<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etali, Primal Conqueror" href="#" target="_blank">Etali, Primal Conqueror</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.ryanpancoast.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ryan Pancoast</a></em></p>
<p>We've all had to take a hard look at cEDH, and think about if it's effective as a competitive format. After the 11-hour cEDH finals, players have taken a skeptical look at whether the format.</p>
<p>A little group in Barquisimeto, Venezuela might have solved this problem, or really all the problems in cEDH. At least, that is the claim. They believe they've created a diverse competitive format called <a href="https://mtg-coliseo.onrender.com/">Coliseum</a>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh"></div></div>
<h2>Collusion</h2>
<h3>Limitation in cEDH</h3>
<p>One of the main concerns I've heard for the reason cEDH can't be a strong competitive format is the implicit collusion. There's no way to play a multiplayer format without, unintentionally or intentionally, providing some information or assistance to other players in the pod.</p>
<p>When one player uses removal, it benefits the whole rest of the table without them needing to use their resources. Politics and turn order play a role in when players might use their removal in return for assistance later. Give and take.</p>
<p>A player might show a piece of removal and suggest that they be given a slight reprieve if they handle a pesky board piece, using their voice as a resource. This is not the kind of collusion we see in 1v1 formats, and it's not necessarily so in all games of cEDH, but it's enough that players might worry about it in the competitive arena.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tymna the Weaver"></div></div>
<p>In a less intentional sense, turn order might encourage players to use all of their removal to stop another player from winning, forcing them into a situation where they don't have enough to protect their own win, forcing them into a losing position based on the turn order, smoothing it over for another player with less removal and fewer concerns.</p>
<p>One player's removal unintentionally helps another player win.</p>
<h3>Solution</h3>
<p>In Coliseum, any sort of verbal agreements between players to attack or target another player with spells or abilities to hinder their progress is forbidden. Helping another player to win the game in any way is forbidden. This is only determined under previous investigation of any players taking part in this kind of behavior.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kraum, Ludevic&#039;s Opus"></div></div>
<p>Revealing unsolicited information, such as possession of removal in hand or the contents of any zone that is not public or known is forbidden, as is providing information to help another player.</p>
<p>Using spells or abilities to affect another player's board state right before losing the game is also forbidden. This only applies if you're not trying to save yourself or minimize risk to you.</p>
<h3>Considerations</h3>
<p>I love the idea of a built-in way to avoid king-making, but I'm not sure making every game of Commander a judged format makes this format accessible. Additionally, it begs the question why even play a multiplayer format in the first place. 1v1 might solve a lot of the concerns it brings.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thrasios, Triton Hero"></div></div>
<p>There's something inherent in a multiplayer format that makes it tough to judge interactions and advantage. Additionally, it makes the game less accessible for those trying to get into the meta, not to be able to be told what interaction kills them. I'm not sure if accessibility is a concern, but I thought I'd mention it.</p>
<h2>Tie Breakers</h2>
<h3>Limitation in cEDH</h3>
<p>When you play a multiplayer format there are always more loser than winners; this makes the win rate much lower in this kind of format. It's hard to determine, in a timed game, who the winner ought to be when time runs out and all but one player haven't been eliminated. There have been many attempts to determine who would be the closest to winning based on board state and cards in hand in previous cEDH competitions. There are even voting processes for timed competitions, though they don't really feel fair and aren't particularly liked.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Silas Renn, Seeker Adept"></div></div>
<h3>Solution</h3>
<p>In Coliseum, a player receive points for a round for various accomplishments, and they're added up to determine placement over the course of a season. Killing a player awards you a point. Winning the game awards you two points. Over the course of their Season, which is eight single-day tournaments with daily placements, players know where they stand.</p>
<h3>Considerations</h3>
<p>Honestly, a point system to determine wins in Commander seems like a lovely way to rewards different play styles. I often found myself killing two players and losing to some random top deck in the last turn. Being able to factor in the win and the elimination of threats is definitely strong. I'm a fan of this; it allows players who are Aggro to still win points, even if they lose to the combo player in the end.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sisay, Weatherlight Captain"></div></div>
<h2>Meta Established</h2>
<h3>Limitation</h3>
<p>The top of the meta in cEDH is pretty established, and unchanging. Rog-Si and Tymna/Thrasios aren't going to be pushed off the top of the meta any time soon. Some cards might make it in, but maybe 20 total over the course of the year. This means that combo-win game strategies are all that thrive in this kind of environment.</p>
<h3>Solution</h3>
<p>The ban list in Coliseum is very strict, and diverse. The goal is to make more strategies aside from combo viable. Bans aren't decided by an individual, rather by a committee elected by the community at the start of every season. They used the Commander ban list as well as Duel Commander and Leviathan as reference.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy"></div></div>
