Conspiracy cards are not legal in Commander due to their design. They are not allowed in any format outside of Drafts and are not considered legal in Commander and other constructed formats. The official banlist for Conspiracy cards can be found on magiccards.info. Conspiracy cards are not permanents and cannot be affected once the game begins.
The command zone is a special area separate from the battlefield, and they are not permanents. The full list of Conspiracy cards banned in Commander is Adriana’s Valor. All new cards are legal in the Vintage, Legacy, and Commander formats, except for the 13 “Conspiracy”-type cards, which can only be used in Conspiracy or Cube drafts.
Conspiracy was not released in Magic Online, unlike sets that released after 2002. All of Conspiracy is legal in Legacy and Commander, with the exception of the Conspiracy card types. Cards with the Conspiracy type are not legal in EDH (they are banned in vintage and EDH uses that banned list with some additions).
Supplementary sets like Conspiracy, Commander, or Planechase do not, and new cards from those sets are only legal in Legacy and Vintage. Conspiracy cards were not designed with Commander in mind and are essentially free value. They start in the Command Zone and are not legal in Commander unless prior agreement from other players is given.
📹 The original Companion? Conspiracy should be legal in commander! #mtg
What are the rules for conspiracy?
In the United States, conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime or achieve a legal end through illegal actions. This law typically does not require proof of specific intent to harm any specific person, but rather that the conspirators have agreed to engage in a specific illegal act. However, the application of conspiracy laws requires a tacit agreement among group members to commit a crime. In most U. S. jurisdictions, a person must be convicted of conspiracy if they agree to commit a crime and at least one of the conspirators commits an overt act in furtherance of the crime.
However, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that this element is not required under the federal drug conspiracy statute, 21 U. S. C. section 846. Conspirators can be guilty even if they do not know the identity of the other members of the conspiracy.
Why is Black Lotus banned?
The Power Nine card, known for its power and limited print, is banned from most competitive Magic formats due to its power and scarcity. The only competitive setting where it is not banned is the “Vintage” format, where only one copy is allowed. The card was omitted from Revised Edition and none have been published in any subsequent set. Its power and limited print have made it the most expensive Magic card, with mint condition Alpha cards being among the most valued.
Publisher Wizards of the Coast stated that the card would not be reprinted, which would hurt its value among collectors. The 30th Anniversary set published by Wizards of the Coast in 2023 reprinted 15 cards from the original set, including Black Lotus, which are proxy cards with unique backs and use a modern card frame instead of the classic frame from the original version.
Why is Griselbrand banned in Commander?
Cheating Griselbrand into play is easy in Commander, just like in Legacy and Vintage. Black has numerous ways to tutor creatures into the graveyard and reanimate them cheaply. Griselbrand’s activated ability is even better in Commander, making paying seven life insignificant. Paying 21 to examine a large portion of your deck may allow you to win the game on the spot. The author advocates for the reinstatement of the “Banned as Commander” rule, as most other banned legendary creatures aren’t as problematic without giving the card Commander status.
How do I know if my MTG card is legal in Commander?
Commander and eternal legal cards, such as Unstable, Unhinged, or Unglued, are typically marked with a silver border to indicate that they are not tournament, constructed, or singleton legal.
Are any UN cards legal in Commander?
Unfinity is a distinctive set that is permitted in Eternal formats like Commander. Additionally, cards lacking an acorn stamp on the bottom are entirely legal in Magic’s most popular format, which distinguishes it as a unique offering.
Can I use conspiracy cards in Commander?
Conspiracy, a set of cards released in Magic Online, was not included in the original set Unhinged. Instead, a subset of new cards, not of the “Conspiracy” type or having draft-related ability, were featured in the Magic Online exclusive set Vintage Masters. Nineteen cards not of the “Conspiracy” type or having draft-related ability are still not available on Magic Online. In 2016, Wizards of the Coast announced a sequel, Conspiracy: Take the Crown, which was previously known as Conspiracy: The Reign of Brago and Conspiracy: The Empty Throne.
The set features drafts of six to eight players, split into two groups for a free-for-all. Card mechanics focus on the adjusted draft format, such as Cogwork Librarian’s effect, which allows players to exchange cards for different drafted cards. A new card type, Conspiracy, was introduced, providing bonus effects at no mana cost. A new Planeswalker character, Dack Fayden, was introduced, marking the character’s debut on a card.
What cards can be used in Commander?
Commander format rules require players to choose a Commander card to build their deck around, which must be a single legendary creature. Dual commanders can be used if both cards have the Partner ability. Some planeswalkers can be used as commanders if the card explicitly states so. A deck of 99 cards plus the Commander must be used, and cards must be in their mana color identity. Commander was created by Adam Staley in 1996, with origins traced back to an article submitted to MTG magazine The Duelist by Jesus M.
Lopez in July 1996. The format was built around the five Elder Dragons cards from 1994, including Nicol Bolas, Arcades Sabboth, Chromium Rhuell, Vaevictis Asmadi, and Palladia-Mors. These cards were reimagined in Core Set 2019 and are considered an exception to the Commander format rules.
Are game night cards legal in Commander?
Game Night exclusive cards are only legal for eternal formats like Commander, Vintage, or Legacy. It’s important to check the legality of each card to avoid bans or restrictions. Most starter kits are compatible with Game Night products, and cards released around the same time are balanced for play. Playing casually with 60-card decks is crucial for understanding Magic rules. Finding a format that you enjoy is essential for first learning about Magic.
What cards are not Commander legal?
The Commander card pool includes all Magic cards released by Wizards of the Coast, except for those with silver, gold, or acorn-shaped security stamps. These cards are legal to play with as of their sets’ prerelease. However, the official banned list for Commander games requires prior agreement from other players and may guide playgroups to avoid similar cards. Short explanations for each banned card can be found by clicking on them, but these are not exhaustive and serve as a high-level overview of the experiences each card creates in Commander.
Is the MTG conspiracy card legal?
Conspiracies are a card type found in the Conspiracy sets, which start the game in the command zone and can contain hidden or double agendas. They are not allowed in the deck, but can be placed in the command zone as the game begins. Conspiracies do not count as cards in the deck for meeting minimum deck size requirements, and players can view any player’s face-up and face-down conspiracies at any time. A conspiracy’s static and triggered abilities function as long as it is face-up in the command zone. Conspiracies have no mana cost and cannot be cast as spells.
Despite being legal in sanctioned Constructed formats, Conspiracy and Conspiracy: Take the Crown’s booster packs are not allowed in competitive level Sealed deck/booster draft events. In hindsight, Mark Rosewater would have preferred Conspiracies to be silver-bordered/Acorn. Conspiracies are not allowed in any sanctioned Constructed format, and their booster packs are not allowed in competitive level Sealed deck/booster draft events.
Are secret lair cards legal in Commander?
Secret Lair products are generally legal in most formats, as they are alternate art cards. However, Universes Beyond cards are only legal in Eternal formats like Pauper and Commander. Wizards announced in-canon versions of these cards six months after their release, and they are now available on “The List”. Other popular Magic lore games like Stranger Things and Street Fighter have also been released.
Arvinox and Zethi cards replace The Mindflayer and Chun-Li, and are legal in every format. The use of a card depends on the player and opponent, and a Rule Zero conversation is all that is needed to use them in home games.
📹 Explaining Every Banned Cards In The Commander Format Part 1
Commander is a mostly casual format, designed for slower games where more expensive cards can shine. The format still has a …
Generally, I think the types of cards the Rules Committee bans are extreme cases of cards in an archetype to say “We think stuff like this is unhealthy/unfun at most tables.” Hence why a lot of cards banned are ones that make games incredibly one-sided (Prophet of Kruphix, Hullbreacher, Leovold) and cards that have the potential to ruin a single player’s experience (Sundering Titan and Iona) and time-wasting cards (Upheaval and Prophet again). A good experience for the whole group is prioritized by the RC. There are cards like these that are unbanned, but the banlist is primarily there to take out the extreme cases and act as advisories for deckbuilders wanting to maintain their friendships.
Yeah, a lot of the argument for unbanning Lutri is also hinged around the fact that no one asked for Companion to function in Commander, and the card isn’t in the slightest bit problematic in the 99 or as your Commander. Many argue that getting rid of “Banned as” was a massive mistake that has just made the format worse while claiming it made it “easier to understand” despite how directly intuitive “Banned as” was.
It is also important to let people know that the format is mainly “Self-policing” meaning that even though there are “Legal” banned cards, it is up to the person explaining into the Playgroup what they are intending to accomplish. One may play nothing but “Im here to win” cards and another may play nothing but “im just here being the clown” cards. The Self-Policing part comes when after a few games (over the course of their commander nights) they finally tune down to match the playgroup OR they finally tune up to actually compete fairly in a playgroup. The players themselves are free to discuss what to ban and what to allow. So if someone chooses to only “play to win, always” then it may be up to the other 3 players to choose to team up and take out the “Problem”.
One thing that you missed with Prophet of Kruphix and Sundering Titan is that the cards warped the game around them. They’re almost always the best target to reanimate, flicker, or clone – so it was extremely common for players to run cards specifically to answer or cheat out their own titan/prophet, or just steal their opponent’s titan/prophet The same thing was the case with Sylvan Primordial and Primeval Titan – the best version of the cards was the one you stole from your opponent’s deck with Bribery.
One other point about limited resources is when it’s cast early. If player 1 or 2 casts limited resources early on, then eventually two players will have 3 lands, two players will have 2 lands and nobody can play any further lands, so especially the two players with two lands will be completely locked out. Again in a 1v1 it would still let both players get up to 5 lands onto the field, but in a multiplayer format it’s much stronger.
About Green being the best color in the format, it depends heavily on what kind of game you are playing. In slower paced, more casual games, I’d agree, but if we’re talking the most powerful way of playing the format Green is probably among the worst colors because its ramp is slower than artifacts and it’s ways to protect your combo are worse than white or red or blue
I think the biggest problem with sundering Titan is that it basically “combos” with EVERYTHING (blink, sacrifice, artifact/creature reanimation, clones, etc.) Not only that, it’s also easily searchable, colorless, and good at any stage of the game. Even if it gets dealt with quickly, you’re still blowing up 10 lands, which puts you 3-4 mana ahead of each opponent. Or, the 5 color player no longer gets to play the game.
I played during prophet being legal. The main issue came not only it’s effects, but in it’s color identity. Simic (blue/green) is probably the best color combo to snowball but usually its balanced out by needing it’s permission magic to defend. With prophet, the deck was really only shields down before the next players untap step. It was a kill on sight card every game.
Another thing about Titan is that Commander has colorless decks, who don’t play land of basic land types in the first place, so in that decks it would simply never hit your lands. Also, I never understood why they got rid of the distinction of banning cards in the 99 or as commander (yeah, for simplicity, but it made the format more interesting and unique).
Neat analysis article! Thanks for uploading! Personally, I find it kind of weird that a card like Lutri can be banned for being overpowered & exclusive, but a card like Sundering Titan can be banned for being too accessible for eveeryone. Also, I dislike Wizard’s pushing of creatures matter, Legendary creatures & land. As said, it’s biased towards Green in Commander, & I think Land destruction can be interesting. Restrictions breed creativity, & greedy manabases can be bad, too; Like you said, people don’t like excessively long turns or swingy games. Anyway, neat analysis article! Thanks for uploading!
“Lutri is cute” This is no joke half my arguement lol. Im glad you brought it up. I would love to have the adorable elemental otter dualcaster mage in my deck. It really should just be banned as companion cause it is actually worse then dualcaster mage outside of the companion thing (cause it can only copy your own stuff. Dual caster can copy other players spells) And while sure having something banned as companion is slightly more complicated, it would be way less complicated than even explaining what companion is to new players lol. Magic players are typically smart enough to figure these things out i dont think a “banned as companion” is that difficult.
