Blue decks have been posting results with mana leak and logic knot, so I don't really blame wizards for being cautious. And also having to wait for a standard environment where it's not an issue to print something like that. There was a pretty big chunk of standard recently where even mana leak would have been a problem (torrential gearhulk driven shenanigans).
There haven't been any real Standard environments where it'd be a problem to print Mana Leak, except for maybe those where Snapcaster Mage was around and even there the problem was Snapcaster Mage. You cite "Torrential Gearhulk driven shenanigans" but why? As far as I can remember, Torrential Gearhulk decks were never the best in Standard. They weren't the best after Kaladesh was released, they weren't the best after the bannings, they weren't the best after the second round of bannings, and weren't the best after the third round or in the present. Sure, the card will sometimes sneak into good decks, but only as a 1 or 2-of and it usually isn't played at all. Torrential Gearhulk was never a big player in Standard. Maybe the argument is that with Mana Leak it would've been, but that seems speculative and I don't think would've risen them up to be a clear best deck.
It's actually pretty possible counterspell would have been fine in both the Emrakul and Vehicles standards, just not the Saheeli one.
How would it not have been just fine in the Saheeli Standard? I suppose the argument might be it'd put Saheeli over the top, but Saheeli was already way over the top. So at most, Counterspell would've taken a problem that was so big it was banworthy... and kept it banworthy.
As I recall, we did have a high profile final (think it was a Pro Tour?) featuring a control mirror (Shota on Blue-Red I think) that used Gearhulk. While it was really interesting/awesome to watch, I can only assume WotC was less than pleased with the fact it happened. They put LSV to explain almost literally every single play and minutiae to try and keep the audience up to speed. One of the games ended because somebody ran out of threats and conceded while holding a seemingly advantageous field, which is the kind of thing not-as-hardcore viewers probably can't parse and not the kind of gameplay Wizards envisions as good.
With this said, I don't think the deck took off after said incident...
Oppo-caster has graced us with its presence. Will it make the cut?
For reference, 2/1 First Strike Human Pirate for 1R, no flash, SnapCaster clause on opponent's graveyard while letting you pay for it with any color of mana.
I feel bad admitting this, but I'm sure other people don't know either so I'll just ask, what the hell is the meme surrounding Storm Crow? I've heard people joke about it for years, but never have I actually understood what they were making fun of about it. Can someone please, in all seriousness, enlighten me about this?
I don't know how it got started, but while Storm Crow is in an objective, non-meme-y fashion a card that is not very good (see Seacoast Drake), people decide to look up all the possible 'benefits' it could offer in a way to turn its badness into awesomeness.
Gut Shot? That's cute. 20 turn clock! Evasive damage! Greatest card advantage machine ever, because for the price of 1 Jace you can get 100 Storm Crows! Pitches to Force of Will! Can wield Jitte!
It doesn't necessarily have to really be sensible, but through its own twisted logic, a card that was so bad became the card that is so good. It's all about making fun of the fact that yes, it's not really a good card, by going for these delusions of grandeur.
As a small note, while your listed reason for not unbanning Second Sunrise might be valid to some extent, the WotC reason it ceased to exist in the format was its enabling of Eggs and its 20-minute turns.
Can someone tell me what card(s) have ever been banned from Modern because they "create[d] unfun and unpopular play patterns"? I glanced over the list, and as far as I can tell, not a single card on the ban list falls into this category
Also, no love for SFM in the article :(?
It'd be easy to argue that Second Sunrise qualifies, what with Eggs and its 20-minute turns.
As I recall, Karn took the Mirari away and it's what eventually became Memnarch, or something along those lines. Not to mention there's no precedent about it blocking planeswalkers' ability to come and go.
I love me some Vindicate, and while I understand that precisely the fact that it hits lands is what makes it valuable in the format, the fact that it does is its undoing. It is extremely unlikely (I'd actually wager on impossible) for Wizards to let that into Standard. The same goes for Fire // Ice due to the Ice side (as a side note, would the card see play at all if the Ice side said non-land?).
Wizards is paranoid about land destruction as a strategy to the point that they wouldn't do good land destruction spells even if Standard got a regenerating 0-mana artifact that passively gave lands you control hexproof.
Story was good but a couple of sour points. Vraska's last line felt off character. I expected a snide remark of the type "Well look who the wind brought" or "You should have stayed in Ravnica Beleren"
Instead we get "Jace what the hell happened to you?" as if they are friends. Last time she saw him she tried to kill him.
I didn't read the story articles back in RtR and even I knew that something was off here. Regarding his state, it's understandable that she didn't want to kill him right away, but it's still weird that she talks to him like she's a buddy of hers.
Also, when you think of it, a gorgon's gaze is a pretty OP weapon. I wonder how they will balance Vraskas powers in this storyline.
Another thing I found strange is that Jace apparently knows what coffee is. Ravnica (or any other world he's visited and that we know of) doesn't exactly seem like a world that would have coffee...
Ravnica having coffee and Jace going all Dark Confidant with "Coffee, at any cost" was established at least as far back as the start of BfZ, iirc.
It wasn't established where they get it from or how they cultivate it or anything, but this isn't new.
As I recall, we did have a high profile final (think it was a Pro Tour?) featuring a control mirror (Shota on Blue-Red I think) that used Gearhulk. While it was really interesting/awesome to watch, I can only assume WotC was less than pleased with the fact it happened. They put LSV to explain almost literally every single play and minutiae to try and keep the audience up to speed. One of the games ended because somebody ran out of threats and conceded while holding a seemingly advantageous field, which is the kind of thing not-as-hardcore viewers probably can't parse and not the kind of gameplay Wizards envisions as good.
With this said, I don't think the deck took off after said incident...
For reference, 2/1 First Strike Human Pirate for 1R, no flash, SnapCaster clause on opponent's graveyard while letting you pay for it with any color of mana.
I'm not sure how they expected people not to interpret it the way it has been.
I don't know how it got started, but while Storm Crow is in an objective, non-meme-y fashion a card that is not very good (see Seacoast Drake), people decide to look up all the possible 'benefits' it could offer in a way to turn its badness into awesomeness.
Gut Shot? That's cute. 20 turn clock! Evasive damage! Greatest card advantage machine ever, because for the price of 1 Jace you can get 100 Storm Crows! Pitches to Force of Will! Can wield Jitte!
It doesn't necessarily have to really be sensible, but through its own twisted logic, a card that was so bad became the card that is so good. It's all about making fun of the fact that yes, it's not really a good card, by going for these delusions of grandeur.
It'd be easy to argue that Second Sunrise qualifies, what with Eggs and its 20-minute turns.
Wizards is paranoid about land destruction as a strategy to the point that they wouldn't do good land destruction spells even if Standard got a regenerating 0-mana artifact that passively gave lands you control hexproof.
Ravnica having coffee and Jace going all Dark Confidant with "Coffee, at any cost" was established at least as far back as the start of BfZ, iirc.
It wasn't established where they get it from or how they cultivate it or anything, but this isn't new.