I actually disagree. I'd go with Young Pyromancer simply because it lends itself more to what you'd be doing anyway. Either way you go you'll have fun of course, so keep that in mind as well. Perhaps make a sample build of each and go from there.
So, I don't mind people using proxies. I find MTG to be more fun when people are on an even playing field. That being said, there is certainly something to be said about the fun of trying out new strategies with intentionally bad cards/junk rares you have lying around.
As a player you tend to evolve in a different pattern if you use proxies instead of using cards you physically obtain. This evolution boils down to card choice, whereas instead of running staples more and more you tend to run odd-ball things in your decks, which I think is more valuable, albeit explosive.
I believe it comes down to a playgroup discussion. If your playgroup/lgs is okay with proxy usage for everyone, with or without limitations/expectations, awesome. If your playgroup/lgs is not okay, that's fine as well.
Manamorphose is awesome for my RUB Counter-burn deck. It mixes well with Pyromancer's Ascension, which is where the deck's focus is at anyway. Once it gets powered up, it becomes 2mana for draw 2, make 4 mana. It's pretty nuts.
In this deck I run most cards between 1-2 cmc, there are no 3+cmc spells. As such I get away with running only 18 lands. I still have a fairly consistent means of getting 2 lands in hand, though starting with 3 is about ideal.
The other benefit to Manamorphose in this deck is changing mana. I don't know how many times I've Manamorphosed into Mana Leak or Lightning Helix, leaving my opponent completely unaware of what my options are. Sometimes I just get screwed out of a color, and Manamorphose fixes that.
Manamorphose has practical applications outside of Storm, they just need to be sought out. It is not ideal for every situation, though it does get you through your deck a bit more, and makes your deck more consistent.
Having a player take a five minute turn once per turn cycle is annoying. Having them take 4+ five minute turns in a turn cycle makes the game unbearable.
As a blue player that runs Time Warp effects and sometimes takes 5+ minutes on a turn, this is silly. Sometimes the turn has a lot of moving pieces to construct, sometimes you're taking multiple extra turns, sometimes you need to align yourself for next untap step, whatever. A lot of playing blue is trying to make the right decision with limited information.
Don't get me wrong, consistently taking 5+ minutes per turn, that's different. Especially when your turn is just trying to figure out which land to drop and passing the turn. That being said, turns will take longer the more decisions that affect you and the board as well as the more spells you must cast/abilities you must activate.
Tldr, don't ban Time Warp. That'd be a silly thing to do.
I love Seedborn Muse. It's incredibly effective for me to play against green players just in the hopes that I'll get a Bribery off on you, potentially Twincast into that and other goodies. Clone effects are targeted to that primarily (for me) now that Prime Time is gone.
I'd say if your meta has strong blue players consider leaving it out just in case they try to take more advantage of it than you can.
So, three prime pillars of EDH (and many competitive games overall) is Mana Advantage, Card Advantage and Win Conditions. There's a ton more that goes into it than that, but typically you'll adapt a well rounded supply of at least two of these strategies.
If you're playing MLD you usually go with mana rocks leaving you with a mana advantage. Since you're blowing up their go-to mana sources, you're denying them the ability to play cards, card advantage. Your deck will usually be more fine-tuned for this sort of environment, win condition.
If you play with stupid heavy ramp you usually bring a higher CMC to the table as well as more opportunity to play draw a card effects, not to mention removing excess lands from your deck generating a portion of both. The larger CMC also goes into more explosive win conditions.
If you're playing with blue you usually focus more on the card advantage. This includes denying your opponents their key spells with counters and generating larger card advantage with your spells. The mana advantage is a bit more difficult as you need to devote more artifacts to your cause instead. Win conditions are also a bit more difficult, but you can usually come up with something by consistently repelling your opponent's efforts.
These are a few, general examples. I'll be honest, I think it's absolutely ridiculous to complain about ramp, and I'm a blue player that's toughest time is against rampy rampers (that and blow up ALL THE THINGS players).
The thing is, it's a legitimate strategy. It's not overpowered or game breaking. It allows players to do exactly what they (commonly) want in this format; play out all the big stuff they don't get to play in a 60 card game. The game is no longer about playing within a designated cmc what with the highlander rule and reluctance to obtain that 5 card starting hand combo. People want to play their big creatures and game winning spells because those are, to them, fun.
Now you may not like super ramp. I know I do. I run a green deck that has ~20 ramp spells devoted to it. It's great because I also generate card advantage and an army all off of the same build, it's incredibly synergistic. I like ramp because it makes me feel like everything I'm doing is incredibly big. I'm not casting a flashy 2/1 for 2. I'm not casting a 4cmc spell to deny them resources. I'm casting 30+ beaters in the course of ~3 turns in the hopes that my opponents get overwhelmed with the power and speed. Then my opponents react, and I have to react accordingly. Sometimes they Wrath of God and deny my entire strategy in one card. Then I feel terrible.
With Sylvan Primordial, holy balls I can't believe you'd compare that to Primeval Titan. As a (primarily) blue player, even I'm sad that Prime Time's gone. It means I have less and less an need for Bribery or tutors for Bribery. It's either Prime Time or Seedborn Muse for my first picks any day, every day. I would clone Prime Time at every chance I get. Man, that card is just sooooo much value. Sylvan Primordial is also great, don't get me wrong, but they're on a different league altogether.
As for your group soft banning Lando strats, well, tough luck friend. If you don't think it's right, bring it up with your group. If they don't wanna hear it, play around it or get a different group. If you can't get a different group and don't want to play around it then don't play. Those are pretty well your options short of constantly complaining to them that ramp is OP and MLD is the only possible solution.
None of the above. Land destruction is an annoying strategy, but it's always okay, without any restriction on it. Lando hurts my decks specifically in that I ramp harder than a fat guy devours small children, but I respect it as a strategy nonetheless.
If anything, I'll just put in some cards to fight it off.
In an azusa deck I suggest, honestly, multiple ways of getting more than one land out of your deck. Realms Uncharted is awesome because it will usually get more than 5, removing the opportunities for drawing another land for turn.
Is it just me or is this thread getting siderailed into Kaalia hate? Don't get me wrong, t2 with haste isn't all that difficult with 4-5 good cards in hand (sol ring, land, signet, lgreaves, anything that produces at least 1 to activate signet), but it seems to me like this thread is more about obnoxious things that still exist in our metas. If I'm wrong, please correct me Phil.
For me, it's weird seeing other mono-blue generals. I see this because I usually end up playing mono-blue with hard ramp, mild control and super card draw/win. I get hated off the field with utmost prejudice (understandably and correctly) and draw the sighs of my opponents when a turn or two earlier than they are fully setup or while they are controlling each other I just explode onto the table. It's frustrating winning this hard, really.
So when I see someone else run mono-blue in my circle I get mildly confused. Excited for the challenge, but confused.
I'm with Phil. It's not a ban worthy card in any respect. If anything, Time Spiral should be the card up on this discussion list as you can infinitely copy it with a few spells, generating infinite mana, but even then it's not that great as each time your opponents get a chance at a counterspell or something relevant.
I look at Timetwister like I look at a Tormod's Crypt; it's a card designed to hate on graveyards for cheap. The re-draw seven is awesome, but if it was really a way to break it it'd be 4+ card combo and quite a bit of mana. Instead, you could just cast cards that, I don't know, [card="Enter the Infinite"draws your entire library for a similar cmc you'd need[/card] or something.
Point is, if I had the means to own one, it'd probably make the cut in my blue decks just because three mana to refill your hand is usually good, especially when you devote a ton of cards to ramp like I usually do. Time Spiral is better except in that rare god hand where you vomit cards out onto the table, however, so I'll stick with that.
If that's your win condition, Riku is definitely better. It gives you access to more cards that can do the same thing, like Early Harvest and Rude Awakening.
Plus, ramp is awesome, so much better than black unless you're going mono-black or black/x.
Ooh, how about Reset and Rude Awakening? Both go infinite with Nivix Guildmage just like Turnabout. Not only do they net you infinite mana, but they also allow you to use the guildmage's other ability to get get whatever instant speed burn spell (Lightning Bolt) you want to copy infinitely burning the table to death with glory.
There's another one in green that does it with basic lands as well, it's also super easy and only 3 cmc.
Seems a tad over-restrictive. I can at least play Grizzly Bear, right?
And, some of my local playgroup put together a Peasant/Pauper format with a no card over $5 policy. It's helped a lot, and is a lot of fun, though sometimes challenging to find good uncommon non-legendary creatures with interesting effects.
As a player you tend to evolve in a different pattern if you use proxies instead of using cards you physically obtain. This evolution boils down to card choice, whereas instead of running staples more and more you tend to run odd-ball things in your decks, which I think is more valuable, albeit explosive.
I believe it comes down to a playgroup discussion. If your playgroup/lgs is okay with proxy usage for everyone, with or without limitations/expectations, awesome. If your playgroup/lgs is not okay, that's fine as well.
In this deck I run most cards between 1-2 cmc, there are no 3+cmc spells. As such I get away with running only 18 lands. I still have a fairly consistent means of getting 2 lands in hand, though starting with 3 is about ideal.
The other benefit to Manamorphose in this deck is changing mana. I don't know how many times I've Manamorphosed into Mana Leak or Lightning Helix, leaving my opponent completely unaware of what my options are. Sometimes I just get screwed out of a color, and Manamorphose fixes that.
Manamorphose has practical applications outside of Storm, they just need to be sought out. It is not ideal for every situation, though it does get you through your deck a bit more, and makes your deck more consistent.
As a blue player that runs Time Warp effects and sometimes takes 5+ minutes on a turn, this is silly. Sometimes the turn has a lot of moving pieces to construct, sometimes you're taking multiple extra turns, sometimes you need to align yourself for next untap step, whatever. A lot of playing blue is trying to make the right decision with limited information.
Don't get me wrong, consistently taking 5+ minutes per turn, that's different. Especially when your turn is just trying to figure out which land to drop and passing the turn. That being said, turns will take longer the more decisions that affect you and the board as well as the more spells you must cast/abilities you must activate.
Tldr, don't ban Time Warp. That'd be a silly thing to do.
I'd say if your meta has strong blue players consider leaving it out just in case they try to take more advantage of it than you can.
If you're playing MLD you usually go with mana rocks leaving you with a mana advantage. Since you're blowing up their go-to mana sources, you're denying them the ability to play cards, card advantage. Your deck will usually be more fine-tuned for this sort of environment, win condition.
If you play with stupid heavy ramp you usually bring a higher CMC to the table as well as more opportunity to play draw a card effects, not to mention removing excess lands from your deck generating a portion of both. The larger CMC also goes into more explosive win conditions.
If you're playing with blue you usually focus more on the card advantage. This includes denying your opponents their key spells with counters and generating larger card advantage with your spells. The mana advantage is a bit more difficult as you need to devote more artifacts to your cause instead. Win conditions are also a bit more difficult, but you can usually come up with something by consistently repelling your opponent's efforts.
These are a few, general examples. I'll be honest, I think it's absolutely ridiculous to complain about ramp, and I'm a blue player that's toughest time is against rampy rampers (that and blow up ALL THE THINGS players).
The thing is, it's a legitimate strategy. It's not overpowered or game breaking. It allows players to do exactly what they (commonly) want in this format; play out all the big stuff they don't get to play in a 60 card game. The game is no longer about playing within a designated cmc what with the highlander rule and reluctance to obtain that 5 card starting hand combo. People want to play their big creatures and game winning spells because those are, to them, fun.
Now you may not like super ramp. I know I do. I run a green deck that has ~20 ramp spells devoted to it. It's great because I also generate card advantage and an army all off of the same build, it's incredibly synergistic. I like ramp because it makes me feel like everything I'm doing is incredibly big. I'm not casting a flashy 2/1 for 2. I'm not casting a 4cmc spell to deny them resources. I'm casting 30+ beaters in the course of ~3 turns in the hopes that my opponents get overwhelmed with the power and speed. Then my opponents react, and I have to react accordingly. Sometimes they Wrath of God and deny my entire strategy in one card. Then I feel terrible.
With Sylvan Primordial, holy balls I can't believe you'd compare that to Primeval Titan. As a (primarily) blue player, even I'm sad that Prime Time's gone. It means I have less and less an need for Bribery or tutors for Bribery. It's either Prime Time or Seedborn Muse for my first picks any day, every day. I would clone Prime Time at every chance I get. Man, that card is just sooooo much value. Sylvan Primordial is also great, don't get me wrong, but they're on a different league altogether.
As for your group soft banning Lando strats, well, tough luck friend. If you don't think it's right, bring it up with your group. If they don't wanna hear it, play around it or get a different group. If you can't get a different group and don't want to play around it then don't play. Those are pretty well your options short of constantly complaining to them that ramp is OP and MLD is the only possible solution.
Also, gratz to you both.
If anything, I'll just put in some cards to fight it off.
For me, it's weird seeing other mono-blue generals. I see this because I usually end up playing mono-blue with hard ramp, mild control and super card draw/win. I get hated off the field with utmost prejudice (understandably and correctly) and draw the sighs of my opponents when a turn or two earlier than they are fully setup or while they are controlling each other I just explode onto the table. It's frustrating winning this hard, really.
So when I see someone else run mono-blue in my circle I get mildly confused. Excited for the challenge, but confused.
I look at Timetwister like I look at a Tormod's Crypt; it's a card designed to hate on graveyards for cheap. The re-draw seven is awesome, but if it was really a way to break it it'd be 4+ card combo and quite a bit of mana. Instead, you could just cast cards that, I don't know, [card="Enter the Infinite"draws your entire library for a similar cmc you'd need[/card] or something.
Point is, if I had the means to own one, it'd probably make the cut in my blue decks just because three mana to refill your hand is usually good, especially when you devote a ton of cards to ramp like I usually do. Time Spiral is better except in that rare god hand where you vomit cards out onto the table, however, so I'll stick with that.
Plus, ramp is awesome, so much better than black unless you're going mono-black or black/x.
Also, make sure to run Nivix Guildmage and Past in Flames for that combo.
Riku is awesome and provides you access to ramp, and the ability to double that ramp, and the spells you cast.
There's another one in green that does it with basic lands as well, it's also super easy and only 3 cmc.
And, some of my local playgroup put together a Peasant/Pauper format with a no card over $5 policy. It's helped a lot, and is a lot of fun, though sometimes challenging to find good uncommon non-legendary creatures with interesting effects.