My friend plays a banding commander and it's versatility is always surprising. Like when he completely chumps my huge trampler with a 1/1, that's just cool.
Offering is basically Emerge. It does not cost less (except for the offered mana value) but you may play it at instant speed which makes Offering so good.
people also forget that Banding when blocking cancels Trample abilities, which is obviously a big deal and a plus to what it already does when both attacking and blocking.
I have a Goldbug, Humanity's Ally Banding deck. He synergizes weirdly well with banding. There are a lot of small humans with banding like benalish hero. Goldbug prevents all combat damage that woukd be dealt to attacking humans, so it just enables you to band with goldbug and attack freely because you can just redirect all damage to the banded human and prevent it all. Azorius human tribal banding deck with a transformer at the helm sounds weird but it is a surprisingly effective deck because Goldbug is a consistent draw engine that comes down on turn two and allows you to just freely keep applying pressure. I missing a few of the best banding cards for it and I need deftblade elite for it, been too lazy to order them and my lgs doesnt have them, lol. But even in an unoptimal state it is probably my most consistent threatening deck.
Yes! Banding is utterly great! The hate is a misplaced meme and people are limiting themselves by clinging to it. The one issue is the majority of banding creatures were highly overcosted even for that era. But Benalish Hero and a handful of others are killer. Super great defending against trample as well. *You* assign the damage and that means you're able to (and allowed to, by the rules) overassign the damage to the chump and not carry any over.
I wish for more transmute cards. Fair tutors with bonus effects? Sign me up. Also, transfigure. Possibly in other colors, since black can tutor already.
Transmute is an insanely underrated ability that genuinely needs more attention than it gets. Though, according to Mark Rosewater, R&D doesn't really do tutoring keywords anymore. Which is sad, cause there seems like a lot of fun potential with them.
My friends have learned to fear Helm of Chatzuk, an artifact I love to run that taps to grant banding 😂 I also run Patron of Nezumi in my mill deck and Patron to the Akki in Wulfgar attack triggers
I agree, Banding isn't that difficult to grok. Maha and Flanking is a neat idea for when I eventually build that deck. Provoke would need too much work to support. Offering also requires too much work. Thanks for the video!
I have a patron of the moon deck and it always draws weird looks! Then I slam it and go infinity with some land bouncing and amulet of vigor and all of the sudden they feel the need to remove it every time it hits the board. So unfair!
I love my Flanking Slivers :D they are underrated, 2 of them can limit how the opponent blocks, while 3 almost stunt the battle! (yes, back in 2012/2014 ... Now you have a 12/12 with bonuses for 2GG ...) Anyway, Flanking + Lure effects + "Barrow-Blade" (makes the creatures blocking or blocked by the equipped one to lose all their abilities)
I think an Esper Knights deck with a flanking sub-theme would work great, especially since you could also run both Maha Its Feathers Night and Godhead of Awe. Azorius itself has lots of ways to make your opponents' toughness equal to 1 at instant speed, like Flatline, Diminish, Humble, even Obscura Confluence.
I have an Esper Knight deck, that is heavy with Flanking, but it is Knights tribal so only knights. Might try to fit one of those two in the deck as well.
The rules change a month or so ago really buffed banding. Before, you have a 3/3 and a 1/1 banded, they block with a 4/4 and all die and it was pointless to attack in a band. Or vice versa pointless to block in a band. However, now you do the same interaction and say all 4 damage goes to the 1/1. Your 3/3 now lives unscathed. Fairly big buff made by that change on how combat damage works
I put a Baton of Morale in my elf deck so I can gang block if I need to without getting wiped -I built the deck to be dorky and spin its wheels more than be good What we need is a viable way to use Grandeur
I love Provoke and really wish they would use it again. Always been on my revisit wish list and have been a 9 on maro's storm scale for a long time but we just haven't seen it again. Fight is evergreen though and takes up too much of its design space for us to see it again unfortunatly.
