In September of 2024, Magic: The Gathering faced perhaps its greatest crisis ever. When the Commander Rules Committee, an independent group that oversees the most ubiquitous version of the trading card game, announced they were banning four popular cards from the format, a small but vocal contingent of players responded with vitriol. Some even sent violent threats to members of the committee. In response, the group handed over control of Commander to MtG publisher Wizards of the Coast, putting an end to almost two decades of independent rule.
This brief but fiery controversy is a blemish on the Magic: The Gathering community, revealing that even the 31-year-old game isn’t immune to our modern era of online harassment. But on another level, it also solidified what many players have known for a long time: Commander isn’t just the dominant version of Magic. Commander is Magic.
