I think this is a valid point. But I think the sub-categories help to fix this.
For example, an uninitiated player might not know what "Spanish Inquisition" is, but he or she will see what category it is in and, if interested, click the link to the Primer.
But decks that can be boiled down to brass tacks could have parenthetical tags next to their names. So Maverick would have "(GW Midrange)" next to it.
I wholeheartedly agree with that proposal. Canadian Threshold (RUG Tempo), Mighty Quinn (Mono-White Control), Eva Green (GB Midrange)?
A 2/2 haste for 2 that loots would be better than any other red 2-drop ever printed.
That's exactly the point. Red creatures are usually (with some exceptions, laughable compared to creatures of other colors. It would still be leagues and leagues below the power-2s cycle of Bob, Snap, Stoneforge, and Goyf, and with the discard-first mechanic it would even help to balance it out compared to Merfolk Looter and others.
It might also be helpful to simplify the names of the archetypes to make it easier to navigate. I understand there's a lot of history and player stubbornness when it comes to these deck names, but it becomes harder for the uninitiated to find out information about RUG Delver when it's called Canadian Threshold, or BW Discard when it's called Deadguy Ale. Just a suggestion.
Am I the only one who thinks that Looter really needed to cost 2 less? I'm really getting depressed by awesome cards costing way more than they should have. A 2/2 haste for 2 that loots would have been awesome, extremely playable, and help a lot in assuaging the current fears that blue is overpowered and red gets the short end of the stick. But someone in R&D felt the need to be "safe" and now we get a crappy card that gets thrown away after the first limited game.
The real problem is that ETB abilities on creatures have been pushed way too far. It's not just Commander that suffers from Enters the Battlefield: The Gathering. Constructed formats have suffered the same thing.
Think back to when Caw Blade dominated Standard last year. The creatures Caw Blade ran were essentially glorified spells strapped to bodies -- Squadron Hawk and Stoneforge Mystic. Stoneforge Mystic has gone on to become one of the most broken creatures in the game, and a lot of its power comes from the fact that its ETB ability is a powerful tutor (the other part of course coming from the ability to bypass mana costs and counterspells of equipment). Titans have of course seen significant play in Standard, and have redefined how people look at finishers. The fact they generate immediate value when they resolve is the sole reason why they are go-to finishers. The same goes for a creature like Elesh Norn too even though she has a de facto ETB trigger.
Zac Hill admitted that Snapcaster Mage was a mistake in his article on the mothership, and he touches on a fundamental reason for why Tiago is so good -- getting an on-curve creature and a whole spell for just 1U + N, where N is the flashbacked spell's CMC.
That's why counterspells are so good in today's game. It's not just because they stop a broad range of threats. That hasn't changed at all. With the insane push in ETB abilities though, counterspells let you "Stifle" the ETB trigger and generate no value out of it. Compare this to a traditional removal spell, where you are sure to lose card advantage or board presence once the ETB trigger resolves.
In short, I agree that I think it's a mistake to keep hosing counterspells like this. If ETB abilities weren't so powerful like they are now, there would be more incentive for people to play normal removal spells over countermagic by not having to worry about falling behind every time you have to remove a creature instead of getting a true 1-for-1 trade.
Agreed 100%. To add to the conversation, here is a post I recently posted in another forum:
I'm really depressed at the responses that designers and developers have been making recently with regards to the way the game is designed. Does anyone else see it? The recent preview article for Cavern of Souls is just the tip of the iceberg... all this talk about "interactivity" and fun games, taking out the aspects of the game that prevent people from actually PLAYING (slowing the format down, weakening permission/prison/land denial archetypes)? I can get behind that. I think, no matter what type of player you are, you can on some level understand that one player playing specifically to stop the other from doing anything isn't great for the game.
Which is why it feels so much more deceitful when they pull something like this. It sets up the strawman argument of "well of course everyone wants the game to be more interactive and fun to play" when what they're ACTUALLY doing is saying "this game is about creatures, whoever has the biggest and best wins. Go." The abundance of hexproof threats, creature enhancement at an all-time high with Swords and other equipment, cheap aggressive creatures, insane midrange creatures, and the Titans that top everything off so much that a creature needs to be completely broken to see play at 6 or above? And through all that, they say "Mana Leak is unfair and unfun."
Yes, I identify as a blue player. But I play every strategy and every type of deck, and I can tell you that the MOST fun I ever remember having was a blue-on-blue mirror where every card had a chance of being countered and the mental game was on a whole different level than the cards, and the LEAST fun I've ever had was looking at a Primeval Titan getting resolved while I wasn't playing blue and saying "well that's it, can't stop your triggers, gg." I play eternal formats and test against combo often, and that's at least interesting and there are the tools to answer it in each color if you are willing to play them. In standard? If I'm not playing Blue I can't answer a titan. Their triggered abilities alone are worth more than the removal card in my hand. And with this land (and possibly for the next couple of years, if it is indicative of their design philosophy) even playing Blue doesn't give me a chance.
It's already at the point where very few spells are worth playing in EDH, because there's a version with a body attached for a few more mana (or even the same amount) that can do it for you. Better to run Pridemage than Naturalize, better to run Mulldrifter than Divination, better to run Eternal Witness than Regrowth, better to run Sakura-Tribe Elder than Rampant Growth... Now these Titan class creatures are so strong that their ETB ability in some cases is better than what a sorcery at that mana cost can do, and these do it every single turn. I can't think of any card that double-Rampant Growths for nonbasics other than Primeval Titan. If it were a sorcery, I can't imagine it would be printed at 4GG. But Primeval Titan does it immediately, and every turn after, and gives you a 6/6 for 6! The other ones are not so bad (Inferno is just a bad Arc Lightning, Frost likewise. Grave Titan was recently matched by Moan of the Unhallowed, but Sun Titan still has a uniquely powerful effect.) The point is, eventually every deck will just be creatures and planeswalkers and the very few select noncreature spells that are just too broken not to run...
The point I was making is that lesser-skilled drafters will waste their Doom Blades on my Looters and then get upset when I drop a Serra Angel or Titan later on.
1. When you get a pack, what goes into deciding which card you choose? Do you look at each card individually or do you look at your colors and pick the best between them? I have trouble evaluating bombs for instance. A few time's I notice I lose because my opponent plays a bomb and I just don't have any close to equal the playing field.
Unfortunately, this part is just a fact of modern drafting. With mythics and the trend towards higher casting cost cards with disproportionate power, it is very likely that someone will open a bomb and you just won't see anything even close in your packs. If someone opens Inferno Titan and the other guy's rare was Mind Unbound, it's a huge disparity in power. The best way to fight this is to prioritize removal. Pick the best removal you can fairly early, try not to pass a bomb like Mind Control or another two-for-one, and make sure not to waste removal when it's irrelevant. I've had plenty of people play their removal on my early threats/utility creatures (Merfolk Looter, for some strange reason, always gets killed) then when I do draw a large creature, they have no answer and just die. Don't be that guy!
Because nobody loses to Snapcaster; they lose to Mana Leak, Vapor Snag, and Swords. And Snapcaster helps out with most of that.
I wholeheartedly agree with that proposal. Canadian Threshold (RUG Tempo), Mighty Quinn (Mono-White Control), Eva Green (GB Midrange)?
That's exactly the point. Red creatures are usually (with some exceptions, laughable compared to creatures of other colors. It would still be leagues and leagues below the power-2s cycle of Bob, Snap, Stoneforge, and Goyf, and with the discard-first mechanic it would even help to balance it out compared to Merfolk Looter and others.
Agreed 100%. To add to the conversation, here is a post I recently posted in another forum:
I'm really depressed at the responses that designers and developers have been making recently with regards to the way the game is designed. Does anyone else see it? The recent preview article for Cavern of Souls is just the tip of the iceberg... all this talk about "interactivity" and fun games, taking out the aspects of the game that prevent people from actually PLAYING (slowing the format down, weakening permission/prison/land denial archetypes)? I can get behind that. I think, no matter what type of player you are, you can on some level understand that one player playing specifically to stop the other from doing anything isn't great for the game.
Which is why it feels so much more deceitful when they pull something like this. It sets up the strawman argument of "well of course everyone wants the game to be more interactive and fun to play" when what they're ACTUALLY doing is saying "this game is about creatures, whoever has the biggest and best wins. Go." The abundance of hexproof threats, creature enhancement at an all-time high with Swords and other equipment, cheap aggressive creatures, insane midrange creatures, and the Titans that top everything off so much that a creature needs to be completely broken to see play at 6 or above? And through all that, they say "Mana Leak is unfair and unfun."
Yes, I identify as a blue player. But I play every strategy and every type of deck, and I can tell you that the MOST fun I ever remember having was a blue-on-blue mirror where every card had a chance of being countered and the mental game was on a whole different level than the cards, and the LEAST fun I've ever had was looking at a Primeval Titan getting resolved while I wasn't playing blue and saying "well that's it, can't stop your triggers, gg." I play eternal formats and test against combo often, and that's at least interesting and there are the tools to answer it in each color if you are willing to play them. In standard? If I'm not playing Blue I can't answer a titan. Their triggered abilities alone are worth more than the removal card in my hand. And with this land (and possibly for the next couple of years, if it is indicative of their design philosophy) even playing Blue doesn't give me a chance.
It's already at the point where very few spells are worth playing in EDH, because there's a version with a body attached for a few more mana (or even the same amount) that can do it for you. Better to run Pridemage than Naturalize, better to run Mulldrifter than Divination, better to run Eternal Witness than Regrowth, better to run Sakura-Tribe Elder than Rampant Growth... Now these Titan class creatures are so strong that their ETB ability in some cases is better than what a sorcery at that mana cost can do, and these do it every single turn. I can't think of any card that double-Rampant Growths for nonbasics other than Primeval Titan. If it were a sorcery, I can't imagine it would be printed at 4GG. But Primeval Titan does it immediately, and every turn after, and gives you a 6/6 for 6! The other ones are not so bad (Inferno is just a bad Arc Lightning, Frost likewise. Grave Titan was recently matched by Moan of the Unhallowed, but Sun Titan still has a uniquely powerful effect.) The point is, eventually every deck will just be creatures and planeswalkers and the very few select noncreature spells that are just too broken not to run...
Unfortunately, this part is just a fact of modern drafting. With mythics and the trend towards higher casting cost cards with disproportionate power, it is very likely that someone will open a bomb and you just won't see anything even close in your packs. If someone opens Inferno Titan and the other guy's rare was Mind Unbound, it's a huge disparity in power. The best way to fight this is to prioritize removal. Pick the best removal you can fairly early, try not to pass a bomb like Mind Control or another two-for-one, and make sure not to waste removal when it's irrelevant. I've had plenty of people play their removal on my early threats/utility creatures (Merfolk Looter, for some strange reason, always gets killed) then when I do draw a large creature, they have no answer and just die. Don't be that guy!