“As a result of last week’s threats against RC members, it has become impossible for us to continue operating as an independent entity,” the RC Commander said in a statement published to X. “Given that we have asked WotC to take responsibility for Commander and they will make decisions and announcements in the future.”
The alleged threats came in last week in the days following Commander’s four-card ban: Blackmailer at the harbor, Jeweled lotus, Mana CryptAnd Nadu, winged wisdom. Many in the Magic The community lamented the massive change their loss would bring to the format’s meta-strategies, while others noted that millions of dollars worth of cards had suddenly lost most, if not all, of their potential value on the secondary market. The commotion put the five-member Commander RC in second place – and not for the first time.
As detailed in Polygon’s 2020 history, the Commander format emerged from another popular format called Elder Dragon Highlander in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It traveled from player to player from remote Fairbanks, Alaska to the farthest corners of the world on the Magic Pro Tour. There it was championed by the late Sheldon Menery, a high-ranking Pro Tour judge at the time. It was Menery who, along with Gavin Duggan and Duncan McGregor, codified the rules of Commander and first founded the Commander RC. Commander was formally launched as a commercial product published and supported by Wizards in 2011, but it was the Commander RC that led the way for almost two decades – until Monday.
“We’ve seen players and fans share a wide range of passionate opinions, far too many of which were harmful or malicious,” Wizards said in a statement. a statement. “The conversation has escalated, culminating in unacceptable personal threats to the safety of members of the Commander Rules Committee. This is something we will not tolerate. No matter how you feel about something Magicit is never appropriate to threaten someone. Everyone at Wizards of the Coast is united on this front – we will not hesitate to take action against individuals who threaten to harm community members or employees.”
In its statement, Wizards asked for patience as it takes the reins of what was previously a format controlled by its biggest fans.
“We will also review the current list of banned cards together with the Commander Rules Committee and the community,” Wizards said. “We will not be banning additional cards as part of this review. While this started the discussion about the banned list, immediate changes to the list are not our priority.”
You can read the publisher’s full statement from the official Magic: the meeting website, in a post titled “The future of commander.”