Magic: The Gathering

[Kara]

Mogg Fanatic under Sixth Edition rules when combat damage went the stack.

About that sequence, first, I misplayed when I dropped the Fanatic while sitting on 3 lands with a Cursed Scroll in play, but Stalking Stones is the ultimate 7 turn clock. Second, my opponent knew I had the Fireblast thanks to Cursed Scroll*. Third, I totally get protecting your Stones (who likes getting kicked in the balls? ), but I didn't have the mana to kill the Stones that turn anyway with activated abilities (see point 1), so why the hell didn't you just use the removal option on Hydroblast instead? I only had one card in hand! (e: For reference, my opponent unfortunately was not in reach range, so the one damage doesn't seem material to me. Not that either line here is terribly optimal when you can Whispers of the Muse with buyback.)

*Turn 1 Cursed Scroll against Draw-Go when you're on the play.

[WanderingWind]

I just want Supreme Verdict to be a viable card in modern. Somehow, someway.

[Joe Molotov]

I think I'm gonna build Modern Storm before MaRo gets drunk one weekend and finally bans Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens. I need some more deviancy in my life.

[Kara]

I just want Supreme Verdict to be a viable card in modern. Somehow, someway.

 



@Joe I'm game if you are. Deviant behavior is always better with another.

[Joe Molotov]

@Joe I'm game if you are. Deviant behavior is always better with another.

I only play Magic in the meatspace, but in spirit we can be together.   

[Kara]

Oh shit, I'm finally playing Modern now huh.

Die a Benalish Hero or live long enough to see yourself become the Spinal Villain.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I SHOULD buy it in paper since I already own most of the money cards, but I'd like to actually play with what I buy.

[close]

[Kara]

I only play Magic in the meatspace, but in spirit we can be together.   

(Image removed from quote.)

I totally forgot that the beautiful Wayne Reynolds illustration on Desperate Ritual is paper only.

[naff]

gifts storm eh, i also want to play a linear, non-creature combo deck in modern. but i would buy into ad nauseum, or if going with jank (my opin of gifts storm), i would play some sweet balance deck.

wowowow - yes please. get. in. my. deck.


edit: new image :p

[naff]

[Kara]

Easier to cast, easier to use, fewer drawbacks, and in Green? Sounds about right for Magic in 2017.

As for Gifts Storm vs. Ad Nauseam, the dailies don't really support your position that the former is jank while the latter is not.

I like a lot about that deck (I've mentioned itt that Angel's Grace makes it play like Prosperous Bloom before death was a state-based effect, Spoils of the Vault is a Demonic Consultation you can fuck up real bad with, Simian Spirit Guide makes Modern dorks sound like babies, Laboratory Maniac is a lulzy Johnny card, and I always appreciate decks that rely on Coldsnap and Time Spiral block cards to go), but Gifts Storm:

-Uses lots of Kamigawa block cards

-Plays a Legend from a set that isn't Kamigawa block

-Uses Time Spiral cards to win, one of which is illustrated by Pete Venters

-Is 2 color instead of the haram color combos you generally find in Modern as a result of years of babying design (don't get cute and talk about Manamorphose )

-Uses Past in Flames which is a rad as heck card

-Is a monument to the hubris of 8th Edition era R&D with Red mana acceleration and Storm 2.0

[Joe Molotov]

Translator's Note: Kamigawa means "Godgawa".

[Kara]

Translator's Note: Kamigawa means "Godgawa".

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/truth-fantasy-2005-03-07

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sakura Tribe Elder

[close]

[naff]

Ad nauseum can win at instant speed, is faster than storm and doesn't just outright lose to Eidolon of the Great Revel. Burn is so prevalent in paper, if you have a terrible match up to it, the deck is - at least in my meta - not worth it.

Ad naus on the other hand is resilient, great burn matchup, actually just lots of great match ups vs. Tier 1 strategies. Not great vs. Creature combo/decks that are faster than it, so I guess there's cheerios on top of decks liek revolt zoo, bushwhacker zoo, infect...? . Still haven't played against cheerios in a paper tournament.

I get that storm is just really fun for a lot of people though. I also believe that the lack of Melira company among other things warps the meta online a fair bit, but I haven't played on modo for a long time now.

