Banlist update, September 2021

[Morganator 2.0]

The site is down (again). I got the announcement from the Rules Committee Discord.

Worldfire unbanned
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Banned

Rule 10:
Rule 10, which stated that commanders were subject to the legend rule, was created in the days when the legend rule was less stable; the rule remained as an artifact of that time.  It’s not a Commander-specific rule, but simply existed as a clarification.  Since it’s redundant, we chose to eliminate it.  This change is administrative only and will have no impact on how games are played.  Rule 11 bumps up to Rule 10.

Worldfire:
Worldfire was banned due to the problematic interaction with floating mana and having access to your Commander. We want to foster a Commander environment where 8- and 9-mana spells are viable and likely to show up in a game, so we evaluate the expensive ones in that context. Unlike Coalition Victory and Biorhythm, which we continue to believe are problematic in that environment, the level of effort needed to make Worldfire effective is sufficient that we suspect it will not be as much of an issue. There are already cheaper ways to do similar things in the format.  We believe the social contract and robust pregame discussions will keep Worldfire out of games in which it doesn’t belong.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim:
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim has been a much-discussed card that is both popular to play with and unpopular to play against. There are many problems with the card, but the greatest is that in the low-to-middle tiers where we focus the banlist, Golos is simply a better choice of leader for all but the most commander-centric decks.  Its presence crushes the kind of diversity in commander choice which we want to promote.  You can drop in Golos and a few 5-color lands into a random deck and get all the ramp and card advantage you would ever want from a commander, with no worries about your mana base.  Golos’ ability effectively reduces the commander tax to one and once you hit seven mana (with Golos assuring that you have WUBRG and helping you get there quickly), you don’t need to do anything for the rest of the game except cast spells for free—something we always want to be careful about.  We’ve talked to the folks in Studio X and they understand the problems created by generically-powerful five-color commanders that don’t have WUBRG in their mana cost.  We don’t expect similar cards to come from them in the future, so a surgical strike now makes sense.  We understand that many players love Golos, so we don’t take this action lightly.  In the end, the health of the format is our primary concern and we find Golos unhealthy.  While Kenrith, the Returned King is a similarly flexible and popular commander for good stuff five color decks, we see it as a clear step down from Golos.

[Cosmic_Insight]

Oh....that's a big one. I did not expect either of these changes.

[WWolfe]

I have a friend that will undoubtedly slot Worldfire into at least one of his decks.

[Morganator 2.0]

Oh....that's a big one. I did not expect either of these changes.

I didn't expect these changes either, but I like it. Not just because I think that these were good descisions, but because it happened so soon after the last banning. It shows that there is now a concrete attempt and monitoring and making changes for the health of the format.

[Cosmic_Insight]

Those lovely Jhoira of the Ghitu decks finally get access to Worldfire. Splendid.

[Korlich]

While Golos makes sense, so does Tergrid and a few other problematic Commanders. I can't say Golos is the worst of them.

[Korlich]

Those lovely Jhoira of the Ghitu decks finally get access to Worldfire. Splendid.

That's one of those Commanders for sure. Talk about cheating stuff in like a Ulla Infinite that has haste no less 🤮

[jlutzxinc]

LOL @ thinking Worldfire is less problematic than Coalition Victory.  A five-color, three-card-minimum combo that wins the game immediately vs. a one-color, two-card-minimum combo that can take indefinitely many turns to complete.  I want to know what they were smoking, even independently of the aforementioned Jhoira of the Ghitu interaction.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, on the other hand, is a way better call; many people think he's the best Commander ever, and not just for the reasons listed here.  We can finally have variety again, and I for one LOVE variety.

[Nils]

I have just updated our legality checker with the latest bans.

[n21lv]

I have just updated our legality checker with the latest bans.

You probably have some discrepancy between the legality checker API and database legality filter (check the attached screenshot)
To replicate:
1. Open Deckbuilder
2. Select "EDH / Commander" in the "Format" field of the popup dialog.
3. Try searching for "Worldfire" in the Card Database.

[Eryx92]

It's a decision that's healthy for the format, although i strongly dislike it. I gotta dismantle 3 Golos Piles myself, but I see some potential for Kenrith,  Jodah and Sisay Decks to fill the gap.

It was hilarious how you could put together 50 horribly overcosted cards with a bunch of Ramp and still win games just by playing the slot machine game for 2WUBRG.

(5 out of 5, would combo again.)

[Nils]

You probably have some discrepancy between the legality checker API and database legality filter (check the attached screenshot)
To replicate:
1. Open Deckbuilder
2. Select "EDH / Commander" in the "Format" field of the popup dialog.
3. Try searching for "Worldfire" in the Card Database.

Yes, this is because the card database filter is only updated twice a day. It should be showing up now!

[TrueNeutralPaladin]

Tatyova, Benthic Druid
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
Chulane, Teller of Tales
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Prosper, Tome-Bound
Tergrid, God of Fright
(insert a dozen other value-train commanders here)

Absurd value for simply playing the game as normal... That's fine.

But Golos is a problem that needs to be banned... ?

No, I don't buy it.  Golos supports dozens of different types of decks, and while strong, the "generic value" it offers doesn't seem especially egregious in the high-speed, hyper-value, UBG-dominated environment that WotC has increasingly pushed.

[The Golgari Guy]

Tatyova, Benthic Druid
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
Chulane, Teller of Tales
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Prosper, Tome-Bound
Tergrid, God of Fright
(insert a dozen other value-train commanders here)

Absurd value for simply playing the game as normal... That's fine.

But Golos is a problem that needs to be banned... ?

No, I don't buy it.  Golos supports dozens of different types of decks, and while strong, the "generic value" it offers doesn't seem especially egregious in the high-speed, hyper-value, UBG-dominated environment that WotC has increasingly pushed.

Things Golos does that the above mentioned don't:

-Give access to all 5 colors
-Can be cast as soon as you have 5 mana regardless of mana color.
-Paying for half of its commander tax when killed
-Tutoring The World Tree on ETB giving you perfect mana.

Moreover, it fuel its own static ability by tutoring for lands, i.e., it's payoff and enabler in the same card. Muldrotha, for example, is a very strong payoff, but doesn't enable herself.

The same is true for other commanders, for sure: egregious examples are Chulane and Korvold, which are also quite obnoxious in my opinion.

Commanders that both are payoff and enabler are usually both boring/repetitive and overwpowered, and really bad designs in my opinion.

[DDaniDMrt]

As a player of commander, it's my first time seeing a ban of a legendary creature in the format... At least one of this magnitude.

It's common for them to ban a legendary creature from the game instead only from the helm of decks? Why not ban Golos only as the commander? Is it for the sake of semplicity and communication? (Is it not the same case for... Who was it?...Erayo?)

I would gladly listen to your opinions, I'm a bit puzzled.

I would have played it gladly at least in the 99 of some low-power land-matters deck, for examples. Or as a hidden commander of a shrine deck, as the one guy that travels through all of them.

Anyway, have fun guys!;-)