With the power level of gush, will it be re-restricted?
cards are restricted when they are harming to the format
in the way that a large portion of decks are either useing it or boarding against it
ex. flash in legacy, 1/2 the decks were flash, the other 1/2 were anti flash.
Gush is pretty damn good.... will it stay around?
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I don't think so. With the printing of Thorn causing the rise in Workshop decks, I think that's enough to keep Gush-based decks in check while not shifting the meta into Gush and anti-Gush.
I wouldn't do anything to the format right now. It's at its healthiest in years.
When every deck is playing Gush, it needs to be restricted. I bet if you held an unlimited-proxy tournament tomorrow, 20 out of 20 people would bring GAT. And that's not called Magic, gentlemen. That's called Chess.
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When every deck is playing Gush, it needs to be restricted. I bet if you held an unlimited-proxy tournament tomorrow, 20 out of 20 people would bring GAT. And that's not called Magic, gentlemen. That's called Chess.
No, I don't think so. Gush decks (both Storm and Dryad versions) have been putting up good results, but they're not the only ones being played. It's just that all the good players are using that deck... If those players play another deck (say Stax - which is a nifty foil to Gush), would everyone start clamoring for "restrict Workshop!" again?
Looking at the format at this point I don't think Gush will be restricted January 1st. Gush decks are good but they are certainly not taking up anything near 100% of the metagame. Lorwyn will shake up the format a bit and I think it will shift away from Gush decks and more towards Prison decks. A lot of it will also depend on the latest SCG results and the impact they have on the tournaments thereafter. The Day 1 results show 3 Gush decks in the T8, which is a good showing but far from dominating the format. I think Wizards will let Gush play out for at least one more B/R change before making a decision on it.
When every deck is playing Gush, it needs to be restricted. I bet if you held an unlimited-proxy tournament tomorrow, 20 out of 20 people would bring GAT. And that's not called Magic, gentlemen. That's called Chess.
I am sorry GAT is not the most popular deck rigth now. Gat and gush storm have a very hard time dealing with stax decks. The type 1 event in new jersey on saturday this week was very heavy in stax decks. Gush storm was there as well as GAT, but only 1 gush storm deck top 8ed.
Just for info. The top 8 was as follows, in no order
1 Gush storm
1 uwfish
1 uwb fish
1 ss with dreadnought
1 stax
1 mono red gobolins
1 sliver flash
1 red green aggro
I'm pretty sure it'll stay. With the release of Lorwyn, Stax is getting more popular because of Thorns. At a 15 proxy tournament I attended on Saturday, the top 8 consisted of:
1 GAT
1 Gush Tendrils
1 Stackless Stax
1 Stax
1 Affinity
1 Bomberman
2 Mono R Goblins
In total (from what I remeber from the metagame breakdown), there were 9 Gush based decks and 8 Workshop based decks out of 36 players. So, out of all those 2 Gush based and 3 Workshop based decks made top 8 (along with 2 of the 3 Goblin decks in the tourney. The last one getting 9th on breakers.)
I bet if you held an unlimited-proxy tournament tomorrow, 20 out of 20 people would bring GAT. And that's not called Magic, gentlemen. That's called Chess.
You'd lose that bet. The tournament I went to on Saturday (the same day you posted that statement) was about half Workshop decks. I think only 2 out of 18 players brought GAT and neither was in the top 8.
And I'm not sure why you said "unlimited-proxy." It's not like GAT is more expensive to build than Stax or Bomberman. Given 10 proxies you can build almost any Vintage deck for around the same price.
And I'm not sure why you said "unlimited-proxy." It's not like GAT is more expensive to build than Stax or Bomberman. Given 10 proxies you can build almost any Vintage deck for around the same price.
