Twin is not going to get unbanned. The fact is, Twin forces Blue players to go Blue Red, and that's a limiting aspect for Blue Control. Wizards definitely isn't going to unban it when it is still so recent.
Twin does not force anything. If other decks are not good enough (Spoilers, they have not been) then Twin would be what people play.
This is not about Twin suppressing anything, this is about Twin being the ONLY thing that Uxx had going for it and this has born out as fact, over the last year.
No, Twin does force it. Every deck that runs Blue and red will be asked "Why aren't you running Twin?". They literally mentioned it in the ban of Twin.
Twin was a Bandaid on the format that was covering a festering wound. Banning it finally revealed the wound, and you don't heal a wound like that with another Bandaid on top.
What Blue decks need is better card selection, better Counters, and better wincons). Twin doesn't give Blue that.
You can all go on speaking about Splinter Twin if you want. The real subject here is that we are down another 2 big Modern Events. This is really, really, really, really sad.
I can read into that like this:
"Hey guys, Standard is so bad this time. 6ple top 8 in the lastest PT and seems we are about to think about banning a card or two. We should make something, because some people will turn their attentions on the non rotating formats instead.
- Hey, let's kil 2 big Modern events. Let's make them Standard instead. People will be forced to play this format and not Modern"
Ok, it's not that simple, but it could be somewhat of an explanation. Even if this is not accurate, Modern is in big trouble.
Let me ask this: If they don't take Modern THAT seriously as they used to, WHY THE HELL DID YOU JUST BAN 2 CARDS?
@Sam @AF @WotcStuff we really need to have our answer. We really have to read an article about Where is Modern heading all over again.
As I said earlier, the entire modern format is just not a good idea to be putting any money into. Wizards has been moving towards this ever since Eldrazi Winter and it is very up in the air if we are getting a modern masters 2019. They just aren't doing what they need to do to support the constructed competitive format people in this forum are used to playing and I'm not even saying this to support frontier. If someone owns the cards already they are in a slightly healthier meta, but that's as far as the positives go right now.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
If they are planning to make an anouncement regarding Modern that will encourage people and keep the format alive, they have to do it no further than next week.
People around the globe are freaking out and selling their decks. In my country many folks have decided that Modern is pretty dead and they are selling out. I'm still in because if this format dies, i'm done with MTG since i have no interest in Type 2 and no money/support for Legacy.
At this point they have to put more GP's around the world and maybe even bring back the PT since no old pillar is coming back. This backed with a couple of unbans/reprints or radical changes(like cutting/adding expansions) to make Modern more competitive and appealing for pros.
Modern just went to war and we don't even know if it made it through...
I have to disagree with that. Even when a Uxx control deck achieves a positive twin matchup, they will be worse against the field. This is the reason it is oppressive. Arguing that Twin does not oppress other blue control decks is absolutely false - as is your statement that the last year offers evidence that Uxx needs twin.
I've said this a number of times, but I'll argue this as clearly as I can:
Let's say 100 people have 3 options for something. Option A is awesome and really good, option B is pretty mediocre, and option C is worthless garbage. If I remove option A, I am left with options B and C. Option B is now the defacto "best" option, but both options B and C are just as mediocre and worthless as they used to be. Nothing is actually gained in this transaction, other than some number of people who used to choose option A now choose option B or C. In reality, there are tons of other options like X, Y, Z, etc; all of which are still better than options B and C.
I'll repeat the most important part: Removing option A does nothing to make options B and C any better. In order for options B and C to be better, there needs to be accompanying support dedicated to actually making B and C better. The pathetic support given last April was laughably ineffective in doing anything, and any other support has been looked over for the following three announcements and multiple set releases.
You can try and argue that Ancestral Vision has helped them, but all it has really done is brought decks from totally irrelevant up to passably mediocre. The most successful Uxx deck (Delver) often doesn't even run any copies of AV.
