A little surprising that [[Orcish Bowmasters]] is already on their watchlist but the card seems pretty nuts so far. [[Mirkwood Bats]] is also on the watchlist.
Full text of the update:
Cards
No changes
Rules
The ring tempts you – This is a mechanic that – on the surface – looks a lot like venturing into the dungeon. In the past we’ve had to make changes to Rule 10 (Cards from outside the game) to accommodate these mechanics. Unlike Dungeons, though, this mechanic is tracked on an emblem! The rules today already accommodate emblems, so no changes are necessary for this to function as it does in other formats.
General Commentary
We’ve been following the community’s discussions and concerns surrounding Orcish Bowmasters, and – to a lesser extent – Mirkwood Bats. With the help of the Commander Advisory Group, we’ll be observing how and if those discussions change over time as people play and play against these cards.
We’ve also seen a ton of excitement! The idea of a fully fleshed-out set with deep lore really closely aligns with our goals in managing the format. In this set, Wizards has delivered a ton of tools to players who want to tell stories through their deckbuilding and gameplay. A property as deep as Lord of the Rings has a ton of stories to tell.
We’ll be back with our next update on August 28 in advance of Wilds of Eldraine!
I don’t feel like Bats does much more than we already see with cards like Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat. Just triggers off of more things and makes the rampant Treasure generation we’ve seen actively kill people. Which honestly, may be a good thing.
Bowmasters is cheap, efficient and deadly, but I don’t think it poses much more of a threat than wheel-based builds already do. Certainly lets you clean up the board if people start drawing a ton, though.