Key takeaways
- Wizards of the Coast takes the Management of Magic: The Gathering Commander format from the community.
- Banned four powerful cards from Commander for being too strong for casual players.
- A proposed power level bracket system for Commander decks to classify power based on the cards included.
Wizards of the Coast have announced that they are taking over its management Magic: The Gathering’s popular Commander format, taking over from the community-based Commander Rules Committee. It comes to a tumultuous week Magic: The Gathering Which results in major and unexpected pattern matching card bans.
The community witnessed a wild uproar after the four mighty Magic: The Gathering Cards banned from Commander were: the quick mana artifacts Mana Crypt and Jeweled Lotus, the combo creature Dockside Extortionist, and the persistent value generator Nadu, Winged Wisdom, which had already been banished from other tournament formats. The Commander rules committee deemed these four cards too powerful for the format as a whole, opting to remove them entirely in favor of casual players who are more competitive.
In an announcement, Wizards of the Coast said it was taking over for Commander. After the ban, unhappy players not only expressed their anger at the developments, but some even doxed and threatened five members of the Commander Rules Committee, resulting in the resignation of some chiefs. Magic: The Gathering Community points Overseeing the format, Wizards is protecting community-based representatives from further harm and lending Commander their expertise in game development and management.
A possible new way to categorize Commander decks
While Wizards will still remain the official face and authority of the Commander format, it said some members of the rules committee will still be involved in input. Another big vision the company is trying to implement is to break out of power level conversations in Commander play groups, offering a bracket and tiering system that helps classify the strength of individual decks based on the specific cards included. The suggested system will place decks in tiers based on their strongest cards and help determine if a certain table is fun and balanced, but it also involves a lot of careful work and thorough conversations to ensure its effectiveness.
In the meantime, any suggested solutions after major sanctions are long-term solutions. A major concern now is the sudden tanking of these particularly valuable commodities Cards, in which many players have invested a considerable amount. Many are trying to sell as quickly as possible while the cards still have some relative value, and some adjustment Magic: The Gathering Sellers are refunding players who have recently purchased these from them.
And although the ban has upset many players, it is also possible that these changes can still be reversed. A petition calling for the ban to be withdrawn has received thousands of signatures Magic: The Gathering With the takeover of the format by Players, and Wizards, this could still happen as the company has proven on occasion that they listen to the pulse of the player base.

Magic: The Gathering
- Original release date
- August 5, 1993
- designer
- Richard Garfield
- Count the players
- 2+
- Age recommendation
- 13+