It's been a few months since Hour of Devastation came out and I can't keep but thinking that Painter's Servant and Solemnity are extremely similar cards.
-Both are "hub" cards that enable many possible interactions with some of theim being cool, but some of the possible ones being a potential negative on commander games.
-Both cards #1 boogyman combo prevents your opponents from being able to cast spells, putting them in spectator mode. Iona vs Decree of Silence.
-Both cards have universal effects, meaning that an opponent can use them to unintentionally combo.
There is just one strange thing, Solemnity seems to not be living up to all the doom and gloom predictions of spoiler season. We've had very few decklists aiming to abuse it and almost no stories of it ruining games. Solemnity is a very new card, it should be at the height of it's popularity. It fuels extremely powerful two card combos that can end the game on the spot. Yet for whatever reason Solemnity combo isn't the scourge of the format that it was expected to be.
Now there could be other reasons as to why Solemnity receives very little play, but to me, this looks like the social contract at work. Solemnity can be used to combo out, lock out, and generally abuse the game, but it's being passed over by many commander players. They don't want to build decks that way and so they aren't flocking to the newest combo "hub".
The logic is simple, Solemnity is a combo "hub" that can do unfair things; so is Painter's Servant. Yet, Solemnity is legal and not being abused, probably due to the formats social contract. Painter's Servant is subject to the same social contract so even if made legal it would not be abused.
When I first saw the card spoiled, I was pretty happy to see her and was immediatly thinking of making a deck with her. I've always been a fan of the Orzhov combination, but I felt other commanders like Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Athreos, God of Passage, Teysa, Orzhov Scion, and Daxos the Returned and especially Karlov of the Ghost Council are too specialized. Each of them has a deck, but that deck is very geared to doing things one way and one way only so as to make the commander work. Vona is much more generalist, which is good because she can be at the helm of any kind of deck; the draw back is she doesn't exactly tell you the best way to build her either.
Just over 1/3rd of the set is spoiled so far and I'm already hyped for 4 cards in the set. Jaya is super hard to make cuts in already. Going to be really hard to try out everything I want.
The remaining players are:
My R/B punisher deck (5 life)
Zur Astral Slide (4 life)
Tasigur good stuff (5 Life)
Sigg Rogue tribal (6 life)
Tasigur had cast a huge Villainous Wealth on my deck getting several punisher enchantments, the most important one being Tainted Aether
Zur has Tasigur's Kokusho, The Evening Star exiled by Grasp of Fate. Tasigur plays Woodfall Primus, kiling Grasp. He gets Kokusho back and Tainted Aether triggers, in response Zur plays Anguished Unmaking on The Kokusho. Tasigur actives Winding Canyons to flash in his general getting another Tainted Aether trigger. Trigger resolves. Kokusho dies. Kokusho drain for 5 trigger on the stack. I have a response. Cast Fated Return on the Kokusho in the graveyard in response to the trigger. Fated Return resolves. I get Kokusho, Tainted Aether trigger. Sac kokusho get my own kokusho trigger in response to the lethal kokusho trigger that Tasigur had on me. Kill Tasigur and Zur instantly. Bring Sigg to 1 life and I go to 20. Win the game on my turn with a man land. All smiles.
I don't buy into the "Blue needs Cyclonic Rift" argument. Commander existed before Rift was even printed and I don't recall monoblue or U/X decks ever being weak. It would be interesting to look up past decks and see what kind of removal/bounce was played prior to RTR. I think it's quite telling that every card with a remotely similar effect to Rift is both sorcery speed and symmetrical. Rift is just a card with all upside with too little of a cost increase to push it into Plague Wind territory.
The problem with the "You can combo out faster with this combo, therefore card X is fair". is that people don't actually play the format that way. The RC has banned several cards that cost 8+ mana. the idea that any 8 cost cards should be capable of winning the game because you failed to win quicker is an idea that comes from 60-card magic and has no place in EDH discussion. Why would the RC act to ban so many high mana spells if the game is suppose to end on or before turn 8?
I took a quick glance Sheldon's play-by-play articles at and I can't find a single game ending before turn 10. His games regularly go into the high teens turn count and even passing turn 20 is not that rare.
The RC is obviously not playing the "Let's just combo out on turn 5" game.
I don't think a rules change is going to solve the issue. If you want to grief by deny people their commander permanently, you'll just move on to the next card, be it Pyxis of Pandemonium, Declaration of Naught, or Nevermore.
I feel like this argument is splitting along 'tiers' of the format. Some people are argueing that Hoof is just not a card that has a significant impact on the game because the game can be ended by a combo 1 turn later off T&N or one turn earlier off Hulk. This is an accurate argument, but it also seems be coming from a tier 1 or tier 1.25 place of playgroup deck ptimization, while Hoof is a card that is going to be much more impactful in ending games in the tier 2 - tier 3 zone of the meta that a whole lot of players tune their decks too.
Think about comparing it to Prophet of Kruphix. PoK is a card that does exactly what it looks like it'll do in game. It let you play magic on everyones turn. PoK was a card that had a minimal if any impact in the top tiers of the format. Why play an ETB value deck with PoK when my opponents are going to combo out, stax you out, or out control you? The problem was that PoK has a huge impact on the lower tiers of decks that enevtually led to it bening banned.
I don't think is as centralizing as PoK was in it's day, but comparing Hoofs clock to intential combo decks in top tier metas is silly.
Hoofs owner gets to choose when to play it. They aren't going to slam it down into a Torpor Orb or when they have a lone 1/1 goat token and their oppoents have 56 life each. Hoof is never going to be played without the threat of it dealing massive damamge.
The this scenario with Hoof vs this scenario using some other card doesn't work too well here. Triumph of the Hordes is a card that sees very limited play, because you basically ned the opponent to be fully open with no way to respond to get a kill with it. Attacking them with five 2/2 infects, but having one of them get blocked or killed leaves your opponent at just 8 poison and you'll have a hard time getting that last 2 poison in.
Real magic games are inherently messy; players do have blockers and other interaction. The reason Hoof sees so much play compared to every other card with a similar effect is that it gives an insanely large boost to power/toughness and trample. It doesn't care about messy boards or a single piece of point removal because it's got the power to just ram roughshod over it all.
For the people who are bored of Hoof, but don't want it banned. What makes it not banworthy in your mind?
From my view point there are different tiers of banned; there are clearly cards that are just going to be banned forever because they are disgustingly powerful, the Tinker and Channel tier and then there are the more marginal bans like Gifts Ungiven and Prophet of Kruphix. Obviously, Hoof is not Channel so it would be a more marginal ban.
If anything, the updated philosophy document made by the RC does outline a case where they feel taking action against a card is justified. That being "Problematic Casual Omnipresence". (Check out Sheldons article here.) Hoof (and Cyclonic Rift) is a card that is casually omnipresent. It's in the top 40 most viewed cards on EDHrec. Lots of people play green, green decks usually play creatures, creature decks play Hoof. The argument cannot be about Hoof not being played enough; it can only be about wether it's effect on the game is problematic or not; which is up to the subjective opinion of the player.
I'm not a fan of hoof. I've been playing Ensnaring Bridge in my deck for years to deal with big fatties like him, and it doesn't even do a good job at stopping Hoof. I try to avoid building green decks, because I feel they always just jam good staple cards; Hoof is an excellent example of that. Eveygreen deck I've made in thsi format, excpet for the one Voltron one has played Hoof and it's almost always the best play is to Hoof for the win. Unless you're playing a creatureless green deck, you should play him and he will just end the game for you when you play him, unless somebody has a specific answer.
I do want to adress two of the counterarguments that DunHarrow mentioned.
The first is onboard-answers aren't really great at answering Hoof. Ghostly Prism is a fine card, but the green player gets to decide when they cast Hoof. They can just hold off and wait for a Krosan Grip or something else to sweep your defenses, then deploy their Hoof to kill you. Onboard answers are just delaying their game plan not thwarting it.
It does nothing by itself is just not an argument. Many cards do nothing by themselves. Mind over Matter is terible if you're hellbent. Ad Nauseam is useless if you have no cards library. Heck, Painter's Servant is banned and all it can do by itself is attack and block. When discussing cards, we need to assume they are being used in a normal, resonable way. That means Hoof is being played when it's controller already has some board presence with creatures. It doesn't have to be 50 1/1 tokens, even a rather modest board can be enough for Hoof to starting killing players.
A quick peak at the top 50 artifacts shows that most are mana rocks, but there are several cheap equipment or card drawers such as Scroll Rack and Skullclamp that could help fuel an academy.
You said it's a big mana control deck? You could always try something like Equipoise or Balancing Act to punish them for having more lands then you. If they are getting infinite mana as part of a combo, try disrupting that with either specific removal or something like Tragic Arrogance to make them sac important permanents.
-Both are "hub" cards that enable many possible interactions with some of theim being cool, but some of the possible ones being a potential negative on commander games.
-Both cards #1 boogyman combo prevents your opponents from being able to cast spells, putting them in spectator mode. Iona vs Decree of Silence.
-Both cards have universal effects, meaning that an opponent can use them to unintentionally combo.
There is just one strange thing, Solemnity seems to not be living up to all the doom and gloom predictions of spoiler season. We've had very few decklists aiming to abuse it and almost no stories of it ruining games. Solemnity is a very new card, it should be at the height of it's popularity. It fuels extremely powerful two card combos that can end the game on the spot. Yet for whatever reason Solemnity combo isn't the scourge of the format that it was expected to be.
Now there could be other reasons as to why Solemnity receives very little play, but to me, this looks like the social contract at work. Solemnity can be used to combo out, lock out, and generally abuse the game, but it's being passed over by many commander players. They don't want to build decks that way and so they aren't flocking to the newest combo "hub".
