I love the knee jerk reactions in here. We get a good weekend of diversity and now everything is great and no need for unbans. The format hasn't changed people and if you repaired all the matches there's a very good chance 2/3's of the top 8 decks would change. The format is the same and unbans are still perfectly fine (and welcome imo). Honestly I'm shocked no one is calling for a ban out of burn or storm with the history of this thread.
I would be ok with a punishing fire unban if they also unban green sun zenith
GSZ is broke AF. You can't be serious.
What constitutes broke AF? As far as I can tell gsz doesn't search up any broken combos. Modern is build on broken cards, I mean we have 2 tier 1 decks that are running a mox or a sol land. If you unban punishing fire which was the condition for unbanning gsz I have a hard time seeing gsz being a problem
Immediately one of the best ramp spells in the format plus amazing on every single turn in any number of green creature decks. Makes Titanshift significantly better. Makes elves better (I like that)
Punishing Fire then takes out elves and merfolk and humans and basically any other creature deck.
I love the knee jerk reactions in here. We get a good weekend of diversity and now everything is great and no need for unbans. The format hasn't changed people and if you repaired all the matches there's a very good chance 2/3's of the top 8 decks would change. The format is the same and unbans are still perfectly fine (and welcome imo). Honestly I'm shocked no one is calling for a ban out of burn or storm with the history of this thread.
I feel that people who don't get much time to play the format really have to judge it based on a few tournaments or even 1 tournament. It's much easier for them to do that, unless they also play a certain number of matches per week (which would make them feel more familiar with the format). I personally trust my own judgment quite a bit because I play 2-3 times per week (FNM and 1-2 PPTQs) and was playing 4-6 times per week as early as 3 weeks ago. But I completely agree with your assessment.
Players think that Stoneforge Mystic can't be unbanned because a guy won the Invitational with Mono White Death and Taxes as 1 of his 2 decks. He metagamed pretty hard and got rewarded for it. It doesn't mean that D and T is Tier 1. I personally think that Stoneforge Mystic is still fine and that there are other multicolor decks that would make better use of it.
Now GBx did okay at this tournament. So Bloodbraid Elf is not okay? You gotta be *****ting me.
Storm is too good. It beat Death's Shadow. Preordain is forever resigned to the list.
Honestly, with this kind of attitude, nothing will ever get unbanned from the list. We know Modern is diverse and that there are more than a handful of decks that can win any given tournament (multiformat or not). It doesn't mean that some cards on the ban list should never be unbanned. Modern is indeed pretty good right now. It doesn't mean that a card shouldn't come off the ban list. That is just the wrong attitude. Or maybe I have the wrong attitude?
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I love the knee jerk reactions in here. We get a good weekend of diversity and now everything is great and no need for unbans. The format hasn't changed people and if you repaired all the matches there's a very good chance 2/3's of the top 8 decks would change. The format is the same and unbans are still perfectly fine (and welcome imo). Honestly I'm shocked no one is calling for a ban out of burn or storm with the history of this thread.
I feel that people who don't get much time to play the format really have to judge it based on a few tournaments or even 1 tournament. It's much easier for them to do that, unless they also play a certain number of matches per week (which would make them feel more familiar with the format). I personally trust my own judgment quite a bit because I play 2-3 times per week (FNM and 1-2 PPTQs) and was playing 4-6 times per week as early as 3 weeks ago. But I completely agree with your assessment.
Players think that Stoneforge Mystic can't be unbanned because a guy won the Invitational with Mono White Death and Taxes as 1 of his 2 decks. He metagamed pretty hard and got rewarded for it. It doesn't mean that D and T is Tier 1. I personally think that Stoneforge Mystic is still fine and that there are other multicolor decks that would make better use of it.
The logic is "the format is great why mess with it". I personally dislike this logic. The format could be much better, so let's play for upside when it comes to unbannings. Even if bbe and sfm create problems it's not like they can't re ban them
GSZ is a broken ass card, you can't unban it. Every deck playing green will use it. All of them. It makes blue decks worse in the process, makes Scapeshift more consistent, probably makes Company better---no thanks, keep it banned for years to come
Punishing Fire is an atrocious suggestion, it doesn't matter if it wouldn't be a huge impact now, it pretty much prevents small creature decks from ever being good in this format again, unless you do a sneaky meta game pick. Awful suggestion, Punishing Fire should stay for many years to come as well, unless we get legacy like power level cards. The one card literally destroys an entire archetype
Still think there's a small chance for BBE, and think it's absurd if WOTC feels one weekend of GBx doing well means it should stay banned.