This isn't necessarily true. In the context of the Modern format of the game of Magic: the Gathering, it's actually not true at all. Whether or not something is any good is based entirely on the context of the full metagame. Using your A, B, C, if option A contributed to B and C not performing well, then they will each directly benefit from A no longer being an option.
Your enjoyment of A, B, and C may be summarized in the absolute terms you laid out but their roles in the metagame don't have to follow that.
Whole lot of panic over nothing. The bans they just did (dredge and probe) HELPED. They obviously are both paying attention, and doing the right things for the meta health.
People freaking out...I do not understand at this point. Freak out a year ago, but not now.
Whole lot of panic over nothing. The bans they just did (dredge and probe) HELPED. They obviously are both paying attention, and doing the right things for the meta health.
People freaking out...I do not understand at this point. Freak out a year ago, but not now.
It's not the bannings getting people riled up and worried about the future of Modern it's the dropping of 'Grand Prixs' (Moderns main competitive events) in favor of Standard 'Nationals'.
RIP serious modern. welcome: kitchen table modern. to be frank its a good decision. moderns so full of linearity and a lack of good answers id rarely call the games fun to play or watch.
My own thoughts is that WoTC is in defcon one right now due to standard performance being poor and are trying to do everything they can to get the format propped up, even if it means putting axing modern and older formats. I don't really know what to say about it because I already saw the signs they didn't really have interest in supporting the constructed format after looking at the history. Also, I really don't feel like this decision was made spontaneously. They probably had plans to do this for a while.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Whole lot of panic over nothing. The bans they just did (dredge and probe) HELPED. They obviously are both paying attention, and doing the right things for the meta health.
People freaking out...I do not understand at this point. Freak out a year ago, but not now.
It's not the bannings getting people riled up and worried about the future of Modern it's the dropping of 'Grand Prixs' (Moderns main competitive events) in favor of Standard 'Nationals'.
They shifted from the WMCQs back to Nationals, and have Standard as the main event of nationals over Modern (according to their announcement, supposedly due to pricing and accessibility concerns). Modern Grand Prixs are still going to exist, unless I missed something.
I have to disagree with that. Even when a Uxx control deck achieves a positive twin matchup, they will be worse against the field. This is the reason it is oppressive. Arguing that Twin does not oppress other blue control decks is absolutely false - as is your statement that the last year offers evidence that Uxx needs twin.
I've said this a number of times, but I'll argue this as clearly as I can:
Let's say 100 people have 3 options for something. Option A is awesome and really good, option B is pretty mediocre, and option C is worthless garbage. If I remove option A, I am left with options B and C. Option B is now the defacto "best" option, but both options B and C are just as mediocre and worthless as they used to be. Nothing is actually gained in this transaction, other than some number of people who used to choose option A now choose option B or C. In reality, there are tons of other options like X, Y, Z, etc; all of which are still better than options B and C.
I'll repeat the most important part: Removing option A does nothing to make options B and C any better. In order for options B and C to be better, there needs to be accompanying support dedicated to actually making B and C better. The pathetic support given last April was laughably ineffective in doing anything, and any other support has been looked over for the following three announcements and multiple set releases.
You can try and argue that Ancestral Vision has helped them, but all it has really done is brought decks from totally irrelevant up to passably mediocre. The most successful Uxx deck (Delver) often doesn't even run any copies of AV.
Option A has been shown to be too oppressive to the format. The fix for that is to improve option B with new cards, not demand an immediate return to option A. I also don't buy that you need an immediate win condition to make a blue deck good, even in Modern, at least not to the combo-able level of Twin. The issue with AV is that a turn 4 draw spell doesn't help the early game, which better cantrips could help with.
