I'm late, but Oko, Thief of Crowns is MTG card of the year

[Ajora]

This is the most powerful planeswalker ever printed. It's amazing how it completely broke Standard in half before getting banned. I remember when I first saw the card spoiled on Mythicspoiler, all kinds of alarm bells were going off in my head. The second ability locks out a lot of decks for a relatively small mana investment. The numbers are just way, way off on this card. Easily the most oppressive card released all year.

[Bratwurst]

I hate the direction Magic went in, both the card art and the power creep.

[Steamflogger Boss]

This was so obvious I crafted four on Arena immediately. Also bought some in paper and waited to sell. Four of the best five walkers are from 2019.

[Davey]

I quit Magic about 2 years ago but I played competitively for a few years. Seeing Oko from the sidelines, eh, I'm glad I didn't have to deal with it. I'm not a card designer and I have the benefit of already knowing the card is busted before evaluating it, but at quick glance it seems like the +1 should be a -1.

I hate the direction Magic went in, both the card art and the power creep.

I'm not a fantasy fan so I was never super into the art to begin with, but Magic art these days seems very generic and homogeneous. I think a lot of the 90's art was technically worse, but the variety was cool, gave the game a different feel, like there was this big universe of curiosities waiting to be discovered and tied together. The standardized art is more cohesive but loses that mystique.

Power creep is relative, too. Creatures and planeswalkers seem to keep getting better, spells worse. Countermagic in particular is so bad these days, and removal was getting worse (more expensive or situational) before I quit. Powerful threats with weak answers? No thanks.

Some pro, I want to say Kibler, made an interesting post. I forget the exact wording, but it was something like "Imagine Legacy where only spells from the first 10 years were allowed and only creatures from the past 10 years were allowed." It wouldn't look that different.

[Steamflogger Boss]

I quit Magic about 2 years ago but I played competitively for a few years. Seeing Oko from the sidelines, eh, I'm glad I didn't have to deal with it. I'm not a card designer and I have the benefit of already knowing the card is busted before evaluating it, but at quick glance it seems like the +1 should be a -1.

Funny they basically said as much recently.

Some pro, I want to say Kibler, made an interesting post. I forget the exact wording, but it was something like "Imagine Legacy where only spells from the first 10 years were allowed and only creatures from the past 10 years were allowed." It wouldn't look that different.

There was a recent Legacy deck where all the nonland cards were CMC 0 or printed in 2019. Truly it was a masterpiece.

[Ajora]

I quit Magic about 2 years ago but I played competitively for a few years. Seeing Oko from the sidelines, eh, I'm glad I didn't have to deal with it. I'm not a card designer and I have the benefit of already knowing the card is busted before evaluating it, but at quick glance it seems like the +1 should be a -1.

I hate the direction Magic went in, both the card art and the power creep.

I'm not a fantasy fan so I was never super into the art to begin with, but Magic art these days seems very generic and homogeneous. I think a lot of the 90's art was technically worse, but the variety was cool, gave the game a different feel, like there was this big universe of curiosities waiting to be discovered and tied together. The standardized art is more cohesive but loses that mystique.

Power creep is relative, too. Creatures and planeswalkers seem to keep getting better, spells worse. Countermagic in particular is so bad these days, and removal was getting worse (more expensive or situational) before I quit. Powerful threats with weak answers? No thanks.

Some pro, I want to say Kibler, made an interesting post. I forget the exact wording, but it was something like "Imagine Legacy where only spells from the first 10 years were allowed and only creatures from the past 10 years were allowed." It wouldn't look that different.

I think the first ability should have been +1 and the second -1. Even then, the card still would have been incredibly powerful.

[guigui]

I quit MTG in about 2007, long time ago. Though I can quickly see how broken that card is.

Share other banned cards from the past ?


Really, what where they thinking ? :


I definitely loved playing that one in fast Goblin Deck :

[Steamflogger Boss]

What were they thinking can sum up the entire Urza block tbh.

[Bratwurst]

I'm not a fantasy fan so I was never super into the art to begin with, but Magic art these days seems very generic and homogeneous. I think a lot of the 90's art was technically worse, but the variety was cool, gave the game a different feel, like there was this big universe of curiosities waiting to be discovered and tied together. The standardized art is more cohesive but loses that mystique.

