So… Wizards of the Coast runs Commander now. It’s a turn of events none of us were expecting, and we’re still not sure how to feel about it. Emotions continue to run high, though thankfully now most of the anger and memes seem channeled towards those MTG players who bullied the Commander Rules Committee (RC) so hard that it dissolved.
I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what comes of this change, but we’re not overly optimistic. Obviously, Wizards of the Coast wants Commander to be a good game, but ultimately it’s motivated by profit, whereas the volunteer RC – whether you love or hate its decision – was purely looking out for the good of the players.
Wizards has more resources, true, but we’ve seen plenty of mistakes in its management of other MTG formats. This year, for instance, it kept Nadu off the MTG banlist which semi-wrecked a tournament, and it has stubbornly refused to budge on the One Ring, despite it now being played in more Modern decks than any basic Land.
Ultimately, it feels like Wizards doesn’t want to scrap chase cards that help it sell packs, which inevitably are some of the most powerful cards going.
Wizards of the Coast probably wouldn’t have stuck Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, and Mana Crypt on the Commander banlist, for instance, because all three of them had high value reprints within the last two years.
But, whatever Wizards of the Coast decides to do with Commander, the one thing we’re hoping they won’t do is go back on the RC’s controversial bans.
Primarily my reasoning is: what kind of message would that send to the sweaty, miserable bottom feeders that caused this? Threaten people’s lives and you’ll get what you want. The behavior that forced the RC to throw in the towel should not be rewarded, and even if the bans were a bad idea in the first place, going back on them now this has happened would be an even worse choice.
Secondly, there seem to be as many people in favor of the bans as were upset by them. Josh Lee Kwai’s Twitter poll got a whopping 19,000 responses, and the result was almost exactly 50/50 for and against. Plenty of people thought the cards did need banning and are happy to see them gone.
Thirdly, it seems like the main arguments against the bans are driven by arguments about card prices, not gameplay. On that front the damage has kind of already been done. Players have already started to offload expensive chunks of their collection, set them on fire, or turned them into smoothies. Unbanning now would probably upset as many people as it mollified.
And as much as we find it fun to speculate on what new combos or synergy will see a card’s price go crazy or tank like anything, as much as it gives us a little tingle when we open an expensive rare in a booster pack, the fact remains that trading card games are games first and foremost, not a means of making money.
You shouldn’t be spending cash on cards unless you’re prepared to see it gone for good. Buying 15 copies of a cheap card you think is going to spike is a bit of fun, but buying multiple cards at $100+ that you expect to sit on for years and make a profit from is foolish. A ban or a reprint is bound to come along eventually and bite you.
Obviously it’s sad to see an expensive card you own get banned, especially if you saved long and hard to buy it yourself, but at the end of the day this is something that’s always been a part of Magic. Expensive cards are usually expensive because they’re the strongest cards available, and sometimes for the good of the game, the strongest cards have to face the chop.
If Wizards unbans these cards it shows it cares more about preserving the value of players’ collections than making Magic a good game. At that point are we collecting game pieces, or trading in NFTs with particularly high quality fantasy art?
I’m darkly amused to see the prices of Dockside, Jeweled Lotus, and Mana Crypt have tentatively started to rise since yesterday, as players get their hopes up that Wizards is going to hit undo.
But I’m also worried it might actually happen. Wizards has said “immediate changes to the list are not our priority”, but it’s also said it’s going to evaluate the current banlist and won’t be banning any new cards.
So, like everyone else, I wait with baited breath to see what will happen to our beloved format. But I really hope Wizards will allow the dust to settle and doesn’t go back on the decision the RC made.
For more Magic content, check out our guides to the best MTG commanders and the MTG release schedule.
Source: Wargamer
