Commander Bans Make One Magic: The Gathering Card…

Summary

The Jeweled Lotus is banned in Magic: The Gathering's Commander format, rendering the card functionally useless.
Although banned in Commander, Jeweled Lotus can still be played in Legacy and Vintage formats.
Casual playgroups can decide to continue using Jeweled Lotus despite tournament bans.

The Jeweled Lotus card in Magic: The Gathering is now totally unplayable, following the recent ban by the Commander Rules Committee. Jeweled Lotus is a Mythic Artifact in Magic: The Gathering that can be cast for free and tapped for mana, but players can only spend this mana on their commander, meaning the new ban makes the card functionally useless.

Released in 2020 as part of the Commander Legends set, Jeweled Lotus has been a staple of the format since its introduction, seeing various reprints and alternate arts throughout its lifespan. It was also incredibly expensive, on account of it being a free Artifact which gave three mana and allowed for some explosive early-game plays if luck was on the player's side. It was designed to be a Commander-oriented version of Magic: The Gathering's famous Black Lotus card, as the mana from Jeweled Lotus can only be spent on one's commander, which gave it a semblance of balance. In the recent ban list released by the Commander Rules Committee, it was decided that the card had become too powerful and, among other mana ramp cards, was banned from the Commander format.

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By Dominik Bošnjak

The issue with banning a Commander-only card from the Commander format is that the card is now functionally unplayable, and fans on Reddit have been quick to point this out. The other banned cards can at least see play in other Magic: The Gathering formats, but Jeweled Lotus is a card that is limited by design to the Commander format, rendering it now useless. The removal of Jeweled Lotus was to try and control early game acceleration and curb the amount of "fast" mana players have access to, hence the ban of another free mana generator, Mana Crypt. While many fans are upset with these recent Magic: The Gathering bans, Jeweled Lotus specifically is a sore point, given how expensive the card was, and how it's now unplayable.

Jeweled Lotus is Now Unplayable Following Commander Ban

There is a small, albeit niche rebuff to this claim, in that Jeweled Lotus can still be played in two formats: Legacy and Vintage. Legacy and Vintage are "eternal" formats that allow almost every printed card in the game's history to be played, including Magic: The Gathering's famous Power Nine. While there is no "commander" to spend the mana on, nothing stops players from casting it or even tapping it for mana in these formats, and some incredibly niche interactions can be done here with the fact that Jeweled Lotus can be cast for free, and if anything duplicates the mana it creates, it is not held to the same restrictions.

Obviously, these bans are only for tournaments, and casual player groups can decide to keep using the card if all players involved agree. With the new horror-themed Commander set coming to Magic: The Gathering soon, Commander players are left to decide whether they follow the ban in casual play or continue to use the cards.

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