Combos Browse all Suggest
Legality
| Format | Legality |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Trade Secrets
Sorcery
Target opponent draws two cards, then you draw up to four cards. That opponent may repeat this process as many times as he or she chooses.
Caerwyn on Alternate Ban List
1 year ago
Reintroducing Banned as Commander would be a solid addition to the game. They also should utilise “Banned as Companion” since that is a more elegant fix than simply declaring an entire ability does not work.
Your “banned in the 99” discussion, however, betrays a lack of knowledge of how the current banlist operates - something that is pretty important to both understand and address if you are proposing something new.
The Rules Committee has two primary reasons for banning a card - the card does not function well with the rules of Commander (usually cards that do not work well in multiplayer or interact weirdly with colour identity) or the card provides such value it would appear in every single deck which could run it. Coalition Victory, for example, falls into the former category, not the latter - it is not banned for its power, but because of how it interacts with the rules of the specific format.
Ignoring that first category is a massive failing in your proposed banlist. It means you miss out on Iona, Shield of Emeria (which can lock entire players out of the game due to colour identity restrictions), Hullbreacher (which functions poorly with multiplayer and the prevalence of wheels), Trade Secrets (which, in multiplayer, allows two players to conspire in a way that leaves the others at an incredible disadvantage), etc.
Now, the argument can be made that fast mana and tutors fall into the second category of “are an auto include in any decks that run them” (or would be if price was not a factor). But that discussion only has value if you also realise there are other format-specific reasons to ban cards, and it is rather difficult to take your proposal seriously when it seems to exhibit lack of knowledge on format design.
plakjekaas on What ONE card would you …
1 year ago
Unlife What tables do you play at that Trade Secrets would not be broken beyond belief?
Unlife on What ONE card would you …
1 year ago
It may be just my playgroup, but based on how we play, there's a lot of cards I could see being unbanned and not warping the format. I agree that Iona, Shield of Emeria could easily be unbanned, Hullbreacher, Upheaval and Trade Secrets as well. Out of those 4, I think I would choose to unban Iona, Shield of Emeria because I'm most likely going to play her in a couple of my decks.
jaymc1130 on After 500 games of testing …
2 years ago
Trade Secrets eh? Guess that one shouldn’t be too surprising.
As with any data set the way in which it’s manipulated can have a significant impact on the conclusions that are able to be drawn from it. Meta game, quality of competitors, even turn order are all factors that change what kind of conclusions can be drawn from the same set of data when accounted for as parameters. It’s the same for MTG as it is for fantasy baseball, sometimes that BaBIP metric is relevant in making a decision, sometimes it’s not.
The huge difference between them is definitely the thing that jumps out at me too. Without digging too deep I’m working from an assumption that it’s at least partly due to meta game bias (our group has previously recorded data about wheels for example and plays more wheels per pod on average because of that data, which should theoretically increase the effectiveness of Breacher in such a sample size). How much of that EWSC (expected win share contribution) can be attributed to this? Can’t say for certain without even more data, but it’s why I recommend some degree of skepticism. Hullbreacher is definitely a truly unique outlier as a piece of data, never seen anything like it personally.
SynergyBuild on After 500 games of testing …
2 years ago
I've still found it's not the most dominant of cards, of which from all of the testing I've found though more limited than 500 games it appears Trade Secrets is by far the most dominant card. When legal it pushed over 11% increase in winrate for decks capable in using it, absolutely astonishing. The issue with the data is the validity of the games and how competitive they were, due to issues of the cEDH format being much smaller at the time and much fewer games of cEDH recorded. Those I could find I averaged out to 11% increase however.
That's a sidenote. I'm surprised by the sheer difference betweent the two, as I personally have found while a wheel and breacher is the most explosive either card can accomplish, oppo agent a Doomsday or chaining oppo agents has lead to more consistent value.
plakjekaas on Why does Commander have a …
2 years ago
Someone else is dealing with all the annoying rules disputes and backlash, the RC not being Wizards employees actually saves money too. And the 840M company still sells all the cards for it, making all the money. Sounds like a comfortable symbiosis for everyone on the business side of things, something only the Design Team would object about. Seeing how the commander ban list is seeded throughout with cards like Hullbreacher and Trade Secrets, which were specifically designed for the format, but actually fit in horribly, I kinda like them not making the rules.
chrisstick on
Yarok EDH
3 years ago
There’s nothing banned here?? Seedborn Muse for Prophet of Kruphix , Trade Secrets , Flash , Gifts Ungiven , Leovold, Emissary of Trest . Why not run Flash Hulk? Necropotence for Leyline of Anticipation .
SufferFromEDHD on
Oops! All lands
3 years ago
Cool lands list. I know your focus is on theme/gimmick but there are a few cards worth considering just to streamline the strategy.
Crucible of Worlds , Ramunap Excavator , Splendid Reclamation , Trade Secrets , Embargo , Manabond and Treasure Hunt especially Treasure Hunt = draw your deck