Ikoria: The End of an Era.

On 5/18 Lurrus of the Dream-Den has been  banned, not just in legacy, but something that has never happened before, type 1/Vintage as well. For the first time ever, a card has been banned on the grounds of power level from Vintage, a format that has an assortment of powerful cards, including the power 9, Sol Ring, Library of Alexandria, every card from Urza and Mirrodin blocks, and so on. 

Now, Lurrus wasn't just banned in Vintage, he was also banned in Legacy, which makes sense, Legacy is Vintage-lite, which has a ban list instead of a restriction list. Four cards in total had been banned across three formats, Lurrus being banned in both Vintage and Legacy, Zirda, the Dawnbreaker also in Legacy, and finally Drannith Magistrate and Winota, Joiner of Forces. Now if you include Lutri, the Spellchaser, who was banned by the Rules Committee when spoiled, you have five cards banned across four formats.

I don't believe in the history of the game, any card had ever been banned before it's release to the general public. I know Memory Jar had an extremely early emergency ban, but that card was still released. However we aren't here to talk about Lutri, or the Rules Committee. They aren't technically part of WotC, and as such, have some leniency, although these days its getting hard to tell how far removed they are from Wizards. However, Lurrus isn't banned in EDH which contradicts the statements "Commander is played with vintage legal cards." However given the number of times I've been seeing silver bordered cards and ponies at LGS tables, I'm sure that rule has only been a suggestion for some time.

"We recognize that it's a rare occurrence to ban a card for balance reasons in Vintage rather than restricting it, but this is a unique case where restricting Lurrus wouldn't affect its usage as a companion, which is the primary motivation for making this change."--Ian Duke

Honestly, when I initially drafted this, I had assumed Standard/Type 2 would have a ban card, and did four cards in four formats, since banning cards in Standard since Kaladesh has become the chic thing to do, within the last year four cards have been banned formats, one of whom, Oko, Thief of Crowns, has sort of become the poster child of unbalanced Magic cards, being banned in four formats,Standard, Modern, Pioneer, and Brawl. I have a feeling Lurrus is soon going to take that down. Currently Lurrus sees play in a multitude of formats, in fact, he is seeing play in all of them. He replaced Liliana of the Veil of in Modern Jund, he has burn decks running Mishra's Bauble. It chaos. In fact 87% of decks in the recent modern challenge ran Lurrus. This however isn't due to the nature of his graveyard retreivel  mechanic, which while good, isn't broken. Instead it's his companion mechanic that's the issue here.

Years ago I read an article about a mechanic Mark Rosewater designed while working on Tempest, which he dubbed 'the forbidden mechanic'. In his own words, it was the most powerful mechanic he ever designed, even more so then the 'free' mechanic in Urza block. It basically was a mechanic that would guarantee a card in your starting hand. He said the cards would have been minor, and you would have to jump through a hoop, but he still determined removing that much variance would be detrimental to the game, and the mechanic was quickly scrapped. 

It seems almost like he forgot this lesson. Companion is by design, a guaranteed extra card in your hand, except it can't be tucked or discarded, or interacted with at all. While the deck building requirements are admittedly interesting, they aren't by any means even. Lurrus simply requires you to have no permanents (not cards) with a CMC greater than 2. Zirda simply requires every permanent to have an activated ability. There are some that have creature type restrictions, cards in your deck only have odd/even converted mana cost, and one that requires you to have 20 more cards in your deck. They look fun in a vacuum, even possibly for another game entirely. 

"We don't not make things we think will be enjoyable in newer formats because their is the potential of them being good in older formats"--Mark Rosewater 5/9/2020

The biggest issue seems to be a lack of play testing, which has come up more frequently, as WotC tries to release an ever increasing amount of product. However their are two larger issues to this as well. First is the issue of Magic being 27 years old. Vintage and Legacy don't make much money for WotC, if any. I don't blame them for not play testing how well a card interacts with a Tolarian Academy or a Black Lotus. Basically Legacy is getting the same treatment in post Pioneer world, as Vintage got when they started pushing Legacy, and if the game survives, in ten years they will being doing that to Modern. Further more, the majority of the player base will never encounter some of these cards anyway. So while, in a perfect world, they would have the resources to work on every format, I don't blame them too much in that regard. After all, this isn't the first card that generates obscene value with a Black Lotus. 

The second is a long term loss for a short term gain. In recent sets, their have been an increased release of powerful chase cards. Oko, Field of the Dead, Once Upon a Time, and Underworld Breach had been banned in multiple formats, with Underworld being banned in Legacy, being dubbed by some as a strictly better Yawgmoth's Will. Naturally these cards exist to push packs, in an otherwise lack luster set. Avoiding any conspiracy theories about Oko and virtue signaling, Oko was still pushed hard, being such an oppressive presence when he hits the board, it could be nearly impossible to recover from, well without your own Oko. The mentality has become "If a card becomes problematic we will just ban it, after we sell the product". This makes for both a terrible standard environment, in which playing it even locally on any level but competitive is all but impossible, and a insecure environment, where no player can be sure their investment will hang around. A standard deck can cost several hundred dollars, and when you only get to run that for a few months at most, it leaves a bad feeling for the player in question. 

It use to be cards being banned in standard was a rare affair, and would occasionally conflict with already established products. I remember you could run Stoneforge Mystic in standard, as long as you played the event deck as is out of the box. My favorite story to this as follows. My twin one Friday calls me up and asks if I would be interested in playing in standard FNM. This being a rare occurrence I took him up on it, since he rarely plays. So what did he do? He bought a starter deck at Wal-Mart, the Nissa Kaladesh deck built around Energy Counters. The common in the deck, Attune with AEther had been banned. He said "who bans a common?" and left the event. It was the last time he ever went with me to a FNM event. This is just one example, but I'm sure it's happened to others. 

The next mechanic in question is Mutate. Despite another blow in the death knell of enchantments (especially local enchantments), its a rules nightmare. Besides the issues that stems from stacking cards on top of cards, there's the issue how it works with clone effects. Since at least 6th edition, a clone effect copies a card as printed, unless the card says otherwise. The best example I can give to this is how Vesuvan Doppleganger is always blue, or Quicksilver Gargantuan is always a 7/7. Things that don't get copied is counters, any temporary or permanent changes to the power or toughness (like Sorceress Queen or Riding the Dilu Horse), text changes, color changes, or any other temporary changes. It's my understanding that isn't how it works with a mutated creature, and if you copy it, you copy all the changes onto that creature. This doesn't just include the changes brought upon by the mutated creature, but any additional non-counter permanent changes to the creature as well. Since it "changes the characteristics of the creature". This isn't the case with Mutate, as copying a mutated creature mutates all characteristics as well. This I understand, copies changes made to the card from other sources as well (but I admit, I'm not certain of this). 

This mechanic becomes a rules headache, in addition to a number of other issues that have come up with the rule (such as blink effects), and is hard to keep track of on paper. It isn't however, hard to keep track of on Arena, like another card in the set. 

 Yeah that effect works well in paper, as do most random effects. They work even better online though. I think the way this mechanic works is a hint about WotC and designing for a digital client. There is a Chinese Whisper I've heard that phasing is making a comeback in the next core set, and while I usually don't share rumors, especially on my public blog, I do find this interesting. It's been said that phasing would work well on a digital client, because the memory aspects would be automated. I think it's interesting to watch for that, since there has been at least one card with Phasing printed in recent years. Combine this with WotC seemingly abandon of older formats entirely, and you have  

While it's still to early to be certain, but I have a bad feeling about the direction this product is going. I wish I was more well versed in the comics and sports card bubbles, because what I know, Magic is starting to resemble their end. With an ever increase in pushing limited premium products to artificially create scarcity. Whether it be alternative foil all-star cards, chrome and ghost covers, or borderless alt-art foils with pop culture icons on it, it's the same. 

