If a T1 Serra Ascendant is dominating games on a regular basis, the other players must really not be trying.
I have two mono-white decks. SA didn't make the cut for either one of them. I considered it briefly for Sram, but decided it would be an absolutely terrible draw in that deck - vastly worse than drawing another Plains - after around turn 4, which is when it is drawn the vast majority of the time. The two decks I do play it in are both full of ways to gain life, and even there it's not a particularly good draw after the first few turns.
Just because it's not an issue at your table doesn't mean it's not an issue for other groups.
They changed the wording because they now know Commander is a thing, which they didn't at the time of Ascendant's release.
Also I wager there's more people disagreeing with you than there are with me, judging by the responses. Serra Ascendant just isn't ever going to get banned because it's not that good a card. Beyond lifegain-matters decks like Karlov it's almost extinct.
It's a good fit in every deck that includes white. Just drop this on T1 and you cause enough harm to dominate the game.
Except it's no issue at all. It's just the most efficient beatstick in EDH in the weakest single colour of EDH in a format where efficient beatsticks usually aren't where you want to be.
Well, people clearly disagree. That is why it keeps coming up all the time.
And clearly Wizards disagrees too, seeing as they changed the wording of these type of cards in new sets.
But your position is only about one card from the old days, so your argument isnt about the wording, its about that one card. If there were a bunch of them, maybe that's an issue. If it wasn't multiplayer with politics, maybe its an issue. If it wasn't a dead draw late game, maybe its an issue. But it isnt good enough to even kill a person the VAST majority of the time.
Setting people at 10 life or having Rune-Tail prevent all damage is problematic too. But Serra Ascendant is the biggest issue so far.
I know they get stronger. The point is that they acknowledge these cards work differently in EDH and normal play, which is why they started to use this wording.
The issue is that its a one mana 6/6 flying lifelink. And I ask why thats not reasonable in a format where it is a) unlikely to get said 6/6 early on and b) . still takes lots of turns to kill one of the players.
It's the 24-36 lifeswing you get in the first couple of turns.
There isn't a single other creature/card that is this powerful at the start.
Even Sol Ring only gives the player advantage, instead of the gigantic disadvantage this gives to the opponent.
And why does this happen? Because the increased life total in EDH messes up with these cards.
Don't ask me though! Just ask Wizards themselves. Ask the new cards that care about starting life total rather than having a fixed number.
If this was a 20 life one-on-one format, that would be a decent point. But it's not. And in the context of the format, a 1 mana 6/6 with nothing but a couple of keywords is perfectly reasonable.
If you don't see the issue with 1 mana 6/6 creatures with flying and lifelink then I think it's a wise move to end this discussion.
Because that's the entire issue people have: They don't think it's reasonable at all.
I don't want to ban it, I want additional rules so Ascendant only triggers at 50 life.
Same additional rules that now make Lightning Bolt deal 6 damage if it targets a player? I mean, if we're errataing things to function proportionately to our starting life total... Talk about a slippery slope. Do creatures have to deal twice as much damage to players as to other creatures? So now Serra Ascendant has to deal 12 damage to a player once it's online instead of 6 because the opponents have an additional 20 starting life to chunk through?
Additional rules are unneeded, overly complicated, and would not make sense.
Nope.. The goal of the increased life total was to make sure Commander is a bit slower. Not to make sure people have 1 mana 6/6 creatures.
Your slippery slope is a fallacy.
So either additional rules to deal with this or just outright ban them. I don't really care either way.
Mox Amber seems like it should go in, but what about the new squee, he fills a bit different of a roll than OG squee and he also wears a skullclamp very well, I mean 4 mana draw two cards and repeatable in the same turn seems at least good, lacks synergy with rummaging goblin but gains increased synergy with a few cards but still not sure if it’s good enough
I don't see a reason why we would want Squee. It doesn't do anything, it is just an allround bad card.
The old Squee was amazing because it allowed us to discard him for looter-effects, it basically turned all looters into draws.
That card is perfectly fine. It could have been blackbordered.
The problem is with cards where you have to drop dice from x inch.
Or cards that care about the pieces of clothing you are wearing.
Cards that look at the colour of your eyes and cards that require you to yell keywords within 5 seconds.
And one of the worst has to be all the cards with Gotcha!. Those cards are toxic.
In general the bad cards in my opinion are the ones that create "mini-games" that have nothing to do with Magic the Gathering.
The other Emrakul isn't banned.. And I happen to have a deck with him.
Just because it's not an issue at your table doesn't mean it's not an issue for other groups.
The kind of meta where most people play in. Don't you ever read posts from the RC?
It's a good fit in every deck that includes white. Just drop this on T1 and you cause enough harm to dominate the game.
And clearly Wizards disagrees too, seeing as they changed the wording of these type of cards in new sets.
Setting people at 10 life or having Rune-Tail prevent all damage is problematic too. But Serra Ascendant is the biggest issue so far.
It's the 24-36 lifeswing you get in the first couple of turns.
There isn't a single other creature/card that is this powerful at the start.
Even Sol Ring only gives the player advantage, instead of the gigantic disadvantage this gives to the opponent.
And why does this happen? Because the increased life total in EDH messes up with these cards.
Don't ask me though! Just ask Wizards themselves. Ask the new cards that care about starting life total rather than having a fixed number.
If you don't see the issue with 1 mana 6/6 creatures with flying and lifelink then I think it's a wise move to end this discussion.
Because that's the entire issue people have: They don't think it's reasonable at all.
Because it's a ONE MANA SIX/SIX creature.
How hard is it to understand that?
Nope.. The goal of the increased life total was to make sure Commander is a bit slower. Not to make sure people have 1 mana 6/6 creatures.
Your slippery slope is a fallacy.
So either additional rules to deal with this or just outright ban them. I don't really care either way.
I don't see a reason why we would want Squee. It doesn't do anything, it is just an allround bad card.
The old Squee was amazing because it allowed us to discard him for looter-effects, it basically turned all looters into draws.
That card is perfectly fine. It could have been blackbordered.
The problem is with cards where you have to drop dice from x inch.
Or cards that care about the pieces of clothing you are wearing.
Cards that look at the colour of your eyes and cards that require you to yell keywords within 5 seconds.
And one of the worst has to be all the cards with Gotcha!. Those cards are toxic.
In general the bad cards in my opinion are the ones that create "mini-games" that have nothing to do with Magic the Gathering.