Titanshift is trending up, not down. It's happening right now as we speak.
Jeskai might be tier 1 popularity wise depending on how you look at things. It's 100% not tier 1 power wise. I've played it in different times, last one the other day on stream. It's a fun deck, a cool deck, and a not very good or powerful deck, ultimately. Eldrazi Tron and Titanshift utterly murder you in any game in which everything doesn't line up perfectly for you.
Tiers are only a measure of popularity. In and of themselves they indicate nothing about powerlevel.
Nonsense. Tiers are based on results, and while popularity is a factor in that, it's not the only one. Look at the results of Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch; if you tried to decide tiers based on the results of that, Eldrazi was the clear Tier 1 if not 0.5 or 0. But Eldrazi wasn't the most popular deck at the event; Affinity and Burn were well ahead of it, and then Eldrazi was tied for third with Infect. If it was simply popularity, then we wouldn't have seen 6 of the 8 slots in the Top 8 go to a deck that wasn't one of the two most played. Popularity is certainly a factor, but strength is another major one--and people do tend to flock towards the decks that are strong.
Standard continues to suck. Check out the horror of GP Portland and the Standard decks in the SCG Open and Cassic. What Modern-related implications do you think are in the pipeline? Is it a lack of strong answers? If so, better answers could filter into Modern after entering Standard. Is it a lack of color balance? Archetype diversity? I'm just curious how you think Wizards' R&D response to the *****show of Energy is going to play out for us. Thoughts?
Most players playing competitively are playing it safe with energy lists because without the other half of Ixalan block the tribes don't have enough power to compete against Kaladesh. Also given the current set design Ixalan feels clumsy. I'm sure they probably are planning for the 1 cmc mana dorks that will be popping into standard come Return to Dominaria, as the spoiler art already indicates potentially elves of deep shadow making a return, but that does nothing for the current situation standard is in. Basically, the problem is that there are a lot indestructible / hard to remove mid-range creatures in standard and the best answer for them is a 4 mana exile spell. When the format lost Grasp of Darkness it made energy better as it's replacement is basically a sorcery speed Doom Blade.
In terms of modern, I'm not really expecting much. The answer they likely are holding back in Rivals is probably a 3 mana kill spell of some sort, since they aren't going to print another 2 cmc one in the same block. Merfolk and Humans have probably the best shot at getting new pieces.
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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!
Standard continues to suck. Check out the horror of GP Portland and the Standard decks in the SCG Open and Cassic. What Modern-related implications do you think are in the pipeline? Is it a lack of strong answers? If so, better answers could filter into Modern after entering Standard. Is it a lack of color balance? Archetype diversity? I'm just curious how you think Wizards' R&D response to the *****show of Energy is going to play out for us. Thoughts?
Most players playing competitively are playing it safe with energy lists because without the other half of Ixalan block the tribes don't have enough power to compete against Kaladesh. Also given the current set design Ixalan feels clumsy. I'm sure they probably are planning for the 1 cmc mana dorks that will be popping into standard come Return to Dominaria, as the spoiler art already indicates potentially elves of deep shadow making a return, but that does nothing for the current situation standard is in. Basically, the problem is that there are a lot indestructible / hard to remove mid-range creatures in standard and the best answer for them is a 4 mana exile spell. When the format lost Grasp of Darkness it made energy better as it's replacement is basically a sorcery speed Doom Blade.
In terms of modern, I'm not really expecting much. The answer they likely are holding back in Rivals is probably a 3 mana kill spell of some sort, since they aren't going to print another 2 cmc one in the same block. Merfolk and Humans have probably the best shot at getting new pieces.
Standard has one thing going for it that Modern doesn't - the games come down to in game decisions a whole heck of a LOT more than Modern. Sure, everyone is playing Energy. That's a good thing. You can build a deck to beat it or choose to fold to it. Or...you can play it and try to play cards that beat the mirror ... cough cough Vizier of Many Faces. For Modern, you can't say that. Play a deck and run into poor matchups all day and have a rough day. Run into half and half and have a mediocre finish. Or run into everything that you beat and draw well - good tournament for me! There literally is no way to metagame. I wish I Bocephus was around because he talked a lot about metagaming.
