Introducing the Commander Format Panel

Coming in from Victoria, Australia, Attack on Cardboard being on the panel adds to the long lineage of judges involved in working on Commander. In fact, he's not only a judge but strives to help people learn Magic and help make the rules more accessible via his channel where he carefully breaks down card interactions and rulings. While he dabbles in many formats, Commander is where he spends a lot of his free Magic time—in fact, when I called to offer him the position, he told me about how he was hoping to just spend the weekend playing Commander at PAX Australia! On top of his ability to explain things well and taking care of new players, he's got a great mind for analytics, and I look forward to him crunching into anything the group needs looked at for Commander.

Those outside of Europe might not have heard of Bandit before, but those in France will know him well: He's a major voice of the French Magic community, focused on Commander. His YouTube channel does everything from discussion to Commander gameplay. I personally had the opportunity to chat with him at CommandFest Annecy last year and was really impressed with his breadth of Commander knowledge and ability to think about the format. I'm thrilled to have him representing the French-speaking community.

You might have seen Canadian powerhouse Ben Wheeler anywhere from LoadingReadyRun to his podcast with Shivam Bhatt, Shivam and Wheeler Love Magic, to curating formats like Canadian Highlander. In addition to his wry wit and immense knowledge of obscure Magic cards, he brings a great mind for the game and building both formats and communities—skills which I'm incredibly excited to have on the team.

The Finland-based Charlotte is a long-time judge for Magic, knowing the game inside and out. She first picked up a Magic card in 1994 and has been a huge part of the Magic judge community for a long time, including running a longstanding Tumblr where people could ask rules questions! She has a great vantage of the format being involved in it for so long and watching it evolve and a great knack for looking at systems. I fully expect her to put any matchmaking system through its paces—and I'm glad to have her on the case.

If you think I have worn a lot of hats in the Magic community, DeQuan has me far beat. He's walked almost every path a Magic player can walk: from store owner, to competitive player, to tournament organizer, to formerly working at Wizards, to streaming, to writing articles, to, of course, Commander, and much, much more. The amount of perspective DeQuan brings to the game is immense, and thinking about all those different types is going to be so helpful for the panel. He resides in the USA.

To select all the new members of the panel, I did a lot of research and talking with players. One thing I knew I wanted with the additions were making sure cEDH had representation. When I kept asking cEDH players who they would suggest, one name came up over and over again: Deco.

Heralding from Brazil and being a voice for their community, Deco brings not only a great cEDH perspective, formerly being a part of the cEDH Brazil channel, but also casual perspective as well: he even recently launched a channel focusing on everything Commander, from casual to competitive, named Papo de Commander. One other thing about Deco that makes me smile is he has helped organize many large Commander events, including a budget variant with over 200 players for charity. I always love to see Magic played for a great cause! 

Originally from Guam, Greg has been playing Magic since Fourth Edition and is a US Army Officer of nearly nineteen years, currently stationed in the Republic of Korea. You may know him as ThePaintersServant on Twitch. Among many things, he has a great knack for building communities online—something which I know will serve us well in this group. He co-founded the Alliance of Military Magic Players (AMMP). A story that always makes me smile: One night, I was visiting Sheldon Menery. We were talking about the CAG and how it was great to get their input. And out of nowhere, he told me, "One of the greatest Commander minds you've probably never heard from is Greg Sablan." I look forward to having that mind in this group!

While historically formats like Standard and Modern have been the largest in Japan, Commander has been rapidly growing—and Ittetu has been one of the many caught up in that rapid expansion. A content creator for Hareruya, he has done everything from creating a compendium of Commander staples to making videos explaining decks and strategies. He is one of the main people behind Hareruya's Commander Summit series, which is a huge Commander gathering over there. One thing he's proud of and really caught my eye is his article about matchmaking Commander games, which was so successful that it was adopted for helping find games at CommandFests in Japan! I was really impressed by the range of what Ittetu has covered—and while he has focused on Commander, he knows the other formats well also. He has a great eye on Japan's Commander scene, something which we definitely want us to know about.

