Modern Banned List

[Mr. Safety]

There are certain cards which are good against Twin, but Counterflux is not one which would be an argument for giving an already Tier 1 deck the best cantrip in the format (Ponder would still be banned). Twin has redundancy in every aspect and if you give them toys to dig for those pieces faster than you can find answers, you are doing it wrong.

I agree.

Wasn't the Ponder/Preordain ban predicated mostly on the dominance/redundancy of Twin decks? It helped that deck much more than storm (mostly because Twin played maindeck counterspells, essentially the anti-storm combo deck of choice.) When you can play a full 8 copies of both halves of your 2-card combo, and then play efficient cheap dig spells to all but ENSURE a turn 4-5 combo (all the while digging for answers/protection while you wait), isn't that a little too strong for modern (generally speaking?)

Yes, I know, too many parentheses in that above paragraph (but who's really counting?)

[YamiJoey]

It's only 3 pairs. (Me.)

No changes to the format it's absolutely fine.

GP Prague: UWR Mid, Splinter Twin, UR Tempo, Rock, Tron, Rock, Rock, Rock
Milan 5/1: Rock, Pod, Rock, Living End, Rock, Rock, Affinity, Affinity
Spain 12/28: Affinity, Rock, Rock, Rock, UWR Mid, Affinity, Pod, Rock

The only real dominator of the format is Deathrite Shaman.dek. If it got a ban I'd understand, and I kind of want it to so that I can play Bob without Goyf at some point in the near future, but I don't expect it anymore. There was a time not too far gone where it was the only deck I considered playable. We got over that and now I really like the format.

[JDK]

I guess everyone wins: http://wizards.com/magic/magazine/ar...ly/feature/285

[Phoenix Ignition]

Modern
Deathrite Shaman is banned. Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl are unbanned.

Wow. I did not see such a large change coming. I'm somewhat happy with the DRS ban, I think he was too useful to not throw in literally any green and/or black deck. Bitterblossom may prove to be a problem, but I think having a good other control style deck in the format (that BB facilitates) isn't all bad. Wild Nacatl isn't going to blow our minds or anything, but he will make that green/red (splash white) zoo deck come out in greater numbers. Interested to see what the format looks like in a couple months.

[apple713]

sold my bitter blossoms late last year... kicking my self soo hard. faE is a deck i could actually play in modern and be happy.

is faeries any better than merfolk tho?

[Aggro_zombies]

Without Ancestral Visions? It's debatable.

Personally, I feel like Jund and/or BW Tokens benefits more from the BB unban than Faeries does.

[apple713]

Without Ancestral Visions? It's debatable.

Personally, I feel like Jund and/or BW Tokens benefits more from the BB unban than Faeries does.

with jund losing DRS and blood braid is it still a contender?

[DragoFireheart]

LOL at the changes.

I will never waste my time investing in any "good" deck. Not even mid-range is safe.

[Lord Seth]

Personally, I feel like Jund and/or BW Tokens benefits more from the BB unban than Faeries does.

I don't really think Jund benefits much from the Bitterblossom unban. The card is slow, makes them bleed life even more, and is very bad in the later game.

The decks that benefit the most from it are BW Tokens (because they can only play 4 Lingering Souls) and Faeries (because of its synergy).

Though I actually do wonder how much it'll ultimately benefit Faeries. It's strong, but is it strong enough to pull it up to Tier 1? That I'm not sure about.

[Aggro_zombies]

I don't really think Jund benefits much from the Bitterblossom unban. The card is slow, makes them bleed life even more, and is very bad in the later game.

The decks that benefit the most from it are BW Tokens (because they can only play 4 Lingering Souls) and Faeries (because of its synergy).

Though I actually do wonder how much it'll ultimately benefit Faeries. It's strong, but is it strong enough to pull it up to Tier 1? That I'm not sure about.

Faeries really needs some way to gas up in the midgame. There aren't any good options for that right now - both JTMS and AV are on the Banned List and the former, at least, is likely to stay there. Without those, you have: bad one-mana cantrips plus Snapcaster (ew), Remand (good but only cycles), and, what? Night's Whisper? Thirst for Knowledge?

[Lord Seth]

Faeries really needs some way to gas up in the midgame. There aren't any good options for that right now - both JTMS and AV are on the Banned List and the former, at least, is likely to stay there. Without those, you have: bad one-mana cantrips plus Snapcaster (ew), Remand (good but only cycles), and, what? Night's Whisper? Thirst for Knowledge?

Does it really need ways to gas up in the midgame? Faeries is a tempo deck; it doesn't really want to go far into the midgame. It wants to beat you over the head with its army while countering anything problematic.

[Arsenal]

If no more turn 2 Lili and less overall Thoughtseize happens, with a minor-moderate uptick in Zoo style lists, UWR Control is looking really good.

[Fizzeler]

Well you can play Jace AoT as anther CA engine that has the plus of being good vs aggressive decks.

Or you know think twice

[fogxanic]

Why not play Oona's Blackguard and Spellstutter Sprite in faeries? Scion of Oona for protecting bitterblossom and creatures like Mistbind Clique and Vendilion Clique maybe Vial is needed then.

[Looooooooo]

Would a F**ing Ponder be forever too much for this ridiculous format?

- L

[JDK]

Faeries really needs some way to gas up in the midgame. There aren't any good options for that right now - both JTMS and AV are on the Banned List and the former, at least, is likely to stay there. Without those, you have: bad one-mana cantrips plus Snapcaster (ew), Remand (good but only cycles), and, what? Night's Whisper? Thirst for Knowledge?

Mistbind Clique would like to have a word with you.

@fogxanic
There is no Faerie.dec without Spellstutter Sprite.

[Arsenal]

Is Fae better than Merfolk though? Both decks are similar in the sense there is a strong tribal synergy, both blue based, and both are tempo oriented.

[Timber]

Would a F**ing Ponder be forever too much for this ridiculous format?

- L

You know that Twin can win on turn 4 in a format where Wizards wants no quicker than turn 4 kills, right? So yes, for the 1,000,000th time, Ponder would be too much.

[Arsenal]

If people want to play with Ponder, JtMS, SFM, BBE, etc so badly, there's a format where you can do that... it's called Legacy. I'll never understand why Legacy players complain that Modern doesn't have Card X, when you can just play with Card X in Legacy. Modern is a completely different format trying to accomplish completely different things than Legacy/Vintage is. Why can't people understand and accept that? Why does every Legacy player want Modern to be Legacy-lite when Wizards clearly has stated and shown that they want Modern to be Super-Standard.

[JDK]

Is Fae better than Merfolk though? Both decks are similar in the sense there is a strong tribal synergy, both blue based, and both are tempo oriented.

These decks are completely different. Merfolk builds tend to be aggressive, while Faeries are also more permission-based and much more flexible. I wouldn't say Merfolk is tempo oriented. This may be true for Legacy, but in Modern they are just an Aggro.dec with a little amount of spells to help getting the beats in.