Modern: Unbanned Thoguht
Modern forum
Posted on Nov. 29, 2014, 10:20 a.m. by capriom85
I understand why cards need to be banned in Modern, Legacy, Commander, etc. It keeps the meta healthy and effectively stops "play this deck or lose" environments from developing. This is good. But...what if it wasn't that way? What I want to know is what you all think the most dominating decks would be in Modern if there was no banlist. I know Jund was pretty degenerate in its time, and it has a long list of things that were taken away just so it wasn't so oppressive. As I understand, Caw Blade was a pretty rough build that made things messy as well. What do you think would be the decks ruling the Modern meta in this situation?Bonus question...are there any decks that weren't something at the time, but would be able to thrive if certain cards were available now?
Basically a control deck utilising Jace, the Mind Sculptor and other insane card draw engines like Preordain, with Stoneforge Mystic fetching up swords to win.
November 29, 2014 10:27 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #4
It would be Cawblade, Punishing Jund, Eggs, Infect, Elves, Charbelcher, and some 12 Post. Affinity would become tier 2, and all the combo decks that currently exist would be kicked out of the meta.
November 29, 2014 10:33 a.m.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic everywhere
November 29, 2014 10:37 a.m.
filledelanuit says... #6
It would be some kind of elves deck with skullclamp.
That is the most busted card on the banned list by a lot.
November 29, 2014 10:57 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #7
I imagine Affinity would be broken as all hell, and Hypergenesis would be very strong what with all the new big fatties to put into play.
November 29, 2014 11:01 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #8
@lordoftheshadows I think Affinity would be the best immediate fit for Skullclamp, especially with access to Arcbound Ravager and Disciple of the Vault in addition to artifact lands.
November 29, 2014 11:06 a.m.
Aggro decks with good synergy wouldn't be able to stand up to cheaty decks though.
November 29, 2014 11:19 a.m.
Modern Miracles vs Deathblade vs Punishing Jund.
Maybe a smattering of Elf Storm.
November 29, 2014 12:07 p.m.
Hickorysbane says... #12
Anything that swarms (Goblins maybe? definitely elves) would go nuts with Skullclamp. There was an actual article about this somewhere but I can't remember where...anybody know what I'm talking about? There was a similar thread and it came up with a link.
November 29, 2014 12:14 p.m.
Surprisingly, Cawblade wasn't predicted to be the top deck in the format if every card were unbanned. The reasoning is more in-depth here.
November 29, 2014 2:32 p.m.
i think we forget how degenerate eggs and storm was prior to bannings. turn 2-3 combo wins with consistency...and almost no interruption.
November 29, 2014 9:57 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #16
Modern would be basically as broken as legacy. WHY THE HELL WAS Mental Misstep PRINTED, WIZARDS, WHY! What the HELL was going on in R&D?
November 30, 2014 2:35 a.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #17
"Cawblade. Modern would essentially just be Cawblade."
"That's like, one persons skewed opinion."
November 30, 2014 3:33 a.m.
But I haven't written an article and dressed opinion as fact.
November 30, 2014 5:02 a.m.
Dalektable says... #19
Cawblade. U/W Miracles. Jund. Affinity. Eggs/Storm. I would love to play Cawblade or Miracles man...
November 30, 2014 11:45 a.m.
jandrobard says... #20
Someone would combine all of the mentioned decks and create Stupid.dec
November 30, 2014 10:11 p.m.
I think either Cawblade or Punishing Jund would be very strong decks in the format.
December 1, 2014 11:56 a.m.
Let's not forget that Jund with Punishing Fire, Grove of the Burnwillows, Bloodbraid Elf, and Deathrite Shaman would kick serious ass. It would definitely be able to compete with Mind Sculptor, Stoneforge, Batterskull, Divining Top, Counterbalance decks. Those two would probably dominate the meta, as well as an elfball with Skullclamp.
Also, every deck would run 4 Mental Misstep, which would really suck.
December 2, 2014 11:11 a.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #23
FYI JexInfinite all of R&D was on drugs during the design of new phyrexia. dont do drugs kids, this is what happens: Mental Misstep.
December 3, 2014 4:59 p.m.
Jund is definitely not nearly as strong as the Jace deck. Punishing Fire is good but not fantastic. Also Dark Depths and Thopter Foundry would probably be rampant.
December 3, 2014 9:26 p.m.
Jund could compete with the Jace deck, just as it did before extended died out back in the day.
December 3, 2014 10:58 p.m.
jandrobard says... #26
Does anyone think dragonstorm with no bans could compete even with Mental Misstep as a 4-of in everything?
December 4, 2014 12:29 a.m.
necroing stuff from last year is fun. NOW it would all be JtMS and TC and DTT with mystic. agreed?
February 28, 2015 9:05 p.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #29
Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise just made the Jace and Stoneforge deck literally broken. I totally agree Asher18
ChiefBell says... #2
Cawblade. Modern would essentially just be Cawblade.
November 29, 2014 10:25 a.m.