The issue with many of these is power creep rather than the mechanic. Most of the creatures with banding, flanking etc. are just unplayable by today’s standards in commander when compared to newer cards. Banding is not that confusing but has gone through so many rules changes in the game over the years, which has led to the confusion. Since it is almost never played, no one bothers to learn what the latest interpretation is… which leads to a lot of delay in game debate.
@ As I said, the current rules for banding are not that confusing (though it is more complex than you have suggested), but there are many players that are familiar with prior iterations of the rules. The issue is that players may be aware of different rules for banding that no longer apply. I have played off and on since revised and banding has changed so many times over those years because every time the rules relating to combat damage are amended, it probably affects banding to some extent. They just changed assigning damage rules as recent as 2024.
@@Dragon_Fyre The only thing that matters is the last iteration of the rules, it does not matter if players are familiar with old rules as they are no longer in effect. Recent rule change regarding damage assignment does not impact banding at all.
@@rlbarney2 It matters because you have to constantly explain the rules to people either unfamiliar with the rules or that think the rules work differently. Which part of that confuses you ? The new rules do impact banding. They make it less useful with combat tricks.
flanking idea is bad. if op has 1/1, he can block flanking creature like creatures without flanking. the only difference will be no damage dealt by flanking creature (even worse if it hase lifelink). only flanking with trample makes sense, and not 2/2, which needs 11!!! hits to kill with cmd damage and more with regular
I used to understand the banding rules pretty well but they're so counterintuitive and convoluted that if you don't use them for a few years, your certainty begins to fade.
100 percent agree with Flanking and Provoke… Offering? Meh, it’s fine. But please not Banding. It’s not just the issue of combat damage. How many creatures can be in a band? Which abilities apply to only creatures with that ability versus the abilities that get applied to the entire band (most important to that question: evasion abilities)?
@@edhdeckbuildingBanding works differently when attacking versus blocking. When attacking as a band, only one creature without banding can be in the band but you can include as many as you like with banding. When blocking, only one creature blocking needs to have banding. Edit: I believe evasion does work but only so long as all creatures in the band have that mechanic. So if one of them does not have flying, the band can be blocked as if they did not have flying but if they all have flying, you require flying to block the band.
The rules change a month or so ago really buffed banding. Before, you have a 3/3 and a 1/1 banded, they block with a 4/4 and all die and it was pointless to attack in a band. Or vice versa pointless to block in a band. However, now you do the same interaction and say all 4 damage goes to the 1/1. Your 3/3 now lives unscathed. Fairly big buff made by that change on how combat damage works
I still play with banding and flanking creatures to this day. Love these abilities and will always love them.
My friend plays a banding commander and it's versatility is always surprising. Like when he completely chumps my huge trampler with a 1/1, that's just cool.
Who's his commander? I've been playing around with Banding in an Uncle Istvan deck.
@@granite_4576 Soraya the Falconer. It's a bird deck.
@@Krunschy that's dope as hell.
i have a bands with other legends naya deck.
You missed banding's biggest benefit: it shuts off trample if you block with a banding creature.
The 1 drop white enchantment Defensive Formation lets you choose damage among all your creatures, also shutting off trample if you can block
@grahamhenry9368 ooh! I've never seen that before. It's going in a few of my decks asap.
Offering is basically Emerge. It does not cost less (except for the offered mana value) but you may play it at instant speed which makes Offering so good.
Offering is instant speed!?
@@thomaspetrucka Read the reminder text. It begins, "You may play this card any time you could play an instant..."
@@thomaspetrucka For whatever reason yes
people also forget that Banding when blocking cancels Trample abilities, which is obviously a big deal and a plus to what it already does when both attacking and blocking.
I have a Goldbug, Humanity's Ally Banding deck. He synergizes weirdly well with banding. There are a lot of small humans with banding like benalish hero. Goldbug prevents all combat damage that woukd be dealt to attacking humans, so it just enables you to band with goldbug and attack freely because you can just redirect all damage to the banded human and prevent it all.
Azorius human tribal banding deck with a transformer at the helm sounds weird but it is a surprisingly effective deck because Goldbug is a consistent draw engine that comes down on turn two and allows you to just freely keep applying pressure.
I missing a few of the best banding cards for it and I need deftblade elite for it, been too lazy to order them and my lgs doesnt have them, lol. But even in an unoptimal state it is probably my most consistent threatening deck.
Yes! Banding is utterly great! The hate is a misplaced meme and people are limiting themselves by clinging to it. The one issue is the majority of banding creatures were highly overcosted even for that era. But Benalish Hero and a handful of others are killer.
Super great defending against trample as well. *You* assign the damage and that means you're able to (and allowed to, by the rules) overassign the damage to the chump and not carry any over.
I wish for more transmute cards. Fair tutors with bonus effects? Sign me up. Also, transfigure. Possibly in other colors, since black can tutor already.
Transmute is an insanely underrated ability that genuinely needs more attention than it gets. Though, according to Mark Rosewater, R&D doesn't really do tutoring keywords anymore. Which is sad, cause there seems like a lot of fun potential with them.
Provoke is my favorite keyword ability ever and I really hope they bring it back some day!
The comparison between banding and mutate is a very valid point.
I have a deck that combines flanking and banding. The two abilities combine together in a nasty way, especially when you can band multiple flankers.
Same! What commander did you go with?
I have Tariel, just because it fits the WBR color scheme, especially since there are no Flanking or Banding legends.
Provoke synergises nicely with first/double strike.
My friends have learned to fear Helm of Chatzuk, an artifact I love to run that taps to grant banding 😂 I also run Patron of Nezumi in my mill deck and Patron to the Akki in Wulfgar attack triggers
@@joedominguez8064 the Helm is in tons of my decks. I love it.
I agree, Banding isn't that difficult to grok. Maha and Flanking is a neat idea for when I eventually build that deck. Provoke would need too much work to support. Offering also requires too much work. Thanks for the video!
I have a patron of the moon deck and it always draws weird looks! Then I slam it and go infinity with some land bouncing and amulet of vigor and all of the sudden they feel the need to remove it every time it hits the board. So unfair!
I love my Flanking Slivers :D they are underrated, 2 of them can limit how the opponent blocks, while 3 almost stunt the battle! (yes, back in 2012/2014 ... Now you have a 12/12 with bonuses for 2GG ...)
Anyway, Flanking + Lure effects + "Barrow-Blade" (makes the creatures blocking or blocked by the equipped one to lose all their abilities)
I use Banding in my Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist deck. It seems some people do not care for Banding.
I think an Esper Knights deck with a flanking sub-theme would work great, especially since you could also run both Maha Its Feathers Night and Godhead of Awe. Azorius itself has lots of ways to make your opponents' toughness equal to 1 at instant speed, like Flatline, Diminish, Humble, even Obscura Confluence.
Update: I just ran across Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl who might be a great commander for flanking in Bant colors.
I have an Esper Knight deck, that is heavy with Flanking, but it is Knights tribal so only knights. Might try to fit one of those two in the deck as well.
Banding is great in General Marhault Elsdragon, if you use lure effects and attack in a band, all the creatures in the band will get the effect
I run all 5 banding lands in one of my decks, they do so much work.
The rules change a month or so ago really buffed banding. Before, you have a 3/3 and a 1/1 banded, they block with a 4/4 and all die and it was pointless to attack in a band. Or vice versa pointless to block in a band. However, now you do the same interaction and say all 4 damage goes to the 1/1. Your 3/3 now lives unscathed. Fairly big buff made by that change on how combat damage works
Provoke works quite well in my Rionya fire dancer deck
I put a Baton of Morale in my elf deck so I can gang block if I need to without getting wiped
-I built the deck to be dorky and spin its wheels more than be good
What we need is a viable way to use Grandeur
Emerge is a lot like offering
Very fun thanks
I love Provoke and really wish they would use it again. Always been on my revisit wish list and have been a 9 on maro's storm scale for a long time but we just haven't seen it again. Fight is evergreen though and takes up too much of its design space for us to see it again unfortunatly.
