I'm on the fence about Show and Tell. I think it is the card to ban in Hive Mind, but I don't know how dominant it really is. Maybe if it takes four slots tonight we shall see.
Stoneforge is not going to be banned in Legacy BEFORE it gets banned in Extended. Extended season next year will determine whether it gets banned in 1.5 or not.
And please, Don't turn this into a "Ban Brainstorm" thing.
Just nothing silly like a 5/5 Living weapon and it'll stay in check. Sure the swords are pretty good, but Stoneforged equipped itself is pretty bland. Stoneblade takes abou 4 turns before they start attackign anyways.
I'm on the fence about Show and Tell. I think it is the card to ban in Hive Mind, but I don't know how dominant it really is. Maybe if it takes four slots tonight we shall see.
Stoneforge is not going to be banned in Legacy BEFORE it gets banned in Extended. Extended season next year will determine whether it gets banned in 1.5 or not.
And please, Don't turn this into a "Ban Brainstorm" thing.
For bannings, IF (and it's a big if) Hive Mind gets out of hand, I guess Hive Mind would get the ax. The card itself is was causes the degeneracy in the deck. Show and Tell is simply the enabler. If Show & Tell was the problem, you'd be seeing a lot more Sneak Attack + Show and Tell decks running around, but I rarely see that deck around.
So far, though, Hive Mind seems like it's being kept in check by the meta. Not seeing it in the top 16 at SCG was pretty surprising, I gotta say
For bannings, IF (and it's a big if) Hive Mind gets out of hand, I guess Hive Mind would get the ax. The card itself is was causes the degeneracy in the deck. Show and Tell is simply the enabler. If Show & Tell was the problem, you'd be seeing a lot more Sneak Attack + Show and Tell decks running around, but I rarely see that deck around.
So far, though, Hive Mind seems like it's being kept in check by the meta. Not seeing it in the top 16 at SCG was pretty surprising, I gotta say
I could never see hive mind deck drawing the axe. It can combo as early as turn 2 and in that case its still a 2 or 3 card combo depending upon how you look at it thats disruptable by stifles, force of will, cursecatcher and early discard.
Seriously, the Metagame is at it's most diverse in years , nothing needs banning .
Also unban land tax (yes I will keep saying this untill they do so) as it has no place on the list.
Seriously, people cry over everything BAN this Ban that... Once a none creature none control deck aka "combo" deck wins twice or evan 3 times, people yell BAN. Same thing happened with timespiral/high tide and aluren/imperial recruter
Ok look at the top 16 in pittsberg NO hive mind and olny 5 show and tell and you guys want ban....im confused. Hive mind has been around for a year and a half and its not showing up till now, that shows how much people dont test.
Everyone just needs to learn how to play aganst every deck not just the ones that they think are far.
Ok now Back on topic i would love to see land tax off and earthcraft, but i know if earthcraft ever comes off people will say bann again cuz its a combo
I think Land Tax and Earthcraft could be unbanned, although if Land Tax is, look for mono-white Taxes to become much more powerful, though I would not say it is inherently more powerful than standstill, I would like a chance to see how it plays with AEther Vial and Enlightened Tutor.
EDIT: I never played with it, but is Fastbond really that powerful? Same with Hermit Druid. Worldgorger Dragon is obviously a combo card... but what combo?
The shell for hermit druid would be a breakfast style deck. The fact is, there are a lot of ways to win when you draw 50 cards because that's essentially what the druid does is draw a lot of cards for 1GG total. Hermit druid shouldn't be unbanned. It's a one card combo that is tutorable my worldly tutor and summoner's pact if you're going to win the same turn. Not to mention it's pretty easy to protect with misstep and FoW and such. And it's quite resilient to GY hate because all they have to do is answer the hate and then activate druid to win.
