GoingMadlem

they are a color or set of colors and just that. they command an army that fits that set of philosophies and does not break those defined boundaries. they *are* that color, not more or less. So when my Red/Black general casts a black/blue card, they are breaking that idea.

as a vorthos, the story i tell with my commander deck really matters to me. It matters to me that Tajic has a legion of soldiers in boros colors. It matters that Titania does not stray outside of her forests, or that Breya can't conceive of a forest at all

yeah, mechanically, i'm sure hybrid is fine, knock yourself out, but at that point it's just generic magic, and the spark of my story is gone.

i have countless formats where i can play whatever cards i want without building a coherent narrative of why they are in my wizard's spellbook. I have only one format where it actively allows me to roleplay the story i want to tell.

Mark is probably right. wotc r&d will probably wear us down and get what they want and hybrid will be free to roam the land. but something of great intangible value will be lost in that exchange, and i'm not sure if it will have been worth it.

there are folks on the pro scene who have made statements like 'the top of the card could just be solid colors for all it matters to me', which is fine. they want to play a game to win, and they want to maximize card synergies and powers and mechanics. no problem.

but i play commander because Arcades Sabboth sits on the ramparts of his fortress and commands the walls to walk. I play commander because Feldon is desperately seeking to revive his wife however he can. I play commander because Tajic is the last bastion of good on Ravnica.

Let me have my stories. Let me shape the game the way the alpha rules taught me to, with dueling wizards casting their spells and summoning the shadows of creatures from across the multiverse, tapping into immense wellsprings of power from the lands they have visited.