Hypothetical: Restricted Cards
Modern forum
Posted on June 6, 2015, 1:31 a.m. by Spootyone
Hello all.
I was reading the latest forum discussion on the recent price spike of Blood Moon -- one that inevitably turned into a discussion about the power level of said card. The desire for the banning of the card came up and it seemed as though people were of two opinions on such an idea. So...what about restricting it?
Hopefully this isn't too much of a repeated post. I haven't seen one since I was on here, at least. So here we go:
What do you think about the idea of WOTC incorporating a "restricted" list to the Modern format (or even the Legacy format), much like that which is seen in Vintage? Do you think this provides a "slippery slope" by which the format could devolve into something undesirable? Has something like this been discussed by WOTC already?
Furthermore, assuming such a list were put into place, what cards do YOU think should or should not be on it? Why?
Personally, restricted lists seem like a nice way for certain banned cards with low power levels -- ones straddling the fence -- could come back into the format and be monitored or even become balanced. Granted, I don't play much modern so my opinion might just be ignorant.
I look forward to seeing the discussion. Thank you.
To be fair, variance doesn't have to be a bad thing. Not having a game go the same way every time could make for a better experience, but I do understand where you're coming from.
June 6, 2015 1:35 a.m.
FreddyFlash311 says... #4
Restricted works in Vintage because the overall power level of the supporting cards is there. You have a variety of tutors, Ancestral Recall, stuff like that. Granted, Brainstorm and Ponder are restricted too but with all the other crazy stuff you're already doing they're just too much.
It's a bad idea for Legacy and Modern, there doesn't need to be any more complications like that. If you start letting higher powered cards back into Legacy they'll have to restrict Brainstorm, which will cause riots. And with Modern? No no. It's supposed to be the "next step up" from Standard for players getting serious about the game. Given the breadth of the card pool available to Modern adding in a set of restricted cards would make things even more challenging for newer players of the format to get.
And please, whomever, don't say a restricted list would be easy to comprehend. Banding was easy to understand and people still act dumb about it.
June 6, 2015 2:16 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #5
I still can't believe that Blood Moon is more than Cryptic Command...
June 6, 2015 2:33 a.m.
Grantley91 says... #6
I don't think it would be a bad idea if they simply left out the cards that were already banned and simply restricted cards that were too powerful but not OP enough for banning, like Blood Moon for example. Don't add new cards, just balance the ones they already have.
June 6, 2015 2:55 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #7
Blood Moon shouldn't be banned. If you think so, learn to play magic :)
I'd be against a restricted list. If that were the case I'd want some Legacy cards to be reprinted for modern.
June 6, 2015 2:59 a.m. Edited.
JakeHarlow says... #8
8th Edition was such a weird set by Modern standards. The hoser cards in it were ludicrously powerful, the like of which we haven't seen again. Blood Moon is certainly the strongest of them. The design philosophy of the developers hadn't yet matured into the state it's currently in. Thus, there are a lot of older cards from older sets that tend to break the Modern power paradigm that WotC's dev teams are trying to foster from here on out.
Since I think this is the case, I think a restricted list for early Modern cards like Blood Moon is a reasonable option to discuss. I don't know whether it would be ultimately good for such a thing to be instituted, but I agree that it is worthy of investigation.
June 6, 2015 5:26 a.m.
A restricted list places emphasis on lucky draws over skilled play. Its only a valid option in a format filled with shuffle and tutor effects. In modern it would do nothing except cause frustration. If you introduce very powerful cards on a restricted list in modern it would turn the game into a case of 'oh I just happened to have this card in my opening hand, do you concede?'.
June 6, 2015 6:05 a.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #10
What ChiefBell said and if you think blood moon needs the ban hammer, learn to play magic and deal with it. You can't just ban every card that's annoying. Magic is fun because of the strategy involved, Blood moon just makes you think harder.
June 6, 2015 7:17 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #11
A restricted list for modern would make blue decks infinitely better than anything else because of all the card advantage they have. You don't get the same consistency in a tempo deck without Serum Visions, meaning blue decks will get their restricted Umezawa's Jitte before you do, and laugh. You can tutor it up, too. Making tutors better is kinda bad. Basically every deck which can look at top x cards would be broken.
In legacy, it would be FAR worse. You've got Brainstorm and Ponder, as well as Sensei's Divining Top. Again, there would be a huge skew of power to decks with card advantage.
June 6, 2015 7:45 a.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #12
I really don't see why people want to ban Blood Moon. Of course it's a fabulous card. But it's not any better than other 3-drops in Modern (Lili, for example), and it can be dealt with. Run more basics (which people should do anyways). Play Seal of Primordium in the side (which is good anyways). And people often forget that by T3, players usually already have either a board presence or a hand full of counters.
June 6, 2015 8:58 a.m. Edited.
You should be running many fetches, many basics, and just a few shocks, instead of a many fetches, a few shocks and hardly any basics. If you do that it helps SO MUCH.
June 6, 2015 9:04 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #14
Ok, ChiefBell convinced me. I still think this discussion was beneficial. I heard some good arguments, but I think the best ones are those against the institution of a restricted list.
June 6, 2015 11:06 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #15
Modern just isn't as explosive of a format as Legacy or Vintage. When was the last time you saw a Modern game end on turn 1 (that didn't involve the opponent cheating)? There's no need to restrict a format further. Besides, restricting Modern would be like Wizards saying, "We don't actually want Modern to be accessible to everyone, just those who have a particular playstyle in mind or have a lot of money."
Which, let's face it, is basically the way it is right now, just on a lesser scale.
June 6, 2015 11:15 a.m.
Dalektable says... #17
canterlotguardian Like last week... dat Bloom Titan god hand though.
June 6, 2015 12:08 p.m.
CanadianShinobi says... #18
The restricted list limits 1 of the card per deck, if I'm not mistaken?
JexInfinite says... #2
The restricted list is an awful idea because it makes for way too much variance. It works best if the card is either banned, or not banned.
June 6, 2015 1:33 a.m.