It's fiddly but it's the smoothest way to achieve what is intended I think (a way to make each commander relevant in a game and also limit the value of arbitrarily large life totals in the absence of board control).
Every suggestion I hear for changing it just makes it less relevant or more fiddly or both.
15 damage in one turn arbitrarily limits it to commanders with pump effects or decks designed to boost the commander; I've played decks where all I wanted to do was get my commander to 7 so I could kill in 3 hits, because it was primarily a control shell otherwise.
In my Ephara deck I will often kill one person with commander damage and another with creature damage, just because my commander represents a 3 turn clock with Elesh Norn out.
Anyway, I think if brainstorming a replacement the first thing to do is note down requirements; what're we trying to achieve with the mechanic?
Why do you need a d22, just use a d20 and when it needs to be 21 they dead?
I just track it. It's easy. I started using a boogie board which has proven much better than dice. I'll offer to track for others sometimes if needed.
I don't think it needs a fix much. If someone doesn't track we just try to reconstruct how many hits there were since usually someone will be paying attention
Every suggestion I hear for changing it just makes it less relevant or more fiddly or both.
15 damage in one turn arbitrarily limits it to commanders with pump effects or decks designed to boost the commander; I've played decks where all I wanted to do was get my commander to 7 so I could kill in 3 hits, because it was primarily a control shell otherwise.
In my Ephara deck I will often kill one person with commander damage and another with creature damage, just because my commander represents a 3 turn clock with Elesh Norn out.
Anyway, I think if brainstorming a replacement the first thing to do is note down requirements; what're we trying to achieve with the mechanic?
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I just track it. It's easy. I started using a boogie board which has proven much better than dice. I'll offer to track for others sometimes if needed.
I don't think it needs a fix much. If someone doesn't track we just try to reconstruct how many hits there were since usually someone will be paying attention
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall