The main reasoning behind this I believe has nothing to do with Modern ultimately. WotC has realized that having 4 standard pro tours a year is a large part of why standard has been sucking lately. It's too much high level development on the format and it gets solved too quickly. Standard is the primary money-maker for WotC so fixing standard is their highest priority. By taking the focus off standard for half the year now they are trying to slow things down which will hopefully revert some of the damage done since the modern and block pro tours went away. These were just the obvious choices as legacy isn't sustainable as a solo pro tour and limited only pro tours aren't that interesting to watch.
I think that with the introduction of the midseason ban session we should be much less likely to expect standard bans at the set release ban period. New cards entering the format just adds a bunch of new answers to potential problems and there is very little incentive for them to ban cards in a format that is completely new. We are much more likely to see any actual bans take place at the midseason period moving forward. Forsythe's comments are direct evidence of this and I don't believe this to be a one off situation, this is the new norm (and logically so in my view).
It boggles my mind how butthurt people are about Never//Return. Ruinous Path is a playable card. This card is nearly identical. In exchange for being able to break the cost into 2 different payments and the additional text of exiling something in the bin AND not having to expose one of your lands you lose 2 power and 2 toughness. That is a reasonable exchange. And seriously, how often do you actually awaken a Ruinous Path? You will get this 2/2 FAR more often than you got the 4/4 (like basically every time vs basically never).
That Hydra is gas too. Significantly better than roar of the wurm. You can't have both wurms out at once but cheaper on the front end and trample to boot. Not that you cast the front end very often.
Don't call it trash until we have the full set and people have brewed. Need we remind you that "free" has an history of being broken in magic? Don't under estimate free.
(How does "pay 0" interact with variable cycling cost? X is zero I'd guess, otherwise it would be broken.)
Excuse my doubt but I don't think that anytime me "free" has been broken in standard magic has it also come at a 6 mana sorcery speed price tag.
I honestly can't believe there are several people in this thread who are convinced this is going to be amazing when it only makes your card selection free and on turn 6 while tapping out. If people are really banking on this then I'd hate to know how disappointed they'll be to spend 6 mana to get Negated.
I doubt it will be amazing but to dismiss it out of hand is doing yourself a disservice. Fluctuator is clearly stronger than this card, being a third of the cost and less restrictive, but it was also broken enough to be on the banned list during the most powerful standard format of all time. At the very least this is worth exploring because the effect is powerful and you even get to draw some cards to boot.
Ye, unless you sort of combo its actually pretty bad. Why wouldnt I just play another 2 drop?
Thalia is not good combo protection, too fragile. And saheeli wont play this, no chance
It's most similar to a 2 mana colorless anthem effect. Anthem's are historically strong in aggressive decks (white ones anyway) so there is some precedent for this card being good. This is clearly worse than traditional anthems as it doesn't help your creatures fight theirs any better but it does stack the damage up just the same.
I would add that this being legendary feels very much to me like it was quite good and WotC didn't want to see multiples on the field.
Gideon seems good. He will likely come down and effectively o-ring a creature for a few turns, then when you have clean attacks he can start beating in. The emblem is kind of meh. Were you really losing a game in which you have a planeswalker your opponent can't kill?
Limited. It is likely stronger in Limited than almost every rare.
I mean this is just clearly not true. This is a conditional 2 for 1 at best and it is fairly expensive to boot. It's a good card to be sure but better "than almost every rare"? Come on.
It's less that BFZ is weak than it is BFZ enabled the best mana base in the history of Standard following a set based on wedges. We've had back to back GPs won by four color decks. Personally, I still feel that Dark Jeskai is best in format (with a little tweaking) despite it's performance. Blue Abzan is great regardless. Neither one of those decks was remotely close to playable last rotation. Additionally, the three color decks have almost no problem not only hitting their colors but hitting their colors untapped. That was a huge problem with Abzan last rotation. It had a horrific mana base. It was not uncommon at all for the deck to just auto lose games due to colored mana problems. Now, it's smooth. Esper had problems with its mana base. Playing Esper Dragons, I felt that I probably lost 1 out of 10 games just due to my mana base. Now, it's smooth and one of the best mana bases in format.
While I agree with the sentiment that the issue is the Khans cards are being enabled by the BFZ mana making them much more powerful than they should be, I think it is debatable that this is the best mana we have ever had in standard.
While the Lorwyn/Shards mana was slower, it was also significantly stronger in terms of ability to cast spells. In BFZ standard you could never hope to put Cryptic Command, Wrath of God, Cloudthresher, and Cruel Ultimatum in the same deck.
EDIT: I have my own question to pose. Why run Silkwrap over Stasis Snare? I understand that there is a difference of cost, 1W versus 1WW, but I feel the flash aspect of Snare makes it a more appealing option. Is it that the 3 CMC slot too full or that we just want more low CMC answers?
You need fast answers to Mantis Rider and Monastery Swiftspear. Being 3 mana is a real downside for removal in this format. The aggressive decks are aggressive enough that they demand cheap answers. Plus, being able to cast Silkwrap plus anotherspell on turn 4 or 5 is a big game. I also kind of think that once you go to 3 mana, you might as well go to 4 and just play Utter End instead.
I don't hate a split of some kind though. Or perhaps some Quarantine Field as well.
I'm thinking of running something similar with an Ulamog or two and maybe a pair of Windrider Patrol at the top end...
Windrider Patrol is pretty embarassing when compared to Ojutai. If you are in white already I see no reason you would ever play patrol over the dragonlord even if you aren't playing scorn or any of the other dragon synergy cards.
I also feel that Ulamog is a little ambitious. Without any form of ramp in the deck just putting Ulamog in your deck and hoping to raw dog him on turn 12 or something seems loose. Mage-Ring Network definitely helps but it still seems like you would want Oblivion Sower or Hedron Archive as a way to get ahead on mana and I am not sure you really want to be playing either of those cards just to make Ulamog semi-reasonable.
