I have been playing Modern for a while (since RTR basically, so 3 years and a while) and I'm an avid Affinity player mainly, with some decks like Zoo or Tron in the sidelines. So as you can see, this is not made out of spite, or because I'm whiny (the Twin ban greatly favors my Tron deck until Urza's Tower gets inevitably "shaken up" next year), but because I feel Modern is greatly declining. I felt it with the Seething Song ban, I felt it with the Birthing Pod ban, I felt it every time they refused to unban something to give strength to Control, and ultimately, I've felt it with the banning of Splinter Twin, the marquee deck of the format and the deck that was policing a lot of degenerate decks.
We live in an era where the Magic community is huge, and Internet has a lot of impact. This is magnified in formats like Commander and Tiny Leaders, which are community-driven formats that gained a huge popularity, and Commander is basically policed by a non-WotC group. We also live in an era which is great for Community-based formats to thrive, thanks to FNM allowing for whatever format you like. And although unsanctioned, there are tournaments like Bazaar of Moxen which are big and competitive enough and offer a great deal of prize support. So the only thing we have to give up is having Pro Tours of this would-be format, and if you're Modern die-hard enough you can go to Modern Pro Tours if you come to terms with the idea that you're going to be subjected to a more strict banlist.
While I disagree with a lot of cards being in the banlist, there are others that must not be taken out. Using ktkenshinx list from the Current Modern Banlist Discusion Thread as a guideline, I think we can all agree that the Turn Four Rule Violations should stay banned (the exception being Sword of the Meek), since Modern is in essence a Turn 4 format. About the Consistency / Dominance cards, I think it's the point that is going to generate the most debate. There are cards that should clearly stay there, such as Mental Misstep or Deathrite Shaman, but there are others that hover more on a gray area, like Stoneforge Mystic, Ancestral Vision and Bloodbraid Elf. The Mistake cards (Skullclamp and I'm citing also Treasure Cruise under Mistakes) are clear that they should remain banned, and the Logistical Reasons should stay banned, at least in the beginning.
We have a chance of getting this going if we're vocal enough and if we spread this to other places like Reddit, and nothing would make me more happy than a community-driven Modern format with a Modern Commitee akin to the EDH one which makes the bans / unbans. We should clearly identify this format with a new name (not just "custom Banlist modern") and a very clear Banlist that can be globally accepted if we want to succeed in this though. Discuss!
Then Commander would have no banlist and everyone would be doing their own thing because there would be a lot of bias, no? If you make sort of a Modern Commitee, the bias then wouldn't be able to interfere with the actual bans anymore than WotC being biased against certain cards.
I think if something like this was done, one thing that would help a lot would be to allow people to bring in cards to the format that are printed elsewhere but not in Modern legal sets, such as Opt and Containment Priest. In times like these with the advent of computer databases and stuff everywhere, it shouldn't be too hard to create an online tool for deck-building for this format which can easily check if a card is legal for it, making it much safer to include 'random' lists of cards. I'd keep everything on the restricted list out of the format, and try to keep power level similar to regular Modern, but allow in key things that look like they'd help the card pool and format health, or simply look 'good' or 'fun' and aren't a problem. That could potentially help such a format much more than just 'unbans' would, since there would be far more options.
I'd strongly suggest maintaining the 'turn 4 rule', and keep overly consistent fast-combo or forms of ridiculous super-aggro out of the format.
I'd also suggest removing very strong color hate from the format, even if it isn't truly oppressive, such as Choke and Boil, unless you also go back and add cards to the format which spread out the hate between more colors, since the 8th edition cutoff for Modern can make things a bit weird there, and that unbalanced color hosing always annoyed me about Modern.
I feel like including cards that aren't currently Modern legal would just generate a lot of confusion and discussion about what's worth and what's not, and the community would eventually split about what cards should be used.
About the color hate, I don't think it's so prominent to warrant a ban. Besides a lot color hating cards get released in almost every set (see Dark Betrayal, Celestial Purge or Rending Volley) that are more efficient and widely played than the ones you cited (Betrayal being the exception in the examples I used)
I think the outrage will be big enough that this has a real possibility. When Modern was created, we we're promised a non-rotating format. However, Aaron Forsythe has directly claimed that Modern is a yearly rotating format because of the Pro Tour. When there's a PT, the best deck will get banned to make an artificial rotation. There has been enough outcry that people is pleading on twitter to take out Modern from the PTs. If the stability of the format is compromised by ban mania and people will fear that their deck does good and gets banned they will inevitably move away from said format. No one wants to fork loads of cash on what's essentially becoming Super Standard, and the prospect of "you either you lose with a Tier 2 deck or you do well with a Tier 1 and enjoy it for the rest of the year before it gets banned" is not a very attractive one. For reference, here are Aaron's tweets:
We live in an era where the Magic community is huge, and Internet has a lot of impact. This is magnified in formats like Commander and Tiny Leaders, which are community-driven formats that gained a huge popularity, and Commander is basically policed by a non-WotC group. We also live in an era which is great for Community-based formats to thrive, thanks to FNM allowing for whatever format you like. And although unsanctioned, there are tournaments like Bazaar of Moxen which are big and competitive enough and offer a great deal of prize support. So the only thing we have to give up is having Pro Tours of this would-be format, and if you're Modern die-hard enough you can go to Modern Pro Tours if you come to terms with the idea that you're going to be subjected to a more strict banlist.
While I disagree with a lot of cards being in the banlist, there are others that must not be taken out. Using ktkenshinx list from the Current Modern Banlist Discusion Thread as a guideline, I think we can all agree that the Turn Four Rule Violations should stay banned (the exception being Sword of the Meek), since Modern is in essence a Turn 4 format. About the Consistency / Dominance cards, I think it's the point that is going to generate the most debate. There are cards that should clearly stay there, such as Mental Misstep or Deathrite Shaman, but there are others that hover more on a gray area, like Stoneforge Mystic, Ancestral Vision and Bloodbraid Elf. The Mistake cards (Skullclamp and I'm citing also Treasure Cruise under Mistakes) are clear that they should remain banned, and the Logistical Reasons should stay banned, at least in the beginning.
We have a chance of getting this going if we're vocal enough and if we spread this to other places like Reddit, and nothing would make me more happy than a community-driven Modern format with a Modern Commitee akin to the EDH one which makes the bans / unbans. We should clearly identify this format with a new name (not just "custom Banlist modern") and a very clear Banlist that can be globally accepted if we want to succeed in this though. Discuss!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
I'd strongly suggest maintaining the 'turn 4 rule', and keep overly consistent fast-combo or forms of ridiculous super-aggro out of the format.
I'd also suggest removing very strong color hate from the format, even if it isn't truly oppressive, such as Choke and Boil, unless you also go back and add cards to the format which spread out the hate between more colors, since the 8th edition cutoff for Modern can make things a bit weird there, and that unbalanced color hosing always annoyed me about Modern.
About the color hate, I don't think it's so prominent to warrant a ban. Besides a lot color hating cards get released in almost every set (see Dark Betrayal, Celestial Purge or Rending Volley) that are more efficient and widely played than the ones you cited (Betrayal being the exception in the examples I used)
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
In practice, I think you'd have an easier time herding cats.
https://twitter.com/mtgaaron/status/688247164045103104
https://twitter.com/mtgaaron/status/688454987668557824
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Trust that something like this is infact in the works by me, but not right now. Few months down the line.