Hardcore Spike friend says the trend is not conclusive; he claims it's finals weeks and that the majority of Magic players are students....
Anyone have past trend information around April of 10 or 09?
As close as possible to last year:
April 18: Magic Online Event #1133748: _ShipItHolla (Attendance: 252)
April 20: Magic Online Event #1133749: bolov0 (Attendance: 222)
April 23: Magic Online Event #1155030: __SipItHolla (Attendance: 191)
May 1: Denver: Thomas Ma (Attendance: 158)
May 1: Montreal: Vincent Thibeault (Attendance: 142)
May 1: New York: Phil Napoli (Attendance: 142)
May 1: Salt Lake City: Eric Twarog (Attendance: 96)
May 1: San Diego: Matt Sperling (Attendance: 124)
May 2: Boston: Lauren Lee (Attendance: 155)
May 8: Hartford: Ian Duke (Attendance: 206)
May 8: Kissimmee: Travis Turning (Attendance: 104)
May 8: Lincoln: Brandon Ayers (Attendance: 100)
May 8: Portland: Eric Lewandowski (Attendance: 159)
May 8: Richmond: Jeph Foster (Attendance: 106)
May 16: Edmonton: Shaun McLaren (Attendance: 112)
May 16: Madison, Tennessee: Chi Hoi Yim (Attendance: 97)
May 22: Chicago: David Gleicher (Attendance: 140)
May 22: Fort Worth: Derrick Steele (Attendance: 132)
May 22: Kansas City: Nick Wise (Attendance: 140)
May 22: Milford: Scott Metcalf (Attendance: 80)
May 22: Seattle: Mike Thompson (Attendance: 211)
May 22: Tuscaloosa: Joshua Justice (Attendance: 90)
May 23: Chantilly: Zohar Bhagat (Attendance: 447)
2011:
MTGO:
Max:196
Mean:134
Min:110
Paper:
Max:129
Mean:62
Min:57
Combined:
Max:196
Mean:129
Min:57
2010:
MTGO:
Max:252
Mean:222
Min:191
Paper:
Max:447
Mean:136
Min:80
Combined:
Max:447
Mean:140
Min:80
Overall:
Average per event in 2010: 156
Average per event in 2011: 114
What is even scarier about that number is that there have been more MTGO events this year than last year so far and MTGO events are generally much higher than Paper events.
It is hard to be accurate when doing this because geography is so important, but the MTGO numbers are pretty scary.
I think it would be hard to argue that this is a finals issue. This is a format issue.
IMO, the most damning evidence that Jace* should be banned is here.
April 12: Magic Online Event #2255871: konin (Attendance: 196)
April 17: Magic Online Event #2287095: Kellyn (Attendance: 132)
April 21: Magic Online Event #2308511: Nosferatu (Attendance: 135)
April 29: Magic Online Event #2334445: __SipItHolla (Attendance: 133)
May 2: Magic Online Event #2334502: Coop de ville (Attendance: 137)
May 5: Magic Online Event #2358682: _Batutinha_ (Attendance: 110)
May 14: Magic Online Event #2381864: Calcano (Attendance: 144)
May 22: Magic Online Event #2403119: toor_ (Attendance: 113)
April 17: Rosemont, Illinois: Ryan Carpenter (Attendance: 129)
April 30: Rockville, Maryland: Joshua Hakakian (Attendance: 62)
May 1: Indianapolis, Indiana: Korey Fay (Attendance: 80)
May 21: Burlington, North Carolina: Brad Sheppard (Attendance: 57)
May 21: Lenexa, Kansas: Donnie Peck (Attendance: 62)
Those numbers are drastically down. 80 people in Indy for a Standard PTQ is almost unheard of. I don't know the others, but that is very, very low. Even more indicitive is the fact that the numbers are going down. Chicago and Indianapolis basically share the same PTQ people and dropping from 129 to 80 in a few weeks is very, very bad. Extended PTQs tend to be smaller because of card availability and interest in the format, but Standard PTQs should be much bigger. Especially early in the season.
