The reason Pod was banned was because of the Pro Tour, its really that simple.
While I don't agree it was the only reason for the pod ban, I do think there is a strong element of this in it. WotC wants to showcase its premiere format on the largest stage possible and they want the format to show off diversity and innovation. Every pro, or nearly so would either be playing pod or playing to beat pod. And having that on the largest stage possible doesn't seem to be what WotC wants to convey as the modern format.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
The reason Pod was banned was because of the Pro Tour, its really that simple.
I agree with this. Don't get me wrong, I think the deck was borderline due to power level but Pod was a reasonable amount of the metagame for the most part. I think Wizards banned it though as a combination of it being borderline and it being the level 0 deck for everyone going into the PT.
The reason Pod was banned was because of the Pro Tour, its really that simple.
Disagree. It was easily a primary incentive, but not the sole reason.
Pod was very close to the same level that Jund was a couple years ago in terms of duration and dominance among GP/high level finishes. It was already close to the best deck if not the best prior to KTK, and even amidst the Fall Treasure Cruise format it rose through the ranks to be the #1 deck. In the absence of Cruise, it would have simply been the best deck.
I'm sure WOTC wanted to shake things up for the Pro Tour, but they wouldn't ban a premier card in the format for that sole reason. They banned Pod because it was becoming oppressive, simple as that.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
[
Disagree. It was easily a primary incentive, but not the sole reason.
Pod was very close to the same level that Jund was a couple years ago in terms of duration and dominance among GP/high level finishes. It was already close to the best deck if not the best prior to KTK, and even amidst the Fall Treasure Cruise format it rose through the ranks to be the #1 deck. In the absence of Cruise, it would have simply been the best deck.
I'm sure WOTC wanted to shake things up for the Pro Tour, but they wouldn't ban a premier card in the format for that sole reason. They banned Pod because it was becoming oppressive, simple as that.
Many of the decks that Cruise was keeping down like Scapeshift, Control, and Tron are decks that are well known for their fantastic matchup against Pod. Pod rose because it could keep up with Cruise while it's bad matchups were kept down. Any deck that loses all of it's predators is going to do well.
I don't understand why people don't get the fact that being too consistent is the reason things like this are banned to keep power down. There are other cards that are banned for making decks too consistent, and Pod was one of them. So I see people saying "Why would I play a podless deck with other pod-like engines - that is just way worse and not as consistent"
....
Uh, yea! DUH! That's the POINT
Yup I've said this before. It's completely in line with the other bannings, but apparently it's much more fun to put on tinfoil hats and roll in some salt.
Many of the decks that Cruise was keeping down like Scapeshift, Control, and Tron are decks that are well known for their fantastic matchup against Pod. Pod rose because it could keep up with Cruise while it's bad matchups were kept down. Any deck that loses all of it's predators is going to do well.
Those 3 decks weren't all that popular before KTK dropped either though, and even if they were Pod was still doing just fine with them in the meta. Of all those decks you mentioned, only Scapeshift and UWR Control have won a major event, and to my knowledge it was one each. Pod was still all over Top 8s for months and months despite the presence of "Pod predators" in the meta.
I'm aware that Treasure Cruise and DTT narrowed the meta to an even more favorable level for Melira Pod, but the point is that Pod would have continued being the Level 0 deck even after banning those two cards anyway. They banned it for its clear ability to dominate and for its potential to continue doing so, simple as that. Tutors get better with time, and Pod could have easily adapted to any meta post-bans, regardless of how many predators it might face in the field. Tutors are powerful, and it's not hard to exchange a few slots to vastly improve your bad matchups when you have a tutor engine at the core of your deck. Big Combo and Control decks are coming back? Swap back into an actual Combo win. Electrolyze got you down? Jam more Voices of Resurgence. The ability to adapt so easily is unparalleled in any other deck in the format. It was simply Pod's time to take a break.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
To be fair two of the GPs Pod won it should have lost if the other player knew what they were doing. A lot of people I talked to said they disliked the Pod decks since it ran so many different threats and newer players don't understand some of the cards, reasoning or lines of play and that affected how their matches went. If everyone knew exactly how Pod played and how to play around it then people would have had an easier time playing against it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active Modern Decks
U Tron GW Bogles RG Loam UR Blue Breach RBU Grixis Goryo BRU Grixis Delver GBR Jund GBW Junk
To be fair two of the GPs Pod won it should have lost if the other player knew what they were doing. A lot of people I talked to said they disliked the Pod decks since it ran so many different threats and newer players don't understand some of the cards, reasoning or lines of play and that affected how their matches went. If everyone knew exactly how Pod played and how to play around it then people would have had an easier time playing against it.
That is such crap. You're essentially saying "pod was fine, git gud" it was the most versatile consistent deck in the format. There's nothing else to it. And as far as the wins go, it matters what happened not what could of. It still had an absurd record.
I actually have a bit of a theory about DTT. Now they said that if they banned TC and left DTT the two big decks that ran TC would just run DTT, which I think would be true *delver would probably need some tweeking and I think many would agree that would of been a significant nerf*. My theory is that a big reason they banned DTT was to ensure a massive change in the meta for the PT.
So basically I think a possible reason they banned DTT was to ensure a completely new meta and not necessarily because it was overpowered.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
SonofaBith - Wizards was so excited about making the packaging for Modern Masters 2 recyclable, they decided to make most of the rares and all but 1 of the UC's recycle-bin ready too. Convenient!
I just find stupid all the ban arguments... modern is/was a self regulating and fun format, i find stupid that the people get high on the banhammmerzzz and when they got it they cry and whine! Modern, aside some cards (ex skullclamp)had the right power level between standard and legacy and had the tool to self regulate against t0 decks.
Delver is too powerfull? Pod comes in. Pod is too powerfull? Scapeshift tron come in. And keep it moving. One of these decks stays to powerfull for too long time? (And i mean 6 months AT LEAST) PRINT something really strong against that deck that helps their predators.
