Ponder and Preordain dont make a deck. These decks arent going to suddenly drop off the face of the earth. They will adapt with more counter magic (hello Cryptic Command, more dig (hello Serum Visions), and more disruption (hello Spreading Seas).
Despite having JUST bought a playset of Shoals, I think WotC is on the ball with this. I'm curious to see how long before something falls back off the banned list actually. That might tell us more about how they will handle this going forward.
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No it isn't. Show me a decklist. All the top tier combo decks have been completely removed from the format. The tier 2 combo decks are the only ones left.
Honestly most Pyro decks didn't run rite of flames, unless they were also storm decks. The lost of ponder is slightly annoying, but muddle the mixture can be added for consistency in finding ascension.
As for storm Past in Flames is all it need to get back to being almost as good as it was sans the turn 1 wins it could produce.
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Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Cards on the ban listed aside, I am supremely disappointed that they are taking a scorched earth approach to banning in modern. This B/R update has pretty much quashed any chance that modern would catch on at any of the local game stores near me and a suspect this will be the case for countless others as well. I expected there to be changes in the format, I mean who didn't, but this is a little bit silly. In a year or two the format probably will settle, but who the hell is going to care?
Correct me if I'm wrong here but modern was made to be an accessible, eternal format. How is this format going to be accessible when there isn't a semblance of security that the deck you build is going to still be a deck come December (or whenever the next B/R update is)? Over extended didn't have to go to near these lengths to keep the format healthy and I don't believe modern is different enough to warrant this drastic of an approach to banning.
I was excited about the prospect of being able to play an eternal format again since the legacy scene has fizzled out here but things look pretty bleak now.
As far as the actual bans.
I agree with hitting either U/R combo's speed or it's consistency, hitting both seems like over kill and I'm hesitant to believe the people saying these decks are fine since I HIGHLY doubt you've put in any testing that could prove otherwise.
I agree hitting 12post was a good idea but killing it was stupid, Emrakul was the degenerate piece in my opinion.
Speaking on AV, i think that the point that Let that card to reLy in the banList is the upcoming print of Snapcaster Mage. Imagine a scenario where you can discard AV or have it resoLve, use Aether ViaL, Mage on AV, draw 3 for free. Imagine an engine with Momentary BLink and/or ReveiLLark, it became nearLy unkiLLabLe and provides tons of cards and cantrips effect. Way too powerfuL, isn't it?
AV doesn't have a CMC and you cannot give it flashback.
from Gatherer:
10/15/2006 This has no mana cost, which means it can't be cast with the Replicate ability of Djinn Illuminatus or by somehow giving it Flashback.
I'm kind of mad about the bans. They're are purposefully nerfing blue as a color and it burns me up. I was so stoked to play Mono Blue or U/x in modern and now without both cantrips, Visions or Jace 2, blue is really underwhelming. Sorry Clique... you're the only blue powerhouse left.
On a related note, sucks for Pryomancer's Ascension players...
This is exactly how I feel.
I know they probably don't actually have the mindset of "hey we don't like blue so lets nerf the hell out of it", but that's what it feels like.
The Green Sun Zenith ban was out of line. It's good but it's not broken, nowhere near broken in fact. I can't think of anyone who wanted that card banned. Not sure why they needed to ban both cantrips.
I'm mostly annoyed that nothing came off the ban list.
I'm kind of mad about the bans. They're are purposefully nerfing blue as a color and it burns me up. I was so stoked to play Mono Blue or U/x in modern and now without both cantrips, Visions or Jace 2, blue is really underwhelming. Sorry Clique... you're the only blue powerhouse left.
On a related note, sucks for Pryomancer's Ascension players...
Two things on this point. First of all, and I am not saying that you are making this mistake, control does not necessarily mean Blue-based countermagic control. There are a number of other control strategies which are quite viable in a metagame where aggro is frontrunning (Zoo and Affinity) and combo is a bit more depowered. Rock, Mono White, and Stax all come to mind as testable decks which can triumph in this new metagame. Blue-based control decks are still quite viable, but when we think about control as an archetype, we should not automatically jump to blue-based versions.
