<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/jsraphael" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joshua Raphael</a></em></p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> certainly isn't a card name that rolls off the tongue, but you know what is a bit more pronounceable? <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sensei&#039;s Divining Top" href="#" target="_blank">Sensei&#039;s Divining Top</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>That's right, <em>Edge of Eternities</em> has given us a mono-blue artifact-centric commander for cEDH that'll make pre-ban CounterTop Miracles players giddy with joy as they dig for their favorite namesake artifact game after game after game.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand"></div></div>
<p>So, who is this Jellyfish, and what makes it worth considering for cEDH? Let's take a look!</p>
<h2>What Does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Do?</h2>
<p>For <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-3" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, Mm'menon is a 3/4 legendary Jellyfish Advisor creature with flying that grants all artifacts you control the ability "<span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-tap" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>: Add <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>. Spend this mana only to cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand." Additionally, Mm'menon allows you to look at the top card of your library at any time, and you may cast artifact spells from the top of your library.</p>
<p>Zooming out, Mm'menon is a bit of a blend between <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza, Lord High Artificer" href="#" target="_blank">Urza, Lord High Artificer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Future Sight" href="#" target="_blank">Future Sight</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, providing you with a conditional version of each of these two powerhouses' best effects. Urza's mana production is unmatched, but it isn't exactly an excellent source of card advantage - unless you already have infinite mana.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Future Sight is a perfectly powerful source of cast-from-library card advantage, but it doesn't provide you with any extra mana to get the ball rolling on casting your newly-accessible spells. Mm'menon, however, provides you with both - at the cost of doubling down on the artifact-theme.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urza, Lord High Artificer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Future Sight"></div></div>
<p>Finally, it's worth noting that the mana production from Mm'menon isn't just limited to spells being cast from the top of your library. Should Mm'menon face some sort of removal spell (this is a very commander-centric deck), I readily anticipate that wise players will float mana from their artifacts in order to recast Mm'menon from the command zone during that same phase, should timing restrictions allow.</p>
<p>Similarly, while I don't advocate running <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Echo of Eons" href="#" target="_blank">Echo of Eons</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in Mm'menon, it is one of blue's more popular spells in cEDH with flashback, demonstrating another corner case where Mm'menon's mana production extends beyond the top deck artifacts you'll most assuradly be casting.</p>
<h2>Key Cards for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<h3>Baubles</h3>
<p>These low-to-no cost artifacts are the bread and butter of Mm'menon, comprising a nigh-insurmountable amount of mana advantage as they snowball into each other.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urza&#039;s Bauble"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chromatic Sphere"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mishra&#039;s Bauble"></div></div>
<p>Remember, with Mm'menon in play, each of these artifacts can tap to either go mana positive or mana neutral the turn you cast them. This means that - as soon as the turn Mm'menon hits the field - it isn't wholly unsurprising to watch as an avalanche of artifacts get cast, one paying for the next, straight from the top of the library.</p>
<p>Outside of just being cheap, these baubles also represent card replacement thanks to their similar activated abilities. Whether it's sacrificing <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chromatic Sphere" href="#" target="_blank">Chromatic Sphere</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to filter a <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> into <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza&#039;s Bauble" href="#" target="_blank">Urza&#039;s Bauble</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to peak at a card from an opponent's hand, each of these cards can also clear a second card from the top of the deck thanks to their incidental card draw.</p>
<p>Mm'menon will always play a whole lot of artifacts, but that isn't the same thing as <em>only</em> playing artifacts, so any additional backup to clear lands or the like from the top of the deck is invaluable.</p>
<h3>Top-Deck Manipulation</h3>
<p>Speaking of messing with the top of your library, this next category of cards is the more expensive extension of the baubles mentioned above, but with that increased expense comes the benefit of repeatability.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Scroll Rack"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grinding Station"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Codex Shredder"></div></div>
<p>Thanks to baubles, Mm'menon rounds out the deck's mana production and critical mass of low-cost artifacts. Top-deck manipulators, meanwhile, are the one-and-two cost artifacts which serve to maximize the likelihood that Mm'menon's Future Sight-esque effect will actually see a castable card.</p>
