I mean is that really fair...the Looting replacements are what Goblin Lore? Cathartic Reunion? Tormenting Voice?
I mean yes they cost 2 cmc but I think there is a major difference between having to get to pay 2RRR vs 2RR.
Besides the point of banning looting is too slow down these faithless looting decks so they don't turn everything into road kill. So saying the decks get slow is really the whole point.
But the question is are these faithless looting decks really doing a road kill? Are they as unstoppable as the eldrazi winter decks or full power summer bloom?
My question is why Faithless Looting had flashback. Did they actually feel that Careful Study was too weak?
I guess only the reserach & development team of Dark Ascension knows that. And I wonder if they actually did testings before approving it...
If this was careful study, the Hollow One decks would have to splash blue. And without the flashback, it does not go well if discarded at random with Burning Inquiry.
Here is the thing there not as bad because Eldrazi Winter decks basically choked out everything but themselves.
Faithless Looting decks have simply made an archetype too powerful ie as noted you play Looting, you play Stirrings or you play Vial.
Looting powers up aggro decks.
Vial for creature
Stirrings either goes for Big Mana decks or artifact combos.
Control and Midrange though basically get chocked out and I say that is mostly on Looting propping up one fast aggro mana cheating deck after another all year long. The only new thing Stirrings created of note was like KCI this year? Cause the answers are not really keeping pace with creatures. And one to way to fix this imbalance is simply to take out Looting and to a lesser extent Stirrings.
And I think that is difference between Modern and Legacy in Legacy everything can cheat on mana cost...in Modern though Control cannot cheat its cost nearly as easily since it lacks the free counters and cheap cantrips to find answers. So Aggro keeps getting new tools for Standard whereas Control really has not gotten much at the bottom of the curve. Every counter is 3 CMC, every 3 CMC board wipe has massive downsides, and even the 4 cmc have slight downsides.
So yeah in summary either Looting needs to go or midrange and control need way better answers and the overlap there would be in the form of board wipes.
I mean would a 3 CMC Black or White Wipe that only activates if your opponent puts 3 or more creatures into play on the same turn without casting be OP? Or a 4 CMC that cost 1 less for every creature put into play that didn't cost mana this turn? I don't know I am not great at making cards but I think there is ways to make some new wipes that can help check fast aggro in modern.
Or How good would Lavinia be if it said
Each opponent can't cast creature spells with converted mana cost greater than the number of lands that player controls.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast it, counter that spell.
That might at least slow most looting decks down enough you could get to the traditional 4 cmc board wipe. Basically I think there is plenty design space to help check creature aggro decks but WOTC biased and hates control cause its feels bad when your things are countered. But it doesn't feel bad when your opponent is dropping 5+ Power turn 1 or 2 apparently that keeps coming back from the grave unless exiled?
But why would it kill Modern? It's quite the claim to assume the whole format would crumble. It would likely drastically shift the meta, sure, but kill the whole format? I doubt it.
When I read something like that.. Bloodghast comes to mind. I believe this tiny 2/1 vampire is among the most powerful creatures in modern. It's the creature I always ooze if in the yard, or detention sphere if in play.
it just doesnt make any sense to me. what exactly is this problem definition where it is in the best interest of wizards, as it relates to the objectives of this format, to hit any one card right now?
if its something like GY aggro, then you focus on the aggressive parts. hitting lootings is like having a bug problem, but instead of calling an exterminator you burn your house down.
I feel like the best solution to control being bad is Counterspell becoming legal. Bans are not the right way to fix a format; if half of a format is OP decks and the other half isn't, don't kill half the format, buff half of it.
Honestly you've already got Logic Knot. Maybe Counterspell helps against...Tron? Until they adapt and bring in Ulamog and World Breaker again? But not really, the issue against Tron for Control is that you have literally no clock.
Nah. I really really enjoyed this article, and I suggest folks give it a look.
I find these threads so insufferable. People complain about the meta even when its in a PERFECT spot like it is right now. 15-20 decks are capable of winning tournaments.
Either get better at your deck, change your deck, or change your build.
