Biorhythm and Lutri, the Spellchaser are unbanned, while hybrid mana ruling remains unchanged in Commander
The Commander Format Panel announced its first changes to Magic: The Gathering’s Commander ban and restricted list in 2026 earlier today, and it turned out to be a little more underwhelming than expected.
Two cards were unbanned, while no cards were banned despite recent clamour amongst the community, and the Commander Format Panel’s own discussion late in 2025 about the state of the Commander format.
Biorhythm and an otter unbanned
The two cards that got unbanned in the earlier announcement are Biorhythm, and Lutri, the Spellchaser. Biorhythm’s exclusion from the ban list seemed increasingly likely, after the likes of Worldfire, Sway of the Stars, and Coalition Victory were first unbanned in 2025.
No surprises there; Biorhythm may present an unsatisfying win out of nowhere after someone does some kind of an asymmetrical board wipe, and leave their opponents with no creatures on their board. However, it still takes a lot of mana to cast Biorhythm, and the game has evolved into a point where it is much easier to stop cards like Biorhythm.
In the case of Lutri, the Spellchaser, the card was banned in the Commander format before it was even released in 2020, and it gained the notoriety of being the fastest card in Magic: The Gathering’s history to get banned.
It was evident in April 2020 that Lutri, the Spellchaser was a problematic card: every Commander deck that played the colours of blue and red would want a companion like it, and the ability to have access to it at any moment of the game because of its Flash keyword was just ridiculous.
However, the companion ruling has changed quite significantly ever since the ten companions were first introduced in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, and Lutri, the Spellchaser is now less likely to be as problematic.
Having said that, Lutri, the Spellchaser is still banned as a companion in the Commander format, but players can now have it as either their Commander, or an inclusion in the 99.
Jeweled Lotus remains banned
The biggest takeaway from the recent announcement might instead be what the Commander Format Panel chose not to do.
First, the Commander Format Panel decided not to unban Jeweled Lotus, while publicly announcing that they have actually given the unbanning of Griselbrand a thought. It is a tad disappointing that Jeweled Lotus was not unbanned today, considering that Jeweled Lotus was designed for the Commander format foremost, and it cannot really be played meaningfully in any other format it is legal in.
However, considering that the former volunteer-run Commander Rules Committee faced threats after banning Jeweled Lotus (amongst other high value cards) in 2024, and Wizards of the Coast had to step in to take over the Commander format officially, it is probably pertinent that the card remains banned for a while, despite the Commander Format Panel’s hint that the card could see an unban in the future.
Unbanning Griselbrand would be wild though, considering the strength of Griselbrand as a card in any format it is legal in. Reanimator decks aiming to cheat out a Griselbrand would be massively strong, particularly in casual brackets where cheap interaction is at a premium (either because they are Game Changers, or they are just straight up expensive cards to own).
Rhystic Study and Thassa's Oracle are untouched
Next, the Commander Format Panel chose not to ban Rhystic Study and Thassa's Oracle. After hinting in late 2025 that they were reviewing the statuses of these cards in the Commander format, it was probably a little anti-climatic that nothing came out of it.
However, similar to the explanations the Commander Format Panel provided, Thassa’s Oracle barely presents itself in the casual brackets, while Rhystic Study remains an iconic card for the Commander format, and in my opinion, a necessary evil for the higher powered brackets to keep storm (i.e. decks that win by continuously casting a lot of spells) as well as turbo (i.e. decks that want to win as quickly as possibly) strategies in check.
No change to hybrid mana ruling
Last, the Commander Format Panel has also chosen not to change how hybrid mana works in the Commander format. Just like the discussion about Thassa’s Oracle and Rhystic Study, the Commander Format Panel mentioned the possibility of changing how hybrid mana works in the Commander format in late 2025, and this has stirred up quite a lot of discussion ever since.
In short, cards with hybrid mana can be played by paying either one of the two colours the card’s cost is in. A card like Hexing Shusher can be played in a mono-green deck, or a mono-red deck in other formats, but in the Commander format, Hexing Shusher cannot be played in a mono-green or mono-red Commander deck because of the unique ruling about colour identity in Commander (i.e. Hexing Shusher has both the colour identity of green and red).
By changing the ruling of hybrid mana in the Commander format to reflect how hybrid mana works elsewhere in Magic: The Gathering, this would open up the possibility of playing Vexing Shusher in any mono-green elfball deck, or even more strangely, Beseech the Queen in any deck.
However, as the Commander Format Panel has found out, opinions about hybrid mana in Commander remain split, so they have decided to not change anything for now. I am in the camp of not changing how hybrid mana works, so yay for not making the game even more perplexing, but the conversation about hybrid mana in the Commander format is not going to go away any time soon.
One last note: the Commander Format Panel has made it clear that they are not limiting themselves to one ban and restricted update window in a year, and they are soliciting more opinions about the state of the game. So, if any of you have opinions about their announcement, or you feel strongly about freeing Paradox Engine, the Commander Format Panel is more than happy to hear them in the official Magic: The Gathering Discord.