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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)
Standard continues to suck. Check out the horror of GP Portland and the Standard decks in the SCG Open and Cassic. What Modern-related implications do you think are in the pipeline? Is it a lack of strong answers? If so, better answers could filter into Modern after entering Standard. Is it a lack of color balance? Archetype diversity? I'm just curious how you think Wizards' R&D response to the *****show of Energy is going to play out for us. Thoughts?
Most players playing competitively are playing it safe with energy lists because without the other half of Ixalan block the tribes don't have enough power to compete against Kaladesh. Also given the current set design Ixalan feels clumsy. I'm sure they probably are planning for the 1 cmc mana dorks that will be popping into standard come Return to Dominaria, as the spoiler art already indicates potentially elves of deep shadow making a return, but that does nothing for the current situation standard is in. Basically, the problem is that there are a lot indestructible / hard to remove mid-range creatures in standard and the best answer for them is a 4 mana exile spell. When the format lost Grasp of Darkness it made energy better as it's replacement is basically a sorcery speed Doom Blade.
In terms of modern, I'm not really expecting much. The answer they likely are holding back in Rivals is probably a 3 mana kill spell of some sort, since they aren't going to print another 2 cmc one in the same block. Merfolk and Humans have probably the best shot at getting new pieces.
Standard has one thing going for it that Modern doesn't - the games come down to in game decisions a whole heck of a LOT more than Modern. Sure, everyone is playing Energy. That's a good thing. You can build a deck to beat it or choose to fold to it. Or...you can play it and try to play cards that beat the mirror ... cough cough Vizier of Many Faces. For Modern, you can't say that. Play a deck and run into poor matchups all day and have a rough day. Run into half and half and have a mediocre finish. Or run into everything that you beat and draw well - good tournament for me! There literally is no way to metagame. I wish I Bocephus was around because he talked a lot about metagaming.
Oh yeah, I agree totally on this. Right now no one can walk in and blind play hoping to win and that's especially true with Sultai. There's a lot of sequencing and flex cards, with some people preferring proactive answers like Harsh Scrutiny and others preferring reactive ones like essence scatter.
In modern, I keep getting reminded of a little deck called Snap Delver Thing. It was a completely custom deck built off of mono blue delver that used Thing in the Ice and Disrupting Shoal. The deck was notable since it actually ran Commandeer out of the side for a not so obvious reason (unless people know how to play around with Disrupting Shoal). It was a deck that specifically did well because it was created to interact with the meta it was in, which is in stark contrast to most modern decks floating around that just depend on being blisteringly fast, comboing out, or basically playing their own game.
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!
The gameplay in Standard is many levels about what's in Modern right now, there's no comparison. The lack of variety is very boring though.
I'll agree with this. I like midrange and attrition style battles or even if a combo is involved, it should be a more of a chess game than a drag race. A meta with E Tron just doesn't allow for that kind of environment, though.
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BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Standard continues to suck. Check out the horror of GP Portland and the Standard decks in the SCG Open and Cassic. What Modern-related implications do you think are in the pipeline? Is it a lack of strong answers? If so, better answers could filter into Modern after entering Standard. Is it a lack of color balance? Archetype diversity? I'm just curious how you think Wizards' R&D response to the *****show of Energy is going to play out for us. Thoughts?
I think one thing that isn't emphasized enough lately is that Standard shouldn't need bans. Rotation should remove unwanted elements quickly enough to where bans shouldn't be needed even in twisted metas, but the recent bans have led people to treat Standard like other non-rotating formats. I don't play standard, so my opinion shouldn't hold much weight, but I really think that they should hold out on bans until Dominaria for no other reason than to restore faith that Standard is reasonably safe to invest in so long as you don't buy cards that'll quickly rotate out. If the B&R committee spends too much time talking about Standard to talk about Modern until February, that's fine with me, but I'd like to see a return to normalcy in the sense that Standard ban talk is an oxymoron and the B&R List committee can more or less ignore Standard. If they do ban something in Standard, I have literally 0 investment, but I really hope that regardless of Standard's state and future bans that it will not reflect future standards of banning for Modern and Legacy
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Decks
Modern: UWUW Control UBRGrixis Shadow URIzzet Phoenix
Standard continues to suck. Check out the horror of GP Portland and the Standard decks in the SCG Open and Cassic. What Modern-related implications do you think are in the pipeline? Is it a lack of strong answers? If so, better answers could filter into Modern after entering Standard. Is it a lack of color balance? Archetype diversity? I'm just curious how you think Wizards' R&D response to the *****show of Energy is going to play out for us. Thoughts?
