Thursday, June 21, 2012

Bye, Bye, Griselbrand

It's official, and disappointing: Griselbrand is banned in the Commander format.
  • Link to the banned list here.
  • Announcement and explanation here.
Mind you, he's not simply banned from being used as your Commander. He's outright banned. Just in time for my copy to be arriving through the mail.

While the official rules leave some wiggle room to get prior permission to play banned cards from the people you are playing with, it's frustrating to have a card banned just because he could be abused and create a game-warping state.

It's one thing to cheat him out quickly, draw a bunch of cards, and then combo win right then and there. It's quite another thing to actually cast an 8cc creature and beat some face with a cool, flying demon. I think that reasonable players get this distinction and design decks accordingly.

The bottom line for me is this: If I was sitting down at a table with a bunch of strangers, following the banned list is a good idea. We all want our chance to have a good time. If I'm sitting down with friends, they know I'm not going to build a deck to just to give them grief. I'm there to have a good time, win or lose.

At least we have Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis to look forward to in M13.

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