June 20 2011 DCI Banned & Restricted List Announcement

[Shawon]

June 20 2011 DCI Banned & Restricted List Announcement (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/148a)


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No changes to Legacy

I'm disappointed. I like seeing cards unbanned. But I agree that the format is in a good place, why fix something that isn't broken? Oh well, they'll probably unban/ban on September like the last two years.

But I'm damn surprised WotC banned both Jace and Stoneforge. I don't play Standard but even I know about the huge fiasco that is Standard with all those UW Control decks. Yeah, Jace suck it!

[John Cox]

jace and Stone forge mystic banned in standard... I will be buying a few when prices drop.

[Clark Kant]

Awesome that Jace and Stoneforge got axed. I'm glad I didn't rush out to buy playsets of either. Now, I'll hopefully be able to get them for a fraction of the price. :laugh:

I just wish they used this opportunity to finally axe extended as a format as well. (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?21242-Discussion-Do-you-think-Modern-Magic-threatens-the-viability-of-Legacy-or-Extended)

Modern is just such a cooler format than extended, since it's cheap to buy into and doesn't rotate, same as legacy. And extended is extremely similar to Modern in terms of the speed and power level of it's cardpool, and viable strategies. I really don't see why both Extended and Modern should coexist when there is so much overlap.

And it would really suck if Wizards tried to support Draft, Standard, Modern, Extended and Legacy with Sanctioned events all at the same time because that just means there will be a lot fewer Sanctioned events for legacy.

[LostButSeeking]

I thought that Aaron Forscythe's article outlining both why they're banning the dynamic duo and why it's taken them this long was very good. Certainly, it was much better than the one outlining the banning of mystical tutor.

Let's see if Jace gets to a reasonable price now, I still need to pick some up . . .

[Mark Sun]

Not particularly surprised about the bannings, and maybe the next few sets will be toned down a litle bit.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Sweet, going to have to pick up a playset of Jaces when they hit a temporary low.

[Tacosnape]

No changes. I win.

Not terribly sad to see nothing change quite yet, though I wouldn't have been upset had Show and Tell got axed (I still say it will eventually.)

Land Tax's potential unbanning got a humorous twist when me and a friend got in a testing situation where both of our turn one plays were Mox Diamond, Land Tax, go. The card just makes Magic annoying rather than being too powerful. Much how I feel about Sensei's Divining Top.

[Fossil4182]

Sweet, going to have to pick up a playset of Jaces when they hit a temporary low.

Star City Games has already dropped their price by 25% from $80 to $60 as of this evening after the announcement.

[SuperProxy]

CAW Blade will now make its way to legacy where its fair game in terms of power Level.

OH WAIT TOO LATE THE WORLD IS ENDING

[Tammit67]

I haven't laughed this hard in a while

[dschalter]

I thought that Aaron Forscythe's article outlining both why they're banning the dynamic duo and why it's taken them this long was very good. Certainly, it was much better than the one outlining the banning of mystical tutor.

Let's see if Jace gets to a reasonable price now, I still need to pick some up . . .

"So we went into the tournament practice room and we just couldn't lose no matter what we did..."

A pretty low bar to say the least!

(though they did offer some semi-decent explanations I suppose)

[Koby]

Land Tax's potential unbanning got a humorous twist when me and a friend got in a testing situation where both of our turn one plays were Mox Diamond, Land Tax, go. The card just makes Magic annoying rather than being too powerful. Much how I feel about Sensei's Divining Top.

Pretty sure that R&D agree with you on those exact sentiments.

EDIT: found it
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/2
"In the past the DCI has banned such cards on those grounds alone (Shahrazad is a good example of this, with Land Tax and Thawing Glaciers also having been banned for similar reasons) but in conjunction with the Top’s popularity during the last Extended PTQ season, the decision was to ban the card from the format it was harming."

[SilverGreen]

CAW Blade will now make its way to legacy where its fair game in terms of power Level.

OH WAIT TOO LATE THE WORLD IS ENDINGLaughed. :smile:


Can't read the article at work due to corporate restrains, but I'm a little sad with the Standard bannings anyway. The only place I have playing the format for some years now is on MTGO, where I have earning a lot of tickets with a UW-bladeless-Jaceless-Control deck that's surprisingly good against Caw-Blade and aggros in general. Now, the format will just be UR Deceiver-Twin vs The World, and will remain stupid, except it'll be more. :frown:

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Pretty sure that R&D agree with you on those exact sentiments.

EDIT: found it
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/2
"In the past the DCI has banned such cards on those grounds alone (Shahrazad is a good example of this, with Land Tax and Thawing Glaciers also having been banned for similar reasons) but in conjunction with the Top’s popularity during the last Extended PTQ season, the decision was to ban the card from the format it was harming."


