I play Maverick and the only other Legacy player in my area plays Omni-Tell so I am SUPER okay with Dig being banned.
Black Vise being unbanned sounds like music to my ears but they may have awakened a sleeping giant. It still only sounds SB worthy since it does almost nothing against aggro strats. Can't wait till I see Shardless players not cast their Ancestral Visions in the face of a Black Vise. So juicy. Nearly all decks are gonna have to devote quite a few slots to Black Vise because Legacy seems to be all about how many times you can cast Brainstorm in a single game. I can't wait till they ban Brainstorm.
Also, what is it about Brainstorm just simply deserving play in Legacy? Somehow people have this idea that the nature of Legacy is Brainstorm. I can say that the nature of Legacy is Delver of Secrets but that doesn't make me any more right than someone else who thinks it's Goblin Lackey.
If I am reading correctly, the cards aren't in the players hand yet when Vise's trigger happens, so Shardless BUG won't give a hoot that it's in play.
Black Vise was a stupid unban, because it's a card that does nothing interesting and is ridiculously high variance based on when you draw it and what the mathchup is. While it may not be good enough to cause problems, it also doesn't make the format better by being unbanned.
I play Maverick and the only other Legacy player in my area plays Omni-Tell so I am SUPER okay with Dig being banned.
Black Vise being unbanned sounds like music to my ears but they may have awakened a sleeping giant. It still only sounds SB worthy since it does almost nothing against aggro strats. Can't wait till I see Shardless players not cast their Ancestral Visions in the face of a Black Vise. So juicy. Nearly all decks are gonna have to devote quite a few slots to Black Vise because Legacy seems to be all about how many times you can cast Brainstorm in a single game. I can't wait till they ban Brainstorm.
Also, what is it about Brainstorm just simply deserving play in Legacy? Somehow people have this idea that the nature of Legacy is Brainstorm. I can say that the nature of Legacy is Delver of Secrets but that doesn't make me any more right than someone else who thinks it's Goblin Lackey.
If I am reading correctly, the cards aren't in the players hand yet when Vise's trigger happens, so Shardless BUG won't give a hoot that it's in play.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.
Yeah you're right. Was really confused there for a bit. Weird rulings. So value is had but not as much value. Probably still have to dump some cards for the next turn.
I play Maverick and the only other Legacy player in my area plays Omni-Tell so I am SUPER okay with Dig being banned.
Black Vise being unbanned sounds like music to my ears but they may have awakened a sleeping giant. It still only sounds SB worthy since it does almost nothing against aggro strats. Can't wait till I see Shardless players not cast their Ancestral Visions in the face of a Black Vise. So juicy. Nearly all decks are gonna have to devote quite a few slots to Black Vise because Legacy seems to be all about how many times you can cast Brainstorm in a single game. I can't wait till they ban Brainstorm.
Also, what is it about Brainstorm just simply deserving play in Legacy? Somehow people have this idea that the nature of Legacy is Brainstorm. I can say that the nature of Legacy is Delver of Secrets but that doesn't make me any more right than someone else who thinks it's Goblin Lackey.
The reason they don't touch Brainstorm in Legacy even though it is certainly the most powerful card left is that it is the most powerful card left. It is also a card that requires tremendous amounts of thought and can be played improperly lots of times. A lot of the older cards that got banned (not so much DTT) did not require that level of thought and were the most powerful card in the format at the time (Treasure Cruise). People like the idea of playing with an extremely powerful card, but that still requires you to have brains to play. It's not just I'll pay U and remove these 7 cards to draw three. I do believe that DTT took the bullet for Brainstorm in this case, but that is going to continue to happen in the future. If any other blue card gets printed that puts Brainstorm decks over the top, they will ban the new card and let Brainstorm survive because it is a powerful skill testing card.
I'm not sure where the skill is required. It's an extremely powerful answer to discard spells(which I think is SUPER unfair), it digs for immediate answers, and all you have to do is set it up with a shuffle to get rid of your garabge. It should honestly be banned and fixed to be at sorcery speed.
I play Maverick and the only other Legacy player in my area plays Omni-Tell so I am SUPER okay with Dig being banned.
