I get lots of questions about Commander on pretty much a daily basis. I
considered that sometimes, there’s a sameness to many of the answers
because of the sameness of the target. To the end of providing you with
more, varied, and more varied answers to the kinds of questions you have on
your mind, only from someone else’s perspective, I asked fellow Rules
Committee (RC) member, dear friend, and fellow former Level 5 Judge Toby
Elliott to take on the question-answering role. What I’d like to do here is
provide Toby’s answers to those questions and perhaps add a little
commentary of my own on the side (attempting to keep the snark factor low).
Toby is a pretty humble person, so while he’ll tell you some of the things
he’s done, it’s up to me to tell you that he’s arguably one of the most
important judges in Magic history. It was my distinct pleasure to be able
to promote him to L5, and when we served together, I felt like there wasn’t
much we couldn’t accomplish given the resources we had available. But let’s
let him do the talking.
For those of you who don’t know me, a brief introduction. I’ve been
playing Magic continuously since
Alpha, and Commander since Champions of Kamigawa
. I’m also known in the Magic community as the Policy Person, as I help
maintain the Tournament Rules and the Infraction Procedure Guide. I’ve
been a judge since 2000, and still hold the record for most Pro Tours
Head Judged (
guess whose record he broke?-S.
). I may have a Magic problem, but I also play board games, DDR, and
League of Legends (but only ARAM! Embrace the Chaos!)
In my regular life, my wife and I live in Cambridge, Mass, where she’s
very patient with my hobby. I’m a Senior Developer at Amazon, building
gigantic HR systems to cope with a workforce the size of a country.
Enough chatter. Questions! I got quite a few, so forgive me if space
doesn’t allow to get to all of them.
Lots of different people ask, “So, Brawl…”
Brawl seems great. I have no idea if it’ll play well, but I’m a believer in
people finding the random casual microformat that appeals to them. That’s
how Commander started. If there’s an audience of people who love it, that’s
a win for everyone, and if there isn’t, Wizards can try something else.
On the whole, it feels like it’s going to be more Standard with Commander
grafted onto it than vice-versa. The simplicity of building a deck is such
a selling point and that’s not something that Commander is known for.
Would I have done anything differently? I don’t think I’d have bothered
with the two “small” rules changes (planeswalkers and commander damage). I
understand why they chose to do them, but it makes the messaging a little
harder. “30-life, 60-card Standard Commander” is an easy pitch that they
chose to eschew in favor of minor improvements.
Hien Nguyen asks, “I would like the Rules Committee to explicitly state
their criteria for banning cards; and for the RC to be consistent with
bannings. If you want it phrased as a question: Why are some cards
banned but other similar cards aren’t? (such Gifts Ungiven is banned,
but Intuition isn’t).”
Hrm…seems like we’re not off to a great start on getting different
questions-S.
We have gone into a lot of detail on what we look for when considering
a card for banning.
Card banning is binary (it’s banned or it isn’t), but cards themselves
aren’t so cooperative. They fall on a continuum that stretches from
completely safe to never ever. At some point along that continuum, there’s
a ban threshold. No matter where you set that, there will always be cards
that fall just on one side or the other, and cards that may be
superficially similar have enough differences to affect their placement. So
while it might appear that we ban a card while endorsing another, that’s
just the binary overlay.
I’m always interested by the choice of “inconsistent” as an epithet. There
isn’t a science or a formal logic to be inconsistent with. (If one day we
ban a card that has an identical-except-in-name alternative, then objection
withdrawn.)
In the case of Gifts and Intuition, I’ll note that the highlander nature of
Commander makes Intuition weaker than it is in normal Magic play (where the
most common scenario is to get three of the same card), while that same
nature renders Gifts’ drawback irrelevant. I believe Gifts is stronger in
Commander, and they end up on different sides of the line.
Not surprisingly, there were several questions about individual bans.
Josh Bloch asks, “Given what you know now (almost a year later), would
you still have unbanned Protean Hulk?”
Yes. It’s played out as we hoped, a value engine that no longer sticks out
too badly in a sea of value engines. I thought it would have a bit bigger
impact on casual games, but people seem to have found the sweet spot for
it.
