Will Wizards ever unban cards in Modern?

Hi Everyone!

Today I'm talking about the probability of Wizards unbanning some of the great cards in Modern like Jace and Stoneforge Mystic.

The answer is no.

Wizards decided on an arbitrary power level for Modern and anything that's the best deck gets banned.

They'd have to reinvent the format completely. Call it Modern but have different criteria in making ban decisions.

Wizards isn't going to admit they screwed up with their crappy policy regarding bannings in Modern.

They will just abandon the format and create a new one with new policies that are more effective in creating a healthy format in the long term.

Maybe they should come up with a format just called Eternal...

What should be banned? Eldrazi Temple or Eye of Ugin?

Hi Everyone!
I hope you read my earlier articles on the merits of banning both Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin. The real question is what's actually going to happen.

Without taking an exhaustive look into the history of Modern we look and see what's been banned.

Pod was banned in Modern a while ago now. Was it as dominant as Eldrazi? Nope.

















Twin was banned before Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch. Was it as dominant as even Pod? Nope.
















So we've established that Wizards will ban cards that consistently see success in large tournaments.

Yeah, Yeah, so what's getting banned in Modern? Temple or Eye.

I believe the answer to be both.

Look at the Treasure Cruise ban. Dig Through Time was preemptively banned because people said "it will just take Cruises place. Maybe it would have but they made the case that there's not a lot of difference between one and two mana in Modern.

The eldrazi deck wins due to fast mana. Without fast mana it's not as good, in fact, probably not playable in Modern.

Let's wait and see.

Eldrazi Temple Should be Banned!

Hi Everyone!

The real problem in the Eldrazi menace in Modern is Eldrazi Temple. Eye of Ugin is Legendary (weakening the card). Eldrazi Temple is a "more is better" card. More Temples, more mana. The big problem is that Temple allows the Eldrazi deck to essentially bypass the colorless mana requirement on Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher in addition to being a painless Ancient Tomb.

Eye Of Ugin should be Banned!

Hi Everyone!
Today I'm going to discuss the merits of banning Eye in Modern.

It's an explosive Mana producer in Modern in the still new Eldrazi deck.

It "taps" for two mana. That's really good, but it's for a limited number of spells. Colorless Eldrazi spells. Ok.

That's good and everything, but the problem is this, On turns 2-4 the Eldrazi deck can cast two three mana spells for two mana. Making Eye essentially produce four mana.

one land tapping for four mana as early as turn four is just too good for Modern.

What's to come of our new Eldrazi overlords?

Hi Everyone!
Splinter twin was banned for what a lot of people say is a "bad reason". People say Wizards wanted to "shake up" the format for the Pro Tour. At first I thought this was a reasonable ban because blue decks just get better with this combo. If a deck plays blue and red, your deck is better 100% of the time by playing this combo.

After the Pro Tour results...I kinda think it was about clearing a path for the new cards to dominate and ultimately buy more cards.

It's believable that the format needs a good once annual shaking, but let's remember this and see if next year we end up with the top deck being the "new deck" that couldn't exist without cards from the newest set.

Red Blue vs Colorless Eldrazi

Hi Everyone!
We all know there were two flavors of Eldrazi in the top 8 of Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch. There was a (I'm calling it at least) Black and a Red/Blue Version.

The Black version piloted by LSV did have more removal than the RU version. It also relied on only colorless (in mana cost) Eldrazi to win the game.

The RU version only had Dismember as removal and opted for Ruination Guide to act as an Eldrazi lord and Drowner of Hope to make sure lethal damage gets through.

They both run a core of Endless One, and Eldrazi Mimic and the like but it seems that the RU version triumphs in the "mirror" but the capability of the pure colorless version is greater when it does it's thing against non-eldrazi decks. That may not be true. The RU version looks less broken, but based on the PT results, it looks more broken than the other version.

Did WOTC plan for Eldrazi to be good this pro tour?

Hi Everyone!

If you're like me, you watched every match of the Pro Tour and skipped all the non-game play sections of the video. I did watch everything on Friday. I was at my office and had it playing. I got things done between games and matches.

The thing I noticed first was that LSV was the feature match and he was playing Eldrazi. Now, here's something that's suspicious. He wasn't the only one playing Eldrazi. It was a semi-popular deck and had a respectable percentage of the field.

Six of the top 8 slots went to similar Eldrazi decks. Yeah, six of eight. Call me a skeptic but I think it's really suspicious that Wizards says they aren't doing a Modern Pro Tour and players throw a fit so they give us a Modern Pro Tour. Then, the ban the one consistent turn four combo deck that can go from nothing but 3 lands on turn 3 and win on turn 4 (Banning Twin was a step in the right direction for Modern, IMHO).

