I don't see what difference for affinity would remove the artifact lands and adding plating hace. The game plan should change a bit, but the speed would probably kept the same, or even slightly increase.
It makes affinity probably faster but more vulnerable to hate, Stony Silence shuts the entire deck off with artifact lands.
I play Affinity in Modern and honestly, I've never won a game where my opponent cast Stony Silence. Its a just a huge beating.
I've dipped my toes into Legacy Affinity. Artifact lands make your mox opals and Thoughtcast a lot more consistently good and also make stuff like Tezz and Master of Etherium just totally insane. Tezz doing 14 damage is easy and in Modern that would often be game over combined with a couple of beats and some shocklands from your opponent. The deck really isn't good enough for Legacy in my opinion. In order to keep pace with the rest of legacy it plays a lot of Sol lands a lot of 0 drop mox enablers, but that means you don't have very many land or colored mana sources and actually casting Tez is a little iffy. In Modern you would have a slightly slower but more consistent deck and Tezz would be going off a turn later. It would still be pretty scary though.
It makes affinity probably faster but more vulnerable to hate, Stony Silence shuts the entire deck off with artifact lands.
Stone silence already do this to Affinity, and the artifact lands would give an opening to some big "artifact matters" dudes, such as the Myr Enforcer (free 4/4), Master of Etherium (wich would become bigger) and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas (huge amounts of damage with his easy to pull ultimate).
Patrick Chapin also had an interesting article on SCG Premium from a few days ago. General take a away:
-B/G/x or "synergy driven unfair decks" are the only way to go. "Synergy" decks include Pod, Tron, and Affinity, which he thinks is combo more than aggro.
-He doesn't seem to like the format much.
-He thinks Wild Nacatls is needed because it is the only aggro card which is as good as what the synergy decks can do, and more aggro would be good for the format.
-He argues for a rotating banned list.
-He suggests that Wizard consider unbanning Preordain, Bitterblossom, Umezawa's Jitte, Jace TMS, and Bloodbraid Elf. He thinks GSZ, Sword of the Meek, and Golgari Grave-Troll are also worth considering.
Patrick Chapin also had an interesting article on SCG Premium from a few days ago. General take a away:
-B/G/x or "synergy driven unfair decks" are the only way to go. "Synergy" decks include Pod, Tron, and Affinity, which he thinks is combo more than aggro.
-He doesn't seem to like the format much.
-He thinks Wild Nacatls is needed because it is the only aggro card which is as good as what the synergy decks can do, and more aggro would be good for the format.
-He argues for a rotating banned list.
-He suggests that Wizard consider unbanning Preordain, Bitterblossom, Umezawa's Jitte, Jace TMS, and Bloodbraid Elf. He thinks GSZ, Sword of the Meek, and Golgari Grave-Troll are also worth considering.
GGT and Sword of the Meek only worth considering, but Jitte, BBE, and Jace should be unbanned? That is incredibly stupid. The idea of a rotating banned list is even worse. Having Hypergenesis and Mental Misstep in the format for a year and the artifact lands and Blazing Shoal the next is a bad idea. Modern is a legitimate format. It is not where Wizards should introduce new rules for no reason. And why would they unban BBE when Jund is dominating the format? Why would they unban Jitte when aggro is already struggling? Why would they unban Jace when BGx could easily become BUG with no consequences? It all seems ridiculous (to be fair, I haven't read the article because I don't have premium).
GGT and Sword of the Meek only worth considering, but Jitte, BBE, and Jace should be unbanned? That is incredibly stupid. The idea of a rotating banned list is even worse. Having Hypergenesis and Mental Misstep in the format for a year and the artifact lands and Blazing Shoal the next is a bad idea. Modern is a legitimate format. It is not where Wizards should introduce new rules for no reason. And why would they unban BBE when Jund is dominating the format? Why would they unban Jitte when aggro is already struggling? Why would they unban Jace when BGx could easily become BUG with no consequences? It all seems ridiculous (to be fair, I haven't read the article because I don't have premium).
The thing about all of these proposed multiple changes to the ban list is that they cannot exist in a vacuum. You can't say "unbanning X would be bad" if you don't take into account whether Y changes the equation.
It's really easy for anyone to talk about which one card needs to be banned/unbanned next, but when you get into the articles like Chapin and Cunningham wrote recently, you can't just evaluate one card without evaluating the others. It's an entirely different discussion.
BBE and JTMS are perfectly good cards to have in the format...if you haven't already banned the cards that answer them. Even Jitte is a good card to have, if you accept it as an answer to aggro decks that are suddenly very powerful because of two or three other unbannings.
We (mostly) all agree that Jitte would be a bad unban right now because aggro struggles anyway. But that doesn't apply if it's only one of many. Not that I expect Wizards to take such a radical step as that, but it's an interesting thing to think about anyway.
For the most part, I enjoy the SCG Modern articles on banning, even if they may or may not have a secret SCG sales conspiracy underlying them. One aspect of them that drives me nuts, however, is their willful omission of the actual banning process. Chapin, Cunningham, and others keep advocating for multiple cards to be unbanned, a half-dozen or more at a time. But Wizards doesn't do that. They have never done it historically and there is no indication to believe that they will do it today. In cases where multiple cards have come off at once, it was either over a decade ago during a different era of Magic, or in small clumps in old, well-established formats. Modern is neither old nor well-established, so the most I could realistically see coming off the banlist would be 3 cards, none of which could overlap in any meaningful way.
Preordain is my number one candidate for a smart unban. It helps out a bunch of decks that directly compete with BGx (Delver, Miracles, Twin, Storm) without pushing any of those deck over the top (Ponder might be too combo focused). Of those four decks, one doesn't exist in the format (Miracles), one is at an all-time low of competitive success due to BGx (Twin), one is trying desperately to be tier 1 but failing at every major event (Delver), and one has been DRSd and Scoozed from the face of the map (Storm). Preordain helps in all those cases without being too powerful. And realistically, Wizards is only going to unban 1-3 cards at a time. So if I had my choice of the 1, it would be Preordain.
I'm on the fence about everything else except GGT. Nacatl is also iffy. But Preordain is a card that really needs to be unbanned.
The thing about all of these proposed multiple changes to the ban list is that they cannot exist in a vacuum. You can't say "unbanning X would be bad" if you don't take into account whether Y changes the equation.
It's really easy for anyone to talk about which one card needs to be banned/unbanned next, but when you get into the articles like Chapin and Cunningham wrote recently, you can't just evaluate one card without evaluating the others. It's an entirely different discussion.
BBE and JTMS are perfectly good cards to have in the format...if you haven't already banned the cards that answer them. Even Jitte is a good card to have, if you accept it as an answer to aggro decks that are suddenly very powerful because of two or three other unbannings.
We (mostly) all agree that Jitte would be a bad unban right now because aggro struggles anyway. But that doesn't apply if it's only one of many. Not that I expect Wizards to take such a radical step as that, but it's an interesting thing to think about anyway.
But the problem is that the suggestion was:
"-He suggests that Wizard consider unbanning Preordain, Bitterblossom, Umezawa's Jitte, Jace TMS, and Bloodbraid Elf. He thinks GSZ, Sword of the Meek, and Golgari Grave-Troll are also worth considering."
Where's the aggro enablers on that list that would balance out unbannings like Jitte? The only unban there that might benefit aggro is Bitterblossom (which could help Tokens). The card that would improve aggro the most, Wild Nacatl, isn't on this list of cards to unban.
EDIT: D'oh, I just realized he did mention Nacatl before that final part. Never mind.
I could see Wotc unbanning GGT and preordain at the same time. That should mix it up enough to please most.
I can not get behind a rotating ban list. To me that would be worse then we have now. Every 3 months unban these cards, and ban these. The meta would shift so much every quarter people would lose interest quickly. Faster then what they are doing now.
I could see Wotc unbanning GGT and preordain at the same time. That should mix it up enough to please most.
I can not get behind a rotating ban list. To me that would be worse then we have now. Every 3 months unban these cards, and ban these. The meta would shift so much every quarter people would lose interest quickly. Faster then what they are doing now.
Whoa, even more things that bocephus and I agree on! We are on a roll this week.
A rotating banlist would be an unqualified disaster for Modern. There is already an impression around the format that "we can't have nice things in Modern", and a rotating banlist just makes that explicit. There would be no incentive to invest in cards that are doing well, let alone the decks that are supported by those cards. The whole point of Modern is that it is an affordable nonrotating format, and a rotating banlist almost directly defeats both of those purposes. Suggestions like these make me think that their proposers are just writing to get views or fill space, not actually thinking through their arguments.
I could see Wotc unbanning GGT and preordain at the same time. That should mix it up enough to please most.
I can not get behind a rotating ban list. To me that would be worse then we have now. Every 3 months unban these cards, and ban these. The meta would shift so much every quarter people would lose interest quickly. Faster then what they are doing now.
Surprisingly, I agree with bocephus here.
A rotating banned list would absolutely kill the format. People would lose faith in their investments ("Should I buy X Staple? It could get banned next month." "I can't believe they banned goyf for who knows how long! I just dropped 500 on these!" etc.)
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A rotating banned list would absolutely kill the format. People would lose faith in their investments ("Should I buy X Staple? It could get banned next month." "I can't believe they banned goyf for who knows how long! I just dropped 500 on these!" etc.)
EDIT: Sarnath'd
While I don't like a rotating banlist, I'm not sure how it prevents investment more than a non-rotating banlist. At least with a rotating banlist you know that even if something is banned, you eventually get it back. Maybe you can't play with Card X when it's banned under a rotating banned list, but you know you'd get to use it again after it rotates back in, but under a non-rotating banned list you'd have no idea when you can play with Card X again, if ever.
Or am I misunderstanding what a rotating banlist is?
I could see Wotc unbanning GGT and preordain at the same time. That should mix it up enough to please most.
I can not get behind a rotating ban list. To me that would be worse then we have now. Every 3 months unban these cards, and ban these. The meta would shift so much every quarter people would lose interest quickly. Faster then what they are doing now.
Thank you Bocephus. I agree that Preordain and GGT would be enough for now (though I would like continued unbans in the future).
Patrick Chapin also had an interesting article on SCG Premium from a few days ago. General take a away:
-B/G/x or "synergy driven unfair decks" are the only way to go. "Synergy" decks include Pod, Tron, and Affinity, which he thinks is combo more than aggro.
-He doesn't seem to like the format much.
-He thinks Wild Nacatls is needed because it is the only aggro card which is as good as what the synergy decks can do, and more aggro would be good for the format.
-He argues for a rotating banned list.
-He suggests that Wizard consider unbanning Preordain, Bitterblossom, Umezawa's Jitte, Jace TMS, and Bloodbraid Elf. He thinks GSZ, Sword of the Meek, and Golgari Grave-Troll are also worth considering.
These midrange goodstuff piles make for a very boring format, imo.
Artificially messing with the overall power level of the format leads to serious problems. (As you can see with the previous Jund domination). Banning degenerate stuff and ONLY degenerate stuff is a decent idea.
On paper his suggestion of unbans looks to balance out the 3 major archetypes: Control gets Jace, AV, Jitte. Aggro gets Nacatl. Midrange gets BBE back.
Things like GSZ/Jace/Jitte increase the skill intensity of the format.
Other cards build whole new decks in and of themselves: SotM, BB.
But the problem is that the suggestion was:
"-He suggests that Wizard consider unbanning Preordain, Bitterblossom, Umezawa's Jitte, Jace TMS, and Bloodbraid Elf. He thinks GSZ, Sword of the Meek, and Golgari Grave-Troll are also worth considering."
Where's the aggro enablers on that list that would balance out unbannings like Jitte? The only unban there that might benefit aggro is Bitterblossom (which could help Tokens). The card that would improve aggro the most, Wild Nacatl, isn't on this list of cards to unban.
Nacatl; you missed this part: "-He thinks Wild Nacatls is needed because it is the only aggro card which is as good as what the synergy decks can do, and more aggro would be good for the format. "
Also, Ancient Grudge, Stony Silence, Destructive Revelry, Qasali Pridemage, Smelt, Your Own Jitte are all wonderful SB/MD includes, that already see MD and SB play in Zoo.
Every one at SSG are idiots (exept at making money).
Chapin is entertaining but I can't take him Verry seriously.
The suggestions in both of these articles are ludacris with almost no basis to justify why all these cards should come off so they can sell the stockpiles they have hoarded.
Glad to see others are coming around on Preordain, one had to go, not both it and ponder. Serum visions getting an upgrade is not going to break modern.
Every one at SSG are idiots (exept at making money).
Chapin is entertaining but I can't take him Verry seriously.
The suggestions in both of these articles are ludacris with almost no basis to justify why all these cards should come off so they can sell the stockpiles they have hoarded.
Glad to see others are coming around on Preordain, one had to go, not both it and ponder. Serum visions getting an upgrade is not going to break modern.
The basis is:
Modern is Goodstuffpiles vs. 'Unfair' Decks (combos)
I for one, compared to most people, want Wild Nacatl and Bitterblossom unbanned as well as the previous two.
With that being said, I want Emrakul, The Aeons Torn to be inserted on the banned list. With sights set on Deathrite Shaman for it's longevity throughout it's Modern career.
Cards that don't need to be banned: Deathrite, Emrakul, Tarmogoyf, Mindslaver (sorry Doc, you know it's true though), fetchlands, lightning bolt....anything I'm missing?
Cards that could [should] be unbanned: AV, SotM, BB, Nacatl, Ponder (or Preordain, though I'd prefer ponder)
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Cards that don't need to be banned: Deathrite, Emrakul, Tarmogoyf, Mindslaver (sorry Doc, you know it's true though), fetchlands, lightning bolt....anything I'm missing?
Cards that could [should] be unbanned: AV, SotM, BB, Nacatl, Ponder (or Preordain, though I'd prefer ponder)
You forgot GGT under cards that should be unbanned.
Every one at SSG are idiots (exept at making money).
Chapin is entertaining but I can't take him Verry seriously.
The suggestions in both of these articles are ludacris with almost no basis to justify why all these cards should come off so they can sell the stockpiles they have hoarded.
Glad to see others are coming around on Preordain, one had to go, not both it and ponder. Serum visions getting an upgrade is not going to break modern.
Agreed. Look at that list. It's all Legacy staples which they most probably have lots in stock since they sponsor BIG LEGACY EVENTS. It's just a drive to skyrocket the sales of these staples, make them look like out of stock and boom easy money. I also saw another article aiming to boost the sales on Voice of Resurgence again (sales of resurgence) and they are already out of stock.
You forgot GGT under cards that should be unbanned.
Golgari Grave-Troll is a joke of a ban and should be off the banned list for that reason alone. However, it would do almost nothing in the format. If we're talking about what cards should come off to make the format better, Golgari Grave-Troll is negligible because it would do pretty much nothing.
I think it should be unbanned on principle alone, but it'll do pretty much nothing to tip the scales of power in any direction in Modern, good or bad.
Agreed. Look at that list. It's all Legacy staples which they most probably have lots in stock since they sponsor BIG LEGACY EVENTS. It's just a drive to skyrocket the sales of these staples, make them look like out of stock and boom easy money. I also saw another article aiming to boost the sales on Voice of Resurgence again (sales of resurgence) and they are already out of stock.
Uh, no. It's not "all" Legacy staples. Bitterblossom sees pretty much zero play, and some of the others see only fringe play. I suppose it depends on how strictly you define "staple" (is it a card that's played in a Legacy deck, even if it's very fringe, or does it have to be in decks that are reasonably competitive?) but they're not all Legacy staples.
And for that matter, the Modern banned list is so full of Legacy staples (by any definition of "staple") that if you propose any decent number of unbans, you're going to hit a lot of those cards. Really, there's only a handful of cards on the Modern banned list that don't see at least a little Legacy play.
I had some doubts about his suggestions (though I suppose I'd need to really actually read the article to make a good determination, good thing there's an SCG Open coming up in my area so I can get free premium that way), but this criticism is nonsensical.
Golgari Grave-Troll is a joke of a ban and should be off the banned list for that reason alone. However, it would do almost nothing in the format. If we're talking about what cards should come off to make the format better, Golgari Grave-Troll is negligible because it would do pretty much nothing
I belive that is the reason troll still banned, and probably will not come out anytime soon. Wizards aims to shake the format (in a positive way) with ubans, and GGT would do nothing to modern. It would be an unban for the sake of making the ban list smaller without any impact on the meta. Although it being unbanned would be great, i have a playset struck here and i would gladly sell them for any random wanting to play with dredge, even though it would be still unplayble.
Okay, color me confused. The majority of us have said something has to be done about the GBx shell, mainly Jund, and we have someone advocating unbanning BBE? I dont care what else you unban, With BBE in the format with the rest of the BGx shell would go back to dominating the format.
It also looks as if some would like the format to shift from a mid range format to a more controlish format. I dont know how I feel about that. I kind of like the mid range format. If anything, I think Aggro needs a boost, not control, at least at the moment.
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It makes affinity probably faster but more vulnerable to hate, Stony Silence shuts the entire deck off with artifact lands.
I've dipped my toes into Legacy Affinity. Artifact lands make your mox opals and Thoughtcast a lot more consistently good and also make stuff like Tezz and Master of Etherium just totally insane. Tezz doing 14 damage is easy and in Modern that would often be game over combined with a couple of beats and some shocklands from your opponent. The deck really isn't good enough for Legacy in my opinion. In order to keep pace with the rest of legacy it plays a lot of Sol lands a lot of 0 drop mox enablers, but that means you don't have very many land or colored mana sources and actually casting Tez is a little iffy. In Modern you would have a slightly slower but more consistent deck and Tezz would be going off a turn later. It would still be pretty scary though.
Stone silence already do this to Affinity, and the artifact lands would give an opening to some big "artifact matters" dudes, such as the Myr Enforcer (free 4/4), Master of Etherium (wich would become bigger) and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas (huge amounts of damage with his easy to pull ultimate).
-B/G/x or "synergy driven unfair decks" are the only way to go. "Synergy" decks include Pod, Tron, and Affinity, which he thinks is combo more than aggro.
-He doesn't seem to like the format much.
-He thinks Wild Nacatls is needed because it is the only aggro card which is as good as what the synergy decks can do, and more aggro would be good for the format.
-He argues for a rotating banned list.
-He suggests that Wizard consider unbanning Preordain, Bitterblossom, Umezawa's Jitte, Jace TMS, and Bloodbraid Elf. He thinks GSZ, Sword of the Meek, and Golgari Grave-Troll are also worth considering.
The full article is here if you have SCG Premium:
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27074_Is-Aggro-In-Modern-A-Lost-Cause.html
GGT and Sword of the Meek only worth considering, but Jitte, BBE, and Jace should be unbanned? That is incredibly stupid. The idea of a rotating banned list is even worse. Having Hypergenesis and Mental Misstep in the format for a year and the artifact lands and Blazing Shoal the next is a bad idea. Modern is a legitimate format. It is not where Wizards should introduce new rules for no reason. And why would they unban BBE when Jund is dominating the format? Why would they unban Jitte when aggro is already struggling? Why would they unban Jace when BGx could easily become BUG with no consequences? It all seems ridiculous (to be fair, I haven't read the article because I don't have premium).
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
The thing about all of these proposed multiple changes to the ban list is that they cannot exist in a vacuum. You can't say "unbanning X would be bad" if you don't take into account whether Y changes the equation.
It's really easy for anyone to talk about which one card needs to be banned/unbanned next, but when you get into the articles like Chapin and Cunningham wrote recently, you can't just evaluate one card without evaluating the others. It's an entirely different discussion.
BBE and JTMS are perfectly good cards to have in the format...if you haven't already banned the cards that answer them. Even Jitte is a good card to have, if you accept it as an answer to aggro decks that are suddenly very powerful because of two or three other unbannings.
We (mostly) all agree that Jitte would be a bad unban right now because aggro struggles anyway. But that doesn't apply if it's only one of many. Not that I expect Wizards to take such a radical step as that, but it's an interesting thing to think about anyway.
GBW Melira Pod WBG
BW Tokens WB
Preordain is my number one candidate for a smart unban. It helps out a bunch of decks that directly compete with BGx (Delver, Miracles, Twin, Storm) without pushing any of those deck over the top (Ponder might be too combo focused). Of those four decks, one doesn't exist in the format (Miracles), one is at an all-time low of competitive success due to BGx (Twin), one is trying desperately to be tier 1 but failing at every major event (Delver), and one has been DRSd and Scoozed from the face of the map (Storm). Preordain helps in all those cases without being too powerful. And realistically, Wizards is only going to unban 1-3 cards at a time. So if I had my choice of the 1, it would be Preordain.
I'm on the fence about everything else except GGT. Nacatl is also iffy. But Preordain is a card that really needs to be unbanned.
But the problem is that the suggestion was:
"-He suggests that Wizard consider unbanning Preordain, Bitterblossom, Umezawa's Jitte, Jace TMS, and Bloodbraid Elf. He thinks GSZ, Sword of the Meek, and Golgari Grave-Troll are also worth considering."
Where's the aggro enablers on that list that would balance out unbannings like Jitte? The only unban there that might benefit aggro is Bitterblossom (which could help Tokens). The card that would improve aggro the most, Wild Nacatl, isn't on this list of cards to unban.
EDIT: D'oh, I just realized he did mention Nacatl before that final part. Never mind.
I can not get behind a rotating ban list. To me that would be worse then we have now. Every 3 months unban these cards, and ban these. The meta would shift so much every quarter people would lose interest quickly. Faster then what they are doing now.
Whoa, even more things that bocephus and I agree on! We are on a roll this week.
A rotating banlist would be an unqualified disaster for Modern. There is already an impression around the format that "we can't have nice things in Modern", and a rotating banlist just makes that explicit. There would be no incentive to invest in cards that are doing well, let alone the decks that are supported by those cards. The whole point of Modern is that it is an affordable nonrotating format, and a rotating banlist almost directly defeats both of those purposes. Suggestions like these make me think that their proposers are just writing to get views or fill space, not actually thinking through their arguments.
Surprisingly, I agree with bocephus here.
A rotating banned list would absolutely kill the format. People would lose faith in their investments ("Should I buy X Staple? It could get banned next month." "I can't believe they banned goyf for who knows how long! I just dropped 500 on these!" etc.)
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Thanks to Rivenor for the signature and XenoNinja for the Avi!
Quotes:
While I don't like a rotating banlist, I'm not sure how it prevents investment more than a non-rotating banlist. At least with a rotating banlist you know that even if something is banned, you eventually get it back. Maybe you can't play with Card X when it's banned under a rotating banned list, but you know you'd get to use it again after it rotates back in, but under a non-rotating banned list you'd have no idea when you can play with Card X again, if ever.
Or am I misunderstanding what a rotating banlist is?
Thank you Bocephus. I agree that Preordain and GGT would be enough for now (though I would like continued unbans in the future).
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I would say it depends on how and what new sets come out with, but it would be a start.
I personally like how the cardpool looks on paper with:
+ BBE
+ JTMS
+ Jitte
+ SotM
+ GGT
+ Nacatl
+ BB
+ P&P
+ AV
+ GSZ
These midrange goodstuff piles make for a very boring format, imo.
Artificially messing with the overall power level of the format leads to serious problems. (As you can see with the previous Jund domination). Banning degenerate stuff and ONLY degenerate stuff is a decent idea.
On paper his suggestion of unbans looks to balance out the 3 major archetypes: Control gets Jace, AV, Jitte. Aggro gets Nacatl. Midrange gets BBE back.
Things like GSZ/Jace/Jitte increase the skill intensity of the format.
Other cards build whole new decks in and of themselves: SotM, BB.
Nacatl; you missed this part: "-He thinks Wild Nacatls is needed because it is the only aggro card which is as good as what the synergy decks can do, and more aggro would be good for the format. "
Also, Ancient Grudge, Stony Silence, Destructive Revelry, Qasali Pridemage, Smelt, Your Own Jitte are all wonderful SB/MD includes, that already see MD and SB play in Zoo.
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Chapin is entertaining but I can't take him Verry seriously.
The suggestions in both of these articles are ludacris with almost no basis to justify why all these cards should come off so they can sell the stockpiles they have hoarded.
Glad to see others are coming around on Preordain, one had to go, not both it and ponder. Serum visions getting an upgrade is not going to break modern.
The basis is:
Modern is Goodstuffpiles vs. 'Unfair' Decks (combos)
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I for one, compared to most people, want Wild Nacatl and Bitterblossom unbanned as well as the previous two.
With that being said, I want Emrakul, The Aeons Torn to be inserted on the banned list. With sights set on Deathrite Shaman for it's longevity throughout it's Modern career.
Cards that could [should] be unbanned: AV, SotM, BB, Nacatl, Ponder (or Preordain, though I'd prefer ponder)
Thanks to Rivenor for the signature and XenoNinja for the Avi!
Quotes:
You forgot GGT under cards that should be unbanned.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Agreed. Look at that list. It's all Legacy staples which they most probably have lots in stock since they sponsor BIG LEGACY EVENTS. It's just a drive to skyrocket the sales of these staples, make them look like out of stock and boom easy money. I also saw another article aiming to boost the sales on Voice of Resurgence again (sales of resurgence) and they are already out of stock.
UWR Midrange
BRG Jund
BG Rock
UR Storm
The Philippine Modern Community
RGWUB MTG Modern Philippines
Golgari Grave-Troll is a joke of a ban and should be off the banned list for that reason alone. However, it would do almost nothing in the format. If we're talking about what cards should come off to make the format better, Golgari Grave-Troll is negligible because it would do pretty much nothing.
I think it should be unbanned on principle alone, but it'll do pretty much nothing to tip the scales of power in any direction in Modern, good or bad.
Uh, no. It's not "all" Legacy staples. Bitterblossom sees pretty much zero play, and some of the others see only fringe play. I suppose it depends on how strictly you define "staple" (is it a card that's played in a Legacy deck, even if it's very fringe, or does it have to be in decks that are reasonably competitive?) but they're not all Legacy staples.
And for that matter, the Modern banned list is so full of Legacy staples (by any definition of "staple") that if you propose any decent number of unbans, you're going to hit a lot of those cards. Really, there's only a handful of cards on the Modern banned list that don't see at least a little Legacy play.
I had some doubts about his suggestions (though I suppose I'd need to really actually read the article to make a good determination, good thing there's an SCG Open coming up in my area so I can get free premium that way), but this criticism is nonsensical.
It also looks as if some would like the format to shift from a mid range format to a more controlish format. I dont know how I feel about that. I kind of like the mid range format. If anything, I think Aggro needs a boost, not control, at least at the moment.