Do experienced players generally follow the banlist?
General forum
Posted on March 21, 2018, 2:42 p.m. by Absolute_Cactus
It seems like almost all of the halfway decent cards are banned. Like a lot of other card games... Is it just that banning has gotten out of hand like other games? I just want to build a powerful deck, but i also would like to enter a tournament if I chose to. Is it just not worth it anymore?
TheDuggernaught says... #3
Ive been playing for 9 years, and I follow the ban list. It depends on the format, but there are still lots of powerful cards to choose from. I play a lot of Modern, and there are plenty of cards that are incredibly strong while still following the ban list.
March 21, 2018 4:03 p.m.
Hardhitta7 says... #4
It all depends, if you want to play casually with friends you can use whatever the group decides. If you want to play in actual events you have to follow the banned list.
There are a lot of powerful cards available in Modern and older formats like Legacy.
March 21, 2018 5:35 p.m.
The ban list exist for a reason without it whatever format your playing in would be nothing but one turn kills. If your just playing with your own group play with whatever cards you wish. Commander probably has the least restrictive ban list
March 21, 2018 6:32 p.m.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean.
There are 33 cards banned in Modern. That's a measly .29% of available cards in Modern. There are some absurdly powerful cards on this list, but its far from all the "halfway decent" cards. Jace, the Mind Sculptor was recently unbanned. Path to Exile and Thoughtseize are wonderful cards. Snapcaster Mage, Delver of Secrets
Flip, Aether Vial. Countless infinite combos or other turn four victories.
Standard only has seven banned cards, and these were banned because they were way too powerful, and thus run in every deck (Smuggler's Copter, or they enable a single archetype which became overly common in the meta, stifling competition and creative deckbuilding.
Legacy's banlist consists of cards that would essentially allow whoever went first to always win the game. It also limits cards that might constitute a violation of real world laws (i.e. cards with ante), and dexterity challenges (Chaos Orb). Shahrazad is banned because it would interfere with the timing of tournaments by needlessly stretching out games.
Vintage allows mostly anything, bar Shahrazad, ante, and dexterity cards. The restricted cards are chosen to limit players' ability to win a game before their opponent can make a move.
Ultimately, the ban and restricted lists are not very intrusive, and there's still plenty of room for unique, interesting deckbuilding. It's simply an incorrect statement that "all of the halfway decent cards are banned".
March 21, 2018 11:33 p.m.
Absolute_Cactus says... #7
I tried to build a standard deck, but 85 out of 124 cards were banned. That's a lot more than 7. The only cards that weren't banned were my basic land cards and Fling. So please don't tell me I'm incorrect.
March 22, 2018 8:29 a.m.
Absolute_Cactus says... #8
I'm simply trying to build a tournament legal deck that I would enjoy using. I've been researching for weeks, and still haven't found even 10 legal cards.
March 22, 2018 8:31 a.m.
You are incorrect.
Standard has a very specific definition--only cards from a limited timeframe are allowed. Those cards are not "banned" from the format--they are ineligible by the basic rules. Standard is designed to ONLY be cards from the most recent sets in order to foster a certain type of fluid competitive environment.
You were probably using cards that were ineligible for the format. That's your mistake for not understanding the rules of the format you were working with.
As of today, the only cards that are banned in standard are:
Aetherworks Marvel - banned because energy decks were dominating the meta, and this made them obscenely powerful. It basically allowed you to draw and cast one of your best cards for limited investment.
Smuggler's Copter - banned because its mana and crew costs are far too low for the card's power. It's a 3/3 with evasion that loots you a card--that's obscenely great for 2 mana and not attacking with one of your 1/1s.
Felidar Guardian - enabled an infinite combo with Saheeli Rai that Wizards found somewhat problematic in the meta.
Attune with Aether - banned to limit the dominance of energy decks. This is ramp and a significant amount of energy for 1 mana.
Rogue Refiner - also banned to limit the dominance of energy decks.
Rampaging Ferocidon and Ramunap Ruins - both banned because Ramunap decks were taking over the meta, so these two staple cards were removed.
That's the totality of the cards banned in Standard.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-formats/banned-restricted
Edit: If you want to find Standard-legal cards, it's really simple: On your Gatherer search, place "Standard" in the "Format" box. This will limit only to the cards available in Standard.
March 22, 2018 8:40 a.m. Edited.
Uncanny_Ghoul says... #10
Currently the standard sets are:
Kaladesh
Aether revolt
Amonkhet
Hour of devastation
ixalan
Rivals of ixalan
Upcoming: Dominaria.
Every set older than these are out of the standard format.Those set can then be played in different format ranging from Commander to Modern, vintage, legacy depending on what you want to play. You should probably have a look at MTG Format list to help you out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_formats
March 22, 2018 9:03 a.m. Edited.
Absolute_Cactus,
I wanted to follow follow-up a bit on the points made by cdkime and Uncanny_Ghoul.
In case you weren't aware, we can sort decklists to see what set a card is in. For example, here's your Minotaur Fling deck, sorted by Set.
The cards in KLD (Kaladesh), AER (Aether Revolt), AKH (Amonkhet), HOU (Hour of Devastation), XLN (Ixalan), and RIX (Rivals of Ixalan) are currently legal in Standard. Everything else is not currently legal in Standard ... some of them used to be in Standard and have rotated out, and some were released in other products (like Commander decks), so have never been in Standard. But they're not banned. They're just not in Standard.
March 23, 2018 7:54 a.m.
Absolute_Cactus,
Sorry for the double-post but I forgot to mention: Here are some decks that are in Standard and use Fling. They might give you some ideas.
March 23, 2018 8:04 a.m.
DangerUsInvestments says... #13
The ban list is there for a reason. As a lot of others have said, do what you want with your friends but if certain cards weren't banned it would simply come down to who had the better starting draw. There aren't many cards that are actually banned, as mentioned before, so "powerful" decks are easy to come by as long as you have the funding.
Rhadamanthus says... #2
The Rules Q&A area is intended to be for technical questions regarding card interactions, game rules, and tournament rules. Your post has been converted to a discussion topic in the "General" sub-forum.
March 21, 2018 3:53 p.m. Edited.