I think WotC will continue this route until the cardboard market nukes itself, and then will move to a digital exclusive product. However, it's very possible, and I hope I'm right, that I'm wrong. I enjoy the social aspects of the game, and that's my favorite aspect of it. 

Standard cards currently banned in at least one format total: 10

Mana Denial in Scryings by Stan Sterkendries

(This article is a guest article by Stan S. It's about a format I have yet to formally play called scryings. A hyperlink is below).

Some people want to win it all, or build great works of creativity.  And then there are those who just want to watch the world burn.  Me, I accepted long ago that it’s more realistic to just make my opponent’s lands burn, and that brings us to the topic of the day: mana denial in old school formats.  Or, more precisely, mana denial in the new Scryings format.

If you’re not aware of what this format is, you can find its list of legal cards here. Basically, the boys and girls in Sweden added more than 100 new cards to the Swedish legal card pool, and created an extremely diverse and interesting addition to the existing Swedish format.  As of today (May 13 2020), there doesn’t seem to be a definitive deck to beat, although various strategies around Sacred Mesa and River Boa seem to have emerged and/or are emerging.  Land tax decks seem to have gotten a significant boost from the ‘printing’ of Jokulhaups, Undiscovered Paradise and Zuran Orb, and some brave souls are endeavoring to make reanimator a thing.  One aspect of old school magic that seems to get relatively little attention in this format is good, old fashioned mana denial.  This article defines manadenial as preventing the opponent from getting the proper amount and colour of mana out of his lands.  The format has artifact and creature mana, which means cards like Goblin Vandal can take out mana sources too.  But in this text we’ll focus on attacking the lands.

Before we evaluate the new ‘printings’ in this set, it’s important to note that Scryings is more than a clone of the Swedish format plus some new cards.  The addition of these cards has made some existing cards a lot better in this new metagame.  I already mentioned Land Tax, but there is another card which in my opinion gets a lot better in this new format.  Magnus added a lot of incentives to tap out and/or untap all of your lands in this set.  A Wildfire Emissary, pump knight or Sacred Mesa isn’t nearly as efficient when you can’t sink all of your mana into it.  Reusing Hammer of Bogardan costs you a hefty eight mana every turn, and if you want to optimally use Dwarven Miner (which will get its own paragraph later on in this article), you want to whack a land every turn too, which costs you three mana every time.  Thawing Glaciers comes into play tapped, and gives you tapped basic lands, and the hyper efficient beater Waterspout Djinn requires you to return an untapped Island to your hand.  Tapped ones won’t do.  In such a format, Winter Orb can be a deadly predator to the unprepared opponent.  Keep this card in mind when you’re brewing.

Next up, let’s talk about the new additions to the format.  If you want to attack a manabase, there’s the pinpoint accuracy approach, and there’s the sledge hammer strategy.  Jokulhaups and Pox fall into the latter category.  Both of these sorceries require you to build around it, and will reward you with a crippled opponent who struggles to cast his spells if you play your cards right.  Losing at least a third, or all, of your lands and mana critters, and artifact mana too in the case of Jokulhaups, will make short work of mana intensive strategies.  If you don’t intend to play these cards, be prepared to face them, because people will be trying to break these strategies.

A card which has been used together with Pox is Desolation.  This thing is deadly in a game of attrition, but you need to build around it.  Bear in mind that if the opponent disenchants it during his own turn, he won’t sacrifice a land.

Next up are the more pinpoint strategies.  Staying in Black, Choking Sands is an interesting addition to the format for the dedicated land destruction enthusiast.  Generally speaking you’ll want to play Sinkhole over this though, unless if you’re the maniac who wants both obviously.  Dealing two damage to remove a nonbasic land is sweet, but three mana really is a lot more than two, and the ‘non swamp clause’ really hurts it.

Pillage is another three mana addition to the format.  This card is extremely versatile, being able to destroy both lands and artifacts makes sure you’ll always hit something good with it.  The double red makes this card somewhat clunky in many decks though, more often than not you’ll want one or two of these in your main deck, if you’re not running monored more than that will be too much.  Still, a good card.

