Sylvan Primordial | Gatecrash | Art by Stephan Martiniere
7, Oct, 24

MTG Players Speculate On Potentially Lucrative Unbans

What is this, The Big Short?

For the past few weeks, the recent Commander bans have been the headline story in MTG. Three incredibly popular, powerful, and expensive cards (and Nadu) bit the ban bullet a few weeks back. This set off a chain of events that involved huge financial losses, rampant abuse, death threats, and eventually WotC assuming control of Commander. Things have, seemingly, calmed down for now, but players are expecting some big changes soon. So much so that they’re actually starting to speculate on MTG cards that could get unbans in Commander.

Green And Mean

Commander has a fairly lengthy banlist for players to draw from, but so far two cards, in particular, have caught their interest. Both of these, funnily enough, are green creatures. Specifically, players are eyeing Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial, two banlist veterans who seriously push the boundaries of what’s reasonable for mana ramp.

Primeval Titan is by far the most famous card of the two. It was banned in Commander way back in 2012, due to being the “most egregious offender” in the overly-represented ramp decks of the time. You may also recognize it from Modern, where it plays the title role in the still-meta-relevant Amulet Titan deck.

The power of the card is fairly obvious. Putting two lands into play on entry and attack is great at a baseline. You get to tutor those lands too, which lets you grab powerful utilities like Field of the Dead or Bojuka Bog. On TCGplayer right now, most versions of the card are spiking, some as high as $25. For what was a $5 card until recently, that’s very significant.

Sylvan Primordial is less well-known, but no less potent in Commander. It’s a classic example of the word ‘each’ launching a card into the stratosphere. Destroying one noncreature permanent and tutoring one Forest would be underwhelming at best for a seven drop. Multiply that by three, however, and you have a serious threat.

If you can reanimate Primordial early, you can destroy a land for each opponent, and ramp yourself by three, which pretty much ends the game on the spot. This card was banned shortly after Titan in 2014 because it was similarly ubiquitous. Today, copies are starting to creep up in price, however. Not as dramatically as Titan, but what was a sub-$0.50 card is now selling for around $3.

Labored Logic

Logic Knot | Time Spiral Remastered | Art by Kev Walker

Most price spikes like these are driven by concrete factors. A card seeing play in a new deck, having critically low supply, etc. In this case, however, the reasoning is a bit different. MTG players are buying up these cards because they think a round of Commander unbans is coming now that WotC is in charge.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all to suspect that “Bracket Four'”, the high power / possibly cEDH tier they describe above, will re-legalize some or all of these cards, and possibly others. Wizards has a LOT of skin in the game as far as reprint equity with these cards.”

LordTetravus

There is some solid logic behind this line of thinking. The Commander Rules Committee (RC) has been in charge of the banlist up until this point. Their philosophy on power level, and what is considered fun and unfun in the format, has guided the development of the current banlist. Although the RC and WotC were in regular communication, it’s fair to assume that the two have differing philosophies on what does and doesn’t need to be banned in Commander.

“Prime Time vs Open the Way. Is Prime Time still banned-worthy at higher power tables while open the way exists?”

skiptomylou41k

Cards that have been on the banlist for a long time, like Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial, are seen as likely candidates for unbans due to how far power level has come since they were banned. As the comment above notes, Open the Way achieves something similar to Primeval Titan when cast. It gets you the same number of lands for four mana and can get you two more if you push it to six. Sure you don’t get a 6/6, but the point remains.

There’s also the element of supply to consider. While Primeval Titan has multiple reprints, Sylvan Primordial has just one. If the card is unbanned, the supply won’t be able to cover the demand and the price will go a lot higher than $3. Players are trying to get in before these spikes happen, and are in turn creating spikes themselves.

How Likely Are Commander Unbans For MTG?

Commander Unbans MTG Azra Oddsmaker

So that’s the theory behind it, but just how likely are Commander unbans for MTG really? Right now, we don’t have a lot of information to go off in this regard. Part of WotC’s statement does mention the banlist, however.

“We will also be evaluating the current banned card list alongside both the Commander Rules Committee and the community. We will not ban additional cards as part of this evaluation. While discussion of the banned list started this, immediate changes to the list are not our priority.”

Wizards of the Coast

Many players are cottoning on to the “We will not ban additional cards” part here. Since unbans are not mentioned, they take this to imply that some could be on the horizon. If this is the case, then cards like Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial are definitely potential candidates. Both have served at least a decade on the list, and both would be interesting to see in the current Commander climate.

That said, later in the statement WotC notes that “immediate changes to the list are not our priority.” This means that, even if unbans are on the cards, we likely won’t see them soon. Getting in on the cards in question now is smart if they do get unbanned, but pointless if they don’t. This is especially true if you buy in at the now-inflated prices.

Another important angle to consider is power level. Both Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial were banned for being too good and too ubiquitous. Even in 2024, this could still be the case. In the Reddit thread referenced above, players are also discussing the likes of Griselbrand and Coalition Victory as potential unbans. It’s certainly possible that all of these cards would be fine in modern Commander, but equally, if not more so, that they wouldn’t.

Commander has grown and thrived as a format without these cards, so adding them back in could be a volatile move. Given how explosive the last few weeks have been, WotC likely wants to avoid such risk.

Read More: Ex-CAG Members Reveal WotC Advised Against Recent Commander Bans

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