(The announcement of the updated Ban/Restricted lists can be found here; if you click on this link you'll see the official explanation for the updates)
Hey guys!
Earlier this morning Wizards of the Coast posted their December 20th Banned/Restricted List update to take effect January 1, 2012.
No formats were touched...except Modern.
NEW BANNINGS IN MODERN
Punishing Fire
Wild Nacatl
Wild Nacatl and Punishing Fire were both featured in Zoo builds.
Punishing Fire would be combined with Grove of the Burnwillows to either do a net of 1 damage to the opponent that's reuseable or to get a reuseable 2 damage hit to creatures. And with enough mana and Punishing Fires, that turns into 4, 6, or 8 to a creature in exchange for some life gain the opponent will end up losing because you're re-re-reusing your Punishing Fires.
Wild Nacatl has a lot in common with Kird Ape. Kird Ape was popular in the then-new Extended format. It could easily be a 2/3 creature on Turn 1 thanks to Taiga being legal in the format then. Because it was so efficient, it got banned. And in later years, everyone laughed that a potential 2/3 for 1 mana ever got banned in Extended.
Flashforward to Modern. Wild Nacatl has a little more going for it. We have the Modern equivalent of Dual Lands in the form of "shock lands". As well, Wild Nacatl has a friend Kird Ape never had :"Fetch lands." Yes, on Turn 1 Wild Nacatl could easily be a 2/2 for 1 mana, then next turn a 3/3 for 1 mana with little chance for an opponent to answer until a few turns later. Here's all it takes:
Turn 1: Arid Mesa, "crack" the Fetchland to get a Temple Garden/Stomping Ground, cast Wild Nacatl. Now that you control a Plains/Mountain (whichever of those lands you got), you have a 1-mana 2/2.
Turn 2: If your opponent didn't have a Lightning Bolt, you play any of the other Plains and/or Mountain "shocklands" and Wild Nacatl becomes a 3/3. Add Noble Hierarch to the mix and you have a 4/4 when attacking on Turn 2.
And it seems this kind of play happened more often than not. With fetchlands and Exalted triggers, it's easy to make Nacatl much more powerful than it was for Kird Ape to ever be and much faster too.
For these reasons, the DCI felt that the variety of the format was being threatened. Zoo decks are too prominent, in part because of Wild Nacatl and in part because of the Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire combo. As well, the Grove/Fire combo was being used as a win condition in other decks that could afford to run the combo.
And because deck variety was being threatened, the DCI felt the need to ban these 2 cards.
On the plus side...this is the fewest bannings that have happened to Modern since the format sprang up earlier this year. Last update had 6 cards banned, and the initial announcement (on August 12th) had a whopping 21 cards on it. With 29 cards on the list, I have a sneaky suspicion we'll see at least a couple cards come off the list next update (scheduled for March 20th to be effective April 1, 2012).
What do you all think? Are these bans the correct move? Should something have been unbanned? What about in other formats? Feel free to leave your comments here and share and discuss! :)
Showing posts with label Modern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Modern. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
October Banned/Restricted List Update: Heavy Hits for Blue and Modern
(The following information is from this article detaliing the Banned/Restricted List Changes and this forum post on MTGCommander.net)
Hey all!
Today's another Banned/Restricted announcement, this time a normally scheduled one. All normaly Banned/Restricted updates happen on the 20th of ever 3rd month (so there are 4 regularly scheduled updates in a year). This is the first Banned/Restricted announcement since Jace, the Mind Sculptor got banned in Standard, Stoneforge got semi-banned in Standard, and the Modern official Banned list was released.
And today sees more changes than are normally seen out of a Banned/Restricted Update. Let me put it this way...the only formats NOT hit seemed to be Scars of Mirrodin block and Standard. Everything else that has sanctioned play at least once a year got a Banned/Restricted List update.
So let's go ahead and get started off with the first rotating format to get updates...EXTENDED!
Extended Ban List Update
NEWLY BANNED:
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Mental Misstep
Ponder
Preordain
Stoneforge Mystic
REASON: Basically, every card banned here was a big player in too many successful decks over the last 3 years in Standard. Players seemed to complain about how the format was shaping up, so these new bans are a means to help revitalize interest in Extended.
NOTE: There is no partial banning of Stoneforge Mystic. She is completely banned in Extended.
Now let's move on to our most recent Eternal format, MODERN!
Modern Ban List Update
NEWLY BANNED:
Blazing Shoal
Cloudpost
Green Sun's Zenith
Ponder
Preordain
Rite of Flame
REASONS:
Blazing Shoal delivered too consistent of a quick kill: Turn 1-2, throw out Blighted Agent or Inkmoth Nexus, Turn 2-3 cast Blazing Shoal and ditch a Dragonstorm/Reaper King/Progenitus to get lethal Infect damage.
