If you keep up with Magic at all, even casually, then you’ll have seen the community storm raging over the last two weeks. Last Monday, the first Commander bans in three years rocked the game to its core. The result was a collective outrage of epic proportions, as cards tanked in value and players rushed to hurl abuse at who they felt was responsible. This ultimately led to the even more seismic decision for Wizards of the Coast (WotC) to assume control of the Commander format, bans and all.
Just when you thought the dust was finally settling, another development in the story emerges. In a YouTube video published yesterday, members of the old Commander Advisory Group revealed that WotC had actually advised against these bans before they happened. This casts the entire situation in a new light and has big implications for the future of a WotC-led Commander format.
Words Of Warning
Yesterday, The Command Zone posted a new video discussing Wizards’ takeover of the channel’s namesake format. In this video, former Commander Advisory Group member Josh Lee Kwai mentioned that he’d discussed the recent bans with Wizards directly. Reportedly, Wizards actively advised against the proposed bans.
“I’ve talked to people inside Wizards. I know for a fact they said ‘do not do this’. […] I don’t know if they said ‘hey just do Nadu and Dockside’ or what, but they were like, ‘this full decision, please don’t do this.'”
Josh Lee Kwai
This is a fairly major revelation. Before we could merely speculate on whether the RC and WotC were aligned in their philosophy on bans in the format. Now, however, we know that they were opposed on this one. Given the extreme nature of the bans in question, this isn’t particularly surprising.
The reason why WotC was opposed to these bans isn’t entirely clear. Based on the statements made in the video, it looks like it was mainly driven by an aversion to community outrage.
“‘We have had a lot of experience with bannings’, right, ‘we know what kind of fallout can happen. We are advising not to do this’ is what Wizards was saying.”
Jimmy Wong
Knowing that WotC wasn’t on board with the decision that ultimately led them to assume control of Commander creates an interesting situation indeed. It opens up the possibility that communications between the RC and other bodies have broken down in recent times. The fact that the CAG wasn’t consulted on the bans certainly supports this theory.
A Sign Of Things To Come?
Whatever the reason, players have a lot to say about this revelation. At time of writing, the Reddit thread discussing the matter has over 1300 comments. Many are interpreting the reasoning behind their disagreement, and predicting how said reasoning will affect the format in the future.
“I mean, you can read that in both ways. Of course WotC doesn’t want Lotus and Crypt banned…
They want to be able to sell those cards in the future.
Azuretruth
Or
They know the backlash would be huge.”
Both lines of reasoning here make perfect sense. Given the context of the quote, it does seem more likely that community outrage was the main factor for WotC. On the other hand, one would be naive to think it didn’t also consider the financial angle. Jeweled Lotus, Mana Crypt, and Dockside Extortionist were all expensive cards. As TheSchadow put it later in the thread, they served as “reprint equity” to boost the value of specific sets. With their Commander legality gone, so too is that equity.
Conversely, these three cards were hardly the only expensive cards in Commander. The format is so broad that removing three money cards barely makes a dent. The vacuum left behind by their banning has also caused other cards to rise. Mana Vault, for example, jumped up by around $100 following this decision. There’s still a deep pool of valuable cards for WotC to reprint in new sets. Despite this, not everyone is convinced WotC will keep the new bans in effect.
“My hopes are high they’ll stick with the bans, but I’m pretty sure they won’t.”
Future-Ad-127
These concerns are certainly valid now that we know WotC never agreed with the new Commander bans. I still think it’s extremely unlikely that they’d actually reverse them, however. It would only amplify the financial turmoil the market is in currently. Additionally, it would generate more outrage from players who already sold their copies off. That said, what this new information does do is cement the idea that WotC will be cautious with bans going forward.
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