All B/R update speculation.

[Arsenal]

Is there any data that we aren't retaining players or that players are not coming in? Availability seems to be a far more pressing issue to growing Legacy.

Balance and availability go hand in hand. If one color is the dominant color by a wide margin, then the cards for those colors will be highly sought after and create availability/pricing issues that is detrimental to the format.

[Zombie]

Balance and availability go hand in hand. If one color is the dominant color by a wide margin, then the cards for those colors will be highly sought after and create availability/pricing issues that is detrimental to the format.

Or: We could have more players in the format if Plateau was a card.

[Arsenal]

Or: We could have more players in the format if Plateau was a card.

That's my point. The color balance is so lopsided towards blue that we have $150-200 blue duals and $45 Plateaus. If the format was more balanced, we'd likely see a more even demand for staples of every color, not just blue.

[DragoFireheart]

That's my point. The color balance is so lopsided towards blue that we have $150-200 blue duals and $45 Plateaus. If the format was more balanced, we'd likely see a more even demand for staples of every color, not just blue.

But all the good mechanics are blue.

Also, all of the good mistakes from WotC are also blue.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

This was a good post, I should just quote it every time people say things about blue having all the good mechanics.

It's more accurate to say that blue has the mechanic "good."

I disagree. It's not the abilities it's the power level of the cards printed.

For example -
B - Instant - target player discards 3 cards at random
R - Instant - 7 damage to target creatures or player
G - Creatures - 5/5 hexproof haste trample
WW1 - Creature - 3/1 protection from a player (oh, wait....)

I can make good cards with strong color identities too. Problem is wizards love affair with blue. Any ability can be high powered. Drawing and countering is just what they have decided to push/horribly misevaluated.

[PirateKing]

This was a good post, I should just quote it every time people say things about blue having all the good mechanics.

It's more accurate to say that blue has the mechanic "good."

That's half true, because if those cards existed, they would be cards. And so getting more of them than your opponent would let you win faster. So even with some amazing non blue card, the fact that they will always be cards capable of being drawn through some means, will give blue a one up in the other 4.

[DragoFireheart]

This was a good post, I should just quote it every time people say things about blue having all the good mechanics.

It's more accurate to say that blue has the mechanic "good."

It's probably more accurate to say that WoTC just has a hard-on for blue and gives them the good shit.

[testing32]

That's half true, because if those cards existed, they would be cards. And so getting more of them than your opponent would let you win faster. So even with some amazing non blue card, the fact that they will always be cards capable of being drawn through some means, will give blue a one up in the other 4.

I'd say it's all true. We can make the example more extreme. If those cards existed and the best counter was cancel and the best card draw was predict you would never play card draw or counters b/c they would be using valuable slots.

[Barook]

It's probably more accurate to say that WoTC just has a hard-on for blue and gives them the good shit.

Blue is the most popular color because it has best cards. In turn, they make the best card in blue because it has the biggest fan base. It's a vicious circle.

Same with all the Jace circlejerking now. Jace silver coins? C'mon!

Edit: I have yet to hear a logical reason why TNN was blue instead of white, aside from Wizard's raging hard-on for blue. Blue is historically the color of non-creature protection? It had three cards in its entire history of that before. Innistrad block alone had double the amount of said cards in white.

[PirateKing]

I'd say it's all true. We can make the example more extreme. If those cards existed and the best counter was cancel and the best card draw was predict you would never play card draw or counters b/c they would be using valuable slots.

This is true. You could even go MAX EXTREME and just ban blue as a color. The other four would go on existing and the reason there are 5 dots on the backs of Magic cards can be a quaint story we tell to our grandchildren.

The only other option is to completely scrap the color wheel and build it back up from the ground. Maybe then you could achieve some semblance of balance among the five.

Also, while there might be some debate over blue as the BEST color...

...all of the good mistakes from WotC are also blue.

This is difficult to dispute.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

It's true, because Wizards makes the most mistakes in blue because of its raging hard on for the color, we have no choice but to just deal indefinitely with whatever gets printed. That's why Legacy is still haunted by Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, and Tolarian Academy to this very day.

[testing32]

This is true. You could even go MAX EXTREME and just ban blue as a color.

Why not? We have already banned red. What red card actually sees play other than lightning bolt, sneak attack and REB/Pyroblast?

[Barook]

What I would not welcome is if the format turns into some "stall" of 2-3 best decks like we had it during the MM with Stoneblade/NO RUG or afterwards with Maverick/RUG/Stoneblade where basically everything else was Tier2. Without Delver I see SFM as a risk to become a fun killer because he simply dominates everything. Wouldn't "tempo" cease to exist without delver and wouldn't that mean the format turns into a couple of dominating midrange/control decks and some combo?

Tempo existed before Delver and I doubt it would cease to exist without it. Sure, it would get weaker, but maybe "3-color Delver deck of the week" wouldn't be the best performing deck of the format for pretty much every month.

[DragoFireheart]

It's true, because Wizards makes the most mistakes in blue because of its raging hard on for the color, we have no choice but to just deal indefinitely with whatever gets printed. That's why Legacy is still haunted by Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, and Tolarian Academy to this very day.

Sadly the solution requires the same people that made said cards in the first place to pull their collective heads out of their asses.

Why not? We have already banned red. What red card actually sees play other than lightning bolt, sneak attack and REB/Pyroblast?

Snapcaster Mage.

[ahg113]

Snapcaster Mage.

I don't get it.

[testing32]

I don't get it.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Ca...verseid=368517

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Ca...verseid=245197

[ahg113]

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Ca...verseid=368517

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Ca...verseid=245197

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Ca...verseid=227676

[sarcasm]Am I color blind?[/sarcasm]

[DragoFireheart]

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Ca...verseid=227676

[sarcasm]Am I color blind?[/sarcasm]

The default color for cards WotC makes is blue. Show and Tell was supposed to be green, Snapcaster was supposed to be red, Tnn was supposed to be white, and someone accidentally made Goyf green because they didn't want people pitching it to FoW.

[Lord Seth]

While Snapcaster Mage would have been more interesting as a Red card, there seems to be very little merit in saying its ability is something only Red has access to.

[Jamaican Zombie Legend]

While Snapcaster Mage would have been more interesting as a Red card, there seems to be very little merit in saying its ability is something only Red has access to.

While you're right in saying that Red doesn't have a monopoly on the effect (Blue and Red both share the sphere of "metamagic", or interacting with Instants/Sorceries), it generally had greater precedent from earlier cards like Recoup to a spell that sat in the same set as Snappy, Past in Flames. Not to mention, Snappy is aggressively costed and would fit better in the color of aggression.

It's not so much that Snappy didn't fit in Blue mechanically, it's more that Blue really didn't need Snappy nearly as much as Red did. That's a story that seems to have been playing out far too often the past few blocks, what with Blue getting toys they'll hardly even play with while other colors get dirty hand-me-downs.