Lord Xander Deck (as seen on Tolarian Community College!)

[JackPenman]

What does everybody else think of this abomination of a deck? (This is designed to get Xander B A N N E D.)
https://deckstats.net/decks/186903/2521424-only-i-may-dance

[Morganator 2.0]

Why would you want Xander to get banned? Sure he's got a bunch of feels-bad effects, but he hardly limits game progression like most of the other banned legendaries.

[Akira Foxmind]

Why would you want Xander to get banned? Sure he's got a bunch of feels-bad effects, but he hardly limits game progression like most of the other banned legendaries.

I talked about Xander with one of my colleagues today. We agreed that he essentially takes the fun of the game for one opponent with each of his abilities. That might sound a bit harsh but it's the reason why both of us won't build decks with him.
But I agree as well, that his abilities aren't 'extreme' enough for him to get banned.

For me, I will simply not play with or against him in the commandzone. 

[ApothecaryGeist]

Xander is a reason I would like to see "Banned as a Commander" return.


An ETB trigger.  An attack trigger.  A death trigger.  That all blow up hands, libraries, and permanents on the field.


Seems to be on a similar axis to Leovold.  Leovold, Emissary of Trest was banned because he shut down opponents while being a draw engine; and being repeatable from the command zone.


Xander does not provide any direct benefit to the controller.  But shuts down opponents on multiple fronts.  Passively.  No hoops to jump through.  Just cast him OR swing with him OR have him die.  Any of those can completely wreck an opponent's board state.  Loop any of those actions and now you've shut down the board.  And it's repeatable from the command zone.


As one of the 99 I think Xander would be a decent combo/control piece. 


As the leader of the deck, I would also like to see Xander banned.  I see a lot of discussion on line about Xander.  I am really hoping that Xander prompts the return of "Banned as Commander".


P.S.  Until that time, I do plan to build Xander to see how bonkers he really is.  I'm hoping we can get a Xander vs Xander vs Xander vs Xander at my LGS.

[anjinsan]

Leovold costs 3. Xander costs 7. I don’t really like the argument that a moderately high CMC alone excuses any ills, but he’s pretty late to come out, and telegraphed. And, his effects aren’t even that big.

Who runs targeted discard in EDH? That hurts, but it only hurts badly (as compared to Mind Rot type cards) if you have a big hand in the first place, and it’s only one player.

The attack trigger… I wish they’d done something else, because that’s kinda lame, but half the time that’s a huge boon to someone, and anyway you have to attack which makes it rather harder to trigger. I think I’d actually have preferred something like lose half life, but only on taking damage.

The death trigger is potentially pretty devastating. Again, though, it’s only vs one player, and then the others can gang up on you.

For this guy to do anything game-winning you kind of need to keep killing and reanimating him which is totally possible but rather a lot more work, and is the sort of strategy that can already let you do all kinds of crazy degenerate things. This deck doesn’t even seem to do that for the most part, it looks more like blink so mass discard, and frankly there are probably cheaper ways to do that.

The single-target nature of this guy makes him potentially un-fun but hardly overpowered. The chances of him getting banned feel like approximately zero.

[The Golgari Guy]

Personally, I think Xander is totally fine as a Commander. 7 mana is a lot, and you can't really abuse the triggers by recurring him from the graveyard since each trigger becomes less impactful every time you use it.

[Slyvester12]

Personally, I think Xander is totally fine as a Commander. 7 mana is a lot, and you can't really abuse the triggers by recurring him from the graveyard since each trigger becomes less impactful every time you use it.

I also think Xander is fine and should remain unbanned, but I'm not sure the Zeno's Paradox argument is going to be very persuasive when someone only loses three quarters of their original board state instead of all of it.

[The Golgari Guy]

Personally, I think Xander is totally fine as a Commander. 7 mana is a lot, and you can't really abuse the triggers by recurring him from the graveyard since each trigger becomes less impactful every time you use it.

I also think Xander is fine and should remain unbanned, but I'm not sure the Zeno's Paradox argument is going to be very persuasive when someone only loses three quarters of their original board state instead of all of it.

Appreciate the reference to Zeno's paradox

Regarding the power level, I guess that we'll see. I'm much more scared of facing an Urza or Korvold rather than a Xander, but I may be proved wrong.

[LearnedonRevised]

I don't see a problem with Xander when compared to other commanders. As others have stated, 7CMC is prohibitive enough given that it requires 3 separate colors to cast. This makes it harder to cast than Toxrill, the Corrosive which I would argued should be banned first.  Next, that the ETB is not consistently repeatable when compared to say Tergrid, God of Fright or Tergrid's Lantern. As others have said, removal is necessary; the dies trigger does not go off with Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, or bounce effects like Brazen Borrower. In, closing I would be more scared of Toxrill, Tergrid, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur in the command zone, additionally Archfiend of Depravity, Nicol Bolas, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager are oppressive.

Xander is a reason I would like to see "Banned as a Commander" return.


An ETB trigger.  An attack trigger.  A death trigger.  That all blow up hands, libraries, and permanents on the field.


Seems to be on a similar axis to Leovold.  Leovold, Emissary of Trest was banned because he shut down opponents while being a draw engine; and being repeatable from the command zone.


Xander does not provide any direct benefit to the controller.  But shuts down opponents on multiple fronts.  Passively.  No hoops to jump through.  Just cast him OR swing with him OR have him die.  Any of those can completely wreck an opponent's board state.  Loop any of those actions and now you've shut down the board.  And it's repeatable from the command zone.


As one of the 99 I think Xander would be a decent combo/control piece. 


As the leader of the deck, I would also like to see Xander banned.  I see a lot of discussion on line about Xander.  I am really hoping that Xander prompts the return of "Banned as Commander".


P.S.  Until that time, I do plan to build Xander to see how bonkers he really is.  I'm hoping we can get a Xander vs Xander vs Xander vs Xander at my LGS.

[anjinsan]

Someone played him vs me in Brawl on Arena. I think I had three cards in hand and discarded one to the ETB? Half rounded down is a bit eh. It’s probably more impactful in EDH, mind you… but then it’s only one target. IIRC he did the clones thing, so you get the ETB and death right away for cheap (a la the Neon Dynasty dragon one) - though obviously he has to stick around for that.

Three colours is more a benefit than a drawback. I’m definitely not more scared of Toxrill, even if he does turn things into a slug fest (). Tergrid is always going to be about the same level of mean, but it’s monoblack. But then indeed we have Korvolds and Chulanes and Kenriths and all sorts out there, so the chances of this guy getting banned are approximately zero - nor would it make any sense to ban him, at least not before the actually ridiculous stuff like Dockside and Sol Ring.