Good points. I'll drop the last ability on Hazy Mind and I'll rework Mogg Meteor to make it less abusive.
Hazy MindBB
Enchantment (R)
When Hazy Mind enters the battlefield, each opponent exiles two cards from his or her hand until Hazy Mind leaves the battlefield. (Those cards return to their owners' hands.)
Mogg Meteor1R
Instant (U)
Exile the top three cards of your library. Mogg Meteor deals damage equal to the number of Mountains exiled this way to target creature or player. If three Mountains were exiled this way, return Mogg Meteor to its owner's hand.
Hazy MindBB
Enchantment (R)
When Hazy Mind enters the battlefield, each opponent exiles two cards from his or her hand until Hazy Mind leaves the battlefield. (Those cards return to their owners' hands.)
When an opponent has no cards in hand, sacrifice Hazy Mind.
Mogg Meteor1R
Sorcery (U)
Shuffle your library, then exile the top three cards of your library. Mogg Meteor deals damage equal to the number of Mountains exiled this way to target creature or player. If three Mountains were exiled this way, repeat this process.
Searing Retort1R
Enchantment (R)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell during your turn, you may have Searing Retort deal damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to each player.
Bountiful Treefolk3G
Creature - Treefolk (R)
Bountiful Treefolk enters the battlefield with eight +1/+1 counters on it.
Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Whenever Bountiful Treefolk becomes blocked by a creature, move a +1/+1 counter from Bountiful Treefolk onto that creature.
0/0
Esper Workshop
Land (R) T: Add CC to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast colored artifact spells.
Gideon's Command2W
Instant (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Target creature attacks this turn if able.
* Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Untap it.
* Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to you and permanents you control this turn.
Jace's Command3U
Sorcery (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Each player puts a nonland permanent he or she controls on top of his or her library.
* Draw two cards.
* Each opponent puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is twice the number of cards in your hand.
Liliana's Command4B
Sorcery (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Target player discards three cards.
* Each creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of creature cards in all graveyards.
* Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard. For each card exiled this way, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield tapped.
Chandra's Command2R
Instant (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Chandra's Command deals 1 damage to each of up to three target creatures.
* Chandra's Command deals 3 damage to each opponent.
* Chandra's Command deals 2 damage to each creature and planeswalker an opponent controls that was dealt damage this turn.
Nissa's Command2G
Sorcery (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand.
* Draw a card, then put up to two land cards from your hand onto the battlefield.
* For each untapped land you control, put a 2/2 green Elemental creature token onto the battlefield.
Sentry Duty1W
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has defender.
As long as you control enchanted creature, it has first strike and "W, T: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield."
Glimmermist1U
Instant (U)
Return target creature to its owner's hand. If a permanent returns to your hand this way, put two 1/1 blue Illusion creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
Gruesome Feast1B
Instant (U)
Destroy target creature with power 2 or less. If a creature you control died this way, draw two cards.
Autumn's Gift2G
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. If a permanent you control is put into a graveyard this way, you may search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
Not a format per se, but an idea to make a 'patched' version of the game, where we determine what cards are too good or bad and adjust them like video game developers do with their games.
The intent of this 'patch' is to encourage diversity in the metagame through a number of methods.
* Weaken turn 1 'burst' mana generation and encourage slower, land based mana generation.
* Weaken permanent destruction.
* Weaken 'free' counterspells by making them conditional.
* Encourage creature 'aggro' strategies. Make anti-creature cards more conditional.
means a buff. means a nerf. means adjustment. means removed.
Ancient Spring cycle: No longer enters the battlefield tapped. Dwarven Ruins cycle: No longer enters the battlefield tapped.
City of Shadows: First ability cost changed to " ". Fountain of Cho cycle: First ability changed to "Enters the battlefield tapped with two storage counters on it." Reito Lantern: Ability cost reduced to " ". Sheltered Valley: First ability removed.
