Like any good format Elder Dragon Highlander has a committee that oversees the health of the format. This is one of the things that helps keep people playing the game and helps maintain balance, unlike some other formats (I'm looking at you Vintage!) Being on a committee that disallows cards is a big responsibility and certainly not taken lightly by those it's entrusted with. Needless to say the people on the committee have either been involved in the format from its conception, or are of a particularly high judge level (four or higher.) I have faith in the decisions of that group of people because I know they have the best interest of the game in mind.

One of the things I love about EDH is the fact that it makes some of my awful cards into all stars. Solemn Simulacrum was seeing approximately zero play but he's a king and becoming harder to find primarily because of his casual appeal. Additionally EDH also lets me use almost all of my cards. It's been forever since I was able to use cards like Time Twister without sinking approximately a billion dollars into a vintage deck. That being said, sometimes cards are a little too absurd and need to be removed. Remember that no one likes being told they can't play with their cards and the committee is no different. Each banning is solidly considered before acted on! Let's take a look at the recent changes.

Channel

The first card seems innocent enough until you really consider the possibilities, Channel. For a while Channel was absolutely fine, for most of the format's existence even. Sure one could power out big artifacts early, but with the possible exception of Sundering Titan that wasn't too much of a threat. Then out of the blue the Eldrazi monstrosities were designed. The problem with Emrakul and his group is the fact that annihilator destroys anything and everything, even indestructible permanents. It's almost impossible for another player to have enough time/resources to destroy an Emrakul on turn one before he gets annihilated out of the game. One might even argue that the only reasonable turn one or two answer is to cast an Emrakul yourself. Unfortunately this means you probably also need to play Channel, making for a very unfun, unhealthy format.

While it is true that some players were using Channel to funnel out large artifacts early this banning barely affects those decks. It certainly has no impact on decks with Karn as their general as the card wouldn't be allowed from the start. Channel is comparable to a one shot Metalworker who can actually produce up to thirty nine mana instead of twelve to fourteen at a time. If Metalworker is going to be banned then Channel probably wasn't going to be too far behind, the Eldrazi titans just pushed that time frame up a notch.

Staff of Domination

Next on the ban list, or at least the next card I want to address is Staff of Domination. If you are on the outside looking in then Staff seems like a card that reeks of Timmy. A three mana artifact that has like twelve abilities and can do stuff with creatures, and even untap itself? Where can I go wrong! However, if you look at the more sinister applications then you see Staff of Domination is ready for a banning. Without needing to search, here are some of the infinite combos with the staff:

[draft]Staff of Domination

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary[/draft]

[draft]Staff of Domination

Priest of Titania[/draft]

[draft]Staff of Domination

Metalworker[/draft]

[draft]Staff of Domination

Wirewood Channeler[/draft]

[draft]Staff of Domination

Power Artifact

Grim Monolith[/draft]

[draft]Staff of Domination

Power Artifact

Basalt Monolith[/draft]

And those are just the ones off the top of my head. I'm sure if I did some research there are plenty more. So we can either ban those cards that aren't already banned (pretty much anything with the word elf or artifact apparently), or we can ban Staff of Domination. I'd much rather get to keep playing with all the rest of those cards than just one Staff of Domination and I think most people would agree with me.

Tolarian Academy

The next to last card on the new bannings list admittedly makes me a little sad, but that's just because it's one of my all time favorites, Tolarian Academy. Talking with Sheldon he said that the general sentiment when people found out they were banning Academy was simply "Oh really… that sucks, but it needed to be done," and I unfortunately have to agree. Academy fueled so many broken turns for me in layer 1/layer 2 that I'll truly miss the card. Even with my fond memories there's simply no way a card that enables a turn two Capsize lock should be allowed to stay.

I think that perhaps of all the bannings the one on Academy is perhaps the most misunderstood. There are a great number of people who believe that it is very easy to run land hate in EDH and that is in fact true. Wasteland and Strip mine are some of the staple cards for the format and both deal with Academy fairly easily. The problem though, is that it's usually far easier to recur Academy than it is to recur either of those lands. Capsize, Boomerang, Cryptic Command and their like are all viable bounce spells which help protect your land while simultaneously generating advantage (Wasteland/Strip mine still get sacrificed). Furthermore, any deck running Academy is fueled by artifacts, meaning Crucible of Worlds is a very natural addition, causing even greater difficulty in removing the land. With all those ideas combined with the ability of Academy to completely warp a game if found early, which is a fairly easy feat, I think it was about time for the Academy to go. Farewell sweet prince…

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

On to our last banning, which is that of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. He's been banned, but only conditionally. You can still absolutely put Rofellos in your deck, just not as your general. As it turns out being able to consistently cast him on turn two without needing to search in even the slightest was just a little too good. Rofellos is unfortunately the poster child for fast mana generals and his ability to warp games just proved to be a little too good. Rofellos was only unbanned about a year ago anyway and as it turns out the experiment failed and he needed to be dealt with. Is that unfortunate for the people who built a deck around him? Sure. Is it the end of the world? Nah. While not serving the exact same purpose, Eladmri, Lord of Leaves is a fine general that will be happy to hold down the fort until Rofellos comes online.

I'd also like to take a second and remind everyone that the rules committee does seem to have some level of experience. For some reason there's an attitude that the committee hates Academy because they don't have any. I'll quote Sheldon:

Average age of Council members: 36.

Average years of Magic xp: about 14

Average judge level of the certified on Council: 4.25

If I were going to make an educated guess I'd say they probably have a few Tolarian Academies lying around. Just remember, the banned list is a social contract. If your play group enjoys playing with their cards and doesn't want to use the banned list then more power to you. Play what makes you and your friends have fun, that's what the format's all about!

That's all for this week. Join me next week when we see if the sky was in fact falling, or if the format will survive after all. I'd like to begin a two part series of articles discussing the staple EDH cards for each color. This isn't just a list of the must buy rares, I'd like to be comprehensive and go through the nuts and bolts of most decks, slogging through the commons/uncommons. It's a great way to see what you need and what you have so you won't want to miss it.

Until next time this is Benjamin McDole giving you a hundred reasons to play magic!

I guess I lied, there's a little more this week. I'd like to invite everyone to come out to CoolStuffGames July 3 to play in a New Extended event. It should be the first extended event of the new format and there will be a thousand dollars on the line. I'll be head judge and I look forward to seeing you all there!