WotC has been royally fucking up Standard for the past few years, but I don’t think that Commander is the problem.

The problem is that WotC wants to push more product, which is messing with how Standard works. They should just accept that there are four standard sets a year, choose the most thematic Universes Beyond set to be a part of Standard magic, and accept that some Universes Beyond product shouldn’t be in Standard Magic.

I think some of the lore is cool, but actually all games based on collectables are trash.

Come play Flesh and Blood! It’s like if Magic the Gathering was thematically representing Mortal Kombat gameplay.
And Genesis: Battle of Champions! It’s like if Magic the Gathering was crossed with Final Fantasy Tactics.
And Magi Nation! It’s like if the entire Pokémon franchise aged up with its demographic, was more well-written and designed, and was just overall better than Pokémon at everything except for competing with the actual Pokémon franchise. They’re back after a successful Kickstarter!

My unpopular opinion is I don’t mind the tie ins (mostly). I remember being a kid and wanting all my favorite characters to have cards, so I’d feel bad yucking someone else’s yum just because I don’t care for a particular franchise. That being said I’m also a bit confused, op. Standards still exists. This feels like you’re saying “I don’t like Super Mario Advanced 3, because Mario Bros isn’t as good a game as Super Mario Bros 3.” Though if you said any of the following I’d agree: Wizards focuses too much on commander; changing standard rotation rules wasn’t the best idea; the last few standard sets have had somewhat ridiculous themes; using standard design space to print cards targeting commander players might muddy the standard card pool.

Planeswalkers broke the game.

It’s also the sheer amount… They are getting new sets every two months… On top of things like secret lairs and everything… It’s just to much…

EDH was a community-developed format before wizards adopted and renamed it.

It’s a fun, casual format. There is a lot about modern MTG releases that suck but blaming a casual, community-driven format is a wack take.

Psh I love playing commander. Me and 3 buddies just getting hammered and shit talking for 6 hours is great fun. I’m not a super magic purist though. I can see how if you’re into other formats the pandering to commander players would be annoying. But I’m the one being pandered to so I’m fine with it.

Commander is by far the most popular format for many good reasons.

I however am not a fan of some recent sets design wise. Bloomburrow was peak though, and felt like a return to a more classic mtg experience.

Personally I’m a fan of budget commander, where it’s still commander with these 3 deck building rules:

1. Your total deck price l, if you price it online, cannot exceed $70 USD

2. You cannot play any cards that have ever been banned in any mainstream constructive format (discluding rarity based formats like pauper)

3. Proxies are not allowed, as it goes against the spirit of this format

The core spirit is “stop feeling compelled to proxy shit, support your LGS!”

Commander has always been my least favorite way to play. I have no comment on anything else because I lost interest completely when they started pushing it. But I will say, every time I hear news about it I’m glad that I stopped dumping money into that cash cow of a card game. And from a business standpoint, I feel they’ve shot themselves in the foot. The reason why Pokemon cards are still so widely sought after is because, for the most part, things have stayed the same (And collectors, of course). With MTG there’s basically no point in owning any cards before 2016 since they’re all underpowered or illegal in any formal setting. Besides hardcore collectors, they’re basically just cardboard.

Never been a fan of CCGs as their business models are exploitative and inevitably lead to power creep.

Netrunner and Compile have me sorted for card games for a while.