We're still pretty firm on our stance about PWs as Commanders and from this poll it looks like we have solid support. For the folks who voted yes, I'm curious. What problem do you see getting solved by making all PWs commanders? Is there a need not getting addressed (other than "We'd like PWs to be commanders")?
For the long term health of the format, making changes needs to have purpose; the bigger the change, the greater the purpose.
I think there are two major reasons
Some people want more variety in their commanders, there are about 840 legendary creatures in Magic, and about 140 Planeswalkers, that is a pretty big addition to the pool of various commanders you can use. Other people might just want to use certain Planeswalker characters as Commanders because those are their favorite characters, and yes there are people who actually like the Planeswalkers, I know people around here want Jace to be skinned alive for daring to exist but this place is a pretty huge Echo Chamber on the Planeswalker hate.
As for potential problems, outside of making the games longer (if you consider that I problem, I for one don't) I don't see very many.
The Chain Veil? The biggest abuser of it can already be used as commander, Tezzeret can search it up sure but he can't loop as easy as Teferi can because Teferi can Untap Veil and 3 other permanents..Tezzeret only hits Veil and another permanent.
Sorin? It will feel bad for the person who gets the hit, but after that your opponents can just keep Sorin in check and the longer the game goes the worse Sorin becomes.
Doubling Season/Deepglow skate - Now these seem the most likely to be overpowered but let me ask you this. How many planeswalker Ults are that dangerous? How many are that dangerous that don't have an alternative that is more efficient? Especially with Deepglow Skate..unless you are casting both on the same turn but if you are spending 10+ Mana on two spells and nobody has an answer chances are you are probably casting a combo that should win you the game anyways.
Teferi
Estrid
Aminatou
Will & sometimes Rowan
Daretti
I was not saying that all the available walkers are strong just that out of available Walkers if you gave me choice to make a deck it would probably be one of these or some dumb thing with NuKarn
My most powerful deck is my Liliana, Heretical Healer deck. I would switch her out for Liliana of the Veil in a heartbeat.
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"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Teferi
Estrid
Aminatou
Will & sometimes Rowan
Daretti
I was not saying that all the available walkers are strong just that out of available Walkers if you gave me choice to make a deck it would probably be one of these or some dumb thing with NuKarn
My most powerful deck is my Liliana, Heretical Healer deck. I would switch her out for Liliana of the Veil in a heartbeat.
I would assume that would also be a very different deck? They don't seem like entirely the same thing.
Teferi
Estrid
Aminatou
Will & sometimes Rowan
Daretti
I was not saying that all the available walkers are strong just that out of available Walkers if you gave me choice to make a deck it would probably be one of these or some dumb thing with NuKarn
In the right deck, Saheeli II is absolutely insane.
I have seen Aminatou do gross things... but not by herself. Her ult is not good.
Estrid is also very powerful but has a bad ult.
Will and Rowan are not that good... I think they have weak abilities.
Daretti and Teferi are arguably very powerful. Saheeli too... but by themselves, the cards do very little. Teferi is good with Stasis or with The Chain Veil. Daretti is hard to ultimate. Saheeli does so little by herself and the ultimate does not win.
As you mentioned, Tezzeret would probably be more broken - it can tutor the combo piece!
Dack Fayden would mop up most of these in a vacuum.
These are great commanders - you have to build around them and when they ult they don't really win the game (by themselves). I think most planeswalkers are not made to be built around, leading to good-stuff decks and decks trying to ult as quickly as possible. Jace Beleren would be great as a commander. But Jace, Unraveler of Secrets scares me as a card in the command zone. All you would do is try to ult, because it wins the game.
This is what I am saying. Cards created to be commanders are working because they are build around cards that cannot win the game by themselves.
Other planeswalkers are made to have powerful abilities that are not necessarily 'build around' abilities, and if you can protect them long enough they win you the game. I don't see how any of that is interesting for commander.
If you are telling me you want to play BW tokens with Sorin, Lord of Innistrad -- Fine. But if you are going to play Sorin Markov or Dovin Baan, I am not interested in racing to stop your commander from ultimating the entire game. I do not want that in the command zone.
I think you just outlined our different view on Planewalkers very clearly.
I rarely use or put Planeswalkers in decks I play for their Ultimates, they are a nice bonus but nowhere near the goal or intended purpose of putting the card in the deck.
Sure in the decks that can make it work well it is cool but that is far from why I play Planeswalkers in the 99 or in the Command Zone.
