Well, fellas, it's been a while since we've done an ETH rec room episode.

It's been a minute, hasn't it?

Well, it's also been a minute since we've had a day quite like today.

I don't want to say today was a red wedding level, but it was pretty close for some people.

This is obviously being recorded on a Monday and Joey logged on by saying, well, boys, it's been quite a week.

And he is not wrong. That has very much been the vibe so far today. Lemon, it's only Tuesday. It's only Tuesday. Yeah. You beat me to it, Joey. I mean, every commander player out there found out what it was like to play Splinter twin in modern years ago. That's basically what's happened. So, yeah, for folks not immediately in the know, I imagine a lot of videos are coming out today.

A lot of episodes are getting published today about the recent ban announcement that we just got from the Command of Rules Committee, where a historic four cards were all simultaneously banned.

We are bidding adieu to dockside extortionist, to manacrypt, to jeweled lotus, and to nodu.

Rest in peace and peace, I guess.

Like, wow.

Yep.

Maybe real quick to set the tone, you guys.

Let's go through each card and each say if we are for the ban or against the ban. And maybe that can signal people like where our biases are or whatever, just but like to kind of set the tone for the conversation. Sure. So for instance, starting with Manicrypt, like what are the votes there? I wouldn't have thought I was for it, but I'm perfectly okay with Manicrypt being banned. I would say I am pro banning as well. Consider me pro-neutral. Doxite extortionist. Pro, very pro. I'm the most pro on doxide. Co-assigned with you, Dana. I'm also the most pro-on-doxide extortionist. Jeweled Lotus. I think I would go neutral anti-ban, but mostly neutral. This one, it's hard to talk about this one without more context. But in a word, neutral anti-ban. Yeah. Pro ban. I am of the three, this is the one I have the least positive thoughts on, but I'm also pro in this case. Interesting. I'm actually anti-ban on this one. Okay. And then finally, NADU. 100% very, very pro. This card can get rocketed into the sun.

Yeah, this is kind of off to the side of the other three because it's for different reasons.

But I'm very pro too.

I think this is a miserable card to play against a couple times.

I've seen it and I'm glad it's gone.

I'll say I don't think it needed it, but I'm also not sorry.

Like, bye, by, birdie. So, okay. Social media has been very contentious at best in response to this. So I think it is worth kind of giving some breath to the explanations that they gave. So first up, Manicrypt, everyone knows Manicrypt. It's the zero manna taps for two colorless. At the meeting, you up, keep you flip a coin. if you lose the flip, deals three damage to you. So about manacrip, they said coming down for no mana on turn one, quite possible to have the explosive start with manacrypt into signet, talisman, land, another signet and leaving players with upwards of five plus manna on turn two. In games that go over 12 hours, the accumulated threat of damage for manacrypt provides

a reasonable counterbalance for this explosive effect.

But when you're snowballing to a turn six or turn eight win, it's a meaningless drawback.

And I very much agree.

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