June 30th B&R Announcement: Potential Game Changer Updates Incoming

Last updated on June 20, 2025

Deflecting Swat | Illustration by Greg Staples

Game Changers were announced in February of 2025 as part of the broader Commander Brackets system that was being implemented into EDH directly by Wizards of the Coast. The system aims to give players common ground on which they can evaluate the power level of their decks, instead of arbitrarily calling everything a 7 and proceeding to have the most unenjoyable games of Magic they've ever played.

In addition to Bracketing decks by power level, the new system introduced the concept of Game Changers. These are some of the defining high-power cards that take Commander decks to the next level, and quite literally warp games around them. The first wave of Game Changers was announced in February, with changes made to the list in April. And now, with an official Banned & Restricted announcement coming on June 30, there's speculation that the game might change yet again.

Clarification

First off, just to be clear, it's completely possible that there are no changes to the Game Changers list at all in this upcoming B&R announcement. The last changes were made just two months ago, with plenty of justifications for why cards were added or removed from the list, and it's possible the Commander Format Panel wants to let those changes sit for a bit longer. Game Changers and the official banlist are two separate entities, but not wanting to tinker with one could be an indication that they don't want to mess with either.

There's also the fact of the matter that this upcoming B&R announcement really needs to focus on Standard, with some potential nods to other Constructed formats. Standard's in a really tough spot with the way everything's warped around Izzet Prowess, and players are praying to the Therosian gods that some key players like Monstrous Rage and Cori-Steel Cutter get the axe. It might be in WotC's best interest to address formats that desperately need a banlist update over making changes to Commander.

But, then again, there's nothing stopping the Commander folks from popping their heads in with a few changes to shake things up in EDH anyway.

Potential Game Changer Retirees

Coalition Victory | Illustration by Eric Peterson

Sway of the Stars + Coalition Victory

The way the Commander banlist works now is that unbanned cards are immediately labeled as Game Changers instead of freely released back into the Commander card pool. People can now play them in their decks, but they'll affect which Bracket their deck falls into.

With the April 2025 announcement, WotC dropped a number of cards off the banlist, downgrading cards like Sway of the Stars and Coalition Victory from banned to Game Changer status. The intent is to see if/how these cards warp the meta, or if they have a significant impact at all.

It's unlikely anyone's LGS has been totally ravaged by either of these cards over the last few months, so they're probably safe to invite back into Commander at large, at least slightly safer than other recently-unbanned cards like Gifts Ungiven and Braids, Cabal Minion.

Gamble + Crop Rotation

These were just silly additions to the Game Changers list to begin with. They're both situationally quite strong, but they're nowhere near as ubiquitous or, excuse the pun, game-changing as the other tutors on the list. Adding them just for the sake of cycle completion with actual powerhouses like Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor was just unnecessary.

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur + Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

The Game Changers list attempts to pull unfun, resource denial cards out of low-power, casual Commander games, so it makes sense that Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger are here.

Potential Game Changer Additions

Cabal Coffers | Illustration by Don Hazeltine

Ok, so very little's likely to come off the Game Changers list, but what might be added to the list? The following cards were all discussed in the previous announcements, but the Panel decided to pass on any taking any actions with them.

• Farewell
• Alms Collector
• Mana Drain
• Mystic Remora
• Timetwister
• Wheel of Fortune
• Grave Pact
• Dictate of Erebos
• Necrodominance
• Craterhoof Behemoth
• The Great Henge
• Green Sun's Zenith
• Chord of Calling
• Finale of Devastation
• Tooth and Nail
• Defense of the Heart
• Sol Ring (basically deemed untouchable despite being game-breaking)

A lot of decisions to leave these cards alone revolve around high mana costs or self-monitoring at casual tables, but many of these cards are in contention for Game Changer upgrades at some point.

Farewell

If one of the goals of the Game Changers list is to monitor unfun cards, Farewell belongs there. It's as unfun as a board wipe gets, since swiping the graveyards in addition to most everything else just takes away many decks' ability to rebuild effectively. The result is long, drawn out games where a Farewell resolves.

The format will be fine with this relegated to higher Brackets; Sunfall and Ultima are powerful alternatives, and there was nothing wrong with Austere Command to begin with. Time to say farewell to Farewell.

Cabal Coffers

There's been some call to remove Cabal Coffers from casual play. Its absurd mana output is secondary to actual Game Changer lands like Serra's Sanctum and Gaea's Cradle, since it requires more work to actually generate tons of mana (a la Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx). It's explosive mana production when it works, but it's more a piece of a 2-card combo than it is outright problematic.

Vivi Ornitier

Vivi Ornitier is probably the single strongest commander to come out of Final Fantasy, which is saying a lot for a set with approximately 6,000 legendary creatures. There's almost no shot the Panel acts on a card that was just released, but there may be some action taken on Vivi in the future if it holds up to its current reputation.

Vivi's capable of broken mana production, which is especially potent in UR, a color pair that doesn't get much access to this sort of mana generation outside already GC'd cards like Jeska's Will. The fact that Vivi also serves as its own wincon due to the ping effect means it's a highly competitive card, and if it proves problematic, it could go the way of Nadu, Winged Wisdom and deserve an emergency ban.

In Conclusion

Again, it's very possible no changes happen to Commander at all. Check back in when WotC releases their Banned and Restricted announcement on June 30, and to all those people still holding on to stacks of Primeval Titans, your time will come soon enough. Not on Monday, but soon.