<p>Digging into some of these options more closely, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scroll Rack" href="#" target="_blank">Scroll Rack</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> provides Mm'menon with the opportunity to take uncastable non-artifact spells from the top, put them into your hand, and put castable artifacts back on top - effectively drawing you as many cards as you have artifacts in your hand.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grinding Station" href="#" target="_blank">Grinding Station</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, meanwhile, forgoes the mana investment gating its activation in order to chew through the top of your library, rather than putting nonartifact cards into your hand. See an artifact on top? Cast it, trigger Grinding Station's untap, float mana from the artifact, then sacrifice it to Grinding Station to clear unusable cards from the top.</p>
<p>Last but not least, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Codex Shredder" href="#" target="_blank">Codex Shredder</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is the simple pinnacle of what these cards seek to do: mill (or otherwise clear) cards when you need to. At one mana, this artifact can pay for itself to cast a spell from the top of your library or tap to mill a card, giving you another shot at digging one card deeper either way.</p>
<h3>Flash Enablers</h3>
<p>Artifacts (as well as colorless spells overall) bring with them an extra few flash enablers worth considering, as these layer well with top-deck manipulation so as to provide maximum flexibility in moving cards between zones.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Shimmer Myr"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Liberator, Urza&#039;s Battlethopter"></div></div>
<p>Starting off with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shimmer Myr" href="#" target="_blank">Shimmer Myr</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, this card brings with it the all-important artifact card type (as well as flash in and of itself), meaning that it can burst onto the scene at a moment's notice, either from your hand or from the top of your deck. Plus, being an artifact, it can tap for Mm'menon mana, repaying its cost in part.</p>
<p>Similarly, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Liberator, Urza&#039;s Battlethopter" href="#" target="_blank">Liberator, Urza&#039;s Battlethopter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> also brings with it the artifact card type and the flash ability, as well as the broadening of Shimmer Myr's artifact-condition for flash so as to also apply to colorless spells even if they aren't artifacts (something that'll matter when we look at potential combos).</p>
<p>All in all, flash is a potent ability that most cEDH decks have <em>some</em> access to right now. What sets Mm'menon apart, however, is which enablers it uses: those that can be cast from the top of the library.</p>
<h2>How Does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Win?</h2>
<p>As I not-so-subtly hinted at in the introduction, winning the game with Mm'menon, the Right Hand essentially comes down to one card: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sensei&#039;s Divining Top" href="#" target="_blank">Sensei&#039;s Divining Top</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. However, rather than just being an end-game the likes of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thassa&#039;s Oracle" href="#" target="_blank">Thassa&#039;s Oracle</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, Sensei's Divining Top is also an incredibly powerful single-card engine in this deck without any other support (beyond the commander, that is). So, let's break it down.</p>
<h3>Sensei's Divining Top - the Card</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sensei&#039;s Divining Top"></div></div>
<p>For <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, Sensei's Divining Top is an artifact with two abilities:</p>
<ul>
<li><span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>: Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order</li>
<li><span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-tap" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>: Draw a card, then put Sensei's Divining Top on top of its owner's library.</li>
</ul>
<p>At first, Top looks like a relatively simple source of top-deck manipulation the likes of which low-color decks can especially appreciate in order to smooth out their draws. Given the repeat mana investment and the lack of actual card advantage, however, you wouldn't be mistaken in leaving the evaluation at that: decent, but not exactly striking.</p>
<p>With Mm'menon, however, all hell breaks loose, as this card fits just about every roll you could possibly ask for. Cheap enough to replace itself, thanks to Mm'menon's mana-granting ability? Check. Repeatable top-deck manipulation? Check. A way to clear non-artifact cards from the top of the library and put an artifact in its place? Also check!</p>
<p>In short, when Mm'menon isn't in play, Sensei's Divining Top is a totally reasonable card, meaning that it won't be a feel-bad to draw in the early turns before Mm'menon has been cast. In the mid-to-late game, however, this card is a brutal synergy piece that just short of plays itself.</p>
<h3>Sensei's Divining Top - the Combos</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Etherium Sculptor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Glaring Fleshraker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aetherflux Reservoir"></div></div>
<p>Moving to the myriad secondary cards which form the basis of the combos by which Mm'menon wins, three different lines pop out readily. First off: cost reduction.</p>
<p>By reducing Sensei's Divining Top's mana cost to <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-0" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> thanks to any of the myriad artifact-reducers in this deck (such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etherium Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Etherium Sculptor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>), Mm'menon allows for the infinite-casting of Sensei's Divining Top from the top of your library, drawing your deck in the process. Simply tap Top to exchange it with the top card of your library, then recast Top with Mm'menon for <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-0" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, and rinse and repeat.</p>