Reeally, you think bans will help? When a tier0 deck gets the ban, the second tier0.5 will replace it. No way to get out of that circle. You think that we will ever have a balanced metàgame? Its IMPOSSIBLE. Even in legacy we have a cyclical metagame, but they dont ban a card every year and they manage to resolve it.
The problem with modern, a problem that i reeally hoped they wanted to solve with this last ban
Announcement, but they didnt, is that it began as a ban format, and it will stay for a lo of time. The second reason is its popularity, people just netdeck and follow the top tier decks to win. So stop crying or yelling for bans, or saying you will lose your money if they ban your deck, they'll allways do that, and its reeally a shame. Dont come here whining for a siege rhino ban when in 3 months the 40% of decks will be junk, they'll ban it the next year. The show must go on at pro tours, right? Wizard is lazy to test modern and lazy to print policy cards,
Ps: i allways tried to play decks i liked and not because of the win ratio, played zoo when jund was strong, kiki pod (WITHOUT BLUE) because i liked that color combination, U tron, and now i'm building BUG midrange. And you know what? The last 4 months, when i LEARNT the format and the metagame, i allways been in top4, laughing at all the people Who were saying to play tier 1 decks
Pps: and i smile to people Who laugh at those who were playing the banned cards, remember that at some point they'll ban a card you reeally like and you were playing, enjoy the ban format!
To be fair two of the GPs Pod won it should have lost if the other player knew what they were doing. A lot of people I talked to said they disliked the Pod decks since it ran so many different threats and newer players don't understand some of the cards, reasoning or lines of play and that affected how their matches went. If everyone knew exactly how Pod played and how to play around it then people would have had an easier time playing against it.
That is such crap. You're essentially saying "pod was fine, git gud" it was the most versatile consistent deck in the format. There's nothing else to it. And as far as the wins go, it matters what happened not what could of. It still had an absurd record.
And it wasn't overpowered at all. It was very good against a field full of Delver and anti-Delver. It has a ton of natural predators that would have kept it in check if left in the format, look at all of the evidence from pre-KtK. Claiming otherwise is just silly.
It was a good deck, best in THAT format, a format where Delver is huge. It was even down to as low as 3 percent during Delvers reign of terror.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active Modern Decks
U Tron GW Bogles RG Loam UR Blue Breach RBU Grixis Goryo BRU Grixis Delver GBR Jund GBW Junk
To be fair two of the GPs Pod won it should have lost if the other player knew what they were doing. A lot of people I talked to said they disliked the Pod decks since it ran so many different threats and newer players don't understand some of the cards, reasoning or lines of play and that affected how their matches went. If everyone knew exactly how Pod played and how to play around it then people would have had an easier time playing against it.
That is such crap. You're essentially saying "pod was fine, git gud" it was the most versatile consistent deck in the format. There's nothing else to it. And as far as the wins go, it matters what happened not what could of. It still had an absurd record.
And it wasn't overpowered at all. It was very good against a field full of Delver and anti-Delver. It has a ton of natural predators that would have kept it in check if left in the format, look at all of the evidence from pre-KtK. Claiming otherwise is just silly.
It was a good deck, best in THAT format, a format where Delver is huge. It was even down to as low as 3 percent during Delvers reign of terror.
Pod has been the best deck in the format for a while, there has been discussion about whether it should be banned for years. It's a reliable tutor that lets you cheat mana costs. It had by far better deck manipulation than anything else in the format.
In all honesty, it should have been banned a long time ago. Part of the backlash is because wizards let it run rampant for a long time and finally realized they had to do something about it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing:
Modern: UWUW TronUW
Legacy: WDeath N TaxesW CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
I just find stupid all the ban arguments... modern is/was a self regulating and fun format, i find stupid that the people get high on the banhammmerzzz and when they got it they cry and whine! Modern, aside some cards (ex skullclamp)had the right power level between standard and legacy and had the tool to self regulate against t0 decks.
Delver is too powerfull? Pod comes in. Pod is too powerfull? Scapeshift tron come in. And keep it moving. One of these decks stays to powerfull for too long time? (And i mean 6 months AT LEAST) PRINT something really strong against that deck that helps their predators.
Reeally, you think bans will help? When a tier0 deck gets the ban, the second tier0.5 will replace it. No way to get out of that circle. You think that we will ever have a balanced metàgame? Its IMPOSSIBLE. Even in legacy we have a cyclical metagame, but they dont ban a card every year and they manage to resolve it.
The problem with modern, a problem that i reeally hoped they wanted to solve with this last ban
Announcement, but they didnt, is that it began as a ban format, and it will stay for a lo of time. The second reason is its popularity, people just netdeck and follow the top tier decks to win. So stop crying or yelling for bans, or saying you will lose your money if they ban your deck, they'll allways do that, and its reeally a shame. Dont come here whining for a siege rhino ban when in 3 months the 40% of decks will be junk, they'll ban it the next year. The show must go on at pro tours, right? Wizard is lazy to test modern and lazy to print policy cards,
Ps: i allways tried to play decks i liked and not because of the win ratio, played zoo when jund was strong, kiki pod (WITHOUT BLUE) because i liked that color combination, U tron, and now i'm building BUG midrange. And you know what? The last 4 months, when i LEARNT the format and the metagame, i allways been in top4, laughing at all the people Who were saying to play tier 1 decks
Pps: and i smile to people Who laugh at those who were playing the banned cards, remember that at some point they'll ban a card you reeally like and you were playing, enjoy the ban format!
First, Modern has never been self regulating. Personally I dont think it can.
Second, waiting 6 months would kill the format. Wotc is trying to showcase the format and was scared pre KTK the format was stale and solved. Now you say they should wait 6 months. Wotc has much more data then you will ever see. They have been in the business for 2 decades, they understand what needs to be done.
