1) Banning Attune seems like it'd be enough to make energy "just another deck," given that their own data shows mainly 52-48 or worse matchups. They wanted to mostly get rid of a deck that people are pretty sick of.
2) Ferocidon is the most random ban in history. A 3-mana 3/3 that offers no value does not scream "BAN THIS RIGHT NOW!" Banning Ruins might have been enough, but I can understand those win percentages scaring them.
Overrated: Carnage Tyrant. I base this on the fact that neither Plated Crusher nor Scaled Behemoth saw any play outside of Sealed/Limited, except in some home-brew deck which happened to perform well during one or two weekend tournaments. Maybe the addition of both "cannot be countered" and "trample" will make the difference but even after we got Prowling Serpopard no one used the big green creatures.
That's definitely an honorable-mention overrated pick for me. I mean, Sagu Mauler didn't get near constructed, either, and I didn't hear a lot of people saying it was one point of power away from greatness (to be fair, this set is very much not Khans of Tarkir). The Tyrant is probably good SB against control, at least.
This is usually fun...what cards does everyone consider overrated in the upcoming set? Underrated? Just plain rated? Of course, I'll start.
OVERRATED:
Growing Rites of Itlimoc
Twenty bucks? For THIS? The front half is really bad, folks. Seriously, there have been a dozen versions of this effect printed and they've all been better than this. Yeah, you might open the door to that sweet Gaea's Cradle on the flipside, but your opponent gets to play, too. Most decks will be able to keep this from flipping until it's irrelevant, wait until it flips and then sweep, or just kill you while you're spending 3 mana on a barely-glorified Oath of Nissa.
UNDERRATED:
Search for Azcanta
People think this is good, but it's better than that. The strictly-better Think Tank on the front is already playable, and the flip side is absolutely bonkers for any control deck. I got a couple copies at $3, but I'm thinking about getting two more--before people get on the floor with this and see just how good it is.
RATED:
Ripjaw Raptor
I expect to see everybody walk the dinosaur hype back a little--the dino decks I've seen have pretty serious issues with Ramunap Red--but this is quite good on its own, if not unbeatable. It's weak to non-damage-based removal, but a 4/5 for 4 isn't utterly embarrassing by itself, and it plays well with the already-sweet Walking Ballista. The consensus that it's one of the top cards in the set seems right, although that might not be the case with a lot of sets.
This is not a Rumor, moved to New Card Discussion - Wildfire393
Chart a Course is excellent. The closest comparison is Night's Whisper, although the drawback is a bit stricter than the older card's. It's a great way to make a blue draw card that's specifically not for control decks.
The flip lands are just groovy, their power level completely aside. That said, I'm not as optimistic about Growing Rites in particular as a lot of people are. The front end is overcosted by a full mana, and getting a huge mana boost only once you already have a lot of creatures out is pretty narrow. It's obviously sweet in multiplayer games, though.
It's a two mana card that makes a 5/4 token, and people are still disappointed.
Spoiler season can be depressing sometimes...
But it's not two mana. It's at least four.
Well its more like 2+X, where X is equal to the number of tapped lands you control at the start of your next turn. If you got even 1 mana dork, it basically reads as 1+X, where X equals 1. Which is similar value as 2+X and X equaling 0 but can be achieved with 2 mana dorks.
Leaving lands untapped the turn you play this so that they'll be untapped the next turn is still paying that mana,though. Like in the example you posted above--admittedly the best case for this card--my green casual decks that use mana dorks want to go BoP into Blade Splicer into Restoration Angel, or Elf into Rhonas himself into Thunderbreak Regent. Doing a bunch of dancing to get a discounted Woolly Thoctar just doesn't make it.
What sort of deck would this possibly be good in? Playing it turn 2 in an aggro deck means you're probably just hosed if it gets removed. Midrange certainly doesn't want to take a turn off to drop a relatively fragile beater with no abilities. And trying to get around the drawback by using mana dorks and not tapping your lands just defeats the purpose.
I'm pretty high on Scrapheap Scrounger. It costs 1 more to initially get out than Bloodsoaked Champion (a good card in its own right), but there's a big difference between a 2/1 that keeps coming back and a 3/2 that keeps coming back.
Bant is getting a lot of interest lately; it fills in the holes in Selesnya's game plan, and the GoST/Rootborn Defenses combo is soul-crushing. Obviously, Bonfire and Mortars are strong, but that depends on the Bant player not having a Defenses or a Negate. What else do you think should be done against it?
2) Ferocidon is the most random ban in history. A 3-mana 3/3 that offers no value does not scream "BAN THIS RIGHT NOW!" Banning Ruins might have been enough, but I can understand those win percentages scaring them.
3) Control will be very, very good.
That's definitely an honorable-mention overrated pick for me. I mean, Sagu Mauler didn't get near constructed, either, and I didn't hear a lot of people saying it was one point of power away from greatness (to be fair, this set is very much not Khans of Tarkir). The Tyrant is probably good SB against control, at least.
OVERRATED:
Growing Rites of Itlimoc
Twenty bucks? For THIS? The front half is really bad, folks. Seriously, there have been a dozen versions of this effect printed and they've all been better than this. Yeah, you might open the door to that sweet Gaea's Cradle on the flipside, but your opponent gets to play, too. Most decks will be able to keep this from flipping until it's irrelevant, wait until it flips and then sweep, or just kill you while you're spending 3 mana on a barely-glorified Oath of Nissa.
UNDERRATED:
Search for Azcanta
People think this is good, but it's better than that. The strictly-better Think Tank on the front is already playable, and the flip side is absolutely bonkers for any control deck. I got a couple copies at $3, but I'm thinking about getting two more--before people get on the floor with this and see just how good it is.
RATED:
Ripjaw Raptor
I expect to see everybody walk the dinosaur hype back a little--the dino decks I've seen have pretty serious issues with Ramunap Red--but this is quite good on its own, if not unbeatable. It's weak to non-damage-based removal, but a 4/5 for 4 isn't utterly embarrassing by itself, and it plays well with the already-sweet Walking Ballista. The consensus that it's one of the top cards in the set seems right, although that might not be the case with a lot of sets.
This is not a Rumor, moved to New Card Discussion - Wildfire393
The flip lands are just groovy, their power level completely aside. That said, I'm not as optimistic about Growing Rites in particular as a lot of people are. The front end is overcosted by a full mana, and getting a huge mana boost only once you already have a lot of creatures out is pretty narrow. It's obviously sweet in multiplayer games, though.
Leaving lands untapped the turn you play this so that they'll be untapped the next turn is still paying that mana,though. Like in the example you posted above--admittedly the best case for this card--my green casual decks that use mana dorks want to go BoP into Blade Splicer into Restoration Angel, or Elf into Rhonas himself into Thunderbreak Regent. Doing a bunch of dancing to get a discounted Woolly Thoctar just doesn't make it.
But it's not two mana. It's at least four.
Seems bad, mang.
So Solemnity, Chronozoa, and a sacrifice outlet make for good times.