Note: This is post was updated. Read the update here.

Greetings MTGO Commanders,

As you may have heard, we’ve just announced the details around the changes for Magic Online Commander, and while Bryan’s article delves into the nitty gritty of the R&D choices for the banned list, I wanted to discuss the decision around releasing it as a single, unified format on Magic Online.

First, I want to acknowledge that some players want to play the paper version of Commander on Magic Online and that this change is not something those players are excited about and will affect their enjoyment of Magic Online. I hope those players give the new format a chance and then let us know what they like and don’t like so we can evaluate changes we need to make.

Our goal is to provide the best Magic Online experience for as many of our players as possible. A key part of that commitment is ensuring players can find matches as quickly as possible, including offering formats with enough players to support them. This is the primary driver behind using a single unified list.

Currently, the vast majority of MTGO Commander play comes from 1v1 matches. When discussing whether or not to have one or two Commander formats, there was real concern about how splitting the population would affect participation. In the past we’ve supported a multitude of less popular formats, and while matches in the format would occasionally fire, players were spending significantly more time waiting to play Magic then actually playing Magic. This is not an experience we wanted to re-create for Commander.

In addition, we want to avoid creating confusion for players looking for a Commander experience in Magic Online. By offering a unified Magic Online Commander format we establish a consistent baseline for the MTGO players. Players don’t have to spend time researching the differences between formats to understand the various banned lists. Players won’t run into situations where they try to join a commander game in one format only to find their deck is illegal because it was built for a different format. While more proficient MTGO players might be able to successfully navigate that multitude of choices, we have repeatedly seen that offering more choices isn’t always the to the best overall player experience.

Finally, while Magic Online tries to be authentic to the paper experience when we can, we also want to fit our digital medium when it makes sense. By only offering one Commander format, we’re embracing one of the core tenants of the Commander philosophy: “House rules or “fair play” exceptions are always encouraged if they result in more fun for the local community.” Magic Online is our local community and this single Banned list represents our house rules.

Let me reiterate that I’m aware that diverging from the paper Commander banned list isn’t going to appeal to each and every Magic Online Commander player. That said, this change does provide a larger opportunity for you, as a Magic Online player, to affect what you want the Magic Online Commander format to be. We’ll be able to make changes explicitly for the MTGO community based on game data (like event results and casual play participation) and your direct feedback (through emailing us at magiconlinefeedback@wizards.com or via social media like Twitter and Reddit).

The initial R&D banned list is deliberately smaller than it could be for this reason. We want to gather data and learn directly from the players to make decisions on what Magic Online Commander should be. We know the format won’t necessarily be ideal at launch, but we’ll be looking at these stats and feedback regularly after next week’s launch and expect a rapid iteration on the format based on your data and feedback for both one-on-one and multiplayer Commander. So give Commander a shot after it releases on May 10 and then lets us know what you think. We’ll be listening.





Thanks,

Chris Kiritz

Senior Product Manager

Magic Online