Suggestions:
Ophiomancer: good snake-maker. Synergistic with Ertai. Good "rattle snake" card...
Phyrexian Arena: I have a hard time not putting this in every deck containing black ever.
Dictate of Erebos: Strictly better than Grave Pact in a 3 color deck. Only item of concern is curving into your commander, but this is one you'd likely use after you cast him anyways.
Seal of Cleansing: synergy with Ertai, good rattlesnake, I'd run this over Disenchant.
Seal of Removal: You may or may not want to run this, but again it is a good rattlesnake card (people hesitate to attack you), good utility, synergy with Ertai.
No Mercy: people sometimes don't like losing attackers.
Silent Arbiter: Great Pillowfort card.
Mystic Remora: auto-include in blue, synergy with Ertai.
Cuts: This is the worst part of deckbuilding. I hate cutting.
Disenchant: if you run Seal of Cleansing
Norn's Annex: This is a great pillowfort card, but I would rather have Dictate of Erebos, Seal of Removal, or Ophiomancer
Crawlspace: for Silent Arbiter since the arbiter can feed Ertai.
Also, it would be hilarious to run Dovescape.
Haha, this hard hitting analysis is why I come here!
Really though, people didn't leave the format in droves when things like PoK, Primetime, SPrime were legal though they were totally format warping, so I'm not sure that's a good lens to look through.
Also, I think we need to approach this discussion considering that Library is currently banned, and the RC needs actual reasons for it to come off.
Totally, I'm with you there. I'm questioning the possibility of actually unbanning the card for the reasons I stated.
I don't think it's a boogeyman like Balance. I do think however that it is very, very good and would be a format staple.
1. I merely stated that it would be the best land in EDH, do you disagree?
2. Right now Library would make the cut in 22/22 of my decks and those lists are tiiiiiiiight. There are decks it doesn't go in, but those are niche. The card has no drawbacks and at it's best draws you an extra card a turn.
3. Being obtainable matters because it goes in so many decks.
4. You're not pressured by me drawing an extra card every turn? Poor threat assessment.
5. I wasn't comparing them in a vacuum. If I am playing Library, it will likely outperform both arena/staff in most games in terms of raw card draw since I'm able to throw it out early at no cost. I can play library turn 1 with no extra work, can't do that with the others.
6. I'll agree to disagree with you here. I think you have to be creative to NOT include Library, similarly to Sol Ring.
I agree that it is not game breaking. I am looking at it from the standpoint of availability/price/staple.
I don't think it would break the format or anything and it is at least a reasonable card to discuss, but I think the availability/price/staple aspect is what keeps it on the list.
I think were it super available like Sol Ring it would probably be ok for the format but sadly it just isn't.
1. It being the best land in the format matters.
2. It being a staple is relevant due to it being largely unobtainable.
3. It's not just price, but scarcity, and the fact that it would be a staple.
4. 90% might be high for some, that's where it would be for me. It will be tutored for "most" of the time.
5. Sure compare it to Magus of the Library, that creature costs double green and requires you to wait for a turn before you can activate it, making it several orders of magnitude worse than a land.
6. How many of those are format staples? "People can proxy it" doesn't seem like very solid ground to stand on.
Anyways, this is just my 2cents on the situation. In my view, it wouldn't make much sense for the RC to pull this off the list.
On the other hand, if like you I had one laying around I'd probably want them to remove it too.
1. Becomes arguably the best land in EDH.
2. All decks can run it, most decks should.
3. Is currently at over a thousand dollars, if unbanned this will skyrocket from there.
4. Will be tutored for over other lands 90% of the time when applicable (Crop Rotation, Knight of the Reliquary, etc.)
5. Extremely high power level: in function it competes with cards like Phyrexian Arena, Staff of Nin which are 3 and 6 CMC spells respectively.
6. It is already unobtainable to most EDH players because of rarity and cost. Unbanning will make the card more unobtainable and expensive.
These things considered, I ask what incentive does the RC have to unban this?
I think it would be a lot more likely were it highly available like Sol Ring, but as it stands it seems iffy that the RC would put this back into the environment all things considered.
I feel like you're forgetting that this can be cast for 1 mana to blow up an artifact if you don't need to nuke the board.
That is not a good thing for magic.
Once you have kids your free-time goes to nothing. But kids are amazing and totally worth it.
I always considered those format staples. They are both a big step above Vindicate and Maelstrom Pulse because of the instant speed. I'd say Mortifys real competition is Anguished Unmaking and Utter End.
Yeah, Tatyova will go to your command zone if she's out already, but The Great Aurora will most of the time launch you way ahead or to a win even. Your deck should be running a ton of lands so this is an easy sell, I just cut it because there are so many good cards for this deck and I opted for a lower mana curve.