In my area, most people I've heard of choosing not to play Pioneer has been in response to deck prices, which they expected to be far below modern, but the prices are similar.
Pay to Play will smother this format just like it has Modern. Without yearly regular reprints of high priced staples prices will go nowhere but up and playership will go nowhere than down. I had high hopes for this format but as every day passes it is just turning into Modern 2.0 Without regular bans of top tier cards on a monthly basis the format is becoming "solved" and to me that equals stale, predictable and more expensive. I loved the weekly bannings, would love to go back to that to keep players on their toes.
PS: Monoblack Aggro is sitting at $373 in paper as of this moment. Not really a lot cheaper than most of the tier decks out there.
The problem is that regular bannings of top tier cards can kill a format just as easily. People aren't going to invest in anything if there is a high likelihood that their cards will tank in value once they have continual strong showings. So you ban out Inverter & Breach decks. Then people shift to deck X. Then deck X gets banned out. Player confidence in their cards becomes less and less, until they no longer choose to play anything and go elsewhere. You can't just ban everything. Bans have to be meaningful, targeted, and used sparingly when problems arise. Ban a highly problematic card for format balance, not on card value or play percentage. It's a balancing act and requires care and precision, not lobbing grenades into the card pool every week.
Yep bannings should not be frivioulous, and the decision making needs to be better than "top deck" because there will always be a top deck.
Time should be given for new archtypes to arise. New cards could be printed to aid in more archtypes being formed.
Will this lead to another modern? Always. But i guess the important thing is to decide what is the role of pioneer. To me it seems modern was meant as a "next stop" for rotating standard players. And it has given 10 years before its powerlevel is deemed too high or resources have become too scarce/expensive. My guess is pioneer will now take on what modern was and will last another 10 years or so... assuming its not dead in the water from the early bans.
As to what to do with modern? I think it will stick around... it is at the very least an eternal format with no reserve list issues. And having multiple eternal formats (as in modern like) might not be a bad thing if they have their own format defining quirks, and it might be a way to keep value and yet allow players to build a collection.
oh man, I'm so glad I don't play that format 'port your recently rotated Standard decks over!' they said. just not the ones that were actually excellent. if you want to play the cards that were powerful and exciting in Standard, go play Modern. it probably won't do well, but I wouldn't want to buy into a deck that could put up results in Pioneer, that's for sure. if you can't play a top tier deck in either format, might as well play the one that lets you use CopyCat
Maybe its for the better, if it works it works... if not... well it should die a quick death either way quick and constant bannings is something new... maybe it will work out
I guess veil of summer is like gitaxian probe... it makes it such that it is now safe to cast your stuff.. which is good for weak decks to use but make strong decks even stronger. It is more a threat than an answer in that sense
I like the current pace of banning, no maniac random bannings, but swift heavy bannings when justified... i like this pruning approach.
Yep bannings should not be frivioulous, and the decision making needs to be better than "top deck" because there will always be a top deck.
Time should be given for new archtypes to arise. New cards could be printed to aid in more archtypes being formed.
Will this lead to another modern? Always. But i guess the important thing is to decide what is the role of pioneer. To me it seems modern was meant as a "next stop" for rotating standard players. And it has given 10 years before its powerlevel is deemed too high or resources have become too scarce/expensive. My guess is pioneer will now take on what modern was and will last another 10 years or so... assuming its not dead in the water from the early bans.
As to what to do with modern? I think it will stick around... it is at the very least an eternal format with no reserve list issues. And having multiple eternal formats (as in modern like) might not be a bad thing if they have their own format defining quirks, and it might be a way to keep value and yet allow players to build a collection.
Reality is but a perception of your being --
Visit my blog!!! - http://huffalump-magic.blogspot.com/
"The brain is wider than the sky,
For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include
With ease, and you beside."
—Emily Dickinson
For sales or trade, visit my blog or visit my ebay blog for my listings :http://myworld.ebay.com/arcane7828
881
Oooh Dicey:
[dice=1]100[/dice]
Maybe its for the better, if it works it works... if not... well it should die a quick death either way quick and constant bannings is something new... maybe it will work out
Reality is but a perception of your being --
Visit my blog!!! - http://huffalump-magic.blogspot.com/
"The brain is wider than the sky,
For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include
With ease, and you beside."
—Emily Dickinson
For sales or trade, visit my blog or visit my ebay blog for my listings :http://myworld.ebay.com/arcane7828
881
Oooh Dicey:
[dice=1]100[/dice]
Reality is but a perception of your being --
Visit my blog!!! - http://huffalump-magic.blogspot.com/
"The brain is wider than the sky,
For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include
With ease, and you beside."
—Emily Dickinson
For sales or trade, visit my blog or visit my ebay blog for my listings :http://myworld.ebay.com/arcane7828
881
Oooh Dicey:
[dice=1]100[/dice]
I like the current pace of banning, no maniac random bannings, but swift heavy bannings when justified... i like this pruning approach.
Reality is but a perception of your being --
Visit my blog!!! - http://huffalump-magic.blogspot.com/
"The brain is wider than the sky,
For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include
With ease, and you beside."
—Emily Dickinson
For sales or trade, visit my blog or visit my ebay blog for my listings :http://myworld.ebay.com/arcane7828
881
Oooh Dicey:
[dice=1]100[/dice]