Which is why Humility, Maze of Ith and Peacekeper are banned. Oh wait no that doesn't make any sense.

[SuperProxy]

To sum up the Block of text

Cards to good so its gots to go

[eq.firemind]

Now, the format will just be UR Deceiver-Twin vs The World, and will remain stupid, except it'll be more. :frown:
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle wants to have a word with you.

No changes for Legacy = good. More time to stabilize is nothing but good for post-Misstep Legacy.

[Koby]

Which is why Humility, Maze of Ith and Peacekeper are banned. Oh wait no that doesn't make any sense.

The article discusses repeatable, mechanic plays. Searching Top and Land Taxing every turn are the effect they want to discourage, not the strategic remove combat effects such as you listed.

[Beatusnox]

Standard is now healthier, The problem with Caw-Blade, was that it completely Crushed Mid-range and Valakut, now that Valakut is the only deck out there that shits on other Mid-range, it will be easier to make sideboards against Valakut, and allow more Mid-range to exist.

This also opens the format to some of the other aggro decks that just could not keep up with Caw-Blade.

[SilverGreen]

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle wants to have a word with you.

No changes for Legacy = good. More time to stabilize is nothing but good for post-Misstep Legacy.Aren't you playing much Standard on MTGO ultimately, do you? :twink:

[Pippin]

No changes to Legacy?

Well I guess our DrJones will be gone now until new B&R date is up, when we'll start to hear "Ban FoW, it's free timewalk and combo-enabler" all over again :smile:

[kubalonek]

Probably the price now will be set a bit lower but I would not expect to drop drasticly. SFM price is now established at quite low level. The only thing is that the Batterskull will go down due to the fact that in t2 without mystic it is crapy 5 CC equipment.

[Kich867]

Jace dropped down to around 60$, hopefully it goes down even further. Wouldn't mind picking up a playset eventually.

[Cthuloo]

Jace dropped down to around 60$, hopefully it goes down even further. Wouldn't mind picking up a playset eventually.

Yes, it's probably the right time to do it. I'm particularly happy for the earlier price dropping. As for Legacy: I'm ok with no changes for the moment. The metagame hasn't settled yet. September will be the right moment to ban (hopefully not) or unban something, since we should have a clearer idea about the shape of the format.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

The article discusses repeatable, mechanic plays. Searching Top and Land Taxing every turn are the effect they want to discourage, not the strategic remove combat effects such as you listed.

And then they printed Jace.

eta: I'm not saying that they don't want to avoid these effects in general, by the way I'm just saying this isn't a strong argument for keeping Land Tax on the list. Unlike Jace or Top, it's borderline unplayable. And it contributes far less to stalling the game than fetchlands do.

[Obob]

Jace can be had online for around 30 tix right now. No idea if this will be the low (perhaps that will come sometime this week), but it's already quite affordable for legacy players now.

[dahcmai]

Finally I can get a set of foil Jaces for a decent price. That and one for EDH. A nice foil Batterskull will be much easier to get too. Prepare to watch the remaining cards shoot up now.

[Grollub]

They make an event deck featuring one of the cards they ban 10 days later? I know they made "War of Attrition" legal in standard regardless, but ffs... I have to use an untranslatable danish phrase here, "det er en ommer".

Such amateurish behaviour had I never expected to see from a multi-million international company.

[I am the brainwasher]

Even if I would have seen it likely that they changed S&T's errata and unbanning Earthcraft, I am perfectly fine with no changes till autumn. I think its the right way to give Legacy more chance to establish post-NPH and take action after a few months.
I complained much about gamedesign and decisions they made (especially in the last time) but right now I think they are going the right way, with nearly all formats.
Now they only need to bin EXT and replacing it with Modern and I'd be happy.
I could see S&T getting axed (or erratad) and Earth Craft beeing unbanned, but this isnt the time and place to start that again.
Happy to play the most balanced and fun format further on with the feeling that it gets more attention by no attention at first glance.

[sdematt]

I'm glad I sold my Jaces when I did.

They did the right thing I think, but it was a bit late, as usual. Could they have left it until September? Sure, and it would have been fine. But, I think they didn't want other players to basically leave and come back up to that point. Seeing as how Caw-blade is more prolific than Raffinity (from the percentages, so I've heard), I can see why they've done something about it.

This is great for Legacy, since these cards are becoming more important, keeping costs a bit down should be good. Who knows if Stoneforge is too good for Legacy (we're seeing more and more Stoneforge infiltration into Legacy, who knows is the DCI will deem it as too good?)

-Matt

[LostButSeeking]

There's one JTMS at 49.95 buy it now (with shipping), and three at 52 BIN with shipping). Let's see where this goes, shall we?