Cloudpost was dominating, allowing very quick mana acceleration in combination with Vesuva and Glimmerpost. Supposedly, these decks could hit 15 mana by Turn 4. This was deemed unhealthy.
Green Sun's Zenith: Early or late game, it's just too efficient at what it does. It can either act as early mana acceleration by getting a Dryad Arbor or get a late-game beater like Primeval Titan. It was getting to a point where all Green decks were going the Green Sun's Zenith route and no other way.
Ponder and Preordain: Like Brainstorm and Ponder in Vintage, they're too good at what they do. In some combo decks, it became too easy to find combo pieces...just like Brainstorm.
Rite of Flame: Combo enabler that was seen way to often. One of the highest finishing decks at the latest Pro Tour won 9 out of 10 games with it and the games ended VERY quickly.
Next up, we're moving to the more restrictive format...LEGACY!
Legacy Ban List Update
NEWLY BANNED:
Mental Misstep
REASON: Mental Misstep was a mistake...a BAD mistake. Printed to help non-blue decks have access to a Force of Will-type card, instead blue deck adopted Mental Misstep ALONGSIDE Force of Will. What happened to the Legacy metagame was exactly the opposite of what they intended. They planned to ban the card if the results were poor, and, well, they were.
So congratulations! Unless you're playing Standard, Scars of Mirrodin block constructed, or Vintage, you have no opportunity to play Mental Misstep.
And almost finally, we get some good news with an unrestriction in the most open format for legalities, VINTAGE!
Vintage Restricted List Update
NEWLY RESTRICTED:
None
NEWLY UNRESTRICTED (4-of):
Fact or Fiction
REASON: Fact or Fiction was powerful long ago, and the time seems to have come to unban it and see if it's as big a powerhouse now as it was then. This goes along with unbannings like Grim Monolith and Time Spiral in Legacy where each proved to be not overpowered in the present day.
ULTIMATELY LASTLY AND FINALLY...finally (:p)...we have a COMMANDER update with one unbanning and 1 banning as a Commander.
Commander Ban List Update
UNBANNED:
Lion's Eye Diamond
BANNED AS A COMMANDER (still okay in the other 99 cards of your deck):
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
BANNED:
Shahrazad
REASONS
Lion's Eye Diamond: Sheldon Menery, basically the internet leader for EDH, and his rules committee feel that while Lion's Eye Diamond COULD have potential issues, the benefits of letting newer players explore "non-scummy" ways to use it seems to be worth unbanning. Or something like that? But they'll keep a close eye on it and see if it ends up hurting the format.
Shahrazad: Meant to let newer players have some fun with subgames, the rules committee was finding that people were building Shahrazad-based decks just to annoy players. That's never good for the game. Whatever exception allowed Shahrazad to be played was removed and it's not completely banned.
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant as a Commander: Simply put, he effectively ends games as soon as he hits the board. Sheldon and the rules committee don't like Commanders that do that. Players learn the hard way that, unless they have a very narrow set of answers, they can't deal with Erayo once it flips.
All of these changes except Commander take effect on October 1st, so enjoy your Ponders, Preordains, Mental Misstepts, and Rite of Flames a little while longer. For Commander, the changes are immediate, as best I can tell.
That is all for tonight. Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to post here. :)
Hey all!
Today's another Banned/Restricted announcement, this time a normally scheduled one. All normaly Banned/Restricted updates happen on the 20th of ever 3rd month (so there are 4 regularly scheduled updates in a year). This is the first Banned/Restricted announcement since Jace, the Mind Sculptor got banned in Standard, Stoneforge got semi-banned in Standard, and the Modern official Banned list was released.
And today sees more changes than are normally seen out of a Banned/Restricted Update. Let me put it this way...the only formats NOT hit seemed to be Scars of Mirrodin block and Standard. Everything else that has sanctioned play at least once a year got a Banned/Restricted List update.
So let's go ahead and get started off with the first rotating format to get updates...EXTENDED!
Extended Ban List Update
NEWLY BANNED:
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Mental Misstep
Ponder
Preordain
Stoneforge Mystic
REASON: Basically, every card banned here was a big player in too many successful decks over the last 3 years in Standard. Players seemed to complain about how the format was shaping up, so these new bans are a means to help revitalize interest in Extended.
NOTE: There is no partial banning of Stoneforge Mystic. She is completely banned in Extended.
Now let's move on to our most recent Eternal format, MODERN!
Modern Ban List Update
NEWLY BANNED:
Blazing Shoal
Cloudpost
Green Sun's Zenith
Ponder
Preordain
Rite of Flame
REASONS:
Blazing Shoal delivered too consistent of a quick kill: Turn 1-2, throw out Blighted Agent or Inkmoth Nexus, Turn 2-3 cast Blazing Shoal and ditch a Dragonstorm/Reaper King/Progenitus to get lethal Infect damage.