If anything helps the format, a stoneforge unban could maybe help 'fair' decks. But nothing needs to be banned in the least.
I find these threads so insufferable. People complain about the meta even when its in a PERFECT spot like it is right now. 15-20 decks are capable of winning tournaments.
Either get better at your deck, change your deck, or change your build.
If anything helps the format, a stoneforge unban could maybe help 'fair' decks. But nothing needs to be banned in the least.
There's 15 decks capable of winning a tournament? How many are goldfish decks, 13? That just is NOT going to be all right by some people's standards and you can hardly blame them.
I don't want to play in a format where it is only Midrange vs. Control. I don't want to play in a format where it's only Aggro vs. Combo. We are nearly at this stage currently in Modern and have been for a long time now. Sad. (to some, yes some people enjoy who can goldfish who quicker)
*And if everyone "got better with their deck," more people would be playing KCI or decks that beat KCI. Does that sound fun to you? You tell me.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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 find these threads so insufferable. People complain about the meta even when its in a PERFECT spot like it is right now. 15-20 decks are capable of winning tournaments.
Hey just calm down. We're all here to discuss on how things are going for modern. Sometimes people feel the need to ban something, so we have discussions on why or why not to ban something.
If anything helps the format, a stoneforge unban could maybe help 'fair' decks. But nothing needs to be banned in the least.
SFM has been jailed for years. I have stopped hoping on an unban, because it may never come. Just do what I can to patch up decks that I already have.
Overall, Modern is way too fast and non-interactive these days. My opinion, but also one shared by a heck of a lot of players and commentators.
That is “the state of Modern”, like it or not (fwiw, I don’t). At least UW Control manages to go against the grain, I guess, and even snag the odd W. Even so.
I am still riding high after seeing that UB Control list top 8 at GP Portland, and overall I'm enjoying playing modern very much. Both decks I play regularly suit my play style, and both of them enjoy reasonable success against the field.
You dont think 3 bans that hit nearly every top deck, hard, wouldnt cause a huge amount of panic around the format?
Exactly because people spend money to play these cards! Band are never the answer unless it’s in dire need. There’s a reason they go after cards that don’t wipe decks from the format (sorry twin they missed on you).
@autmn that Lavinia idea does nothing vs dredge, Phoenix, bolt, temper, lightening axe, goryos, TTB, and basically all other cards looting decks are using because they aren’t casting the creatures. Might stop h1 and angler.
Noticed that Angrath, the flame chained has been increasing in price. Is there a new deck trying to use him in Modern? Or this is just because of Standard?
Noticed that Angrath, the flame chained has been increasing in price. Is there a new deck trying to use him in Modern? Or this is just because of Standard?
Standard now that rakdos cards are getting spoiled
I'm really sorry for taking this thread and throwing it over the way it has been. All I wanted was to voice what I was seeing and find out why others are making the claims they are making about quitting. I wanted to talk through why people would quit if a hypothetical ban happened, but apparently it's inseparable from the idea of calling for an actual ban. My mistake.
idSurge, I can see your point about people selling out of modern if such a ban wave happens. I agree that it would instill quite the lack of confidence in WotC. That's probably the only answer to "why such loyalty to these cards" anyone has offered up. I'll be honest though, I think we need to fix that massive dependence on these three cards, but I think that's second to bringing more interaction to the format. The first may help the second though.
Fact of the matter is one group is calling "perfect meta, perfect meta" and the other is trying desperately to find any interaction in the format. Like I said a few pages back, the GP and SCG numbers feel totally irrelevant because only 1%(less?) of people ever play in the meta where those numbers are defined, so many of us feel cheated because those numbers are pushed and pushed and pushed but we can see no reflection of them in any place we play Magic.
WotC taking data from us was one of the worst things they could do to Magic, in my opinion; it's ruined our ability to adapt to things. Without being able to establish a good view of the meta we've lost nearly all midrange and control because we have no idea which line of attack is the most pervasive. On top of that we keep seeing fast creatures, recursive creatures, resilient creatures, disruptive creatures, and free things get pumped into the meta making the answers we do have more and more irrelevant.
