Welcome back to another session with the Epic Experiment! December is the time we reflect on the past year and look forward to the new year and all the new possibilities that the future might hold. There is no doubt 2021 has been a tremendous year for those of us who love Magic: The Gathering. I thought that we could look back at the year that was and see if there are any lessons that we can take from what has happened.
The Greater The Rise, The Harder The Fall
First off, the major theme of 2021 has been that the pandemic has continued into its second calendar year and looks poised to continue well into the 3rd. This has meant that having people gather in public places to play has been seriously curtailed. Fewer large scale events. Modest in store play. Limited opportunities to gather with a variety of players in person. While some small groups of players have continued to meet and play, the majority of players have had to move to playing virtually through Spelltable. This has been a fantastic revolution of the game.
For many players, their in-paper experience has been Commander and not a constructed format. Constructed players have turned their attention to digital platforms like Arena or MTGO. It is obvious in the growing selection of offerings geared to Commander players, the prevalence of live streamed paper game play, and just the popularity of a wide assortment of unique printings that Commander has taken the lead seat of in-paper play formats.
The realization that Commander is the top paper offering from Wizards of the Coast is refreshing, but it also means that players need to be mindful about how they approach the game. While it is terrific to have so many new and exciting offerings for players, players need to be circumspect about how they interact with the game. No longer can the old patterns of “just buy everything” hold because there is now so much that it is near impossible to stay on top of EVERYTHING. Furthermore, it is very evident that not everything is for every player, and thus we need to be sure to really focus our disposable income on products that appeal to us. This is not a negative or a positive, but rather a point that just needs to be kept in mind by players so that we can continue to enjoy our hobby in a responsible and sustainable way.
Let’s Be Direct
The next theme during 2021 has been the continued dedication to cards that look to move directly into a given format. No longer is it acceptable to have a card appear in a standard set and migrate gradually over to Commander. We now see more and more cards printed clearly for Commander, even in Standard legal sets. For instance, By Invitation Only is templated clearly for multiplayer Magic. It may appear in a Standard set, but the clause “each player” is unmistakably meant for Commander. Meanwhile, we get cards like Archaeomancer’s Map, which is a very powerful card geared uniquely for Commander, this past spring with the annual Commander product release. This card is now the top white artifact and among the top cards in white overall… and it has been printed less than 10 months ago! And let’s not forget that Archaeomancer’s Map is stretching the colour pie so that white can play the mana ramp game with an effect that is part Land Tax, part Burgeoning.
Now, do I have a problem with cards dedicated for Commander being printed? No. However, for me the real issue is the rate at which these cards are being printed. The frequency with which we see these cards is increasing exponentially and making it hard for Commander players to adapt. You either must adopt the new tech or spend time struggling trying to figure out how to counteract it… yet more powerful cards are being added to the format. It is very difficult to get an actual read on any new card because they are so quickly pushed aside by the new hype cycle that it is easy to overlook something until it is too late.
CEDH
From a community standpoint, there has been a noticeable increase in the prevalence of CEDH as a way of playing the game. When I started playing Commander in 2014 CEDH was a known part of the community, but a minority. They had their corners of the internet where lists were shared and the format was hotly debated, but it remained under-represented compared to other aspects of the Commander community. Now, perhaps it is just that I am more attuned to look for it, or perhaps the community has grown, but it undoubtedly appears that the CEDH community has come to the forefront and is a thriving part of the Commander consciousness.
My hypothesis surrounding the relative growth of CEDH stems from the increased popularity of streamed webcam/in person paper play and that people now can watch CEDH with much more ease than ever before. People are seeing that the format is fun, dynamic, exciting, and very challenging. Make no mistake – it is not a on-ramp for players who have never played the game, but enfranchised players may very well take an interest in this sort of play and the new spotlight being cast upon it has helped make it accessible. There may be more to the discussion than just a spotlight being cast upon it, but I do feel strongly that it is a major contributing part to what has helped make CEDH a far more mainstream offering.
While I also find myself increasingly interested in CEDH, I do feel like there is a problem with comparing CEDH decks to Casual decks. Yes they are both deemed to be “Commander” decks, but they really can’t be compared in any way shape or form. If I were to sit down at a Commander table and table any of my decks, I would be hard pressed to get my deck engine started because my lists are just so far from what is deemed to be the optimal list. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I really do feel there needs to be a more concrete distinction between the casual version of Commander and the more competitive variant. Is it separate banlists? Is it sideboard/wishboards? Is it some other determining factor that I haven’t thought of yet? I don’t know. However, the more I watch CEDH the more I am convinced that my typical deck has absolutely nothing in common with CEDH decks.
Power Creep Ain’t A Crime
The last piece I would like to touch on is that the growing power creep inherent in the pre-cons. It is once again a factor that needs to be addressed. We have grown accustomed to one Commander pre-con release a year and some years the decks offered were very powerful. Atraxa. Breya. Meren. Edgar. The Ur Dragon. These make up some of the most iconic and powerful pre-cons we have seen. I have watched many of these decks dominate the table right out of the box. However, when we started getting additional pre-con decks with Zendikar Rising, we saw a noticeable drop in the power level. Obuun and Anowon from Zendikar Rising are of a modest power level. Lathril was intriguing, but the Ranar deck was disappointing as offerings from Kaldeim. The Strixhaven decks represent the annual pre-con release and so those were expected to be higher in power level. However, the decks from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, headlined by Prosper, have heralded the gradual increase in the strength of the pre-cons. There is no doubt that the Wilhelt list from Midnight Hunt has continued this trend, but again, we see Commander pre-cons starting to sneak in extra powerful cards and the power level rises.
Is this a problem? No. But it once again should be noted to see if such a trend extends into 2022 so that we can set reasonable expectations about what we should, and shouldn’t see, included in a pre-con.
That sums up my review of the year in Commander from a broader scale for 2021. I will be doing a list of the most powerful cards for the format from 2021, but that will need to wait for another week. If you enjoyed my thoughts or have something you would like to see explored in more detail, please check out our decks and much more each week on our podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere else you find better podcasts. Just look for the name The Epic Experiment Podcast! We’d love to have you join us!
