[WotC] MTGO 1v1 Commander Starts May 10
Check WotC’s announcement here !
WotC’s first look at 1v1 Commander (30 life) is promising ! Here are the differences with the ‘Duel Commander rules committee’ Banlist :
Generals :
Banned by the Duel Commander rules committee, but not by WotC :
Breya, Etherium Shaper
Marath, Will of the Wild
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Vial Smasher the Fierce
Banned by WotC, but not by the Duel Commander rules committee :
Arcum Dagsson
Braids, Cabal Minion
Griselbrand
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Cards :
Banned by the Duel Commander rules committee, but not by WotC :
Ancient Tomb
Chrome Mox
Dig Through Time
Grim Monolith
Imperial Seal
Loyal Retainers
Mox Diamond
Mystical Tutor
Necrotic Ooze
Strip Mine
Treasure Cruise
Vampiric Tutor
Banned by WotC, but not by the Duel Commander rules committee :
Bazaar of Baghdad
Doomsday
Survival of the Fittest
Yawgmoth’s Bargain
Moat
Necropotence
Serra Ascendant
27 Responses so far
Dpool
mai 3rd, 2017
Duel commander >>>>>>>> MTGO
Maybe they make That list because Its gonna be the Same on the multiplayer And 1×1….but a really didnt Like….starting the game with 30 Life Points….come on wizards
Robert
mai 3rd, 2017
So how is this going to work out now?
Bendoq
mai 4th, 2017
As the article says, this format is entering a testing phase. The banlist will likely be adjusted quickly over the first few months, based on player feedback.
They say they intend this to be an online-only thing, but I expect that to change as well. People very much appreciate 1v1 Commander IRL as well, and having « official » support is something many people value quite highly.
The banlist is fairly sensible, and covers most dangerous elements. I’m not sure what the multiplayer bans are still doing there (no idea why they want 1v1 to also support mutliplayer WTF) but it’s not like those are very relevant cards so who cares. Certainly two of the most notable absences on the banned list are Oloro and Tasigur, which have a history of tearing up the meta when DC was still goo… – err, I mean, when DC was still at 30 life. We’ll see how things develop over the coming months.
Personally, I think the community should throw all the support they have behind this. It is a show of faith by WotC that user-created formats can become very real indeed, and that I think deserves a reward in terms of reception. Give tons of feedback to polish the format even further, and make every effort to unite the fractured 1v1 community. While of course « unofficial » variants are and always will remain an option, I strongly believe that official support from WotC cannot be understated in its significance. It is important that they realize we are receptive to that support, and willing to provide feedback to help shape such a format into what we want it to be – even going beyond their stated goal of « online only » and « casual », if need be.
Jehuty33
mai 6th, 2017
Looks promisimg once the dust settles. I still think humility and Tabernacle at Pendravale should be unbanned. They both stop fast mana dork decks. And Tabernacle is so expensive you may rarely run into it. I guess i cant say much now – but its seems like WOTC is making a giant step in the right direction. Probably will be crystalized by late 2017. Until then i’ll keep tweaking and trading.
alara
mai 7th, 2017
Anything is better than 20 hp.
Yonaka
mai 8th, 2017
Why ban sierra ascend if starting hp 20?
Why dont inclus in your list Primal titan ?
Jackson
mai 8th, 2017
Looks great! Cannot wait to play the WotC duel commander format! This ban list looks sooo much more reasonable and 30HP is way better than duel commander’s 20HP. I am really thinking that Arcum Dagsson and Grislebrand are banned because so many people have « PTSD » from them in multilayer edh for a Arcum and other formats for Grislebrand (and way back when he was leal in mulit-edh). I love Yisan personally, but he was unhealthy, so I understand the ban. Overall, I am excited!
Raizen
mai 8th, 2017
@Jackson: I think both of them are going to be unbanned in the next weeks, they were banned because the list was going to be unified with multiplayer, but now it isn’t anymore so no reason to keep both of them in there, and also Braids, since she is a **** on multiplayer against less prepared players, but on 1v1 without fast mana she is barely a tier 2 deck.
The lit is actually pretty bad, but they said they will work to balance it out as soon as possible, so I have great expectations for this! Bring the commander feeling that we lost back to us WoTC! 🙂
Cainsson
mai 9th, 2017
Jackson sounds like a battered wife.
Nabil Stendardo
mai 11th, 2017
I just find it strange that WotC does not want to benefit from the experience that the Duel Commander committee has had in managing a banlist throughout the years, and instead goes on instinct on what would be broken in the format instead of relying on the field experience of the DC committee about what is actually broken. Arcum Dagsson banned, seriously? I don’t even think it ever won anything in DC.
Cainsson
mai 11th, 2017
The way I see it 30lp should have never been the « standard ». Extra life is meant to account for extra players in 2HG and EDH, not for the 100 singleton deck construction since every 1v1 Highlander variant is played with 20lp.
Untill WotC realizes this, their list is not worth playing.
Tyneic
mai 11th, 2017
@Nabil Stendardo
Arcum Dagsson got an incredibly strong card, namely Paradox Engine: I am sure he’d be alot stronger if it weren’t for the 20 hp stuff.
Also putting the Duel Commander committee as an example for « experienced people » seems weird since all they did the past few changes has been given nothing but negative feedback.
Bendoq
mai 11th, 2017
I’m 100% sure that WotC did look at DC. Why would they not. But it’s also been pretty clear that the DC people have taken « their » format into a direction not everyone agrees with, and WotC reflects that. Also, their focus still seems to be very much towards casuals, which explains why some hated Commanders like Arcum are banned even though they are not objectively particularly powerful – they are simply unpopular in ways that may prevent casuals from entering the format.
Always remember that WotC’s bans are not aimed at a fair and balanced format per se – they are aimed at increasing popularity and thus profits. Often the two goals work along the same lines, but not always.
Jackson
mai 11th, 2017
@Cainsson well played. I lol’ed.
@Tyneic while paradox engine does allow you to use Arcum Dagsson more, you still have to have a non-creature arifact to sacrifice when you use him. Now this is of course made easy when you have my retriever or one of the many creatures like him, but the thing that really hurts Arcum is that he has to run so many creature cards like that in order to draw them consistently that he can’t run as many other cards to protect the combo pieces like a high tide deck can, for example. Destroying Arcum while he is summoning sick, or song of the dryads, or imprisoned in the moon, what have you easily deal with Arcum for much less mana than it costs to cast him. He quickly gets too expensive to cast. The problem is he is not as fast as someone like Yisan, and isn’t as resilient via other cards that do the same thing as easily as Yisan or high tide. Yisan has mana dorks, green ramp, and survival of the fittest, birthing pod, fauna shaman, etc. High tide has high tide or extraplanar lens with palinchron rings and monolith, and if it has teferi as the commander or in the deck it has teferi and the chain veil with either high tide or extraplanar lens. Arcum has, well, Arcum, and if you deal with Arcum you basically shutdown the whole deck. He would be terrifying if he were hexproof or had haste, but using your first tutor with him to get say, lightning greaves really slows you down. And giving him haste in blue is basically restricted to lightning greaves and swiftboots type equipments and if you run too many of those you don’t have enough combo protection or creatures to sacrifice with him.
Spencer
mai 12th, 2017
30 LP just means that the same old decks that plagued the old French rules will plague 1v1 MTGO commander. Oloro in particular looks to be egregious
Bendoq
mai 15th, 2017
It’s clearly a work in progress. Tasigur isn’t banned, either, which seems a bit like an oversight. But they freely admitted that there may be a need to adjust the list quickly and frequently, so that’s good.
The best we can do is give FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK. It’s our best shot at making the format work well.
Cainsson
mai 22nd, 2017
10 days later Baral and Tasigur have won over twice the ammount of leagues (21) compared to the next contender (2 flavors fo Vial with 8 each) and the only decks that have any chance of winning are combo-control or ramp.
Anyone who abandoned Duel Commander for this shit is an imbecile who doesn’t desserve to play a good and balanced format
Bendoq
mai 22nd, 2017
It’s almost as though the format was in its infancy and the banned list required frequent and radical changes before it’s any good.
OH WAIT THAT IS LITERALLY WHAT THEY SAID FROM THE GET-GO.
Cainsson
mai 23rd, 2017
Watch them do exactly the same shit that was done in Duel Commander culminating in the drop to 20lp, wasting years of people’s time and burning people off the format the same way they’ve been burned off modern with the incessant bans of every good deck because they just can’t balance their shit.
Bendoq
mai 23rd, 2017
I’d just like to reiterate just how important it is that 1v1 EDH became official – just because of that, we have people like LSV actually playing EDH, making videos, and putting them out there. He also nicely showcased some of the problems of the format (like Baral), and because of the exposure that is now very much brought to the attention of the people in charge. It is publicity like that which will help make the format what we want it to be, and that sort of publicity is pretty much only possible with official support.
I encourage everyone to help contribute to improving 1v1 EDH. Even if you don’t play on MTGO (I personally am still boycotting it for various reasons) you can leave feedback on forums, twitter, and so on. It’s important people do, and do it well; while « omg fuck Baral » is feedback of a sort, a sentence or two with more constructive content can really help get change underway.
judas goldrich
mai 30th, 2017
good news? this format seems so extremely ill-considered like they try to make every possible mistake at the same time. seems like they did not even try to learn from the biggest 1v1 commander community.
…ok, mana crypt and vault got banned but even my grandma would understand why these cards aren’t any good for this format.
Bendoq
mai 30th, 2017
Keep in mind that in EDH they’re always trying to straddle between allowing cool cards and having a balanced format. And it’s far from as obvious as you make it out to be – yes everyone can see how brokenly good Mana Crypt is, but the crux lies in cards that are powerful but not necessarily TOO powerful. There are many cards that are highly contested in that regard, with very divided opinions. Cards like e.g. Survival of the Fittest come to mind, or commanders like Yisan. It’s far from obvious what to ban and what to allow, and it’s not like DC’s track record in banning/unbanning is flawless in that respect either (look how long it took them to ban Vial Smasher, which many argue is SO OBVIOUSLY overpowered).
Mathieu
juin 4th, 2017
Well, already more than 20 days since the beginning of mtgo commander challenge. Let’s have a look on the best deck of the format. Three commanders represent more than 50% of the top. Vial, tasigur and baral. Can we call it a balanced format ? Other interesting thing is the aggro and combo deck represent less than 20% of the format. Will wotc remove the 30 hp to start a game at 20 hp ? It would be a pity if wotc choose to ignore all the knowledge and experience harvest by the duel commander committee since the beginnig of the format.
Tom Hyman
juin 10th, 2017
Dont be lazy and write out the FULL seperate banlist for both. Make it simple and layed out. This is gongshow style.
Tom Hyman
juin 10th, 2017
For those who think paradox engine is too good for arcum think again. Its really not. It means less combo pieces and consistancy. Put minamo in your deck.
Bendoq
juin 11th, 2017
Arcum is a joke, Paradox or not.
Right now, blue-based control is still firmly in the lead. Even Vial Smasher decks are all blue pairings, which is no coincidence of course.
It’s difficult to pinpoint where the problem lies. 30 life is one aspect, however reducing it to 20 or 25 comes with a slew of other problems, not the least of which is format identity.
Certain commanders are another possible angle, banning Baral, Tasigur, and Vial Smasher may just do the trick; alternatives such as Vendilion Clique or Geist of Saint Traft don’t look nearly as oppressive.
Another possibility would be UNbanning certain cards, e.g. midrange creature-based combo enablers like Survival, Yisan, etc.
We’ll see what the announcement on Wednesday brings in terms of changes.
Igor Medeiros
juillet 19th, 2017
here you showed the diference between duel and wizards 1 v 1. do you know if in Wizards list Yisan, the Wanderer Bard is banned only as commander? couse you posted as if it was only as a commander…. where can I see this?
Leave a comment