As is the forum custom, we have temporarily locked the State of Modern thread. It will remain locked for one week following the update, at which point we will open a new State of Modern thread for discussion. Until then, please post all your reactions to the announcement in this thread. You can also discuss any other topic that would be allowed in the State of Modern thread.
All forum and sub-forum rules apply here, although the bar for spam is a little higher than usual; freeform discussion is more appropriate here than in other threads, as are shorter posts and more kneejerk reactions. If it gets excessive, staff will step in.
I'm not surprised at a 'no changes' decision for Modern. Despite the fact that U-based control/tempo strategies are not viable at a competitive level, the format still seems to be adapting and changing (see, e.g., the rise of the Death's Shadow decks), and given that the next announcement is only a month away, it seems reasonable to have no changes for now. If (non-prison) control continues to be essentially absent at a competitive level, I would hope for a change in April or sometime soon (i.e., not a year from now), but it seems almost silly to ban something now when the next opportunity is 6 weeks away.
It's true that blue is bad, but the format as a whole looks good, and full of diversity. Oh, well. I was very for the preordain/SFM unban, but after reading Todd Stevens article I had a feeling there'd be no unbans.
I'll continue to foil out my GBx decks with OG shocks/fetches and will one day look forward to playing a blue deck or SFM
In Modern, we've just come off two very exciting Grand Prix in Vancouver and Brisbane that saw Death's Shadow rise to the top, but a variety of decks put up strong results. While Modern certainly has its share of powerful cards, the format is in a spot right now that players seem to greatly enjoy.
Thanks Wizards for putting 3 lines. It's better than nothing. But I am really pissed that they wrote NOTHING about the lack of blue reactive decks.
We can conclude that they are either oblivious to the problems or simply don't care; but I'd probably guess ignorance first. Either way, it's a continued sense of misery and neglect for blue players.
"No changes" for Modern was expected. An unban would have been nice. A ban would have been outrageous.
I'll be pushing hard for controlling/reactive blue decks to get their unban soon. Lots of numbers to publish and discussion to spark!
You should be pushing hard for them to print better cards for Blue control in the format instead of pushing for anything reasonably banned now to be unbanned.
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FREE MODERN. Break the Standard link.
I play Magic: the Gathering, not Magic: the Commandering.
Right now modern is in a "things are pretty good, but can we make them better?" sort of place. I would be surprised if they even discussed it much at all, compared to standard. Until standard gets sorted out, they may not take any time to think about modern unbans.
In Modern, we've just come off two very exciting Grand Prix in Vancouver and Brisbane that saw Death's Shadow rise to the top, but a variety of decks put up strong results. While Modern certainly has its share of powerful cards, the format is in a spot right now that players seem to greatly enjoy.
Thanks Wizards for putting 3 lines. It's better than nothing. But I am really pissed that they wrote NOTHING about the lack of blue reactive decks.
Agreed on this, they barely touched on the format at all other than a quick "seems good!".
I'm really starting to lose what little faith I had left in Wizards managing formats. Standard is in such shambles that they basically had to just give up on trying to control the format because the other option was to ban felidar guardian, heart of kiran, and winding constrictor all at once and it would've absolutely killed standard. I honestly think they didn't do anything to help modern because standard is obviously so bad they didn't want to give players any reason to hop to modern.
If they honestly believe this is a great format and this is the vision Wizards has for modern then I may as just well sell my collection now. It's not even the lack of unbans that is troubling to me; a simple statement like "The format has changed drastically since the last announcement and while we see there is still work to be done on the format, we didn't think any changes were necessary at the moment while the format is adjusting." Would've gone a long way in quieting any doubts. It says nothing to the problems they are concerned about, just simply gives disenfranchised players a "hey, we're still thinking of you" quote to latch on to for hope. With the way it is currently written it sounds way more like "This is modern, deal with it or leave! Jace is dead here, SFM is dead here, and preordain is dead here, now stop asking."
Blah, it makes me sad there is no place for blue reactive in modern. Wizards worries about new players way too much. They would rather kill one of oldest deck types rather than upset new players when their totally awesome craw wurm is countered. I wish it was 1999-2004 again.
I, like many of you have always been fond of playing blue control decks. Many of us that started way back, for me it was Revised, tend to gravitate toward blue. With that being said I don't blame WotC for not making any changes. The fact is Modern is thriving, so why change anything? Blue is currently so bad that 1 unban isn't going to turn it around. My guess is they are fine with how the format is currently playing and nothing will change in April either.
I was really hoping for a ban on Saheeli and an unban on Reflector Mage. Say what you will of Constrictor and Dynavolt decks, but its pretty clear its a 2 deck format. Standard absolutely sucks right now. Its a shame
Wotc got it right. Blue mages are pissed. But Wotc sees attendance numbers form mid level events like SCG, and also sees numbers for local LGS events and sees the the number of decks being played and feel why mess with something a good number of players are enjoying. Let the format evolve form new cards through Standard. If I was Wotc I wouldnt even look at the ban list thinking unban something.
We will have to see what happens the next 6 weeks or so for the next B&R announcement, but if it continues this way, I see no changes then too.
It's true that blue is bad, but the format as a whole looks good, and full of diversity. Oh, well. I was very for the preordain/SFM unban, but after reading Todd Stevens article I had a feeling there'd be no unbans.
Blue is so bad that 27% of the decks on MTGGoldfish are running a basic Island.
