Yeah, I'm not surprised they didn't reprint it. Rancor is one of those one mana wonder cards, like Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, and Lightning Bolt. It has eternal free recursion with no downside and provides a modest boost and trample. Of course they're not going to reprint it for Standard.
Heroic starts to become too strong with this card, thus no inclusion.
The same thing with Birds of Paradise and Enchantment Creatures -- if you turn a t1 mana dork into a t4 monster that replaces itself, the card suddenly becomes very good.
It depends entirely on the context of the format. If gush were legal alongside mana leak, delver of secrets, and geist of saint traft? Yes, it would break standard in half then. On top of that gush is basically zero mana: Draw 2 cards. Seeing as how WotC no longer likes ponder/preordain type cantrips at 1 mana I can't imagine gush at zero mana is any better.
I forgot M13 was during the heyday of Delver. Still, I'm not sure that Gush would have broken Standard in half it played alongside Geist of Saint Traft in your words, because it's actually surprisingly unimpressive in UW Delver. The deck normally played 8 Islands. That is not a good support for a card that needs two Islands in play to be effective.
It might have been broken in a Mono-Blue Delver list, but that would require the deck lose its stars of Geist of Saint Traft and Restoration Angel.
The reason Gush is crazy and is rightfully banned in Legacy is that the format has a much lower curve (meaning you need fewer lands in play), and perhaps more importantly the way it defeats Wasteland. The ability to thwart a Wasteland in exchange for drawing 2 cards seems like a bargain.
I'm sure deckbuilders would have found a way to incorporate gush into lists of UW delver to consistently support its drawback of bouncing 2 islands. It's also not an early game card by any stretch and by turns 4-5 you're likely to have the requisite islands. Resto also wasn't printed until AVR. The card is immensely powerful and in terms of card draw only really falls short of ancestral recall and brainstorm but it still isn't strictly worse as zero: draw 2 at instant speed is quite insane.
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I miss the days of powerful core-set cards getting two years in Standard. We got two core sets with titans, Mana Leak, and Lightning Bolt, but only one with Swagtusk, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Rancor. I remember the policy used to be not to rotate core-set staples after a year as to not upset players who spent a lot of money on them, but they clearly changed their mind between M12 and M13.
I miss the days of powerful core-set cards getting two years in Standard. We got two core sets with titans, Mana Leak, and Lightning Bolt, but only one with Swagtusk, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Rancor. I remember the policy used to be not to rotate core-set staples after a year as to not upset players who spent a lot of money on them, but they clearly changed their mind between M12 and M13.
People would have gone mad from another year of Thragtusk Standard.
I'm sure deckbuilders would have found a way to incorporate gush into lists of UW delver to consistently support its drawback of bouncing 2 islands. It's also not an early game card by any stretch and by turns 4-5 you're likely to have the requisite islands. Resto also wasn't printed until AVR.
The fact Restoration Angel wasn't printed until Avacyn Restored is irrelevant, because you were talking about Gush getting a reprint in Magic 2013. By that time, Avacyn Restored was released.
Also, I don't really see what it would want to take out for Gush. Gush offers the deck surprisingly less than the other cards it could be running. The problem with Gush is that it's a late game card, and at that you need to be getting some serious value. Restoration Angel gave you serious value by being a 3/4 flyer with flash that could let you dodge removal or let Snapcaster Mage do his thing again. Gush doesn't actively advance your board state, which is pretty important for that deck. Drawing cards is great, even for "free," but it's kinda unreliable with the low Island count (if Hallowed Fountain was available I could see it being better) and its lack of immediate impact; unlike Ponder, it doesn't make Delver transform any more reliably. I played UW Delver in Standard, and I'm kinda dubious that Gush would be that great in it. It'd likely see some play, but I really don't see it as a 4-of.
The card is immensely powerful and in terms of card draw only really falls short of ancestral recall and brainstorm but it still isn't strictly worse as zero: draw 2 at instant speed is quite insane.
