Leyline/Chancellor:
I don't see this as being degenerate. It can dominate a round that forgot to prepare for it, but all it does is put out attackers. This isn't any kind of abnormal game plan, and it's result isn't format-changing either. It falls flat to numerous methods of already-present creature stoppers (Bridge, Tabernacle, Leyline-Karakas, etc). It's a one-trick pony, and having the qualifier that any weekly contender should be able to account for it doesn't seem as restrictive as others.
Exploration:
Also not degenerate, although that's definitely more subjective with this one. I can say it does get very redundant. It's the Black Lotus of land rounds. I don't know if a forever-ban would be justified, but a few months away wouldn't hurt either.
Elixir of Immortality:
All of it's decks could be adjusted to continue to work (Wheel of Sun and Moon / Serene Remembrance), so losing it would simply take it's decks down a peg.
I'm decidedly undecided.
Unban:
I'm probably in the minority, but I've never liked the "Can't do nonbasic hate". Magus of the Moon and Wasteland are strong cards, no doubt; but they're just as strong as a Chalice of the Void is against Lotus. Foil stops lotus and a million other things. I think unbanning the Nonbasic hate duo will balance itself out after a few weeks, and lead to a more diverse field.
Honestly, I think Beast Within is the actual problem card of that dynamic duo; it's a removal spell that kills *anything* for only 3 mana AND it's a win-condition. It's the fact that you don't need to waste a slot on a win-con in a super-grindy control shell that makes Elixir/Beast such a pain to deal with.
Leyline/Chancellor: You essentially have to run Bridge, Leyline/Karakas, or Tabernacle to beat it. It's super-fast and has multiple attackers, so blockers and point kill spells seldom matter.
Which means any deck that is "keeping L/C honest" can easily be beaten by the rest of the field, because their removal suite is a known variable.
The format is calcifying. There are about four shells that I usually go *every week* "yeah, shoulda played one of those". Bans are needed to keep the format healthy, because new cards seldom shake up our little format.
I voted for Chancellor and Elixir, however, beast Within is probably the problem child there.
They're the problem cards in their "combos". Leyline I think can have it's uses in other deck combinations, so can Elixir, but it's probably going to be more degenerate. I'd be okay getting rid of Elixir and Beast.
There are good points being made all around.
I'm admittedly out of touch since I haven't played much in a while.
I've voted in the poll, but my vote doesn't fully express my thoughts. Specifically, I voted for Leyline of the Meek, Exploration, and unbanning.
My inclination is toward the following, though not necessarily all at once:
Beast Within (ban):
My thoughts here are essentially in line with WhammeWhamme's. I don't find Elixir problematic; it's definitely better than Soldevi Digger, but that type of card is fundamentally balanced since it doesn't generate any of mana/answer/threat. In contrast, Beast Within represents two parts of that trifecta and pairs perfectly with Lotus outside of land rule formats. Essentially, Beast Within offers too many types of advantage at too little of a cost to hand construction.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (ban):
I'm on record as being against banning any of the Eldrazi titans for a long time, on the basis that it's good to have access to a big threat (once things like Show and Tell and Channel are out of the way). Additionally, I like the design possibilities for the shuffle trigger. At this point, I think Kozilek alone is sufficient. Ulamog was the best of the bunch and has been banned, but Emrakul is not so far behind. For how immediate its threat can be (t2 Shifty Doppelganger, Through the Breach) it creates an oppressive restrain on some rounds. On the play in land rule, the opponent's only window of opportunity in the game may be when they have a single mana available. Karakas isn't especially playable in land rule formats, and may not even create a win in non-land rule formats if the Karakas player is forced to leave his or her land untapped at all time. Chain of Vapor and Path to Exile aren't particularly good cards, but they are occasionally playable against big threats that aren't Emrakul. Shelldock Isle only exacerbates the problem.
Leyline of the Meek (ban):
Feyd_Ruin's general point is valid (and add to the list of things that beat it combos that go bigger), but I disagree with the contention that it isn't format-warping. It attacks formats from a specific angle that frequently requires answers which are less flexible and/or interesting than they could be without that hand. More flexible answers (to a point - see Beast Within) create more interesting formats, because they lead to more cohesive hands (rather than, for example, a four-card hand with a necessarily specific fifth card). Chancellor of the Forge has broader applications than Leyline of the Meek, so I'd prefer Leyline be the card that gets banned.
