Everytime someone(or me) comes up with unbanning Twin, i put two relevant points on the table:
1)Splinter Twin reduces diversity. Not reinventing the wheel or anything here. It was said on the banlist update: Blue archetypes do themselves a favor by playing Twin in their decks. Temur,Jeskai,Grixis,UR, all come down to flavors of Twin; With Goyf to beat other UR decks, With Terminate and Tasigur to beat Midrange,with Path and Resto to be more controlling and straight UR to be super efficient and also playing Blood Moon which hoses so many decks.
Does it really though? This was, of course, the reason WotC gave for the ban, but the meta evolution since has shown that they were clearly wrong. Before the Twin ban, blue decks accounted for 25% of the meta, and it was split as about 15% Twin variants and 10% other blue decks. WotC's thought was that most of the 15% of the Twin players would spread out into other blue decks, maintaining blue's overall metashare, but spreading it out into several different decks.
This is not what happened.
The blue decks got completely crushed during Eldrazi Winter, although it was a warped meta that we shouldn't read too much into. However, WotC decided they wanted to try to power the blue decks up by unbanning AV and SotM, so they clearly seemed to think the blue decks needed help at that point. Well, SotM has had no impact on the format, and AV is only being run as a 2 or 3-of in the 75 of the most controlling blue decks. It had no impact on the blue tempo decks and most of the midrange builds aren't playing it anymore either. We've reached the point now where blue decks as a whole account for just 10% of the meta, and just got crushed in the latest GPs (and don't give the argument that Grixis Delver won one of them, go look at the top 32 of that tournament. He was the only blue deck in the entire top 32). As everyone said when they banned Twin, Twin didn't have the largest share of blue players just because it was the best blue deck, it's because it was the only competitively viable blue strategy (outside of the TC Delver period). The problem wasn't that Twin was just better than the other blue decks, the problem was that the other blue decks were just bad and Twin was good. So WotC's reasoning for banning Twin completely backfired. Non-Twin blue decks before the banning were 10% of the meta, and they're still 10% of the meta, but the blue archetype as a whole was completely decimated, losing 60% of its metashare.
And this isn't going to get better, it's only going to get worse. WotC has been noticeably powering down control strategies in recent years and printing better creatures and creature based spells. Think about it: the best cards (that are still legal) the blue decks have gotten in years have been Nahiri, Kolaghan's Command, and Tasigur/Angler/Hoots. None of which are actually blue cards... Go look at mtggoldfish's decklists and see when the last time was that they printed a blue card that currently sees play in the blue strategies. There were a couple sideboard cards (Supreme Verdict, Staticaster, Keranos) back in RTR and Theros. For mainboard stuff, you've pretty much got to go all the way back to original Innistrad, 5 years ago. So, us blue players have to hope that either WotC messes up and prints something that's playable but not so busted that it has to be banned, or they unban something to help us out.
2)Splinter Twin gives the format a blue-controlling archetype, which is something Modern player base seems to want so bad. It stops linear decks on its tracks.
Exactly, which is why linear strategies are running rampant right now. The printing of Nahiri was a boon, but that only helped Jeskai Control. And as good as she is, I don't think she was enough. Jeskai Nahiri got shut out of the GPs, and then a grand total of 0 pros showed up to worlds with the deck, even though it would have been a great choice for all of them who tried to Level 3 the meta by going with Abzan. They all decided that the proactive Level 3 choice was better, and they were probably right. Jeskai's metashare has been slipping for months, and it will be back in Tier 2 when the next metagame analysis comes out. So blue strategies will, once again, have no Tier 1 options to play. That's all we want. Linear aggro has like 4 different T1 decks to chose from, combo has a couple, and even the fair non-blue midrange decks have a couple now with Bant Eldrazi's emergence. Blue tempo/midrange/control has nothing.