The logic is simple, Solemnity is a combo "hub" that can do unfair things; so is Painter's Servant. Yet, Solemnity is legal and not being abused, probably due to the formats social contract. Painter's Servant is subject to the same social contract so even if made legal it would not be abused.
The remaining players are:
My R/B punisher deck (5 life)
Zur Astral Slide (4 life)
Tasigur good stuff (5 Life)
Sigg Rogue tribal (6 life)
Tasigur had cast a huge Villainous Wealth on my deck getting several punisher enchantments, the most important one being Tainted Aether
Zur has Tasigur's Kokusho, The Evening Star exiled by Grasp of Fate. Tasigur plays Woodfall Primus, kiling Grasp. He gets Kokusho back and Tainted Aether triggers, in response Zur plays Anguished Unmaking on The Kokusho. Tasigur actives Winding Canyons to flash in his general getting another Tainted Aether trigger. Trigger resolves. Kokusho dies. Kokusho drain for 5 trigger on the stack. I have a response. Cast Fated Return on the Kokusho in the graveyard in response to the trigger. Fated Return resolves. I get Kokusho, Tainted Aether trigger. Sac kokusho get my own kokusho trigger in response to the lethal kokusho trigger that Tasigur had on me. Kill Tasigur and Zur instantly. Bring Sigg to 1 life and I go to 20. Win the game on my turn with a man land. All smiles.
I still have yet to see one in a game.
I took a quick glance Sheldon's play-by-play articles at and I can't find a single game ending before turn 10. His games regularly go into the high teens turn count and even passing turn 20 is not that rare.
The RC is obviously not playing the "Let's just combo out on turn 5" game.
Think about comparing it to Prophet of Kruphix. PoK is a card that does exactly what it looks like it'll do in game. It let you play magic on everyones turn. PoK was a card that had a minimal if any impact in the top tiers of the format. Why play an ETB value deck with PoK when my opponents are going to combo out, stax you out, or out control you? The problem was that PoK has a huge impact on the lower tiers of decks that enevtually led to it bening banned.
I don't think is as centralizing as PoK was in it's day, but comparing Hoofs clock to intential combo decks in top tier metas is silly.
Real magic games are inherently messy; players do have blockers and other interaction. The reason Hoof sees so much play compared to every other card with a similar effect is that it gives an insanely large boost to power/toughness and trample. It doesn't care about messy boards or a single piece of point removal because it's got the power to just ram roughshod over it all.
For the people who are bored of Hoof, but don't want it banned. What makes it not banworthy in your mind?
From my view point there are different tiers of banned; there are clearly cards that are just going to be banned forever because they are disgustingly powerful, the Tinker and Channel tier and then there are the more marginal bans like Gifts Ungiven and Prophet of Kruphix. Obviously, Hoof is not Channel so it would be a more marginal ban.
If anything, the updated philosophy document made by the RC does outline a case where they feel taking action against a card is justified. That being "Problematic Casual Omnipresence". (Check out Sheldons article here.) Hoof (and Cyclonic Rift) is a card that is casually omnipresent. It's in the top 40 most viewed cards on EDHrec. Lots of people play green, green decks usually play creatures, creature decks play Hoof. The argument cannot be about Hoof not being played enough; it can only be about wether it's effect on the game is problematic or not; which is up to the subjective opinion of the player.
I do want to adress two of the counterarguments that DunHarrow mentioned.
The first is onboard-answers aren't really great at answering Hoof. Ghostly Prism is a fine card, but the green player gets to decide when they cast Hoof. They can just hold off and wait for a Krosan Grip or something else to sweep your defenses, then deploy their Hoof to kill you. Onboard answers are just delaying their game plan not thwarting it.
It does nothing by itself is just not an argument. Many cards do nothing by themselves. Mind over Matter is terible if you're hellbent. Ad Nauseam is useless if you have no cards library. Heck, Painter's Servant is banned and all it can do by itself is attack and block. When discussing cards, we need to assume they are being used in a normal, resonable way. That means Hoof is being played when it's controller already has some board presence with creatures. It doesn't have to be 50 1/1 tokens, even a rather modest board can be enough for Hoof to starting killing players.
It's really going to depend on how much mana is being defined as problematic.
A hand with Tormod's Crypt, Sensei's Divining Top, and Lightning Greaves can be tapping for 6 mana on turn 3.
A quick peak at the top 50 artifacts shows that most are mana rocks, but there are several cheap equipment or card drawers such as Scroll Rack and Skullclamp that could help fuel an academy.
Defense Grid is super good against counterspells.
You said it's a big mana control deck? You could always try something like Equipoise or Balancing Act to punish them for having more lands then you. If they are getting infinite mana as part of a combo, try disrupting that with either specific removal or something like Tragic Arrogance to make them sac important permanents.
Silence especially on Isochron Scepter
Mana Web is a bomb against blue decks.