MTGO PTQ attendance is clearly trending down as well. I can't say for certain because the time the PTQ was run could have been difficult to attend, but the trend sure looks like it is there.
*or something else, be it Valakut or SFM.
I just tweeted this to Aaron Forsythe, and I encourage others to do the same. The fact that numbers are dropping with attendance reflecting that as such needs to be brought to the attention of Wizards. When players are actively not playing during what should be the middle of a busy season for Standard, that raises a huge red flag.
@S_C, I can compare any card to any card. Kinda lame how you can comment on something I did here, but not respond to my pms, but w/e -_- Counterspell is better than JtMS.
...you never PMed me.
EDIT: Just looked at your new post CorpT. I can only shake my head in disbelief.
They are but this doesn't mean Jace should be banned. Jace was in Standard last season as well. I think we all know who the problem is, Stoneforge Mystic.
You ban Stoneforge Mystic then Caw-Blade is non-existent, which solves what is wrong with this stale format.
They are but this doesn't mean Jace should be banned. Jace was in Standard last season as well. I think we all know who the problem is, Stoneforge Mystic.
You ban Stoneforge Mystic then Caw-Blade is non-existent, which solves what is wrong with this stale format.
This is coming from a Caw-Blade player. lol
You're just looking at what came in and neglecting what rotated out: Bloodbraid Elf, Maelstrom Pulse and Pithing Needle. Jace was not good against Jund and Jund was everywhere last year.
They are but this doesn't mean Jace should be banned. Jace was in Standard last season as well. I think we all know who the problem is, Stoneforge Mystic.
You ban Stoneforge Mystic then Caw-Blade is non-existent, which solves what is wrong with this stale format.
This is coming from a Caw-Blade player. lol
Jace will just find new friends to cause the same problems with, just like what Necropotence did in old Extended when Dark Ritual and Mana Vault were considered the problems instead of Necro.
To be fair though, I would support a banning of both Jace and SFM. If only one card were to be banned though, it would be Jace.
"This guy is a troll for not agreeing with what we say."
no. you're a troll because you talk a lot of bull but none of it means anything. you're also a self-described "jerk wad" who has spent multiple pages of posts railing on people for being too poor or too stupid to keep up with the times. nearly everyone in this thread has taken the effort to make informative well argued posts (one way or the other) but you've really just been talking smack.
They are but this doesn't mean Jace should be banned. Jace was in Standard last season as well. I think we all know who the problem is, Stoneforge Mystic.
You ban Stoneforge Mystic then Caw-Blade is non-existent, which solves what is wrong with this stale format.
This is coming from a Caw-Blade player. lol
But SFM has been in Standard as long as Jace has.
Take a look at some of those top 8's I posted in the link.
Cruel Control, Superfriends, Bant Conscription. None of these require SFM. SFM is seeing so much play because it has the other tools around it to make it dominant, such as Mana Leak and JtMS.
JtMS was seeing A LOT of play even when we could deal with it.
You're just looking at what came in and neglecting what rotated out: Bloodbraid Elf, Maelstrom Pulse and Pithing Needle. Jace was not good against Jund and Jund was everywhere last year.
Yeah that's what I'm talking about. When Jund was everywhere people whined about BBE getting banned. I just feel that SFM is more of a "problem" card than Jace is. Tutor/Uncounterable activated ability to drop super powerful equipments. Tradional UW/UB had problems against Boros, Vengevine decks etc. I just don't see Wizards pulling the plug on Jace.
Jace will just find new friends to cause the same problems with, just like what Necropotence did in old Extended when Dark Ritual and Mana Vault were considered the problems instead of Necro.
To be fair though, I would support a banning of both Jace and SFM. If only one card were to be banned though, it would be Jace.
Right now in T2 there isnt anything as synergystic as the Stonforge package. t3 batterskull just makes playing aggro obsolete.