<p>This segues into either of the next two finishers, both of which deal lethal damage to your opponents: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glaring Fleshraker" href="#" target="_blank">Glaring Fleshraker</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aetherflux Reservoir" href="#" target="_blank">Aetherflux Reservoir</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>Glaring Fleshraker does two important things: first, whenever you cast a colorless spell (like Sensei's Divining Top), you'll create an Eldrazi Spawn token, which can be sacrificed for a colorless mana; secondly, Glaring Fleshraker will also deal one damage to each opponent, as it does this whenever another colorless creature enters under your control (such as the Eldrazi Spawn).</p>
<p>Paring this with Sensei's Diving Top, you don't even need a cost reducer, as the mana production from the Spawns perfectly keeps pace with the cost of Top.</p>
<p>As for Aetherflux Reservoir, this closer works neatly thanks to the fact that, in order to draw a bunch of cards with the Top and cost reducer combo, you'll need to cast a whole bunch of spells. That'll gain you plenty of life off of Reservoir's triggers, which you can then sink into blowing up your opponents.</p>
<h2><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> cEDH Deck List</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Squidward in Space (Mm&#039;menon cEDH)" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand
[/Commander]
[Artifacts]
*1 Aether Spellbomb
*1 Aetherflux Reservoir
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Candy Trail
*1 Chromatic Sphere
*1 Chromatic Star
*1 Chrome Mox
*1 Cloud Key
*1 Codex Shredder
*1 Conqueror&#039;s Flail
*1 Defense Grid
*1 Everflowing Chalice
*1 Fellwar Stone
*1 Grim Monolith
*1 Grinding Station
*1 Helm of Awakening
*1 Jeweled Amulet
*1 Lion&#039;s Eye Diamond
*1 Lotus Petal
*1 Mana Vault
*1 Manifold Key
*1 Mishra&#039;s Bauble
*1 Moonsnare Prototype
*1 Mox Diamond
*1 Mox Opal
*1 Pyxis of Pandemonium
*1 Repurposing Bay
*1 Sapphire Medallion
*1 Scroll Rack
*1 Semblance Anvil
*1 Sensei&#039;s Divining Top
*1 Sol Ring
*1 The One Ring
*1 Unwinding Clock
*1 Urza&#039;s Bauble
*1 Uthros Research Craft
*1 Voltaic Key
*1 Witching Well
[/Artifacts]
[Instants]
*1 An Offer You Can&#039;t Refuse
*1 Chain of Vapor
*1 Dramatic Reversal
*1 Fierce Guardianship
*1 Flusterstorm
*1 Force of Negation
*1 Force of Will
*1 Into the Flood Maw
*1 Mana Drain
*1 Mental Misstep
*1 Mindbreak Trap
*1 Pact of Negation
*1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
*1 Swan Song
*1 Whir of Invention
[/Instants]
[Creatures]
*1 Artificer&#039;s Assistant
*1 Displacer Kitten
*1 Etherium Sculptor
*1 Faerie Mastermind
*1 Foundry Inspector
*1 Glaring Fleshraker
*1 Hydroelectric Specimen // Hydroelectric Laboratory
*1 Liberator, Urza&#039;s Battlethopter
*1 Loyal Inventor
*1 Metalworker
*1 Phyrexian Metamorph
*1 Riddlesmith
*1 Shimmer Myr
*1 Spellskite
*1 The Reality Chip
*1 Trinket Mage
[/Creatures]
[Enchantments]
*1 Counterbalance
*1 Mystic Remora
*1 Rhystic Study
[/Enchantments]
[Sorceries]
*1 Reshape
*1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn
*1 Timetwister
*1 Transmute Artifact
[/Sorceries]
[Planeswalkers]
*1 Tezzeret, Cruel Captain
[/Planeswalkers]
[Lands]
*1 Academy Ruins
*1 Ancient Tomb
*1 City of Traitors
*1 Command Tower
*1 Crystal Vein
*1 Flooded Strand
*1 Fomori Vault
*1 Gemstone Caverns
*1 Inventors&#039; Fair
*1 Island
*1 Minamo, School at Water&#039;s Edge
*1 Mishra&#039;s Workshop
*1 Misty Rainforest
*1 Otawara, Soaring City
*1 Polluted Delta
*1 Prismatic Vista
*1 Saprazzan Skerry
*1 Scalding Tarn
*1 Seat of the Synod
*2 Snow-Covered Island
*1 Urza&#039;s Saga
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<h2>Wrap Up</h2>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Mm&#039;menon, the Right Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is easily one of the more interesting variations of the "big, blue, artifact" deck that has come out in recent memory. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza, Lord High Artificer" href="#" target="_blank">Urza, Lord High Artificer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is still certainly the long-running favorite of the category, but I honestly think that combination of mana and card advantage which Mm'menon offers is simply too high to pass up on.</p>
<p>Is it better than Urza? I'm not sure, but it just might be - and that's exactly why I'm excited to see it in the wild.</p>


Building Mm'menon, the Right Hand for cEDH

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smothering Tithe|P22|5" href="#" target="_blank">Smothering Tithe</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | art by <a href="https://aurorefolny.com/">Aurore Folny</a></h6>
<p>In cEDH, mono-white is a color defined by support effects. Preventing your opponents from interacting and gaining gradual advantage: these are the strategies that carve out white's role in the format.</p>
<p>You won't find game-ending spells here; instead, you'll see the cards that help secure your window. So, what are white's five best cards? Let's take a look.</p>
<h2>#5 - <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grand Abolisher" href="#" target="_blank">Grand Abolisher</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grand Abolisher"></div></div>
<p>Kicking things off is white's most effective defensive card, and that's Grand Abolisher. For <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, this 2/2 Human Cleric brings with it an incredibly oppressive barrier to interaction:</p>
<p>"During your turn, your opponents can't cast spells or activate abilities of artifacts, creatures, or enchantments."</p>
<p>In a format defined by the likes of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Borne Upon a Wind" href="#" target="_blank">Borne Upon a Wind</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, where card advantage piles up whenever interaction hits the stack and when no one moment is truly safe, Grand Abolisher stands alone as the most forceful window-creator in cEDH. The only reason it sits so low on our list, however, is that casting cost.</p>
<p>Outside of low color decks - decks which, aside from <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy" href="#" target="_blank">Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, are often among cEDH's worse - making two mana of a singular color is surprisingly difficult, especially when that mana isn't something you'd otherwise be stockpiling in order to cast a game ending spell.</p>
<p>Why put a plains into play when you could stockpile just about any other color of mana - colors with spells that easily win games?</p>
