MTG - Commander: Analyzing the New Unbans

Commander is not exactly a new format, and banning cards in it is certainly not a novel idea either. Banlists in EDH, the original name of the format, have been around since 2002, mostly restricting the Power 9 and some cards the majority of players couldn't access that easily. This banlist, in fact, was inspired directly by the Vintage banlist.

Unbans are more uncommon, but not unheard of. Many cards have been unbanned throughout the years, like the original Wish cycle, which included Burning Wish and similar.

So, we were all surprised when Wizards of the Coast decided to update their banlist by not only unbanning 5 cards but also unbanning 5 cards that are, each in their own way, problematic.

In today's article, we'll explore these recent unbans and discuss each of these unbanned cards.

These are the cards that were unbanned: Gifts Ungiven, Sway of the Stars, Braids, Cabal Minion, Coalition Victory, and Panoptic Mirror.

Straight away, the banlist states they were moved to the Game Changers list. If you don't know what this list is, it's basically the way Wizards of the Coast created to help us, the players, understand the power level of what they call "game changer" cards. In this list, you'll find different "brackets" for each power level, and the "game changer" cards sit at the very top of this scale. Besides the 5 cards above, WotC also added a few other cards to this list - we'll discuss them later on.

All the cards we'll discuss today were banned between 2005 and 2009, but WotC decided to give them a second chance in the "game changer" brackets. Remember, this list is supposed to make Commander matches more predictable, homogeneous, and controlled.

Let's see each one of them individually.

Gifts Ungiven

Gifts Ungiven is a four-mana tutor that works at instant speed and, essentially, lets you keep two of the four cards it tutors. Though a target opponent of your choice will make you put two of them in the graveyard, you can easily play around this. For instance, if you pick four cards in which any combination of two of them leads to the same result, this "drawback" won't affect you. That's why it was banned, originally: it was simply too consistent as an instant speed enabler. Not to mention, it can be incredibly recursive if you use something like Tasigur, the Golden Fang with it.

Wizards of the Coast stated that, to use this card, you need to know the power level of the table you'll be playing on, and that's where the bracket system comes in. As this card is considered a "game changer", it's up to the players themselves to balance it and decide whether they'll allow it, which commonly happens in Commander. Yeah, if someone is using Gifts to set up graveyard loops on turn 4, while all the other players are using midrange decks, then it could be an issue and make the game unbalanced.

Gifts Ungiven can add a lot of value to Commander matches when it is used "fairly", as it has synergy with cards like Past in Flames and some graveyard/Reanimator strategies. However, all players on the table must be aware of its power and agree to its use. Gifts Ungiven wasn't designed to be neutral: it is, by nature and definition, competitive, and can only be "healthy" in Commander when the table it is played on can compete with it on the same level. It is definitely more "group-dependent" than a card that should be formally banned, and, as such, Wizards of the Coast decided to unban it for more competitive Commander tables.

Sway of the Stars

I had completely forgotten this card existed. Sway of the Stars was compared to Worldfire, another card that was unbanned in Commander, and is, indeed, very similar. It was also unbanned in a similar manner: WotC stated that, despite its extreme effect, it didn't win the game at once when it resolved, and also needed a specific setup to work.

Sway is the same. Essentially restarting the game and setting everyone's life total to 7 may seem dramatic, but it often doesn't create an immediate advantage if whoever played it doesn't have a clear plan after the reset.

Nowadays, in Commander, you can find cards like Expropriate and Omniscience in blue. These cards are a lot more impactful and aren't a lot more expensive than Sway of the Stars. In comparison, Sway resets everything and only wins the game afterward if you set something in motion after it resolves. It is more "extreme" than "efficient".

So, WotC decided to unban this card mostly because of the successful Worldfire unban and to give us a new option to play if we want to use a similar strategy.

Braids, Cabal Minion

Considering Braids, Cabal Minion can both be your deck's commander and is a game changer card, we have to admit it now stands among other interesting cards, like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow and Urza, Lord High Artificer.

According to WotC, when Braids isn't your commander, she only shows up on the board when your opponents already have the resources to deal with her. This makes her less oppressive, and also less popular because of how diverse EDH naturally is. The fact it constantly forces players to sacrifice adds a lot of pressure to the game, but it is not that concerning if all players have developed their boards and game plans, or if the deck she is in doesn't focus on putting her in play on turn 2 with support, like Sol Ring, for instance. The idea of "locking" the game down with her early on still exists, but WotC states that, today, Commander is better prepared to deal with that.