Kevin Tran asks, “Will there be a continuous move to unban cards as the
format demonstrates positive health consistently? Any considerations to
unban Coalition Victory?”
We tend to be conservative when evaluating cards for both banning and
unbanning. There is value in format stability, which does provide some
incentive to seek reasons to make a change rather than doing so for
change’s sake.
Coalition Victory doesn’t interact well with the format rules. The card
essentially reads “do what you normally do over the course of a Commander
game. At some point, win unless someone has an instant-speed response”
without requiring you to throw in combo pieces or anything. That’s not
healthy for anyone in casual play. People who are facing a five-color deck
have to constantly evaluate whether they can do anything other than deal
with a potentially upcoming Coalition Victory. People running five-color
decks find themselves unable to keep a commander (or worse, lands) because
they might be running Coalition Victory. That’s not a great place to be,
and I’m not seeing any fun upsides to the card that might balance it out.
Swmystery asks, “Do you have a stance, for want of a better term, on
Iona, Shield of Emeria being legal in Commander? Sheldon recently
described the Rules Committee as “not unanimous enough to ban it” in
one of his recent articles. Could we get your perspective?”
Iona’s an obnoxious card, but I don’t see what criteria we’d use to justify
a ban. Gross things can happen at nine mana and the game is far from over
when she’s played. If you’re locked out because you’ve built a monocolored
deck (and building a monocolored deck always comes with some risks), it’s
time to get political and start cutting deals. If nobody will make a deal
with you, well, maybe you were the big threat before Iona came down and
it’s time to be dragged back to the pack for a bit. That’s a feature of
multiplayer, not a bug.
Stephen Johnson asks, “Has the Rules Committee ever seriously
entertained the idea of removing commander damage?”
I learned we were discussing it from the recent Command Zone podcast.
I could see us discussing it; the rule is sufficiently corner that it
should be periodically evaluated to see if it’s pulling enough weight.
Ironically, them saying we’re discussing it might cause us to do so. But
there’s a good chance that discussion is simply “Yep, it’s fine.”
My answer to this question is no, we’ve never seriously entertained the
idea of removing commander damage. Sure, we have and will in the future
discuss it, but that’s a long way from a serious conversation-S.
Joshua Maxfield asks, “With respect to the increased power levels of
answers as well as a more fleshed out format, is it time to go back to
banned as commander for some cards?”
I’ve tried over the past few years to streamline the rules and focus on
what’s important. Each additional rule adds complexity to learning and/or
communication. That’s acceptable if the rule is doing a bunch of good and a
negative if it’s not.
The banned-as-commander list was keeping two cards legal some of the time.
That’s nice, but it’s not much. There are a lot of rules we could write to
make tweaks with that scope. They’re not worth it.
Banned-as-commander comes back is if the value of the rule rises to the
point where it justifies the space. If there’s a dozen cards being kept out
of decks, or a whole class of cards gets printed that needs the
distinction, then we revisit it. Trends do not point in that direction,
though.
Speaking of minor improvements…
Hugo Rios asks, “What is the RC’s current opinion on Mindslaver-type
effects? Some have asked for the owner to always be allowed to decide
where their commander goes. What does the RC think?”
The first Mindslaver is great (and I say that as someone who got caught
with Desolation Angel in hand once). More is not. Fixing the commander
loophole is one of those adjustments that isn’t worth the extra rule.
Fred Natusch asks, “Will infinite combos ever be restricted to only
trigger a certain number of times? Is this even something the Rules
Committee is interested in attempting to rectify?”
No. I don’t think we’d try to fix this even if it was free.
Commander is a set of deckbuilding restrictions, a raised life total, and
the instructions for adding an additional piece to an otherwise normal game
of Magic. I’m really proud that we’ve gotten the rules to that point and
want the rest to just be Magic.
Wizmin asks, “Have you guys (the RC) ever talked about implementing an
official sideboard rule?”
Sideboards are a construct designed for competitive multigame tournaments.
Since Commander isn’t intended to be any of those things, I think it’s best
left to house rules for people who do want them.
