I do not think they will unban the card, but who knows. Token strategies are legitimate, but they don't really need more hate against them and the anti life gain is pretty brutal.
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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!
Dino nukes the GW token decks in std, I can't see it coming off anytime soon. At least you can rebuild after a chainwhirler...but whirler into Dino is just gg for token decks usually. You have to have removal for them or you just lose the the board (let alone crap like the phoenixes).
Not to mention the hate makes Red Stronger...and Mono Red is down from its Pre Rotation Highs its still pretty legit. It doesn't need help and I rather see GW tokens shine for a change then another round of Red Dominance. I would guess WOTC would also like to mix it up.
Not to mention the hate makes Red Stronger...and Mono Red is down from its Pre Rotation Highs its still pretty legit. It doesn't need help and I rather see GW tokens shine for a change then another round of Red Dominance. I would guess WOTC would also like to mix it up.
Red is, once again, I feel the strongest deck type in standard. Maybe stronger now than it was last time, since now it seems to not even need to rely on as many getting creatures out as it did last time. Experimental Frenzy can make it unstoppable in the right setting. It can rush past most other aggro decks and even if it gets held up at places it can still blow away control with things like banefire (once of the most absurdly powerful cards printed imo). GW tokens may surpass it, but I'm afraid that the attempts to deal with red decks is just making the game as a whole much more aggro focused and leaving midrange and control in the dust.
I beøieve that if it wasn't for GB keeping Mono Red in check, the deck would be too good. Not that GB is unbeatable for R, but it's the worst matchup among the top 6-7 decks by a wide margin.
Does anyone know how Standard as a format is doing these days, popularity wise? It's been pretty much dead at my LGS as an FNM format since around Bant Company rotated into Temur Energy, and if I remember correctly, this subforum used to have a lot more activity a few years back, at least in the deck threads. The mono red deck has like 14 posts right now... It's just two data points, but it seems to me like the format has fallen from its former glory.
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When I hit my 3000 post mark, I'm gone for good.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
I beøieve that if it wasn't for GB keeping Mono Red in check, the deck would be too good. Not that GB is unbeatable for R, but it's the worst matchup among the top 6-7 decks by a wide margin.
Does anyone know how Standard as a format is doing these days, popularity wise? It's been pretty much dead at my LGS as an FNM format since around Bant Company rotated into Temur Energy, and if I remember correctly, this subforum used to have a lot more activity a few years back, at least in the deck threads. The mono red deck has like 14 posts right now... It's just two data points, but it seems to me like the format has fallen from its former glory.
Standard is pretty popular at my store, with about the same number of players showing up for both modern and standard events.
I don't know how it fares outside of this. Perhaps GPs or Opens are a good indicator?
Not so sure about mono red being too good without golgari. The deck just isn't as powerful as it was last format without Bomat Courier, Hazoret, Chandra, and Scrapheap Scrounger. It is definitely a great deck though, and I just finished building it.
Standard is certainly down. Popular LGS's in my city have far fewer on FNM. The threads are a lot less active. And are not very well maintained.
I think it's kind of a shame, since the current Standard is great, the format is more accessible than ever thanks to Arena, and Modern... Well, peoplevhave different opinions on Modern, but personally I feel like it's a lot worse than it was just a few years ago, it's way too broken now. I would welcome a resurgence of Standard and/or a wide adoption of the upcoming new non-rotating format.
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When I hit my 3000 post mark, I'm gone for good.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Standard near me is slightly up, except I'm not sure how to factor in the holiday season. I think Dominaria was very good, rotation was needed, Guilds is good and Arena is great. So many players are in the habit of playing Modern that I think it will take time and more good sets for Standard to pick up more. If the sets aren't that great and Standard stagnates or gets locked into unpleasant play patterns (Teferi and Nexus, I'm looking at you) Standard could decay.
Standard is certainly down. Popular LGS's in my city have far fewer on FNM. The threads are a lot less active. And are not very well maintained.
I think it's kind of a shame, since the current Standard is great, the format is more accessible than ever thanks to Arena, and Modern... Well, peoplevhave different opinions on Modern, but personally I feel like it's a lot worse than it was just a few years ago, it's way too broken now. I would welcome a resurgence of Standard and/or a wide adoption of the upcoming new non-rotating format.
The thing is that eternal formats are there to appease the fan of the game that wants to play with old cards and it isn't intended to be incredibly well balanced. If wizards had complete freedom, I'm sure they would have undid the reserved list ages ago and reprinted the heck out of legacy cards, since that format has a lot of ways to deal with things that modern doesn't have.
As for Arena, the game needs some work at the moment. Right now it really encourages people to just farm the regular 1v1 matches over doing events unless the event has a really good prize pool. Maybe if they awarded wild cards for tournaments along with a pack, and the bare minimum reward was one pack and four common wild cards, it would be more popular.
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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!
to my understanding, standard FNMs and showdowns in my area have been struggling for the past year/year and a half. A lot of people thought that standard would pick up again after rotation but it still seems a but slow around here, which is a shame because this is my favourite standard format in maybe 4 years or so (At least since Theros-KTK). PPTQs I went to last season were well attended, but local level events were pretty small, if they even fired. Let's see what happens in their new model of competitive events, because I'm really enjoying this season
to my understanding, standard FNMs and showdowns in my area have been struggling for the past year/year and a half. A lot of people thought that standard would pick up again after rotation but it still seems a but slow around here, which is a shame because this is my favourite standard format in maybe 4 years or so (At least since Theros-KTK). PPTQs I went to last season were well attended, but local level events were pretty small, if they even fired. Let's see what happens in their new model of competitive events, because I'm really enjoying this season
to my understanding, standard FNMs and showdowns in my area have been struggling for the past year/year and a half. A lot of people thought that standard would pick up again after rotation but it still seems a but slow around here, which is a shame because this is my favourite standard format in maybe 4 years or so (At least since Theros-KTK). PPTQs I went to last season were well attended, but local level events were pretty small, if they even fired. Let's see what happens in their new model of competitive events, because I'm really enjoying this season
New model of competitive events?
guess I should have said whatever they're replacing PPTQs with, that's my bad in not being clear
Standard near me is slightly up, except I'm not sure how to factor in the holiday season. I think Dominaria was very good, rotation was needed, Guilds is good and Arena is great. So many players are in the habit of playing Modern that I think it will take time and more good sets for Standard to pick up more. If the sets aren't that great and Standard stagnates or gets locked into unpleasant play patterns (Teferi and Nexus, I'm looking at you) Standard could decay.
Standard comes in waves. It should go up when a set gets released and once it gets late in the season, with people figuring out the meta, people go away for a while until the next set comes. Then during down periods the ban talks start again such as with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, when Ral is more than good enough that it would render such a banning pointless.
Without a doubt, it looks like Izzit is the winner of the day with the drake decks floating around. I tried several mid-range builds using older mechanics like explore and even the surveil deck. None of them are really as good at game 1 as izzit, and game 2 is about even.
Then again, I'm still trying to deal with the insanely stupid rare wild card hump that there is absolutely no way around. You got to do some insane grinding and know exactly what you are aiming for to even make it work. That and the lands are so easy to overlook due to the shuffler trying to make the games more fair for those running on the budget stuff.
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!
So I dont generally lurk around these parts, but after a few hours last night in Arena, things I would watch for.
Light up the Stage and Skewer the Critics make burn a real issue. A very cheap and basic list can do some stupid things by Turn 3 if they get a Steam-Kin to stick on Turn 2.
I honestly think it is. Going from Arena to MTGO has proven the disparity between sideboard and non-sideboard games, so I'm a lot less worried about Burn, and really anything other than Wilderness Reclamation.
Its the same as Prophet of Kruphix being an issue in EDH. Only this is cheaper, and you cannot bolt it, and it comes in a lower power environment with an instant speed Time Warp....
So I dont generally lurk around these parts, but after a few hours last night in Arena, things I would watch for.
Light up the Stage and Skewer the Critics make burn a real issue. A very cheap and basic list can do some stupid things by Turn 3 if they get a Steam-Kin to stick on Turn 2.
I agree that Wilderness Reclamation is the problem, each one on the field is effectively an extra turn, because all the cards are instants. And Nexus of Fate just doubles the current effective turns a player has.
Lol ppl here complaining about nexus too. I still have only lost to nexus decks once. Just play a counterspell and kill them. They usually cant play that many nexi
Lol ppl here complaining about nexus too. I still have only lost to nexus decks once. Just play a counterspell and kill them. They usually cant play that many nexi
I don't believe in isolation that Nexus is the problem, but I do believe the combination with Wilderness is over the top. I have played a game, where my game ended on turn 5, while my opponent reached like turn 12.
I also believe the only reason Wilderness is a problem, is because there are so many cards that probably should have been sorceries: Growth Spiral, Nexus, everything with Addendum, The Jump Start Draw cards, etc...
Nexus is Busted cause it got Support mostly Wilderness and Wilderness allows insane combos with Krasis, Expansion/Explosion, Banefire, and Teferi. But basically it speed up vastly how quickly you can cast your first Nexus.
And think about this is with WOTC doing everything they can to keep Teferi in line by going out of there way to make Azorius not play well with Teferi. Which is why I laugh when some people say Vivian is stronger than Teferi. Nah Teferi has the limiters on where as Green and Red have got good stuff after good stuff.
I dont believe that either are actually busted, because Discard and Enchantment removal do exist, and should be played in Best of 3, which is the only Magic that is actually worth playing.
In Best of One? Well yeah, at that point its not really balanced. I got another full run of Constructed in Arena with my Bant Wilderness Control, no Nexus. Just Teferi, Azcanta, and Wilderness, with any instants you want to add in. I cannot imagine if we had Sphinx Rev in Standard...
Fair enough yeah playing this much best of one is weird feeling.
I really feel like you need the Heart of the Cards most of the time. Also I feel like I get mana screwed a lot but I am not paying money for my cards so that my contribute.
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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!
Red is, once again, I feel the strongest deck type in standard. Maybe stronger now than it was last time, since now it seems to not even need to rely on as many getting creatures out as it did last time. Experimental Frenzy can make it unstoppable in the right setting. It can rush past most other aggro decks and even if it gets held up at places it can still blow away control with things like banefire (once of the most absurdly powerful cards printed imo). GW tokens may surpass it, but I'm afraid that the attempts to deal with red decks is just making the game as a whole much more aggro focused and leaving midrange and control in the dust.
Does anyone know how Standard as a format is doing these days, popularity wise? It's been pretty much dead at my LGS as an FNM format since around Bant Company rotated into Temur Energy, and if I remember correctly, this subforum used to have a lot more activity a few years back, at least in the deck threads. The mono red deck has like 14 posts right now... It's just two data points, but it seems to me like the format has fallen from its former glory.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
Standard is pretty popular at my store, with about the same number of players showing up for both modern and standard events.
I don't know how it fares outside of this. Perhaps GPs or Opens are a good indicator?
Not so sure about mono red being too good without golgari. The deck just isn't as powerful as it was last format without Bomat Courier, Hazoret, Chandra, and Scrapheap Scrounger. It is definitely a great deck though, and I just finished building it.
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
The thing is that eternal formats are there to appease the fan of the game that wants to play with old cards and it isn't intended to be incredibly well balanced. If wizards had complete freedom, I'm sure they would have undid the reserved list ages ago and reprinted the heck out of legacy cards, since that format has a lot of ways to deal with things that modern doesn't have.
As for Arena, the game needs some work at the moment. Right now it really encourages people to just farm the regular 1v1 matches over doing events unless the event has a really good prize pool. Maybe if they awarded wild cards for tournaments along with a pack, and the bare minimum reward was one pack and four common wild cards, it would be more popular.
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!
C Long Live Eldrazi C
guess I should have said whatever they're replacing PPTQs with, that's my bad in not being clear
Standard comes in waves. It should go up when a set gets released and once it gets late in the season, with people figuring out the meta, people go away for a while until the next set comes. Then during down periods the ban talks start again such as with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, when Ral is more than good enough that it would render such a banning pointless.
Without a doubt, it looks like Izzit is the winner of the day with the drake decks floating around. I tried several mid-range builds using older mechanics like explore and even the surveil deck. None of them are really as good at game 1 as izzit, and game 2 is about even.
Then again, I'm still trying to deal with the insanely stupid rare wild card hump that there is absolutely no way around. You got to do some insane grinding and know exactly what you are aiming for to even make it work. That and the lands are so easy to overlook due to the shuffler trying to make the games more fair for those running on the budget stuff.
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!
Light up the Stage and Skewer the Critics make burn a real issue. A very cheap and basic list can do some stupid things by Turn 3 if they get a Steam-Kin to stick on Turn 2.
Wilderness Reclamation with Growth Spiral support, is dumb. Its going to do dumb things. If you have the mana for Demystify, or Mortify, you should look at them for your 75, because that in a Bant, RUG, or even just UG shell, gets obnoxious very quickly. Hydroid Krasis + Nexus of Fate, just scoop.
Spirits
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Its the same as Prophet of Kruphix being an issue in EDH. Only this is cheaper, and you cannot bolt it, and it comes in a lower power environment with an instant speed Time Warp....
I'm going to play it on MTGO till its banned.
Spirits
I agree that Wilderness Reclamation is the problem, each one on the field is effectively an extra turn, because all the cards are instants. And Nexus of Fate just doubles the current effective turns a player has.
1 Wilderness Reclamation + 1 Nexus of Fate = 4 Effective Turns
2 Wilderness Reclamation + 1 Nexus of Fate = 6 Effective Turns
Etc...
It is broken, I just start watching Youtube on the side in MTG Arena, while my opponent plays with themselves.
I don't believe in isolation that Nexus is the problem, but I do believe the combination with Wilderness is over the top. I have played a game, where my game ended on turn 5, while my opponent reached like turn 12.
I also believe the only reason Wilderness is a problem, is because there are so many cards that probably should have been sorceries: Growth Spiral, Nexus, everything with Addendum, The Jump Start Draw cards, etc...
And think about this is with WOTC doing everything they can to keep Teferi in line by going out of there way to make Azorius not play well with Teferi. Which is why I laugh when some people say Vivian is stronger than Teferi. Nah Teferi has the limiters on where as Green and Red have got good stuff after good stuff.
In Best of One? Well yeah, at that point its not really balanced. I got another full run of Constructed in Arena with my Bant Wilderness Control, no Nexus. Just Teferi, Azcanta, and Wilderness, with any instants you want to add in. I cannot imagine if we had Sphinx Rev in Standard...
Spirits
Yeah that is why Enchantments are so good right now in Best of 1. Its hard to justify mainboarding it.
Spirits
I really feel like you need the Heart of the Cards most of the time. Also I feel like I get mana screwed a lot but I am not paying money for my cards so that my contribute.