Announcement Date: October 9, 2017

Effective Date: October 11, 2017 (with the downtime)

The current Commander 1v1 league will expire (as already scheduled) on October 11 during the downtime. A new equivalent league will be created after the downtime with the banned list in place.

Cards Added to Banned List:

Cards Removed from Banned List

Below, Magic R&D’s Brian Hawley explains the reasoning behind the changes.

Bans

Demonic Tutor



Vampiric Tutor



Mystical Tutor



Enlightened Tutor



Imperial Seal



Efficient tutors were one of the big question marks on the initial ban list. Over time, decks have gotten more and more consistent and brutal in a way that we’ve clearly heard players are not enjoying. Our hope is that by lowering the consistency with which the interactive decks can find the perfect answer to the situation, and the combo decks can kill, the format will open up more and decks will play out more differently from game to game.



Baral, Chief of Compliance



Baral is a Commander who comes down extremely early in the game and warps the game around him in a significant way. The cost reduction he offers covers one of the main drawbacks of counterspell-heavy decks because it cuts off the avenue of overloading the Baral deck with multiple spells in the same turn. He also covers one of the primary weaknesses of counterspells in 100-card singleton formats by filtering away the powerful but situational counterspells you’re forced to play. The overall package has shown to be overly strong and not enjoyable.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn



Emrakul has shown her influence in this format the same as she has in many formats over time. Primarily used in Polymorph combo decks, and also providing an “I win” option for heavy green ramp decks, Emrakul is too reliable an avenue to ending the game without recourse for the opponent. While the simultaneous removal of Baral removes the currently predominant use for the card, any cheap blue Commander would easily fill that role, and opening up more late-game interaction still means Emrakul warrants a ban.

Unban

Arcum Dagsson



Yisan, the Wanderer Bard



We’re still seeking to be somewhat conservative with unbanning cards and would like to see how the format adapts before adding a slew of cards to the format, but neither of these Commanders are obviously superior to existing options. Arcum in particular stood out as weak, and we hope that this unban may open up some additional space.