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?
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.
It was difficult to read your post, but I see what you're saying and totally agree. Limited is fun and all, but it's a slap in the face to majority of players who don't give a ***** about draft and just want to get value and playable reprints from their $11 booster pack. It'd be a different story if shops sold them for ~$6/ea, but they don't. It could be the best limited set ever printed, but that doesn't help the poor shmuck who buys three packs and ends up with a whopping total of four legitimate modern-playable cards. I don't expect WoTC to design a set where Aether Vial is the worst uncommon, but I do expect them to design a set that actually includes cards which see play in the format. If it was called 'Limited Masters' then that would be fine and dandy. Rather, MM2015 was more like a $10 scratch off; yeah, you have a better chance of finding a valuable card compared to the standard $1 tickets, but you still throw them both away all the same if they're losers.
I don't think JTMS is a likely target. While JTMS wouldn't be overpowered in the sense that Jace decks will start dominating the meta, he's too good against fair decks and thus would have the effect of pushing the meta towards "play a Jace deck, or play a fast linear deck, or play Tron".
I just don't think Wizards does this kind of deep testing. They throw stuff together on MTGO, run a few lists, and make sure the decks receiving unbanned cards won't be busted. It's a lot of intuition and gut feel. The thing is, blue-based reactive decks are pretty horrendous right now on MTGO and still struggling in paper. so JTMS seems pretty solid in theory. If that metagame pattern persists through the GP, there will be a very strong argument to look to unbannings to fix blue's issues, and JTMS may jump out.
I also challenge this argument because people said the exact same thing about AV. A year later, AV has not panned out and BGx barely cared. Almost all the unban alarmism was unwarranted. Even GGT, which got rebanned, wasn't a problem until Wizards printed three major upgrades for Dredge in a row.
It seems to me like blue based control isn't doing worse than in the past few months, if anything it has gotten slightly better with Push and the Dredge ban.
Someone recently tallied up the last 90 decks that went 5-0 in MTGO leagues. U based control (Grixis, Esper, and UW) had 12 5-0's which is only 1 less than BGx did. On MTGGOldfish the collective share of Grixis Control and Grixis Delver is around 4.5%, which is around the same as Burn's.
This is of course a subjective prediction, but I wouldn't be suprised to see Grixis pop in and out of Tier 1 a few times in the upcoming months. To me the deck feels the best positioned it's been in since summer 2015.
The great mistake with Modern wizards made was not having a support system in place soon enough to prevent the market bubble on cards. If we wound back the clock to zendikar block, that is where modern masters should have started as they could have had lower msrp boxes without issue. The trouble is they let the bubble grow and now they can't print those expensive format staples anywhere but in a luxury set. It's a victim of its own rapid growth period.
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
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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!
The great mistake with Modern wizards made was not having a support system in place soon enough to prevent the market bubble on cards. If we wound back the clock to zendikar block, that is where modern masters should have started as they could have had lower msrp boxes without issue. The trouble is they let the bubble grow and now they can't print those expensive format staples anywhere but in a luxury set. It's a victim of its own rapid growth period.
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
They can play standard or Frontier? Turn 4 kills, higher power level, these are FEATURES of the format and certainly do not detract from it. The issue has nothing to do with Support, and everything to do with perception.
The great mistake with Modern wizards made was not having a support system in place soon enough to prevent the market bubble on cards. If we wound back the clock to zendikar block, that is where modern masters should have started as they could have had lower msrp boxes without issue. The trouble is they let the bubble grow and now they can't print those expensive format staples anywhere but in a luxury set. It's a victim of its own rapid growth period.
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
They can play standard or Frontier? Turn 4 kills, higher power level, these are FEATURES of the format and certainly do not detract from it. The issue has nothing to do with Support, and everything to do with perception.
Or they can play Legacy, where most of Magic's history is showcased, the ban list is rarely used to police the format, and the games still go longer than four turns because control has the tools that it needs to be competitive.
Everybody wins! (Except people who don't like Brainstorm. Those people lose.)
Playing millions of cards every turn... Slowly and systematically obliterating any chance my opponent has of winning... Clicking the multitude of locking mechanisms into place... Not even trying to win myself until turn 10+ once I have nigh absolute control... Watching my opponent desperately trying to navigate the labyrinthine prison that I've constructed... Seeing the light of hope fade and ultimately extinguished in an excruciatingly slow manner... THAT'S fun Magic.
We have 2-3 users that are dramatically making this thread incomprehensible and non-productive for anyone else to possibly join in the discussion. This needs to change.
Every time I see [ktkenshinx] post in here, I get the impression of a stern dad walking in on a bunch of kids trying to do something dumb and just shaking his head in disappointment.
Near Mint: The same as Slightly Played, but we threw some Altoids in the box we stored it in to cover up the scent of dead mice. Slightly Played: The base condition for all MTG cards. This card looks OK, but there’s one minor annoying ding in it that will always irritate and distract you whenever you draw it. Moderately Played: This card looks like it survived the Tet Offensive tucked inside the waistband of GI underwear. It may smell like it, too. Heavily Played: This card looks like the remains of Mohammed Atta’s passport after 9/11. It may be playable if you double-sleeve it to stop the chunks from falling out. The condition formerly known as "Washing Machine Grade" Damaged: This card is the unfortunate victim of a Mirrorweave/March of the Machines/Chaos Confetti/Mindslaver combo.
[M]aking counterfeit cards is the absolute height of dishonesty. Ask yourself this question: Since most people...are totally cool with the use of proxies...what purpose do [high] quality counterfeit cards serve?
The great mistake with Modern wizards made was not having a support system in place soon enough to prevent the market bubble on cards. If we wound back the clock to zendikar block, that is where modern masters should have started as they could have had lower msrp boxes without issue. The trouble is they let the bubble grow and now they can't print those expensive format staples anywhere but in a luxury set. It's a victim of its own rapid growth period.
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
They can play standard or Frontier? Turn 4 kills, higher power level, these are FEATURES of the format and certainly do not detract from it. The issue has nothing to do with Support, and everything to do with perception.
And I never said it was a downside and you simply construed it as such? And to be frank, don't you think there are some bigger issues than getting defensive about a "feature" of modern? Like the fact modern may be doomed to a slow burning death like Legacy if their isn't a turn around in policy towards the high level tournament play?
What WoTC is saying through action right now is that Modern doesn't make them enough money, they don't care about modern constructed anymore than legacy, and are now slowly trying to kill it off so that they can make more money off of standard. Whether that actually is the case or not is a different matter, but without any kind of communication this is the bleakest time of modern ever and this is with a modern masters 2017 set coming in march. Without any kind of additional knowledge I'd be grabbing the life raft and abandoning ship, assuming there was even a point to doing so.
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!
*sees Wedge's video* Welp, time to play frontier. IMO Wizards doesn't care and really hasn't cared about a non rotating format for it's entire history. Standard has been the spotlight in Magic for as long as I can remember and it's great we have non-rotating formats at all considering other TCGs (Pokemon, Force of Will) either don't have them or they are a mess. That being said, I don't think I can feel safe investing in Frontier either given that even though it plays (atm) the most recent cards, wizards is unlikely to promote it in any way shape or form. I love this game and it breaks my heart to see wizards doesn't want the same thing as a large portion of its players and are giving into to what the pros think about the format.
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I don't always play modern, but when I do, I play Grixis. Or some random combo deck I picked up. Or tron. Or Taking Turns. Or...
Again, you can and should ask Sam Stoddart whatever you feel like about Magic(or Modern in particular) HERE up until Monay.
"Bury" him in questions regarding Modern and its state, its possible competitive role, or WOTC's intentions to further support it as a competitive format or not. Hopefully, he will answer to some or all of those questions.
Glad I saw this. I've been... aggressively asking question about modern all day, with no response. I expect Sam will ignore the elephant in the room and focus on Standard BS, like the rest of the Wizard staff is doing right now.
*sees Wedge's video* Welp, time to play frontier. IMO Wizards doesn't care and really hasn't cared about a non rotating format for it's entire history. Standard has been the spotlight in Magic for as long as I can remember and it's great we have non-rotating formats at all considering other TCGs (Pokemon, Force of Will) either don't have them or they are a mess. That being said, I don't think I can feel safe investing in Frontier either given that even though it plays (atm) the most recent cards, wizards is unlikely to promote it in any way shape or form. I love this game and it breaks my heart to see wizards doesn't want the same thing as a large portion of its players and are giving into to what the pros think about the format.
People are reading way too deep into this announcement 😂😂😂😂
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.
Glad I saw this. I've been... aggressively asking question about modern all day, with no response. I expect Sam will ignore the elephant in the room and focus on Standard BS, like the rest of the Wizard staff is doing right now.
Sam's not going to respond to every question on his Twitter. He'll select a few non-inflammatory tweets and answer them in his article.
Glad I saw this. I've been... aggressively asking question about modern all day, with no response. I expect Sam will ignore the elephant in the room and focus on Standard BS, like the rest of the Wizard staff is doing right now.
Sam's not going to respond to every question on his Twitter. He'll select a few non-inflammatory tweets and answer them in his article.
That's to be expected. As I already said, I fully expect him to ignore the Modern elephant in the room, and push more Standard BS. That have to keep up appearances and continue to misinform and under inform the Modern player base.
The great mistake with Modern wizards made was not having a support system in place soon enough to prevent the market bubble on cards. If we wound back the clock to zendikar block, that is where modern masters should have started as they could have had lower msrp boxes without issue. The trouble is they let the bubble grow and now they can't print those expensive format staples anywhere but in a luxury set. It's a victim of its own rapid growth period.
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
They can play standard or Frontier? Turn 4 kills, higher power level, these are FEATURES of the format and certainly do not detract from it. The issue has nothing to do with Support, and everything to do with perception.
Or they can play Legacy, where most of Magic's history is showcased, the ban list is rarely used to police the format, and the games still go longer than four turns because control has the tools that it needs to be competitive.
Everybody wins! (Except people who don't like Brainstorm. Those people lose.)
Well, some games go beyond Turn 4.
I play Spanish Inquisition. All of my games come down to "Do you have Force of Will? If yes, you win unless I have Cabal Therapy. If not, I win."
My entire three game set can be done in under seven minutes, and that includes shuffling.
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Warning for spamming (no Modern content) -ktkenshinx-
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
*sees Wedge's video* Welp, time to play frontier. IMO Wizards doesn't care and really hasn't cared about a non rotating format for it's entire history. Standard has been the spotlight in Magic for as long as I can remember and it's great we have non-rotating formats at all considering other TCGs (Pokemon, Force of Will) either don't have them or they are a mess. That being said, I don't think I can feel safe investing in Frontier either given that even though it plays (atm) the most recent cards, wizards is unlikely to promote it in any way shape or form. I love this game and it breaks my heart to see wizards doesn't want the same thing as a large portion of its players and are giving into to what the pros think about the format.
If you think Wizards has mismanaged Modern and is focusing on Standard at the expense of other nonrotating formats, it makes absolutely ZERO sense to bank on Frontier. If they ever supported it (a huge "if" given its major function to just sell overstocked singles and lower costs in certain countries), it would start and end with the exact same issues as Modern. If you think Wizards will learn from Modern, then stick with Modern and bank on them applying the knowledge here, not exploding consumer confidence with a new format that would almost certainly continue Modern's ongoing issues.
Re: Stoddard article
Keep bombarding Sam, Helene, Aaron, Mark, Trick, and anyone else who has any Magic pull. Ask them questions and don't let them off the hook for their silence. Even if they don't directly decide Modern support (like Rosewater) the constant stream of customer dissatisfaction will echo to other decisionmakers.
*sees Wedge's video* Welp, time to play frontier. IMO Wizards doesn't care and really hasn't cared about a non rotating format for it's entire history. Standard has been the spotlight in Magic for as long as I can remember and it's great we have non-rotating formats at all considering other TCGs (Pokemon, Force of Will) either don't have them or they are a mess. That being said, I don't think I can feel safe investing in Frontier either given that even though it plays (atm) the most recent cards, wizards is unlikely to promote it in any way shape or form. I love this game and it breaks my heart to see wizards doesn't want the same thing as a large portion of its players and are giving into to what the pros think about the format.
People are reading way too deep into this announcement
More like we are reading what minimalistic amount of communication wizards gives us and creating a conclusion from it based on the actions we are seeing. This isn't purely the announcement: anyone following how wizards has been acting towards modern over the last two years likely already had suspicions of moderns impending end. To be frank, without a tournament scene to fuel peoples aspirations modern is basically going to slowly putter out no matter how wizards responds unless their response to the community Q&A reveals they are doing some new modern specific event that we don't know about.
