supreme verdict is what is wrong with standard. A 4cc spell that can't be countered is just ridiculous and makes aggro decks not viable. Sphinx's Rev is even fine since it's super late game and can be countered.
Exactly, Supreme Verdict should've been 6 mana or more Wrath Of God cost 4 mana to play. How much is uncounterablity worth?
A single blue mana obviously. The cost is completely reasonable. UW/x Control is the only deck that keeps Standard from turning into a "turn my creatures sideways" format. Wizards caters already enough to the creature crowd.
Literally everything in Theros block cares about creatures. Be it heroic, monstrosity, bestow, tribute and for the most part devotion since there are not many playable non-creature permanents, all the gods especially the BNG ones etc.
4 mana is fine. Uncounterability is completely fine (not in this season, but the problem with most Standard seasons is too few uncounterability, rather than too much). The real problem with Supreme Verdict is the blue mana requirement which, combined with the lack of any other sweep at 4 mana, kills any chances of any other color combination for playing control. This is the big downside of multicolor in general, and in the case of Verdict is a typiclal case of multicolor just for the sake of it. Of that cycle, only Abrupt Decay actually feels multicolor; they should have made that cycle monocolored if they weren't going to complete it anyway.
Regarding the OP, yes I agree that the format has gotten quite stale with the big decks figured out since the beginning. I took a hiatus and was planning to return to playing Standard but watching the format I think I'm going to wait until the rotation to see if it gets better.
This is the new Magic audience. "I don't like sweepers because it kills my creatures."
+1
It's getting increasingly annoying to browse this (sub)forum because it's mostly people whining about this and that. Be it Delver, Thragtusk or Verdict something's always wrong. I don't get it. I'm relatively new to magic but it's easy to see they've hit the sweet spot with this and the last season. No deck is too oppressive and with skill and good meta game reads you can make your own adaptations and brews win. The meta is just so diverse, even if there are only few archetypes that consistently win GPs and other big tournaments.
I loved playing against UWR with my Jund last season because the decks were so different and there was lots of stuff going on. I've really come to appreciate the UW control deck this season too, and we saw some great games in the scg open stream last weekend. Verdict is nowhere near oppressive, come on guys. We have mutavaults, great planeswalkers (Domri), powerful hasty creatures (Dragon, Mistcutter Hydra) and the list goes on.
I've really enjoyed how the decks have evolved from THS. At first people played mostly mono-coloured decks which felt very extraordinary, and now with the new scry-lands we see some splashes here and there.
I'm actually pretty happy with the meta right now. It's pretty open and there seems to be a lot of tier 1.5 decks waiting in the weeds. Perfect for the more casual nature of my LGS. I'm just excited to see non-UW(x) control shells come rotation with the loss of Supreme and Sphinx's Revelation. I'd like to point out that I don't particularly mind those cards, hell Wrath of God will always be around, I just don't like the restrictive mana costs forcing the UW shell above say Grixis or another control color combination.
We got a 6 mana nuke now. Chances are if we get a card like Serum, then it would cost 2 or 3 to play with its new incarnation.
It would make sense sence scry is one of the mechanics in Theros block. Also, with 5 pages, I'm going to take a gander and say that people like how the meta is turning out?
We got a 6 mana nuke now. Chances are if we get a card like Serum, then it would cost 2 or 3 to play with its new incarnation.
Any reason why? Also, the black wrath costs that much because otherwise it would either break Mononblack Devotion or give an enchantment creature-based deck a 4-5 mana plague wind.
We got a 6 mana nuke now. Chances are if we get a card like Serum, then it would cost 2 or 3 to play with its new incarnation.
Any reason why? Also, the black wrath costs that much because otherwise it would either break Mononblack Devotion or give an enchantment creature-based deck a 4-5 mana plague wind.
What the heck? Why did Wizards print this? I was actually hoping not to see Mono-black and Esper dominate standard, again.
