Fact is (yes fact) there are cards and strategies that are well beyond the rest of the field, and they almost all involve those cards. Go ahead and play a deck like Blue Moon, if you like.
I know @ktk will step in and say "modern is super healthy by their standards" etc. I agree that it's super diverse, judging by the decks people play.
Archetype wise, aggro and aggro control are more than half of the format. Maybe that's healthy, right. It's not close to optimal though, I will say that to you. And i am pretty sure we all can agree that's not a hyperbolic statement at all, by any metrics.
The commentators now are explaining that "in Modern if you are not playing Mox Opal (and Ancient Stirrings with it), Faithless Looting, you doing something wrong. 5 out of 6 top decks in the camera use those cards. The 6th one is Scapeshift. 6/6 uninteractive. I am not saying I agree, I am just presenting what they are saying.
I totally agree that archetype diversity is bad now. Those commentators are also patently wrong, as Hierarch decks are also quite viable. But that's splitting hairs here. I agree that Modern needs more midrange and control, which SFM will facilitate. Bans are unlikely to accomplish this, and would just hurt format popularity with no certain result. Moreover, there is no way Wizards looks at this diversity and bans cards unless they have totally revised their Modern management philosophy. The likeliest action is one or more unbans to help slower decks.
I have said it before Ban Stirrings and Looting. Restore Balance to Modern.
Tron will survive Oath Nissa will be just fine, weaker but fine. And the rest meh let them Perish.
The number of ban's needed to 'rein in' Modern, would kill the format. People would quit if you banned multiple cards that hit not 1, but MANY of the current decks, I feel like I already typed this out before...
Phoenix just obliterated G Affinity though, man that was a huge Game 1 Turn 2.
Terminus and Denial are the point you just need a different method to activate their bonus effect.
How about Denial variant that works if you control a Walker or something.
As for Terminus I am think a wipe that works when too many creatures get dropped on your opponents side of the board.
How about a creature that is 2 CMC that doesn't allows one creature to enter play every turn.
There are some more they could be doing to check aggro but WOTC loves creature aggro so that is not liable to happen.
Best possible solution would be printing a force of will-lite type effect. It would serve multiple functions:
. Boosts control in modern and standard (just print it after Teferi leaves)
. Acts a budget force of will for legacy that doesn't suck (Disrupting Shoal and Foil, for instance, are not good)
. Acts as a great equalizing card against fast starts from the opponent, especially when on the draw
. Prevent more cards from needing to be banned in the future
Some ideas that I think would be perfectly fine to print in standard:
. countering only spells with CMC 3 or less
. counter unless they pay X mana
. Requirement of exiling only a blue creature
. Requirement of exiling only a blue card with high cmc
. Countering only non-creature spells
. Free counter only during the first turn of the game
What else can you do though? Unban punishing fire and ban faithless looting/Stirrings? I really don't know what the correct choice is as people hate bans
3 KCI in the T8 would be horrific. Coupled with all the other known metrics of the deck (MWP, 2018 GP prevalence), the open question of KCI's logistical impact on events, its potential contribution towards a battle of sideboard, and the general dislike towards the deck, and I think there is sufficient aggregate information to make a ban case for a KCI-specific card, likely Trawler, that would neither kill the deck nor hurt other decks that aren't offending.
KCI is weird to me insofar as I am confused why WOTC hasn't taken it out behind the proverbial shed. Its not the type Magic they tend to like its basically a artifact combo deck reliant on obscure rule interactions that is boring to watch and takes a long time to play out. There somebody play design who loves KCI or something cause otherwise I don't get how it made this long without some part of it eating a ban.
KCI is weird to me insofar as I am confused why WOTC hasn't taken it out behind the proverbial shed. Its not the type Magic they tend to like its basically a artifact combo deck reliant on obscure rule interactions that is boring to watch and takes a long time to play out. There somebody play design who loves KCI or something cause otherwise I don't get how it made this long without some part of it eating a ban.
Barring emergencies, Wizards tends to ban cards on an annual cycle. Thus far, KCI has not offended by any known metric as far as we can see. Modern cards don't get banned because a vocal subset of players dislike them or the offending decks. But 3 KCI in the T8 really makes a strong case that the deck is reducing overall diversity by pushing other strategies out of T8 contention. Coupled with all the other issues the deck may present, it's a pretty reasonable ban target, especially if you isolate something like Trawler that allows the deck to exist in some form and doesn't hurt any other decks.
3 KCI in the T8 would be horrific. Coupled with all the other known metrics of the deck (MWP, 2018 GP prevalence), the open question of KCI's logistical impact on events, its potential contribution towards a battle of sideboard, and the general dislike towards the deck, and I think there is sufficient aggregate information to make a ban case for a KCI-specific card, likely Trawler, that would neither kill the deck nor hurt other decks that aren't offending.