Black Vise being unbanned sounds like music to my ears but they may have awakened a sleeping giant. It still only sounds SB worthy since it does almost nothing against aggro strats. Can't wait till I see Shardless players not cast their Ancestral Visions in the face of a Black Vise. So juicy. Nearly all decks are gonna have to devote quite a few slots to Black Vise because Legacy seems to be all about how many times you can cast Brainstorm in a single game. I can't wait till they ban Brainstorm.
Also, what is it about Brainstorm just simply deserving play in Legacy? Somehow people have this idea that the nature of Legacy is Brainstorm. I can say that the nature of Legacy is Delver of Secrets but that doesn't make me any more right than someone else who thinks it's Goblin Lackey.
The reason they don't touch Brainstorm in Legacy even though it is certainly the most powerful card left is that it is the most powerful card left. It is also a card that requires tremendous amounts of thought and can be played improperly lots of times. A lot of the older cards that got banned (not so much DTT) did not require that level of thought and were the most powerful card in the format at the time (Treasure Cruise). People like the idea of playing with an extremely powerful card, but that still requires you to have brains to play. It's not just I'll pay U and remove these 7 cards to draw three. I do believe that DTT took the bullet for Brainstorm in this case, but that is going to continue to happen in the future. If any other blue card gets printed that puts Brainstorm decks over the top, they will ban the new card and let Brainstorm survive because it is a powerful skill testing card.
I'm not sure where the skill is required. It's an extremely powerful answer to discard spells(which I think is SUPER unfair), it digs for immediate answers, and all you have to do is set it up with a shuffle to get rid of your garabge. It should honestly be banned and fixed to be at sorcery speed.
If you can't see the skill in Brainstorming you probably haven't played with it much. Many people Brainstorm wrong all the time. (See: Random end of turn Brainstorm for no gain, or Brainstorm without any fetchlands) It's not just about what you put back (Which is harder than you seem to think), but when you cast the spell. New players blow their Brainstorms much sooner than they ever should.
Brainstorm has been widely agreed by high level players to be the most skill intensive card this side of Cabal Therapy.
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Whenever someone claims to hate blue I automatically assume they're a bad player.
Brainstorm may be ubiquitous, but I don't think banning it does anything good for the format. This seems on par with the calls to ban Lightning Bolt in Modern.
The DTT ban makes me a bit sad, but it's not very surprising. Grixis Control and Omni-Tell are likely the biggest losers here.
Black Vise was a stupid unban, because it's a card that does nothing interesting and is ridiculously high variance based on when you draw it and what the mathchup is. While it may not be good enough to cause problems, it also doesn't make the format better by being unbanned.
The card likely won't do anything. It may be an uneventful unban, but it certainly didn't belong on the list so it seems fine to clean it up a bit.
Brainstorm may be ubiquitous, but I don't think banning it does anything good for the format. This seems on par with the calls to ban Lightning Bolt in Modern.
There is a call to ban Lightning Bolt? That's ridiculous.
Overall, DTT getting banned was probably a good thing. I knew a lot of people were getting discouraged about the rise of so many blue based decks in Legacy. It was probably beginning to create a oppressive environment. Wizards has shown time and time again that they know what they're doing and that they have been paying attention to their formats. I haven't seen an outrageously crazy ban from them in some time. Black Vise may follow in suite with cards like Golgari Grave-Troll, where they got unbanned but never really took off as a format defining card. Only time can tell.
Looks like JTMS will be back in a big way. Dig was replacing Jace as the premier card advantage generator in Legacy. Now JTMS is back to being the top dog.
I play Maverick and the only other Legacy player in my area plays Omni-Tell so I am SUPER okay with Dig being banned.
Black Vise being unbanned sounds like music to my ears but they may have awakened a sleeping giant. It still only sounds SB worthy since it does almost nothing against aggro strats. Can't wait till I see Shardless players not cast their Ancestral Visions in the face of a Black Vise. So juicy. Nearly all decks are gonna have to devote quite a few slots to Black Vise because Legacy seems to be all about how many times you can cast Brainstorm in a single game. I can't wait till they ban Brainstorm.
Also, what is it about Brainstorm just simply deserving play in Legacy? Somehow people have this idea that the nature of Legacy is Brainstorm. I can say that the nature of Legacy is Delver of Secrets but that doesn't make me any more right than someone else who thinks it's Goblin Lackey.