On another note. How much better is Secure the Wastes than Empty the Pits? Empty fights with Dig which sucks but the effect is definitely more powerful than secure the wastes. It may just be that the format is fast enough to not allow that many cards to hit the yard so you can't delve enough to get appreciably ahead on tokens when compared to wastes. I would want to try it at least though.
It's interesting to see the spread on Gideon running from 0 right the way up to the full set.
I feel like Reid's list doesn't have enough win conditions to end a game before getting ground out by various resilient threats like Hangarback Walker and Deathmist Raptor.
Card advantage is so readily available to every color these days that you need to be able to present a faster clock than turn 8 Ugin, shoot you for 3 7 turns in a row. Reid's only other ways to win a game are a pair of Arashin Cleric and a single Shambling Vent. You cannot rely on being able to have substantially more resources than every opponent.
I also like the idea of going a bit more heavily into planeswalkers these days. With Hero's Downfall gone and people being slow/reluctant to play Ruinous Path planeswalkers are the best they've been in years.
I think most of them are fairly clear cut except red. Red has super good top end stuff, and it goes even deeper with Stonefury being a close 3rd in the common slot for me. I keep flip flopping between whether touch or predator is better. Touch has nice processor synergy but is a pretty expensive spell for sorcery speed whereas predator is a 4/4 for 3 mana at common (which is absurd for the record) and with evolving wilds in the format can even be a 6/6 from time to time.
Well, it was the biggest standard banned list since Mirrodin block before the felidar ban so it does in fact continue to be that.
That Hydra is gas too. Significantly better than roar of the wurm. You can't have both wurms out at once but cheaper on the front end and trample to boot. Not that you cast the front end very often.
I doubt it will be amazing but to dismiss it out of hand is doing yourself a disservice. Fluctuator is clearly stronger than this card, being a third of the cost and less restrictive, but it was also broken enough to be on the banned list during the most powerful standard format of all time. At the very least this is worth exploring because the effect is powerful and you even get to draw some cards to boot.
It's most similar to a 2 mana colorless anthem effect. Anthem's are historically strong in aggressive decks (white ones anyway) so there is some precedent for this card being good. This is clearly worse than traditional anthems as it doesn't help your creatures fight theirs any better but it does stack the damage up just the same.
I would add that this being legendary feels very much to me like it was quite good and WotC didn't want to see multiples on the field.
Well, single black vs double black. Not strictly worse.
I mean this is just clearly not true. This is a conditional 2 for 1 at best and it is fairly expensive to boot. It's a good card to be sure but better "than almost every rare"? Come on.
While I agree with the sentiment that the issue is the Khans cards are being enabled by the BFZ mana making them much more powerful than they should be, I think it is debatable that this is the best mana we have ever had in standard.
While the Lorwyn/Shards mana was slower, it was also significantly stronger in terms of ability to cast spells. In BFZ standard you could never hope to put Cryptic Command, Wrath of God, Cloudthresher, and Cruel Ultimatum in the same deck.
You need fast answers to Mantis Rider and Monastery Swiftspear. Being 3 mana is a real downside for removal in this format. The aggressive decks are aggressive enough that they demand cheap answers. Plus, being able to cast Silkwrap plus another spell on turn 4 or 5 is a big game. I also kind of think that once you go to 3 mana, you might as well go to 4 and just play Utter End instead.
I don't hate a split of some kind though. Or perhaps some Quarantine Field as well.
Windrider Patrol is pretty embarassing when compared to Ojutai. If you are in white already I see no reason you would ever play patrol over the dragonlord even if you aren't playing scorn or any of the other dragon synergy cards.
I also feel that Ulamog is a little ambitious. Without any form of ramp in the deck just putting Ulamog in your deck and hoping to raw dog him on turn 12 or something seems loose. Mage-Ring Network definitely helps but it still seems like you would want Oblivion Sower or Hedron Archive as a way to get ahead on mana and I am not sure you really want to be playing either of those cards just to make Ulamog semi-reasonable.
On another note. How much better is Secure the Wastes than Empty the Pits? Empty fights with Dig which sucks but the effect is definitely more powerful than secure the wastes. It may just be that the format is fast enough to not allow that many cards to hit the yard so you can't delve enough to get appreciably ahead on tokens when compared to wastes. I would want to try it at least though.
I feel like Reid's list doesn't have enough win conditions to end a game before getting ground out by various resilient threats like Hangarback Walker and Deathmist Raptor.
Card advantage is so readily available to every color these days that you need to be able to present a faster clock than turn 8 Ugin, shoot you for 3 7 turns in a row. Reid's only other ways to win a game are a pair of Arashin Cleric and a single Shambling Vent. You cannot rely on being able to have substantially more resources than every opponent.
I also like the idea of going a bit more heavily into planeswalkers these days. With Hero's Downfall gone and people being slow/reluctant to play Ruinous Path planeswalkers are the best they've been in years.
Blue: Eldrazi Skyspawner and Windrider Patrol
Black: Complete Disregard and Grip of Desolation
Red: Touch of the Void/Valakut Predator and Rolling Thunder/Turn Against
Green: Unnatural Aggression and Brood Monitor
Colorless: Ruin Processor and Deathless Behemoth
I think most of them are fairly clear cut except red. Red has super good top end stuff, and it goes even deeper with Stonefury being a close 3rd in the common slot for me. I keep flip flopping between whether touch or predator is better. Touch has nice processor synergy but is a pretty expensive spell for sorcery speed whereas predator is a 4/4 for 3 mana at common (which is absurd for the record) and with evolving wilds in the format can even be a 6/6 from time to time.