The second point is in direct response to your assessment of blue's "nerfing" as a color. Vendillion Clique remains and, as you correctly identified, they are beastly. But there are also other blue cards that remain very powerful in this format. With Twelvepost gone forever, these cards can now get their rightful time in the sun:
Spellstutter Sprite: She's a hard counter. She can carry equipment. She has evasion. And she only costs 2 mana. Spellstutter is incredibly powerful in this format, especially combined with Clique.
Trickbind: I still do not understand why people do not use this card. It is uncounterable Stifle that has applications against every deck in the format. It completely ruins a lot of combos, like Breach Hulk, UR Storm, Dragonstorm, and Hive Mind. It is a blowout against others, like Twin and Ascension. It is useful against Zoo and midrange (fetchlands, Knight of Reliquary), and it is good against odd sideboard cards. This thing is totally maindeckable, and it is a uniquely blue powerhouse.
Spell Snare: With Twelvepost gone, this card becomes even more powerful. The number of high tier decks that rely on 2 drops really increases in a post-Twelvepost, post-fast combo world. Zoo and Affinity are the big ones here, but the vast majority of extant combo decks are still going to run a lot of 2 CMC cards. When you combine this in the uptick of midrange decks which also run 2 CMC guys (Confidant, Pridemage, Goyf, etc.), you see a very powerful counterspell that is useful throughout the game.
Vedalken Shackles: Ok, so it's not ACTUALLY Blue, but it might as well be. This anti-aggro and midrange tool will give your opponent fits. The tempo and card advantage that this thing produces is obscene, and whether in your sideboard or maindeck, this is going to be highly relevant in a lot of matchups.
So do not despair blue mages! Blue control is alive and well, if you so choose to innovate the deck. Brad Sheppard's Next Level Blue deck, for example, is an awesome example of a capable and powerful deck that can influence the format. Preordain is lost, and that's too bad for blue players. But there are a lot of extremely powerful blue cards that can influence the format. AV and Jace (and Bitterblossom which is technically sort of blue) are not going to be desperately needed right now. They would be nice to have, but blue control can be fine without them now that Twelvepost is gone.
The Green Sun Zenith ban was out of line. It's good but it's not broken, nowhere near broken in fact. I can't think of anyone who wanted that card banned. Not sure why they needed to ban both cantrips.
While I don't entirely agree with GSZ's banning, I see why it was banned; GSZ gives too much versatility to decks that would otherwise have to either A) Side the cards they run one of because they can grab them with GSZ and not worry about drawing multiples in matchups those cards aren't useful in, and/or B) Run more copies of the cards they're running one or two of. It gave decks that ran it access to a lot of cards they normally wouldn't have to access to, and that's reason enough to ban it, at least in my opinion.
I'm mostly annoyed that nothing came off the ban list.
Me too. I honestly expected to see at least a few cards removed from the list (namely Bitterblossom and Jace, the Mind Sculptor). I'm somewhat disappointed that none did.
I'm fine with the additions to the ban list. Aaron Forsythe said WOTC was going to use the ban list liberally to shake up the format. Some times to correct problems or if the meta gets stale. So basically don't invest in the next gimmicky deck because most likely the key card will get banned.
On the other side of the coin, I do think the format would have self corrected itself in time. Aggro and combo will always exist when control doesn't know what to control (just watch standard once Zendikar rotates. Aggro for a couple months then it will be control mirrors until Oct 2012). I believe in time a control deck would have been successful in Modern without the ban list additions.
To all the whiners whose favorite deck just got hosed, I'm positive there will be another net deck you will become attached too.