Creeping Mold is Pillage’s fatter younger brother.  It will also hit enchantments, but four mana really is a lot.  Not bad if you’re running a lot of elves, but you usually want to do more than destroy one noncreature permanent for that mana cost.  Still, if you can make it work, good for you.

Orcish Squatters gets its mention just for completeness’ sake.  At five mana, you want more than a boltable creature that needs to attack to do anything.  It’s cute and hilarious if you can get it to work, but don’t base your manadenial strategy on this guy if you want to win consistently.  Still, old school magic is a game of creativity as much if not more so than of skill, so don’t let my skepticism of this card dissuade you from brewing with it.

Political Trickery is an interesting card.  It’s not suited to wreck an opposing manabase, and will only rarely allow you to colourscrew an opponent.  But you’ll always be able to rob him of his best land, and this format has some really good lands.  I’m sure most players will find a good use for a borrowed Maze of Ith or Library of Alexandria.

Dwarven Miner is in my opinion the best manadenial card in this set, and one of the best cards included in general.  It’s a small red creature, which makes it very vulnerable.  You’ll need to protect it.  But if you get to untap with it, wonderful things start to happen.  Whacking just one land with it before it gets bolted or plowed will already put you ahead, as soon as you manage to activate it twice, you’re pretty far ahead.  Hitting a dual per turn, an annoying Maze of Ith or Mishra’s factory, that Library of Alexandria he was hoping to use to grind you out, or that Workshop which was bound to be used to do broken stuff, all of this becomes possible.  Three mana per turn is a steep investment in the midgame, but the pay off can be oh so sweet.

Our final entrant isn’t really a manadenial card at all.  Primal Order doesn’t destroy lands, it doesn’t even tap them down.  It doesn’t invalidate them like a Blood Moon does either.  But it will punish the heck out of an opponent who plays too many of them.  This four mana sideboard card is a serious clock against an opponent light on basic lands.  Not ideal in a metagame filled with budget decks, but if you want to punish opponents for running nothing but duals and factories, look no further.  Those x damage per upkeep can really add up.  Be careful though, this effect is symmetric.

So, there you have it.  The mana denial strategies in this wonderful new format are plenty, and they’re good.  Have fun trying them out, and if you feel I missed something, be sure to let me know.

Homage and Refences.

"Homage: Special honor or respect publically shown."

Recently, in the ever increasing bastardization of the game, WotC announced that we would be getting official alters in the form of Godzilla cards. Now, there's a big difference between putting the image of another existing IP, and making a homage to it. If these were simple homage's to the Kaiju of lore, I wouldn't mind, in fact, I wouldn't be paying attention to any of this, for the most part. However, I don't like the bastardization of elements I enjoy, and have enjoyed for the majority of my life. The sanctity of the IP should be respected, even loved.

While I love alters, I was never a big fan of crossover IP alters. Legends being Marvel Superheroes and anime characters for whatever reason never sat well with me, but since those aren't my cards, and because I love an artistic endeavor, I always tolerated them.

Now, homages aren't anything new. Ask Larry Niven about his disk. Library of Leng, Elven Riders, Dwarven Song, the list goes on so much. Homages are just as much apart of Magic as anything else. In fact, Magic was always a game of homages and tropes.

Now, in recent years, the proverbial envelope has slowly been pushed towards this in the last five years? Maybe it's been more, I honestly have a hard time remembering. It was certainly slow though. Now excluding the Jumbo Robot Chicken card, the first set of cards that came from a different intellectual property were from Hascon. These were three silver bordered cards that included NERF, D&D, and Transformers. All Hasbro properties. I actually had planned to go to Hascon, partially to get these, because it was just so unusual. Me and my brother figured it would be a one time thing. Oh were we wrong.

Since then, there has been several D&D Next products featuring Magic: the Gathering settings and characters, a special My Little Pony product, that got a terrible reception from the fan base, and finally, two Silver bordered sets, which are more akin to homages and references to other Magic products then straight up a different IP.

                                                                                                                                      

This has become blurred as well