The Impact of Commander in Legacy and Vintage

Earlier this week, I was watching HarryMTG run away with turn-one wins in Vintage. Alongside the classics of Sol Ring, Mana Vault, and Force of Will, there was a newly printed card amongst the pile- Coveted Jewel. Printed in Commander 2018, the card serves as a win condition in decks that specialize in colorless profitable mana. In exchange for its powerful draw effect, Coveted Jewel is designed to be exchanged from player to player in a Commander game. However, in a 2-person match that downside is mitigated, even more so when you’re using its effect to draw into infinite turn strategies.

For a long time, cards entered the eternal formats through Standard. We never had to worry about older formats being warped by high power cards- and though this kept the number of staples entering any format low, this wasn't always a bad thing. In the wake of Modern Horizons, Wizards made a transition to printing directly to different formats. Commander products had always entered into Legacy and Vintage, but only recently are we seeing more pushed cards making waves in these formats. It’s not just Coveted Jewel: Commander Legends 2 gave us the Initiative mechanic, which is very popular in Legacy. Formats with less Creatures and less combat means that these mechanics can cause players to run away with value.

There’s been some discussion around the amount of playtesting that Wizards can provide with the raw amount of product being printed. Cards used to have to move through Standard in order to propagate to older formats, ensuring that the overall balance of cards is much tighter. With playtesting being localized only to the standard sets, all the periphery products are entering formats with less quality control. It’s hard enough to balance cards for their designated formats, much less for additional formats where the same limiters don’t apply. Coveted Jewel is supposed to be balanced around the expectation you’ll have to defend it against three other players. The Initiative is expected to be passed around- and it’s not just mechanics that hinge on there being more players. Powerful cards without much support in Draft products can become powerhouses when those products become eternal: looking at you Muxus.

Finally… is this a bad thing? So far, I’ve tried to mostly state things that are impartial and represented by the numbers of decks using these cards. As a Legacy player and spectator, is it good for these products to have such an effect on the metagame? Players possibly coming to Legacy from Modern might say no: after all the opinion of Modern Horizon 2 is that it’s an incredibly format warping addition that printed cards that were too good. The format is homogenized around a handful of threats, and due to the infrequency of master’s sets, and their expensive nature, the format is stuck with this. Alternatively, cards entering a format does make the metagame more diverse and expands the pool of decks that can be played. This makes for more engaging matches for players and spectators. But- due to the sacristy of the cards entering the format, and their power levels, I’m skeptical of more products being printed for these older metagames. Just look at the prices for Kappa Cannoneer or Murktide Regent: due to these sets not being printed at a volume matching a regular set release, and their higher price, less game pieces are entering circulation. It will take more time for the players of Legacy and Vintage to come to a consensus about these commander and auxiliary products entering the metagame, and after seeing the state of Modern, I can imagine it won’t take long for these cards to outstay their welcome.