This is a reproduction of the announcement from the Commander Rules Committee. You can read the complete announcement and explanation at mtgcommander.net.
Announcement Date: September 23, 2024
Commander:
Dockside Extortionist is banned.Jeweled Lotus is banned.Mana Crypt is banned.Nadu, Winged Wisdom is banned.
Other:
Update on the Silver Border Project and other new initiatives.
Detailed explanations for each of these are below.
Effective Date for Tabletop: September 23, 2024
Effective Date for Magic Online: September 23, 2024, at 12 p.m. PDT
Commander Rules Committee Explanation of Bans
The philosophy of Commander prioritizes creativity, and one of the ways we have historically reflected that in the rules and ban list is to encourage a slower pace of game than traditional formats. This gives decks time and space to develop and do different things. We have a goal to make it easier for players who enjoy slower, more social games to have an environment for them to explore.
Commander has always had the potential for someone to get out to a fast start and be the first arch-villain in the game, but that advantage has been balanced by having multiple players gunning for them once it happens. In the past few years, notably since Strixhaven: School of Mages, we have seen a pattern of stronger mid-game cards that allow the player who skips past the early game to snowball their advantage straight through to the win. Occasional games like that are fine, but it shouldn't be common, and we're taking steps to bring that frequency down a bit by banning three of the most explosive plays in the format.
We should also talk about the elephant in the room. We're not banning
There's another ban here, and it's explosive, but in a different way. Given that
Part of the problem is the way in which Nadu wins, where it takes a really long time to do non-deterministic sequences that can't be shortcut and might eventually fizzle out. These aren't dedicated combo lines that you have to build a deck around; dropping Nadu into a "normal" Simic shell still runs the risk of grinding the game down to a slog of resource accrual. It interacts badly with cards that are staples of casual play, most notably
What's Coming Up?
Hopefully, quieter updates!
We talked in the last update about providing players with better ways to communicate about silver-bordered cards in their deck. That project is going well but isn't quite ready for release, so we're holding off announcing it here. We expect it to be out by the next announcement at the latest.
We're working with the folks at Wizards to provide some new tools to use in pregame conversations to help folks find like-minded players and are pretty excited about some of the possibilities there. No promises on a timeline yet, though.
Whatever happens, we'll be back with our next update on November 18 after the Magic: The Gathering Foundations Prerelease! In the meantime, tune into the charity stream and keep on brewing!