Cloudpost was dominating, allowing very quick mana acceleration in combination with Vesuva and Glimmerpost. Supposedly, these decks could hit 15 mana by Turn 4. This was deemed unhealthy.
Green Sun's Zenith: Early or late game, it's just too efficient at what it does. It can either act as early mana acceleration by getting a Dryad Arbor or get a late-game beater like Primeval Titan. It was getting to a point where all Green decks were going the Green Sun's Zenith route and no other way.
Ponder and Preordain: Like Brainstorm and Ponder in Vintage, they're too good at what they do. In some combo decks, it became too easy to find combo pieces...just like Brainstorm.
Rite of Flame: Combo enabler that was seen way to often. One of the highest finishing decks at the latest Pro Tour won 9 out of 10 games with it and the games ended VERY quickly.
Next up, we're moving to the more restrictive format...LEGACY!
Legacy Ban List Update
NEWLY BANNED:
Mental Misstep
REASON: Mental Misstep was a mistake...a BAD mistake. Printed to help non-blue decks have access to a Force of Will-type card, instead blue deck adopted Mental Misstep ALONGSIDE Force of Will. What happened to the Legacy metagame was exactly the opposite of what they intended. They planned to ban the card if the results were poor, and, well, they were.
So congratulations! Unless you're playing Standard, Scars of Mirrodin block constructed, or Vintage, you have no opportunity to play Mental Misstep.
And almost finally, we get some good news with an unrestriction in the most open format for legalities, VINTAGE!
Vintage Restricted List Update
NEWLY RESTRICTED:
None
NEWLY UNRESTRICTED (4-of):
Fact or Fiction
REASON: Fact or Fiction was powerful long ago, and the time seems to have come to unban it and see if it's as big a powerhouse now as it was then. This goes along with unbannings like Grim Monolith and Time Spiral in Legacy where each proved to be not overpowered in the present day.
ULTIMATELY LASTLY AND FINALLY...finally (:p)...we have a COMMANDER update with one unbanning and 1 banning as a Commander.
Commander Ban List Update
UNBANNED:
Lion's Eye Diamond
BANNED AS A COMMANDER (still okay in the other 99 cards of your deck):
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
BANNED:
Shahrazad
REASONS
Lion's Eye Diamond: Sheldon Menery, basically the internet leader for EDH, and his rules committee feel that while Lion's Eye Diamond COULD have potential issues, the benefits of letting newer players explore "non-scummy" ways to use it seems to be worth unbanning. Or something like that? But they'll keep a close eye on it and see if it ends up hurting the format.
Shahrazad: Meant to let newer players have some fun with subgames, the rules committee was finding that people were building Shahrazad-based decks just to annoy players. That's never good for the game. Whatever exception allowed Shahrazad to be played was removed and it's not completely banned.
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant as a Commander: Simply put, he effectively ends games as soon as he hits the board. Sheldon and the rules committee don't like Commanders that do that. Players learn the hard way that, unless they have a very narrow set of answers, they can't deal with Erayo once it flips.
All of these changes except Commander take effect on October 1st, so enjoy your Ponders, Preordains, Mental Misstepts, and Rite of Flames a little while longer. For Commander, the changes are immediate, as best I can tell.
That is all for tonight. Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to post here. :)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
New Modern Tech from Pro Tour Philadelphia
The first official Modern tournament has come and gone, and already there's one HUGE obstacle to playing in the format.
You've gotta get around Combo decks in order to have a chance.
Yes, Pro Tour Philadelphia featured a metagame very short on Control, very high on Combo, and few aggressive decks to be seen.
That's not to say combo didn't attack. By all means, the combo decks I saw must attack to win the game. But that's usually for a one-hit kill. Opponents usually concede if they have no answers to the combo as it's being played.
That said, what may or may not reach the top of the value charts after Pro Tour - Philadelphia?
1) Shadowmoor/Eventide "Filter Lands"
These innocuous lands were seen in some of the big combo decks, including the one that ended up taking the Championship title for the Pro Tour. Splinter Twin seems to run not only the Ravnica shock land Steam Vents but also Cascade Bluffs, the U/R "Filter Land" that lets you turn a Blue or Red mana into 2 Reds, 2 Blues, or 1 of each.
However, some of the others have been going up too without notice. Sunken Ruins (U/B) is up to nearly $7. Cascade Bluffs (U/R) is at $9. Fetid Heath is at $7, while Flooded Grove is around $6. If you can find these kinds of lands cheap, I'd suggest you pick them up, because in place of actual Ravnica Shock Lands these are the next best thing.
2) Blazing Shoal and Disrupting Shoal
Anyone remember a cycle of Instants from Betrayers of Kamigawa that let you pay X plus 2 of a certain color or exile a card in your hand with converted mana cost X in order to get some potentially large benefit? Like Nourishing Shoal was either XGG or exile a green card from your hand with converted mana cost X in order to gain X life.