We got a 6 mana nuke now. Chances are if we get a card like Serum, then it would cost 2 or 3 to play with its new incarnation.
Any reason why? Also, the black wrath costs that much because otherwise it would either break Mononblack Devotion or give an enchantment creature-based deck a 4-5 mana plague wind.
What the heck? Why did Wizards print this? I was actually hoping not to see Mono-black and Esper dominate standard, again.
I'm pretty sure the 6-mana sweeper will never ever see standard play. You can quote this if you like.
We got a 6 mana nuke now. Chances are if we get a card like Serum, then it would cost 2 or 3 to play with its new incarnation.
Any reason why? Also, the black wrath costs that much because otherwise it would either break Mononblack Devotion or give an enchantment creature-based deck a 4-5 mana plague wind.
What the heck? Why did Wizards print this? I was actually hoping not to see Mono-black and Esper dominate standard, again.
I'm pretty sure the 6-mana sweeper will never ever see standard play. You can quote this if you like.
I have seen Fated Retribution, a 7 CMC sweeper in U/W control decks.
We got a 6 mana nuke now. Chances are if we get a card like Serum, then it would cost 2 or 3 to play with its new incarnation.
Any reason why? Also, the black wrath costs that much because otherwise it would either break Mononblack Devotion or give an enchantment creature-based deck a 4-5 mana plague wind.
What the heck? Why did Wizards print this? I was actually hoping not to see Mono-black and Esper dominate standard, again.
I'm pretty sure the 6-mana sweeper will never ever see standard play. You can quote this if you like.
I have seen Fated Retribution, a 7 CMC sweeper in U/W control decks.
If Fated Retribution wasn't an instant, it'd see zero play. The new sweeper is sorcery-speed so it won't see play.
My opinion probably isn't going to include any insight that more experienced players would consider valuable, since I started playing right when Theros came out. But I actually like this format. I don't have any others to compare it to but it seems like so many decks are able to do good.
Yeah you see the same few decks a lot but there are always random new decks that do fairly well, and I always encounter new or rogue decks at FNM that can be somewhat difficult to beat. I just enjoy that there IS a possibility for variety right now.
I'm personally running Esper Midrange; pretty much B/W midrange splashing blue. Basically Detention Sphere is there get rid of creatures but also hits non creature stuff that black removal can't get, and the side boarded Supreme Verdicts are that board sweeper I personally needed in order to deal with aggro decks and stuff like monsters. Those two cards really bridge the gap between the (B/W midrange) deck's strengths and weaknesses so I think it is worth the splash.
Even the slightest improvement in the mana-base would open up the format significantly. If Green got a birds of paradise for example... There is so much 3-color stuff that doesn't quite work...
The possibility of a graveyard deck is still looming as well. There are many interesting cards in junk colors that could make thoughtseize painful to use, but not enough of them. The next set could suddenly make something in that vein enough of a threat to make people think twice about maxing out on thoughtseize.
I really think BW Enchant has a shot. It's finally looking like the possibility of an interesting meta when I've spent since m14 avoiding standard like the plague!
There is no Cavern of Souls. That makes this format better than when there was Cavern of Souls.
They slowed this format down a lot, and (for the most part) the power creep seems to have reversed backward. Sure, Thoughtseize and some other crap are around, but the majority of creatures in this format are just 1-for-1s when they trade with removal. And every deck wants to run temples if they can, which means that people are not just slowing down--they're manipulating their topdecks, which means there's a lot more room for players to make decisions. And the more decision-making involved in the game, the more skill-intensive the game is. Between that and the longer games, games are more skill-intensive as a whole. To be honest, the most variance-based games are ones which end in the beginning few turns (which is not always variance) or where two Thoughtseize decks ram into each other and one of them has better runner-runner draw engines. But even then....
But most importantly, there is no Cavern of Souls.
This is the new Magic audience. "I don't like sweepers because it kills my creatures."