Also I would be glad that someone is showing me Sorin Markov or Dovin Baan from the jump and not saving it for a less opportune moment.
Putting it in the command zone means the ultimate is quite a bit more relevant because you can just keep casting it until it sticks (and rate to get it out consistently early in the game all the time).
Imagine if you could draw a walker as an 8th card in your opening hand every game, if its ultimate straight up wins the game (e.g. Venser, the Sojourner) that becomes more relevant.
Putting it in the command zone means the ultimate is quite a bit more relevant because you can just keep casting it until it sticks (and rate to get it out consistently early in the game all the time).
Imagine if you could draw a walker as an 8th card in your opening hand every game, if its ultimate straight up wins the game (e.g. Venser, the Sojourner) that becomes more relevant.
If you are trying to win the game there are way more powerful things you can do with your general.
If you are playing casually then one of the biggest things in multiplayer is that attacking a planeswalker is seen as the free-est political move you can do. Everyone except the person being attack thinks it's nice that you are attacking the planeswalker. I almost never see them survive even one turn cycle, and if you can survive one full turn cycle then you could have again probable played something stronger anyways with your control of the game.
I'm not really making a power argument so much as explaining why the ultimate becomes a little more relevant.
That said--
Deck construction for protecting planeswalkers can also be quite a bit more flexible when you're just trying to have it last a couple turn cycles *and* you always draw it.
Cards like Evacuation become quite a bit more powerful for example if you literally always have the most powerful walker in your deck available.
If you are trying to win the game there are way more powerful things you can do with your general.
Yes, but there are literally no things you can do that are less permanent than landing an emblem. Until that changes (if it ever does), this remains a concern.
If you are trying to win the game there are way more powerful things you can do with your general.
Yes, but there are literally no things you can do that are less permanent than landing an emblem. Until that changes (if it ever does), this remains a concern.
Interaction with emblems is highly unlikely considering they're descended from Elspeth, Knight-Errant's "For the rest of the game, ..." ultimate.
I do wish Stigma Lasher would be errataed to grant an emblem, but Wizards wants to keep that mechanic, if you can call it that, unique to planeswalker cards.
If you are trying to win the game there are way more powerful things you can do with your general.
Yes, but there are literally no things you can do that are less permanent than landing an emblem. Until that changes (if it ever does), this remains a concern.
Interaction with emblems is highly unlikely considering they're descended from Elspeth, Knight-Errant's "For the rest of the game, ..." ultimate.
I do wish Stigma Lasher would be errataed to grant an emblem, but Wizards wants to keep that mechanic, if you can call it that, unique to planeswalker cards.
Given all of this, I can't see walkers being commander status into the foreseeable future. Regardless of how anyone else might want to use them, this is sort of a deal breaker to me.
Two of them do; Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath and Daretti, Scrap Savant. Ob is fairly average at best, and the emblem isn't fantastic. Daretti's is quite strong - if it lands you are going to have a rough time. Regardless of strength though, the push for Walker Commanders should lead to further interpersonal interaction, not less.
I don't really have an issue with emblems that some people do, because like...shuffle up and play the next game? that's what happens if I assemble an infinite combo or ultimate venser in a normal game, so it's ok
Lots more issues to have with PW commanders to have than that in my opinion.
If you are trying to win the game there are way more powerful things you can do with your general.
Yes, but there are literally no things you can do that are less permanent than landing an emblem. Until that changes (if it ever does), this remains a concern.
Why would it remain a concern? You can play around emblems. If you want to say "but they are too strong when they happen", the simple answer is that they just aren't, relative to what's out there in commander.
Why would it remain a concern? You can play around emblems. If you want to say "but they are too strong when they happen", the simple answer is that they just aren't, relative to what's out there in commander.
But do they add a positive experience? Just off the top of my head, do I think I would enjoy playing against an Elspeth deck that wreaths until it can make an indestructible emblem? Or a Vraska one racing to a Phague emblem? Or Jace countering everything until it gets an Erayo one? The "well X, Y, and Z are already legal strategies" is a pretty weak excuse to justify adding even MORE ways to do that. If wizards printed functional reprints of Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, would that be a good thing or a bad thing?
Why would it remain a concern? You can play around emblems. If you want to say "but they are too strong when they happen", the simple answer is that they just aren't, relative to what's out there in commander.