They should rework trade secrets to a newer card, „Each opponent may draw two cards. For each opponent drawing cards this way, you may draw up to four cards” make it cost 5 (BBB and 2) and sorcery speed, remove the „repeat this process” stuff and bam. Okayish card that isn‘t broken but could be fun for casual commander
Limited Resources could easily be fixed by an errata to the last ability, “As long as a player controls 5 or more lands, that player cannot play lands.”. It would preserve the intent of the effect while stopping it from being busted in multiplayer formats, it would be intuitive to explain the printed vs. oracle difference to people if it came up, and since it would, for most purposes still work the same way in 2-player formats I wouldn’t see it as a “power level” errata (it would get slightly worse in 2 player since the “limited, destroy your lands, play more lands” wouldn’t work, but is this really “power level”? I’m not sure). Or, to avoid even that, “As long as there are X or more lands on the battlefield, where X is 5 times the number of players in the game, players cannot play lands”, which is clunkier but preserves the intent even further. Also, the entire Companion mechanic should just be banned from Commander and Lutri unbanned. I think it was a really dumb mechanic all around, and this change would open up the creatures to be commanders or maindeck additions without being busted. I’m sort of amazed this hasn’t happened yet with all the brokenness it seems to cause in multiple formats, and especially since Wizards already just completely eratta’d how the ability works. It was a mistake, everyone’s admitted to it, and it would honestly be easy, if unprecidented, for Wizards to just say “you can’t use this ability anywhere anymore”.
Limited Resources is just too good. By turn 3, if I’m playing Green-white, I could have 6 lands, a couple of rocks and tap a plains to play Limited Resources, sacking it, now I have 5, each of my opponents has 2 lands and now they can’t play lands and if they don’t have a signet/talisman in hand, they’re out of the game. If they blow it up, I’m still way ahead. Plus Green-white is the KING of token strategies, so I’d also run Cryptolith Rites, which lets me tap creatures for mana.
I was playing Commander when Prophet of Kruphix was first printed. Momir Vig, Simic Visionary was the Commander of choice because you could just run him out and then cast anything to find your Prophet and just keep rolling to always find your Mystic Snake for backup. Deck was ABSURD and I don’t blame anyone for banning Prophet.
Idk maybe it’s just me but sundering titan even in a colorless deck does not seem that problematic unless you are running an omnicolor deck. Its A (as in singular) land of each basic type. So yeah you can get rid of 10 lands but only two of each type, and with 4 players there is going to be a lot of overlap so it’s more like 3,3,4 with a best case scenario. And like you said earlier in the article mana rocks are a huge part of commander, so lands while still valuable by the time you get 8 mana isn’t going to be a game breaking card. Sure there are ways to cheat it out but even then you have to get lucky and find that exact combo in a 99 card deck where you could just run other single card land removals that are extremely more consistent.
I have a few opinions on each card you covered in this article. Trade Secrets: This is perfectly fine still being banned no problems with your opinion about it. Prophet of Kruphix: This one I am leaning on unbanning as power levels have gotten much higher and this commander biggest weakness as opponents know it’s in your command zone but the counter debate would be if it’s in the 99 in your commander deck which I do agree is a bit powerful but at the same time flashing creatures is not the biggest upside in the world compare to other effects in commander these days. I can see why people still want it banned but I feel like there are many other cards more worthy on the ban list these days. Lutri, the Spellchaser: This one I agree with but the companion effect still can happen in normal commander games as some of the companion effects are not too hard to build around. I would ban the companion effect to be able to be used in the game and unban Lutri since all those cards are basically a free extra card which I don’t agree with in commander. Karakas: Can still be banned for having way too many strong effects working with it in commander and make games very unfun until the card is removed. Limited Resources: Can we easily unbanned these days no problem. We already have dumb unbanned stax effects that are way worse effects and adding back in this effect would actually help out White deal with green super turbo free ramp. This feels like a green deck counter but this would be a nice spice needed for playgroups who has problem turbo green ramp and also help level the playing field.
I have a bit of a nihilist belief in the ban list in commander where the EDH ban list doesn’t make sense to me because they’ll ban one card but leave a similar one unbanned. Additionally, because EDH is a casual format, a play group should have final decision on what cards are or aren’t legal. So i believe that either all broken cards should be banned or none of them should be banned because that makes way more sense to me than having Sundering Titan be banned but Armageddon isn’t or Biorhythm is banned but Expropriate isn’t.
