All B/R update speculation.

[Lord Seth]

"Whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield, its controller loses life equal to its converted mana cost if they didn't cast it from their hand."

[EpicLevelCommoner]

S&T Hatebear - 1BG
Creature - Human Shaman
When ~ enters the battlefield, destroy target nonland permanent. Its controller puts a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
2/2

TNN Hatebear - 1R
Creature - Dwarf Soldier
Haste
Flanking
Provoke
2/1

[L0cke]

S&T Hatebear - 1BG
Creature - Human Shaman
When ~ enters the battlefield, destroy target nonland permanent. Its controller puts a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
2/2

TNN Hatebear - 1R
Creature - Dwarf Soldier
Haste
Flanking
Provoke
2/1

Wouldn't work, provoke targets iirc.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Are your from Wizards' R&D? "Opponent does something broken. Better ping him for 1 damage, that sure will show him!"
... And when an opponent cheats an Emrakul into play, he deserves a 15 damage nuke to the face, not some lousy one damage itty-bitty pingy-stingy.

Are you from MTG Salvation? Where have you read that I wish to ping someone for one dmg after they cheat in Emrakul?

[Gheizen64]

Some twist on Tariff would do good for SnT, and, strangely enough, could be decent against TNN too. A 1 mana instant tariff could be decent enough already to be playable maindeck and make TNN much more manageable.

[Barook]

"Whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield, its controller loses life equal to its converted mana cost if they didn't cast it from their hand."

Seems narrow. Too narrow. It doesn't stop Omniscience. If you put it into play with S&T, it will also miss the crucial trigger because Emrakul is already in play.

While it doesn't exactly address the "cheated into play" issue since it would also hurt ramp players, I think this wording would proof to be more flexible and thus overall more playable:

"Sacrifice ~: ~ deals damage to each player equal to the highest converted mana cost among permanents that player controls."

Now you can slam it on the board in anticipation to Sneak Attack or whatever and it hits S&T stuff. It also has potential to kill Planeswalkers, but that's besides the point. If that ability is too good for Standard because Timmy cries about his ramp deck, make it Eternal-exclusive.

[Nielsie]

Before I read the last pages of the TNN thread I was against banning Brainstorm. It seemed to me like a pillar that Legacy needs or it would collapse. But then I read all those Go Blue! posts and damn are those posts arrogant.

If I understand the Go Blue! camp correctly: Brainstorm has to stay because it is a skillfull card (yeah, very skillfull: dig 3, find answer. My dog can do that...) and it makes the top tier decks so consistent. That is why all the pro's play Brainstorm. Without Brainstorm we would all depend on varience, so let's call that with the right word: luck. So what the Go Blue! camp is saying is actualy: because I play Death and Taxes I will never be a skillfull player and I will only win because I had more luck than my opponent?!?!

Well screw that! I now agree that we should test a ban on Brainstorm, ban it and revaluate it the next ban round. But you know what, to say it with the words of the Go Blue crowd: don't fear, the meta will adapt to it!

[Bed Decks Palyer]

None of the above solves he BS/consistency issue, though.

As much as I love the card, Tariff is shitty. Unless you make it one mana instant, no one will play it, because right now there's that old Tariff that no one plays. I'm not sure if it's reasonable, because it could be too good, otoh, we have some one mana removal already available, so yeah, lets print either
- Path to Customhouse instant for W that makes all players pay-for-or-sac their most expensive creature (sadly this is just a worse Curfew and check how many of them is played), or
- Roam and Rang instant for WW that makes all players pay-for-or-sac/return their most expensive permanent (but this would be a weird narrow card)

These also don't solve the consistency/filtering issue. I'm quite fine with the idea of color pie that prevents gren from killing creatures, black from destroying artifacts, etc., but only as long as some conditions are fulfilled:
- color pie is strict, not that blue can everything while the poor remaining colors just suck
- there's a filtering/draw in other colors so that they may get to their cards that still follow the rules of color pie, yet the players are not limited to topdeck them.

