Anyone want to take turns guessing what cards could come off of the banlist without even altering the format? I say Gravetroll and probably even JtMS.
Golgari Grave-Troll would likely not alter it at all. Honestly, I'm not even sure why it's banned after they axed Dread Return.
Jace would absolutely alter the format. Now I don't think that's a bad thing (give control a push already, and you've got Bloodbraid Elf in the format anyway), but he would most certainly alter it.
A top player could legally take enough Top activations to LITERALLY drag game one to turns.
How? Such an action would qualify as slow play.
I do not want that format, I don't believe many people do either.
Although it is a decent deck, Miracles is not dominating at all. Banning Sensei's Divining Top would be a ridiculous decision. They're not going to ban a non-dominant card when the amount of time a Miracles player is going to spend total on activating it is less than a High Tide player spends on one turn.
There are numerous cards in Legacy far more deserving of a ban than Sensei's Divining Top, both in terms of power in the format and in terms of players disliking them. I have a lot of trouble seeing how it's "likely" to be banned.
I think it's better for the format if Top stays on the list. A newer and more balanced version would be ok, but I really dont like the idea of having some kind of counter top in Modern. It would be ok if you could use Top only during your turn, that's probably more balanced. I wouldn't be surprised if Top will get banned in Legacy, too.
I'd be astounded if it was. There is no real reason to ban it.
Sure, wizards like to promote this equality schtick (perhaps because tolerance & equality are so big & popular in the west), and so, according to them, all colours are equally good or evil,
Er...where did they say this?
They've certainly stated that all the colors are capable of good and evil things. But I don't think they've ever said they're "equally" good or evil.
all Alara shards are a fine place to live, all guilds are equally fine, etc.
Let's not forget that SFM was indeed LEGAL in Standard, as long as you played the exact list of that event deck..........lmao what were they thinking.
Do you mean "what were they thinking" in the suggested situation that they printed Batterskull to give themselves an excuse to ban Stoneforge (an assertion that, as I've stated, I find extremely doubtful), or do you mean "what were they thinking" as in the actual decision? Because what they were thinking was that Stoneforge Mystic was bad for the game, but at the same time they had already put it in an Event Deck and that as an Event Deck is supposed to be something you can play at a tournament, they should keep that legal.
Which of course supports my point that it's silly to think they printed Batterskull so they could ban Stoneforge Mystic.
They could be trying to really push for show and tell to be banned.
When sfm was looking degenerate in standard. They printed batterskull to push it over the top.
It is true they printed Batterskull to make Stoneforge Mystic stronger. However, at the time they had made that decision, they didn't realize how dominant the card was going to be already (remember, sets have to be finalized months before they're released).
If they were secretly trying to make Stoneforge Mystic too strong so they could ban it (a decision that makes no sense to me whatsoever), then they wouldn't have put it in an Event Deck.
I think the issue with Tamiyo is pretty much "other than budget reasons, why would you ever run her when you could be running Jace instead?" Pretty much every deck she might conceivably go into is one that would work even better with Jace.
are you saying that those two are better than a board wipe for 1 that puts all creatures on the bottom of their library, they can't be regenerated. Or a 4 mana uncounterable wrath with easy to obtain mana. Maybe they aren't as good in legacy or modern where maybe you have a few more creatures with regen (of which i don't think many decks play a lot of them) but in current standard they are amazing for control.
I don't know about Modern, but to say Terminus "isn't as good" in Legacy seems wrong because Terminus is astounding in Legacy.
As for the general answer, the only real issue I have is Thragtusk, which I think should have cost 3GG. Other than that I can't think of any problems, though.
3) the combo wins immediatly, instead melira "simply" gives you infinite life points
That's not quite true, though. Melira pod can win on the spot if it's done with Murderous Redcap for infinite damage. It's only when done with Kitchen finks that it "only" gives you infinite life.[/QUOTE]
Well without Stoneforge it's sorta hard to efficiently keep it alive. The germ dies to goyf, liliana, pulse. Returning it costs 3 then another 5 to replay it. Maybe it's best left in the SB.
If you were casting Pulse, wouldn't it make more sense to target the Batterskull?
I was actually pondering Batterskull myself. It does have some advantages over Wurmcoil Engine. It's less vulnerable to Path to Exile, it costs less mana (which is good because you don't always have all 7 mana the turn you get Urzatron online, plus if you're forced to "hardcast" it it's easier), and it's able to simultaneously attack and block. I don't think I'd really be playing it as more than a 1-of, but it's a decent card for the deck. And it does cost a total of 8 mana to bounce it and replay it, but again, compared to Wurmcoil Engine it gives you the option against cards like Path to Exile rather than it automatically exiling it permanently.
How is Platinum Angel for the deck, possibly in the sideboard? If they don't have a way to get rid of it, you're made invulnerable.