<p>Contemporary <em>Magic</em>'s answer to this has been <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Voice of Victory" href="#" target="_blank">Voice of Victory</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>: a Grand Abolisher look-a-like which forgoes the restriction on activated abilities in exchange for a much easier mana cost of just <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> (among other small changes, like statline adjustments and Mobilize 2).</p>
<p>cEDH has certainly embraced this newer iteration, but usually as a second copy of Grand Abolisher, rather than a replacement.</p>
<h2>#4 - <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smothering Tithe" href="#" target="_blank">Smothering Tithe</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smothering Tithe"></div></div>
<p>Next up on our list is an incredibly backbreaking engine, dwarfed only in mana-production capacity by green's very own <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Seedborn Muse" href="#" target="_blank">Seedborn Muse</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and that card is Smothering Tithe.</p>
<p>For <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-3" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, Smothering Tithe answers just about all of your mana concerns for the rest of the game.</p>
<p>This enchantment has one potent triggered ability, which reads "Whenever an opponent draws a card, that player may pay <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-2" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>. If the player doesn't, you create a Treasure token."</p>
<p>As was demonstrated by Grand Abolisher's taxing <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> mana cost, color fixing is a crucial consideration in cEDH's high-color piles, and Smothering Tithe's own minimally restrictive cost is one which has garnered plenty of support in the format.</p>
<p>There's nothing quite like suddenly having access to the critical third black mana necessary to cast a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Necropotence" href="#" target="_blank">Necropotence</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, for example, an a turn with Smothering Tithe will guarantee you get there.</p>
<h2>#3 - <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Silence" href="#" target="_blank">Silence</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Silence"></div></div>
<p>Coming in at third place is a classic of white's interaction suite - Silence, the inspiration for Grand Abolisher (and another card later on this list).</p>
<p>For just <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, this instant prevents your opponents from casting spells until end of turn. As simple as it is effective, Silence benefits from both its accessible mana cost as well as its instant-speed nature to serve as a maximally flexible piece of interaction.</p>
<p>Unlike Grand Abolisher - which is purely supportive of your own schemes - Silence can put a stop to your opponents' plans, whenever they should chose to strike. Did an opposing <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Underworld Breach" href="#" target="_blank">Underworld Breach</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> hit the stack?</p>
<p>Follow it up with a Silence before it resolves, preventing the Breach player from following up and forcing them to watch as their Underworld Breach gets sacrificed at the end of their otherwise uneventful turn.</p>
<p>Trying to go for your own win but wary of interaction? Bate out the turn by starting things off with a main phase Silence.</p>
<h2>#2 - <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ranger-Captain of Eos" href="#" target="_blank">Ranger-Captain of Eos</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ranger-Captain of Eos"></div></div>
<p>Rounding out our interaction package is second place's Ranger-Captain of Eos, a surprisingly flexible tutor that also brings with it the interactive flexibility of Silence's instant-speed nature.</p>
<p>For <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, Ranger-Captain of Eos is a 3/3 Human Soldier which allows you to tutor for a creature with mana value one or less when it enters, then put that card into your hand.</p>
<p>Additionally, you can sacrifice Ranger-Captain of Eos in order to prevent your opponents from casting noncreature spells until end of turn.</p>
<p>Three mana, two of which being white, is definitely a lot to ask for in cEDH. However, between the tutor ability - one which can hit some of the format's strongest creatures, as we'll see in the moment - and the flexibility to effectively resolve a nearly-uncounterable Silence at a moment's notice, Ranger-Captain of Eos certainly puts all that mana to work.</p>
<h2>#1 - <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Esper Sentinel" href="#" target="_blank">Esper Sentinel</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Esper Sentinel"></div></div>
<p>Alrighty folks, here we are, the strongest card in white. Drumroll, please, as we evaluate Ranger-Captain of Eos' very best friend, a white creature that costs just a single mana, Esper Sentinel.</p>
<p>For <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, Esper Sentinel is cEDH's most initially-unassuming card advantage engine...until you play against it a handful of times. A 1/1 Human Soldier artifact creature, Esper Sentinel's only text reads, "Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, draw a card unless that player pays <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-x" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, where X is Esper Sentinel's power."</p>
<p>I can't remember the last time I saw an Esper Sentinel with a power greater than one, but as anyone who has ever played against Rhystic Study will tell you, a tax of just <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> is often substantial enough for players to steamroll full-speed ahead, ignoring their dues and letting the Rhystic player (or, in this case, the Esper Sentinel player) draw a ridiculous amount of cards.</p>
<p>Valuable at just about every point in the game, difficult to counter thanks to being a creature, and readily affordable from turn one onwards, Esper Sentinel continues to be a dominating force across any deck that can run it.</p>
<h2>Wrap Up</h2>