To me that was the charm, abstract or symbolic pieces that sometimes looked like you'd find them at an amateur art fair. The modern stuff has no individual voice. So many things other than a mere trading card game have lost that these days.

What were they thinking can sum up the entire Urza block tbh.

Urza's Saga is exactly when I stopped playing.

[Steamflogger Boss]

To me that was the charm, abstract or symbolic pieces that sometimes looked like you'd find them at an amateur art fair. The modern stuff has no individual voice. So many things other than a mere trading card game have lost that these days.

Totally with you on this actually.

Urza's Saga is exactly when I stopped playing.

It killed off many mages haha. I was not "competitive" at that time just casual. I've been on and off with competitive play since but Arena has made it really easy for me. Shockingly a player with a Magic card username and avatar can't quit it I know...haha.

[Davey]

In "defense" of Skullclamp, it was a last minute change that wasn't tested enough. I forget the details, but I think originally the equipped creature got +1/+1. The change to +1/-1 was actually supposed to be a nerf. Oops. I think Jitte was also a product of last minute changes, like originally it had to be equipped to something to use any of the modes or something along those lines.

And yeah, Urza block almost killed Magic.

I think the first ability should have been +1 and the second -1. Even then, the card still would have been incredibly powerful.

It's crazy how much of a difference +2 and +1 are, especially on cheap walkers. First example that comes to mind for me is the original Ashiok. Playing against it is such an uphill battle if your answer is to fight it through damage, based on my cube experience.

[Steamflogger Boss]

It's crazy how much of a difference +2 and +1 are, especially on cheap walkers. First example that comes to mind for me is the original Ashiok. Playing against it is such an uphill battle if your answer is to fight it through damage, based on my cube experience.

Ashiok is an absolute house in cube but basically unplayable in constructed. Starting at 40 cards really helps.

As for Oko yeah he is just a ridiculous damage sponge. Goes up to 6 or nerfs a big threat immediately. The "worst case" is making a 3/3 every other turn all while the loyalty just keeps going up and up.

[BryanM]

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23373

lol yeah Oko is incredibly stupid. Basically 2 times better than Beast Within at bare minimum. +X times better per turn it just sits there.

But power creep is standard in Gacha games like this one - you gotta print stupidly broken things to get Timmy to part with his lewtbucks.

As a buddhist monk, I've been unmoved by the very idea of chase rares - is the point to buy the Hasbro Interactive executives yet another yacht, or to play a game and have fun?

I'ma let you guys into a secret of what the best format of Magic The Gathering is:

It's Penny Dreadful.

Since Hasbro doesn't want anyone to know about this, here are some basic facts you should know about Penny Dreadful:

+ Instead of stupid cards that are stupid and dumb, you have access to a huge selection of powerful, viable cards that are cool and good. Just look at the currently legal mythics, look at them. Akroma Angel of Fury, Darksteel Colossus, Reaper from the Abyss. So many old, awesome cards. That cost $0.01 because they're not in standard or viable in other eternal formats. Instead of costing $400 because Rosewater added an extra zero onto it or something.

+ It's self-balancing. If a card is too good or too degenerate, it bans itself by virtue of not costing one cent anymore.

+ It's actually possible to possibly build your own deck and have it be top tier, by virtue of the smaller playerbase and the shakeup every rotation has.

+ Decks cost ~40 cents to a dollar at most.

- MTGODO only.

- The playerbase is anemic since The Man doesn't want Timmy to know about it. (Though you might consider this an upside, since it appeals to people who aren't greed monsters easily seduced by unrealistically small mana costs.)

Magic art these days seems very generic and homogeneous. I think a lot of the 90's art was technically worse, but the variety was cool, gave the game a different feel, like there was this big universe of curiosities waiting to be discovered and tied together. The standardized art is more cohesive but loses that mystique.

An issue inherent to profit.

I remember as a kid rather loving some types of abstract art - Yoshitaka Amano's stuff in particular. Nobody else I knew did. Have never really cared about the typical "anime" templates, so that just left realism. Which would take me hours to transcribe something to my satisfaction, no one particularly caring. No wonder I quickly gave up pursuing it further. Some extrinsic motivators are necessary, you know? (It's soul crushing to think that some people actually cared about some of my quick half-assed children's drawings in mspaint made with a mouse. More than anything I ever put actual effort into.)

