Since people mentioned Patrick & Sully vs the WOTC commentators (this might be a bit off topic), I found a comment by my wife who occasionally will watch some of them with me made. She said something to the extent of "These guys [P&S] know just how seriously to take this game, unlike those guys [WOTC] who are way too serious." I think the lighthearted attitude and not being afraid to hit topics that are not even magic related really makes it better.
On the note of data being worthless as discussed earlier, as an actual data scientist for a job that doesn't fly by me very well. Using the patterns of the past is the best way we know of to model for the future. This can be summarized by individual's personal tournament experiences which only includes a few data points by comparison to the summation of many more tournaments by large datasets pooling together the experiences of many players in a non-biased way.
Also that was an awesome final game at the SCG open. I think Ben definitely played better this time, but Kevin isn't a bad player either.
That final was one of the best games I've seen in a long time.
I think this was probably the most masterful game I've seen since that one game where it was Living End v...what, jund or something, and the guy was beating him down with Kalitas?
Ben really proved what some of Sheridan was saying, know your decks in and out and you'll bring your win percentage up. Game 2, Ben just looked like he was losing by turn 3. He looked like he was losing in the middle of the game. Kevin Jones had a large amount of cards in hand and somehow Ben came back. I would have never in a million years made a ton of the decisions he did. The awesome thing was that there was no huge play he made, nor was it just one or two, and his opponent didn't somehow punt hardcore---he thoroughly outplayed Kevin Jones, who is no slouch.
The game was honestly a masterpiece of play. This is why I don't love when aggro or linear decks are too prominent, those games rarely ever look like this or are this interesting. If every game was this intense it would be too exhausting.
Great day 2, good top 8, I remain slightly skeptical of how poorly positioned big mana is until the PT.
That final was one of the best games I've seen in a long time.
I think this was probably the most masterful game I've seen since that one game where it was Living End v...what, jund or something, and the guy was beating him down with Kalitas?
Ben really proved what some of Sheridan was saying, know your decks in and out and you'll bring your win percentage up. Game 2, Ben just looked like he was losing by turn 3. He looked like he was losing in the middle of the game. Kevin Jones had a large amount of cards in hand and somehow Ben came back. I would have never in a million years made a ton of the decisions he did. The awesome thing was that there was no huge play he made, nor was it just one or two, and his opponent didn't somehow punt hardcore---he thoroughly outplayed Kevin Jones, who is no slouch.
The game was honestly a masterpiece of play. This is why I don't love when aggro or linear decks are too prominent, those games rarely ever look like this or are this interesting. If every game was this intense it would be too exhausting.
Great day 2, good top 8, I remain slightly skeptical of how poorly positioned big mana is until the PT.
I agree this was a great match to watch, but disagree that this is the only type of deck capable of having intense, stressful, and interesting matches. Some of the best Magic I've ever seen is from Storm or Burn players who navigate a matchup or a sequence of turns they would typically have no business winning.
Sweet T8 and final. I'm not 100% sure because I don't currently have access to my SCG spreadsheet, but I think Nikolich has played Jeskai at every single Modern Open this year (or close to it). Great to see that mastery pay off with such a strong finish and tight performance.
Sweet T8 and final. I'm not 100% sure because I don't currently have access to my SCG spreadsheet, but I think Nikolich has played Jeskai at every single Modern Open this year (or close to it). Great to see that mastery pay off with such a strong finish and tight performance.
Well....of course he's played it at every Modern Open this year. This was the first Modern Open of 2018
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Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
I don't actually think it should be banned, and I don't think it will be banned, at least not any time soon, so I don't want to start a panic, but I'd like to note that some of the printings from this set remind me of the Birthing Pod ban, and some of the new card printings that happened near to it, like Collected Company, Evolutionary Leap and Yisan, the Wanderer Bard.
The way I'm being reminded of those is in terms of Snapcaster Mage, and the printing of Flood of Recollection and Dire Fleet Daredevil. It makes me suspect that whenever this set was being designed, they wondered if at some point in the future, they'd need to ban Snapcaster Mage, possibly due to increasing the average power and variety of the new Instant and Sorcery spells they were planning on printing in Standard, due to finally recognizing their Standard the Midranging and lack of answers was becoming more of a problem than they thought it would be, and they wanted to prepare to mitigate any damage to the format having to possibly ban Snapcaster Mage would be, in case he became too powerful for Modern in a format where they were starting to (re)print more cards like Opt and Fatal Push.
