My 2 cents: It feels strange that Wizards is setting the precedent again that it's ok to emergency ban something in a format between set releases, especially after they waited it out during the insane dominance Eldrazi decks had on modern just a few months ago. They recently banned cloud of faeries out of the format, introduced a better version into the format, and then didn't do anything about it for 2 ban announcements only to give it the hammer haphazardly.
It feels strange that Wizards is setting the precedent again that it's ok to emergency ban something in a format between set releases, especially after they waited it out during the insane dominance Eldrazi decks had on modern just a few months ago.
The article explains that they could do this emergency ban because, for Wizards of the Coast, Pauper is only an online format and-since UR Drake had a big boom right after the last banlist announcement-they could affect the format faster; a thing that they could never do with a paper format/release, being bound to the release of the main sets and their relative banlist announcements.
My 2 cents: It feels strange that Wizards is setting the precedent again that it's ok to emergency ban something in a format between set releases, especially after they waited it out during the insane dominance Eldrazi decks had on modern just a few months ago. They recently banned cloud of faeries out of the format, introduced a better version into the format, and then didn't do anything about it for 2 ban announcements only to give it the hammer haphazardly.
I think the article explains itself fairly well. Pauper is only a tournament format online outside of some small local stuff. Online they have way better data collection capabilities so it's a lot easier to see big meta swings faster than in paper formats. It's also a lot easier for players to change their decks quickly in response to this stuff online than in paper, especially in Pauper's case since the vast majority of the cards involved are quite cheap. It was doing very well but not oppressively so when Kaladesh came out, so they didn't ban it. In the time since then it's gotten out of control so they banned it.
I mean, is Pauper really a format that warrants an emergency ban?
Why woudn't? Is a format just like any other that deserves balancing.
I mean, it just feels like more of a third string casual format at best. Nothing against it, it can be fun, but it's no Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Standard or even EDH.
I mean, is Pauper really a format that warrants an emergency ban?
Why woudn't? Is a format just like any other that deserves balancing.
I mean, it just feels like more of a third string casual format at best. Nothing against it, it can be fun, but it's no Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Standard or even EDH.
That, I'm afraid, is completely a matter of opinon.
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I mean, is Pauper really a format that warrants an emergency ban?
Why woudn't? Is a format just like any other that deserves balancing.
I mean, it just feels like more of a third string casual format at best. Nothing against it, it can be fun, but it's no Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Standard or even EDH.
It's no coincidence that they have only emergency banned cards from urza block but in all seriousness, didn't expect anything else other than drake inevitably getting the axe in pauper. Card is degenerate.
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I think the term "emergency ban" is a bit misleading. Suggesting that this was done haphazardly is also rather unfair. The article pretty clearly differentiates this ban from the normal ban cycle. It discusses how they have been keeping an eye on the izzet drake deck for some time, and that prior to kaladesh the win rate and play rates were not high enough to warrant a ban (specifically the deck comprised 10% of the competitive meta).
They made this ban off cycle because pauper is almost exclusively an online format, sure people play it in paper form, but MTGO is where it has it's biggest following. The online meta saw a big uptake of the deck, it's win rate jumped up, so they responded. This is the kind of thing you can do for an online format where you have universal control to enforce bannings.
By contrast, modern and standard are primarily played in paper form, with much higher stakes. Making an off cycle ban has a much bigger impact on a lot more people. Standard and modern bans affect not only players, but TOs as well. Can you imagine the uproar if you told everyone going to the Modern GP in Melbourne this year that eye of ugin was banned two weeks beforehand?
There is no pauper GP, or a pauper SCG invitational, so they can respond to problems in the format without waiting for the regular ban list announcement time so that everyone has fair warning.
It's a great format that no one really plays outside of online. And this isn't like that one kid that built the Amulet Bloom deck as his only deck for Modern that built through allowance money that he liked to play. I have empathy.
This?
Okay so the one person who wanted to keep the deck as their go-to deck might be rage stomping, but then is probably looking at the rest of their collection as the way to go about and build a new deck anyway and spend $5 and sigh.