<p>White might not <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mystic Remora" href="#" target="_blank">Mystic Remora</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Seedborn Muse" href="#" target="_blank">Seedborn Muse</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Force of Will" href="#" target="_blank">Force of Will</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but that doesn't mean it's without card draw, ramp, and interaction. In fact, many of the format's strongest decks rely on white to push them through the slog of the midgame and into a comfortable, protected, resource-fueled end state.</p>
<p>You might not die to a white spell the likes of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ad Nauseam" href="#" target="_blank">Ad Nauseam</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but the reason that Ad Nauseam resolved might very well be white.</p>


The Top Five White Cards for cEDH

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study|wot|71" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CFuzichoco%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fuzichoco</a> </em></p>
<p>Finals that last eleven hours; games that are decided by word of mouth - not cards in play; and format-warping staples with no chance of being banned. cEDH has it all. Why? Because cEDH is <em>not</em> a format, no matter how much we pretend it is.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rhystic Study|j22|114"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>No sane multiplayer tournament-format would keep this card.</em></p>
<h2>Commander Is the Format</h2>
<p>Taking a step back, what defines a format? Is it the spirit of the players? How about the metagame - the pool of decks that players expect to see when they show up to play? These two things are often cited as the defining characteristics of cEDH: the competitive nature of games and the rich, standardized set of decks that routinely dominate tables.</p>
<p>The cold truth of the matter, however, is that neither of these qualities constitute a format. Rather, formats are defined entirely by the deckbuilding restrictions in place, from which all other qualities emerge.</p>
<p>Looking at cEDH this way, the truth of its existence is readily laid bare: cEDH isn't a format, but Commander certainly is.</p>
<p>Commander has rules for deck construction and a regulated banlist. Competitive Commander, meanwhile, doesn't have any strict augmentations to distinguish it from the rest of Commander. Certainly, some cards are powercrept out of the metagame and others take on new lives as auto-includes, but that doesn't mean there's actually any rules enforcing that difference.</p>
<p>Looking to the newly-developed bracket system for Commander, we can see that <em>Wizards of the Coast</em> has actually doubled down on this Commander-cEDH linkage in recent time; there is no difference to the <a href="https://edhrec.com/top/game-changers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game Changer</a> inclusion number, nor any other distinguishing guidance, between Bracket 4 - colloquially called "High Power" - and Bracket 5, cEDH.</p>
<p>Speaking of brackets, Commander is certainly an odd format with divisions within it, make no mistake about that. However, a play-pattern division is fundamentally different from a format-cleaving structural division, the likes of which comprise the separation between formats such as Legacy and Modern.</p>
<p>Commander's bracket system is advisory, flexible, and designed to ease in communication across play environments all the while maintaining the overall spirit of Commander, that is, a multiplayer experience full of politicking and player self-expression.</p>
<h2>cEDH and Commander's Baggage</h2>
<p>So, now that we've established that cEDH and Commander are one and the same, what does that mean in terms of format execution? To start, let's go back to Commander's earliest days and trace the format through to the modern day.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nicol Bolas"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Putting the "Elder Dragon" in "Elder Dragon Highlander" since Day 1.</em></p>
<p>By and large, Commander has been a casual format since its very beginning. Initially dreamed up by a group of judges as a way to play <em>Magic</em> as a group in between competitive events, Commander was the format where garbage rares and fan-favorites could mix and mingle, with inordinately broken cards primarily being permitted thanks to the randomness inherent in a 100-card, singleton format.</p>
<p>The goal of Commander wasn't to win fast or decisively - it was to serve as a social exercise.</p>
<p>This mindset - prioritizing fun above competitive reasonableness - also serves as the guiding philosophy for the Commander banlist. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shahrazad" href="#" target="_blank">Shahrazad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> isn't a powerful card, but it is miserable to play against. The Moxen, meanwhile, might not be miserable in and of themselves, but they would be so ubiquitous that they'd encroach upon the individuality that Commander seeks to spearhead.</p>
<p>One <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Arcane Signet" href="#" target="_blank">Arcane Signet</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has already been decried as a design mistake by <em>Wizards</em>, so it's easy to see how some of the game's most devoted players would have felt similarly about <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mox Pearl" href="#" target="_blank">Mox Pearl</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and the like all those years ago.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sol Ring"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>At least Sol Ring is accessible...right?</em></p>
<p>Looking at the contemporary banlist for Commander, we can see that this focus on fun continues to dominate. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grand Arbiter Augustin IV" href="#" target="_blank">Grand Arbiter Augustin IV</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, for example, isn't a particularly powerful card; believe me, I spent years trying to make it work in cEDH. However, it is an <em>incredibly</em> unfun card.</p>
<p>Resolving good ol' GAAIV means that you get to play more <em>Magic</em> and your opponents get to play less. The result? It may not have been banned, but by putting GAAIV on the Game Changers list it has effectively been locked behind the gates of probable playability: not powerful enough for the upper brackets, and too miserable for the lower.</p>
