Magic: The Gathering fans push volunteers out with alleged threats of violence

Alleged threats over banned cards in Commander, Magic: The Gathering’s most popular mode of play, have driven its governing body to relinquish control of the format. Going forward, publisher Wizards of the Coast will itself be wholly responsible for Commander, which had previously been managed by the five-member, all-volunteer Commander Rules Committee. The announcement was made Monday in separate statements by the Commander Rules Committee and Wizards of the Coast.

“As a result of the threats last week against RC members, it has become impossible for us to continue operating as an independent entity,” the Commander RC said in a statement published to X. “Given that, we have asked WotC to assume responsibility for Commander and they will be making decisions and announcements going forward.”

The alleged threats came last week in the days following the ban of four cards from Commander: Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, Mana Crypt, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom. Many in the Magic community lamented the massive change their loss would bring to the format’s meta-strategies, while others noted that millions of dollars in cards had suddenly lost most, if not all, of their potential value on the secondary market. The tumult put the five-member Commander RC in the hotseat — and not for the first time.

As detailed in Polygon’s 2020 history, the Commander format emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s from another popular format called Elder Dragon Highlander. It traveled player-to-player from remote Fairbanks, Alaska to the furthest corners of the world on the Magic Pro Tour. There, it was championed by the late Sheldon Menery, at that time a high-ranking Pro Tour judge. It was Menery who, along with Gavin Duggan and Duncan McGregor, codified the rules of Commander and first established the Commander RC. Commander formally launched as a commercial product published and supported by Wizards in 2011, but it was the Commander RC that had guided it for nearly 20 years — until Monday.

“We’ve seen players and fans share a diverse range of passionate opinions — far too many of which were harmful or malicious,” said Wizards in a statement. “The conversation has escalated, culminating with unacceptable personal threats to the safety of members of the Commander Rules Committee. This is something we will not tolerate. No matter how you feel about something in Magic, it is never appropriate to threaten somebody. Everyone at Wizards of the Coast is united on this front — we will not hesitate to take action against individuals who threaten to harm community members or employees.“

In its statement, Wizards asked for patience as it takes the reigns of what had previously been a format managed by its biggest fans.

“We will also be evaluating the current banned card list alongside both the Commander Rules Committee and the community,” Wizards said. “We will not ban additional cards as part of this evaluation. While discussion of the banned list started this, immediate changes to the list are not our priority.”

You can read the publisher’s complete statement at the official Magic: The Gathering website, in a post titled “The Future of Commander.”