$12 at my LGS, with about 2 packs per player in the prize pool? Not sure, when we had 9 players this past FNM it was 8 packs for first, 6 for 2nd, and 4-2-1 after that I think. I don't really pay attention since I always get my 5-8 packs every week. Attendance seems to be dropping since the release of M12 (28 players) to the release of Innistrad (16 players) to now (9 players). Not sure if its because summer budgets are drying up for more casual drafters, or if it's because of school or what.
Ponder/Preordain are the obvious ones along with Cloudpost. Anyone disagreeing with Ponder/Preordain hitting the ban list can't know their affect on the format. This slows down every combo deck significantly.
Shoal might not have been necessary with the ban of the 1 mana blue sorceries, and I don't believe it should have been banned.
Rite of Flame is fine, they had to hit at least one ritual.
All in all I'm fine with these bannings. They make sense.
EDIT: Except Green Sun's Zenith seems kind of random. I guess if they nerfed every single tier 1 combo deck, they had to weaken the one other viable deck that saw play at PT Philly? (Zoo)
Hey guys it's me, Winter 2007. Dragonstorm is totally gonna get banned because you can't counter it or anything and it just instagibs you!
Hey guys it's me, 2008. Bitterblossom is totally gonna get banned. It's totally unbeatable and is warping the format.
/predictions:
No Changes, no changes, no changes, no changes.
Maybe a few cool unbans in Legacy or Modern.
Standard: No Changes
Extended: No Changes
Legacy: No Changes
Vintage: No Changes
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/li/157
Creature - Human Wizard
UU: Move ~ to the stack, then transform it.
2/3
////////
Spellmage's Essence
Instant
Draw two cards
That would be Mental Misstep 2.0: Deluxe Edition, and Force 5-8 in decks that want it in legacy.
Johnny here, Welcome to combo.
Shoal might not have been necessary with the ban of the 1 mana blue sorceries, and I don't believe it should have been banned.
Rite of Flame is fine, they had to hit at least one ritual.
All in all I'm fine with these bannings. They make sense.
EDIT: Except Green Sun's Zenith seems kind of random. I guess if they nerfed every single tier 1 combo deck, they had to weaken the one other viable deck that saw play at PT Philly? (Zoo)