November 25, 2019 Announcement/Update
November 25, 2019

Scapeshift

Scapeshift has demonstrated dominance across multiple formats including Modern and Standard, appearing even where unexpected. While its traditional pairing with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle remained manageable in Duel Commander for years, recent developments fundamentally altered this balance.

Players discovered methods to exploit singleton construction through Scapeshift's mass land exchange. The expanding pool of mountain-typed dual lands combined with various powerful land-based threats transformed Scapeshift into a single-card victory condition. Additionally, numerous new cards triggering off land entries multiplied the spell's potential outputs beyond intended parameters.

Mass tutoring effects inherently conflict with the format's foundational principles—100-card singleton construction relies on variance and diversity. Scapeshift's ability to search and deploy multiple specific lands simultaneously circumvents these core restrictions. Most comparable tutoring effects already face bans for this exact reason, with only the weakest remaining legal.

The convergence of these factors—increased mountain-typed lands, powerful landfall triggers, and fundamental breaking of singleton principles—elevated Scapeshift from acceptable to format-warping.

Key ban reasons:

• Functions as single-card win condition
• Circumvents singleton variance through mass tutoring
• Synergizes with increasingly powerful landfall effects
• Breaks core format principles of diversity
• Creates uninteractive instant-win scenarios

Scapeshift must be banned to preserve singleton integrity and prevent single-card combos that bypass normal gameplay progression.

Edric, Spymaster of Trest

The experimental unbanning of Edric, Spymaster of Trest proved unsuccessful despite cautious optimism. Historical concerns about the commander's power level—the original reason for its extended ban—ultimately proved justified through field testing.

Within a single quarter, Edric demonstrated overwhelming dominance that validated its banned status. Optimized lists emerged rapidly, consistently dominating events worldwide. The deck systematically dismantled local competitive scenes—far exceeding acceptable impact thresholds for a healthy metagame. This widespread oppression across multiple regions confirmed the need for immediate action.

The strategy evolved beyond its previous incarnation through new card additions, achieving even greater consistency and power than during its original ban period. The experimental unbanning period provided valuable data confirming that Edric's fundamental design remains incompatible with balanced gameplay.

Key ban reasons:

• Immediate metagame domination upon unbanning
• Broke multiple local competitive scenes
• Optimized lists emerged too quickly for adaptation
• New cards pushed power beyond previous levels
• Experimental period confirmed original ban reasoning
• Created oppressive, non-interactive gameplay patterns

Edric, Spymaster of Trest must return to the banned list as a commander after the experimental unbanning demonstrated its continued incompatibility with healthy competitive diversity.