(And frankly maybe this is wrong because of how it impacts other cards)

The weird thing there is giving him no color identity would break him a commander so maybe my position here is flawed

It's less "go do something else" and more "you can do this elsewhere - commander doesn't have to become that too"

I bring this up in part because I've seen comments that opposition to changing hybrid mana is simply due to resistance to change, when I don't think it's rooted entirely in a purist stance at all

FWIW - there are things about color identity in commander that I *would* change. It's silly to me that cards without mana symbols of a color like Garruk Relentless or Avacyn are considered black or red because of a random color icon on the back. It makes things murkier for no gain IMO.

My entire point is that *intent* is being used as an argument in favor, which I think is nonsense and I'm using counterexamples of intent.

Similarly, *design intent* means Noble Hierarch can go in my G/W or G/U deck, or Deathrite Shaman (even with the activation cost!) in my monoblack deck.

Design intent is just not an argument that holds up to scrutiny unless you just want to scrap every color identity rule, pretty much.

re: phyrexian mana

The point of the comparison is the axis of design intent. If (at least one of) the core arguments for changing the hybrid mana rule is to align with design intent, then Phyrexian mana would fall into the same bucket *insofar as design intent is concerned*. It's *more* permissive

Color identity as a *concept as it is currently defined* was created later, but the idea that your commander determined the cards you're allowed to play with was central from the beginning, at least to my recollection.

The point of the comparison is the axis of design intent. If (at least one of) the core arguments for changing the hybrid mana rule is to align with design intent, then Phyrexian mana would fall into the same bucket *insofar as design intent is concerned*. It is in fact *far* more permissive.

Also the article pretty much confirms my suspicions that Vivi and Cauldron were never played together in testing.

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