Dark Depths: Now enters the battlefield with five ice counters. Token reduced to 10/10. Force of Will: Alternate cost changed to "Exile a blue card from your hand." Now only counters noncreature spells.
Chancellor of the Annex: First ability removed. Foil: Now only counters noncreature spells. Form of the Dragon: Last ability removed. Iona, Shield of Emeria: Third ability changed to "noncreature spells of the chosen color." Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: Annihilator reduced to 1. Rakdos the Defiler: Last two abilities altered to "sacrifice a non-Demon permanent".
Ajani Vengeant: First ability only affects a nonland permanent. Beast Within, Necrotic Sliver, Vindicate: Now only destroys nonland permanents. Frost Titan: Second ability only taps a nonland permanent. Liquimetal Coating: Now only affects nonland permanents.
Blood Moon: Cost increased by . Misguided Rage: Cost increased by . Reanimate: Cost increased by . Show and Tell: Cost increased by .
Magus of the Moon: Cost increased by . Painter's Servant: Cost increased by . Stronghold Gambit: Cost increased by .
All cards banned in PHM that are not listed here are still banned.
Ancient Tomb; City of Traitors; Mana Crypt: cost cards that can generate 2 mana without sacrificing on turn 1. Black Lotus; Lion's Eye Diamond; Mishra's Workshop: cost cards that can generate 3 or more mana by themselves on turn 1. Crack the Earth; Evil Presence; Lush Growth; Raze; Rishadan Port; Sea's Claim: Low cost land disruption cards. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn; Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Very strong creatures with too much utility. Ensnaring Bridge; Glacial Chasm; Island Sanctuary, Karakas: Removed to encourage diversity with anti-creature cards. Leyline of the Meek: Very strong when combined with Chancellor of the Forge. Mana Vault: cost permanent card that can generate 3 or more mana by itself.
Tax Everything - 5CB
Spells cost more to cast.
Nonbasic land cards are now Artifacts.
Bans: Leylines, Chancellors
Note: Nonbasic land cards now have a printed mana cost of . If cast, it costs to cast.
Safety Dance - 5CB
Permanents enter the battlefield tapped.
Untap all permanents during each untap step.
I have some janky card choices that don't usually see much success, but I play them anyway.
Wheel of Sun and Moon: A recursion tool that doesn't require additional mana usage. One drawback being that you can't recur the Black Lotus you use to summon it.
Spells you cast cost W less for each Plains you control, U less for each Island you control, B less for each Swamp you control, R less for each Mountain you control, and G less for each Forest you control.
i don't see the problem with brain maggot or mesmeric fiend - we have already got the "no discard before opponent's turn 2" rule, which means mesmeric / brain maggot can't be included in most decks.
In the XCB Repository, there is an ABT banned list and a separate banned list for each sized Card Blinds. Before ABT came about, the discard rule was different and allowed cards like Mesmeric Fiend to be used. Since the discard rules have changed, the ban list hasn't been updated to reflect the new discard rule.
With Pact of Negation, the card itself is banned in 5CB, but not in ABT. Seems like a good candidate to ban for ABT.
Brain Maggot Proposal: Banned in 3CB. Explanation: Brain Maggot is very similar to Mesmeric Fiend.
Vampire Hexmage Proposal: Unbanned in all formats. Dark Depths becomes banned in all formats. Explanation: With the recent printing of Thespian's Stage and the changes to the Legendary rule, the ban on Vampire Hexmage seems to be more akin towards treating the symptom, rather than fixing the problem. With Thespian's Stage, the process of producing the token is uncounterable, though it is one turn slower than Hexmage/Depths. Hexmage can be countered to disrupt the engine, but the tradeoff is a turn faster and a backup threat.
Lion's Eye Diamond Proposal: Banned in ABT, 4CB, & 5CB. Explanation: The difference between LED and Black Lotus is the self discard in LED. LED combos well with both Shelldock Isle and Unburial Rites to churn out one deadly creature, such as Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Iona, Shield of Emeria. Isle decks and Rites decks can circumvent most creature disruption and work around counterspells. They often upstage all-in Lotus + threat decks.