I think that blue's power of manipulation is seriously overdone and as there's some card in every set, it won'tget better. Been able to draw what you need, avoid floods/screws, unmulligan, raw card draw, these all are very important features that decide who wins the game. A player/color with better tools for these tasks wins in a longer run, because all things equal, the more consistent deck wins. After all it doesn't matter if your win condition is Alert Shu Infantry or Belbe's Percher, but the fact that you draw it when you need and whenever you need it, decides the game.

White could use some kind of Sylvan Library / Island Sanctuary remake:

Sylvan Sanctuary
Enchantment

At the beginning of your upkeep
look at the top three cards of your library
and put them back in any order.

You may skip your draw step. If you do so,
creatures without flying or islandwalk can't
attack you until your next turn.



Blue has enough of filtering tools.



Black could get some draw, the only trouble is how to make it useless in blue decks, esp. in combo.

Make Imps
Tribal Sorcery - Imp

Put a black 1/1 token named Small Imp
onto the battlefield, then lose X life
and draw X cards where X is the number
of imp creatures you control.



Red might get non-random Looting.

Better Tibalt
Planeswalker - Tibalt

+1: Discard a card, then draw a card.
+0: Put a red 1/1 Human token otb.
It has "First strike on opponents' turns".
-6: Each opponent sacrifices all lands.

2



Green is easy, it gets some kind of cantrip owl.

Sage Sprite
Creature - Faerie Advisor

Flying
When ~ etb, scry 2, then draw a card.

1/1



EDIT:
Brainstorm hosers. Some of them might be too powerful for Standard, so lets introduce them via Commander or similar products.

Boros Jailhouse (WR)
Enchantment

Whenever any opponent draws a card
outside that player's draw step,
you gain two life and ~ deals 2 dmg to
that player.



Aven Mightcensor (WB)
Creature - Bird Something

Flash
Flying
When ~ etb, players can't draw cards until eot.

"Neverrrmorrre!"

1/1



Savannah Dude (WG)
Creature - Cat Spirit

If a player would draw a card, that player may pay :x:
where X is Savanah Dude's power. If that player doesn't,
he or she skips that draw.

"Meow!"

1/1



Underworld Imp (BR)
Creature - Imp Shaman

Whenever an opponent draws a card,
~ deals two damage to that player.

1/1



Orzhov Tavern (BW)
Enchantment

At the beginning of your upkeep choose an opponent.
That player skips all draws until your next upkeep.
That player may pay to ignore this effect until eot.

"I won't try the mushrooms." - Norin the Wary.



Bayou Dude (BG)
Creature - Ooze Thallid

Whenever a player draws a card, put a
1/1 Fungus token otb.
Sac three Fungi: each opponent discards a card.

2/2



Goblin Anathemancer (RB)
Creature - Goblin Shaman
If a player would put a card on top of library,
that player puts two cards on top of library instead.

2/2




Heroes vs. Monsters (RW)
Tribal Enchantment - Minotaur Knight

If a player would draw a card, that
player instead searches his or her library
for a creature card, reveals it, puts it into hand
and then shuffles the library.



Taiga Dude (RG)
Creature - Rare Kavu Hatebear

Blue spells cost additional
more to play.

2/2




Stomping Ground Dude (GR)
Creature - Uncommon Kavu Hatebear

Blue spells cost additional
more to play.

"Roarrr!"

2/2



Chapel of Still Mind (GW)
Enchantment

Spells that draw cards can't be played.



Golgari Trading Post (GB)
Enchantment

As ~ etb, choose an opponent.
Whenever chosen opponent draws two
or more cards from one effect or spell,
that player discards a card.

[Erdvermampfa]

Before I read the last pages of the TNN thread I was against banning Brainstorm. It seemed to me like a pillar that Legacy needs or it would collapse. But then I read all those Go Blue! posts and damn are those posts arrogant.