2 KCI into the top 8 and 1 KCI that lost top 8 on the tier breakers wouldn't? Genuinely asking.
That would also be bannable for me too. It has had so many T8s this year, plus an absurd MWP by every matchup measure we have access to.
3 KCI in the T8 would be horrific. Coupled with all the other known metrics of the deck (MWP, 2018 GP prevalence), the open question of KCI's logistical impact on events, its potential contribution towards a battle of sideboard, and the general dislike towards the deck, and I think there is sufficient aggregate information to make a ban case for a KCI-specific card, likely Trawler, that would neither kill the deck nor hurt other decks that aren't offending.
Yuuuuup. Nass's win percentage with KCI is like 87% over the last three Modern GPs, and Black was on camera winning through multiple early Relics. Scrap Trawler is the card to hit to take out the deck's most ridiculous lines without killing it outright, and Wizards seems more inclined to weaken than completely kill decks. Reminds me of Amulet Bloom all over again.
modern is afforded more latitude for decks to be doing stuff that may not align with their current design philosophy. they wont ever focus on land destruction, but the fact that somewhere exists for people to sling stone rains is important because it is part of the history. the unfair and degenerate stuff should be around, and be good. which isnt the same as saying they cant or shouldnt do more to tune the dosage.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
GDS 5.5
BG - 2.8
Jund - 3.7
Control - 4.1%
UW - 3.2
UWR - 0.9
Combo - 6.4%
KCI - 5.5
Living End - 0.9
Aggro - 53%
E Affinity - 1.8
Bogles - 1.8
Elves - 1.4
Humans - 1.8
Hollow One - 2.8
Infect - 3.7
Dredge - 2.8
G Affinity - 4.6
Burn - 7.4
Spirits - 13.4
Phoenix - 11.5
Big Mana - 6.9%
Titanshift - 1.8
Tron - 5.1
Other - 12.9%
Spirits
Fact is (yes fact) there are cards and strategies that are well beyond the rest of the field, and they almost all involve those cards. Go ahead and play a deck like Blue Moon, if you like.
Spirits
I totally agree that archetype diversity is bad now. Those commentators are also patently wrong, as Hierarch decks are also quite viable. But that's splitting hairs here. I agree that Modern needs more midrange and control, which SFM will facilitate. Bans are unlikely to accomplish this, and would just hurt format popularity with no certain result. Moreover, there is no way Wizards looks at this diversity and bans cards unless they have totally revised their Modern management philosophy. The likeliest action is one or more unbans to help slower decks.
Tron will survive Oath Nissa will be just fine, weaker but fine. And the rest meh let them Perish.
Or we need cheaper counters and board wipes.
Phoenix just obliterated G Affinity though, man that was a huge Game 1 Turn 2.
Spirits
How about Denial variant that works if you control a Walker or something.
As for Terminus I am think a wipe that works when too many creatures get dropped on your opponents side of the board.
How about a creature that is 2 CMC that doesn't allows one creature to enter play every turn.
There are some more they could be doing to check aggro but WOTC loves creature aggro so that is not liable to happen.
. Boosts control in modern and standard (just print it after Teferi leaves)
. Acts a budget force of will for legacy that doesn't suck (Disrupting Shoal and Foil, for instance, are not good)
. Acts as a great equalizing card against fast starts from the opponent, especially when on the draw
. Prevent more cards from needing to be banned in the future
Some ideas that I think would be perfectly fine to print in standard:
. countering only spells with CMC 3 or less
. counter unless they pay X mana
. Requirement of exiling only a blue creature
. Requirement of exiling only a blue card with high cmc
. Countering only non-creature spells
. Free counter only during the first turn of the game
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
50% aggro, a bunch of different decks that are just shades of the same deck.
It doesn't even feel like midrange decks stop these aggro decks.
Banning a bunch of things will just anger people.
And what will SFM fix? Seriously? It'll change the scapeshift of modern for 2 months when people are excited to play the card.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Please let this be true, it will be banned if it wins. I'm sure the salt will get it done.
Spirits
Barring emergencies, Wizards tends to ban cards on an annual cycle. Thus far, KCI has not offended by any known metric as far as we can see. Modern cards don't get banned because a vocal subset of players dislike them or the offending decks. But 3 KCI in the T8 really makes a strong case that the deck is reducing overall diversity by pushing other strategies out of T8 contention. Coupled with all the other issues the deck may present, it's a pretty reasonable ban target, especially if you isolate something like Trawler that allows the deck to exist in some form and doesn't hurt any other decks.
That would also be bannable for me too. It has had so many T8s this year, plus an absurd MWP by every matchup measure we have access to.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Spirits
Legacy: UWR Miracles [https://deckstats.net/decks/44442/1092831-uwr-miracles-2]
Only one control deck in the top 8 cannot overshadow the dominance of uninteractive decks in the top. 3-times KCI is rediculous.
Legacy: UWR Miracles [https://deckstats.net/decks/44442/1092831-uwr-miracles-2]