It seems the 2 big ones now thanks to Modern are Blazing Shoal and Disrupting Shoal, the Red and Blue Shoals.
So you're wondering "Okay, I can see the filter lands since they're an alternative to Ravnica lands and aren't as bad as the original Painlands. But how in the WORLD did these pop up!?"
Blazing Shoal is actually found in a U/R Infect deck, utilizing Blighted Agent as the Poison dealer of choice.
"Wait...I still don't get it. So you pitch, what, a Searing Wind? Seems a bit slow to me."
Well, first of all, remember you have 4x Ponders, 4x Preordains, and 4x Slight of Hands you could use for extremely cheap Sensei's Divining Top-type of effects.
But then you also have Summoner's Pact.
"Okay, I'm lost. Just spell it out."
Okay. Look at Reaper King and Progenitus. What do they both have in common? They're Green creatures and can be searched for by Summoner's Pact, and they're Red cards to be pitched with Blazing Shoal.
Get it now? :) :)
So anything that's associated with this form of the combo deck is probably on the rise. Right now Blazing Shoal can't be had at retailers for less than $13 before shipping while Disrupting Shoal and Summoner's Pact are around $8 each.
Will the bubble on them burst? We'll see...
3) Bridge From Below
Dredge may be dead due to some of the Modern bannings, but that's not stopping people from speculating on Bridge from Below.
Innistrad seems to be providing a viable self-Mill strategy. If that strategy works just as well as Dredging in Legacy, expect Bridge from Below to possibly maintain its currently $18+ value. However, this is purely speculative, in my humble opinion. There have been no tournament results I've seen suggesting that Bridge from Below got another lease on life thanks to Modern. Back on life support? Maybe. But as a competitive strategy? Only Innistrad will tell for the near future.
4) Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
By now you know about the Standard combo involving Splinter Twin and Deceiver Exarch. It was born out of the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite combo.
So what would be better than either combo?
Try BOTH in the same deck.
The deck that won Pro Tour Philadelphia featured 2 Kiki-Jikis along with 4 Splinter Twins to copy either infinite Pestermites or infinite Deceiver Exarchs. Kiki-Jiki wasn't the main plan, he was actually the backup and there for redundancy (what's better than 4 Splinter Twins? How about "6"?)
Kiki-Jiki is around $8 right now, but if Control doesn't come back after a ban list update I wouldn't be surprised to see him higher.
5) Storm and Through the Breach Combos
Remember the days of Dragonstorm? Of a player trying to use Ignite Memories, like, 7 times to kill their opponent off just to wind up just short of the goal?
Anyone remember an attempted Legacy deck that tried to use Through the Breach combined with Protean Hulk to pull out 3-4 Hedron Crabs, 1-2 Sakura Tribe-Elders, and a few Dryad Arbors to mill your opponent down to 0?
Both are back with a vengeance. :)
Have any Rite of Flame? You're looking at a $2.50 or so Common. Seething Song? Working on $1. Desperate Ritual? $.50, and I wouldn't be surprised to see $1 if either of these decks stays hot in Modern.
On the storm side, you're seeing a pairing up of Grapeshot and Pyromancer's Swath or Empty the Warrens with Pyromancer's Ascension. The Swath is running around $4 now, while Pyromancer's Ascension hasn't come much above its $2 Standard format price. Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens are so easy to get they're still just regular Commons.
The BIG winner on price gains, though, is Through the Breach.
Through the Breach has seen a radical price hike. Once a dollar bin Rare from Champions of Kamigawa, now it's a legitimate force in the Modern metagame.
Is it being used with Protean Hulk? Possibly. But that wasn't the focus.
How about getting some cheap Eldrazi Titans or 3 Beast Withins on a creature?
Of course, this deck is Blue/Red, so it gets some help from another friend in Champions of Kamigawa, Peer Through Depths, giving Through the Breach upwards of 16 spells to dig for the right combination of cards.
Other cards that could have been mentioned were left out because they'd already gained so much and will most likely hold where they are. Noble Hierarch, Vesuva, Ravnica block Shocklands, Vendillion Clique, etc. are some of the most obvious from the announcement, either leading up to it or pretty immediately after the fact.
What do you think? Are there any cards that are undervalued in your opinion? Overvalued? Will the ban list change on the first Banned/Restricted List announcement since Modern became legal? Leave your opinions below. I look forward to seeing them.
You've gotta get around Combo decks in order to have a chance.
Yes, Pro Tour Philadelphia featured a metagame very short on Control, very high on Combo, and few aggressive decks to be seen.
That's not to say combo didn't attack. By all means, the combo decks I saw must attack to win the game. But that's usually for a one-hit kill. Opponents usually concede if they have no answers to the combo as it's being played.
