The GOmmander Manifesto
Come as you are - Play what you got. GOmmander is a Commander compatible low power community format that require the player to collect not only the physical card for their collection but also to earn the right to use the card in the format by adding it to their digital collection by a specified non monetary mean.
What made magic great and how has the modern world lessen it?
In 1993 when Magic was invented the Internet was practically non existant. Information about cards was hard to come by and trading cards with other players was difficult. Today, building your deck is a perfect information game where you can first brew and then get the cards you want without being restricted by your pre-existing collection. In fact, you do not have to brew at all, you can just copy a high performing deck from the net and get all the cards from the secondary market. Or buy a pre-constructed deck straight from WoTC with all card synergies included.
One of the ideas behind magic was that since every players collection was unique that would also apply to their decks and as collections grew, decks would get more sofisticated. Building a collection was meant to be a journey of exploration. One of opening booster packs and chasing hard to find singles.
Why GOmmander is the cure
GOmmander recreates the journey by introducing a restriction on what cards each player can use. In order to use a card in GOmmander you must first earn the card by walking. When you walk, how much you walk and your luck decide what cards you earn. This reintroduces a "collect first, brew later" mindset and a concept of chasing singles without a guaranteed outcome. Once again each players means of building decks is diverse in a way that also drives diversity in gameplay and each deck undergoes a long process of refinement as more and better fitting cards become available.
Why it is a low power format
Earning cards is time consuming and chasing specific cards require dedication. The chance of getting a card is inversely proportional to it's current cost on the secondary market. The more expensive the card, the harder it is to get. Also players cannot decide what cards to pursue, each hour has it's own list of cards and the player can only ever earn the first card in that list that they do not already possess. This leads to less extensive collections built less with intention and more by chance.