MTGNexus

By popular demand! What card(s) do you want UNBANNED in Modern next Monday? Vote for your selections and discuss.

Banning poll here

voted for SFM and some other cards

SFM, Twin, and GSZ.

SFM first, Twin second and Pod third. GSZ used to be fourth on that list but I worry a bit about druid combo already looking damn fine with Finale of Devastation

Stoneforge: is a meme by now.
Birthing Pod: was banned because of Siege Rhino. That card is way too slow for current Modern.
GSZ: Maybe it makes elves too good or devoted druid but its time to give cards a chance

Deathrite Shaman: If Wrenn is okay then so should DRS. Besides, DRS is quite good vs Wrenn and a lot of other graveyard shenanigans and that is exactly what we need right now. I don't believe it will make Jund too good because Jund has the inherent weakness that it just folds vs big mana decks.

GSZ → We could see more toolbox strategies, it allows for T1 ramp by fetching Dryad Arbor but is limited to green creatures so it won't be able to fetch some combo pieces like Vizier of Remedies.
SFM → It would open the field for blade variants that would likely slow down aggro a bit so it would be a great addition for the format.
Splinter Twin → We have the data to confirm that blue deck diversity didn't grow after the ban so it didn't really acomplish what they intended, also Twin was able to predate on Tron and force them to play maindeck interaction in the form of Spellskite and Dismember instead of simply goldfishing. Twin existence should force Tron to play interaction and that's good news for all midrange decks.
Punishing Fire → A slow value generating card that didn't really limit 2-toughness lords to see play, nowadays seems super slow vs creature decks and generating some long-term value in the form of card advantage with Grove of the Burnwillows doesn't seem too dangerous.

SFM, twin, punishing fire and bridge from below.

I have voted for more cards in the past, but with hogaak being so dominant we don't know what the rest of the format really looks like right now so I am being more cautious this time.

I hate this poll structure because it doesn't address the nuance of "now, this particular announcement" versus "These are cards that should eventually come off".

I think the clean play for this particular announcement is either no unbans, or unban stoneforge mystic, and I think the calculus there is based on whether they think Whirza would be problematic with access to a stoneforge/batterskull backup plan.

Long term, I think the artifact lands, birthing pod, punishing fire, stoneforge, deathrite shaman, splinter twin and preordain can and should come off; there are other cards that might be eventually safe, but none of these specifically enables decks that egregiously violate the turn 4 rule (preordain obviously goes into lots of decks, but players should recall that in the unfair decks, it's a marginal upgrade to sleight of hand or opt, whereas decks may play preordain that wouldn't previously consider opt).

In particular, birthing pod enables no turn three kills without having at least 2/3 of a three-piece combo in hand, twin is the definition of a turn 4 kill, artifact lands were never legal at a time when stony silence and collector oouphie didn't exist and ancient grudge was the premiere artifact hate, and punishing fire obviously favors drawn out interactive games.

I think deathrite shaman is the most potentially contentious unban, but I would posit it's healthy for modern in the long-term for the exact same reasons it is unhealthy in legacy long-term: it's a swiss army knife that incidentally interacts with the graveyard; if the modern graveyard is the legacy version of cantrips + shuffles, then valid interaction with it that doesn't ignore it as a resource zone is a big deal.

I think that SFM would be a fine unban, format is probably too fast for it right now and kolaghan's command answers it quite well

I think that twin would have the same affect on the format once unbanned as BBE did. I appreciate them wanting to ban it because it was so poplar 3 years ago or so but people would probably quickly learn it's not as busted now

Stoneforge, Pod, Preordain, Twin. Gave consideration to GSZ but under my scheme green midrange already gets one card.