I’d like to say that with the addition of ward and a lot of really powerful commanders having it, it limits Karakas more also it makes etb effects way, way more powerful And with a lot of cards that give shroud/hexproof, I see that argument for it’s unbanning. As the game developing more and more it should be unbanned, BUT as of right now, no keep it banned.
It really piss me off way out of proportion that the rules committee decided to use only “one” banlist. That’s just stupid. Some cards are only a problem out of the 99 and it’s absolutely not hard to have and entire on the banlist like “lutri ban as companion” or ” Xyz :ban in the 99″ heck even “John do : ban as a partner ” And if “the rule committee don’t want interfere with the game” maybe they shouldn’t be acknowledge by players as a body that influence the rules of the game
I feel like people who would argue Prophet could be unbanned haven’t played against it enough. And the format having more cards to deal with it also gives you more cards to break it (think Great Henge), which Prophet decks were already built around to abuse anyway. Every player’s turn is also accompanied by the Prophet player’s taking even more time to do their “mini turn,” which typically has more crap going on than your typical control/flash decks because they want to make use of all that free mana they’re getting! They’re not holding onto anything they don’t have to, so they’re going to repeatedly use up all that mana, then untap all lands during the next person’s turn to just do it all again. Only reason I’m even ranting about it is because that card made all games turn into “who gets Prophet out first?” in my play groups. Was thrilled to see it banned so I could start enjoying EDH again 🤣
Prophet only untaps your creatures and lands where Seedborn untaps all your permanents. Giving your creatures flash is great, but unless your playing a creature heavy deck at least for games iv played it in is negligible. I will keep on saying this but the RC needs to bring back a banned as commander/companion list. Lutri is fine in the 99.
The lutri thing is a really easy fix. We arent allowed wishboards, as a result we shouldnt be allowed to run companions either. I really dont get the reasoning behind being allowed to have a companion in a format without a side board. Its literally the easiest fix in all of magic history. The reason sundering titan should be banned is because it isnt an instawin destruction effect. If someone plays heroic intervention and armageddon its safe to just scoop. Sundering titan just destroys the game without the prospect of winning as a result of it.
Personally I struggle to see why Prophet is banned and Seedborn is not; I don’t think giving creatures flash is enough to push the card overboard in terms of power level. Untapping all your permanents is far and away the best part of the card. I agree that cards that are too format-warping are good things to have banned, and these are cards that scale poorly in large games, but I think the solution here is banning Seedborn too. I’ve never seen a game where Seedborn hit the table without it either being removed or ending the game within 2 turns.
PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ON THIS UNLESS YOU HAD THE TIME TO READ IT ALL IF YOUR IGNORANT I WONT REPLY you see there’s a LARGE difference between Cedh and casual that i think needs to be brought up more. I’m not going to lie at a cedh pod if my opponent wastes they’re turn leaving a karakas up when I’m not even planning to win with my commander 90% of the time seems incredibly mid. i also want to point out that no matter how many times your commander is sent to your hand you never gain commander tax. a lot of reason people don’t like casting they’re commander over and over is commander tax. and karakas cant hit more then one person. for example i play lightning greaves then next turn drannith magistrate. now all 3 players are locked out of theyre commander. KARAKAs can only hold down ONE commander and NO karakas is not free it is a LAND that you are CHOOSING to not tap for mana that DOES put you behind on curve. and if your opponent just simply DOESNT CAST THEY’RE COMMANDER you have wasted an entire turn. lets have some REAL talk right now your opponents go turn one selvala next goes turn one rograk and next one just passes. you cant even return rograk. and soon enough the selvala player will just cast selvala twice and itll have haste. this was just a singular example of how slow and useless karakas was swords to plow share would have done a better job here. and YES im going to bring up the boogie man every single time because GUESS what it exists thassa oracle wins and its not legendary.
I disagree with your reasoning behind Karakas. Every deck has access to a lot of land removal via strip mine type effects. People just don’t want to run them. And that’s a choice on when building the deck. Also it’s in white. One of the weakest colors in EDH. I don’t think this card would be problematic in the current age of commander.