The reason they don't touch Brainstorm in Legacy even though it is certainly the most powerful card left is that it is the most powerful card left. It is also a card that requires tremendous amounts of thought and can be played improperly lots of times. A lot of the older cards that got banned (not so much DTT) did not require that level of thought and were the most powerful card in the format at the time (Treasure Cruise). People like the idea of playing with an extremely powerful card, but that still requires you to have brains to play. It's not just I'll pay U and remove these 7 cards to draw three. I do believe that DTT took the bullet for Brainstorm in this case, but that is going to continue to happen in the future. If any other blue card gets printed that puts Brainstorm decks over the top, they will ban the new card and let Brainstorm survive because it is a powerful skill testing card.
I'm not sure where the skill is required. It's an extremely powerful answer to discard spells(which I think is SUPER unfair), it digs for immediate answers, and all you have to do is set it up with a shuffle to get rid of your garabge. It should honestly be banned and fixed to be at sorcery speed.
If you can't see the skill in Brainstorming you probably haven't played with it much. Many people Brainstorm wrong all the time. (See: Random end of turn Brainstorm for no gain, or Brainstorm without any fetchlands) It's not just about what you put back (Which is harder than you seem to think), but when you cast the spell. New players blow their Brainstorms much sooner than they ever should.
Brainstorm has been widely agreed by high level players to be the most skill intensive card this side of Cabal Therapy.
I haven't played with it at all and I know to not do the things you mentioned. People just seem to think that since noobs just cast it whenever then it must be super skill intensive. Lightning Bolt must be a skill intensive card then because knowing when to bolt face, a creature, and/or which creature is hard to do and many people mess it up.
I agree that brainstorm is a skill intensive card if used by a skilled player. But brainstorm is still a powerful card even if it is used "improperly". Even if you cast brainstorm at the wrong time, you are still ahead of a non-blue deck because you casted brainstorm.
Evan Erwin did a video a long time ago calling for a ban on brainstorm. At that time, no SCG open legacy finals were played without at least 4 brainstorms between both finalist. As of now, this is no longer true but I doubt there will be a top 8 without at least 4 brainstorms.
As for people saying brainstorm:legacy = lightning bolt:modern. As per MTGgoldfish, Lightning Bolt is used by 43.85% of decks in modern, all of them as a 4 of. While Brainstorm is used by 73.33% of all decks in legacy, all as a 4 of.
I play Maverick and the only other Legacy player in my area plays Omni-Tell so I am SUPER okay with Dig being banned.
Black Vise being unbanned sounds like music to my ears but they may have awakened a sleeping giant. It still only sounds SB worthy since it does almost nothing against aggro strats. Can't wait till I see Shardless players not cast their Ancestral Visions in the face of a Black Vise. So juicy. Nearly all decks are gonna have to devote quite a few slots to Black Vise because Legacy seems to be all about how many times you can cast Brainstorm in a single game. I can't wait till they ban Brainstorm.
Also, what is it about Brainstorm just simply deserving play in Legacy? Somehow people have this idea that the nature of Legacy is Brainstorm. I can say that the nature of Legacy is Delver of Secrets but that doesn't make me any more right than someone else who thinks it's Goblin Lackey.
The reason they don't touch Brainstorm in Legacy even though it is certainly the most powerful card left is that it is the most powerful card left. It is also a card that requires tremendous amounts of thought and can be played improperly lots of times. A lot of the older cards that got banned (not so much DTT) did not require that level of thought and were the most powerful card in the format at the time (Treasure Cruise). People like the idea of playing with an extremely powerful card, but that still requires you to have brains to play. It's not just I'll pay U and remove these 7 cards to draw three. I do believe that DTT took the bullet for Brainstorm in this case, but that is going to continue to happen in the future. If any other blue card gets printed that puts Brainstorm decks over the top, they will ban the new card and let Brainstorm survive because it is a powerful skill testing card.
I'm not sure where the skill is required. It's an extremely powerful answer to discard spells(which I think is SUPER unfair), it digs for immediate answers, and all you have to do is set it up with a shuffle to get rid of your garabge. It should honestly be banned and fixed to be at sorcery speed.