That said, what may or may not reach the top of the value charts after Pro Tour - Philadelphia?
1) Shadowmoor/Eventide "Filter Lands"
These innocuous lands were seen in some of the big combo decks, including the one that ended up taking the Championship title for the Pro Tour. Splinter Twin seems to run not only the Ravnica shock land Steam Vents but also Cascade Bluffs, the U/R "Filter Land" that lets you turn a Blue or Red mana into 2 Reds, 2 Blues, or 1 of each.
However, some of the others have been going up too without notice. Sunken Ruins (U/B) is up to nearly $7. Cascade Bluffs (U/R) is at $9. Fetid Heath is at $7, while Flooded Grove is around $6. If you can find these kinds of lands cheap, I'd suggest you pick them up, because in place of actual Ravnica Shock Lands these are the next best thing.
 |
| Keep an eye on him and some of his friends. Ravnica shocklands aren't cheap anymore. ;) |
Anyone remember a cycle of Instants from Betrayers of Kamigawa that let you pay X plus 2 of a certain color or exile a card in your hand with converted mana cost X in order to get some potentially large benefit? Like Nourishing Shoal was either XGG or exile a green card from your hand with converted mana cost X in order to gain X life.
It seems the 2 big ones now thanks to Modern are Blazing Shoal and Disrupting Shoal, the Red and Blue Shoals.
 |
| Sensing a Theme Yet? Well, R U? ;) |
Blazing Shoal is actually found in a U/R Infect deck, utilizing Blighted Agent as the Poison dealer of choice.
"Wait...I still don't get it. So you pitch, what, a Searing Wind? Seems a bit slow to me."
Well, first of all, remember you have 4x Ponders, 4x Preordains, and 4x Slight of Hands you could use for extremely cheap Sensei's Divining Top-type of effects.
But then you also have Summoner's Pact.
"Okay, I'm lost. Just spell it out."
Okay. Look at Reaper King and Progenitus. What do they both have in common? They're Green creatures and can be searched for by Summoner's Pact, and they're Red cards to be pitched with Blazing Shoal.
Get it now? :) :)
So anything that's associated with this form of the combo deck is probably on the rise. Right now Blazing Shoal can't be had at retailers for less than $13 before shipping while Disrupting Shoal and Summoner's Pact are around $8 each.
Will the bubble on them burst? We'll see...
3) Bridge From Below
Dredge may be dead due to some of the Modern bannings, but that's not stopping people from speculating on Bridge from Below.
Innistrad seems to be providing a viable self-Mill strategy. If that strategy works just as well as Dredging in Legacy, expect Bridge from Below to possibly maintain its currently $18+ value. However, this is purely speculative, in my humble opinion. There have been no tournament results I've seen suggesting that Bridge from Below got another lease on life thanks to Modern. Back on life support? Maybe. But as a competitive strategy? Only Innistrad will tell for the near future.
4) Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
By now you know about the Standard combo involving Splinter Twin and Deceiver Exarch. It was born out of the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite combo.
So what would be better than either combo?
Try BOTH in the same deck.
 |
| I don't know if anyone was expecting Splinter Twin's father to show up in Modern. |
The deck that won Pro Tour Philadelphia featured 2 Kiki-Jikis along with 4 Splinter Twins to copy either infinite Pestermites or infinite Deceiver Exarchs. Kiki-Jiki wasn't the main plan, he was actually the backup and there for redundancy (what's better than 4 Splinter Twins? How about "6"?)
Kiki-Jiki is around $8 right now, but if Control doesn't come back after a ban list update I wouldn't be surprised to see him higher.
5) Storm and Through the Breach Combos
Remember the days of Dragonstorm? Of a player trying to use Ignite Memories, like, 7 times to kill their opponent off just to wind up just short of the goal?
Anyone remember an attempted Legacy deck that tried to use Through the Breach combined with Protean Hulk to pull out 3-4 Hedron Crabs, 1-2 Sakura Tribe-Elders, and a few Dryad Arbors to mill your opponent down to 0?
Both are back with a vengeance. :)
Have any Rite of Flame? You're looking at a $2.50 or so Common. Seething Song? Working on $1. Desperate Ritual? $.50, and I wouldn't be surprised to see $1 if either of these decks stays hot in Modern.
On the storm side, you're seeing a pairing up of Grapeshot and Pyromancer's Swath or Empty the Warrens with Pyromancer's Ascension. The Swath is running around $4 now, while Pyromancer's Ascension hasn't come much above its $2 Standard format price. Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens are so easy to get they're still just regular Commons.
The BIG winner on price gains, though, is Through the Breach.
 |
| WINNER: Sleeper Hit of Modern |
Through the Breach has seen a radical price hike. Once a dollar bin Rare from Champions of Kamigawa, now it's a legitimate force in the Modern metagame.
Is it being used with Protean Hulk? Possibly. But that wasn't the focus.
How about getting some cheap Eldrazi Titans or 3 Beast Withins on a creature?
Of course, this deck is Blue/Red, so it gets some help from another friend in Champions of Kamigawa, Peer Through Depths, giving Through the Breach upwards of 16 spells to dig for the right combination of cards.
Other cards that could have been mentioned were left out because they'd already gained so much and will most likely hold where they are. Noble Hierarch, Vesuva, Ravnica block Shocklands, Vendillion Clique, etc. are some of the most obvious from the announcement, either leading up to it or pretty immediately after the fact.
What do you think? Are there any cards that are undervalued in your opinion? Overvalued? Will the ban list change on the first Banned/Restricted List announcement since Modern became legal? Leave your opinions below. I look forward to seeing them.
Friday, August 12, 2011
It's Official: MODERN is a Supported Tournament Format!
I had a longer post here, but Blogger decided to erase it so I'm just going to post the link.
WotC announced today that Modern will be a supported Eternal format ("eternal" meaning no sets rotate out, similar to Legacy or Vintage). You may remember Modern was one of the Constructed formats for the Magic Online Community Cup.
Modern basically allows cards from Core Sets and expansions starting with 8th Edition and Mirrodin through the present. The oldest cutoff is 8th Edition for Core Sets and Mirrodin for expansions.
Modern also has a ban list associated with it.
You can find the ban list and announcement and reasonings for the changes here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/155
Feel free to leave comments here. Thanks for reading! :)
WotC announced today that Modern will be a supported Eternal format ("eternal" meaning no sets rotate out, similar to Legacy or Vintage). You may remember Modern was one of the Constructed formats for the Magic Online Community Cup.
Modern basically allows cards from Core Sets and expansions starting with 8th Edition and Mirrodin through the present. The oldest cutoff is 8th Edition for Core Sets and Mirrodin for expansions.
Modern also has a ban list associated with it.
You can find the ban list and announcement and reasonings for the changes here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/155
Feel free to leave comments here. Thanks for reading! :)
Monday, June 27, 2011
Our Modern Format: Help with Older But Legal Cards
Hey everyone!
I got to thinking and realized even in my own deck making I forgot a lot of cards that were reprinted in new borders just because they were judge promos or released in some other fashion.
So I'm going to provide links here to at least most cards that that had new frame reprints made. As usual, it's your responsibility to make sure the cards you decide to run are legal in Vintage and that you don't end up using something banned on our Modern-format list.
JUDGE PROMOS
FRIDAY NIGHT MAGICS, SUPER JUNIOR SERIES, AND VARIOUS OTHER PROMOS
DUEL DECKS, FROM THE VAULT, AND OTHER SPECIAL RELEASES
PRO TOURS AND GRAND PRIXS
I'm not including stuff from set releases (Core Sets and any set from Mirrodin onward) since those cards would be legal under Wizards of the Coast's version of Modern anyway.
As a reminder, here are our rules for our Modern format tournament Saturday:
1) Any card with a release date of 2003 onward in the newer card frame (compared to anything pre-Mirrodin). The intent is that if you look through your cards and find something in the card frame used from Mirrodin onward you can use it (granted it follows rules #2 and #3).
2) Follow the official Vintage Banned/Restricted List. Most of what we'll use that's Restricted should be:
Balance (Judge Promo and a From the Vault set)
Brainstorm (Commander deck)
Burning Wish (Judge promo)
Channel (From the Vault set)
Demonic Tutor (Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic)
Fact or Fiction (Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra and Commander deck)
Lotus Petal (From the Vault set)
Memory Jar (From the Vault set)
Mind's Desire (Judge promo)
Mystical Tutor (From the Vault set)
Necropotence (From the Vault set)
Regrowth (Judge Promo)
Sol Ring (Commander deck and various other outlets)
Strip Mine (From the Vault set)
Tinker (From the Vault set)
Wheel of Fortune (Judge Promo)
Windfall (Commander deck)
3) Follow the Banned list below:
I got to thinking and realized even in my own deck making I forgot a lot of cards that were reprinted in new borders just because they were judge promos or released in some other fashion.
So I'm going to provide links here to at least most cards that that had new frame reprints made. As usual, it's your responsibility to make sure the cards you decide to run are legal in Vintage and that you don't end up using something banned on our Modern-format list.
JUDGE PROMOS
FRIDAY NIGHT MAGICS, SUPER JUNIOR SERIES, AND VARIOUS OTHER PROMOS
DUEL DECKS, FROM THE VAULT, AND OTHER SPECIAL RELEASES
PRO TOURS AND GRAND PRIXS
I'm not including stuff from set releases (Core Sets and any set from Mirrodin onward) since those cards would be legal under Wizards of the Coast's version of Modern anyway.
As a reminder, here are our rules for our Modern format tournament Saturday:
1) Any card with a release date of 2003 onward in the newer card frame (compared to anything pre-Mirrodin). The intent is that if you look through your cards and find something in the card frame used from Mirrodin onward you can use it (granted it follows rules #2 and #3).
2) Follow the official Vintage Banned/Restricted List. Most of what we'll use that's Restricted should be:
Balance (Judge Promo and a From the Vault set)
Brainstorm (Commander deck)
Burning Wish (Judge promo)
Channel (From the Vault set)
Demonic Tutor (Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic)
Fact or Fiction (Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra and Commander deck)
Lotus Petal (From the Vault set)
Memory Jar (From the Vault set)
Mind's Desire (Judge promo)
Mystical Tutor (From the Vault set)
Necropotence (From the Vault set)
Regrowth (Judge Promo)
Sol Ring (Commander deck and various other outlets)
Strip Mine (From the Vault set)
Tinker (From the Vault set)
Wheel of Fortune (Judge Promo)
Windfall (Commander deck)
3) Follow the Banned list below:
- Ancient Den
- Bloodbraid Elf
- Chrome Mox
- Dark Depths
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Great Furnace
- Hypergenesis
- Seat of the Synod
- Sensei's Divining Top
- Skullclamp
- Sword of the Meek
- Tree of Tales
- Umezawa's Jitte
- Vault of Whispers
We'll have the tournament this upcoming Saturday, so go and run with any ideas you may have. You've got a pretty wide cardpool, made bigger by the Duel Decks, promos, etc. I hope to see some level of variety Saturday. :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Clarification to Modern Format Policy: Time Spiral Block "Shifted" Cards
Hello again! As I was looking back over the Commander deck lists, I realized something that I omitted in my "new border" policy for the Modern Format.
What happens to all the "Timeshifted", "Colorshifted", and "Futureshifted" cards, since they don't use the exact modern-framed design (again, think anything from Mirrodin through the present day)?
Here's the clarification: "Timeshifted' (Time Spiral), "Colorshifted" (Planar Chaos), and "Futureshifted" (Future Sight) cards are also legal in Modern along with any older-framed (pre-Mirrodin) versions of them.
(images from MagicCards.info)
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| Time Spiral's "Timeshifted" Example |
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| Planar Chaos' "Colorshifted" Example |
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| Future Sight's "Futureshifted" Example |
For those who may have joined the game after Time Spiral block, a bit of a Magic history lesson:
When WotC put together Time Sprial block, they wanted a mix of nostalgia (Time Spiral), shake-ups (Planar Chaos), and future "sneak peaks" (Future Sight). They came up with 3 ways to help identify their special cards:
Time Spiral: Along with the purple-looking expansion symbol on each card, all these cards are direct reprints of pre-Mirrodin classic cards. The card frames are done in the pre-Mirrodin style, thus making it easier to identify them as reprints when you pulled them from packs of Time Spiral.
Planar Chaos: To mix things up a bit compared to how they normally design cards color-wise, they moved some effects into different colors just for Planar Chaos (for example, even though Wrath of God was the normal white mass removal card, to mix things up they gave black a "Wrath" effect in Damnation). These cards had normal rarity denotations (Gold = Rare, Silver = Uncommon, Black = Common) but moved some pre-Mirrodin cards into different colors and changed nothing else but the name and casting cost (example: Pestilence, a black card, was changed to Pyrohemia, a red card that does the exact same thing but is Red instead of Black). The card frame is a bit different from normal post-Mirrodin borders but it's the same basic frame design.
Future Sight: The final set kept the running theme of "cards from different pieces of Magic's history" by introducing cards and mechanics and card types that could be used in future sets. However, some were gags (see Steamflogger Boss). All cards that were like this used a brand-new card frame that may or may not see future use. The card frame has the mana symbols on the left side of the illustration along with a symbol on the top-left corner denoting what kind of card it is (a claw means "Creature", for example). Some examples of cards and/or mechanics that have seen actual use since Future Sight are Phosphorescent Feast (printed 1 year later), Bloodshot Trainee (printed in Scars of Mirrodin), Planeswalkers (previewed on Tarmogoyf and printed in the very next set, Lorwyn), and Shadowmoor/Eventide's cycle of "filter lands" similar to Graven Cairns.
I hope you found this as a moment of clarity for Modern and as an interesting historical piece if you are fairly new to the game. Let me know what you think below. Thanks for reading, and enjoy building for Modern! :)
Monday, June 20, 2011
Modified Modern Format Tournament July 2nd!
Hey everyone!
So here's how we'll determine card legality:
MODERN FORMAT CARD LEGALITY: GENERAL GUIDELINES
1) Any tournament-legal card with a copyright of 2003 starting with the Mirrodin set and 8th Edition Core Set is legal to play in our version of Modern.
2) Old versions of tournament-legal cards reprinted since 2003 in the newer frames (compared to pre-2003) are allowed as long as you can prove it has a release in the post-2003 card frames.
"BUT," I hear, "what about stuff like Sol Ring, Demonic Tutor, etc. that are Vintage legal but are otherwise illegal in practically all other formats?"
That's where we get to our Banned/Restricted List for our version of Modern format.
MODERN FORMAT CARD LEGALITY: BANNED/RESTRICTED LISTS
1) BANNED
In addition to any "ante" or "subgame" cards, the following will be banned in our Modern:
I've gone through the Restricted list and I think I've pulled out all the cards that were not reprinted in sets from 2003 onward (in other words, they were only in decks or released as Promos). Those cards are:
Balance (Judge Promo and a From the Vault set)
Brainstorm (Commander deck)
Burning Wish (Judge promo)
Channel (From the Vault set)
Demonic Tutor (Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic)
Fact or Fiction (Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra and Commander deck)
Lotus Petal (From the Vault set)
Memory Jar (From the Vault set)
Mind's Desire (Judge promo)
Mystical Tutor (From the Vault set)
Necropotence (From the Vault set)
Regrowth (Judge Promo)
Sol Ring (Commander deck and various other outlets)
Strip Mine (From the Vault set)
Tinker (From the Vault set)
Wheel of Fortune (Judge Promo)
Windfall (Commander deck)
However, you are responsible for making sure your cards do fit the Vintage restricted list, regardless of what I post here. Our official Restricted list for this tournament is based on the WotC list; my mini-list above is a help guide and is not authoritative (as in, you can't come to me and say "But you didn't post [insert card name here]. I'll just say "Did you check the Vintage Restricted list?")
Entry fee will be $2, with packs of Scars of Mirrodin and/or New Phyrexia to split for prizes.
If you have any questions, feel free to E-mail me or post a comment here. We hope to see you for Modern on July 2nd! :)
How about for some good format news, eh?
On July 2nd we're going to try a modified version of the proposed "Modern format".
Modern format basically says anything released in a set from Mirrodin through the present day is legal along with cards from any Core Set from 8th Edition through the present.
But while Wizards of the Coast's version doesn't take into account the various pre-constructed decks and promos that have been released in modern frames (think 8th Edition and Mirrodin, thus how they came at that cut-off), mine will.
So here's how we'll determine card legality:
MODERN FORMAT CARD LEGALITY: GENERAL GUIDELINES
1) Any tournament-legal card with a copyright of 2003 starting with the Mirrodin set and 8th Edition Core Set is legal to play in our version of Modern.
2) Old versions of tournament-legal cards reprinted since 2003 in the newer frames (compared to pre-2003) are allowed as long as you can prove it has a release in the post-2003 card frames.
"BUT," I hear, "what about stuff like Sol Ring, Demonic Tutor, etc. that are Vintage legal but are otherwise illegal in practically all other formats?"
That's where we get to our Banned/Restricted List for our version of Modern format.
MODERN FORMAT CARD LEGALITY: BANNED/RESTRICTED LISTS
1) BANNED
In addition to any "ante" or "subgame" cards, the following will be banned in our Modern:
- Ancient Den
- Bloodbraid Elf
- Chrome Mox
- Hypergenesis
- Seat of the Synod
- Vault of Whispers
- Great Furnace
- Tree of Tales
- Dark Depths
- Sensei's Divining Top
- Skullclamp
- Sword of the Meek
- Umezawa's Jitte
- Golgari Grave-Troll
I've gone through the Restricted list and I think I've pulled out all the cards that were not reprinted in sets from 2003 onward (in other words, they were only in decks or released as Promos). Those cards are:
Balance (Judge Promo and a From the Vault set)
Brainstorm (Commander deck)
Burning Wish (Judge promo)
Channel (From the Vault set)
Demonic Tutor (Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic)
Fact or Fiction (Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra and Commander deck)
Lotus Petal (From the Vault set)
Memory Jar (From the Vault set)
Mind's Desire (Judge promo)
Mystical Tutor (From the Vault set)
Necropotence (From the Vault set)
Regrowth (Judge Promo)
Sol Ring (Commander deck and various other outlets)
Strip Mine (From the Vault set)
Tinker (From the Vault set)
Wheel of Fortune (Judge Promo)
Windfall (Commander deck)
However, you are responsible for making sure your cards do fit the Vintage restricted list, regardless of what I post here. Our official Restricted list for this tournament is based on the WotC list; my mini-list above is a help guide and is not authoritative (as in, you can't come to me and say "But you didn't post [insert card name here]. I'll just say "Did you check the Vintage Restricted list?")
Entry fee will be $2, with packs of Scars of Mirrodin and/or New Phyrexia to split for prizes.
If you have any questions, feel free to E-mail me or post a comment here. We hope to see you for Modern on July 2nd! :)
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