Comments on: Modern Banlist Predictions for March 23

By: Devon

Devon — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 16:31:57 +0000

The big thing with sword of the meek is that, even if it’s unbanned, I really can’t see where it would make any real impact on the format. Legacy thopter decks seem to dedicate at least 5 or 6 slots to this combo. It seems ludicrous in this format to be that dedicated to a combo that takes forever to win.

Secondly I think the combo suffers from the current meta. When just about every deck in the format sideboards a healthy amount of artifact hate (because of affinity), it’d be almost impossible to make this combo go long.

I could see this making a small splash in some kind of gifts shell (maybe Mono blue or UW TRON?), where you can take up 2 slots for this in the deck or sideboard. The gifts package could be sword, foundry, academy ruins and something else. However, I can’t reasonably see where this moves those two decks into a real competitive position. Both of these cards are effectively dead without their counterpart.

I think that modern has had some serious power creep in the past few years and what was overpowered in 2012 is not even competitive anymore. Just look at blood raid elf vs siege rhino…..

By: Eulogyi

Eulogyi — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 12:25:09 +0000

Superb article – very nice read. I doubt they will make any changes at all, but I wouldn’t complain about a Summer Bloom ban. Losing to something that you can’t even respond to feels terrible. That’s the reason why Wizards are trying to focus on creature/permanent-based gameplay rather than linear non-interactive strategies. Jace, the Mind Sculptor will hopefully remain banned – that card is too busted. Control players just got Narset and Anticipate to toy around with – we got no clue wether these will be enough to make a difference, but we’ll see in time. Additionally they might print an amazing blue Planeswalker in Magic: Origins. (I’m hoping for more cards that support creature based decks, though. And if they print powerful creatures, atleast give them some personality – Siege Rhino just seems lame and plain)

By: Nickolay Krumov

Nickolay Krumov — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 06:05:21 +0000

The question is whether or not it would make control decks *too* powerful with good removal for high-priority targets AND the best draw spell in the format all in one card.

By: Sheridan Lardner

Sheridan Lardner — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 20:20:02 +0000

In reply to Nickolay Krumov. We will dream together! I think that's a great shakeup ban after a year of data with no serious headway made in the control issue. But that would definitely be paired with some kind of product release or other major event, because the JTMS hype is just too damn high.

By: Nickolay Krumov

Nickolay Krumov — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 19:54:49 +0000

You know what’s a card that would help control decks and not any other archetype? A certain sculptor of minds?

Naaah, it will never happen, but one can dream.