Based on all that, I'm just going to focus on some of the higher-level changes that need to happen, starting with the topic I'm working on now: identifying and maintaining a clear Modern point of communication in Wizards' structure. Which means I assume some sort of goal aimed towards crushing the ...

What is the intended Role/Identity for Modern, when Pioneer replaces it, and it cannot match the depth of Legacy? If I'm being cynical, I would say that Wotc's ideal is for Modern to not have a role or identity other than being an additional platform to support long term monetization. A potential p...

I understand what you are saying but my argument specifically related to shard combinations, not wedges. Thanks for the insight though, I don't keep up to date with the Pioneer news outside of what I see here.

Fetchlands aren't absent for power reasons. There's more than enough dual lands to make a good manabase without them. They're absent because of the shuffling it introduces to the paper game. I'm aware of that reason, it is for that reason that people like Maro have always voiced his displeasure abo...

I disagree with that. However, I do think that part of such an approach should be to reevaluate where Modern sits in Magic, as Pioneer is being released to much of the same identity that Modern is supposed to have. The starting point doesn't need to change, but defining what the format is for, and ...

Honestly there's so much space to print old cards in MH2. I remember when we were all spit balling what we wanted to see or what we thought we'd see - stuff like Leovold, Emissary of Trest, Innocent Blood, Containment Priest, Counterspell, and the list goes on and on. I hope we see a lot more of th...

But I think many people are avoiding idSurge's comments about the London Mulligan. Not to interject, but I'm pretty sure I debated that topic pretty thoroughly with idSurge, I think we both said basically everything that needed to be said on that matter. Tron and Dredge were fine before it and shou...

At the risk of reposting myself. Does anyone have any thoughts about my suggestion of a Modern 2.0 beta test? I think it could answer a lot of the questions/problems that people have brought up without the risk of ruining Modern forever. Is this just completely stupid/unworkable? I think if Wotc ra...

Every Modern ban decision in the last year was made with explicit data citations, EXCEPT Lattice. Which is no longer relevant as data driven input is no longer required for cards to be banned. We have more than enough GP, Challenge, PTQ, Premier, and other data to make informed ban cases, even if W...

Grinding ban axes at Storm and E Tron, especially E Tron that just got hit with a ban, feels like personal bias more than data-driven argument. Firstly we don't need data driven arguments for bans anymore, there is no need to keep repeating this going forward. Secondly, the data we get is curated b...

For the record, I know a lot of people are bothered by the quantity of non-midrange and control decks, but that's never been a problem to me. Even if there's only 1 or 2 viable midrange/control decks in the face of 10-15 aggro/ramp/combo decks, so long as they're good enough for someone to comforta...

Albegas wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I also agree that we at least need Preordain back, if not both it and Ponder. Just about every deck that can run them is T2 or worse, including Storm

Okay but is Modern actually made better with Storm being T1? If so please explain how.

Then ban the new cards that come in which break that admittedly tenuous balance. I'll be honest, at the shear rate that Wotc is releasing new product nowadays, as well as their new straight to Modern avenue which I'm sure they will be returning to, I just don't think this is actually a feasible sol...

Your point re: Format Diversity is correct as well, but the beauty of the format was that it used to cater to both. You had format pillars, and you had fringe diversity, and you used to be able to get away with playing either. The issue is that this co-existence was on some level doomed to fail at ...

nce upon a time feels like a problem card also, preordain should never be unbanned. after goldfishing oddball decks online, i'm convinced the best decks aren't particularly powerful but just consistent. preordain doesn't even force you to build around it like faithless looting or ancient stirrings ...

Because I believe the 'no rotation' aspect of the format was its greatest appeal, and when you could attach yourself to 'your deck' and keep playing it, that was the glue that held Modern as a format and community together. I mean this is a great bumper sticker quote, but does it actually pan out i...

Modern is not Modern without its pillars. I think your overall argument rests on this statement. Why exactly is Modern not Modern without its pillars? Who gets to decide what is a pillar and what is a Hogaak/Urza? Using what criteria? We could say that the above decks are guilty of dominating lesse...

I think the fix would be to pair the unbans with an announcement/article that makes it clear it is an experiment and that all unbanned cards are likely to be re-banned. This would limit who tries to jam the new cards to people who already own them and people willing to bet money. They would need to...

There are right and wrong ways to approach unbans. I'll also say that successful unbans are hugely beneficial to the format. Ya I think this statement needs to clarification, can you please name literally even 1 card for Modern that was unbanned which fits this definition of being "hugely bene...

Let me preface this by saying that I don't have anything fundamentally against a lot of these cards you want to unban, but what exactly is the upside for Wotc to do so? Lets break it down categorically: 1. Artifact Lands - We have just gone through a 1+ years of artifact driven metas, whether it was...

Tron is one deck. You may run into Tron once every 12 matches. That means if you really can beat everything else, then you can be 11-1 at a GP going into the last 3 rounds. It gets much worse at the local level occasionally, but that is its own problem that is solved by changing what deck you play....

Veil of Summer is just a card that has to be on the mind of anyone who utilizes Thoughtseize effects, Abrupt Decay effects, and countermagic. There are plenty of other reasons not to play those cards, but Veil is kind of the final nail in the coffin. We don't need this nail. There were already reas...

believe that a Veil of Summer and Once Upon a Time ban would help Modern, but Modern needs an unban to get more interest from players. We know which unbans draw the most attention and attendance. It's not Green Sun's Zenith, even if that one should be unbanned also. (so everyone that fears Dryad Ar...

Personally I don't think Modern's issues stem from a lack of creature removal perse, it is more an issue of a lack of answers that can respond to a variety of card types and board states (including graveyard/stack states). What Modern needs, is more answers in the vein of Kaya's Guile which tackle a...

Which midrange decks are running it? It's not in Jund, so....Amulet is Midrange now? Sorry I'm talking about lower tiered decks, we can't really use T1 mid range decks as an example to base our discussion off of if mid range doesn't really exist to a large degree in Modern currently. Although Jund ...