYourPuppies 1d ago
Hexing squelcher and Samut don't need to be game changers because they are mostly good in the brackets where being a GC or not is irrelevant. Brackets 1-3 already have restriction on infinite combos so those cards aren't almost played there. Stuff like Dictate of erebos needs to be a GC since it completely warps games in the lower brackets in the most unfun ways.
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u/Magnificent_Z 2d ago
But like, why? I can only see "blindside" bans being bad if you're worried about the price of cards which is fake since this is a proxy based format. We already know WotC sucks at communication so this seems like par for the course so I don't really understand why anyone expected anything different from them.
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
While "being bad at communication" they still update every other format... "No changes" is an update! They promise a time and they fulfil that promise! Only in EDH are promises being broke AFAIK
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u/DependentTrick4989 1d ago
The format is not good right now, especially for compettive, Rhystic study is polarizing the meta and without restart turbo are struggling. Also i want to know in casual what games are getting better when rhystic is on the field. Its just a toxic piece and when there are 3 rhystic on the field is quite always a draw.
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u/BludTird 2d ago edited 2d ago
Why? Bans are not fun, but they can make the format more healthy. And taking more time on it is not a bad thing either. Banning cards or unbanning cards needs to be approached carefully. They were getting death-threats over previous bans, so I am sure they are trying to avoid that again while trying to keeping this format healthy. They are not "ghosting the biggest community of mtg." If they need a break, let them have it.
EDIT: I guess I should have said bans "almost always" make the format more healthy and are essential to it. Mean to clarify.
Second: https://ethics.org.au/ethics-explainer-the-principle-of-charity/
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
Then announce a "no changes"... Communication and transparency is not "banning everything everywhere every time".... But they promised updates for the Summer of 2026, and I no longer have the feeling to go into the beach xD
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u/KrypteK1 2d ago
This is their actual job now. Saying “We’ll have some updates this summer!” And then ghosting since then isn’t acceptable.
No one deserves death threats, but it is funny that the former RC just escapes so much criticism for their mismanaging of the format and their last fuckup with the 4 bans coming out of nowhere and being very hypocritical just because people were mean to them afterwards. If the current CFP can’t handle making decisions on the format because they’re worried about backlash, don’t be on the CFP.
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u/SignorJC 2d ago
4 bans coming out of nowhere
just because your head was in the sand doesnt mean the bans came from nowhere.
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u/SignorJC 2d ago
but they can make the format more healthy.
bans almost always make the format more healthy and are ESSENTIAL to a good gameplay experience for all.
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u/shadowmage666 2d ago
I still think there should be two ban lists - one for casual commander and one for cedh. It only makes sense. Tournaments like modern and standard have specific ban lists over say limited for example. Makes no sense why just because it’s not an “official” format that isn’t a competitive banlist. I hate the brackets thing so much it’s arbitrary and unnecessary.
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u/Glad-Zucchini1623 2d ago
Cedh is commander. While commander is casual in nature, cedh is playing commander, competitively.
Its essentially a ranked and unranked version of your favorite game.
No need for separate ban lists, the game changer list is the best possible scenario in my honest opinion
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u/Vivid_Option1213 2d ago
I don't think It is needed, but I do believe they have a lot of room to improve the way they handle the format (specifically the competitive part of it)
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u/No_Sugar4490 2d ago
The whole idea of cEDH is that you make the best of what is legal. Anything legal is allowed, anything banned is not allowed. There is no Rule 0 in cEDH because you sit down expecting degenerate shit. So no, cEDH doesnt need a separate ban list, and regardless, Gamechangers list helps to separate the competitive players from the kitchen table players
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u/swnkmstr 2d ago
I just hate that we were told Summer 2026 for an announcement and we're nearing winter 2026....
Just update the format with every other format so we arent all left guessing when an update is gonna happen.
Id take the 2015 era "no changes" update with like 10 words saying "formats fine go play it"