Third, local metas mean nothing. What matters is the bigger events. So enjoy your top finished with your rogue decks.
I am very happy Wotc does not listen to players like you.
I just find stupid all the ban arguments... modern is/was a self regulating and fun format, i find stupid that the people get high on the banhammmerzzz and when they got it they cry and whine! Modern, aside some cards (ex skullclamp)had the right power level between standard and legacy and had the tool to self regulate against t0 decks.
Delver is too powerfull? Pod comes in. Pod is too powerfull? Scapeshift tron come in. And keep it moving. One of these decks stays to powerfull for too long time? (And i mean 6 months AT LEAST) PRINT something really strong against that deck that helps their predators.
Reeally, you think bans will help? When a tier0 deck gets the ban, the second tier0.5 will replace it. No way to get out of that circle. You think that we will ever have a balanced metàgame? Its IMPOSSIBLE. Even in legacy we have a cyclical metagame, but they dont ban a card every year and they manage to resolve it.
The problem with modern, a problem that i reeally hoped they wanted to solve with this last ban
Announcement, but they didnt, is that it began as a ban format, and it will stay for a lo of time. The second reason is its popularity, people just netdeck and follow the top tier decks to win. So stop crying or yelling for bans, or saying you will lose your money if they ban your deck, they'll allways do that, and its reeally a shame. Dont come here whining for a siege rhino ban when in 3 months the 40% of decks will be junk, they'll ban it the next year. The show must go on at pro tours, right? Wizard is lazy to test modern and lazy to print policy cards,
Ps: i allways tried to play decks i liked and not because of the win ratio, played zoo when jund was strong, kiki pod (WITHOUT BLUE) because i liked that color combination, U tron, and now i'm building BUG midrange. And you know what? The last 4 months, when i LEARNT the format and the metagame, i allways been in top4, laughing at all the people Who were saying to play tier 1 decks
Pps: and i smile to people Who laugh at those who were playing the banned cards, remember that at some point they'll ban a card you reeally like and you were playing, enjoy the ban format!
This is exactly how I feel. We will never know if Modern is self regulating because the bans happen too often. In Legacy, there is a bigger card pool. There are more decks that can top 8 or win an event. If a deck is getting out of control, there are measures that can be done to ensure that it doesn't continue its success to the same extent. Remember talks of banning Show and Tell or True-Name Nemesis? They survived and I don't think that Legacy is any worse for it. Even Treasure Cruise may not have had to be banned, but I guess changing Blue decks to include this staple changed the landscape of Legacy a bit too much.
People don't understand that there will always be good decks in a format. People don't understand that there will always be decks that people enjoy playing. People don't understand that in Modern, many players stick with the same archetype that they enjoy and that has remained competitive since the beginning. Showing which deck won a Grand Prix doesn't always show every statistic about a deck. For example, a tournament that has 20% of the players on Pod, including the top 5%, the winner will most likely be on Pod. Imagine what would have happened if LSV and others played Grixis Control a bunch at these Grand Prix? Maybe we would be talking about a Cruel Ultimatum ban. But I guess that if something is not right according to Wizards, they can always ban another card in 3 months. We're used to it by now.
I don't think that Siege Rhino will ever be called for a ban. It's a creature, not in the way Stoneforge Mystic is a creature that is a Sorcery for tutor - equipment and put into play with mana by tapping it. The scary part to me is that a newcomer to these forums may come in here and have some impression that Pod was as good as Necropotence decks, UW Delver in Standard, or even Legacy Delver decks. They will be confused that people believe that the dominance was the same. After all, Pod was a deck that didn't have a card banned the whole time until Deathrite Shaman got banned and the deck got better (without having to deal with opposing DRS and having Noble Hierarch to slide in).
I think you're very smart to play decks that are not quite as common, and therefore much less likely to have something banned. Good for you! I try to do the same, but I can't resist occasionally putting the top tier decks together and it is necessary for testing purposes anyway.
*Also if someone can show me an overall winning percentage of over 50% with Angel Pod at large tournaments, I would love to see it. Somehow I can't see it, especially with a deck that has a learning curve to play and play against.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
We will never know if Modern is self regulating because the bans happen too often.
We know exactly what Modern does when it self regulates. Birthing Pod starts going up to almost a fifth of the format.
People don't understand that there will always be good decks in a format. People don't understand that there will always be decks that people enjoy playing. People don't understand that in Modern, many players stick with the same archetype that they enjoy and that has remained competitive since the beginning.
You don't seem to understand that there's a difference between a good deck, a degenerate deck, and a deck that is literally limiting design space.
For example, a tournament that has 20% of the players on Pod, including the top 5%, the winner will most likely be on Pod. Imagine what would have happened if LSV and others played Grixis Control a bunch at these Grand Prix? Maybe we would be talking about a Cruel Ultimatum ban.
If Cruel Ultimatum was always winning Grand Prixs, then yes it should be banned. If you're talking about winning one GP, then you seriously need some context.
We're used to it by now.
Apparently not, from the way you keep going on about it.
The scary part to me is that a newcomer to these forums may come in here and have some impression that Pod was as good as Necropotence decks, UW Delver in Standard, or even Legacy Delver decks. They will be confused that people believe that the dominance was the same.
Legacy Delver and Pod were actually fairly close. According to mtgtop8, all Delver decks combined was around 19% of the meta. All Pod decks were around 16% of the meta. Both are dangerous numbers.
I think you're very smart to play decks that are not quite as common, and therefore much less likely to have something banned. Good for you! I try to do the same, but I can't resist occasionally putting the top tier decks together and it is necessary for testing purposes anyway.
