Is Commander Legends a New Format?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on June 28, 2022, 12:59 p.m. by Niko9
I feel like commander is at the point where the format has a bit of an identity mix up, and in a lot of ways I like it, but at the same time I do miss older games. Commander has always been about blending the old and the new in ways that the cards were never quite meant to play, and for a long time that has lead to really interesting builds, really awesome ideas, and just really fun games. But is that how it is these days? Kinda, but less, definitely less. And I feel like a big part of the format feeling like it's less is the new cards being added, as odd as that is.
A lot of old classic cards just don't hold their own anymore. Do you really need a Chromatic Lantern if every deck can generate treasures? Will Clone see any play if Sakashima of a Thousand Faces can be half of what's in your command zone? I mean, you can absolutely have fun playing old cards, but if you want to optimize, decks will start to more and more favor new cards, while also using the old cards like Sol Ring that were essentially gameplay mistakes when they were printed. Necropotence was too good for it's time, and they will never print something like it again, so it will always have a place in EDH, but the same can't be said for basically the entire rest of Ice Age.
So, odd question of the day, but what do you all think? Could there be some kind of split to commander to make it into a pre-Legends, and post-Legends format, similar to Legacy and Modern. Or is it fine, or is there a better place to split the format?
I mean, I love commander. It is still the most fun and exciting format for me. It's just that things are starting to feel samey as new things happen, and I just thought it might be fun to explore the idea of commander classic and the new hottness not necessarily being always put in the same blender.
Grubbernaut says... #3
No commander offshoot stands a chance, so I can't justify the thought experiment of it, for myself.
June 28, 2022 1:39 p.m.
To me I feel like the issue isn't so much pre- or post-Legends as much as the difficulty of understanding the type of game that everyone wants to play when they shuffle up and just how optimized and powerful their ideal average game is, and how much people have to stay on the treadmill in order to feel like they're a part of the format.
June 28, 2022 3:04 p.m.
Our area has widely adopted a variant of limited EDH: Old School '99 EDH
To control the powercreep and experience the nostalgic feel of MtG. It is a great hit since that day and a perfect sidestep for our EDH adventures.
Example deck: Old School '99 EDH | Adun Oakenshield
Our set of rules is in the description.
Our next target is to use all 5 orginal Elder Dragons.
June 28, 2022 3:49 p.m.
PartyJ That's awesome! It was a great time, and I remember my Sivitri Scarzam deck fondly : ) Sometimes it just feels like the format changed so slow and other times it feels like it changed so fast, but when I look at my decks now they are so different than they used to be. It's great that your group can get some of those good ol' games in : )
And yeah, in general I don't think that the format needs to be split, just that it might be more fun if it did. Also, maybe a better cutoff would be pre-Eldraine. Most things before that set seem to play alright together, but that was really when the new cards started taking a bigger chunk of the format.
June 28, 2022 4:12 p.m.
DrukenReaps says... #7
I play plenty of old cards. I think the issue is less of a power creep and more that folks just don't go looking for cards. Some things that use to have rather awful downsides to deal with like Shauku, Endbringer are really not anymore. And she provides a relevant powerful ability. Not for every deck but it works wonders in my Mairsil, the Pretender and Olivia, Crimson Bride. I always find something worthwhile when I go poking around long enough.
I don't play competitive however but even that seems to rely on particular older cards.
And there's plenty of newer cards that are overly restrictive. Keeping older cards plenty useful. I'm not as likely to include Welcoming Vampire as I am Mentor of the Meek for example.
shadow63 says... #2
Splitting the format like this just seems like a bad idea. Imo. And legends 2 didn't have any broken cards.
June 28, 2022 1:17 p.m.