<p>By prioritizing casual fun over competitive reasonableness, Commander enshrined in its construction a clear trade off, one which continues to plague competitive circles: in exchange for players having maximal freedom to play as they like, players are required to police themselves.</p>
<p>In the case of cEDH - the constituency of Commander which tosses self-regulation to the wind and hyper-fixates on emulating the competitive experience - this means that players are forced into the awkward situation of playing cards which undoubtedly increase their win-rate while simultaneously enshrining a miserable play experience.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nadu, Winged Wisdom"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Remember me?</em></p>
<p>In truly competitive formats - Standard, Modern, Legacy, etc. - <em>Wizards of the Coast</em> takes an active role in maintaining format health through the proactive banning of cards. Rarely, if ever, does such a thing happen in Commander; cards often have to be both oppressive and miserable in order for any sort of supervision to be effectuated.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tymna the Weaver" href="#" target="_blank">Tymna the Weaver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, for example, perfectly displays this issue. In casual Commander, this card is an uninspiring creature which occasionally serves as a Commander for go-wide multicolor strategies. The partner mechanic was certainly problematic, but there's nothing oppressive or miserable about this card which would cause <em>Wizards</em> to care about its role across the majority of Commander.</p>
<p>In cEDH, however, Tymna is everywhere. The card has served as one of the premier commanders since it was printed, cementing the role of Orzhov+ strategies as among cEDH's best. It's simply too easy, too ubiquitous, and too consuming.</p>
<p>A competitive banlist would have at least been skeptical of keeping Tymna around for as long as cEDH has, but Commander - at its very foundations - doesn't run a competitive banlist.</p>
<h2>Politics and Competition</h2>
<p>Moving away from the banlist, Commander also brought with it something no other format contains - politics. By structuring games as a everyone-vs-everyone else, rather than the two-vs-two structure of Two-Headed Giant, Commander further randomized the outcomes of its games by allowing for persuasion, coordination, lying, and punting.</p>
<p>Ask any cEDH veteran - there will be plenty of games you lose not because you couldn't win, but because the table couldn't sufficiently coordinate a response to some other threat.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Telepathy"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I've lost count of the number of times showing my hand has actually won me a game.</em></p>
<p>This social experience is the hallmark of Commander - even more so than its deckbuilding restrictions - but it's also terribly difficult to regulate in any sort of constructive manner.</p>
<p>There's no rules against a salty player making a spite play, and the best a tournament organizer can do to try and reign in heated debate is throw a warning at a player should they become vulgar or abusive. Nowhere else in <em>Magic</em> is the outcome of a game so closely tied to sportsmanship. When not appreciated properly - be it through a Multiplayer Rules Addendum or proper tournament organizer supervision - this hallmark can quickly become a stain.</p>
<p>As cEDH tournaments become more and more popular, so too do the number of incidents of strained politicking. Players have gotten ejected from tournaments because their debate turns into bullying mid-match. Even worse, sometimes players <em>aren't</em> given punitive measures for such behavior, and buffaloing fellow players becomes a rewarded strategy.</p>
<p>Commander has always been known for its long games, but that legacy is no justification for matches lasting eleven hours because players can't stop arguing over how to take a game action.</p>
<h2>Wrapping Up and Moving Forward</h2>
<p>If cEDH players really want to play a healthy, invigorating, and safe tournament format, then we need to be honest with ourselves about how the structural linkage to the umbrella format of Commander is doing more harm than good. Alternatively, if players prefer the current anarchic structure of cEDH which Commander bestows upon it, then we need to recognize that not all of our tournament wishes can be fully realized.</p>
<p>I enjoy playing broken cards as much as the next person; the explosivity of a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sol Ring" href="#" target="_blank">Sol Ring</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in the same turn truly is unmatched. At the same time, however, you don't have to be a format expert to recognize that Rhystic Study is probably doing more harm than good.</p>
<p>Similarly, table talk is a wonderful part of Commander that I don't want to lose, but we absolutely need better regulations put into place about how players can interact with each other.</p>
<p>Commander is a wonderful format, and cEDH is full of enjoyable opportunities and exciting moments. There's a reason it's so many players' favorite way to play not just Commander, but <em>Magic</em> as a whole.</p>
<p>However, by cleaving cEDH from Commander, working towards more proactive banlist management, and instituting greater tournament regulation, then cEDH can truly flourish not just as a Commander-offshoot, but as its own fully-fledged format.</p>


cEDH Has a Fatal Flaw

Building Vivi Ornitier for cEDH

Final Fantasy: A cEDH Set Review

Top 10 Stax Effects for a G'raha Tia cEDH Deck

<p>The long-awaited <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/commander-bracket-system-updates-and-unbans-april-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commander format update has arrived</a>! Gavin Verhey posted <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/commander-bans-and-restrictions-april-22-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>two</em></a> <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/commander-brackets-beta-update-april-22-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">articles</a>, a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P38DsBMs6vA&amp;pp=ygUSZ29vZCBtb3JuaW5nIG1hZ2lj" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Good Morning Magic video</a>, and also appeared on an hour-long Weekly MTG stream on Tuesday, going through unbans, new Game Changers, what they considered, what they didn’t, which cards were unbanned, how they’re changing Brackets, and more.</p>