I think one thing that isn't emphasized enough lately is that Standard shouldn't need bans. Rotation should remove unwanted elements quickly enough to where bans shouldn't be needed even in twisted metas, but the recent bans have led people to treat Standard like other non-rotating formats. I don't play standard, so my opinion shouldn't hold much weight, but I really think that they should hold out on bans until Dominaria for no other reason than to restore faith that Standard is reasonably safe to invest in so long as you don't buy cards that'll quickly rotate out. If the B&R committee spends too much time talking about Standard to talk about Modern until February, that's fine with me, but I'd like to see a return to normalcy in the sense that Standard ban talk is an oxymoron and the B&R List committee can more or less ignore Standard. If they do ban something in Standard, I have literally 0 investment, but I really hope that regardless of Standard's state and future bans that it will not reflect future standards of banning for Modern and Legacy
Wizards appears to ban cards in Standard primarily banned on attendance---remember their bottom line. If they can identify glaring faults with the format (such as one deck taking up 50% of the metagame), and attendance also drops significantly for whatever reason, expect a ban there. The reason Standard hasn't had many bans over the years is probably that attendance hasn't plummeted often. With Modern gaining popularity and becoming more accessible thanks to reprints, though, players have a great alternative should that format be in a weird place.
My theory: Modern drew players away from a boring Standard last season, and the dip in attendance was so significant that Wizards took action with multiple bans. Modern reprint sets are all but guaranteed to sell big, so it's not like Wizards will stop printing those. But making Modern more affordable by doing so certainly generates a tension with keeping players in Standard, since the pressure rises to make that format at least diverse/enjoyable enough for players to not want to switch over to non-rotating constructed formats. This tension hasn't existed until recently, which is why we haven't seen mass Standard bannings in so long (until now).
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Standard continues to suck. Check out the horror of GP Portland and the Standard decks in the SCG Open and Cassic. What Modern-related implications do you think are in the pipeline? Is it a lack of strong answers? If so, better answers could filter into Modern after entering Standard. Is it a lack of color balance? Archetype diversity? I'm just curious how you think Wizards' R&D response to the *****show of Energy is going to play out for us. Thoughts?
I think one thing that isn't emphasized enough lately is that Standard shouldn't need bans. Rotation should remove unwanted elements quickly enough to where bans shouldn't be needed even in twisted metas, but the recent bans have led people to treat Standard like other non-rotating formats. I don't play standard, so my opinion shouldn't hold much weight, but I really think that they should hold out on bans until Dominaria for no other reason than to restore faith that Standard is reasonably safe to invest in so long as you don't buy cards that'll quickly rotate out. If the B&R committee spends too much time talking about Standard to talk about Modern until February, that's fine with me, but I'd like to see a return to normalcy in the sense that Standard ban talk is an oxymoron and the B&R List committee can more or less ignore Standard. If they do ban something in Standard, I have literally 0 investment, but I really hope that regardless of Standard's state and future bans that it will not reflect future standards of banning for Modern and Legacy
Overall if Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic took up 48% of the metagame in their respective format, this Standard needed bannings before Pro Tour Ixalan. This entire game has been a victim to horrible design since the Sam Stoddard team jumped in. I don't say this lightly whatsoever; Someone at Wizards needs to be removed.
The Modern format, shouldn't have to suffer because of recent failures. We deserve ban list changes, and better cards to enter our format. Yes, I fully understand we recently got Fatal Push, but we deserve better at a more consistent rate.
Overall if Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic took up 48% of the metagame in their respective format, this Standard needed bannings before Pro Tour Ixalan. This entire game has been a victim to horrible design since the Sam Stoddard team jumped in. I don't say this lightly whatsoever; Someone at Wizards needs to be removed.
I've said it before, but if Sam Stoddard was Japanese he'd definitely have been at least kicked upstairs for the travesty that was Shadows/Kaladesh Standard.
Dude deserves to have to walk around with a bloody dunce hat.
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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.
Even though standard is 50% energy, none of the games seem completely one-sided based on matchups alone. Whether you are playing energy, ramunap red, god-pharaoh's gift, tokens, or some sort of control list, there's a good chance that you will have a decent game. This is one of the reasons why I am really liking the format right now. Are there even any 20/80 matchups right now in standard?
I find midrange grindfests incredibly boring, so I rarely play standard. I especially find it awful that four color decks are a possibility in standard. Mana is too good right now.
I find midrange grindfests incredibly boring, so I rarely play standard. I especially find it awful that four color decks are a possibility in standard. Mana is too good right now.
Meanwhile, we have 5 color decks in modern right now. What's your point?
The point is that standard for the past couple of years revolves around three or four color goodstuff decks by mana that is too good, which allows a stack of expensive cards to be the top dog. The point is also that while some individuals may enjoy the "interactive" gameplay, I personally find battleship magic boring as hell.
Oh, and in modern you can always drop a Blood Moon when someone wants to be greedy on their mana.
The point is that standard for the past couple of years revolves around three or four color goodstuff decks by mana that is too good, which allows a stack of expensive cards to be the top dog. The point is also that while some individuals may enjoy the "interactive" gameplay, I personally find battleship magic boring as hell.
Oh, and in modern you can always drop a Blood Moon when someone wants to be greedy on their mana.
Well a lot of people were complaining about exactly the opposite at the recent times of mono black/blue/red devotion decks.
You know this maybe off topic for the modern meta/banlist topic, but it's strange to me hearing about Energy talked about as one deck, when there are actually two or three (Temur being the obvious front runner). But this would be an argument arguing whether to call Jund and Junk the same deck in modern based on the same core (and actually this would be a lot closer to the same deck!).
Not sure how this impacts modern, other than the way they are thinking of better answers.
You know this maybe off topic for the modern meta/banlist topic, but it's strange to me hearing about Energy talked about as one deck, when there are actually two or three (Temur being the obvious front runner). But this would be an argument arguing whether to call Jund and Junk the same deck in modern based on the same core (and actually this would be a lot closer to the same deck!).
Not sure how this impacts modern, other than the way they are thinking of better answers.
This is probably a matter of definition. It is funny, the SCG called Mullins deck "G/U Pummeler", while it is clearly an energy deck. I think wizards sort of failed with identifying these decks as "energy decks" for the sake of showcasing the new mechanic.
If we called these decks "Temur midrange", "Four-colour midrange", "Sultai midrange/control" then it is possible that people wouldn't freak out as much. That isn't to say that they wouldn't be the same decks, but now it really feels that everything is energy. It is weird though, energy is simply a resource. Idk, I personally don't mind the energy standard, I enjoy watchng long attrition games but that's just me.
You know this maybe off topic for the modern meta/banlist topic, but it's strange to me hearing about Energy talked about as one deck, when there are actually two or three (Temur being the obvious front runner). But this would be an argument arguing whether to call Jund and Junk the same deck in modern based on the same core (and actually this would be a lot closer to the same deck!).
Not sure how this impacts modern, other than the way they are thinking of better answers.
They didn't care about variants in past format health assessments, whether in Standard or Modern. I don't see why they will care about it now, unless it isn't hurting attendance.
When a card does too much heavy lifting for too many similar(not same) decks and it causes/creates "extreme diversity violators", is usually getting banned.
But even then there are inconsistencies. There were/are "groups" that took/take up 30-50% of various formats that don't see bans, and "groups" that took/take as little as 10-15% that do see bans.
What it always seems to boil down to is Wizards finding or creating any reason or justification to support whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it. And it seems this change is historically tied to: 1) drop attendance 2) players complaining enough or 3) shaking up the format. Whatever reason they give for a ban feels like an irrelevant afterthought; secondary to one or more of the previous 3 things. Something written after they've decided to ban a card, rather than being the reason the card is banned.
When a card does too much heavy lifting for too many similar(not same) decks and it causes/creates "extreme diversity violators", is usually getting banned.
But even then there are inconsistencies. There were/are "groups" that took/take up 30-50% of various formats that don't see bans, and "groups" that took/take as little as 10-15% that do see bans.