Unlimited proxy means that everyone and their mother would come, and they would all netdeck GAT. I saw that the SCG Chicago field was diverse, but if you talk to anyone who doesn't play Vintage, they think that GAT is the only deck to play. Therefore, if you hold an unlimited proxy event in Columbus (this actually happens), and there's a 10-proxy event the same weekend somewhere close by (this doesn't happen, at least not the same weekend as a Meandeck Open), all the Type 2 players here will proxy GAT and play it.
Don't talk to me like I'm dumb. I know the format very well. Hell, I play Flash, so obviously it's not 100% GAT.
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The initial results after the unrestriction were hugely in favor of Gush, but I think the format has started to adapt to it. This will probably be enough to keep it from geting restricted again.
If Gush were still appearing in 7 of the top 8 decks at every major tournament, then I might be worried.
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Unlimited proxy means that everyone and their mother would come, and they would all netdeck GAT. I saw that the SCG Chicago field was diverse, but if you talk to anyone who doesn't play Vintage, they think that GAT is the only deck to play. Therefore, if you hold an unlimited proxy event in Columbus (this actually happens), and there's a 10-proxy event the same weekend somewhere close by (this doesn't happen, at least not the same weekend as a Meandeck Open), all the Type 2 players here will proxy GAT and play it.
To a certain extent that may be true, but what you said was that 20 out of 20, or 100% of the field, would play GAT. But like you said, there's not going to be an unlimited-proxy event the same day as a 10-proxy event so your unlimited-proxy tournament would draw the regular Vintage crowd in addition to the non-Vintage crowd and they would probably anticipate a GAT heavy field and play something Workshop based.
Also, I think Flash is more popular than GAT with people who don't play Vintage, primarily because it has the same explosive power as other decks in the format without the prerequisite of knowing the rest of the format.
I didn't; I disagreed with your statement and provided evidence to back up what I had to say. If I was going to talk to you like you're dumb, I would have been a lot more condescending.
I know the format very well. Hell, I play Flash, so obviously it's not 100% GAT.
Speaking of condescending: Why would you play Flash if you "know the format very well?" As powerful as it can seem, it just doesn't perform with an experienced player on the other side of the table and Leyline of the Void or Tormod's Crypt in every sideboard. In the events I've attended, I've seen Flash put up decent results at one tournament since the Flash errata was changed (the first one) and that was only because about a third of the field was playing it, but still none of them made top 8. After that, fewer people played it and most of them placed very low.
Speaking of condescending: Why would you play Flash if you "know the format very well?" As powerful as it can seem, it just doesn't perform with an experienced player on the other side of the table and Leyline of the Void or Tormod's Crypt in every sideboard.
How does Tormod's Crypt have anything to do with the performance of Flash? Noone has played the kiki version since the sliver version was produced.
Gush will stick around this time, although I'm not certain that it should. However, based upon the most recent results, I am more in favor of it sticking around for at least the moment.
Gush is just fine. No more broken than anything else. Plus, it would be far more prudent to restrict scroll than gush. But even that is unnecessary. If a bunch of bad players picked up a gush deck they would have no shot in winning. The reason it clogs the top tables is because in the hands of good players its very, very broken. And they either a) think its the best deck, or b) (And I'm looking at menendian here, although from what I've read he agrees that gush decks are the best) you're very loyal to grow style decks :P. Meta is wide open right now. Thank gush. Now take FOF off of the restriction list, let mana drains back into the meta, and we've got ourselves a perfect format.
Initially when Gush combo, and GAT came out they pretty much walked the dog on the format... but this is the sort of thing you should be used to if you've recently followed T2 formats with an established meta. The biggest difference is in T2 the meta reacts to accomodate the deck faster (usually), making the return to a more balanced field quicker.
It didn't help much that the Gush archtype was simply templated onto two great decks (IE Long/Grow). This was one of the most likely (I don't know) reasons the decks were initially so dominating. Finally, they're really reactive decks and fun as Hell to play.
