New rules coming for Companion

[WWolfe]

https://twitter.com/tobyelliott/status/1245787902094778391

In a reply about Companion...

tobyelliott
@tobyelliott
Replying to
@LorenOJohnson and @ghirapurigears
They work. Turns out new mechanics need new rules sometimes. Those will be out soon!

(Toby Elliott is part of the rules committee for those that don't know)

[ApothecaryGeist]

I wonder if Commander will formally permit a sideboard of exactly 1 card?   


Would permit Companion.  Would make Wishes functional, but still not extremely useful.

[Slyvester12]

I'd really rather they didn't. Lots of products like deck boxes fit exactly 100 double sleeved cards. Really don't want to bring an extra box of Companions around just for this. Not to mention that decks are already carefully curated 100-card piles and probably shouldn't be given access to extra effects for no reason.

[robort]

Having a free card to play in your opening hand of 7 is a slippery slop no matter what the card does. It isn't affected by mulligans and you always have access to it. It has it's own zone so it can barely be interacted with. Interaction at most is when it's cast. Plus a companion card was allready banned to start with. The arguement can be made about using wish cards since the companion mechanic is outside the game as well. The companion mechanic is opening a door that shouldn't have been opened.

[ApothecaryGeist]

Having a free card to play in your opening hand of 7 is a slippery slop no matter what the card does. It isn't affected by mulligans and you always have access to it. It has it's own zone so it can barely be interacted with. Interaction at most is when it's cast. Plus a companion card was allready banned to start with. The arguement can be made about using wish cards since the companion mechanic is outside the game as well. The companion mechanic is opening a door that shouldn't have been opened.

I do agree that the ruling that the companion mechanic does function (from outside the game) is inconsistent with the ruling for the wishes.


But, a companion in your colors is hardly an auto-include.  (Except the one that was preemptively banned.)  They all come with deck build restrictions.  All are creatures, so easy to deal with.  I don't know that this door should never have been opened.  But this does seem to be an easily abuseable mechanic.  R&D should definitely NOT push this to its limits.

[robort]

All creatures are easy to deal with but none of the compampions will be in play. They are out of the game until they are cast and then they can be interacted with. The companion mechanic is giving card advantage no matter what abilities the have. This companion card Gyruda, Doom of Depths can sit outside the game and really doesn't has to be cast but still becomes the 8th card in your hand while everyone else has 7. That was just an example but free card advantage is free card advantage no matter how meh the card's ability is

[Slyvester12]

free card advantage is free card advantage no matter how meh the card's ability is

Exactly. I like some of the companion cards. I actually want to build at least one deck with Jegantha. But, I think companion was a mistake. Plenty of decks generate enough mana to be able to comfortably drop a companion without disrupting their game plan by turn 7 or so. That's not a fantastic advantage, but it's still a body/effect they wouldn't have otherwise. Especially for the companions with easier build restrictions.

[WizardSpartan]

I definitely think this mechanic was a mistake. It's wayyyy too feast or famine. Either the restrictions make the card basically unusable as a Companion, or every deck will warp for the free, guaranteed card. I know a couple Modern, etc. players that feel like WoTC is pushing every format to become Commander. I feel like that's a little extreme, but considering the fact the commander set this year is bigger than last year, each recent Standard set has at least a few cards built for Commander, there will be an exclusively Commander set this year, anddd there's a new mechanic that basically allows non-Commander formats to have a Commander, I can see the beginnings of a pattern.

[CleanBelwas]

Just throwing it out there, I like companions.

If you're warping your deck enough to make the companion available, your deck probably sucks. And don't get me wrong, a lot of my decks suck. I have no issue with decks that suck.

The point is that in order to get a companion you have to warp your deck massively and you only get the benefit once. There isn't a single companion card that I wouldn't rather have in the command zone so I can repeatedly get their benefits, and if I'm doing that, I don't have to care about the stupid clauses.

Take Keruga. That effect is strong. That's a lot of card draw. It's not worth not running Sol Ring and Counterspell and Rampant Growth and the talisman and signet and all that good stuff for, especially when once it's dead, it's dead. Same for Obosh, Umori, even Jegantha. Every single one is better in the command zone and not worth messing your deck up for. The only one that would have been good is Lutri, so the ban makes sense to me.

Companions are only good for idiots like me who like stupid rules and shit decks. No one looking to make a good deck is going to consider bastardising their deck that much for it, so I'm all for letting idiots like me have their fun and letting the good players ignore the mechanic entirely.

[Slyvester12]

I think you're missing the point here. It's not the current companions that give most people problems. It's the fact that the mechanic itself is strong. Lutri was a one use Mirari. That's pretty terrible. But you have use of it at ANY TIME. That alone was enough to turn a one-shot Mirari into an instant ban (even if unwarranted). Cards like Jegantha are fun. But setting a precedent that ignores normal deck building rules is a mistake.

[CleanBelwas]

I'm really not missing the point, I just don't think it's that strong. How can it be considered a strong mechanic if none of the legal cards that use it are a problem? You have to really warp a normal deck to get the advantage of access to one free card, which in my opinion more than negates the upside.

Additionally, I don't think it is setting a precident for ignoring deck building rules, nor do I think it's a mistake. If you want to take advantage of the companion, the downside is real. It's the same as anything in the game. There is advantage, and there is a trade off for that advantage. It's a different way to build a deck, that's all, and  not a particularly good one.

Moving into the realms of "access to a free card" could be problematic and a mistake if they fuck it up, but so far I don't think they have.

Lutri was only banned in commander becuase it's restriction has no downside in commander. It's condition is how you have to build your deck to play the format. That is a free 101st card for no downside. That's always going to be too strong. The rest of them aren't. The way you have to warp your deck to account for them makes them far from free.