I put the current ban list into two categories. Banned without cause, which are the cards that started on the banned list, and banned with cause are cards that later proved themselves banworthy. Since there should be some on the without cause list that are safe, those are the ones to most focus on as it's likely to contain some safe cards.ktkenshinx wrote: ↑3 years agoAt the same time, we should be more cautious as we get deeper into the banlist. There aren't a lot of clear Nacatls lurking around anymore and the risks have gone up as we worked through the obvious unbans. For instance, I am confident we could unban at least a single artifact land right now to help lagging artifact strategies without significant risk. Tree of Tales would help both Hardened Scales and some Urza strategies so we could start there.
Tree of Tales like you mentioned is one. But, I think all 5 artifact lands should be unbanned. They can't be fetched, and without easy color fixing they're not all that viable outside of artifact aggro decks. We know decks like Affinity can exist with artifact lands, and those decks took a lot of splash damage from Mox Opal. They also don't offer up the same type of degenerate starts that Opal did. Also, I know this is an awful reason but just getting a single colored mana in that cycle feels wrong aesthetically.
Blazing Shoal only got a semi appearance, but what we saw makes it really risky with a deck like Infect.
Chrome Mox is probably not safe.
Cloudpost is debatable. It could further diversify what are currently Tron archetypes. Or it could backfire.
Dark Depths is questionable, but noteworthy that 4 out of 5 colors can effectively deal with it.
Dread Return never got a chance, but is likely not safe.
Glimpse of Nature probably isn't safe, and never got a chance.
Hypergenesis is definitely not safe with the cast free cards.
Mental Misstep isn't safe.
Ponder and Preordain are controversial, I don't feel like getting into those right now.
Punishing Fire is widely considered to be safe.
Skullclamp is absolutely not safe.
Jitte is considered by most to not be safe.
So, that leaves us on the spectrum of safest being Punishing Fire, then the 5 artifact lands, then Ponder/Preordain (one or both), and then on the end of the possibly safe is Dark Depths, which between green/red land destruction, path, edicts, and especially recently Brazen Borrower and Shark Typhoon, I think could at least be open for an argument.
Edit: If we want to entertain the idea of a single artifact land though: The white one has the fewest synergies, then black opens up Cranial Plating, green is Hardened Scales, red is the 1/1 haste, and blue is by far the most dangerous of the 5.