MTG Salvation

The problem is not "creatures slamming into each other is boring", the problem is "creatures put on too much pressure and don't give synergistic decks time to develop their gameplan". (We can see this by the fact that Mardu Vehicles is called a "midrange" deck yet can inflict up to 11 damage by the end of Turn 3.) Let's call the threats that allow them to exert such ridiculous pressure "hyperefficient creatures". They're creatures that are just so good for their cost that they basically force themselves into any deck in their color, and sometimes force decks to play their colors just to include them! In my experience, they tend to fall into two categories:

1) A way above the curve creature with a "drawback" to balance it out, but the "drawback" turns out to be too weak so the creature provides too much benefit
Prime exhibits: Smuggler's Copter, Heart of Kiran
In this case, the "drawback" is the inability to attack or block unless you pay the Crew cost, but that turns out to be too easy and their stats are too good for how early you can bring them out. Also, the "drawback" turns into a benefit against any sorcery-speed creature removal that doesn't also hit noncreature artifacts.
2) A creature with a body on curve but a powerful effect that the developers conveniently forget to charge the player for, manawise
Some prime examples from recent sets:

• Spell Queller:
Body: 2/3 flash flying for is right on curve.
Effect: O-Ringing a spell that costs 4 or less Probably worth 2 mana, it's a more powerful "counter" than either Prohibit or Horribly Awry but has the downside that the opponent can get the spell back. Or, compared to Mystic Snake, you get a counter that's better and worse at the same time (exile > counter, but the spell is recoverable) and you get a better body (2/3 flyer vs 2/2).
Fair cost for Spell Queller: At least , although even that makes Ulamog's Nullifier cry at the hoop it has to jump through.
Actual cost:

• Archangel Avacyn:
Body: 4/4 flash flying for is fair.
Effect: Indestructible until end of turn for your whole team. Should be worth a little less than 2 mana (compare Heroic Intervention) However, the body combines with this effect to make it much more powerful, as she's extremely likely to eat an attacker if she comes in to block and your other creatures can eat more attackers. So the effect should be a little over 2 mana.
Oh, there's also the flip thing that makes her into a more powerful creature while simultaneously burning your opponent and wiping weenies off the board. It takes a little work to control when it triggers (emphasis on a little), so I'm not sure what it should cost, but it definitely shouldn't be free.
Fair cost for Archangel Avacyn: AT LEAST , her power level would drop off significantly at since her effects are both situational, but they shouldn't be free, that's for sure!
Actual cost:

• Scrapheap Scrounger:
Body: 3/2 for ! That's already above curve, especially for artifact creatures that rarely even make it to X/X for X in most cases!
Effect: Can't block is a negative, but with stats like that, it's made for attacking anyway. Being able to recur it for the low cost of and a creature in your graveyard (at instant speed!) is insane, considering how fast a clock it is.
Fair cost for Scrapheap Scrounger: At least , maybe
Actual cost:

• Winding Constrictor
Body: 2/3 for is pretty fair. Maybe a tiny (tiny!) bit below curve considering that Green can get 2/3s for now and multicolored cards tend to be more powerful than monocolored cards.
Effect: Hardened Scales+, which cost . This has the downside of being on a creature, meaning it's easier to remove, but it also has the upside of being on a creature, meaning you don't lack for a body to put +1/+1 counters on! I think the downside and upside are approximately equal there. In any case, a counter-increasing effect is worth something!
Fair Cost for Winding Constrictor:
Actual cost:
[*} Rishkar, Peema Renegade
Body: 3/3 for in the WORST case. It turns out to be at least 4/4 worth of stats in most cases if you can jump through the incredible hoop of controlling at least ONE other creature before you play him. So his worst case is a little below curve in terms of body (a 3/3 with a keyword for 3 is fair), but his average and best case is definitely above curve.
Effect: Counter-placement, which has some nice synergy and gives you flexiblity. Oh, and also the ability to tap creatures with counters on them for mana, in order to aid you in the efficient dumping of your hand (or ramp you into bigger stuff, or make up for missed land drops, etc.)
Fair Cost for Rishkar, Peema Renegade: It's hard to say...he clearly is worth more than but 4 mana for a 3/3 and a +1/+1 counter seems below par. Maybe if he ditched the mana ability he'd be OK at 3 mana.
Actual cost:

Yeah, I wish Wizards would realize that when you add two numbers together, you don't just take the bigger one and ignore the smaller one, they BOTH have to contribute to the mana cost. Anyway, so those are hyperefficient creatures, and as you can see they're all over Standard now and were recently.

Anyway, hyperefficient creatures are a problem. There's also the problem of "2-for-1" creatures that generate card advantage as soon as they hit the battlefield/die, but I don't think those are as big a problem. (Synergy-based decks can gain larger advantages than those simple 2-for-1 creatures do, and control decks can run better CA/inevitability to out-grind those decks (or turn the corner and kill these decks), but these plans only work if they have enough time, which hyperefficient creatures take away.)

Oh yeah, and another problem of hyperefficient creatures: It turns hitting your land drops on time and curving out perfectly from "advantage into the midgame" into "completely unbeatable unless your opponent curved out equally perfectly", and adds a lot of importance to the die roll.

So what do I think of "make answers better" or "print Counterspell in Standard"? I don't think this is quite the way to go. Think about it, when any spell can be countered for or any creature can be destroyed for , then playing hyperefficient creatures is one of the only ways to avoid falling way behind in tempo! That makes the problem worse, as it crowds out the non-hyperefficient creatures even further! No, I think it's important for removal to scale up in cost with the power of the threats it's removing, so that synergistic non-immediate-advantage creatures, as well as high-raw-power-but-low-efficiency creatures have a fighting chance in the format. Maybe creating more answers that can hit multiple different card types would help, especially against decks like Mardu Vehicles.

However, I do think that the argument "answers make the game unfun for newbies" is unfortunate and flawed. If you play against a newbie and they get sad when you destroy their big creature that they wanted to use to win the game, that makes for a good learning experience. Instruct them that if they wish to avoid that in the future, there are cards they can use to protect their favorite creature. Negate, Dispel, Blossoming Defense, Heroic Intervention, Selfless Spirit, and Supernatural Stamina were made for a reason. Use them!

But back to hyperefficient creatures...I think the planeswalker card type has made creatures more powerful in general, because creatures are the best way to fight them. Think about it...they give off a recurring advantage, and usually win the game if left unchecked, but only a few spells can remove them directly, otherwise you need burn (which often doesn't do enough damage) or creature attacks. Oh, and guess what? If you're ahead on board, they tend to stick around for longer, and get you further ahead on board in the process. And the best way to get ahead on board? HYPEREFFICIENT CREATURES. So because of planeswalkers it's even MORE necessary to play only the most efficient creatures and ignore others. I think this could be addressed by powering down planeswalkers a notch. Increasing the number of removal spells that can hit planeswalkers could also help, but only in a limited fashion (due to priority, any planeswalker-destruction spell, even an instant, allows the planeswalker to generate a small advantage with one of its loyalty abilities before it dies).

Oh yeah, and what happens to hyperefficient creatures in terms of price? They become expensive, especially at Mythic. Trying to make the game "newbie-friendly", while also making it unwinnable for newbies who didn't afford/weren't lucky enough to pull the format's keystone cards, is counterproductive.

I'd really like to see Wizards, just for 4 consecutive Standard sets, develop creatures according to the following rules:
1) No creatures with stats better than X/X for , except that 2/1s and 1/2s for 1 are allowed and the creature can get 1 extra stat point if it's multicolored or has a double-monocolored requirement. No cheating with creatures that have printed stats <X/X for but put +1/+1 counters on themselves to become >X/X for .
2) Any creature with a beneficial effect other than 1-2 on-color evergreen keywords must have its cost increased by AT LEAST 1, and careful consideration as to whether it should cost more (possibly much more).
3) NO ABOVE-THE CURVE-WITH-DRAWBACK CREATURES BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE TERRIBLE AT BALANCING THEM. (I wouldn't be surprised if the BG "-1/-1 counters as drawback" creatures form a very powerful deck.)

Just do it for 4 blocks starting with a fall set, and see how people enjoy Standard at the end. It might be surprisingly fun, with people having to think about more of the cardpool rather than focusing on the hyperefficient creatures.

Of course, anytime a set comes out and the cards aren't all busted, people complain about how they're throwing their money away and the set's terrible. But what happens when a powerful set like Khans comes out? People ooh and aah over all the great multicolored cards, then start to play and complain about Siege Rhino and Mantis Rider. Aether Revolt? Wow these cards are great, I can't wait to buy 4 boxes...and then...ugh, I'm so tired of Winding Constrictor and Heart of Kiran. Like, don't forget that powerful cards aren't all yours, you have to play against them too. And if your Modern/Legacy deck doesn't get new cards, remember that those formats are already chock-full of hyperefficient creatures that are a chore to play against in Standard.

Oh yeah, and Turn-4 two-card win combos aren't good either. Having to always consider it in any deck you build, knowing that any advantage you try to build up can be immediately lost if you let the combo go off even once, makes playing against it extremely demanding (and of course there will be games where you don't draw your interaction and you lose with nothing you could do about it). This format is especially bad with Mardu Vehicles being an extremely aggressive midrange deck (so it goes under the decks that try to go over the top of Copycat Combo, and goes OVER the top of the decks that try to go UNDER Copycat Combo).

And one last note: I thought Green was the color of ramp and big creatures, so why does it get to have 2/1s for 1 like Red and White, which are the colors of small creatures? It's like Green is the color of "most efficient creature no matter where on the curve you are".

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