There are a couple things I can count on with Josh Lee Kwai. One of them is, of course, that he'll always be casting spells for value. But another is that he has a really excellent perspective on the pulse of Commander and what players at all levels are saying. Between The Command Zone podcast, Game Knights, going to Magic events, and just spending plenty of time on social media, Josh is incredibly plugged in. He's never been shy to tell me what he likes and what he doesn't like and is usually pretty spot on about how people are going to receive a change. As we roll out any new programs or tweaks to Commander, I know I'll want his voice to help predict how it's going to go. He resides in the USA.

The UK-based Kristen has many penchants in the world of Commander, including her "bulk Commander" format that was adopted for use at CommandFests in the UK, but the one I always think of (well, after her love of Boros) is her writing. She also loves Limited, is an excellent communicator, and after many Magic writing gigs is currently the head writer over at Card Kingdom. She loves breaking down systems and philosophy, and before I even reached out to her about this role, she was already preparing to send me thoughts on Commander matchmaking! Digging into these systems as we go forward is going to be something I know she'll help a lot with.

When I think of how cEDH has grown over the past year as both a community and a format, I always come back to Lua Stardust as one of the major reasons why. A champion of the format from the USA who strives to create a welcoming play environment, Lua has a great perspective on all aspects of cEDH, from going to play in tournaments to co-running her gameplay channel ScryBabies. And while we at Wizards have no plans nor intention to run cEDH tournaments, knowing what that community wants and is dealing with is important for understanding how our decisions, as both Wizards and a format panel are going to impact that format.

There's very little in the world I have ever seen make Olivia happier than building a Commander deck with a ridiculous theme and then cackling as she casts each and every spell. (Just watch her play on her YouTube show, Commander at Home!) Olivia is an expert at keeping the fun and lighthearted nature of Commander firmly in mind while also switching on a dime to have serious conversations about the format's future and what it needs. When working with her as a Commander Rules Committee member, she always brought great, honest insight, and I know that's going to continue with the CFP. She lives in the USA.

I always think of how Rachel helped coin the term "lasagna tier," meaning a sort of janky deck built really with fun and a story in mind, and how much that just embodies the soul of Commander. What that won't tell you is how fierce of a Commander deck builder and player she can be when she steps out of lasagna tier—which I'm sure many of you have seen on The Command Zone and Game Knights. Hearing all the feedback sent into the show and being able to translate that through a language of fun Magic deck building and gameplay is something she has really shown a knack for, and I'm looking forward to that being something she helps bring to the panel. She lives in the USA.

Rebell is a real walker between worlds: whether it's casual Commander, cEDH, or competitive Magic tournaments in formats like Standard and Modern, she's out there in New York playing these formats and always trying to improve. This multi-format, multi-play perspective is something I value highly when looking at card play patterns, and Rebell and I have had many great discussions about what gameplay is best for Commander and the shape of its banned list in the past—and I'm glad she can bring all of these thoughts to more than just our conversations, now with the whole panel.

Scott was an instrumental member of making Commander what it is today. Not only was he one of the first Wizards to discover Commander in 2005 when it was being played after hours by judges, and one of the early Commander Rules Committee members, but he brought it back to Wizards and ultimately helped get the first preconstructed decks created. While his primary job to this day at Wizards here in Seattle is working on our professional events, he moonlights as a Magic designer and has gone on to work on several design teams—and I've watched him design sweet cards like Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle and Nelly Borca. I'm glad to have his deep knowledge of the format, expertise, and constant eye toward the future on the panel.

Tim is always up to some kind of creative deck-building shenanigans—I fondly remember sitting with him where he lives in London shortly after Streets of New Capenna was revealed and watching as he started to run down all the clever ways to create boundless numbers of tokens using Jinnie Fay as a Commander. He has done everything from Magic coverage, to owning a Magic store, to playing competitively in his time as a Magic competitor—and now Commander is where a lot of his focus lies. In my conversations with him, I've found one of his many skills is breaking larger, complex tasks down into smaller parts, and I'm sure that's going to serve us well.

Toby Elliott was on the former Commander Rules Committee for a long time, helping guide the format to where it is today. And among many other great things, he is a master of precision. He maintains the Magic Tournament Rules—quite the document!—and is truly a legendary judge, having head judged more Pro Tours than anyone else in history. This background will come in especially handy on the CFP, as we both work on communication, and, if we eventually one day talk about any rules changes, Toby will no doubt have great proposals on how to approach them and even tackle them within the rules. He lives in the USA.