So we have 4 sets including this Jan drop before Kaladesh block rotates I think... that seems like a long time.
I can't help but hope that some sort of Vampire deck and a Merfolk deck are viable with all the cards they're swamping us with. Really depends on answers though if it's not going to be a midrange swingfest. (I consider Pirates already a deck really, though it should change for the better?)
Lot riding on Dominaria... 3 more months of standard not firing and they might be done before it drops.
So we have 4 sets including this Jan drop before Kaladesh block rotates I think... that seems like a long time.
I can't help but hope that some sort of Vampire deck and a Merfolk deck are viable with all the cards they're swamping us with. Really depends on answers though if it's not going to be a midrange swingfest. (I consider Pirates already a deck really, though it should change for the better?)
Lot riding on Dominaria... 3 more months of standard not firing and they might be done before it drops.
Kaladesh and Amonkhet all rotate in the fall with the release of the 4th set. So we have this, the winter set; then the spring set (dominaria); then the summer set; then rotation in ~October (unless it changes).
Vampires is viable already and getting help. Merfolk is getting a fair bit of help, maybe even more. The G Elder dinosaur might be playable. Pirates got the one drop they needed. The B Elder Dinosaur seems like a possible control card. There's a lot there.
I've also been looking at the Elder Dinos and I agree green and Regisaur Alpha are destined to make something happen.
Red one seems interesting but without haste or a way to give it haste I don't like it much. Black does seem like an Esper engine but the mana still bugs me under T5 with all the quickness out there.
think merfolk could be a reasonable deck choice at all after Rivals?
Who knows? I wouldn't bet on it at a GP or a PPTQ, but I'm sure going to try. It's about like Constrictor a year ago, which worked for me. For some of us, the fun is in trying before the pros figure it out at the pro tour. Come play!
I was hopeful that the format would evolve, but I was totally wrong. Standard has been stale and rotation didn't have much effect other than destroying Zombies. I am hopeful anew for Rivals, but it's hard to argue that there's a rational basis for my optimism.
There seems to have been a consensus forming that energy is the problem and banning energy is the solution, but I disagree.
The card that wrecks the format for me is Glorybringer. It is in the two best decks and invalidates too many creatures (Regisaur Alpha, I'm looking at you.) and planeswalkers. If you want to ban something to freshen up the format, just hose Glorybringer. No need to hamstring the main mechanic of two sets, just get rid of one card.
My real hope is that Rivals will make the tribes competitive and nothing gets banned. But if we have nine more months of Temur+ and Ramunap Red, I'll be looking at how Glorybringer affects the format. It doesn't help that Harnessed Lightning is the best answer. Holding up Harnessed Lightning? They play Chandra or Hazoret. Holding up Essence Scatter? They play Chandra or Confiscation Coup. Maybe Rivals will have something to hose Glorybringer that I'm not seeing, but a two mana spell that does 4 at instant speed and can hit planeswalkers and indestructible also seems too strong.
Glorybringer, along with the dozens of other creatures with attached card advantage is a design problem. You can go ahead and ban Glorybringer, but then you are just going to need to ban Scarab Gob, and the newest Chupacabra to boot.
We can't ban an entire set, and parts of the newest set to accomodate this format. This format is horrible, and guess what, it's going to be horrible until Ixalan leaves. We need to ban the enablers that increase the consistency of all these effects. Aether Hub and Attune with Aether are pretty much dead, the only question is what do they ban out of Mono Red in order to compensate?
Glorybringer, along with the dozens of other creatures with attached card advantage is a design problem. You can go ahead and ban Glorybringer, but then you are just going to need to ban Scarab Gob, and the newest Chupacabra to boot.
We can't ban an entire set, and parts of the newest set to accomodate this format. This format is horrible, and guess what, it's going to be horrible until Ixalan leaves. We need to ban the enablers that increase the consistency of all these effects. Aether Hub and Attune with Aether are pretty much dead, the only question is what do they ban out of Mono Red in order to compensate?
