Folk Commander
Folk (Jokkis in finnish) is a Commander/EDH format that sets an upper price limit of 35$(US)/25€(EU) for decks. To maintain the limit, participants are given a right to buy another player’s deck (excluding basic lands and deck sleeves) for 35$/25€ after a game ends. Players are allowed to play with decks that clearly exceed the price limit but that of course comes with a clear risk of being forced to sell the deck when the game ends. It is up to the player to choose whether to play safe or not. This way of maintaining a price limit and low entry level is borrowed from Finland’s biggest motorsport called as ‘folk racing’ or ‘every man’s class’.
Folk format offers many benefits over traditional Commander:
– very easy to get into
– no need for expensive staples
– massive pool of valid cards
– less problems related to power level of decks and cards
– different and vividly evolving metas
– less need to buy new cards
– lower threshold to build new decks
– adventurous and more relaxed feel
– folk decks tend to also play well with Commander precons
– there’s a limit to how far players can arms race
– people are able to find use for cards that would otherwise just lay in boxes
The format is kept healthy, maximally appealing and newcomer friendly by same documented philosophy (and banlist) that Commander itself uses. https://mtgcommander.net/index.php/the-philosophy-of-commander/
Additionally, playing with proxies is not allowed in Folk due to use of deck price as a limiting factor.
