Mookie wrote: ↑1 month ago
It's a bit like
Brainstorm or fetchlands - clearly too strong, but also something that defines the format.
Those things aren't remotely comparable. Fetches are the best fixing lands in the format (outside of
Command Tower) and have a few potentially significant side effects (recursion, gy matters, shuffling on demand, hitting basics/typed lands), but realistically most decks could swap to the next best fixing land and be basically fine. To the extent that they have an outsized impact on the format, it's because there's 11 of them and multicolor decks can run at least 8 - not because any single 1 of them is a massive outlier. There's a reason sol ring is banned everywhere and fetch lands aren't (after checking - apparently they are banned in some fake formats like explorer and historic, but they're definitely not restricted in vintage like sol ring is).
I've never seen a game where I felt it was ruined because of a fetch or brainstorm. Sol ring, though, yeah, for sure.
Most people could probably just swap it for
Mind Stone or another two-mana rock.
Basically every deck wants a sol ring. It doesn't imply anything about what that deck wants to do, so I wouldn't assume any particular card would be the natural replacement.
Worth remembering that sol ring does also have an impact on the power of other cards.
Trinket Mage for example becomes a lot less played, I'd bet. And
Demonic Tutor being an untapped
Worn Powerstone isn't a bad mode for the card. Not saying this is a bad thing, just worth noting that it's not necessarily a trivial removal from decks. I know my Kaervek deck would be significantly impacted since sol ring and mana crypt are frequent tutor targets.
Overall I think I'd prefer it was banned, but I doubt it'll happen. I don't think it's too crazy in a well-balanced, medium-powered game, but if the person with the strongest deck (cough Jon cough) starts with it (every %$#% game, somehow), it can really exacerbate power differences.