The truth in modern
Modern forum
Posted on Jan. 19, 2015, 1:28 p.m. by Asher18
Let's face it, modern took a hit today. Pod and delver decks alike are hit hard and fast. Let me give my opinion why:
pod- yea, a lot of play. everyone had to have SB cards against it. did it deserve banning ?absolutely not. it was an enabler, not a game winner.
Dig Through Time-This brought back Scapeshift from the verge of no play. Suddenly, we remember this deck exists. Did DTT deserve to be banned? hell nawh! it exiled a lot of the grave and still cost two blue, which is the problem with cruise
Treasure Cruise- Oh my gawd, this card. This turned delver into a tier zero deck, an Ancestral Recall for the petty price of a graveyard and one blue mana. this card was teetering at the edge, but I still hold strong in belief that it should not have been banned. Why? it drove DOWN Snapcaster Mage's use as the graveyard was more about TC then snappy. Trade offs, Is why
What will/needs to happen? I think WOTC is using the pod ban as a test. to see how the meta develops w/o it. if it sucks and is too varied to be anything stable, they will bring it back. one card over another leads to pain and suffering on the half of all magic player. RIP, pod decks, you didn't deserve it. neither did you, scapeshift. TC, meh, it could have gone either way
Siege Rhino was the last nail in the coffin. ban it, pod back!
January 19, 2015 1:37 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #4
Pod variants were still stomping opponents without it, the deck would have just replaced Rhino with something else and still put up too many wins
January 19, 2015 1:40 p.m.
xxINS4NExWoC says... #5
I imagine this is very unlikely, but is it somehow possible to still keep pod viable with cards like AEther Vial, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, and/or Fauna Shaman?
January 19, 2015 1:46 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #6
Sure doesnt seem to want to make Modern into a 'welcoming' format. Tarmogoyf and the players who can afford them will run rampant, yet again.
Nothing new to see here for me personally I ignored an old lesson I learned long long ago about trusting wizards of the coast and these bannings just re-affirm that to me.
'Lets print cards that make Modern into an 'accesible' format for all players, then lets ban those cards.
Here, don't be sad poor player who lives on a budget: we unbanned GGT for you. Notice that it only fits into the decks that arent budget friendly, so you now need to go out and buy a whole new deck to support it! Tralalala'
Love, WotC
January 19, 2015 1:51 p.m.
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard is way too slow, limited, and inefficient. All you gotta do is bolt him.
January 19, 2015 1:52 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
People arguing that you can ban Siege Rhino or another Card X to make Pod less oppressive have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Pod works. The announcement article summed it up nicely. Pod is an enabler, yes, but it's the only thing you can ban to stop Pod. You don't ban Card X because Card X doesn't make Pod unbeatable. Card X is just a cog in the machine. If you take it out, players just insert a different arrangement of cogs and go back to doing what they were doing with maybe a slight change in functionality.
It's the Jund discussion all over again. You don't get anywhere by banning bits and pieces in a goodstuff deck. If the deck has a central engine, you need to disable it or make other decks better. If it doesn't, your only option is to make other decks better.
January 19, 2015 1:55 p.m.
Nigeltastic says... #9
Pod also makes every single utility creature they print in green, white, or black incredible dangerous in modern, so it makes future development really strained.
January 19, 2015 2:04 p.m.
I agree with Epochalyptik that the only options are to disable it or make other decks better...
Unfortunately, instead of making other decks better, they made other decks worse, by banning TC and DTT.
The claim that DTT was to easily a replacement for TC is/was fallacious. The 
requirement and the 1 less card advantage creates a much more narrow field of viability for DTT, and a lot less strength over TC in decks that were running TC.
Now that DTT is gone, a number of decks that were starting to come back will be halted (Scapeshift, and a number of control and combo variants).
Add to that the loss of Pod, and you have a very narrow list of T1 decks, and a shrinking list of T2 decks.
