No, this isn’t April 1st. Commander has officially banned some of the most powerful cards in the format in a new announcement today. The cards now banned in the Commander format are Mana Crypt, Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom.
As this may come as hard to believe to some, here is a screenshot and link below of the announcement from MTG’s official website:
Currently, the announcement is live on the Magic: The Gathering website; however, as of the time of writing, the Commander Rules Committee website is down and has crashed due to site traffic caused by the news.
Many players may have expected Nadu to be banned. After all, it was just banned in Modern and creates some rather unfun playing experiences. The big headline here is the banning of Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, and Dockside Extortionist.
All three of these cards are premier cards in the Commander format, and have seen play since their inception. The Commander Rules Committee explained the reason behind the banning of each card below:
Obviously, each of these cards is quite powerful. Perhaps the biggest shock is not that they are cards worthy of being banned, but of the financial implications to those who already play them.
Many of these cards derive most of their value from Commander play. In fact, Jeweled Lotus has been printed in large part to attract buyers to entire Commander themed sets. Now the card is unplayable in the only format it was designed for.
Perhaps the biggest unanswered question from this rules update is why these cards were explicitly banned vs allowing for the typical Rule Zero conversation. After all, this ban list didn’t completely exhaust all powerful cards, such as tutors and other fast mana like Gaea’s Cradle.
Once the RC website comes back online, there may be additional context provided.
Stay tuned to MTG Insider for more breaking news and announcements from MTG and Commander.
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