Flash, i believe that Force of Will would be more powerful than
If were talking about flash in terms of merchant scroll and brainstorm, it is certainly more consistent and resilient than oath of druids, which _does_ affect the meta. Without merchant scroll and brainstorm, flash might not be the hyper-dominant deck it was, but I'm going to have to doubt at the idea "no impact in the metagame" without the hard numbers to prove it.
Flash was never a dominant deck in Vintage. It never occupied a huge portion of the metagame even with 4 Merchant Scroll and Brainstorm. For this reason, I would find it hard to believe that it could ever be dominant without those cards. There are plenty of threads discussing this very question on themanadrain.
Full credit to steve for the graph. It never accounted for more than 14% of top 8s in vintage for as long as it was legal.
Is it just me or having: Balance, Mana Vault, Flash, Brainstorm restricted feels just wrong....there's more but i'll stop with those...
Seriously, have they gone mad and weak for restricting those?
It's just you. Probably quite literally, only you. I can see arguments for the rest of the cards. But flash?
In a poll a little while ago, Flash was actually voted the safest card to come off the restricted list, actually. Without Merchant Scroll and Brainstorm as 4-ofs, a Flash deck would not be consistent enough to impact the metagame. Whether it adds an enjoyable aspect the metagame is another question, of course.
Because it was a simple prisoner exchange, Dragon is not there to make a difference, only lessen the blow. The cynic in me thinks Wizards likely thought Dragon was safe years ago but kept it banned for just such a moment. They have no plans to unban anything that will make a difference at this moment in time because they want to watch the format stabilise. After that though, I am not sure I trust them to do much of anything anymore.
I actually agree with this except I think WGD will become a major pain in the ass for judges because of all the noobs needing to bring their "fun" deck to opens who have no clue how to play it. Or on the other side of the fence, noobs who have no clue how it works playing against it and calling judges over because they think they're being cheated.
No, it probably will add nothing to the format other than just annoyances and frustrations to the players who know how to play the game and the judges who will have to put up with the nonsense to follow.
How bad it actually gets will depend on how many people will decide to sleeve this thing up.
If that is how people chose to have their fun, how does that bother you? Beat them and you won't have to deal with them drawing games. WGD will do nothing. It's been legal in Vintage for years and I don't think anybody complains about everybody forcing draws. Abrupt Decay absolutely wrecks Dragon.
By the way, have you even played Dragon? Why would you force draws when you can win? You only force a draw when you have no way of winning and have no choice. I personally find the deck very fun and interesting to play. Too bad we don't have Bazaar of Baghdad in Legacy to make the deck better!
The thought of being able to play with 4 Necropotence excites me. I hope it comes off. Yes, it's busted. Just like plenty of cards in Legacy are. Very few cards excite me as much as being able to play with Necropotence.
The reason it's played so much is not because all it's effects are necessarily all that powerful, but because of it's versatility. The effects are all useful, but the versatility is what makes the card what it is.
Worth noting that Serum Visions is a common going for around $7. It's due to modern demand, of course, but even so, it's not unheard of for commons to be worth something. That being said, Innistrad was opened a ton compared to Fifth Dawn so there are a lot more things to consider when looking at Delver.
I really don't understand jumping on the ban Treasure Cruise bandwagon. Conditional draw spells are hardly the problem. Yes, it's card advantage but we already have conditional draw spells that provide card advantage available. Cruise is just better currently because it went into an archetype that was already powerful.
Cruise is not Ancestral Recall. When you can play it on turn 1, at instant speed, then it is one.
As for the meta going back to what it was before Cruise? I'm pretty sure it was full of different flavors of Delver even before Cruise was released.
The problem with Inkwell is that unless you cast it really early in the game, Delver decks and even Merfolk decks can easily race it. You do pay that price for it's resiliency.
Blightsteel is just fragile. He is the fastest but also the easiest to disrupt. He still has his place, but if you're worried about his fragility (like many are) you could use the following.
Inkwell Leviathan : Great against blue decks but provides a slower clock and can be raced. Has shroud so hard to interact with.
Sphinx of the Steel Wind : Great against Delver and is immune to Dack as well.
Myr Battlesphere : Can be good, especially with Welder shenanigans.
Nothing is busted by itself in that shell. It's the critical mass argument. GPNJ is very likely to have a excessive amount of TC, but it doesn't necessarily say anything about that specific card (even if it might still be too strong).
Flash was never a dominant deck in Vintage. It never occupied a huge portion of the metagame even with 4 Merchant Scroll and Brainstorm. For this reason, I would find it hard to believe that it could ever be dominant without those cards. There are plenty of threads discussing this very question on themanadrain.
Full credit to steve for the graph. It never accounted for more than 14% of top 8s in vintage for as long as it was legal.
In a poll a little while ago, Flash was actually voted the safest card to come off the restricted list, actually. Without Merchant Scroll and Brainstorm as 4-ofs, a Flash deck would not be consistent enough to impact the metagame. Whether it adds an enjoyable aspect the metagame is another question, of course.
If that is how people chose to have their fun, how does that bother you? Beat them and you won't have to deal with them drawing games. WGD will do nothing. It's been legal in Vintage for years and I don't think anybody complains about everybody forcing draws. Abrupt Decay absolutely wrecks Dragon.
By the way, have you even played Dragon? Why would you force draws when you can win? You only force a draw when you have no way of winning and have no choice. I personally find the deck very fun and interesting to play. Too bad we don't have Bazaar of Baghdad in Legacy to make the deck better!
This was linked elsewhere.
Cruise is not Ancestral Recall. When you can play it on turn 1, at instant speed, then it is one.
As for the meta going back to what it was before Cruise? I'm pretty sure it was full of different flavors of Delver even before Cruise was released.
Inkwell Leviathan : Great against blue decks but provides a slower clock and can be raced. Has shroud so hard to interact with.
Sphinx of the Steel Wind : Great against Delver and is immune to Dack as well.
Myr Battlesphere : Can be good, especially with Welder shenanigans.
2 UR Delver
2 UWR Delver
1 BUG Delver
1 RUG Delver
1 Maverick
1 UB Tezzeret
I was also playing in the event and played Delver variants in 6 out of my 9 rounds. Anecdotal evidence, but still.
Such diversity.