Verdict is nowhere near oppressive, come on guys. We have mutavaults, great planeswalkers (Domri), powerful hasty creatures (Dragon, Mistcutter Hydra) and the list goes on.
The reason why people (specfically the "new" people) are complaining about Verdict is because $30 card, $30 card, $15 card, okay, Hydra is a bargain.
I still think Lifebane Zombie is the most oppressive card even if it isn't the most powerful. His presence just shuts down the desire to play a large number of decks.
We just REALLY need brainstorm. It counters thoughtseize by hiding cards on top of the deck and enables a whole slew of more interesting strategies than "cast revelations" or "turn doodz sideways"
There is no Cavern of Souls. That makes this format better than when there was Cavern of Souls.
They slowed this format down a lot, and (for the most part) the power creep seems to have reversed backward. Sure, Thoughtseize and some other crap are around, but the majority of creatures in this format are just 1-for-1s when they trade with removal. And every deck wants to run temples if they can, which means that people are not just slowing down--they're manipulating their topdecks, which means there's a lot more room for players to make decisions. And the more decision-making involved in the game, the more skill-intensive the game is. Between that and the longer games, games are more skill-intensive as a whole. To be honest, the most variance-based games are ones which end in the beginning few turns (which is not always variance) or where two Thoughtseize decks ram into each other and one of them has better runner-runner draw engines. But even then....
But most importantly, there is no Cavern of Souls.
Really..? That's an interesting perspective. I felt Cavern did almost nothing most of last year. The only decks that even played it were like Humans. Some versions of Jund ran it maybe a week so they could push out Sire but that was about it. The year before, definitely.. But last year Cavern didn't matter. Control had way more issues. But to be fair Cavern was probably a response to Snapcaster which when put in context is a much much more warping. In fact I think I remember responding on a similar thread about Cavern last year.. and it was like who is playing Cavern.. ... no one. Admittedly it's presence may have been enough. The threat of Cavern was actually more important than Cavern itself. Enough that if someone wanted to streamline their control list a certain way Cavern was there to say if you are ever successful we have your foil.
This format on the other hand I personally find frustrating. It's improved since BNG marginally, but generally there is this awkward tension where the answers are better than the threats. This isn't even the case in eternal formats. It does slow down games but it also makes everything into a sort of awkward pile. It makes every deck a "bad midrange deck".. By bad midrange deck I mean a midrange deck that doesn't aim to do anything specific and just employ different threats and removal until someone draws out of it. In most formats this is a no go. Sure Thragtusk sort of promoted that as well but Thragtusk still forced you to play on certain terms. This format is like you are always top decking. Even the aggro is sort of weak until it critical masses. While I can see fighting for incremental advantage and making the right scry's a skill game, the card selection/advantage isn't quite good enough that it feels really inconsistent and luck based. Yes better players will be able to leverage their advantage better, but all things being even it can be very miserable.
It all creates this weird awkward tension between people trying to be creative doing really ridiculous things that generally have no place in competitive magic which adds to the random bad midrange deck pile, and lists being pushed down to streamline for consistency and still feel incredibly inconsistent. This gives the appearance of an open metagame which is a pretty good thing, but it's not open like say the way people were talking about certain periods last season. It's almost the opposite way. Previously we were talking about proactive strategies that could just steal games if they landed right, now we're talking about slow awkward strategies that might just work because their opponents deck fails to perform. One puts more onus on your own list and the other on what your opponent draws. I mean that's always a factor but right now it's so emphasized. I've never had a format where I've had so many rounds basically have each player lose a game to bad hand/mulligans.. It's like every round has 3 games because odds are atleast one of you is going to just not draw right and none of the cards are swingy or over the top enough that the leading playing can rapidly win the game or the opponent can come back. There is no coming back from behind in this format in a timely way. It takes several turns.