Whereas the guy who bought out all the stock on TCG Player on huge speculation demands. I'm laughing with you, right now, as the tears of irony stream down your face.
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I mean, is Pauper really a format that warrants an emergency ban?
Why woudn't? Is a format just like any other that deserves balancing.
I mean, it just feels like more of a third string casual format at best. Nothing against it, it can be fun, but it's no Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Standard or even EDH.
Pauper is vastly better than standard, but that's just a matter of opinion. I put it right up with modern, legacy, and Canadian highlander as the best formats.
And thank god for the ban. I have no sympathy for anyone who played that deck. I know it was legal but it sometimes took so long to combo off it felt like playing eggs. I won matches in the 2-man's on mtgo by just forcing my opponent to go through the motions of killing me and watching them clock themselves. I like UR control, I don't like such a rediculous combo in it.
What I'm interested in is what the deck built around it. No mention.
The main issue was the combo-control deck that utilized Peregrine Drake, Ghostly Flicker, and Archaeomancer to create infinite mana and repeatedly recur any spell or bounce any creature. Here's a general decklist:
I'm a little amazed we don't have people doing the usual "What about those that spent money on the deck", "I can't trust Wizards anymore", and "I'm quitting the format" from the usual crowd when a sudden ban happens.
It isn't all that surprising this was going to happen though, the card was going to be abused as soon as the icon showed common.
I play this deck in my LGS in paper and its really good, its feels like a splinter twin deck and they banned just because the same reason they banned twin > people was angry because dont know how to stop the combo and get mad, the decks looses to any removal spell that kills the drake in response to the flicker, so i dont understand why its brainstorm, delver, counterspell, daze, ponder/preordain and so on cards in the format and they banned this ...
Now the meta will shifts to MonoU Delver again with 15% or more and UR Delver whit another 10% of meta and so on ...
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Modern: RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries Legacy:BRx Renimator Playing right now:Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
I'm a little amazed we don't have people doing the usual "What about those that spent money on the deck", "I can't trust Wizards anymore", and "I'm quitting the format" from the usual crowd when a sudden ban happens.
It isn't all that surprising this was going to happen though, the card was going to be abused as soon as the icon showed common.
Those complains aren't necessary for a format where card prices are relatively healthy. A full pauper deck costs less than some singles in modern and legacy. And it's not like all the cards in drake decks are now useless, e.g. Lightning Bolt and Counterspell are still great cards.
I'm a little amazed we don't have people doing the usual "What about those that spent money on the deck", "I can't trust Wizards anymore", and "I'm quitting the format" from the usual crowd when a sudden ban happens.
It isn't all that surprising this was going to happen though, the card was going to be abused as soon as the icon showed common.
It's Pauper. The decks cost like $20 total. No one is going to complain about deck-killing bans in a format like that (another reason an emergency ban is okay here). (Note: I also don't know enough about Pauper to know if this ban is actually deck-killing or just weakens the deck.)
I'm a little amazed we don't have people doing the usual "What about those that spent money on the deck", "I can't trust Wizards anymore", and "I'm quitting the format" from the usual crowd when a sudden ban happens.
It isn't all that surprising this was going to happen though, the card was going to be abused as soon as the icon showed common.
It's Pauper. The decks cost like $20 total. No one is going to complain about deck-killing bans in a format like that (another reason an emergency ban is okay here). (Note: I also don't know enough about Pauper to know if this ban is actually deck-killing or just weakens the deck.)
It's deck killing, thank god. The deck was originally around with Cloud of Faeries in Esper colors (called Esper familiars) and it was degenerate. Right after they banned CoF Eternal Masters got printed with Peregrine Drake and the pauper community had a collective "what the ****, Wizards" moment.
They even came out and said that, if they knew they were going to ban CoF beforehand and kill that deck, that they would not have made Peregrine Drake a common in EM.
WotC used to be not that reactive before, whether the surprise standard rotation rollback or this surprise emergency ban, either there was a huge loss of income or the new CEO is making things change.
Interesting observation. Wizards did always have a more 'wait and see' approach to things and took a long time to react to player complaints and things like this. I can't imagine Peregrine Drake caused enough of a decline in Pauper to have a significant impact on Wizards' finances, so I think you might be on to something with the new CEO trying to actually make some changes in the way the company does things.
WotC used to be not that reactive before, whether the surprise standard rotation rollback or this surprise emergency ban, either there was a huge loss of income or the new CEO is making things change.
Interesting observation. Wizards did always have a more 'wait and see' approach to things and took a long time to react to player complaints and things like this. I can't imagine Peregrine Drake caused enough of a decline in Pauper to have a significant impact on Wizards' finances, so I think you might be on to something with the new CEO trying to actually make some changes in the way the company does things.
Both quotes here articulate what I was trying to convey so much better lol. I was caught off guard by the abrupt decision to ban drake when they've had 2 opportunities to ban the obviously broken and warping card on their regular ban announcement schedule.
I play this deck in my LGS in paper and its really good, its feels like a splinter twin deck and they banned just because the same reason they banned twin > people was angry because dont know how to stop the combo and get mad, the decks looses to any removal spell that kills the drake in response to the flicker.
Now the meta will shifts to MonoU Delver again with 15% or more and UR Delver whit another 10% of meta and so on ...
One of the decks that should have an easier time winning would have been MBC but the combo just goes back to the hand. Discard means very little to Drake deck (which should have crippled it) but the recursion was too strong even for MBC deck to manage. You mention "lose to removal" which is ridiculous. If youre up against any deck that can disrupt what youre trying to do with removal and you dont have counters then youre not playing correctly.
This deck was far more broken then Splinter Twin. It had pretty much no weakness except for landscrew. At least I can discard splinter twin or kiki and you cant get it back. It may not be a T4 "GG, I win" thing but once T5 comes and they still have 5 cards in hand and 5 lands the game is most likely over.
Arguably Ghostly Flicker is also the problem since its 2 targets at instant speed for 3 mana of value.
Im happy for this ban and it derserved the axe even before Eternal Masters came out with the ban of CoF. Now I can play MBC and win again.
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http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-online/pauper-banned-list-change-2016-11-03
My 2 cents: It feels strange that Wizards is setting the precedent again that it's ok to emergency ban something in a format between set releases, especially after they waited it out during the insane dominance Eldrazi decks had on modern just a few months ago. They recently banned cloud of faeries out of the format, introduced a better version into the format, and then didn't do anything about it for 2 ban announcements only to give it the hammer haphazardly.
The article explains that they could do this emergency ban because, for Wizards of the Coast, Pauper is only an online format and-since UR Drake had a big boom right after the last banlist announcement-they could affect the format faster; a thing that they could never do with a paper format/release, being bound to the release of the main sets and their relative banlist announcements.
I think the article explains itself fairly well. Pauper is only a tournament format online outside of some small local stuff. Online they have way better data collection capabilities so it's a lot easier to see big meta swings faster than in paper formats. It's also a lot easier for players to change their decks quickly in response to this stuff online than in paper, especially in Pauper's case since the vast majority of the cards involved are quite cheap. It was doing very well but not oppressively so when Kaladesh came out, so they didn't ban it. In the time since then it's gotten out of control so they banned it.
Seems kosher to me.
Just glad it won't get banned from commander.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Why woudn't? Is a format just like any other that deserves balancing.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
I mean, it just feels like more of a third string casual format at best. Nothing against it, it can be fun, but it's no Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Standard or even EDH.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
-Chandra Nalaar
Pauper is a far better format than Modern.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
Currently Playing:
Retired
They made this ban off cycle because pauper is almost exclusively an online format, sure people play it in paper form, but MTGO is where it has it's biggest following. The online meta saw a big uptake of the deck, it's win rate jumped up, so they responded. This is the kind of thing you can do for an online format where you have universal control to enforce bannings.
By contrast, modern and standard are primarily played in paper form, with much higher stakes. Making an off cycle ban has a much bigger impact on a lot more people. Standard and modern bans affect not only players, but TOs as well. Can you imagine the uproar if you told everyone going to the Modern GP in Melbourne this year that eye of ugin was banned two weeks beforehand?
