Unless this is the tinfoil hat place they reprint Stoneforge Mystic because it's not legal in modern...yet.
It is in the modern card pool but banned
Correct. But their wording seems to be intentionally "tricky": "..with a mix of reprints not yet legal in Modern.."
Stoneforge Mystic is a card that is not yet legal in modern, and they could unban it on release. They seem confident that the buy-a-box promo is a cool version of a reprint that people will want - I think SFM potentially fits that bill. And, if they're printing the ally swords, a good way to make them not feel like wasted mythic slots would be to make the swords better in modern, a la SFM reprint.
I don't know if SFM is the card; it's mostly just funny to bring up because it's the one people keep spec'ing on to be unbanned. However, WoTC's phrasing does make it seem like they're reprinting a card that they intend to unban.
You make a very compelling case. Can you imagine a world where Jace gets unbanned, Stoneforge gets unbanned, they print 5 new swords, and literal Counterspell is modern legal?
Mana Drain is likely the single most broken instant ever to see print. No, Force of will is not close. The card was a mistake and should have never seen print. Also an utter failure to the colour pie.
You have no clue what you're talking about, honestly. The color pie didn't exist during the printing of Alliances as it does today, it was perfectly in color (blue got everything, remember). Also, with mana burn, generating a bunch of extra mana that control decks likely couldn't spend was a serious drawback. Doing away with mana burn made it more powerful, but without the full blue toolbox that eternal formats enjoy, there's a real cap on just how powerful it can be in Modern.
You can't evaluate cards in a vacuum, you have to evaluate them based on how they'd slot into existing decks and what they'd enable. Force and Daze would be quickly banned, just like everything else that makes Storm too strong. Plus, they'd allow UR Phoenix to go all in while still having protection; the strongest deck in Modern does not need to get better.
Completely wrong. Maro himself has identified Mana Drain as one of the worst mistakes ever to see print. And yes the colour pie did exist in alliances, design just ignored it for blue cards for some unknown reason.
You guys are arguing about which of two format-defining, top-10 power level cards is better. I'm not sure that's an argument worth having.
Big picture, I think Wizards has done the right thing by designing a modern-only set. But as mentioned, there are some things that people truly hate which Wizards would do well to avoid. They include:
Completely busted cards, in terms of power level: Swords to Plowshares is a good example of this. Path to Exile actually makes modern intriguing because of its "ramp your opponent" effect. StP just makes things boring by providing universal removal for an essentially-irrelevant game state change. Hymn to Tourach is probably in this group of cards as well, and clearly Mana Drain / Force of Will are, too. Fireblast is probably way too good for modern as well. Gamble, Exploration, Brainstorm, Wasteland, Dual lands, etc.
Cards that probably aren't busted, but people hate playing against them: Counterbalance is a great example of this. So is Daze, and probably even basic Counterspell. Giving blue decks access to 2 mana counter-anything makes formats stale REALLY fast. This list is probably much shorter than the "much too good" list, but it's an equally-important part of modern. Modern is, at heart, a fun format full of diversity in deck construction and archetype. Cards like Counterspell or Daze threaten that diversity by being way too good against way too many current decks. Sort of the same problem Splinter Twin had.
Cards that aren't busted, people don't hate playing against them, but they're just plain stupid. I'd put Sneak Attack in this boat. Sure, there are plenty of ways to beat a Sneak Attack. There's enchantment removal. There's discard effects to get rid of creatures. There's quick decks like humans and burn that get going before a Sneak Attack deck could pull off its magic. But still, Sneak Attack in Modern would be completely dumb. I'd accept the power level argument for Sneak Attack too, but hopefully you get the idea. Part of keeping Modern fun means getting rid of negative play experience stuff like Sneak Attack.
Based on these three criteria, I think there are a lot of sweet cards that would make sense to have in Modern. Baleful strix, as an example, is just a good card. It's not too powerful, it's easily removed, it doesn't have much of an effect outside of "good blocker / 1 damage unopposed in the air", but the sum of its parts makes it super-high value, and I think it would make an intriguing addition to Modern. I would put Diabolic Edict into this boat, as well. We've already got Doom Blade and Devour Flesh. Is Edict really much better than those two cards? If they're interested in pushing the envelope a bit, Toxic Deluge might be an interesting idea. Gaddock Teeg seems decent but not overwhelming, and I might argue that Pendelhaven is pretty fair, as well.
Can't wait for more spoilers to start so we can see if there's any interesting reprints!
Absolutely zero chance of Lotus Petal in modern. It's too busted with mox opal.
True-Name Nemesis is perfectly fine.
Counterspell is an interesting idea, but I don't think it'll make the cut. Universal counters have generally not been made in Modern for under 3 mana.
Baleful Strix would be interesting. I don't think it's super busted and there isn't really a current deck that would play it as an automatic 4-of. Still, its availability as a cheap cantrip block-anything might slow the format down enough to let Jace do what he does, and there's definitely a fine line there.
Cabal Therapist will be sweet in an 8-rack type build. Natural synergy with bloodghast / fetchlands, which synergizes with fatal push. T1 therapist into a thoughtseize and another cheap creature seems really good. Too bad he's not a zombie, because gravecrawler would have been fun.
You make a very compelling case. Can you imagine a world where Jace gets unbanned, Stoneforge gets unbanned, they print 5 new swords, and literal Counterspell is modern legal?
You guys are arguing about which of two format-defining, top-10 power level cards is better. I'm not sure that's an argument worth having.
Big picture, I think Wizards has done the right thing by designing a modern-only set. But as mentioned, there are some things that people truly hate which Wizards would do well to avoid. They include:
Completely busted cards, in terms of power level: Swords to Plowshares is a good example of this. Path to Exile actually makes modern intriguing because of its "ramp your opponent" effect. StP just makes things boring by providing universal removal for an essentially-irrelevant game state change. Hymn to Tourach is probably in this group of cards as well, and clearly Mana Drain / Force of Will are, too. Fireblast is probably way too good for modern as well. Gamble, Exploration, Brainstorm, Wasteland, Dual lands, etc.
Cards that probably aren't busted, but people hate playing against them: Counterbalance is a great example of this. So is Daze, and probably even basic Counterspell. Giving blue decks access to 2 mana counter-anything makes formats stale REALLY fast. This list is probably much shorter than the "much too good" list, but it's an equally-important part of modern. Modern is, at heart, a fun format full of diversity in deck construction and archetype. Cards like Counterspell or Daze threaten that diversity by being way too good against way too many current decks. Sort of the same problem Splinter Twin had.
Cards that aren't busted, people don't hate playing against them, but they're just plain stupid. I'd put Sneak Attack in this boat. Sure, there are plenty of ways to beat a Sneak Attack. There's enchantment removal. There's discard effects to get rid of creatures. There's quick decks like humans and burn that get going before a Sneak Attack deck could pull off its magic. But still, Sneak Attack in Modern would be completely dumb. I'd accept the power level argument for Sneak Attack too, but hopefully you get the idea. Part of keeping Modern fun means getting rid of negative play experience stuff like Sneak Attack.
Based on these three criteria, I think there are a lot of sweet cards that would make sense to have in Modern. Baleful strix, as an example, is just a good card. It's not too powerful, it's easily removed, it doesn't have much of an effect outside of "good blocker / 1 damage unopposed in the air", but the sum of its parts makes it super-high value, and I think it would make an intriguing addition to Modern. I would put Diabolic Edict into this boat, as well. We've already got Doom Blade and Devour Flesh. Is Edict really much better than those two cards? If they're interested in pushing the envelope a bit, Toxic Deluge might be an interesting idea. Gaddock Teeg seems decent but not overwhelming, and I might argue that Pendelhaven is pretty fair, as well.
Can't wait for more spoilers to start so we can see if there's any interesting reprints!
True-Name Nemesis is perfectly fine.
Counterspell is an interesting idea, but I don't think it'll make the cut. Universal counters have generally not been made in Modern for under 3 mana.
Baleful Strix would be interesting. I don't think it's super busted and there isn't really a current deck that would play it as an automatic 4-of. Still, its availability as a cheap cantrip block-anything might slow the format down enough to let Jace do what he does, and there's definitely a fine line there.
Cabal Therapist will be sweet in an 8-rack type build. Natural synergy with bloodghast / fetchlands, which synergizes with fatal push. T1 therapist into a thoughtseize and another cheap creature seems really good. Too bad he's not a zombie, because gravecrawler would have been fun.