But do they add a positive experience? Just off the top of my head, do I think I would enjoy playing against an Elspeth deck that wreaths until it can make an indestructible emblem? Or a Vraska one racing to a Phague emblem? Or Jace countering everything until it gets an Erayo one? The "well X, Y, and Z are already legal strategies" is a pretty weak excuse to justify adding even MORE ways to do that. If wizards printed functional reprints of Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, would that be a good thing or a bad thing?
You just described the exact reason planeswalkers should be added. Players doing different strategies with decks centered around their commander. Nothing about any of those emblems you just mentioned are even particularly out of place for edh. An elspeth emblem? Are we really worried about someone dropping a 4 mana planeswalker, activating it over the course of 4 additional turns, and then they don't even win, they just get a big bonus? That sounds exactly like the kind of EDH I want to be playing casually.
The main area of concern outside of the counter thing I have is the style of repeated powerful effects they present.
I can't really think of a commander that represents repeated artifact+enchantment removal in the cz. If there is one it's maybe one.
There's something a little irritating about a deck being able to repeatedly gain control of your best artifact all the time.
An example from current commanders is that playing an enchantress deck against Bruna is just...awful. one of the worst experiences I can recall. I did it maybe twice.
That kind of thing runs the risk of happening a lot more because 1-walkers pack more effects on a card and 2- pack more generic effects.
I'm not sure it's a deal breaker but it does concern me that there's an increased volume of gameplay like...your artifact deck vs dack.
Just good for thought I hope. People always read this kind of rumination like I'm trying to argue a point instead of just considering angles but whatever.
The main area of concern outside of the counter thing I have is the style of repeated powerful effects they present.
I can't really think of a commander that represents repeated artifact+enchantment removal in the cz. If there is one it's maybe one.
There's something a little irritating about a deck being able to repeatedly gain control of your best artifact all the time.
An example from current commanders is that playing an enchantress deck against Bruna is just...awful. one of the worst experiences I can recall. I did it maybe twice.
That kind of thing runs the risk of happening a lot more because 1-walkers pack more effects on a card and 2- pack more generic effects.
I'm not sure it's a deal breaker but it does concern me that there's an increased volume of gameplay like...your artifact deck vs dack.
Just good for thought I hope. People always read this kind of rumination like I'm trying to argue a point instead of just considering angles but whatever.
Freyalise is already legal and is far from problematic.
Dack Fayden is somewhat of an outlier planeswalker, being designed to see play in eternal formats his steal ability is very undercosted. It certainly would be frustrating to play an artifact deck against dack fayden.
However, I feel like none of these arguments are actually valid at all though.
They sound like this to me:
Mono green has a number of linear generals that generate a ton of mana or tutor out creatures and play the same game every time, and one even had to be banned. We should seriously consider why mono green generals are allowed in edh at all. Do people want to be playing that kind of game?
If planeswalkers had been legal from day 1 people would not be debating this, they would just accept them as they do creatures, some are stronger than others, and some are not fun to play against, just like the existing creature generals.
If planeswalkers had been legal from day 1 people would not be debating this, they would just accept them as they do creatures
Ironic, given that planeswalkers were not legal from day one and yet people won't stop debating this despite the fact that the format is built around legendary creatures.
In fact, planeswalker commanders have been around barely more than four years. Why can't people accept them as the exception to the rule rather than a precedent for a rules change?
Regarding the possibility of Dack Fayden in the CZ, he would near enough immediately become the most played Izzet general.
Pros:
- 3 mana.
- Free Izzet Charm each turn without needing to spend a card to do so.
- Stealing of mana rocks from turn 2 to accelerate yourself at a silly pace, something the glut of 6 mana Izzet commanders lack (Locust, Melek, the many Nivs).
- Ultimate could then be built around, something which is limited when he is in the 99.
- Plus and minus are relevant at all stages of the game.
Cons:
- You lose commander damage (not a whole swathe of commanders in Izzet care).
- You no longer have synergies in the CZ such as Mizzix or Melek.
I think there needs to be some careful analysis on what PWs like Dack here could do to just straight-up homogenize some color combos based on having multiple FREE activated abilities on them.
Hypothetically speaking, if planeswalkers were legal from day one here is my theory:
1. The BaaC list would still be around
2. Doubling Season would be banned, Deepglow Skate would either be banned or never made
3. Overall planeswalker design would be different, especially the ultimates
If planeswalkers had been legal from day 1 people would not be debating this, they would just accept them as they do creatures
Ironic, given that planeswalkers were not legal from day one and yet people won't stop debating this despite the fact that the format is built around legendary creatures.
Well, the format was originally built around the Elder Dragon legends. It was expanded to include all legendary creatures. Conceptually, planeswalkers should be commanders. The format was built around the biggest characters in magic as deck-defining lynchpins. As the game as evolved, the biggest, most important characters in the game are now planeswalkers. From a concept-focused standpoint, updating the format to evolve as the game has makes sense.
I don't know that it improves gameplay, or how it makes things better from a practical standpoint. I'm not advocating for (or against, really) changing the rules. But people make that argument because it makes sense.
The
Just good for thought I hope. People always read this kind of rumination like I'm trying to argue a point instead of just considering angles but whatever.
However, I feel like none of these arguments are actually valid at all though.
I just wanted to reiterate something that I can never get anyone to understand on this forum - sometimes you're just talking about the possible ways of looking at things and not making arguments. Not everything is an argument. It's not about validity or fallacies or consistency or whatever.
Regarding some of your points:
* Freyalise is a very niche color and somewhat overcosted. But have you ever played an enchantment or artifact deck against her? It's pretty oppressive. Imagine if they print more of those in multicolors (like Dack, for example). Or trying to play a fatty deck against Ajani, Unyielding. Even though the effects are not overly powerful per se, they could create undesirable situations that invalidate strategies.
In existing commander these kinds of "ick" games do happen - aforementioned Bruna vs. Sigarda for example. But because of how narrow creature abilities are it's less frequent. Creatures just have fewer abilities and they tend to be less generally powerful.
It's a combination of being able to repeat the effects and that they're broader.
* The mono green comparison does not seem appropriate to me. "ramp" is a broad category that doesn't create the same kind of situations where a specific type of deck is repeatedly hated out just by virtue of your command zone. Rampant growth in the command zone is quite different than Naturalize.
* I'm not sure about the argument about whether walkers had been legal from day one. My gut instinct is to say so many things would be different that it's tough to think about clearly. Certainly I think wizards would have fixed the counter glitch by now.
Anyway, I'm not really sure any of that stuff invalidates walkers as commanders but it's something to give serious thought to in my opinion - the types of games they create will probably be different than legendary creatures.
Edit: Maybe another comparison will help draw out the point? I dunno.
Maelstrom Wanderer is an absurdly powerful ramp and card advantage ability in the command zone (though not for the cost; the effect is just very strong). In order to use his ability repeatedly you need to play sac outlets or bounce outlets to allow repeated casts.
Planeswalkers essentially bring this ability on their own. Firstly their abilities are all reusable, and secondly they can usually kill themselves as needed to recast.
I think it's pretty easy to imagine that if Maelstrom Wanderer had some kind of ability to reuse him packaged into the card he'd be quite different to play against.
I think there are two major reasons
Some people want more variety in their commanders, there are about 840 legendary creatures in Magic, and about 140 Planeswalkers, that is a pretty big addition to the pool of various commanders you can use. Other people might just want to use certain Planeswalker characters as Commanders because those are their favorite characters, and yes there are people who actually like the Planeswalkers, I know people around here want Jace to be skinned alive for daring to exist but this place is a pretty huge Echo Chamber on the Planeswalker hate.
As for potential problems, outside of making the games longer (if you consider that I problem, I for one don't) I don't see very many.
The Chain Veil? The biggest abuser of it can already be used as commander, Tezzeret can search it up sure but he can't loop as easy as Teferi can because Teferi can Untap Veil and 3 other permanents..Tezzeret only hits Veil and another permanent.
Sorin? It will feel bad for the person who gets the hit, but after that your opponents can just keep Sorin in check and the longer the game goes the worse Sorin becomes.
Doubling Season/Deepglow skate - Now these seem the most likely to be overpowered but let me ask you this. How many planeswalker Ults are that dangerous? How many are that dangerous that don't have an alternative that is more efficient? Especially with Deepglow Skate..unless you are casting both on the same turn but if you are spending 10+ Mana on two spells and nobody has an answer chances are you are probably casting a combo that should win you the game anyways.
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My most powerful deck is my Liliana, Heretical Healer deck. I would switch her out for Liliana of the Veil in a heartbeat.
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I would assume that would also be a very different deck? They don't seem like entirely the same thing.
I have seen Aminatou do gross things... but not by herself. Her ult is not good.
Estrid is also very powerful but has a bad ult.
Will and Rowan are not that good... I think they have weak abilities.
