I am not convinced there was an implied agreement to preserve secondary market prices outside of the Reserved List, at least for cards which are Modern legal. As you mention in the article, one of Wizards' stated reasons for establishing the Modern format was to have a non-rotating format that wouldn't present a significant price barrier to entry. I think it's pretty clear that this constitutes an announcement by Wizards that there is no promise of value retention in Modern-legal cards, that what has been true for cards before Modern is no longer true. In this case, there isn't merely an omission of a verbal/written contract; there is a stated rejection of such a contract. Wizards essentially said, with the Modern format, "We are providing these cards but you are hereafter warned that they are open to reprint at any time."
That being said, I can't help but wonder if there is a point where enough time has gone by, much like a statute of limitations, where that original statement becomes invalid. Even though Wizards appeared to intend this to be the rule for Modern, they have not really lived up to that. Personally, I consider the low price barrier concept an essential point of having the format. However, we now live in a time when certain cards in Modern cost more than the expensive cards did in Legacy at the time when Modern was created.
I honestly think Wizards should consider banning cards from Modern purely based on their price having risen too high. Either that or do a real reprint of these cards (Modern Masters doesn't count because the price per pack still presents a significant price barrier).
The designers have said in a recent set design article that Planeswalkers are always mythic.
That said, the recent rules changes that make planeswalkers legendary now allows the possibility of non-legendary planeswalkers, and if they ever explore that area then I would say there is a good chance for non-mythic planeswalkers.
Card that will probably have the most impact on Standard: Llanowar Elves. They even printed an ideal T-2 followup.
Card that will have the most impact on Modern/Legacy: Damping Sphere, and I'm getting 4 as soon as I can. That said, there are so many options for hate cards these days, it's hard to be sure this will be a better hate card in sideboards than the other choices already present.
This would be like requesting them to literally reprint beta basic lands. No reason other than to screw over collectors.
So I know that there were at least two replies to something I posted since last time I was here, but I have no idea which comments they were. Is there any way to retrieve this information?
You hit the nail on the head. How are you going to get people to invest money in decks where, not only are the cards unplayable outside of Standard, but they may also end up unplayable in Standard as well as the result of a ban?
The problem isn't that the cards are too powerful. As you point out, if that were the case, these cards would see some play in Modern at least.
My suggestion is a major change to how the Standard legal list is formed. I would propose that certain stabilizing cards be legal in Standard all the time, regardless of when they were last printed. I would propose for consideration: Doom Blade, Mana Leak, Lightning Strike, Disenchant, and Naturalize. All of these cards have been printed a bazillion times (maybe Mana Leak should see a reprint, not sure) such that they will be cheap to obtain forever. These cards help prevent certain degenerate strategies from getting out of control.
Energy was a huge failure on the part of R&D. It's not too powerful (when is the last time you've seen Aetherworks Marvel in Modern?). The problem is that they neglected to print anything that attacks Energy that is playable if you happen to not be playing against Energy.
Pretty neat idea. Definitely helps some decks (combo) more than others (aggro). In game 1 it could be dangerous to play not knowing what your opponent's deck is, so I think it's reasonably balanced.
Moonbow WGG
Enchantment (R)
You may play any number of lands during your turn. You may not play non-basic lands.
I considered making it UWG but concluded that made it virtually impossible to cast in a deck able to make use of it. Also, fun-fact: This is not the first card to contain the word "moonbow" in the name, but the only one to have it as the only word in the name.