And official, even optional, sideboard rules turned into cudgels for
some players to bully others with into letting them have them. Getting
rid of them was better for the broader community-S.
Sergey Orlov (among others) asks, “Brawl introduced planeswalkers as
commanders. Any thoughts on synchronizing with Wizards and doing the
same?”
We’ve talked about this several times, of course. I think letting all
Planeswalkers be commanders ends up a net negative for the format. We
probably end up having to ban Doubling Season. Normally I wouldn’t worry
about banning a single card, but Doubling Season may be the most popular
casual card in existence. That’s not nothing.
Most (not all) planeswalkers win through grinding out a small incremental
advantage each turn. This pushes decks towards more defensive stances;
maybe you look for creatures that have better toughness rates or cards that
make it hard for your planeswalker to be attacked. Commander doesn’t need
more pressure on the length of the average game.
Once you have a planeswalker commander, if you’re protecting it, the next
logical thing to do is add more planeswalkers, compounding the grindiness.
Superfriends is already overdone as an archetype.
Planeswalkers are powerful and sometimes flavorful, but not mechanically
interesting. Most don’t provide good themes or ideas to build around, and
you’re not going to see quirky planeswalkers. Legendary creatures have a
lot more freedom in the text box, and that makes for more interesting deck
builds. Plus, this way Wizards is incentivized to keep making fun ones!
Note that most of these downsides (save possibly the last) don’t apply to
Brawl. Given the need to ensure sufficient commander supply in the format,
it makes sense there in ways it doesn’t for Commander.
Planeswalkers are the face of almost every other format out there. I’m OK
with having one that’s more about other things.
Somebody once called Commander a haven from other formats-S.
Viperion asks, “Does your regular playgroup have any house rules that
differ from the official rules?”
Not a lot. I’ll use the Gis mulligan (“Mulligan 7s to a playable hand.
Don’t abuse this”) with trusted groups. I’m hoping nobody will object if I
leave Giant Fan in my Skullbriar deck.
J Alexander Bell asks, “Which Commander set feature would you like to
see explored further, such as partner, planeswalker, tribal, join
forces, and “tempt with” cards?”
While I’ve liked individual cards, there haven’t been any mechanics that
have really grabbed me. Undaunted is probably the best, but the elegant
design space is limited. Multiplayer design is hard! The best multiplayer
mechanic they’ve produced so far is the Monarch, but that wasn’t in a
Commander set.
It’s good to be the king-S (and others).
Forgotten One asks, “How much does the rest of the Rules Committee
commiserate with/wish you were in Sheldon’s shoes as the “face” of
Commander and all the praise, notoriety, and faceless vitriol that
comes with it? It would seem to me that you guys that know him well
would have a unique perspective on how one handles such a position.”
If you wanted to design the face of a format, it’d be hard to top Sheldon.
He’s outgoing, charismatic, a great storyteller, clear in purpose, and
leads from the front. He has thick skin (we all do; it’s a job
requirement).
I’m happy mucking around in the back, figuring out the messy details of how
everything works, taking it apart and putting it back together better. The
pairing has proven to be a powerful dynamic, and it’s one we adopted to
shape much of the judge program back around the turn of the decade. Play to
your strengths.
Andy Belford asks, “Has the Rules Committee considered more high
profile community engagement, maybe tapping into podcasts like
Commanderin or The Command Zone?”
That’s up to each individual member. Sheldon does a lot of engagement. I
already have a pretty high profile elsewhere in Magic, so I’m not going to
seek anything out, but I’m always up for a guest spot or an interview.
Although we don’t yet have the numbers of other Commander podcasts,
remember that Anthony Alongi and I have recently started one called
Elder Dragon Statesmen: the only Commander podcast with 100 years’
worth of hosts.
You can find it here
. And like Toby, I’m always happy to go on the good podcasts-S.
Chris HerringFish asks, “How closely does the RC pay attention to
complaining about the format like on Reddit and Facebook? In other
words, how much influence does that internet at large have on the Rules
Committee?”
I keep an ear to the ground on several internet sites, such as
MtgCommander, MtgSalvation, various Facebook groups, and pay attention to
some of the well-known podcasts. We all used to be on Reddit a fair bit,
but Reddit’s collective tendency to lose their minds over any change (or
even rumor of a change) made the value of being there very low and the
unpleasantness factor high. After the insane freakout over the tuck rule
change, we sort of shrugged our shoulders and moved on. I lurk there
occasionally.
The internet is usually great at surfacing potential problems, and we do
rely on it for that. It’s not so great at figuring out whether something is
actually a problem (since internet posters are not terribly representative
of the average Commander player) or what a reasonable solution might be.
Nobody arguing repeatedly on a forum has caused us to change our minds, but
sometimes someone will come up with a nugget we haven’t considered that’ll
germinate an idea.
ISBPathfinder asks, “What would you say is your playstyle in Commander?
What was your first commander?”
I’m Timmy! TIMMY! Rawr!
Truth. This is rawrest, Timmiest truth-S.
Themes run strong in my decks. Very strong. Like “every card puts a counter
on something” strong or “every card refers to the graveyard” strong. If you
look back at Sheldon’s articles over the years, a few of my decks have been
featured. The comments are usually split between “this deck looks terrible”
and “this deck looks like so much fun to play,” which is a place I’m happy
to be.
My first commander was Barrin, Master Wizard. This was back when commanders
could only be cast once, for at least 6 mana. That meant everyone was
playing giant Dragons, and I thought it’d be funny to have a 1/1 leading
the army.
Brian Shandra asks, “Do you prefer to call it ‘EDH’ or ‘Commander’?”
In writing, I’ll usually use Commander, since there’s a chance the audience
has no idea what EDH is. In speech, it’s interchangeable. I’m happy for
people to use whichever they prefer.
arrogantAxolotl asks, “Do you believe Commander is still being played
by the general Magic community in the way it was originally intended to
be?”
Yes, but with a couple of caveats.
The format has grown considerably. By definition, that means that there are
more people altering Commander to suit their own philosophy. I’m all in
favor of that (see my comment about microformats above), but there’s now a
bell curve, rather than a blob.
The other change has been the rise in creature power over the past ten
years, especially big creatures. We used to have to scrape to find worthy
monsters, and I think we’ve lost a little of the forced-improvisation
spirit that infused the early format. It always makes me sad to hear
“Wizards needs to give us a Commander for X,” because part of the joy of
Commander was being forced to work with what we had, even if it wasn’t
optimal. Optimal usually isn’t that interesting.
Treamayne asks, “What is your favorite Magic memory between
Alpha
and now?”
Wow, so many. Some of them are NDA’d!
Or not fit for family audiences-S.
The obvious one that comes to mind was the day I qualified for the Pro
Tour, as that set me down the path that took me from random Magic player to
a much deeper involvement with the game.
What I’ll always carry with me are the friendships I’ve made along the way.
Many of my dearest friends have come through Magic. Several of them are on
the RC.
In fact, he and fellow RC member Scott Larabee will be visiting me here
in Florida in about 2 weeks-S.
Treamayne continues, “What is the number one Magic rules change you
don’t (didn’t) agree with or would like to see reverted (like the loss
of mana burn)? Any there any you are happy to have (even if you didn’t
agree when the change went into effect, like stack damage)?”
I have found that the rules progression generally goes in the right
direction; most changes have been positive, and the details that weren’t
have been smoothed out. I’ve been involved in fixing things sometimes and
you learn patience. Up until recently, I would have called out the
planeswalker redirection rule, though I wouldn’t have bothered errataing
cards. Just print cards with the “any target” template for a few years,
then remove the redirection rule. Is Lightning Bolt still the best if it
can’t hit planeswalkers? That would have been interesting to find out.
My main gripe with Wizards right now is the pace of releases. I’m a serious
collector, and I’ve given up. Iconic Masters isn’t a set that
exists as far as I’m concerned.
tarnar asks, “If you could make one never-ending debate in the format
go away, which one and why?”
This is a thought-provoking question. I had to mull it over for a while.
I’d like people to stop with the silliness around how Wizards is constantly
pressuring us to make changes/sending signals to manipulate us/imminently
taking over the format/turning it into something competitive.