Daretti and Teferi are arguably very powerful. Saheeli too... but by themselves, the cards do very little. Teferi is good with Stasis or with The Chain Veil. Daretti is hard to ultimate. Saheeli does so little by herself and the ultimate does not win.
As you mentioned, Tezzeret would probably be more broken - it can tutor the combo piece!
Dack Fayden would mop up most of these in a vacuum.
These are great commanders - you have to build around them and when they ult they don't really win the game (by themselves). I think most planeswalkers are not made to be built around, leading to good-stuff decks and decks trying to ult as quickly as possible. Jace Beleren would be great as a commander. But Jace, Unraveler of Secrets scares me as a card in the command zone. All you would do is try to ult, because it wins the game.
This is what I am saying. Cards created to be commanders are working because they are build around cards that cannot win the game by themselves.
Other planeswalkers are made to have powerful abilities that are not necessarily 'build around' abilities, and if you can protect them long enough they win you the game. I don't see how any of that is interesting for commander.
If you are telling me you want to play BW tokens with Sorin, Lord of Innistrad -- Fine. But if you are going to play Sorin Markov or Dovin Baan, I am not interested in racing to stop your commander from ultimating the entire game. I do not want that in the command zone.
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I rarely use or put Planeswalkers in decks I play for their Ultimates, they are a nice bonus but nowhere near the goal or intended purpose of putting the card in the deck.
Sure in the decks that can make it work well it is cool but that is far from why I play Planeswalkers in the 99 or in the Command Zone.
Also I would be glad that someone is showing me Sorin Markov or Dovin Baan from the jump and not saving it for a less opportune moment.
Imagine if you could draw a walker as an 8th card in your opening hand every game, if its ultimate straight up wins the game (e.g. Venser, the Sojourner) that becomes more relevant.
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If you are trying to win the game there are way more powerful things you can do with your general.
If you are playing casually then one of the biggest things in multiplayer is that attacking a planeswalker is seen as the free-est political move you can do. Everyone except the person being attack thinks it's nice that you are attacking the planeswalker. I almost never see them survive even one turn cycle, and if you can survive one full turn cycle then you could have again probable played something stronger anyways with your control of the game.
That said--
Deck construction for protecting planeswalkers can also be quite a bit more flexible when you're just trying to have it last a couple turn cycles *and* you always draw it.
Cards like Evacuation become quite a bit more powerful for example if you literally always have the most powerful walker in your deck available.
We can see some of this kind of behavior with the more powerful existing walkers like Teferi, Temporal Archmage and even Lord Windgrace.
When your commander combos with Jokulhaups the game can be quite a bit different.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Yes, but there are literally no things you can do that are less permanent than landing an emblem. Until that changes (if it ever does), this remains a concern.
I do wish Stigma Lasher would be errataed to grant an emblem, but Wizards wants to keep that mechanic, if you can call it that, unique to planeswalker cards.
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Given all of this, I can't see walkers being commander status into the foreseeable future. Regardless of how anyone else might want to use them, this is sort of a deal breaker to me.
and the Siblings Will Kenrith and Rowan Kenrith have emblems
Lots more issues to have with PW commanders to have than that in my opinion.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Why would it remain a concern? You can play around emblems. If you want to say "but they are too strong when they happen", the simple answer is that they just aren't, relative to what's out there in commander.
But do they add a positive experience? Just off the top of my head, do I think I would enjoy playing against an Elspeth deck that wreaths until it can make an indestructible emblem? Or a Vraska one racing to a Phague emblem? Or Jace countering everything until it gets an Erayo one? The "well X, Y, and Z are already legal strategies" is a pretty weak excuse to justify adding even MORE ways to do that. If wizards printed functional reprints of Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, would that be a good thing or a bad thing?
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You just described the exact reason planeswalkers should be added. Players doing different strategies with decks centered around their commander. Nothing about any of those emblems you just mentioned are even particularly out of place for edh. An elspeth emblem? Are we really worried about someone dropping a 4 mana planeswalker, activating it over the course of 4 additional turns, and then they don't even win, they just get a big bonus? That sounds exactly like the kind of EDH I want to be playing casually.
I can't really think of a commander that represents repeated artifact+enchantment removal in the cz. If there is one it's maybe one.
There's something a little irritating about a deck being able to repeatedly gain control of your best artifact all the time.
An example from current commanders is that playing an enchantress deck against Bruna is just...awful. one of the worst experiences I can recall. I did it maybe twice.
That kind of thing runs the risk of happening a lot more because 1-walkers pack more effects on a card and 2- pack more generic effects.