"Stale" doesn't sound too swell to me whether there is a Pro Tour or not. We also had notification that Stale and Diversity were both entirely different issues in their eyes. What they didn't understand; is how popular Modern really is. Through the Grapevine I have been told a few interesting statistics
1. That the banning announcements were more popular and WotC received more hits on their website, than they did during the entire Khans of Tarkir Pro Tour. - That's insane 2. They have received much interesting feedback from the Birthing Pod ban, most professional players were clamoring for it ever since Deathrite Shaman was lost, while most of us down below perhaps disagreed with the overall mentality of it.
Personally, (I know this is going to shake some trees between a bunch of folks,) I feel that if this game and this format, become a balancing act between the highest player profiles that I would enjoy the format a great deal more. What this means is, adjust around the professional level - NOTE: it's the Promotional Tour, not the Professional Tour.
League of Legends is a common name so I will use this as an example - they don't balance that game based on low level player statistics, they balance it based on the highest level competition. "The Minions will follow" is a common balancing method used by game developers lately, and I am tending to agree with it. Does this mean the banned list needs to be as long as it currently is? No. Will the banned list get longer? I personally hope not, I have a hard time as it is explaining why some cards are banned to newer players attempting to enter the format.
"Stale" doesn't sound too swell to me whether there is a Pro Tour or not. We also had notification that Stale and Diversity were both entirely different issues in their eyes. What they didn't understand; is how popular Modern really is. Through the Grapevine I have been told a few interesting statistics
1. That the banning announcements were more popular and WotC received more hits on their website, than they did during the entire Khans of Tarkir Pro Tour. - That's insane 2. They have received much interesting feedback from the Birthing Pod ban, most professional players were clamoring for it ever since Deathrite Shaman was lost, while most of us down below perhaps disagreed with the overall mentality of it.
Personally, (I know this is going to shake some trees between a bunch of folks,) I feel that if this game and this format, become a balancing act between the highest player profiles that I would enjoy the format a great deal more. What this means is, adjust around the professional level - NOTE: it's the Promotional Tour, not the Professional Tour.
League of Legends is a common name so I will use this as an example - they don't balance that game based on low level player statistics, they balance it based on the highest level competition. "The Minions will follow" is a common balancing method used by game developers lately, and I am tending to agree with it. Does this mean the banned list needs to be as long as it currently is? No. Will the banned list get longer? I personally hope not, I have a hard time as it is explaining why some cards are banned to newer players attempting to enter the format.
The main difference is that the pro component of Magic players for the most part ignore Modern. They play maybe 2 GP's a year, otherwise the only time they pay any attention at all to the format is around the PT. If there was a serious devoted set of Modern pro's I think your point would have a lot more merit. As it is I have a hard time listening to pro's as to what should and shouldn't be banned when they don't play the format for even a combined 1 out of 12 months of the year.
Ouch! You really diminished that argument. You forgot to address this.
"*Also if someone can show me an overall winning percentage of over 50% with Angel Pod at large tournaments, I would love to see it. Somehow I can't see it, especially with a deck that has a learning curve to play and play against."
Heaven forbid a deck goes to 16% of the meta. We should have decks that are exactly equal in popularity. What percentage is acceptable by you? (Just remember, I will hold you to that number in this upcoming meta since you seem to be the end all, be all here for Modern.)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
"*Also if someone can show me an overall winning percentage of over 50% with Angel Pod at large tournaments, I would love to see it. Somehow I can't see it, especially with a deck that has a learning curve to play and play against."
I find the overall winning percentage irrelevant compared to the top8 showings, wins and overall meta composition. Therefore I didn't address it.
Heaven forbid a deck goes to 16% of the meta.
I don't think you get that it wasn't purely because of it being 16% of the meta. There are other factors involved, of which that was one.
What percentage is acceptable by you?
I dunno, somewhere around 12%ish. Something like that. I could see 13-14%, if only for a period of time. If that becomes extended (for a month or more, around there), I would be worried.
(Just remember, I will hold you to that number in this upcoming meta since you seem to be the end all, be all here for Modern.)
Damn son, your biting wit really showed me. I guess I'll just bow to your superior doomsaying.
"Stale" doesn't sound too swell to me whether there is a Pro Tour or not. We also had notification that Stale and Diversity were both entirely different issues in their eyes. What they didn't understand; is how popular Modern really is. Through the Grapevine I have been told a few interesting statistics
1. That the banning announcements were more popular and WotC received more hits on their website, than they did during the entire Khans of Tarkir Pro Tour. - That's insane 2. They have received much interesting feedback from the Birthing Pod ban, most professional players were clamoring for it ever since Deathrite Shaman was lost, while most of us down below perhaps disagreed with the overall mentality of it.
Personally, (I know this is going to shake some trees between a bunch of folks,) I feel that if this game and this format, become a balancing act between the highest player profiles that I would enjoy the format a great deal more. What this means is, adjust around the professional level - NOTE: it's the Promotional Tour, not the Professional Tour.
League of Legends is a common name so I will use this as an example - they don't balance that game based on low level player statistics, they balance it based on the highest level competition. "The Minions will follow" is a common balancing method used by game developers lately, and I am tending to agree with it. Does this mean the banned list needs to be as long as it currently is? No. Will the banned list get longer? I personally hope not, I have a hard time as it is explaining why some cards are banned to newer players attempting to enter the format.
I wish you would post more, your posts are better than 90% of this entire website (no offense to the site or mods).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active Modern Decks
U Tron GW Bogles RG Loam UR Blue Breach RBU Grixis Goryo BRU Grixis Delver GBR Jund GBW Junk
I'd say WotC wants there to be at least 12 different decks, preferably 16, that are all roughly equal, in teir 1, and for at least 3 in each category, (Aggro, Aggro-Control, Control, and Combo being the 'categories' they are talking about).
Right now aggro and control are struggling, and aggro-control and combo are dominant, partly because WotC hasn't printed enough aggro creatures, or control spells, but they've printed lots of really efficient creatures that suit tempo, some spells that are good in tempo but bad in control, and some amazingly efficient spells for midrange that aren't so good in control and are somewhat weak against combo (which control is supposed to be strong against).