This is all because the threats are worse comparatively. It doesn't matter if it's creatures or planeswalkers or enchantments or artifacts or even Cruel Ultimatums. Yes every deck wants scrylands but is that a good thing fundamentally? Maybe it's just different, but it seems a pretty strange world where that is. It's probably just worst for the proactive midrange decks that I feel this way. I mean they are the only decks where they are less likely to flood out early enough that the scry is relevant to close games, and where the tapped land hurts the tempo more than anything. Control will play tapped all day for advantage, and a mono red beat down deck will eventually want to bottom lands. Even a slow grindy midrange deck will want some selection to make sure their one for ones connect. But a deck that tries to play increasingly better threats, the scry doesn't help nearly as much. Since the answers are so good it's a requirement though.
In short, I'd probably take any Standard Format in the last 6 years over Theros Standard... With BNG this one is more comparable to my previous least favorite in recent memory when Delver was king leading up to PT Dark Ascension. One thing is to have a deck with a target on it, or even have an open metagame which pushes you to bring different proactive strategies to the table. But one where the execution is so awkward and nothing feels more powerful than griefing your opponent (or having them be land screwed) takes a lot of enjoyment out of it. When someone kills you out of nowhere for the first time with a weird combo you generally have to give them some props for pulling it out. When your opponent in a white weenie deck with 23 lands hard casts back to back Angel of Serenity (without nykthos) you have to think something went wrong. In most formats that means both decks failed. In this format it's a regular day at the office. Some people might think that's sort cool, but I think it fails to reward good deck design. Everything feels like a pile of cards outside of the most streamlined nearly mono colour decks and Azorius control.
Of course I suppose if I were only in the control role I think these are issues I wouldn't really notice or care about. In a sense everyone is trying to do something against you so it's business as usual. But for most other strategies it creates this really awkward. Even directed strategies like devotion generally have to play fairly bad cards to try to get there or are plagued by the scrylands affecting their curve. I'm hoping the 3rd set brings up the power in a vacuum a bit for threats. Otherwise I guess we are almost 3/4 of the way through, and maybe next fall will bring something better. This format almost makes me miss pre-ban Cawblade (although Post-Ban was a much better format).
Oh well not every format can be Alara-Zendikar.
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While I don't miss combo at all like you seem to, you did hit the nail on the head. The problem is this format asks you to play bad cards. And yes I know the argument that FOR STANDARD they're not bad, but I still contend no one really ever feels good playing nightveil specters. If a card sees play just for synergy in the casting cost, it's not an enjoyable card to play. I'd like to see a format where underworld connections isn't the best card advantage shy of something like revelation and where glorified cancels are scoffed at. I want wizards to make me excited to play the cards, not just excited to win the match.
While I don't miss combo at all like you seem to, you did hit the nail on the head. The problem is this format asks you to play bad cards. And yes I know the argument that FOR STANDARD they're not bad, but I still contend no one really ever feels good playing nightveil specters. If a card sees play just for synergy in the casting cost, it's not an enjoyable card to play. I'd like to see a format where underworld connections isn't the best card advantage shy of something like revelation and where glorified cancels are scoffed at. I want wizards to make me excited to play the cards, not just excited to win the match.
I really agree with this too. Its hard to feel confidant when your deck either has to include Tidebinder Mage, Cloudfin Raptor, Last Breath, Pack Rat, or Underworld Connections since some of these cards can be so terrible in certain MU's.
I just don't like how Standard is one big loop at the moment. If you run Mono Black, the mirror is a coin flip. If you play Mono U, you will get wrecked by control most of the time. If you play Esper, your hand will get wrecked by Mono Black or R/G monsters will planeswalker you out.
And then everything outside of this realm has a terrible mana base, is some really random midrange with removal and big dudes, or is some aggro deck with nothing but dudes. Granite, its not completely unplayable, but its just painfully unenjoyable.
Really..? That's an interesting perspective. I felt Cavern did almost nothing most of last year. The only decks that even played it were like Humans. Some versions of Jund ran it maybe a week so they could push out Sire but that was about it.