<p>We've gotten a lot of information to go through. However, I’m interested in just one thing: how do these new changes impact Bracket 5 - my beloved Competitive EDH (cEDH)?</p>
<p>The new Game Changers don’t matter much - we’re in a realm that doesn’t care about them, so I’ll keep my commentary on those to another venue. Still, there was a lot we learned this week about the present, so I’m going to do my best to break down what matters and what doesn’t - and what the future may hold.</p>
<h2>Cards Unbanned in Commander</h2>
<p>First, the overview. The following cards have been unbanned:</p>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Braids, Cabal Minion" href="#" target="_blank">Braids, Cabal Minion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
<li aria-level="1"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Panoptic Mirror" href="#" target="_blank">Panoptic Mirror</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
<li aria-level="1"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sway of the Stars" href="#" target="_blank">Sway of the Stars</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
<li aria-level="1"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Coalition Victory" href="#" target="_blank">Coalition Victory</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
<li aria-level="1"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gifts Ungiven" href="#" target="_blank">Gifts Ungiven</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Braids, Cabal Minion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gifts Ungiven"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Coalition Victory"></div></div>
<p>In short - this feels a little bit safe. Four of the five are almost certainly not going to have an impact on the Competitive EDH format - and even more so I would guess that they won’t see much play in normal Commander either. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Panoptic Mirror" href="#" target="_blank">Panoptic Mirror</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sway of the Stars" href="#" target="_blank">Sway of the Stars</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Coalition Victory" href="#" target="_blank">Coalition Victory</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are all bits of cardboard that people have asked to come off of the ban list for years now - saying they feel a bit less egregious than in years past. These changes are a bit of safe banlist trimming that’ll also make the crowd at home happy and test the whole “unban to game changers” pipeline thing. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Braids, Cabal Minion" href="#" target="_blank">Braids, Cabal Minion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is slightly more of a danger for taking off the ban list, just because it can be a pretty miserable experience in casual games if it resolves.</p>
<p>The <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gifts Ungiven" href="#" target="_blank">Gifts Ungiven</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> unban though - now that is interesting! Gifts is a situationally better, situationally worse version of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Intuition" href="#" target="_blank">Intuition</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (which is why I’ve always been confused as to why it was banned when we had Intuition, etc.) that seems best suited to inclusion in the likes of Blue Farm and other decks that make heavy use of the graveyard. The sidegrade tech of being able to only search up two cards - forcing both to go to your graveyard - could be relevant depending on what you have in hand, but in most situations you'd rather spend one more mana to end up with one more card in hand. If you can get to the said four mana, that’s a pretty good trade.</p>
<p>Also, the most obvious use case of this one is someone who wants a draw searching up four counterspells, targeting the other player who really wants a draw. That ain’t that fun. More about that later, though.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Panoptic Mirror"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sway of the Stars"></div></div>
<h2>The Rest of the Year for Brackets and Bans</h2>
<p>The biggest impact on cEDH from this update, besides what they <i>didn’t </i>unban (more about that in a bit too), was announcing their plans for the rest of the year: a focus on letting the bracket system settle in, a continual refinement of both it and the Game Changer list, and similar before formally taking both out of beta in 2026.</p>
<p>To help settle the waters as they work on that aim, they said there would be no more unbannings or bannings this year - unless there was a “Nadu situation” necessitating a sort of emergency ban. With this knowledge, it starts to become more clear why this unban was on the safer side. If they aren’t wanting to fiddle with the banlist for the next eight months, this instead becomes a test of a theory. Does unbanning something and transitioning it into a Game Changer, even with a more risky card like Braids or Gifts, work out well? Is it a path they can continue going down?</p>
<p>This thought processes and reticence makes some sense to me, and I do think that Brackets and Game Changer tweaks have way more potential to effect the average invested EDH player than straight up banlist changes. But I'm still a bit frustrated that they are committing to no action this far out. There are still plenty of cards that could come off the banlist, and slow rolling the process, while it doesn’t exactly hurt anyone, would keep momentum moving towards a more meaningfully shaken up format. I get it though; stability is king!</p>
<h2>The Elephants in the Room - Dockside, Mana Crypt &amp; Jeweled Lotus</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dockside Extortionist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mana Crypt"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jeweled Lotus"></div></div>