But come on, you're telling me that they "accidentally" made the cards from the new set so powerful that they dominate in Modern? Not just win, dominate. It's too suspicious. Even LSV said on stream that Pro Tours are to show off new cards and Standard was the best way for that. But this one time, they happen to have a Modern Pro Tour and the cards in the one small set (and some from the previous set) happen to make a crazy dominant deck?

Let's just say, I see what they did there.

Draft Chaff wins the Pro Tour?

Hi Everyone!
So, I hope you all have been watching the Pro Tour as closely as I have. I watched the winning deck destroy a field of Affinity (2 out of 8 decks) and Eldrazi decks.

Now, this Pro Tour was Modern and makes an eldrazi deck being all over the top 8 one of those curious things. I suppose this pro-tour is the "breakout" tournament for Eldrazi. I'm sure it will get hate in coming months but for now it stands on top of the world.

Here's the decklist.

Creature (33)
4 Drowner of Hope
4 Eldrazi Mimic
3 Eldrazi Obligator
4 Eldrazi Skyspawner
4 Endless One
4 Reality Smasher
2 Ruination Guide
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Vile Aggregate
Instant (3)
3 Dismember
Land (24)
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
1 Gemstone Caverns
2 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Shivan Reef
2 Steam Vents
60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
1 Spellskite
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Gut Shot
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Stubborn Denial
1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon

Will Thought-Knot Seer be the disruption Tron needs to be the top deck?

Hi Everyone!

I'm exicted about a card in Oath of the Gatewatch. Thought-Knot Seer. It's a tidehollow sculler with a 4/4 body for 4 mana. That's pretty sweet. 

The real reason I'm writing today is that after the banning of Twin, all the Modern decks became these insane aggro decks. They were designed to kill as quickly as possible and could often kill on turn 3 or turn 4 through a Karn Liberated. I was having a heck of a time with Tron so I stopped playing it for a while.

Then I saw Thought-Knot Seer. It could be that critical piece of disruption against the very aggressive decks, it could take the Atarka's Command or the Boros Charm that's going to finish me off. 

The only think I'm concerned about is that 4 mana is a lot without tron so I wonder if Tron decks are going to shift to have mana rocks to give some ramp to play Thought-Knot. I think the Seer may not be enough on it's own, but with many of the other powerful cards in Oath of the Gatewatch, I think tron could reign supreme, until Urza's Tower gets banned.

Linear strategy vs Interaction in Modern

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to take a minute today to write about how Modern is unique to the non-rotating formats. There are many decks that have very powerful linear strategies and relatively weak interaction.

Many strategies (think storm) can win on turn 3 much of the time (yeah, more of Storm will get banned eventually) and there's not a lot of interaction that can stop a run for a win that early.

Seriously, what do we have to stop a storm player from going off on turn 3 with Pyromancer Ascension out? There are cards but not a ton and you have to have already played them, there's not a good way to interact.

The best interactive spell in the format is probably Remand and it's not Counterspell or Force of Will. Modern would be a much better format if a lot of the good interactive spells from back in the earlier days of Magic were reprinted.

I finally got my way. Twin is Banned!

Hi Everyone!

I just heard today that Summer Bloom and Splinter Twin are banned in Modern. Bloom was unfun to play against and turn 2 kills should never happen in Modern. Most of the message boards I read showed people accepting of the Bloom ban but complain a lot about the Splinter Twin ban.

I'm going to explain why everyone who thinks this is a mistake is absolutely 100% wrong.

Aside: First I want to say to all those complaining about how Twin is the defining deck of Modern and twin IS modern, etc; That IS THE PROBLEM!!!! No single card should be the definition of a format. If there's a card that must be played to be competitive, that format is imbalanced and should be allowed to have decks that don't need one specific card to be competitive. A format with a defining card or deck is not a sign of a healthy format, it is a sign of an unhealthy format.

Now on to the real reason Twin was banned.

Let's take a trip down memory lane to why Pod was banned.Pod made ALL decks with creatures better. This means that 60 cards (assuming it's a creature deck) without Pod is worse 100% of the time than the same creature deck with Pod.

Twin is the same  thing but for decks with red and blue. Jeskai Control gets beter 100% of the time by running Twin. Wizards even said that Temur used to be a tempo deck, now it's a tempo deck with Twin. When a card makes a deck better 100% of the time, it shouldn't be in the format unless you want a format where you must play the card that makes decks better to be competitive.

If you're having a hard time seeing what I'm explaining, or you just disagree, think of this. What decks would play Black Lotus if it were legal in Modern? All of them, no exception. It's good all the time for every deck. If it existed in Modern every deck would need it to have the same power level as other similar or otherwise identical decks. It's an extreme example but when decks with red and blue are always better with Twin, it's time to go.

One last note. It's my personal preference, but my biggest criticism of Modern was that to be competitive a combo kill is required (Melira/Kiki Pod, Twin) made the format into two distinct camps, combo decks, and  decks that don't have a reasonable chance of winning.

Modern is becoming Legacy for real?

Hi Everyone,
There's been a significant amount of speculation that Stoneforge Mystic may get unbanned in Modern. People speculate and discuss what is good and what is too good in Modern.

Everyone knows Legacy is a dying format due to the reserve list. Many staples can't be reprinted and it makes it hard to revitalize a format when they can't even print cards for the format. There are progressively less tournaments and coverage. It's all about Standard and Modern.

There have been numerous discussions about "non reserve list legacy" but that's too impractical to actually have a format like that. You know what is practical? Having a format from a certain time period forward with minimal bannings. Wizards can reprint the type of cards that made the Legacy format great that aren't on the reserved list.

What if Stoneforge unbanning despite it being crazy good is just a step to making Modern into no reserve list Legacy?

Wizards 2016 tournament coverage

Hi Everyone,
Wizards says they are making changes to their tournament coverage for the upcoming year. The changes basically say there will only be one single broadcast that covers the entire weekend. This sounds great because I like watching the formats I like. Sometimes there are two GPs that are different formats and the format I don't like is being broadcast.

I think the real reason they are doing this is to have a more coherent way to broadcast their tournaments. It's difficult to have to find out where the tournament they want to see is showing. The benefit for Wizards is they can show various formats and try to get me interested in them while they have me as a captive audience waiting for the format I actually like. It sounds like it's not going to work because it's going to be too much time away from what people tuned in for and will likely end up watching something else if the content doesn't keep their interest.

Oath of the Gatewatch Expeditions

Hi Everyone,
I'm not sure if you all heard but the Expeditions for Oath of the gatewatch were leaked. It's going to be the 10 filter lands that are available in Modern and Ancient Tomb, Wasteland, Dust Bowl, Strip Mine, and a few others. They are on all the spoiler sites if you haven't seen them already.

I think the idea of Expeditions is great. They allow Wizards to reprint a card without driving the value of existing versions into the ground and is a sweet special edition to collect. But, what's with some of the choices? Kor Haven and Dust Bowl.

I can't even tell you what Kor Haven does, and Dust Bowl is some kind of bad Tectonic Edge effect (not exactly sure to be honest). I think including this kind of card makes it so all the expeditions aren't good, it makes it like opening a foil junk mythic, it's just a disappointment.

The idea is great, but the execution (like everything Wizards does, I'm specifically looking at Magic Online) just wasn't as good as it could have been. 

Let's talk about the power level of Stoneforge Mystic

Hi Everyone!

I have seen a lot of debate over Stoneforge Mystic being too good for Modern. It's certainly powerful. It sees play in Legacy on a regular basis.

Is it too good for Modern? Maybe, but  I think probably not.

Let's look at what it does in best case scenario. Turn 2 it fetches a Batterskull and puts it into play (can't be countered) on turn 3.

So it's a Loxodon Smiter with lifelink that dies to virtually any removal on turn two. The batterskull can be discarded easily to discard spells before it can be put into play by the opponent.

Then once it's in play it dies to anything that kills black creatures, anything that "blinks" it, and anything that kills artifacts.

Yeah, lifelink on Smiter would make it very good, but not too good.

How does our turn 3 4/4 lifelink that dies to a lot of stuff compare to the format. I'm going to admit, it's good against creature decks. I think control decks would often have to 2 for 1 themselves to kill the token and have to deal with the artifact eventually and the token would be back in a couple turns. Most combo decks won't care about the Batterskull.

Is it really too good? It's better than what we have, but a lot of decks in Modern are more powerful than a turn 3 lifelink 4/4. How about Amulet Bloom, it kills on turn 3 some of the time and could do so through a batterskull.

I don't think it will be too good but it will be popular. Stoneforge will probably be seen as much online as Twin and Pod were seen when it was clearly the best decks.

Stoneforge Mystic Unbanned?

Hi Everyone!

Since Wizards announced their new Grand Prix Promo for the upcoming year there's been some speculation that it may be unbanned in Modern. The price shot up from $2 to about $5 in a day or two last week.