Cavern was played in Jund pretty heavily, that's why card increased in price. I might be wrong here but I believe the Junk decks played it too. I think Cavern was picked up early in the season and played almost throughout. But I do agree people overstated it's importance. It was only a two-of and cards like Underworld Connections/Rakdos's Return/Liliana were much more impactful. I can see why Cavern was annoying from the control player's perspective, but it's not why control lost to Jund so hard.
Maybe I was only focused on the lists that Reid Duke, Owen Turtenwald, and William Jensen were playing. But basically Cavern wasn't in the deck, then first showed up as a 2 of a couple weeks after DGM came out, within a couple weeks it became a one of and by the end of June it wasn't in the list anymore. This pretty much all happened over about a month period. So I guess I understated it's importance. But it was pretty fringe most of that season. Possibly the longest 5-6 weeks ever for a control player but that was about the extent of it.
Legacy is also exploding...I made quite a bit with 4 karakas and 2 polluted deltas
Now what new deck to build for T2 is the question lol...probably mono black for now or bg whip and wait for nyx
Standard: Mardu Midrange, Jeskai Wins, Naya Walkers, Boss Sligh, Mono Black Aggro
Modern: RUG Scapeshift, Burn, UG Infect
Legacy: Death n Taxes, Burn, Tendrils
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Krenko, Mob Boss, Narset, Enlightened Master
4 mana is fine. Uncounterability is completely fine (not in this season, but the problem with most Standard seasons is too few uncounterability, rather than too much). The real problem with Supreme Verdict is the blue mana requirement which, combined with the lack of any other sweep at 4 mana, kills any chances of any other color combination for playing control. This is the big downside of multicolor in general, and in the case of Verdict is a typiclal case of multicolor just for the sake of it. Of that cycle, only Abrupt Decay actually feels multicolor; they should have made that cycle monocolored if they weren't going to complete it anyway.
Regarding the OP, yes I agree that the format has gotten quite stale with the big decks figured out since the beginning. I took a hiatus and was planning to return to playing Standard but watching the format I think I'm going to wait until the rotation to see if it gets better.
+1
It's getting increasingly annoying to browse this (sub)forum because it's mostly people whining about this and that. Be it Delver, Thragtusk or Verdict something's always wrong. I don't get it. I'm relatively new to magic but it's easy to see they've hit the sweet spot with this and the last season. No deck is too oppressive and with skill and good meta game reads you can make your own adaptations and brews win. The meta is just so diverse, even if there are only few archetypes that consistently win GPs and other big tournaments.
I loved playing against UWR with my Jund last season because the decks were so different and there was lots of stuff going on. I've really come to appreciate the UW control deck this season too, and we saw some great games in the scg open stream last weekend. Verdict is nowhere near oppressive, come on guys. We have mutavaults, great planeswalkers (Domri), powerful hasty creatures (Dragon, Mistcutter Hydra) and the list goes on.
I've really enjoyed how the decks have evolved from THS. At first people played mostly mono-coloured decks which felt very extraordinary, and now with the new scry-lands we see some splashes here and there.
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We got a 6 mana nuke now. Chances are if we get a card like Serum, then it would cost 2 or 3 to play with its new incarnation.
It would make sense sence scry is one of the mechanics in Theros block. Also, with 5 pages, I'm going to take a gander and say that people like how the meta is turning out?
Any reason why? Also, the black wrath costs that much because otherwise it would either break Mononblack Devotion or give an enchantment creature-based deck a 4-5 mana plague wind.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
What the heck? Why did Wizards print this? I was actually hoping not to see Mono-black and Esper dominate standard, again.
I'm pretty sure the 6-mana sweeper will never ever see standard play. You can quote this if you like.
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I have seen Fated Retribution, a 7 CMC sweeper in U/W control decks.
If Fated Retribution wasn't an instant, it'd see zero play. The new sweeper is sorcery-speed so it won't see play.
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Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Yeah you see the same few decks a lot but there are always random new decks that do fairly well, and I always encounter new or rogue decks at FNM that can be somewhat difficult to beat. I just enjoy that there IS a possibility for variety right now.
I'm personally running Esper Midrange; pretty much B/W midrange splashing blue. Basically Detention Sphere is there get rid of creatures but also hits non creature stuff that black removal can't get, and the side boarded Supreme Verdicts are that board sweeper I personally needed in order to deal with aggro decks and stuff like monsters. Those two cards really bridge the gap between the (B/W midrange) deck's strengths and weaknesses so I think it is worth the splash.
The possibility of a graveyard deck is still looming as well. There are many interesting cards in junk colors that could make thoughtseize painful to use, but not enough of them. The next set could suddenly make something in that vein enough of a threat to make people think twice about maxing out on thoughtseize.
They slowed this format down a lot, and (for the most part) the power creep seems to have reversed backward. Sure, Thoughtseize and some other crap are around, but the majority of creatures in this format are just 1-for-1s when they trade with removal. And every deck wants to run temples if they can, which means that people are not just slowing down--they're manipulating their topdecks, which means there's a lot more room for players to make decisions. And the more decision-making involved in the game, the more skill-intensive the game is. Between that and the longer games, games are more skill-intensive as a whole. To be honest, the most variance-based games are ones which end in the beginning few turns (which is not always variance) or where two Thoughtseize decks ram into each other and one of them has better runner-runner draw engines. But even then....
But most importantly, there is no Cavern of Souls.
That's true, but it also says "UW can play this card to have an instant speed answer to Stormbreath Dragon"
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The reason why people (specfically the "new" people) are complaining about Verdict is because $30 card, $30 card, $15 card, okay, Hydra is a bargain.
I still think Lifebane Zombie is the most oppressive card even if it isn't the most powerful. His presence just shuts down the desire to play a large number of decks.
We just REALLY need brainstorm. It counters thoughtseize by hiding cards on top of the deck and enables a whole slew of more interesting strategies than "cast revelations" or "turn doodz sideways"
Really..? That's an interesting perspective. I felt Cavern did almost nothing most of last year. The only decks that even played it were like Humans. Some versions of Jund ran it maybe a week so they could push out Sire but that was about it. The year before, definitely.. But last year Cavern didn't matter. Control had way more issues. But to be fair Cavern was probably a response to Snapcaster which when put in context is a much much more warping. In fact I think I remember responding on a similar thread about Cavern last year.. and it was like who is playing Cavern.. ... no one. Admittedly it's presence may have been enough. The threat of Cavern was actually more important than Cavern itself. Enough that if someone wanted to streamline their control list a certain way Cavern was there to say if you are ever successful we have your foil.
This format on the other hand I personally find frustrating. It's improved since BNG marginally, but generally there is this awkward tension where the answers are better than the threats. This isn't even the case in eternal formats. It does slow down games but it also makes everything into a sort of awkward pile. It makes every deck a "bad midrange deck".. By bad midrange deck I mean a midrange deck that doesn't aim to do anything specific and just employ different threats and removal until someone draws out of it. In most formats this is a no go. Sure Thragtusk sort of promoted that as well but Thragtusk still forced you to play on certain terms. This format is like you are always top decking. Even the aggro is sort of weak until it critical masses. While I can see fighting for incremental advantage and making the right scry's a skill game, the card selection/advantage isn't quite good enough that it feels really inconsistent and luck based. Yes better players will be able to leverage their advantage better, but all things being even it can be very miserable.
It all creates this weird awkward tension between people trying to be creative doing really ridiculous things that generally have no place in competitive magic which adds to the random bad midrange deck pile, and lists being pushed down to streamline for consistency and still feel incredibly inconsistent. This gives the appearance of an open metagame which is a pretty good thing, but it's not open like say the way people were talking about certain periods last season. It's almost the opposite way. Previously we were talking about proactive strategies that could just steal games if they landed right, now we're talking about slow awkward strategies that might just work because their opponents deck fails to perform. One puts more onus on your own list and the other on what your opponent draws. I mean that's always a factor but right now it's so emphasized. I've never had a format where I've had so many rounds basically have each player lose a game to bad hand/mulligans.. It's like every round has 3 games because odds are atleast one of you is going to just not draw right and none of the cards are swingy or over the top enough that the leading playing can rapidly win the game or the opponent can come back. There is no coming back from behind in this format in a timely way. It takes several turns.
This is all because the threats are worse comparatively. It doesn't matter if it's creatures or planeswalkers or enchantments or artifacts or even Cruel Ultimatums. Yes every deck wants scrylands but is that a good thing fundamentally? Maybe it's just different, but it seems a pretty strange world where that is. It's probably just worst for the proactive midrange decks that I feel this way. I mean they are the only decks where they are less likely to flood out early enough that the scry is relevant to close games, and where the tapped land hurts the tempo more than anything. Control will play tapped all day for advantage, and a mono red beat down deck will eventually want to bottom lands. Even a slow grindy midrange deck will want some selection to make sure their one for ones connect. But a deck that tries to play increasingly better threats, the scry doesn't help nearly as much. Since the answers are so good it's a requirement though.
In short, I'd probably take any Standard Format in the last 6 years over Theros Standard... With BNG this one is more comparable to my previous least favorite in recent memory when Delver was king leading up to PT Dark Ascension. One thing is to have a deck with a target on it, or even have an open metagame which pushes you to bring different proactive strategies to the table. But one where the execution is so awkward and nothing feels more powerful than griefing your opponent (or having them be land screwed) takes a lot of enjoyment out of it. When someone kills you out of nowhere for the first time with a weird combo you generally have to give them some props for pulling it out. When your opponent in a white weenie deck with 23 lands hard casts back to back Angel of Serenity (without nykthos) you have to think something went wrong. In most formats that means both decks failed. In this format it's a regular day at the office. Some people might think that's sort cool, but I think it fails to reward good deck design. Everything feels like a pile of cards outside of the most streamlined nearly mono colour decks and Azorius control.
Of course I suppose if I were only in the control role I think these are issues I wouldn't really notice or care about. In a sense everyone is trying to do something against you so it's business as usual. But for most other strategies it creates this really awkward. Even directed strategies like devotion generally have to play fairly bad cards to try to get there or are plagued by the scrylands affecting their curve. I'm hoping the 3rd set brings up the power in a vacuum a bit for threats. Otherwise I guess we are almost 3/4 of the way through, and maybe next fall will bring something better. This format almost makes me miss pre-ban Cawblade (although Post-Ban was a much better format).
Oh well not every format can be Alara-Zendikar.
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UW Tempo Legacy
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I really agree with this too. Its hard to feel confidant when your deck either has to include Tidebinder Mage, Cloudfin Raptor, Last Breath, Pack Rat, or Underworld Connections since some of these cards can be so terrible in certain MU's.
I just don't like how Standard is one big loop at the moment. If you run Mono Black, the mirror is a coin flip. If you play Mono U, you will get wrecked by control most of the time. If you play Esper, your hand will get wrecked by Mono Black or R/G monsters will planeswalker you out.
And then everything outside of this realm has a terrible mana base, is some really random midrange with removal and big dudes, or is some aggro deck with nothing but dudes. Granite, its not completely unplayable, but its just painfully unenjoyable.
Cavern was played in Jund pretty heavily, that's why card increased in price. I might be wrong here but I believe the Junk decks played it too. I think Cavern was picked up early in the season and played almost throughout. But I do agree people overstated it's importance. It was only a two-of and cards like Underworld Connections/Rakdos's Return/Liliana were much more impactful. I can see why Cavern was annoying from the control player's perspective, but it's not why control lost to Jund so hard.
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GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage