Wizards of the Coast, the company that creates Magic: The Gathering, has announced it’s taking control of the Commander format.
Commander is the most popular Magic: The Gathering format, created by the late Judge Emeritas Sheldon Menery. Its growth has ballooned to the point where it is synonymous with Magic: The Gathering. But the game’s global community was rocked by a recent Banned & Restricted Announcement that proved incredibly controversial.
In the wake of this controversy, the Commander Rules Committee and Wizards of the Coast has announced that WotC is taking control of Commander henceforth.
Wizards of the Coast is taking over Commander – here’s what that means
Wizards of the Coast and the Rules Committee announced that WotC will be in charge of balancing and curating MTG’s Commander format.
Decisions on format stipulations, bans, restrictions, and other constraints will now be solely determined by Wizards of the Coast. The Rules Committee and Commander Advisory Group, both staffed with volunteers, will no longer be part of managing Commander.
In September, the Rules Committee announced the banning of four cards. The bans of Mana Vault, Dockside Extortionist, and Jeweled Lotus shocked players. This cascaded into several incidents, not all of them pleasant.
A portion of the playerbase, apparently enraged at the monetary devaluation of expensive cards, harassed members of the Rules Committee and Commander Advisory Group. This is despite the CAG having no input on the final decision for bans or unban.
In the announcement, Wizards of the Coast announced that Commander would receive a new approach to a Banned & Restricted list. In the future, Commander decks will be able to be separated into four brackets of power, each with their own list of cards. The highest power level individual card in a player’s deck will determine the power level of the deck. So, if Mana Vault were to be classified as a “Tier 4” card, any deck that played Mana Vault would not be legal for play at tiers one to three. Members of the CAG were contacted for comment, but have none to give at this time.
MTG’s Commander format will now have four tiers; here’s why
Since the announcement, the WeeklyMTG stream with Wizards of the Coast designer Gavin Verhey has taken place, shedding light on the situation. Firstly, a clearer idea of what the four tiers would mean was laid out.
Tier 1 is cards like Sword of Feast and Famine, Tier 2 is cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tier 3 would cards like Drannith Magistrate, while the highest tier would be competitive-only cards like Armageddon.
In the stream, several key points were delivered by Verhey:
- WoTC and the Rules Committee reached the decision for Wizards to curate Commander together
- Precautions are being taken to ensure the safety and privacy of Rules Committee members, following targeted harassment
- Verhey plans to create an advisory committee, for which RC and CAG members are likely to be grandfathered in
- Verhey will prioritize the creation of this committee before discussing any changes to the Banned & Restricted List
- There will be at least one member of the Competitive Commander, or cEDH, community on the committee
- This will emulate what Brawl, the MTG: Arena equivalent of Commander, already does – separating decks into four tiers of power
- Wizards of the Coast wants less ubiquitous cards, and considers cards like Jeweled Lotus, Arcane Signet, and Dockside Extortionsit to be mistakes due to their universal usefulness
- Fans can expect the four tiers to be released before the huge annual MagicCon Las Vegas
- The committee will be formed from 10-20 members
- Wizards is not committed to only four brackets, and is willing to expand the tiers if necessary
- Some members of the committee will be anonymous, some will be public
The response to these changes has been mixed from the community, some glad to see Wizards taking a more active hand, others worrying that the company’s involvement poses a threat to the grassroots format that has taken over the game.
