Dockside Chef Banned Due to Clerical Error

Renton, WA - Just weeks after promising no more non-emergency Commander bans this year, Wizards of the Coast announced today that Dockside Chef has been banned retroactive to September 23, 2024. 

New WotC press secretary Karoline Banitt released a brief statement on the banning:

"Dockside Chef isn't as explosive in the early game as other banned cards like Mana Crypt and Jeweled Lotus, but it can nevertheless generate a ton of man--manageable value for black decks with two extra mana and a spare artifact or creature laying around. He is a menace to the Commander format, and if he were to ever become legally playable again, we would immediately ban him again. 

One-drop creatures need to learn to respect Wizards of the Coast. If you're coming here and 'crossing the border' of interacting with both artifacts AND creatures, we will find you and we will put you on the Game Changers list. We've don't want aristocrats ruining our most popular format. Additionally, we have reason to suspect that Dockside Chef is also a part of M13."

Writer's Note: Dockside Chef was not printed in Core Set 2013.

Banitt left the press room without taking any questions on the surprise banning of the thought-to-be-unplayable uncommon from Kamigawa Neon Dynasty but then reemerged a few minutes later to announce that Dockside Chef's banning was in fact a clerical error, but that Wizards was now unable to reverse the banning.

Banitt elaborated, "The Commander Format Panel has made it very clear that it is Wizards of the Coast's responsibility to fix our...administrative error...and we have every intention of following through on their mandate. Currently Dockside Chef is neither free to play nor has it officially landed on the Banned list. It's on what we refer to as Schrödinger's Watch List, a quantum state of semi-banability."

When pressed on what efforts Wizards was taking to get Dockside Chef back into the format, Banitt said, "Lots, I would guess," with an uncertain shrug.

This is not the first time that Wizards of the Coast have found themselves in hot water over a banning. Modern players might recall the treatment Golgari Grave-Troll received, having been unbanned in 2015 only to be rudely sent back to the banned and restricted list only two years later. It sent a shockwave through Modern from which the format quickly recovered.

As this writer was packing up for the day, Banitt popped her head back into the press room briefly to announce, "Oh, and we'll likely have an announcement about the fate of Primeval Force and Tinker's Tote for you tomorrow..."