I don't think they were sure they'd have to, I think they were just preparing for the possibility out of speculation, so wanted ready in the format some cards that do related but overall weaker things. Given how scared they were of good instant and sorcery spells beforehand, this sounds like something they'd do when forced to acknowledge their policy towards those sorts of spells were wrong.
That final was one of the best games I've seen in a long time.
I think this was probably the most masterful game I've seen since that one game where it was Living End v...what, jund or something, and the guy was beating him down with Kalitas?
Ben really proved what some of Sheridan was saying, know your decks in and out and you'll bring your win percentage up. Game 2, Ben just looked like he was losing by turn 3. He looked like he was losing in the middle of the game. Kevin Jones had a large amount of cards in hand and somehow Ben came back. I would have never in a million years made a ton of the decisions he did. The awesome thing was that there was no huge play he made, nor was it just one or two, and his opponent didn't somehow punt hardcore---he thoroughly outplayed Kevin Jones, who is no slouch.
The game was honestly a masterpiece of play. This is why I don't love when aggro or linear decks are too prominent, those games rarely ever look like this or are this interesting. If every game was this intense it would be too exhausting.
Great day 2, good top 8, I remain slightly skeptical of how poorly positioned big mana is until the PT.
I think you are referring to the game that was Living End vs Grixis Control with C. Burkhart (I think at least it was Corey, maybe it was another Grixis pilot), which won indeed by great Kalitas plays.
Ben played insanely well in both games. It was more clear in G2 because he was in the backfoot throughout the game, but G1 was also a masterclass of understanding your lines of play based on your opening hand and the first couple of draws. I will be examining these games for a long time.
Overall this SCG event was much more enjoyable than the last GP, in terms of coverage and match selection. It also shows a rather healthy metagame, but several people here just don't care about SCG events
I do have to say, however, that good Tron players could have a feast if Jeskai picks up after this event.
SCG Columbus proves that big mana is no where near broken, with so many Jeskai lists doing well.
Death's Shadow had a high percentage meta share, but theres a question of perceived power level and actual power level. The deck is good but imo not bsnable, imo, at all
I don't actually think it should be banned, and I don't think it will be banned, at least not any time soon, so I don't want to start a panic, but I'd like to note that some of the printings from this set remind me of the Birthing Pod ban, and some of the new card printings that happened near to it, like Collected Company, Evolutionary Leap and Yisan, the Wanderer Bard.
The way I'm being reminded of those is in terms of Snapcaster Mage, and the printing of Flood of Recollection and Dire Fleet Daredevil. It makes me suspect that whenever this set was being designed, they wondered if at some point in the future, they'd need to ban Snapcaster Mage, possibly due to increasing the average power and variety of the new Instant and Sorcery spells they were planning on printing in Standard, due to finally recognizing their Standard the Midranging and lack of answers was becoming more of a problem than they thought it would be, and they wanted to prepare to mitigate any damage to the format having to possibly ban Snapcaster Mage would be, in case he became too powerful for Modern in a format where they were starting to (re)print more cards like Opt and Fatal Push.
I don't think they were sure they'd have to, I think they were just preparing for the possibility out of speculation, so wanted ready in the format some cards that do related but overall weaker things. Given how scared they were of good instant and sorcery spells beforehand, this sounds like something they'd do when forced to acknowledge their policy towards those sorts of spells were wrong.
Pretty sure these cards/designs have absolutely nothing to do with the bannability of Snapcaster Mage and everything to do with historic recursion effects (for Flood) and a Standard-legal spin on Mage (for Daredevil). We're talking about the same pre-Play Design philosophy that led to Emrakul, Copter, Guardian, Marvel, and the energy fiasco in 2017 alone. Different design teams and individuals, but same guiding philosophy and approach to Standard. These people are barely even in dialogue with Modern and almost definitely aren't in dialogue with R&D about longterm Modern banning plans and management.
MDT: This is sweet. Modern/Legacy-playable. Not too sure the revolt matters here though.
Design and development were like "cool, this is playable in non-rotating formats, but the revolt doesn't even matter." Not "holy ***** format defining removal spell incoming!!" If they were barely on top of Push, there is NO WAY the previous design/development team for RIX had the foresight or dialogue with R&D to print Flood and Daredevil as Snapcaster ban safeguards. That's conspiracy theorizing at its tinfoiliest. We might as well say that Scribe of the Mindful was another Snapcaster ban frontrunner. Or Archaeomancer. Or Call to Mind. Flood is so obviously just a continuation of all those cards in the recursion design trend, pushed a little harder because all those other cards sucked.
