cEDH Rules Committee Update
So you might have heard about a cEDH Banned List? Let’s clear the air and start with the “Why.”
We feel fortunate to be a part of the cEDH community that is growing and evolving so rapidly. With the incredible increase in quantity and attendance of competitive events and the highest level of community engagement we’ve ever seen, we as a community have access to more data than ever to do our part in maintaining a healthy metagame for cEDH.
This brings us to the Commander RC. The RC has played an immensely important role in defining and shaping this format and their contributions come from a place of passion, just like ours. EDH is such a broad format that stretches from some of the most casual ways to play to some of the most competitive (which is the part we particularly enjoy). As a result, their governance over the rules of the format and subsequent Banned List MUST cater to the widest possible base of the community. Today, that simply isn’t us. cEDH is just beginning to grow into adulthood and we believe that community-driven movement to actively manage the format will keep the metagame fresh and exciting.
Moving on to the “What.” What are we doing and what is our intention?
Mission statement: Improve the cEDH metagame experience by giving the community a voice.
Let’s first acknowledge that we are taking a risk. We want to try something that will ultimately help the format continue to thrive, but we need to be principled if we want this to succeed. We would like to try a modified Banned List for cEDH. This means taking the current Banned List administered by the RC and modifying it for competitive play. As a result, of course, this Banned List will not be “official” in any way.
For now, think of this simply as a “Rule 0” for competitive focused play that tournament organizers are encouraged to adopt for their events. Now let’s be clear: we aspire to work with the RC to evolve their philosophy to be more friendly towards cEDH and will make every effort to do so. That will take time. In the meantime, the RC has made it very clear that this needs to come from within the community and so we are doing just that. In order for an endeavor like this to be successful, we need to be thoughtful, transparent and collaborative. We’ll engage as wide a representation of the community as possible, adapt to feedback, and test the heck out of it. The concept of a separate cEDH banned list needs to be tested as much as its contents.
How will it work?
Truthfully, we are still figuring out the mechanics. We will communicate early and often. For now, we would like to share the principles we’ve established for ourselves:
Be measured and thoughtful, then decisive – evaluate, discuss, act
Be inclusive of as much of the community as possible
Engage as much of the community as possible and provide the means by which to receive feedback
Take leading practices and lessons learned from the existing RC
Ensure the diversity of the community is represented in making decisions
Be data-driven in making decisions where possible
Be transparent to foster trust in the community
Be consistent with decisions and the way in which they are made
Test all decisions thoroughly
Be willing to adapt to change and learn from experience
When is this taking place?
Our ambition is to align this initiative with the upcoming TopDeck season. We have a lot of work to do over the next few months to test the concept, collect feedback, and make sure this works before the first TopDeck event in January. Please note that none of these changes will go into effect any time soon. If our pilots are unsuccessful, we are comfortable with modifying or shutting this down before the tournament season. Below is our planned timeline, subject to change:
Mid September – Finalize cEDH committee members
Mid September – Launch community surveys
Late September – Publish first draft of proposed banned list
Late September – Launch community feedback forum
Early October – Community Update #1
Early October – Publish list of test events and participating stores
Mid October – Community Forum Discussion #1
Early November – Community Update #2
Mid November – Community Forum Discussion #2
Late November – Go/No-Go Decision on proposed banned list
Early December – Community Update #3
Who is involved? How can you give feedback?
We are still working through the names of the individuals who will represent the community on this cEDH committee, and are going through great effort to invite representatives that have a combination of tournament experience, a thorough understanding of the game and associated meta, have strong voices within the community, and have demonstrated the ability to be thoughtful and collaborative. We will publish the final committee members by late September.
The best way to give feedback is joining our Discord server and engaging in discussion.
Below you’ll find a list of our current members and where you can reach out to them if you have any more questions or concerns not addressed here. We look forward to working with the community to improve cEDH, and sharing more info soon!
Datatog - @datatog on x.com
Evan Pierce, aka FreedomWaffle - @FreedomWaffle_ on x.com
Matthew from Lemora’s Cards - @lemorascards on x.com
Mikey from Topdeck.gg - @CatanEthusiast on x.com
Michael Baldy Arrowsmith - @BorosBaldy on x.com