I don't agree with any of this. First of all, I was not saying that bannings were needed (nor that they were not needed), but that banning Glorybringer is preferable to nerfing a whole mechanic or a key piece of a mechanic from 2 sets. Better to ban this one specific overpowered card.
As for the premise that creatures with card advantage is a problem, I couldn't disagree more. If creatures didn't have card advantage, they wouldn't be playable. A deck of spells that have card advantage versus creatures with none would be ahead. Now if you want to argue for a game where neither creatures nor spells could have card advantage, that might be interesting, but less so than this game where card advantage has to balance with other considerations.
Consider your next example, The Scarab God. If straight Temur is better than 4-color variants, then it is in neither of the best decks. It may be the most powerful creature, but it is answerable.
Why is Glorybringer different? It suppresses creatures with <5 toughness and also planeswalkers, given haste. It is significantly better than the new Chupacabra because of once<every other turn and it is unaffected by the most common castable removal in the set (Abrade, Lightning Strike, Fatal Push). Comparing the body to what you get with the Chupacabra for one less mana is also a joke. A bear vs a hasty 4/4 flyer?
The format as a whole does not seem horrible to me, but it is stale. There are a variety of playable decks of various kinds and the gameplay is challenging and skill-rewarding. Decks 1 (Temur) and 1a (Ramunap Red) are not so much better than the field that they always win. At FNM-Level, I can win a store championship with a non-tier 1 deck. For the grinders at PPTQs and the like, they need to be able to beat Temur, but they always will have to be able to beat whatever is Tier 1. I consider that spikes primarily want to win, so a varied highly competitive meta is secondary.
Why were those formats more enjoyable/successful than the current one even if those cards are just as strong?
If Glorybringer is that much more oppressive why aren't more exert creatures wreaking more havoc?
I recall everyone doing their best to splash to get Thragtusk to work, but it also felt like work. I don't recall the Hellkite being in everyone's deck but it was a hell of a card. Right now fixing isn't universally easy to achieve, but it is easy for Energy.
We see Glorybringer in both Red and Energy but it's not propping up other decks in the same way. Is it Glorybringer or is it the mechanics of Energy and a confluence of cards which make Red hyper-efficient?
If we just remove that dragon there are cards to replace it that can keep the most flexible mana and 'outside of the norm' mechanic ticking away and doing it's thing if you leave it with both Attune with Aether and Aether Hub.
It doesn't look to me like 4 color, other than Energy, is viable in the mana base even with Aether Hub available to everyone. The hub certainly helps a little with 3 color and makes some energy cards more valuable to say an Esper or other type deck but in combination no other type of deck gets the vast spike in reliable mana base and ability to cast just about anything.
I'm not saying a ban is needed. I haven't brewed or seen any brews from the new set yet. I have a slim hope that one of the 3 tribes puts up something tier 1 but when it comes to consistency/power Energy and ramred are holding a very high bar.
I don't think you have to kill (or can) energy entirely but it might be time for either Attune or Hub to go if there are no challengers. I also wonder if control would have a chance to resurface and give us balance if a step were taken off Energy and red doesn't have to.
Hoser2's question of what then do you take from Ramred is a very good one.
I think it's a shame Rivals of Ixalan doesn't seem to be delivering on the promise of fixing mistakes. It gives us some hate cards but other than Moment of Craving I'm not seeing efficient and viable answers to bring us balance. It's almost like we should have Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict in this format to bring it all to level.
Plenty of people found Thragtusk objectionable in its time. IIRC, it nerfed Aggro pretty hard and people thought it was too easy to splash.
Full disclosure, Glorybringer is particularly effective against my favorite deck: Snek. If it were banned, Snek would be more competitive.
Glorybringer is not very splash able. Even with Hub, Attune, Refiner and whatever else, there are very few competitive decks with GU, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and Glorybringer. Generally, only Jund or Rakdos can do both Glorybringer and Siphoner.