The biggest problem with Gush.Dec was never actually Gush... it was the sluggish format shift to handle the deck properly (which is common for Vintage). However as far as I've seen the worst is long gone, and the format has begun to accomodate the deck.
GaT is still, imo, the strongest deck in the format. It isn't played, but its still the strongest.
I really don't know why people don't play it. I suppose it gets boring to play, and it really isn't as intricate as its predecessors (cs, gifts, etc), meaning vintage players are more used to that play style. That being said, the reason GaT does better, in modern vintage, is just because it has the "broken" factor, but because it wins with dryad, and because of the nature of the 16 card draw engine that is its centerpiece, it can easily take on control or aggro roles, and can adapt to a given situation.
The reason it took the format by storm the first time is that it actually was the best deck. There were no storm or flash decks to put a lot of pressure on it. Half of the stax componants hadn't been printed yet. GaT was a 2007 deck built in 2004.
All of this being said, I don't think gush necessarily warrants restriction. I could see scroll getting axed, as its cheap tutorage, and on principle, I believe that if you restrict gifts you should restrict scroll (of course I would just like my gifts back ;)).
What I would like to see restricted is Serum Powder. It isn't broken, but all it will ever do is facilitate non-interactive decks. Right now it can be found in Ichorid, in some versions of Stax, and in some versions of suicide tendrils, and all it does is facilitate unhealthy decks. I think its probably a good idea to get rid of non-interactive cards, in general, as they lead to a worse game as a whole.
The following could be unrestricted with little repercussion:
Dream Halls: its not an artifact, it costs 5 mana, it doesn't win the game. It will not see competitive play, why hate on the johnnies?
Enlightened Tutor: Its a disadvantageous tutor that can't even get half of the good targets for tutors. It MAY see competitive play, but only on a low level, more than likely not a concern.
Entomb: Dragon combo is easily dealt with, I wouldn't be scared of entomb.
Grim Monolith: Terrible terrible acceleration, no one would even consider playing it. It's an awful card in the context of modern vintage.
Mox Diamond: The disadvantage moxen are very fairly designed. I honestly see no problem in letting them loose. They only faciliate "fair" strategies.
Chrome Mox: See above.
Time Spiral: It costs 6 mana and isn't really a game ender. It will not see play.
Windfall: Its not really that good, I doubt it would be played.
And to consider: Frantic Search, Fact or Fiction, Personal Tutor. The prior two have been included in highly competitive decks, but that was a long time ago. I don't think they would be as good now. The only concern with personal tutor is Tinker.deq. I don't really know how "bad" this would be, I'd have to test (and don't really feel like doing so).
Unrestricting Frantic Search in a format where you can MD 4x Gush is most likely a terrible idea. This would probably create a rather large shift towards some hideously over-powered Will.dec. Gush was played a long time ago too, and then they restricted it, and it saw no play as a singleton. When they brought it back it instantly made an archtype. I can imagine FS could accomplish this too.
It's kinda hatefull when they restrict/unstrict cards all the time. It would take away the fun I have with this game.
I remember the time when trinisphere was unrestricted. While some might argue that it shouldn't have been restricted, there was a time when some people simply refused to play because everyone had to play stax or anti-stax.
And prior to the restriction of burning wish and LED, cowdung was being flung all over by the fan. There wasn't even a "long vs anti-long", it was just plain "long or lose". Gush and fof offered the same problems prior to that.
While restricting cards takes away the fun for some people, not having players to play with because they refuse to play against such cards is even worse.
Call them unskilled scrubs if you want, that still won't increase enthusiasm or attendance.
Gush created the strongest deck in the format. GaT does the most broken things and is the beast of the format.
Gush probably should be re-restricted. But Wizards won't do that.
So as of right now, the only option is to hate on GaT, which is Vintage king.