If I understand the Go Blue! camp correctly: Brainstorm has to stay because it is a skillfull card (yeah, very skillfull: dig 3, find answer. My dog can do that...) and it makes the top tier decks so consistent. That is why all the pro's play Brainstorm. Without Brainstorm we would all depend on varience, so let's call that with the right word: luck. So what the Go Blue! camp is saying is actualy: because I play Death and Taxes I will never be a skillfull player and I will only win because I had more luck than my opponent?!?!

Well screw that! I now agree that we should test a ban on Brainstorm, ban it and revaluate it the next ban round. But you know what, to say it with the words of the Go Blue crowd: don't fear, the meta will adapt to it!

A game like MTG has to stay unfair to preserve its appeal and Blue offers this feeling of supremacy as it's clearly advantageous to other colors which still get played regardless. I think we all know that Brainstorm should get banned because you can cite plenty of convincing and well-founded reasons for a ban of it and pretty much every criteria of previous bans applies to the card well. In my view, the reason Wizards doesn't take action against it is because people seem to be fine with the ills of the format and welcome blue's dominance after all.

[Dice_Box]

That argument is flawed. Not about Brainstorm but about people welcoming blues dormancy. I personally would love to see all colours equal, I play mostly Red. I see blue as the path of lest resistance and I look at the people that play nothing but blue the same way I look on people whom play Xcom on easy. Your welcome to play the game, but your not getting the full experience.

[YamiJoey]

That argument is flawed. Not about Brainstorm but about people welcoming blues dormancy. I personally would love to see all colours equal, I play mostly Red. I see blue as the path of lest resistance and I look at the people that play nothing but blue the same way I look on people whom play Xcom on easy. Your welcome to play the game, but your not getting the full experience.

I didn't realise it was April already.

Brainstorm is the most powerful and most skill intensive Spell in the whole of Legacy. Saying Blue is easy and that you 'play mostly Red' says everything we need to know, really.

[Dice_Box]

Haha, ok cute, now your going to attack me personally. I like where this is going. Decks I play include Painter, Elves, Dredge and Goblins. Not a single one is easy to play. So yea, I play red, I like red, that does not make me an unskilled player looking for easy wins.

Also, you should read some of my posts and you will see my views on Brainstorm. They do include that the card takes skill, but it take less skill to play a deck that let's you pick the next 3 cards, then the next 3 cards, then the next 3 cards. That's not skill, Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm, you add them up and your not talking skill, your talking taking the easy way out of trying to make a deck work.

Here is something to think about. I drop a Ringleader and I am at the mercy of that top deck, I do not have to like it, but I have to play around it. It actually takes more skill to know when to pull the trigger on cards, when to play what and when to risk a top deck only situation when you do not have the safety net that is filtering. Yea, I play mostly Red, and I am fucking proud of it. Because it shows I have learnt long ago how to play without that net others just can not live without.

Oh and don't get me wrong, I know that net wins games, I know it's the best way to play if you want to win consistently, but I have an age old unnatural love for Onslaught Goblins, so yea, take your blue and go and play it for me. That way your Forces can keep Beltcher from killing me with more goblins than I have in my whole deck. I will respect your choice to play the easy way, but that doesn't mean I have to take your shit if you want to belittle my choice.

Dice.

[Darkenslight]

I didn't realise it was April already.

Brainstorm is the most powerful and most skill intensive Spell in the whole of Legacy. Saying Blue is easy and that you 'play mostly Red' says everything we need to know, really.

This is utterly incorrect; Doomsday is the most powerful and most skill-intensive spell in Legacy. Brainstorm is the most broken draw spell in Legacy; it allows you to:

1) See multiple cards on turn one unaided;
2) Avoid discard, to a point;
3) Considerably increase consistency in conjunction with fetchlands; and
4) Increases round-times (though admitedly not on the scale of SDT).