You're just looking at what came in and neglecting what rotated out: Bloodbraid Elf, Maelstrom Pulse and Pithing Needle. Jace was not good against Jund and Jund was everywhere last year.
This is huge. And next year we'll have people complaining about something else: "OMG BAN PHYREXIAN METAMORPH!!!" Seriously though:
Lorwyn block - OMG ban Goyf
Shards block - OMG ban Fae
Zen block - OMG ban Jund
Scars block - OMG ban Caw
Next year it'll happen again!
Take a look at some of those top 8's I posted in the link.
Cruel Control, Superfriends, Bant Conscription. None of these require SFM. SFM is seeing so much play because it has the other tools around it to make it dominant, such as Mana Leak and JtMS.
JtMS was seeing A LOT of play even when we could deal with it.
Jace is the problem, not SFM.
The reason SFM is dominant is equipment, not Mana Leak and Jace.
problems are contextual. there are alot of stupidly powerful cards in Legacy but the format usually works well enough because there are so many strategies of similar power level (they're all extremely powerful) and so many efficient and effective answers (though you can't possibly play answers to everything.
Jace and SFM were acceptable last year and unacceptable this year because of the context shift. This shouldn't be that hard to understand. BBE, Blightning, Oblivion Ring, Maelstrom Pulse, and better aggro decks all made these cards acceptable because there were other strategies of comparable or greater power and plenty of efficient and effective answers.
Now the context cannot acceptably contain Jace or SFM. they are both unacceptably powerful in the current standard format. There's nothing even close to as powerful. They are just outright the best thing you can do in this format. And there are far fewer good answers. This is a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what we're seeing.
Why can't we all just quit or deal? I'm honestly sick of arguing about Jace. He's lame. He's smothered in power like a fat woman is smothered in grease after going to McDonalds.
This standard is disgusting and lame as hell. I can't enjoy it and I know I'm not alone. I'm now 100% positive banning Jace won't fix a damn thing for standard. I know this because control is just too strong right now.
Also, do we REALLY think Wizards is going to ban a PLANESWALKER? A card type that's only been around since Lorowyn?
Jace is more powerful in legacy. But, Legacy has more powerful cards than jace and answers to literally everything. That argument is void. He's not even close to the most powerful blue card ever printed. He is, however, the strongest blue card in STANDARD since.... . . ..forever? I don't think Gifts Ungiven, Cryptic Command, FoF or FOW can ever compete with the dominance that Jace has over standard.
He's like a king aspiring to be a God crushing every civilization who doesn't accept him as their only way of life.
And that is our standard environment. Run jace or stick to FNM's.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible
Mhjames: mtgsalvation: I DON'T SEE HOW THIS CARD IS GOOD. I KNOW PATRICK CHAPIN USED IT AND WENT 8-0, BUT THAT WAS A SMALL TOURNAMENT. THE CARD IS TOO SLOW. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THE OPPONENT HAS A SPELL IN THE GRAVEYARD
I had no idea it was that big of a difference, that is mind-boggling. It seriously makes me feel dirty for having a playset and having Caw/Kuldotha/Splinter Twin all sleeved up at one point.
This is huge. And next year we'll have people complaining about something else: "OMG BAN PHYREXIAN METAMORPH!!!" Seriously though:
Lorwyn block - OMG ban Goyf
Shards block - OMG ban Fae
Zen block - OMG ban Jund
Scars block - OMG ban Caw
Next year it'll happen again!
But none of the above have saturated the environment as much as caw blade has. Ever. Once SFM had the OP equipment, it was obvious she would become ridiculous. She was useless before it. Let me tutor up my... grappling hook? Valakut isnt even an issue anymore at this point. Batterskull is like a LOL U DIE. Jace is not the issue. Sure, Jace + Preordain make Caw blade super consistent. But the fact is, dropping a T2 Mystic, is an EXTREMELY STRONG play. Its seeing tons of legacy play. My FNM attendance has dropped significantly. We used to get 40s/50. We get around like 20-30 now.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern:
Affinity
EDH:
Rhys (Tokens)
Karrthus (Dragons)
Bruna (Auras OP)
Not since Lightning Bolt, has any card ever been 32/32 in the top 8 this season. Jace is strong enough not only to be near unstoppable in standard, but sees play both in legacy AND vintage as a 2-of. That should say something about its power level... Price alone should not be a valid reason, as to play at higher levels, you need to realize card prices should not be a barrier.
