Exactly. Which is why I find it confusing that people try to use that as a debating point. Once you reach like over 5000 unique cards for each color, I'm not so sure if people can try to "seek color balance". C'mon.
Leave color balancing to Wizards IMO. Power balancing of choice cards? Yes we can debate on that.
And I agree, thus my point about blue being 'inherently better' is subjective and not a true basis to argue this on. I think there is some merit in 'artifacts are easier than creatures' in general, but in terms of effecting the early game I don't believe so - there are so many 1 drop creatures that are good and commonplace in this format.
The lack of mana ramp in blue is just part of the color pie. just like red cant draw as many cards or has few ways of destroy a enchantment. Black cant destroy a enchantment or artifact. The cards that go against the color identity need to be looked at for what they are. If you believe 6 green mana early is no different then 6 blue mana early then this thread losses all credibility.
What I'm kind of confused about in this thread is the assumption that 6 green mana is some how equal to 6 blue mana. What an artifact deck can put together with a permanent like that can be a lot harder to stop then what creatures can put together. Candelabra of Tawnos, Snap, Frantic search, Time spiral , with outlets like Memnarch vrs Damnation and wrath of god. Green will run out of creatures far before blue runs out of artifacts.
The metalworker debate is ridiculous. TA should be unbanned because metalworker isnt banned. So that way the only deck that really benefits gets to run them both.
The draw card from blue is a big deal here. More cards = more artifacts = more mana = more cards ect.
Edit: card links
Yeah, 6 blue mana is probably stronger than 6 green, but the fact that you can build a more busted deck in blue isn't a banning factor. It and Channel got banned because super fast colorless dudes with Annihilator were wrecking casual games, not because blue is a broken color.
Banings are almost entirely about what can be used with them. Even your example is actually a counter point. Ether the annihilators had to go or TA had to because of how they worked together. Would modern have banned sword of the meek if thopter foundry wasn't available? What a card can do on its own is very rarely the reason for the ban. That is why they have an R&D team. Granted there are a few big misses on there part *cough* jace, the mind sculptor. But for the most part its the combination of the environment and the power level.
Here are the assumptions used:
You play the following twelve cards (each of which is worth playing on its own), and no other artifacts.
One of the cards in your hand is either a land or CMC 0 artifact capable of producing mana on turn 1
There are a few other minor variables, but they are small enough we can discard them
9.09% Tolarian Academy by turn 2
19.46% Academy produces if played by turn 2
5.44% Academy produces or more if played by turn 2
Academy is producing two or more mana on turn two every four games it is available, and will appear by turn 2 roughly once every 10 games.
This rate goes up drastically when you add additional artifacts - there are easily another half dozen CMC 0 or 1 artifacts likely worth including, depending on your exact colors and deck build.
This goes up again when you consider the majority of these early artifacts produce mana, often more than they cost to cast, allowing CMC 2+ artifacts to reliably contribute to Academy's production on turn 2.
And finally, it goes up yet again after factoring mulligans.
Now I get an understanding of your math and understand how you're misrepresenting it. You're right you get 9.09% odds of drawing into TA by turn 2, and you're also right that you have 19.46% of having TA make 2 mana on turn 2, but that is assuming you have TA available. For a true mathematical representation of any given game, you need to multiple the two together which represents the odds of getting TA and getting 2 mana, which is only 1.7% of any game given game. Your 2+ example is even lower at 0.49% of any given games.
If you don't think hitting a card and getting the 'problem effect' out of it once out of every 50 games, or getting the really broken effect out of it once every 200 games, is not a 'God Draw', I don't know what to tell you.
Also, mulligans do have a strong effect on your % by providing more opportunities, but not as much as you think because anything past the free muligan begins to lower your # of opportunities in the Hypergeometric Distribution, which has a huge influence on the % probability.
What I'm kind of confused about in this thread is the assumption that 6 green mana is some how equal to 6 blue mana. What an artifact deck can put together with a permanent like that can be a lot harder to stop then what creatures can put together. Candelabra of Tawnos, Snap, Frantic search, Time spiral , with outlets like Memnarch vrs Damnation and wrath of god. Green will run out of creatures far before blue runs out of artifacts.
The metalworker debate is ridiculous. TA should be unbanned because metalworker isnt banned. So that way the only deck that really benefits gets to run them both.
The draw card from blue is a big deal here. More cards = more artifacts = more mana = more cards ect.
Edit: card links
See my above response. Same applies to your arguments as well. For the record and a matter of reference, a T1 Sol Ring has a 7.07% chance of happening for any given deck.
What I'm kind of confused about in this thread is the assumption that 6 green mana is some how equal to 6 blue mana. What an artifact deck can put together with a permanent like that can be a lot harder to stop then what creatures can put together. Candelabra of Tawnos, Snap, Frantic search, Time spiral , with outlets like Memnarch vrs Damnation and wrath of god. Green will run out of creatures far before blue runs out of artifacts.
The metalworker debate is ridiculous. TA should be unbanned because metalworker isnt banned. So that way the only deck that really benefits gets to run them both.
The draw card from blue is a big deal here. More cards = more artifacts = more mana = more cards ect.
I think the most I do is emphasize that every legal strategy is fair. This way you can avoid *****ing and moaning when MLD or combo shows up because the players expect and incorporate those elements in their decks from day one.
Tough love. Best thing you can do for anyone in magic is to not pull your punches at the kitchen table. Show them why the hate cards were made.
If White student unions and those who try to organize "white lives matter" events can be labeled as bigots, then "black lives matter" is as well. From my experience minorities are far more worried about race then "white" people (who have there own sub races too by the way). For the most part "white" people are more careful about how they talk and act in that sense then their minority counterpart because they have taught for decades now that it is wrong. Where as minorities have been taught to play the race card every chance they get to get ahead rather then use their merit. Those minorities that do use their merit, resent those playing the race card because they want handouts.
No one uses the N word and the like more then minorities. Minorities keep the racial divide alive and well in America to benefit themselves.
Banings are almost entirely about what can be used with them. Even your example is actually a counter point. Ether the annihilators had to go or TA had to because of how they worked together. Would modern have banned sword of the meek if thopter foundry wasn't available? What a card can do on its own is very rarely the reason for the ban. That is why they have an R&D team. Granted there are a few big misses on there part *cough* jace, the mind sculptor. But for the most part its the combination of the environment and the power level.
Actually it doesn't apply
The metalworker debate is ridiculous. TA should be unbanned because metalworker isnt banned. So that way the only deck that really benefits gets to run them both.
The draw card from blue is a big deal here. More cards = more artifacts = more mana = more cards ect.
Edit: card links
memnarch
No one uses the N word and the like more then minorities. Minorities keep the racial divide alive and well in America to benefit themselves.