(hypothetical)- you find yourself a member of the EDH rules committee...

[WWolfe]

You find yourself a member of the EDH rules committee, what do you try to accomplish? (for those that don't know, traditional Commander isn't technically "ran" by WOTC, it's ran by an independent rules committee- one of which does work for WOTC)

Are there certain cards you would try to get unbanned?

Certain cards you would try to get banned?

Any rule you would try to change (return to partial-paris, changing the tuck rule, etc..)?

Or are you perfectly happy where the format is and be content just trying to keep things the same?

[Varatius]

The only thing I would change is all planeswalkers can be used as a commander just for the fact that seeing a superfriends deck with a planeswalker commander would be cool I just cant seem to find one that works even in a fun way with the existing planeswalker commanders.

[Soren841]

That would be so bad, so many walkers would be broken af. I would try to get Flash banned, is the main thing.

[WWolfe]

I could see trying to get Iona banned. Goodness that can shut a player totally out of the game and some times it's not in either of the other players best interest to remove it so they can play.

I'd like to see a return of the "Banned as Commander" list. There are cards that are broken as a commander that are fine in the 99. Braids, Cabal Minion for instance IMHO.

Unbanning, hmm, maybe Biorhythm?

Planeswalkers could be fine as commanders if you used a "Banned as Commander" list for them. Sorin Markov would be straight broken as a commander, as would a few others.

[Judaspriester]

That would be so bad, so many walkers would be broken af. I would try to get Flash banned, is the main thing.

Why? The hardest Planeswalker is already a legal Commander: Teferi, Temporal Archmage.

Besides that, i would like to play with Planeswalkers as commanders. A few of them might be even more op than teferi and could be banned (as commander, not as 99er), but I can't imagine this would be necessary for much of them.

Besides that, i would agree with WWolfe, a difference beteween banned and banned as commander could be interesting for some cards.

[Varatius]

Some of the planeswalkers would be broken agreed, but not all just like legendary creatures some are broken as commanders and therefore banned i always forget that the banned as commander list is gone as my playgroup has a banned as commander list and have used the old one and built off of it.

[Soren841]

Tbh banned as commander would be fine. I'd use Rofellos as an example tho. Braids isn't that broken either way, people just dont like dealing with it.

[WWolfe]

Tbh banned as commander would be fine. I'd use Rofellos as an example tho. Braids isn't that broken either way, people just dont like dealing with it.

Yea, I never had a problem with Braids before it was banned but I know people that did.

I didn't think Prophet of Kruphix was all that broken (and I ran it and played against it. The biggest knock I saw on it was that it could make the player using it take as much time, if not more, than the player whose turn it was on each turn if their deck was built with the right draw engine and mana base.

[Soren841]

Basically I'd tune it more for cEDH. Most of casual wouldnt care because there's little overlap.

[Morganator 2.0]

What you need to remember is that the commander banlist isn't like a typical banlist. Banlists in Modern, Standard, Legacy, etc, are designed to stop everyone from playing the same deck. The cards on those banlists are designed to make sure there is variety in the format.

The Commander banlist on the other hand, is designed to stop cards that are "Not fun". Cards like  Upheaval, Braids, Cabal Minion, and Balance are on there because they are simply not fun. Cards like Black Lotus and Library of Alexandria put you at an advantage that no one else can match, and Coalition Victory and Griselbrand are just too easy to win with.

For this reason, I think Stasis would be the next card to get banned. There are now 4 commanders that can do a soft-lock with this card (Estrid the Masked, Brago, King Eternal, Teferi, Temporal Archmage, and Derevi, Empyrial Tactician). While you can get out of it, it is simply not fun.

If we were trying to stifle the top decks (cEDH decks) you would ban (give or take) the following cards:
Ad Nauseam
Aetherflux Reservoir
Doomsday
Flash
Food Chain
Hermit Druid
Intuition
Paradox Engine
The Chain Veil

[Soren841]

Not trying to stifle the top decks. For a competitive EDH banlist it would be the same purpose as other ballista. So ban Flash. Tbh if there was a separate banlist from casual, I'd unban 90% of the banlist rn, but that won't happen.

[Soren841]

None of the cards u listed would even be considered for a ban. You don't say "Ad Naus," and think "ban it it's too op"

[WWolfe]

The Commander banlist on the other hand, is designed to stop cards that are "Not fun". Cards like  Upheaval, Braids, Cabal Minion, and Balance are on there because they are simply not fun.

I don't really see Braids as not fun, at least if you go back to a "banned as commander" list and stick her in there. I've played against it with several different decks before it was banned and it really didn't bother me. I'm more bothered by something like Iona, Shield of Emeria which can totally lock one player out of the game. I've been in two games where I was playing my mono-red Purphoros deck, the player named red and it wasn't in the other players best interest to get rid of it so I could play. After 10 minutes of playing lands and passing turn, I scooped and went to find another game.

That to me is more breaking of the "social contract" that the rules committee talks about so much than Braids is.

[Morganator 2.0]

Yeah, that's fair. Iona, Shield of Emeria is pretty lame. Braids is only really bad as a commander, because you can consistently get her out turn 1 or 2.

[Soren841]

True but then (speaking competitively) not many decks rely on their commanders. It would be good anti meta vs sissy actually. On Iona, I wouldn't ban her. Yeah she can shut decks down but like she's not great. I never think Iona and OP together.