Death threats, card bans, and a massive Magic: The Gathering change - the controversy, explained

Death threats over card bans have led to publisher Hasbro taking over the management of Magic: The Gathering’s popular Commander format. 

Developer Wizards of the Coast announced this week that they would take over control of the Commander format from the Commander Rules Committee, a volunteer-based organization that had curated the rules and ban list for the format since its formal inception back in 2011. The move became necessary after members of the Committee faced alleged death threats, doxing, and threats of confrontations at live events over a Magic: The Gathering card ban announcement last month. While the Rules Committee will still remain involved in some way, the takeover marks a dramatic shift in what was a format created and managed by the fans.

Grassroots origin

To outsiders, it may seem strange that the most popular formats for one of the best card games wasn’t already controlled by Wizards. Although Wizards of the Coast came up with the Commander branding and has a line of Commander preconstructed decks (the recent MTG Duskmourn Commander decks, for example), the format originated as a fan-made rules variant that became popular in the early 2000s when it was known as Elder Dragon Highlander. Under the guidance of the late Sheldon Menery and Wizards employee Scott Larabee, Commander emerged as an official ruleset in the early 2010s after Wizards started releasing content just for that format.

In keeping with the spirit of Commander’s fan-based origins, the format’s rules and ban list were managed by the Rules Committee, a group consisting of five members with deep Magic bonafides. While some Rules Committee members were Wizards employees, it existed as a volunteer organization receiving no compensation and acted independently from the Magic design team. The Rules Committee represented a seat at the table for the community, to the point that the Magic design team consulted with the Rules Committee when planning out releases. Given that Commander was supposed to be a casual and community-focused format, it made sense that the community itself had a voice to help steward Commander’s future. 

One of the Rules Committee’s most important jobs was to curate the ban list for the format, although bans were a rarity in recent years. In September, the Rules Committee announced their first bans in three years – Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, Dockside Extortionist, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom. Three of these cards (Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, and Dockside Extortionist) were previously necessary staples of competitive Commander decks because of their ability to generate fast mana. Decks with these cards could potentially quickly outpace other decks by reaching up to five mana in just two turns, which opened up access to more powerful cards and ultimately quick wins. The fourth card, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, was already a problematic card in other formats and interacted badly with other staple cards of the Commander format. (Indeed, Wizards of the Coast admit MTG Modern Horizons 3's Nadu was a “design mistake.”)

The impact of these bans was enormous on the secondary market. Cards with values of around $100 dipped dramatically overnight, with some losing 50% or more of their value. While many who followed the Commander format celebrated the change, others with a financial stake in the game decried the move. Much of that anger was directed at individual members of the Rules Committee. Threats and harassment followed, which directly led to resignations and the Rules Committee eventually ceding control over to Wizards of the Coast this week.

Give and take

On a practical level, Wizards stepping in was the right move. It was ludicrous that volunteers should shoulder the burden of managing Commander without any compensation or the resources provided to a billion-dollar franchise. No volunteer should ever be put in a position to face death threats either and it’s surprising that the Rules Committee lasted this long without facing a substantial hate campaign. 

Many also felt like the change was inevitable given the popularity of the format. Wizards had previously tried to distance itself from fan-controlled parts of its history during the 2023 DnD OGL debacle involving Dungeons & Dragons. Given that background, letting an independent third party manage such an important part of the Magic franchise runs counter to how Wizards and its parent company Hasbro has operated in recent years. 

However, allowing Wizards to control Commander fully (even with the promise that the community will still have some input) feels like a real loss. Commander was something special – a grassroots format created by fans that celebrated the game and existed as a true collaboration between the community and the designers. Hasbro now has full control over Commander and there’s nothing to stop them from exploiting the format for maximum profitability. 

To be blunt, Wizards has a rough history with managing their own Magic products and now Commander lacks the community-driven counterweight to prevent poor decisions from getting pushed through to the detriment of the format. Already, the Magic design team has floated a bizarre tier structure for Commander. Even though this move was a necessity to protect the actual people involved, it feels like a precious part of Magic history and culture is now lost and Commander is being left to the capitalist wolves. I don’t expect Commander to undergo any significant changes in the short term, but I do expect the format to erode over time, especially now that the community doesn’t have any input in the format outside of voting with their wallets.

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