I feel like (looking at the comments) a lot of us lost sight of the big picture:
MODERN PRO TOUR IS BACK! Wooo! 😀
I’m stoked. I’m going to be grinding PPTQs for the next two months at a shot at RPTQ Berkeley, CA. I thought I was confined to Grand Prix for the rest of my life 😛 I don’t care if there are a dozen pro tours per year and only one or two of them are Modern format. The fact that they brought it back is awesome. Cheers.

About the tourism in Bilbao, is fine, the local people are happy with the cultural tourism.

The tourism in bilbao is not nearly as annoying as in other cities such as Barcelona or Seville. In fact its quite rare to see big groups of tourists. I have to say that i dont live in the downtown so maybe other people have different experiences. Bilbao is a wonderfull city and it has lots of things to visit apart from the guggenheim.

Jon,

That’s awesome! I hope you didn’t take offense, for those of us in America that aren’t familiar with architecture, Bilbao isn’t as well-known as some other cities in Spain, which I think is a shame. I’m curious to hear firsthand about your opinion on tourism to your city, are you annoyed with it like New Yorkers are with Times Square? I’ve read that most locals are torn about the Guggenheim, they recognize the effect it has had but wish people would just go away.

I have never seen a 3K modern deck, barring all foils or something like that. In fact, 1K now really covers the high-end as 3 color midrange goodstuffs decks like jund have been supplanted by grixis shadow and eldrazi tron, both of which fall a hair under $1,000.

Why is it too much change? I mean, there is no guarantee that the first deck you obtain will be viable, let alone tier 1, forever. It simply does not go away due to a rotation.

Dennis,

I agree that there is a big difference between ‘shake-up’ bans and ‘fix-it’ bans. My opinion is that to this point, most of the language around bans have been ‘fix-it’, talk, where with a slight pivot WoTC could change the narrative entirely. Get us to expect bans, and they change the discussion and the perception around them.

I understand the finance point. I really do. I don’t think they can move to a regular banning schedule without doing something to bring down the cost of entry for Modern. They’ve shown with Modern Masters and Masterpieces and the like that a desire exists to get more cards into the community, but more needs to be done. This is an extremely complicated issue with tons of points and counterpoints, and 2000 words only gives me enough to introduce the concept.

I sold out of the game shortly after I Day Two’d Pro Tour Magic Origins. I still love the game and play and write constantly (obviously), but I had other goals in mind and couldn’t justify the cost of owning a collection when I rarely had time to take a Friday to play with them.

Thanks,
Trevor

There’s a lot of info on this very site that explains the motivation behind the Twin ban, but I won’t get into that.

I suppose that, having played paper Magic in the past, you do understand the finance perspective. I apologise.

If you think about the past 2 years of sets, new cards can have a huge impact on the metagame. I’m fine with that being the only way to freshen up the meta, and since I believe this is also the position of the majority of the playerbase, WotC should probably ban in a way that reflects that belief.

Why would I pay 2-3k for a deck that might be unusable just because?

I watch because I play. If I didn’t play I really wouldn’t watch. Wizards have miles more to do in order to make MTG something enjoyable for non players.

Like being able to follow your favourite player during tournaments and so on.

I sold my collection and play red decks. Not worth the hassle really. You are not invested in the game financialy. How come?

Yes most standard cards dont make it in modern. The overarching question remains: why does modern have to change? And if it does why is massive change preferable to incremental changes? I think the number of standard cards impacting modern has been too much if anything: push, eldrazi, delve, company, blessed alliance, brutality, allied fetch, eidolon, swiftspear, revelry, anger, ceremonius rejection, etc and thats not close to comprehensive nor even looking at fringe or brew tier.

Fair, maybe some elaboration would have helped. Sets are designed for Standard, it’s difficult to affect Modern too much without disrupting the acceptable power level for Standard. Bannings/unbannings can dodge this.

Chess is the greatest game in the world, so that doesn’t really apply. Wouldn’t mind banning Knights, my brother always made illegal moves.

Thanks,
Trevor

Chess hasnt had a shakeup ban in forever, still a pretty good game. Modern has like 5 tier one decks and a dozen tier two decks at any given time – and each individual game is still its own challenge to play out and can be entertaining to watch. New cards make a constant march into the competitive scene, and frankly its almost always better that they are subtle (courser of kruphix, kolaghans command, spell queller) than overbearing (eldrazi, collected company). Modern changing a little bit every release is fine.

Graeme,

Thanks for the comment! I admitted in the article that my perspective on bannings is undoubtedly influenced by the fact that I don’t have a paper collection to worry about, but I disagree with your statement that its hard for me to see the finance perspective. I completely understand, getting your only deck banned is rough for anybody. I’m taking the unpopular stance that regular bannings/unbannings could breathe new life into the format and generate more interest than damage. This shouldn’t be done without a long-term answer to secondary market prices for Modern staples, but that is a whole other article by itself.

Twin needed a ban. Every deck had to prepare for it, and the deck pushed out other control decks like Birthing Pod pushed out other midrange decks. Playing against Twin was oppressive, as you always had to respect the potential combo whether they had it or not.

Thanks,
Trevor

Winston,

Thanks for the comment! Glad to see another LoTR/Destiny player in the wild, LoTR was great but SWCCG is the greatest game in the world.

Thanks for reading!
Trevor

This post made me register and comment just because you mentioned two games I absolutely love: SW Destiny and LotR CCg. The latter is arguably the best card game I’ve ever played.

It’s a shame you had to pick Poe Dameron, though 😀

Regarding the article, great piece. I myself don’t think anything will change before Bilbao. Modern is too wild, too wide and in constant flux to be perceived as broken by the eve of the PT.