The creation of the CFP formally ends the all-volunteer committee, which was first formed in 2006. This move also effectively brings the casual, multiplayer Commander format fully under the control of publisher Wizards of the Coast for the first time .
“Ultimately, myself and other designers at Wizards will make the final decisions (on Commander going forward),” Verhey said in the post, “but I do expect that the majority of opinion in the panel will win most of the time.”
CFP members include the following individuals and pseudonyms, whose X social media accounts were also linked in the original announcement:
The Commander format was seriously disrupted last month following a series of high-profile card bans initiated by the CRC. These bans were followed by an unprecedented period of intimidation, including threats of violence and death threats, which ultimately led to the resignation of the entire organization. For the CFP, Verhey said Wizards was inspired by the Pauper Format Panel, which was established in 2022. Verhey is also a member of that panel.
“We are a group of individuals from around the world working together to monitor Pauper’s health, suggest changes and discuss things like updates to the ban,” Verhey said. “I feel like it turned out well, and it’s the foundation we wanted to model Commander’s community group after.”
Verhey added that previous members of the CRC and the Commander Advisory Group had all been invited to join, but that the purpose of such a large panel was to broaden the perspective of the core group.
“We also wanted to add some new eyes,” said Verhey. “I really wanted to bring in players from other places in the world who have different preference levels for Commander play. That way, the feedback would come from more regions of the world and we could hear the full range of the Commander spectrum, from players who prefer extremely casual decks to “cEDH” (competitive Commander) players.
After a break-in period, the Commander panel will provide feedback the newly proposed “bracket” systemwhich Wizards threw immediately after the CRC originally resigned as a way to reduce the existing power differential between some cards in the format. You can read more about it on the Wizards website, but fans should understand that it is still a long way from implementation. And even if it does, Verhey says it shouldn’t have a major impact on regular play.
Following the proposed brackets, Verhey said Wizards will look at the ban list again.
“After fine-tuning a bracket system and running some tests, I expect our focus will turn to our evaluation of the banned card list,” Verhey said. “To set expectations on that timeline, I wouldn’t expect any changes until early next year at the earliest, and you will be notified in advance. As we said earlier, it is still the case that you should not expect any new bans in that evaluation.”