I think that what made some formats better was that they kept evolving and they had more competitive decks. You could probably nerf Temur by hobbling energy or banning Glorybringer. If you nerfed energy, I think Glorybringer decks would still dominate Standard. Ban Glorybringer and Bristling Hydra becomes worse, Siphoner gets better, maybe Vona becomes playable, and on and on. Ripjaw Raptor is fine against Glorybringer in theory, but the rest of the dinosaur deck is quite vulnerable. So, I think that if you have to do something, banning Glorybringer will change Standard more. There are just huge swaths of creatures that can't shine in this Glorybringer format. Allow those creatures to show up and we could see a much greater diversity of decks.
I see what you're saying. I still think a proper and efficient answer to 4 power creatures (that's not another creature) would do a lot of fixing. Walk the Plank is not it.
I played Sultai energy for a long while, at Portland GP as well. Liked the deck but just so sick of energy. Be nice to have 1 cmc ramp back too even 2 cmc that doesn't suck.
I see what you're saying. I still think a proper and efficient answer to 4 power creatures (that's not another creature) would do a lot of fixing. Walk the Plank is not it.
I played Sultai energy for a long while, at Portland GP as well. Liked the deck but just so sick of energy. Be nice to have 1 cmc ramp back too even 2 cmc that doesn't suck.
Ideally, the tribes get better and the format diversifies, so people come out to play more and no bannings are necessary.
I do feel you about the energy fatigue. I just brewed a variety of jank in the month leading up to the Store Championship. I stopped playing Temur when Ixalan dropped and I just played enough Sultai to maintain or explore non-constrictor variants. While I want to play with Constrictor more, it's in a merfolk context. I am brewing dinosaurs and pirates also.
It will probably suck, but I am super-pumped to play the Rakdos Pirates that I posted in new cards discussion.
Plenty of people found Thragtusk objectionable in its time. IIRC, it nerfed Aggro pretty hard and people thought it was too easy to splash.
I don't see how someone can plausibly claim Thragtusk nerfed aggro pretty hard when Naya Blitz was one of the best decks while Thragtusk was legal. If Thragtusk "nerfed" aggro pretty hard then I'd be scared of how good aggro decks would've been if Thragtusk wasn't around.
It was a bit annoying how it seemed every non-aggro Green deck was running the card, though, especially early on. Thragtusk's prominence did fall off a bit after Gatecrash, however.
Plenty of people found Thragtusk objectionable in its time. IIRC, it nerfed Aggro pretty hard and people thought it was too easy to splash.
I don't see how someone can plausibly claim Thragtusk nerfed aggro pretty hard when Naya Blitz was one of the best decks while Thragtusk was legal. If Thragtusk "nerfed" aggro pretty hard then I'd be scared of how good aggro decks would've been if Thragtusk wasn't around.
It was a bit annoying how it seemed every non-aggro Green deck was running the card, though, especially early on. Thragtusk's prominence did fall off a bit after Gatecrash, however.
I had barely started playing Standard at the time, but when I look at the Inn-RTR standard, I find winning decks like this, this, this, this and this; with 5 drops, 24 lands and mana dorks. Is that your idea of Aggro? Because that looks like a nearly no-aggro meta to me, with midrange being called aggro by default. What am I missing?
I seem to recall Hellrider decks putting up good numbers along side Thragtusk but I might be wrong. It was all a while ago.
The main store in my area (which accommodates a LOT of people) had Sealed Store Championship which I didn't bother with (8 people).
The store I tried out had 4 people for standard store champ. That was lame. The fatigue is everywhere.
I have plans to brew some UR pirates, merfolk, a little vamp something... I love to brew and play but FFS it doesn't look like control has a chance in hell right now with all the fast low to the ground stuff going on. Game day gone is lame. And non firing FNM Standard is getting old. If I buy cards and can't play FNM I might be done before Dominaria.
That is what Marketing needs to get on top of. DO THINGS THAT MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY STANDARD AT FNM. All they do is irritate and do mystifyingly stupid things like take away promos just as they start to get good.
There is a lot that I can't defend, but promos are net positive. I used to get relatively bad promos only if I could play Friday night. That was cool for people who could play Friday night, but otherwise it's much better now. Stores now have standard showdown packs that are miles better than the FNM promos that they can give out any time they have a standard tournament. Monday night? Showdown pack with two rares and a foil promo land. I can play Wednesday at a different store? Ditto.