You will basically have Affinity, Zoo, Tron, Hatebears, and Twin as T1, and Infect, Control, Jund, Scapeshift, Delver, Tokens, Burn and various Tribal as T2.... with a possible new development due to Golgari Grave-Troll
(I'm sure I'm missing some)
The take-away from all this is.... if you want to play green, you must spend $800 on a play-set of Tarmogoyf
January 19, 2015 2:16 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #11
'disable it or make other decks better' I like how you phrased that Epoch because it seemed like thats exactly what happened with the birth of ascendancy and rise of UR Delver. The format hadnt shifted like that since its inception really (the printing of treasure cruise, and to a lesser extent dig through time). So now people will ask me if I play Modern and I will go back to responding 'Do I play what? Tarmogoyf? No I cant afford those'
I wouldnt have a problem with banning pod if it went hand in hand with some other bannings like Splinter Twin and Scapeshift.
They did set a precedent though any deck that wins either two majors in a row or 5/12 in a year (less than half) needs to have its central engine piece banned.
January 19, 2015 2:18 p.m.
KrosanTusker says... #12
Twin and Scapeshift were nowhere near as dominant as Pod. Have you seen the list of the top32 decks from GP Omaha? So. Much. Pod.
If twin and 'shift were banned that would literally leave nothing but 'Goyf decks. That would be a hideous move.
January 19, 2015 2:39 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #13
ban goyf too for all I care I cant afford them, but thats basically whats happened anyways. :P
Good point. :)
January 19, 2015 2:46 p.m.
bcornett24 says... #14
I just want to point out there are 8688 individual legal cards in the modern format. With this amount of variety there are a ton of possibilities for creativity which is killed by a very small amount of decks dominating the format.
Pod might not exist as the main function of the deck but to be honest if pod lost the first match, which wasn't common, it just sided out all of the pods for 4 Voice of Resurgence and became Abzan Midrange. Ideally many different Junk/Abzan decks will emerge from this banning.
Delver killed every bit of creativity that remained in modern, people like to win, so they play what wins, go online find a delver list and build it. And, it is not like Delver is now unplayable, the deck was T2 without Treasure Cruise. It will probably return to hovering between t1/t2. There are already many jeskai variants appearing with the release of fate reforged.
The last modern tournament i played in at my local store had 10 people total, 3 people playing delver and 2 people playing pod, 1 person playing red deck wins, 1 person playing tron, and 3 home-brew (what I play/build) guess what won?
Furthermore, the ban on Treasure Cruise does not make modern inaccessible. It was better than Brainstorm, Ponder, Preordain, and Ancestral Vision which were all absurdly powerful. In fact, it was so powerful decks that traditionally did not have blue in them where splashing it just for Treasure Cruise. It was obviously going to be banned.
The absurd price of lands as well as the dominance of several decks due to specific cards makes modern inaccessible. I would think that Tarmogoyf, Noble Hierarch, and Cryptic Command among other cards could due to be banned or reprinted to knock the prices down and increase accessibility to the format. Hopefully, we see some of this with the increased printing in modern masters 2.
January 19, 2015 2:52 p.m.
Can someone explain to me please why they don't ban Tarmogoyf? Epochalyptik maybe?
January 19, 2015 2:59 p.m.
i dont understand people comparing Yisan, the Wanderer Bard to Birthing Pod and calling it slow...if anything he is faster than pod, but easier to remove. pod requires life and can be only be activated on your turn. Yisan requires 3 mana everytime, can be activated at end of your opponents turn, and leaves behind a body without needing to trigger undying / persist. if anything, aside from the easy removal factor, i believe Yisan, the Wanderer Bard is a faster option. both require 3 cmc to cast, yisan, however does not require a body on the field to start the engine. I think the pod players should start experimenting with the guy. I have created different variations for standard with Yisan, the Wanderer Bard (temur, abzan, and bant), and I can safely say that it is not a slower version, let me know if you want to brew together
January 19, 2015 3:02 p.m.
but yisan dies top the ever-present Lightning Bolt and all of its varients
January 19, 2015 3:08 p.m.
mathimus55 says... #19
Price =/= Power.