We certainly aren't going to see control get faster, I'm confident WotC doesn't want to do that, so that only leaves us with slowing aggro down. Unfortunately that is asking for a ban, and asking for a ban calls for the numbers to be brought to bare showing 10 different decks doing well and we're back where we started talking about "perfect meta" vs "needs more interaction". This is the state of Modern.
Noticed that Angrath, the flame chained has been increasing in price. Is there a new deck trying to use him in Modern? Or this is just because of Standard?
Standard now that rakdos cards are getting spoiled
Okay thanks for that. If it's for Standard, no reason for me to buy copies... money saved.
And about the new lavinia.. she does counter 0 mana Hollow One. But she's not good against H1 deck.. because the most dangerous Hollow One are those that come out turn 1, and she's not in play yet when those come out.
I'm really sorry for taking this thread and throwing it over the way it has been. All I wanted was to voice what I was seeing and find out why others are making the claims they are making about quitting. I wanted to talk through why people would quit if a hypothetical ban happened, but apparently it's inseparable from the idea of calling for an actual ban. My mistake.
idSurge, I can see your point about people selling out of modern if such a ban wave happens. I agree that it would instill quite the lack of confidence in WotC. That's probably the only answer to "why such loyalty to these cards" anyone has offered up. I'll be honest though, I think we need to fix that massive dependence on these three cards, but I think that's second to bringing more interaction to the format. The first may help the second though.
Fact of the matter is one group is calling "perfect meta, perfect meta" and the other is trying desperately to find any interaction in the format. Like I said a few pages back, the GP and SCG numbers feel totally irrelevant because only 1%(less?) of people ever play in the meta where those numbers are defined, so many of us feel cheated because those numbers are pushed and pushed and pushed but we can see no reflection of them in any place we play Magic.
WotC taking data from us was one of the worst things they could do to Magic, in my opinion; it's ruined our ability to adapt to things. Without being able to establish a good view of the meta we've lost nearly all midrange and control because we have no idea which line of attack is the most pervasive. On top of that we keep seeing fast creatures, recursive creatures, resilient creatures, disruptive creatures, and free things get pumped into the meta making the answers we do have more and more irrelevant.
We certainly aren't going to see control get faster, I'm confident WotC doesn't want to do that, so that only leaves us with slowing aggro down. Unfortunately that is asking for a ban, and asking for a ban calls for the numbers to be brought to bare showing 10 different decks doing well and we're back where we started talking about "perfect meta" vs "needs more interaction". This is the state of Modern.
We've always known that GP/MTGO data are what WOTC uses to craft their banlist decisions. I know we don't have reliable MTGO league data, but we do have reasonable data from GPs and the MTGO weekly challenges.
It only makes sense for WOTC to do so based on higher-level competitive play. Do you really expect WOTC to dictate your local meta and craft bans/unbans based on what your locals play? That would be like burning down an entire forest to get one diseased tree.
Edit:
I'd like to add that the format has been constantly evolving. Decks have been changing constantly, adopting new tech to fight new developments. We've seen this happen for years now. We went from GR tron, to GW/GB tron to Mono-G tron. We had Jund Shadow - 4C Shadow - Grixis Shadow. Classic Affinity to Scales. UWR and UW have had their time as the top control deck. Etc.
Banning cards to forcefully slow down aggro to artificially make control better is no solution. Any slower and creature decks would simply fold to terminus. We can't just reset Modern back to the point where supreme verdict was the sweeper of choice.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
I think the big issue with Modern is the disconnect between higher level and competitive play allied to the financial aspect, at least in Europe.
In Standard, unless your store is very, very casual, the best decks will be represented. In Legacy, this is a given, even if Europe is less blue than the US or less Delver-y than Japan was. In Modern I can see very little evidence of the top decks being played in the numbers they should be, at least in Europe, even at larger events. The lack of competitive ladder for Modern, coupled with the price means that by and large people are happy to stick with their deck/s. This is true in Legacy, of course, but the power level of the format is so, so high that a "bad" legacy choice can still do well.