Non-firing standard sucks, though. I got nothing. Maybe the play design group will help.
My LGS's (Austin TX) have issues firing standard on a daily basis. There is one event that fires on Thursday nights for sure (8 people usually). The other stores rarely fire. This has a lot to do with Energy being considered the "Best Deck" of the format and the overall sentiment that standard is just "boring and unfun". The Energy mirror is very skill testing, and yes there is good magic to be played. Be at what cost? Energy decks push every other potentially decent midrange deck right out of the format. After SB Temur caa become a tempo deck that protects it's cub against control and flips the % pts on what is supposed to be a "bad" match up (only g1). Drawing 1 Negate is usually enough, the 2nd is a blowout.
I really want the Dino deck to have a shot and am jamming it on mtgo. Temur/ any energy variant is such a hard match up, that it gets frustrating to even try anymore. Sure, I play Temur in the leagues, go 4-1, play some great mirrors and learn a ton, but again, I' supposed to do this for a 9 more months? It's been a while since we had various midrange decks with different angles to attack the meta. Remember Mardu Midrange, Abzan (many flavors), GR Monsters, Esper Dragons, even Jeskai! All of those deck had a chance to really shine. RIX's tribal support won't get a chance to to do a thing if Energy stays intact. It doesn't matter that there are midrange powers houses, Temur has Hydra which outgrows 99& of dinos, and cub just grows into a 5/5.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Here's where Marketing should be doing their job instead of screwing things up more.
Why did they push 'established' players to the weekend???????????????? FNM has been the staple for magic players forever. When you have participation woes you DO NOT FORCE PEOPLE TO CHANGE. Now they're splitting the few people they have left into FNM and some weekend event and none are firing. People have their routine of x times a month I get to play standard at FNM... now they have nothing.
Marketing department FIRED.
I'd love to get a showdown pack but I have kids and a life and cannot play on the weekend. Families do things on the weekends, soccer, swimming, hiking trips, etc. 'Interested players' who lots of time are young people who aren't going to be staying up till 10 or 11 by themselves at the local game shop are more likely to play on weekend days. That's where you hook the new players not FNM you &*^(*&**)&(^&^&* morons!
Right now they should be giving out showdown packs, promos, and more on FNM to get people to participate because they have a HUGE problem. I predict sales on this set will be very low.
Why buy cards if FNM and showdown never fire? They are in an emergency and apparently have no clue what they're doing or even realize how bad it is because they're only looking at big event numbers. The LGS numbers are where their profits are and they aren't even trying.
Here's where Marketing should be doing their job instead of screwing things up more.
Why did they push 'established' players to the weekend???????????????? FNM has been the staple for magic players forever. When you have participation woes you DO NOT FORCE PEOPLE TO CHANGE. Now they're splitting the few people they have left into FNM and some weekend event and none are firing. People have their routine of x times a month I get to play standard at FNM... now they have nothing.
Marketing department FIRED.
I'd love to get a showdown pack but I have kids and a life and cannot play on the weekend. Families do things on the weekends, soccer, swimming, hiking trips, etc. 'Interested players' who lots of time are young people who aren't going to be staying up till 10 or 11 by themselves at the local game shop are more likely to play on weekend days. That's where you hook the new players not FNM you &*^(*&**)&(^&^&* morons!
Right now they should be giving out showdown packs, promos, and more on FNM to get people to participate because they have a HUGE problem. I predict sales on this set will be very low.
Why buy cards if FNM and showdown never fire? They are in an emergency and apparently have no clue what they're doing or even realize how bad it is because they're only looking at big event numbers. The LGS numbers are where their profits are and they aren't even trying.
Yes, I agree they ****ed up the showdown multiple times. Forcing it to be on the weekend seemed stupid to me. The most successful store in my area used to have standard on Monday and Saturday. As Standard attendance waned, they started doing Modern on Saturday. If they had been able to give out Showdown packs on Monday from the beginning of the Showdown program, I think it would have been better.
But I still like the Showdown packs (with or without masterpieces) better than a randomly valuable uncommon promo. Currently stores can give out Showdown packs on any night, so they can give them out on Friday for a better bonus than the old promo. And I get the promosShowdown packs on Monday night like I should have from the beginning.
I'll definitely hit up the LGS and ask them to do that. FNM has always been the strong spot here. 30+ people consistently until the CoCo winter and shortening card life. We lost about half to modern or quit at that point. Then steady losses through the cat combo idiocy, bans, 1-2 deck standard, to now with no Fire standard any day of the week. It's not just that big store either, its city wide and we have a lot of mtg players here. (81 people for modern on FNM!!! Crazy)
The showdown packs are a great incentive but they should be giving first, second, and 2 random people every FNM to generate interest. I'll go in today and see why they aren't doing it. Maybe I'll sign up for pre release, which numbers are about half what they used to be as well.
The showdown packs are a great incentive but they should be giving first, second, and 2 random people every FNM to generate interest. I'll go in today and see why they aren't doing it. Maybe I'll sign up for pre release, which numbers are about half what they used to be as well.
Your LGS does have a lot of say regarding Showdown Pack distribution, so maybe this is something that you should bring up with them. WotC gives them packs and a suggested distribution method. After that, they're in the possession of the store owner and, hopefully, they distribute them appropriately.
I think maybe they're taking the use of them literally since initially WotC announced the showdown packs were for showdown on the weekends. Waiting for the lead mtg to get in today and chat him up about it. Thanks!
Better to hold one day (FNM) and give prizes than schedule 2-3 days and none fire.
I think maybe they're taking the use of them literally since initially WotC announced the showdown packs were for showdown on the weekends. Waiting for the lead mtg to get in today and chat him up about it. Thanks!
Better to hold one day (FNM) and give prizes than schedule 2-3 days and none fire.
*****! Sorry, but I was wrong. I withdraw my complimentary words toward marketing. Showdowns, it seems, can be any day except Friday according to this.
Wait, so showdown isn't saturdays necessarily? They could run them on Wednesdays or whenever?
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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I can't help but hope that some sort of Vampire deck and a Merfolk deck are viable with all the cards they're swamping us with. Really depends on answers though if it's not going to be a midrange swingfest. (I consider Pirates already a deck really, though it should change for the better?)
Lot riding on Dominaria... 3 more months of standard not firing and they might be done before it drops.
Vampires is viable already and getting help. Merfolk is getting a fair bit of help, maybe even more. The G Elder dinosaur might be playable. Pirates got the one drop they needed. The B Elder Dinosaur seems like a possible control card. There's a lot there.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Red one seems interesting but without haste or a way to give it haste I don't like it much. Black does seem like an Esper engine but the mana still bugs me under T5 with all the quickness out there.
Show us the BLUE Dino!
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Glorybringer, along with the dozens of other creatures with attached card advantage is a design problem. You can go ahead and ban Glorybringer, but then you are just going to need to ban Scarab Gob, and the newest Chupacabra to boot.
We can't ban an entire set, and parts of the newest set to accomodate this format. This format is horrible, and guess what, it's going to be horrible until Ixalan leaves. We need to ban the enablers that increase the consistency of all these effects. Aether Hub and Attune with Aether are pretty much dead, the only question is what do they ban out of Mono Red in order to compensate?
As for the premise that creatures with card advantage is a problem, I couldn't disagree more. If creatures didn't have card advantage, they wouldn't be playable. A deck of spells that have card advantage versus creatures with none would be ahead. Now if you want to argue for a game where neither creatures nor spells could have card advantage, that might be interesting, but less so than this game where card advantage has to balance with other considerations.
Consider your next example, The Scarab God. If straight Temur is better than 4-color variants, then it is in neither of the best decks. It may be the most powerful creature, but it is answerable.
Why is Glorybringer different? It suppresses creatures with <5 toughness and also planeswalkers, given haste. It is significantly better than the new Chupacabra because of once<every other turn and it is unaffected by the most common castable removal in the set (Abrade, Lightning Strike, Fatal Push). Comparing the body to what you get with the Chupacabra for one less mana is also a joke. A bear vs a hasty 4/4 flyer?