My sliver loves provoke/flanking
Flanking will make a comeback. They will add numbers like "Flanking 2" so it stacks. Just give it time.
I still don’t know what banding does 😭😂
Very simple, the player whose creature has banding decides where the damage is applied, if that creature is attacking (and is blocked) OR blocking.
I honestly like mention transformation is mechanic not utilizing very well especially being enchantment removal find ppl don’t play enough
Patron of the Akki is my Goblin commander lol it works really well and it's more interesting than Krenko or what have you
I feel like provoke was kind of replaced by fight
Offering is just Emerge
Deftblade Elite is really good in pauper. Or used to be really good, i don't know the metagame
The issue with many of these is power creep rather than the mechanic.
Most of the creatures with banding, flanking etc. are just unplayable by today’s standards in commander when compared to newer cards.
Banding is not that confusing but has gone through so many rules changes in the game over the years, which has led to the confusion. Since it is almost never played, no one bothers to learn what the latest interpretation is… which leads to a lot of delay in game debate.
Banding "multiple creatures block together, Defender assigns combat damage"- quick and concise.
@ As I said, the current rules for banding are not that confusing (though it is more complex than you have suggested), but there are many players that are familiar with prior iterations of the rules. The issue is that players may be aware of different rules for banding that no longer apply. I have played off and on since revised and banding has changed so many times over those years because every time the rules relating to combat damage are amended, it probably affects banding to some extent. They just changed assigning damage rules as recent as 2024.
True, but cards like Baton of Morale and Helm of Chatzuk let you kind of bypass this, since you can give your actually good creatures banding.
@@Dragon_Fyre The only thing that matters is the last iteration of the rules, it does not matter if players are familiar with old rules as they are no longer in effect. Recent rule change regarding damage assignment does not impact banding at all.
@@rlbarney2 It matters because you have to constantly explain the rules to people either unfamiliar with the rules or that think the rules work differently. Which part of that confuses you ?
The new rules do impact banding. They make it less useful with combat tricks.
flanking idea is bad. if op has 1/1, he can block flanking creature like creatures without flanking. the only difference will be no damage dealt by flanking creature (even worse if it hase lifelink). only flanking with trample makes sense, and not 2/2, which needs 11!!! hits to kill with cmd damage and more with regular
I used to understand the banding rules pretty well but they're so counterintuitive and convoluted that if you don't use them for a few years, your certainty begins to fade.
12s club 😆
100 percent agree with Flanking and Provoke… Offering? Meh, it’s fine. But please not Banding. It’s not just the issue of combat damage. How many creatures can be in a band? Which abilities apply to only creatures with that ability versus the abilities that get applied to the entire band (most important to that question: evasion abilities)?
one banding creature per non-banding creature. evasion abilities don't work. a band with one flyer can be blocked by non-flying.
@@edhdeckbuildingThat is incorrect.
@@edhdeckbuildingBanding works differently when attacking versus blocking. When attacking as a band, only one creature without banding can be in the band but you can include as many as you like with banding. When blocking, only one creature blocking needs to have banding.
Edit: I believe evasion does work but only so long as all creatures in the band have that mechanic. So if one of them does not have flying, the band can be blocked as if they did not have flying but if they all have flying, you require flying to block the band.
The rules change a month or so ago really buffed banding. Before, you have a 3/3 and a 1/1 banded, they block with a 4/4 and all die and it was pointless to attack in a band. Or vice versa pointless to block in a band. However, now you do the same interaction and say all 4 damage goes to the 1/1. Your 3/3 now lives unscathed. Fairly big buff made by that change on how combat damage works