Don't you mean 4-of? Alongside SFM to boot. I am starting to think that it's the combination of the two cards that's format warping. Every format that Jace starts to take a hold, SFM starts to match. And now Survival isn't there to keep the balance.
you know, i used to love watching and reading about competitive gaming, there was always differences in decks and of the stuff, now it just seems to be "well i play this in my cawblade to beat this cawblade", and it always centers around SFM, and JTMS.
I agree, if your going to play competitive magic, prices shouldn't matter. But Jace is a overpowered tempo setter in standard. That kinda tempo pace should be left to legacy shenanigans. His brainstorm every turn is annoying, and fate sealing you to death is even worse. If you don't have something with haste, it gets bounced the next turn.
SFM is just as annoying. It's a tutor so it slims, aether vial for the equipment, so they can't be countered, and a creature to through it on all in one (less u drop batterskull, then well...). I mean she wasn't bad back in Alara + Zendikar, since there wasn't any epic equipment, but now we have AMAZING equipment to through around and it's become to powerful.
I think, truly we may see both of there heads on the cutting block, but Jace will probably be the one to get the axe, since Wizards did say that it was a big mistake on their end.
They will just throw in creatures that can match the power level of Jace. Seeing as Hexproof is now an evergreen ability, we will probably see more of it, giving us some virtual CA against things like Jace.
This is huge. And next year we'll have people complaining about something else: "OMG BAN PHYREXIAN METAMORPH!!!" Seriously though:
Lorwyn block - OMG ban Goyf
Shards block - OMG ban Fae
Zen block - OMG ban Jund
Scars block - OMG ban Caw
Next year it'll happen again!
Goyf was a game staple, not just a format staple, so of course people would complain about it's power level in Standard. Fae abused synergy above and beyond what the average player could handle, so *****-fest away. Jund was just too easy to play at it's power level. CawBlade is just too darn good and has good MU against everything. These last couple of years just haven't been balanced worth ☺☺☺☺.
*Why is it taking so long for creature power to match spell power? I think that they need more powerful/useful effects like SFM in each color, so that the format doesn't warp around the one color that has it.
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
Well and before Lorwyn we had Jitte, Affinity, Clamp, Urza's, etc etc... I mean I really can't think of a time when we played that there was a fool proof Standard. As well as they do quality control, there is only so much testing you can do in a vacuum. And trust me, having worked in the board gaming industry... WOTC puts their sets through some of the most aggressive testing out there.
@panda: Kami > Rav > TSP standards were pretty damn good, even with Jitte. Although it was a control meta, Dragonstorm won worlds and Heezy Street won the major PT, right?
I think that the correct bans are Stoneforge Mystic, Splinter Twin, Valakut, and Preordain. My rationale is in my blog (you can get to it through my signature). I think a Jace ban would create a lot of problems, while the other cards are much more painless.
Thanks for the numbers Corpt. I suspected something like that had happened, but this close to my end-of-year exams I couldn't be bothered to go digging.
I played in the MTGO PTQ on May 22nd, with a paltry attendance of 113 people. Despite NPH not having even been released yet, the general mood was very low, and there was plenty of grumbling about CawBlade. Now of course, people complain about everything. But the fact that even those few who had bothered to turn up were clearly unimpressed by the state of the format struck me.
As it turned out, the grumblers may have had a point. We had seven rounds, and the top 8 consisted of the players who went 6-1 or better, which was 3 CawBlade, Pyromancer, WW quest, RUG, Boros, and myself playing a Bant list with both shamans and mystics.
