Sneaky SFM unban with new cycle of Swords in MH1. Breaks no rules or spoiler claims, gives us a ton of swords to tinker with our new unban.
... Or no change. Whatever.
Why would they unban a card that they consider "risky" AND print extra toys with said risky cards? Doesn't really make sense as a logic.
Because it's not risky whatsoever to anyone remotely familiar with the format? And anyone who believes she poses any threat to Modern is woefully misguided?
Her placement on the banned list has exactly zero to do with her power level in the current state of affairs.
We are absolutely and most certainly seeing "No Changes" at the next B&R. I'd hazard a guess that we won't even get a text update. Just: No chanhes. Next announcement such and such date.
Yeah, there are 30+ "competitive decks", but the top 4 or 5 are heads and shoulders above the rest. It's the same as it was back in the day with "5-6 top decks" and "the rest of the 20-30+ decks", but because of the data embargo, we have no concrete way of identifying it. So we tell ourselves somehow this is "better" and "more diverse." Sigh.
Considering how much Wizards hates the dredge mechanic, I am surprised they are allowing the archetype to not only be alive and well but to currently be the #2 most played deck according to MTGO Goldfish.
You wouldn't know it with how they printed Creeping Chill. But they have a habit of breaking decks accidentally all the time.
If we're jumping on the baseless speculation unban train, if there's ever been a time to release Twin, it's when the best deck in the format is a UR deck that not only doesn't want, but cant reasonably even try to play that card or support the shell. Not happening, because WOTC has a personal vendetta against it, but it's something to think about.
cfusionpm is right, fair decks can beat up hard on Phoenix, but...people dont play them in Modern because outside a narrow metagame, fair decks suck.
From my experience with way too many fair decks, it seems like the good matchups are only barely, marginally good, but the bad matchups are unbelievably bad.
We saw this first hand with the masterful deck design and play lines of Yuta Takahashi and UB Fae get roflstomped by land drops and top-decked green cards to get knocked out of the Top 8.
Phoenix gets wrecked by fair, interactive, control and midrange decks. It's just that fair, interactive, control and midrange decks are somewhere aggressively mediocre and outright terrible in the grand scheme of Modern.
However, one of the big reasons I stopped playing it locally, because we have a bunch of stubborn Jund and control players. So it's this weird dichotomy where the deck is "too good" against "the meta," but totally fine against decks that are objectively less powerful, but popular in some areas.
Dredge vs Phoenix
Scales vs Dredge
Phoenix vs Shadow
Shift vs Scales
Next.set.when?
Could lead to some very monotone semis and finals. Imagine if they did it the way I listed on the last page? LOL. Would have been 3 mirrors and a lopsided, fingers-crossed race.
CFB is deciding to show Pauper for the past 2 or 3 hours, instead of Modern, even though two rounds have already been played today. I got timed out in chat for asking when Modern was coming up, and why aren't we seeing it now.
I was there yesterday (scrubbed out of the main event, with every round but one being an extremely close game 3, and two of them going to turns), and headed back home last night. Was hoping to actually be able to watch Day2...
But I still feel like a winner, as I accomplished my goal for the weekend: (attached)
Edit: good gracious, we finally get to Modern and all they're doing is already speculating about banning faithless looting. So I guess I can look forward to another one of my decks being banned. LOL
I'm very apprehensive about them accidentally breaking Modern with this. Whenever they actually try to help, they often to more harm than good. It also doesn't bode well for any unbans in at least the next year, since this will serve as their Modern shake-up.
Her placement on the banned list has exactly zero to do with her power level in the current state of affairs.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I really hope not. I just got my foils signed at GP LA. But then again, I guess that's just tradition!
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
You wouldn't know it with how they printed Creeping Chill. But they have a habit of breaking decks accidentally all the time.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Oh, and blah blah, Stoneforge is a joke, etc etc.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
From my experience with way too many fair decks, it seems like the good matchups are only barely, marginally good, but the bad matchups are unbelievably bad.
We saw this first hand with the masterful deck design and play lines of Yuta Takahashi and UB Fae get roflstomped by land drops and top-decked green cards to get knocked out of the Top 8.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Phoenix gets wrecked by fair, interactive, control and midrange decks. It's just that fair, interactive, control and midrange decks are somewhere aggressively mediocre and outright terrible in the grand scheme of Modern.
However, one of the big reasons I stopped playing it locally, because we have a bunch of stubborn Jund and control players. So it's this weird dichotomy where the deck is "too good" against "the meta," but totally fine against decks that are objectively less powerful, but popular in some areas.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Could lead to some very monotone semis and finals. Imagine if they did it the way I listed on the last page? LOL. Would have been 3 mirrors and a lopsided, fingers-crossed race.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR Phoenix
UR Phoenix
Dredge
Dredge
Hardened Scales
Hardened Scales
Grixis Shadow
Titanshift
d i v e r s i t y
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I was there yesterday (scrubbed out of the main event, with every round but one being an extremely close game 3, and two of them going to turns), and headed back home last night. Was hoping to actually be able to watch Day2...
But I still feel like a winner, as I accomplished my goal for the weekend: (attached)
Edit: good gracious, we finally get to Modern and all they're doing is already speculating about banning faithless looting. So I guess I can look forward to another one of my decks being banned. LOL
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate