Of Commons & Kings: Let’s Talk About Pendragon
“We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side of the dark.”
Commander is a format that itself started as fan creation. An iteration of an iteration that originally looked quite different than it does today, for better or worse. In that spirit, fans of the format have continued to iterate on these iterations. Many of these “subformats” come and go, countless fueled by good intentions but half-formed or half-executed ideas. Very few of these fan created formats find their niche with a true following, and even fewer are fully legitimized in a true sense. Out of these many fan creations that have come and gone, particularly over the past few years as Commander has skyrocketed in popularity, Pendragon has stood out to me as one with a particularly strong concept and a stronger fan base.
The base concept of Pendragon is simple and, importantly, flavorful enough: a Pauper Commander variant in which one pairs a legendary Equipment of any rarity with a Common creature in the command zone and constructs a 100-card singleton deck around it, with your Common commander and your Excalibur being included in that number. Similar to the humble Arthur Pendragon claiming his birthright and hoisting the mighty Excalibur to lead Britain from Camelot, your Common creature will hoist this equipment card to become something more.
This hearkens back to a fan-created format that was eventually granted official recognition in the form of Oathbreaker, a format in which one pairs a planeswalker with a signature spell in their command zone and a 60-card singleton deck. This format and its canonization opened up a litany of possibilities for brewers and game designers alike. Many people initially were quite excited about the prospect of Oathbreaker and it becoming official, and I myself brewed a deck and played several games of this exciting new format.
Many people still love and play Oathbreaker, and I still find it a fascinating format, but my interest waned greatly because in my opinion, the format suffered from a design space that was too easy to break. Additionally, despite an initial wave of interest and fervor, it never really recaptured the viral excitement and success it experienced in the months following its official canonization.
With Pendragon being a Pauper format that only allows Commons (aside from your legendary Equipment in the command zone), the deck-building limitations inherent to the restricted card pool that reward adventurous players with a nearly endless a variety of options. Coupled with a dedicated and hard-working team of individuals ruling the kingdom and shepherding the community, and a creative and enthusiastic fan base, Pendragon seems to be thriving.
I am lucky to count several of the members of the ruling body of Pendragon—known as the Rules Round Table—as friends and have gotten several chances to play the format with them both on their streams and in person at a gathering of friends. I’ve brewed several of my own decks, and played a few of theirs at this point and can honestly say that between the dynamic nature of the games, the deck-building restrictions that inspire creativity, and the fun and flavorful spirit of the format, I am hooked. Pendragon has rapidly become one of my favorite ways to engage with Magic as a game despite recently having a harder time maintaining my passion for the game.
In order to speak on the nature and spirit of the format, I asked a few questions of the Rules Round Table to truly and honestly get answers to questions prospective players looking at the format for the first time may ask.
Eliana: How was the Pendragon format conceived?
Grubble: Pendragon was conceived after the Kaldheim and Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate releases. I adored the Background mechanic and how it allowed me to build a quirky yet powerful command zone. I'm also a value hound so I fell in love with Sword of the Realms (the back side of Halvar, God of Battle) and the fact that it could be your commander. It lit a spark as I've always been a fan of powerful Equipment and I thought it'd be cool to develop a format where have a creature and an Equipment in the command zone together.
Then I had to figure out a name for it. Pendragon became obvious and I jumped on the idea of a creature pulling an Excalibur from the stone. Then I doubted myself. I didn't think someone like me—a virtual nobody in the online Magic community—could get a format off the ground. I also originally was going to have a legendary creature and any Equipment but I realized this afforded way too many combos in the command zone. I like tinkering with weird combinations rather than playing high-powered Commander. I wanted something more than just an instantly broken format.
I'm also a school teacher so funds are always on the low side for me so I began to tinker with the idea of a Pauper-esque format. Then my next fear arose: I didn't want the format to become the next Tiny Leaders, which I see as a solved format. That's when the flavor brought me back. Arthur should be a commoner and the Excalibur should be legendary. Then I realized I could both restrict and open the format at the same time. Your choices for an Excalibur are limited, which forces players to focus their building strategies around it. However, a Common Arthur allows for a huge and mostly underutilized subset of cards to be used to crack the format open again, facilitating creative and unique combinations in the command zone.
That philosophy ultimately solidified the idea and gave me the basic framework for Pendragon.
Eliana: How did your Rules Round Table come together?
Grubble: I knew that I needed a team. As I said before, I'm not a big name in Magic, but I did have a friendly community that had adopted me. So I presented the idea. Suddenly some of my amazing friends and community members reached out to me and said they'd like to try it. Suddenly I was able to have a sounding board for ideas ideas and I began getting real feedback.
People started asking questions and providing suggestions. Then a few started building. Next thing I knew, people had decklists they wanted to try out. As time passed, a few shining lights truly embraced my idea and began to run with it. I knew then that what I needed most was our version of the Commander Rules Committee. I offered a position to the people who seemed to love the format as much as I did. Thus the Rules Round Table was born.
The name came organically and was all but obvious. The format grew and people came and went we until we found our ideal number: seven. Now we work as a team to not only foster the format, but also to identify wonderful people in the community to bring on board when life requires people to move on from the team. Pendragon is no longer my format; it has become our format. I think this is ultimately how we were able to cultivate such a diverse set of people, which has also translated to such an open and welcoming community as well. Good people attract more good people and I'm blessed to have a team comprised of beautiful souls.
Editor’s note: As I work on formatting this for publication on our website, I’m reminded of some quotes from the late Sheldon Menery. I believe that Pendragon is in excellent hands.
Arthurian legend states the Round Table was a collaboration of equals. Our team espouses that idea. When we need to make a ruling on the format we each have a voice and a vote. We do not always agree, but all ideas and concerns are viewed as valid and healthy debate is highly encouraged. In the end, we make our decisions as a team.
Katie: I was into the idea right off the bat, being a bit of a slut for Arthurian lore myself. I had been getting into Pauper EDH already and was a big fan of the more limited card pool, so the combination just leapt out at me. I kept brewing more interesting combinations and before I knew it I was sitting at the round table. We've had people come and go, but my criteria for embracing new members has always been a passion for the format and an interesting perspective to add to the table.
Eliana: You've made it clear that you are fans of Arthurian legend. I've also often referred to myself as an absolute slut for Arthurian bullshit. How did the concepts of the Round Table and Arthurian legend factor into the design philosophy behind Pendragon?
Grubble: As for the format itself, the flavor of Arthurian legend helps us identify the core of the format. It has helped us to defend our decisions and keep the design space healthy and creative.
Katie: The Arthurian angle solidified our foundation. The lore is full of more than just Excalibur. You have the Sword in the Stone which was NOT Excalibur, the Holy Grail, Excalibur's scabbard, Prydwen which is either a shield or a boat. It has informed our decisions as more legendary Equipment have been printed.
We have allowed even the bonkers ones such as The Aetherspark. We get asked a lot about opening it up to legendary artifacts instead of just equipment, and the flavor of the format is a big reason why I, at least, will push back against that forever. Equipment requires a creature. Excalibur would still be at the bottom of the lake doing nothing if the Lady of the Lake hadn't bestowed it upon Arthur, and the Sword in the Stone still needed a simple man's hand to pull it forth.
Eliana: I've heard multiple people talk about Pendragon’s lack of a banlist, including many members of your Round Table espousing this fact as enticement or some kind of benefit. Other Pauper formats having stringent banlists to maintain format health, what led to this decision? How has it affected the format overall?
Grubble: Banlists are a tightrope. They protect the integrity of the game, but they are also imperfect and often create their own problems. We often mention that we have no banlist because it indicates that currently people can build whatever decks their their hearts desire within the format parameters. This is enticing to veteran players who know how powerful certain cards can be while also simplifying the current rulings for new players. They won't have to worry about accidentally putting in a banned card.
The key philosophy is one focused on observing the health of a very new format. Pendragon is not Pauper and, due to some of its more unique mechanics, requires a different banlist. We don’t know what that list is yet. We chose to let the format grow first before we identify and fix problems should they arise. Ultimately, I feel this is the best way to ensure our banlist reflects exactly what our format needs.
DracoLucian: A lot of people in the EDH community have talked about removing bans to start over due to power creep of recent years, as some banned cards are not what they used to be. That being said, Pendragon seems to have approached a banlist as letting cards be a true problem first before they are removed. Lots of people have never experienced playing with some of the cards that are banned in Commander and don't understand the power of why some of them are there. Letting something be a problem before banning it lets people get the full experience of playing any card first, before a banlist takes away the card as a playable option.
Katie: While most of Pendragon is based on Pauper, the legendary Equipment injects something different into the format which really shakes up the meta in a way that's different from traditional EDH or traditional Pauper. Traditional EDH has a ton of power from Uncommon or higher Rarity cards that Pendragon doesn't have to worry about. Traditional Pauper isn't singleton, and lacks the power injection of the legendary Equipment.
Things that are broken in Pauper—Sadistic Glee and Basking Broodscale, for example—are much more common in Pendragon where you can have Broodscale with Tarrian's Soulcleaver in the command zone. However, because the power injection is generally from the legendary Equipment, the meta adjusts to naturally counter these abilities; artifact destruction and even protection from artifacts are huge in our format. We also have a significant lack of tutors at common beyond cards with transmute, so finding a single key card out of your 98 is much harder. Pauper EDH is the closest thing to our format, and we do pay attention to their bans, but the inclusion of legendary Equipment really does shake things up.
That's not to say we're against banning anything ever. There are a few things we have our eyes on—Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Devoted Druid, All That Glitters, and Lotus Petal are up there for me personally—but we really want to be convinced by the community that these are a problem before we take action.
Author’s note: I think Umezawa’s Jitte should be the first candidate for banning, personally. When used correctly, in a Pauper format especially, no one else gets to have creatures once you get it online. It can be extremely oppressive in a format like Pendragon, which I say after doing this time and time again with my own Jitte while playing this format.
In the original stories of King Arthur, long before the famous Round Table, Arthur inherits a kingdom beset by war and injustice that he crusades across to unify and bring into order and safety. After the conclusion of their wars, depending on which version of Arthur’s stories you read, he falls into decline until his eventual death or remains a just ruler despite his very human faults. Pendragon has achieved their kingdom by reaching a level of recognition that fan-made subformats rarely reach. No matter what happens next, all roads eventually lead to Camlann. Which road the Rules Round Table leads the format and their community down will determine the future of the format and how it’s remembered in this transitive time in Magic’s history. Knowing the leadership stewarding the format, I can envision bright things in Pendragon’s future and can’t wait to see it grow. Personally, I’m hoping and expecting to see even more T.H. White and even less Sir Thomas Malory.
Further resources for those looking to learn more about Pendragon can be found on the official Pendragon website and now on Moxfield where the format has been added as a deck-building option! Pendragon also has a Discord server and many official social media accounts you can access from their website.
Lastly, I have included one of my own Pendragon decks here to help showcase this format.
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