One of the biggest problems right now is that a lot of combos are so 'easy' they fit into decks that can also win with midrange and/or control strategies, which makes printing simpler control card designs, which tend to increase consistency, very dangerous in how much they help combo.
Aggro is slowly getting helped by stronger low cmc creatures turning up occasionally in new sets.
Unfortunately, control is harder to print safely for, because a lot of the simpler card designs for it will help the already strong combo and aggro-control (tempo and midrange) decks. That is what we saw with the TC and DTT bans, cards that might at first glance look like control cards were actually tempo and combo cards, which like burning through their decks faster and lower cmc stuff (making delve more relevant) while DTT was extremely good selection, making it more useful for combo than control (control caring less about selection and more about raw card advantage), while tempo caring more about refueling with TC shoring up the against the weakness it is supposed to have for a balanced meta.
I think thus that decks shouldn't go over 10% long term, nor categories (of the 4 wizard speaks of) over 35% long term.
The reason Pod was banned was because of the Pro Tour, its really that simple.
...aaaaand we've hit a new low. Look, I agree that they like to ban/unban stuff right before the PT to shake things up. But you can't realistically argue that that was the reason it was banned, due to the simple fact that they were already banning Cruise and Dig (and unbanned GGT), which would've shaken things up plenty. In fact, I'd argue that due to that fact, they had to had a pretty compelling reason (or set of reasons) to ban Pod -- which I think they did.
But your avatar is Birthing Pod, so yanno. That, plus the fact that only weeks ago you were arguing for a Cruise ban because it had made your favorite deck -- Pod -- unplayable, means it's pretty clear where you're coming from in all this. Discussion is always more fruitful when we can all acknowledge our biases.
I actually have a bit of a theory about DTT. Now they said that if they banned TC and left DTT the two big decks that ran TC would just run DTT, which I think would be true *delver would probably need some tweeking and I think many would agree that would of been a significant nerf*. My theory is that a big reason they banned DTT was to ensure a massive change in the meta for the PT.
So basically I think a possible reason they banned DTT was to ensure a completely new meta and not necessarily because it was overpowered.
Exactly. Dig didn't need a ban. They banned it out of fear and wanting more viewership. It wasn't breaking the format. It was fine. It was banned merely because of the pro tour. No matter how many decks like Blue Moon come out of the Pro Tour, if one more ban this ridiculous happens again because of it, I am going to call for Wizards to make all Pro Tours Standard again.
I just find stupid all the ban arguments... modern is/was a self regulating and fun format, i find stupid that the people get high on the banhammmerzzz and when they got it they cry and whine! Modern, aside some cards (ex skullclamp)had the right power level between standard and legacy and had the tool to self regulate against t0 decks.
Delver is too powerfull? Pod comes in. Pod is too powerfull? Scapeshift tron come in. And keep it moving. One of these decks stays to powerfull for too long time? (And i mean 6 months AT LEAST) PRINT something really strong against that deck that helps their predators.
Reeally, you think bans will help? When a tier0 deck gets the ban, the second tier0.5 will replace it. No way to get out of that circle. You think that we will ever have a balanced metàgame? Its IMPOSSIBLE. Even in legacy we have a cyclical metagame, but they dont ban a card every year and they manage to resolve it.
The problem with modern, a problem that i reeally hoped they wanted to solve with this last ban
Announcement, but they didnt, is that it began as a ban format, and it will stay for a lo of time. The second reason is its popularity, people just netdeck and follow the top tier decks to win. So stop crying or yelling for bans, or saying you will lose your money if they ban your deck, they'll allways do that, and its reeally a shame. Dont come here whining for a siege rhino ban when in 3 months the 40% of decks will be junk, they'll ban it the next year. The show must go on at pro tours, right? Wizard is lazy to test modern and lazy to print policy cards,
Ps: i allways tried to play decks i liked and not because of the win ratio, played zoo when jund was strong, kiki pod (WITHOUT BLUE) because i liked that color combination, U tron, and now i'm building BUG midrange. And you know what? The last 4 months, when i LEARNT the format and the metagame, i allways been in top4, laughing at all the people Who were saying to play tier 1 decks
Pps: and i smile to people Who laugh at those who were playing the banned cards, remember that at some point they'll ban a card you reeally like and you were playing, enjoy the ban format!
First, Modern has never been self regulating. Personally I dont think it can.
So what then? Every year, the top deck gets banned, even if it isn't breaking the format, because the pro tour needs excitement? How is that fair?
Second, waiting 6 months would kill the format. Wotc is trying to showcase the format and was scared pre KTK the format was stale and solved. Now you say they should wait 6 months. Wotc has much more data then you will ever see. They have been in the business for 2 decades, they understand what needs to be done.
The KTK format was evolving. They could have unbanned a card or two like back in 2012 and then let people play with it instead of banning all of the top decks except for Junk.
"Stale" doesn't sound too swell to me whether there is a Pro Tour or not. We also had notification that Stale and Diversity were both entirely different issues in their eyes. What they didn't understand; is how popular Modern really is. Through the Grapevine I have been told a few interesting statistics
1. That the banning announcements were more popular and WotC received more hits on their website, than they did during the entire Khans of Tarkir Pro Tour. - That's insane 2. They have received much interesting feedback from the Birthing Pod ban, most professional players were clamoring for it ever since Deathrite Shaman was lost, while most of us down below perhaps disagreed with the overall mentality of it.
Personally, (I know this is going to shake some trees between a bunch of folks,) I feel that if this game and this format, become a balancing act between the highest player profiles that I would enjoy the format a great deal more. What this means is, adjust around the professional level - NOTE: it's the Promotional Tour, not the Professional Tour.