I think the issues plaguing Modern are an issue with all of Magic. The whole game seems to have been mismanaged for a while now. They say powerful reprints ruin standard, citing Thoughtseize. They look past the fact they printed Pack Rat, Abrupt Decay, Lifebane Zombie, Desecration Demon and Gray Merchant of Asphodel in the same standard. They then say reprinting Liliana of the Veil couldn't be reprinted, saying she was just too strong, while again ignoring the Bx devotion monster they created. Instead, Modern is supported by it's own supplementary set every two years. Sounds fantastic until you realize that they are more worried about draft and sealed than actually reprinting relevant Modern cards. Now we get masterpiece reprints that are supposed to support the eternal formats while being rarer than Mythics. Makes perfect sense am I right?
Take that in hand with the ever decreasing amount of high level tournaments, the ban mania Wizards has created, and you have what looks to be a really big issue for the future health of the format many of us love and enjoy.
I think the issues plaguing Modern are an issue with all of Magic. The whole game seems to have been mismanaged for a while now. They say powerful reprints ruin standard, citing Thoughtseize. They look past the fact they printed Pack Rat, Abrupt Decay, Lifebane Zombie, Desecration Demon and Gray Merchant of Asphodel in the same standard. They then say reprinting Liliana of the Veil couldn't be reprinted, saying she was just too strong, while again ignoring the Bx devotion monster they created. Instead, Modern is supported by it's own supplementary set every two years. Sounds fantastic until you realize that they are more worried about draft and sealed than actually reprinting relevant Modern cards. Now we get masterpiece reprints that are supposed to support the eternal formats while being rarer than Mythics. Makes perfect sense am I right?
Take that in hand with the ever decreasing amount of high level tournaments, the ban mania Wizards has created, and you have what looks to be a really big issue for the future health of the format many of us love and enjoy.
Basically agree with all of the points. Wizards had the options available to create a unified support system for both modern and standard. Instead they blew it and built a supplementary luxury set to support modern and stuck lottery cards into standard. This doesn't even go into how badly they've been handling constructed play. Again, as far as actions to take in the interim it's best not to put more money into modern cards right now and wait things out. It's really easy to panic sell out of a format when it has a downturn and right now modern is having a downturn that it likely wont recover from in a while. The safest format to play is commander at the moment, followed possibly by pauper. Frontier isn't too bad either, though it's a fledgling format and plays more like extended right now.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Cards that there is no need or would be bad to be reprinted for Modern.
All prison cards(Stasis, Winter Orb, etc)
Would Stasis even be playable? People often act like it's some really powerful card, but the only time it was really a thing from what I remember was in Standard, and that was because Necropotence was the dominant deck and Stasis had a good matchup; before Necropotence became Public Enemy Number One, Stasis was essentially a bulk rare, and after leaving Standard I don't think the card's done much of anything in any format.
While I agree on it likely lacking playability, I don't think the lack of Daze and Forsaken City is the reason, as Stasis's brief time in the sun came well before those cards were printed. Like I said, Stasis was popular not because it was so powerful in and of itself, but because it happened to have a good matchup against the dominant deck, as the monoblack Necropotence had big issues answering an enchantment.
I laughed pretty hard when I saw the title. The idea that EDH is a healthy format is ridiculous to me.
I'm sorry, but this video just seems like a whole bunch of hyperbole to me. I feel like this is a tad bit of an overreaction. Standard is still trying to solve itself because of the bannings. Modern is diverse, and balanced. His complaint about pauper was ridiculous. Vintage is accessible online, and the decks that are good are nearly endless. People seriously need to take a freaking chill pill now. Magic isn't going anywhere, and these formats are not going anywhere.
I think the issues plaguing Modern are an issue with all of Magic. The whole game seems to have been mismanaged for a while now. They say powerful reprints ruin standard, citing Thoughtseize. They look past the fact they printed Pack Rat, Abrupt Decay, Lifebane Zombie, Desecration Demon and Gray Merchant of Asphodel in the same standard. They then say reprinting Liliana of the Veil couldn't be reprinted, saying she was just too strong, while again ignoring the Bx devotion monster they created. Instead, Modern is supported by it's own supplementary set every two years. Sounds fantastic until you realize that they are more worried about draft and sealed than actually reprinting relevant Modern cards. Now we get masterpiece reprints that are supposed to support the eternal formats while being rarer than Mythics. Makes perfect sense am I right?