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I was reading this thread and had an idea. Why, when Wizards restrict cards, do they limit themselves to 4, 1, or 0? It seems to me like the right amount of restriction for cards like gush or my beloved trinispheres might be 3 or 2 (respectively). They still allow these cards to be played in a functional capacity, but not to the extent that you can mulligan into a specific hand and win turn 2.
How would one gauge if a card is broken enough for 2 but not 3? Right now, its either 4 or too powerful (supposedly 0, but because its vintage, 1). Considering that wizards already fails to spot overpowered cards before release, I doubt it if they'll spare the time and manpower to test the various permutations of 1, 2, and 3 cards as being acceptable.
0 in vintage is reserved for ante and shahrazad, so its really 4 or 1.
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Well, shaharazad shouldn't have been restricted anyway. It was a 10 damage burn spell for WW, which is terrible. Never go into the subgame. All restricting it does is turn off people's casual decks.
I even think that dexterity cards could be readmitted. Perhaps to simply have a random effect (1, T: If chaos orb is in play, destroy target random permanent, sacrifice chaos orb). I don't really care either way, but it would be interesting methinks.
On a more "serious" note, the "half" restrictions would probably just make things overly complicated. Its difficult enough to draw the "black/white" line of "legal/restricted" in vintage, without throwing in a 2 card "gray" area, and there is very little benefit, at least that I can say.
@ King Crimson: I agree with you to a point, however Frantic Search is decidedly worse than gush. It requires 3 lands in play to function optimally, and even then it is card disadvantage. While it can be scary, I do believe in practice it wouldn't be as bad as one might think. On that note, I do agree that it is a fairly scary premise. Therefore I propose this method: Unrestrict the cards that have no business being restricted, see how the format turns out. If no significant impact has been made, unrestrict the "consideration" cards one at a time, every 6 months. If significant impact is made, monitor impact. I would also do it in order of FoF, P-Tutor, Frantic Search (maybe with tutor and search switching). Note that p-tutor could also be a problem, facilitation "tinker.deq", with 4 tutors that get both tinker and walk in a row, but I think that with some adaptation it wouldn't make much of an impact.
@ Satriani: You misunderstand the current format, it looks like. While I would propose GaT is one of the strongest, maybe even the strongest, deck atm, it is not dominant, not like it was last time, and not to any extent like Long was. Actually, very few people actually play it, they just tend to be the better players, and tend to top 8. A normal NE vintage tournament around now would likely have 3ish GaT decks in the top 8, and maybe two or three under that, and the people top 8ing are consistent, indicating that playskill has a good amount to do with their success. Actually, Workshop based decks have the edge in raw results lately, and are more heavily played than GaT. Beyond that, long has been putting up decent results, and usually an ichorid or bomberman or oath deck, or something that effect, will snag a top 8 slot or two. Overall, the format, while disbalanced for a while, is settling, and it isn't all that bad. Granted, I do think it was better about a year ago, but I can deal with this. I mean, vintage top 8s atm tend to be more balanced that standard and extended it would seem, with doran dominating extended top 8s and standard being reduced to a purely aggro and tempo based format. I am hoping that mor ends up with a card or two which will shake things up a bit more (hopefully not another sphere ^^).
Vintage isn't really terribbly off, it was for a while, but with the advents in stax strategies, GaT's power seems to have been offset. I really think it would be a good idea just to unrestrict all of the jank from the b/r list and see how things go for a bit.
I can understand your point. But the card warranted restrictions for a very good reason. After the Gush fiasco unrestricting a potentially equally good card might not be such a great idea. Not because FS is particulalrly broken itself (granted, it's quite awesome)... but more or less how obscene it would be with something like Gush.
I do fully agree with your "test the waters" method on unrestriction. In this way you could gauge the pure brokeness or lack thereof of cards like Personal Tutor before commiting to a permanent format change.
The format isn't particulaly unhealthy at the moment, but it is however lending itself to Gush.dec and Anti-Gush.dec (IE Workshop/8-Sphere.dec variants). The field isn't barren mind you, but this shifting to a deck/antideck meta only means one thing: it will get boring to play vintage unless some new/currently restricted cards spice it up.
