Will Drannith Magistrate Be Banned in EDH?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 11, 2020, 11:03 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The EDH committee preemptively banned Lutri, the Spellchaser in EDH, but I am hoping that they do the same for Drannith Magistrate, as well, since that card completely goes against the idea of the format by preventing players from summoning their generals, unless they have a card such as Command Beacon or Netherborn Altar.
What does everyone else say about this? Will Drannith Magistrate be banned in EDH?
CharonSquared says... #3
It's possible, but given that it dies to just about any removal spell under the sun I don't think it's too oppressive. If anything, Nevermore and Gideon's Intervention are arguably more problematic. They might only stop one of your opponents, but enchantments are generally a lot harder to get rid of, especially if you don't have green or white in your color identity.
April 11, 2020 11:20 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
GhostChieftain, CharonSquared, yes, that is true, so I suppose that the card should be given a fair chance before the committee makes a decision about it.
April 11, 2020 11:31 p.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #5
No, this is a completely different situation. Nevermore would be banned before Drannith Magistrate. And it's been in the format for years without issue.
Lutri is a very special case, in that it defies not just the idea of the format, but almost every single aspect of it. A 101st card, a 9th card in your "starting hand", a 2nd "commander" that isn't a commander, etc. Honestly I'm somewhat surprised they're allowing the companion mechanic at all. The group I play with is already discussing the possibility of disallowing it, and we run with an extremely stripped down banlist.
April 12, 2020 12:27 a.m.
@CharonSquared, @Tyrant-Thanatos, I entirely disagree with the assertion that Nevermore would be banned before Drannith Magistrate.
Nevermore is a card that is a critical tool for measuring the health of the EDH format. If a newly printed EDH General created extremely oppressive games with little to no interaction Nevermore is the type of card white players will often board in as a result to combat it such as the time before Leovold, Emissary of Trest got banned. I agree Nevermore is harder to remove, but it has a much narrower effect in a multiplayer setting and it’s harder to recur from the graveyard compared to the Magistrate. Regardless serious players tend not to board Nevermore as typical spot removal tends to be better at stopping problems because you can answer commander and non-commander creatures alike with the latter. Because of this Nevermore is only used when traditional removal spells can’t effectively address a certain General and thus it’s an important indicator when a new General needs to be banned from the format.
While Drannith Magistrate can also be used for the same purpose the fact its effect makes it apply to all opponents definitely makes it much more splashible in decks especially over single target spot removal as it effects multiple key creatures at once as well as stopping certain graveyard and infinite combo shenanigans. Because of this the Magistrate will show up more often in non-oppressive metas and it will often be a part of oppressive strategies as well to a much higher extent than Nevermore. Even if it can be removed easier I think its highly likely a sizable number of white decks will run it over Nevermore meaning you’ll see it used in more games, potentially from two or more opponents using it at once or it gets constantly recurred which can really grind against the spirit of the game for everyone at the table unlike the one player you single out with the enchantment.
That’s only if it gets used waaay too often in decks which is debatable, but the point I’m getting across is I think Drannith Magistrate will receive the ban-hammer much sooner before Nevermore does if the rules committee was forced to pick one to ban. As someone who runs an Alesha, Who Smiles at Death commander deck, the number of times I could keep the Magistrate on the board doesn’t seem fair to me at all. At best it by itself is definitely going to soak up all the spot removal my opponents have making it much easier for me to get away with my infinite combos.
April 12, 2020 5:18 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #7
Nevermore is a card that is a critical tool for measuring the health of the EDH format. If a newly printed EDH General created extremely oppressive games with little to no interaction Nevermore is the type of card white players will often board in as a result to combat it such as the time before Leovold, Emissary of Trest got banned. I agree Nevermore is harder to remove, but it has a much narrower effect in a multiplayer setting and it’s harder to recur from the graveyard compared to the Magistrate. Regardless serious players tend not to board Nevermore as typical spot removal tends to be better at stopping problems because you can answer commander and non-commander creatures alike with the latter. Because of this Nevermore is only used when traditional removal spells can’t effectively address a certain General and thus it’s an important indicator when a new General needs to be banned from the format.