Even now, decades later I rarely see anything experimental or personal or human from commercial ventures. Usually stuff hidden away in niche horror manga or something.

[Ajora]

This has been a pretty busted year in general for MTG. As others have said, planeswalkers, in particular, were really overpowered this year had a major impact on Standard, Modern, Legacy, and even Vintage. Arcum's Astrolabe also fucked up Pauper for a while because of how meaningless mana restrictions became. None of us thought Field of the Dead was any good when we first looked at it, but the card has done some really damaging things to Standard.

But I'd much rather have this than WOTC being overly cautious and not trying to push things a little. Fallen Empires and Kamigawa weren't very good when they came out, and they're even worse now.

[kitten]

I'm not a fantasy fan so I was never super into the art to begin with, but Magic art these days seems very generic and homogeneous. I think a lot of the 90's art was technically worse, but the variety was cool, gave the game a different feel, like there was this big universe of curiosities waiting to be discovered and tied together. The standardized art is more cohesive but loses that mystique.

they've been giving a bit more platform to nonstandard artists in this last year, in particular, and moving a bit away from the house style.

also, seb mckinnon has, quite honestly, significantly topped both terese nielsen and rebecca guay (two all-stars from the early days) as my favorite mtg artist, and he only started getting involved a few years ago. some of his stuff is just superbly gorgeous. going to post a few favorites, here -

Spoiler

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

you can view his entire catalogue of card art, here

some other fantastic and very prolific (in terms of quantity of art) artists to belong to more recent years. click their name for a list of all card art they've done -

Spoiler

victor adame minguez

- incredible warmth and rich palettes. master of subtle contrast

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

Spoiler

nils hamm

- haunting, gorgeous, moody, and severe talent on display in the diversity of cooler colors

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

Spoiler

winona nelson

- draws superb attention to central figures, consistent feeling of capturing intimate or candid moments

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

Spoiler

slawomir maniak

- dynamic, vibrant, violent... his art always feels like you can imagine the seconds before and after

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

Spoiler

james zapata

- a personal pick because of his relatively smaller quantitative contributions, but his stuff is utterly fantastical and captures a wondrous sense of awe

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

Spoiler

volkan baga

- great sense of austerity and decorum

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

Spoiler

igor kieryluk

- pervasively unsettling even when he's not trying to be, there's a subtle genius touch of the macabre in his best stuff

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

Spoiler

howard lyon

- astonishingly clean and sharp for the diversity of color he puts into everthing

- * - * - * - * - * -* - * - * - * - * -

and here's just some stuff from the last few months from up and coming artists to mtg. while some of the above artists do hew a little closely to house style despite superb art, this stuff is definitely offbeat and promising in terms of potential directions to be explored (and their popularity suggests more of this to come) -

Spoiler

let's also not forgot yoshitaka amano even did a piece this year! as well as veteran kaiju artist kaida yuji.

- - - - - - -

while i feel like the "house style is way too boring, where's the creative art" complaint might have held water a couple of years ago, there's a ton of great artists that have been doing stuff the last few years and i really feel as if the art is on the road to higher diversity and more distinct styles among artists. most of those i listed above were off the top of my head for impressing me and almost all art was within the last five years. we all miss artists like rebecca guay, quinton hoover and richard kane ferguson (who did do a new piece for a historic callback, recently) - and we all wish terese nielsen had her older quantity of output (okay, well, she's been the subject of QUEER POLITICAL SPHERE DISCOURSE lately so maybe they just want to cancel her and not "all" want her back in frequent action), but man, mtg art is frankly in one of the best states it's been in, lately, even if it is still admittedly lacking for the variety of amateur input and divergences from house impositions. i do wish lower tier but infinitely endearing artists like the foglios would return, but i think there's a lot to be happy about and a lot to be excited about.