I don't understand why its barely a month since the first live modern tournament and they have managed to justify banning 27 cards without even trying some of them as restricted cards(that I'm aware of). It's true that restricting some of the cards would be futile because people will tutor for a jmts every time and play him that way. But if you restricted ponder, preordain, mental misstep, and green sun's zenith they wouldn't be tutored for and only used if the player came across them in the deck naturally. I mean if blue is so strong that they have to start banning commons from the color to make it fair to play against the others then that has to be a major flag to the design teams for the last few sets.
First I want all turn 1 kill decks, and now I just want to play Caw-blade. You must be a detective or something.
I did indeed play the format before the first set of bannings. I had Faeries, Caw-Blade, Teachings, and Zoo built on modo. Of all the decks, Zoo was the strongest. Followed by Caw-Blade, then Faeries then teachings. BUT of all these decks, Faeries by FAR had the best combo MU. If you try and tell me otherwise, you're simply trolling.
Once again, I don't understand where you think I want a format dominated by control or combo. I want a proper format, where all 3 major archtypes are represented. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I had always proposed Faeries as a good way to keep the combo decks in check without having to ban a million more cards. That means I want faeries to keep combo in check, not control to dominate an entire format.
You also say Faeries was crap in your testing, so why does it need to be banned?
So because blossom was banned (all free stuff should be in my opinion) Fae is dead? I believe I saw U/G Fae being played in Philly. Did pretty good too in the Modern portion. His drafting either was lacking or just didnt get the cards to make top 8. I believe the deck had 18 points tho. I dont think Fae is dead, Fae players for the most part are just pouting over 1 card banned from the deck. 2 if you played visions, which not all Fae decks did/do.
When we tested Fae pre-bannings, it was way too slow to compete. Granted we were trying to prepare for hyper. Hyper won 8 out of 10 games. Yes it does have a better MU against slower combo, but most the control variants do too.
I don't understand why its barely a month since the first live modern tournament and they have managed to justify banning 27 cards without even trying some of them as restricted cards(that I'm aware of). It's true that restricting some of the cards would be futile because people will tutor for a jmts every time and play him that way. But if you restricted ponder, preordain, mental misstep, and green sun's zenith they wouldn't be tutored for and only used if the player came across them in the deck naturally. I mean if blue is so strong that they have to start banning commons from the color to make it fair to play against the others then that has to be a major flag to the design teams for the last few sets.
There are answers to any deck. But must you have answers to every deck? What if you are not playing a deck that can lightning bolt in response to blazing shoal? Then that fragile deck now became a consistent turn 2 kill deck.
The problem is not all decks can pack removal and answers to everytjing. Forcing people to run bad cards because of some degenerate combo inhibits good deckbuilding practices.
Legacy has Force of Will which is the universal answer to everything. In modern you must either never tap out and thus lose or run very narrow hate cards and build a bad deck and thus lose.
12 post wasn't super fast of a deck but it was hard to disrupt in a format without good wastelands. It almost always wins by turn 4-5. If 12 post is the standard 4 turn win deck and any turn 3 or below is banned then you have no diversity.
I only see people whining because wizards is killing netdecking. I went 2-2 last weekend at a modern event and lost on t2 to blazing shoal and had a hard time defeating 12post with their stupid lifegaining thing, only because he manascrewed twice. There was something like 4 splinter twin decks and a few pyromancers. Two zoos there and they both packed GSZ. ¿The other decks? Obviously out of top8. And there was good stuff, living end, junds, classic control, etc.
I don't get why some of you guys are whining. This format is gonna be roguefriendly and full of diversity. ¿Isnt that supposed to be good?
You're right, lets ban everything until Knight and Ninjas are the best decks
I'm fine with the additions to the ban list. Aaron Forsythe said WOTC was going to use the ban list liberally to shake up the format. Some times to correct problems or if the meta gets stale. So basically don't invest in the next gimmicky deck because most likely the key card will get banned.
On the other side of the coin, I do think the format would have self corrected itself in time. Aggro and combo will always exist when control doesn't know what to control (just watch standard once Zendikar rotates. Aggro for a couple months then it will be control mirrors until Oct 2012). I believe in time a control deck would have been successful in Modern without the ban list additions.
