Commander Format Panel Unbans Lutri for Commander and 99, Keeps Companion Ban

EDHREC published an analysis by Alex Wicker in March reporting that the Commander Format Panel unbanned Lutri, the Spellchaser, for use as a commander and in the 99 while keeping Lutri banned as a companion, a decision dated March 5, 2026. The split ruling means Lutri can now head decks or be included among the 99 cards, but the companion restriction remains in place, carrying a simple practical remedy for deckbuilders.

On Lutri’s design and playability, Wicker relays EDHREC’s assessment: “Lutri itself has never been a problem for Commander, nor do I believe it ever will. It's a legendary Dualcaster MageDualcaster Mage that only copies your own instants/sorceries. Nothing game breaking (or should I say... game changing??), so much so that Lutri is moving directly from being banned to being playable as your commander and in the 99 instead of receiving honorary Game Changer status for some time like other unbanned cards.” That language frames the CFP’s move as restoring Lutri to normal commander play rather than applying an intermediate status used for some previously unbanned cards.

EDHREC’s piece foregrounds the practical distinction the panel relied on when keeping the companion ban. The analysis quotes a clear example of the difference: “This is different than a card being banned as a commander, in which case someone who doesn't realize this and builds a deck around a banned commander is very likely left with a stack of 99 cards and nothing to replace their commander with, and if they can find a legal replacement for their commander, it's likely a poor substitute.” For Lutri, EDHREC underscores the simple fix: “the remedy is as simple as not playing Lutri as a companion.”

Gavin Verhey’s comments, quoted in the analysis, explain why the companion slot was singled out: “Lutri itself is far from too strong of a card in a game of Commander. However, the problem is that if Lutri is legal as a companion, every deck for the rest of time that has a blue-red color identity should have Lutri as a companion. There is absolutely no downside to doing so.” Verhey also frames the ruling as an outlier in institutional practice, noting “the failure case here [being] minimal,” which EDHREC cites as why Lutri qualified for this tailored solution.

Wicker places the CFP decision in governance context, recalling that “Long before the CFP's inception, the Commander Advisory Group (CAG) worked with WotC's Commander Rules Committee when banning cards. These two groups had wrestled for quite some time about introducing additional ban lists like "banned as commander/companion/insert-category-here" but had held to keeping just one ban list.” The CFP itself cautioned readers with a fragment quoted in the piece: “[not to] take this to mean we're likely to implement a banned-as-commander list in the future. This is a unique case and solution for an otter people have been waiting for.”

The bottom line for deckbuilders from EDHREC and Wicker’s March analysis is concrete: Lutri moves from banned back into commander and 99 legality, but the companion ban remains, and the simplest compliance is to omit Lutri from the companion slot. The CFP and commentators framed this as a narrow, precedent-sensitive fix rather than a broad reworking of ban-list categories.