Sure, but there are almost 28,000 unique cards as of this posting that could be Commander legal. In that context, that's actually a really small percentage :)
I find it funny that no one takes into account the new bracket system itself when they make these videos of what Is coming and going from the bandlist. Everyone still has a casual mindset like a bunch of idiots. On a bracket, one deck, yes, I can see a lot of these cards staying , but on a bracket four, a lot of these cards can come off.
In an earlier video, I said that I felt the bracket system was underdeveloped in its current iteration, and I stand by that. It's also still a very rough draft by WotC's own admission, so using it as a basis for talking about what, in my opinion, can or cannot come off feels far less productive than using my own 15 years of experience playing the format at a wide variety of power levels. Additionally, Commander is a casual format at its core. While that could change under its new stewardship, such a shift is not going to happen overnight, and perhaps not for some time, as a desire to maintain the spirit of the format has been made clear by WotC. cEDH, while a measurable percentage of the format, is not in any way representative of the way the majority of Commander players play Commander. It isn't even remotely close. Frankly, due to the different needs of deckbuilding in that wing of this format, I'm of the opinion it should be split off and have its own banlist, but I also recognize that doing so might do harm to the ability to attract existing Commander players to it. That potential harm would be nothing compared to letting an individual bracket dictate what cards should or should not be banned. You'd fracture the Commander populace into 4 groups by doing that, affecting everyone in the format and creating so much more divisiveness than we experience now.
@AssortedMeeples I wholeheartedly agree with what you're saying. This game truly was founded on casual play. Unfortunately, the popularity of the format got too big, and rule zero never really worked. My local store does league for the format, but they just worked directly off the current ban list, which just devolved into a form of cedh. People just started powering up their decks. And I think that's what happened with the current bandlist blow-up. People power their decks up with mana crypts, and then the RC did their ban, so people lost their shit. My locals sure did.
@@kylejacobe627 I 100% agree Rule Zero has been more idealistic than functional from the jump. It is useful for asking questions about whether you can play with stuff like silver-border cards (as many still function within the rules of normal Magic), but has never been a viable tool for reliably discussing power level with strangers or letting people play with cards on the banned list. It is also the proverbial dead horse of the format, and one that I felt the social media portion of the community, content creators, and even the RC themselves overused when criticism came up about pretty much anything in Commander. I do applaud the search for a system that setts a better standard for how a Rule Zero conversation should work when it comes to power level - it's a long overdue quest, likely because finding the answer is not going to be easy, if there is one at all. From what I've observed, people primarily lost their minds because the RC, after having a very hands-off stance toward bannings for its entire existence, implemented two philosophy shifts without warning - a stance against fast mana, and a comparatively heavy-handed approach to banning in the name of format balance. Loss of financial value was the easy thing to blame, because it was the easiest way to demonstrate the consequences of this move, but it's not what people are truly upset about. They worked to get their hands on an expensive, powerful card that was tacitly agreed to be "okay to play" for 15+ years. I 100% empathize with anyone who was upset about losing such a boon to their deck(s), because people like to play cool, powerful cards. What the RC neglected to understand (apart from the fact that communication is important) is that Commander is the modern incarnation of Vintage. You can play almost anything you want, and are encouraged to do so. You don't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a set of power, because 8 of the Power 9 aren't legal, and TImetwister isn't necessary to build a powerful blue deck (though if you have one, it's quite a boon to most decks). Their approach to bannings (or the lack thereof) set the expectation that Commander is a nonrotating format, and if you want to buy Mana Crypts, Timetwisters, Bazaars, etc. to play, you could do so and expect to play them as long as you liked, barring the release of a card that combined with them in a way that made the format unpleasant. The bannings of Jeweled Lotus and Mana Crypt simply didn't fit that criteria in my opinion (though there is a good argument that Crypt contributes to format homogenization). Dockside had been mentioned by the RC previously, and honestly was too good at what it did. Some would say Crypt and Lotus also fit this category, and there's merit to exploring that. But that exploration should have involved the community to some degree. Like you said, the format's too popular not to try and collect feedback from players. Out of curiosity, was your league pods of 4, or 1v1?
That is a lot of cards that have been put in timeout.
