Wizards of the Coast has revealed the beta version of its power ranking system for the popular Magic: The Gathering format EDH, including a list of 40 ‘game changers’. These are the most powerful cards in Commander, ones that mark a deck out as high power by their very inclusion.
But don’t panic; put down that lighter, and stop shoving your collection into a blender! Wizards isn’t about to start banning these cards willy-nilly – in fact it’s quite likely that none of them are on the verge of getting the chop. The company merely states, in an article published to the Magic website on February 11, that cards will be placed on this ‘game changers’ watchlist before ending up on the Commander banlist.
The list serves as a halfway house between a spot on the MTG banlist and general usage, and designer Gavin Verhey writes that this list should serve as “a clear signal for players to know that these cards indicate a different kind of play and that others might prefer not to play against them.”
Here is the complete list:
- Drannith Magistrate
- Thassa’s Oracle
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
- Opposition Agent
- Tergrid, God of Fright
- Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
- Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
- Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
- Winota, Joiner of Forces
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
- Enlightened Tutor
- Cyclonic Rift
- Force of Will
- Fierce Guardianship
- Mystical Tutor
- Vampiric Tutor
- Ad Nauseam
- Serra’s Sanctum
- Gaea’s Cradle
- Ancient Tomb
- Glacial Chasm
- The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
- Smothering Tithe
- Trouble in Pairs
- Rhystic Study
- Underworld Breach
- Survival of the Fittest
- Expropriate
- Demonic Tutor
- Imperial Seal
- Jeska’s Will
- Bolas’s Citadel
- The One Ring
- Trinisphere
- Chrome Mox
- Grim Monolith
- Lion’s Eye Diamond
- Mox Diamond
- Mana Vault
As you can see, it’s an interesting mixture. Within this list of game changers are some of the best MTG commanders, great MTG tutors, powerful lands, combo cards, and value generating staples like Rhystic Study that mark a player out as the clear ‘threat’ at the table. According to Verhey, the definition of a game changer is a card that “dramatically warps Commander games”.
According to the beta version of Wizard’s bracket system, a deck with no game changers is considered Bracket 2, roughly equivalent to the average Commander precon deck. You move up to Bracket 3 if you include late-game two card combos or up to three game changers (any more and you’re a 4+).
As Wizards explained when it first floated the idea, the brackets system is intended to improve Rule Zero conversations – to provide a shared shorthand which will help players judge the relative strength of each other’s decks. As I brainfully opined back then: even a bad version of this system would be a huge help – and this one certainly looks like a decent start.
Verhey is adamant that players shouldn’t look at the game changers list as a set of ‘at risk’ cards they need to worry about selling off as soon as possible. In that spirit, he promises there will be no card bans in the next update, which come in late April. Instead, he teases that some cards are likely to be moved off the Commander banlist and stuck on the game changers list instead. (It’s worth nothing that the list doesn’t need to be 40 cards long – that’s just a coincidence.)
For more Magic: The Gathering news I recommend checking out the MTG release schedule. And for the best strategy advice, this list of the best MTG Arena decks will see you climbing the ladder.
Source: Wargamer