<p>The committee sometimes unbans cards for a period of time to see how they perform, before unbanning them permanently. Some of the things they tend to ban are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Mana positive rocks or spells like <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="High Tide" href="#" target="_blank">High Tide</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
<li>Individual cards that consistently allow players to win before turn four: <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> or partner commanders</li>
<li>Win-the-game cards like <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></li>
<li>Individual cards that provide great advantage and require multiple pieces of interaction to remove without disadvantage to the controller, like <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></li>
<li>Commanders that efficiently and consistently skip over commander tax without restriction, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Derevi, Empyrial Tactician" href="#" target="_blank">Derevi, Empyrial Tactician</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
<li>Cards that create very time consuming interactions that may be used to force ties due to the time constraints, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Comet, Stellar Pup" href="#" target="_blank">Comet, Stellar Pup</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></li>
</ul>
<h3>Consideration</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Magda, Brazen Outlaw"></div></div>
<p>There's a lot of sensitivity with players who find that the format they play in might be temperamental enough to change rapidly with bans. In <em>Magic</em>'s history there haven't been very many bans, which fans of the games turn to as an indicator of how consistently the game is designed, and how comfortable they can feel about their format. I'm not sure more bans actually help the format as much as they might think.</p>
<p>Players who are looking for a more managed game state will likely turn to 60-card formats, as their ban list is less managed than what's being provided here. It solves a problem for sure, but it presents another one for its players: How will they keep track of the ban list?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Glarb, Calamity&#039;s Augur"></div></div>
<h2>The Price</h2>
<h3>Limitation</h3>
<p>A lot of players feel they have to proxy to play cEDH because of the cost of the cards. Most competitions that are for prize money for cEDH aren't proxy friendly. A lot of players will say they want to play competitively against the player, not their wallets.</p>
<p>cEDH plays some of the best cards in the game and that makes them pricey. It makes it a very financially exclusive game.</p>
<h3>Solution</h3>
<p>Due to the extensive ban list in Coliseum, and a push for a more diverse sort of game play, the cards that are playable aren't that expensive. Some of the decks that did well in the format are <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Ageless Innovator" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Ageless Innovator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Aggro Artifacts in August of 2024 and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Emmara, Soul of the Accord" href="#" target="_blank">Emmara, Soul of the Accord</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Aggro Tokens in October of the same year. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Minsc &amp; Boo, Timeless Heroes" href="#" target="_blank">Minsc &amp; Boo, Timeless Heroes</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Midrange Battlecruiser was the top deck in March of 2025.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Yuriko, the Tiger&#039;s Shadow"></div></div>
<h3>Consideration</h3>
<p>I really like how interesting and different the meta is, but isn't that what casual commander is for? cEDH is more of a pinnacle of how powerful the format can be, right? This doesn't solve a real problem in cEDH but creates an alternate route for Bracket 4 decks.</p>
<p>I know the pricing for the decks in cEDH is astronomical, but that's because people are playing the best cards in <em>Magic</em> history since its inception. Making these spaces more proxy friendly might solve the problem more easily. Players want to play the most powerful things in the format in cEDH, not the second best.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tivit, Seller of Secrets"></div></div>
<h2>Overall Thoughts</h2>
<p>cEDH has a problem with being a competitive format mainly because of the nature of it being multiplayer. When talking to a representative of the format, a friend of mine, I asked why not play 1v1? It would solve so many of their problems. He said because people like the multiplayer nature of the game. He said, "We all like playing Commander."</p>
<p>I don't know if this Coliseum format solves the problems of cEDH, but it does create a new format of its own. A viable format for people looking for a break from the problems of cEDH brought up in the article.</p>
<p>If you're interested feel free to look at the information provided <a href="https://mtg-coliseo.onrender.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>! It's in Spanish, but Google translate is a hell of a thing.</p>
<h3>Read More:</h3>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="aqy0OUDIhI"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/is-winning-the-most-important-thing-in-commander/">Is Winning the Most Important Thing in Commander?</a></p></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="W0GAQpq1Or"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/edge-of-eternities-a-cedh-set-review/">Edge of Eternities: A cEDH Set Review</a></p></blockquote>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;Edge of Eternities: A cEDH Set Review&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/edge-of-eternities-a-cedh-set-review/embed/#?secret=EGj8JA7ihP#?secret=W0GAQpq1Or" data-secret="W0GAQpq1Or" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="8XjRo81opk"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/how-to-prepare-for-a-cedh-tournament/">How To Prepare for a cEDH Tournament</a></p></blockquote>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;How To Prepare for a cEDH Tournament&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/how-to-prepare-for-a-cedh-tournament/embed/#?secret=iogxqr90mB#?secret=8XjRo81opk" data-secret="8XjRo81opk" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>