I guess people just like to trot out horrible decks.
"No changes" for Modern was expected. An unban would have been nice. A ban would have been outrageous.
I'll be pushing hard for controlling/reactive blue decks to get their unban soon. Lots of numbers to publish and discussion to spark!
You should be pushing hard for them to print better cards for Blue control in the format instead of pushing for anything reasonably banned now to be unbanned.
Blue also needs a counterspell variant that is live on T1 or free. A Prohibit reprint or update would be the best. Unfortunately, even if Wizards printed such a card the day after the article went live, we wouldn't see it for over a year. In that time, I am sure the lack of strong blue reactive decks will lead to a stupid ban that better blue strategies would have prevented.
I agree with the decision for modern: the format is still actively evolving. There isn't a reason to make big changes now, especially as fatal push just had a big impact and amonkhet may have the first offerings of"swinging the threat/answer pendulum back" design change.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I, like many of you have always been fond of playing blue control decks. Many of us that started way back, for me it was Revised, tend to gravitate toward blue. With that being said I don't blame WotC for not making any changes. The fact is Modern is thriving, so why change anything? Blue is currently so bad that 1 unban isn't going to turn it around. My guess is they are fine with how the format is currently playing and nothing will change in April either.
Its the reason why its not viable that bothers me. Because its viewed as not being any fun. They don't make cards to make it better because they don't want it to be better.
For me, that's fine, I can play older formats. I just feel bad for any new players who are told blue control is for griefers who ruin all the fun of playing op creatures on turn 2.
If they never make blue reactive viable then fine. Spells need to be stronger though. We need more fatal pushes. Im sick of playing yugioh.
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http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/march-13-2017-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2017-03-13
As is the forum custom, we have temporarily locked the State of Modern thread. It will remain locked for one week following the update, at which point we will open a new State of Modern thread for discussion. Until then, please post all your reactions to the announcement in this thread. You can also discuss any other topic that would be allowed in the State of Modern thread.
All forum and sub-forum rules apply here, although the bar for spam is a little higher than usual; freeform discussion is more appropriate here than in other threads, as are shorter posts and more kneejerk reactions. If it gets excessive, staff will step in.
RGTron
UGInfect
URStorm
WUBRAd Nauseam
BRGrishoalbrand
URGScapeshift
WBGAbzan Company
WUBRGAmulet Titan
BRGLiving End
WGBogles
I play Magic: the Gathering, not Magic: the Commandering.
I'll continue to foil out my GBx decks with OG shocks/fetches and will one day look forward to playing a blue deck or SFM
I'll be pushing hard for controlling/reactive blue decks to get their unban soon. Lots of numbers to publish and discussion to spark!
Perhaps because it does not matter to them?...
Golem was restricted.
No changes seems great to me. I do not think the meta is solved enough to make any decisions.
We can conclude that they are either oblivious to the problems or simply don't care; but I'd probably guess ignorance first. Either way, it's a continued sense of misery and neglect for blue players.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Feels like this is weeks behind (the logic for this announcement) but oh well. You could have made some money bocephus!
Spirits
Modern should have gotten something unbanned, I'm really hating this new team at Wizards.
Modern should have gotten something unbanned, but it's not like the format is in a bad place right now
You should be pushing hard for them to print better cards for Blue control in the format instead of pushing for anything reasonably banned now to be unbanned.
I play Magic: the Gathering, not Magic: the Commandering.
Agreed on this, they barely touched on the format at all other than a quick "seems good!".
I'm really starting to lose what little faith I had left in Wizards managing formats. Standard is in such shambles that they basically had to just give up on trying to control the format because the other option was to ban felidar guardian, heart of kiran, and winding constrictor all at once and it would've absolutely killed standard. I honestly think they didn't do anything to help modern because standard is obviously so bad they didn't want to give players any reason to hop to modern.
If they honestly believe this is a great format and this is the vision Wizards has for modern then I may as just well sell my collection now. It's not even the lack of unbans that is troubling to me; a simple statement like "The format has changed drastically since the last announcement and while we see there is still work to be done on the format, we didn't think any changes were necessary at the moment while the format is adjusting." Would've gone a long way in quieting any doubts. It says nothing to the problems they are concerned about, just simply gives disenfranchised players a "hey, we're still thinking of you" quote to latch on to for hope. With the way it is currently written it sounds way more like "This is modern, deal with it or leave! Jace is dead here, SFM is dead here, and preordain is dead here, now stop asking."
No. No its not. The format is fine.
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
We will have to see what happens the next 6 weeks or so for the next B&R announcement, but if it continues this way, I see no changes then too.
Blue is so bad that 27% of the decks on MTGGoldfish are running a basic Island.
I guess people just like to trot out horrible decks.
Blue also needs a counterspell variant that is live on T1 or free. A Prohibit reprint or update would be the best. Unfortunately, even if Wizards printed such a card the day after the article went live, we wouldn't see it for over a year. In that time, I am sure the lack of strong blue reactive decks will lead to a stupid ban that better blue strategies would have prevented.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Its the reason why its not viable that bothers me. Because its viewed as not being any fun. They don't make cards to make it better because they don't want it to be better.
For me, that's fine, I can play older formats. I just feel bad for any new players who are told blue control is for griefers who ruin all the fun of playing op creatures on turn 2.
If they never make blue reactive viable then fine. Spells need to be stronger though. We need more fatal pushes. Im sick of playing yugioh.