Paradox Engine Gets Banned in MTG Commander (July 2019)

MTG Commander Bans Paradox Engine

One of the most broken cards in the Commander format has officially been banned. In a post today by retired Magic: The Gathering judge Sheldon Menery, it was revealed that Paradox Engine and Iona, Shield of Emeria will no longer be allowed in this multiplayer format. Along with these two cards, the artifact creature Painter’s Servant has been unbanned despite the potential to be a really powerful spell.

In the post, Menery expressed why he decided to remove Paradox Engine, describing the card as “intensely problematic.” This is due to the card’s near limitless ability to constantly enable powerful combos. A staple in a plethora of decks, Paradox Engine’s banning will have a dramatic effect on the competitive meta as it was one of the most used combo-enablers.

Here’s what Sheldon had to say on the card:

Paradox Engine is a card that has proven to be intensely problematic. Not only does it provide easy wins seemingly out of nowhere, it has demonstrated the potential to unintentionally wreck games. Easily inserted into any deck, it combines with cards which players already have heavy incentives to play, generating a great deal of mana with virtually no deck building cost. While we don’t ban cards which are only problematic if you build around them, Paradox Engine has clearly demonstrated that it doesn’t need to be built around to be broken.

Iona, Shield of Emeria may be a surprise to many, as she wasn’t frequently played outside of a few specific decks. However, her ability to shut down an entire color certainly proved to be frustrating, especially for those in mono-color decks. Menery remarked that Iona is “…the type of card which creates an experience we wish to discourage, namely shutting players out of games”

As for Painter’s Servant, despite the possibility to be highly abusable, was unbanned. We suspect this was meant to be an olive branch to the competitive Commander community after removing a key card in the format. We suspect to see a lot of this card in the coming months, but at least it’s easier to remove than Paradox Engine. Additionally, Bridge from Below was also banned, but only in the Modern format.

All of these bans and unbans are officially in effect, so it’s time to start taking cards out of your decks!

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