What it always seems to boil down to is Wizards finding or creating any reason or justification to support whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it. And it seems this change is historically tied to: 1) drop attendance 2) players complaining enough or 3) shaking up the format. Whatever reason they give for a ban feels like an irrelevant afterthought; secondary to one or more of the previous 3 things. Something written after they've decided to ban a card, rather than being the reason the card is banned.
I hate to say it, but this is right. Legacy has RUG Delver, BUG Delver, and Grixis Delver currently. If it weren't for many people flocking to the Czech Pile as of the past few months, all of the Delvers would probably be around 30% of the meta. You don't go to any Legacy tournament and NOT face Delver. I don't think I've played any Legacy tournament over 4 rounds where I haven't faced at least 1 Delver. Then again, in my area, I don't think I've played many Legacy tournaments where I haven't faced Death and Taxes either, lol.
In the end, like cfusionpm said, Wizards will lawyer any situation to seem okay. Then if the mistake is too big to hide, like recent Standard bannings, they will admit some mistakes. It will be interesting to see where Standard goes from here. I have a super intelligent friend who believes that Battlecruiser Magic will be the end of the game and that it's really only a short-term fix.
(And I can see how Energy based decks not getting the banhammer is a slap in the face to "redacted" players. Their deck got banned in a format that is supposed to have more tolerance because there are more answers and a bigger cardpool. It also is not the flagship format. But then Energy based decks are allowed to be an odd percentage in the most "important" format. I believe that Wizards is going to try to address this in a new set, but we'll see what happens.)
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)
Again, fair decks are more ban resistant than the unfair ones, probably because the unfair strong decks cause a lot of bad feels, which creates player disgruntlement, which creates low attendance.
Then it would certainly help players if there was some sort of criterion set in stone.
Any deck with a Combo (clearly defined please) cannot take up 15% of a metagame, including all variations of the deck. = BANNED
Any deck that does not have a Combo and is Midrange or Aggro based can take up 45% of a metagame, including all variations of the deck = NOT BANNED
This will make it easier for players to tell when to ship deck pieces because there is a chance that their beloved deck will be gone soon. Then again, "redacted" was around SO long before that it would have been a good decision to just run it until Wizards has had enough, because it seemed like they had 5 years of tolerance for it. There just has to be some sort of line or else in the end, it just comes down to "Wizards does what Wizards does" like always.
*And I do understand that there is more play in Standard, but who's to tell me not to just play Temur Energy and just play test for the mirror for a month straight? Oddly and anecdotally, it reminds me of a PTQ where I was running RW Landfall and only play tested vs. Caw Blade for the last 3 weeks straight going into the PTQ. I literally played against none in 9 rounds (2 IDs, one being Caw Blade) and lucksacked into the top 4 where Brian Kibler eeked out a win in 3 with UB Infect. Those were the days. You wanna know why I tested vs. Caw Blade so much? Everyone here on MTGS said that it was half the meta, despite the fact that I saw differently locally. I trusted this. I will admit that I dodged some Caw Blade too, although I estimate it to have been 15% of that meta (100 something odd players).
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)
This will make it easier for players to tell when to ship deck pieces because there is a chance that their beloved deck will be gone soon. Then again, "redacted" was around SO long before that it would have been a good decision to just run it until Wizards has had enough, because it seemed like they had 5 years of tolerance for it. There just has to be some sort of line or else in the end, it just comes down to "Wizards does what Wizards does" like always.
I have long since stopped trying to make sense of their bans. They do what they want, when they want, for whatever reasons they want. Also, certain decks of the past were often heralded as the poster-child examples of what the format should be in terms of power and speed. Some crossed lines, but some walked a very thin line without ever actually crossing it. However, after getting the ax, the floodgates seemed opened to ban anything for any reason. Combined with the loss of any meaningful data, we have been (and will continue to be) completely in the dark as to what will be banned, when it's banned, and why it's banned. These past two years have been complete chaos across multiple formats.
We're scrambling like chickens with their heads cut off and Wizards likely loves it. We are creating an artificial sense of diversity because of a combination of nobody knowing the true picture, people building targeted hate decks with fingers crossed on other matchups, and a reluctance to buy into decks that may or may not be banned. If this is what Wizards considers "healthy" for a format, I might as well sell all my staples now...
This would appease your average Magic player, but for someone like Frank Karsten (sorry for using you as an example), a numbers based player would absolutely DEPLORE this. What is fun? I had fun when I was taking all the play time in Eggs, Storm, Bloom, KCI, and the like. Why should my opponent get any play time? Some players have fun if their opponent does 3 discard spells by turn 2, leaving them with 4 lands in hand. Can I draw out of it and if I do, will my opponent call me a lucksack for top decking something? For me, not so much. Birthing Pod was a very interesting deck and I hated to see it banned because of this, but after Collected Company really got rolling, I was complacent to see it on the banlist. Maybe it takes a while for Wizards to come up with replacements?
My opinion on Storm is that it mostly got banned because it was played by hordes of players, due to the cheapness of the deck, especially online. I don't think it ever had the tournament results outside of MTGO that other banned cards produced.
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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 know it's not the safest dataset we have but, and correct me if I am wrong, for the first time in recent history, a control deck (Jeskai Tempo/control) has the highest representation in mtggoldfish with 7,19%! That is, based on the published MTGO leagues, challenges, SCG events, available online rptqs, Jeskai has the highest representation in top32-8s.
Right behind it is storm (6,99%), 5C humans (6,39%), GB Tron (5,59%)and Affinity (5,19%). That means that, based on recent available mtggoldfish data, the top5 decks of modern in terms of mostly online results are: a control deck, two aggro decks, a combo deck and big mana deck. This is a pretty healthy top 5. Judging by how no decks exceeds even 7,5% and how ETron is at 3,59% and Titanshift at 2,59% I am pretty sure the format can handle itself pretty well.
Take those data as you will, but it is one of the largest datasets we have available (and since I don't collect data myself I have to rely on other people's data). In my opinion, the format is great and I will stand behind SCGs opinion, modern is the best magic format at the moment.
Out of curiousity, but do you think they may ban something like Fatal Push if small creature decks just vanish? I still think the card is a good thing for modern, but at the same time it's very good against aggro decks and I'm not sure there's much that decks relying on one and two drops can do against it. It's basically everywhere in my frontier meta at the moment and I can only imagine in a format like modern it's probably become a permanent fixture in at least every deck running black. I'm also not saying they'd ban it right now, but still.
Edit: Also, on the Aetherworks Marvel debacle in standard: The reason marvel was a pain to play against is that it could end games on turn 4 or it could do absolutely nothing. However, the effect of it going off successfully was so good that people would run it, so it created extremely stressful situations for competitive players where the game basically went down to loading a revolver and playing russian roulette. On the non-competitive side it wasn't nearly so bad since it was just another coin flip mechanic in disguise, only without such a bad fail state. I'm insanely thankful that the card has not taken off in my own area in frontier, but man if it did I think that card could potentially kill everyones interest in the format.
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!
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I think it'll be busted open though.
Most players playing competitively are playing it safe with energy lists because without the other half of Ixalan block the tribes don't have enough power to compete against Kaladesh. Also given the current set design Ixalan feels clumsy. I'm sure they probably are planning for the 1 cmc mana dorks that will be popping into standard come Return to Dominaria, as the spoiler art already indicates potentially elves of deep shadow making a return, but that does nothing for the current situation standard is in. Basically, the problem is that there are a lot indestructible / hard to remove mid-range creatures in standard and the best answer for them is a 4 mana exile spell. When the format lost Grasp of Darkness it made energy better as it's replacement is basically a sorcery speed Doom Blade.
In terms of modern, I'm not really expecting much. The answer they likely are holding back in Rivals is probably a 3 mana kill spell of some sort, since they aren't going to print another 2 cmc one in the same block. Merfolk and Humans have probably the best shot at getting new pieces.
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!
Standard has one thing going for it that Modern doesn't - the games come down to in game decisions a whole heck of a LOT more than Modern. Sure, everyone is playing Energy. That's a good thing. You can build a deck to beat it or choose to fold to it. Or...you can play it and try to play cards that beat the mirror ... cough cough Vizier of Many Faces. For Modern, you can't say that. Play a deck and run into poor matchups all day and have a rough day. Run into half and half and have a mediocre finish. Or run into everything that you beat and draw well - good tournament for me! There literally is no way to metagame. I wish I Bocephus was around because he talked a lot about metagaming.
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)Oh yeah, I agree totally on this. Right now no one can walk in and blind play hoping to win and that's especially true with Sultai. There's a lot of sequencing and flex cards, with some people preferring proactive answers like Harsh Scrutiny and others preferring reactive ones like essence scatter.
In modern, I keep getting reminded of a little deck called Snap Delver Thing. It was a completely custom deck built off of mono blue delver that used Thing in the Ice and Disrupting Shoal. The deck was notable since it actually ran Commandeer out of the side for a not so obvious reason (unless people know how to play around with Disrupting Shoal). It was a deck that specifically did well because it was created to interact with the meta it was in, which is in stark contrast to most modern decks floating around that just depend on being blisteringly fast, comboing out, or basically playing their own game.
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!
I'll agree with this. I like midrange and attrition style battles or even if a combo is involved, it should be a more of a chess game than a drag race. A meta with E Tron just doesn't allow for that kind of environment, though.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Modern:
UWUW Control
UBRGrixis Shadow
URIzzet Phoenix
My theory: Modern drew players away from a boring Standard last season, and the dip in attendance was so significant that Wizards took action with multiple bans. Modern reprint sets are all but guaranteed to sell big, so it's not like Wizards will stop printing those. But making Modern more affordable by doing so certainly generates a tension with keeping players in Standard, since the pressure rises to make that format at least diverse/enjoyable enough for players to not want to switch over to non-rotating constructed formats. This tension hasn't existed until recently, which is why we haven't seen mass Standard bannings in so long (until now).
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Overall if Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic took up 48% of the metagame in their respective format, this Standard needed bannings before Pro Tour Ixalan. This entire game has been a victim to horrible design since the Sam Stoddard team jumped in. I don't say this lightly whatsoever; Someone at Wizards needs to be removed.
The Modern format, shouldn't have to suffer because of recent failures. We deserve ban list changes, and better cards to enter our format. Yes, I fully understand we recently got Fatal Push, but we deserve better at a more consistent rate.
I've said it before, but if Sam Stoddard was Japanese he'd definitely have been at least kicked upstairs for the travesty that was Shadows/Kaladesh Standard.
Dude deserves to have to walk around with a bloody dunce hat.
Meanwhile, we have 5 color decks in modern right now. What's your point?
Oh, and in modern you can always drop a Blood Moon when someone wants to be greedy on their mana.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
Not sure how this impacts modern, other than the way they are thinking of better answers.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sigpic.
Spider-Man Mafia 3 (Off-Site: NGA)
Metroid Mafia (Off-Site: Mafia Universe)
If we called these decks "Temur midrange", "Four-colour midrange", "Sultai midrange/control" then it is possible that people wouldn't freak out as much. That isn't to say that they wouldn't be the same decks, but now it really feels that everything is energy. It is weird though, energy is simply a resource. Idk, I personally don't mind the energy standard, I enjoy watchng long attrition games but that's just me.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
They didn't care about variants in past format health assessments, whether in Standard or Modern. I don't see why they will care about it now, unless it isn't hurting attendance.
But even then there are inconsistencies. There were/are "groups" that took/take up 30-50% of various formats that don't see bans, and "groups" that took/take as little as 10-15% that do see bans.
What it always seems to boil down to is Wizards finding or creating any reason or justification to support whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it. And it seems this change is historically tied to: 1) drop attendance 2) players complaining enough or 3) shaking up the format. Whatever reason they give for a ban feels like an irrelevant afterthought; secondary to one or more of the previous 3 things. Something written after they've decided to ban a card, rather than being the reason the card is banned.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I hate to say it, but this is right. Legacy has RUG Delver, BUG Delver, and Grixis Delver currently. If it weren't for many people flocking to the Czech Pile as of the past few months, all of the Delvers would probably be around 30% of the meta. You don't go to any Legacy tournament and NOT face Delver. I don't think I've played any Legacy tournament over 4 rounds where I haven't faced at least 1 Delver. Then again, in my area, I don't think I've played many Legacy tournaments where I haven't faced Death and Taxes either, lol.
In the end, like cfusionpm said, Wizards will lawyer any situation to seem okay. Then if the mistake is too big to hide, like recent Standard bannings, they will admit some mistakes. It will be interesting to see where Standard goes from here. I have a super intelligent friend who believes that Battlecruiser Magic will be the end of the game and that it's really only a short-term fix.
(And I can see how Energy based decks not getting the banhammer is a slap in the face to "redacted" players. Their deck got banned in a format that is supposed to have more tolerance because there are more answers and a bigger cardpool. It also is not the flagship format. But then Energy based decks are allowed to be an odd percentage in the most "important" format. I believe that Wizards is going to try to address this in a new set, but we'll see what happens.)
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)Then it would certainly help players if there was some sort of criterion set in stone.
Any deck with a Combo (clearly defined please) cannot take up 15% of a metagame, including all variations of the deck. = BANNED
Any deck that does not have a Combo and is Midrange or Aggro based can take up 45% of a metagame, including all variations of the deck = NOT BANNED
This will make it easier for players to tell when to ship deck pieces because there is a chance that their beloved deck will be gone soon. Then again, "redacted" was around SO long before that it would have been a good decision to just run it until Wizards has had enough, because it seemed like they had 5 years of tolerance for it. There just has to be some sort of line or else in the end, it just comes down to "Wizards does what Wizards does" like always.
*And I do understand that there is more play in Standard, but who's to tell me not to just play Temur Energy and just play test for the mirror for a month straight? Oddly and anecdotally, it reminds me of a PTQ where I was running RW Landfall and only play tested vs. Caw Blade for the last 3 weeks straight going into the PTQ. I literally played against none in 9 rounds (2 IDs, one being Caw Blade) and lucksacked into the top 4 where Brian Kibler eeked out a win in 3 with UB Infect. Those were the days. You wanna know why I tested vs. Caw Blade so much? Everyone here on MTGS said that it was half the meta, despite the fact that I saw differently locally. I trusted this. I will admit that I dodged some Caw Blade too, although I estimate it to have been 15% of that meta (100 something odd players).
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 have long since stopped trying to make sense of their bans. They do what they want, when they want, for whatever reasons they want. Also, certain decks of the past were often heralded as the poster-child examples of what the format should be in terms of power and speed. Some crossed lines, but some walked a very thin line without ever actually crossing it. However, after getting the ax, the floodgates seemed opened to ban anything for any reason. Combined with the loss of any meaningful data, we have been (and will continue to be) completely in the dark as to what will be banned, when it's banned, and why it's banned. These past two years have been complete chaos across multiple formats.
We're scrambling like chickens with their heads cut off and Wizards likely loves it. We are creating an artificial sense of diversity because of a combination of nobody knowing the true picture, people building targeted hate decks with fingers crossed on other matchups, and a reluctance to buy into decks that may or may not be banned. If this is what Wizards considers "healthy" for a format, I might as well sell all my staples now...
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
My opinion on Storm is that it mostly got banned because it was played by hordes of players, due to the cheapness of the deck, especially online. I don't think it ever had the tournament results outside of MTGO that other banned cards produced.
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)Right behind it is storm (6,99%), 5C humans (6,39%), GB Tron (5,59%)and Affinity (5,19%). That means that, based on recent available mtggoldfish data, the top5 decks of modern in terms of mostly online results are: a control deck, two aggro decks, a combo deck and big mana deck. This is a pretty healthy top 5. Judging by how no decks exceeds even 7,5% and how ETron is at 3,59% and Titanshift at 2,59% I am pretty sure the format can handle itself pretty well.
Take those data as you will, but it is one of the largest datasets we have available (and since I don't collect data myself I have to rely on other people's data). In my opinion, the format is great and I will stand behind SCGs opinion, modern is the best magic format at the moment.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
Edit: Also, on the Aetherworks Marvel debacle in standard: The reason marvel was a pain to play against is that it could end games on turn 4 or it could do absolutely nothing. However, the effect of it going off successfully was so good that people would run it, so it created extremely stressful situations for competitive players where the game basically went down to loading a revolver and playing russian roulette. On the non-competitive side it wasn't nearly so bad since it was just another coin flip mechanic in disguise, only without such a bad fail state. I'm insanely thankful that the card has not taken off in my own area in frontier, but man if it did I think that card could potentially kill everyones interest in the format.
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!