MTG Salvation

Only thing I really care about are banning Sol Ring and Mana Crypt and lowering life to 30. Banning too-good tutors like Demonic and Vampiric would be nifty as well. As far as unbanning, freeing Braids in the 99 seems like a no-brainer. Things like Library of Alexandra would be completely fine unbanned (it wouldn't even see much play) but it's sort of irrelevant and unimportant in the long term. Other than that, I'd like to see the deck size go up to about 120 cards (maybe bigger) but I can't see it ever happening in a million years. Same old Tradition for tradition's sake, and all that jazz.

Of course I don't think Rampant Growth is banworthy. The point of establishing a baseline isn't so you can mindlessly ban things - it's just a tool so you can find a point of comparison. Every card has to be evaluated on an individual basis, and all it's strengths and weaknesses need to be considered. If you let the tool use you, it leads to stupidity.

I was very liberally with my votes. I'm of the opinion this format needs a much more robust ban list. The number 1 and 2 things that need to go are fast mana rocks (e.g. Sol Ring and Mana Crypt), and fast, cheap tutors (e.g. Demonic, Vampiric ect.).

It's good to establish a baseline of what is acceptable and where to draw the line. For fast mana I used Worn Powerstone and Thran Dynamo as my baseline. This is what I consider appropriately-costed colorless mana acceleration. Anything that is clearly much stronger than these cards becomes suspect. For tutors, I used Diabolic Tutor as baseline for find-anything black tutors, and Idyllic Tutor as baseline for more narrow tutors.

There are lots (and lots) of good reasons to play a card like Questing Phelddagrif without ever being Group Hug / Kingmaker. You can 100% only be trying to win and still have many valid reasons to use this card. Think creatively.

Ally tribal is fun and surprisingly effective at times. But this is one of the weakest ones. Defender kills it.

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Memory Jar

Quote from Serpos of Urug

Biomancer definitely does not cause itself to enter the battlefield with 2 counters. It's okay not to not know the rules. But here you go: Biomancer's ability only applies when he's on the battlefield. For him to apply his effect to himself, he would have to be on the battlefield as he is entering the battlefield. Obviously he can't be in two places at once (unless you have multiple copies).

That is factually incorrect. That is not how enter the battlefield cards work. Please stop spreading false information as though it is fact. It only serves to propagate falsehoods. Cards see themselves enter the battlefield. In other words: a card can trigger it's own enter the battlefield effect(s) if it meets the condition(s). It has been this way in magic for as long as I can remember.

The reason why Master Biomancer doesn't apply to itself is because it says "Each other creature", and if it did not have the word other, it would give itself 2 +1/+1 counters when it entered the battlefield. The confusion comes from the fact that the spoiler on this site omitted the word other, and I failed to check the actual visual card (my bad) which does correctly say other.

Quote from Lully

It's very scary that you don't understand ETB triggers. As long as (this) is on the battlefield (things that then enter the battlefield) (get counters).

Uhh. This is just factually wrong. Cards see themselves enter the battlefield. The problem was that the card was (still is) incorrectly written in the spoiler. It should say "each other" as it does on the actual card.

Also, how is it "very scary" when people are unclear on rules!? It's not like I'm a judge.

I'm a bit rusty, but wouldn't Master Biomancer's ability apply to himself as he enters play, making him a 4/6 creature (and giving subsequent creatures you play 4 +1/+1 counters)? I assume I'm missing something...

That is a really nice hate card. The sacrifice effect is really good, maybe not worth 4 mana but certainly a nice backup if your opponent doesn't have any hexproof out.

It's narrower than the other charms, yes, but not objectively worse. It might have some struggles fitting in with the current standard, but I can think of some recent standards where it would be an all-star powerhouse. It's very aggressive and fitting to Gruul's strategy, but it has some surprising defensive utility. The second ability is extremely narrow, but you'll be super happy you have that option if it ever comes up. The third ability, if it just did 1 more damage would be a real showstopper, but it might even be "OP" then... Ultimately I think it will see some play, but will really shine in other formats (even EDH/Commander) and perhaps when the next block rolls in and shakes things up it will show it's true strength.

That second ability is much better than a Turn Aside as it would say "- Counter all spells or abilities targeting permanents you control and prevent permanents you control from being targeted this turn." If you really wanted to break it down like that. The "or abilities" part lets it counter Oblivion Ring like effects, which is key. The preventing your hards from beinging targeted this turn (Hexproof) is a relevant perk as well as it prevents non-instant spot removal from being played subsequently that turn (hint: when dealing with Simic, open with the sorceries and save the instants for response).

As far as the whole card goes, it's extremely versatile (like all most charm cards). It seems to fit perfect with Simic's mid-range strategy with a bit of control, a bit of aggressiveness and a bit of protection. The Unsummon effect has proven through the ages that it is situationally worth two mana (cards like: Boomerang, Into the Roil, Cyclonic Rift, Echoing Truth, ect). As long as the card has other/more options and/or powerful effects it can always simply be played as an Unsummon to great effect at times. There is always the option of playing it on your own creature to save it against sweepers. The Giant Growth effect is one of the classic and effective combat tricks that can serve you both offensively and defensively. Overall it's a great card. I like it a lot.

There are a number of neat Un- cards that are completely playable and could, theoretically, appear in a normal set as they don't break anything mechanically. Those cards already listed are great. Giant Fan is one of my favorites.

This post on the WotC forums is great as it list all the "playable" cards in the Un- sets, althugh some of them might require slight rules clarification as there is no Oracle update to any of their rules.

So many good lands, it's difficult to choose just one... If I had to pick the land I find my self putting in almost every deck it would be Strip Mine.