Yes goyf is super expensive, gets forced into decks that shouldn't be running it(affinity with goyf is the dumbest thing ever) and grows without trying but it isn't the best creature in the format. If Siege Rhino were only 1 colored mana it would get forced into tons of other decks too. You can bolt goyf out of the gate, you can't do that with rhino.
I ran B/G rock w/o Goyf and while he is crazy at times, you don't have to have him to be good. Most of what drives the price on Tarmogoyf is that so many different decks want to run him and there is a fairly limited supply. If the same amount of decks wanted Phyrexian Obliterator the prices would show that too.
January 19, 2015 3:16 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #20
my pod deck ran 4x Voice mainboard. I never even THOUGHT of putting them in the sideboard. Clearly I was podding it wrong
January 19, 2015 4:42 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #21
To the arguments about Modern becoming less accessible, let's consider a few things:
Modern and the two eternal formats don't drive primary sales. They drive secondary sales. WOTC doesn't see any return by banning decks. They only make money by pushing product to distributors, and that product is always the current set and any secondary products. Therefore, WOTC isn't out to increase their profits because bannings don't change their profits. At least not through the sale of product.
Rather, WOTC should be out to make the formats healthier (primary objective) and more accessible (secondary objective). There are several challenges to this:
- Modern shares a card pool with eternal formats, which means supply and demand economics must be a function of demand across all three formats (plus the occasional EDH pull). Therefore, prices on eternal-viable cards like Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant remain high.
- Modern involves cards that are beyond printing power for Standard. Therefore, supply increases must rely on secondary releases like MMA.
- Some Modern staples are extremely expensive compared to others (see point #1), but WOTC's primary objective is to maintain the health of the format. They can't justify banning a card just because it's expensive. If that card isn't warping the format, it's not a justifiable ban.
- Many long-time players (and, at this point, many reasonably new players) are heavily invested in staples like the fetches and Tarmogoyf. Doing a mass reprint in a MMA-style release would disenfranchise those players and cause a significant portion of the player base to lose faith in WOTC.
Now, WOTC is doing what it can to improve supply without screwing invested players or destroying any other formats. They're slowly reintroducing format staples (such as the shocks in RTR and the fetches in KTK), but there's only so much they can do at one time.
Enter MMA. MMA provides decent access to some of the format staples, but it also causes a surge of interest in Modern. This is further driven by the fact that WOTC just finished RTR, so shocks (a format staple) are freely floating around the secondary market for low prices. This is a golden opportunity for aspiring Modern players to break into the format. So they try to. As a result, the small boost to supply for cards like Tarmogoyf is not enough to sustain the surge in demand, and those cards rise in price.
If you take an objective look at the past couple years, you'll notice that WOTC has been experimenting with ways to safely bring the barrier to entry to Modern down. This is all about controlled descent. You can't shatter the barrier because of the risk of fallout (disenfranchising players, breaking Standard, etc.), but you can slowly work toward the end goal.
And, at the end of the day, you have to remember that this is a collectible card game. This is not unlimited freeware. There are a limited number of each card, and you aren't in any way guaranteed access to the cards that do exist. If you want them, then invest in them. You're not entitled.
January 19, 2015 5:16 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #22
@Asher18: You can't ban a card for being expensive. And Tarmogoyf doesn't warp anything. Yes, it's a good card, but it doesn't destroy the format.
Nobody's entitled to any card, and especially not the best cards, without investment. If you want good cards, buy them. If that's not possible, play with other cards. Maybe that sounds elitist, but I'm tired of people whining (this isn't an accusation, nor is this bit directed specifically at you) about the price of cards. You're playing a collectible card game and you want to enter into competitive events (that, might I add, have a prize structure). If you want to have the best cards, buy them. Otherwise, enter with what you have and know that people who did buy those cards will still be there competing, and they want the prize as badly as you do.