If you can't see the skill in Brainstorming you probably haven't played with it much. Many people Brainstorm wrong all the time. (See: Random end of turn Brainstorm for no gain, or Brainstorm without any fetchlands) It's not just about what you put back (Which is harder than you seem to think), but when you cast the spell. New players blow their Brainstorms much sooner than they ever should.
Brainstorm has been widely agreed by high level players to be the most skill intensive card this side of Cabal Therapy.
I haven't played with it at all and I know to not do the things you mentioned. People just seem to think that since noobs just cast it whenever then it must be super skill intensive. Lightning Bolt must be a skill intensive card then because knowing when to bolt face, a creature, and/or which creature is hard to do and many people mess it up.
I'm grossly simplifying things in my post, but Brainstorm is one of the more nuanced cards ever printed. You've never played with it, so it's fine you don't understand. But pick it up one day, it's extremely rewarding and fun to play with as you learn it.
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Whenever someone claims to hate blue I automatically assume they're a bad player.
I agree that brainstorm is a skill intensive card if used by a skilled player. But brainstorm is still a powerful card even if it is used "improperly". Even if you cast brainstorm at the wrong time, you are still ahead of a non-blue deck because you casted brainstorm.
Evan Erwin did a video a long time ago calling for a ban on brainstorm. At that time, no SCG open legacy finals were played without at least 4 brainstorms between both finalist. As of now, this is no longer true but I doubt there will be a top 8 without at least 4 brainstorms.
As for people saying brainstorm:legacy = lightning bolt:modern. As per MTGgoldfish, Lightning Bolt is used by 43.85% of decks in modern, all of them as a 4 of. While Brainstorm is used by 73.33% of all decks in legacy, all as a 4 of.
And FoW is in 77.78%. Aren't those numbers skewed by the heavy presence of blue in the DTT meta though? Those two cards will be in every blue deck, so if DTT has pushed things too heavily towards blue, it makes sense that those numbers are as high as they are.
Lets see in a month if the numbers will lower with the banning of DTT. I doubt Brainstorm and FoW would lower that much after DTT is banned. Maybe they will drop to 65-68%? I wouldn't touch FoW even if its blue since it really keeps combo decks in check.
Agreed FoW is the police of the format. Brainstorm is the elusive thief of the format. It keeps getting away. It does a little too much for U, where other colors don't seem to have the option. That's doesn't scream fair to me. DTT is what it is due to Brainstorm. DTT is a scapegoat, very much like BBE for Modern. I'm not denying DTT's power, it's just that Brainstorm should be considered first.
Agreed FoW is the police of the format. Brainstorm is the elusive thief of the format. It keeps getting away. It does a little too much for U, where other colors don't seem to have the option. That's doesn't scream fair to me. DTT is what it is due to Brainstorm. DTT is a scapegoat, very much like BBE for Modern. I'm not denying DTT's power, it's just that Brainstorm should be considered first.
That was kind of my point about DTT before. If it's effect is too powerful for modern and legacy and vintage, why does it feel so weak in standard. Oh right, because it's a draw spell that draws quality and not volume in a format where you'd rather draw volume half the time.
I wonder if black vise will seen any play. They say they unbanned it to hose the blue decks. Will it work? Also I would be pretty surprised to see brainstorm banned. It's kind of an iconic legacy card at this point.
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Standard
none
Modern UBG B/U/G control BBB MBC WUR Control WWW Prison RRR Goblins
Legacy BBB Pox UBG B/U/G Control UWU StoneBlade UW Miracle Control
As of now, this is no longer true but I doubt there will be a top 8 without at least 4 brainstorms.
So should we ban certain Dual lands as well? I can't imagine a top 8 without 4 copies of specific ones. How about Wasteland?
Brainstorm isn't an inherent problem, and if anything, other colors simply need more consistency/ways to counter Brainstorm (Green Sun's Zenith; Spirit of the Labyrinth, as examples, respectively), rather than the format losing such an iconic card with such a learning curve.
If Brainstorm were to be banned, I would adjust the only deck I play that uses it accordingly, wonder why it took them so long to do so, and not lose any sleep over it. But as of now, I don't think Brainstorm deserves a ban; I just believe they need to throw more bones to other colors, which they have been doing increasingly with cards like Young Pyromancer, Gurmag Angler, and even just other seemingly innocuous things.
As of now, this is no longer true but I doubt there will be a top 8 without at least 4 brainstorms.
I just believe they need to throw more bones to other colors, which they have been doing increasingly with cards like Young Pyromancer, Gurmag Angler, and even just other seemingly innocuous things.
It's hard to agree with you considering Brainstorm plays a huge part in said cards (Young Pyro, Gurmag). At least you mentioned of adjustments you can possibly make, because blue is that deep when it comes to card quality.
I do agree that we might be better off IF Wizards threw those bones for other colors. But realistically, with the power level of cards printed these days, it's close to impossible. People (playing non-brainstorm decks) playing legacy for years, and clamoring for said bones, know it's just not happening.
Until then, it's safe to say Wizards obviously turns a blind eye when it comes to Brainstorm. To say it stays just because it's iconic throws this "level-playing field" perception out the window. Some cards are obviously gonna be OP, just that one color has more access to them. And it starts with Brainstorm.
I do agree that we might be better off IF Wizards threw those bones for other colors. But realistically, with the power level of cards printed these days, it's close to impossible. People (playing non-brainstorm decks) playing legacy for years, and clamoring for said bones, know it's just not happening.
I understand the ubiquity of Brainstorm, and as such, the problems it presents. While I don't expect the Black Vise unban to do anything significant in this regard, we shall see what happens.
As KingBrago states, however, you cannot discount the possibility of new cards entering the game and having a large impact on the meta, even with Brainstorm remaining legal. It wasn't long ago a hoser as powerful as Spirit of the Labyrinth was printed, and while it doesn't offer a blanket of protection across the meta, it's a step in the right direction, and these effects can and will be printed, even in standard legal sets.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind a "test period" where Brainstorm is (hypothetically) banned from Legacy simply to see the impact and effect on the format. But something tells me it wouldn't be the peachy sunshine and rainbows that certain players think it would be. I fully appreciate the issues with keeping Brainstorm legal, but considering the learning curve of the card, I firmly believe there are better solutions than simply banning it, and we will see where this unban (and future ones, possibly) take this.
At any rate, it is something that needs to be addressed. While I like Brainstorm and would hate to see it leave Legacy, I understand it is the crux of many problems in the format, and think Wizards needs to be more direct in its solution.
So Khans of Tarkir has completely turned into Fetchlands of Tarkir, since they've now killed the one last rare that was worth a bit (besides the fetches).
Welcome to the future of Magic design, where every set's value will be in reprints of older cards.
I'm thinking putting Black Vise in the sideboard for Burn would be pretty solid. Not that there is much room in the sideboard for it, but I would think at least three would make it seen enough to be used. Might help with playing cards that are specifically against blue and just only worry about hand size. I was a few years too young to be in the tournament scene in the 90's when it was in type II...so, did burn decks employ it in either the main or side?
Otherwise, any time R&D decides to ban more blue cards, I'm all for it. I'm pretty convinced that when Richard Garfield came up with this game he said something along the lines of this to people who would listen: "I want to create a card game that involves drawing power from five different elements set by certain colors...the only thing is I will create this one color to be omnipotent and have the other four just chase it incessantly until they finally figure out the joke and the gig is up."
Brainstorm may be ubiquitous, but I don't think banning it does anything good for the format. This seems on par with the calls to ban Lightning Bolt in Modern.
There is a call to ban Lightning Bolt? That's ridiculous.
It really isn't. For heaven's sake, when there's a card X where the first four cards in every deck using that X's color (except really, really extreme edge cases) are X, it's SCREAMING at you that it's far too powerful.
The only reason lightning bolt isn't such a problem is because red is such a weak color, if you replace it with Shock or Incinerate your deck gets DRAMATICALLY worse, you'd see most decks that use red either stop using red or be entirely crippled without Bolt. But blue has tons of good cards to replace Brainstorm. Heck, you could just do a 1-to-1 replacement of every Brainstorm with Ponder and the decks would still be Tier 1. They just wouldn't completely dominate other Tier 1 and 2 decks quite so much. Banning it would be INCREDIBLY good for the format because it wouldn't kill any decks but they wouldn't have such a stark advantage over the so-called "fair" decks
Brainstorm may be ubiquitous, but I don't think banning it does anything good for the format. This seems on par with the calls to ban Lightning Bolt in Modern.
There is a call to ban Lightning Bolt? That's ridiculous.
It really isn't. For heaven's sake, when there's a card X where the first four cards in every deck using that X's color (except really, really extreme edge cases) are X, it's SCREAMING at you that it's far too powerful.
The only reason lightning bolt isn't such a problem is because red is such a weak color, if you replace it with Shock or Incinerate your deck gets DRAMATICALLY worse, you'd see most decks that use red either stop using red or be entirely crippled without Bolt. But blue has tons of good cards to replace Brainstorm. Heck, you could just do a 1-to-1 replacement of every Brainstorm with Ponder and the decks would still be Tier 1. They just wouldn't completely dominate other Tier 1 and 2 decks quite so much. Banning it would be INCREDIBLY good for the format because it wouldn't kill any decks but they wouldn't have such a stark advantage over the so-called "fair" decks
If I am reading correctly, the cards aren't in the players hand yet when Vise's trigger happens, so Shardless BUG won't give a hoot that it's in play.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.
I'm not sure where the skill is required. It's an extremely powerful answer to discard spells(which I think is SUPER unfair), it digs for immediate answers, and all you have to do is set it up with a shuffle to get rid of your garabge. It should honestly be banned and fixed to be at sorcery speed.
If you can't see the skill in Brainstorming you probably haven't played with it much. Many people Brainstorm wrong all the time. (See: Random end of turn Brainstorm for no gain, or Brainstorm without any fetchlands) It's not just about what you put back (Which is harder than you seem to think), but when you cast the spell. New players blow their Brainstorms much sooner than they ever should.
Brainstorm has been widely agreed by high level players to be the most skill intensive card this side of Cabal Therapy.
The DTT ban makes me a bit sad, but it's not very surprising. Grixis Control and Omni-Tell are likely the biggest losers here.
The card likely won't do anything. It may be an uneventful unban, but it certainly didn't belong on the list so it seems fine to clean it up a bit.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
There is a call to ban Lightning Bolt? That's ridiculous.
Overall, DTT getting banned was probably a good thing. I knew a lot of people were getting discouraged about the rise of so many blue based decks in Legacy. It was probably beginning to create a oppressive environment. Wizards has shown time and time again that they know what they're doing and that they have been paying attention to their formats. I haven't seen an outrageously crazy ban from them in some time. Black Vise may follow in suite with cards like Golgari Grave-Troll, where they got unbanned but never really took off as a format defining card. Only time can tell.
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Evan Erwin did a video a long time ago calling for a ban on brainstorm. At that time, no SCG open legacy finals were played without at least 4 brainstorms between both finalist. As of now, this is no longer true but I doubt there will be a top 8 without at least 4 brainstorms.
As for people saying brainstorm:legacy = lightning bolt:modern. As per MTGgoldfish, Lightning Bolt is used by 43.85% of decks in modern, all of them as a 4 of. While Brainstorm is used by 73.33% of all decks in legacy, all as a 4 of.
I'm grossly simplifying things in my post, but Brainstorm is one of the more nuanced cards ever printed. You've never played with it, so it's fine you don't understand. But pick it up one day, it's extremely rewarding and fun to play with as you learn it.
And FoW is in 77.78%. Aren't those numbers skewed by the heavy presence of blue in the DTT meta though? Those two cards will be in every blue deck, so if DTT has pushed things too heavily towards blue, it makes sense that those numbers are as high as they are.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
That was kind of my point about DTT before. If it's effect is too powerful for modern and legacy and vintage, why does it feel so weak in standard. Oh right, because it's a draw spell that draws quality and not volume in a format where you'd rather draw volume half the time.
none
Modern
UBG B/U/G control
BBB MBC
WUR Control
WWW Prison
RRR Goblins
Legacy
BBB Pox
UBG B/U/G Control
UWU StoneBlade
UW Miracle Control
So should we ban certain Dual lands as well? I can't imagine a top 8 without 4 copies of specific ones. How about Wasteland?
Brainstorm isn't an inherent problem, and if anything, other colors simply need more consistency/ways to counter Brainstorm (Green Sun's Zenith; Spirit of the Labyrinth, as examples, respectively), rather than the format losing such an iconic card with such a learning curve.
If Brainstorm were to be banned, I would adjust the only deck I play that uses it accordingly, wonder why it took them so long to do so, and not lose any sleep over it. But as of now, I don't think Brainstorm deserves a ban; I just believe they need to throw more bones to other colors, which they have been doing increasingly with cards like Young Pyromancer, Gurmag Angler, and even just other seemingly innocuous things.
It's hard to agree with you considering Brainstorm plays a huge part in said cards (Young Pyro, Gurmag). At least you mentioned of adjustments you can possibly make, because blue is that deep when it comes to card quality.
I do agree that we might be better off IF Wizards threw those bones for other colors. But realistically, with the power level of cards printed these days, it's close to impossible. People (playing non-brainstorm decks) playing legacy for years, and clamoring for said bones, know it's just not happening.
Until then, it's safe to say Wizards obviously turns a blind eye when it comes to Brainstorm. To say it stays just because it's iconic throws this "level-playing field" perception out the window. Some cards are obviously gonna be OP, just that one color has more access to them. And it starts with Brainstorm.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Some powerfull cards have been printed recently, in standard sets: Abrupt Decay, dig and TC to, and there is still commander/conspiracy products to introduce powerfull effects for legacy: council's judgement, true-name nemesis, toxic deluge
Currently Playing:
Modern Grixis Shadow, Storm
Legacy: Grixis Delver, Sneak and Show
Duel Commander: Kess High Tide
Vintage Big blue(MTGO)
As KingBrago states, however, you cannot discount the possibility of new cards entering the game and having a large impact on the meta, even with Brainstorm remaining legal. It wasn't long ago a hoser as powerful as Spirit of the Labyrinth was printed, and while it doesn't offer a blanket of protection across the meta, it's a step in the right direction, and these effects can and will be printed, even in standard legal sets.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind a "test period" where Brainstorm is (hypothetically) banned from Legacy simply to see the impact and effect on the format. But something tells me it wouldn't be the peachy sunshine and rainbows that certain players think it would be. I fully appreciate the issues with keeping Brainstorm legal, but considering the learning curve of the card, I firmly believe there are better solutions than simply banning it, and we will see where this unban (and future ones, possibly) take this.
At any rate, it is something that needs to be addressed. While I like Brainstorm and would hate to see it leave Legacy, I understand it is the crux of many problems in the format, and think Wizards needs to be more direct in its solution.
Welcome to the future of Magic design, where every set's value will be in reprints of older cards.
Otherwise, any time R&D decides to ban more blue cards, I'm all for it. I'm pretty convinced that when Richard Garfield came up with this game he said something along the lines of this to people who would listen: "I want to create a card game that involves drawing power from five different elements set by certain colors...the only thing is I will create this one color to be omnipotent and have the other four just chase it incessantly until they finally figure out the joke and the gig is up."
So, good.
And yes...I do play Merfolk. hahahahaha
Twitch Channel - https://www.twitch.tv/moontimedweller
MODERN - Mono-Blue Merfolk & 7-Forest Goblin Charbelcher
LEGACY - Ruby Storm & Burn
PAUPER - Zombies, Bogles, & Burn
It really isn't. For heaven's sake, when there's a card X where the first four cards in every deck using that X's color (except really, really extreme edge cases) are X, it's SCREAMING at you that it's far too powerful.
The only reason lightning bolt isn't such a problem is because red is such a weak color, if you replace it with Shock or Incinerate your deck gets DRAMATICALLY worse, you'd see most decks that use red either stop using red or be entirely crippled without Bolt. But blue has tons of good cards to replace Brainstorm. Heck, you could just do a 1-to-1 replacement of every Brainstorm with Ponder and the decks would still be Tier 1. They just wouldn't completely dominate other Tier 1 and 2 decks quite so much. Banning it would be INCREDIBLY good for the format because it wouldn't kill any decks but they wouldn't have such a stark advantage over the so-called "fair" decks
Banning Bstorm would kill Miracles.
Not really because you would still have Top and SuperJace as a means to set up miracles. Not to mention Ponder can also do it.
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