as for the state of the game, itself, yeah, there's been some really absurd power creep in the last two years, in particular. discussions about arena changing the landscape of the game are also common, and the state of the game is in severe flux. i quit playing standard recently (both arena and at my lgs) and have retreated into just fiddling (extensively) with commander and watching modern/legacy videos with some interest in pioneer. frankly, my severe mental health issues prevent me from playing competitively more than once-in-a-while and getting out often, so i'm mostly happy to sit in my little command zone at home. it does frankly seem to be the future of the game, at least on paper, and there's so many ways to play it and express oneself. it can be about as competitive as one wants it to be, and there's so many other benefits - no rotation, you bargain in creating your own meta, you can actually play cards you like instead of what's good and still stand a chance, you're rewarded in a myriad of ways for doing your own deckbuilding, etc.

this was supposed to be a low effort post but i wound up sprawling out of control, whoops! i've been super busy this holiday season and hardly had time to say anything - in fact, barely even time to look at the forum - but this for some reason drew me out. have some vids i need to post in the action thread and pm's to respond to that will probably still be several days off!!

[Davey]

As for card art diversity, I kind of get that having a normalized art direction is probably inevitable as the game got bigger, more mainstream, more corporate. In the early days the story line was basically just flavor text. There were books, but I don't think a lot of people read them. That all changed, and now the art has to tie in with the story arc. So I get it, but something was definitely lost.

Also, given some of the mishaps and misinterpretations, I can see why WotC would give less leeway to artists. The "serra" in Serra Angel was meant to mean serrated, like she was a badass with a serrated sword. That wasn't communicated, and Serra wound up becoming a central character, haha. Then you have awkward mistakes like Hyalopterous Lemure being depicted by a lemur and the "how the hell did this actually make it to print" Invoke Prejudice.

As for power creep, that's another one that's hard for me to evaluate from the outside. Back In My Day, Standard bannings were a rare thing. Big gap between Affinity (2005), Caw Blade (2011), and
Smuggler's Copter and company (2017), and it's not like all the sets in between had a low power level. Now they're pretty frequent and I can't tell if the power level is really that much higher or if they're more trigger-happy with bannings, I assume some combination of the two.

The playerbase is anemic since The Man doesn't want Timmy to know about it.

There might be some truth to that, but sadly I think the materialistic aspect of the game is necessary to some degree. I wish I could find the post/interview/whatever, but I remember reading a quote from a designer, possibly Rosewater himself, saying that CCGs subsidize things like LCGs. Cashing in on the addictiveness and collectability of the game keeps the cash flowing in in ways traditional board games never could. In a better world that profit would get reinvested into R&D for more/better games, but grumble grumble capitalism.

Pauper has gone through waves of popularity locally. I have no idea if it's actually good for the shop or not, since the store doesn't really make any money on events and selling Pauper singles isn't going to keep the lights on. Most of those players play other formats too, so the math is probably really murky.

i'm mostly happy to sit in my little command zone at home. it does frankly seem to be the future of the game, at least on paper, and there's so many ways to play it and express oneself. it can be about as competitive as one wants it to be, and there's so many other benefits - no rotation, you bargain in creating your own meta, you can actually play cards you like instead of what's good and still stand a chance, you're rewarded in a myriad of ways for doing your own deckbuilding, etc.

Some people can bounce between casual and competitive, but after playing competitively I can't do casual, it's like I've seen too much, haha. Like trying to play a shmup for survival after you've invested significant time learning the scoring mechanics. Sometimes I'll watch other people play EDH and wonder why they're not just killing people when they have the chance or why they think it's fun to wait 20 minutes for their turn. But if you look at them then look at the people playing in the sanctioned tournament two tables over, the casuals seem to be having a lot more fun.

For me cube is the best balance: it's just for fun but can have competitive, intricate games, it can be as cheap or expensive as you want, power level where you want it, cube owner gets to exercise their creative muscles by being a set designer, etc. Biggest catch is finding a sizeable like-minded playgroup. And people you trust, I guess. I've known some people with insanely expensive cubes, one in particular felt weird handling myself. Thinking to myself, this opening hand is worth more than most of my Modern decks...

Battle Box also seems like a good casual format for competitive-minded players. I haven't played it enough to have much of an opinion, but it seemed promsing.

[Steamflogger Boss]

First of all, very nice to see you again kitten.

As someone who has played Magic at just about every level, playing with powerful cards is fun. I wouldn't want to just play jank, but it does have its place.

Pauper has gone through waves of popularity locally. I have no idea if it's actually good for the shop or not, since the store doesn't really make any money on events and selling Pauper singles isn't going to keep the lights on. Most of those players play other formats too, so the math is probably really murky.