First of all, every member of the RC is deeply embedded with Wizards. Scott
works for them. I lost count of how many NDAs I have on file with them at
seventeen (that’s not as ludicrous as it sounds, it’s just easier to throw
one at you when you visit than it is to keep track of who has or hasn’t
signed). There are at least a half dozen employees who I might ping to see
if they want to do dinner. These are people who, if they have concerns,
will come and talk to us about them. Over the years, they have asked us to
consider various things, and we always give their requests consideration.
But, we don’t always do what they ask, and they respect that we’ve taken
the time to think about it and decided otherwise.
What heavily-invested people often miss is that Commander has given Wizards
access to a cohort that they’ve traditionally had a hard time reaching: the
vast horde of casual players who don’t show up regularly at their local
game store, who have no idea what a DCI number is, and who won’t attend a
tournament in their entire Magic career. It was never the plan, but
Commander caught on with them because we pitched it as something that you
didn’t want to take all that seriously.
To bring it back to where we started, you don’t go basing your latest
format on something you’re unhappy with. You aren’t likely to see serious
Brawl tournaments. I’m betting their goal is to serve another under-reached
niche (new players and players just beginning to engage with the wider
community). Making changes to the core of Commander would be defeating the
purpose.
Thanks for all the great questions!
***
And thanks to Toby for taking the time to answer questions from a slightly
different angle than you most frequently experience. I’m sure you’ll be
hearing more about his and our adventures in Commander during the
aforementioned visit-although since Gretchyn (that’s my wife for those of
you who didn’t know) has recently fallen in love with Terraforming Mars, the four of us playing that (and eating and
drinking) might cut into Commander time.
Deck Without Comment will return next week.
Check out our comprehensive Deck List Database for lists of all my decks:
SIGNATURE DECKS
Purple Hippos and Maro Sorcerers
;
Kresh Into the Red Zone
;
Halloween with Karador
;
Dreaming of Intet
;
You Did This to Yourself
.
THE CHROMATIC PROJECT
Mono-Color
Heliod, God of Enchantments
;
Thassa, God of Merfolk
;
Erebos and the Halls Of The Dead
;
Forge of Purphoros
;
Nylea of the Woodland Realm
;
Karn
Evil No. 9.
Guilds
Lavinia Blinks
;
Obzedat, Ghost Killer
;
Aurelia Goes to War
;
Trostani and Her Angels
;
Lazav, Shapeshifting Mastermind
;
Zegana and a Dice Bag
;
Rakdos Reimagined
;
Glissa, Glissa
;
Ruric Thar and His Beastly Fight Club
;
Gisa and Geralf Together Forever
.
Shards and Wedges
Adun’s Toolbox
;
Angry, Angry Dinos
;
Animar’s Swarm
;
Borrowing Stuff at Cutlass Point
;
Ikra and Kydele
;
Karrthus, Who Rains Fire From The Sky
;
Demons of Kaalia
;
Merieke’s Esper Dragons
;
Nath of the Value Leaf
;
Rith’s Tokens
;
The Mill-Meoplasm
;
The Altar of Thraximundar
;
The Threat of Yasova
;
Zombies of Tresserhorn
.
Four Color
Yidris: Money for Nothing, Cards for Free
;
Saskia Unyielding
;
Breya Reshaped
.
Five-Color
Partners
Tana and Kydele
;
Kynaios and Tiro
;
Ikra and Kydele
.
THE DO-OVER PROJECT
Adun Oakenshield Do-Over
;
Animar Do-Over
;
Glissa Do-Over
;
Karador Do-Over
;
Karador Version 3
;
Karrthus Do-Over
;
Kresh Do-Over
;
Steam-Powered Merieke
Do-Over;
Lord of Tresserhorn Do-Over
;
Mimeoplasm Do-Over
;
Phelddagrif Do-Over
;
Rith Do-Over
;
Ruhan Do-Over.
If you’d like to follow the adventures of my Monday Night RPG group (in a
campaign that’s been alive since 1987) which is just beginning the saga The Lost Cities of Nevinor, ask for an invitation to the Facebook
group “Sheldon Menery’s
Monday Night Gamers.”