LOTR... Modern Legal?
Modern forum
Posted on Feb. 25, 2023, 10:05 p.m. by Icbrgr
So im watching a video from The Magic Historian and he's saying that The Lord of the Rings set will be legal to play in Modern. This blows my mind...I can only assume this is gonna be Modern Horizons 2.5 like that is gonna be some crazy card coming to the format that doesn't go through standard.... does anybody know if this will influence Pioneer?
What are your thoughts on the subject?
Here is a MTG Article regarding LOTR format legality.
I'm hopeful they won't push it like MH2, where everything power-creeps, but instead make support for specific archetypes that would otherwise warp standard too much.
Like control is honestly a little lacking. You mostly see combo or low to the ground aggro decks in my opinion, even "control" decks are more tempo control than pure control back in the days of Celestial Colonnade and Sphinx's Revelation where you just removed everything and eventually killed them with lands.
I'd also like to see some tribal support that would otherwise be too strong for standard, along with some archetypes that have been slipping off, like Tron.
They probably won't do anything as forward thinking as that, and it will be just cards that are pushed too much, but hopefully those pushed cards are more control oriented instead of speeding up the format even further. We are getting to the point where the turn 4 rule is almost to a turn 3 rule in my opinion, so the format has definitely sped up with all of the pushed cards.
February 25, 2023 11:41 p.m. Edited.
I hope your right
I think my fear is that the set will be fine and dandy like most any other Standard set... but there will be a cycle or a handful of cards that will have eternal format staple status like the elementals from Modern Horizons 2. The most painful thing I can imagine would be some sort of land cycle exclusive to the LOTR set that would achieve a status like fetch lands had a few years ago.
I guess even if like I'm describing above isn't exactly on that level of pushed and say its just "playable/good" it will still kinda stink trying to buys singles I would imagine.
February 25, 2023 11:52 p.m. Edited.
TypicalTimmy says... #5
So LOTRs is going to be like Forgotten Realms and released into Standard? Or will it be like Modern Horizons and printed specifically for Modern?
I probably will sit it out mostly. Not a big fan of LOTRs.
But hey I got my D&D set as well as Warhammer. Worlds of Warcraft would be awesome, or RuneScape. Honestly though the only other adaptation my little Timmy heart could hope for is an Elder Scrolls set.
(Commander Precons for Dead Space too)
February 25, 2023 11:54 p.m. Edited.
@TypicalTimmy To my understanding its a set that will not be legal for standard but have the greenlight for the eternal formats....
- "Like all Universes Beyond product, the set will not be legal in Standard, but Modern (and Historic) legality provides the greatest opportunity for the most people to experience this beloved world while still holding Standard as its own space. While the set isn't focused on Modern like a Modern Horizons set might be, we wanted to give as many players the opportunity to play with these cards and enjoy them."
February 26, 2023 midnight
It is more like MH2.
I think the worst we can expect is something like the Moxes with additional downside, or some other "free" spells like the elementals which speed up the format even further (hopefully nothing along those lines is printed). Blue players are lacking a powerful card advantage spell to get them back in the game, to make sitting there passively worth it. As much as I hate sitting across from a blue player, I do think their toolbox is a little lacking currently.
I'd also like to see more color hate cards with power levels closer to some older format cards come from sets like these. The only specific color hate cards that are worth playing in modern right now are Veil of Summer and Aether Gust even though there's been multiple cycles. A lot of the older color hate was low cost removal, which has just been outdone by all the "free" removal in the format today, so it never sees play anymore.
I don't mind power-crept cards if they are narrow enough to be niche instead of staples. I think having color oriented hate would be the solution to this. If you have a card that is amazing against 2 colors, but useless against everything else, it will make good tech for decks that struggle with those 2 colors, but not be included in every deck in the format. We need good balance like that.
February 26, 2023 12:12 a.m.
I feel as though I've seen statements to the effect that they're not targeting this set to be Modern Horizons level powerful, but honestly I would not believe that from them until the entire card file is out. It's honestly not the prospect of this being like Modern Horizons 2 that worries me as much as it is the prospect that it could be like Eldraine and the surrounding sets. As much as you can accuse Modern of having been Horizons Block Constructed since MH2 came out, I think it's been a far healthier and more engaging format than when Oko, Uro, Field of the Dead, and Mystic Sanctuary were running rampant.
February 26, 2023 12:49 a.m.
I agree that I am slightly worried about it being crept to an unhealthy point, because I could see the ring being something similar to a mox or sol ring (free mana where it damages and/or poisons you, or getting more out of it than you invest would both make sense as far as lore). I like the concept of having cards too powerful for standard, aimed at the modern format, if done correctly, but Wizards' track record isn't great in my opinion.
Just because in the LOTR lore it is among the most powerful artifacts ever created, and the concept of the power 9 in magic, I tend to think they will make it something similar to the moxes, which anything close gets banned from modern, so it would need some kind of significant downside. Since it was noted the noticeable downside to the bearer's health, I would think poison counters or losing health when activated makes sense. Complete speculation.
Anyway, that sounds like some serious power-creep, so I am hopeful I am wrong. With the amount of magic in the lore, I am still hopeful we can get some net positives, like better tools for control players, because that is the main thing I think modern is missing right now, to counter all of the tools that MH2 brought into the format.
February 26, 2023 1:14 a.m.
Dead_Blue_ says... #10
I’m so hyped for the set and I DO hope the power level is way up there
February 26, 2023 2:19 p.m.
So with the set actually being released now, what are everyone’s thoughts?
June 25, 2023 7:14 p.m.
wallisface says... #12
I think its opened up some options for more brewing potential, though I think the overall impact on Modern isn’t going to be too dissimilar from a typical Standard set.
June 25, 2023 7:35 p.m.
I agree with that. I did notice white actually had some decent options for a change as well, so I was pleasantly surprised by that.
I think they accomplished the lore in a decent way, without going too overboard on power levels.
My only complaint is the predatory pricing with the serialized cards at such low prints in some cases.
Since it doesn’t really impact the playability, I can easily get over it, but it causes the pricing to be high enough in general that most people are better off buying singles than a “lottery ticket”
Overall, I thought it was a really well done set.
wallisface says... #2
My suspicions/hopes are that the LOTR will not have a hugely big impact on Modern, though I do suspect it will have more impact than a Standard set. I think because the set is using non-magic IP, they'll make the set not nearly as strong as an MH set. Additionally, the set is going to bring in a lot of new players to magic, and the set has a bunch of starter decks introducing players to the game - this makes me think the set will generally be simpler than other sets as far as complexity.
February 25, 2023 11:38 p.m.