That's not a good argument. If lack of opportunity cost is a problem, then we should be banning Lightning Bolt; exactly what opportunity cost does that card have? Or Path to Exile? Or Thoughtseize? Or, heck, the fetchlands? In fact, I'd say all of those have less opportunity cost than Stoneforge Mystic. And while Tarmogoyf's stock has gone down considerably due to Fatal Push being printed, for a long time that card had the opportunity cost of... having to play cards that were already good. Reminds me of how I've seen it remarked that the "downside" of Delver of Secrets in Legacy is having to play what are already the best cards in the format.Quote from ed06288 »Ross Merriam makes a good argument for never unbanning stoneforge mystic. Stoneforge isn't exactly strong but also doesn't warp the way a deck is constructed. "The opportunity cost to run twin or stoneforge packages is almost zero." I personally feel that stoneforge would make tempo decks too strong.
As for the Splinter Twin example, that makes even less sense, because there is major opportunity cost. The combo requires 10 cards in your deck, which is hardly a minor amount, and all of them--all of them--are mediocre-to-terrible by themselves. That means that you've taking out 10 good cards in favor of cards that are not good in order to try to pull off or threaten the combo. The claim there's barely an opportunity cost is laughable.
To be fair, I am responding to your representation of his argument, so maybe he said it better originally... but as presented, it's a nonsense argument.
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Don't you dare forget
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Don't forget Painter's Servant + Chaotic Backlash
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1UU
Counter target spell.
Surge UU
That would be awesome.
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