Didnt they ban visions because of cascade? Im sure it will be unbanned soon anyways.
Here's their explanation for the banning of Ancestral Vision when they created Modern:
"The last Modern-legal card that has been making a huge splash in Legacy control decks is Ancestral Vision. While not every Jace, the Mind Sculptor deck in Legacy plays Ancestral Vision, a great many of them do. The combination of Ancestral Vision, Spell Snare, and other counterspells lets control decks draw cards very cheaply without getting behind early on, and that's powerful enough that we feel safer having it banned."
how are you missing the effectiveness of BBE? shaman, that can be dealt with by bolting, pathing, dismembering, etc. liliana for the most part, is a symetrical effect. cards with flash or 2 for 1s like lingering souls is an effective way to get around her. inquisition and thoughtseize are 1 for 1s. bob is fair because he'll kill you, if you let him go unchecked. pulse/decay for the most part, are also 1 for 1s. sometimes the "same name" comes up. so what's the source of the problem? getting one of the above for free. then it becomes a 2 for 1, or even 3 for 1, depending on what you flip into. then you have to 2 for 1 yourself to deal with it, and the problem it brings to the table. in a deck of good stuff, getting one of the "good stuff" along with an efficient beater is a problem. what would they fill in the BBE slot? there is NOTHING like that that's modern legal.
Kor Dirge, mentions the new evincar recruiting slaves more fitting to her FELINE tendancies. This just blatently states that Mirri becomes the Evincar.
Therefor defeating....Ertai? Hmm, I personally would have thought he could have taken her. I definitely don't think she could have defeated Volrath.
I really hope we get an alternate reality anthrology
I personally liked it a lot more when the story lines were reflected on the cards themselves. In the Tempest block, many of the cards had flavor texts that showed specific events. (Greven killing Vhati was on three cards: Vhati il-Dal, Repentance, and Diabolic Edict) Heck, they even deliberately made Greven's card so he could kill Vhati via sacrificing him (this exact event is included in the book). Okay, so that's one event, but they did that for a bunch of other things as well...you could see an event on one card (or possibly several) and then look it up in the book and find it. I thought that set up was pretty cool; you can see the story line on the cards themselves and then use the book to "fill in" the blanks that they didn't manage to put into the cards. There's been much, much less of this in the later sets; really the last time they did things like that was in the Invasion block.
This is something that most people probably don't care about, but it was something that I really liked.
Nope. Tarmogoyf actually costs more now. Jace is about 2/3 of his old price.
Jace would absolutely alter the format. Now I don't think that's a bad thing (give control a push already, and you've got Bloodbraid Elf in the format anyway), but he would most certainly alter it.How? Such an action would qualify as slow play.Although it is a decent deck, Miracles is not dominating at all. Banning Sensei's Divining Top would be a ridiculous decision. They're not going to ban a non-dominant card when the amount of time a Miracles player is going to spend total on activating it is less than a High Tide player spends on one turn.
There are numerous cards in Legacy far more deserving of a ban than Sensei's Divining Top, both in terms of power in the format and in terms of players disliking them. I have a lot of trouble seeing how it's "likely" to be banned.
They've certainly stated that all the colors are capable of good and evil things. But I don't think they've ever said they're "equally" good or evil.
Sources for these claims?
Which of course supports my point that it's silly to think they printed Batterskull so they could ban Stoneforge Mystic.
If they were secretly trying to make Stoneforge Mystic too strong so they could ban it (a decision that makes no sense to me whatsoever), then they wouldn't have put it in an Event Deck.
As for the general answer, the only real issue I have is Thragtusk, which I think should have cost 3GG. Other than that I can't think of any problems, though.
I was actually pondering Batterskull myself. It does have some advantages over Wurmcoil Engine. It's less vulnerable to Path to Exile, it costs less mana (which is good because you don't always have all 7 mana the turn you get Urzatron online, plus if you're forced to "hardcast" it it's easier), and it's able to simultaneously attack and block. I don't think I'd really be playing it as more than a 1-of, but it's a decent card for the deck. And it does cost a total of 8 mana to bounce it and replay it, but again, compared to Wurmcoil Engine it gives you the option against cards like Path to Exile rather than it automatically exiling it permanently.
How is Platinum Angel for the deck, possibly in the sideboard? If they don't have a way to get rid of it, you're made invulnerable.
"The last Modern-legal card that has been making a huge splash in Legacy control decks is Ancestral Vision. While not every Jace, the Mind Sculptor deck in Legacy plays Ancestral Vision, a great many of them do. The combination of Ancestral Vision, Spell Snare, and other counterspells lets control decks draw cards very cheaply without getting behind early on, and that's powerful enough that we feel safer having it banned."
COMPLETELY agreed.
This is something that most people probably don't care about, but it was something that I really liked.