Daredevil is definitely a Snapcaster tribute, I'll grant that. But these kinds of tribute cards don't mean the previous card is being banned. See Liliana the Last Hope as a tribute to Liliana of the Veil. See new Emrakul and old Emrakul (at least, see them in Modern because one got banned in Standard). Tribute/homage/spiritual successor =/= original on the Modern banning block.
Just got back from the Grand Prix Santa Clara. I didn't play in the main event. I did the Constructed Package, for 6 tournaments of 3 rounds each. I ran into 17 different decks! (Now I know some will say that it is good, but I personally didn't like it.)
First Tournament - Double Up, Titanshift 2-1.
I faced Kiki Chord, Storm, and Grixis Grishoalbrand
Second Tournament - Bogles 1-2
I faced E Tron, Mono Green Tron, and Living End
Third Tournament - Double Up, Grishoalbrand 3-0
I faced Mono Blue Tron, Jeskai Queller, and Elves
Fourth Tournament - Affinity 3-0
I faced Junk Midrange, Amulet Titan, and Burn
Fifth Tournament - Double Up, Affinity 0-3
I faced Skred Red and Jund, I let my friend play for me vs. GB Tron so I could make the next Modern tournament to leave early
Sixth Tournament - Grishoalbrand 2-1
I faced Affinity, Jeskai Queller, and Grixis Death's Shadow
So, for a recap, I faced Kiki Chord, Storm, Grixis Grishoalbrand, E Tron, Green Tron, Living End, Mono Blue Tron, Jeskai Queller (twice), Elves, Junk Midrange, Amulet Titan, Burn, Skred Red, Jund, GB Tron, Affinity, Jeskai Queller, and GDS in 18 rounds. Whew!!! How do you metagame for Modern again?
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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)
I think thats kind of the point, you dont meta game, unless there is a boogyman (Dredge, Eldrazi) that you simply cannot hope to dodge.
Yeah, but even during Pod times, people knew the decks to beat were Pod, Twin, Affinity, and Jund. There's a way to try to metagame to maybe dodge 1 or 2 of those and do well vs. the others. Nowadays, it's freaking 17 decks in 18 rounds. There's nothing I could have done (outside of in game plays that I didn't recognize) to do better than I did. So, I personally didn't care myself about switching decks.
With the 0-3 with Affinity, I never felt like I was in the game. He always had at least 2 cards in his hand after killing my board, which I knew must be the 3rd and 4th copies of Skred (or Lightning Bolt). I won a game where he had 4 cards in hand, but couldn't kill my Cranial Plating'd dude. I mean, this was after Shattering Spree. Then Shattering Spree X 2, Bolt, Skred X 2, Magma Jet, and Sweltering Suns took me apart in Game 3. Then against Jund, I told him that if he has Fatal Push on top, I will scoop (since it would be the 4th Push of this short game and he was empty handed). He revealed Fatal Push, so I scooped. I'm not going to lie. Then in Game 3 after a flurry of removal, he plays ... Shatterstorm. Yes, Jund had 1 copy of Shatterstorm in his SB. NICE!!! What I mean by "matchup lottery" when I say it is that I could have played literally any other deck in Modern and done better. I lost to freaking Skred Red. Do you know how humiliating that is?
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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)
I guess I got what I expected in this tournament - I expected to face decks that beat Affinity, but lose to most of my other choices. You get what you expect, right? Somehow it didn't happen in the other tournament with Affinity, where I faced Junk Midrange (2-0), Amulet Titan(2-1), and Burn(2-0).
*However, I will admit that I did not expect to see Jund cast Shatterstorm. I mean, players are able to side whatever they want. Jund can side 4 Shatterstorm for all I care. It was just somewhat odd. I've never seen that card cast out of Jund in my Modern playing time of 2011-2018.
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)
Sounds like a Dredge player complaining about graveyard hate
Joking aside, it is very hard to please all players, either there are some best decks which consistently do well and are then deemed too good and ban worthy after a while or the meta is extremely diverse and you can't prepare for everything and the matchup lottery argument turns up. The current meta is clearly the latter, just look at all the nonsense showing up in the recent modern challenges and MOCS results gkorou posted, mono white D&T with shining shoal and cruel ultimatum going 7-0? That was inconceivable a few months ago.