The format as a whole does not seem horrible to me, but it is stale. There are a variety of playable decks of various kinds and the gameplay is challenging and skill-rewarding. Decks 1 (Temur) and 1a (Ramunap Red) are not so much better than the field that they always win. At FNM-Level, I can win a store championship with a non-tier 1 deck. For the grinders at PPTQs and the like, they need to be able to beat Temur, but they always will have to be able to beat whatever is Tier 1. I consider that spikes primarily want to win, so a varied highly competitive meta is secondary.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Is Glorybringer more powerful or influential than Thragtusk in its time?
Is it more powerful than Thundermaw Hellkite?
Why were those formats more enjoyable/successful than the current one even if those cards are just as strong?
If Glorybringer is that much more oppressive why aren't more exert creatures wreaking more havoc?
I recall everyone doing their best to splash to get Thragtusk to work, but it also felt like work. I don't recall the Hellkite being in everyone's deck but it was a hell of a card. Right now fixing isn't universally easy to achieve, but it is easy for Energy.
We see Glorybringer in both Red and Energy but it's not propping up other decks in the same way. Is it Glorybringer or is it the mechanics of Energy and a confluence of cards which make Red hyper-efficient?
If we just remove that dragon there are cards to replace it that can keep the most flexible mana and 'outside of the norm' mechanic ticking away and doing it's thing if you leave it with both Attune with Aether and Aether Hub.
It doesn't look to me like 4 color, other than Energy, is viable in the mana base even with Aether Hub available to everyone. The hub certainly helps a little with 3 color and makes some energy cards more valuable to say an Esper or other type deck but in combination no other type of deck gets the vast spike in reliable mana base and ability to cast just about anything.
I'm not saying a ban is needed. I haven't brewed or seen any brews from the new set yet. I have a slim hope that one of the 3 tribes puts up something tier 1 but when it comes to consistency/power Energy and ramred are holding a very high bar.
I don't think you have to kill (or can) energy entirely but it might be time for either Attune or Hub to go if there are no challengers. I also wonder if control would have a chance to resurface and give us balance if a step were taken off Energy and red doesn't have to.
Hoser2's question of what then do you take from Ramred is a very good one.
I think it's a shame Rivals of Ixalan doesn't seem to be delivering on the promise of fixing mistakes. It gives us some hate cards but other than Moment of Craving I'm not seeing efficient and viable answers to bring us balance. It's almost like we should have Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict in this format to bring it all to level.
Full disclosure, Glorybringer is particularly effective against my favorite deck: Snek. If it were banned, Snek would be more competitive.
Glorybringer is not very splash able. Even with Hub, Attune, Refiner and whatever else, there are very few competitive decks with GU, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and Glorybringer. Generally, only Jund or Rakdos can do both Glorybringer and Siphoner.
I think that what made some formats better was that they kept evolving and they had more competitive decks. You could probably nerf Temur by hobbling energy or banning Glorybringer. If you nerfed energy, I think Glorybringer decks would still dominate Standard. Ban Glorybringer and Bristling Hydra becomes worse, Siphoner gets better, maybe Vona becomes playable, and on and on. Ripjaw Raptor is fine against Glorybringer in theory, but the rest of the dinosaur deck is quite vulnerable. So, I think that if you have to do something, banning Glorybringer will change Standard more. There are just huge swaths of creatures that can't shine in this Glorybringer format. Allow those creatures to show up and we could see a much greater diversity of decks.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I played Sultai energy for a long while, at Portland GP as well. Liked the deck but just so sick of energy. Be nice to have 1 cmc ramp back too even 2 cmc that doesn't suck.
Ideally, the tribes get better and the format diversifies, so people come out to play more and no bannings are necessary.
I do feel you about the energy fatigue. I just brewed a variety of jank in the month leading up to the Store Championship. I stopped playing Temur when Ixalan dropped and I just played enough Sultai to maintain or explore non-constrictor variants. While I want to play with Constrictor more, it's in a merfolk context. I am brewing dinosaurs and pirates also.