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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!
Re: Stoddard article
Keep bombarding Sam, Helene, Aaron, Mark, Trick, and anyone else who has any Magic pull. Ask them questions and don't let them off the hook for their silence. Even if they don't directly decide Modern support (like Rosewater) the constant stream of customer dissatisfaction will echo to other decisionmakers.
I know I've been keeping on the pressure, bu I don't see too many keeping up. Why isn't there the same amount of frustration we had about the removal of the Pro Tour? It's really aggravating.
The great mistake with Modern wizards made was not having a support system in place soon enough to prevent the market bubble on cards. If we wound back the clock to zendikar block, that is where modern masters should have started as they could have had lower msrp boxes without issue. The trouble is they let the bubble grow and now they can't print those expensive format staples anywhere but in a luxury set. It's a victim of its own rapid growth period.
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
You just refuse to understand the market and just keep wanting it to change in your vision. The bubble was coming no matter. Its just the nature of the market and supply and demand.
The only thing Modern is a victim of was pushing Standard from the throne of most played format. Once Wotc saw the possibility, they scaled back Modern to a point they could keep it in check. Why? Because Standard sells packs, Modern sells one set every 2 years, Modern Masters.
Modern may not be the high level game of choice, but locally I am seeing more and more playing the format.
Its also nice to know some things never change. The same group complaining about the same things they were a year ago, 18 months ago, and longer. If the format has not pleased you by now, move on and let those enjoying enjoy it.
Its also nice to know some things never change. The same group complaining about the same things they were a year ago, 18 months ago, and longer. If the format has not pleased you by now, move on and let those enjoying enjoy it.
We're trying to enjoy it. Specifically by playing it. WotC is making that pretty difficult though.
Playing millions of cards every turn... Slowly and systematically obliterating any chance my opponent has of winning... Clicking the multitude of locking mechanisms into place... Not even trying to win myself until turn 10+ once I have nigh absolute control... Watching my opponent desperately trying to navigate the labyrinthine prison that I've constructed... Seeing the light of hope fade and ultimately extinguished in an excruciatingly slow manner... THAT'S fun Magic.
We have 2-3 users that are dramatically making this thread incomprehensible and non-productive for anyone else to possibly join in the discussion. This needs to change.
Every time I see [ktkenshinx] post in here, I get the impression of a stern dad walking in on a bunch of kids trying to do something dumb and just shaking his head in disappointment.
Near Mint: The same as Slightly Played, but we threw some Altoids in the box we stored it in to cover up the scent of dead mice. Slightly Played: The base condition for all MTG cards. This card looks OK, but there’s one minor annoying ding in it that will always irritate and distract you whenever you draw it. Moderately Played: This card looks like it survived the Tet Offensive tucked inside the waistband of GI underwear. It may smell like it, too. Heavily Played: This card looks like the remains of Mohammed Atta’s passport after 9/11. It may be playable if you double-sleeve it to stop the chunks from falling out. The condition formerly known as "Washing Machine Grade" Damaged: This card is the unfortunate victim of a Mirrorweave/March of the Machines/Chaos Confetti/Mindslaver combo.
[M]aking counterfeit cards is the absolute height of dishonesty. Ask yourself this question: Since most people...are totally cool with the use of proxies...what purpose do [high] quality counterfeit cards serve?
I like the idea of putting random modern playables inside of standard packs. I would definitely buy more packs if I had something to gain from them and people buying more packs right now seems to be what Wizards needs.
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Modern Decks: C: Affinity, WUB: Esper Draw-Go UR: Blood Moon Delver, UBR: Grixis Control/Delver GWUR: Allies, UBR: Cruel Control RGB: Living End, GWB: Wilt-Leaf Abzan GU: Infect, GWR: Naya Liege WU: Emeria Control
The great mistake with Modern wizards made was not having a support system in place soon enough to prevent the market bubble on cards. If we wound back the clock to zendikar block, that is where modern masters should have started as they could have had lower msrp boxes without issue. The trouble is they let the bubble grow and now they can't print those expensive format staples anywhere but in a luxury set. It's a victim of its own rapid growth period.
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
You just refuse to understand the market and just keep wanting it to change in your vision. The bubble was coming no matter. Its just the nature of the market and supply and demand.
The only thing Modern is a victim of was pushing Standard from the throne of most played format. Once Wotc saw the possibility, they scaled back Modern to a point they could keep it in check. Why? Because Standard sells packs, Modern sells one set every 2 years, Modern Masters.
Modern may not be the high level game of choice, but locally I am seeing more and more playing the format.
Its also nice to know some things never change. The same group complaining about the same things they were a year ago, 18 months ago, and longer. If the format has not pleased you by now, move on and let those enjoying enjoy it.
You are absolutely right. I am not happy with Standard, thus I quit last year.
Now WOTC tries to make me unhappy with Modern, I will certainly quit Modern at some time.
But it does not mean that I have to keep silence until I quit the game.
I know I've been keeping on the pressure, bu I don't see too many keeping up. Why isn't there the same amount of frustration we had about the removal of the Pro Tour? It's really aggravating.
Well, r/ModernMagic (one of the most visible sources for Modern information and a top Modern Google hit) is a real mess right now, so there's clearly an outcry there. Stoddard's Twitter threads have a decent number of Modern-related comments, but need more (add your voice, everyone!). I expect we'll get a statement next week, but to really maximize those chances, we need to keep the discussion loud and make sure we are keeping this a visible topic wherever possible.
The only thing Modern is a victim of was pushing Standard from the throne of most played format. Once Wotc saw the possibility, they scaled back Modern to a point they could keep it in check. Why? Because Standard sells packs, Modern sells one set every 2 years, Modern Masters.
This is definitely at play here, but many players believe Wizards has pushed it too far towards Standard and too far away from Modern. There is a persistent feeling that Standard is being forced on players at the expense of Modern, which many would prefer. This is compounded by continued terrible communication on Wizards' intent and their plan for the format, as well as an chronic (almost comical at this point) failure to proactively address worries when announcing these kinds of changes.
Its also nice to know some things never change. The same group complaining about the same things they were a year ago, 18 months ago, and longer. If the format has not pleased you by now, move on and let those enjoying enjoy it.
This is not a good argument because it suggests everything Wizards does is infallible and we should never complain or make our voices heard about anything. This is clearly untrue and there are definitely areas where Wizards needed pushing and/or was wrong. If many players are unhappy, even if it's not a majority in your particular area, those players should speak out.
I also am always skeptical about your particular area of Modern. You claimed the metagame was healthy there during an exceptionally unhealthy period in Eldrazi Winter. Although this may have been true, it suggests it is not representative of many other communities. More worryingly, you once claimed your community/store participated in some secret pre-Modern testing of the format. There has been absolutely zero compelling evidence to suggest this ever happened anywhere, let alone at your particular store, which further casts doubt on some of your claims about the Modern community in which you are playing. To this day, I'd be super interested in seeing evidence that happened. It would be great historical information. But lacking that evidence, I and others have every justification to be very skeptical.
I need some of you guys to inform my investment choices. Since you can clearly come to some very firm conclusions over exactly nothing, I'm sure your powers of perception have made you very wealthy.
Or...maybe the format isn't doomed, maybe there is evidence of Support and despite their inability to communicate well, just maybe they have made some good choices for the format and it's still enjoyable, and successful.
Magic Investment? Anything on the RL that see's play in Vintage and/or Legacy. Investing in non RL is an extremely dangerous gamble.
As for Reddit, I guess now is the time for me to finally join that site. I knew the day would come eventually, but at least I'm doing so for a good cause.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/m-files-aether-revolt-part-1-2017-02-03
In Felidar's section. It inspires absolutely zero confidence in their testing; Reddit caught it in about 5 mins after the full list hit.
It was difficult to read your post, but I see what you're saying and totally agree. Limited is fun and all, but it's a slap in the face to majority of players who don't give a ***** about draft and just want to get value and playable reprints from their $11 booster pack. It'd be a different story if shops sold them for ~$6/ea, but they don't. It could be the best limited set ever printed, but that doesn't help the poor shmuck who buys three packs and ends up with a whopping total of four legitimate modern-playable cards. I don't expect WoTC to design a set where Aether Vial is the worst uncommon, but I do expect them to design a set that actually includes cards which see play in the format. If it was called 'Limited Masters' then that would be fine and dandy. Rather, MM2015 was more like a $10 scratch off; yeah, you have a better chance of finding a valuable card compared to the standard $1 tickets, but you still throw them both away all the same if they're losers.
Link to Discord server where anybody from MTGS can keep up with thread topics while everything is being sorted out with the new site.
It seems to me like blue based control isn't doing worse than in the past few months, if anything it has gotten slightly better with Push and the Dredge ban.
Someone recently tallied up the last 90 decks that went 5-0 in MTGO leagues. U based control (Grixis, Esper, and UW) had 12 5-0's which is only 1 less than BGx did. On MTGGOldfish the collective share of Grixis Control and Grixis Delver is around 4.5%, which is around the same as Burn's.
This is of course a subjective prediction, but I wouldn't be suprised to see Grixis pop in and out of Tier 1 a few times in the upcoming months. To me the deck feels the best positioned it's been in since summer 2015.
Btw, when can we expect the next metagame update?
BGW Junk / URB Grixis Shadow / RGB Lantern Control / WUBCBant Eldrazi
Current Legacy decks
BUG Shardless BUG / UWR Predict Miracles / RUG Canadian Thresh / WRBG 4c Loam
UB Reanimator
Also a lot of people don't like it because it's too fast of a format. Too many turn 4 kills.
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 can play standard or Frontier? Turn 4 kills, higher power level, these are FEATURES of the format and certainly do not detract from it. The issue has nothing to do with Support, and everything to do with perception.
Spirits
Everybody wins! (Except people who don't like Brainstorm. Those people lose.)
WUDeath&TaxesWG
Legacy
UBRGDredgeUBRG
UHigh TideU
URGLandsURG
WR Card Choice List
WUR American D&T
WUB Esper D&T
The Reserved List
Heat Maps
And I never said it was a downside and you simply construed it as such? And to be frank, don't you think there are some bigger issues than getting defensive about a "feature" of modern? Like the fact modern may be doomed to a slow burning death like Legacy if their isn't a turn around in policy towards the high level tournament play?
What WoTC is saying through action right now is that Modern doesn't make them enough money, they don't care about modern constructed anymore than legacy, and are now slowly trying to kill it off so that they can make more money off of standard. Whether that actually is the case or not is a different matter, but without any kind of communication this is the bleakest time of modern ever and this is with a modern masters 2017 set coming in march. Without any kind of additional knowledge I'd be grabbing the life raft and abandoning ship, assuming there was even a point to doing so.
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!
Glad I saw this. I've been... aggressively asking question about modern all day, with no response. I expect Sam will ignore the elephant in the room and focus on Standard BS, like the rest of the Wizard staff is doing right now.
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Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Sam's not going to respond to every question on his Twitter. He'll select a few non-inflammatory tweets and answer them in his article.
That's to be expected. As I already said, I fully expect him to ignore the Modern elephant in the room, and push more Standard BS. That have to keep up appearances and continue to misinform and under inform the Modern player base.
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Well, some games go beyond Turn 4.
I play Spanish Inquisition. All of my games come down to "Do you have Force of Will? If yes, you win unless I have Cabal Therapy. If not, I win."
My entire three game set can be done in under seven minutes, and that includes shuffling.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
If you think Wizards has mismanaged Modern and is focusing on Standard at the expense of other nonrotating formats, it makes absolutely ZERO sense to bank on Frontier. If they ever supported it (a huge "if" given its major function to just sell overstocked singles and lower costs in certain countries), it would start and end with the exact same issues as Modern. If you think Wizards will learn from Modern, then stick with Modern and bank on them applying the knowledge here, not exploding consumer confidence with a new format that would almost certainly continue Modern's ongoing issues.
Re: Stoddard article
Keep bombarding Sam, Helene, Aaron, Mark, Trick, and anyone else who has any Magic pull. Ask them questions and don't let them off the hook for their silence. Even if they don't directly decide Modern support (like Rosewater) the constant stream of customer dissatisfaction will echo to other decisionmakers.
More like we are reading what minimalistic amount of communication wizards gives us and creating a conclusion from it based on the actions we are seeing. This isn't purely the announcement: anyone following how wizards has been acting towards modern over the last two years likely already had suspicions of moderns impending end. To be frank, without a tournament scene to fuel peoples aspirations modern is basically going to slowly putter out no matter how wizards responds unless their response to the community Q&A reveals they are doing some new modern specific event that we don't know about.
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 know I've been keeping on the pressure, bu I don't see too many keeping up. Why isn't there the same amount of frustration we had about the removal of the Pro Tour? It's really aggravating.
Cheeri0sXWU
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You just refuse to understand the market and just keep wanting it to change in your vision. The bubble was coming no matter. Its just the nature of the market and supply and demand.
The only thing Modern is a victim of was pushing Standard from the throne of most played format. Once Wotc saw the possibility, they scaled back Modern to a point they could keep it in check. Why? Because Standard sells packs, Modern sells one set every 2 years, Modern Masters.
Modern may not be the high level game of choice, but locally I am seeing more and more playing the format.
Its also nice to know some things never change. The same group complaining about the same things they were a year ago, 18 months ago, and longer. If the format has not pleased you by now, move on and let those enjoying enjoy it.
WUDeath&TaxesWG
Legacy
UBRGDredgeUBRG
UHigh TideU
URGLandsURG
WR Card Choice List
WUR American D&T
WUB Esper D&T
The Reserved List
Heat Maps
C: Affinity, WUB: Esper Draw-Go
UR: Blood Moon Delver, UBR: Grixis Control/Delver
GWUR: Allies, UBR: Cruel Control
RGB: Living End, GWB: Wilt-Leaf Abzan
GU: Infect, GWR: Naya Liege
WU: Emeria Control
You are absolutely right. I am not happy with Standard, thus I quit last year.
Now WOTC tries to make me unhappy with Modern, I will certainly quit Modern at some time.
But it does not mean that I have to keep silence until I quit the game.
Anything, but nothing at the moment...
Modern:
WUBRGAmulet Titan, WUBRGHuman
WUBRAd Nauseam, WBRGDeath Shadow, UBRGScapeshift, UBRGDredge
WURJeskai Nahiri, WURCheeri0s, WBGCounter Company, WRGBurn, UBRMadcap Moon, BRGJund Midrange
UBTurn,BRGriselbrand Reanimator, WGKnight Company, RGRG Tron, RGRG Ponza, XAffinity, XEldrazi Tron
I haven't liked any of the standards in the last year and a bit, nor do I have time to keep up to speed on limited at the moment.
I actually haven't played in a magic event in months simply because there are no real modern tournaments near me at the moment.
The lack of modern support is really putting me at risk of just abandoning magic all together at this point.
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
Well, r/ModernMagic (one of the most visible sources for Modern information and a top Modern Google hit) is a real mess right now, so there's clearly an outcry there. Stoddard's Twitter threads have a decent number of Modern-related comments, but need more (add your voice, everyone!). I expect we'll get a statement next week, but to really maximize those chances, we need to keep the discussion loud and make sure we are keeping this a visible topic wherever possible.
This is definitely at play here, but many players believe Wizards has pushed it too far towards Standard and too far away from Modern. There is a persistent feeling that Standard is being forced on players at the expense of Modern, which many would prefer. This is compounded by continued terrible communication on Wizards' intent and their plan for the format, as well as an chronic (almost comical at this point) failure to proactively address worries when announcing these kinds of changes.
This is not a good argument because it suggests everything Wizards does is infallible and we should never complain or make our voices heard about anything. This is clearly untrue and there are definitely areas where Wizards needed pushing and/or was wrong. If many players are unhappy, even if it's not a majority in your particular area, those players should speak out.
I also am always skeptical about your particular area of Modern. You claimed the metagame was healthy there during an exceptionally unhealthy period in Eldrazi Winter. Although this may have been true, it suggests it is not representative of many other communities. More worryingly, you once claimed your community/store participated in some secret pre-Modern testing of the format. There has been absolutely zero compelling evidence to suggest this ever happened anywhere, let alone at your particular store, which further casts doubt on some of your claims about the Modern community in which you are playing. To this day, I'd be super interested in seeing evidence that happened. It would be great historical information. But lacking that evidence, I and others have every justification to be very skeptical.
Or...maybe the format isn't doomed, maybe there is evidence of Support and despite their inability to communicate well, just maybe they have made some good choices for the format and it's still enjoyable, and successful.
Maybe.
Spirits
As for Reddit, I guess now is the time for me to finally join that site. I knew the day would come eventually, but at least I'm doing so for a good cause.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
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