January 19, 2015 5:20 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #23
interesting you make that point that Modern and the other two eternals don't drive sales, then later go on to mention that MM is wotc way of providing 'decent' access to modern's format staples.
So answer me this: who buys Modern Masters? standard players, aka the ones who buy the latest sets?
or Modern players?
because if the answer is primarily modern players and it's marketed in that way then I guess Modern does drive a percentage of the market sales, and I guess the paragraphs you just wrote amount to a moot point.
Here's the black and white of it: if you enjoyed playing pod (aka Timmy) you're going to argue for Pod in this matter, and if you hated pod but loved to play gifts/bloom (aka Johnny) or Zoo, Delver (aka Spike) you'll argue against Pod.
To me its just another classic case of Ebeneezer leaving Timmy out in the cold yet again, and only a month away from Christmas at that.
Well to you Johnny and Spikes I say gloat and relish that yet again Timmy has been kicked into the mud.
Just remember that a caged animal is the most dangerous one.
January 19, 2015 5:30 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #24
and Im sorry to disagree but I believe that a 5/6 on turn 2, does warp the format, especially when all the things that keep it in check have been removed.
January 19, 2015 5:34 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #25
MMA was the first product targeted directly for Modern players. But most of WOTC's revenue (in Magic) comes from selling cases/displays of core sets and block sets. Secondary releases, especially those with limited print runs, supplement these primary releases. MMA and the Modern event deck are the only two exceptions, and Modern Masters 2 will be the third. WOTC is just starting to tap this market, but that still won't change the fact that these are side releases.
But that's not the point here. The point is that Modern players dove into the post-Standard card pool, and that they aren't the ones buying the majority of sealed product. The vast majority of Modern players get their cards from the secondary market by buying them as singles. Once the sealed product leaves WOTC's hands, they stop seeing profit from it. The product flows into the secondary market, where the exchanges are solely between players and stores. WOTC doesn't see a single dime of the money you send to SCG to buy your set of Tarmogoyfs.
In fact, WOTC pushes Limited because it forces stores and players to buy and open sealed product. There's a reason sets are designed for Limited, and why WOTC goes through the trouble of supporting Limited as a complete format.
And the fact that this is all happening doesn't make anything I said earlier less true. Be careful about dismissing the entirety of an argument based on a technicality that amounts only to a footnote. Sounds to me like you're looking for a target out of bitterness more than anything.
January 19, 2015 5:41 p.m.
everything that keeps it in check has been removed?
two of the most used removals in the format, other notables:
possible:
just because it doesn't die to Lightning Bolt doesn't make it format warping...although Bojuka Bog + Lightning Bolt can happen...
not format warping at all, in fact goyf if a perfect example of a "fair" powerful card that should be printed more whether in form or function
January 19, 2015 5:44 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #27
To post 2:3,
What things keep Tarmogoyf in check? And of those things, what has been removed? Do we punish Goyf for being a good creature? What's your actual argument for it being oppressive?
January 19, 2015 5:45 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #28
I agree with your arguments wholeheartedy, I wish they would reprint goyf more as well and give all players the same footing, the problem is this:
'Depending on the format youre playing, certain cards might be banned or restricted in order to ensure a healthy play environment. We do this because a healthy environment has lots of viable and competitive deck styles, with no one deck (or card) completely dominating.'
So I can see the argument against Pod, in that they believe that a 40% win rate at majors over a year constitutes it being classed as the 'one deck to rule them all' so they ban Pod. ok no problem.
Lets move on and look at other bannings for clarity of that, and then we'll come back to the Tarmogoyf point.
We don't want to see decks in the format who just 'jam' a particular card even though they arent playing in that cards color. We're speaking directly to cards like Treasure Cruise, DRS ect.
Then we look at everyone doing the same thing with goyf. When I talk about things that keep goyf in check, they're usually things that win faster than goyf does. I dont see one blue card listed there that keeps him in check. Probably the best option you have listed there is Abrupt Decay. Guess what else Abrupt Decay keeps in check? Birthing Pod.
So now that the things that have caused Modern players to shift away from just jamming goyf and racing have been removed so we go back to players just jamming goyfs and racing. I dont think this does anything for the 'creativity' of the format in the least bit.
'I dont want to sound elitist but if you wanna compete you better go out and buy yourself some goyfs!' (no direct quotes, just seeming general consensus)
Pardon me for saying if that does sound elitist. I have thousands of dollars in old cards I could trade in at any given time and get a set of goyfs.
Thats besides the point, I played through broken legacy and vintage because all they did was ban ban ban ban ban ban ban when all they had to do to keep the format healthy was unban some things to help combat other things. The best format will be one where a player can pick ANY given deck to play with, not a handful, and certainly not a format thats defined by jamming one card and racing to see who can win with it first, or stop the other person from winning with it.
I dont honestly know how to approach it other than by saying Im a firm believer in unbanning things than banning more things.
I hate to take my argument out on Tarmogoyf since hes really the innocent bystander in all of this, but the fact remains that now pod has been banned you can once again expect to see a ton of decks jamming tarmogoyf, even if he isnt in their colors. I can't see how anyone interprets that as 'healthy' unless they already own a set of goyfs and intend on using them or are already using them.
People jam him because he's great, but not unbeatable. Pod wasnt unbeatable, either.
January 19, 2015 6:21 p.m.
Abrupt Decay cannot hit Birthing Pod as it is 4 cmc...
also, there was only a handful of decks prior to Khans release that was utilizing goyf, a few of them took a major hit with the release of Khans, and will probably see more play once again with the bannings. I personally was ok with the power levels of Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time even Birthing Pod, but I agree with WOTC in the bans, as the meta was not healthy and it was slowly becoming "delver splash color" decks or as the last year showed "pod splash color"
Modern is one of my favorite formats, and it is definitely diverse. Even legacy is. a few months ago, we saw dredge win a SCG open, and had another list in the top 8 of the same tournament. Elitists will tell you that dredge stands no chance against the meta because of all the graveyard hate, yet there was at least two successful pilots that we know of.
Deck success is less dependant on the cards that are included and more so than on the pilot itself. Infect is a great example of this, I have beaten so many BAD players trying to pilot infect, even though it is one of the most straight forward decks, yet we have seen what Tom Ross does with it.
Just like before Khans was released, we did not see an abundance of "goyf" decks, these bannings will not suddenly steer the meta into such decks. fate reforged will have a big impact on the upcoming year in eternal formats, and I have an inclination that you will see control and burn become more prevelant
January 19, 2015 6:53 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #30
It's really not elitist. You're welcome to compete in a Modern event with only Standard cards, just like you're welcome to compete in a race with an underpowered car. But you're going to be up against people who want to win and care to spend that little extra to increase their chances. You aren't compelled to buy the competitive cards for the sake of buying them, but you shouldn't expect to beat them if you don't bring the right answers.
Magic isn't a game that guarantees an equal playing field. You don't start with the same cards. You get what you pay for, and you use it how you like. Nobody is forcing you to compete in a Modern event, and nobody is forcing you to buy Goyfs. You want to compete, but you don't want to pay for the most competitive cards. You're the one putting yourself at a disadvantage, not anybody else.
Back when I first got into Standard, I didn't spend the money to buy JTMS or build Cawblade. I went in with a homebrew 
control deck and I cleaned up most of the shop because I knew how to use what I did have, and I spent on what I knew I could use. I lost to Cawblade, but I was playing a worse deck. I never once blamed Cawblade for being expensive. Nor did I blame myself for not owning it. I knew that Cawblade was going to be a challenge, and the outcome of each match was what it was.
And finally, it's fine to say that you're a proponent of unbanning where possible. I happen to agree with you there, as would most reasonable players. But that's not what you were saying earlier. Your earlier posts were attacks on WOTC for making Modern hard to enter, and that goes back to the first half of this post.
And your point about blue's lack of answers is an astute observation---of the color pie. Blue naturally lacks efficient answers to permanents. The most you get is bounce or a token-producing destruction effect. That's what blue does.
January 19, 2015 6:58 p.m.
mathimus55 says... #31
It's not elitist to suggest effective cards or to say that one card is better than another, regardless of price tag. Like what Epoch said, find a way to make the best with what you have. In my B/G list I ran Phyrexian Obliterator and did very well with it b/c nobody knew how to react when they saw it. I still don't have goyfs but the list is super fun to play and beats most of the goyf decks still. Same with legacy, I don't run Force of Will or Wasteland, instead I'm learning my own Maverick build and how to play around the expensive cards.
People have said over and over in different forums on different topics about budgets and builds and one repeated suggestion is this: learn how to play your deck better than the other person, skill can outweigh sheer power of the cards. If you handed me a u/w/x control deck I would be super lost b/c I know nothing about piloting the deck. I know the theory sure, but experience with a deck is HUGE. That's why when someone like Ross Merriam leaves a deck he is known for playing it's a huge deal, he spent the time mastering the in's and outs of the deck and knows all the matchups and can overcome the bad matchups because he knows his deck better than the others.
January 19, 2015 7:40 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #32
I agree with you Epoch, wholeheartedly as Ive said already. To really put into effect what you're saying though, they should just ban nothing. Players should suck it up and deal with the fact that 75% of the field chooses to play Pod. The reality is you get all types of 'pros' who sit and wax (read: whine, to paraphrase a part of an earlier post you made) on and on and on at various events about how 'horrid' it is that they have to play pod over and over again. But they don't just leave it there they write articles, flood social media, go on forums. The whole time all they do is whine about Pod and what a horrid matchup it is for their deck.
I cant disagree that some of my posts have talked about wotc making it more difficult to enter into Modern- and its true- because as you've stated several times now if you go to high level events you can expect to see people playing things like 4X Tarmogoyf. The best way (not the only way, but the best way) to fight Tarmogoyf is to run 4 tarmogoyf of your own.
So now we're faced with the prospect of: if you want to compete in modern, you have to pony up the big bucks for tarmogoyf. This is counterproductive and not in harmony with what wotc says on the surface (we want to make modern accesible to the average player) but muddles around with underneath. The same argument can be made for Pod.
Im not saying ban goyf across all formats, just Modern and the reason is because it dominates the format in that people who are running green just to splash for tarmogoyf.
At my heart of hearts though I just say please ban nothing just leave it alone. I don't like the Godmode that the banlist seems to envelop not only in Modern, but in Legacy Vintage and also in Commander. Commander isnt even a legally sanctioned format (outside of FNM) why it has a banlist, Im unsure of still to this day.
January 19, 2015 8:53 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #33
You're still missing the point, I think.
The function of ban lists is not to make the format more accessible. It is to make the format more balanced.
If you take any staple and put it in enough winning decklists, demand will go up and price will follow. There will always be a chase card that's just out of reach of the general player base. Nothing will change that because the game can't be designed such that every card only has one limited function in one deck and can't spread to others, and because players can't be stopped from devising new ways to win with any card. And neither should be stopped if it could.
So WOTC will, and should, continue to ban cards that warp the balance of the format. And our job as players is to figure out how to win with what's left. That means answering cards like Tarmogoyf, either with your own Tarmogoyfs or with removal or a different strategy. That's part of the game: playing around challenges. Unless Goyf becomes a threat to the balance of the format, it will remain legal, and it will remain a challenge. If it ever steps over that line (unlikely, considering it's merely a scaling beater with no utility), then it will be removed and will no longer be a challenge.