League of Legends is a common name so I will use this as an example - they don't balance that game based on low level player statistics, they balance it based on the highest level competition. "The Minions will follow" is a common balancing method used by game developers lately, and I am tending to agree with it. Does this mean the banned list needs to be as long as it currently is? No. Will the banned list get longer? I personally hope not, I have a hard time as it is explaining why some cards are banned to newer players attempting to enter the format.
So, because the pros don't play Modern and pay little attention to it, we should have to follow their whims on bans? I guess that means that we should all prepare for the Manamorphose ban then. Bans shouldn't be decided on what the pros think. They should be decided on hard facts.
The reason Pod was banned was because of the Pro Tour, its really that simple.
...aaaaand we've hit a new low. Look, I agree that they like to ban/unban stuff right before the PT to shake things up. But you can't realistically argue that that was the reason it was banned, due to the simple fact that they were already banning Cruise and Dig (and unbanned GGT), which would've shaken things up plenty. In fact, I'd argue that due to that fact, they had to had a pretty compelling reason (or set of reasons) to ban Pod -- which I think they did.
But your avatar is Birthing Pod, so yanno. That, plus the fact that only weeks ago you were arguing for a Cruise ban because it had made your favorite deck -- Pod -- unplayable, means it's pretty clear where you're coming from in all this. Discussion is always more fruitful when we can all acknowledge our biases.
To be fair to him, the PT was definitely a factor in this. If you watch Channel Fireball, the host recently talked about how he saw Aaron Forscythe at a GP and asked him about the Modern PT. Aaron said that the reason they didn't want to do Modern PTs was because they would then have to ban more cards, as the format would be seen by more people.
Do I think they banned it purely because of the PT? No, no I don't. I think they banned it because of future design, its adaptable nature through consistent tutoring and its portion of the meta. It might have stuck around for a bit longer if there wasn't a Modern PT, but I'm frankly glad it's gone. As someone who played it for awhile, it got really old and was a huge part of the meta.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern URW Control WBG Abzan GRW Burn
EDH GR Rosheen Meanderer
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
While I don't agree it was the only reason for the pod ban, I do think there is a strong element of this in it. WotC wants to showcase its premiere format on the largest stage possible and they want the format to show off diversity and innovation. Every pro, or nearly so would either be playing pod or playing to beat pod. And having that on the largest stage possible doesn't seem to be what WotC wants to convey as the modern format.
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
I agree with this. Don't get me wrong, I think the deck was borderline due to power level but Pod was a reasonable amount of the metagame for the most part. I think Wizards banned it though as a combination of it being borderline and it being the level 0 deck for everyone going into the PT.
Disagree. It was easily a primary incentive, but not the sole reason.
Pod was very close to the same level that Jund was a couple years ago in terms of duration and dominance among GP/high level finishes. It was already close to the best deck if not the best prior to KTK, and even amidst the Fall Treasure Cruise format it rose through the ranks to be the #1 deck. In the absence of Cruise, it would have simply been the best deck.
I'm sure WOTC wanted to shake things up for the Pro Tour, but they wouldn't ban a premier card in the format for that sole reason. They banned Pod because it was becoming oppressive, simple as that.
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
Many of the decks that Cruise was keeping down like Scapeshift, Control, and Tron are decks that are well known for their fantastic matchup against Pod. Pod rose because it could keep up with Cruise while it's bad matchups were kept down. Any deck that loses all of it's predators is going to do well.
Yup I've said this before. It's completely in line with the other bannings, but apparently it's much more fun to put on tinfoil hats and roll in some salt.
Those 3 decks weren't all that popular before KTK dropped either though, and even if they were Pod was still doing just fine with them in the meta. Of all those decks you mentioned, only Scapeshift and UWR Control have won a major event, and to my knowledge it was one each. Pod was still all over Top 8s for months and months despite the presence of "Pod predators" in the meta.
I'm aware that Treasure Cruise and DTT narrowed the meta to an even more favorable level for Melira Pod, but the point is that Pod would have continued being the Level 0 deck even after banning those two cards anyway. They banned it for its clear ability to dominate and for its potential to continue doing so, simple as that. Tutors get better with time, and Pod could have easily adapted to any meta post-bans, regardless of how many predators it might face in the field. Tutors are powerful, and it's not hard to exchange a few slots to vastly improve your bad matchups when you have a tutor engine at the core of your deck. Big Combo and Control decks are coming back? Swap back into an actual Combo win. Electrolyze got you down? Jam more Voices of Resurgence. The ability to adapt so easily is unparalleled in any other deck in the format. It was simply Pod's time to take a break.
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
U Tron
GW Bogles
RG Loam
UR Blue Breach
RBU Grixis Goryo
BRU Grixis Delver
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
Active Legacy Decks
BR Reanimator
That is such crap. You're essentially saying "pod was fine, git gud" it was the most versatile consistent deck in the format. There's nothing else to it. And as far as the wins go, it matters what happened not what could of. It still had an absurd record.
So basically I think a possible reason they banned DTT was to ensure a completely new meta and not necessarily because it was overpowered.
GW Rhys the Redeemed EDH
RUGAnimar, Soul of Elements EDH
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death EDH
Delver is too powerfull? Pod comes in. Pod is too powerfull? Scapeshift tron come in. And keep it moving. One of these decks stays to powerfull for too long time? (And i mean 6 months AT LEAST) PRINT something really strong against that deck that helps their predators.
Reeally, you think bans will help? When a tier0 deck gets the ban, the second tier0.5 will replace it. No way to get out of that circle. You think that we will ever have a balanced metàgame? Its IMPOSSIBLE. Even in legacy we have a cyclical metagame, but they dont ban a card every year and they manage to resolve it.