<p>Look, I’m not really going to be jumping around moralizing anything here. The Commander Format Panel can unban or keep these cards banned as they see fit. Do I think the specter of <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/the-end-of-edh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what happened surrounding their banning</a> will pretty much forever taint them? Aaaabsolutely!</p>
<p>Regardless, we did get a bit more clarity on the three cards that were basically banned straight out of cEDH top tables several months ago. The light shed on them did point where I expected: we can expect to probably never see <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mana Crypt" href="#" target="_blank">Mana Crypt</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dockside Extortionist" href="#" target="_blank">Dockside Extortionist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> again. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jeweled Lotus" href="#" target="_blank">Jeweled Lotus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, however, was given an olive branch of hope, with Gavin saying that it resonated more because it shares a kind of iconic design with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Black Lotus" href="#" target="_blank">Black Lotus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>This feels like a weird argument to make; you can just say that WotC likes the card being legal and they enjoy the effects it has on the format. This, independent of my frustrations re: Dockside being banned removing the best non-blue-centric game winning option from the cEDH cardpool, does make some level of sense to me. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jeweled Lotus" href="#" target="_blank">Jeweled Lotus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is the “safest” of the bunch, given it only speeds up Commander casting (in the format called Commander) rather than providing more widely usable explosive mana production. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dockside Extortionist" href="#" target="_blank">Dockside Extortionist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> itself was on and off the radar of the Rules Committee for some time; it was known as an amount of problematic and therefore not that surprising when it was banned. It does strike me as a card that could fall in line with other Game Changers. While the door is closed, I think a window could open.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mana Crypt" href="#" target="_blank">Mana Crypt</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> will remain the sticking point that frustrates people for years to come, and reasonably so. It’s never going to be easy to ban a very expensive card. It’s not easy to unban it either; creating two huge waves of bad feels from one card is not great. I can’t imagine a path to this one coming back.</p>
<h2>The Commander Format Panel Probably Can’t Fully Fix cEDH’s Problems</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rhystic Study"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Quick Draw"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Valley Floodcaller"></div></div>
<p>cEDH has a few different prominent problems currently - the peak of which are currently the “midrange hell” meta we find ourselves in, focused around <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mystic Remora" href="#" target="_blank">Mystic Remora</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and more. People sit behind their value engines and angle towards forcing a draw, for some reason. I ran into this behavior for the first time ever at the TopDeck Open in 2023 - and since then it’s really taken off to an obnoxious extent.</p>
<p>A lot of people point to the latest bans as a reason for this - and they <i>may</i> have contributed. However, I’m more of the opinion that these play patterns were always prevalent beforehand; players already loved to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Demonic Tutor" href="#" target="_blank">Demonic Tutor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for their <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and then watched someone Thoracle Combo them with one piece of backup. Playing safe is naturally attractive. People love to not take risks, and risks in cEDH can end up blowing up spectacularly. Turtling up isn’t risky - that’s why people are so biased towards this play pattern. The printing of more flash enablers has obviously also helped - making it even more attractive to sit back and wait rather than taking definitive action at the (perceived) risk of being stopped (and then losing). A single ban or unban won’t fix this; they won’t change a dang thing if people don’t stop convincing themselves that refusing to play the game until they have 15 green lights to win is the easiest way to equity. Just win.</p>
<p><i>Still</i>, players will continue to do this no matter how much I rant about it. <i>And</i> cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> &amp; <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valley Floodcaller" href="#" target="_blank">Valley Floodcaller</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> do help enable the problem in the first place as well. A ban of such a card (or an unban to re-Turbo things slightly) would definitely tilt the scale and make it easier for players to, well, <i>play</i> to their outs. That’s something the panel could do to help. But I would, as ever, continue to not expect it as a rule; the focus always will remain on where the vast majority of players live, which is realistically Bracket 2-4.</p>
<p>However, there is some hope. During the Weekly MTG Stream, Gavin answered a question about the format and said they're very aware of where cEDH is and what its players think, referencing the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Flash" href="#" target="_blank">Flash</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> ban as a precedent to taking action that will help Bracket 5 (wink) without affecting the rest of the format much.</p>
<p>I have a hunch that a relatively surgical ban (e.g., <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mystic Remora" href="#" target="_blank">Mystic Remora</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which isn't as egregious as Rhystic Study, but still part of the problem and played <em>much</em> less in casual circles) could be the easiest solution.</p>


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