Worldfire for My Golos? Commander Banlist Update

“Magictating” is defined as getting into the zone with your Magic the Gathering collection--thinking, planning, organizing, reminiscing about past games, and imagining future games. It is a combination of hard thinking about the game and calm meditation, reveling in the joy it brings you.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is banned. I'm sure you know this…and if not, surprise! Well, I guess it shouldn't be a super surprise. I'm not even sure anyone will really be all that upset. I have a Golos deck, but I didn't build it to specifically be a Golos deck. Golos took over for a different commander, Cromat, when I picked it up for cheap awhile back. I had built a controlling super-friends build. It's five color planeswalkers with no creatures and lots of board wiping cards. The board wipes all skip planeswalkers, and so the deck builds incremental value until it closes the game by denying everyone else the ability to play anything while my planeswalkers grind out value and kill people with nonsense like Jace, the Mind Sculptor's ultimate. The problem is that Golos should really have never been my commander. I'm not even concerned about Golos not being around anymore. I had a deck drawn up to build Golos with ultimatums, winds, and few other ridiculously large mana value spells. I didn't actually build it, and I'm not even sad that I can't build it legally. Golos leaving isn't all that bad, and Worldfire is a card I've long been wondering why it's banned. Let's discuss this announcement and why both were a bit overdue.

The announcement and several other articles mention that Golos is a strict upgrade to many other forms of five color commanders. I'm not convinced Golos is really an upgrade, but more of a lazy shift to having an easy ramp/fixing handy at all times. It's card advantage once you activate it, and that's also gross. If Golos had a primary color he wouldn't be nearly as good. I actually feel that Golos is a bit of a value distraction engine. He generates value with his ability, but it can be easy to not want to cast all those spells. Additionally, using his ability just feels a little lazy. It's nice to cast those spells, but one or two activations usually ends the game. Finding other five color commanders to fill your five color deck's goals is actually a lot more fun than jamming Golos! Look at Sisay, Weatherlight Captain or Najeela, the Blade-Blossom or Garth one-eye or Cromat or Kenrith, the Returned King or General Tazri! Garth and Cromat can work with just about anything and don't scream that they have to be built around (though I did enjoy building an old school jam with Garth. Tazri, Beacon of Unity can be super fun in any sort of five color tribal build. Meanwhile, Sisay, Weatherlight Captain is probably my best option for a new superfriends commander. My point is that each of these legendary five color commanders all offer different ways to synergize with your deck instead of simply fixing mana and casting free spells. Honestly, using Golos this way isn't even all that fun.

Golos was the type of commander that made you feel stuck. Many have made this point, and I'm inclined to agree. Why play Sisay when you cast spells for free? Why use Cromat or Kenrith to spend your mana when you can just cast more stuff for free with Golos? It's true, but also better value doesn't equate to better games. Golos is an optimized engine, and that's basically a reason to consider it the worst possible choice for having a good time in Commander. I've consistently tried to make the point through articles about underplayed cards, fun deck lists, and overt statements like this—Commander is more fun when you don't optimize. Golos is tirelessly boring because he's easily the most optimized commander creature card ever printed. Seriously, when have you ever seen something fit so well into what a commander game is trying to do? Easy ramp spells? Check! Easy to cast—well colorless checks that box in EVERY deck! Ability to close games and gain value in an efficient manner—double check! Between ramping up to half the commander tax on entering and then flipping three spells to cast, it's very difficult to overcome Golos's power. It can close games like a Craterhoof Behemoth or blow out a single opponent like Forking a Cruel Ultimatum…but without spending a single card to do so!

I don't mean to rag on Golos, but why on earth is such a boring card being played…or dare I say overplayed? The answer is simple. People get into an arms race within their playgroups or local gaming stores. This sort of push to make decks more optimal is a trap, and in the race to win we all lose. The rules committee made a smart choice to ban this incredibly popular commander. Seriously, it was the most popular commander listed on EDHrec. There were nearly 1,000 more decks listed using Golos than the next closest one listed. I don't put as much stock in that stuff as some people do, but that is a significant quantity. Basically, we just witnessed the “best” legendary creature in the format get banned. This is similar to having Karakas banned. Karakas would arguably be the best land in the entire format. It works for almost every deck…even if you don't tap it for mana then it is still the best land around. Seeing the best card leave the format is not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, it should open us all up to being a bit more creative.

Sure, we could argue that Arcane Signet is the best mana rock (outside the sacred cow that is the poster child for the format—Sol Ring). Sure we can argue that banning “the best” is a bad reason for banning. It just keeps raising the target to the next “best” villain. However, it's not a matter of being the best, but of being the most optimized and the most warping. Clearly, Golos was warping the format. Look over some deck lists, and you'll actually find that Golos is often helming what could've been several other creature's decks. It's good to see the “king” of the five color commanders get smacked with the ban hammer.

To be fair, the options for five color commanders is not a giant list. There really aren't that many that are up for grabs. Several, like Tiamat and The Ur-Dragon are clearly self-limiting to the decks that they should be helming. The future will probably hold at least a few more five color options, but don't be afraid to consider the angry baby—Child of Alara—or even the grumpy caterpillar—Cromat—as you lament the loss of Golos, the overpowered Pilgrim.

Meanwhile, Worldfire has taken off. It is unbanned and went from being a bulk mythic to a $30 mythic? Well, I'll certainly not be paying $30 for that thing. Additionally, I'm considering trading a few of mine away. Yes, I happen to own a few, but I have a reason. I have a thing for buying bulk mythics with strange effects. I said it was a reason, but not a particularly good reason. When a card with an odd or unique ability is cheap I like to pick it up for occasions like this. Suddenly everyone is in on this, honestly not so great, mythic rare. It helps that this is a slightly older card with only one printing. Does that mean the current price tag is really worth it? I'm feeling it totally is not. Sure, it might be fun to, as the rules committee mentioned, drop Zo-Zu the Punisher out of the command zone with mana you floated after casting Worldfire. Yet, I doubt it'll be all that fun. A glass cannon like that is only so fun so many times at an EDH table. Honestly, I think the number of times it is fun is one…kinda' like the number of people at the table that will think it was fun.

Well, I'll also be trying to trade my Golos for a Worldfire, but I suspect that won't be happening anytime soon. I probably could've picked up a playset of Worldfires for one Golos a few weeks ago. Ah well, such is hindsight, right? I honestly don't mind the ban or the unbanning. I really did feel like Worldfire's banning seemed silly. It's a ton of mana and the effect requires a decent amount of setup. Sure, someone can storm into something, float mana, and suspend some nonsense with Jiora of the Ghitu, but is that really a play that shouldn't be allowed? People might suspend Greater Gargadon and a few other items to time their Wildfire perfectly, but isn't that way cooler than Natural Order into Craterhoof? Worldfire is no Prophet of Kruphix or Yawgmoth's Bargain. Those two are egregiously powerful. Getting a new untapped main phase on each person's turn is gross, and paying life for cards in a format that doubles your life total is enough card advantage to break any game wide open. Worldfire actually seems like a fragile and oddball card that isn't really a finishing move on its own.

Worldfire being unbanned seems solid, and I'm not convinced the banning of the most popular commander is really going to wrankle all that many people's feathers. There were tons of Golos deck lists out there, but most of them were just people taking any five color deck they had and swapping out the current commander for the most efficient boss in town. I could see an outside case for only banning Golos as a commander, but perhaps I'm wrong in that. Let me know how you're feeling about the loss of Golos and the rise of Worldfire. Until next time, may the cards be ever in your favor!