[naff]

Also. Yes, vizier of the menagerie is just classic mtg 2017 stuff. Apparently reducing complexity to MaRo just means tacking absurdly powerful abilities onto sweet creatures. This thing is good enough to see modern. Looking at your top card AT ANY TIME, being able to play it, and not even giving your opponent info

Not sure it's absolutely broken, but it is going to be a very powerful card advantage engine in my bant retreat deck in certain matchups. Initial run will be swapping out ven clique for Courser of Kruphix, with tireless tracker, Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm as my 3 drops. I can see some turns I just cast 3 or 4 cards off the top of my deck if I'm allowed to untap with this thing.  Ven Clique is now in the board of my grixis deck.

[Kara]

Jund is very overplayed on MODO and Burn is a top 3 in the dailies right now.

(MODO) Modern even seems immune to the MODO phenomenon of not playing decks because they have a very expensive cards atm given that Eidolon had the misfortune of being in a "bad" draft block and Jund costs more than Type 1 decks do on MODO.

There are arguments that could explain the similar performance while Gifts Storm remains jank (the deck seems to be played a lot more than it is in paper, it's relatively new, it hasn't won a big event, graveyard hate could be weaker on MODO), but it's not readily apparent from the data sets we're arguing about.

[Kara]

In this set they will introduce the new land type "Desert" but they didn't reprint the card Desert in it because it was "too overpowered" (though I'm sure it'll get pointless errata now) but they printed this:



Yes, that Desert.

[WanderingWind]

I haven't preordered a PW since Gideon (this is notable as it was the only one I preordered that I can recall) and I'm going to jump in on those Nissas. She is a thing of beauty.

[naff]

i like her too. great value with Vizier.  pretty fragile early, can't protect herself consistently on an empty board especially if you're playing on three. pretty solid mid game and incredible late game. really well designed x cost. i would bet on her dropping a bit from this pre-order price.

rhonas though a.k.a lambholt pacifist on crack


legendary Creature - God
Deathtouch, indestructible
Rhonas, the Indomitable can't attack or block unless you control another creature with power 4 or greater.
2G: Another target creature you control gains +2/0 and trample until end of turn.


I think i was being a little overly liberal with my use of jank re Gifts Storm - it's feelings vs. facts  , i have no data to back up my opinion. It seems a solid deck, to elaborate i see it as being a little slower and more fragile than ad nauseum. as far as league results, i've never really taken them as much of an indication of what is actually good. popular though? sure. i would describe my hatebears as pretty jank and barely tiered atm, but always fairly popular because of guys like Craig Wescoe who get it in the spotlight by constantly forcing it and being amazing players, and looking at recent leagues it still puts up a lot of results.

Similarly Storm seems like it will always be popular, because Storm is cool, cheap (and good for loners). unless ad naus becomes the spike deck, but i believe it's underrated primarily because its lines are esoteric, the cards are weird, historically it hasn't been great, and at the moment its competitive edge is only really anecdotal and up for debate. so, really, i can't speak on a deck i have only sat across the table from and im not all that results or data focussed with mtg, it is too difficult to get solid numbers. generally i just trust my gut and experience when it comes to what i think is better. mtgtop8 seems almost meaningless aside from describing how popular a list is, or identifying what the big decks are, as you really need to understand how many ppl are entering the leagues with such lists vs how many are actually placing to understand the efficacy in win %. e.g. looking at the page for lists like bant retreat, it looks great, http://mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=222&meta=51&f=MO, has been showing up in top 8's at GPs for a while and seems to place fine in leagues. although i really have little idea just by looking at those numbers. still, consistently top 8'ing gps with upwards of 600 players indicates a fair bit more than some league numbers, yet i think most people who play modern would either just be unfamiliar with the deck, or describe it as jank because it's not a traditionally popular archetype.



 

[Joe Molotov]

 

It's not gonna straight up replace Eidolon in Modern Burn, but 3 dmg to crack a fetch? Oof. I could see it getting sideboarded against certain decks.

[Kara]

And it's got the nü asymmetrical templating.

Red hate bears that actually hate

Thanks for the informative post, naff.

[naff]

oh lawd. this guy will definitely be being sideboarded. and it's only your opponent! i thought it was a symmetrical effect when i first read it. i would board out eidolon and run this in the mirror along with a kor firewalker or two.

hits one of burns worst match-ups, melira company, and quite nice against merfolks aether vial n cursecatchers. enjoy your viscera seer activation m8. also, expedition map, walking ballista, endbringer, knight of the reliquary, grim lavaman, kiki-chord.

[naff]

spoiler season is so distracting...

[Kara]

Very first game on Gifts Storm: perfect 20 storm count on turn 3.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Drawing Urzatron on my first match with Gifts Storm.

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

http://kotaku.com/mom-apologizes-for-trying-to-sell-sons-rare-magic-card-1794246260

Wow, what a bitch. I hope he beat her up after Japanese South Park (Crayon Shin-chan?) went off.

[Kara]

On Yahoo Auctions Japan, the mother listed them as “Various Old Cards,” stating that since they were old, some had scratches, folds, or were even stinky. “But, objectively, I think they are beautiful,” she stated.

Mars Wizards of the Coast Creative Needs Moms Okā-sama

[Joe Molotov]

WTS HP Stinky Black Lotus

[Kara]

That's some good shit. (Even if "cycled or discarded" is redundant.)




If you had Time Stop in the "effects reassigned from Blue to Red" pool, you win, but since it's also Final Fortune, you lose.

[Joe Molotov]

From one of the writers of "Magic Story":



kara help

[Kara]

From one of the writers of "Magic Story":

(Image removed from quote.)

kara help

In this week's story Alison outed Chandra-chan as not being heterosexual (don't go and read it, Nissa was raised by leylines and doesn't understand social cues) and a mummy brought the Jacestice League breakfast in bed when it wasn't expected, shocking the occupants of one bedroom they're crashing at in a palace in Nicol Bolas' private plane (that an Umezawa hasn't #rekt yet Kappa). They then demand Lili-sama (who took the other bedroom for herself) explain why she had a mummy bring them breakfast in bed and she's like, stfu noobs I have my own bedroom and I didn't do that. Somewhere along the way Nissa learned how to do JayZehhh.gif but not what it means. Leylines are worse than wolves at parenting.

Have community managers write your lore brehs.

[Joe Molotov]

Nissa is Blue now, she needs to stop living in a Daze and Ponder why Chandra is always Gushing over her.

[Kara]

Now that the full spoiler is out you might want to talk about cats getting their own lord (why is lifelink a feline ability again?), or a strictly superior King Cheetah being printed (the creature power creep is too damn high!!), or R&D's continued  insistence on printing a mechanic in Red that goes in Dredge and nothing else because Dredge isn't Magic, or the fact that an inferior Lightning Rift was printed in black. All of that is well and good, but the story no one is talking about is this: Mark Poole is back in Type 2.

Now it's just a reprint, which is a bit of a bummer given that he's come back before on cards like Restore Balance, but it's a reprint of one of the strongest cards ever printed in the game, so it's hardly unbefitting of the man who illustrated cards like Ancestral Recall, Fastbond or Eternal Flame. (Click the spoiler to reveal.)

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Kara]

What a collapse by Blue Delver (the format's premier deck, and regular top dog) after the release of Modern Masters 2017. Even my deck Kuldotha Kitty is a spot higher in the metagame now.

Burning-Tree has really put Stompy over the top, but UR (which you might be interested to hear is a Skred deck and a Delver deck mashed together, Joe) went from pretty solid to legit with Augur of Bolas getting the downshift. Called that one while everyone was talking about how it wasn't better than Sea Gate Oracle. (A stopped clock really is right twice a day.)



Reprint sets that aren't Type 2 legal.

[Joe Molotov]

Hey Kara, Pauper Bogles is getting the spotlight today at Channel Fireball.

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-of-the-day-bogles-pauper/

(Although the author admits it's only because it's a port of a Modern deck, so it's more easily understood by the Modern crowd.  )

[Kara]

I could write a lot in response to that article but no1curr. Nice to see it get some love though, it definitely rewards a player who knows the game (e.g. using Armadillo Cloak as a removal spell).

Speaking of Pauper, I found out about this deck today and now that I find myself playing the most Kamigawa deck in Modern, I feel a certain responsibility to play 22arcanespells.dec in a format where combo is very bad.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kamigawa means godriver, Joe.

[close]

Unrelated: People seem really down on Harsh Mentor. When did Monastery Swiftspear become a sacred cow? (Besides the fact she's a waifu.)

[naff]

Who are we talking about? I was quite high on it at first, but it's not really maindeckable in modern I don't think outside of a really decent hatebear deck. Could see splashing red in the modern dnt deck for it alongside bolt.

Will be trying a couple in the burn sb, the most obvious problem being that yes, there are a lot of things with activated abilities this pings. But it dies to push, path and bolt without your opponent taking any damage.

I can definitely see it being interesting maindeck alongside a mana denial package, maybe even in legacy alongside stifle and wasteland?

[WanderingWind]

Don't believe the anti-hype. It's all the usual speculators talking about how it's not that great. It'll be expensive as fuck before long.

[Joe Molotov]

Speaking of Kamigawa, I want to play Commander just to run this sweet Samurai deck.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/samurai-saskia/

[naff]

Don't believe the anti-hype. It's all the usual speculators talking about how it's not that great. It'll be expensive as fuck before long.

Not anti-hype per se, but I don't think it will have a strong, or any, impact on competitive maindecks. It will be something we'll see in and out of sideboards across standard, modern, possibly legacy  

[naff]

Saskia unyielding seems like some damn good beats

I just finished my first edh deck. Michiko Konda prison control. Also building sygg tribal merfolks

[Kara]

Who are we talking about?

Places you can find easily? The Source and a Modern Nexus preview article. (I believe the latter even straight up called it bad.)

Dies to removal without consequences is a fair criticism (especially contra Eidolon), but perhaps the same could be said of all religions that's looking for excuses not to play a card. At least it reads that way.

The bitter Canadian Threshold pilot in me loves your idea of making someone take 3 to fetch, then countering the activated ability with Stifle, BTW. Now that's some good shit.

Speaking of Kamigawa, I want to play Commander just to run this sweet Samurai deck.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/samurai-saskia/

1x Toshiro Umezawa
0x Umezawa's Jitte

[naff]

right, yeah i haven't read anything that condemned it, i dont read modern nexus or really follow the source outside of decks that im learning about/playing. i don't think it's a great maindeck in burn, but i still think it's an amazing sideboard tool there, and i think it'll be pretty damn nice next to leonin arbiter/tec edge and ghost quarter in the modern dnt shell. i dont see it being big in standard, and i really dont have enough of a feel for legacy to know if it would slot into rug delver/candian threshold, but i can see the interaction with stifle and wasteland being really nice, and it stops drs from stabilising. the ceiling is high, but the floor is a vanilla 2/2. kinda like voice of resurgence, but that will more often give you a big ol' elemental than not.

on another note, i just swapped path with chained to the rocks in my burn sb. it's a tempo hit not being able to end step the path in response to a fattie, but often i'm finding giving them that extra land to cast coco, fix their greed and cast fatties too relevant, too often. i think sorcery speed removal might be an alright trade off. on top of that it gets rid of the nonbo with molten rain which is now there due to the rise of ponza, eldrazi tron and u tron. getting 2 for 1s on their land + utopia sprawl 

[Joe Molotov]

Almost got all my cards for Storm in. Hopefully I'll be able to FNM it this week. Just waiting for Grapeshot, Manamorphose, and a Merchant Scroll.

(Homelands of course, so I can get people like "Wait, is this a Modern legal card?" "Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't know Homelands was in Modern, you poor pleb? Let me summon my Autumn Willow.  )

[naff]

Eighth Ed. Homelands

i get that quite a bit when i play the Planeshift Meddling Mage.

[Kara]

on another note, i just swapped path with chained to the rocks in my burn sb. it's a tempo hit not being able to end step the path in response to a fattie, but often i'm finding giving them that extra land to cast coco, fix their greed and cast fatties too relevant, too often. i think sorcery speed removal might be an alright trade off. on top of that it gets rid of the nonbo with molten rain which is now there due to the rise of ponza, eldrazi tron and u tron. getting 2 for 1s on their land + utopia sprawl 

If a card works against the plan of your deck it's worth testing a substitution that works in concert with it instead, though ultimately your plan may prove to be strictly inferior to another. Playing Path to Exile with land destruction does seem counterproductive; Ghost Quarter can at least combo with Crucible of Worlds.

As for giving up instant speed, this is completely imo, but I think players have a (to borrow a term the spec community ran into the ground after borrowing it from forex hobbyists) price memory effect when it comes to the card type. The utility of a defensive instant is extremely high... when you can do something else instead if you didn't need to cast it. Meanwhile in Modern people have to aggressively mulligan.

Almost got all my cards for Storm in. Hopefully I'll be able to FNM it this week. Just waiting for Grapeshot, Manamorphose, and a Merchant Scroll.

(Homelands of course, so I can get people like "Wait, is this a Modern legal card?" "Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't know Homelands was in Modern, you poor pleb? Let me summon my Autumn Willow.  )

Be sure to sideboard in Eron the Relentless for maximum Vorthos value.

I'm not really liking the Merchant Scroll main deck or sideboard, TBH, but fully admit I could be wrong about it. To me the strength of the deck is how it's constructed to give the illusion of choice through Gifts Ungiven and information asymmetry (one of my favorite plays is to pick a Past in Flames with Gifts when I have a Past in Flames in hand) and casting Merchant Scroll is akin to leaving Pornhub open on a shared computer. Peer Through Depths also has this problem, but it's more flexible in both its targeted colors and speed, gives a certain air of plausible deniability, and MOST GOSH DARN IMPORTANT it's a valid Splice onto Arcane target.

I really like Remand in certain situations, and it can entirely eliminate the need to get a Storm count of 20 (Remand a Grapeshot cast when your Storm Count is at 10, then cast Grapeshot again) but it feels like a dead card way more than I'd like so I'm strongly considering adding Disrupting Shoal to the mix. Baral being Legendary means he can be dead weight too if you draw a second, and some nasty ass cards in the format have a converted mana cost of 2.

[Kara]

New story today.

"Hello, Jace," [Liliana] said. "Brunch?"

"It's past midday," he said.

"It's a late brunch."

He gritted his teeth.

"That's . . . just . . . lunch."

"You're planning to follow me," she said.

"Obviously."

"And if I tell you not to follow me," she said, "you'll turn invisible and follow me anyway."

Jace shrugged. "It crossed my mind."

"So the only difference is whether I have to look at you along the way?"

"Uh . . . I guess?"

"Fine," said Liliana. "Come on then."

She walked away, following the shade.

Jace sighed and followed after her, muttering, "So does that mean you want to look at me, or . . . ?"

She sighed.

"Promise you won't be mad?"

"No."

"Promise you won't tell Gideon?"

"Uh, extra no."

"Then you figure it out, cloak boy."

He walked next to her, thinking.

"You're trying to find Nicol Bolas," he said.

"I'd just as soon not."

"You're going to betray us to Nicol Bolas."

"Tempting, but no."

Reminder that Hasbro wants to make a media empire off this stuff.

[Kara]

Great, Mandark isn't content to merely own me on The Bore, now he's come to MODO.

Let's play this thing out...

Turn 6: Karakand
Karakand casts Goblin Electromancer.
Karakand casts Desperate Ritual.
Karakand casts Desperate Ritual.
Karakand casts Pyretic Ritual.
Karakand casts Desperate Ritual.
Karakand casts Manamorphose.
Karakand draws a card with Manamorphose.
Karakand casts Grapeshot targeting Mandark.
Karakand puts triggered ability from Grapeshot onto the stack (6 spells cast before Grapeshot this turn.) Storm
Karakand casts Gifts Ungiven targeting Mandark.
Mandark casts Counterflux targeting Gifts Ungiven.
Karakand casts Empty the Warrens.
Karakand puts triggered ability from Empty the Warrens onto the stack (9 spells cast before Empty the Warrens this turn.) Storm
Mandark has conceded from the game.

!!!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[naff]

been playing around with junk colours in standard again. more, or less splashing white for cast-out and a few sb cards :p i am really enjoying cycling :p

i'm settled on a Delirium List for the minute (because i have the cards), and if Felidar Guardian isn't banned i'll run a similar 4c list to before, possibly with a nu-nissa or two.

Liliana, Death's Majesty though  running 4 of her adn 3 of the last hope in my board rn. cycling archfiend or horror of the broken lands with a live Grim Flyer feels so good (instant speed ponder anyone?) and sets up Liliana nicely for turn 5. definitely more room to do broken stuff with drazi and so on, but i like playing the consistent value game. Also been enjoying Drake Haven, and tried a bug and ub cycling deck too. i love playing drake haven into shefet monitor. it's probable straight golgari is correct, i just like messing with greedy decks to begin with. i can see a simic ramp deck working out too: focussing on how harvest season could be a really nice pay-off next to throne of the god-pharaoh in a cryptolith rite ramp deck backed up with some pretty decent disruption (disallow, censor). kinda allays the problems associated with getting all your dorks wiped out. look forward to doming people for ten with nissa turn 5, possibly turn 4 with Harvest season: t1 land - loam dryad, t2 loam dryad - land - cryptolith rite, t3 land - dryad/two mana dork - harvest season for 3, t4 land (7 now) + 3 creatures and cryp, play nissa for x=8 - dome for ten, still have a planeswalker on 2 loyalty and 3 dorks for your troubles.

 It is unfortunate the ug mana base is so dodgy. would be really nice if there were some enemy battle lands. fast lands... not so great in ramp :p

[Joe Molotov]

Standard will continue to get DP'ed by Gideon and Saheeli until further notice.

TOP KEK

[Kara]

At long last Sensei's Divining Top is banned in Type 1.5. Rot in shit deck hell, Miracles.

All it took was me buying into Modern (and having fun playing it despite its obvious warts) for Wizards to act. With great power comes great responsibility, how can I make the game better next?

BTW, if you bought Steve Menendian's book about Gush (lol), Pauper is now the last format where you can play 4x of it.

[WanderingWind]

I have 5 Gideons. I really need to sell them off now.

[Joe Molotov]

Slamming 4x Gush, Ponder, and Preordain in your deck and playing real magic. 

[Kara]

And 4x Brainstorm.

[Kara]

Did my first Amonkhet draft. It was a debacle (like most of my drafting is). Can we please have Planeswalker Points on MODO so I can't be ashamed of the ELO on every single one of my alts?

On the 2 occasions that my deck worked, I liked the cute interactions I drafted.

Oketra's Monument
Anointed Procession
jank with Embalm
other token making creatures
Throne of the God-Pharaoh

[Joe Molotov]

I love drafting because it always makes me feel like a genius or a complete idiot.

[Kara]

I need to stop drafting "intermediate" leagues; nothing brings the sharks out like packs and qualifier point prizes. (Unless there's no alternative like masters sets, but I don't struggle nearly as much with those because they're more constructed than draft limited environments.)

GIFTS STORM STORY: My decklist has 2x Island and 1x Snow-Covered Island (instead of the standard 3x Island) so that I can use Gifts Ungiven to tutor for lands in very rare situations. Yesterday I got matched up with someone who was running Relics of Progenitus in their main deck (haters smh), so I ended up using Gifts Ungiven to target lands, thin the heck out of my deck, then go off with an Empty the Warrens --> Remand --> Empty the Warrens turn after drawing nothing but good stuff.

tfw your opponent is popping Relics of Progenitus digging for an answer when you've answered their answer.

[Joe Molotov]

Felidar Guardian emergency ban. What is even going on at Wizards?

[Kara]

MODO grinders saved Magic Type 2 for people who constantly malign and look down on them.

Why are we making this call now and why didn't we make it in our regular B&R announcement on Monday? The answer is data. We knew going into Monday that the Saheeli-Felidar combo was a significant issue for Standard and were watching it closely. Our rationale for waiting was to make sure we only needed to take one and only one action to correct the Standard environment. Our plan was to monitor early play behavior and pro competition and make a call following Pro Tour Amonkhet.

Since the initial announcement, for the first time ever, we pre-released a new card set on Magic Online before the formal release date. This happened on Monday. What we expected to take a few weeks to understand has ended up taking two days to form a clear picture of a metagame unbalanced by the Copy Cat combo, as even its natural predator, Mardu Vehicles, fell behind. Couple this with consensus among a wide sampling of pros and feedback (and pizza) from our community and we decided to take action.

Saheeli-Felidar's win-loss ratio and metagame share has actually increased since the release of Amonkhet. In Magic Online Standard Leagues since Monday, Saheeli combo has made up approximately 40% of 5-0 and 4-1 decklists—up from prior to Amonkhet's release. While we never take decisions like this lightly and recognize this is a change from the norm, when a plurality of the data points in a clear direction, we will take action.

The game's real heroes.

[Human Snorenado]

Spergs that play modo 18 hours a day

 

[Kara]

On a serious note, I hope that the banning methodology used in January is never used again in Type 2.

If the format is bad enough that you have to ban, just ban the fucking stupid cards like Marvel instead of trying to keep archetypes alive with neutering bans (guess what the #3 deck was on MODO? Copy Cat Marvel), and don't preemptively ban cards like Reflector--you never know what stupid combo your development team missed in the new set. Type 2 isn't Modern and that's OK.

On a design note, much has been made about the removal crisis but I think the more important lesson is that it would be wise to lay off flickering for a long time. With the way creatures are made now the mechanic generates too much value and it creates too many possibilty storms to navigate for balancing purposes. And let's be honest, flickering that doesn't last until the beginning of the end step has minimal contribution to the game as an intellectual entertainment medium.

And for the love of Urza, figure out a way to punish greedy mana bases that you can live with. The game is choking on this issue in multiple formats.

[naff]

preeeetty funny. i have copy cat in paper, traded some jank for saheelis for next to nothing before the banlist announcement. felt pretty smart when it wasn't banned...

Then this