Can the Coliseum Format Fix cEDH?

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Test of Endurance" href="#" target="_blank">Test of Endurance</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/denmanrooke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Denman Rooke</a></em></p>
<p>Competitive Commander tournaments can be daunting affairs, both for new players and battle-tested veterans. A single all-or-nothing match, triple the number of opponents, all intertwined with a wholly unique political element.</p>
<p>So, how can we make sure to bring our A-game, time after time? Here are five ways to get an edge, before the match begins.</p>
<h2>Track Your Games</h2>
<p>I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that, if you're playing in a cEDH tournament, you've probably had some experience with the format before. Kitchen table cEDH, game night at the local game store, anywhere and anyway doesn't matter, as long as everyone is playing with a competitive mindset and a high-powered list.</p>
<p>So, with that assumption out of the way, let's start with the most important thing you can do for tournament (and long-term) player improvement: track your games.</p>
<p>Keeping a sheet handy that lists your average win turn, standout cards from games (both best and worst performing), and most detrimental cards from opponents can provide crucial insights into how your deck plays.</p>
<p>cEDH is in a slower meta overall right now, but that doesn't mean that your deck necessarily reflects that. Maybe the newest set made it a turn faster, or it did nothing at all. That pet card you added a few months ago? Maybe you never end up casting it, despite loving it to bits.</p>
<p>Spreadsheets have a tendency of revealing hidden information in a brutalist fashion, exactly the kind which will benefit any players with tournament aspirations.</p>
<h2>Study the Tournament Structure</h2>
<p>Since cEDH tournaments aren't official <em>Wizards of the Coast</em>-sanctioned events (by-and-large), the individual structure of each event varies wildly. The average tournament structure usually centers around a series of timed, pre-cutoff best-of-one matches, with a number of rounds being determined by player count.</p>
<p>After these conclude, the players with the best records are invited for semifinals, which are untimed and single elimination. The top four pod is singularly structured: an untimed, single match.</p>
<p>Importantly, however, there is plenty of room for variability in this structure. For example, are draws worth any match points, or are they functionally identical to losing? What about the length of a game - eighty minutes, plus an untimed final turn? Or is the last turn timed, too?</p>
<p>These individual details can provide valuable insights into what kinds of decks - and what playstyles - will walk into the tournament with a hidden edge.</p>
<p>If draws are worthless and the final turn is timed, for instance, then turbo decks start off with a structural advantage. Slower decks might not have enough time to really get their positions cemented, providing faster pilots with every incentive to play full-throttle. In less time-crunched environments, such as those with untimed extra turns and/or rounds lasting longer than an hour, midrange decks are presented with ample flexibility to play slow and reactive.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Divine Intervention"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>If this resolves, do I get one point or none?</em></p>
<p>Fortunately, just about any-and-every well advertised cEDH tournament will post their structure well in advance. By reading up on this information, you'll not just be clued into something as simple as "How long will this take?" but the hidden edge of individual strategies, as well.</p>
<p>It's also worth noting one piece of general rules documentation that's becoming more and more universal across cEDH tournaments: the competitive rules addendum (linked <a href="https://topdeck.gg/mtr-ipg-addendum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>). Currently hosted by the tournament organizer TopDeck, this document has become uniquely popular with tournament organizers (regardless of whether or not TopDeck's software is being used to run the tournament). As such, reading up on it is well worth the time.</p>
<h2>Follow Meta Lists</h2>
<p>Unlike 1v1 competitive <em>Magic</em>, cEDH's multiplayer format significantly complicates the ability to predict how any one deck will interact against another.</p>
<p>As such, attempting to understand your deck's matchup against a another deck is a largely futile task. A game of cEDH is a complex phenomenon which is emergent from the interactions of each deck with each other deck at the table, rather than the sum of each individual 1v1 matchup.</p>
<p>So, how do we deal with this conundrum? Learn how opposing decks work from the pilot's perspective.</p>
<p>The simplest way to start learning what another deck seeks to do is simply to look at its decklist. For many of cEDH's top contenders, the strategy is pretty self evident.</p>
