Hello dear Leviathan Commander players in 2023! First of all, we wish you a lot of health, balance in life, happiness, stability and a lot of opportunities to play.
The beginning of this year surprised us with leaked cards from the upcoming new expansion Phyrexia: All will be One, which is set to premiere in early February. Meanwhile, we will surprise you or not with our decisions in this announcement.
Banned as Commander
Jeska, Thrice Reborn
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
Banned as Card
No changes
Unbanned as Card
No canges
Announcement Date: January 9, 2023
Date of entry of changes: January 13, 2023
Date of next announcement: April 3, 2023
Further Explanation
From the very beginning of her appearance in late 2020, it was known that he is a very good card, especially as a Commander. Last year, however, she showed that she has a serious impact on our meta by displacing almost every aggro. Her +0 ability triples our creature's combat damage, allowing her to kill an enemy insanely fast. In combination with a cheap partner commander, the game could end after 1 or 2 attacks, dealing 21 commander dmg. Her second ability, on the other hand, allowed her to kill everything that the opponent put on the battlefield (creatures and walkers). Being a mini "mass" removal on CZ had a lot of influence on the deck building, which could contain a lot less removal in 99 than other decks. This gave extra deck slots for Jeska players. In addition to a large number of top4s in 2022, she achieved a 62.57% winrate in our playtests after playing 537 games. Taking all of the data above, as well as your feedback in the poll, we've decided it's time for Jeska, Thrice Reborn to join our Ban List as Commander.
The new version of the well-known duo Minsc and Boo from the very beginning of its release in June 2022 won the hearts of players as well as many top4. His abilities combined with mana acceleration allowed him to be played consistently on turn 2, giving him the ability to attack with a 4/4 trample and haste creature. Even after using a few acceleration cards and significantly reducing the cards in their hand, Minsc and Boo were able to use -2 to sacrifice Boo (or any hamster) to draw as many cards as he had power(usually between 4-7). Many decks, due to Boo's turn-based return, adding three +1/+1 counters on any creature with haste or trample and "Fling" abilitie (with possible card draw) were unable to cope with such aggression. The games ended very quickly and left a bitter aftertaste. After we played 341 games, Minsc and Boo achieved a 59.24% winrate. As with Jeska, we took into account your feedback on him as well as our own feelings during playtests. Summarizing all the data, we came to the conclusion that Minsc and Boo should leave our format as Commander.
Additional information:
How to Tell Which Unfinity Cards are Leviathan legal?
This is quite easy to spot. Any card that has an acorn holo-foil at the bottom of the card is illegal in Leviathan Commander. Below you have an example.
Winota, Joiner of Forces
As for our aggressive Boros friend, we'll keep an eye on her. We believe that she is on the verge of being a very strong commander and an overpowered one. In our playtests, she achieved a 55% winrate after playing 506 games. We'll be watching and testing her to see if the Phyrexia: All will be One cards will increase her power level or not.
Leviathan meta in Q4 and 2022
Just like last time, within a week (maximum two) we will present an article showing how the meta was shaped in the fourth quarter and throughout 2022.
As always, we are looking forward to your feedback.
Your comitee:
Wojciech Kopański, Justo Chacon, Diego Rivera, Meng Du, Leonardo Leal, Marcos Mayora, Pawel Dziewulski.
And Your RP:
Diego Paredes, Mengshi Guo, Nacho Monza.