It will probably suck, but I am super-pumped to play the Rakdos Pirates that I posted in new cards discussion.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
It was a bit annoying how it seemed every non-aggro Green deck was running the card, though, especially early on. Thragtusk's prominence did fall off a bit after Gatecrash, however.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
The main store in my area (which accommodates a LOT of people) had Sealed Store Championship which I didn't bother with (8 people).
The store I tried out had 4 people for standard store champ. That was lame. The fatigue is everywhere.
I have plans to brew some UR pirates, merfolk, a little vamp something... I love to brew and play but FFS it doesn't look like control has a chance in hell right now with all the fast low to the ground stuff going on. Game day gone is lame. And non firing FNM Standard is getting old. If I buy cards and can't play FNM I might be done before Dominaria.
That is what Marketing needs to get on top of. DO THINGS THAT MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY STANDARD AT FNM. All they do is irritate and do mystifyingly stupid things like take away promos just as they start to get good.
Non-firing standard sucks, though. I got nothing. Maybe the play design group will help.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I really want the Dino deck to have a shot and am jamming it on mtgo. Temur/ any energy variant is such a hard match up, that it gets frustrating to even try anymore. Sure, I play Temur in the leagues, go 4-1, play some great mirrors and learn a ton, but again, I' supposed to do this for a 9 more months? It's been a while since we had various midrange decks with different angles to attack the meta. Remember Mardu Midrange, Abzan (many flavors), GR Monsters, Esper Dragons, even Jeskai! All of those deck had a chance to really shine. RIX's tribal support won't get a chance to to do a thing if Energy stays intact. It doesn't matter that there are midrange powers houses, Temur has Hydra which outgrows 99& of dinos, and cub just grows into a 5/5.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
Why did they push 'established' players to the weekend???????????????? FNM has been the staple for magic players forever. When you have participation woes you DO NOT FORCE PEOPLE TO CHANGE. Now they're splitting the few people they have left into FNM and some weekend event and none are firing. People have their routine of x times a month I get to play standard at FNM... now they have nothing.
Marketing department FIRED.
I'd love to get a showdown pack but I have kids and a life and cannot play on the weekend. Families do things on the weekends, soccer, swimming, hiking trips, etc. 'Interested players' who lots of time are young people who aren't going to be staying up till 10 or 11 by themselves at the local game shop are more likely to play on weekend days. That's where you hook the new players not FNM you &*^(*&**)&(^&^&* morons!
Right now they should be giving out showdown packs, promos, and more on FNM to get people to participate because they have a HUGE problem. I predict sales on this set will be very low.
Why buy cards if FNM and showdown never fire? They are in an emergency and apparently have no clue what they're doing or even realize how bad it is because they're only looking at big event numbers. The LGS numbers are where their profits are and they aren't even trying.
Yes, I agree they ****ed up the showdown multiple times. Forcing it to be on the weekend seemed stupid to me. The most successful store in my area used to have standard on Monday and Saturday. As Standard attendance waned, they started doing Modern on Saturday. If they had been able to give out Showdown packs on Monday from the beginning of the Showdown program, I think it would have been better.
But I still like the Showdown packs (with or without masterpieces) better than a randomly valuable uncommon promo. Currently stores can give out Showdown packs on any night, so they can give them out on Friday for a better bonus than the old promo. And I get the
promosShowdown packs on Monday night like I should have from the beginning.RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
The showdown packs are a great incentive but they should be giving first, second, and 2 random people every FNM to generate interest. I'll go in today and see why they aren't doing it. Maybe I'll sign up for pre release, which numbers are about half what they used to be as well.
Your LGS does have a lot of say regarding Showdown Pack distribution, so maybe this is something that you should bring up with them. WotC gives them packs and a suggested distribution method. After that, they're in the possession of the store owner and, hopefully, they distribute them appropriately.
Better to hold one day (FNM) and give prizes than schedule 2-3 days and none fire.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Idiots.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!