The problem with modern, a problem that i reeally hoped they wanted to solve with this last ban
Announcement, but they didnt, is that it began as a ban format, and it will stay for a lo of time. The second reason is its popularity, people just netdeck and follow the top tier decks to win. So stop crying or yelling for bans, or saying you will lose your money if they ban your deck, they'll allways do that, and its reeally a shame. Dont come here whining for a siege rhino ban when in 3 months the 40% of decks will be junk, they'll ban it the next year. The show must go on at pro tours, right? Wizard is lazy to test modern and lazy to print policy cards,
Ps: i allways tried to play decks i liked and not because of the win ratio, played zoo when jund was strong, kiki pod (WITHOUT BLUE) because i liked that color combination, U tron, and now i'm building BUG midrange. And you know what? The last 4 months, when i LEARNT the format and the metagame, i allways been in top4, laughing at all the people Who were saying to play tier 1 decks
Pps: and i smile to people Who laugh at those who were playing the banned cards, remember that at some point they'll ban a card you reeally like and you were playing, enjoy the ban format!
wat. It was never a self regulating format. Wizards has been watching over it from the moment it was created.
Because OBVIOUSLY the people wanting cards banned are the same people whining. Your logic is impeccable m80.
I r8 this post an 8/8, gr8 b8 m8, 2bad some cards got b&.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
And it wasn't overpowered at all. It was very good against a field full of Delver and anti-Delver. It has a ton of natural predators that would have kept it in check if left in the format, look at all of the evidence from pre-KtK. Claiming otherwise is just silly.
It was a good deck, best in THAT format, a format where Delver is huge. It was even down to as low as 3 percent during Delvers reign of terror.
U Tron
GW Bogles
RG Loam
UR Blue Breach
RBU Grixis Goryo
BRU Grixis Delver
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
Active Legacy Decks
BR Reanimator
Pod has been the best deck in the format for a while, there has been discussion about whether it should be banned for years. It's a reliable tutor that lets you cheat mana costs. It had by far better deck manipulation than anything else in the format.
In all honesty, it should have been banned a long time ago. Part of the backlash is because wizards let it run rampant for a long time and finally realized they had to do something about it.
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
First, Modern has never been self regulating. Personally I dont think it can.
Second, waiting 6 months would kill the format. Wotc is trying to showcase the format and was scared pre KTK the format was stale and solved. Now you say they should wait 6 months. Wotc has much more data then you will ever see. They have been in the business for 2 decades, they understand what needs to be done.
Third, local metas mean nothing. What matters is the bigger events. So enjoy your top finished with your rogue decks.
I am very happy Wotc does not listen to players like you.
This is exactly how I feel. We will never know if Modern is self regulating because the bans happen too often. In Legacy, there is a bigger card pool. There are more decks that can top 8 or win an event. If a deck is getting out of control, there are measures that can be done to ensure that it doesn't continue its success to the same extent. Remember talks of banning Show and Tell or True-Name Nemesis? They survived and I don't think that Legacy is any worse for it. Even Treasure Cruise may not have had to be banned, but I guess changing Blue decks to include this staple changed the landscape of Legacy a bit too much.
People don't understand that there will always be good decks in a format. People don't understand that there will always be decks that people enjoy playing. People don't understand that in Modern, many players stick with the same archetype that they enjoy and that has remained competitive since the beginning. Showing which deck won a Grand Prix doesn't always show every statistic about a deck. For example, a tournament that has 20% of the players on Pod, including the top 5%, the winner will most likely be on Pod. Imagine what would have happened if LSV and others played Grixis Control a bunch at these Grand Prix? Maybe we would be talking about a Cruel Ultimatum ban. But I guess that if something is not right according to Wizards, they can always ban another card in 3 months. We're used to it by now.
I don't think that Siege Rhino will ever be called for a ban. It's a creature, not in the way Stoneforge Mystic is a creature that is a Sorcery for tutor - equipment and put into play with mana by tapping it. The scary part to me is that a newcomer to these forums may come in here and have some impression that Pod was as good as Necropotence decks, UW Delver in Standard, or even Legacy Delver decks. They will be confused that people believe that the dominance was the same. After all, Pod was a deck that didn't have a card banned the whole time until Deathrite Shaman got banned and the deck got better (without having to deal with opposing DRS and having Noble Hierarch to slide in).
I think you're very smart to play decks that are not quite as common, and therefore much less likely to have something banned. Good for you! I try to do the same, but I can't resist occasionally putting the top tier decks together and it is necessary for testing purposes anyway.
*Also if someone can show me an overall winning percentage of over 50% with Angel Pod at large tournaments, I would love to see it. Somehow I can't see it, especially with a deck that has a learning curve to play and play against.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)We know exactly what Modern does when it self regulates. Birthing Pod starts going up to almost a fifth of the format.
You don't seem to understand that there's a difference between a good deck, a degenerate deck, and a deck that is literally limiting design space.
If Cruel Ultimatum was always winning Grand Prixs, then yes it should be banned. If you're talking about winning one GP, then you seriously need some context.
Apparently not, from the way you keep going on about it.
Legacy Delver and Pod were actually fairly close. According to mtgtop8, all Delver decks combined was around 19% of the meta. All Pod decks were around 16% of the meta. Both are dangerous numbers.
DAE ALL TOP DECKS WILL BE BANNED!?
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
I don't understand how this logic came about, I also don't think this is true at all... remember what I posted after I discussed the reaction from the community about the lack of announcements from a Modern Pro Tour?
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/567422-i-just-personally-spoke-with-aaron-forsythe-at-pro
"Stale" doesn't sound too swell to me whether there is a Pro Tour or not. We also had notification that Stale and Diversity were both entirely different issues in their eyes. What they didn't understand; is how popular Modern really is. Through the Grapevine I have been told a few interesting statistics
1. That the banning announcements were more popular and WotC received more hits on their website, than they did during the entire Khans of Tarkir Pro Tour. - That's insane
2. They have received much interesting feedback from the Birthing Pod ban, most professional players were clamoring for it ever since Deathrite Shaman was lost, while most of us down below perhaps disagreed with the overall mentality of it.
