Hello and welcome back. Recently Gavin Verhey of Wizards of the Coast, and more importantly for today’s topic, voice of the Commander Format Panel, put out a video describing changes to the bracket system, the games changers list, discussed the banning or lack thereof of Rhystic Study, and a proposed change to the how hybrid mana works in Commander.
While many celebrated the changes to the bracket system and the game changers list (I’m keeping my eye on you Urza…), the main source of discourse recently was the proposal of the hybrid mana change for commander.
Some find the proposed change to be suspect, as do I, and other people not at all. For a TLDR, I’m against the change and will discuss why below.
HYBRID MANA
Hybrid mana are symbols that represent a cost that is mana or other mana or something else. For example, Simic Guildmage can be cast with two Green mana, two Blue mana, or one Green and one Blue mana.
Another card, Reaper King, can be paid with WUBRG or any combination of four colored mana and 2 generic, or three colored mana and 4 generic, and so on. Its symbols are referred to often as “twobrid” costs. Flame Javelin and Beseech the Queen also have these symbols.
The last hybrid type is Phyrexian mana, as on Noxious Revival, which can be paid with Green mana or two life, or Phyrexian Metamorph for three generic and Blue or two life. This mana design is widely considered powerful and dangerous to reprint willy nilly.
While the last point won't matter in this article, the first two points will.
RULES QUICK REVIEW
As I explained prior, you can pay hybrid mana in one of two ways, depending on the symbols involved. This makes the spell either easier to cast in the case of regular hybrid mana like found on Shielding Plax or gives you access to a card if your mana doesn’t quite match the colors, like Gurmag Nightwatch, where you can pay two generic mana instead of one color.
The cards themselves are always the colors of the pips in the cost to cast in any zone. Crackleburr is Blue and Red in all zones of the game, and Kin-Tree Severance is always White, Black and Green. Anything that can affect these cards based on their colors will affect them unless an ability to change their color or an ability like Devoid negates it.
COMMANDER COLOR IDENTITY
In addition to the normal rules of Magic the Gathering, Commander (and Brawl) recognize the rule of ‘color identity’. This states that the legendary permanent that you choose to design your deck behind, is for the intent of the magic cards that can be used in the deck, a combination of the mana pips at the top of the card, the pips in the regular text in the text box (not reminder text, which is italicized), and/or a color indicator like on Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar. This includes both faces of the card if it has two faces, like Esika, God of the Tree // Prismatic Bridge or Eddie Brock / Venom Lethal Protector, though almost in every case the colors of the back card will be on the front, probably inspired in part by Commander’s need to identify color.
This rule helps limit the cards that can be put into a deck until you use a five color commander. It also helps focus the deck down to a strategy beyond just the text on the legend itself, challenging the player to spec into the strategy and overcome any shortcomings the deck has.
There is also a flavor component, where the commander knows and can only use those colors of mana, and so is limited in magic it can control and lead as your chosen Commander.
DESIGN INTENT OF HYBRID MANA
It has been stated that the design of hybrid cards covers a few different parallel avenues. The first is filling out the draft experience and smoothing it over. If archetypes of draft can add a few more cards here and there, it can create a larger pool of cards to use during a draft and lead to better and more equal gaming experiences.
The second is that each hybrid card should generally be a weaker version of something both colors can do in the case of color//color hybrid mana. This isn’t as true for twobrid mana costs, as those are more akin to giving other colors the effect at “artifact cost” instead. Still usable in draft, but at a higher cost then speccing into those colors during the draft.
There is a problem with the design of the former in cards like Torrent of Souls. While as a Black and Red card both of its effects work, Red doesn’t get creature recursion in the part of the game that helps define the differences between colors: the Color Pie. While some of the pie has shifted and changed over time, like White getting its version of draw or Black its enchantment removal, some effects are still outside of a certain color’s ability without adding another. While most hybrid cards fit this mold (the color//color ones), a few don’t.
The third is that it helps designers fill out a set beyond draft because it can cover some areas and design space that might not fit into the set otherwise, like story through mechanics. An example of this might be Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Leader of the Mardu before the rise of the Dragonlords, she has a Red cost but a hybrid cost ability helping relate to the audience she is a functional Mardu legend. Even in that ability there tends to be the pattern of (usually) the two colors involved doing something they can do on their own.
THE PROPOSED CHANGE
The proposed change to hybrid cards in Commander would align their use more with other formats that don’t have color identity. As an example, a mono-Blue deck could use Dovescape instead of the deck needing to be White AND Blue to start with. The reasoning here is based on how the cards were designed to be played as “either/or”, not the “and” Commander recognizes.
This causes some friction with any hybrid cards that have a color identity partially defined by its text box, like Deathrite Shaman, Tattermunge Witch or Moonhold. Each of these would still be defined in Commander as color//color cards because of the color identity rule (and the normal rules mind you) and therefore couldn’t be put into a deck that is either color instead.
Further for twobrid mana cards like Tower Above, it was stated those might be treated as colorless instead of their actual color. While I understand the motivation there, I don’t think cards like this should give every color access to something, even at “artifact cost”. Granted, the cards we have at the moment aren’t terrible to worry about, it can be assumed that it would only be a matter of time until one or more is a problem design wise, or possibly even in power.
THE CHANGE DOESN’T DO MUCH
If I’m being honest, the changes wouldn’t do too much right now. I am against them, but there are few cards between them that would cause severe issues. That said, those cards don’t need to expand into other decks where those effects already happen and are usually stronger than the hybrid cards themselves. The proposal to have this change happen is arbitrary in the extreme unless we consider a few other things happening during the window of this proposal. More on that in a little.
I don’t see how the change, which would not affect every hybrid card the same way anyway, would help anything be better for the format at large. Sure, now you could then combo with Murderous Redcap and Kitchen Finks in mono-colored decks. There are cards that already enable those kinds of combos though. We'll likely get more in the future.
If anything, the change would complicate the game further with no known gain. In fact, with the absolute deluge of options mono-color and other decks have anyway from sets being printed six/seven times a year plus other avenues of getting cards from Secret Lairs and Gift Bundles and such, the change doesn’t even concretely address anything along the lines of inclusion and diversity.
Changing the rules wouldn’t give the ability to make many new brews, either. It can power them up perhaps, like Lurrus of the Dream-Den did and does to certain decks. However I can’t think of any deck that is serviced with this change that can’t already do many of these cards abilities already.
So it begs the question; why complicate the game further for almost no gain? Well…
EASE OF DESIGN?
I can sympathize as a working stiff the need to have things a little easier. I’ve heard and seen it said that this change would allow designers to come up with designs easier and create new and unique cards. My observation to that is they already can?
What they are actually saying is more cards focused on Commander, which is something they can already do. How would this change open up any new avenues in cards designed for Commander than couldn’t be made in the status quo? Look, I’m not saying I’m at all close to a game designer, but I’m going to need an example of a card and HOW it was easier to design that card over another because of the change. Then I’ll need about 10 more to reach a consensus. It doesn’t strike me as a truth, but a candy hanging on a string to entice us into a candy house filled with sinister laughter.
TIMING OF THE PROPOSAL
The proposal comes at an interesting time. Not to get too into the weeds, but this proposal could have been made sooner to be a little less suspicious in my opinion. A few of the prior sets at the time of writing had hybrid cards, including Tarkir Dragonstorm and Spiderman. Future sets like Avatar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lorwyn Eclipse and very likely Secrets of Strixhaven will have hybrid cards.
We know for certain the Lorwyn will have mythic rare hybrids, and TMNT at least has rares. Are they powerful? Meh. Are they a selling point? Absolutely. Even if there is only one breakout card in a set that is specifically “Commander powerful”, much less in other formats, you can bet Wizards/Hasbro will milk that cow until even the aliens don’t want to abduct it.
Okay, to be a little less alarmist, hybrid cards are becoming more common and they have said they will use them more in sets going forward. It’s still kind of suspicious, but until we have evidence of them breaking a few formats (again), we can’t really say where this proposed change is coming from. In my opinion, I’m betting on the money over the “inclusion” and "diversity" of having hybrid cards as an option for decks.
MY ANSWER IS NO
My trust in Wizards, much much less Hasbro, hasn’t been net positive in a long while. I am biased and I admit it, but they haven’t done much to help alleviate that bias. I’m afraid that once the gates are open they will charge through. We already have legendary vehicles that are able to be commanders even though I don’t think a car can lead an army or cast magic. They are (usually) a tool for a being to use, not usually a being themselves (Shorikai excluded).
The change other than that potential future doesn’t give us anything, complicating further the “most complicated” format in Magic with an exception on a rule that doesn’t work for all the cards in that subset of cards, plus another exception for another subset of cards. Why? We gain so much nothing from the change except for that one time we might play a spell and do the thing until we put the card away because it doesn’t do it good enough. Even if a new card does, do we need to make sure it can be in mono-colored decks, or can they just make one for those decks?
In my opinion, the hybrid cards should remain what they are; cards indicated by the pips on cost and text as the rules define already, included in decks of those colors.
Until next time, I tap all your lands for purple.