Exploration (ban):
My argument here is only personal preference. I've never liked Exploration, and if other people don't like it either, I'd be happy to see it go. That said, I think it's entirely legitimate to leave it unbanned.
Wasteland (unban on probation):
My guess is that this should stay banned in the long run, but there's also enough possibility I'm wrong that I'd like to give it a shot. I think it's good for the format if lands are safe from disruption in a way that Lotus isn't, because it means that if a player wants to sacrifice speed for resiliency, there's a clear starting point to do so. On the whole, I think a larger percentage of resilient hands leads to a more varied metagame and more interesting hand construction.
As a sidenote, I strongly disagree with the suggestion to unban Magus of the Moon. Like Beast Within, it combines answer and threat, and I don't miss the days where Black Lotus / Foil / Island / Magus of the Moon / other card was the best hand (it was, even if it definitely could be beaten).
Time Walk (unban):
I wasn't playing land rule rounds when this got banned. My understanding is that Anurid Scavenger + Time Walk was the offender. By current standards, this strikes me as incredibly tame, and I question whether it was ever even the correct hand at the time (and what strategies was it oppressing?). Time Walk is neither threat nor answer and by itself provides limited acceleration in land rule rounds. Going infinite with Time Walk requires at least one more card and must be executed in such a way that it is incapable of occurring before the third turn; once that's been established, it likely requires a third card to actually win the game. Essentially, I don't see how the card can be considered potentially dominant or restrictive to the construction of other hands.
EDIT:
Additional note on Elixir of Immortality:
As stated above, I think Elixir is far from problematic. That being said, it is generally superior to Soldevi Digger / Wheel of Sun and Moon / Serene Remembrance / Bow of Nylea / discard + Eldrazi trigger. There is merit to the argument that banning Elixir would add some small amount of diversity by making more of these other cards playable, but that's a more tenuous position than arguing that a strategy is dominant or oppresses other strategies, since there always will be cards of a type that are better than other cards of that type. If we want to go this direction, that at least warrants more discussion about the goals of the PHM banned list.
Going to throw Leyline of Singularity/Karakas (specifically Leyline of Singularity) under the bus.
It's just too good. It removes virtually all creature-based threats from the equation, and is part of the winning deck in way too many rounds. The format would be more interesting, with cards like Innocent Blood, Path to Exile and The Tabernacle at Pendrel Vale all potentially being the "right" kill spell.
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Will probably leave this up for awhile since our numbers are fairly low right now.
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I don't see this as being degenerate. It can dominate a round that forgot to prepare for it, but all it does is put out attackers. This isn't any kind of abnormal game plan, and it's result isn't format-changing either. It falls flat to numerous methods of already-present creature stoppers (Bridge, Tabernacle, Leyline-Karakas, etc). It's a one-trick pony, and having the qualifier that any weekly contender should be able to account for it doesn't seem as restrictive as others.
Exploration:
Also not degenerate, although that's definitely more subjective with this one. I can say it does get very redundant. It's the Black Lotus of land rounds. I don't know if a forever-ban would be justified, but a few months away wouldn't hurt either.
Elixir of Immortality:
All of it's decks could be adjusted to continue to work (Wheel of Sun and Moon / Serene Remembrance), so losing it would simply take it's decks down a peg.
I'm decidedly undecided.
Unban:
I'm probably in the minority, but I've never liked the "Can't do nonbasic hate". Magus of the Moon and Wasteland are strong cards, no doubt; but they're just as strong as a Chalice of the Void is against Lotus. Foil stops lotus and a million other things. I think unbanning the Nonbasic hate duo will balance itself out after a few weeks, and lead to a more diverse field.
No longer staff here.
Leyline/Chancellor: You essentially have to run Bridge, Leyline/Karakas, or Tabernacle to beat it. It's super-fast and has multiple attackers, so blockers and point kill spells seldom matter.
Which means any deck that is "keeping L/C honest" can easily be beaten by the rest of the field, because their removal suite is a known variable.
The format is calcifying. There are about four shells that I usually go *every week* "yeah, shoulda played one of those". Bans are needed to keep the format healthy, because new cards seldom shake up our little format.
They're the problem cards in their "combos". Leyline I think can have it's uses in other deck combinations, so can Elixir, but it's probably going to be more degenerate. I'd be okay getting rid of Elixir and Beast.
I'm admittedly out of touch since I haven't played much in a while.
I've voted in the poll, but my vote doesn't fully express my thoughts. Specifically, I voted for Leyline of the Meek, Exploration, and unbanning.