Sure, but there are almost 28,000 unique cards as of this posting that could be Commander legal. In that context, that's actually a really small percentage :)
Free Coalition Victory!!
Or, and go with me on this journey, please no?
I find it funny that no one takes into account the new bracket system itself when they make these videos of what Is coming and going from the bandlist. Everyone still has a casual mindset like a bunch of idiots. On a bracket, one deck, yes, I can see a lot of these cards staying , but on a bracket four, a lot of these cards can come off.
In an earlier video, I said that I felt the bracket system was underdeveloped in its current iteration, and I stand by that. It's also still a very rough draft by WotC's own admission, so using it as a basis for talking about what, in my opinion, can or cannot come off feels far less productive than using my own 15 years of experience playing the format at a wide variety of power levels.
Additionally, Commander is a casual format at its core. While that could change under its new stewardship, such a shift is not going to happen overnight, and perhaps not for some time, as a desire to maintain the spirit of the format has been made clear by WotC.
cEDH, while a measurable percentage of the format, is not in any way representative of the way the majority of Commander players play Commander. It isn't even remotely close. Frankly, due to the different needs of deckbuilding in that wing of this format, I'm of the opinion it should be split off and have its own banlist, but I also recognize that doing so might do harm to the ability to attract existing Commander players to it.
That potential harm would be nothing compared to letting an individual bracket dictate what cards should or should not be banned. You'd fracture the Commander populace into 4 groups by doing that, affecting everyone in the format and creating so much more divisiveness than we experience now.
@AssortedMeeples I wholeheartedly agree with what you're saying. This game truly was founded on casual play. Unfortunately, the popularity of the format got too big, and rule zero never really worked. My local store does league for the format, but they just worked directly off the current ban list, which just devolved into a form of cedh. People just started powering up their decks. And I think that's what happened with the current bandlist blow-up. People power their decks up with mana crypts, and then the RC did their ban, so people lost their shit. My locals sure did.
@@kylejacobe627 I 100% agree Rule Zero has been more idealistic than functional from the jump. It is useful for asking questions about whether you can play with stuff like silver-border cards (as many still function within the rules of normal Magic), but has never been a viable tool for reliably discussing power level with strangers or letting people play with cards on the banned list. It is also the proverbial dead horse of the format, and one that I felt the social media portion of the community, content creators, and even the RC themselves overused when criticism came up about pretty much anything in Commander.
I do applaud the search for a system that setts a better standard for how a Rule Zero conversation should work when it comes to power level - it's a long overdue quest, likely because finding the answer is not going to be easy, if there is one at all.
From what I've observed, people primarily lost their minds because the RC, after having a very hands-off stance toward bannings for its entire existence, implemented two philosophy shifts without warning - a stance against fast mana, and a comparatively heavy-handed approach to banning in the name of format balance. Loss of financial value was the easy thing to blame, because it was the easiest way to demonstrate the consequences of this move, but it's not what people are truly upset about. They worked to get their hands on an expensive, powerful card that was tacitly agreed to be "okay to play" for 15+ years. I 100% empathize with anyone who was upset about losing such a boon to their deck(s), because people like to play cool, powerful cards.
What the RC neglected to understand (apart from the fact that communication is important) is that Commander is the modern incarnation of Vintage. You can play almost anything you want, and are encouraged to do so. You don't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a set of power, because 8 of the Power 9 aren't legal, and TImetwister isn't necessary to build a powerful blue deck (though if you have one, it's quite a boon to most decks). Their approach to bannings (or the lack thereof) set the expectation that Commander is a nonrotating format, and if you want to buy Mana Crypts, Timetwisters, Bazaars, etc. to play, you could do so and expect to play them as long as you liked, barring the release of a card that combined with them in a way that made the format unpleasant.
The bannings of Jeweled Lotus and Mana Crypt simply didn't fit that criteria in my opinion (though there is a good argument that Crypt contributes to format homogenization). Dockside had been mentioned by the RC previously, and honestly was too good at what it did. Some would say Crypt and Lotus also fit this category, and there's merit to exploring that. But that exploration should have involved the community to some degree. Like you said, the format's too popular not to try and collect feedback from players.
Out of curiosity, was your league pods of 4, or 1v1?