EDH wird MTG Commander

What's with the name change?

It's no secret that R&D at Wizards loves EDH as much as anyone; they're gamers like us and have been playing EDH for years. Big name team members like Ken Nagle, Lee Sharpe, Scott Larabee, and Aaron Forsythe have promoted the format via coding MTGO, gunslinging EDH at prereleases, and designing awesome new cards for our favourite slug-fest format.

Next year it gets even better. WotC is releasing a new product just for us, in the form of preconstructed EDH decks. Even better, they've got some great staples and new cards designed specifically for EDH! (see below)

There's a catch though. For various reasons, WotC would rather not release a product under the name "Elder Dragon Highlander".. so based on the success of the Commander format on MTGO, they've decided to go with the name MTG-Commander.

That leaves us, the EDH community, with a choice. We can (and probably will to various degrees) continue calling the format Elder Dragon Highlander, but new players who buy the precons next year are going to know it as Commander and there's a risk of splitting the format rather than bringing them into the community that we've built. In the end, it's a decision that players are going to have to make for themselves... EDH is a community project... but the rules comittee feels that it's worth the effort of changing to keep that community united.

We know that many people, ourselves included, will continue to call it "EDH" colloquially for some time yet, but we felt that the format was best served by meeting Wizards half way on this one. They're giving the EDH community several things we've wanted, for a long time, and we can help the format grow by pairing with them instead of fighting against them.

So, what IS happening?

The "official" name for the format on this site will change, including the forum banners, rules page, and url (http://mtgcommander.net). We're going to start using the name Commander in official rules pages and announcements. The change will be gradual though, as we update the various sections of the website, and voluntary for its users... we'll probably continue to provide old forum skins for those who prefer the comfort of those environs, and we're not going to object to anyone who calls it EDH on the forums.

What is NOT happening?

People aren't going to suddenly stop using the name Elder Dragon Highlander. Over time we hope that the name Commander will be adopted, but the term EDH in particular will likely remain in use for a long time.

The dragonhighlander.net URL isn't going away; it will redirect to the new forums.
For what it's worth, R&D has restated that they have no desire or intent to ever 'take over' Commander/EDH. The RC will continue to decide on the rules and banned list (with advice from WotC and the community). At our request, they've given us explicit legal permission in perpetuity to use the MTG-Commander trademark, within reasonable limits, as part of hosting this community.


http://www.mtgcommander.net/

 http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/119k