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[MtGO] "1v1" Commander Banlist and Play Structure


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The article in question.

 

Essentially, because MtGO players seem to play 1v1 more than multiplayer (which is surprising, but reasonable I suppose) they have decided to create a banlist that is better tailored to 1v1 play, but that will also apply to multiplayer. This applies only to MtG Online play; they will not bother with paper banlists because of the deep-rooted community and the effectiveness of the Rules Committee in that area. Also, 1v1 play with start at 30 life, but Multiplayer play will remain at 40.

 

The new Banlist is as follows, along with the categories the cards best fall under and the given reasoning.

 

FAST MANA
  • Black Lotus
  • Channel
  • Fastbond
  • Gaea's Cradle
  • Mana Crypt
  • Mana Vault
  • Mishra's Workshop
  • Mox Emerald
  • Mox Jet
  • Mox Pearl
  • Mox Ruby
  • Mox Sapphire
  • Sol Ring
  • Tolarian Academy
While mana acceleration is integral to many Commander decks, these cards accelerate mana too quickly and too early in the game, leading to uninteresting and uninteractive gameplay. Especially without the social pressure and political nature of multiplayer, these types of cards create runaway games at too high a rate.
 
COMBO ENABLERS
  • Bazaar of Baghdad
  • Doomsday
  • Entomb
  • Food Chain
  • Gifts Ungiven
  • Hermit Druid
  • Protean Hulk
  • Survival of the Fittest
  • Time Vault
  • Tinker
  • Yawgmoth's Bargain
There are a myriad of powerful combinations available in the format, but these types of cards are either essentially single-card combos (Hermit Druid milling your entire deck) or extremely efficient at enabling other combinations (Gifts Ungiven finding four cards that combine to win the game).
 
OPPRESSIVE COMMANDERS
  • Arcum Dagsson
  • Braids, Cabal Minion
  • Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
  • Edric, Spymaster of Trest
  • Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
  • Griselbrand
  • Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
  • Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
  • Zur the Enchanter
Each of these commanders is essentially a story in its own right, but the common thread is that they are nearly impossible to beat once they resolve. There's a great deal of consistency in being able to play your commander every game and being able to cast them again should they die. In some cases, this means the deck itself becomes too consistent and too powerful, and these are commanders that have shown that to be the case.
 
OTHER
  • Ancestral Recall
  • Back to Basics
  • Balance
  • Humility
  • Karakas
  • Library of Alexandria
  • Mana Drain
  • Mind Twist
  • Moat
  • Natural Order
  • Necropotence
  • Oath of Druids
  • Serra Ascendant
  • The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
  • Time Walk
This is a catch-all category of cards that are either blatantly too strong (Ancestral Recall, Time Walk), or are very strong but extremely unenjoyable to play against (Karakas, Mind Twist). As mentioned above, the threshold for banning cards is lower when they're particularly frustrating to play against. All the cards in that category are very strong, but the way they warp the format is less about creating imbalance and more about making the format less enjoyable overall.
 
MULTIPLAYER-POINTED BANS
  • Biorhythm
  • Limited Resources
  • Painter's Servant
  • Sensei's Divining Top
  • Trade Secrets
While this list leans toward 1v1, it will also support multiplayer Commander on Magic Online. These are the more egregious cards in that format that aren't covered under the above categories. Sensei's Divining Top may stand out among these; this is a logistical consideration for Magic Online multiplayer.

 

 

There will also be a 1v1 Commander League, and 1v1 Commander Queues, which I assume are of lesser interest here and so can be found in the article.
 
I think this is very silly. But, the incentive of an organized Commander League, even online, may soften my concerns. Though I still prefer Multiplayer Commander, as it was intended, so we'll see what effects it has there (Fortunately only Sol Ring need be removed from my Kurkesh Deck, so while I disagree with it, it's a minor loss.)
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Interesting they let some of the really stupid and oppressive cards slip through like prime time primordial, funking UPHEAVAL (wtf wizards?) and Leovold (Hes getting banned for sure). Without the fast mana though these cards are a bit less ridiculous but you can still cheat them out through various means. They said they'll be keeping a close eye on this format for the next few months and amend the banlist as needed.

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Natural order legitimately isn't a broken card. What are they worried about, Craterhoof? Singleton with decks that large make that path in elves vastly less reliable. I mean, they absolutely would still run it, because why on earth wouldn't you, but it isn't going to be the breaking point for sheet.

 

At least prophet is free, but she isn't even amazing in such a sped up format.

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