Are Wishes Legal in Commander? No—But Here’s How They Could Be (Genie-3)
Problem: In Commander, cards that reference “outside the game” (aka wishes) are ruled as “don’t function.” Players buy cards that literally do nothing in the game they play the most. That’s clunky, confusing, and unpopular—especially with new players who read the text and expect it to work.
Thesis: Wishes can be legalized in Commander with tight constraints that preserve variance and the social experience while improving gameplay, deckbuilding creativity, and rules coherence (especially given that Companions already live outside the game).
Solution: Adopt a small, public Wishboard (10–15 cards), and/or possibly use a flavorful Genie-3 variant—shuffle the wishboard at the start of the game, exile three random cards, and those are the only cards you can wish for that game. Add sorcery-speed and once-per-turn limits, and keep color identity + singleton + banlist intact.
Result: Cards work the way they’re printed; gameplay remains varied; interaction matters; the social contract stays intact; design space opens; new players aren’t told “your card text is blank.”
The Current Policy Is a Bad Experience (and a Weird Exception to Commander’s Own Identity)
Commander sells itself as big stories, big moments, and playing the cool cards you love. Wishes are some of the most thematic effects ever printed—summoning aid from beyond your deck, bargaining with genies, tapping a multiverse of options. Commander’s blanket “doesn’t function” ruling:
Breaks rules coherence: Companions already live outside the game yet are allowed through special handling. If outside-the-game is okay for companions, the concept isn’t taboo. It’s just inconsistently applied.
Hurts new-player UX: Imagine buying a card that reads “find a card from outside the game” and then being told it does nothing in the most popular format. That’s exactly the type of feel-bad they usually try to remove.
Constricts design space: If the flagship casual format shrugs at wishes, designers will be reluctant to explore elegant “outside” mechanics at all—or will have to template awkward Commander carve-outs.
Bottom line: Cards that plainly say they do a thing should do that thing. Commander is supposed to be the “play your cards” format—not the “your card text is blank” format.
“But It’ll Make Games All the Same!”
This fear is misplaced—and solvable.
Commander already tolerates high-ubiquity staples. Most pods accept a handful of extremely common cards because they smooth games and the format remains fun anyway. The sky didn’t fall.
Wishes don’t have to be unlimited. With a tiny board, randomization, and timing limits, wishes become situational spice rather than deterministic scripts.
Randomized access increases variance. The Genie-3 model (three random wishable cards per game) means your “toolbox” isn’t repeatable game to game. It’s literally rolling story dice.
If Commander can live with companions (a guaranteed extra card available every game) it can live with three random, sorcery-speed, once-per-turn wishes chosen from a small, declared set.
A Clean, Publish-Ready Rule You Can Advocate (or House-Adopt Immediately)
Commander Wish Policy (Proposed)
Wishboard: Before the game, each player may register a Wishboard of up to 10 cards. It is public at game start.
Eligibility: Wishboard cards must follow color identity, singleton, and the banlist.
Access: Cards and abilities that reference “outside the game” may select only from your Wishboard.
Timing: Unless a card says otherwise, you may only wish at sorcery speed and no more than once per turn.
Genie-3 Variant (recommended for casual pods): At the start of the game, shuffle your Wishboard and exile three cards face-down as your Wishes. For this game, you may only choose from those three. Reveal a chosen Wish as you get it.
Companion: Companion functions as currently defined.
That’s it. One card face. Easy to post. Easy to test. Easy to remember.
Why the Genie-3 Variant Is the Goldilocks Option
Flavor: Three wishes. It just feels right.
Variance: You don’t know which three you’ll get; opponents don’t know until you reveal. This prevents repetitive toolboxes.
Deckbuilding tension: Your 10-card board must be balanced—any random three should be serviceable. That pushes creativity.
Counterplay: Because the board is public, opponents can predict the types of effects you might reveal, hold interaction, and plan politics around it.
Four Legalization Models (Pick Your Table’s Comfort Level)
Classic Wishboard (10–15 cards).
Public at game start.
Any wish can fetch any board card (still sorcery-speed / once-per-turn).
Best for competitive or “open toolbox” metas.
Genie-3.
Shuffle, exile the top 3 as your wishes. Only those three are available this game.
Preserves variance and theme; ideal for most casual pods.
One-Wish-Per-Game (super low impact).
You can wish once in the entire game (still from the mini-board or Genie-3).
Perfect for groups that want to test water without changing texture much.
Event Pilot Mode (LGS/Convention).
Store announces: “This week, Genie-3 is live.”
Collect casual feedback. If people enjoy it (they will), adopt it long-term.
Knobs to adjust anytime: board size (8–15), timing (sorcery-only), frequency (once per turn vs once per game), and access (Genie-3 vs full).
“Tutors Already Exist”—A More Honest Comparison
Tutors reduce variance by guaranteeing the same best card frequently.
Genie-3 wishes reduce variance far less: you may not even have access to the perfect bullet that game.
Tutors are inside your 99—guaranteed to be drawn in some games and recurred.
Wishes under a strict policy are partially randomized, public, and timing-limited, and often grab narrow answers that create interaction rather than solitaire.
If you’re comfortable with the current level of tutors in your meta, a randomized, capped wish channel is strictly less homogenizing.
The Social Contract Actually Gets Stronger
Public information reduces “gotcha” moments.
Table agency goes up: players can plan removal or sandbag answers knowing what categories might appear.
Politics improve: A player can “wish” for a table-saving answer and negotiate, which is Commander’s core vibe.
Concrete Gameplay Scenarios (Show, Don’t Just Tell)
Scenario A: The Stalemate Breaker
Your mid-power pod is stalled behind a Propaganda pillow fort and a clogged board. With Genie-3, your three random wishes include a mass bounce, a land-interaction spell, and a graveyard reshuffle. You wish the bounce (sorcery speed), the table resets, and everyone re-engages. Not deterministic—just more ways to un-freeze a game.
Scenario B: The Silver-Bullet That Wasn’t
You’re a graveyard deck. You could have boarded Rest in Peace as a wish target, but under Genie-3 you reveal three cards and none is grave-hate. You have to play fair, the table exhales, and variance is preserved.
Scenario C: Politics in Action
You promise to wish for a board wipe instead of a combo piece if the table lets you untap. You keep your word; someone else wins later. The wish enabled politics and table agency instead of steamrolling consistency.
Balance Levers (If Anyone’s Still Nervous)
Board Size: 10 is tight; 15 if your group wants more expression.
Timing: Sorcery-only by default.
Frequency: Once per turn (default) or once per game (ultra-safe).
Access: Genie-3 (randomized) vs Classic (open).
Type Rails (optional): “Your first wish must be MV ≤ 3” or “alternate permanent types” if your group enjoys extra texture.
Color Identity & Banlist: Non-negotiable. Keeps the format’s identity intact.
No Off-board Loops: If a future card could loop “outside the game” repeatedly, pre-ban or pre-restrict it in wishboard contexts.
Sample Wishboards (Per Color Identity)
(Assume Genie-3; these are illustrative—not “best in slot.”)
Mono-White (answers & stabilizers)
Flexible exile removal (permanent-agnostic)
Enchantment/artifact sweeper
Graveyard hate
Anti-token effect
Land interaction (non-LD utility)
Protection spell (mass or single-target)
Teferi’s-style “silence this turn” effect
Anti-extra turns effect
Lifegain burst / reset
Utility land fetch spell (within color rules)
Mono-Blue (tempo & tech)
Mass bounce
Single-target counter that hits abilities
Artifact interaction
Copy spell
“Stop extra spells” effect
Draw-seven / wheel
Anti-graveyard counter
Creature theft (temporary)
Noncreature “turn off” effect
Utility land finder (legal within identity)
Mono-Black (resource & recursion)
Targeted discard for combo protection
Graveyard reshuffle / anti-mill tool
Single-creature exile
Reanimation for opponent’s creature (political leverage)
Mass edict
Life-to-cards burst
Anti-artifact/anti-enchant workaround (if any within identity)
Graveyard hate artifact (colorless)
Sacrifice outlet (non-infinite)
Tutorable bullet that’s fair under timing restrictions
Mono-Red (interaction & velocity)
Artifact/enchantment smash that also hits indestructible (damage-based)
Wheels
Chaos or copy pivot
Land-interaction that isn’t LD (e.g., remove Maze-like shields)
Token clear that spares your plan
Fork / redirect spell
“Players can’t gain life” toggle
Extra combat or mass haste (one or the other)
Anti-blue “this spell can’t be countered” tool
Graveyard hate rock (colorless)
Mono-Green (fairness & answers)
Artifact/enchantment sweeper
Fight/bite that hits fliers
Land tutor to answer utility lands (non-LD, fair)
“Fog” to stop alpha strikes
Graveyard reshuffle
Creature toolbox piece (non-combo)
Anti-control tech (veil-type effect)
Token reset that leaves your big threat
“Destroy target permanent with flying” style card (if in identity)
Colorless grave hate
Multicolor boards should be more diverse, not more degenerate—Genie-3 punishes redundancy and rewards breadth.
Interaction Suite: Your Opponents Aren’t Helpless
Stax/locks: Effects that prevent searching, casting from non-hand zones, or moving cards between zones.
Stack interaction: Stifle/Trickbind-type answers on the wish ability; counters on the wish spell; split-second punishes.
Hate pieces: Torpor-, Silence-, Rule-of-Law-style constraints make many wish lines clunkier.
Graveyard / exile pressure: If the wished card needs setup, disrupt the setup.
Politics: Demand table-saving wishes instead of value wishes—or you become the archenemy.
Wishes increase the relevance of interactive cards rather than reduce it.
Companions Already Broke the “100 Unique” Ideal—And That’s Fine
If we’re being honest, “pure 100” is already not pure:
Companions exist outside the deck and are guaranteed access every game.
A handful of auto-includes show up everywhere.
Commanders themselves are persistent outside-the-game access—Commander already accepts special access zones.
A tiny, randomized wish channel is less deterministic than a companion and more varied than most staple packages.
LGS & Event Logistics (So It’s Easy to Run)
Registration: Players write a 10-card wishboard on the back of their decklist or save a phone note.
Public Info: Display at game start; with Genie-3, shuffle and exile three face-down wishes and place them visibly near the command zone.
Time Policy: A soft 30-second selection guideline keeps pace brisk (same as fetchland shortcuts). If you take longer than 30 seconds to select from a three card pile, your pod is allowed to throw you out the airlock.
Judge Simplicity: Color identity + singleton + banlist still apply; wishes can only grab from the registered board. Clean and quick.
Rebuttals: Quick Answers to Common Objections
“This will slow games down.”
Not with sorcery-speed, once-per-turn, and 30-second selection expectations. It’s faster than resolving a Demonic Tutor or a fetchland in a busy board state.
“People will engineer the same three answers.”
Not under Genie-3. You don’t know which three you’ll get. And your board is public, so opponents can plan. If sameness were fatal, staples would already have killed the format.
“It’s not in the spirit of 100 singletons.”
Commander already makes exceptions (Companions, commanders themselves). A tiny, randomized wish channel adds narrative without reducing identity.
“What about degenerate loops?”
Use the banlist and a standing “no infinite outside-the-game loops” safeguard. That’s a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.
“Sideboards don’t exist in Commander.”
They can. Call it a Wishboard to avoid tournament baggage. Public, tiny, and flavored. Commander’s rules have evolved before; they can again.
Responsible Guardrails (If the RC Wants Belt-and-Suspenders)
Explicitly bar off-board loops if a future design would enable repeatedly accessing and recycling outside-the-game cards.
Reiterate: color identity, singleton, and the banlist apply to wishboard cards.
Codify timing: sorcery-only, once-per-turn (unless the card explicitly overrides).
Optional Event Rule: one wish per game at high-power tables as a pilot dial.
Design & Business Upside
Cards feel complete in Commander—new buyers aren’t told “your text box is blank.”
Richer set design: Designers can build flavorful wishes knowing a clear Commander policy exists.
More reasons to buy cards that are interesting but not maindeck must-haves—healthy for stores and players.
Community goodwill: Admitting “our old stance was too blunt; here’s a better, fun-first policy” earns trust.
Final Word: Legalize Wishes—Smartly
Commander is the format that lets you play your cards and tell big stories. The current “does nothing” ruling for wishes is inconsistent (Companions exist), frustrating (new-player UX), and unnecessary. A small, public wishboard with Genie-3 randomization, sorcery-speed, and once-per-turn limits keeps the social, varied texture that defines Commander while letting printed text actually work.
Let players wish. Make it flavorful, make it fair, and make it fast. The game—and the community—will be better for it.
