Lets look at the Commander Ban list part two

Before I posted the previous article I was told that it would be a trap subject. Regardless of what my opinion on things may be, if I've played with them before in the past or not there would be flack from tons of people. While everything I write is opinion based and naturally there will be disagreement I can't believe how much discussion it started. While there was some negative talks a lot of it was positive and that's what I like to see. I wasn't planning on doing part two so soon but I'm excited to bring it out now.

Some things to note were I was probably too lenient on bannings last time. I don't want them all unbanned at the same time but the ones that I'm not sure why they're banned I think could have a test period. I'm sure most of them will fail and get thrown right back in ban prison but if even one or two cards get freed from their unjust confinement then it's still a win...except Library of Alexandria. I've said some dumb things before but man, that card should never be unbanned.


Also, I'm aware there is only one ban list and it's for a casual EDH format. I'm discussing the format from the views of someone who likes to play more cutthroat decks and probably kicks children in his spare time.


Anyway, let's finish off this list and I have a surprise for you all at the end of the article, something that I've been wanting to do for blogs for a good while and something that I hope will set this blog apart from others.







PANOPTIC MIRROR

Casual: This was recently an errata for Commander. It reads "If your opponent doesn't have an answer, you win"
Safe to say this needs to stay banned. You could argue that Soulfire Grandmaster does the same thing but then you're forcing yourself into at least three colors, creatures are easier to kill than artifacts most of the time, and it's, even more, mana in one turn to do it so I think that's fair. Infinite turns is crazy strong.

Competitive: I'm not sure if this falls into too oppressive when the table is trying to kill each other in the first few turns. I think it could shake the format a little bit but deserves some looking at before.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Test it out






PRIME TIME

Casual: This guy was banned because he frequently became the focus of any game and was often stolen, cloned, and abused to all hell. While I think there is certainly a case for him to be unbanned I'm not sure that the casual Commander players want every game to be whoever gets this out first and abuses it for wins.

Competitive: Prime Time would likely see a good amount of play as a higher CMC card for land focused decks. I'm sure that he would absolutely be a threat to the table when he lands since he can get Strip mine, Wasteland, Gaea's Cradle, The Tabernacle at Pendrells vale, and plenty of powerful lands to sway the favor of the game. I'm not sure that's quite enough to be considered oppressive in a format where Ad Naseum, Hermit Druid, and Necropotence reign supreme.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban





PROPHET OF KRUPHIX

Casual: The most recent banning and I don't really disagree. Like Prime Time most games became focused around who got her out first, copied, and abused her. Unless someone wipes the board and then it's likely that one player flashes out a Mystic Snake to stop it. In casual it was too strong and made sense for it to be removed.

Competitive: There are plenty of generals who would love for this to come back. Thrasios, Momir Vig, Maelstrom Wanderer all seem like decks in where she would shine and I think for competitive games she was perfectly ok.
At five cmc she is often the high end of the curve and when destroyed would set back the player casting her a lot. Sure she could spiral out of control with a player untapping and having a card advantage engine but competitive decks are built to handle that.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban





PROTEAN HULK

Casual: You could argue that players can do cool plays with this card rather than kill the table. But the fact that this guy ends the game in the right decks is enough to keep him on the banned list forever for me. Pair him with Flash and the game is over.

Competitive: At least you can interact with Academy Rectory and Flash. You could always exile the Rector in the graveyard or blow up the Omniscience in response to whatever card they play (Assuming it's not Enter the Infinite). It's hard to come back but it's certainly possible. With hulk, nope, whole combo on board and it's over. At least it has fun flavor text.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban






RECURRING NIGHTMARE

Casual: I think in certain situations this could be ok. However; it's super easy to abuse this card even in casual to the point where it may be too oppressive. I think it warrens a test to see how bullshit it possibly could be.

Competitive: Probably more safe as an unbanning. It could easily cause infinities but that's what competitive decks are meant to do so it's likely a safe unban there. At least worth a test considering I think it may be ok for casual as well.

Verdict:
Casual: Test but probably ban
Competitive: Test but probably unban









ROFELLOS, LLANOWAR EMISSARY

Casual: Removal of banned as commander was dumb. Rofellos is super powerful but in the 99 he's perfectly ok. Before the removal of our sacred list, he wasn't causing problems. He just wants to part in the forest with his friends.


Competitive: In competitive, I think Yisan is the better Mono Green general since he can just combo out with the deck while Rofellos is casting Eldrazi. Both are powerful but Yisan will end the game with his sequence.
Also, Selvala has been printed since then while not as powerful she hasn't been destroying the meta by a long shot (I still love you Selvala)

Verdict:
Casual: Banned as commander
Competitive: Unbanned






SHAHRAZAD

Casual: This should just be banned. Two mana spells that can take multiple hours to resolve and can be reused over and over is not too powerful for anything but just not meant for the format.

Competitive: I don't care if you can finish games within 10-15 minutes. This shouldn't be unbanned because it's just a troll card.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban










SUNDERING TITAN

Casual: I'll let my unnatural bias and love for this card slide. I think this may be too strong for casual games. It's not hard to get him out and destroy plenty of lands and flicker to stop land drops from ever happening. Plus the colorless aspect of the card means it goes in everything.

Competitive: Ummm...I'm a little torn. While the 8 mana is a lot the possibility to kill up to ten lands that aren't yours every time seems powerful. I think it deserves a test to see how insane it is in a competitive group but wouldn't be surprised if it's too strong.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Test

SWAY OF THE STARS

Casual: This card is stupid. I think ten mana spells that don't even really help you and just make the game up to this point entirely pointless are just a waste of time so similar to Shahrazad before it I think it should stay banned. Sure you could float mana and get ahead but it's much harder when you don't know what seven you'll get.

Competitive: Other than Jhoira I can't think of any deck that would want to play this. Sure it's annoying in casual but there is no point to play this in competitive at all. Unless you wanna troll people in which case you're gonna lose anyway.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban









SYLVAN PRIMORDIAL

Casual: The old Prime time syndrome where a card is copied, stolen, and blinked to absolute shit for abuse. Banning it in casual formats makes total sense. Even if I hate losing it from my Reanimator deck...sigh.


Competitive: 7 mana is a bunch for this guy and outside of dedicated ramp or reanimator decks it likely wouldn't see play. Blowing up three resources and getting three of your own is far from broken in a competitive group so I think this guy slides by just fine.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban






TIME VAULT

Casual: Infinite turns in pretty much any deck, and as early as turn one with a god hand? Yeah, this should totally be banned.

Competitive: Infinite turns in pretty much any deck, and as early as turn one with a god hand? Yeah, this should totally be banned.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban











TINKER

Casual: Turn one into a Blightsteel Colossus is way too strong. Being able to vomit artifacts out is far easier than creatures and Tinker is blue and lower CMC than Natural order. While Natural Order is certainly strong it isn't going to be bringing in Blightsteel


Competitive: Umm...probably too strong. The possibility of a turn one Blightsteel is even more likely in a competitive meta where there are far more mana rocks. I'm not sure there are better options than Blightsteel as a tinker target but killing people on turn two is something competitive decks do anyway, that's my only hesitation.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Probably ban






TOLARIAN ACADEMY

Casual: Gaea's Cradle is pretty strong already but not super oppressive. Academy can tap for more, earlier, faster, and more consistently.
Also. blue mana is clearly better than green.

Competitive: Adding a land that can tap for 4 mana pretty easy on turn one is like adding Library of Alexandria to the format. Only a complete idiot would think that's ok.

Verdict:
Casual: No
Competitive: No way







TRADE SECRETS

Casual: It's funny that a commander set card is banned. And I'm A-ok with this one. Yeah, it's too easy to just draw your whole deck with someone wanting the game to end. Some people can't be bartered with, they just want to watch the world burn.

Competitive: I think this could be ok since there isn't really any trolling going on in competitive tables and it's just a draw four and target opponent who's losing will draw two. It's likely not gonna go past that. I may be giving people too much credit.


Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Probably unban. This card is stupid





UPHEAVAL

Casual: Like Sway this will reset the board but now you'll more mana open for crazy things. Also works well with things like Oblivion ring effects to make it more degenerate. But the main thought is board resets are too powerful for regular Commander.

Competitive: This is borderline for me. While six mana is a ton the effect it brings is absurd. Probably too absurd and if you can get it to resolve, float some mana you'll likely be winning the game. And blue decks are pretty much the only thing that can interact with Upheaval so I think this is a safe ban.

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Ban





WORLDFIRE
Casual: Like Sway and Upheaval this guy is no go. Another reset that makes the game pretty much a crap shot to win unless you have an oblivion ring effect. But once again, the reset and often making the game up to that point not matter at all makes sense why this card is banned.

Competitive: Like Sway this probably wouldn't see any play outside of Jhoira decks. Being able to cheat it in followed by any creature would easily win games but other than that deck I don't see why it would be played. And helping Jhoira out wouldn't have been the worst since she's far from the bogeyman she used to be years ago

Verdict:
Casual: Ban
Competitive: Unban




YAWGMOTH'S BARGAIN

Casual: Shame that the final card has to be such a clear cut insane monster but that's the way the alphabet works. Bargain could be considered worse or better than Griselbrand but the fact that it can be compared to Griselbrand is reason enough that it should never be unbanned. Drawing until you get an answer or a win is just broken.

Competitive: No, even at six mana this is far too strong. Like I said before the ability to just draw until you get an answer or combo just makes it far too strong.

Verdict:
Casual: No
Competitive: Ok....no just kidding.






And that's my analysis on the ban list. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Am I stupid? That seems to be a popular train of thought these days.


AND FINALLY

Here's what I've been working on, now that you have my opinion on these cards I want to hear yours.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xzUspjtolL6_YNtVypcKFlvg7t7cTrnJQGycRm1orLE/edit?usp=forms_home&ths=true


Follow that link to a survey in which you can put down what you think should or shouldn't be banned. I'll take the results from that survey and let you guys in know the future the results.

Thanks for the support and this is DoomBlade, Signing out.