The errata for the Companions rule makes Lutri much more reasonable for EDH. Now, you need to pay 3 colorless mana at sorcery speed to put your companion from outside the game to your hand. You still need to cast it by paying it’s regular mana cost. I feel like this is the only card that should really be unbanned.
As someone that had Animar as their first commander and who absolutely put Prophet in the deck when it came out, I can VERY much confirm that Prophet is a card that should stay banned. As for Sundering Titan, one could argue that it should remained banned for the same reason that Iona is banned: It can completely screw a mono-color player(s) by making it so they can’t play the game. This isn’t to say that ST is anywhere near as bad as Iona, but mono-color decks are more likely to play basic lands, so they will absolutely suffer the effects of ST harder.
This is a very Hot-Take but commander should have multiple banlists for its formats. Things that go crazy in CEDH just don’t see as much play in casual or non-competitive commander. There should be a banlsit for the CEDH fellas to go HAM with and there should then be some ‘Vintage” or w.e. you want to call it list for commander and then a standard banlist. Commander has grown so much its basically its own game outside of standard magic, Wizards even recognizes this by printing cards specifically for the format.
“Lutri can make you take two turns for 8 mana is pretty broken” is flat wrong, u spent 11 mana in total and Time Stretch exists as one card doing the same thing for 1 less mana, Lutri got banned before the companion rework and never got looked at again. Free the Otter and Primetime, both of them do nothing wrong.
I will say to anyone that wants to unban sundering titan, you probably were not playing during its prime. The card has little downsides on the format and if you consider that artifact decks has gotten more support over the years, blink decks became even more viable since its banning and resurrection is its best friend, casting and abusing it is even easier nowdays. And dont get me started with its second comming with its younger brother, who depending the situation could be even more broken, Sylvan Primordial.
“This has lead to Green generally being considered the best color in the game.” Ironically, this is only true for casual Commander. In CEDH, Green is considered the worst color. Also, land destruction just isn’t fun, especially when games already take 90+ minutes. Even if land destruction was unbanned, I’d imagine most playgroups would rule zero them out.
I feel for #3 Luiri, also if im correct there wqd a rule change were you had to pay 3generic mana to get your companian into your hand then you can cast it, so those 5 mana extra turn spells turn into 11mana not the 8 mana. Just noting that cause it was noted with that card. Love the articles and hopw to see more
They just need to make a rule saying that ‘”Companions on the banlist can be played as Commander or in the 99 but will be treated as a 1/1 creature with no abilities, no keywords and no type but keep the original mana cost and Companion requirement.” That way if you really like Lutri or Yorion you can still play them in cEDH but they don’t do much.
what annoys me personally is that Shahrazad got banned when it’s actually a strong tactical card for white weenie commander decks. If someone wants to play it just to troll the table, then just exclude them from the game. The same can be said for Armageddon and similar cards which remain legal, yet socially hated. If a game is fun to play, then why isn’t a subgame of the same game fun too? I’ll answer for you: it’s because you know you’re at a disadvantage. Unless you’re on a strict timetable, there isn’t any other reason why ONE subgame should be considered a massive offense.
Lutri was exclusively banned for his Companion Rule even though there’s another Companion exclusively and explicitly banned from being used as a Companion. The Blue/White Bird who’s Rule is having twenty additional cards in the deck. Lutri wasn’t banned for his copy spell ability as there at least two other creatures (one of which is a legendary mono-Blue creature) that have a better effect than Lutri. Dual Caster Mage has a similar copy effect to Lutri, but he doesn’t need to be cast to copy an instant or sorcery so copying flicker spells lets you infinite. Lutri can’t really do this as it MUST be cast to be able to copy spells. Rules Commitee could have just blanket prohibited the Companion slot since it breaks the 100 card deck size rule AND lets you have cards from outsize the game (Wish is technically banned since there’s nothing to grab from outside the game). But the Rules Commitee allowed all 8 other Companions (Blue/White Bird is still not allowed to be a Companion) to be used as Companions to promote the Ikoria set. It’s been a couple years Rules Commitee, prohibit the Companion Zone from Commander already.