June 29, 2026
Wizards bans Force of Will, Subtlety, and Wash Away in Brawl
The published reasoning covers free spells and fast mana in 1v1 command-zone formats, with play data behind it. All three cards are legal in Cali Commander.
Timeline
The short history of Cali Commander and of this site, in order, with dates. Entries citing the founding document or Wizards announcements are quoted or paraphrased from the archived sources.
Late June 2026
Cali Commander Beta v0.1 publishes
The format's original stewards publish rules, ban list, and watch list. It starts from the multiplayer Commander ban list and adds five format-specific bans and a commander ban, made on zero games of testing, by its own account.
July 2, 2026
The life total poll closes
58 votes cast. 30 life wins with 38. This is the poll that set the core rule of the format.
Early July 2026
Prophet of Kruphix is unbanned overnight
Players notice the multiplayer ban list includes a card that does nothing in 1v1. The unban is announced on Twitter rather than the format Discord, where players spend the next day asking whether the card is legal.
July 7, 2026
calicommander.com acquired
Registering the domain is also part of the diligence.
July 8, 2026
The ten reasons publish
A point-by-point case that the format's governance did not work as shipped, every quotation verbatim from Beta v0.1 or from Wizards of the Coast announcements. The receipts from that page remain archived.
July 11, 2026
/real launches
Verified voting, public tallies, permanent history, and the governance pages. The critique becomes infrastructure.
July 11, 2026
Caliente Commander assumes the title
The format is officially named Caliente Commander, officially abbreviated Cali Commander. The organizing body with the website, the voting apparatus, and the records is the organizing body. Other claimants are wished well.
July 11, 2026
First official tournament announced
Denver. A parking lot. $1,000 cash prizing, free entry, proxy friendly. Date and location publish on the events page first.
October 1, 2026
First quarterly review window
The six open ballots close. Results publish with full tallies the same day. That is a commitment, recorded on a page, which is the entire point.