Sure... in formats where all of your dual lands count as Islands.
I know this is all tangential to your original point, but I feel that if you wanted to pick a card that would, in your words, snap Standard in half if put into UW Delver, Brainstorm would've made a lot more sense.
I miss the days of powerful core-set cards getting two years in Standard. We got two core sets with titans, Mana Leak, and Lightning Bolt, but only one with Swagtusk, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Rancor. I remember the policy used to be not to rotate core-set staples after a year as to not upset players who spent a lot of money on them, but they clearly changed their mind between M12 and M13.
People would have gone mad from another year of Thragtusk Standard.
I seriously debated just leaving Thragtusk off the list, because I knew a comment like this was inevitable. He was annoying as ****. The larger point stands, however.
Brainstorm without fetchlands/shuffle effects is worse than ponder, except in the rare case where your delver deck doesn't have an instant or sorcery in the top 3 but it does have one in hand to put back with BS. I wasn't talking about gush in M13, I was talking about gush in M12, ISD, DKA, or scars block. As for what you would take out, are you a deckbuilder? Because that is integral to the discussion at hand as gush, while requiring more build around, is obscene in the right shell. You need to run islands to make the card good. That's not a drawback in the slightest. As for not having immediately impact like delver, I disagree greatly. Gush floating UU in response to your spell, snapcaster, mana leak your spell. Guess who's not going to lose this game.
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Brainstorm without fetchlands/shuffle effects is worse than ponder, except in the rare case where your delver deck doesn't have an instant or sorcery in the top 3 but it does have one in hand to put back with BS.
The point with Brainstorm is twofold. First, it allows you to hold mana open for counter-magic, and only Brainstorm to transform the Delver at end of opponent's turn if the coast is clear. Additionally, while Ponder is good, you can only play 4. Brainstorm gives you another card selection+Delver transformation card in addition to Ponder.
Now if Preordain was legal, you'd naturally just go with Ponder and Preordain over Brainstorm (as the Monoblue Pauper Delver decks do), but Brainstorm would've been pretty crazy good in that deck. Though, admittedly, it might have given more of a boost to Miracle decks.
I wasn't talking about gush in M13, I was talking about gush in M12, ISD, DKA, or scars block.
Then why did you specifically say Magic 2013? Look:
You act as though WotC can do no wrong in terms of reprints or new printings. Let's say they reprinted gush in M13 instead. That doesn't make it any less of a mistake.
If you wanted to talk about Magic 2012, why did you say Magic 2013?
As for what you would take out, are you a deckbuilder? Because that is integral to the discussion at hand as gush, while requiring more build around, is obscene in the right shell. You need to run islands to make the card good. That's not a drawback in the slightest.
It's a drawback because running more Islands means you have to cut something out to bring in those Islands. You don't want to cut out your cards that actually do something to put in Islands. And if you try to cut your non-Island lands to make room, then you have to start dropping the lands that produce White mana, making Geist and Restoration Angel unreliable. In other words, to run Gush, you have to be dropping high quality cards.
For Gush to be tenable, I feel you have to be going straight Monoblue and drop the White splash, which means losing the heavy hitters of Geist and Restoration Angel, along with a number of other benefits the White splash gave. So in order to play Gush, you have to give up other great cards. The gain might be greater than the loss, but even if so I don't think the net gain is particularly large.
Great job you got me with your nitpicking. Hope you feel good. And you just proved my point, gush is better than geist and resto wow what a surprise that zero: draw 2 at instant speed is busted. And, again, deckbuilders would have salivated at the thought of gush in delver decks/they would have broken it somehow with or without white. I'm not going to bother making a list either for a deck that never existed and will never exist because WotC isn't stupid enough to reprint gush in a standard legal set.
Brainstorm allowing you to hold up countermagic is minimal in a deck with 4 gitaxian probes/you get to see whether you need to hold up countermagic. And there was always mental misstep to be held up at all times as well. Brainstorm is quite bad without fetchlands, end of story. I'd never play brainstorm in a deck without easy shuffle effects/fetchlands, as it is awful then.
