New format - Vassal
The Kitchen Table forum
Posted on Jan. 24, 2015, 3:31 p.m. by KaladinStormblessed
My friends and I were spitballing ideas for twists on already existing formats, and I think we came up with a good one.
Vassal is a format very similar to Commander, but with a unique twist; all the spells in your deck must have a converted mana cost equal to or less than that of your commander. This bumps commanders like Mayael the Anima out of the format, and forces players to get creative with their win cons and their entire decks.
The ban list is exactly the same as Commander, but bear in mind the Dont be a Dick clause:
The Dont be a Dick clause:
Even though they are legal, Commanders like Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur are regarded as bad Vassal Commanders because of their high CMC, which defeats the whole purpose of the format, hence the "don't be a dick."
Epochalyptik says... #3
You also force a lot of the high-CMC staples out of the format.
January 24, 2015 3:38 p.m.
TurboFagoot says... #4
There seems to be a lot of people who want to play commander, without actually playing commander by imposing hundreds of arbitrary rules. Always strikes me as terrible.
January 24, 2015 3:42 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #5
Format Seems fine up until the don't be a dick Clause. Something like that always seems more like you're saying "don't build something i don't know how to beat" a lot of people say that it seems without realizing the implication
January 24, 2015 3:47 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #6
Yeah, this seems like a waste. just play normal commander.
January 24, 2015 3:59 p.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #7
I disagree with the assessment of the "don't be a dick" clause. It's a good unwritten rule to follow, because even social formats like Commander will still somehow attrack "must win hard" guy.
January 24, 2015 6 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
Social doesn't mean casual. You're welcome to be a Spike in a social format.
January 24, 2015 6:19 p.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #9
True. A lot of people get salty when you're the only Spike at the table, though.
January 25, 2015 11:56 a.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #10
Unless you're going to specifically ban high CMC commanders, it seems pretty arbitrary - my Bosh EDH deck pretty much works (I'd have to take out 2-3 cards) but might fall prey to being a dick apparently?
If your goal is just to get the high CMC spells out of the game, just house-rule that spells have to be 5 CMC or lower, or whatever floats your boat.
January 26, 2015 6:44 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #11
Soo .... then it just comes down to playing Zur and Nekusar.
I'll just play Tiny Leaders thanks.
January 27, 2015 11:10 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #12
I could actually play Dominus - Dreamcrusher Edition without changing anything.
January 27, 2015 11:27 p.m.
It seems all this would change is people swapping their generals, without accomplishing much. For example, I could just change a deck using Rhys the Redeemed as the commander for Emmara Tandris and now have all cards in the deck (at least in my case) fall at or below the 7 CMC casting cost without dramatically impacting the play of the deck, just would have fewer tokens made the the commader, but then the ones I do make would be harder to kill.
The idea is good in theory, but I don't know that it'd do much in practice to many decks.
Epochalyptik says... #2
Moved to KT.
Not really a fan. You're basically forcing people to play CMC 3+ (arguably CMC 4+ or 5+) commanders, and calling them dicks for playing perfectly viable high-CMC commanders. It's unnecessarily restrictive.
January 24, 2015 3:36 p.m.