There is no pauper GP, or a pauper SCG invitational, so they can respond to problems in the format without waiting for the regular ban list announcement time so that everyone has fair warning.
This?
Okay so the one person who wanted to keep the deck as their go-to deck might be rage stomping, but then is probably looking at the rest of their collection as the way to go about and build a new deck anyway and spend $5 and sigh.
Whereas the guy who bought out all the stock on TCG Player on huge speculation demands. I'm laughing with you, right now, as the tears of irony stream down your face.
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<a href="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-lists/588020-unpowered-themed-enchantment-an-enchanted-evening">An Enchanted Evening Cube </a>
Pauper is vastly better than standard, but that's just a matter of opinion. I put it right up with modern, legacy, and Canadian highlander as the best formats.
And thank god for the ban. I have no sympathy for anyone who played that deck. I know it was legal but it sometimes took so long to combo off it felt like playing eggs. I won matches in the 2-man's on mtgo by just forcing my opponent to go through the motions of killing me and watching them clock themselves. I like UR control, I don't like such a rediculous combo in it.
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4 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Archaeomancer
4 Mulldrifter
4 Peregrine Drake
Spells (23)
2 Dispel
4 Flame Slash
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Preordain
4 Counterspell
3 Compulsive Research
1 Exclude
3 Ghostly Flicker
1 Forgotten Cave
6 Island
4 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Lonely Sandbar
5 Mountain
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Electrickery
3 Gorilla Shaman
4 Hydroblast
4 Pyroblast
1 Aura Flux
It isn't all that surprising this was going to happen though, the card was going to be abused as soon as the icon showed common.
Now the meta will shifts to MonoU Delver again with 15% or more and UR Delver whit another 10% of meta and so on ...
RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron
R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries
Legacy:BRx Renimator
Playing right now: Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
Those complains aren't necessary for a format where card prices are relatively healthy. A full pauper deck costs less than some singles in modern and legacy. And it's not like all the cards in drake decks are now useless, e.g. Lightning Bolt and Counterspell are still great cards.
It's Pauper. The decks cost like $20 total. No one is going to complain about deck-killing bans in a format like that (another reason an emergency ban is okay here). (Note: I also don't know enough about Pauper to know if this ban is actually deck-killing or just weakens the deck.)
It's deck killing, thank god. The deck was originally around with Cloud of Faeries in Esper colors (called Esper familiars) and it was degenerate. Right after they banned CoF Eternal Masters got printed with Peregrine Drake and the pauper community had a collective "what the ****, Wizards" moment.
They even came out and said that, if they knew they were going to ban CoF beforehand and kill that deck, that they would not have made Peregrine Drake a common in EM.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
Interesting observation. Wizards did always have a more 'wait and see' approach to things and took a long time to react to player complaints and things like this. I can't imagine Peregrine Drake caused enough of a decline in Pauper to have a significant impact on Wizards' finances, so I think you might be on to something with the new CEO trying to actually make some changes in the way the company does things.
Both quotes here articulate what I was trying to convey so much better lol. I was caught off guard by the abrupt decision to ban drake when they've had 2 opportunities to ban the obviously broken and warping card on their regular ban announcement schedule.
One of the decks that should have an easier time winning would have been MBC but the combo just goes back to the hand. Discard means very little to Drake deck (which should have crippled it) but the recursion was too strong even for MBC deck to manage. You mention "lose to removal" which is ridiculous. If youre up against any deck that can disrupt what youre trying to do with removal and you dont have counters then youre not playing correctly.
This deck was far more broken then Splinter Twin. It had pretty much no weakness except for landscrew. At least I can discard splinter twin or kiki and you cant get it back. It may not be a T4 "GG, I win" thing but once T5 comes and they still have 5 cards in hand and 5 lands the game is most likely over.
Arguably Ghostly Flicker is also the problem since its 2 targets at instant speed for 3 mana of value.
Im happy for this ban and it derserved the axe even before Eternal Masters came out with the ban of CoF. Now I can play MBC and win again.