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Great job you got me with your nitpicking. Hope you feel good. And you just proved my point, gush is better than geist and resto wow what a surprise that zero: draw 2 at instant speed is busted.
No I didn't prove your point, because you didn't actually give a real argument as to why losing two of the best cards in the deck is worth it for Gush. Gush, while powerful, is not an actual threat. You are trading strong threats for a card that might get you a threat.
Characterizing Gush as draw 2 for 0 at Instant speed is rather disingenuous, because the tempo loss from bouncing two lands is actually quite significant. It means you can't use Gush until turn 2, but even at that point it's not particularly great because you're down to 0 lands when you really want lands in play to cast your stuff. You really wouldn't want to be casting Gush until turn 4 or later, so you can keep two lands in play to try to cast the things you drew from Gush. And at that point, instead of playing a card that might get you a useful card, why not have a useful card like a Restoration Angel? This isn't Gitaxian Probe, which can cycle at any point you want it to. Gush is far more particular as to when you can cast it.
Again, if Gush was able to bounce Seachrome Coast and Glacial Fortress, it'd absolutely be pretty crazy. But it can't, so you really have to go into Monoblue in order to support it, which means losing very good cards for the deck.
And, again, deckbuilders would have salivated at the thought of gush in delver decks/they would have broken it somehow with or without white. I'm not going to bother making a list either for a deck that never existed and will never exist because WotC isn't stupid enough to reprint gush in a standard legal set.
That isn't really an argument. It's just saying you think people could break it, but aren't actually offering up any ideas.
All that said, after some consideration, I believe Magic 2013 actually is the point at which Gush would have been most powerful in Delver. The issue before that set was that there really weren't any great replacements for the White cards you'd have to be giving up; Geist of Saint Traft was absolutely amazing, and Restoration Angel just made White even better. They're really not worth giving up for Gush by itself. However, Magic 2013 had Talrand, finally offering something that might be worth giving them up. Perhaps even more importantly, Talrand offers additional value to Gush, allowing you to get creatures out of your "free" draw spell.
Brainstorm allowing you to hold up countermagic is minimal in a deck with 4 gitaxian probes/you get to see whether you need to hold up countermagic. And there was always mental misstep to be held up at all times as well. Brainstorm is quite bad without fetchlands, end of story. I'd never play brainstorm in a deck without easy shuffle effects/fetchlands, as it is awful then.
Personally, I found Mental Misstep to be overrated. The big issue with it was that when not going against Delver, it really didn't hit that many cards, so I'd frequently find it in my hand useless and wishing it was something else. But it was good enough against Delver decks that if you were going to play against a lot of them, as was likely in SCG Opens, I'm sure it would be good. For whatever reason, I just rarely ran into them.
Still, I will concede I was hasty in throwing out Brainstorm. Try Preordain instead.
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The same thing with Birds of Paradise and Enchantment Creatures -- if you turn a t1 mana dork into a t4 monster that replaces itself, the card suddenly becomes very good.
It might have been broken in a Mono-Blue Delver list, but that would require the deck lose its stars of Geist of Saint Traft and Restoration Angel.
The reason Gush is crazy and is rightfully banned in Legacy is that the format has a much lower curve (meaning you need fewer lands in play), and perhaps more importantly the way it defeats Wasteland. The ability to thwart a Wasteland in exchange for drawing 2 cards seems like a bargain.
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People would have gone mad from another year of Thragtusk Standard.
Also, I don't really see what it would want to take out for Gush. Gush offers the deck surprisingly less than the other cards it could be running. The problem with Gush is that it's a late game card, and at that you need to be getting some serious value. Restoration Angel gave you serious value by being a 3/4 flyer with flash that could let you dodge removal or let Snapcaster Mage do his thing again. Gush doesn't actively advance your board state, which is pretty important for that deck. Drawing cards is great, even for "free," but it's kinda unreliable with the low Island count (if Hallowed Fountain was available I could see it being better) and its lack of immediate impact; unlike Ponder, it doesn't make Delver transform any more reliably. I played UW Delver in Standard, and I'm kinda dubious that Gush would be that great in it. It'd likely see some play, but I really don't see it as a 4-of.
Sure... in formats where all of your dual lands count as Islands.
I know this is all tangential to your original point, but I feel that if you wanted to pick a card that would, in your words, snap Standard in half if put into UW Delver, Brainstorm would've made a lot more sense.
I seriously debated just leaving Thragtusk off the list, because I knew a comment like this was inevitable. He was annoying as ****. The larger point stands, however.
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Now if Preordain was legal, you'd naturally just go with Ponder and Preordain over Brainstorm (as the Monoblue Pauper Delver decks do), but Brainstorm would've been pretty crazy good in that deck. Though, admittedly, it might have given more of a boost to Miracle decks.
Then why did you specifically say Magic 2013? Look:
If you wanted to talk about Magic 2012, why did you say Magic 2013?
It's a drawback because running more Islands means you have to cut something out to bring in those Islands. You don't want to cut out your cards that actually do something to put in Islands. And if you try to cut your non-Island lands to make room, then you have to start dropping the lands that produce White mana, making Geist and Restoration Angel unreliable. In other words, to run Gush, you have to be dropping high quality cards.
For Gush to be tenable, I feel you have to be going straight Monoblue and drop the White splash, which means losing the heavy hitters of Geist and Restoration Angel, along with a number of other benefits the White splash gave. So in order to play Gush, you have to give up other great cards. The gain might be greater than the loss, but even if so I don't think the net gain is particularly large.
Brainstorm allowing you to hold up countermagic is minimal in a deck with 4 gitaxian probes/you get to see whether you need to hold up countermagic. And there was always mental misstep to be held up at all times as well. Brainstorm is quite bad without fetchlands, end of story. I'd never play brainstorm in a deck without easy shuffle effects/fetchlands, as it is awful then.
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Characterizing Gush as draw 2 for 0 at Instant speed is rather disingenuous, because the tempo loss from bouncing two lands is actually quite significant. It means you can't use Gush until turn 2, but even at that point it's not particularly great because you're down to 0 lands when you really want lands in play to cast your stuff. You really wouldn't want to be casting Gush until turn 4 or later, so you can keep two lands in play to try to cast the things you drew from Gush. And at that point, instead of playing a card that might get you a useful card, why not have a useful card like a Restoration Angel? This isn't Gitaxian Probe, which can cycle at any point you want it to. Gush is far more particular as to when you can cast it.
Again, if Gush was able to bounce Seachrome Coast and Glacial Fortress, it'd absolutely be pretty crazy. But it can't, so you really have to go into Monoblue in order to support it, which means losing very good cards for the deck.
That isn't really an argument. It's just saying you think people could break it, but aren't actually offering up any ideas.
All that said, after some consideration, I believe Magic 2013 actually is the point at which Gush would have been most powerful in Delver. The issue before that set was that there really weren't any great replacements for the White cards you'd have to be giving up; Geist of Saint Traft was absolutely amazing, and Restoration Angel just made White even better. They're really not worth giving up for Gush by itself. However, Magic 2013 had Talrand, finally offering something that might be worth giving them up. Perhaps even more importantly, Talrand offers additional value to Gush, allowing you to get creatures out of your "free" draw spell.
Personally, I found Mental Misstep to be overrated. The big issue with it was that when not going against Delver, it really didn't hit that many cards, so I'd frequently find it in my hand useless and wishing it was something else. But it was good enough against Delver decks that if you were going to play against a lot of them, as was likely in SCG Opens, I'm sure it would be good. For whatever reason, I just rarely ran into them.
Still, I will concede I was hasty in throwing out Brainstorm. Try Preordain instead.