This is a pretty compelling argument, and I agree with what you're saying here.
The rest I'm not sure about though. I'd have to see it in action to really pass judgement. But I'm of the opinion that having oppressive cards that shut down other players from performing basic game functions is a huge part of White's identity, and it hasn't been problematic enough to call for a ban until Iona got hit (which is something I still don't understand tbh).
the number of times I could keep the Magistrate on the board doesn’t seem fair to me at all.
Sure, but the number of times you could keep Aven Mindcensor, Grand Abolisher, Thalia, or any number of other hatebear type cards on the board doesn't seem fair to me, but it's never been a banworthy issue.
EDH is a very diverse format, and I'm certainly no cEDH player, but I see Nevermore fairly often, usually to stop people from comboing off. And personally, I think I'd much rather be hit by Magistrate than Nevermore.
I am curious how well local metas will adapt to Magistrate though. I think this card might actually end up doing the format a lot of good, helping to teach players to be less reliant on their commanders. I guess we'll just have to see.
April 12, 2020 6:09 a.m.
I'm of two minds: Yes, it goes against the nature of EDH but at the same time, it's a creature and creatures are the easiest to kill. Even a Lightning Bolt can remove it. I've been leaning towards no, but we can only wait and see how it plays out.
April 12, 2020 10:43 a.m.
Nah, its fine.
If a whole table of Commander players can't deal with a 1/3 that comes down on turn 2 then your playgroup has problems we aren't addressing here. Its just not that big of a deal to me, it's just a speed bump. It seems like there are much more busted things than this new card happening in this format everywhere. That's part of the fun of EDH, its like the wild west.
April 12, 2020 11:43 a.m.
SynergyBuild says... #10
Stony Silence or Rest in Peace often hit people way harder, and are way harder to remove. Who cares about a friggin 1/3. Run an Abrade, or a deck that doesn't care about it's commander, or cast it before they draw their 1/3. Or don't, just play the game not with your commander, I mean, it's not like this card could be worse than a Darksteel Mutation or any other commander-removal. With those you spent the mana to play your commander and then it did nothing, at least with this you know you didn't waste any mana.
April 12, 2020 12:07 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
Why is Nevermore considered to be more problematic than is Meddling Mage, when the mage is less expensive? Is it because the mage is multicolored, whereas Nevermore is mono-colored?
April 12, 2020 2:06 p.m.
I can’t see a mildly annoying hate bear being a serious problem for EDH, either competitive or casual.
Now, having access to a free counterspell/copy spell in hand at all times that doesn’t actually have to be in hand (or even the deck) is a major issue. Lutri completely warps the entire format in a disgusting fashion. That’s the kind of thing that needs a ban, but Danny boy doesn’t really have format warping impact. He shouldn’t be an issue.
April 12, 2020 2:36 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #13
Can we play with and against cards before we clamour for bannings? It's a cool card and some commanders need to work a little hard to get on the feild. Stax are what even the playing fields even if most players cannot or won't acknowledge it.
April 12, 2020 6:03 p.m.
Command Beacon is your friend. Run it and move on from the easily removed 1 of 100 hate bear we have yet to play against.
April 13, 2020 6:23 p.m.
dingusdingo says... #15
If your deck can't remove a 1/3 without any protection keywords from the board, you have bigger problems than not being able to play your commander.
This is a helpful printing for the cEDH community and the casual community if they might not admit it. Hoses out a whole range of cards, from Flashback cards to Underworld Breach/Yawgmoth's Will to Snapcaster Mage to Future Sight to Golos, Tireless Pilgrim. Many decks extend into the graveyard as a second hand, and a small but continually growing amount of decks are able to use the top of library to find further gas. While this card may be problematic for certain decks, it will hopefully cause much greedier ultra fast combo decks based around resolving the commander to slow down and include more interaction.
April 15, 2020 4:36 p.m.
Daedalus19876 says... #16
I mean, I would personally like it to not exist, given that it nukes a LOT of my GY-based decks XD
But it's a perfectly fair card, albeit one that's going to be the #1 target on most boardstates.
GhostChieftain says... #2
Nah. Creatures are easy to remove
April 11, 2020 11:17 p.m.