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Sorry to not respond for days. You basically got the reasons right - Storm decks (like most Deathrite decks) are fundamentally interactive in a way that Reanimator/Dredge/Show and Tell aren't (Lands...

Because Legacy isn't/wasn't a Pro Tour format. Even now that it'll be part of the Team Pro Tour, I doubt that they care enough. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see bans to shake things up from a...

The fact of the matter is that Turbo Xerox is objectively the best way to build a Magic deck, and it's only really been in the last 2-3 years that people across formats have really embraced it. In...

I know this is an old post, but the recent 5-0 list changes make it relevant again.

I was a strong proponent of using League results to inform (un)banning decisions because they represent such a...

Were they banned from Legacy I think the format would have a similar level of decks running blue duals as the foundations of their manabase. It's not like the police cards (Wasteland and Force) are...

Agree. The rise of Death's Shadow as Modern's version of Delver has really solved a big part of Modern's problem with linear, non-interactive decks being too good.

Alas, I won't be at Vegas since I have a work conference that week and tacking a 4 day vacation onto a 6 day work trip doesn't usually fly with other members of my family.

I'd show up for this for like a month. I haven't Balanced someone since like 2010. Sometimes you've got to scratch that itch. Once a decade seems about right.

I think Top/Miracles had been on the watchlist since Dig got banned but there kept being hiccups that could lead them to say 'maybe this is enough to rein it in'. And a lot of times the initial...

Trooth

Miracles often has to operate from a position of parity (or from behind) in terms of tempo and card quantity against some midrange and most other control decks, making EOT Entreats a big part of the...

That's possible. What ultimately becomes good depends in large part on what sort of combo deck ends up as the best and in what sort of numbers. We probably don't end up with a ton of Eldrazi in the...

While I think a nerf to Miracles is necessar at this point, I'm not a big fan of a Terminus ban (removing a win condtion is a minor but probably sufficient nerf, and killing Counterbalance gets rid...

Honestly that card is so irrelevant I forgot it even existed.

In his defense, if there's a prisoner to exchange for Top/Counterbalance/Terminus/Entreat, Twist is the most innocuous.

That's kind of an absurd comparison. Entreat produces 20 power worth of evasive threats at instant speed for the same cost as cycling Decree for 4 1/1s. You can Miracle Entreat EOT to steal a game in...

This is fantastic news. The only thing that would've been better is another Miracles mirror in the finals. Miracles is putting every other deck to shame in terms of top 8 conversion as a function of...

Deathrite is definitely the best 1-drop ever, but I don't think it's that egregiously overpowered in a world where casting Terminus and Griselbrand for one mana are also tier one strategies.


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I think Drain is about where the line of reasonable unbans are. It's definitely Legacy playable (unlike Mind Twist) and I think that the risk it poses is reasonable, especially if the card we...

For the record: I don't think Brainstorm(or Ponder) should be banned.

I do think you're collapsing two broad categories of combo together to make your point, though. Delver (or other fast...

I don't think the format degenerates into linear combo all the time in a world without cantrips (by which I specifically mean Brainstorm, Ponder, and Preordain). It becomes less 'free' to build decks...

I think they knew exactly what they were doing with regard to Death and Taxes - it's the best deck that requires no Reserved List cards and they're pretty clearly doing their best to support the...

Seconded. At least the High Tide player is trying, and it's a budget-able deck (Candelabra is probably optimal, but from my conversations with proficient Hight Tide pilots, not having one isn't the...

That's true, but only up to a point. They aren't contorting their whole strategy to beat those decks, they're making a judgement about the relative need for supremacy in "normal" creature matchups...

I actually think Terminus isn't as big a problem as Counterbalance since you can beat sweepers with "normal" cards like Painful Truths and threats like Batterskull and Mishra's Factory, as opposed to...