To all the whiners whose favorite deck just got hosed, I'm positive there will be another net deck you will become attached too.
I don't know about this. True control could not exist with 12post around. Also once zendikar rotates I will be playing and wining with control. This is the first format in which I couldn't make a good control deck. hopefully now its possible, but it still feels like bringing a nerf gun to a rifle range.
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Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
I love the bannings with the exception of Ponder and Preordain. Without those, I might as well not make my legacy polymorph standard legal, haha.
But yeah, I love the other bans, and they were really needed.
Its not like they can't be replaced.
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Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Haha, well I already have to take out Daze and Brainstorm, so it was running at sub-optimal efficiency anyway. I'll just keep it legacy-ready and build something else.
Haha, well I already have to take out Daze and Brainstorm, so it was running at sub-optimal efficiency anyway. I'll just keep it legacy-ready and build something else.
well if you go that far.....
Honestly modern is probably not the place for fair combo decks.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Modern was doomed from the start by WoTC's unbelieveable stupidity. =(
It's pretty sad; the format was really great before they started screwing with it. This thing's going the way of new extended, and it's heading there quick
care to elaborate?
it was quite obvious that after the initial bannings that the format was screwed due to all the combo (including 12post). adding mental misstep or jace to the mix isn't going to magically make things better.
so DCI decided to ban what was too fast for the format. slow it down so other midrange decks and control decks could survive.
i noticed after the first couple of weeks of the meta development that the format was screwed. this is a welcome banning, as far as i'm concerned.
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Honestly most Pyro decks didn't run rite of flames, unless they were also storm decks. The lost of ponder is slightly annoying, but muddle the mixture can be added for consistency in finding ascension.
Honestly, have you ever looked at the results? EVERY single Pyromancer deck that placed in Daily Events on MODO ran 4 copies of ponder, preordain, and rite of flame. Even those that weren't running the storm version of grapeshot,empty the warrens, and swath.
JoINrbs (3-1) Modern Daily #2772452 on 09/06/2011
BobbySapphire (3-1) Modern Daily #2803114 on 09/07/2011
flashjack711 (3-1) Modern Daily #2803152 on 09/08/2011
flashjack711 (3-1) Modern Daily #2803202 on 09/09/2011
flashjack711 (3-1) Modern Daily #2803252 on 09/10/2011
Malteko (4-0) Modern Daily #2803302 on 09/11/2011
BobbySapphire (8th Place) Modern Champs #2811159 on 09/11/2011
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Rite of Flame
If you do the same thing for ExarchTwin, the EXACT same thing happens for ponder and preordain.
noah_33 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772452 on 09/06/2011
rakugaki (3-1) Modern Daily #2772452 on 09/06/2011
millennium9999 (4-0) Modern Daily #2772453 on 09/06/2011
noah_33 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772453 on 09/06/2011
RedArmada (4-0) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
Yankadie (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
MacTwisT (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
Pikapo (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
UnicornPoacher (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
Magic4ever_MTGO (4-0) Modern Daily #2772455 on 09/06/2011
strong sad (3-1) Modern Daily #2772456 on 09/07/2011
millennium9999 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772456 on 09/07/2011
strong sad (4-0) Modern Daily #2772457 on 09/07/2011
factorfictiongames (3-1) Modern Daily #2772457 on 09/07/2011
The player87 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772457 on 09/07/2011
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
What Wizards functionally did was completely ban 8-12 cards from all of the top tier combo decks. Even LSV says that he believes that Splinter twin isn't a deck anymore, now that ponder and preordain have been banned.
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Despite having JUST bought a playset of Shoals, I think WotC is on the ball with this. I'm curious to see how long before something falls back off the banned list actually. That might tell us more about how they will handle this going forward.
