Folk Commander
| Folk Commander | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Where to Play | |||
Paper | MTGO | Arena | |
| Constructed | |||
| Players | 3+ (Free-for-All) | ||
| Life | 40 points | ||
| Decks | 100 cards (no sideboard, singleton) | ||
| Rules |
Commander (color identity, 21 commander damage) | ||
Folk (Jokkis in finnish) is a Commander format that sets an upper price limit of 35$ (US)/25€ (EU) for decks.[1][2]
Description
To maintain the price limit, participants are given the 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 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 ‘folk racing’ or ‘every man’s class’.
Benefits
Folk format offers many benefits over traditional Commander:
- Very easy to get into
- No need for expensive staples
- A massive pool of valid cards
- Fewer problems related to the power level of decks and cards
- Different and vividly evolving meta
- Less need to buy new cards
- A 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 can find a use for cards that would otherwise just lay within boxes
Banlist
The format is kept healthy, maximally appealing, and newcomer-friendly by the same documented philosophy (and banlist) that Commander itself uses.[3] Additionally, playing with proxies is not allowed in Folk due to the use of deck price as a limiting factor.