So they have a few options. 1) They could print some new cards to help the blue decks in Modern. This is unlikely, as what the blue decks need are better counters or ways to close the game quicker, which WotC isn't doing in Standard for blue anymore. The threats they've been printing have far outpaced the answers in recent years. 2) They could ban cards from several of the linear aggro decks to slow down the format. I don't want this. You don't want this. I don't think anyone wants this. Finally 3), they could unban something. But what do they unban? They can't unban TC. DTT never got its chance in Modern without TC. Yes it was too good in Legacy, but DTT gets better the better the cards in your deck are. The bigger problem here, I think, would be that it would help out the combo decks even more than the control decks. I've played just enough with Ponder to know it's way too good for Modern. Preordain would be an upgrade over Serum Visions and might be ok, but again, I think it would probably help combo more than control. SFM and JtMS are both controversial. Neither has ever been legal, so we don't know for sure. I personally think SFM would be fine in Modern. T3 Batterskull is powerful, but there are decks that can just kill you on T3, plus we have a deck right now that can T2 play a 4/4 that Thoughtsiezes you, T3 play a 5/5 haste trample that you have to 2-for-1 yourself to kill, or a deck that can T3 play a Primeval Titan and start doming you with Valakuts. Is T3 Batterskull really that much more powerful than those things? I don't feel like it is. The biggest problem here is that it slants blue players towards white, which doesn't help Grixis, Temur, or Sultai builds. I don't know about Jace. Yeah, he's the best PW ever printed, but we have Lili in the format and she's no where near ban-worthy. Jace also has less going for him in Modern than he does in Legacy. The most played card in the format is Lightning Bolt, so a lot of times he'll just be a 4 mana Brainstorm. Granted that's still pretty good, but maybe that's what the blue midrange and control decks need. If the aggro decks can't kill him or kill you shortly after you play him, he'll start to win the game for you. But that's what your 4 drop should do in a midrange or control deck. I personally plan on playing some test games against friends with Jace in different blue shells to see if he's oppressive or not. The biggest downside here is that he probably doesn't help the tempo decks much, if they even play him at all.
And finally there's Splinter Twin. We all know what Twin is. It's a really good deck in Modern (was arguably the best deck after TC and Pod were banned), but it was never dominant like BBE+DRS Jund or Eldrazi Winter. People who say that Modern is better now without Twin are morons, to be blunt. Twin was the control deck that forced the linear aggro and combo decks to interact. It slowed down the whole format through its very existence. I remember playing against a Bogles player at my LGS. In game 2 on his third turn, he taps out to play another aura on his creature and attacks, hitting me so I would be dead on his next turn, but I played my Exarch and then killed him on my turn. He then shows me his hand, how he had the Path. Had he chosen to hold up his mana, I would have been forced to go for the combo anyway or die the next turn, and he would have 2 for 1'd me and won on his turn, but because he chose to continue his linear game plan and not interact with me, he died. Do you know what would have happened if I were playing Jeskai Nahiri against him? I would have died. I would have died and never really had a chance. There isn't a deck in Modern right now that is forcing the linear aggro decks to slow down and play more fair. Twin also propped up the GBx decks, since they were the natural predator of Twin, and the rest of the blue decks as well, as they all had good Twin matchups. Removing that keystone had exactly the effect that a lot of people predicted: linear aggro is running rampant and ignoring their opponents, blue decks lost their best matchup and have struggled since the linear decks were able to streamline by cutting creature removal, and Tron has struggled because the meta is too fast and aggressive. Pretty much the only decks that are unaffected are the GBx decks, who lost a good matchup, but that was offset by the weakening of Tron, and their proactive approach is more effective in the current meta than the blue reactive one.
So yes, unbanning Twin is probably the safest thing to do to help the blue decks and make Modern less linear and aggressive. I don't think it would even be as good as it was before, because Bant Eldrazi would probably be a bad matchup, and the Jeskai Nahiri deck would be a natural predator of Twin as well. Dredge would probably also be rough, since they do play some removal and they're hard for Twin to interact with.
Hi everyone! So I recently came into some money that I'm looking to spend on buying into Legacy, but I need help picking a deck. Price point isn't important. My favorite deck of all time was Modern Splinter Twin, and I've failed to find another deck in Modern that scratches the same itch Twin did. In Modern I've been playing things like Grixis Control and Blue Moon, which are pretty cool, and I'm looking at finishing Jeskai Control pretty soon. I tried out various Delver versions, but they just aren't very good in Modern. I enjoy the grindy blue control play style, but I also enjoy fast combo decks. What I loved about Twin was how it was both. It's important for me that the deck I pick in Legacy be competitive. Winning is important to me, but I also want to have fun doing big or broken things while winning.
The decks that have caught my eye so far are ANT, Miracles, Grixis Delver, Lands, Deathblade, and Sneak and Show.
Does it really though? This was, of course, the reason WotC gave for the ban, but the meta evolution since has shown that they were clearly wrong. Before the Twin ban, blue decks accounted for 25% of the meta, and it was split as about 15% Twin variants and 10% other blue decks. WotC's thought was that most of the 15% of the Twin players would spread out into other blue decks, maintaining blue's overall metashare, but spreading it out into several different decks.
This is not what happened.
The blue decks got completely crushed during Eldrazi Winter, although it was a warped meta that we shouldn't read too much into. However, WotC decided they wanted to try to power the blue decks up by unbanning AV and SotM, so they clearly seemed to think the blue decks needed help at that point. Well, SotM has had no impact on the format, and AV is only being run as a 2 or 3-of in the 75 of the most controlling blue decks. It had no impact on the blue tempo decks and most of the midrange builds aren't playing it anymore either. We've reached the point now where blue decks as a whole account for just 10% of the meta, and just got crushed in the latest GPs (and don't give the argument that Grixis Delver won one of them, go look at the top 32 of that tournament. He was the only blue deck in the entire top 32). As everyone said when they banned Twin, Twin didn't have the largest share of blue players just because it was the best blue deck, it's because it was the only competitively viable blue strategy (outside of the TC Delver period). The problem wasn't that Twin was just better than the other blue decks, the problem was that the other blue decks were just bad and Twin was good. So WotC's reasoning for banning Twin completely backfired. Non-Twin blue decks before the banning were 10% of the meta, and they're still 10% of the meta, but the blue archetype as a whole was completely decimated, losing 60% of its metashare.
And this isn't going to get better, it's only going to get worse. WotC has been noticeably powering down control strategies in recent years and printing better creatures and creature based spells. Think about it: the best cards (that are still legal) the blue decks have gotten in years have been Nahiri, Kolaghan's Command, and Tasigur/Angler/Hoots. None of which are actually blue cards... Go look at mtggoldfish's decklists and see when the last time was that they printed a blue card that currently sees play in the blue strategies. There were a couple sideboard cards (Supreme Verdict, Staticaster, Keranos) back in RTR and Theros. For mainboard stuff, you've pretty much got to go all the way back to original Innistrad, 5 years ago. So, us blue players have to hope that either WotC messes up and prints something that's playable but not so busted that it has to be banned, or they unban something to help us out.
Exactly, which is why linear strategies are running rampant right now. The printing of Nahiri was a boon, but that only helped Jeskai Control. And as good as she is, I don't think she was enough. Jeskai Nahiri got shut out of the GPs, and then a grand total of 0 pros showed up to worlds with the deck, even though it would have been a great choice for all of them who tried to Level 3 the meta by going with Abzan. They all decided that the proactive Level 3 choice was better, and they were probably right. Jeskai's metashare has been slipping for months, and it will be back in Tier 2 when the next metagame analysis comes out. So blue strategies will, once again, have no Tier 1 options to play. That's all we want. Linear aggro has like 4 different T1 decks to chose from, combo has a couple, and even the fair non-blue midrange decks have a couple now with Bant Eldrazi's emergence. Blue tempo/midrange/control has nothing.
