Is this title just a flimsy excuse for me to link to The Muppets' version of Bohemian Rhapsody? Maybe. Could this title really tie in with this article? Could be. Do I enjoy writing long titles that Trick can't edit down easily? Of course.

In case you didn't hear, Sheldon came down from his lofty perch, proclaimed that Emrakul was banned, and ascended into his castle once more. There were two easily divisible camps about this issue: those in favor and those who were furious. In what amounted to arguing over many forums, twitter feeds and blog posts, it actually resembled to political debates that have ravaged our country for years ("Our country" meaning USA, rest of the world).

"If people like playing with those kinds of cards they should stick to competitive Magic."

"You should have stuff in your deck that deals with it anyway. This was a dumb move."

"I shouldn't have to metagame for one card."

"There are tons of ways of dealing with it and you can play around it. All this does is make the format less fun."

And so forth. It was pretty eerie how close the Commander community was to politics. With people stating that if they don't like it get out versus people who say that they should just deal with it. But, let's take a step back and take an actual look at the banned list and why these cards are banned.

Commander Banned List (Current as of 12/20/10)

• Amulet of Quoz
• Ancestral Recall
• Balance
• Biorhythm
• Black Lotus
• Bronze Tablet
• Chaos Orb
• Coalition Victory
• Contract from Below
• Channel
• Darkpact
• Demonic Attorney
• Emrakul, the Aeons Torn *NEW*
• Falling Star
• Fastbond
• Gifts Ungiven
• Jeweled Bird
• Kokusho, the Evening Star
• Karakas
• Library of Alexandria
• Limited Resources
• Lion's Eye Diamond
• Metalworker
• Mox Emerald
• Mox Jet
• Mox Pearl
• Mox Ruby
• Mox Sapphire
• Painter's Servant
• Panoptic Mirror
• Protean Hulk
• Rebirth
• Recurring Nightmare
• Staff of Domination
• Sway of the Stars
• Tempest Efreet
• Time Vault
• Time Walk
• Timmerian Fiends
• Tinker
• Tolarian Academy
• Upheaval
• Worldgorger Dragon
• Yawgmoth's Bargain

This list includes the Vintage banned list as well (since it's since said way further down the page). Personal issue, I wish it was included in the above list as well. You'll notice that Shahrazad isn't on here; that's because it's still mindboggingly legal.

You might look at this list and scratch your head. Some of these are really odd to have on here (Really, Biorythm?). But, the Rules Committee has some rules about why they ban cards in the first place:

[Note: This is copied verbatim from the post. I know there are spelling errors here, I'll let you decide if you want to correct them or insert [sic] after each one]

For a card to be considered for banning (or kept banned), it should be causing problems in EDH games due to one of three things:

1. Its power level in multiplayer EDH is signficantly higher than both what's expected for its mana cost AND it's power level in other formats (due to different rules or game sizes). [Examples include Panoptic Mirror and BiorHythm]
2. it's dollar cost is prohibitive for most players and the card usually detracts from the playing experience of everyone in the game [The Power 8].
3. it belogs to a class of cards which can't be consistantly interpreted by all players [Silver bordered cards, dexterity cards]

Number 1 is the most highly debated, so we'll get to that in a minute. Number 2 explains why the Power 10 are on the list. As for number 3, Wizards won't ever print a card like that in non-un sets.

But getting back to Point numero uno. Since that's the class that most people care about, the Rules Committee explains on that some more:

The first criteria is the most commonly applied and as such a little more complex than the others. The purpose is to ban cards which are made "excessively more powerful" by the format-specific rules of EDH. While some cards are naturally undercosted in every format (Lightning Bolt, Time Spiral), they aren't made _worse_ by EDH. [Lightning Bolt is unlikely to actually cause problems anyway, so it wouldn't even make it that far]

An additional principal which is commonly referenced is the ease with which a card can be answered. This is somewhat related to criteria #1, in that the size and singleton nature of the format makes answers harder to come by consistently. Keeping answers onhand, lest the game end suddenly, detracts from the interplay and variety of the format so it's considered a strike against the power level of a card if it's "answer this or lose now". Creatures are something of an exception here, as creature removal is far more prevalent, common, and flexible. The fact that answers exist to be tutored up is not a mitigating factor though... the question is whether those answers are commonly applicable or must be "forced" into an anotherwise healthy metagame.

Note that "very irritating" or "ubiquitous" aren't expressly listed there... they can act as red flags or tipping points, but alone aren't sufficient for a card to be voted down.

Basically what's said here is that "instant win" cards or cards which degenerate the game so much more likely at getting banned in this format. It's easy to see some cards on here for this reason (Tinker, Balance, Gifts Ungiven), but others aren't so easy.

The "instant win" cards are Biorhythm, and Coalition Victory (If you Wrath away a board and cast Biorhythm, the people without creatures lose automatically). The only way to counter act both of these is out counter them, meaning you have to play Blue in your Commander deck, and change your Commander to do so. The other "instant win" cards such as Barren Glory, Felidar Sovereign and Mortal Combat all have the clause of winning when it's your upkeep. Most likely every other player in the game has a chance to deal with it (and most colors do too, yes Including Black) and if you want to sneak it in with some other way, go ahead. These are different from the "have to play Blue to prevent me from losing instant win" cards.

