at least within my circle of players, anything alpha edition gives pimp-points (so to speak), and this is complicated looking, ancient tech, AND (possibly) useful!
and before anyone disses banding, it is an AMAZINGLY good mechanic. it nerfs trample. it protects attackers. it can do some pretty nifty stuff like redirect all damage in your band to a creature with protection from whatever colour/thing. i even made a banding "tribal" just to make people realise it's awesomeness.
I still think my point of bridging competitive and casual players still stand. By banning cards like tutors and fast mana, people will tend to a common understanding. In a blunt way, people will be obliged to adhere to the rules. As it currently stands, the bridge is too big.
In certain parts of the world, the EDH scene may be scarce, in a way that these places don't have enough players to form a competitive clique and a casual clique. So do you go in between? Or do you follow the RC and let it rip? You wouldn't expect a casual player entering into a fray of competitive sharks, when all he wants is to play his EDH; he can't go anywhere else coz there's nowhere else.
Rules provide a common understanding. A bigger, and more consistent banlist (which devotes itself to the "spirit of EDH") will glue the split EDH society and dispel many vague issues and conflicting ideals.
I think this is a great idea. I'm all for a larger ban list, especially one that is more consistent.
and then the competitive try-hard groups locally un-ban cards you mean?
thromok is quite a beast actually... when i first saw it, i thought devour x was brilliant.. but then in practice it ends up being a 121/121 face-masher that only kills 0/1 kobolds, one round at a time.
and can exile anti-reshuffle your graveyard back in the library stuff for mill decks.
had to mill something like 3 or 400 cards from one dude just cuz the ulamog or something kept reshuffling stuff back in before someone path to exiled it.
played it in a green aggro back in the day with elvish archers and pals
i think regeneration in edh is something oft-overlooked. but its an awesome ability to have stapled on a dude. i suppose river boa specifically for edh is a bit underwhelming.
i'm all in for more wedge commanders... there is a serious want in choice there. but at the same time, i imagine that wizards would pull out a set based on wedge colours first to establish their kinda 'themes' first before doing a hardcore rollout of new cmdrs.
i think i'd be looking forward to more commander-centric cards; things like
3B
instant
destroy target commander. it cannot be regenerated
U
instant
choose a commander in play. return that commander to it's owners hand
R
instant
target commander loses it's commander status, and another creature that same player controls gains commander status until end of turn.
xx4G
instant
Put target green commander from a command zone into play. x is equal to four minus that commander's tax.
W
instant
Each player sacrifices their commanders, then adds one more to their commander tax. If a player cannot sacrifice their commander this way, that player sacrifices an artifact, a creature, an enchantment, a land and a planeswalker instead.
its kinda a coalition victory or biorhythm for the win kinda moment, isnt it? thats why they are banned, since its a one card letdown for everyone at the table (since everything everyone else has built up to at that moment led to nothing).
i had them both in my lifegain decks, but took them out 'cuz of that exact problem. winning with say a battle of wits is much harder (and therefore more satisfying) i think.
It's a social format... not a casual one. If this were a truly casual format, the banlist would be 50 plus blue and green cards.
surely a social format would have varying banlists that each individual playgroup make their own?
but yea i dont see any of the older cards being unbanned, though i wouldn't be surprised to see 'em pop up once in a while within closed, tight-knit groups where they agreed to such exceptions. its not like everyone plays vintage, right?
and before anyone disses banding, it is an AMAZINGLY good mechanic. it nerfs trample. it protects attackers. it can do some pretty nifty stuff like redirect all damage in your band to a creature with protection from whatever colour/thing. i even made a banding "tribal" just to make people realise it's awesomeness.
or gargoyle, griffin, cats? they're kinda all white, right?
and then the competitive try-hard groups locally un-ban cards you mean?
or edric with some boros (aurelia, gisela, iroas)? that would be a pretty brutal beatdown.
but yea evasion is a must..
had to mill something like 3 or 400 cards from one dude just cuz the ulamog or something kept reshuffling stuff back in before someone path to exiled it.
played it in a green aggro back in the day with elvish archers and pals
i think regeneration in edh is something oft-overlooked. but its an awesome ability to have stapled on a dude. i suppose river boa specifically for edh is a bit underwhelming.
as far as i could remember, there are like 4 dudes u can use as cmdr:
Ertai, Wizard Adept
basandra, battle seraph
Sydri, Galvanic Genius
thromak, the insatiable
its gonna be pretty tight i think!
i think i'd be looking forward to more commander-centric cards; things like
3B
instant
destroy target commander. it cannot be regenerated
U
instant
choose a commander in play. return that commander to it's owners hand
R
instant
target commander loses it's commander status, and another creature that same player controls gains commander status until end of turn.
xx4G
instant
Put target green commander from a command zone into play. x is equal to four minus that commander's tax.
W
instant
Each player sacrifices their commanders, then adds one more to their commander tax. If a player cannot sacrifice their commander this way, that player sacrifices an artifact, a creature, an enchantment, a land and a planeswalker instead.
you know, stuff like that.
or saffi eriksdottir combo?
rakdos the defiler pain-sharer?
i was gonna mention prophet of kruphix, seedborn muse.
brilliant card nonetheless in the right deck.
i had them both in my lifegain decks, but took them out 'cuz of that exact problem. winning with say a battle of wits is much harder (and therefore more satisfying) i think.
surely a social format would have varying banlists that each individual playgroup make their own?
but yea i dont see any of the older cards being unbanned, though i wouldn't be surprised to see 'em pop up once in a while within closed, tight-knit groups where they agreed to such exceptions. its not like everyone plays vintage, right?
and i suppose pure costs don't really stop people from pulling that off either.