The biggest problem is the fact that Wizards doesn't much consider the Vintage community while making sets. The pool of good new cards we get, is miniscule. Even when we do get a fine card, it usually ends up being particularly narrow, or so-so-ish.
cards are restricted when they are harming to the format
in the way that a large portion of decks are either useing it or boarding against it
ex. flash in legacy, 1/2 the decks were flash, the other 1/2 were anti flash.
Gush is pretty damn good.... will it stay around?
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I wouldn't do anything to the format right now. It's at its healthiest in years.
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No, I don't think so. Gush decks (both Storm and Dryad versions) have been putting up good results, but they're not the only ones being played. It's just that all the good players are using that deck... If those players play another deck (say Stax - which is a nifty foil to Gush), would everyone start clamoring for "restrict Workshop!" again?
I am sorry GAT is not the most popular deck rigth now. Gat and gush storm have a very hard time dealing with stax decks. The type 1 event in new jersey on saturday this week was very heavy in stax decks. Gush storm was there as well as GAT, but only 1 gush storm deck top 8ed.
Just for info. The top 8 was as follows, in no order
1 Gush storm
1 uwfish
1 uwb fish
1 ss with dreadnought
1 stax
1 mono red gobolins
1 sliver flash
1 red green aggro
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=532795
1 GAT
1 Gush Tendrils
1 Stackless Stax
1 Stax
1 Affinity
1 Bomberman
2 Mono R Goblins
In total (from what I remeber from the metagame breakdown), there were 9 Gush based decks and 8 Workshop based decks out of 36 players. So, out of all those 2 Gush based and 3 Workshop based decks made top 8 (along with 2 of the 3 Goblin decks in the tourney. The last one getting 9th on breakers.)
You'd lose that bet. The tournament I went to on Saturday (the same day you posted that statement) was about half Workshop decks. I think only 2 out of 18 players brought GAT and neither was in the top 8.
And I'm not sure why you said "unlimited-proxy." It's not like GAT is more expensive to build than Stax or Bomberman. Given 10 proxies you can build almost any Vintage deck for around the same price.
Unlimited proxy means that everyone and their mother would come, and they would all netdeck GAT. I saw that the SCG Chicago field was diverse, but if you talk to anyone who doesn't play Vintage, they think that GAT is the only deck to play. Therefore, if you hold an unlimited proxy event in Columbus (this actually happens), and there's a 10-proxy event the same weekend somewhere close by (this doesn't happen, at least not the same weekend as a Meandeck Open), all the Type 2 players here will proxy GAT and play it.
Don't talk to me like I'm dumb. I know the format very well. Hell, I play Flash, so obviously it's not 100% GAT.
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If Gush were still appearing in 7 of the top 8 decks at every major tournament, then I might be worried.
To a certain extent that may be true, but what you said was that 20 out of 20, or 100% of the field, would play GAT. But like you said, there's not going to be an unlimited-proxy event the same day as a 10-proxy event so your unlimited-proxy tournament would draw the regular Vintage crowd in addition to the non-Vintage crowd and they would probably anticipate a GAT heavy field and play something Workshop based.
Also, I think Flash is more popular than GAT with people who don't play Vintage, primarily because it has the same explosive power as other decks in the format without the prerequisite of knowing the rest of the format.
I didn't; I disagreed with your statement and provided evidence to back up what I had to say. If I was going to talk to you like you're dumb, I would have been a lot more condescending.
Speaking of condescending: Why would you play Flash if you "know the format very well?" As powerful as it can seem, it just doesn't perform with an experienced player on the other side of the table and Leyline of the Void or Tormod's Crypt in every sideboard. In the events I've attended, I've seen Flash put up decent results at one tournament since the Flash errata was changed (the first one) and that was only because about a third of the field was playing it, but still none of them made top 8. After that, fewer people played it and most of them placed very low.
