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. :)

Final Details for Japan Charity Tournament, 4/2

Hello everyone.
  If you've been following the updates on the Japan Charity Tournament, you've seen a lot of "tentative" or "tbd" type of musings here.

  Well, today we're going to finalize most of the information.

JAPAN CHARITY TOURNAMENT


WHEN: April 2nd, 2011 @ 11:00 AM. Late comers may buy a bye for Round 1 by paying another $2 (also to charity) but you will have a 0-0 win-loss record to start and must play in Round 2. No "late bye buy-ins" will be allowed after Round 2 starts.


WHERE:
Baha'i Faith Center
2405 Hamill Road
Hixson, TN 37343

If you need directions, tell me if you're coming from Highway 153 on the Chickamauga Dam or from the Wal-Mart on Highway 153 and I can give you directions if you don't trust Google Maps or Mapquest.


ENTRY FEE: $6, all of which will go to charity. If you are late, you may enter in Round 2 for a $2 "late bye buy-in." You will start with a 0-0 record, though, and must play in Round 2.

FORMAT: Legacy with Proxies Allowed
  NOTE: You MUST have fast access to current Gatherer wordings for your proxies. You cannot go searching on a computer, laptop, cell phone, etc. for your proxy information.

TOURNAMENT STYLE: Swiss Format, with total round numbers to be determined based on the final number of participants after Round 1 starts. A Top 8 playoff may or may not happen, depending on how long we can stay at the church. Each player will get 3 points for a match win and 1 point for a match draw.

OVERTIME PROCEDURE FOR A MATCH: Players will take a total of 5 turns after time is called to finish a game. Whoever has the higher life total after the 5 total turns are over wins the match. If the life totals are tied, the match is a tie. I'm doing this in order to keep the games flowing.

TIES FOR TOP 8: Should we have a tie on points for the 8th place position, the player who finished their final match first will get the position. If this method does not work out (for example, I can't be 100% certain of who finished a match first because both/all Top 8 contenders report their matches at the same time), whoever beat the higher-ranked player in that final match will get the 8th place position. (For example, I have 3 people tied for 8th place after reporting. If I can't determine who finished their game ahead of the others, I'll look at the rankings of their opponents prior to that round. Player A played the 10th place player, Player B played the 13th place player, and Player C played the 9th place player. Player C gets the spot since he had to beat the highest-ranked player among the 3 matches).

PRIZES: This section is still under construction, but so far (as of 3/21/11) we have...
1x Lorwyn Cryptic Command (courtesy Jason Pongonis, aka Microstar22 on MTGSalvation.com)
1x Metalworker (courtesy me. Don't say I never do anything nice. :p  )
4x FNM promo Everflowing Chalice (courtesy Morgan Hardy from Organized Play)
2x Gateway promo Plague Stinger (courtesy Morgan Hardy from Organized Play)
1x Time Spiral (added 3/22) (courtesy Patrick, aka itfeltsowierd on MTGSalvation.com)
1x Spell Snare (added 3/22) (courtesy Patrick, aka itfeltsowierd on MTGSalvation.com)
1x Tutore Mistico (Italian Mystical Tutor) (added 3/22) (courtesy Patrick, aka itfeltsowierd on MTGSalvation.com)
1x set of 5 foils for each color (added 3/22) (courtesy Frank)
1x set of sleeves (added 3./22)  (courtesy Frank)

I have 2 people looking for more potential prizes. I'll add more as I get more. I'll also add the names of the people responsible for donations.
Prize distribution will be finalized probably on March 31st.


Let's remember that the most important part of this tournament is that we're helping Japan a little with their recovery efforts. While I haven't decided on a charity yet, I will take ideas. I'd like to find a trusted charity that's working on the damage the radiation from the nuclear plants has caused as well as finding preventative measures for those who haven't been affected yet.


Thanks for your time, and please RSVP when you can by commenting here. Let's do some good with this tournament. :)

An Idea: Charity Tournament for Japan in Two Weeks?

I was perusing Twitter one day this week and saw that, in place of Grand Prix - Kobe (I think it's Kobe, but it doesn't matter. It's a Grand Prix that should have been in Japan) this weekend some tournament organizers in Japan are holding charity tournament to help raise money for the Japanese relief efforts.

So I was wondering...Why don't we do something?

I'm going to see what I can get for prize support, but I want to do a constructed event with proxies allowed (especially if we do Legacy or Vintage). Specific proxy rules and formats would follow, but the basic idea is here.

Entry fee would be $6: $3 would go toward any prizes I may have to pay for, and $3 would go toward the charity part.

My idea is if we could get people to RSVP, I could get a base prize based on the number of entrants and the format we do.

For example...

4-6 people (the minimum I'd do): $12 for prizes, so maybe a Metalworker for Legacy, Cryptic Command for Extended, or an Elspeth Tirel for Standard (depending on which format we choose). The rest would go toward charity.

7-9 people: $21 for prizes, so maybe an Intuition for Legacy or Sword of Feast or Famine for Standard (again, format-dependent). The rest toward charity.

10+ people: $30 minimum available for prizes, so possibly a Rishadan Port for Legacy or, with enough people, a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas for Standard (again, format-dependent). The rest to charity.


NOTE: I'm definitely not tied to anything right now, but you get the general idea. If I can get prize donations, I'll add those to the prize pool and they won't count toward the "prize payback" I'm doing with the RSVP example (so I won't take money away from the charity to "pay" for your contributions).

Just keep in mind: This isn't done for the prizes (they're an incentive to participate, NOT the focus) and there's no ranking of any kind on the line.

If you've got ideas or prize donations you want to add in, feel free to chip in. Again, nothing's set in stone. I just want to get feedback and additional ideas and/or fixes to my proposal.


EDIT: I just wanted to clarify...the $3 per person that I'd use for prizes is to get a prize that's desireable and worth peoples' time to attend. Also note that if I'm doing an RSVP type idea I'd only use the lower number's $3 piece to pay for the card. For example, at the 4-6 bracket, I'd only use upwards of $12 to get a card. If I get 4 people, that's $12 for prize and $12 for charity. If I get 5 people, that's still $12 for a prize and that 5th person's whole $6 would go toward charity for $18 going to charity. 6 people would then be $12 for prize and $24 for charity. At 7 people, the next level, $21 goes toward prizes and $21 goes to charity. At 8 people, that's $21 to prize and $27 to charity, and so on. As I said, though, this is only an idea and is NOT set in stone. Feedback and prize donations are welcome.


EDIT 2: We have a bite on prize donations! We're getting a free Cryptic Command to throw into the prize pool! :) Let's hope to keep the donations rolling. :)