In Modern the old PPTQ system failed rapidly...I could play Modern once a year but only to qualify for an event that was not Modern. Or I can play FNM. Or travel to an event with Modern, but wait, oh, it has a Legacy event at the same time.
Without that ladder for higher tier play there was no incentive to change to the best decks. Now as it happens I don't like the "best decks" I like the best prison decks, no mean task in Modern, but the principle holds. Why bother to learn top decks and acquire cards that are spiking in price when there is nothing to do with them beyond FNM? Why drop 400-800 GBP on a deck when I can grab a couple of duals or RL cards for Legacy that hold their value? Thus Wizard's decisions, correctly based on top tier play, don't really impact the vast majority of Modern enthusiasts outside of the US that has a real Modern scene.
Modern is all sorts of linear flavours (or flavors, for the US readers) lined up against each other. Without a Wasteland and Force of will police this will always be the case while sideboards are just 15 cards and tutoring is awful. But when the format is always everyone's second or third choice format, and the competitive scene is so weak outside of the US, does it actually matter? I enjoy Modern, I don't enjoy 80/20 matches, but overall, when so little is on the line in the format, I can't bring myself to care too much. If Wizards improved the competitive ladder for Modern players then the format would get more scrutiny. As it is, it is a flawed but enjoyable format that gets very little compared to the vast number of players it has.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
People with belligerent signatures are trying to compensate for something....
You dont think 3 bans that hit nearly every top deck, hard, wouldnt cause a huge amount of panic around the format?
This, basically, is spot on.
Bannings hurt players, and help people like me who move cards. I make lots of money off bannings, selling banned decks well before they get the hammer, and even I would shy away from 3 big bannings like this, it would kill the format, forever. Nobody wants that, even if there is a short term killing, the long term effects would hurt.
But the question is are these faithless looting decks really doing a road kill? Are they as unstoppable as the eldrazi winter decks or full power summer bloom?
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
I 100% know that you have not played enough with these decks if you think a replacement exists.
The Kiki comparison is on point.
The difference between legit tier 1 and tier 3, can be a single mana.
Edit: and just because I've weathered worse bans, that's actually the point. I've had a deck killed when 'a replacement' exists.
I took a long break after. And a looting ban would kill decks like Phoenix, 100%
Spirits
I guess only the reserach & development team of Dark Ascension knows that. And I wonder if they actually did testings before approving it...
If this was careful study, the Hollow One decks would have to splash blue. And without the flashback, it does not go well if discarded at random with Burning Inquiry.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Faithless Looting decks have simply made an archetype too powerful ie as noted you play Looting, you play Stirrings or you play Vial.
Looting powers up aggro decks.
Vial for creature
Stirrings either goes for Big Mana decks or artifact combos.
Control and Midrange though basically get chocked out and I say that is mostly on Looting propping up one fast aggro mana cheating deck after another all year long. The only new thing Stirrings created of note was like KCI this year? Cause the answers are not really keeping pace with creatures. And one to way to fix this imbalance is simply to take out Looting and to a lesser extent Stirrings.
And I think that is difference between Modern and Legacy in Legacy everything can cheat on mana cost...in Modern though Control cannot cheat its cost nearly as easily since it lacks the free counters and cheap cantrips to find answers. So Aggro keeps getting new tools for Standard whereas Control really has not gotten much at the bottom of the curve. Every counter is 3 CMC, every 3 CMC board wipe has massive downsides, and even the 4 cmc have slight downsides.
So yeah in summary either Looting needs to go or midrange and control need way better answers and the overlap there would be in the form of board wipes.
I mean would a 3 CMC Black or White Wipe that only activates if your opponent puts 3 or more creatures into play on the same turn without casting be OP? Or a 4 CMC that cost 1 less for every creature put into play that didn't cost mana this turn? I don't know I am not great at making cards but I think there is ways to make some new wipes that can help check fast aggro in modern.
Or How good would Lavinia be if it said
Each opponent can't cast creature spells with converted mana cost greater than the number of lands that player controls.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast it, counter that spell.
That might at least slow most looting decks down enough you could get to the traditional 4 cmc board wipe. Basically I think there is plenty design space to help check creature aggro decks but WOTC biased and hates control cause its feels bad when your things are countered. But it doesn't feel bad when your opponent is dropping 5+ Power turn 1 or 2 apparently that keeps coming back from the grave unless exiled?
You want to really slow things down, you have to hit Vial, Looting, and Stirrings, and THAT would kill Modern.
Spirits
"Reveal a Dragon"
You dont think 3 bans that hit nearly every top deck, hard, wouldnt cause a huge amount of panic around the format?
Spirits
When I read something like that.. Bloodghast comes to mind. I believe this tiny 2/1 vampire is among the most powerful creatures in modern. It's the creature I always ooze if in the yard, or detention sphere if in play.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Vial - Down goes Spirits, Merfolk, Humans.
Stirrings - Down goes Scaled Affinity, Tron, KCI, Amulet?
Looting - Down goes Dredge, Hollow One, Mardu, UR Phoenix, R Phoenix/Runaway, GDS takes a hit.
People would be selling out of Modern in droves.
Spirits
if its something like GY aggro, then you focus on the aggressive parts. hitting lootings is like having a bug problem, but instead of calling an exterminator you burn your house down.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Deal with it.
Nah. I really really enjoyed this article, and I suggest folks give it a look.
https://www.cardknocklife.com/cracking-the-modern-code/
Meanwhile, this is how I live my life now.
Spirits
Either get better at your deck, change your deck, or change your build.
If anything helps the format, a stoneforge unban could maybe help 'fair' decks. But nothing needs to be banned in the least.
There's 15 decks capable of winning a tournament? How many are goldfish decks, 13? That just is NOT going to be all right by some people's standards and you can hardly blame them.
I don't want to play in a format where it is only Midrange vs. Control. I don't want to play in a format where it's only Aggro vs. Combo. We are nearly at this stage currently in Modern and have been for a long time now. Sad. (to some, yes some people enjoy who can goldfish who quicker)
*And if everyone "got better with their deck," more people would be playing KCI or decks that beat KCI. Does that sound fun to you? You tell me.
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)Hey just calm down. We're all here to discuss on how things are going for modern. Sometimes people feel the need to ban something, so we have discussions on why or why not to ban something.
SFM has been jailed for years. I have stopped hoping on an unban, because it may never come. Just do what I can to patch up decks that I already have.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
That is “the state of Modern”, like it or not (fwiw, I don’t). At least UW Control manages to go against the grain, I guess, and even snag the odd W. Even so.
I am still riding high after seeing that UB Control list top 8 at GP Portland, and overall I'm enjoying playing modern very much. Both decks I play regularly suit my play style, and both of them enjoy reasonable success against the field.
Exactly because people spend money to play these cards! Band are never the answer unless it’s in dire need. There’s a reason they go after cards that don’t wipe decks from the format (sorry twin they missed on you).
@autmn that Lavinia idea does nothing vs dredge, Phoenix, bolt, temper, lightening axe, goryos, TTB, and basically all other cards looting decks are using because they aren’t casting the creatures. Might stop h1 and angler.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Standard now that rakdos cards are getting spoiled
idSurge, I can see your point about people selling out of modern if such a ban wave happens. I agree that it would instill quite the lack of confidence in WotC. That's probably the only answer to "why such loyalty to these cards" anyone has offered up. I'll be honest though, I think we need to fix that massive dependence on these three cards, but I think that's second to bringing more interaction to the format. The first may help the second though.
Fact of the matter is one group is calling "perfect meta, perfect meta" and the other is trying desperately to find any interaction in the format. Like I said a few pages back, the GP and SCG numbers feel totally irrelevant because only 1%(less?) of people ever play in the meta where those numbers are defined, so many of us feel cheated because those numbers are pushed and pushed and pushed but we can see no reflection of them in any place we play Magic.
WotC taking data from us was one of the worst things they could do to Magic, in my opinion; it's ruined our ability to adapt to things. Without being able to establish a good view of the meta we've lost nearly all midrange and control because we have no idea which line of attack is the most pervasive. On top of that we keep seeing fast creatures, recursive creatures, resilient creatures, disruptive creatures, and free things get pumped into the meta making the answers we do have more and more irrelevant.
We certainly aren't going to see control get faster, I'm confident WotC doesn't want to do that, so that only leaves us with slowing aggro down. Unfortunately that is asking for a ban, and asking for a ban calls for the numbers to be brought to bare showing 10 different decks doing well and we're back where we started talking about "perfect meta" vs "needs more interaction". This is the state of Modern.
"Reveal a Dragon"
Okay thanks for that. If it's for Standard, no reason for me to buy copies... money saved.
And about the new lavinia.. she does counter 0 mana Hollow One. But she's not good against H1 deck.. because the most dangerous Hollow One are those that come out turn 1, and she's not in play yet when those come out.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
We've always known that GP/MTGO data are what WOTC uses to craft their banlist decisions. I know we don't have reliable MTGO league data, but we do have reasonable data from GPs and the MTGO weekly challenges.
It only makes sense for WOTC to do so based on higher-level competitive play. Do you really expect WOTC to dictate your local meta and craft bans/unbans based on what your locals play? That would be like burning down an entire forest to get one diseased tree.
Edit:
I'd like to add that the format has been constantly evolving. Decks have been changing constantly, adopting new tech to fight new developments. We've seen this happen for years now. We went from GR tron, to GW/GB tron to Mono-G tron. We had Jund Shadow - 4C Shadow - Grixis Shadow. Classic Affinity to Scales. UWR and UW have had their time as the top control deck. Etc.
Banning cards to forcefully slow down aggro to artificially make control better is no solution. Any slower and creature decks would simply fold to terminus. We can't just reset Modern back to the point where supreme verdict was the sweeper of choice.
In Standard, unless your store is very, very casual, the best decks will be represented. In Legacy, this is a given, even if Europe is less blue than the US or less Delver-y than Japan was. In Modern I can see very little evidence of the top decks being played in the numbers they should be, at least in Europe, even at larger events. The lack of competitive ladder for Modern, coupled with the price means that by and large people are happy to stick with their deck/s. This is true in Legacy, of course, but the power level of the format is so, so high that a "bad" legacy choice can still do well.
In Modern the old PPTQ system failed rapidly...I could play Modern once a year but only to qualify for an event that was not Modern. Or I can play FNM. Or travel to an event with Modern, but wait, oh, it has a Legacy event at the same time.
Without that ladder for higher tier play there was no incentive to change to the best decks. Now as it happens I don't like the "best decks" I like the best prison decks, no mean task in Modern, but the principle holds. Why bother to learn top decks and acquire cards that are spiking in price when there is nothing to do with them beyond FNM? Why drop 400-800 GBP on a deck when I can grab a couple of duals or RL cards for Legacy that hold their value? Thus Wizard's decisions, correctly based on top tier play, don't really impact the vast majority of Modern enthusiasts outside of the US that has a real Modern scene.
Modern is all sorts of linear flavours (or flavors, for the US readers) lined up against each other. Without a Wasteland and Force of will police this will always be the case while sideboards are just 15 cards and tutoring is awful. But when the format is always everyone's second or third choice format, and the competitive scene is so weak outside of the US, does it actually matter? I enjoy Modern, I don't enjoy 80/20 matches, but overall, when so little is on the line in the format, I can't bring myself to care too much. If Wizards improved the competitive ladder for Modern players then the format would get more scrutiny. As it is, it is a flawed but enjoyable format that gets very little compared to the vast number of players it has.
This, basically, is spot on.
Bannings hurt players, and help people like me who move cards. I make lots of money off bannings, selling banned decks well before they get the hammer, and even I would shy away from 3 big bannings like this, it would kill the format, forever. Nobody wants that, even if there is a short term killing, the long term effects would hurt.