<p>Blue Farm plays the best cards in a midrange fashion, then assembles a compact A+B win-con when the time is right. RogSi rams mana and card advantage as quickly as possible, seeking to spike the game before other players can get a footing. <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> runs just about every efficient piece of mana in the format, dumps it all into some spooky creatures, and finds a way to get infinite mana after commanding the board.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ad Nauseam"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Seedborn Muse"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rule of Law"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Seeing these cards can immediately flag how a deck works.</em></p>
<p>cEDH is absolutely a diverse format, but that diversity is topped off by a small cohort of dominating decks. By reading through the stock lists and primers for tournament-winning decks, a savvy player (yes, that's you!) can sit down across from three other opponents, make a rough guess of what everyone is trying to do, and chart a course from there.</p>
<p>Don't concern yourself with understanding how your deck plays against those of your three opponents - try and focus on how you play <em>alongside. </em></p>
<h2>Stock Up on Supplies</h2>
<p>Commander decks are <em>massive</em>. Couple that with a long day of shuffling, and the odds are decent that a sleeve will split - or, at the very least, get nicked in a way that'll make it stand out against the rest of your deck. Bringing extra sleeves may sound like a mundane step, but - in the worst case scenario - it can save you from a tournament disqualification.</p>
<p>I once had to resleeve my entire deck with a new box of freshly-purchased sleeves in the 20 minutes before the first round because I forgot to bring extras of the same color I was already playing with. Don't be me; bring backups.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Stock Up"></div></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>This one was obvious.</em></p>
<p>Similarly, cEDH is also a format that's overflowing with information to keep track of. Cards revealed off of tutors, hands revealed off of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gitaxian Probe" href="#" target="_blank">Gitaxian Probe</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> - the number of times an important bit of information gets revealed is just about as high as the number of game actions taken.</p>
<p>So, to take the most advantage of this, grab a pen and a notepad. Trying to retain a mental list of every card in every hidden zone is mentally taxing, to say the least, so cut yourself some slack and write down what matters. Losing the game to something that was revealed turns earlier but simply forgotten by the table doesn't just suck - it's preventable.</p>
<h2>Sleep and Eat Well</h2>
<p>Speaking of mentally taxing events, let's zoom out for a second and appreciate just how exhausting a day of cEDH can be. Even if you're staunchly opposed to the deal-making and info-sharing that is so common in multiplayer, the odds are pretty good that you'll be sucked into it somehow, even just as a hostage in the table's broader shenanigans.</p>
<p>Couple that with the regular mental toll of playing <em>Magic</em> for five or more hours, and it's easy to tire out.</p>
<p>Eating and sleeping well isn't just something that'll make you more comfortable or give you extra energy in the early rounds; rather, it's core to maintaining the ability to laser focus on the many details moving around the multiplayer environment. Writing down which cards were revealed is certainly helpful - otherwise I wouldn't recommend buying a notepad - but this skill is only as useful as your ability to first identify what cards are worth noting, as well as remembering to check your notes as the game goes on.</p>
<p>Similarly, going into a game well-rested and well-fed is conducive to reducing irritability, a crucial factor for cEDH's social element. Less sleep, more misplays, more frustration, more misplays, and the cycle continues.</p>
<p>Talking with the players in your pod is critical to proper threat assessment as the game goes on, and an irritable player is less likely to be welcomed into those conversations. So rest up, have a good breakfast, and play <em>Magic</em> comfortably - it'll earn you wins.</p>
<h2>Wrap Up</h2>
<p>Like most competitive ventures, preparing for a cEDH tournament means covering all your bases - strategic information, backup supplies, and personal health. Once you've got that trifecta down (to the best of your abilities), you'll be ready to bring your best to any and every tournament that faces you.</p>
<p>Good luck in your games, and don't forget to enjoy the competition!</p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="qk0SzAI5q0"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-mmmenon-the-right-hand-for-cedh/">Building Mm'menon, the Right Hand for cEDH</a></p></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="4sbtSkgiw1"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-vivi-ornitier-for-cedh/">Building Vivi Ornitier for cEDH</a></p></blockquote>
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How To Prepare for a cEDH Tournament

Build a Powerful Artifacts Deck with Mm'menon, the Right Hand

<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

Brewing Terra, Magical Adept for cEDH

Final Fantasy: A cEDH Set Review

<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>


competitive commander