I guess there is more than one way to nerf answers. Making the threats immune is as good as making answers worse in a vacuum. Even Lightning Bolt is less effective when most of the best creatures have 4+ toughness.
That said, quality counter-spells and discard are good against CIP effects (as are creature hosers like Humility or Ghostly Prison). As I said, playable generic answers police formats. Standard needs them desperately.
Actually, I would argue that we - as average players - have access to far more information than we did 15 years ago. Remember, 15 year ago we did not have Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace or Reddit. Most websites were Web 1.0, with very little user interaction. The only real place to talk about Magic was to join a forum (usually the official WotC forums) and/or go to an IRC/Chat Room/AIM/YIM.
We live in a vastly different world today than we did 15 years ago. Formats are "solved" faster because the Internet has democratized information. Anyone can post an idea on a forum, facebook, reddit or make a Youtube video. Those ideas are picked up and discussed. If they are good, the ideas spread from platform to platform. Along the way, the idea is refined and made better.
Social media doesn't solve a format.
We didn't need Snap-Chat or Instagram for every LGS to see Cunning Wake, Goblins, Affinity, Tooth & Nail, etc.
The internet was a successful form of mass communication 15 years ago. I'd even argue that it was better to have all the information concentrated into a smaller number of sites (and old fashioned message boards preserve discussion much better than something like Reddit).
We also have 15 more years of collective experience to draw from.
We have a lot of new players these days, and Standard is increasingly less aimed at established veterans. I am not convinced that the players trying to solve Standard are any better than the players solving it years ago. If anything, today's players are more inclined to net-deck than ever before (and therefore less inclined to develop).
As for MTGO, it's been established that people I teract less, not more these days. Online people chat less and are ruder than in real social settings.
Everything you suggest is speculative (and some of it dubious).
What is factual is that Standard used to have playable generic answers, quality hate cards, and a diversity of play-styles that likened the meta game (hyberbolically) to rock/paper/scissors. None of these things are being questio ed, and all of these things help keep any deck from getting out of hand by giving a meta tools to self-police. WotC has taken those tools away, and that is making it very hard for them to balance the game.
I have a theory that pretty much every standard/type 2 environment has been fundamentally broken, and that it was only because sets rotated in/out fast enough for people to figure it out in time. Because we live in a world where information availability and Magic resources are increasing at an exponential rate, they are solved before rotations can solve the problem. The average Magic player is also so much better than before. I think that if the current level of sophistication and information existed before, we would have had bannings in pretty much every Standard environment ever.
That's quite the claim, and completely unsubstantiated. The internet is no faster than it was 15 years ago, and I don't see any grounds on which to claim today's top players are better than yesteryear's.
Older standard environments had better catch-all answers, as well as diverse strategies; each of which could prey on various other strategies. That's how to balance a meta game.
Everybody jamming unanswerable creatures is a recipe for doom. The best deck will rise, and cannot be hosed.
They probably figured Vamps and Fish could afford to be filler by comparison.
I am disappointed that there was no fish offering for Legacy. It would be a great deck to support because it uses no RL cards and is budget friendly, while still being interactive, "fair" magic.
Pirates and Dinosaurs are fine, but they have next to no synergy with older cards, so they are of little to no interest to me.
I didn't say anything about whether it ruined or didn't ruin Standard. What I said was that the Eldrazi, far from "crapping all over" Standard, were actually bit players...
Are you just messing with me?
You are clearly saying the new Eldrazi didn't "crap all over Standard", but apparently making no assertion as to whether or not they ruined it? Obviously you are making a distinction...
I thought SBs were an officially endorsed optional rule?
13 Abilities which refer to other cards owned outside the game (Wishes, Spawnsire, Research, Ring of Ma'ruf) do not function in Commander without prior agreement on their scope from the playgroup.
(from mtgcommander.net rules)
The Comprehensive Rules themselves recognize the RC as the ultimate rules authority for the format (see 903.1), so what we find here is the official, definitive word.
The optional rule was an old rule, they change that some years ago. Now sideboards works effectively as house rules, in the same fashion of a customizable banlist (both can't be changed unless the prior agreement of the local playgroup).
If it's a sanctioned event, which I personally feel that EDH should never be, you have to have a recognized SB.
Ruleswise, this is not supported at all currently.
Dang. First they kill the partial-paris, and now this.
Funny thing is, I can't find the removal anywhere in the change log. I see this:
May 19th, 2010: Re-clarified "Wish rule" that wishes may retrieve cards from the sideboard if the optional sideboard rule is in use
But no record of the retraction. Obviously I see the optional rule isn't there anymore, but it looks lime the sneaked it out in secret.
An unprecedented nine cards have been banned in the last two years. .
I think 9 cards were banned in 2004. Difference is:
a) They were busted cards (eternal playable).
b) It took only 2 announcements, and the format was fixed.
c) WotC arguable went overboard with bans to "send a message".
Standard is a broken format that can't handle mediocre cards and apparently can't be fixed easily by banning said cards.
That said, quality counter-spells and discard are good against CIP effects (as are creature hosers like Humility or Ghostly Prison). As I said, playable generic answers police formats. Standard needs them desperately.
Social media doesn't solve a format.
We didn't need Snap-Chat or Instagram for every LGS to see Cunning Wake, Goblins, Affinity, Tooth & Nail, etc.
The internet was a successful form of mass communication 15 years ago. I'd even argue that it was better to have all the information concentrated into a smaller number of sites (and old fashioned message boards preserve discussion much better than something like Reddit).
We have a lot of new players these days, and Standard is increasingly less aimed at established veterans. I am not convinced that the players trying to solve Standard are any better than the players solving it years ago. If anything, today's players are more inclined to net-deck than ever before (and therefore less inclined to develop).
As for MTGO, it's been established that people I teract less, not more these days. Online people chat less and are ruder than in real social settings.
Everything you suggest is speculative (and some of it dubious).
What is factual is that Standard used to have playable generic answers, quality hate cards, and a diversity of play-styles that likened the meta game (hyberbolically) to rock/paper/scissors. None of these things are being questio ed, and all of these things help keep any deck from getting out of hand by giving a meta tools to self-police. WotC has taken those tools away, and that is making it very hard for them to balance the game.
I don't doubt it. But are these seeing play in pauper because they capitalise on tribal synergies, or because they are standalone good?
Honest question, I have no idea whether Vampire tribal is s deck in pauper...
That's quite the claim, and completely unsubstantiated. The internet is no faster than it was 15 years ago, and I don't see any grounds on which to claim today's top players are better than yesteryear's.
Older standard environments had better catch-all answers, as well as diverse strategies; each of which could prey on various other strategies. That's how to balance a meta game.
Everybody jamming unanswerable creatures is a recipe for doom. The best deck will rise, and cannot be hosed.
This is the best new card we've seen since Gitrog Monster and should be an auto-include going forward.
I am disappointed that there was no fish offering for Legacy. It would be a great deck to support because it uses no RL cards and is budget friendly, while still being interactive, "fair" magic.
Pirates and Dinosaurs are fine, but they have next to no synergy with older cards, so they are of little to no interest to me.
No doubts here, just profound disappointment.
Are you just messing with me?
You are clearly saying the new Eldrazi didn't "crap all over Standard", but apparently making no assertion as to whether or not they ruined it? Obviously you are making a distinction...
I guess the distinction between ruining something and crapping all over it is too subtle for my poor little brain.
Dang. First they kill the partial-paris, and now this.
Funny thing is, I can't find the removal anywhere in the change log. I see this:
But no record of the retraction. Obviously I see the optional rule isn't there anymore, but it looks lime the sneaked it out in secret.
I thought SBs were an officially endorsed optional rule?
I think 9 cards were banned in 2004. Difference is:
a) They were busted cards (eternal playable).
b) It took only 2 announcements, and the format was fixed.
c) WotC arguable went overboard with bans to "send a message".
Standard is a broken format that can't handle mediocre cards and apparently can't be fixed easily by banning said cards.
Standard is now designed with zero potential to self police. I pity this generation of players.
Edit - I think you might be the first person ever to tell me OotG didn't ruin Standard.
Vale is sitting close to 30 now while Scorched Ruins is down to about 16. I'm surprised at the difference tbh. Why is Vale in so much higher demand?
I do agree neither should be on par with Volrath's Stronghold or Phyrexian Tower. That seems off to me.