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| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
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| Limited | Legal |
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| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Icatian Phalanx
Creature — Human Soldier
Banding
Skinken on
6 years ago
Gorfin You are correct, banding on it's own is pretty straight forward, and honestly on the weak side. What makes it complex is combining banding with other mechanics. There are a bunch of stuff i still dont get.
Say your opponent is attacking with Headstrong Brute along with Kari Zev, Skyship Raider.
You, on the defence, have a Youthful Knight, an Icatian Phalanx and Trueheart Duelist and a cat token with vigilance.
You make a band between Icatian Phalanx and Trueheart Duelist. They block both the Kari Zev, Skyship Raider and the Headstrong Brute, because of Trueheart Duelist's ability. But wait, can they do that? They are technically two creatures, so I assume yes. The Youthful Knight joins the battle against Headstrong Brute and your cat token blocks Ragavan. Excellent, full block, but now i get confused...
You choose in what order Headstrong Brute hits your band. But your opponent gets to decide if he hits the Youthful Knight before the band. Correct? I believe so, what I don't understand is, who declares first? The order of the band, or the order of Youthful Knight and the band. It might affect the choice and gamestate a ton. Secondly someone gets to decide if the band blocks Headstrong Brute or Kari Zev, Skyship Raider first. When is this choice made?
This is a case with a total of 6 creatures on the board, only 1 with banding. No combat tricks or additional confusion with enchantments. Imagine a boardstate with 6 creatures with banding, redirect damage spells, combat tricks, equipmnents, auras, evasion and 23 creatures, everything split among 3 players. Each combat step would take about 10 min. When someone then plays Breath of Fury i'd probably just scoop... I don't really want combat to last 20-45 min.
That's why banding is hated. It's a nightmare from a rules perspective