The barrier to entry is another issue, and it must be addressed as such. WOTC is making commendable efforts to open the field to more players without disrupting the currently-invested ones. But, as I explained, they don't have an easier option at this time. They can't open the floodgates either on the ban list or on the reprint policy.
You might wish to contribute, if you haven't already, to the current discussion in the Modern format about rebooting the ban list. It sounds like you would be able to make a strong case.
January 19, 2015 9:21 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #34
You know what man I appreciate the offer and I might just do that at some point but I think the best course of action is to suck it up and deal with it. :)
January 19, 2015 10:25 p.m.
DeathriteShaman97 says... #35
Let me tell you guys something. What happend to most of us is just fucking unfair. Sorry for the cussing but this is true. Personally i think the ban was unfair. I have built my treasure burn deck and now i cant play it. I read a comment From a little kid in YouTube who said he saved all his money and he worked for it just to buy himself his first and only modern deck. He was almost finished and now the money is wasted. He said he is thinking about quiting. This almost made me cry. We all know MTG can be an expensive hobby but banning makes other good cards More expensive. We all know treasure cruise was good but you had to play cheap mana costed cards for it. People Started to complaine about it. But who gives a shit. There are even more broken cards Like tarmogoyf, path to exile, dark confidant, liliana and lightning Bolts and nobody complains about Them. Because of stupid hillbillys who can not handle changes people have to suffer. Thank you wotc and you ignorant hillbillys out there. Hopefully they will ban one day some of your cards.
January 20, 2015 6:45 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #36
No need to cry about it tbh, just keep in the back of your mind always that wizards of the coast is not your friend and they arent to be trusted as an entity.
January 20, 2015 7:13 p.m.
As MaRo himself has said in many, many articles, the game itself needs to go through changes in order to stay alive. However, most Magic players hate this change, and the ban list is just one example of how the game has to change. And let's be honest here: for all the whining, bitching and moaning that a player will do, they'll either suck it up and start re-investing, or if they do quit... well, that's why standard exists: to draw in new players and keep the game very much alive.
January 20, 2015 11:01 p.m.
KrosanTusker says... #38
You have to feel bad for the players who, for example, had almost foiled out their Pod deck, or invested heavily in foil Cruises, but with regards to Cruise especially, almost everyone knew it at least could be banned. Sure, it sucks for the people who got caught out, but there were plenty of predictions out there.
I, for one, have been specifically not trading for cards I need for Delver because I expected Cruise to eat a ban and I was aware I would have to change my list then anyway, so I just traded for the fetches and shocks for the mana base. Sure, I've got a few more fetches than I need now that I won't have to fuel delve, but that's no bad thing. Almost everyone I traded with, on finding out I was building Delver, warned me "You know Cruise is gonna be banned, right?"
To TheSuperman97 specifically: Burn was a viable and competitive deck long before Treasure Cruise. Your money is not wasted; your deck is still eminently playable.
January 22, 2015 11:53 a.m.
mathimus55 says... #39
As someone who played burn before and during Treasure Cruise, it's just fine. Burn players have the least to complain about in this banning to be honest. Getting rid of pod helps burn incredibly more than losing the cruise that you splashed for. If Lightning Bolt was banned like you hinted at, THEN you could complain.
Cobthecobbler says... #2
If you pick apart a Pod deck, you'll see that the only banning that could actually limit that decks play is the Pod itself. The rest is utility creatures at 1-ofs and a little more utility. So, there's effectively no other card in the deck that could have gotten banned without Pod keeping its practically unbeatable status.
That being said, I'm probably just as mad about Pod being banned as anyone else. It was my dream deck.
RIP in pieces pod
January 19, 2015 1:33 p.m.