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On the note of data being worthless as discussed earlier, as an actual data scientist for a job that doesn't fly by me very well. Using the patterns of the past is the best way we know of to model for the future. This can be summarized by individual's personal tournament experiences which only includes a few data points by comparison to the summation of many more tournaments by large datasets pooling together the experiences of many players in a non-biased way.
Also that was an awesome final game at the SCG open. I think Ben definitely played better this time, but Kevin isn't a bad player either.
I think this was probably the most masterful game I've seen since that one game where it was Living End v...what, jund or something, and the guy was beating him down with Kalitas?
Ben really proved what some of Sheridan was saying, know your decks in and out and you'll bring your win percentage up. Game 2, Ben just looked like he was losing by turn 3. He looked like he was losing in the middle of the game. Kevin Jones had a large amount of cards in hand and somehow Ben came back. I would have never in a million years made a ton of the decisions he did. The awesome thing was that there was no huge play he made, nor was it just one or two, and his opponent didn't somehow punt hardcore---he thoroughly outplayed Kevin Jones, who is no slouch.
The game was honestly a masterpiece of play. This is why I don't love when aggro or linear decks are too prominent, those games rarely ever look like this or are this interesting. If every game was this intense it would be too exhausting.
Great day 2, good top 8, I remain slightly skeptical of how poorly positioned big mana is until the PT.
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
The GP of burn v Rock was a masterful performance by the burn player though, I'll give you that
I also caught Eric Frolich on burn this weekend against Humans and he played masterfully, too.
Burn is rarely played to that level of performance though, especially early to mid rounds of an Open on camera.
Burn is generally a higher floor and lower ceiling so I'm hesitant to give credit to the average pilot on that deck.
Here's the Deck List, I think 74 of 75 cards between the decks were the same.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=118062
Spirits
Lol
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/7ouoa9/scg_columbus_open_top_32_jan_7/
URStormRU
GRTitanshift[mana]RG/mana]
Well....of course he's played it at every Modern Open this year. This was the first Modern Open of 2018
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/216355630?t=07h43m01s
The way I'm being reminded of those is in terms of Snapcaster Mage, and the printing of Flood of Recollection and Dire Fleet Daredevil. It makes me suspect that whenever this set was being designed, they wondered if at some point in the future, they'd need to ban Snapcaster Mage, possibly due to increasing the average power and variety of the new Instant and Sorcery spells they were planning on printing in Standard, due to finally recognizing their Standard the Midranging and lack of answers was becoming more of a problem than they thought it would be, and they wanted to prepare to mitigate any damage to the format having to possibly ban Snapcaster Mage would be, in case he became too powerful for Modern in a format where they were starting to (re)print more cards like Opt and Fatal Push.
I don't think they were sure they'd have to, I think they were just preparing for the possibility out of speculation, so wanted ready in the format some cards that do related but overall weaker things. Given how scared they were of good instant and sorcery spells beforehand, this sounds like something they'd do when forced to acknowledge their policy towards those sorts of spells were wrong.
Ben played insanely well in both games. It was more clear in G2 because he was in the backfoot throughout the game, but G1 was also a masterclass of understanding your lines of play based on your opening hand and the first couple of draws. I will be examining these games for a long time.
Overall this SCG event was much more enjoyable than the last GP, in terms of coverage and match selection. It also shows a rather healthy metagame, but several people here just don't care about SCG events
I do have to say, however, that good Tron players could have a feast if Jeskai picks up after this event.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
Death's Shadow had a high percentage meta share, but theres a question of perceived power level and actual power level. The deck is good but imo not bsnable, imo, at all
URStormRU
GRTitanshift[mana]RG/mana]
Pretty sure these cards/designs have absolutely nothing to do with the bannability of Snapcaster Mage and everything to do with historic recursion effects (for Flood) and a Standard-legal spin on Mage (for Daredevil). We're talking about the same pre-Play Design philosophy that led to Emrakul, Copter, Guardian, Marvel, and the energy fiasco in 2017 alone. Different design teams and individuals, but same guiding philosophy and approach to Standard. These people are barely even in dialogue with Modern and almost definitely aren't in dialogue with R&D about longterm Modern banning plans and management.
