From what I can glean from the scenario above, what Jamie did may have upset Casey a little while also making what is probably a tactical blunder. While Oblivion Sower does put lands it exiles onto the battlefield, at this stage of the game that may not be that relevant, and if that part is taking them from a player who cannot defend himself may cause Jamie to lose them quickly if the other players put Casey out.
However, if you use it on of the players with a stronger position, while you may be less likely to get lands due to deck thinning from ramp spells you have a chance of exiling cards that at be more impactful. If one of those players loses a card draw effect, or an annoying creature, or Cyclonic Rift that could be much more valuable than getting a land or two.
On the general subject of holding back, it depends but most of the time I don't hold back anymore. Many of the times I hold back I get hit with a classic cheap shot card such as Triumph of the Hordes or Sorin Markov. Now, if I'm playing people who are new to Commander I tend to hold back more until I have an idea of what they and their decks are capable of.
Even if the reserved list was abolished there would still be the question of whether or not Wizards would reprint those cards and in what form they would be reprinted.
I seriously doubt that even if the reserved list was abolished that the Power 9 would get reprinted. Dual lands might get reprinted in something like a From the Vaults (good luck getting a copy of that if it ever happened) set or perhaps in something like expedition form, but no supplemental set they put out has enough rare land slots to print the entire cycle and there is no chance that those lands would be printed in standard legal sets. For some specific cards such as Lion's Eye Diamond, City of Traitors and Gaea's Cradle there would be stronger chance of reprint in something like another Eternal Masters set but it seems questionable as to whether the removal of the reserved list would have any real effect on the availability and price of most of these cards due to the inherent difficulty and/or unlikeliness of Wizards finding a good place to reprint these cards.
I really like this Emrakul and think it is at least the second best of the new Eldrazi Titans, with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger probably being the best. There will be times with this card where the slaver effect is really strong and there will be times where it is not. Yes it dies to Clip Wings and Stasis Snare, but even original Emrakul will die to those. The idea of giving this card hexproof seems a little ridiculous, because outside of jank like Bonds of Mortality it would be impossible to kill without Planar Outburst or Clip Wings; hell even Tragic Arrogance wouldn't help unless its topdecked after the slaver turn, because the Emrakul player would cast it and have Emrakul live.
Now, I'm not sure if this card will make a splash in any format beyond standard and probably EDH (This may be the first Eldrazi Titan I put in Karador, Ghost Chieftain) but with the original Emrakul being legal for Modern and Legacy, the odds of this card making a splash in either of those formats was already pretty slim.
I think there will be some games where this card bails you out when you're behind, some where it won't and lots of games where it seals the game up when you're ahead which seems like a pretty well designed Magic card to me.
I really like this new Emrakul. The abilities are interesting and it gives ramp another good top end monster besides Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. While some may be lamenting giving the opponent an extra turn, it was probably a necessary addition. Without it there would be games where it would go cast Emrakul, crack Sanctum of Ugin getting Emrakul; then you take your opponent's turn and wreak their board; then go to your turn and attack with Emrakul hitting them for 13 and dropping your next Emrakul and they just get to watch you play Magic until they die. This is a situation the designers and developers do not want in standard.
As far as the story is concerned, I like it. However, I really like Lovecraftian horrors and this seems much better executed in that regard than BFZ block. BFZ had the monsters but in many ways it was more a sort of fantasy based approach to trying to stop something like Godzilla. This has story has done a far better job of capturing the madness and unease that typically accompanies a Lovecraftian monster. Not to mention different stories are going to appeal to different people. I really like the Eldrazi, many others do not. I have a friend who did not like the first Innistrad block because he didn't want a "Twilight" magic set.
I think people here are getting far too worked up about a lot of this stuff. The fact of the matter is that EDH is always going to be unbalanced. I doubt anyone thinks that each of the 5 colors are equal in strength in EDH. Blue and Green are generally considered the strongest colors in EDH and no one is saying that we need to ban a bunch more cards out of those colors to create better balance among the colors. The fact that you get to play with old cards from Magic's history is a big draw to the format and any format where that is the case is going to have serious balance issues.
The one philosophy I've started to come around to when it comes to the EDH banlist is to ask myself a simple question "Does banning/unbanning card X make the format better?" In the case of a card like Protean Hulk, I think the answer to that question is no. However, I think there is a reasonable chance that if Protean Hulk were not currently banned I would probably say that banning it would not make the format much better. Likewise, I don't think banning Sol Ring will improve the format, I think it will just push more people to play green for its ramp advantage. On the other hand banning Iona, Shield of Emeria would improve the format in my opinion but I would also say the same thing about Mindslaver, an opinion that many probably do not share.