Other cards on this list are part of degenerate and game altering combos. Fastbond with Strip Mine and Crucible of Worlds to kill all lands and make sure no one keeps their lands in play, Recurring Nightmare with the enters the battlefield and leaves the battlefield shenanigans you can get (especially with Eternal Witness and Priest of Gix), Staff of Domination with hundreds of cards. While there are still plenty of combos left to play in Commander such as High Tide and Palachron (though we'll get to that stuff in a minute), it's the ones that completely strip out the fun in the game.

That leads us to our next group of banned cards. Casting a Limited Resources on turn one sucks. The gamers will groan and suddenly playing lands trying to ramp would be great except for that idiot who prevented me from doing it. Painter's Servant is banned because of it's interaction with Iona, Shield of Emeria preventing any other play from casting a spell the rest of the game. Again, not fun. Imprinting Panoptic Mirror with Time Warp or anything similar means you've taken the turns for the rest of the game.

This is how I feel about cards like that: Everyone wants to be the one throwing the pie, not the one getting thrown at.

This leads back to Emrakul.

For those that cast it, it was great fun. You're summoning a 15/15 monster that can barely be stopped. If that's not what the point of Commander is, I don't know what else it could be. You're paying 15 for a creature; you want it to be awesome. A creature that can strike fear into player's hearts, and you have him. I've heard of more stories talking about Emrakul than almost any other card.

It was good for Commander.

It was bad for Commander.

Half of those stories came from how another person cast it and won the game. Of course, there were those epic tales about players coming back from a cast Emrakul and the pride involved, but those were far out numbered by the wrecks it caused. In a 4 man game, one of my friends became embarrassed because he cast the Flying Spaghetti Monster and felt obligated to attack with it during his extra turn. People had to metagame against a creature that could be inserted into any EDH deck. And if you're metagaming a casual format against people you don't know because you could have to face the 15/15, then it might have to go.

Emrakul was becoming an unfun card.

Emrakul was the pie being thrown.

Too late, my time has come

Sends shivers down my spine

Body's aching all the time

Goodbye, everybody

I've got to go

Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth

Should Emrakul have gotten the axe? Yes. This was one of those "The needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the Few" types of situations. But don't fear Few people, I've got a great solution for you guys:

That banned list: it's only a suggestion.

Via the rules page once again:

Commander is designed to promote social interaction.

It is founded (and dependant) on a social contract, otherwise known as a gentleman's agreement. Unsporting conduct (whether extreme or simply "being a jerk") should not be tolerated by players. Refusing to play with antisocial persons is the fastest way to better EDH community.

However, because players have varied opinions of what constitutes fair and/or fun play, a recommended banned list is maintained to help guide players towards a good social experience. House rules or "fair play" exceptions are always encouraged if they result in more fun for the local community.

If you want to enjoy the type of games you've heard associated with EDH, avoid cards like these:

(Banned List, see above)

Yes, you read that right; the banned list is only a suggestion. If you have a play group that's highly competitive, you don't have to have a banned list. Play whatever you want. Want to Fastbond/Strip Mine your opponent's land. Go ahead. Cast Emrakul off that Channel. Do what you want with your friends in your private group.

But, once you head out where there are other players, remember the suggested banned list. This is part of that social contract that was mentioned. It's like that kid who asks if you want to play casual multiplayer (non-Commander) and buts out three Sol Rings in the first turn. "What? It's casual," he quips as if he's Bartleby and Loki and found a loophole in the system to get back into heaven. Listen, just because it's "casual" doesn't mean you should break all of the rules. That social contract, where you both say you'll abide by these terms, should be honored (that doesn't translate into how competitive your decks should be as easily, and will be covered later).

If you're going to play with people outside of your normal playgroup, please keep mindful of this. It's like getting mad at a Hummer parked in a compact parking spot: sure, he can do it, but what a jerk. Scratching his car might make you feel better, but it won't do anything in the long run.

Of course, the opposite is true is well. What can be given can be taken away.

If your playgroup doesn't like a card, it can be banned. Yes, you can create your house rules (which is exactly the suggestion above with unbanning cards as well). If you don't like Sundering Titan, or Insurrection, or counterspells, ban it from your play group. There is nothing wrong with that. Make the game your own. If the game isn't fun to you and your friends, why play it? Make it fun.

And this principal also applies to a 1v1 Banned list. While there have been talks about a French ban list, that's the way they have decided to play. I highly doubt that the Rules Committee will allow the creation of a 1v1 Banned list, but they haven't come out and said don't create one of your own. They acknowledge that not everyone plays the multiplayer format in a multiplayer setting all of the time (I don't), but the Banned list is made for multiplayer formats only. You don't see Wizards changing the Legacy banned list due to how powerful a card is in multiplayer.

So while I don't have an awesome guitar solo to rock you out of here, I hope you learned a little bit about looking at banned cards in Commander. You've got the power to change it in your own playgroup, and I highly recommend you play around with that. I have a feeling that some of the comments will say "good riddance" or "It should've have been banned." That's fine, please be civil about it. And, if you've got a playgroup, what cards have you banned or re-allowed?