Is Lurrus going to be banned?
Modern forum
Posted on April 26, 2020, 8:36 p.m. by ToolmasterOfBrainerd
It's obviously already seeing tons of play in Burn.
And if you look in the less popular archetypes on mtggoldfish, it's all over the place in various midrange shells and even in Bogles. Like a third of the less popular decks are playing Lurrus, by the looks of it. Notably, it's not in a top midrange or control deck in modern yet.
It's also seeing widespread play in top decks in every single competitive constructed format. Standard, pioneer, modern, legacy, and vintage.
Is this card going to be banned in most formats, including modern?
Widespread play does not necessarily imply bans. See Uro, for instance. Or Arcum's Astrolabe in the formats where it is legal.
I brewed up a sweet Grixis Lurrus list with Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. I would love to play it in tournaments once stores open back up because it looks really fun to play. But I don't want to drop $100 on playsets of Kroxa and Mishra's Bauble if Lurrus is going to be banned before stores even open. I would likely play Bauble with Lurrus in legacy and I would likely play Kroxa in a similar modern deck, but it's not as appealing.
Given that the last 3 sets have each had a card banned in a competitive constructed format, I don't like Lurrus's chances.
What do you guys think? Has WOTC done it again and doomed yet another newly printed card to the banlist, or will Lurrus be sticking around long enough to play with in paper?
Depending on how much they value pushing standard product, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried banning Bauble first to see if that helps - though I don't think it will. Bauble is likely on the their watchlist anyway as a free card.
I think Kroxa is a very safe buy at the moment, but I wouldn't buy Lurrus or Bauble.
April 26, 2020 8:51 p.m.
It really sucks, Lurrus is a great card. Do you think it's possible they would just ban using him as a companion? Hence forcing people to play him normally in the deck? I think it would make him a more fair card. An 8th card producing even more card advantage that is available to you every single game is of course stupid.
April 27, 2020 1:18 a.m.
I would not take the risk of buying it. It puts me in mind of Treasure Cruise in that it might be fine for Standard but in older formats the cost of using it is so low and the benefits are so high that it's going to see play in a bunch of different archetypes and seriously damage the diversity of the format.
April 27, 2020 6:40 a.m.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #6
Probably won't be banned in Commander. XD
April 27, 2020 7:01 a.m.
Magnanimous says... #7
I really hate this mechanic. It warps all of the formats and the companion mechanic warps the game itself.
Also PhotogenicParasympathetic in a format that's only one-ofs and values tutoring highly, having reliable access to 2, 3, or even more cards is very very good and quite possibly game breaking.
April 27, 2020 8:37 a.m.
Flooremoji says... #8
Magnanimous: Commander is what you say it is, but that deck building restriction really hurts. Maybe in the right deck it could see play, but for most deck cutting every 3+ cmc permanent for a creature that lets you replay cheap permanents isn't worth the trade off. It probbably will not be banned in commander even if it shines in certain decks.
April 27, 2020 3:42 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #9
Free card? Great.
Reason to brew with Wrenn and Six, Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Scavenging Ooze, Satyr Wayfinder and Grim Flayer? You bet! You can run maindeck Damping Sphere, Pithing Needle and more just to randomly hose Storm and Tron!
Bannable? Possibly. The card advantage is good enough and most Modern decks are close enough to the requirements that you can just shove out some slower cards just to have free card advantage supreme.
April 27, 2020 4:15 p.m.
Rabid_Wombat says... #10
A guy I know just won a Modern online PTQ with a four-color Lurrus deck.
Companions need to have "STANDARD ONLY" printed on them in big, bold type.
They are going to screw up Legacy and Vintage big time which are my favourite formats :/
April 28, 2020 12:11 a.m.
PitaGryphon says... #11
i don't think lurrus will be banned. i'm not nearly as worried about turn 3 lurrus as i am turn 3 Karn Liberated
April 28, 2020 2:01 a.m.
@PitaGryphon As much as it may sometimes feel like Tron always has a Karn when they need it, it doesn't really compare to the fact that the Lurrus player literally does always have Lurrus when they need it.
April 28, 2020 5:24 a.m.
TriusMalarky says... #13
Yeah, Unmoored Ego turn one takes care of Karn.
If you've never played Ego t1, what are you doing? Best meme deck ever.
April 28, 2020 10:18 a.m.
PitaGryphon says... #14
Lame_Duck: i'm not worried about "always" having a card that reanimates weak cards. and if someone is using lurrus as a companion, they'll only have 1 copy during the game. removing a single lurrus is easier than removing a single karn, with the added bonus of not needing to worry if the opponent draws another.
April 28, 2020 2:03 p.m.
PitaGryphon says... #15
i especially don't think lurrus will get banned because of burn or bogles decks. spending turn 3 to cast a lurrus just to spend turn 4 reanimating a Goblin Guide or Silhana Ledgewalker really doesn't seem like what those decks want to be doing. i'd have thought lurrus would end up in esper control decks that want to re-use Snapcaster Mage.
April 28, 2020 2:12 p.m.
loricatuslupus says... #16
I think it would be less obnoxiously splashable if the mana symbols were one of each rather two hybrid, and the prevalence at the moment is mainly due to people eager to try and see if it fits their deck. In any format the ability to immediately recur an asset which was good enough for the opponent to have used removal on is pretty strong, but I don't see it being banned. The point about playing it as a Companion meaning that they only have one copy is a valid one (making cards restricted kinda works in Vintage, right?), and you can anticipate having to deal with it right from the start. That said, having my opponent play a Kroxa every turn does not make for a fun game.
April 28, 2020 5:10 p.m.
aaron_the_great says... #17
the other option is just unban opal cloudpost and make a fast envirement that compeats with companions but that is not a good descision so please ban lurrus wotc
RNR_Gaming says... #2
Eh the companion mechanic in general is warping formats. They'll probably give it a quarter than start banning things. The kraken is becoming a huge problem in standard; there's just no middle ground. Either things are too weak to do anything or so strong they warp formats. I don't expect them to act until more paper tournments happen though.
April 26, 2020 8:43 p.m.