By now, it’s no secret that Rhystic Study is an absurdly powerful card in Commander. It has always been one of the premier draw engines in the format, and it immediately made the Game Changer list when that came into effect last year. It’s also one of the defining cards in cEDH, serving as perhaps the best reason to play blue in a stacked field.
While the card has been hugely successful for years now, things seem to have reached a boiling point with it recently. In cEDH specifically, toxic new play patterns have led to players calling for a Rhystic Study ban in the format. As iconic as the card is, it may just be oppressive enough at this point to warrant one.
A Rhystic Study Ban in cEDH?
“cEDH needs a Rhystic ban more than any format has needed a ban since Urza’s block.”
Sam Black, via X
Essentially, MTG Pro Sam Black, and many others’ issue with Rhystic Study right now is that it has become the centerpiece of an oppressive new strategy in the format. As he notes, many cEDH players are now building decks designed to tutor up Rhystic Study, then copy it. This results in an incredibly grindy value engine, where every new spell cast puts multiple triggers on the stack.
This strategy is bad enough if one player is running it, but the real problems start to arise when players start copying each other’s Rhystic Studies. At that point, every game action takes an eternity to resolve, and often leads to more game actions with all the extra draw. The issue of time is really the big problem here, with the usual cEDH politics blending with the storm of triggers for an incredibly drawn-out game.
While Black kicked off the discussion, plenty of other players have weighed in as well in the days since. Many are reiterating how broken the card has always been, even comparing it to the now-banned Dockside Extortionist in some cases. For some in the discussion, this new Rhystic Copy metagame was an inevitable product of the card’s overbearing power level.
Proposed Solutions
Rhystic Study being an issue isn’t a very controversial statement. Thanks to this, much of this recent discussion has instead focused on ways to fix the problem. Perhaps the most obvious solution, and one many players have suggested, is simply banning Rhystic Study in Commander outright. While this would likely be a huge improvement for cEDH and help combat the exhausting play patterns that currently dominate there, it would also have a knock-on effect in casual.
Much like Sol Ring, Rhystic Study is a card that’s tied tightly to the identity of Commander. “Do you pay the one?” is a cultural calling card for the format, and many blue decks rely on it to stay competitive. In addition, over 960,000 decks run the card by EDHREC numbers. This means that banning the card would have a huge impact, and a heavy financial one at that, given its current $60 price tag. That said, even in casual, Rhystic Study is an extremely annoying card, with many fine with the card leaving there, too.
Another option many players, Black included, have floated is banning the card in cEDH alone. Since cEDH is its own bracket within Commander, it’s not out of the question for it to have its own ban list. That said, Wizards has stated its aversion to running multiple ban lists for the format many times in the past. Even having Lutri, the Spellchaser be banned as a Companion took until recently, so a full cEDH ban list may not be on the cards.
A more left-field solution to the problem that others have proposed is banning the Clone effects players are using to copy Rhystic Study, rather than the card itself. There’s some merit to this suggestion, since Clone effects are widely used elsewhere in cEDH. That said, it’s unlikely that multiple cards will catch bans for the sins of the real problem, especially considering the ripple effects into other Commander brackets.
Unknown Waters
Even if Rhystic Study is banned, it could still leave cEDH with other problems to solve. With Study out of the way, Mystic Remora could step up and fill the void left behind. As many in the recent discussion also noted, Study serves a valuable purpose in keeping Turbo decks in the format in check. It’s very possible that addressing this problem creates a new one in its wake for that reason.
Ultimately, the chances of Wizards taking action on Rhystic Study are unclear at present. On one hand, recent trends point towards less bans rather than more, especially for popular cards like Rhystic study. On the other hand, the card was actually mentioned as being on Wizards’ radar in the last Commander banned and restricted announcement.
There they noted that “We would have to see some pretty serious signs and public opinions change before touching that card.” Given how big a talking point in the cEDH community right now, it could well qualify. Regardless of what happens, the next Commander update is planned for “May or June,” so don’t expect any news before then.
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