Banned with the rest of the Power Nine largely for accessibility optics - the Rules Committee did not want casual observers to think Commander required an expensive Power Nine investment to play.

Creates slow games with few meaningful decisions, leaving players with minimal resources and almost no agency after it resolves.

Banned largely for optics as part of the Power Nine - the Rules Committee wanted to counter the notion that Commander requires hundreds or thousands of dollars of Power Nine cards.

Abuses the format's higher starting life total by converting life into a huge burst of mana, catapulting its controller far ahead in the early game.

A manual-dexterity card that requires physically flipping the card onto the battlefield, creating accessibility problems and awkward gameplay.

Can generate a mana advantage as early as turn two and then accumulate excessive treasures, so entire games came to revolve around a two-mana creature. Wizards cited it as a frequent catalyst for problematic snowballing starts.

Its game-warping combination of abilities lets it dominate games without actually ending them, and it was banned after community outcry over uninteresting ramp-into-Emrakul strategies.

Flips easily when played in the early game, and the resulting counter-lock play pattern is nearly always one-sided and oppressive. Originally banned only as a commander, it became fully banned when that category was eliminated in September 2014.

A manual-dexterity card that requires physically throwing the card onto spread-out creatures, creating accessibility problems and awkward gameplay.

Exploits the format's higher life total to play many extra lands for a negligible life cost, producing excessive acceleration and landfall-style trigger abuse.

Lets creatures be put into play at instant speed for a minimal cost, enabling combo wins that prevent meaningful interaction from the rest of the table.

The Rules Committee found it was a better choice of leader for all but the most commander-centric decks, crushing diversity in commander selection while providing ramp, card advantage, and free spellcasting without real color or cost restrictions.

Easily cheated into play early and, amplified by the format's 40-point life total, draws an overwhelming number of cards - made worse by being reliably available from the command zone.

Combined with mass-draw and wheel effects to easily strip opponents' hands while accelerating its controller - an asymmetric resource-denial pattern the Rules Committee judged too tempting even in casual play.

Locks entire colors out of the game, totally negating one or more players' involvement and creating serious social friction at the table.

Powers out four- and five-mana commanders far ahead of schedule without needing a strong hand, and modern commanders' built-in card advantage and protection abilities offset its one-shot drawback. Opponents cannot realistically contest such early commander deployments.

For a negligible cost it repeatedly bounces opposing commanders, denying opponents access to their commanders while protecting its controller's own.

As a commander it enables asymmetric resource denial, pairing with wheel and hand-stripping effects to leave opponents with nothing while its controller keeps drawing.

Considered a de facto tenth piece of Power and banned partly for the same barrier-to-entry optics as the Power Nine, alongside the strong recurring card advantage it provides over Commander's long games.

In a multiplayer game the ten-lands threshold is reached almost immediately, so this one-mana enchantment effectively reads 'players can't play any more lands' from around turn two.

Because Commander decks are singleton, nearly every blue-red deck automatically satisfies its companion restriction, making it a free 101st card with no deckbuilding cost.

Produces explosive free mana that lets players untap with far too much mana as early as turn two, and its life-loss drawback is negligible in the fast, snowballing games it creates.

Banned with the rest of the Power Nine largely for optics - the Rules Committee wanted to counter the perception that Commander requires an expensive Power Nine investment.

Banned with the rest of the Power Nine largely for optics - the Rules Committee wanted to counter the perception that Commander requires an expensive Power Nine investment.

Banned with the rest of the Power Nine largely for optics - the Rules Committee wanted to counter the perception that Commander requires an expensive Power Nine investment.

Banned with the rest of the Power Nine largely for optics - the Rules Committee wanted to counter the perception that Commander requires an expensive Power Nine investment.

Banned with the rest of the Power Nine largely for optics - the Rules Committee wanted to counter the perception that Commander requires an expensive Power Nine investment.

An inexpensive, popular commander that yields overwhelming resource advantage through long, non-deterministic turns with little interaction, causing problems even in casual decks when combined with staples like Lightning Greaves.

Generates excessive mana through repeated untaps at almost no deckbuilding cost, letting one player monopolize the chess clock while the rest of the table waits.

Tutors two lands onto the battlefield for six mana, producing fast, uninteractive acceleration that frequently decides games without actually ending them.

Lets its controller untap and play at instant speed during every other player's turn, resulting in one player monopolizing the table's play time.

Nearly unstoppable once established, since its sacrifice activation returns it to hand and dodges most interaction, and its recursion engine can become the only spell its controller needs to play.

Can provide as much as six mana by turn three with minimal deckbuilding restrictions. Originally banned only as a commander, it became fully banned when that category was eliminated in September 2014.

Subgames are a logistical nightmare in multiplayer Commander, and copying or recurring it turns games into slogs.

Repeatedly blinked or recurred to destroy opponents' basic lands, making it nearly impossible for other players to keep lands on the battlefield.

In multiplayer it ramps its controller two or three lands while destroying a permanent from each opponent, and flicker or recursion loops create an insurmountable mana gap.

Enables infinite-turn loops, and was banned after errata reverted it to its broken printed functionality.

Banned with the rest of the Power Nine largely for optics - the Rules Committee wanted to counter the perception that Commander requires an expensive Power Nine investment.

Cheats expensive artifacts into play far ahead of schedule, ending games quickly or locking opponents out of meaningful interaction.

With cheap artifacts it can produce multiple mana as early as turn one and keeps scaling throughout the game at no cost.

A cheap spell that lets two players collude to draw effectively unlimited cards and box the other players out of the game.

Resets the entire board while its controller floats mana and immediately redeploys, a swing that is essentially unanswerable outside of countermagic.

Abuses the format's 40-point starting life total, trivializing the life payment and letting its controller draw a huge portion of their deck.