We have some wonderful news that we're proud to share with you: Duel Commander is now available as a competitive format on Magic The Gathering Online™!
For this reason, we have exceptionally brought this announcement forward by one week, so we can all play with the same rules from the start.
🏆 FRANCE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
On another note, we'd like to mention that for its second edition, the France National Championship saw more than 350 players battle for the ultimate title.
Congratulations to the tournament team, and thanks for helping making Duel Commander such a great community!
We wish you many good games, be it with good old paper cards or brand new online play! 🎲💻
⚙️ CHANGES
🔘 GLOBAL GAME RULES CHANGES
• No changes.
🔘 INDIVIDUAL BANNED AND RESTRICTED CARD CHANGES
• Old Stickfingers is now banned as a commander only.
⏰ The next scheduled announcement will be published on September 30, 2024.
Until then, we wish you all many good games! 😇
📋 FURTHER EXPLANATIONS
Old Stickfingers
Old Stickfingers offers many advantages in terms of deckbuilding. The structure of its combo fuel, being a command zone enabler that always hits, means that it can be played as an always-accessible game plan. As a result, the deck can be composed exclusively of interaction pieces and fetching effects.
What's more, since its combo goes through the graveyard, it requires specific answers, which in turn penalizes a portion of the deck archetypes that cannot have such answers with enough efficiency and density.
Also, banning one of the combo pieces does not entirely solve the problem: in fact, the mechanics specific to the command zone will continue to be functional as soon as replacements will be found.
For these reasons, Old Stickfingers is now banned as a commander.
Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist
Originally banned due to the old rule of the partner keyword, Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist does not have access to a second castable partner anymore.
Since the rules change we introduced in 2022, it was periodically re-examined. It can now be the base of new archetypes again, thanks to its very unique, yet still disruptable ability.
For these reasons, Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist is now legal again in Duel Commander.
Thrasios, Triton Hero
Once banned due to the original rule of partner, Thrasios, Triton Hero does not have access to a second partner anymore as well.
Offering different colour associations while being an efficient payoff to combos, we hope that it can provide a new way of playing creature-based combo decks in Duel Commander, or anything that could take advantage of it, giving a new life to such archetypes.
This change also aims at boosting green as a building color identity, which, at the moment of this announcement, is slightly less represented than other colors.
For this reason, Thrasios, Triton Hero is now legal again in Duel Commander.
Polymorph
When Polymorph was banned in 2017, it was a very singular effect, while having access to the most impactful creature ever: Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
Nowadays, even if more new possibly "revealed-when-resolving" creatures have been printed, Polymorph remains one among many similar effects, even though it's still unique within its own characteristics.
After many years polarizing towards a different pace, Duel Commander does not require such a card to be on its banned and restricted list anymore.
For these reasons, Polymorph is now legal again in Duel Commander.