Fastbond is broken. Either it's infinite life with crucible/loam and z. orb or you can accel like crazy and paired with horn of greed becomes a sick, sick card advantage engine imagine Ali Aintrazi's turboland list with fastbond it just wouldn't be fair.
WGD is only banned because it can draw the game. The combo isn't that powerful and it's definitely not resilient.
Earthcraft is pretty busted in combo elves and that's about it. It's decent in enchantress where you can go infinite with squirrel nest or sacred mesa + enchanted land but that's about it. It would be insanely good in combo elves though; one drop creatures would be free with it in play and it allows the combo to keep on going, it is also like a backup heritage druid when nettle sentinel is in play it can do so much with nettle sentinel it's not even funny.
Land tax should be unbanned everyone has been saying this for years but the DCI still has done nothing concerning land tax.
I guess GerryT thought that mind twist could be unbanned safely at Pittsburgh in the quick questions column.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
I think Black vice, Land tax, Gush, and Mind Twist could all come off the list. I think you have to take all of them off the list at once though to have them help add balance to each other.
Black Vice - Repeatable damage is not really a big deal. There are already decks that do much more with 1 Mana and its easy enough to hate on. Even mono blue control lists can play around this card with stuff like energy field and it does not help burn or affinity all that much because it stops to the same hate they are already facing and is a dead top deck against most matchups. Compare this card to something like Nactal in a deck like zoo. Which would they rather have and which is going to do more damage. Mental missteps prominence also hurts this card. Its a powerful card for sure but hardly game defining like it used to be.
Land tax - It's a strong card in a deck that can afford to run basics, which is not that many lists. It would give Death and Taxes and UW control lists a boost for sure, thought death and taxes can't really break the effect without a way to turn the basics into action ala scrollrack and then what to they drop? UW is probably the scariest deck for it to be seen in but in order for them to truly make the most of it they would need to alter their mana base to be worse without it, so that is probably a fair trade off. Once again mental misstep makes this cards actual play value less as well, because if you weaken the rest of your deck without it and then it gets countered, you may be in trouble. Also if black vice were off the list it would punish this strategy.
Gush - Without fastbond for silly combos, there are not too many decks that would want to use this. Fish is better off just running silvergill and don't have any room for it other wise. Jace based strats don't want to struggle with the tempo loss. There are better card draw engines for blue right now (visions, standstill, Jace) without the downside. My guess is if you remove it from the list it won't even see play in current decks, though it may spawn its own deck which would probably be perfectly ok. Black vice also keeps it in check should it come off the list.
Mind twist - At 1 mana it does nothing so duress and co are better. At 2 mana distress from m12 is probably an upgrade, it cant hit land but I think you picking is probably better. At 3 mana it's a strictly worse Hymn to tourach save for its being splashable, though Hymn has proven to be splashable at this point. At 4 mana it starts to come into its own, but you pretty much will have to make that happen by turn 3 for it to be super effective, which means running acceleration which probably means -CA for you as well. Its counter to black vice and kinda crappy if they have any of the draw engines above. I would say its pretty safe in an environment that does not have the fast mana that vintage. It's also suitable weakened against two of the top 2 cards on the list and is counter to working with black vice.
Part of me also wants to believe that skullclamp could also come off the list. I have no real basis to say that other than the fact that I can think of a deck I want to run it in. I thought maybe the gate could run it but they already have tight slots and the 1 equip they tend to use is jitte which in my eyes is lightyears better than skullclamp. Not sure why this card is even banned but I could be wrong on this.
The problem with Black Vise is that it's not symmetrical. Many decks can play 4, run it out turn 1. It deals 3 damage right there, which is as good as any burn spell at that cost. It will most likely proceed to deal another 3-4 damage over
I don't know about Land Tax. It reads draw 3 cards each turn for decks that are able to abuse it (Retrace + Seismic Assault).
Gush is powerful beyond most people's imagination. I think many storm combos would love to have access to a difficult to counter draw 4 where they can Brainstorm away extra lands. Especially Doomsday combo, which would not have to run Meditate since it can draw 2 and then Brainstorm the other 3 cards in the pile.
Mind Twist is pretty busted. I think a lot of decks would love to cast Hymn for 2B, like TA. It does not stretch your mana nearly as much and is highly splashable. I would hate to see a Zoo player fetch a Bayou and toss one at me for 3 when I'm about to run out Batterskull.
If you never played with Skullclamp, you will probably never full realize what it can do.
Yeah... whenever I see anything that says unban Skullclamp, I pretty much disregard it. It gives swarm decks an alternate draw source, and makes blocking unprofitable for the opponent.
Gush is an extremely powerful, free draw engine that many decks would love to have and abuse.
I agree with Zirath on Mind Twist. Decks that usually don't have a random discard spell will have access to one, which is a strong enough argument already.
Land Tax slows games, makes land-based strategies extremely powerful, and ensures following land drops for decks that can't always ensure consistent draws. I'd actually like to see someone use it in a Belcher list or something to just pull the lands straight out and combo, but there's plenty of ways to abuse the card. Did I already mention it's slow as heck?
I believe Black Vise is banned because it gives decks reach that usually don't have it. A lot of decks would either run multiple or E. Tutor it up, and then the opponent has to clear most of their hand to survive. It's also pretty much set-it-and-forget-it once on the field, as you can inevitably just get there from there on with beaters or burn. I also feel it'd be a cheap win-con in decks like Spiral Tide, as they can force you to draw a bunch, and then you just die.
Sweet Tap Dancing Jesus unbanning Skullclamp would be awful, that card is completely busted! Its an insane card drawing engine that if built properly reads "1, sacrifice a creature: Draw 2 Cards". Sure it has "fair" applications but then again so does Black Lotus, like to accelerate you into a t1 Hill Giant. Gush is also another one that definitely can't come off, it gives Storm access to free card draw at literally 0 cost, not to mention it allows decks to protect themselves against Wasteland.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
On Mono Black in Commander:
Quote from BlackJack68 »
But whomever your commander is, Cabal Coffers is really in charge.
Part of me also wants to believe that skullclamp could also come off the list. I have no real basis to say that other than the fact that I can think of a deck I want to run it in. I thought maybe the gate could run it but they already have tight slots and the 1 equip they tend to use is jitte which in my eyes is lightyears better than skullclamp. Not sure why this card is even banned but I could be wrong on this.
Have you ever played against Skullclamp? My opponent was drawing around 4-6 cards a TURN, and this was some silly kitchen table deck. If it got unbanned, the meta would completely be warped around the card and creature based hyper-aggro decks will be all we see.
Anyway, yeah, Skullclamp is one of the last cards that should come off the Legacy banned list. It's a completely unfair card that would damage Legacy significantly.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Special thanks to Hakai Studios and SushiOtter for the sig!
Legacy:UR Sneak and Show IUBG Team America IX Metalworker MUD Modern:UBR Blue Jund IWBX Eldrazi Processors IX Affinity IWRG Nacatl Burn IGR Tron IUBR Grishoalbrand
Yeah... whenever I see anything that says unban Skullclamp, I pretty much disregard it. It gives swarm decks an alternate draw source, and makes blocking unprofitable for the opponent.
Gush is an extremely powerful, free draw engine that many decks would love to have and abuse.
I agree with Zirath on Mind Twist. Decks that usually don't have a random discard spell will have access to one, which is a strong enough argument already.
Land Tax slows games, makes land-based strategies extremely powerful, and ensures following land drops for decks that can't always ensure consistent draws. I'd actually like to see someone use it in a Belcher list or something to just pull the lands straight out and combo, but there's plenty of ways to abuse the card. Did I already mention it's slow as heck?
I believe Black Vise is banned because it gives decks reach that usually don't have it. A lot of decks would either run multiple or E. Tutor it up, and then the opponent has to clear most of their hand to survive. It's also pretty much set-it-and-forget-it once on the field, as you can inevitably just get there from there on with beaters or burn. I also feel it'd be a cheap win-con in decks like Spiral Tide, as they can force you to draw a bunch, and then you just die.
Basically agree with everything said here, with $.02 to add.
Skull Clamp - Also, do a gatherer on Kobold if you're having trouble thinking of a deck (combo) that would abuse this card.
Gush - Free card draw. Again, this would spring up surprisingly fast and resilient combo decks. Free card draw + dodging waste on your blue duals.
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Taaaaaaaaaaax Because that's how games will feel when people play with it. It isn't the fact that it takes tons of time to physically get the cards and shuffle the deck (although for people who insist on a 4-6 random pile shuffle, not mana weaving, after every search it would, yes I've played against them in sanctioned tournaments) but the decks that would use this strategy would literally crawl to victory. Like, slower than 38 lands to victory.
(Admittedly this one might be a stretch but at the very least, it doesn't seem like un-banning this card would have any way to impact the format in a positive way.) Black Vise + 20 lands + The Rack. There's your entire, 1cc each, win condition. With tutors and draw it doesn't have to be 4 of each, but you'd basically have a creature-less deck with 20-28 removal/permission spells. Not exactly healthy for the format. By itself The Rack isn't really playable because it's really slow to come on line. But when you can hit both ends of the hand each turn, without investing mana, it seems much more viable. And since the damage is "set and forget" you can devote loads of your deck to distrupting your opponent.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Maverick -- Storm Click here for trade thread
Trade thread under reconstruction. Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
Let's say hypothetically that wizards wanted blue to not be such a dominant color in legacy anymore and by banning something they think they could fix this.
Let's say hypothetically that wizards wanted blue to not be such a dominant color in legacy anymore and by banning something they think they could fix this.
Which card would you ban and why?
I would say Brainstorm. The cards is very very very good. But I would never ban it.
Force of Will is the other option. But Force of Will is needed for the format to even work.
Let's say hypothetically that wizards wanted blue to not be such a dominant color in legacy anymore and by banning something they think they could fix this.
Which card would you ban and why?
Please explain why blue is the color with less monocolor deck themes.
I would say Brainstorm. The cards is very very very good. But I would never ban it.
Force of Will is the other option. But Force of Will is needed for the format to even work.
I hate Force of Will. Yes, I'm one of those guys. Spanish Inquisition was one of the first decks I picked up. Without Force of Will, I would kill everyone on turn one every game. So I recognize that the only reason all the cards I love aren't banned is because Force of Will exists.
Though, I sort of wonder how important Force of Will is in the format with Mental Misstep as a big player now. How many decks can actually kill on turn one without playing any spells that cost one mana?
I would actually say Brainstorm too. I think a lot more decks splash blue to run Brainstorm than they do to splash Force.
Actually, I think merfolk are the only deck that run Force but don't run Brainstorm. Storm is just that good.
Of course, if any card were to be banned for the health of legacy, I would say Show and Tell. But that card doesn't make blue dominant.
Of course a deck would be more likely to splash for Brainstorm than FoW because you can't actually splash blue just for FoW since you need 16-17 blue cards for FoW to actually work so you aren't splashing anymore.
Asking which card to ban to make Blue less powerful is, quite frankly, dumb.
Blue as a color is powerful, yes, but I can't think of a single Mono Blue deck I would want to run right now.
(as an aside, Merfolk is not well positioned in the metagame at the moment)
The reason Blue is powerful is because it has the cards that cornerstone the format. Brainstorm and Force of Will are these cards. With these 8 cards, you can pretty much make any deck work because of the rediculous mana fixing we have available in this format.
StoneBlade
Team America
NO RUG
The list just gets bigger as you crawl down the Tier 1.5-2 ladder.
Oh, and to Skullclamp and the rest, your off your rocker if you think any of those will come off (Land Tax not for powerlevel reasons, as I've been preaching for that card to come off for over 2 years)
Stoneforge is not going to be banned in Legacy BEFORE it gets banned in Extended. Extended season next year will determine whether it gets banned in 1.5 or not.
And please, Don't turn this into a "Ban Brainstorm" thing.
Just nothing silly like a 5/5 Living weapon and it'll stay in check. Sure the swords are pretty good, but Stoneforged equipped itself is pretty bland. Stoneblade takes abou 4 turns before they start attackign anyways.
Buy List
Best Online Store for your MTG needs!!!
What's wrong with a "ban brainstorm" thing?
It's a legitimate card to discuss.
So far, though, Hive Mind seems like it's being kept in check by the meta. Not seeing it in the top 16 at SCG was pretty surprising, I gotta say
I could never see hive mind deck drawing the axe. It can combo as early as turn 2 and in that case its still a 2 or 3 card combo depending upon how you look at it thats disruptable by stifles, force of will, cursecatcher and early discard.
Legacy:WUBG Jace Rock
Trade thread
Sig by: heroes of the plane studios
Seriously, people cry over everything BAN this Ban that... Once a none creature none control deck aka "combo" deck wins twice or evan 3 times, people yell BAN. Same thing happened with timespiral/high tide and aluren/imperial recruter
Ok look at the top 16 in pittsberg NO hive mind and olny 5 show and tell and you guys want ban....im confused. Hive mind has been around for a year and a half and its not showing up till now, that shows how much people dont test.
Everyone just needs to learn how to play aganst every deck not just the ones that they think are far.
Ok now Back on topic i would love to see land tax off and earthcraft, but i know if earthcraft ever comes off people will say bann again cuz its a combo
EDIT: I never played with it, but is Fastbond really that powerful? Same with Hermit Druid. Worldgorger Dragon is obviously a combo card... but what combo?
Level 1 Judge
Currently Playing:
W Death and Taxes
BGR ScapeWish Nic Fit
BGR Punishing Nic Fit
Level 1 Judge
Currently Playing:
W Death and Taxes
BGR ScapeWish Nic Fit
BGR Punishing Nic Fit
Fastbond is broken. Either it's infinite life with crucible/loam and z. orb or you can accel like crazy and paired with horn of greed becomes a sick, sick card advantage engine imagine Ali Aintrazi's turboland list with fastbond it just wouldn't be fair.
WGD is only banned because it can draw the game. The combo isn't that powerful and it's definitely not resilient.
Earthcraft is pretty busted in combo elves and that's about it. It's decent in enchantress where you can go infinite with squirrel nest or sacred mesa + enchanted land but that's about it. It would be insanely good in combo elves though; one drop creatures would be free with it in play and it allows the combo to keep on going, it is also like a backup heritage druid when nettle sentinel is in play it can do so much with nettle sentinel it's not even funny.
Land tax should be unbanned everyone has been saying this for years but the DCI still has done nothing concerning land tax.
I guess GerryT thought that mind twist could be unbanned safely at Pittsburgh in the quick questions column.
Currently Playing:
Retired
The fact is, it's a 1 card enabler.
You activate this card, you win, because after the ability resolves, you can retain priority.
I've seen people just go turn 1 dude, turn 2 win with Dredge :$. He was the reason Dredge played Flame-Kin Zealot for so long.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
Black Vice - Repeatable damage is not really a big deal. There are already decks that do much more with 1 Mana and its easy enough to hate on. Even mono blue control lists can play around this card with stuff like energy field and it does not help burn or affinity all that much because it stops to the same hate they are already facing and is a dead top deck against most matchups. Compare this card to something like Nactal in a deck like zoo. Which would they rather have and which is going to do more damage. Mental missteps prominence also hurts this card. Its a powerful card for sure but hardly game defining like it used to be.
Land tax - It's a strong card in a deck that can afford to run basics, which is not that many lists. It would give Death and Taxes and UW control lists a boost for sure, thought death and taxes can't really break the effect without a way to turn the basics into action ala scrollrack and then what to they drop? UW is probably the scariest deck for it to be seen in but in order for them to truly make the most of it they would need to alter their mana base to be worse without it, so that is probably a fair trade off. Once again mental misstep makes this cards actual play value less as well, because if you weaken the rest of your deck without it and then it gets countered, you may be in trouble. Also if black vice were off the list it would punish this strategy.
Gush - Without fastbond for silly combos, there are not too many decks that would want to use this. Fish is better off just running silvergill and don't have any room for it other wise. Jace based strats don't want to struggle with the tempo loss. There are better card draw engines for blue right now (visions, standstill, Jace) without the downside. My guess is if you remove it from the list it won't even see play in current decks, though it may spawn its own deck which would probably be perfectly ok. Black vice also keeps it in check should it come off the list.
Mind twist - At 1 mana it does nothing so duress and co are better. At 2 mana distress from m12 is probably an upgrade, it cant hit land but I think you picking is probably better. At 3 mana it's a strictly worse Hymn to tourach save for its being splashable, though Hymn has proven to be splashable at this point. At 4 mana it starts to come into its own, but you pretty much will have to make that happen by turn 3 for it to be super effective, which means running acceleration which probably means -CA for you as well. Its counter to black vice and kinda crappy if they have any of the draw engines above. I would say its pretty safe in an environment that does not have the fast mana that vintage. It's also suitable weakened against two of the top 2 cards on the list and is counter to working with black vice.
Part of me also wants to believe that skullclamp could also come off the list. I have no real basis to say that other than the fact that I can think of a deck I want to run it in. I thought maybe the gate could run it but they already have tight slots and the 1 equip they tend to use is jitte which in my eyes is lightyears better than skullclamp. Not sure why this card is even banned but I could be wrong on this.
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
I don't know about Land Tax. It reads draw 3 cards each turn for decks that are able to abuse it (Retrace + Seismic Assault).
Gush is powerful beyond most people's imagination. I think many storm combos would love to have access to a difficult to counter draw 4 where they can Brainstorm away extra lands. Especially Doomsday combo, which would not have to run Meditate since it can draw 2 and then Brainstorm the other 3 cards in the pile.
Mind Twist is pretty busted. I think a lot of decks would love to cast Hymn for 2B, like TA. It does not stretch your mana nearly as much and is highly splashable. I would hate to see a Zoo player fetch a Bayou and toss one at me for 3 when I'm about to run out Batterskull.
If you never played with Skullclamp, you will probably never full realize what it can do.
Gush is an extremely powerful, free draw engine that many decks would love to have and abuse.
I agree with Zirath on Mind Twist. Decks that usually don't have a random discard spell will have access to one, which is a strong enough argument already.
Land Tax slows games, makes land-based strategies extremely powerful, and ensures following land drops for decks that can't always ensure consistent draws. I'd actually like to see someone use it in a Belcher list or something to just pull the lands straight out and combo, but there's plenty of ways to abuse the card. Did I already mention it's slow as heck?
I believe Black Vise is banned because it gives decks reach that usually don't have it. A lot of decks would either run multiple or E. Tutor it up, and then the opponent has to clear most of their hand to survive. It's also pretty much set-it-and-forget-it once on the field, as you can inevitably just get there from there on with beaters or burn. I also feel it'd be a cheap win-con in decks like Spiral Tide, as they can force you to draw a bunch, and then you just die.
Standard:
:symr:/:symg: Valakut 2.0 (Wolf Run Green)
Legacy:
:symr:/:symb: Vial Goblins
:symr:/:symg:/:symw: Zoo
:symg:/:symw:/:symr: Maverick
Commander:
:symg:/:symb:/:symw: Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Have you ever played against Skullclamp? My opponent was drawing around 4-6 cards a TURN, and this was some silly kitchen table deck. If it got unbanned, the meta would completely be warped around the card and creature based hyper-aggro decks will be all we see.
Anyway, yeah, Skullclamp is one of the last cards that should come off the Legacy banned list. It's a completely unfair card that would damage Legacy significantly.
Special thanks to Hakai Studios and SushiOtter for the sig!
Legacy: UR Sneak and Show I UBG Team America I X Metalworker MUD
Modern: UBR Blue Jund I WBX Eldrazi Processors I X Affinity I WRG Nacatl Burn I GR Tron I UBR Grishoalbrand
Basically agree with everything said here, with $.02 to add.
Skull Clamp - Also, do a gatherer on Kobold if you're having trouble thinking of a deck (combo) that would abuse this card.
Gush - Free card draw. Again, this would spring up surprisingly fast and resilient combo decks. Free card draw + dodging waste on your blue duals.
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Taaaaaaaaaaax Because that's how games will feel when people play with it. It isn't the fact that it takes tons of time to physically get the cards and shuffle the deck (although for people who insist on a 4-6 random pile shuffle, not mana weaving, after every search it would, yes I've played against them in sanctioned tournaments) but the decks that would use this strategy would literally crawl to victory. Like, slower than 38 lands to victory.
(Admittedly this one might be a stretch but at the very least, it doesn't seem like un-banning this card would have any way to impact the format in a positive way.)
Black Vise + 20 lands + The Rack. There's your entire, 1cc each, win condition. With tutors and draw it doesn't have to be 4 of each, but you'd basically have a creature-less deck with 20-28 removal/permission spells. Not exactly healthy for the format. By itself The Rack isn't really playable because it's really slow to come on line. But when you can hit both ends of the hand each turn, without investing mana, it seems much more viable. And since the damage is "set and forget" you can devote loads of your deck to distrupting your opponent.
Maverick -- Storm
Click here for trade threadTrade thread under reconstruction.
Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
Which card would you ban and why?
I would say Brainstorm. The cards is very very very good. But I would never ban it.
Force of Will is the other option. But Force of Will is needed for the format to even work.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Gush is also a nice way to protect your Blue Dual Lands from getting Wasted.
Blue is as splashable as as any other color.
I hate Force of Will. Yes, I'm one of those guys. Spanish Inquisition was one of the first decks I picked up. Without Force of Will, I would kill everyone on turn one every game. So I recognize that the only reason all the cards I love aren't banned is because Force of Will exists.
Though, I sort of wonder how important Force of Will is in the format with Mental Misstep as a big player now. How many decks can actually kill on turn one without playing any spells that cost one mana?
I would actually say Brainstorm too. I think a lot more decks splash blue to run Brainstorm than they do to splash Force.
Actually, I think merfolk are the only deck that run Force but don't run Brainstorm. Storm is just that good.
Of course, if any card were to be banned for the health of legacy, I would say Show and Tell. But that card doesn't make blue dominant.
Of course a deck would be more likely to splash for Brainstorm than FoW because you can't actually splash blue just for FoW since you need 16-17 blue cards for FoW to actually work so you aren't splashing anymore.
Blue as a color is powerful, yes, but I can't think of a single Mono Blue deck I would want to run right now.
(as an aside, Merfolk is not well positioned in the metagame at the moment)
The reason Blue is powerful is because it has the cards that cornerstone the format. Brainstorm and Force of Will are these cards. With these 8 cards, you can pretty much make any deck work because of the rediculous mana fixing we have available in this format.
StoneBlade
Team America
NO RUG
The list just gets bigger as you crawl down the Tier 1.5-2 ladder.
Oh, and to Skullclamp and the rest, your off your rocker if you think any of those will come off (Land Tax not for powerlevel reasons, as I've been preaching for that card to come off for over 2 years)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer