Will Treasure Cruise Be Banned?
Modern forum
Posted on Jan. 2, 2015, 3:41 p.m. by Skimm3r
So, there's one card that has completely broken several formats that everybody is wondering about... Treasure Cruise. Most people I hear from believe that it is going to receive the ban-hammer soon, but I'm not so sure anymore after looking into it a bit.
The common argument is that Ancestral Recall in modern is not a fair decision from Wizards. Also, if Ponder, Preordain, and Ancestral Vision are banned, why isn't a card comparatively the same or better in power level? However, there are some drastic differences between these two... All of these currently banned cantrips can be cast with just ONE BLUE MANA, so any deck that can make a blue mana can abuse them. Treasure Cruise takes a bunch of cards in the graveyard. There is one glaring deck in the format that can do this consistently, and those are Delver variants.
Delver variants have on average 10 or more cantrips in the mainboard, which is a number that would be illogical in any other kind of deck (except twin, possibly). Sure, Jeskai Control or Twin can fill it's graveyard pretty quickly, but these kind of decks like using reactive spells to grind out value. Delver, comparatively, can generate wins from casting any variation of spells with a Young Pyromancer or Monastery Swiftspear, which is something no other deck does. Name one deck that isn't Delver in modern that plays more than 2 Treasure Cruise, if any, over using Snapcaster Mages.
Also, this strategy is very easily disrupted... Scavenging Ooze, Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, Relic of Progenitus, and Tormod's Crypt are all things everybody should already be using in every sideboard.
So, what do all of you think about the banning of Treasure Cruise in the future. I personally think that it is too narrow for most people to use, and that not everybody can consistently throw cards in the graveyard enough to cast it every game. I'm also speculating that it could be an attempt to change the meta a bit for the better... Tarmogoyf just might drop in price because people will be exiling a great majority of their graveyards, as opposed to keeping them around for value.
But I may be wrong, on several fronts, which Is why I'm starting this forum. So please throw your opinions in the comments, and thanks for reading...
GlistenerAgent says... #3
Rhino Cruise plays four Treasure Cruise, and so does Jeskai Ascendancy (the green variant plays four, the Jeskai variant plays 1 or 0), but that's just for the sake of spiting you.
Before the printing of Cruise, there were so few graveyard decks that no one had to play things like Rest in Peace. Even now, I don't think actual graveyard hate aside from Relic of Progenitus should be in anyone's sideboard because there still is no dedicated graveyard deck.
Still, I have to say the card needs banning. The argument that Ponder and Preordain don't require as much investment is a silly one, because playing a game of Magic lets you cast Treasure Cruise for one mana. If you have cheap spells, you can cast it.
Even though it hasn't been totally dominating, the effect is powerful enough that I don't feel comfortable with such a card in the format. Call me a typical Modern player who screams BAN at any good card, but that's the way I feel about it.
January 2, 2015 3:48 p.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #5
all Treasure Cruise has done is make a t1.5-2 deck t1. delver is a good deck now but it's not unbeatable. All banning treasure cruise would do is neuter this deck and make modern less diverse
January 2, 2015 4:06 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #8
I think the card is fine. It falls into the same category as Tarmogoyf I feel. If you play the game as you normally would, Treasure Cruise gets better just like goyf does, except "all" Cruise does is draw you an obnoxious number of cards for potentially 1 mana. Goyf can win games for 2 mana. That being said, despite the fear that it was going to go everywhere, it's been shown that it only really fits in a few decks because the resource cost to make it cheap manawise is so high most decks can't easily afford it.
Again, both of these boogiemen have answers, but everything has answers. In the end it's just a draw spell with a hefty resource demand that not every deck can afford. A deck packed with cantrips had to spring up to make it strong, but in the end that deck gets beaten by Pyroclasm/Anger of the Gods.
January 2, 2015 4:18 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #9
Ugh no not another thread on this fucking card.
Graveyard hate, ladies and gentlemen. Remand. That is all.
January 2, 2015 4:19 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #10
I just want to say that Ancestral Recall was never banned in modern, as it was never legal :P
January 2, 2015 4:27 p.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #12
Set comes out with no Modern playable all-stars:
"OMG! Why does Wizards hate Modern? We need new Modern staples!"
Set comes out with Modern playable all-stars:
"OMG!!! Why hasn't Wizards banned this card yet? It's warping the format!!!"
January 2, 2015 4:33 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #14
Just unban DRS.
...if we had 1 Unban DRS Petition for every Ban Treasure Cruise thread...
January 2, 2015 4:35 p.m.
Is this a joke? Seriously? Stop these stupid fucking threads.
January 2, 2015 4:38 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #16
Lets ban Tarmogoyf while we're at it. Its SOOO easy to fill up the graveyard with the right deck, right? And literally evverrryyy green deck that can afford it runs it. I mean come on.
January 2, 2015 4:40 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #21
Ban modern. It's clearly too op. Everyone back to standard, come on now.
January 2, 2015 4:50 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #28
At this point, what the hell can you expect but trolling when this thread shows up three times a day
January 2, 2015 5:04 p.m.
Oh no, I meant the OP is trolling. All the responses have been completely justified.
January 2, 2015 5:06 p.m.
CharlesMandore says... #30
GUYS! We are clearly overlooking the most fundamental, and important cards to the entire game. Let's direct our thoughts to the biggest targets, Camel, and Scornful Egotist (all hail), and the kingpin of them all, Storm Crow. Once these cards are dealt with then we can lie at ease tonight.
January 2, 2015 5:07 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #31
The thing I like about Storm Crow is He's a Flying One Too!
January 2, 2015 5:37 p.m.
CharlesMandore What, no mention of almighty Chimney Imp or Charging Badger? Has TappedOut forgotten its roots so soon? also lel ban Soulfire Grand Master cleerly 2 str0nk 4 M0d3rN need ban now OP
January 2, 2015 6:08 p.m.
ban everyone on this thread who says that anything other than the cruise needs to be banned. On a side note will cruise be banned in legacy? If It does Chains of mephistopheles will go down in price, and I don't wanna lose $$$ on it
January 2, 2015 6:19 p.m.
Wait...we're missing one key component...all our problems would be solved with the banning of one card...damn you Island. This card is SO broken!! Christ you can run 60 OF THEM if you want!!! Too powerful!! Ban-Hammer!!!
January 2, 2015 6:20 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #35
Asher18 if you came here for advice you came to the wrong place
Scytec you just won this whole thread.
January 2, 2015 6:36 p.m.
Hahaha. That is what I was going for. :p If you're going to do it...may as well do it right. ;p
January 2, 2015 6:38 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #37
@ Epochalyptik and yeaGO
Can I just a big, shiny red button on my ui on the site to blow up any thread I see that mentions banning Treasure Cruise or Jeskai Ascendancy?
January 2, 2015 6:40 p.m.
@forestlore44 - Too late...I beat you to the punch on post #13. And I'm with fluffybunnypants, you can use the Staples easy button if you want. :p I can get you one because I work at Staples. Haha
January 2, 2015 7:03 p.m.
Didn't think I'd get so much hate for posting this... just wanted to see what people thought...
January 2, 2015 7:23 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #41
Don't feel bad. It's a legitimate question, just not new.
January 2, 2015 7:27 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #42
This entire comment section.
OP asked a much more legitimately reasoned and worded question than most people normally do when asking about bans. Even if the question has been asked before, that much effort is still something.
Get on topic or get out.
January 2, 2015 7:29 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #43
Skimm3r they don't personally hate you it's just that this topic had been so over posted add discussed that it rustled a few jimmies.
January 2, 2015 7:30 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #44
This is what happens when we can't handle the topic anymore.
Wizards just recall TC so I don't have to hear about this bullshit anymore lol honestly people we've got like 15 threads on this already.
January 2, 2015 7:31 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #45
Epoch edited his post. Cheater.
In all seriousness, TC is only played in a few decks and in my opinion isn't that format-warping. There's plenty of graveyard hate out there, there's Remand, counterspells up the wazoo, and decks that it doesn't help.
In my opinion, it doesn't make bad decks good or good decks OP. It just makes some decks (Delver) slightly better.
January 2, 2015 7:34 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #46
Remand is an answer to Cruise, but if you're not boarding out all four against Delver you're doing it wrong.
January 2, 2015 7:36 p.m.
@Skimm3r - Sorry if you felt as if my post was hateful in any way, that was not my intention. I am a smartass by nature and while reading this thread I saw an opportunity and took it. It was in no way meant to insult you, just chiming in on a thread I found amusing. The original post was concise and well though out. I personally see no reason to ban TC just because it fits well into very few archetypes...sure, Delver and Ascendancy combo it work fine...but just splashing blue to play it is stupis and useless, it doesn't break the format, it propels a certain few decks into better positioning. The only deck it really screws over is 8-Rack and Megrim haha. don't worry man, none of us hate you, we are just a community of smartasses that is hard to stop once it gets started. Best of luck in future endeavors!!!
P.S. My OPINIONS stated above are just that...I am not a professional and my experience is limited to my local playgroup at an FNM level, in this level of play, I have had no bad experiences with Cruise.
January 2, 2015 7:38 p.m.
CanadianShinobi says... #48
Clearly I missed the cocaine party. Damn.
Anyway, on topic. Should TC be banned? No. People have already stated the numerous reasons why. I can see why some, like GlistenerAgent argue for its banning, but at the end of the day we need to consider the results given to us. It's a good card, but it isn't that good. It is still a card that requires a heavy investment in terms of resources.
@ Skimm3r if it makes you feel better, I hate everyone equally :D
January 2, 2015 9:28 p.m.
I know it's not a new question, but I didn't see a post on the topic already when I added mine... so sorry about that. And don't worry, my feelings shriveled up and died a long time ago; not much can get to them any more ;)
January 4, 2015 12:04 p.m.
Ban Air... Its the real over powered culprit here. :P
JWiley129 says... #2
this has been retread at least 10 times since Treasure Cruise was printed, but I'll leave my 2-cents here.
TC won't be banned before the Pro Tour, and it won't be banned in the Fate Refoged banned list update. And I think it's actually fine, as the metagame hasn't been dominated by TC or Dig Through Time decks as we thought.
January 2, 2015 3:45 p.m.