Commander: Speculations for the next bans

Commander, unlike the other formats widely played by the public, has a committee not linked to Wizards of the Coast, which analyzes the format and defines which cards will or will not be legal on it, and as EDH was born as a casual format this committee tends to look at casual play when defining bans or unbans. This puts cEDH players in a sticky situation, as what is a problem at casual tables is not always a problem at competitive tables, and vice versa.

This article is a speculation about the bans, based on the feedback I get from players and what I believe as being an issue for the format. Also being considered are opinions posted by notable members of this committee on social media.

Cyclonic Rift

A card widely played since its release in casual and competitive decks, precisely because it takes two mana to return a non-land permanent or 7 mana in the overload cost to return all nonland permanents you don't own to the hand of its respective owners.

Its versatility and the fact that it is an instant speed sweeper that does not affect the caster, ends up leaving them in a position of total advantage and also removing some fun for some players since for many it will put someone far too ahead in the game while others try to recover their position.

This causes Commander players to have problems with this kind of effect, several times players have complained about Cyclonic Rift and how absurdly strong it is. Yet, it has remained legal on Commander over the years, and these players may or may not be heard this year, but I suppose the card is on a watch list.

Dockside Extortionist

A creature released in Commander 2019 that costs two mana and has a powerful effect; when this Goblin enters the battlefield, it creates an amount of treasure tokens equal to the number of artifacts and enchantments your opponents control, that is, it generates mana based on your opponents' permanents. It's not difficult for him to generate more than 6 treasures on a table with decks that don't have a theme/strategy based on enchantments or artifacts.

Extortionist alone has the potential to change the game, granting a large amount of mana, in the form of treasures to the one who cast it, and if a player wants to abuse it, they can, as there are numerous cards that can provide you with more triggers, whether it's a Panharmonicon, or ways to copy it or return it to your hand, and this little goblin generates so many resources that there's no reason not to do so.

However, this kind of thing removes the fun from casual tables quickly and so this has been one of the biggest ban hunches from the format, or maybe it will be reprinted in this year's new Commander Legends.

Ad Nauseam

Another card widely played in competitive tables: for five mana, this card allows you to reveal the card that is on top of your deck and lose life according to the mana value of this card to put it in your hand, allowing an exchange of life for extra cards in your hand at instant speed, and if your deck is made up of many low-cost cards, resolving a Nauseam until you're sick will probably make your opponents flip from so many cards you'll draw.

Even so, I don't see this card as a problem, since on EDH tables, there will usually be creatures on the board to deal damage and make this type of card see even less play, but there is still the possibility of this card being banned as a way to stop this strategy, especially considering that there's not much you can do against a player who draws 15 cards for five mana in the pass for their turn.

Tymna the Weaver

The partner mechanic divides opinions: on the one hand, it allows you to build a deck with two commanders with entirely different strategies, and it also allows you to create countless decks with 3 or 4 different colors simply by joining two commanders, however when you consider addressing certain weaknesses in the deck, it's much harder not to think about Tymna the Weaver.

For 3 mana, she is a 2/2 creature with lifelink and that allows you in the post combat step, to pay x life, which is the number of opponents that took combat damage this turn; if you do, you draw x cards.

She is a powerful source of card advantage and can do that from the initial turns. Because it is such a consistent way to guarantee card advantage, it makes this commander present in many decks and in any strategy, without the need to arrest the player only in the commander's colors, both for partner and versatility.

Tymna, for playing its role as a card advantage engine so well and being such a strong option can be a ban target, she is more present in the competitive scenario, but it is not a card that usually ruins the fun or the chance for them to play the game.

Thassa, Consult & Pact

The problem with Thassa and other cards with a similar effect, Laboratory Maniac and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, is that you can easily get rid of cards in your library using Demonic Consultation and Tainted Pact, this allows easy and quick wins depending on two easily tutorable cards and because it is an A+B combo it ends up being much simpler. Consult and Pact are definitely not being used the way they were meant to be.

Decks that run these cards at casual tables certainly make opponents uncomfortable, as they end the game too quickly and are certainly not fun.

Among these cards, if any were to be banned, they would probably be the tutors, precisely because they are not being used for their real purpose and because there are other cards with similar effects and abilities that are not exactly problematic.

I reiterate here that this article is a speculation based on the information I have about the format's status as of today. I realized that many of the problems that are seen in cards are when more casual players find players with more optimized decks and the deckbuilding difference between the two is large; I don't see how a table like this can be fun, as clearly the decks have different proposals. Trying to organize game groups might be a suitable alternative, even when it's an in-store game, avoiding all the stress and boring situations that can happen.

Commander is a format where many players can have fun and that doesn't restrict this aspect in almost anything, and I see that keeping an open dialogue is perhaps the most effective way to not get stressed about certain things. Don't want to face a Consult deck? Talk to colleagues to avoid this, Commander is a casual format, but there is still competitive Commander where opponents will expect optimized lists and going with a preconstructed deck, for example, wouldn't be fun either for you or for the other players, as the table would not have a balance, which is important to maintain the competitiveness.

That's all for today, and I hope you have good games! If you want me to talk about a specific topic, you can leave your comment below!

See you next time!