Smokestack Proposal: Banned in ABT, 4CB, & 5CB. Explanation: Smokestack decks proved itself as a powerhouse throughout the history of Card Blind. Compared to other recursive disruption, such as Anurid Scavenger/Beast Within or Necrotic Sliver/Volrath's Stronghold, Smokestack's permanent destruction builds up over consecutive turns. Scavenger and Sliver have to 'recharge' at least one turn before they can destroy a second permanent.
Overall Thoughts: Speaking about the Card Blinds without a Land Rule. I feel that aggro in general is not represented very well. There are no shortage of ways to disrupt creature threats (Tabernacle, Bridge, Karakas, etc.) The emphasis in winning the meta is working around counterspells (Foil, Commandeer) or using a threat that avoids creature destruction as a win condition (Tongs, Scepter). Its unfortunate that some deck archetypes are lost over Magic's rules changes over the years (Vineyard & Mana burn) or Card Blind rules changes (Anvil). Maybe the nostalgia glasses are ruining the experience. I don't know. I haven't played in awhile, but I lurk every once in awhile to see how things are going.
Hazy Mind BB
Enchantment (R)
When Hazy Mind enters the battlefield, each opponent exiles two cards from his or her hand until Hazy Mind leaves the battlefield. (Those cards return to their owners' hands.)
Mogg Meteor 1R
Instant (U)
Exile the top three cards of your library. Mogg Meteor deals damage equal to the number of Mountains exiled this way to target creature or player. If three Mountains were exiled this way, return Mogg Meteor to its owner's hand.
Enchantment (R)
When Hazy Mind enters the battlefield, each opponent exiles two cards from his or her hand until Hazy Mind leaves the battlefield. (Those cards return to their owners' hands.)
When an opponent has no cards in hand, sacrifice Hazy Mind.
Mogg Meteor 1R
Sorcery (U)
Shuffle your library, then exile the top three cards of your library. Mogg Meteor deals damage equal to the number of Mountains exiled this way to target creature or player. If three Mountains were exiled this way, repeat this process.
Searing Retort 1R
Enchantment (R)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell during your turn, you may have Searing Retort deal damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to each player.
Bountiful Treefolk 3G
Creature - Treefolk (R)
Bountiful Treefolk enters the battlefield with eight +1/+1 counters on it.
Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Whenever Bountiful Treefolk becomes blocked by a creature, move a +1/+1 counter from Bountiful Treefolk onto that creature.
0/0
Esper Workshop
Land (R)
T: Add CC to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast colored artifact spells.
Instant (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Target creature attacks this turn if able.
* Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Untap it.
* Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to you and permanents you control this turn.
Jace's Command 3U
Sorcery (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Each player puts a nonland permanent he or she controls on top of his or her library.
* Draw two cards.
* Each opponent puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is twice the number of cards in your hand.
Liliana's Command 4B
Sorcery (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Target player discards three cards.
* Each creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of creature cards in all graveyards.
* Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard. For each card exiled this way, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield tapped.
Chandra's Command 2R
Instant (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Chandra's Command deals 1 damage to each of up to three target creatures.
* Chandra's Command deals 3 damage to each opponent.
* Chandra's Command deals 2 damage to each creature and planeswalker an opponent controls that was dealt damage this turn.
Nissa's Command 2G
Sorcery (R)
Choose one. Choose two if you control a planeswalker -
* Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand.
* Draw a card, then put up to two land cards from your hand onto the battlefield.
* For each untapped land you control, put a 2/2 green Elemental creature token onto the battlefield.
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has defender.
As long as you control enchanted creature, it has first strike and "W, T: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield."
Glimmermist 1U
Instant (U)
Return target creature to its owner's hand. If a permanent returns to your hand this way, put two 1/1 blue Illusion creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
Gruesome Feast 1B
Instant (U)
Destroy target creature with power 2 or less. If a creature you control died this way, draw two cards.
Autumn's Gift 2G
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. If a permanent you control is put into a graveyard this way, you may search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
The intent of this 'patch' is to encourage diversity in the metagame through a number of methods.
* Weaken turn 1 'burst' mana generation and encourage slower, land based mana generation.
* Weaken permanent destruction.
* Weaken 'free' counterspells by making them conditional.
* Encourage creature 'aggro' strategies. Make anti-creature cards more conditional.
7.5a and 7.5b read the same.
2.9 goes against 7.3c.
Spells cost
Nonbasic land cards are now Artifacts.
Bans: Leylines, Chancellors
Note: Nonbasic land cards now have a printed mana cost of
Safety Dance - 5CB
Permanents enter the battlefield tapped.
Untap all permanents during each untap step.
Spells you cast cost W less for each Plains you control, U less for each Island you control, B less for each Swamp you control, R less for each Mountain you control, and G less for each Forest you control.
Bans: Nylea's Presence, Prismatic Omen
Anybody remember when DG owned MTGNews, and DarthCow was the technical admin?
In the XCB Repository, there is an ABT banned list and a separate banned list for each sized Card Blinds. Before ABT came about, the discard rule was different and allowed cards like Mesmeric Fiend to be used. Since the discard rules have changed, the ban list hasn't been updated to reflect the new discard rule.
With Pact of Negation, the card itself is banned in 5CB, but not in ABT. Seems like a good candidate to ban for ABT.
Brain Maggot
Proposal: Banned in 3CB.
Explanation: Brain Maggot is very similar to Mesmeric Fiend.
Vampire Hexmage
Proposal: Unbanned in all formats. Dark Depths becomes banned in all formats.
Explanation: With the recent printing of Thespian's Stage and the changes to the Legendary rule, the ban on Vampire Hexmage seems to be more akin towards treating the symptom, rather than fixing the problem. With Thespian's Stage, the process of producing the token is uncounterable, though it is one turn slower than Hexmage/Depths. Hexmage can be countered to disrupt the engine, but the tradeoff is a turn faster and a backup threat.
Lion's Eye Diamond
Proposal: Banned in ABT, 4CB, & 5CB.
Explanation: The difference between LED and Black Lotus is the self discard in LED. LED combos well with both Shelldock Isle and Unburial Rites to churn out one deadly creature, such as Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Iona, Shield of Emeria. Isle decks and Rites decks can circumvent most creature disruption and work around counterspells. They often upstage all-in Lotus + threat decks.
Smokestack
Proposal: Banned in ABT, 4CB, & 5CB.
Explanation: Smokestack decks proved itself as a powerhouse throughout the history of Card Blind. Compared to other recursive disruption, such as Anurid Scavenger/Beast Within or Necrotic Sliver/Volrath's Stronghold, Smokestack's permanent destruction builds up over consecutive turns. Scavenger and Sliver have to 'recharge' at least one turn before they can destroy a second permanent.
Overall Thoughts: Speaking about the Card Blinds without a Land Rule. I feel that aggro in general is not represented very well. There are no shortage of ways to disrupt creature threats (Tabernacle, Bridge, Karakas, etc.) The emphasis in winning the meta is working around counterspells (Foil, Commandeer) or using a threat that avoids creature destruction as a win condition (Tongs, Scepter). Its unfortunate that some deck archetypes are lost over Magic's rules changes over the years (Vineyard & Mana burn) or Card Blind rules changes (Anvil). Maybe the nostalgia glasses are ruining the experience. I don't know. I haven't played in awhile, but I lurk every once in awhile to see how things are going.
Whoops. I failed to mention that I'm also trying to respect the banned list that the shell can be used in. Foil is banned in both 3CB and 4CB.