Is this going to happen? Maybe. When we look at the infinite combos that happen on turn four Stoneforge Mystic isn't that powerful. Can Stoneforge get anything that will win the game on turn 4? Nope.

I think the banning was a show of fear, just like Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl that they were overpowered in standard and they don't want Modern being ruined by these cards.

I think Stoneforge would be good and get played in any deck with white in Modern that's not a combo deck, but does that make it too good? No way considering that today there are only a few ways to stop the Twin combo if the opponent plays first.

I'd advocate for stoneforge to come back and I think it would make an impact enough that fair decks would see play and be competitive against a lot of the powerful combo decks.

Modern Pro Tour

Hi Everyone!

Now that there have been confirmations of spoilers from Oath of the Gatewatch, it's time for us all to turn our attention to the new set....Oh wait, only a little?

The next Pro Tour is going to be Modern format. I do think that the format is in a place that's better than the past, but I have some concerns anyway.

My big concern is that Wizards quietly tried to do away with the Modern Pro Tour last year and only added it back in because players complained.

The complaint was "no support for the format". Well, Wizards has even said they don't want R & D to spend a lot of time on Modern because more attention needs to be paid if the format is played at the Pro Tour.

So what is to become of our beloved (I personally don't like the format because it's missing some of the key elements that make other eternal formats good but it does have many good features including no cards on the restricted list) Modern format?

I'm worried it will become a format that isn't supported with competitive play and will ultimately spiral out of control to where there is only one or two playable decks. This will cause players to lose interest in the format and cause it to die.

Let's hope Wizards keeps up the support and the format doesn't die. Maybe they could even do the first or second half of the current constructed portions of the Pro Tour in Modern so it won't be the centerpiece for the tournament but will be part of every pro tour.

Check out this Mythic li...I mean deck list

Hi Everyone,
Is it just me or does the current standard environment look a lot like a list of the Mythics in the format rather than their initial "intent".

Wizards announced Mythics to be cards that felt huge, for lack of a better term, mythic. At the beginning they did ok but it seems that of late, they are just the best tournament cards.

You can argue with me but you'd be wrong.

I know what everyone's thinking, but what's the motivation for that?

Well, getting playsets of every Mythic from a set requires more packs than to open a playset of every rare in a set.

While Magic is a great game, It makes me really annoyed that Wizards constantly tries to sell their obvious business decisions as "better for the game because X" and it's getting really tired. I think it's pretty bad because if I go to Whole Foods, they'll tell me who is their target market and what they're doing to attract that market or sell more to that market. Wizards blatantly lies to us. I don't like that.

On another unrelated note, It really annoys me that many MTG fans (the fans don't annoy me, WOTC annoys me) think MaRo is just "a big nerd who loves Magic and loves talking about Magic". Now, maybe that's true, but he's not their "ambassador" to the players because HE loves it, it's because Wizards knows the players find him credible. What I'm saying is that MaRo is an advertising puppet for WOTC and I wouldn't assign y more credibility to him than any other paid endorsement.

Super Expensive Standard

Hi Everyone,
It appears to me lately that standard is super, duper expensive. I mean let's have a look:



I took that from mtggoldfish.com for those curious. $500+ (assuming tix are $1) for Standard?!?!?!?!?!

Yeah, I didn't read that wrong, so why is this happening?

When we look at the break down, almost $300 is Jace (or Jaces? I'm not sure the plural of Jace). 4 copies runs $284.52 at the time of this writing.

Three mythics in the deck (four copies of two and two copies of another total almost $150. That's steep but the cards are Monastery Mentor, Gideon, and Dragonlord Ojutai.

Now, the real lemon juice on the papercut. Land in this deck costs over $100. LAND in STANDARD!!!!!!

The high land price is because of the fetches in Khans combining with the Battle for Zendikar Lands (that won't make it in modern if you ask me).

So what's the deal? It looks like 80% of the deck price is because of Mythics and the other 20% is rares. Interesting that all the non-land cards that are more than about $1 are mythics. Just making an observation regarding the Mythic habits of R & D.

Non-Blue decks in Legacy?

Hi Everyone,
I have been experimenting with Legacy decks a lot lately. I know it's said to be a dying format but the more I play, the more I love it. It's a great format with a number of tier 1 decks.

It makes me sad that the format isn't as vibrant as it could be. I'm losing interest in Modern because it seems like the only thing that ever matters is opening hands and the game doesn't seem to last long enough to have draws matter because there aren't enough turns to play mana to play spells that matter after the opening hand....but I digress.

I took Legacy Jund out for a spin last week, check it out below.