‘Ello ladles and jellyspoons! Either some of you are dancing in the streets or at home hiding under the bed in the fetal position after the B&R announcements. Let’s take a look at a few of them and what it means moving forward:
[scryimg] Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis [/scryimg]
First things first. Let me be very clear: I always wanted Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis to get banned. Just so no one gets what I’m about to say twisted…
With that being said, over the weekend I was thinking about it and I wouldn’t have been surprised if that on Monday morning the announcement read: “no changes”. And here is why:
#1. It looks bad. We saw it with Splinter Twin when they printed it in MM2 and banned it shortly after they released the product. Banning a new card is like giving a child a birthday gift and then taking it right back hours later.
#2. It hurts the buyer’s confidence. I’m NOT talking about banning the number one deck like they do in Yu-Gi-Oh! But when people can’t trust that Wizards won’t take away the shiny new toys they give us to play with people will become hesitant to buy and crack open new products.
#3. Wizards of the Coast is a business. They are here to make money. Period. When they start banning cards that are helping sell packs it’s going to hurt sales. *Before anyone says anything.* Yes, you’re right. A 6$ rare compared to 100$ for Wrenn and Six is hardly the driving force behind people buying and cracking MH1 packs. But, it is still a contributing factor that must be taken into account despite how minute that factor may be.
(Side note: I’m not sure if there is any way to quantifiably calculate the amount of money Wizards stands to lose based on the number packs not being sold due to buyer confidence loss vs. the amount of money they stand to lose if they chose to not ban Hogaak resulting in customer/player base loss?…. We are dealing with theoretical outcomes here.)
Now! Let’s look at all the reasons I’m super happy that they chose to ban Hogaak and 100% confident that it was the right thing to do:
#1. Inversely, it would hurt players confidence if they didn’t ban Hogaak. Looking at the game as a whole, it would be of Wizards’ interest to retain the player’s trust that Wizards will protect them and keep them safe if the meta becomes too toxic. Players need to know that Wizards listens to their cries and is willing to kill their own creation if that means saving the meta.
#2. Banning Hogaak was the cleanest, most simple solution to the problem. We already saw how banning Bridge from Below as a band aid fix to the problem wasn’t enough. And if you ban some of the enablers such as Carrion Feeder (which kills the looping Gravecrawler + Vengvine engine and made Pathing the big Ho impossible), Stitcher’s Supplier (which would have just only slowed it down), or Faithless Looting (which I will get to later) it still wouldn’t be enough.
#3. Three strikes and you’re out banned! Strike One. It took first place @ SCG Bernardsville and a week later took down GP Vegas which alone is enough to put it on Wizard’s radar. It wasn’t just a flash in the pan like when Bogles spikes a tournament once per year. Strike Two. It made up over 1/2 of the Top 8 at GP Vegas putting 5 players into the Top 8 slots. Strike Three. It clearly warped the meta. You knew the meta was warped and that we were in dark times when Burn had to play Leyline of the Void in the sideboard in order to take down an MCQ…
In the end: the pros of banning Hogaak clearly outweighed the cons and the ban hammer was ultimately dropped. But being the smart people that you are, it’s always important to consider all the possibilities and the context of the situation (despite how improbable they might be). Good riddance Hogaak.
[scryimg] Faithless Looting [/scryimg]
Poor Faithless Looting. Honestly, I was a little surprised. I know people were calling for it’s banning because of Phoenix decks before Hogaak’s rise to dominance (but I would have rather seen Arclight Phoenix get the ax instead during that time). Banning Looting doesn’t kill but certainly nerfs Dredge and Mardu Pyromancer in the process. People say that banning Looting is going to make the Modern meta “healthier and more diverse” but I think that it’s just going to cause a lateral shift as Phoenix, Dredge, and Mardu Pyromancer players take up new decks.
[scryimg] Stoneforge Mystic [/scryimg]
Now, this is the big one that everyone is talking about. We have heard rumblings and rumors about SFM getting unbanned for years and it finally happened. People will be clamoring to get their copies and figure out the best homes for her. We might even see people trying to build good ol’ Cawblade with her. Personally I’d like to build Abzan with her but that’s just me.
I find the SFM banning the most interesting because it reminds me of an article I found on Modern Nexus where they did extensive testing with SFM in an Abzan shell and discovered mixed findings. While it’s win rate with the inclusion of SFM only increased by a couple of % points the predicted impact it would have on the metagame was alarming. It might cause gravitation towards unfair non-interactive decks that just ignore Batterskull (think combo) resulting in a concentration between those two types of decks. No real new diversity would be generated, the same number of different decks will be played, but the type of decks that players are forced to play would become homogenized.
[scryimg] Rampaging Ferocidon [/scryimg]
What’s the point? Standard players will get to play with it for a whole whopping month before it rotates… 🤷🏻♀️
As for the Vintage restrictions and unrestrictions: no comment (I don’t know enough about Vintage for me to make an assessment at this time).
Welp, that wraps up the big news bannings. I find it funny. Give it a few weeks and the next new #1 deck will have people wanting a card banned from it. If Tron rises to the top I’m sure people will be crying for a Stirrings ban, if it’s Affinity people will cry for a Mox Opal ban, and if it’s Humans; then well, people will still want Stirrings and Opal banned. I feel like everyone wants something to complain about. And yet, here I am complaining about those people 😛
And as always, if you’re in the market for some snazzy new sleeves be sure to cruise on over to the shop and use my discount code MADMAGIC for 15% off on your next purchase.