My LGS runs pauper sporadically, but it's mostly a Magic Online format.

Some people can bounce between casual and competitive, but after playing competitively I can't do casual, it's like I've seen too much, haha. Like trying to play a shmup for survival after you've invested significant time learning the scoring mechanics. Sometimes I'll watch other people play EDH and wonder why they're not just killing people when they have the chance or why they think it's fun to wait 20 minutes for their turn. But if you look at them then look at the people playing in the sanctioned tournament two tables over, the casuals seem to be having a lot more fun.

The biggest problem with EDH is having a playgroup of 4+ that's all on the exact same page in regards to relative deck power level. EDH with randoms is the absolute worst.

For me cube is the best balance: it's just for fun but can have competitive, intricate games, it can be as cheap or expensive as you want, power level where you want it, cube owner gets to exercise their creative muscles by being a set designer, etc. Biggest catch is finding a sizeable like-minded playgroup. And people you trust, I guess. I've known some people with insanely expensive cubes, one in particular felt weird handling myself. Thinking to myself, this opening hand is worth more than most of my Modern decks...

Cube rules.

[kitten]

First of all, very nice to see you again kitten.

howdy howdy

The biggest problem with EDH is having a playgroup of 4+ that's all on the exact same page in regards to relative deck power level. EDH with randoms is the absolute worst.

i find it surprisingly fun in 1v1 and that 1v1 often better tunes you in on which cards are actually good or not in deck-building. you get a lot of bias in a multiplayer game when you drop a bomb at its ceiling of usefulness and watch it warp the game, but playing quicker one-on-one games shows how often it is that a card like that sits unplayable in your hand for a majority of the game or is too reactive/situational/etc.

while you don't get a proper feel for how good some cards are when doing 1v1 (besides the obvious that things like rhystic study, mystic remora, and smothering tithe are only 'good' and not 'holy shit', you don't get a good feel of the political power in certain cards or playstyles), i think it better lets you tune your deck to efficient levels and gives you a better idea of how dangerous you actually are and what threats to actually prioritize come a multiplayer game. this also helps you have better focus on what your curve is, what ramp spells are best on your deck's curve, whether you need more/less ramp or card draw, what hidden synergies might exist, how to close out a game, etc. 4 player is definitely the sweet spot where some of the biggest fun happens, but 1v1 is both fun on its own and a great crash course for making you win more multiplayer games.

unfortunately, so many commander players i know don't know how to balance between their deck. on the one extreme, some make their deck hyper-oppressive, unfun dogshit (if i hear one more neckbearded mother fucker tell me how "fun is a zero sum game" as they grin and make the rest of the table miserable, i'm going to go ballistic) with a half dozen tutorable wincons. on the other extreme, you get people whose average cmc is above 5, who don't play mana rocks, ramp (aside from like mirari's wake or zendikar resurgent), or targeted removal spells, and who will very loudly tell you about how some 8-cost spell is actually "fucking amazing" and has "won them so many games."

i've yet to get a consistent playgroup going, but i love playing with my roommate, with my brother when he visits, a couple friends, and occasionally with a few people at the shop i know won't go buck-wild and border on cEDH or get super salty you're not also playing with a precon you downgraded by removing signets and replacing them with expensive spells that close one in every ten or so games.

one thing i really love to do is just take a big ol stanley box (thanks, tolarian community college!) down to the shop filled with sleeved up pre-cons. that way someone who didn't bring a deck can join in and if anyone gripes about severe power imbalance, we just play with decks mostly balanced around each other or roll a dice for random decks or etc. sometimes someone gets atraxa or meren or whatever, but even the atraxa precon isn't so strong that the rest of the table treating them like archenemy won't level the playing field. i also like to bring planechase or archenemy cards shuffled into the planechase deck (just treat the active player as the archenemy) for super casual silliness. i usually like to call that "maro party," eheh.

Some people can bounce between casual and competitive, but after playing competitively I can't do casual, it's like I've seen too much, haha. Like trying to play a shmup for survival after you've invested significant time learning the scoring mechanics. Sometimes I'll watch other people play EDH and wonder why they're not just killing people when they have the chance or why they think it's fun to wait 20 minutes for their turn. But if you look at them then look at the people playing in the sanctioned tournament two tables over, the casuals seem to be having a lot more fun.

i think you might enjoy cEDH, tbh? or be surprised at how much fun a game of commander is when you're designing a deck around a commander who isn't that strong or in colors with a weaker selection of cards. i like to consider designing a commander deck like designing an old action game - you make due with the restrictions that you have and find your way of being creative and meaningful within that. you can get a bad commander down to a surprisingly efficient and powerful deck, and then you're still playing with a competitive mindset.

i remember one time playing against my roommate's oppressive aminatou (esper blink) deck at the shop while i was playing with arahbo (selesnya cats) to fill in time before a multiplayer game opened. someone started watching over our shoulders and stopped to comment, saying "i thought the esper deck here would be pulling the bullshit, but you're blowing up lands?" i had managed to get argentum armor out and equipped early due to a variety of cards enabling that, and to close out the game i was seriously nuking her lands each combat to make victory impossible. just because you're playing a "fun" deck with fair cards doesn't mean you can't play aggressively or competitively. i love building my decks as efficient as possible under weaker commanders because it feels like playing with a handicap. in that sense, it's maybe akin to like playing on a higher loop or something, where everything is out to get you.

the format just has some really interesting and almost unending variety in both decks and players. part of why i love it is that even when you think you've got a situation totally under control, clever players will still pull out lines of play you'd never see or predict. that can happen in normal competitive magic, but it feels so natural and leads to much more fun stories (at least for me) in commander. a lot of cEDH games only last until turn 4 or 5 (some closing as early as turn 2 or 3 with extremely rare turn 1 victories) and have some really interesting complexity, but i do prefer getting into the thick of things. i most prefer selesnya or sometimes naya - i like my combat steps, i like a game to get a few splashy plays in and not end when someone has just combo'd off after zero drop mana rocks and tutors.

for the record, in constructed, i actually really enjoy playing blue (though perhaps still enjoy green most). i'm not a blue hater when i'm calling out other decks as oppressive/unfun/etc., it's just easy to make a commander deck total fucking misery for a whole table. counterspells, interaction, etc. - all great. winter orb and stasis while playing derevi? fuck that. stax in constructed formats i can often tolerate or admire, but in commander it's just... not conducive to a good table experience, and either goes off and becomes impossible to deal with in 1v1 or just gets blown out - either way, ehh.

Cube rules.

i don't have any friends with a good cube, but i'd love to play it sometime and have heard so many good stories or watched many fun videos. i enjoy draft down at the store quite a bit on occasion, and that's the thing i most miss after quitting arena (esp because i'd actually build good decks instead of going "wow people are passing FIFTY CENT rares? those fools!!). cube sounds like a delight and a long-term goal.

[Davey]

I played Duel Commander a bit, one of the local guys was actually on the committee at one point. That's the most involved I ever got in EDH. For multiplayer experience I'd rather just board game (or cube).

Speaking of which, cube goes up on MODO a few times per year. The actual cube varies, sometimes it's Legacy cube, Vintage cube, Modern cube, etc. Legacy is my preferred power level because it allows for some broken things but unlike Vintage it's not the norm. Naturally, they're phantom events, and a 2-1 finish gets you enough points to play another. I never played online much but when cube was up I'd often play quite a bit.

That brings another thing to mind, the different attitude among formats. In paper I've noticed Legacy players tend to be nicer and more laid back. Since it's not a big format in competitive play (never in the Pro Tour and one GP per year in North America), people playing it tend to be playing it for the enjoyment of the game as opposed to grinding to qualify for something or practice for a GP. Being an older crowd probably adds to that as well. Along those lines, my cube opponents online were always much nicer than when drafting a regular set. Sometimes I'd beat people and they'd still be like "wow I really like your deck." That never happens when jamming sealed events in preparation for a GP or whatever.

for the record, in constructed, i actually really enjoy playing blue (though perhaps still enjoy green most). i'm not a blue hater when i'm calling out other decks as oppressive/unfun/etc., it's just easy to make a commander deck total fucking misery for a whole table. counterspells, interaction, etc. - all great. winter orb and stasis while playing derevi? fuck that. stax in constructed formats i can often tolerate or admire, but in commander it's just... not conducive to a good table experience, and either goes off and becomes impossible to deal with in 1v1 or just gets blown out - either way, ehh.