My inclination is toward the following, though not necessarily all at once:
Ban:
Beast Within
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Leyline of the Meek
Exploration (LR banned list)
Unban:
Wasteland
Time Walk (LR banned list)
Beast Within (ban):
My thoughts here are essentially in line with WhammeWhamme's. I don't find Elixir problematic; it's definitely better than Soldevi Digger, but that type of card is fundamentally balanced since it doesn't generate any of mana/answer/threat. In contrast, Beast Within represents two parts of that trifecta and pairs perfectly with Lotus outside of land rule formats. Essentially, Beast Within offers too many types of advantage at too little of a cost to hand construction.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (ban):
I'm on record as being against banning any of the Eldrazi titans for a long time, on the basis that it's good to have access to a big threat (once things like Show and Tell and Channel are out of the way). Additionally, I like the design possibilities for the shuffle trigger. At this point, I think Kozilek alone is sufficient. Ulamog was the best of the bunch and has been banned, but Emrakul is not so far behind. For how immediate its threat can be (t2 Shifty Doppelganger,
Through the Breach) it creates an oppressive restrain on some rounds. On the play in land rule, the opponent's only window of opportunity in the game may be when they have a single mana available. Karakas isn't especially playable in land rule formats, and may not even create a win in non-land rule formats if the Karakas player is forced to leave his or her land untapped at all time. Chain of Vapor and Path to Exile aren't particularly good cards, but they are occasionally playable against big threats that aren't Emrakul. Shelldock Isle only exacerbates the problem.
Leyline of the Meek (ban):
Feyd_Ruin's general point is valid (and add to the list of things that beat it combos that go bigger), but I disagree with the contention that it isn't format-warping. It attacks formats from a specific angle that frequently requires answers which are less flexible and/or interesting than they could be without that hand. More flexible answers (to a point - see Beast Within) create more interesting formats, because they lead to more cohesive hands (rather than, for example, a four-card hand with a necessarily specific fifth card).
Chancellor of the Forge has broader applications than Leyline of the Meek, so I'd prefer Leyline be the card that gets banned.
Exploration (ban):
My argument here is only personal preference. I've never liked Exploration, and if other people don't like it either, I'd be happy to see it go. That said, I think it's entirely legitimate to leave it unbanned.
Wasteland (unban on probation):
My guess is that this should stay banned in the long run, but there's also enough possibility I'm wrong that I'd like to give it a shot. I think it's good for the format if lands are safe from disruption in a way that Lotus isn't, because it means that if a player wants to sacrifice speed for resiliency, there's a clear starting point to do so. On the whole, I think a larger percentage of resilient hands leads to a more varied metagame and more interesting hand construction.
As a sidenote, I strongly disagree with the suggestion to unban Magus of the Moon. Like Beast Within, it combines answer and threat, and I don't miss the days where Black Lotus / Foil / Island / Magus of the Moon / other card was the best hand (it was, even if it definitely could be beaten).
Time Walk (unban):
I wasn't playing land rule rounds when this got banned. My understanding is that Anurid Scavenger + Time Walk was the offender. By current standards, this strikes me as incredibly tame, and I question whether it was ever even the correct hand at the time (and what strategies was it oppressing?). Time Walk is neither threat nor answer and by itself provides limited acceleration in land rule rounds. Going infinite with Time Walk requires at least one more card and must be executed in such a way that it is incapable of occurring before the third turn; once that's been established, it likely requires a third card to actually win the game. Essentially, I don't see how the card can be considered potentially dominant or restrictive to the construction of other hands.
EDIT:
Additional note on Elixir of Immortality:
As stated above, I think Elixir is far from problematic. That being said, it is generally superior to Soldevi Digger / Wheel of Sun and Moon / Serene Remembrance / Bow of Nylea / discard + Eldrazi trigger. There is merit to the argument that banning Elixir would add some small amount of diversity by making more of these other cards playable, but that's a more tenuous position than arguing that a strategy is dominant or oppresses other strategies, since there always will be cards of a type that are better than other cards of that type. If we want to go this direction, that at least warrants more discussion about the goals of the PHM banned list.
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
It's just too good. It removes virtually all creature-based threats from the equation, and is part of the winning deck in way too many rounds. The format would be more interesting, with cards like Innocent Blood, Path to Exile and The Tabernacle at Pendrel Vale all potentially being the "right" kill spell.