For lack of a currently better title, let's just say when it comes to EDH and the Rules Committee, I'm okay with the job EDH guru Sheldon Menery and co. have done with the format.
If this were Twilight, we'd be Team Sheldon.
Fortunately, this isn't a horrible vampire high school romance novel. My readers deserve tip-top blathering from a tip-top blatherer such as myself, and I'm gonna give it to them.
Recently, GG and I have had an intra-Facebook debate about the legitimacy of the EDH rules committee, and we thought we'd bring our points to the place that they should be- right here on The General Zone. So expect Grandpa's two cents here soon.
What does it mean to be a "Menery-o-nite?"
It means that I support the rulings and decisions that have led to the creation of the basic rules and changes that the Committee has made currently and hopefully will going forward. They've demonstrated to me that, as a collective, the RC has the knowledge and insight to continue to create coherent, fun, and competitive games of Commander all across the world.
Before this, EDH was sort of a back-alley Magic Game played by shady long-time spellcasters next to sketchy dice gamblers behind your local game store. The core set of EDH rules as we know them, weren't firmly established, leading to people playing 30 life, or distributing an even life total out of 200 amongst the people in the game.
There was madness, chaos, and it was filled with annoying super-pro-competitive players who just played it to break the format.
Moxes were cast, and combos were played, sometimes before anyone else got a turn. As a result, only a handful of people who knew the format and really, really loved playing it were about the only people kept interested.
It was Sheldon and his team that formed and continues to establish EDH as you see it today. They set the life totals to 40. They created the 21-and-done Commander damage rule, and layed down rules to help support the more in-depth interactions that can happen as a result of the atypical coagulation of mechanics and the random exile-but-not-exile place you and I know as "The Command Zone."
Just like they set the rules, the RC, through much gameplay, has created an "Official Banlist" of cards that they've proven, through playtesting and a verdict, that such cards shouldn't be permitted to play due to a logical and thorough set of rules.
I put "Official Banlist" in quotes because this is the way that the RC wishes for you to perceive their rules. They are merely the groundwork for a bigger social component, which is part of EDH, and why it continues to grow.
The name of the game is and always has been "Choose Your Own Adventure." This is something the RC continues to promote and endorse. The only reason the banlist was made "Official" is because it's the preferred nomenclature of Magic Try-Hards who most likely get into the game by playing 60-card competitive games. Anything less wouldn't be taken seriously, and without a certain overarching structure, games would be less accessible and more difficult to get into.
Having this stable set of rules and regulations allows people to get into games quicker now because the expectations are simple, and you should be actively knowing what is and isn't acceptable etiquette, like anything else in life.
While EDH is still a very gritty game wrought with many strange board interactions with cards that were never supposed to be put together, the RC has been instrumental, at least to me, in creating a way to have some reasonable expectations when you sit down at a table with strangers who have a 99 mysterious cards in their library out of a 20,000+ card pool.
The rules also provide a decent illusion about the format that lures players of other Magic formats into playing EDH. The idea that there is a neutral structure to accept destroys some of the pre-existing stigmas associated with EDH, such as the fact that this game is only for people who've been playing a long time, and therefore have infinitely good, old cards and an extensive knowledge of the rules.
As a result, Commander as a format has become very popular- so much, in fact, that Wizards of the Coast had to alter their own product design to meet our needs, and from what I know, will be doing so over every year for as long as the format remains a serious part of their target market.
This stability with rules, including the bannings, only helps the format because you have a starting point that isn't a question mark. It's concrete, complete, and at your fingertips if you can find the closest thing with Internet.
One of the cards that GG and I both think should've been put on the banlist IMMEDIATELY was Triumph of the Hordes. Since we're pretty notorious green players, we found that this card ended games unusually quick and our games became complete bummers.
That was perhaps the most taboo card we had, and even if we didn't like something the other person was playing, we just played through the pain anyway. It's how we learned.
We also had softbans on the Legendary Eldrazi and Blightsteel Colossus, mostly for the challenge, but also because they're just big 'ol dumb cards that were really only fun casting once or twice.
In my new playgroup though, they are welcome, and they aren't problems for me. I beat Ulamog and Kozilek in consecutive turns last Wednesday in a game with a Mono-Red Deck, so believe me when I say, "Ain't Nothin' But A G-Jura Thang."
That said, I don't think that people should be trying to create their own rules if they aren't EDH-Smart. If that leads to Menery and pals having some sort of "papal power" over us, than let it be. The work they've done is in place so newer players can bypass certain barriers to entry for the format and have knowledge of what isn't in the metagame, which should help them to understand what cards aren't really fun anyway, should they continue to play the game.
Since Kokusho was unbanned, I'm actually fairly pleased with the current banlist. Because GG and I have played a
majority of the cards on the list, I can tell you that I completely
understand and agree with what is currently there.
I also
like the fact that cards like Coalition Victory and Biorhythm are
banned. I'm of the opinion that these cards are actual nonsense anyway,
and if you're playing these cards you're not being cute, funny, or some
attractive hybrid. You're just being lame, and I'm lamer if I have no
way to find an answer to your goofy-bad card.
However, as a person who does enjoy making up various sub-formats of Commander, I think that it's important to learn about these cards if you like the game, so that you can have experience playing with and against cards you do and don't like to enhance your own games.
I see no way else to become a knowledgeable player than by finding a place to start with a little order. Under the right circumstances and in the right groups, changing EDH to fit your visions of what you like about the game can really be great in groups where the games have gotten stale, or you just want to change the dynamic to balance the game in a different way.
Still, these kinds of variants can really only be successful when everyone is on board, and you have a decent enough relationship with people in your playgroup. This means that you have to have met the people and properly communicated the knowledge to do so, which is sometimes difficult if you play in stores and only see these people once a week.
Anyway, that's all I really gotta say about Team Sheldon.
Look for GG's article, which I'm sure is prepared to be slanderous, rebellious, and all things contrary, but in a good way, cause he hates the banlist.
Always curious to hear your thoughts, comments, etc.
So for goodness sake-
untap and play along.
-Uncle Landdrops
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