That doesn't seem too bad to me, but it neglects the overall pattern; if you look at players who went 5-2, there was one boros list, one valakut list, and ELEVEN more CawBlade lists. So if you were towards the top of the rankings, you faced Caw deck after Caw deck after Caw deck. I, personally, played CawBlade six times.
Those numbers have just about convinced me that SFM has to go. That and the fact that I've noticed that when I've been building decks recently, I keep adding a white splash for that and nothing else. If Jace has to go as well to convince people the format will change, so be it. I do still think though that banning Jace and not SFM would be a huge mistake if you want to revitalise the format.
You're just looking at what came in and neglecting what rotated out: Bloodbraid Elf, Maelstrom Pulse and Pithing Needle. Jace was not good against Jund and Jund was everywhere last year.
Actually JtMS was fairly decent against Jund. I ran a Grixis deck and beat Jund twice at Regionals last year, ending up 9th. Granted it was definitely harder to keep Jace on board, but it was possible.
You are correct though, Jace or for that matter, planeswalkers in general, were much easier to deal with last year than they are this year.
Next standard the complaint card is going to be Batterskull, probably for reasons that more closely resemble Jace (omnipresence at the top of the metagame and price) than Jund (BBE or whatever would have been banned to bring Jund into balance if it had been as dominant as CawBlade has been).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
As close as possible to last year:
April 18: Magic Online Event #1133748: _ShipItHolla (Attendance: 252)
April 20: Magic Online Event #1133749: bolov0 (Attendance: 222)
April 23: Magic Online Event #1155030: __SipItHolla (Attendance: 191)
May 1: Denver: Thomas Ma (Attendance: 158)
May 1: Montreal: Vincent Thibeault (Attendance: 142)
May 1: New York: Phil Napoli (Attendance: 142)
May 1: Salt Lake City: Eric Twarog (Attendance: 96)
May 1: San Diego: Matt Sperling (Attendance: 124)
May 2: Boston: Lauren Lee (Attendance: 155)
May 8: Hartford: Ian Duke (Attendance: 206)
May 8: Kissimmee: Travis Turning (Attendance: 104)
May 8: Lincoln: Brandon Ayers (Attendance: 100)
May 8: Portland: Eric Lewandowski (Attendance: 159)
May 8: Richmond: Jeph Foster (Attendance: 106)
May 16: Edmonton: Shaun McLaren (Attendance: 112)
May 16: Madison, Tennessee: Chi Hoi Yim (Attendance: 97)
May 22: Chicago: David Gleicher (Attendance: 140)
May 22: Fort Worth: Derrick Steele (Attendance: 132)
May 22: Kansas City: Nick Wise (Attendance: 140)
May 22: Milford: Scott Metcalf (Attendance: 80)
May 22: Seattle: Mike Thompson (Attendance: 211)
May 22: Tuscaloosa: Joshua Justice (Attendance: 90)
May 23: Chantilly: Zohar Bhagat (Attendance: 447)
2011:
MTGO:
Max:196
Mean:134
Min:110
Paper:
Max:129
Mean:62
Min:57
Combined:
Max:196
Mean:129
Min:57
2010:
MTGO:
Max:252
Mean:222
Min:191
Paper:
Max:447
Mean:136
Min:80
Combined:
Max:447
Mean:140
Min:80
Overall:
Average per event in 2010: 156
Average per event in 2011: 114
What is even scarier about that number is that there have been more MTGO events this year than last year so far and MTGO events are generally much higher than Paper events.
It is hard to be accurate when doing this because geography is so important, but the MTGO numbers are pretty scary.
I think it would be hard to argue that this is a finals issue. This is a format issue.
These numbers are absolutely atrocious.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
I just tweeted this to Aaron Forsythe, and I encourage others to do the same. The fact that numbers are dropping with attendance reflecting that as such needs to be brought to the attention of Wizards. When players are actively not playing during what should be the middle of a busy season for Standard, that raises a huge red flag.