Meanwhile, Cfusion is still unhappy unless it's 2015. If you don't like the format now you never will, the meta is wide open; it doesn't matter if Jeskai did poorly on camera. I'm not trolling you, I just really think maybe modern isn't for you if only one deck (I guess two, counting delver before the probe ban) was keeping you in the format.
Meanwhile, Cfusion is still unhappy unless it's 2015. If you don't like the format now you never will, the meta is wide open; it doesn't matter if Jeskai did poorly on camera. I'm not trolling you, I just really think maybe modern isn't for you if only one deck (I guess two, counting delver before the probe ban) was keeping you in the format.
I just dislike that all the top decks of the format are based around attacking on a narrow or unconventional axis, forcing opponents to either race them or hope to draw extremely specific, narrow hate cards (or hope to have an excellent matchup). The nature of games and matches is just so much more toxic and polarizing than what I would like. In the meantime, I'm playing a UR Faerie/Delver build (modified from this list). It's not good, but at least it's fun and I don't pull my hair out in games like the miserable on-camera match of GDS vs Martyr of Sands.dec. School is starting soon though, and I will probably stop playing in paper entirely until I get settled into my new classroom. So I guess it's a win-win?
GSZ is a broken ass card, you can't unban it. Every deck playing green will use it. All of them. It makes blue decks worse in the process, makes Scapeshift more consistent, probably makes Company better---no thanks, keep it banned for years to come
Punishing Fire is an atrocious suggestion, it doesn't matter if it wouldn't be a huge impact now, it pretty much prevents small creature decks from ever being good in this format again, unless you do a sneaky meta game pick. Awful suggestion, Punishing Fire should stay for many years to come as well, unless we get legacy like power level cards. The one card literally destroys an entire archetype
Still think there's a small chance for BBE, and think it's absurd if WOTC feels one weekend of GBx doing well means it should stay banned.
Meanwhile, Cfusion is still unhappy unless it's 2015. If you don't like the format now you never will, the meta is wide open; it doesn't matter if Jeskai did poorly on camera. I'm not trolling you, I just really think maybe modern isn't for you if only one deck (I guess two, counting delver before the probe ban) was keeping you in the format.
Thoughtsieze is a broken ass card, it needs to be banned. Every black deck plays it. It makes blue decks worse in the process, makes grixis death shadow more consistent, and probably makes tarmogoyf better, no thanks. Suspension issued for trolling -- CavalryWolfPack
Zora should probably go read the reasons why GSZ was banned in the first place.
It is good at literally every single point in the game. And Thoughtseize is a garbage topdeck. Comparing Thoughtseize to GSZ is probably the first comparison I've read here that truly made me think someone doesn't know how to play magic.
Thoughtsieze takes the opponent's best card. If you draw it when they're hellbent, or when they only have lands, you just lost a lot of tempo.
Green Sun's Zenith, on the other hand, is always good. There is never a time where you can draw it in a game where it is bad, if you're running green. Turn 1? Sure, get Dryad Arbor. Turn 2? Okay, we'll get a one drop, since GSZ shuffles back in. Turn 27 when you're hellbent? Sure, I'll put all of my mana into it and get my big green stompy.
Add in the fact that Green Sun's Zenith gives you an incredible ability to search up hate pieces or cards that are good in a given matchup. I'm playing against Burn? Cool, I can GSZ for my 1-of Kitchen Finks. My opponent's on a controlling strategy and relies on mass removal and Cryptics? Come on down, Gaddock Teeg! I need to clog up the board while gaining advantage? Voice of Resurgence, buddy, come on down! I need a beater with upside? Siege Rhino, sure, you can come to the party. Storm? Dryad Militant says hello.
There is never a circumstance where drawing or playing Green Sun's Zenith is a bad feeling. Never. There will never be a case where I'll go "Oh man, I wish I hadn't topdecked Green Sun's Zenith, I needed something else."
If you want green to be the single most consistent colour in Modern - and it already is, what with Collected Company - give me Green Sun's Zenith. I'll break it in two.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
Meanwhile, Cfusion is still unhappy unless it's 2015. If you don't like the format now you never will, the meta is wide open; it doesn't matter if Jeskai did poorly on camera. I'm not trolling you, I just really think maybe modern isn't for you if only one deck (I guess two, counting delver before the probe ban) was keeping you in the format.
I just dislike that all the top decks of the format are based around attacking on a narrow or unconventional axis, forcing opponents to either race them or hope to draw extremely specific, narrow hate cards (or hope to have an excellent matchup). The nature of games and matches is just so much more toxic and polarizing than what I would like. In the meantime, I'm playing a UR Faerie/Delver build (modified from this list). It's not good, but at least it's fun and I don't pull my hair out in games like the miserable on-camera match of GDS vs Martyr of Sands.dec. School is starting soon though, and I will probably stop playing in paper entirely until I get settled into my new classroom. So I guess it's a win-win?
Honestly, this just reads like someone who wants to abolish all their bad matchups. Jeskai Control has an excellent record in the recent big events. That deck seems to fit all your metrics, except it admittedly has some bad matchups (which I know you don't want). GDS is another option that seems to check all the interactive and skill-testing boxes.
The funny thing is that I can't think of ANY Modern deck from any period of time that meets all your criteria. It's like some players got even more restrictive about their Modern preferences the more they identified perceived format issues.
I know why it's banned and I'm not saying it's a bad card. The comparison to thoughtsieze was to show how flawed spsiegel987's logic was. I also put the condition if punishing fire was unbanned as well. This forum is terrible at reading the posts that relate to other posts. Selfishly I would like it unbanned and I do think it's time is closer than we think but it does have some real risk
Hello, this is my first time posting in here, ive been following it for a while i have just never replied.
I am really excited to see the meta is adapting to the two best decks, however i think a lot of people here are over valuing data. Im not saying we shouldn't use data to prove a point but there is much more involved in the equation then top8 and 32s. For example in pauper when cloud of faries was banned only one deck played it and it was only like 5% of the meta however it was by far the most warping deck in pauper at the time and the best deck in the format.
Most played deck does not equal best deck. Also just because a deck isn't putting up crazy results doesn't mean its not warping the format. I believe that titan shift doing so well is a direct result of eldrazi tron being a tier1 deck. The format is adapting to it which is good but it appers to be doing it by going linear. If however we reach a point in the meta, which this data suggests, where there is a deck that can hate out tron and is in turn hated out by a deck that is hated out by g/b/x and other midrange decks than things are fine. At that point we are in a meta that is in flux which is great it allows a lot decks to exist. I do worry that we may reach a point where tron pushes out every midrange deck that isnt shadow, and in three months we will all be complaining that the format is to linear. However until the format does that its in a pretty great place if the trends from last weekend continue.
I honesty stil think temple is to good and doesn't have a whole lot of draw backs in eldrazi tron. However, if eldrazi tron being in the meta promotes diversity like death shadow does it is fine. Although i honestly don't see how a deck like tron that seems very polarizing in its MUs can do that.
All topdecks will warp metas. For example, you also have to partially blame Shadow for pushing out decks with bolt, those prison/blood moon decks for example, won't be played because Shadow is so efficient, so things like Titanshift is top dog now.
Meta is circulating, rotating--it looks pretty healthy. The modern format hasn't been solved, which is also key. Eldrazi Tron is strong, but the deck folds incredibly hard to decks that go wide and get bigger in the process (probably also why Elves was a good pick for the Open). E-Tron also can't handle any combo deck that doesn't rely on the graveyard. As long as all of this is true, the deck can't be oppressive.
Shadow is so efficient, I'm honestly sure why it isn't winning more. It's so, so hard to play though. I can't bring myself to play the deck when people are shoving Crusaders and Colossus' in their decks though.
I know why it's banned and I'm not saying it's a bad card. The comparison to thoughtsieze was to show how flawed spsiegel987's logic was. I also put the condition if punishing fire was unbanned as well. This forum is terrible at reading the posts that relate to other posts. Selfishly I would like it unbanned and I do think it's time is closer than we think but it does have some real risk
Except it wasn't flawed logic and you ignored Spawns post.
Thoughtseize is a garbage topdeck in a grindy game, and has a real weakness when life total is important.
I played Abzan just last night at my FNM, thoughtseize was a very dead card against my Kiki-Chord opponent, mirror match, and burn opponent in the late game---three out of four games, it was a bad card to draw. GSZ in those positions would have all been backbreaking for my opponent.
Thoughtseize's absence would literally make every combo deck in the meta better overnight.
GSZ is literally good at any point in a game with the exception of facing an immediate combo-out win deck---at the same time, you're also making a top tier 1 deck better (Titanshift). If WOTC was afraid of BBE being shoved in Jund decks, there's no way we should be discussing GSZ. The unban isn't even realistic at this period of modern, it's a waste to even discuss.
I love the knee jerk reactions in here. We get a good weekend of diversity and now everything is great and no need for unbans. The format hasn't changed people and if you repaired all the matches there's a very good chance 2/3's of the top 8 decks would change. The format is the same and unbans are still perfectly fine (and welcome imo). Honestly I'm shocked no one is calling for a ban out of burn or storm with the history of this thread.
I feel that people who don't get much time to play the format really have to judge it based on a few tournaments or even 1 tournament. It's much easier for them to do that, unless they also play a certain number of matches per week (which would make them feel more familiar with the format). I personally trust my own judgment quite a bit because I play 2-3 times per week (FNM and 1-2 PPTQs) and was playing 4-6 times per week as early as 3 weeks ago. But I completely agree with your assessment.
Players think that Stoneforge Mystic can't be unbanned because a guy won the Invitational with Mono White Death and Taxes as 1 of his 2 decks. He metagamed pretty hard and got rewarded for it. It doesn't mean that D and T is Tier 1. I personally think that Stoneforge Mystic is still fine and that there are other multicolor decks that would make better use of it.
The logic is "the format is great why mess with it". I personally dislike this logic. The format could be much better...
How? How could it possibly be better. You can play anything you want and compete. Everything from slivers to martyr to elves can place in the top 32 of a big tournament along with prison, control, midrange, combo, ramp, and agro being viable. The field is so wide open now. If you don't like this modern, you never will.
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WoTC, thank you for finally announcing the Modern format, an eternal format where everyone can participate.
I love the knee jerk reactions in here. We get a good weekend of diversity and now everything is great and no need for unbans. The format hasn't changed people and if you repaired all the matches there's a very good chance 2/3's of the top 8 decks would change. The format is the same and unbans are still perfectly fine (and welcome imo). Honestly I'm shocked no one is calling for a ban out of burn or storm with the history of this thread.
I feel that people who don't get much time to play the format really have to judge it based on a few tournaments or even 1 tournament. It's much easier for them to do that, unless they also play a certain number of matches per week (which would make them feel more familiar with the format). I personally trust my own judgment quite a bit because I play 2-3 times per week (FNM and 1-2 PPTQs) and was playing 4-6 times per week as early as 3 weeks ago. But I completely agree with your assessment.
Players think that Stoneforge Mystic can't be unbanned because a guy won the Invitational with Mono White Death and Taxes as 1 of his 2 decks. He metagamed pretty hard and got rewarded for it. It doesn't mean that D and T is Tier 1. I personally think that Stoneforge Mystic is still fine and that there are other multicolor decks that would make better use of it.
The logic is "the format is great why mess with it". I personally dislike this logic. The format could be much better...
How? How could it possibly be better. You can play anything you want and compete. Everything from slivers to martyr to elves can place in the top 32 of a big tournament along with prison, control, midrange, combo, ramp, and agro being viable. The field is so wide open now. If you don't like this modern, you never will.
Hypothesis #1: Advocates of certain decks claim their archetype is "not a valid tournament option." Any results somehow are written off automatically as pure luck. Also, their concept of viable generally means having zero bad matchups.
< Just wants to play stoneforge mystic so he can search up his sword of the meek and sword of X and Y, is that so bad?
But abzan would get another threat (carry away)
But batterskull (well timed fatal push)
I get the basics of each argument but yeah that unban would be really nice to have, since apparently jitte is never coming off the banlist and one of the reasonings I heard was stoneforge. I also think that unbans would bring the format up in the amount of interesting things players get to do in the format, which is a bonus, but Id want wizards to take a serious look at it, which means we may be waiting for some time
Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
< Just wants to play stoneforge mystic so he can search up his sword of the meek and sword of X and Y, is that so bad?
But abzan would get another threat (carry away)
But batterskull (well times fatal push)
I get the basics of each argument but yeah that unban would be really nice to have, since apparently jitte is never coming off the banlist and one of the reasonings I heard was stoneforge.
Been pushing for sfm and bbe here for quite some time. Who knows hopefully WOTC will hear our cries for it.
< Just wants to play stoneforge mystic so he can search up his sword of the meek and sword of X and Y, is that so bad?
But abzan would get another threat (carry away)
But batterskull (well times fatal push)
I get the basics of each argument but yeah that unban would be really nice to have, since apparently jitte is never coming off the banlist and one of the reasonings I heard was stoneforge.
Been pushing for sfm and bbe here for quite some time. Who knows hopefully WOTC will hear our cries for it.
as I was editing my post to elaborate a bit I imagined the card saw an unban and got excited for like 3 seconds. Idk i think the unban talk is fueled by hype to play with iconic cards again. There are many in the bloodbraid camp with fair points about its unbanning aswell, but we cant call wizards up and be like "Here are our opinions, backed by data" (cause twitter's character limit is short)
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
Re: UW Control
I agree the deck did poorly, but I'm fine with that because another Ux deck, Jeskai Control, did very well. As long as there is a viable blue-based control deck, I don't care what it is and how the other blue-based control decks are doing. It's a similar story with Jund: Abzan and Rock did much better, so BGx remains viable even if Jund might not.
I expect no changes until the Pro Tour. Wizards will prefer to let new cards make an impact, and if anything gets unbanned, they'll do it to hype up the PT.
i played uw at gp sao paolo, finished 10-5, and lost 2 rounds because of variance (really bad luck) but my feeling about the deck is that grixis death's shadow is just a better deck to play overall. The skill required to play both decks is high, but at the same level of skills, death's shadow winrate seems higher, cause you have a better clock and better cards in general. The good thing about uw in particular is the possibility of playing good planeswalkers, that have more value now that bolt is less common
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GSZ is broke AF. You can't be serious.
What constitutes broke AF? As far as I can tell gsz doesn't search up any broken combos. Modern is build on broken cards, I mean we have 2 tier 1 decks that are running a mox or a sol land. If you unban punishing fire which was the condition for unbanning gsz I have a hard time seeing gsz being a problem
Punishing Fire then takes out elves and merfolk and humans and basically any other creature deck.
Marath, Will of the Wild Tokens!! / Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund Dragons! / Muzzio, Visionary Architect / Brago, King Eternal / Daretti, Scrap Savant / Narset, Enlightened Master / Alesha, Who Smiles at Death / Bruna, Light of Alabaster / Marchesa, the Black Rose / Iroas, God of Victory / Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury / Omnath, Locus of rage / Titania, Protector of Argoth / Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Modern
Elves / Titanshift / Merfolk
I feel that people who don't get much time to play the format really have to judge it based on a few tournaments or even 1 tournament. It's much easier for them to do that, unless they also play a certain number of matches per week (which would make them feel more familiar with the format). I personally trust my own judgment quite a bit because I play 2-3 times per week (FNM and 1-2 PPTQs) and was playing 4-6 times per week as early as 3 weeks ago. But I completely agree with your assessment.
Players think that Stoneforge Mystic can't be unbanned because a guy won the Invitational with Mono White Death and Taxes as 1 of his 2 decks. He metagamed pretty hard and got rewarded for it. It doesn't mean that D and T is Tier 1. I personally think that Stoneforge Mystic is still fine and that there are other multicolor decks that would make better use of it.
Now GBx did okay at this tournament. So Bloodbraid Elf is not okay? You gotta be *****ting me.
Storm is too good. It beat Death's Shadow. Preordain is forever resigned to the list.
Honestly, with this kind of attitude, nothing will ever get unbanned from the list. We know Modern is diverse and that there are more than a handful of decks that can win any given tournament (multiformat or not). It doesn't mean that some cards on the ban list should never be unbanned. Modern is indeed pretty good right now. It doesn't mean that a card shouldn't come off the ban list. That is just the wrong attitude. Or maybe I have the wrong attitude?
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)The logic is "the format is great why mess with it". I personally dislike this logic. The format could be much better, so let's play for upside when it comes to unbannings. Even if bbe and sfm create problems it's not like they can't re ban them
Punishing Fire is an atrocious suggestion, it doesn't matter if it wouldn't be a huge impact now, it pretty much prevents small creature decks from ever being good in this format again, unless you do a sneaky meta game pick. Awful suggestion, Punishing Fire should stay for many years to come as well, unless we get legacy like power level cards. The one card literally destroys an entire archetype
Still think there's a small chance for BBE, and think it's absurd if WOTC feels one weekend of GBx doing well means it should stay banned.
Meanwhile, Cfusion is still unhappy unless it's 2015. If you don't like the format now you never will, the meta is wide open; it doesn't matter if Jeskai did poorly on camera. I'm not trolling you, I just really think maybe modern isn't for you if only one deck (I guess two, counting delver before the probe ban) was keeping you in the format.
I just dislike that all the top decks of the format are based around attacking on a narrow or unconventional axis, forcing opponents to either race them or hope to draw extremely specific, narrow hate cards (or hope to have an excellent matchup). The nature of games and matches is just so much more toxic and polarizing than what I would like. In the meantime, I'm playing a UR Faerie/Delver build (modified from this list). It's not good, but at least it's fun and I don't pull my hair out in games like the miserable on-camera match of GDS vs Martyr of Sands.dec. School is starting soon though, and I will probably stop playing in paper entirely until I get settled into my new classroom. So I guess it's a win-win?
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Thoughtsieze is a broken ass card, it needs to be banned. Every black deck plays it. It makes blue decks worse in the process, makes grixis death shadow more consistent, and probably makes tarmogoyf better, no thanks.
Suspension issued for trolling -- CavalryWolfPack
GSZ=bad
Thoughtseize=Safety Valve
Solid logic. You could swap out any number of cards like I did and see your reasoning doesn't hold up
It is good at literally every single point in the game. And Thoughtseize is a garbage topdeck. Comparing Thoughtseize to GSZ is probably the first comparison I've read here that truly made me think someone doesn't know how to play magic.
Marath, Will of the Wild Tokens!! / Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund Dragons! / Muzzio, Visionary Architect / Brago, King Eternal / Daretti, Scrap Savant / Narset, Enlightened Master / Alesha, Who Smiles at Death / Bruna, Light of Alabaster / Marchesa, the Black Rose / Iroas, God of Victory / Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury / Omnath, Locus of rage / Titania, Protector of Argoth / Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Modern
Elves / Titanshift / Merfolk
Green Sun's Zenith, on the other hand, is always good. There is never a time where you can draw it in a game where it is bad, if you're running green. Turn 1? Sure, get Dryad Arbor. Turn 2? Okay, we'll get a one drop, since GSZ shuffles back in. Turn 27 when you're hellbent? Sure, I'll put all of my mana into it and get my big green stompy.
Add in the fact that Green Sun's Zenith gives you an incredible ability to search up hate pieces or cards that are good in a given matchup. I'm playing against Burn? Cool, I can GSZ for my 1-of Kitchen Finks. My opponent's on a controlling strategy and relies on mass removal and Cryptics? Come on down, Gaddock Teeg! I need to clog up the board while gaining advantage? Voice of Resurgence, buddy, come on down! I need a beater with upside? Siege Rhino, sure, you can come to the party. Storm? Dryad Militant says hello.
There is never a circumstance where drawing or playing Green Sun's Zenith is a bad feeling. Never. There will never be a case where I'll go "Oh man, I wish I hadn't topdecked Green Sun's Zenith, I needed something else."
If you want green to be the single most consistent colour in Modern - and it already is, what with Collected Company - give me Green Sun's Zenith. I'll break it in two.
Honestly, this just reads like someone who wants to abolish all their bad matchups. Jeskai Control has an excellent record in the recent big events. That deck seems to fit all your metrics, except it admittedly has some bad matchups (which I know you don't want). GDS is another option that seems to check all the interactive and skill-testing boxes.
The funny thing is that I can't think of ANY Modern deck from any period of time that meets all your criteria. It's like some players got even more restrictive about their Modern preferences the more they identified perceived format issues.
I am really excited to see the meta is adapting to the two best decks, however i think a lot of people here are over valuing data. Im not saying we shouldn't use data to prove a point but there is much more involved in the equation then top8 and 32s. For example in pauper when cloud of faries was banned only one deck played it and it was only like 5% of the meta however it was by far the most warping deck in pauper at the time and the best deck in the format.
Most played deck does not equal best deck. Also just because a deck isn't putting up crazy results doesn't mean its not warping the format. I believe that titan shift doing so well is a direct result of eldrazi tron being a tier1 deck. The format is adapting to it which is good but it appers to be doing it by going linear. If however we reach a point in the meta, which this data suggests, where there is a deck that can hate out tron and is in turn hated out by a deck that is hated out by g/b/x and other midrange decks than things are fine. At that point we are in a meta that is in flux which is great it allows a lot decks to exist. I do worry that we may reach a point where tron pushes out every midrange deck that isnt shadow, and in three months we will all be complaining that the format is to linear. However until the format does that its in a pretty great place if the trends from last weekend continue.
I honesty stil think temple is to good and doesn't have a whole lot of draw backs in eldrazi tron. However, if eldrazi tron being in the meta promotes diversity like death shadow does it is fine. Although i honestly don't see how a deck like tron that seems very polarizing in its MUs can do that.
Meta is circulating, rotating--it looks pretty healthy. The modern format hasn't been solved, which is also key. Eldrazi Tron is strong, but the deck folds incredibly hard to decks that go wide and get bigger in the process (probably also why Elves was a good pick for the Open). E-Tron also can't handle any combo deck that doesn't rely on the graveyard. As long as all of this is true, the deck can't be oppressive.
Shadow is so efficient, I'm honestly sure why it isn't winning more. It's so, so hard to play though. I can't bring myself to play the deck when people are shoving Crusaders and Colossus' in their decks though.
Except it wasn't flawed logic and you ignored Spawns post.
Thoughtseize is a garbage topdeck in a grindy game, and has a real weakness when life total is important.
I played Abzan just last night at my FNM, thoughtseize was a very dead card against my Kiki-Chord opponent, mirror match, and burn opponent in the late game---three out of four games, it was a bad card to draw. GSZ in those positions would have all been backbreaking for my opponent.
Thoughtseize's absence would literally make every combo deck in the meta better overnight.
GSZ is literally good at any point in a game with the exception of facing an immediate combo-out win deck---at the same time, you're also making a top tier 1 deck better (Titanshift). If WOTC was afraid of BBE being shoved in Jund decks, there's no way we should be discussing GSZ. The unban isn't even realistic at this period of modern, it's a waste to even discuss.
How? How could it possibly be better. You can play anything you want and compete. Everything from slivers to martyr to elves can place in the top 32 of a big tournament along with prison, control, midrange, combo, ramp, and agro being viable. The field is so wide open now. If you don't like this modern, you never will.
Hypothesis #1: Advocates of certain decks claim their archetype is "not a valid tournament option." Any results somehow are written off automatically as pure luck. Also, their concept of viable generally means having zero bad matchups.
But abzan would get another threat (carry away)
But batterskull (well timed fatal push)
I get the basics of each argument but yeah that unban would be really nice to have, since apparently jitte is never coming off the banlist and one of the reasonings I heard was stoneforge. I also think that unbans would bring the format up in the amount of interesting things players get to do in the format, which is a bonus, but Id want wizards to take a serious look at it, which means we may be waiting for some time
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Been pushing for sfm and bbe here for quite some time. Who knows hopefully WOTC will hear our cries for it.
as I was editing my post to elaborate a bit I imagined the card saw an unban and got excited for like 3 seconds. Idk i think the unban talk is fueled by hype to play with iconic cards again. There are many in the bloodbraid camp with fair points about its unbanning aswell, but we cant call wizards up and be like "Here are our opinions, backed by data" (cause twitter's character limit is short)
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
I agree the deck did poorly, but I'm fine with that because another Ux deck, Jeskai Control, did very well. As long as there is a viable blue-based control deck, I don't care what it is and how the other blue-based control decks are doing. It's a similar story with Jund: Abzan and Rock did much better, so BGx remains viable even if Jund might not.
I expect no changes until the Pro Tour. Wizards will prefer to let new cards make an impact, and if anything gets unbanned, they'll do it to hype up the PT.