MTG thread
- Thread starter brekk
- Start date
Genjiro
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 5,218
- 5,066
MTG in the day before planeswalkers seemed to have this beautiful mix of agro, combo, control, and then places for unique randomness that could hard counter the field. Top 8d back in the day (waaaay back) during Urza in hide tide with Pox since that one card just wrecked their mana curve. Ended up losing to Chapin and losing to his Jank red/white abomination which was hardcore anti field like mine and ran 8 main deck red blasts which he would just use with cursed scroll if it was dead.
Prosbloom, necro summer, suicide black etc, real sligh, these long drawn out mid rang-y-ness decks of today are so slow and unfun comparatively where generally whoever has more invested via Planeswalkers usually win (fuck you Elsbeth). Mechanics wise its just.....not nearly as mentally intensive imho.
Most players today if you gave Maher oath to them would just look at it and drool on themselves. All the amazing interactions in that deck via Brainstorm, oath, blessing, etc...it took a long while to master how to run that deck and you had to know your opponents decks very intimately due to all of the 1 ofs you sideboarded. Nothing today really comes close
/Rant off, it just seems like the meta over the years moving to being centered in planeswalkers which are intrinsically slower has changed the game for the worse. I personally think those strategies should be viable deck routes in ALL formats.
Prosbloom, necro summer, suicide black etc, real sligh, these long drawn out mid rang-y-ness decks of today are so slow and unfun comparatively where generally whoever has more invested via Planeswalkers usually win (fuck you Elsbeth). Mechanics wise its just.....not nearly as mentally intensive imho.
Most players today if you gave Maher oath to them would just look at it and drool on themselves. All the amazing interactions in that deck via Brainstorm, oath, blessing, etc...it took a long while to master how to run that deck and you had to know your opponents decks very intimately due to all of the 1 ofs you sideboarded. Nothing today really comes close
/Rant off, it just seems like the meta over the years moving to being centered in planeswalkers which are intrinsically slower has changed the game for the worse. I personally think those strategies should be viable deck routes in ALL formats.
Heylel
Trakanon Raider
- 3,602
- 430
Modern isn't eternal, and the decks in every format were just boring as fuck this weekend. 8 blue decks in legacy, fucking bogles in modern, and rhinorhinorhino all over standard. Everything is awful and needs shaking up.
Sterling
El Presidente
- 13,139
- 8,110
The problem with Modern compared to the actual eternal formats is that you have powerful linear strategies in both but the early interaction in Modern is largely just discard and creature kill. Legacy has Force and Daze etc to help combat linear strategies. Modern needs a boost in control decks. Unban Jace and Bloodbraid elf. Standard rotates frequently enough that I don't really care if an idividual format kind of sucks since it changes constantly. In 7 months Rhino rotates out.
Sterling
El Presidente
- 13,139
- 8,110
I could get behind that. And I doubt it would somehow break Standard for 18 months. Could even stick it in one of the second sets of a block and it's really like 15 months.
Heylel
Trakanon Raider
- 3,602
- 430
They've got to work out a mechanism to get cards into Modern without funneling it through Standard first. "This won't break standard so it's cool if we put it in Modern" isn't a hurdle that cards should have to overcome in order to be included in the format. We've got things like Blood Moon, Choke, Summer Bloom, etc. that are wildly out of place because they've adjusted how they design cards. Most of the strongest decks are hinged around cards from Ravnica or Future Sight, and it just so happens that most of the combo decks follow linear strategies because new mechanics are combining with old ones. Twin is the newest, and it's what, 5 years old?
If they keep insisting that only Standard cards can go into Modern, we'll get nothing but subpar, incremental changes to established strategies. Or worse, they'll print something just fine for Standard that breaks the format in half (hi Deathrite, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time...) because they've banned everything else of the same caliber.
Isn't that literally what Modern Masters is for?
Or is that all reprints and kind of your point?
Sterling
El Presidente
- 13,139
- 8,110
Yeah, he's talking about putting different cards into Modern not reprinting cards that already are in Modern.
Heylel
Trakanon Raider
- 3,602
- 430
It's all modern-legal reprints. They don't actually add cards to the format with it. They should, but they have concerns with format stability and card availability if it's something from a really old set. There are also some things they just can't reprint that are legacy staples. Duals are obvious, but also perfectly balanced designed like Mox Diamond or City of Traitors that would be really strong additions to modern.
Sterling
El Presidente
- 13,139
- 8,110
We had Lightning Bolt in Standard for 3 years somewhat recently but somehow Counterspell is too good?
Heylel
Trakanon Raider
- 3,602
- 430
For standard at it's power level these days? Fine. For modern? I doubt it would even be a 4x.
Ahh I thought they put cards in there.
Well, they umm should then. I agree.
Kuro
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
- 9,412
- 25,385
I doubt they ever unban JTMS, even if he'd be balanced. It's too much negative publicity. The only sustained *reduction* in player base magic has experienced since Alara was Jace's standard reign. You're dealing with way too much ill-will directed toward that card.
Related, MaRo has said in the last few years that Counterspell would be an okay card to reprint, competitive balance-wise. The reason they don't is the negative player reaction to the card, and the "legend" the card has built up around it, despite Remand and Mana Leak often being superior cards. Cancel with upside, or cheaper-narrow-application counterspells is where we're going to be for a while.
Related, MaRo has said in the last few years that Counterspell would be an okay card to reprint, competitive balance-wise. The reason they don't is the negative player reaction to the card, and the "legend" the card has built up around it, despite Remand and Mana Leak often being superior cards. Cancel with upside, or cheaper-narrow-application counterspells is where we're going to be for a while.
Lendarios
Trump's Staff
- 19,376
- -17,291
The counterspell mechanic is the strongest mechanic in magic. And to top it off it was given to the color with the best card drawing capabilities. If it would have been any other color, and only 2 or 3 cards, it would have not been so bad.
So you see where I am coming from, my favorite decks of all times are Machine Head, Replenish and Tinker. These were decks that use mechanics that let your opponent do stuff, they just overpower them.
Draw-land -Go magic is the most boring thing there is to watch and to play.
So you see where I am coming from, my favorite decks of all times are Machine Head, Replenish and Tinker. These were decks that use mechanics that let your opponent do stuff, they just overpower them.
Draw-land -Go magic is the most boring thing there is to watch and to play.
Heylel
Trakanon Raider
- 3,602
- 430
As opposed to Thoughtseize > Goyf > Abrupt Decay?
EOT Exarch > Twin?
Amulet > Summer Bloom > Win?
We're talking about a format with a massive amount of linear combos where no deck can survive if it isn't either pushing a fast combo of its own or packing serious disruption.
I'm sorry, but you're not convincing me that Counterspell is stronger than Thoughtseize or Lightning Bolt. It just isn't.
EOT Exarch > Twin?
Amulet > Summer Bloom > Win?
We're talking about a format with a massive amount of linear combos where no deck can survive if it isn't either pushing a fast combo of its own or packing serious disruption.
I'm sorry, but you're not convincing me that Counterspell is stronger than Thoughtseize or Lightning Bolt. It just isn't.