So, she was initially banned because of the role she played as a commander, particularly if she entered play early on and locked down opponents that couldn't answer her as fast as the others. This would lead the match into a hypothetical scenario called "Commander Purgatory", in which, for many turns, players aren't able to make a single move, or make just a few, restricted ones.

One of the reasons why she was unbanned is how many cheap, high-quality removals we can play now, like Fatal Push and Deadly Rollick. According to the committee, these cards can completely disarm the starve strategy this commander can be responsible for.

But, even more interesting is their other reason for unbanning her. The committee states that, in their view, players are now more likely to recognize the matchups they'd rather not face and speak up when the table is discussing "rule 0". In these moments, when players are discussing some "ground rules", they can expand or limit some strategies. Considering this, WotC transferred part of this responsibility to the players themselves. If someone says they want to play Braids as their commander, WotC expects the others to understand it's a deck that intends to control the game through sacrifice and, possibly, stacks. Then, they can decide whether they want to play this matchup or not.

Coalition Victory

This is what, I believe, is a much more complicated unban. In a format in which you can build five-color decks very easily, and also easily access a five-color permanent that will seat in a special chair and only wait to be called, Coalition Victory is a "game over" button, and the committee recognizes that. This is even more relevant in decks like Jodah, Archmage Eternal, which can discount its cost from to .

They also recognize that automatic wins with such simple conditions, like Coalition Victory, are often anti-climatic. They don't work around a complex combo, an interactive strategy, or a long condition you fulfill, piece by piece, throughout the game. This sorcery is only a checklist that, once complete, ends the match.

What makes this decision even more controversial is that WotC's entire argument to do this is that "meeting this condition still requires deckbuilding and timing". Also, just like Braids, Cabal Minion, any removal or counter before it resolves instantly destroys this entire strategy, and, furthermore, this sorcery itself costs a lot of mana.

As the article itself invited us to consider this hypothetical situation, let me bring you my own version of it. After all, a player who wants to win with their commander and Coalition Victory might, very well, save a Fierce Guardianship or Force of Will in their hand to do it safely. Furthermore, Coalition Victory doesn't state that the five-color commander in question needs to be on the board: you can use any five-color permanent to do it. So, you can definitely protect the one or more cards that you'll use to win this way.

Ironically, this card probably won't create any issues in the grand scheme of things. It most likely won't even turn all decks in the format into five-color good stuff piles optimized to resolve this sorcery as soon as possible, but, on the other side, it's boring. It's not even the type of card that makes you mad, hate it or love it, like Tergrid, God of Fright. It's just boring.

Panoptic Mirror

Finally, they unbanned Panoptic Mirror. WotC recognizes the casual appeal of Panoptic Mirror, as it creates values again and again from interesting spells like Cultivate, Recurring Insight, or Bribery. Long-term, this can be annoying, but not blatantly oppressive. It's great for midrange or slower decks, considering that, in the mirror, it can create a decent number of resources, but not make the game too unbalanced.

The problem with this card is these two situations: if you use it on a spell like Wrath of God, which would reset the board constantly and lead us to "Commander Purgatory", or a "play another turn" spell like Time Warp, which would let us create infinite turns with Panoptic Mirror, as we'd copy it every turn.

WotC recognized that situations like these are worrying, but that they also need a particular setup and timing and are vulnerable to many interactions - the same excuse they gave us for Coalition Victory. If this is true, then that means Commander has grown past this card. Now, we can play powerful cards in this format because we are more prepared to deal with them.

Above, you'll find the updated Game Changers list, which includes a few new cards besides the unbanned cards, in orange. Most of the cards in it make sense, but I, personally, am curious about Crop Rotation, which is a strong enabler for many mechanics in the game, but isn't on the same power level as the old and new cards in this list.

After so many years, players who have always wanted to play Braids, Cabal Minion as their commander will finally be able to do so legally, without relying on ground rules or specific Commander tournaments.

I hope that, one day, Lutri, the Spellchaser is unbanned too, though I do expect WotC keeps it banned as a companion.

What did you think of this update? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!