Honestly, most of the time I want something off the banlist is so I have a new toy play with and most of the time I want something banned its so I don't see the same win conditions every game. I play against a lot of U/G and U/G/x goodstuff decks which I'm sure colors my opinion on many cards. They played an entwined Tooth and Nail for Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator, how original and interesting.
Overall, I think the rules committee is doing a better job than I would and I appreciate all the work they have put into this format.
I was not playing during the time where Emrakul, the Aeons Torn was legal so I'm not sure how it would play out in practice but I have a hard time seeing why he is banned while other cards are not. If he is being played predominately fairly, such that he is being cast sometime around or after turn 10, I do not see how he is a huge problem. Sure he may get to crap on one player's board a bit but he is not nearly as difficult to deal with as he once was. ETB effects can kill him, Planeswalkers with creature removal kill him, sweepers can kill him, there is even a limited amount of instant speed removal for him now with cards such as Stasis Snare and Scour from Existence. Sure these aren't heavily played cards but in a heavy Emrakul, the Aeons Torn meta they might see an additional level of play.
Now, if he's being played unfairly well he could be a huge problem but a ton of currently legal cards are brutal when played unfairly. Tooth and Nail is legal and I have rarely seen anyone not get an utterly game ending setup from that and the few times I have seen it pull other cards I wished they had just gotten a game ending combo because they got things like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Prophet of Kruphix (back when that card was legal). As far as "feel bads" are concerned I have a hard time seeing why this card is banned when Mindslaver isn't. Having to sac 6 permanents and potentially take 15 damage to the face sucks but having my opponent play my turn is worse and that is still legal and easily looped.
I will say that I am one of the few players that really likes the Eldrazi because I love the Lovecraftian feel of them and would love to try out Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in a few EDH decks but I can understand if I'm in the minority.
I voted yes because while it may be an okay set of training wheels, Tooth and Nail has never been responsible for a good "memorable" game experience for me. Most of the time in my playgroup it gets things like Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator or Craterhoof Behemoth and something else. The point system for our EDH league has negatives in place to prevent people from playing combos like Mike and Trike but if those weren't in place I would probably see more of those combinations.
To me this card falls in the same category as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, the vast majority of the time this card resolves its game over for everyone else. Though I will agree there are many other cards that are far more egregious offenders than Tooth and Nail.
Of course I play against a fair amount of U/G and U/G/X decks so my opinion on the matter may be a little biased.
Probably the most effective aggro commander I have played is Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. If you can resolve him and attack with him relatively early (Turn 4 or 5) then you can often take over the game and put out a lot of opponents. He is definitely not ridiculous high end tier 1 but he is solid tier 1.5 or tier 2. Surrak Dragonclaw has also been a solid creature based deck for me and tends to be pretty resilient but he's more ramp/lite control into unstoppable trampling monsters of doom but it definitely would not hold up at the most competitive of tables but it is pretty fun.
I've gotten some reasonable mileage out of Baneslayer Angel. Its reasonably costed and the lifelink, flying and first strike enable it to get some reasonable value and players will rarely use spot removal on it unless really desperate as it does not fundamentally change the game. I also use Demon of Death's Gate but that is only in Kaalia where I can cheat the mana cost, though a deck that can easily pay the alternate cost may also get some decent mileage from it. Moonveil Dragon is another one I like because fire breathing for the whole team gets pretty savage. If you could reliably get the Torpor Orb online early Phyrexian Dreadnought is fantastic, as a 12/12 for 1 is a pretty solid mana to stats ratio.
The Eldrazi deck is probably too good and something from it will probably be banned. What should be banned from it is another question. I like the idea of banning Eldrazi Mimic as a starting point because I am not certain the deck can be competitive without the lands and new decks seem like such a rare occurrence in modern such that if the deck can be toned down and not killed that would be for the best. The deck currently skews things to a great extent due to its ability to go wide and tall at the same time. The deck also creates the issue of invalidating a number of "modern staples." Cards like Inquisition of Kozilek and Lightning Bolt have limited impact against this deck as they do not deal with the best cards in the deck. The question is whether or not that is a bad thing.
The fact of the matter is that none of the creatures played by all iterations of the Eldrazi deck are terribly good on their own. The reason they are good in modern is due to the ability to play them sooner due to the Eldrazi lands. This coupled with the fact that most modern decks do not consider the need for robust end game cards due to how historically fast the format is, makes creatures like Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher seem much better than they actually are. Traditional four mana sweepers would be good against Eldrazi if they are not as explosive they currently are. Taking away Eldrazi Mimic should go a long way to lessen the explosiveness of the deck. Now it is entirely possible that this would not be sufficient and removing Eye of Ugin may be necessary but I'm not sure that should be the first step.
I have yet to have a chance to play my Eldrazi deck in Modern (i have the G/R version built) but from observing games played by the better players at my LGS, and my observations on a number of the cards played in the deck from my attempts at using them in standard I would say that the deck is an interesting conundrum for Modern.
From attempting to play most of the Eldrazi in these decks in standard, I can say they are not great cards on their own. Thought-Knot Seer is probably the best of them and is still very hit or miss, if it is being played on curve. Matter Reshaper and Reality Smasher have both been pretty lackluster in standard. If these cards have a hard time gaining traction in the "fair" mana environment of Standard, the only reason they can function in Modern is due to the better mana base available in Modern. Does anyone in this thread believe Reshaper is a better card than Kitchen Finks or that Reality Smasher is better than Thragtusk? I certainly do not think this is the case.
It should also be noted that the Eldrazi deck may well be symptomatic of other fundamental problems with the format. If this deck had not existed and the top 8 of the Pro Tour had been some combination of Affinty, Burn, and Infect would this have been fundamentally better for the format? While this may not be the place for this, it is my opinion that Modern as a whole has a fundamental problem of being strongly tied to one of the greatest mistakes in Magic design in the form of Phyrexian mana. Without this the colorless Eldrazi deck loses access to removal and protection in the form of Dismember and Spellskite, likewise infect loses the vast majority if not all of its turn 2 kill capability, and Affinity loses Vault Skirge. Modern is a format where a significant portion of the field thrives on the ability to cheat at mana, whether it be with tron lands, Eldrazi lands, or phyrexian mana.
As I see it, if anything in the Eldrazi deck should be banned it should be Eldrazi Mimic and Simian Spirit Guide. Taking away mimic will prevent the Eldrazi from being as explosive as a lot of the current aggro decks in the format and while a turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer is pretty formidable is it that much better than a turn 2 infect kill or some of the things affinity is often capable of doing on its second turn. If this proves to be insufficient for fixing the Eldrazi deck then one of the lands can be banned and mimic can be unbanned.
I played tribal treefolk with Doran, the Siege Tower for a while and it was pretty fun and relatively effective. Depending on when you get started, if its after Oath of the Gatewatch hits, Allies or Eldrazi tribal could both be pretty interesting.
I do not particularly care one way or another about whether off-color fetches are done away with, but the it seems like a simple rules addition to make. A rule to the effect of "A Commander deck may not contain any lands that reference, in its rules text, a basic land type that possesses a color identity outside the Commander's color identity." This would prevent the use of off-color fetches and cards like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in non-black decks but would still allow the use of landwalk creatures, Farseek, and assorted targeted hate cards such as Red Elemental Blast. Now it could take a couple minutes to explain to newer players but if the goal is to eliminate off-color fetches this seems like an eminently reasonable solution.
However, if you use it on of the players with a stronger position, while you may be less likely to get lands due to deck thinning from ramp spells you have a chance of exiling cards that at be more impactful. If one of those players loses a card draw effect, or an annoying creature, or Cyclonic Rift that could be much more valuable than getting a land or two.
On the general subject of holding back, it depends but most of the time I don't hold back anymore. Many of the times I hold back I get hit with a classic cheap shot card such as Triumph of the Hordes or Sorin Markov. Now, if I'm playing people who are new to Commander I tend to hold back more until I have an idea of what they and their decks are capable of.
I seriously doubt that even if the reserved list was abolished that the Power 9 would get reprinted. Dual lands might get reprinted in something like a From the Vaults (good luck getting a copy of that if it ever happened) set or perhaps in something like expedition form, but no supplemental set they put out has enough rare land slots to print the entire cycle and there is no chance that those lands would be printed in standard legal sets. For some specific cards such as Lion's Eye Diamond, City of Traitors and Gaea's Cradle there would be stronger chance of reprint in something like another Eternal Masters set but it seems questionable as to whether the removal of the reserved list would have any real effect on the availability and price of most of these cards due to the inherent difficulty and/or unlikeliness of Wizards finding a good place to reprint these cards.
Now, I'm not sure if this card will make a splash in any format beyond standard and probably EDH (This may be the first Eldrazi Titan I put in Karador, Ghost Chieftain) but with the original Emrakul being legal for Modern and Legacy, the odds of this card making a splash in either of those formats was already pretty slim.
I think there will be some games where this card bails you out when you're behind, some where it won't and lots of games where it seals the game up when you're ahead which seems like a pretty well designed Magic card to me.
As far as the story is concerned, I like it. However, I really like Lovecraftian horrors and this seems much better executed in that regard than BFZ block. BFZ had the monsters but in many ways it was more a sort of fantasy based approach to trying to stop something like Godzilla. This has story has done a far better job of capturing the madness and unease that typically accompanies a Lovecraftian monster. Not to mention different stories are going to appeal to different people. I really like the Eldrazi, many others do not. I have a friend who did not like the first Innistrad block because he didn't want a "Twilight" magic set.
The one philosophy I've started to come around to when it comes to the EDH banlist is to ask myself a simple question "Does banning/unbanning card X make the format better?" In the case of a card like Protean Hulk, I think the answer to that question is no. However, I think there is a reasonable chance that if Protean Hulk were not currently banned I would probably say that banning it would not make the format much better. Likewise, I don't think banning Sol Ring will improve the format, I think it will just push more people to play green for its ramp advantage. On the other hand banning Iona, Shield of Emeria would improve the format in my opinion but I would also say the same thing about Mindslaver, an opinion that many probably do not share.
Honestly, most of the time I want something off the banlist is so I have a new toy play with and most of the time I want something banned its so I don't see the same win conditions every game. I play against a lot of U/G and U/G/x goodstuff decks which I'm sure colors my opinion on many cards. They played an entwined Tooth and Nail for Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator, how original and interesting.
Overall, I think the rules committee is doing a better job than I would and I appreciate all the work they have put into this format.
Now, if he's being played unfairly well he could be a huge problem but a ton of currently legal cards are brutal when played unfairly. Tooth and Nail is legal and I have rarely seen anyone not get an utterly game ending setup from that and the few times I have seen it pull other cards I wished they had just gotten a game ending combo because they got things like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Prophet of Kruphix (back when that card was legal). As far as "feel bads" are concerned I have a hard time seeing why this card is banned when Mindslaver isn't. Having to sac 6 permanents and potentially take 15 damage to the face sucks but having my opponent play my turn is worse and that is still legal and easily looped.
I will say that I am one of the few players that really likes the Eldrazi because I love the Lovecraftian feel of them and would love to try out Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in a few EDH decks but I can understand if I'm in the minority.
To me this card falls in the same category as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, the vast majority of the time this card resolves its game over for everyone else. Though I will agree there are many other cards that are far more egregious offenders than Tooth and Nail.
Of course I play against a fair amount of U/G and U/G/X decks so my opinion on the matter may be a little biased.
The fact of the matter is that none of the creatures played by all iterations of the Eldrazi deck are terribly good on their own. The reason they are good in modern is due to the ability to play them sooner due to the Eldrazi lands. This coupled with the fact that most modern decks do not consider the need for robust end game cards due to how historically fast the format is, makes creatures like Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher seem much better than they actually are. Traditional four mana sweepers would be good against Eldrazi if they are not as explosive they currently are. Taking away Eldrazi Mimic should go a long way to lessen the explosiveness of the deck. Now it is entirely possible that this would not be sufficient and removing Eye of Ugin may be necessary but I'm not sure that should be the first step.
From attempting to play most of the Eldrazi in these decks in standard, I can say they are not great cards on their own. Thought-Knot Seer is probably the best of them and is still very hit or miss, if it is being played on curve. Matter Reshaper and Reality Smasher have both been pretty lackluster in standard. If these cards have a hard time gaining traction in the "fair" mana environment of Standard, the only reason they can function in Modern is due to the better mana base available in Modern. Does anyone in this thread believe Reshaper is a better card than Kitchen Finks or that Reality Smasher is better than Thragtusk? I certainly do not think this is the case.
It should also be noted that the Eldrazi deck may well be symptomatic of other fundamental problems with the format. If this deck had not existed and the top 8 of the Pro Tour had been some combination of Affinty, Burn, and Infect would this have been fundamentally better for the format? While this may not be the place for this, it is my opinion that Modern as a whole has a fundamental problem of being strongly tied to one of the greatest mistakes in Magic design in the form of Phyrexian mana. Without this the colorless Eldrazi deck loses access to removal and protection in the form of Dismember and Spellskite, likewise infect loses the vast majority if not all of its turn 2 kill capability, and Affinity loses Vault Skirge. Modern is a format where a significant portion of the field thrives on the ability to cheat at mana, whether it be with tron lands, Eldrazi lands, or phyrexian mana.
As I see it, if anything in the Eldrazi deck should be banned it should be Eldrazi Mimic and Simian Spirit Guide. Taking away mimic will prevent the Eldrazi from being as explosive as a lot of the current aggro decks in the format and while a turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer is pretty formidable is it that much better than a turn 2 infect kill or some of the things affinity is often capable of doing on its second turn. If this proves to be insufficient for fixing the Eldrazi deck then one of the lands can be banned and mimic can be unbanned.