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By: TugaChampion, Guilherme Carmona Alexandrino
Dec 31 2015 1:00pm
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Here is part 1.

I love Magic and when I write about Magic, especially about a topic that most people have strong opinions, I'm going to be at least a bit biased. I wrote several things that many people didn't agree and that's fine. I also think I didn't explain myself very well on some of the possible bans. I will try my best to make you all fully understand my ideas.

The biggest offenders:

I'll start with the must ban decks: Amulet Bloom and Grishoalbrand. These two decks can kill on turn two and sometimes even on turn one. One argument I hear a lot is that these two decks don't have good enough results. They banned Seething Song because Storm sometimes killed on turn 3, a deck with similar results at the highest level as these two. I also found these tweets which I agree with:

Frank Moon's tweet is my favourite. The deck might not be good enough to make most people want to play it but its broken draws can still be frequent enough for the deck to be banned.

I would ban Amulet of Vigor just to be safe and kill the deck for good but banning Summer Bloom would probably be fine as well. As for Grishoalbrand, Goryo's Vengeance is the obvious choice but I also liked Max Beaulieu's suggestion in my previews article of banning Nourishing Shoal.

There is a third deck that is very capable of killing on turn 2 or 3 but it still isn't recognized as a legit deck by most people. I'm talking about Suicide Zoo. The deck plays several one mana creatures, Wild Nacatl, Kird Ape, Steppe Lynx, Monastery Swiftspear, Goblin Guide and Death's Shadow. Some lists also play Tarmogoyf. The deck has all 12 of Mishra's Bauble, Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith as ways to cycle for no mana, lose life for Death's Shadow, trigger Swiftspear and fill the graveyard. What makes the deck actually kill out of nowhere is the Standard ported combo of Become Immense and Temur Battle Rage. However, I've seen some people include Tainted Strike. Tainted Strike is like Temur Battle Rage for less mana, although it doesn't trample and putting them to less than 10 poison is not very relevant. I don't think they can ban a deck that hasn't really showed up but I think it has a chance of playing a big role in the Pro Tour.

Become Immense Tainted Strike

The controversy:

Now comes the part where many people didn't agree with me. I would be happy if Tron, Burn, Affinity, Bogles and Infect were not as good as they are currently. That doesn't mean they all need to be nerfed or banned. Each of those decks is far from being too good on their own. The problem is that all those decks in the same meta, plus others like Amulet, Twin, Living End, Scapeshift, Ad Nauseam and more, make it very difficult to predict anything. It is impossible to have a reasonable sideboard with so much variety. I understand that no deck should beat everything, but when you have to choose which half of the field you're scooping to and which other half you're praying to draw your sideboard cards, you're not playing a healthy format. Most of those decks goldfish so fast, that it makes you have to find your 3 or 4 sideboard cards for the match up in the top10 of your deck, and even if you do, you might still lose. This puts almost everyone on decks that also goldfish very fast and most games are decided by pairings and drawing your sideboard cards. It's not about beating everything, it's about being able to have a reasonable chance in every match.

Against Burn there are two cards that really hurt the deck: Kor Firewalker and Feed the Clan. Firewalker is probably the best, as long as you play it on turn 2, which is not very reasonable for most decks that play white. Feed the Clan also needs you to play a decent number of big creatures like Tarmogoyf, Rhino and Tasigur. The instant speed is very relevant when Burn lists can play up to 8 cards that prevent lifegain while also being good cards on their own. Skullcrack and Atarka's Command deal with cards like Thragtusk or Obstinate Baloth very easily. There's also Eidolon of the Great Revel, which has a unique effect, and can be devastating in some games.

Skullcrack Eidolon of the Great Revel Kor Firewalker

Today's Affinity doesn't actually play any cards with Affinity. Instead of Frogmite and Arcbound Worker, it plays cards like Signal Pest and Steel Overseer. The deck now has 8 creaturelands and while it might be slightly slower than the old Extended version, it is much more consistent and resilient. It's much more difficult to deal with. Mox Opal makes Affinity the only tier1 deck with access to a Mox and it increases the deck's speed. Cards like Ancient Grudge and Shatterstorm are still very good against the deck, although not as much as before and those cards don't have many more applications. Most people will opt for something like Nature's Claim over Ancient Grudge because it's relevant in way more match ups but that is certainly not enough to beat the deck.

Mox Opal Ancient Grudge Nature's Claim

These are just two examples but the same can be said about most linear fast decks. Nerfing some of them could be a decent solution to make the format better. Printing cards like Kolaghan's Command, that are good maindeck cards and also have very good applications in specific match ups, is the best solution. I think we also need better and broader sideboard cards in the format.

Last time, I also wanted to get rid of Lantern Control. I still think the deck is not good for the format but I'm glad that I haven't faced it for a while now. Maybe with Affinity so popular the deck is losing to people packing more artifact destruction. And it's also likely that now people know more about the deck and how to play against it. Banning it is probably too harsh, but I'm certain it would not be a good show if many people decided to play the deck in the PT and it was showing up all the time in feature matches. The same can be said if many games are over on turn 2 or 3.

Lantern of Insight

Responses to feedback:

In the previews articles, David Silva asked me about the cantrips, Chrome Mox, Cloudpost, Dread Return and Punishing Fire. I would love to have Preordain legal but it would probably make some combo decks even more consistent. Ponder should stay banned because it's better than Preordain in combo and worse in fair decks. I could see unbanning Preordain and be more willing to ban some combos but it's risky. I think Ancestral Vision is safer because it's better in fair decks and could actually help control be viable again. I really don't think Ancestral Vision is too good for Modern. People forget it was legal in Standard and for about one year it barely saw play. It only raised in popularity with Faeries but that was the best deck for most of the time it was in Standard.

Preordain Ponder Ancestral Vision

I don't think they can unban Chrome Mox. Most combo decks would benefit from it way too much. Cloudpost can't be unbanned as well. It's better and more consistent than Tron, so that can't happen. Punishing Fire might not even be that great right now but it is too hostile for some decks. It wouldn't be good for the format. As for Dread Return, I don't know if Dredge would be that good but it would be yet another deck that people would have to use sideboard slots on. I don't think they'll ever take that risk and I agree with that.

Chrome Mox Cloudpost Punishing Fire Dread Return

There's also Mental Misstep. The card was supposed to give non blue decks ways to interact for no mana but it ended up making blue decks even better so it was banned. On the other hand, the card made Vintage better, since now it's easier to stop Ancestral Recall and Dark Ritual. I think it has some potential in Modern because unlike Legacy, blue decks are not dominating. However, it would probably make Twin too good. It would give them a card that counters Path to Exile, discard spells, Galvanic Blast and a few others. It would be a good answer for things like Goblin Guide and Nacatl but I don't think it's safe to unban it.

Mental Misstep

Stoneforge Mystic has been announced as the GP promo for 2016 so people are wondering if that means it getting unbanned in Modern. I think it's more likely it will stay banned, but I wouldn't even consider that an option, if it wasn't the promo. In my opinion there are several less risky cards to unban, although I do like taking some risks with unbans because if it works out, it's one more card we can play and if it doesn't, it gets banned again.

Stoneforge Mystic

Conclusion:

When they banned Birthing Pod, the format got way more diverse but it has been too long without any ban/unbans so most decks have become very focused and efficient, winning as fast as possible, so we need something to shake up the format and slow it down. I would start by banning Amulet of Vigor/Summer Bloom and Goryo's Vengeance/Nourishing Shoal and unbanning Sword of the Meek. I also think they should seriously consider unbanning Ancestral Vision.

I hope this helps clear some confusion from the last article and that you enjoyed this.