Also:
...you never PMed me.
EDIT: Just looked at your new post CorpT. I can only shake my head in disbelief.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Curse PremiumThey are but this doesn't mean Jace should be banned. Jace was in Standard last season as well. I think we all know who the problem is, Stoneforge Mystic.
You ban Stoneforge Mystic then Caw-Blade is non-existent, which solves what is wrong with this stale format.
This is coming from a Caw-Blade player. lol
You're just looking at what came in and neglecting what rotated out: Bloodbraid Elf, Maelstrom Pulse and Pithing Needle. Jace was not good against Jund and Jund was everywhere last year.
Jace will just find new friends to cause the same problems with, just like what Necropotence did in old Extended when Dark Ritual and Mana Vault were considered the problems instead of Necro.
To be fair though, I would support a banning of both Jace and SFM. If only one card were to be banned though, it would be Jace.
@S_C, omg, you are right:( So sorry. PMing now.
Putting the sexy in Science Fiction!
gamertag: filthychocolate
no. you're a troll because you talk a lot of bull but none of it means anything. you're also a self-described "jerk wad" who has spent multiple pages of posts railing on people for being too poor or too stupid to keep up with the times. nearly everyone in this thread has taken the effort to make informative well argued posts (one way or the other) but you've really just been talking smack.
goodbye troll.
Troll infraction.
But SFM has been in Standard as long as Jace has.
Take a look at some of those top 8's I posted in the link.
Cruel Control, Superfriends, Bant Conscription. None of these require SFM. SFM is seeing so much play because it has the other tools around it to make it dominant, such as Mana Leak and JtMS.
JtMS was seeing A LOT of play even when we could deal with it.
Jace is the problem, not SFM.
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig.
NO RUG: Primer
Tempo Thresh: Primer
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Curse PremiumYeah that's what I'm talking about. When Jund was everywhere people whined about BBE getting banned. I just feel that SFM is more of a "problem" card than Jace is. Tutor/Uncounterable activated ability to drop super powerful equipments. Tradional UW/UB had problems against Boros, Vengevine decks etc. I just don't see Wizards pulling the plug on Jace.
Right now in T2 there isnt anything as synergystic as the Stonforge package. t3 batterskull just makes playing aggro obsolete.
This is huge. And next year we'll have people complaining about something else: "OMG BAN PHYREXIAN METAMORPH!!!" Seriously though:
Lorwyn block - OMG ban Goyf
Shards block - OMG ban Fae
Zen block - OMG ban Jund
Scars block - OMG ban Caw
Next year it'll happen again!
The reason SFM is dominant is equipment, not Mana Leak and Jace.
Jace and SFM were acceptable last year and unacceptable this year because of the context shift. This shouldn't be that hard to understand. BBE, Blightning, Oblivion Ring, Maelstrom Pulse, and better aggro decks all made these cards acceptable because there were other strategies of comparable or greater power and plenty of efficient and effective answers.
Now the context cannot acceptably contain Jace or SFM. they are both unacceptably powerful in the current standard format. There's nothing even close to as powerful. They are just outright the best thing you can do in this format. And there are far fewer good answers. This is a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what we're seeing.
This standard is disgusting and lame as hell. I can't enjoy it and I know I'm not alone. I'm now 100% positive banning Jace won't fix a damn thing for standard. I know this because control is just too strong right now.
Also, do we REALLY think Wizards is going to ban a PLANESWALKER? A card type that's only been around since Lorowyn?
Jace is more powerful in legacy. But, Legacy has more powerful cards than jace and answers to literally everything. That argument is void. He's not even close to the most powerful blue card ever printed. He is, however, the strongest blue card in STANDARD since.... . . ..forever? I don't think Gifts Ungiven, Cryptic Command, FoF or FOW can ever compete with the dominance that Jace has over standard.
He's like a king aspiring to be a God crushing every civilization who doesn't accept him as their only way of life.
And that is our standard environment. Run jace or stick to FNM's.
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible
I had no idea it was that big of a difference, that is mind-boggling. It seriously makes me feel dirty for having a playset and having Caw/Kuldotha/Splinter Twin all sleeved up at one point.
But none of the above have saturated the environment as much as caw blade has. Ever. Once SFM had the OP equipment, it was obvious she would become ridiculous. She was useless before it. Let me tutor up my... grappling hook? Valakut isnt even an issue anymore at this point. Batterskull is like a LOL U DIE. Jace is not the issue. Sure, Jace + Preordain make Caw blade super consistent. But the fact is, dropping a T2 Mystic, is an EXTREMELY STRONG play. Its seeing tons of legacy play. My FNM attendance has dropped significantly. We used to get 40s/50. We get around like 20-30 now.
Modern:
Affinity
EDH:
Rhys (Tokens)
Karrthus (Dragons)
Bruna (Auras OP)
Don't you mean 4-of? Alongside SFM to boot. I am starting to think that it's the combination of the two cards that's format warping. Every format that Jace starts to take a hold, SFM starts to match. And now Survival isn't there to keep the balance.
They will just throw in creatures that can match the power level of Jace. Seeing as Hexproof is now an evergreen ability, we will probably see more of it, giving us some virtual CA against things like Jace.
Goyf was a game staple, not just a format staple, so of course people would complain about it's power level in Standard. Fae abused synergy above and beyond what the average player could handle, so *****-fest away. Jund was just too easy to play at it's power level. CawBlade is just too darn good and has good MU against everything. These last couple of years just haven't been balanced worth ☺☺☺☺.
*Why is it taking so long for creature power to match spell power? I think that they need more powerful/useful effects like SFM in each color, so that the format doesn't warp around the one color that has it.
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Thanks for the numbers CorpT, those are very interesting.
WotC just reprint Rav block, seriously.
I guess one could say "Modern" would be a way for them to allow us to play those old fun decks again... but only if the banned list is 9 pages long.
I think that the correct bans are Stoneforge Mystic, Splinter Twin, Valakut, and Preordain. My rationale is in my blog (you can get to it through my signature). I think a Jace ban would create a lot of problems, while the other cards are much more painless.
Current post- Grand Prix KC Modern Postmortem (7/7/13)
I played in the MTGO PTQ on May 22nd, with a paltry attendance of 113 people. Despite NPH not having even been released yet, the general mood was very low, and there was plenty of grumbling about CawBlade. Now of course, people complain about everything. But the fact that even those few who had bothered to turn up were clearly unimpressed by the state of the format struck me.
As it turned out, the grumblers may have had a point. We had seven rounds, and the top 8 consisted of the players who went 6-1 or better, which was 3 CawBlade, Pyromancer, WW quest, RUG, Boros, and myself playing a Bant list with both shamans and mystics.
That doesn't seem too bad to me, but it neglects the overall pattern; if you look at players who went 5-2, there was one boros list, one valakut list, and ELEVEN more CawBlade lists. So if you were towards the top of the rankings, you faced Caw deck after Caw deck after Caw deck. I, personally, played CawBlade six times.
Remember, this is pre-batterskull.
Those numbers have just about convinced me that SFM has to go. That and the fact that I've noticed that when I've been building decks recently, I keep adding a white splash for that and nothing else. If Jace has to go as well to convince people the format will change, so be it. I do still think though that banning Jace and not SFM would be a huge mistake if you want to revitalise the format.
2011-2012:Bantblade, BantPod
2010-2011:Bant Shaman, Naya Shaman, Naya allies + Scars, URG Turboforce
2009-2010:Naya allies, Mono-White Titan Control
Actually JtMS was fairly decent against Jund. I ran a Grixis deck and beat Jund twice at Regionals last year, ending up 9th. Granted it was definitely harder to keep Jace on board, but it was possible.
You are correct though, Jace or for that matter, planeswalkers in general, were much easier to deal with last year than they are this year.