Look at their commentary for the most obviously pushed Modern spell of the entire year. Probably of the last 2-3 years:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/m-files-aether-revolt-part-1-2017-02-03
Design and development were like "cool, this is playable in non-rotating formats, but the revolt doesn't even matter." Not "holy ***** format defining removal spell incoming!!" If they were barely on top of Push, there is NO WAY the previous design/development team for RIX had the foresight or dialogue with R&D to print Flood and Daredevil as Snapcaster ban safeguards. That's conspiracy theorizing at its tinfoiliest. We might as well say that Scribe of the Mindful was another Snapcaster ban frontrunner. Or Archaeomancer. Or Call to Mind. Flood is so obviously just a continuation of all those cards in the recursion design trend, pushed a little harder because all those other cards sucked.
Daredevil is definitely a Snapcaster tribute, I'll grant that. But these kinds of tribute cards don't mean the previous card is being banned. See Liliana the Last Hope as a tribute to Liliana of the Veil. See new Emrakul and old Emrakul (at least, see them in Modern because one got banned in Standard). Tribute/homage/spiritual successor =/= original on the Modern banning block.
Spirits
I've gotten a ton of practice with Grixis Shadow and I can't play it. Feels bad, man
First Tournament - Double Up, Titanshift 2-1.
I faced Kiki Chord, Storm, and Grixis Grishoalbrand
Second Tournament - Bogles 1-2
I faced E Tron, Mono Green Tron, and Living End
Third Tournament - Double Up, Grishoalbrand 3-0
I faced Mono Blue Tron, Jeskai Queller, and Elves
Fourth Tournament - Affinity 3-0
I faced Junk Midrange, Amulet Titan, and Burn
Fifth Tournament - Double Up, Affinity 0-3
I faced Skred Red and Jund, I let my friend play for me vs. GB Tron so I could make the next Modern tournament to leave early
Sixth Tournament - Grishoalbrand 2-1
I faced Affinity, Jeskai Queller, and Grixis Death's Shadow
So, for a recap, I faced Kiki Chord, Storm, Grixis Grishoalbrand, E Tron, Green Tron, Living End, Mono Blue Tron, Jeskai Queller (twice), Elves, Junk Midrange, Amulet Titan, Burn, Skred Red, Jund, GB Tron, Affinity, Jeskai Queller, and GDS in 18 rounds. Whew!!! How do you metagame for Modern again?
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)Spirits
Yeah, but even during Pod times, people knew the decks to beat were Pod, Twin, Affinity, and Jund. There's a way to try to metagame to maybe dodge 1 or 2 of those and do well vs. the others. Nowadays, it's freaking 17 decks in 18 rounds. There's nothing I could have done (outside of in game plays that I didn't recognize) to do better than I did. So, I personally didn't care myself about switching decks.
With the 0-3 with Affinity, I never felt like I was in the game. He always had at least 2 cards in his hand after killing my board, which I knew must be the 3rd and 4th copies of Skred (or Lightning Bolt). I won a game where he had 4 cards in hand, but couldn't kill my Cranial Plating'd dude. I mean, this was after Shattering Spree. Then Shattering Spree X 2, Bolt, Skred X 2, Magma Jet, and Sweltering Suns took me apart in Game 3. Then against Jund, I told him that if he has Fatal Push on top, I will scoop (since it would be the 4th Push of this short game and he was empty handed). He revealed Fatal Push, so I scooped. I'm not going to lie. Then in Game 3 after a flurry of removal, he plays ... Shatterstorm. Yes, Jund had 1 copy of Shatterstorm in his SB. NICE!!! What I mean by "matchup lottery" when I say it is that I could have played literally any other deck in Modern and done better. I lost to freaking Skred Red. Do you know how humiliating that is?
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)Bolt, Path, Electrolyze, Helix, and that's a wrap.
I mean, what did you anticipate going in?
Spirits
*However, I will admit that I did not expect to see Jund cast Shatterstorm. I mean, players are able to side whatever they want. Jund can side 4 Shatterstorm for all I care. It was just somewhat odd. I've never seen that card cast out of Jund in my Modern playing time of 2011-2018.
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)Spirits
Joking aside, it is very hard to please all players, either there are some best decks which consistently do well and are then deemed too good and ban worthy after a while or the meta is extremely diverse and you can't prepare for everything and the matchup lottery argument turns up. The current meta is clearly the latter, just look at all the nonsense showing up in the recent modern challenges and MOCS results gkorou posted, mono white D&T with shining shoal and cruel ultimatum going 7-0? That was inconceivable a few months ago.