Magic: The Gathering players have always had to fight with cards and their favorite formats were banned when the game got too hectic. Commander players may not see bans as often as in other formats, but they do happen from time to time.
One of the most controversial bans to hit the format targeted several high-powered mana activators, with the coveted Jeweled Lotus being banned from the format. If you were looking for more information on why the powerful artifact was banned, we looked at what the card does and why the Commander Rules Committee decided to give the card the axe.
What is Jeweled Lotus?
One of the most powerful mana gems in the format, Jeweled Lotus has quickly gained a reputation for being exceptionally powerful and supporting mid-to-late game Commander play much earlier than intended thanks to all the extra mana it can generate.
This mana rock follows the trend of Lotus-themed cards that are exceptionally powerful and valuable, with effects that add tons of mana for very little resource commitment. In the case of Jeweled Lotus, this mana commitment is zero, allowing you to play it before you play your first land in the game.
You can then tap and sacrifice Jeweled Lotus to add three mana of the same color to your mana pool. The only stipulation of this mana is that you can only use it as an instance of your commander.
So what made Jeweled Lotus so good?
That bonus three mana that Jeweled Lotus provides a can will speed you up in mana and resources by a huge amount on your first turn. While this mana may seem limiting at first since you can only use it to cast your commander, you can quickly take control of the game stick your commander a few turns before any of your opponents.
If you play a land on your first turn, you'll have access to at least four mana, potentially five if you're lucky and draw both Sol Ring and Jeweled Lotus, meaning you can cast your four- or five-drop Commander on your first. to turn.
Some of the most popular commanders you can play on the first turn with only Jeweled Lotus and a single land include:
Playing any of these commanders on a turn can give you such an incredible advantage in Commander, even if it looks pretty. immediately a big target on the back.
Why does this mean the Jeweled Lotus had to be banned?
The Commander rules committee has always been skeptical of such efficient quick mana sources as Jeweled Lotus, with cards like Dockside Extortionist, another card that generates incredible amounts of value very easily, that has been on the radar for quite some time.
With Jeweled Lotus, you get incredible value by having access to at least four mana on the first turn, when your commander goes out a few turns before anyone else, or when you can become a late game mid game commander. early game.
By this logic led the Commander Rules Committee to ban the Jeweled Lotus. This is in line with their desire to keep the format accessible and for the games to be less explosive all the time.
The goal isn't necessarily to slow down the game, but to slow it down make sure everyone is on the same playing field when entering the match.
Can you still play Jeweled Lotus anywhere?
Banning a commander-focused card in the primary format it was designed for seems like the death knell for Jeweled Lotus, but surprisingly there is a deck that can use a card outside of commander.
Turns out there was a Legacy deck that used four copies of Jeweled Lotus to generate a ton of mana. It works through the Doubling Cube artifact card. You can pay three mana and tap Double Die to double the amount of each type of mana in your mana pool.
Interesting fact: Jeweled Lotus can also be played in Vintage, but nowhere else.
Doing this will trigger a bunch of free and one mana stones and use them to generate a ton of free mana. Once you have a few, you unwrap them, add those mana values to your mana pool, and then double everything with a Doubling Cube.
The thing with the Jeweled Lotus limitation is that once you copy the mana, the commander-only condition goes away. So while you still can't use the original three mana you generated for anything, three mana you can use what you just got for anything. Copy it again from the back of the second duplicate cube and you'll be sitting pretty with a ton of open mana.
The deck wins with Aetherflux Reservoir and Echo of Eons, rotating a bunch in your deck and then controlling your opponent for 50 damage at a time.