cEDH ban speculations

[Red_Wyrm]

Morganator that isn't the main pile. It's Grand Abolisher, Cephalid Illusionist, Nomads en-Kor, and a 1 drop. U mill ur deck, flashback Dread Return to reanimate Thassa's Oracle and win. The one you spelled out is one of the instant speed lines

Oh my god it's even more powerful. The worst part is you cant disrupt once they've gotten the grand abolisher, and there is no way to know they are doing that line until you see it on the table. By then it is too late. So really your only option is counter flash or stifle the protean hulk trigger. So you really just need like 1 force of will or pact of Negation in hand to stop either of those from happening.

[Morganator 2.0]

Banned announcement today.

With a busy year in the books, we open 2020 all quiet on the B&R front.

No changes. Huge disappointment on my part. I really did think that the push to get Flash banned would have yielded results this time. But to make matters worse:

In terms of cards, there were no consensus threats to players’ enjoyment and we’re not making any changes at this time.

No consensus? I wish I had this much audacity.

On the plus side, the commander website no longer looks like it stepped out of the 90's.

[WizardSpartan]

Rip, I feel bad for those of you playing cEDH. You can always to a temporary house ban if you really don't like it, but they should have definitely banned Flash. Ah well, their mistake.

[WWolfe]

I really wish Gifts Ungiven had been unbanned. 

Surprised nothing on Flash was done.

[dexflux]

I wonder how the RC actually decides on banlist and rules changes. Democratic voting? Consensus? I suspect the latter given their recent statement, but I can't claim that I know the truth.

I really wish they were far more transparent. At least one paragraph per (un)ban or suspeects for those. Some words on Flash would've been nice, too. Really, they should mimic WotC with their B&R announcements at least.

I still have some semblance of trust in the RC. If Flash remains unbanned with the next announcement, that trust will be shattered completely.

[Varatius]

Even if paradox engine was in every deck there's nothing wrong with that and it doesn't warrant a ban being as the card by itself isn't oppressive plus if that is what warrants a ban then with that philosophy solution ring should get banned.  There is nothing wrong with having staples and in fact that is a good thing for highlander formats.  However paradox engine only saw play in 2 decks consistently that are considered competitive,  yes it saw play in other decks but most of the time it was immediately removed as most casual players knew that it was a potential threat if its in the deck.  I truly believe that the commander banlist should be reworked and the the rc could unban all cards it wouldn't be a problem as there'd be a much higher variety of decks.  My playgroup had decided to each make 1 deck that disregards the banlist entirely granted we only play those decks when nobody else is with us but its very interesting and awesome to see cards that were never intended to be played together combo off but alot of the cards aren't even that problematic infant the only card that has caused problems is tolarian academy in my buddies simic combo deck and he doesnt even need it to win.

[Slyvester12]

@Varatius

I know what you're saying, but some of the bans are honestly a good thing. No one really needs Channel in EDH. Same for Tinker. Back in the days before WotC recognized commander as a format, I got hit by a T1 Blightsteel Colossus more than once.

Also, staples are usually considered a bad thing by commander players because they spike prices and lower deck variety. The more slots you devote to staples, the fewer you have for whatever theme you're running.

[WizardSpartan]

No one really needs Channel in EDH.

*Sad Ezuri, Renegade Leader noises*

[Slyvester12]

No one really needs Channel in EDH.

*Sad Ezuri, Renegade Leader noises*

No, really, NO ONE needs Channel.
https://deckstats.net/decks/132279/1454063-optimized-ezuri/en

[Varatius]

 I believe having staples is a good thing as long as the staples don't make it ISO you have to play down a strict play pattern.  Being an eternal format price should be a loose restriction and if price is a problem your playgroup can add or remove from the ban list as needed.

[Soren841]

I agree with certain cards on the banlist for balance purposes but a lot of the banlist could be unbanned. The entire point of a banlist is competitive. You can't say your format is solely casual and also have a banlist. I think the banlist should 100% be based around cEDH, because of the house rules thing. cEDH doesn't use house rules, and casual does. Therefore all bannings should be made for cEDH and casual tables can do whatever they want.

[WizardSpartan]

@Slyvester12: Little sidetrack from convo, but I've been meaning to ask. Why Joraga Warcaller as an alternate win con? While it does give elves an arbitrary amount of power toughness, it is very vulnerable to removal and doesn't give trample/evasion of any sort. Isn't Walking Ballista already better in that slot? It can win the game with infinite mana even through removal and it doesn't rely on combat to win. With non-infinite mana, it still provides utility, and it's just more flexible overall than Joraga Warcaller.

Seriously, though, there are good reasons for a lot of the long-standing bans, like Slyvester said.

[Slyvester12]

@GolgariFTW: You make some fair points, but the main reason I'm running Joraga Warcaller is because he's an elf. If Walking Ballista made Priest of Titania and co. tick up their mana production or got arbitrarily large with Ezuri, I'd run it. Warcaller is nice because, occasionally, I can use it to save a lot of elves from a Toxic Deluge (if Yeva or Vedalken Orrery is out) or just harass my opponents and give them something that needs to be removed. Also, it only costs G, which is really nice when I'm trying to keep drawing with Beast Whisperer or Glimpse of Nature. Warcaller can also do some silly things with Marwyn when I really need her to go infinite but don't have enough elves to get there. He's definitely last on the list on win-cons, but he can get the job done. If you have other ideas for a replacement, though, I'd be happy to hear them.

[Morganator 2.0]

Update on the EDH front.

Monday: Flash was not banned. Usually cEDH players are pretty tame, but today was a special day. Outrage, dismay, and disappointment were rampant across forums.

Tuesday: Casual commander players show support for cEDH. Most people agree that Commander and it's competitive counterpart are the same format, and a split would solve nothing. Posts about Flash not getting banned are appearing on both the EDH and cEDH subreddits.

Wednesday: Charlotte Sable of the Commander Advisory Committee released a statement. While she was for the banning of Flash, the Rules Committee was not. The reasons against the ban were shoddy at best. Read it here:

https://jqlgirl.tumblr.com/post/190406057441/a-personal-message-to-the-cedh-community

Thursday (today): Complaints on the EDH subreddit about the moderators not controlling the number of similar posts being made. Arguments are still on-going, but vast majority of competitive players and also many casual players agree that Flash should be banned. Others say that there shouldn't be a banning for the sake of a vocal minority.

[WizardSpartan]

@Slyvester12: The reasons you provided were pretty much what I figured. Fair, I need to reconsider taking it out of my deck.

@Morganator: Interesting, maybe the RC will cave to popular demand. I can't see the article at school, but I'll read it at home. While not personally affected by this turn of events, I find this very intriguing.