I'm a blue mage through and through, so no surprise Legacy was generally my favorite format. It's funny how Brainstorm is legal, I can't think of any other card that's so obviously overpowered but that never gets banned just because people like it.

I hate prison decks in every context. I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed in competitive play, but I don't think the game is better off by having them. By definition they're trying to reduce the number of meaningful decisions that are made in a game, which is inherently uninteresting, and they don't even have the courtesy of killing you quickly. Fuck that. The extra frustrating thing is that they're usually not even good. It's like, great, I lost to Pox guy... it was a miserable experience, I lost the match, and it'll probably hurt my breakers because Pox sucks and my opponent win percentage will take a hit. Even winning against Pox isn't fun. It's even worse in something like EDH that is supposed to be a fun social thing.

[Steamflogger Boss]

I'm a blue mage through and through, so no surprise Legacy was generally my favorite format. It's funny how Brainstorm is legal, I can't think of any other card that's so obviously overpowered but that never gets banned just because people like it.

Wasteland in Legacy and Mishra's Workshop in Vintage. Well a long time ago they did the smart thing and restricted it but then all the Shops players whined hard enough and they took it off. It seems super safe now too, as they have had to nerf Shops multiple times since then and instead of doing the correct thing (restricting MW) they restrict an artifact which is picked by spinning a wheel. Wasteland is a card that leads to more non-games. Thankfully they at least banned Wrenn and Six*. JFC.

Those two and Brainstorm are the super obvious ones, at least to me. WOTC would never do it, but something like a one month temp ban of WL and BS would be hilarious. I'd love to see how that would shake up the LolgaC meta.

*Wrenn and Six is the perfect example of power level being contextual. It would have been close to unplayable in standard (it was printed into a special set that was never standard legal) is just okay in Modern but completely warped Legacy.

[Ajora]

Legacy is easily my favorite format. We all know Brainstorm is busted in that format, but Legacy wouldn't be the same without it. Wrenn and Six was just stupid in Legacy when it was legal. Mana restrictions? What mana restrictions?

[Davey]

Wasteland in Legacy and Mishra's Workshop in Vintage.

I don't know much about Vintage, but Legacy needs Wasteland or something like it to answer utility lands and keep greedy mana bases in check. It's one of the format's main safety valves along with FoW and StP. Ghost Quarter might be able to fill that role adequately in the absence of Wasteland, not sure though. Playing around Wasteland can be interesting, but it certainly leads to a lot of frustrating or boring non-games.

Although speaking of punishing non-basics, ever cast From the Ashes in Legacy?
"From the Ashes?"
"Can I read that?"
"Sure"
"...oh..."

I put one Lands player on tilt with that one time. "Why do they even print cards like this?!"

[kitten]

^ i think i've only seen that card once during a few of my games with the commander 2013 deck it was printed for and wondered what the hell it was doing in there since it was a three-color deck with as many non-basics as the other 4 decks. had to look it up because i couldn't remember it at all, and then had to look up which deck it was in to jog the memory that i think i had, in fact, seen it in my hand at some point. cast it? no. doing that against someone playing lands in legacy is such cruelty lol

that was the only naya commander pre-con until this year, and it is far and away the absolute worst commander pre-con ever printed (the one with mizzix is fucking awful, too, even though mizzix, herself, is great). i have no idea what they were doing with it, or the commander they chose for it - and it's not like that year was bad, the other four decks were all great (oloro, prossh, derevi, and jeleva [who also had nekusar and true-name nemesis in her deck]).

[Steamflogger Boss]

Kill him, and another shall arise in his place.

[guigui]

^ Should I understand that :
* first you get 3 life + draw + growth for 1GU
* then you get it again for escape cost + a 6/6 mob ?

[Steamflogger Boss]

Yep and if he ever gets to attack just fuhgeddaboutit. I'm running 4 in standard until I can't. He isn't in all formats like Oko but is a terror in standard.

[kitten]

also seems really busted as a commander, tbh. with him, oko, and kydroid krasis within the last year - man they're just going nuts on simic mythics, huh?

i like that the new selesnya PW would still be substantially worse than oko even if it cost an entire 1cmc less :[