I'm not too enthusiastic about this recent discussion.
For starter, like many, I think the speculation of what would happen without the current tier-1 is both mostly hot air and entirely pointless. It's not that I mind people shooting from the hip and giving their opinion, but that I find the discussion to be a symptom of a lack of mental rigor. Any meta has a tier one, every tier set will have its detractor, every deck has its lover and hater. You'd replace one set of dissatisfied players with another. I'd rather read people discuss how to make some decks better than how to destroy the ones that exist. I find the current displayed hate for the existing tier-1 a bit tasteless.
Furthermore, the discussion seems to take for granted two things. One, that the current tier-1 suite is dominating. It's not true. Multiple recent results have shown other decks taking the crown in a given tournament. There is no huge gulf between tier-1 and tier-2. So why want to change the tier-1? It does not extinguish variety, that's just not true. Two, history bears this out, a single new card can push tier-2 deck into tier-1. Look at Baral making storm better for example. So, I would much prefer to see people speculating on new cards (even made up ones) that would help change the meta rather than bashing tier-1 decks you think are no-fun.
Agreed. It's really a simple matter to create another subforum here and pin it to the top strictly for discussion of cards to ban/unban in the Modern format. A thread titled in any way w/ "State of the Meta" should not include discussion about banning/unbanning cards, rather it should center on the discussion of decks and cards actually legal in the format. This, imho, is what most players would rather talk about and especially READ about even if they don't want to start or engage in conversation themselves. This particular thread is dominated by about 12 posters who say the same thing every day all day long, and they only focus on what they want banned/unbanned. So there is really no discussion about the state of the meta in this thread it's all about a meta of fantasy.
The two-month or whatever it was "ban Splinter Twin" talk here was just a half-assed attempt at what I've stated above.
If you look at the colors, the only 2-color combination in the game that does not have a PW in Modern being played is B/G. I understand completely being a Modern player that many of the walkers above are not really that good, but they are cheap/powerful/synergistic enough for people to try and make them work in the format. I will note the only B/R walker here is 3-color Nicol Bolas and the only G/W walker is 3-color Tamiyo. Still, there is no B/G walker anywhere of any combination. The first Vraska is unplayable b/c her + ability does absolutely nothing to affect the game...no mana ramp, no card draw, no tap down, no buff or nerf of creatures...nothing, so she is essentially a 5CMC Maelstrom Pulse. The new one is unplayable at 6CMC. The last Vraska was in RtR, which came out in 2012...so, do we wait another five years for another version of Vraska that might be Modern playable? Highly unlikely we will get another version in Rivals. If Angrath (likely B/R) and Ajani (possibly G/W) in Rivals are cheap enough to be Modern playable, I will send Vraska to WotC headquarters for a face-to-face chat.
Further, the Gatewatch walkers all have recently gotten either a 3CMC (I count UG Nissa here) version (as soon as Ixalan Jace becomes legal), or, as in the case of Chandra, a Modern-playable walker w/ four abilities.
Why no love for Golgari walkers? Given the change in Planeswalker rules, and how much PWs have become the face of this game, one would think WotC would have tried to push the new Vraska a bit so it could at least be given a chance in Modern. She is THE B/G walker.
I don't have to reach to complain about EDH. It has its own dedicated product line through WotC now but still pollutes Standard expansions and Masters sets.
So Vraska improved her ability and can now turn people into gold and jewels instead of just stone!
She's pretty cool. I'm not sure if she'll make the cut in my Superfriends EDH, but definitely worth consideration. She makes a blocker, blows things up while giving you a bit of ramp and makes someone's life miserable. What more could you want?
What more could you want? Four CMC w/ 4 starting loyalty otherwise the same so that she has a chance to make it into the only format I play, Modern. What a miss here.
It isn't usually a good idea to buy things spontaneously based on hype and incomplete information. Every Masters set has people hyped to the high heavens when the initial spoilers come out and then relatively disappointed when the full set is known.
It should also be pointed out that these IM spoilers are coming in the midst of Ixalan spoilers, and stealing thunder from the latter, while also tamping down on discussion about how bad of a card for constructed play the face walker of the set is (looks great for EDH though!). WotC marketing in high gear today. This likely means we've seen the best of what Ixalan has to offer and nothing is left there worth getting excited about.
As a face walker of a Standard-legal set she is wretchedly bad everywhere but EDH. She was spoiled today at Hascon so her wretchedness would be lost in the spoilers for Iconic (Commander) Masters, which is where all the chatter is now.
I guess I should not be surprised at this though, b/c Standard expansions now are nothing but Commander products in disguise.
She could easily have been 4cmc and 4 starting loyalty w/ exact same abilities, not be broken in Standard, and potentially be playable in Modern, b/c the other Vraska misses by just oh so much.
I love dinosaurs and was ready to play prerelease and pull the plug on two booster boxes of this set...all I was waiting for was to see my other favorite walker be Modern playable.
Wonder if WotC missed an opportunity here. It would be cool to have four cards or so in a set like this that transform into pieces of a treasure map, like the meld creatures from last Innistrad, and if you meet the transform conditions on each piece of the map to put the entire map together it's an instant win condition a la Maze's End.
The map has been updated, but it seems they were a little sloppy and uploaded more than just the one image...
Edit: Map versions 2 through 20 were accidentally made publicly viewable but have now been made private. Still managed to snag a download of the final version.
Nice find! Thanks for catching that and posting it. I imagine the one piece they have up now is where Jace landed.
If Path was the answer (lol it wasn't) there would have been no need for a ban just play Path, easy!
Only, it's not that easy, and the downside to path is huge in a game where the early resources are critical.
If banning is good management well then since that's all wizards has really done, they must be great.
Forget testing.
Forget trying new cards.
Forget unbans.
All wizards must do is ban that which offends, hide their numbers to keep players ignorant and wave 'nothing to see, trust us'.
Absolutely garbage level thinking.
Why don't you tell us where we can access that data you are working on, for free, since you think you are entitled to free MTGO data from WotC. I'd like to see it...all of it.
Agreed. It's really a simple matter to create another subforum here and pin it to the top strictly for discussion of cards to ban/unban in the Modern format. A thread titled in any way w/ "State of the Meta" should not include discussion about banning/unbanning cards, rather it should center on the discussion of decks and cards actually legal in the format. This, imho, is what most players would rather talk about and especially READ about even if they don't want to start or engage in conversation themselves. This particular thread is dominated by about 12 posters who say the same thing every day all day long, and they only focus on what they want banned/unbanned. So there is really no discussion about the state of the meta in this thread it's all about a meta of fantasy.
The two-month or whatever it was "ban Splinter Twin" talk here was just a half-assed attempt at what I've stated above.
Maybe we'll get some Modern cards in the next Commander set.
In before somebody says, "But, Opt..."
These numbers come from MTG Top 8 over the last two months. There are twenty two PWs seeing play in Modern in that time:
Liliana
Karn
Jace
Gideon
Chandra
Ugin
Elspeth
Nahiri
Ajani
Sorin
Saheeli
Garruk
Nissa
Koth
Domri
Tamiyo
Tezzeret
Dovin Baan
Ashiok
Kiora (KIORA!!!)
Narset
Nicol Bolas
If you look at the colors, the only 2-color combination in the game that does not have a PW in Modern being played is B/G. I understand completely being a Modern player that many of the walkers above are not really that good, but they are cheap/powerful/synergistic enough for people to try and make them work in the format. I will note the only B/R walker here is 3-color Nicol Bolas and the only G/W walker is 3-color Tamiyo. Still, there is no B/G walker anywhere of any combination. The first Vraska is unplayable b/c her + ability does absolutely nothing to affect the game...no mana ramp, no card draw, no tap down, no buff or nerf of creatures...nothing, so she is essentially a 5CMC Maelstrom Pulse. The new one is unplayable at 6CMC. The last Vraska was in RtR, which came out in 2012...so, do we wait another five years for another version of Vraska that might be Modern playable? Highly unlikely we will get another version in Rivals. If Angrath (likely B/R) and Ajani (possibly G/W) in Rivals are cheap enough to be Modern playable, I will send Vraska to WotC headquarters for a face-to-face chat.
Further, the Gatewatch walkers all have recently gotten either a 3CMC (I count UG Nissa here) version (as soon as Ixalan Jace becomes legal), or, as in the case of Chandra, a Modern-playable walker w/ four abilities.
Why no love for Golgari walkers? Given the change in Planeswalker rules, and how much PWs have become the face of this game, one would think WotC would have tried to push the new Vraska a bit so it could at least be given a chance in Modern. She is THE B/G walker.
What more could you want? Four CMC w/ 4 starting loyalty otherwise the same so that she has a chance to make it into the only format I play, Modern. What a miss here.
It should also be pointed out that these IM spoilers are coming in the midst of Ixalan spoilers, and stealing thunder from the latter, while also tamping down on discussion about how bad of a card for constructed play the face walker of the set is (looks great for EDH though!). WotC marketing in high gear today. This likely means we've seen the best of what Ixalan has to offer and nothing is left there worth getting excited about.
I guess I should not be surprised at this though, b/c Standard expansions now are nothing but Commander products in disguise.
I love dinosaurs and was ready to play prerelease and pull the plug on two booster boxes of this set...all I was waiting for was to see my other favorite walker be Modern playable.
Now I will purchase nothing from Ixalan.
Nice find! Thanks for catching that and posting it. I imagine the one piece they have up now is where Jace landed.
No company like WotC/Hasbro gives out information at random. It is all carefully selected for a purpose before it is released to the wilds.
1. Data for corporations and private companies.
This is WotC/Hasbro...
Why don't you tell us where we can access that data you are working on, for free, since you think you are entitled to free MTGO data from WotC. I'd like to see it...all of it.