O playing the stock market is fun. Although to think that a constant turn 2 kill wouldn't get banned is kind of silly to begin with but yeah. Buying cards is a risk in a format that is new. They are trying to balance the format without having it collapse due to it being unfun and just down right nut 7 draw every game. I really like what WotC is doing with Modern and until recently I thought they were a bunch of yellow belly cowards when it came to aggressively taking hold of a format. I must say I tip my hat to Wizards for how they are handling this for the superb job they are doing.
A little sad that Cloudpost got the shaft rather than Glimmerpost but it is better than having nothing banned.
It's good to see that Rite of Flame got the ban it deserved, hopefully this slows the deck from a turn 2-3 deck to a turn 3-4 deck. I disagree with the cantrip banning approach: it's not that those decks couldn't replace them with Serum Visions or Sleight of hand, or that Wizards would be willing to stop printing one-mana cantrips in the future sets. It's better to simply ban the engines rather than trying to make them inconsistent, which is way harder. For that matter, let's see if Splinter Twin really gets more fair.
Green Sun's Zenith? WTF? That was unexpected. Elves are now exclusively casual, although it's true that Zoo had an annoying toolbox with the zenith. I would have preferred a more direct target like Wild Nacatl but anything to bring Zoo down is welcome.
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Honestly most Pyro decks didn't run rite of flames, unless they were also storm decks. The lost of ponder is slightly annoying, but muddle the mixture can be added for consistency in finding ascension.
As for storm Past in Flames is all it need to get back to being almost as good as it was sans the turn 1 wins it could produce.
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Correct me if I'm wrong here but modern was made to be an accessible, eternal format. How is this format going to be accessible when there isn't a semblance of security that the deck you build is going to still be a deck come December (or whenever the next B/R update is)? Over extended didn't have to go to near these lengths to keep the format healthy and I don't believe modern is different enough to warrant this drastic of an approach to banning.
I was excited about the prospect of being able to play an eternal format again since the legacy scene has fizzled out here but things look pretty bleak now.
As far as the actual bans.
I agree with hitting either U/R combo's speed or it's consistency, hitting both seems like over kill and I'm hesitant to believe the people saying these decks are fine since I HIGHLY doubt you've put in any testing that could prove otherwise.
AV doesn't have a CMC and you cannot give it flashback.
from Gatherer:
10/15/2006 This has no mana cost, which means it can't be cast with the Replicate ability of Djinn Illuminatus or by somehow giving it Flashback.
This is exactly how I feel.
I know they probably don't actually have the mindset of "hey we don't like blue so lets nerf the hell out of it", but that's what it feels like.
UWU/W BlinkUW
BMono-Black ControlB
Commander:
GWUJenaraGWU
BGeth MBCB
RGXenagosRG
WUBSharuumWUB (retired)
Modern:
xAffinityx (starting)
Standard:
Ha! That's a good one.
I'm mostly annoyed that nothing came off the ban list.
Two things on this point. First of all, and I am not saying that you are making this mistake, control does not necessarily mean Blue-based countermagic control. There are a number of other control strategies which are quite viable in a metagame where aggro is frontrunning (Zoo and Affinity) and combo is a bit more depowered. Rock, Mono White, and Stax all come to mind as testable decks which can triumph in this new metagame. Blue-based control decks are still quite viable, but when we think about control as an archetype, we should not automatically jump to blue-based versions.
The second point is in direct response to your assessment of blue's "nerfing" as a color. Vendillion Clique remains and, as you correctly identified, they are beastly. But there are also other blue cards that remain very powerful in this format. With Twelvepost gone forever, these cards can now get their rightful time in the sun:
Spellstutter Sprite: She's a hard counter. She can carry equipment. She has evasion. And she only costs 2 mana. Spellstutter is incredibly powerful in this format, especially combined with Clique.
Trickbind: I still do not understand why people do not use this card. It is uncounterable Stifle that has applications against every deck in the format. It completely ruins a lot of combos, like Breach Hulk, UR Storm, Dragonstorm, and Hive Mind. It is a blowout against others, like Twin and Ascension. It is useful against Zoo and midrange (fetchlands, Knight of Reliquary), and it is good against odd sideboard cards. This thing is totally maindeckable, and it is a uniquely blue powerhouse.
Spell Snare: With Twelvepost gone, this card becomes even more powerful. The number of high tier decks that rely on 2 drops really increases in a post-Twelvepost, post-fast combo world. Zoo and Affinity are the big ones here, but the vast majority of extant combo decks are still going to run a lot of 2 CMC cards. When you combine this in the uptick of midrange decks which also run 2 CMC guys (Confidant, Pridemage, Goyf, etc.), you see a very powerful counterspell that is useful throughout the game.
Vedalken Shackles: Ok, so it's not ACTUALLY Blue, but it might as well be. This anti-aggro and midrange tool will give your opponent fits. The tempo and card advantage that this thing produces is obscene, and whether in your sideboard or maindeck, this is going to be highly relevant in a lot of matchups.
So do not despair blue mages! Blue control is alive and well, if you so choose to innovate the deck. Brad Sheppard's Next Level Blue deck, for example, is an awesome example of a capable and powerful deck that can influence the format. Preordain is lost, and that's too bad for blue players. But there are a lot of extremely powerful blue cards that can influence the format. AV and Jace (and Bitterblossom which is technically sort of blue) are not going to be desperately needed right now. They would be nice to have, but blue control can be fine without them now that Twelvepost is gone.
-ktkenshinx-
While I don't entirely agree with GSZ's banning, I see why it was banned; GSZ gives too much versatility to decks that would otherwise have to either A) Side the cards they run one of because they can grab them with GSZ and not worry about drawing multiples in matchups those cards aren't useful in, and/or B) Run more copies of the cards they're running one or two of. It gave decks that ran it access to a lot of cards they normally wouldn't have to access to, and that's reason enough to ban it, at least in my opinion.
Me too. I honestly expected to see at least a few cards removed from the list (namely Bitterblossom and Jace, the Mind Sculptor). I'm somewhat disappointed that none did.
Thanks to Nezumi for the banner!
On the other side of the coin, I do think the format would have self corrected itself in time. Aggro and combo will always exist when control doesn't know what to control (just watch standard once Zendikar rotates. Aggro for a couple months then it will be control mirrors until Oct 2012). I believe in time a control deck would have been successful in Modern without the ban list additions.
To all the whiners whose favorite deck just got hosed, I'm positive there will be another net deck you will become attached too.
So because blossom was banned (all free stuff should be in my opinion) Fae is dead? I believe I saw U/G Fae being played in Philly. Did pretty good too in the Modern portion. His drafting either was lacking or just didnt get the cards to make top 8. I believe the deck had 18 points tho. I dont think Fae is dead, Fae players for the most part are just pouting over 1 card banned from the deck. 2 if you played visions, which not all Fae decks did/do.
When we tested Fae pre-bannings, it was way too slow to compete. Granted we were trying to prepare for hyper. Hyper won 8 out of 10 games. Yes it does have a better MU against slower combo, but most the control variants do too.
Because they only restrict cards in Vintage.
The problem is not all decks can pack removal and answers to everytjing. Forcing people to run bad cards because of some degenerate combo inhibits good deckbuilding practices.
Legacy has Force of Will which is the universal answer to everything. In modern you must either never tap out and thus lose or run very narrow hate cards and build a bad deck and thus lose.
12 post wasn't super fast of a deck but it was hard to disrupt in a format without good wastelands. It almost always wins by turn 4-5. If 12 post is the standard 4 turn win deck and any turn 3 or below is banned then you have no diversity.
You're right, lets ban everything until Knight and Ninjas are the best decks
I think Wizards correctly banned the cards that were making combo "too good".
I built AiR like last weekend and to see this. :/
I don't know about this. True control could not exist with 12post around. Also once zendikar rotates I will be playing and wining with control. This is the first format in which I couldn't make a good control deck. hopefully now its possible, but it still feels like bringing a nerf gun to a rifle range.
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But yeah, I love the other bans, and they were really needed.
Its not like they can't be replaced.
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Haha, well I already have to take out Daze and Brainstorm, so it was running at sub-optimal efficiency anyway. I'll just keep it legacy-ready and build something else.
well if you go that far.....
Honestly modern is probably not the place for fair combo decks.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
it was quite obvious that after the initial bannings that the format was screwed due to all the combo (including 12post). adding mental misstep or jace to the mix isn't going to magically make things better.
so DCI decided to ban what was too fast for the format. slow it down so other midrange decks and control decks could survive.
i noticed after the first couple of weeks of the meta development that the format was screwed. this is a welcome banning, as far as i'm concerned.
-me
Honestly, have you ever looked at the results? EVERY single Pyromancer deck that placed in Daily Events on MODO ran 4 copies of ponder, preordain, and rite of flame. Even those that weren't running the storm version of grapeshot,empty the warrens, and swath.
JoINrbs (3-1) Modern Daily #2772452 on 09/06/2011
BobbySapphire (3-1) Modern Daily #2803114 on 09/07/2011
flashjack711 (3-1) Modern Daily #2803152 on 09/08/2011
flashjack711 (3-1) Modern Daily #2803202 on 09/09/2011
flashjack711 (3-1) Modern Daily #2803252 on 09/10/2011
Malteko (4-0) Modern Daily #2803302 on 09/11/2011
BobbySapphire (8th Place) Modern Champs #2811159 on 09/11/2011
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Rite of Flame
If you do the same thing for ExarchTwin, the EXACT same thing happens for ponder and preordain.
noah_33 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772452 on 09/06/2011
rakugaki (3-1) Modern Daily #2772452 on 09/06/2011
millennium9999 (4-0) Modern Daily #2772453 on 09/06/2011
noah_33 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772453 on 09/06/2011
RedArmada (4-0) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
Yankadie (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
MacTwisT (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
Pikapo (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
UnicornPoacher (3-1) Modern Daily #2772454 on 09/06/2011
Magic4ever_MTGO (4-0) Modern Daily #2772455 on 09/06/2011
strong sad (3-1) Modern Daily #2772456 on 09/07/2011
millennium9999 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772456 on 09/07/2011
strong sad (4-0) Modern Daily #2772457 on 09/07/2011
factorfictiongames (3-1) Modern Daily #2772457 on 09/07/2011
The player87 (3-1) Modern Daily #2772457 on 09/07/2011
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
What Wizards functionally did was completely ban 8-12 cards from all of the top tier combo decks. Even LSV says that he believes that Splinter twin isn't a deck anymore, now that ponder and preordain have been banned.
EDHCommanderWUBSharuum the HegemonBUW
UGRRiku of the Two ReflectionsRGU
Clan Limited
O playing the stock market is fun. Although to think that a constant turn 2 kill wouldn't get banned is kind of silly to begin with but yeah. Buying cards is a risk in a format that is new. They are trying to balance the format without having it collapse due to it being unfun and just down right nut 7 draw every game. I really like what WotC is doing with Modern and until recently I thought they were a bunch of yellow belly cowards when it came to aggressively taking hold of a format. I must say I tip my hat to Wizards for how they are handling this for the superb job they are doing.
It's good to see that Rite of Flame got the ban it deserved, hopefully this slows the deck from a turn 2-3 deck to a turn 3-4 deck. I disagree with the cantrip banning approach: it's not that those decks couldn't replace them with Serum Visions or Sleight of hand, or that Wizards would be willing to stop printing one-mana cantrips in the future sets. It's better to simply ban the engines rather than trying to make them inconsistent, which is way harder. For that matter, let's see if Splinter Twin really gets more fair.
Green Sun's Zenith? WTF? That was unexpected. Elves are now exclusively casual, although it's true that Zoo had an annoying toolbox with the zenith. I would have preferred a more direct target like Wild Nacatl but anything to bring Zoo down is welcome.