For many MTG players, Duel Commander offers the perfect mix between Magic’s most popular formats. Uniting Standard’s two-player gameplay and Commander’s Singleton-based unpredictability, Duel Commander offers the vibes of competitive Commander without the draws and the politics.
As you can imagine, due to Duel Commander’s two-player nature, the banlist for this format is quite different. In addition to some Commander staples being banned, some legends are banned exclusively as Commanders in this format. Three powerful options are being unbanned today, however, throwing a much-needed wrench into the mix.
MTG Emry, Lurker of the Loch Unbanned as Commander
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch is now legal as a Commander in Duel Commander
Considering how powerful Emry could be as an engine in Duel Commander, it’s no wonder why this card was banned. On top of being consistently castable on turn one, Emry’s errata’d Affinity for Artifacts scales with Commander Tax, keeping the card cheap. Throw in its insane value generation and infinite combo potential, and Emry seems like a slam-dunk Commander for a two-player format.
Thanks to this potential, Emry was banned in Duel Commander back in November 2019, but the format has changed significantly since then. Right now, in the words of the Duel Commander committee, there are no truly viable artifact Commanders in Duel Commander. This wasn’t the case in 2019, when Emry was mainly banned as a preventative measure to stop a format dominated by Urza, Lord High Artificer from getting even worse.
Artifacts aside, Duel Commander has also sped up significantly over the last seven years, making Emry’s strengths less of an outlier. Other aggressive Commander strategies can hit the board quickly enough to keep up with Emry, and the card’s frail stats make it easy to kill. On top of that, because graveyard strategies are popular right now, they are often attacked, which should keep Emry in check. Thanks to all this, despite being extremely powerful, Emry, Lurker of the Loch has been unbanned in Duel Commander.
MTG Najeela, the Blade Blossom Unbanned as Commander
- Najeela, the Blade Blossom is now legal as a Commander in Duel Commander
Similar to Emry, Najeela, the Blade Blossom was initially banned as a preventative measure back in 2019. According to the Duel Commander committee, Najeela allowing players to play five colors with a Commander that can come down on curve was very unusual for the format. Throw in the Commander’s infinite combo potential, and its potential power level as an aggressive Commander led to a preventative ban for the card.
Nowadays, there are a whole bunch of castable Commanders that can unlock five-color aggro in the format, making Najeela less of a deckbuilding oddity. The explosive combo potential the Commander offers is no longer considered a potential power outlier, either. Throw in a potential for Najeela to create a Warrior Typal deck for Duel Commander, and Najeela’s unban as a Commander makes a lot of sense.
MTG Winota, Joiner of Forces Unbanned as Commander
- Winota, Joiner of Forces is now legal as a Commander in Duel Commander
Of all the cards being unbanned in Duel Commander today, Winota, Joiner of Forces is definitely the most controversial. This Commander is known for its exceptionally explosive potential, capable of cheating in multiple massive creatures as early as turn three. Thanks to this, on top of being nerfed on MTG Arena and banned in Pioneer, Winota, Joiner of Forces is a potent cEDH option, and she’s way less effective there than in Duel Commander.
Despite all this, Winota appears to be getting a second chance in Duel Commander for a few reasons. The biggest of which is that Duel Commander’s interaction has become significantly more effective since Winota’s 2021 ban. To work, Winota has to commit creatures to the board while surviving, giving the opponent lots of opportunities to disrupt the strategy.
According to the Duel Commander committee, aggressive decks are also starting to struggle with the rise of combo strategies in the format. Winota is the perfect aggressive option to punish these slower decks, threatening to shut the game out before their combo can be assembled. Thanks to this, despite it being the riskiest unban of the bunch, Winota, Joiner of Forces is now legal as a Commander in Duel Commander.
Trial Unbans
While some of these unbans seem much safer than others, all three Duel Commander unbans here are considered to be experimental ones. Basically, this means the Duel Commander committee will closely monitor how these unbans affect Duel Commander and may reverse them if any of the three cards create problems. That said, all of Duel Commander’s unbans are done on an experimental basis, and very few have been walked back.
On top of these unbans, the Duel Commander Committee also addressed Spider-Man 2099, which has put up extremely dominant results since it came out in the controversial Spider Man set. For now, despite being the best deck in the format, Spider-Man 2099 isn’t considered a power outlier.
For now, players will have the opportunity to play with these three Commanders in Duel Commander, some for the first time ever. Fortunately, even if you can’t find a Duel Commander event in paper, MTGO offers Duel Commander leagues and tournaments. Thanks to this, trying out these unbans is easier than you might think.
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