Take that in hand with the ever decreasing amount of high level tournaments, the ban mania Wizards has created, and you have what looks to be a really big issue for the future health of the format many of us love and enjoy.
If they didn't reprint Liliana of the Veil because they were worried that it was going to make Bx Devotion decks stronger, then can you really say that they were ignoring the deck? They tried solving the Thoughtseize problem by doing what they usually do, wait it out. Would you rather have them ban the card?
Modern Masters 2015 still was a great set. It was awesome to draft, and it had alot of great cards in it. People seriously need to stop complaining about it. We get it, its not as powerful as Modern Masters 2013. That still doesn't mean its not a good set.
Not sure what to make of the event changes because Wizards hasn't given any shred of statement about what they mean for Modern. This means we are deep in the land of conjecture with only (somewhat justifiable) alarmism and intuition to guide us. This also highlights how terrible Wizards communication is with regard to Modern. Potentially with regard to Magic, but let's stick with Modern for now. How on earth could they not have anticipated questions and worries around this announcement and not proactively addressed them? That's communications 101, and yet I feel like we're back in 2014 with big Modern decisions being made with no clarification or thought to the consequences.
Some of us might read this incompetence and oversight as a sinister plot to dismantle Modern. Although it is possible Wizards does want to phase out Modern, we can't read that as a result of the inept communication itself. The simplest and likeliest explanation is just general mismanagement, which fits the mismanagement theme of so many other recent Wizards decisions across all formats, not just Modern.
Please reach out to Wizards (Helene Bergeot, Trick Jarrett, Sam Stoddard, Aaron Forsythe, Mark Rosewater, etc.) to voice your dissatisfaction with the decision and/or the communication. Or to just ask for clarification. Hopefully the outcry is loud and broad enough that we get a response.
Disclaimer: the following is all my opinion, based mostly on my observations and experiences, so feel free to disagree.
All things considered, I suspect that they just don't really know what to do with modern. When they proposed it, I believe they thought it would function like a more accessible legacy--that is something for enfranchised players with disposable income who like complexity in their game. Additionally, they were likely hoping that it would be rather "hands off" in terms of the resources they needed to budget it. It also propped up the secondary market value of cards that wouldn't cut it in legacy (which is good as it adds an extra source of demand, which they are aware of). However, that all didn't work out like they expected.
First off, I believe modern proved to be much more popular than they expected. Legacy, rightly or not, was limited by a perception of being inaccessible/expensive, which often meant somewhat lower interest by your average player. Modern promised to fix this problem (again, I'm not saying it did) and people just generally like playing with powerful cards. It also ended up being much less able to self-regulate, which means that something popular isn't working correctly quite a bit of the time.
They way I see it, Modern being as popular as it is has caused a lot of unintended consequences:
1. Wizards really isn't interested in cultivating a format or designing for it. This was supposed to be a "value added" sort of thing, but it probably needs more work than they anticipated and there is a regular demand by players for them to be more active in it. They probably see this whole thing more as a source of stress and distraction to their central function of designing and maintaining standard. Legacy, and, to my knowledge, Vintage, may have broken formats at times, but often feature long stretches of stable, fun magic in that context. My perception is that that, despite often being a fun format, large swaths of the playerbase are unhappy with something about it on a regular basis. I'm not 100% convinced that some of this is not due to the format itself (imperfect though it is), but that some of it may be a function of the popularity.
2. The secondary market is now somewhat defined by Modern playability. There are exceptions, but, generally speaking, cards that are in demand only for standard are just less sought after. What this means is that, design-wise, they have functionally reduced the overall demand for many of the cards they design. Again, they don't want to design for modern's powerlevel, but a lot of cards are evaluated by the playerbase in that context. This means that, regardless of mythics and masterpieces, many players view standard-only sets as being a poor value proposition, even if they intend on playing standard. Before, when it was just Legacy, anecdotally, I don't think these comparisons where happening nearly as much. Some part of the whole masterpiece strategy may have been in acknowledgement of this, but I'm starting to believe it may have backfired.
3. They have realized that Modern isn't really a good showcase sort of format. It typically doesn't drive standard set sales (the moneymaker), it features gameplay that is out-of-step with their highlighted standard experiences, and it sometimes looks broken (due to their reticence to be more active in designing with the format in mind). Given this, I think we are seeing them try to push it in to the background.
4. While I have really never played Modern at a time when I didn't know bunches of peoples saying it had problems, I suspect that they recently discovered people will leave standard for Modern when standard has enough problems. Again, Modern has appeal. I've known several new players, who, upon experiencing their first rotation, cultivate a strong interest in Modern. If standard is not exciting, they are at least somewhat likely to move to another format (this also includes EDH/Commander). Overall, I think they have found that Modern has started to cannibalize their standard market.
All this to say, they don't want Modern to be the premier Magic format. With the right guidance, it may have had the potential to be, but that doesn't likely make sense for them. Since they can't make money directly off of Modern easily (at least without tanking secondary market values, which might hurt business partners) there is just not as much upside. Moreover, their cardpool for "good reprints" is a bit small, meaning it would be hard to sustainably focus on just that. Modern isn't more popular than Standard, not by a long shot, but I suspect it being popular has hurt them in some ways. I don't think they are killing modern, but they want it to be under the rug, out of sight, while they try to right the standard ship.
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Modern Masters 2015 still was a great set. It was awesome to draft, and it had alot of great cards in it. People seriously need to stop complaining about it. We get it, its not as powerful as Modern Masters 2013. That still doesn't mean its not a good set.
Strike 1 thru 3 for me. This is what mad it bad IMO.
It is a supplemental set for Modern, it should feature cards played in Modern decks, and not selected because they might be a limited bomb.
There is plenty of product for limited play. Modern Masters should be designed around getting players access to useful cards. I also don't mean just money mythics/rares... utility cards, removal, etc (in all rarities).
I know, I know... but limited = money! Trust me, release a set with decent playable cards (meant for Modern play) and give it a normal release (not a small print run) and it will sell. And before the second chorus comes in, "retailers will just charge more"... no, not if the second part is done as well and it is released with the same numbers as any new set.
Right now (for me) MM is nothing. I spend $0 dollars on it. What I potentially have to spend is so much more. I guess we will see what MM2017 brings, but I'm also not surprised when the sun rises every morning, so I won't keep my hopes up.
Some of us might read this incompetence and oversight as a sinister plot to dismantle Modern. Although it is possible Wizards does want to phase out Modern, we can't read that as a result of the inept communication itself. The simplest and likeliest explanation is just general mismanagement, which fits the mismanagement theme of so many other recent Wizards decisions across all formats, not just Modern.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor.
I don't think at all they are trying to actively destroy Modern or anything, but I firmly believe their incompetence and ineptitude at managing the format as well as the poor communication of their management goals are doing much more harm than good.
I mean, this is a development and management team that rigorously tests for Standard and didn't find the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo. If they can't see what's right in front of them, how do we trust them to properly manage a format they DON'T test for?
Some of us might read this incompetence and oversight as a sinister plot to dismantle Modern. Although it is possible Wizards does want to phase out Modern, we can't read that as a result of the inept communication itself. The simplest and likeliest explanation is just general mismanagement, which fits the mismanagement theme of so many other recent Wizards decisions across all formats, not just Modern.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor.
I don't think at all they are trying to actively destroy Modern or anything, but I firmly believe their incompetence and ineptitude at managing the format as well as the poor communication of their management goals are doing much more harm than good.
I mean, this is a development and management team that rigorously tests for Standard and didn't find the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo. If they can't see what's right in front of them, how do we trust them to properly manage a format they DON'T test for?
Did they state somewhere that they didn't find the combo? Source?