So they have a few options. 1) They could print some new cards to help the blue decks in Modern. This is unlikely, as what the blue decks need are better counters or ways to close the game quicker, which WotC isn't doing in Standard for blue anymore. The threats they've been printing have far outpaced the answers in recent years. 2) They could ban cards from several of the linear aggro decks to slow down the format. I don't want this. You don't want this. I don't think anyone wants this. Finally 3), they could unban something. But what do they unban? They can't unban TC. DTT never got its chance in Modern without TC. Yes it was too good in Legacy, but DTT gets better the better the cards in your deck are. The bigger problem here, I think, would be that it would help out the combo decks even more than the control decks. I've played just enough with Ponder to know it's way too good for Modern. Preordain would be an upgrade over Serum Visions and might be ok, but again, I think it would probably help combo more than control. SFM and JtMS are both controversial. Neither has ever been legal, so we don't know for sure. I personally think SFM would be fine in Modern. T3 Batterskull is powerful, but there are decks that can just kill you on T3, plus we have a deck right now that can T2 play a 4/4 that Thoughtsiezes you, T3 play a 5/5 haste trample that you have to 2-for-1 yourself to kill, or a deck that can T3 play a Primeval Titan and start doming you with Valakuts. Is T3 Batterskull really that much more powerful than those things? I don't feel like it is. The biggest problem here is that it slants blue players towards white, which doesn't help Grixis, Temur, or Sultai builds. I don't know about Jace. Yeah, he's the best PW ever printed, but we have Lili in the format and she's no where near ban-worthy. Jace also has less going for him in Modern than he does in Legacy. The most played card in the format is Lightning Bolt, so a lot of times he'll just be a 4 mana Brainstorm. Granted that's still pretty good, but maybe that's what the blue midrange and control decks need. If the aggro decks can't kill him or kill you shortly after you play him, he'll start to win the game for you. But that's what your 4 drop should do in a midrange or control deck. I personally plan on playing some test games against friends with Jace in different blue shells to see if he's oppressive or not. The biggest downside here is that he probably doesn't help the tempo decks much, if they even play him at all.
And finally there's Splinter Twin. We all know what Twin is. It's a really good deck in Modern (was arguably the best deck after TC and Pod were banned), but it was never dominant like BBE+DRS Jund or Eldrazi Winter. People who say that Modern is better now without Twin are morons, to be blunt. Twin was the control deck that forced the linear aggro and combo decks to interact. It slowed down the whole format through its very existence. I remember playing against a Bogles player at my LGS. In game 2 on his third turn, he taps out to play another aura on his creature and attacks, hitting me so I would be dead on his next turn, but I played my Exarch and then killed him on my turn. He then shows me his hand, how he had the Path. Had he chosen to hold up his mana, I would have been forced to go for the combo anyway or die the next turn, and he would have 2 for 1'd me and won on his turn, but because he chose to continue his linear game plan and not interact with me, he died. Do you know what would have happened if I were playing Jeskai Nahiri against him? I would have died. I would have died and never really had a chance. There isn't a deck in Modern right now that is forcing the linear aggro decks to slow down and play more fair. Twin also propped up the GBx decks, since they were the natural predator of Twin, and the rest of the blue decks as well, as they all had good Twin matchups. Removing that keystone had exactly the effect that a lot of people predicted: linear aggro is running rampant and ignoring their opponents, blue decks lost their best matchup and have struggled since the linear decks were able to streamline by cutting creature removal, and Tron has struggled because the meta is too fast and aggressive. Pretty much the only decks that are unaffected are the GBx decks, who lost a good matchup, but that was offset by the weakening of Tron, and their proactive approach is more effective in the current meta than the blue reactive one.
So yes, unbanning Twin is probably the safest thing to do to help the blue decks and make Modern less linear and aggressive. I don't think it would even be as good as it was before, because Bant Eldrazi would probably be a bad matchup, and the Jeskai Nahiri deck would be a natural predator of Twin as well. Dredge would probably also be rough, since they do play some removal and they're hard for Twin to interact with.
The decks that have caught my eye so far are ANT, Miracles, Grixis Delver, Lands, Deathblade, and Sneak and Show.