Personally, (I know this is going to shake some trees between a bunch of folks,) I feel that if this game and this format, become a balancing act between the highest player profiles that I would enjoy the format a great deal more. What this means is, adjust around the professional level - NOTE: it's the Promotional Tour, not the Professional Tour.
League of Legends is a common name so I will use this as an example - they don't balance that game based on low level player statistics, they balance it based on the highest level competition. "The Minions will follow" is a common balancing method used by game developers lately, and I am tending to agree with it. Does this mean the banned list needs to be as long as it currently is? No. Will the banned list get longer? I personally hope not, I have a hard time as it is explaining why some cards are banned to newer players attempting to enter the format.
The main difference is that the pro component of Magic players for the most part ignore Modern. They play maybe 2 GP's a year, otherwise the only time they pay any attention at all to the format is around the PT. If there was a serious devoted set of Modern pro's I think your point would have a lot more merit. As it is I have a hard time listening to pro's as to what should and shouldn't be banned when they don't play the format for even a combined 1 out of 12 months of the year.
Ouch! You really diminished that argument. You forgot to address this.
"*Also if someone can show me an overall winning percentage of over 50% with Angel Pod at large tournaments, I would love to see it. Somehow I can't see it, especially with a deck that has a learning curve to play and play against."
Heaven forbid a deck goes to 16% of the meta. We should have decks that are exactly equal in popularity. What percentage is acceptable by you? (Just remember, I will hold you to that number in this upcoming meta since you seem to be the end all, be all here for Modern.)
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I find the overall winning percentage irrelevant compared to the top8 showings, wins and overall meta composition. Therefore I didn't address it.
I don't think you get that it wasn't purely because of it being 16% of the meta. There are other factors involved, of which that was one.
I dunno, somewhere around 12%ish. Something like that. I could see 13-14%, if only for a period of time. If that becomes extended (for a month or more, around there), I would be worried.
Damn son, your biting wit really showed me. I guess I'll just bow to your superior doomsaying.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
I wish you would post more, your posts are better than 90% of this entire website (no offense to the site or mods).
U Tron
GW Bogles
RG Loam
UR Blue Breach
RBU Grixis Goryo
BRU Grixis Delver
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
Active Legacy Decks
BR Reanimator
Right now aggro and control are struggling, and aggro-control and combo are dominant, partly because WotC hasn't printed enough aggro creatures, or control spells, but they've printed lots of really efficient creatures that suit tempo, some spells that are good in tempo but bad in control, and some amazingly efficient spells for midrange that aren't so good in control and are somewhat weak against combo (which control is supposed to be strong against).
One of the biggest problems right now is that a lot of combos are so 'easy' they fit into decks that can also win with midrange and/or control strategies, which makes printing simpler control card designs, which tend to increase consistency, very dangerous in how much they help combo.
Aggro is slowly getting helped by stronger low cmc creatures turning up occasionally in new sets.
Unfortunately, control is harder to print safely for, because a lot of the simpler card designs for it will help the already strong combo and aggro-control (tempo and midrange) decks. That is what we saw with the TC and DTT bans, cards that might at first glance look like control cards were actually tempo and combo cards, which like burning through their decks faster and lower cmc stuff (making delve more relevant) while DTT was extremely good selection, making it more useful for combo than control (control caring less about selection and more about raw card advantage), while tempo caring more about refueling with TC shoring up the against the weakness it is supposed to have for a balanced meta.
I think thus that decks shouldn't go over 10% long term, nor categories (of the 4 wizard speaks of) over 35% long term.
...aaaaand we've hit a new low. Look, I agree that they like to ban/unban stuff right before the PT to shake things up. But you can't realistically argue that that was the reason it was banned, due to the simple fact that they were already banning Cruise and Dig (and unbanned GGT), which would've shaken things up plenty. In fact, I'd argue that due to that fact, they had to had a pretty compelling reason (or set of reasons) to ban Pod -- which I think they did.
But your avatar is Birthing Pod, so yanno. That, plus the fact that only weeks ago you were arguing for a Cruise ban because it had made your favorite deck -- Pod -- unplayable, means it's pretty clear where you're coming from in all this. Discussion is always more fruitful when we can all acknowledge our biases.
Modern: GW Hatebears/midrange, WGU Knightfall/evolution midrange stuff
Standard: nope
Legacy: W Death & Taxes
EDH (not Commander!): W Avacyn, Angel of Hope, GR Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, WGB Anafenza, the Foremost, WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator
Exactly. Dig didn't need a ban. They banned it out of fear and wanting more viewership. It wasn't breaking the format. It was fine. It was banned merely because of the pro tour. No matter how many decks like Blue Moon come out of the Pro Tour, if one more ban this ridiculous happens again because of it, I am going to call for Wizards to make all Pro Tours Standard again.
So what then? Every year, the top deck gets banned, even if it isn't breaking the format, because the pro tour needs excitement? How is that fair?
The KTK format was evolving. They could have unbanned a card or two like back in 2012 and then let people play with it instead of banning all of the top decks except for Junk.
So, because the pros don't play Modern and pay little attention to it, we should have to follow their whims on bans? I guess that means that we should all prepare for the Manamorphose ban then. Bans shouldn't be decided on what the pros think. They should be decided on hard facts.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
To be fair to him, the PT was definitely a factor in this. If you watch Channel Fireball, the host recently talked about how he saw Aaron Forscythe at a GP and asked him about the Modern PT. Aaron said that the reason they didn't want to do Modern PTs was because they would then have to ban more cards, as the format would be seen by more people.
Do I think they banned it purely because of the PT? No, no I don't. I think they banned it because of future design, its adaptable nature through consistent tutoring and its portion of the meta. It might have stuck around for a bit longer if there wasn't a Modern PT, but I'm frankly glad it's gone. As someone who played it for awhile, it got really old and was a huge part of the meta.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer