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.
Femme_Fatale says... #2
I quite like Polymorph as well TexasDice. Nice thing about it as that it is consistent enough to such a degree that it doesn't require Dig Through Time or any draw card really. And the token control focus post sideboard plan is really awesome.
January 20, 2015 12:31 p.m.
For polymorph look at jalira from M15 for polymorph 5-8
January 20, 2015 12:54 p.m.
This is Amulet Bloom's fault for not winning GP Omaha
January 20, 2015 1:09 p.m.
GenericNPC says... #5
Broliver, I know the guy who won GP Omaha, and he said played Pod to see if he could take it to the finals and get it banned, lol. He's facetiously taking full credit for its ban.
January 20, 2015 1:49 p.m.
Nigeltastic says... #6
Can we just talk about Dark Deal and our freshly unbanned dredge buddy for a spot? I think if dredge figures out something nasty and degenerate to do with all the engine it can generate it could be a real contender.
January 20, 2015 1:54 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #7
Well u could T2 a bunch of Vengevines into play but I'm sure clever minds will make it do something nastier.
January 20, 2015 2:10 p.m.
@Femme_Fatale: I'm still trying to figure out how much blue and black I really want. For now it is still mono white tokens with splashes for lingering souls and polymorph only, but that's probably too weak in terms of sideboard-tech. (Control and Twin seem like really bad matchups in particular.)
Maindeck things aren't set yet either. Do I want Bitterblossom? Do I want Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad or neither? Stuff like that.
Assuming we're even talking about the same deck. The only other Polymorph deck I know is that G/U Dryad Arbor+Khalni Garden-thing. Not a fan personally.
January 20, 2015 2:35 p.m.
Here is an article that breaks down the Modern metagame as of late. And the numbers are very convincing.
January 20, 2015 2:38 p.m.
Ohhhh. He's a made big, big mistake in his statistics. He's added all the decks that run TC to all the decks that run DTT to all the decks that run Pod to form the total number of decks that run one of the three. But theyre not mutually exclusive at all.
January 20, 2015 2:45 p.m.
I think Bridge from Below dredge is very strong in a vacuum bcuz 60% of the legacy version r in modern. But i think it will have same problems as in todays legacy: it gets hated out incredibly easy and cheap ( Tormod's Crypt ). But i would really apreciate seeing some lists popping up.
January 20, 2015 2:46 p.m.
Also, why has he taken the top 8 from one tournament, top 16 from another, and top 32 from a third? Bias much?
January 20, 2015 2:46 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #13
You are forgetting man-lands TexasDice. Here's a shameless deck plug.
Okay Kids, It's Show and Tell Time! Playtest
Modern
SCORE: 63 | 0 COMMENTS | 6401 VIEWSJanuary 20, 2015 2:57 p.m.
Hmm... I won't exactly steal this, but you are giving me some ideas. Thanks!
January 20, 2015 3:11 p.m.
As of the 19th, lightly played Pod's were going for around $3-3.50 on tcg.. Today they are back to $5-6, probably because they were bought out very quickly. I personally would expect them to keep within the 3-5 dollar range as people start selling them and people start buying them at the lower end price for edh decks / a possible unbanning a few years from now.
January 20, 2015 3:15 p.m.
Birthing Pod won't be unbanned.
Due to the very nature of it, unbanning it later would only make it stronger than it ever was because more utility creatures will have been printed.
January 20, 2015 3:59 p.m.
And for that exact reason, an eventual ban was inevitable.
January 20, 2015 4:01 p.m.
/shrug, I'm not disagreeing. But at the same time, the modern format might be so different a few years from now that it might be absolutely fine. Plus, if you go for the argument that there will be more utility creatures, you have to acknowledge the fact that there will be other new powerful spells to either A) deal/negate those creatures effects or B), straight up deal with Pod while doing other things as well.
Just saying, it's not unthinkable that it will be unbanned eventually. Unlike most overpowered cards, no one gets that "oh fuck me they played birthing pod I hate this fucking game" feeling when it's put into play. They might be annoyed, but it's definitely something you can play around or deal with.
January 20, 2015 4:15 p.m.
I mean, Gifts Ungiven was just unrestricted in Vintage because, and I paraphrase, "it was way too good a few years ago but now it's not busted at all". Sure, Vintage is a much higher impact format, but it's the same principle.
January 20, 2015 4:57 p.m.
Misanthropia says... #20
Thing is, since NWO they're not printing increasingly powerful noncreature spells, since WotC wants the game to be more creature-centric.
Also, printing more noncreature spells for Snapcaster works just the same way as more creatures for Birthing Pod.
January 20, 2015 5:32 p.m.
I wouldn't say they work exactly the same. With Snapcaster, you still need to cast/get it into the graveyard and it still needs to have a reasonable CMC so you can flashback. Pod can pretty much take any utility creature it needs so long as it has a mana cost of less than 4-5 to stay on tempo. Snapcaster is powerful, but it would be a lot more so if you could cast instants straight out of your deck.
January 20, 2015 5:53 p.m.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/banned-and-restricted-announcement-2015-01-19 that is the link to the official ban changes. They claim that pod is too powerful now, due to all of the good targets it has. But, if I may rant for a second, that is a dumb argument because Affinity is 100% more consistent and powerful, and has been winning for a very long time, however it has seen no bans, and the only thing that Delver lost was cruise, which it did not need to be powerful to begin with. But thats all I have to say
January 20, 2015 6:02 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #23
See the original post.
Affinity is rather easily hated out, and has nut draws but also draws where one removal spell destroys its game plan. Pod is a much more resilient midrange deck with the tools to beat anything it wants to beat.
January 20, 2015 6:05 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #24
Well, actually Cruise brought Delver to the forefront as a Tier 1 contender due to the card draw...
And about Affinity: powerful, yes. Consistent, yes. But post board, there is tons of artifact hate to deal with it.
January 20, 2015 6:07 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #27
Shatterstorm. Sit down, please.
I'm glad only Scapeshift gets to actually play this card. So fun.
January 20, 2015 6:50 p.m.
slovakattack says... #28
Bah. Red. The one thing beyond my Gifts reach! shakes fist
Still, Recall+Corrosion+Snappy+Abrupt Decay/Pulse/Path is just fine in terms of a package >:3
January 20, 2015 6:51 p.m.
ZombieswithJetpacks says... #29
Even though I was running Dig Through Times in my modern deck, I'm not to upset, as the draw or solution grab was to ridiculous; not to mention it inadvertently hated on decks that had graveyard interaction (though I did like that it hated on goyfs).
I was hoping that Bloodbraid Elf would be un-banned like many were. Oh wells.
January 20, 2015 6:58 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #30
One thing that I hate is that all affinity sideboard cards also destroy my Kor Legions deck ... which is why I now run Monastery Mentor in this build because of its ability to bypass artifact hate in itself, and in its synergy with Retract.
January 20, 2015 6:59 p.m.
So I think at pro tour fate reforged we are going to see a lot of aggro decks. Affinity, zoo, infect, RDW. When a meta gets a huge shake up a lot of aggro decks show up. I think it will take a couple of tournaments before we see a real meta appear. I'm basing this off the idea that every time standard rotates RDW and other aggro decks win for awhile before people figure out what are the best decks to play.
January 20, 2015 6:59 p.m.
quesobueno123 says... #32
Anyone else see a possible rise in price for Grim Lavamancer? With cruise gone it is burn's only late game graveyard user.
January 20, 2015 7:23 p.m.
That's not valid though. Standard does an almost full rotation, modern doesn't. We still know that tron and BGx work and those are popular midrange decks. We know this because they were good against most of the decks that were around before so they'll be good against most of those decks again. Unlike in standard where there's a massive new card pool modern goes back to an old meta game and not an entirely new one.
January 20, 2015 7:23 p.m.
grumbledore says... #34
Everytime I got a suggestion for DTT or TC on my modern build, I was so tempted to add it. But it seemed too good to be true lol. Didn't see any way those would slip past the ban hammer. Glad I don't have to retool my deck now.
January 20, 2015 7:39 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #35
If they unban bloodbraid elf, i will play jund instead of mardu. Just sayin. I'll even buy goyfs for it :)
January 20, 2015 7:40 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #36
You know shit is getting serious when VampireArmy says he won't play Mardu anymore.
January 20, 2015 7:42 p.m.
grumbledore says... #37
On a side note, how do affinity decks justify using the 'affinity' moniker anymore? Seems like a 1x Thoughtcast is the only thing in that deck that actually utilizes affinity.
January 20, 2015 7:43 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #38
Because it's classic. You can't beat the classics.
January 20, 2015 7:50 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #39
Jund and mardu are cousins yo. Can't beat them BBE beats though. I love that card so much
January 20, 2015 7:53 p.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #40
scrotality some ppl including mtggoldfish call it (shudder) robots but everyone else hates that and sticks with the classic affinity
January 20, 2015 9:33 p.m.
ZombieswithJetpacks says... #41
I thought Robots was a mono blue tron build.
January 20, 2015 9:39 p.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #42
nope. the first four pictures in a google search of mtg robots were Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating, Mox Opal, Frogmite
January 20, 2015 10:07 p.m.
OMG birthing pod is FINALLY banned. W.T.F. took so long!?!?!?!!?!?
January 20, 2015 10:50 p.m.
CanadianShinobi says... #44
@ underbrl we were waiting for your approval.
What took so long is that is wasn't considered degenerate. I would still advocate that it isn't degenerate, but that this is a preemptive ban because it was edging very close to being a little too good due to the utility creatures.
January 20, 2015 10:59 p.m.
ZombieswithJetpacks says... #45
It saddens me that Robots is the new name for affinity. F that.
January 20, 2015 11:58 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #46
Robots has been a name for Affinity. It's not the new name, nor is it (to my knowledge) the common one.
January 21, 2015 12:14 a.m.
Man, everyone crying about Pod is hilarious. Yeah, I lost a bunch of money too, but so what? That's what happens in the infancy (and lets be honest, for a game as complex as Magic: The Gathering, Modern is still in its infancy) of an Eternal Format. How many of you remember the crushing feeling of getting your Survival of the Fittest banned?
While I agree that this will probably make the format stale as everyone rushes to build BGx decks (gotta buy Goyfs again, hurrah), I think that in a few months we will see a resurgence of older archetypes, namely Tron, which is my favorite deck.
Treasure Cruise was actual Ancestral Recall, and definitely needed the axe. Dig Through Time was surprising, and I think that was the actual mistake.
Golgari Grave-Troll does literally nothing. Dread Return is still banned, so no dredge decks.
Excuse me, I need to go to Ebay and find a set of Tarmogoyf now. Wonder how much foils are...
Oooh! A playset of foil from MM is only 1600... that's gotta be worth it. :D
January 21, 2015 3:53 a.m.
For me, it looks like WotC have protected the core of their design: creatures. Banning Pod they don't have to examine every value creature of every new set in order not to derail their "star" format. Thus, they can keep saying that Magic is all about creatures. And this is, perhaps, why they will never ban Goyf.
As for the cries of agony of Pod players, well, think of F1: a team invests millions in a new motor, configuration, whatever, and then FIA bans it. It's the same thing: you go pro, you may lose money. A lot.
TC & DTT? Perhaps a little early, but they had to appease Pod players with something.
January 21, 2015 7:04 a.m.
I disagree with Dig Through Time's ban. I think Treasure Cruise kind of deserved it, but DTT is much less splashable and gives little card advantage, which is the worst problem of TC. TC gave too much card advantage for decks that were supposed to lose steam. It was too easy to add two fetchable shock lands, a couple Treasures, pay a little cost, and get rid of the main weakness of the deck. There were many decks splashing blue just to have that extra steam from TC.
January 21, 2015 8:15 a.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #50
I blame it all on TC and Rhino. If delver and Burn hadn't become so popular people would have still played Jund/Junk, American control, and Tron which are bad match ups for pod and pod wouldn't have done as well. also, if siege rhino hadn't been printed I think there would be less people playing pod which means there wouldn't be such a large chance of pod winning just based off of majority. I think this was totally premature by WotC. They should have banned TC, Dig, and Rhino waited a little bit see what would happen and then if necessary ban pod. I know people will say "Oh but junk needs siege rhino" 1, I don't think they NEED siege rhino and 2, in modern the only thing that stops it right know is path. no other removal spell hits it and it tramples through practically everything except for ghoyf. B/G/x is going to be the modern meta which is unfortunate because it is SOOO expensive
dan8080 says... #1
I wasn't saying it could be tier 1 because it beats u tron I was just countering your point regarding Ugin. Fish won't let that hit the board. And with pod gone I know my torpor orbs are probably going to become some extra counters for those Grindy control games.
January 20, 2015 12:15 p.m.