How does Tormod's Crypt have anything to do with the performance of Flash? Noone has played the kiki version since the sliver version was produced.
You're right, it doesn't. I was thinking about graveyard hate in general as I was typing rather than just Flash. My bad.
Still, Leyline is the more common sideboard (and sometimes maindeck) answer to graveyard decks.
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It didn't help much that the Gush archtype was simply templated onto two great decks (IE Long/Grow). This was one of the most likely (I don't know) reasons the decks were initially so dominating. Finally, they're really reactive decks and fun as Hell to play.
The biggest problem with Gush.Dec was never actually Gush... it was the sluggish format shift to handle the deck properly (which is common for Vintage). However as far as I've seen the worst is long gone, and the format has begun to accomodate the deck.
I really don't know why people don't play it. I suppose it gets boring to play, and it really isn't as intricate as its predecessors (cs, gifts, etc), meaning vintage players are more used to that play style. That being said, the reason GaT does better, in modern vintage, is just because it has the "broken" factor, but because it wins with dryad, and because of the nature of the 16 card draw engine that is its centerpiece, it can easily take on control or aggro roles, and can adapt to a given situation.
The reason it took the format by storm the first time is that it actually was the best deck. There were no storm or flash decks to put a lot of pressure on it. Half of the stax componants hadn't been printed yet. GaT was a 2007 deck built in 2004.
All of this being said, I don't think gush necessarily warrants restriction. I could see scroll getting axed, as its cheap tutorage, and on principle, I believe that if you restrict gifts you should restrict scroll (of course I would just like my gifts back ;)).
What I would like to see restricted is Serum Powder. It isn't broken, but all it will ever do is facilitate non-interactive decks. Right now it can be found in Ichorid, in some versions of Stax, and in some versions of suicide tendrils, and all it does is facilitate unhealthy decks. I think its probably a good idea to get rid of non-interactive cards, in general, as they lead to a worse game as a whole.
The following could be unrestricted with little repercussion:
Dream Halls: its not an artifact, it costs 5 mana, it doesn't win the game. It will not see competitive play, why hate on the johnnies?
Enlightened Tutor: Its a disadvantageous tutor that can't even get half of the good targets for tutors. It MAY see competitive play, but only on a low level, more than likely not a concern.
Entomb: Dragon combo is easily dealt with, I wouldn't be scared of entomb.
Grim Monolith: Terrible terrible acceleration, no one would even consider playing it. It's an awful card in the context of modern vintage.
Mox Diamond: The disadvantage moxen are very fairly designed. I honestly see no problem in letting them loose. They only faciliate "fair" strategies.
Chrome Mox: See above.
Time Spiral: It costs 6 mana and isn't really a game ender. It will not see play.
Windfall: Its not really that good, I doubt it would be played.
And to consider: Frantic Search, Fact or Fiction, Personal Tutor. The prior two have been included in highly competitive decks, but that was a long time ago. I don't think they would be as good now. The only concern with personal tutor is Tinker.deq. I don't really know how "bad" this would be, I'd have to test (and don't really feel like doing so).
Most of your other recommendations are spot on.
I remember the time when trinisphere was unrestricted. While some might argue that it shouldn't have been restricted, there was a time when some people simply refused to play because everyone had to play stax or anti-stax.
And prior to the restriction of burning wish and LED, cowdung was being flung all over by the fan. There wasn't even a "long vs anti-long", it was just plain "long or lose". Gush and fof offered the same problems prior to that.
While restricting cards takes away the fun for some people, not having players to play with because they refuse to play against such cards is even worse.
Call them unskilled scrubs if you want, that still won't increase enthusiasm or attendance.
For today, gush seems likely to stay.
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Gush probably should be re-restricted. But Wizards won't do that.
So as of right now, the only option is to hate on GaT, which is Vintage king.
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How would one gauge if a card is broken enough for 2 but not 3? Right now, its either 4 or too powerful (supposedly 0, but because its vintage, 1). Considering that wizards already fails to spot overpowered cards before release, I doubt it if they'll spare the time and manpower to test the various permutations of 1, 2, and 3 cards as being acceptable.
0 in vintage is reserved for ante and shahrazad, so its really 4 or 1.
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I even think that dexterity cards could be readmitted. Perhaps to simply have a random effect (1, T: If chaos orb is in play, destroy target random permanent, sacrifice chaos orb). I don't really care either way, but it would be interesting methinks.
On a more "serious" note, the "half" restrictions would probably just make things overly complicated. Its difficult enough to draw the "black/white" line of "legal/restricted" in vintage, without throwing in a 2 card "gray" area, and there is very little benefit, at least that I can say.
@ King Crimson: I agree with you to a point, however Frantic Search is decidedly worse than gush. It requires 3 lands in play to function optimally, and even then it is card disadvantage. While it can be scary, I do believe in practice it wouldn't be as bad as one might think. On that note, I do agree that it is a fairly scary premise. Therefore I propose this method: Unrestrict the cards that have no business being restricted, see how the format turns out. If no significant impact has been made, unrestrict the "consideration" cards one at a time, every 6 months. If significant impact is made, monitor impact. I would also do it in order of FoF, P-Tutor, Frantic Search (maybe with tutor and search switching). Note that p-tutor could also be a problem, facilitation "tinker.deq", with 4 tutors that get both tinker and walk in a row, but I think that with some adaptation it wouldn't make much of an impact.
@ Satriani: You misunderstand the current format, it looks like. While I would propose GaT is one of the strongest, maybe even the strongest, deck atm, it is not dominant, not like it was last time, and not to any extent like Long was. Actually, very few people actually play it, they just tend to be the better players, and tend to top 8. A normal NE vintage tournament around now would likely have 3ish GaT decks in the top 8, and maybe two or three under that, and the people top 8ing are consistent, indicating that playskill has a good amount to do with their success. Actually, Workshop based decks have the edge in raw results lately, and are more heavily played than GaT. Beyond that, long has been putting up decent results, and usually an ichorid or bomberman or oath deck, or something that effect, will snag a top 8 slot or two. Overall, the format, while disbalanced for a while, is settling, and it isn't all that bad. Granted, I do think it was better about a year ago, but I can deal with this. I mean, vintage top 8s atm tend to be more balanced that standard and extended it would seem, with doran dominating extended top 8s and standard being reduced to a purely aggro and tempo based format. I am hoping that mor ends up with a card or two which will shake things up a bit more (hopefully not another sphere ^^).
Vintage isn't really terribbly off, it was for a while, but with the advents in stax strategies, GaT's power seems to have been offset. I really think it would be a good idea just to unrestrict all of the jank from the b/r list and see how things go for a bit.
I can understand your point. But the card warranted restrictions for a very good reason. After the Gush fiasco unrestricting a potentially equally good card might not be such a great idea. Not because FS is particulalrly broken itself (granted, it's quite awesome)... but more or less how obscene it would be with something like Gush.
I do fully agree with your "test the waters" method on unrestriction. In this way you could gauge the pure brokeness or lack thereof of cards like Personal Tutor before commiting to a permanent format change.
The format isn't particulaly unhealthy at the moment, but it is however lending itself to Gush.dec and Anti-Gush.dec (IE Workshop/8-Sphere.dec variants). The field isn't barren mind you, but this shifting to a deck/antideck meta only means one thing: it will get boring to play vintage unless some new/currently restricted cards spice it up.
The biggest problem is the fact that Wizards doesn't much consider the Vintage community while making sets. The pool of good new cards we get, is miniscule. Even when we do get a fine card, it usually ends up being particularly narrow, or so-so-ish.
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