[Barook]

Who knows if Stoneforge is too good for Legacy (we're seeing more and more Stoneforge infiltration into Legacy, who knows is the DCI will deem it as too good?)
Stoneforge is good, but I seriously doubt they could print anything that would it make broken.

[Sims]

Stoneforge is good, but I seriously doubt they could print anything that would it make broken.

Print Jace as an Equipment.

Seriously though, I'm happy on all fronts: Worldgorger got unbanned in EDH and gives a hilarious wincon in one of my decks that will just flat lose to anyone with a wipeaway, bounce spell, disenchant effect, etc... Jace finally got banned in Type 2 (i feel a bit late, though i can understand Forsythe's reasons for waiting), and stoneforge got nixed is just gravy. I might actually play type 2 again now, because Splinter Twin is beatable and you can still race and disrupt Valakut. /shrug.

No changes on the Legacy side was the right call, nothing right now needs to be banned as the format settles from the Misstep hype, and hopefully people will realize Stoneblade is not the end-all of decks... It's shows so far as flavor of the month, just like with decks in the past whose popularity wax and wane with metashifts. The deck is not Survival Vengevine/Ooze.

[Bignasty197]

This banning reinforces the fact that Standard is a bad investment. I'm glad I got into Eternal when I did.

[conboy31]

Were you investing in "fun" or actually investing in standard legal magic the gathering cards? What type of financial gains were you anticipating?

[Arsenal]

Anyone that thinks that Magic is a sound financial enterprise is delusional.

[Ecoris]

Even if I would have seen it likely that they changed S&T's errata ?

[Arsenal]

I think he means that he wants an errata so that Show & Tell includes Planeswalkers in it's text.

[Bignasty197]

Were you investing in "fun" or actually investing in standard legal magic the gathering cards? What type of financial gains were you anticipating?

Me, personally? I stopped playing Standard at Lorwyn block because it was boring so as far as investing--I never did. I don't know what you mean by financial gains. When I say "investing in Standard", I mean paying money for new cards. I just think Standard is a trap format where people pour money in and get relatively nothing back because cards drop in value(aside from Eternal staples). This banning just proves that Standard is the wrong thing to spend money on year-in and year-out.

[Kich867]

Me, personally? I stopped playing Standard at Lorwyn block because it was boring so as far as investing--I never did. I don't know what you mean by financial gains. When I say "investing in Standard", I mean paying money for new cards. I just think Standard is a trap format where people pour money in and get relatively nothing back because cards drop in value(aside from Eternal staples). This banning just proves that Standard is the wrong thing to spend money on year-in and year-out.

Close to all people that play standard play for fun, the minority plays in tournaments, and those people know what you know (it's not like it's a secret, they buy in knowing fully that they're losing money). In general, people don't care that their cards lose value unless they take magic as something other than the fun game that it is.

I think their banning was necessary, every other deck in the format just got better and it's going to open the floodgates for a few months on innovation.

[Bignasty197]

Close to all people that play standard play for fun, the minority plays in tournaments, and those people know what you know (it's not like it's a secret, they buy in knowing fully that they're losing money). In general, people don't care that their cards lose value unless they take magic as something other than the fun game that it is.

I think their banning was necessary, every other deck in the format just got better and it's going to open the floodgates for a few months on innovation.

I admit, I do have a deep distaste for Standard. This banning is probably healthy for that format because both of the cards in question are extremely good in this format.

[dahcmai]

Anyone that thinks that Magic is a sound financial enterprise is delusional.


Tell that to Ben Blieweiss, or better yet, I cordially invite you over to dinner at my paid off house that I bought from this crappy financial enterprise. My 401k's can't claim the gains I had from this game. It may be high risk to be sure, but it's better than it seems.

[ZeinVoncy]

I know a few ppl who have sold off their collections as a down payment for a house. Hell, I've sold mine a few times over to get extra money when I needed it. It is a huge financial enterprise . . . more then you seem to realize.

[tsabo_tavoc]

Dear WotC,

I love you.

Yours faithfully,

[DragoFireheart]

Time to pick up that last Jace!

[Kich867]

Tell that to Ben Blieweiss, or better yet, I cordially invite you over to dinner at my paid off house that I bought from this crappy financial enterprise. My 401k's can't claim the gains I had from this game. It may be high risk to be sure, but it's better than it seems.

I'm a bit confused here, you simultaneously agreed with him and implied that he was wrong in one post. Investing in magic is risky--therefore it's not a sound financial decision.

[dahcmai]

Not really. If you invest in your 401k or have a similar portfolio, you want high risk in a large section of it. It evens out over time. It's always better than playing it safe with a measly 4 percent or so. It just means you come out ahead over time.