Quote Originally Posted by SDBobPlissken View Post
Yes, this is true. But from what I recall miracles was the only deck mentioned and they had no regard for the splash damage it would create for other decks. Also banning counterbalance would have helped with the timing issue. Topping once on your turn and once at the end of an opponent’s turn doesn’t take as much time as topping once on your turn, once on your opponents turn, and then for every spell that your opponent attempts to resolve. Throw in brainstorms, and fetch lands to dig and reshuffle and then top all over again in order to try and get the correct cmc with counterbalance. Counterbalance enabled you to stretch out time with top. If it was banned instead of top it wouldn’t have only mainly affected miracles and maybe high tide. Some lists were playing a playset in the sideboard.
Exactly this. Top wasn't really the actual offender for timing issues. Counterbalance is the only real reason to ever have to top more than once per turn (if you don't have short-term memory loss).