Duel Commander is still thriving, growing ever more as a result of its availability on Magic: The Gathering Online. With this in mind, we chose to adjust the metagame a little.
⚙️ CHANGES
🔘 GLOBAL GAME RULES CHANGES
• No changes.
🔘 INDIVIDUAL BANNED AND RESTRICTED CARD CHANGES
• Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is now banned as a commander only.
Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student has been out for a while, and revealed itself to be one of the most successful commanders available in the current metagame. The deck, however, poses two different problems:
First, it appears that the deck has a better overall matchup than any other control deck against most of the other decks from other archetypes.
Second, and more specifically, it also has an overwhelming matchup against other types of control decks. The combination of both of those points means Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, while being one of the best decks available, also has become the one best choice for control decks, reducing diversity and leading to poor gameplay experience.
Moreover, its unique structure, being a control deck led by a one-mana commander, creates gameplay patterns where having a turn-one removal is a necessity, reducing the strategic interest of games as well as deckbuilding options, while forcing every deck to play a certain density of such interactions.
For those reasons, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is now banned as a commander only.
🖥️ DUEL COMMANDER ON MTGO
The availability of Duel Commander on Magic: The Gathering Online continues to drive significant growth for the format. This digital platform has made the format more accessible to players worldwide, contributing to a thriving and diverse competitive scene.
We're excited to see the community grow and evolve across both paper and digital play. As always, we monitor both environments closely to ensure the format remains balanced and enjoyable for all players.