Not sure what to make of the event changes because Wizards hasn't given any shred of statement about what they mean for Modern. This means we are deep in the land of conjecture with only (somewhat justifiable) alarmism and intuition to guide us. This also highlights how terrible Wizards communication is with regard to Modern. Potentially with regard to Magic, but let's stick with Modern for now. How on earth could they not have anticipated questions and worries around this announcement and not proactively addressed them? That's communications 101, and yet I feel like we're back in 2014 with big Modern decisions being made with no clarification or thought to the consequences.
Some of us might read this incompetence and oversight as a sinister plot to dismantle Modern. Although it is possible Wizards does want to phase out Modern, we can't read that as a result of the inept communication itself. The simplest and likeliest explanation is just general mismanagement, which fits the mismanagement theme of so many other recent Wizards decisions across all formats, not just Modern.
Please reach out to Wizards (Helene Bergeot, Trick Jarrett, Sam Stoddard, Aaron Forsythe, Mark Rosewater, etc.) to voice your dissatisfaction with the decision and/or the communication. Or to just ask for clarification. Hopefully the outcry is loud and broad enough that we get a response.
It doesn't matter if it's mismanagement or an evil plot, both make me want to sell out of the game.
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No, Twin does force it. Every deck that runs Blue and red will be asked "Why aren't you running Twin?". They literally mentioned it in the ban of Twin.
Twin was a Bandaid on the format that was covering a festering wound. Banning it finally revealed the wound, and you don't heal a wound like that with another Bandaid on top.
What Blue decks need is better card selection, better Counters, and better wincons). Twin doesn't give Blue that.
As I said earlier, the entire modern format is just not a good idea to be putting any money into. Wizards has been moving towards this ever since Eldrazi Winter and it is very up in the air if we are getting a modern masters 2019. They just aren't doing what they need to do to support the constructed competitive format people in this forum are used to playing and I'm not even saying this to support frontier. If someone owns the cards already they are in a slightly healthier meta, but that's as far as the positives go right now.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
People around the globe are freaking out and selling their decks. In my country many folks have decided that Modern is pretty dead and they are selling out. I'm still in because if this format dies, i'm done with MTG since i have no interest in Type 2 and no money/support for Legacy.
At this point they have to put more GP's around the world and maybe even bring back the PT since no old pillar is coming back. This backed with a couple of unbans/reprints or radical changes(like cutting/adding expansions) to make Modern more competitive and appealing for pros.
Modern just went to war and we don't even know if it made it through...
Your enjoyment of A, B, and C may be summarized in the absolute terms you laid out but their roles in the metagame don't have to follow that.
TL;DR: It's all relative.
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
People freaking out...I do not understand at this point. Freak out a year ago, but not now.
Spirits
Spirits
decks playing:
none
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
They shifted from the WMCQs back to Nationals, and have Standard as the main event of nationals over Modern (according to their announcement, supposedly due to pricing and accessibility concerns). Modern Grand Prixs are still going to exist, unless I missed something.
Modern:
UU Merfolk UU
RW RW Prison RW
Legacy:
WW Death and Taxes WW
Option A has been shown to be too oppressive to the format. The fix for that is to improve option B with new cards, not demand an immediate return to option A. I also don't buy that you need an immediate win condition to make a blue deck good, even in Modern, at least not to the combo-able level of Twin. The issue with AV is that a turn 4 draw spell doesn't help the early game, which better cantrips could help with.
Modern:
UU Merfolk UU
RW RW Prison RW
Legacy:
WW Death and Taxes WW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AytGwG9vZhw
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Take that in hand with the ever decreasing amount of high level tournaments, the ban mania Wizards has created, and you have what looks to be a really big issue for the future health of the format many of us love and enjoy.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
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Idk standard needed those bans imo. The dredge and probe ban where warranted, and divining top needs a ban in Legacy for sure.
Bans balance numbers even if they hurt players investments.although some bans where incorrect I admit.
And the video does shine a light on one of wizards ban criteria in which I favor, aka, battle of sideboards.
This next year of magic is going to be interesting as I feel a certain developer needs to be fired.....or pick up his socks.
decks playing:
none
Nah, Top's fine. Miracles got the ban it needed when DTT got the axe.
Death and Taxes
Pauper
UB Teachings
Tortured Existence
Murasa Tron
Modern
Pod (RIP)
Bloom(RIP)
Merfolk
Basically agree with all of the points. Wizards had the options available to create a unified support system for both modern and standard. Instead they blew it and built a supplementary luxury set to support modern and stuck lottery cards into standard. This doesn't even go into how badly they've been handling constructed play. Again, as far as actions to take in the interim it's best not to put more money into modern cards right now and wait things out. It's really easy to panic sell out of a format when it has a downturn and right now modern is having a downturn that it likely wont recover from in a while. The safest format to play is commander at the moment, followed possibly by pauper. Frontier isn't too bad either, though it's a fledgling format and plays more like extended right now.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
While I agree on it likely lacking playability, I don't think the lack of Daze and Forsaken City is the reason, as Stasis's brief time in the sun came well before those cards were printed. Like I said, Stasis was popular not because it was so powerful in and of itself, but because it happened to have a good matchup against the dominant deck, as the monoblack Necropotence had big issues answering an enchantment.
I laughed pretty hard when I saw the title. The idea that EDH is a healthy format is ridiculous to me.
I'm sorry, but this video just seems like a whole bunch of hyperbole to me. I feel like this is a tad bit of an overreaction. Standard is still trying to solve itself because of the bannings. Modern is diverse, and balanced. His complaint about pauper was ridiculous. Vintage is accessible online, and the decks that are good are nearly endless. People seriously need to take a freaking chill pill now. Magic isn't going anywhere, and these formats are not going anywhere.
If they didn't reprint Liliana of the Veil because they were worried that it was going to make Bx Devotion decks stronger, then can you really say that they were ignoring the deck? They tried solving the Thoughtseize problem by doing what they usually do, wait it out. Would you rather have them ban the card?
Modern Masters 2015 still was a great set. It was awesome to draft, and it had alot of great cards in it. People seriously need to stop complaining about it. We get it, its not as powerful as Modern Masters 2013. That still doesn't mean its not a good set.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/legacy#online
If this holds any weight to the miracles argument....
On modern:
And the subpar replacement for twin (kiki) is arguably worse than pods subpar replacement in collected company...
decks playing:
none
Some of us might read this incompetence and oversight as a sinister plot to dismantle Modern. Although it is possible Wizards does want to phase out Modern, we can't read that as a result of the inept communication itself. The simplest and likeliest explanation is just general mismanagement, which fits the mismanagement theme of so many other recent Wizards decisions across all formats, not just Modern.
Please reach out to Wizards (Helene Bergeot, Trick Jarrett, Sam Stoddard, Aaron Forsythe, Mark Rosewater, etc.) to voice your dissatisfaction with the decision and/or the communication. Or to just ask for clarification. Hopefully the outcry is loud and broad enough that we get a response.
All things considered, I suspect that they just don't really know what to do with modern. When they proposed it, I believe they thought it would function like a more accessible legacy--that is something for enfranchised players with disposable income who like complexity in their game. Additionally, they were likely hoping that it would be rather "hands off" in terms of the resources they needed to budget it. It also propped up the secondary market value of cards that wouldn't cut it in legacy (which is good as it adds an extra source of demand, which they are aware of). However, that all didn't work out like they expected.
First off, I believe modern proved to be much more popular than they expected. Legacy, rightly or not, was limited by a perception of being inaccessible/expensive, which often meant somewhat lower interest by your average player. Modern promised to fix this problem (again, I'm not saying it did) and people just generally like playing with powerful cards. It also ended up being much less able to self-regulate, which means that something popular isn't working correctly quite a bit of the time.
They way I see it, Modern being as popular as it is has caused a lot of unintended consequences:
1. Wizards really isn't interested in cultivating a format or designing for it. This was supposed to be a "value added" sort of thing, but it probably needs more work than they anticipated and there is a regular demand by players for them to be more active in it. They probably see this whole thing more as a source of stress and distraction to their central function of designing and maintaining standard. Legacy, and, to my knowledge, Vintage, may have broken formats at times, but often feature long stretches of stable, fun magic in that context. My perception is that that, despite often being a fun format, large swaths of the playerbase are unhappy with something about it on a regular basis. I'm not 100% convinced that some of this is not due to the format itself (imperfect though it is), but that some of it may be a function of the popularity.
2. The secondary market is now somewhat defined by Modern playability. There are exceptions, but, generally speaking, cards that are in demand only for standard are just less sought after. What this means is that, design-wise, they have functionally reduced the overall demand for many of the cards they design. Again, they don't want to design for modern's powerlevel, but a lot of cards are evaluated by the playerbase in that context. This means that, regardless of mythics and masterpieces, many players view standard-only sets as being a poor value proposition, even if they intend on playing standard. Before, when it was just Legacy, anecdotally, I don't think these comparisons where happening nearly as much. Some part of the whole masterpiece strategy may have been in acknowledgement of this, but I'm starting to believe it may have backfired.
3. They have realized that Modern isn't really a good showcase sort of format. It typically doesn't drive standard set sales (the moneymaker), it features gameplay that is out-of-step with their highlighted standard experiences, and it sometimes looks broken (due to their reticence to be more active in designing with the format in mind). Given this, I think we are seeing them try to push it in to the background.
4. While I have really never played Modern at a time when I didn't know bunches of peoples saying it had problems, I suspect that they recently discovered people will leave standard for Modern when standard has enough problems. Again, Modern has appeal. I've known several new players, who, upon experiencing their first rotation, cultivate a strong interest in Modern. If standard is not exciting, they are at least somewhat likely to move to another format (this also includes EDH/Commander). Overall, I think they have found that Modern has started to cannibalize their standard market.
All this to say, they don't want Modern to be the premier Magic format. With the right guidance, it may have had the potential to be, but that doesn't likely make sense for them. Since they can't make money directly off of Modern easily (at least without tanking secondary market values, which might hurt business partners) there is just not as much upside. Moreover, their cardpool for "good reprints" is a bit small, meaning it would be hard to sustainably focus on just that. Modern isn't more popular than Standard, not by a long shot, but I suspect it being popular has hurt them in some ways. I don't think they are killing modern, but they want it to be under the rug, out of sight, while they try to right the standard ship.
Strike 1 thru 3 for me. This is what mad it bad IMO.
It is a supplemental set for Modern, it should feature cards played in Modern decks, and not selected because they might be a limited bomb.
There is plenty of product for limited play. Modern Masters should be designed around getting players access to useful cards. I also don't mean just money mythics/rares... utility cards, removal, etc (in all rarities).
I know, I know... but limited = money! Trust me, release a set with decent playable cards (meant for Modern play) and give it a normal release (not a small print run) and it will sell. And before the second chorus comes in, "retailers will just charge more"... no, not if the second part is done as well and it is released with the same numbers as any new set.
Right now (for me) MM is nothing. I spend $0 dollars on it. What I potentially have to spend is so much more. I guess we will see what MM2017 brings, but I'm also not surprised when the sun rises every morning, so I won't keep my hopes up.
http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/20765
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor.
I don't think at all they are trying to actively destroy Modern or anything, but I firmly believe their incompetence and ineptitude at managing the format as well as the poor communication of their management goals are doing much more harm than good.
I mean, this is a development and management team that rigorously tests for Standard and didn't find the Saheeli Rai/Felidar Guardian combo. If they can't see what's right in front of them, how do we trust them to properly manage a format they DON'T test for?
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Did they state somewhere that they didn't find the combo? Source?
Spirits
It doesn't matter if it's mismanagement or an evil plot, both make me want to sell out of the game.