Commander Death-Triggers rule change
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on June 6, 2020, 5:13 p.m. by Suns_Champion
The Rule Committee has just announced a rules change allowing commanders to die, get whatever death triggers they had, and go to the command zone.
Announcment on twitter from CFB
In light of such joyous news, the Church of the Holy Saint Elenda, the Dusk Rose welcomes any new members to our long-standing and pious community, revived and invigorated by the this Awakening. The Church has long awated this day. This day marks a Holy Day in our orthodoxy, an Awakening of the countless spirits of long-lost souls. This day marks the start of our reconquista of the EDH format. Our priests and clerics are ready to welcome you with open arms. Come one, come all into the light of salvation, and bathe yourselves in the grace of our Saint Elenda, called the Dusk Rose.
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Gotta say, I'm pretty staunchly against this change. And that's coming from a Saffi Eriksdotter player. So if it's now a triggered ability, does that mean that other players can counter it?
June 6, 2020 7:32 p.m.
For those who don't want to watch a video, here's how the new rule works:
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If your commander is moving to a Public Zone: The Commander Replacement is now a State-based Action. So, it still hits the yard or goes into exile, but, when SBAs are checked, you can choose to send it to the Command zone.
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If your commander is moving to a Private Zone: The Commander Replacement Effect works as it always has.
So, to answer your question enpc, it's not a triggered ability and cannot be responded to in any way.
June 6, 2020 7:40 p.m.
LordBlackblade says... #5
To me, this has to be in preparation for some card being announced later this year. At present this unlocks something like 15 commanders' abilities, of which maybe half are decent. It just seems like a weird change to bring out for relatively small payoff. To quote JLK, "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"
June 6, 2020 11:24 p.m. Edited.
Skullclamp? Really... what commander has 1 toughness and can circumvent the growing command tax in order to exploit Skullclamp? Genuine question here... otherwise I don't see how clamp working on your commander is all that much better than clamp working on the other 16-32 creatures already in your deck...
June 7, 2020 12:50 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #9
Skullclamp is the death trigger I've seen defied by the old rule the most, quickly followed by Decree of Pain, only 2 of the 6 creatures in play actually drawing you cards because the other 4 were commanders. There's no commander to abuse it, it will just get a lot more incidental value now that the rules have changed, therefore making it better than it was.
If your hand is empty in a boardwipe heavy game, and you have a Skullclamp in play but no creature on top of your library, you can prep up your commander as a sacrficial blocker to refill, where before the change that wouldn't help you dig back from a disadvantaged position.
June 7, 2020 3 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #10
Decree of Pain, only 2 of the 6 creatures in play actually drawing you cards because the other 4 were commanders.
This didn't work this way. Commanders didn't die, but they were destroyed. When Decree of Pain destroyed 4 commanders and 2 other creatures the caster would draw 6 cards.
It is nice that this kind of confusion should be less frequent though because this sort of discrepancy no longer exists.
June 7, 2020 3:17 a.m.
“Skullclamp? Really... what commander has 1 toughness and can circumvent the growing command tax in order to exploit Skullclamp? Genuine question here... otherwise I don't see how clamp working on your commander is all that much better than clamp working on the other 16-32 creatures already in your deck...”
@DuTogira, To answer your question, the payout is totally worth it for any commander so long as your general is Empress Galina, Merieke Ri Berit or Rubinia Soulsinger and you have a sac outlet available. I assure you that you’ll hardly notice the command tax at all!
June 7, 2020 4:31 a.m.
Was this a thing? My playgroup totally just treated it the way the “rules” just changed to.
June 7, 2020 8:21 a.m.
Caerwyn: That's so much worse. And not becuase machanically it's complicated, but becuase it's a SBA. This means that I can dump a commander in the graveyard and leave them there for as long as I want, but at any point in time can just fish them out. It means that there's no consequences for putting your commander into the graveyard, because you might draw that reanimation effect. But if you don't, then "oh well, guess I'll put my commander back in the CZ". It doesn't teach risk/reward, it doesn't encourage poeple to live with the choices they make. It gives them a repeatable get out of jail free card whenever they want.
this is yet another move which rewards bad deck building and bad piloting, because it's basically a mini do-over with no consequences. And sure, I'll get a HUGE boon here - after all I run Saffi Eriksdotter and she gets broken good with Skullclamp, but that's not the point. More and more stuff like this is just spoon feeding coammnder players, and I don't think it's healthy.
EDIT: So apparently in the video they cover the fact of "If it wasn't there the lasst time you check state based actions..." Still not great, but better than my fears confirmed. Still, I will wait and see exactly how they word the ruling.
June 7, 2020 9:20 a.m. Edited.
Suns_Champion says... #14
enpc that is not how it works. The SBA checks once, right then. You have to choose to put it in the zone or leave it in the yard, then it stays there.
June 7, 2020 9:34 a.m.
golgarigirl says... #15
The big thing I see is this opening up new design space for future commanders. It's probably a bit late for Commander Masters, since that's pretty much off to the printers, but in the future, to make death triggers on commanders viable? I'm all in for more design space.
shadow63 says... #2
Finally commanders work in the way they should
June 6, 2020 5:54 p.m.