Every Commander player has a hot take. From power levels to partner pairings, the format thrives on debateāand nothing stirs the pot quite like the ban list. While most conversations focus on what should be banned next, today weāre flipping the script.
Welcome to Commander Brackets: The Unban Wishlistāa speculative look at cards we think deserve a second chance at your Commander table. Whether they were axed too early or the format has simply outgrown them, these are the cards weād love to see leave exile.
The Rules Committee generally bans cards in Commander if they:
Create consistent and unfun play patterns
Eliminate interaction
Warp deckbuilding
Don’t align with the formatās social or casual spirit
So when we talk about unbanning, weāre looking for cards that:
Mightāve been banned preemptively
Could now be āmanagedā by the power creep of the format
Are powerful, but not necessarily problematic
Current Status: Banned
Why It Was Banned: Repeated tutoring of any land was too strong and often led to the same degenerate lines over and over.
Why It Might Deserve a Comeback: Honestly? Green is already doing worse things now. With cards like Zendikar Resurgent, The One Ring, and Urzaās Saga floating around, Prime Time might feel tame by comparison. It’s strong, sureābut is it stronger than Dockside?
Current Status: Banned
Why It Was Banned: Untapping everything on each opponentās turn gave Simic decks an absurd tempo advantage and led to game-stalling nonsense.
Why It Might Deserve a Comeback: Simic still does all of thisājust more slowly. Cards like Seedborn Muse and Leyline of Anticipation see heavy play already. Maybe itās time to let Prophet rejoin the choir.
Current Status: Banned
Why It Was Banned: It destroyed noncreature permanents and ramped you for each opponentāa brutal two-for-one that often sealed games.
Why It Might Deserve a Comeback: While still oppressive in budget pods, this card is arguably less powerful than Terastodon or Titan of Industry in many metas. If Muldrotha decks arenāt already doing something worse, Iāll eat a Forest.
Current Status: Banned
Why It Was Banned: Infinite turn combos. Enough said.
Why It Might Deserve a Comeback: Weāve already got a million ways to go infinite. This one just takes more setup and screams ādeal with me or lose.ā Itās a boogeyman, yesābut one that could be safely house-ruled or even format-tested with a warning label.
Current Status: Banned
Why It Was Banned: Resetting the entire game at 7 mana is basically a hard reboot, which leads to long, unfun experiences.
Why It Might Deserve a Comeback: In a format where people drop Craterhoof, Jin-Gitaxias, and Ulamog by turn six, does a symmetrical restart really sound that bad? Itās chaotic, sureābut thatās Commander, baby.