BS the most-powerful one-drop in Legacy - it's why most Blue decks start their lists with "4 Brainstorm".

[EpicLevelCommoner]

Brainstorm does not need a ban or an answer. While it is very easily the most powerful 1-drop cantrip in Legacy and enables consistency for blue decks, it also promotes all forms of non-aggro that decide to splash blue for consistency.

That includes at least (4 (U+1 colors) + 6 (U+2 colors) + 4 (U+3 colors) + 1 (U+4 colors)) * 4 (combo, tempo, midrange, control) = 60 possible archetypes/color+strategy combinations aided by Brainstorm. Granted, not all of these put up results OR use brainstorm, but to simply say it deserves a ban because of its power-level is ridiculous when it actually helps diversify a format as opposed to polarizing it.

And before someone says, "but what about non-blue decks and/or aggro decks?", let me ask y'all if you seriously think its a smart idea to not run blue for Force of Will (or any decent counterspell/disruption for that matter) in a format with some of the most game-breaking spells and combos available?

[feline]

I think to say one this or that is more skill intensive is a bit bold to say, as different things are more, or less skill intensive for different people depending on how they play.

Having said that, I'll go back to what this thread is and post as I have every so often in a while, that they really need to just unban Mind Twist. Even if they did, I doubt it'd see format warping play. People are using their dumping their hands for enough mana to kill people on turn 1, or make a bunch of 1/1 goblins. Not many will trade in a potential turn 1 kill, for a lesser turn 1 "your hand is gone, pass."

TL:DR? Unban Mindtwist already!

[Dice_Box]

Brainstorm does not need a ban or an answer all it needs is everyone to play it and stop playing non blue decks? That's your suggestion? That's... I got nothing I can say to that.

[PirateKing]

While I don't think Brainstorm needs a ban, it would be nice if there were more reasons to not play it. Right now it's risk free beyond Chains of Mephistopheles and Notion Thief. If they gave other colors the tools to punish greedy card draw, then it won't look as appealing to players. Print something like

Screw You Brainstorm

Creature - Dwarf Berserker
First Strike
If an opponent would draw a card except the first one he or she draws in each of his or her draw steps, Screw You Brainstorm deals damage for each card drawn.
2/1

or

Butterfly Tender

Creature - Snake Shaman Rebel
If a player would draw a card except the first one he or she draws in his or her draw step each turn, instead the player puts a 0/1 Butterfly token into play.
Butterflies have " , sacrifice this creature: draw a card"
1/3

Suddenly, colors that are not blue give blue players reason not to auto-include 4 brainstorm into every list ever. They still will, but now it comes with a trade off, and that's the point.

[EpicLevelCommoner]

Brainstorm does not need a ban or an answer all it needs is everyone to play it and stop playing non blue decks? That's your suggestion? That's... I got nothing I can say to that.

Of course you have nothing to say to that because that's not what I said. All I said was Brainstorm does not need a ban or an answer, because it actually diversifies the format, despite the lack of non-blue decks.

If anything, I suggest creating better cantrips for the other colors as well as better disruption, most notably for red and green.

[Dice_Box]

You said Brainstorm does not need a ban or a ballancer because it's the most powerful card that everyone can splash for. Then you add why would you play anything but a deck with force. In short, why play anything other than a blue deck running Brainstorm and Forces.

Personally that's not an answer to the issue, that's a recipe for disaster.

[EpicLevelCommoner]

You said Brainstorm does not need a ban or a ballancer because it's the most powerful card that everyone can splash for. Then you add why would you play anything but a deck with force. In short, why play anything other than a blue deck running Brainstorm and Forces.

Personally that's not an answer to the issue, that's a recipe for disaster.

I agree: there should be a reason to play non-blue non-combo. But it's because of combo that blue is so prevalent. Hence why I suggest better dig spells and disruption for the other colors.