Modern Banlist Update - 1/19/15
Modern forum
Posted on Jan. 19, 2015, 10:58 a.m. by GlistenerAgent
Banned: Birthing Pod, Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise
Unbanned: Golgari Grave-Troll
Holy shit.
And still no one talks about affinity still existing and probably remaining somewhat strong in the format....
January 20, 2015 12:28 a.m.
VampireArmy says... #3
I mentioned it at some point I'm sure. Maybe not here though. i know it was here or the primer thread i said it
January 20, 2015 12:31 a.m.
Affinity wins game one most of the time and just loses post board. There's so much hate for it that games two and three become a much bigger challenge.
January 20, 2015 12:31 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #6
I've mentioned it. Not sure which thread out of 193871231247891478 but still.
January 20, 2015 12:33 a.m.
bigguy99 if affinitty players ran a combination of sergical extraction and spell snare then stuff like Hurkyl's Recall wouldnt be a problem for them
January 20, 2015 12:37 a.m.
Starfox772 says... #8
@ VampireArmy: On their article they explain all of the bannings and unbanning reasonings. First of all the deck has been the most dominant combo deck in the format for a long time even before KTK, and with seige rhino the deck is just straight up oppressive and doesn't even need combo to win anymore. Newer lists have cut combo altogether, favoring rhino beatdown instead. Pod itself provides an absurd amount of value on its own, and getting seige rhinos slammed directly into the colors pod already used was too much. The worst part is the best creature to sac to get a rhino can be sacced to pod TWICE. You get 2 rhinos for 2 mana. This is absurd. If you beat two rhinos then your opponent is doing something wrong. In addition you should have a voice of resurgence token that you grabbed along the way. The amount of value Pod allows shoves out the competitiveness of most other creature decks. These are the lines I'm reading between.
January 20, 2015 12:37 a.m.
VampireArmy says... #9
Sir, you are Approx 10 hours late with that response :P @ Starfox772
you also described a best case scenario. Best case scenarios don't often happen like that. More often the player never lets the pod player sac a 3 drop twice. hell if people could help it, they prevent it from happening once.
Be aware, I'm not arguing with you completely. Just with the situation you desctibed being normal. At least I've not seen that happen very often.
Pod is Getting oppressive as time goes on with more and more toolbox creatures being printed and WOTC is killing the threat before it is too much of a threat to kill. It's kinda like a preemptive ban.
January 20, 2015 12:43 a.m.
I think we should find a pod deck on this site and made it the top deck for the next four days while its still a legal card
January 20, 2015 12:57 a.m.
deathtouch_roadrunner says... #11
So now new meta will be what? Ascendancy combo + storm + scapeshift + twin + GBx? Somehow that doesn't seem a whole lot better.
January 20, 2015 1:38 a.m.
I know it isn't Pod but what if Yisan, the Wanderer Bard takes its place?
January 20, 2015 1:57 a.m.
Too easily removed and doesn't fetch what you need when you need it. Drop him turn 2 to grab a BoP turn 3? No thank you. Grabs a goyf/ooze turn 4 though, have to give him props there.
January 20, 2015 2 a.m.
Just saying, it's better than Pod dying all together.
January 20, 2015 2:01 a.m.
miracleHat says... #15
@deathtouch_roadrunner: don't forget about tron (apparently...).
About burn losing Treasure Cruise, why not replace it with Dark Confidant. It worked on older burn decks.
January 20, 2015 2:32 a.m.
Ascendancy won't be in most likely.
Affinity, zoo, tron, jeskai control, burn/rdw, gb/x, twin.
Pretty much like it was before just with one less deck.
It is possible that without pod we may some new creature based midrange come out BUT I feel it's highly likely they'll all include tarmogoyf and end up looking very similar.
January 20, 2015 3:03 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #17
I want to play Death's Shadow now. I want to play Kor Legions now. My kor deck lost to combo pretty badly, so now that pod is gone and tc and dig are gone for combo, it might actually win more than 3/10 games. I just have to be wary about tron, because it can't do anything about it. Well ... maybe now it can. I no longer have to run Aven Mindcensor or Sundering Growth and can now put in another Spellskite and Ghost Quarters. Maybe even mainboard the quarters.
January 20, 2015 4:03 a.m.
KaedynCross says... #18
Well i guess that's going to ruin a friends modern deck idea.. who want's to break the news to him?! :D
January 20, 2015 4:06 a.m.
KaedynCross, I do...
And I would like to say that the reasons that they gave for the bans made sense. If it was enough justification to ban Pod remains to be seen, but it made sense.
January 20, 2015 4:21 a.m.
Femme_Fatale - Tron, scapeshift, and Twin will probably all still exist. Storm will likely return as well.
January 20, 2015 4:27 a.m.
I think that pod has had its time to shine and just flew too close to the sun. It is a good ban for the format and while it may seem to kill an archetype, it is not like banning anything else from the deck would have made any difference.
I approve of treasure cruise. It was oppressive for sure and we do not want to wait several months for its degenerative nature to show. Dig was the most surprising, since it did not break too much, but enable old archetypes very well.
GGT is the most exciting one to date. I am really glad I bought into Recursion theory - Vengevine edition before the unbannings.
I predict that the top decks will be:
- UWR Flash/Control - the bans do not affect it at all. Still pretty strong. Geist will be a strong player.
- Affinity - better tempo decks than affinity now do not exist? Time for it shine.
- Rock and Junk - tarmogoyf is back with a vengence. With little amounts of cheap removal decks, Bob may also be viable option again.
- DredgeStuff - Leyline of the Void and Bridge from Below are all powerful, underappreciated options. GGT will hopefully change that, but it will not be viable after a couple of months of initial attempts and it will be forgotten.
- Vengevine Aggro - same as above.
- Pyro storm - a deck with a substantial clock and tempo gameplay is the worst enemy to a storm player. The skies are clear now, but they will be filled with Grapeshots soon enough!
January 20, 2015 4:38 a.m.
I forgot one:
- GR Tron - resilient aggressive decks are a bane of the tron. Delver was t(h)ron in its behind for a long time and suffocated it.
Overall, modern will be dominated by control, I predict UWR control as the top. Go for fast/resilient aggro to combat this.
January 20, 2015 4:43 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #23
But if I mainboard Ghost Quarter, won't that hit tron and Scapeshift pretty hard ChiefBell? And the being able to sideboard one more Spellskite hurts Twin, and even Scapeshift too. From the looks of things, my sideboard plan is a lot more focused now that I don't have to worry about Pod. Also, what are your thoughts on my Death's Shadow build in modern now?
January 20, 2015 4:46 a.m.
Quite hard but you normally need 8 sources of land disruption, not 4.
January 20, 2015 4:51 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #25
I guess I should just run Blood Moon in the side then, only possible because of Paradise Mantle.
January 20, 2015 5:03 a.m.
I think a lot of people will play storm but I don't think it will get there I just have seem storm die to many times because someone will sergically extract something or someone will be running leyline of sanctity or a fun of silence
January 20, 2015 6:37 a.m.
branston567 says... #27
They have removed a deck that has always been a top performer and therfore holding down other decks, Pod is a constant form of card advantage and was only getting stronger and stronger, Wizards hand was forced. They either stop printing good cards like Siege Rhino in fear of making pod even more dominant in modern and thus reducing the power of standard, or they ban pod and we all carry on and brew up new decks for a new format. In modern they had to ban both TC and DTT or neither, the extra blue for 1 less card and selection wouldn't have reduced the power level enough. Personnaly i hope i can craft my UW Tron deck to the new meta.
January 20, 2015 7 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #29
Sorry to disappoint anyone thinking that Twin or American will be the top deck again, it's back to kind and fair 
/
reign.
Talk shit if u want to but B/Gx plays magic and rewards players for skill and decision making not successfully resolving a Cruise.
January 20, 2015 8:01 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #30
I don't know how many times I need to say it on how many threads but unbanning DRS would have done nothing to combat Delve. Delve is a cost and costs must be paid before putting a spell on the stack, you as the opponent don't have priority to respond until the spell is on the stack.
I'm not sure why people keep saying "unban DRS" like it's an answer to TC. Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void, now those are answers to Delve.
January 20, 2015 8:15 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #31
To be fair I wasn't suggesting that DRS being unbanned would be to combat Cruise or any other card I simply like using the card.
January 20, 2015 8:21 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #32
Fair, you didn't say that it did. I jumped to a conclusion because I see that argument EVERY TIME a TC thread comes up. "Just unban DRS, he answers Delve perfectly!" It drives me nuts.
January 20, 2015 8:23 a.m.
Metroid_Hybrid says... #33
The 1-drop pseudo-Planeswalker was broken as F#@%! It had literally every reason to be banned..
January 20, 2015 8:43 a.m.
I want DRS to be unbanned because I play dredge, however I don't want him to because I play dredge.
January 20, 2015 9 a.m.
He doesnt answer delve anyway because he only exiles one per turn. I mean you could theoretically pre empt the casting of TC by exiling their graveyard but you'd have to do it really.fucking.slowly. haha.
He was broken though. We all know it. A 1-drop that tightens up your matchings again control (with his pinging), other midrange (with his ramp) and aggro (with his lifegain). That's absurd.
January 20, 2015 9:50 a.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #36
@Jp3ngu1nb0yDRS actually makes gy strategies like living end and dredge better b/c ppl tend to rely on him as their gy hate and dont keep Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void in the board. but it doesnt matter b/c he is far too busted to be unbanned
January 20, 2015 9:58 a.m.
buildingadeck says... #37
How much do y'all think Golgari Grave-Troll will be worth? I have one and would desperately need to trade for a Caryatid/Temple of Malady for it...
January 20, 2015 10:02 a.m.
I don't see Tron becoming stronger at all. In fact, I think it became weaker with Pod's ban. Tron had a very good match up against Pod and had trouble dealing with fast aggro decks and Twin. Pod didn't have good answers to Tron's win conditions, and gave Tron more than enough time to assemble its game. Karn, Wurmcoil, Sundering Titan, Ulamog... all of them were really terrifying for Pod.
And Pod used to weaken Burn, Infect, Boggle Auras and Twins, which are very strong against Tron. The only point in favor of Tron in this new bans is the nerf to Delver and Burn. Although they surely still are strong against it.
January 20, 2015 10:03 a.m.
I think this mainly means that U-Tron will gather a bit of steam relative to RG Tron. U-Tron has more tempo against aggro and can very happily counterspell through its first five turns before getting mean. RG Tron does practically nothing turns one through three.
January 20, 2015 10:22 a.m.
Can I throw out there that merfolk made top 8 last GP? Unless it is being lopped in with the zoo decks category, i feel like the fish aren't being acknowledged as a potential tier 1 as well. Now that sideboard hate doesn't have to be dedicated to pod it may have a better shot off of extra counters in the side for those control/attrition matchups
January 20, 2015 10:25 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #41
A resolved Wurmcoil Engine spells doom for RDW. Lifelink ahoy!
My wife plays U Tron and she's pretty giddy about these bans. TC? DTT? Meh, wasn't using them anyway. Pod gone? happy dance
So who wants to help me build Torrent Elemental control for modern with Leyline of the Void?
January 20, 2015 10:30 a.m.
Azorius Gifts Tron will probably be stronger than Gruul Tron as well. I have a U-Tron myself and I don't think the changes made it stronger. Although I agree it's probably better than Gruul Tron now.
Also, it's worth saying that Ugin's release will probably make U-Tron and Azorius Tron, stronger.
January 20, 2015 10:45 a.m.
GeminiSpartanX says... #43
I honestly think that with the banning of Pod, general aggro can make a comeback. Green-based aggro decks can play the weenie strategy, but also just generally ramp into effective threats that are hard to deal with (with the exception of Path for the most part). I think there will be an uptick of Loxodon Smiters again, kind of like there was before khans, to battle black hand disruption/Lily from the B/G/x decks. Big Zoo could make a comeback, and like was mentioned earlier Merfolk is an example of aggro that still plays a good game of competitive magic. Without the ability of a deck that tutors every turn (there's a reason Demonic Tutor is banned everywhere) to find the best possible answer for other decks, new brews and other aggro decks will have a chance to shine.
If everyone is worried about combo like Twin and Ascendancy and Scapeshift taking over the format, there is one deck that generally wrecks most combo decks...... mill. :)
January 20, 2015 10:46 a.m.
I have a feeling that Jeskai Control will be the "one to be beaten".
Snappy surely is happy with TC and DTT's ban. It will probably go up.
January 20, 2015 10:51 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #45
I very much hope Snappy will go up. I still need to unload my foil one.
January 20, 2015 11:06 a.m.
Nah i dont think merfolk will be that good when tron decks start to run ugin against aggro. He just removes 2-3 counters and ur done. The thing is fish cant even burn him out after using his ability cuz it has no red. Fish was shit against rg tron before and it will be against every tron deck now. Not to speak of its really bad zoo matchup (it just doesnt stand against the efficient removal). In my opinion zoo, BGx, america control/midrange, and BW token will rise in popularity.
January 20, 2015 11:22 a.m.
My friend runs U tron and can't beat my fish deck because if they drop a urza land I spreading seas it which sets them back a turn basically.
January 20, 2015 11:25 a.m.
Yeah this may well be. But i still dont see merfolk being a tier 1 deck because it has so many bad matchups. And i really dont see beating mono-u-tron as a justification for being tier 1.
January 20, 2015 11:29 a.m.
Fish is a fine deck. It's not bad. It's not fantastic. You will see it winning some times and that's ok. It's decent but has a few flaws.
January 20, 2015 11:30 a.m.
I might finally play modern for real now. Probably Polymorph, because Burn and Merfolk are a little boring.
VampireArmy says... #1
Funny Thought
Pod got Path to Exiled. Exile target deck, search your wallet for GB/x and put in on the table tapped
January 20, 2015 12:24 a.m.