Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast has announced the forming of a 17-person Commander Format Panel, to offer advice, provide feedback, raise issues and generally help the company manage Magic’s most popular, profitable format.
This group essentially replaces the role of the Commander Advisory Group that existed to give feedback to the Rules Committee. However, the new panel is significantly larger, paid instead of volunteer, and of course reports to Wizards instead of an independent body, since Magic’s creators took control of this MTG format after the RC folded on September 30.
“Ultimately, myself and other designers at Wizards are going to make the final calls, but I do expect that most of the time majority opinion on the panel will win out,” explained Magic designer Gavin Verhey, in an article published October 22.
However, fears that members of the panel would be contractually prevented from criticizing Wizards appear to be misplaced.
“I’ve also told the members of the panel that they’re not just welcome to express their own opinions publicly but are encouraged to,” Verhey writes. “Loudly and publicly taking issue with our decisions is totally fine.”
In fact, reading between the lines, it seems like Wizards wants members of the CFP to be able to distance themselves from its decisions, due in part to what happened to the Rules Committee. The RC was disbanded after its members were targeted by harassment after a controversial set of bans. While the vitriol would have been unacceptable in any case, plenty of anger was heaped upon those who had disagreed with the ban decision or had no part in it at all.
Not wanting a repeat of that incident, Verhey writes: “Since Wizards makes the final calls, if there is any frustration, it should be placed on us at Wizards, not on members of this panel.”
There was some controversy leading up to this announcement, as former RC member Gavin Duggan took to social media to ask advice about a “surviving non-disparagement clause”, which “limits what I can say about them forever”.
However, an MTG creator (and now member of the CFP) Rachel Weeks has claimed that the clause only applies to “privileged information” – in other words, that panelists are free to criticize Wizards, but they can only do so using information that’s publicly available.
Verhey says that all former members of the RC and CAG were offered places on the panel, and it looks like most took them, including those who initially resigned amidst the controversy. The group currently consists of lots of content creators. Here’s the full list, as revealed by Wizards:
- Attack on Cardboard
- Bandi
- Benjamin Wheeler
- Charlotte Sable
- DeQuan Watson
- Deco
- Greg Sablan
- Ittetu
- Josh Lee Kwai
- Kristen Gregory
- Lua Stardust
- Olivia Gobert-Hicks
- Rachel Weeks
- Rebell Lily
- Scott Larabee
- Tim Willoughby
- Toby Elliott
Notably, from the RC, Gavin Duggan is missing, as is Jim Lapage. Three quarters of the CAG members joined up, with only Elizabeth Rice, Rachel Agnes, and Shivam Bhatt turning down the offer.
Wizards has said that the CFP will be a rotating group, however, so it’s not out of the question that some of these people could join the panel at a later date.
For more Magic: The Gathering news, check out the MTG release schedule – we’re expecting a big update come Friday. And don’t miss our list of the best MTG Arena decks in Standard.
Source: Wargamer