I'm not sure it's a deal breaker but it does concern me that there's an increased volume of gameplay like...your artifact deck vs dack.
Just good for thought I hope. People always read this kind of rumination like I'm trying to argue a point instead of just considering angles but whatever.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Freyalise is already legal and is far from problematic.
Dack Fayden is somewhat of an outlier planeswalker, being designed to see play in eternal formats his steal ability is very undercosted. It certainly would be frustrating to play an artifact deck against dack fayden.
However, I feel like none of these arguments are actually valid at all though.
They sound like this to me:
Mono green has a number of linear generals that generate a ton of mana or tutor out creatures and play the same game every time, and one even had to be banned. We should seriously consider why mono green generals are allowed in edh at all. Do people want to be playing that kind of game?
If planeswalkers had been legal from day 1 people would not be debating this, they would just accept them as they do creatures, some are stronger than others, and some are not fun to play against, just like the existing creature generals.
In fact, planeswalker commanders have been around barely more than four years. Why can't people accept them as the exception to the rule rather than a precedent for a rules change?
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Pros:
- 3 mana.
- Free Izzet Charm each turn without needing to spend a card to do so.
- Stealing of mana rocks from turn 2 to accelerate yourself at a silly pace, something the glut of 6 mana Izzet commanders lack (Locust, Melek, the many Nivs).
- Ultimate could then be built around, something which is limited when he is in the 99.
- Plus and minus are relevant at all stages of the game.
Cons:
- You lose commander damage (not a whole swathe of commanders in Izzet care).
- You no longer have synergies in the CZ such as Mizzix or Melek.
I think there needs to be some careful analysis on what PWs like Dack here could do to just straight-up homogenize some color combos based on having multiple FREE activated abilities on them.
1. The BaaC list would still be around
2. Doubling Season would be banned, Deepglow Skate would either be banned or never made
3. Overall planeswalker design would be different, especially the ultimates
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Well, the format was originally built around the Elder Dragon legends. It was expanded to include all legendary creatures. Conceptually, planeswalkers should be commanders. The format was built around the biggest characters in magic as deck-defining lynchpins. As the game as evolved, the biggest, most important characters in the game are now planeswalkers. From a concept-focused standpoint, updating the format to evolve as the game has makes sense.
I don't know that it improves gameplay, or how it makes things better from a practical standpoint. I'm not advocating for (or against, really) changing the rules. But people make that argument because it makes sense.
I just wanted to reiterate something that I can never get anyone to understand on this forum - sometimes you're just talking about the possible ways of looking at things and not making arguments. Not everything is an argument. It's not about validity or fallacies or consistency or whatever.
Regarding some of your points:
* Freyalise is a very niche color and somewhat overcosted. But have you ever played an enchantment or artifact deck against her? It's pretty oppressive. Imagine if they print more of those in multicolors (like Dack, for example). Or trying to play a fatty deck against Ajani, Unyielding. Even though the effects are not overly powerful per se, they could create undesirable situations that invalidate strategies.
In existing commander these kinds of "ick" games do happen - aforementioned Bruna vs. Sigarda for example. But because of how narrow creature abilities are it's less frequent. Creatures just have fewer abilities and they tend to be less generally powerful.
It's a combination of being able to repeat the effects and that they're broader.
* The mono green comparison does not seem appropriate to me. "ramp" is a broad category that doesn't create the same kind of situations where a specific type of deck is repeatedly hated out just by virtue of your command zone. Rampant growth in the command zone is quite different than Naturalize.
* I'm not sure about the argument about whether walkers had been legal from day one. My gut instinct is to say so many things would be different that it's tough to think about clearly. Certainly I think wizards would have fixed the counter glitch by now.
Anyway, I'm not really sure any of that stuff invalidates walkers as commanders but it's something to give serious thought to in my opinion - the types of games they create will probably be different than legendary creatures.
Edit: Maybe another comparison will help draw out the point? I dunno.
Maelstrom Wanderer is an absurdly powerful ramp and card advantage ability in the command zone (though not for the cost; the effect is just very strong). In order to use his ability repeatedly you need to play sac outlets or bounce outlets to allow repeated casts.
Planeswalkers essentially bring this ability on their own. Firstly their abilities are all reusable, and secondly they can usually kill themselves as needed to recast.
I think it's pretty easy to imagine that if Maelstrom Wanderer had some kind of ability to reuse him packaged into the card he'd be quite different to play against.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall