If moderns is stale is because of standard. Theros block did almost nothing to modern because every interesting card was too overcosted do be of any use in modern.
There are really a lot of interesting cards wasted in theros that would be modern playable if they were 1CMC cheaper or had 1 more power and toughness.
While modern reached a decent level of diversity, it's development is being heavly hindered by standard. An whole block and we had not even 5 cards that are actually playable.
While the rule of thumb for Wizards dev team is "cut what is too good for standard" (one example is reprinting Liliana Vess instead of Liliana of the Veil on M15), modern will go nowhere.
If wizards want innovation and new decks to rise in modern, they need to give us decent new cards.
I think there's a fair number of cards in Theros block that WotC expected would shake up Modern but they just slightly missed on them.
Thassa, Athreos, Master of Waves, Ashiok, Brimaz - I expect WotC believed each of those cards would see tier 1 Modern play, and costed them with that in mind. Maybe Fanatics of Mogis too. Thassa, Master and Brimaz have seen fringe play, Athreos and Ashiok have seen none, but that's WotC making a mistake, not trying not to make powerful cards.
If they want us to be innovative with the modern format than this is what they should do - print more new cards that can actually be played in a deck or can foster their own deck to fill gaps that are not in modern ie. legacy style reanimator etc.. We have a fixed pool of cards and the power level lately in standard is pretty weak with the format being pretty slow and there being alot of 5+ drops. The format is pretty young and we need more tournaments to figure out what works and what doesn't Standard gets weekly FNMs so people can try out new wacky ideas but if there is one modern event that you can get to all year you are not going to risk it all and try out some new fancy deck that you are not sure is going to work because the risk is just too large so I don't see why they thought barely increasing gps and closing us out of the PT and the way the new PTQs and PPTQs work is going to help us innovate in any way. They done messed up and should just restart from square one and admit they messed up big.
If they want us to be innovative with the modern format than this is what they should do - print more new cards that can actually be played in a deck or can foster their own deck to fill gaps that are not in modern ie. legacy style reanimator etc.. We have a fixed pool of cards and the power level lately in standard is pretty weak with the format being pretty slow and there being alot of 5+ drops. The format is pretty young and we need more tournaments to figure out what works and what doesn't Standard gets weekly FNMs so people can try out new wacky ideas but if there is one modern event that you can get to all year you are not going to risk it all and try out some new fancy deck that you are not sure is going to work because the risk is just too large so I don't see why they thought barely increasing gps and closing us out of the PT and the way the new PTQs and PPTQs work is going to help us innovate in any way. They done messed up and should just restart from square one and admit they messed up big.
You especially aint gonna take a risk when the mana base for neat silly decks costs 500 dollars
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Legacy
Death and Taxes Pauper
UB Teachings
Tortured Existence
Murasa Tron Modern
Pod (RIP)
Bloom(RIP)
Merfolk
Just a quick reply to the original post... I would never use the word "stale" to describe Modern. How is having 5-10 top decks stale? It's an eternal format for Christ's sake.
I'm just another Modern player saddened / angered by the news yesterday.
I think a lot of the love for modern comes form outside the USA. In the USA you can just play legacy with SCG supporting it well and enough of a card supply.
Because it is almost impossible to play legacy here, no one has the cards it took too long for magic to get enough popularity... Ok we do play legacy we play completely proxied legacy tournaments having to do that is bad for WotC and secondary markets.
It is just natural to play standard for a few years then just take your once awesome standard deck and upgrade it into a modern deck.
It is possible that WotC underrated modern because of the environment in the USA.
It is possible that WotC underrated modern because of the environment in the USA.
I dont think it had anything to do with it being in the USA, they underestimated the popularity of the format period. 2 4000+ events based around Modern. That says a lot. I dont think Wotc was ready for that.
I wish you had asked him about Ancestral Vision. That was one I was quite curious about.
Actually, I'd really love it if someone at Wizards were to give their estimation on each card on the banned list. I understand they obviously don't want to talk too deeply, but even listing them as "these are the cards we at least sometimes talk about possibly unbanning" and "these are the cards we never talk about possibly unbanning" would be nice. Maybe you could ask him about that in the interview?
I wish you had asked him about Ancestral Vision. That was one I was quite curious about.
Actually, I'd really love it if someone at Wizards were to give their estimation on each card on the banned list. I understand they obviously don't want to talk too deeply, but even listing them as "these are the cards we at least sometimes talk about possibly unbanning" and "these are the cards we never talk about possibly unbanning" would be nice. Maybe you could ask him about that in the interview?
I do agree it would be nice which cards have a shot, and which dont. It is nice to know at least 4 cards will not be coming off any time soon.
I think there's a fair number of cards in Theros block that WotC expected would shake up Modern but they just slightly missed on them.
They "missed" because they couldn't push them further because of standard.
Also, Ashiok? Athreos? Both of those are clear as water that would never be modern playablem there is no way someone could reasonably belive that they would be modern playable as they are now.
The gods are good examples. The only one that see fringe play is Thassa because she cost 3 and do something by itself. The other gods are simply bad for modern because they either cost too much or do nothing on they own (or both in some cases).
Wizard Development team is too coward lately, too scared of making a "new mind scuptor" that they push the cost to the sky when they can't reduce the P/T in case of creatures.
Here is a crazy idea..... Since there is no PT in 2015, maybe wizards should get rid of the ban list completely and give the community a full year with all the cards and see what shakes out.
Here is my reasoning: They created the ban list from scratch with no real data or results to guide them just past standard results as a weak guide line. We have seen from the past unbanning of BB and the cat that cards originally feared to stagnant the format have had little to no impact. BBE was banned BC it was too powerful, but that was at a time that JtMS was banned as well, maybe with both available there is a balance. At the end of 2015 they can use actual evidence and results to make a ban list and go from there.
@Shmaka
When you meet Aaron for the interview, could you ask him if Modern Masters 2 will be printed to meet demand, i.e. will it be available at big box stores?
Here is a crazy idea..... Since there is no PT in 2015, maybe wizards should get rid of the ban list completely and give the community a full year with all the cards and see what shakes out.
Here is my reasoning: They created the ban list from scratch with no real data or results to guide them just past standard results as a weak guide line. We have seen from the past unbanning of BB and the cat that cards originally feared to stagnant the format have had little to no impact. BBE was banned BC it was too powerful, but that was at a time that JtMS was banned as well, maybe with both available there is a balance. At the end of 2015 they can use actual evidence and results to make a ban list and go from there.
Its been talked about and agreed it would be a huge step backward for the format. Wotc know what decks violate the guidelines of the format. No sense in taking a step back to prove it to the player base.
you can only push a creature so far before you give it unreasonable stats or abilities. they need to give at least some consideration for things that aren't permanents to shake the format. like we didn't even get a good ramp spell in theros.
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I speak in sarcasm because calling people ******* ******** is not allowed.
Obviously a lot of the cards in new sets are going to cost a bajillion mana. They have to balance it for limited and standard first. As much as I'd like them to, they can't just print a handful of cards that will be playable in modern/legacy in every set.
That said, they do need to make sure we at least get some.
They just need to print strong cards that would have little to no effect in Standard. If you want to promote Tempo/Aggro-Control in Modern? Print Stifle, it won't even be played in Standard or maybe even Daze which would probably see just a small amount of play if any in Standard. If you want to make Aggro better? Print some strong Goblins and Merfolks or maybe another "taxing" creature for D&T/Hatebears; none of them will be played much in Standard.
Control would be a little harder but a card like Back to Basics or something that can set up miracles w/o making Combo too consistent or Delver too good. Control does need a cheap answer to creatures that midrange decks wouldn't want to play, something like Innocent Blood but that I think that would be too good in Standard.
It is very easy to make aggro or tempo better in Modern, Control will take more thought. Combo and Midrange don't need that much help right now. But, printing the the other 5 fetches would really help with color diversity making decks like Bug, "Dega", Esper and Grixis more viable.
@Shmaka
When you meet Aaron for the interview, could you ask him if Modern Masters 2 will be printed to meet demand, i.e. will it be available at big box stores?
This is a very good idea.
Not sure I'd expect MMA2 to be available everywhere (they don't want newbies getting it as their first Magic product) but it would be good to have it be printed for as long as there is demand. The goal should be for stores to be able to sell it at MSRP without feeling they are throwing money away.
I do want to see what they learn from Vintage Masters that gets applied in MMA2 - I half expect they will copy the VMA rarity structure (not the 'special' rarity but the huge list of rares). Tundra (a rare) in VMA is the same rarity as Tarmogoyf in MMA, both are 1 in 120 packs (121 in MMA but that's nitpicking). Jace the Mind Sculptor (a mythic) in VMA is 1 in 240.
Here is a crazy idea..... Since there is no PT in 2015, maybe wizards should get rid of the ban list completely and give the community a full year with all the cards and see what shakes out.
Here is my reasoning: They created the ban list from scratch with no real data or results to guide them just past standard results as a weak guide line. We have seen from the past unbanning of BB and the cat that cards originally feared to stagnant the format have had little to no impact. BBE was banned BC it was too powerful, but that was at a time that JtMS was banned as well, maybe with both available there is a balance. At the end of 2015 they can use actual evidence and results to make a ban list and go from there.
Not only would this kill the format (Mental Misstep in every deck, Skullclamp in every creature-based deck, abundant turn 2 Dredge and Storm), but it would also make it impossible to see which cards are breaking the format. If Jace, SFM, Ponder, Preordain, Skullclamp, Umezawa's Jitte, Mental Misstep, Sensei's Divining Top, and Ancestral Vision all go into the same deck, how do you tell which one is broken?
Obviously a lot of the cards in new sets are going to cost a bajillion mana. They have to balance it for limited and standard first. As much as I'd like them to, they can't just print a handful of cards that will be playable in modern/legacy in every set.
That didn't seem to be true for Return to Ravnica, Avacyn Restored, Dark Ascension, Innistrad, New Phyrexia, Scars of Mirrodin, Rise of the Eldrazi, Worldwake, Zendikar, and the majority of sets for many years until Theros.
It is very easy to make aggro or tempo better in Modern, Control will take more thought. Combo and Midrange don't need that much help right now. But, printing the the other 5 fetches would really help with color diversity making decks like Bug, "Dega", Esper and Grixis more viable.
Control actually isn't too hard to fix, because what it is lacking is glaringly obvious: a finisher and card draw. Sphinx's rev is nice, but is WAY too slow for modern (and is more of a pseudo-finisher regardless) and the same can be said about celestial colonnade while think twice is just absolutely miserable. And with the existence of a ton of combo decks and remand being super popular, the finisher either needs flash or be an instant speed spell. Something like resto angel if it had protection from black, but that'd be a little rediculous. Card draw is a little tricky to design without accidentally creating the second coming of fact or fiction I admit, but would an instant speed version of compulsive research costed at 1UU or even UUU be so horribly broken?
Tempo delver-esque decks just need force spike and that can easily push them into tier 1 consideration. Meanwhile straight up aggro beat face decks need some serious work and there isn't anything on the banned list that would really help them without turning them into 90% combo 10% aggro "ish" like infect is.
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Control actually isn't too hard to fix, because what it is lacking is glaringly obvious: a finisher and card draw. Sphinx's rev is nice, but is WAY too slow for modern (and is more of a pseudo-finisher regardless) and the same can be said about celestial colonnade while think twice is just absolutely miserable. And with the existence of a ton of combo decks and remand being super popular, the finisher either needs flash or be an instant speed spell. Something like resto angel if it had protection from black, but that'd be a little rediculous. Card draw is a little tricky to design without accidentally creating the second coming of fact or fiction I admit, but would an instant speed version of compulsive research costed at 1UU or even UUU be so horribly broken?
Well, the answer is right there... Fact or Fiction. They could just reprint that. That's a card that would give little to no benefit to combo decks while benefiting control decks. And considering just how many tools control is losing post rotation, they could really use a good card draw spell in Standard.
Tempo delver-esque decks just need force spike and that can easily push them into tier 1 consideration. Meanwhile straight up aggro beat face decks need some serious work and there isn't anything on the banned list that would really help them without turning them into 90% combo 10% aggro "ish" like infect is.
I don't see Force Spike as helping Delver decks much, if at all. Does it stop your opponent from casting their Lightning Bolt on your Delver or Young Pyromancer the turn after you cast it? No. Does it stop Abrupt Decay? No. The deck either needs a threat that can resist Abrupt Decay (like Nimble Mongoose) or a way to protect your threat after you've cast them without having to leave mana open (like Daze). And it loses power very, very fast. Daze is worth it because you can tap out and still cast it, but Force Spike doesn't give you that luxury.
Well, the answer is right there... Fact or Fiction. They could just reprint that. That's a card that would give little to no benefit to combo decks while benefiting control decks. And considering just how many tools control is losing post rotation, they could really use a good card draw spell in Standard.
Um, have you ever cast fact or fiction in constructed? There is exactly zero chance it will ever come back into standard and I will make a Cedric Phillips cartwheel bet on that one, and be happy to lose mind you. FoF is way too good for standard and, while it would be an incredible boon to control in modern if it was a "modern core set" type of effect, I still think it might be too good considering how many places it will go into. But my god though, fof snapcaster fof sure does sound dreamy. Maybe if they banned snappy but gave us fof it might be fine, but I'm worried that losing snappy is too much of a blow for twin to stay tier 1 and that deck is too important to the format to be crushed that hard.
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Well, the answer is right there... Fact or Fiction. They could just reprint that. That's a card that would give little to no benefit to combo decks while benefiting control decks. And considering just how many tools control is losing post rotation, they could really use a good card draw spell in Standard.
Um, have you ever cast fact or fiction in constructed? There is exactly zero chance it will ever come back into standard and I will make a Cedric Phillips cartwheel bet on that one, and be happy to lose mind you. FoF is way too good for standard and, while it would be an incredible boon to control in modern if it was a "modern core set" type of effect, I still think it might be too good considering how many places it will go into. But my god though, fof snapcaster fof sure does sound dreamy. Maybe if they banned snappy but gave us fof it might be fine, but I'm worried that losing snappy is too much of a blow for twin to stay tier 1 and that deck is too important to the format to be crushed that hard.
The idea that Fact or Fiction is "way too good for Standard" loses credibility when one considers that Thoughtseize was brought back. Actually, Thoughtseize coming back does that to a lot of cards people claim are too powerful for Standard. It's kind of like saying that buying a $2,000 computer is fine, but a $1,500 one is too much.
It's a good card. A great card, even. But I don't see it as breaking anything in Standard. And it definitely wouldn't be overpowered in Modern or go into that many decks. A 4-mana cantrip is generally only good for decks that want to play the long game, i.e. control decks. I doubt you'll see Splinter Twin playing it, for example.
It's not like Gifts Ungiven is tearing up the format.
A) They have a minimum standard to expect a few decks of each archetype (3-4ish) (Combo, Aggro, Aggro-Control, Control)[Giving a total of 12 top tier decks] - They are disappointed they have not met this standard.
I'm kind of curious why they feel they haven't met this standard. Modern has definitely been giving ground up on the combo front lately to other archetypes. We have both Pod and Twin now that are much less combo oriented than they were a year ago but we still have Living End, Amulet, and Griselbanned as dedicated combo, Kiki Pod to a lesser extent. The aggro front is dominated by Affinity but Zoo, Bogles, Burn, Merfolk, and Infect are certainly viable. Aggro-Control reads to me as tempo and we have Delver, Death & Taxes, and maybe tokens there. Control has Blue Moon, UWR, and blue tron, then we have midrange which is plentiful. If anything the format is a bit too midrange at the moment but there are multiple viable decks in every archetype. That seems pretty good to me.
Just where exactly is the format falling short? This is the most diverse it's ever been.
I realize you don't want to be combative in a formal interview, or even when just having a discussion but these are points I would bring up to try and get a feel for where they're coming from.
A) They have a minimum standard to expect a few decks of each archetype (3-4ish) (Combo, Aggro, Aggro-Control, Control)[Giving a total of 12 top tier decks] - They are disappointed they have not met this standard.
I'm kind of curious why they feel they haven't met this standard. Modern has definitely been giving ground up on the combo front lately to other archetypes. We have both Pod and Twin now that are much less combo oriented than they were a year ago but we still have Living End, Amulet, and Griselbanned as dedicated combo, Kiki Pod to a lesser extent. The aggro front is dominated by Affinity but Zoo, Bogles, Burn, Merfolk, and Infect are certainly viable. Aggro-Control reads to me as tempo and we have Delver, Death & Taxes, and maybe tokens there. Control has Blue Moon, UWR, and blue tron, then we have midrange which is plentiful. If anything the format is a bit too midrange at the moment but there are multiple viable decks in every archetype. That seems pretty good to me.
Just where exactly is the format falling short? This is the most diverse it's ever been.
I realize you don't want to be combative in a formal interview, or even when just having a discussion but these are points I would bring up to try and get a feel for where they're coming from.
Those decks are viable. But they are not tier 1. U-Tron, D&T, Delver, Bogles, Zoo, Merfolk, Burn, Tokens, Living End, Griselbrand, Kiki Pod, and Amulet certainly aren't tier 1.
Those decks are viable. But they are not tier 1. U-Tron, D&T, Delver, Bogles, Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity, Burn, Tokens, Living End, Griselbrand, Kiki Pod, and Amulet certainly aren't tier 1.
Those decks are viable. But they are not tier 1. U-Tron, D&T, Delver, Bogles, Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity, Burn, Tokens, Living End, Griselbrand, Kiki Pod, and Amulet certainly aren't tier 1.
True but asking for 12 tier 1 decks is a lot. Have we ever had a format with 12 tier 1 decks? Even Legacy doesn't have that.
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I think there's a fair number of cards in Theros block that WotC expected would shake up Modern but they just slightly missed on them.
Thassa, Athreos, Master of Waves, Ashiok, Brimaz - I expect WotC believed each of those cards would see tier 1 Modern play, and costed them with that in mind. Maybe Fanatics of Mogis too. Thassa, Master and Brimaz have seen fringe play, Athreos and Ashiok have seen none, but that's WotC making a mistake, not trying not to make powerful cards.
You especially aint gonna take a risk when the mana base for neat silly decks costs 500 dollars
Death and Taxes
Pauper
UB Teachings
Tortured Existence
Murasa Tron
Modern
Pod (RIP)
Bloom(RIP)
Merfolk
I'm just another Modern player saddened / angered by the news yesterday.
Because it is almost impossible to play legacy here, no one has the cards it took too long for magic to get enough popularity... Ok we do play legacy we play completely proxied legacy tournaments having to do that is bad for WotC and secondary markets.
It is just natural to play standard for a few years then just take your once awesome standard deck and upgrade it into a modern deck.
It is possible that WotC underrated modern because of the environment in the USA.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I dont think it had anything to do with it being in the USA, they underestimated the popularity of the format period. 2 4000+ events based around Modern. That says a lot. I dont think Wotc was ready for that.
Actually, I'd really love it if someone at Wizards were to give their estimation on each card on the banned list. I understand they obviously don't want to talk too deeply, but even listing them as "these are the cards we at least sometimes talk about possibly unbanning" and "these are the cards we never talk about possibly unbanning" would be nice. Maybe you could ask him about that in the interview?
I do agree it would be nice which cards have a shot, and which dont. It is nice to know at least 4 cards will not be coming off any time soon.
Also, Ashiok? Athreos? Both of those are clear as water that would never be modern playablem there is no way someone could reasonably belive that they would be modern playable as they are now.
The gods are good examples. The only one that see fringe play is Thassa because she cost 3 and do something by itself. The other gods are simply bad for modern because they either cost too much or do nothing on they own (or both in some cases).
Wizard Development team is too coward lately, too scared of making a "new mind scuptor" that they push the cost to the sky when they can't reduce the P/T in case of creatures.
Here is my reasoning: They created the ban list from scratch with no real data or results to guide them just past standard results as a weak guide line. We have seen from the past unbanning of BB and the cat that cards originally feared to stagnant the format have had little to no impact. BBE was banned BC it was too powerful, but that was at a time that JtMS was banned as well, maybe with both available there is a balance. At the end of 2015 they can use actual evidence and results to make a ban list and go from there.
When you meet Aaron for the interview, could you ask him if Modern Masters 2 will be printed to meet demand, i.e. will it be available at big box stores?
Its been talked about and agreed it would be a huge step backward for the format. Wotc know what decks violate the guidelines of the format. No sense in taking a step back to prove it to the player base.
That said, they do need to make sure we at least get some.
Modern Junk Primer
Legacy ANT Primer
L1 Judge
Control would be a little harder but a card like Back to Basics or something that can set up miracles w/o making Combo too consistent or Delver too good. Control does need a cheap answer to creatures that midrange decks wouldn't want to play, something like Innocent Blood but that I think that would be too good in Standard.
It is very easy to make aggro or tempo better in Modern, Control will take more thought. Combo and Midrange don't need that much help right now. But, printing the the other 5 fetches would really help with color diversity making decks like Bug, "Dega", Esper and Grixis more viable.
This is a very good idea.
Not sure I'd expect MMA2 to be available everywhere (they don't want newbies getting it as their first Magic product) but it would be good to have it be printed for as long as there is demand. The goal should be for stores to be able to sell it at MSRP without feeling they are throwing money away.
I do want to see what they learn from Vintage Masters that gets applied in MMA2 - I half expect they will copy the VMA rarity structure (not the 'special' rarity but the huge list of rares). Tundra (a rare) in VMA is the same rarity as Tarmogoyf in MMA, both are 1 in 120 packs (121 in MMA but that's nitpicking). Jace the Mind Sculptor (a mythic) in VMA is 1 in 240.
Not only would this kill the format (Mental Misstep in every deck, Skullclamp in every creature-based deck, abundant turn 2 Dredge and Storm), but it would also make it impossible to see which cards are breaking the format. If Jace, SFM, Ponder, Preordain, Skullclamp, Umezawa's Jitte, Mental Misstep, Sensei's Divining Top, and Ancestral Vision all go into the same deck, how do you tell which one is broken?
That didn't seem to be true for Return to Ravnica, Avacyn Restored, Dark Ascension, Innistrad, New Phyrexia, Scars of Mirrodin, Rise of the Eldrazi, Worldwake, Zendikar, and the majority of sets for many years until Theros.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Control actually isn't too hard to fix, because what it is lacking is glaringly obvious: a finisher and card draw. Sphinx's rev is nice, but is WAY too slow for modern (and is more of a pseudo-finisher regardless) and the same can be said about celestial colonnade while think twice is just absolutely miserable. And with the existence of a ton of combo decks and remand being super popular, the finisher either needs flash or be an instant speed spell. Something like resto angel if it had protection from black, but that'd be a little rediculous. Card draw is a little tricky to design without accidentally creating the second coming of fact or fiction I admit, but would an instant speed version of compulsive research costed at 1UU or even UUU be so horribly broken?
Tempo delver-esque decks just need force spike and that can easily push them into tier 1 consideration. Meanwhile straight up aggro beat face decks need some serious work and there isn't anything on the banned list that would really help them without turning them into 90% combo 10% aggro "ish" like infect is.
I don't see Force Spike as helping Delver decks much, if at all. Does it stop your opponent from casting their Lightning Bolt on your Delver or Young Pyromancer the turn after you cast it? No. Does it stop Abrupt Decay? No. The deck either needs a threat that can resist Abrupt Decay (like Nimble Mongoose) or a way to protect your threat after you've cast them without having to leave mana open (like Daze). And it loses power very, very fast. Daze is worth it because you can tap out and still cast it, but Force Spike doesn't give you that luxury.
Um, have you ever cast fact or fiction in constructed? There is exactly zero chance it will ever come back into standard and I will make a Cedric Phillips cartwheel bet on that one, and be happy to lose mind you. FoF is way too good for standard and, while it would be an incredible boon to control in modern if it was a "modern core set" type of effect, I still think it might be too good considering how many places it will go into. But my god though, fof snapcaster fof sure does sound dreamy. Maybe if they banned snappy but gave us fof it might be fine, but I'm worried that losing snappy is too much of a blow for twin to stay tier 1 and that deck is too important to the format to be crushed that hard.
It's a good card. A great card, even. But I don't see it as breaking anything in Standard. And it definitely wouldn't be overpowered in Modern or go into that many decks. A 4-mana cantrip is generally only good for decks that want to play the long game, i.e. control decks. I doubt you'll see Splinter Twin playing it, for example.
It's not like Gifts Ungiven is tearing up the format.
I'm kind of curious why they feel they haven't met this standard. Modern has definitely been giving ground up on the combo front lately to other archetypes. We have both Pod and Twin now that are much less combo oriented than they were a year ago but we still have Living End, Amulet, and Griselbanned as dedicated combo, Kiki Pod to a lesser extent. The aggro front is dominated by Affinity but Zoo, Bogles, Burn, Merfolk, and Infect are certainly viable. Aggro-Control reads to me as tempo and we have Delver, Death & Taxes, and maybe tokens there. Control has Blue Moon, UWR, and blue tron, then we have midrange which is plentiful. If anything the format is a bit too midrange at the moment but there are multiple viable decks in every archetype. That seems pretty good to me.
Just where exactly is the format falling short? This is the most diverse it's ever been.
I realize you don't want to be combative in a formal interview, or even when just having a discussion but these are points I would bring up to try and get a feel for where they're coming from.
Those decks are viable. But they are not tier 1. U-Tron, D&T, Delver, Bogles, Zoo, Merfolk, Burn, Tokens, Living End, Griselbrand, Kiki Pod, and Amulet certainly aren't tier 1.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
True but asking for 12 tier 1 decks is a lot. Have we ever had a format with 12 tier 1 decks? Even Legacy doesn't have that.