It's Time: Let's Rename 1v1 Commander
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on July 17, 2017, 9:54 a.m. by landofMordor
The title says it all, folks. It's time for Duel/1v1 Commander to become a new format with a new name. It would make discussion of both versions of Commander way easier, it would avoid banlist/decklist/forum confusion, and it would also give Duel players a concrete identity for their format to develop further. In fact, besides the sake of nostalgia, I can't really imagine why it wouldn't benefit both groups of players, casual and competitive, to change the name of cEDH.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting we give it a name like "Vanilla" where it bears no resemblance to "Commander/EDH", because that is unfair to the history of Duel. What I do suggest, along with the article below, is that we should differentiate between the two different versions by giving it a new name with resonance in Duel's past, such as "Command Zone Legacy" aka "CZL" (I'm trying to attach a link, but it's not working well...).
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13987&writer=Bruce+Richard&articledate=6-6-2017
I'm interested to hear what you think. My personal favorite names Mr. Richard suggested are "Command Zone Legacy" aka CZL, or "Commodore". But maybe you've got another suggestion. I'm also interested to hear if there are any CIVIL arguments for retaining the affiliation of "Commander/EDH" with Duel.
Let's settle on a name and tweet @MaRo until something changes...that'll work, right?
cEDH is just 8-cards-in-hand Legacy so I'm cool with CZL but "Commodore" sounds fancy!
July 17, 2017 11:44 a.m.
landofMordor says... #5
July 17, 2017 12:55 p.m.
Tryharder?
I kid, I just don't have a set of the power 9 to stick into my EDH, bless those that do.
July 17, 2017 3:24 p.m.
General Lee?
It's a bit of a mouthful but as a civil war reference it does justice to the cut-throat nature of cEDH. That's the best I could come up with so far :P.
That and pH (pricey Highlander), also being a pun playing on the corrosive nature of the decks against any sort of diversity.
Unfortunately I think the most likely thing to stick is just CDH. Easy to say, no way someone doesn't know what you're talking about, and because the E is gone it's just barely enough to differentiate the formats.
July 17, 2017 4:12 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #8
cEDH and Duel Commander aren't the same thing.
Duel (or French) commander is 1v1. It has a unique banlist.
cEDH or competitive commander is more of a social construct. 100% decks that aim to tutor, disrupt and kill mercilessly that doesn't allow for the budgetminded-noob crowd. It's still played in a multiplayer environment. Spare no expense.
July 17, 2017 4:18 p.m.
landofMordor says... #9
MindAblaze, that's why we need a name change, to avoid that confusion! Haha. I've edited the OP and title appropriately. Best of luck with your merciless, carte-blanche killings. That begs the question, do you think "multiplayer CZL" (or whatever the new name is) or "competitive EDH" best conveys the intent of that particular variation?
DuTogira, for the sake of rhetorical moderation, it's probably best if we avoid giving the format inherently negative names. I applaud your originality, however. CDH is an okay variation, I suppose, but Wizards won't be able to use that name, due to its affiliation with the Highlander movie series.
Skulloelegy, very nice. If I ever win the jackpot, I'll split a Power 9 with you and we can each get 4.5 (:
July 17, 2017 4:33 p.m.
Steelspike says... #11
Hot Rod Lincoln.
(Youtube Commander Cody if you don't get it)
July 17, 2017 9:35 p.m.
landofMordor says... #14
tabletopography, I really like Commandant. That might actually be my favorite so far. Now we've just got to get Wizards to rename it (:
July 24, 2017 2:47 p.m.
Winterblast says... #16
Are you looking for a new name for French Commander oder for cEDH? It's already clear what you are talking about if you use these names...the only problem might be to ask a stranger to engage in a 1 vs 1 match with the regular EDH rules, if you don't know what deck they have, if they have only French or normal commander decks or even both.
I only know one person who even has a French deck here, so if I play 1 vs 1 with that guy I would tell him to use a deck that follows the same banlist as my deck, meaning he should not use the French one. With all other guys it's clear that "commander" always refers to the normal multiplayer commander, no matter if we play 1 vs 1 or with more people.
We could call cEDH "powerless vintage", because it's exactly that...basically everything allowed except 8 of the P9
August 5, 2017 1:04 p.m.
why not just change edh to "multiplayer"? TBH I play both competitively and there is minimal difference in the decks as a whole. If anything multiplayer has more broken cards available to it than french or leviathan. Stop telling others that they need to change so that your purity test of what is "commander enough" gets the emo attention that you desire.
August 15, 2017 7:54 p.m.
landofMordor says... #18
ohmless thank you for your comment. Actually, I have realized as a result of this thread and MindAblaze/Winterblast's excellent comments that:
a) people need to say "French Commander" more often when talking about 1v1 EDH
b) the "competitiveness" of EDH is really a social construct, and even though EDH is a casual format, that means that some people want to play casually-with-the-power-9-in-a-cutthroat-setting and that's totally fine. Nothing about EDH per se dictates an innate power level.
c) having said b), I still think EDH is the most diverse, wide-open format available to Magic, where you can find an EDH home if you want to build a theme deck of Homirids, an Urza-only deck, or a $20 deck, and ALL of those are equally valid. Sometimes the analyst in me gets a little frustrated that we can't separate them out, but my inner analyst needs to shut up and help me win my casual EDH game instead(:
August 16, 2017 8:27 a.m.
Winterblast says... #19
landofMordor concerning your point a) I think that the name isn't the problem but rather that people don't communicate clearly which banlist they want to use and that people think that the number of players automatically determines the banlist.
I've played a lot online with Xmage recently and there you have the game types "commander" and "duel commander" and you can't join a game with a deck that contains cards that are banned in that game type. However, you can set games as 1 vs 1 and free for all in BOTH game types. I usually play commander in 2 and 3 player games and while I can't join "duel commander" games with my deck, sometimes players happen to join my normal 2 player commander game with duel commander decks, because their lists are legal in commander but not vice versa. It's obviously not the name that causes confusion but that duel commander players seem to believe that 2 player games must always use the duel banlist, even if the game explicitly states that it's normal commander.
In larger magic stores you will probably experience the same phenomenon, while in smaller stores you might instead have one dominant commander variant that is used for all games there, be it 1 vs 1 or multiplayer.
maxon says... #2
They should rename cEDH to Bloodlust. This way new players know what they're getting into. Haha
July 17, 2017 11:21 a.m. Edited.