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« on: July 04, 2004, 12:23:28 am » |
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At this point, there's pretty much a consensus that the banned and restricted lists for type 1 and type 1.5 should be separated. Yes, players are sick of cards such as Earthcraft being restricted in type 1 for the sake of type 1.5 and cards such as Burning Wish being banned for type 1.5 simply because they were broken in type 1. But more importantly, separating the lists is essential if type 1.5 is to grow into a distinct, popular, competitive format.
When people see that there are certain cards they can use a playset of in type 1.5 that they can't even use in type 1, they'll have an incentive to try type 1.5 going into it as a wholly different format rather than continuing to see it as vintage’s bastard stepchild.
So this is a post on what the Banned List for Type 1.5 should look like.
Please add your thoughts on this...
First, a few ground rules…
A.) There is no restricted list for Type 1.5. While it might be cute to allow a single copy of broken combo engines such as Yawgmoth’s Bargain into an environment with very limited acceleration, it only serves to make the format more confusing and harder to differentiate from Type 1. If a card is too powerful to allow for four copies in an environment without power, it probably doesn't have a place in type 1.5
B.) Type 1 is notorious for low casting cost cards that can overwhelmingly swing the game in your favor against the majority of decks when resolved. Type 1.5 shouldn’t be. Thus, cheap, powerful, game swinging cards such as balance simply shouldn’t be allowed into the format, ever.
C.) Potential combos, acceleration and tutoring effects should be very carefully screened. This isn’t type 1. A difficult to disrupt, game winning combo shouldn’t be consistently playable by second turn. There is a reason that the dci gave entomb and squirrelcraft the boot. This requires that we, as a whole, take great care in ensuring that the format doesn’t let too much acceleration and tutoring slip through the cracks.
Here's the current list of banned cards in type 1.5...
* Amulet of Quoz
* Ancestral Recall
* Balance
* Black Lotus
* Black Vise
* Braingeyser
* Bronze Tablet
* Burning Wish
* Channel
* Chaos Orb
* Chrome Mox
* Contract from Below
* Crop Rotation
* Darkpact
* Demonic Attorney
* Demonic Consultation
* Demonic Tutor
* Doomsday
* Dream Halls
* Earthcraft
* Enlightened Tutor
* Entomb
* Fact or Fiction
* Falling Star
* Fastbond
* Fork
* Frantic Search
* Grim Monolith
* Gush
* Jeweled Bird
* Library of Alexandria
* Lion’s Eye Diamond
* Lotus Petal
* Mana Crypt
* Mana Vault
* Memory Jar
* Mind Over Matter
* Mind Twist
* Mind's Desire
* Mox Diamond
* Mox Emerald
* Mox Jet
* Mox Pearl
* Mox Ruby
* Mox Sapphire
* Mystical Tutor
* Necropotence
* Rebirth
* Regrowth
* Sol Ring
* Strip Mine
* Stroke of Genius
* Tempest Efreet
* Time Spiral
* Time Walk
* Timetwister
* Timmerian Fiends
* Tinker
* Tolarian Academy
* Vampiric Tutor
* Voltaic Key
* Wheel of Fortune
* Windfall
* Yawgmoth's Bargain
* Yawgmoth's Will
Of these, I’ve listed below the cards that I think type 1.5 might be able to support without the acceleration that type 1 can provide.
I'll discuss each of these cards and say whether I personally think they should be unrestricted. My inputs are merely based on several casual conversations with other vintage players. I hope that these suggestions will lead to discussion of what the banned list in type 1.5 should look like and hopefully make it easier on the dci should they decide to follow through with the wishes of so many vintage players.
Braingeyser – The card can allow some insane card drawing in the mid to late game in a control deck. It's not nearly as powerful without the acceleration that type 1 offers (ie. Tolarian Academy), and concentrate and opportunity have similar effects in the early mid game for cheaper or similar costs. Plus, it’s close to worthless early on, but being able to draw seven new cards in the late game for nine mana can certainly be game swinging. Yet most type 1 control decks don’t even bother to play the single copy they’re allowed to.
Verdict: Tough call. Possibly unban.
Burning Wish - Balance and Yawgmoth's Will are the main reasons that this card is banned. Pretty much every legal combo I can think of relies on permanents. Without the brokenness that Yawgie’s Win provides, I see no reason to keep this card banned. Besides, it didn't have any distorting effect on 1.5 when this card was legal just a little while ago.
Verdict: Unban
Chrome Mox - The card isn't nearly as broken as the moxen. But it still provides for very cheap acceleration early on that is permanent and fuels combo decks. Probably best to be safe than sorry.
Verdict- Keep banned
Crop Rotation - No Tolarian Academy, No Library of Alexandria, not even a lousy strip mine. At best, it's a color fixer. Why not?
Verdict - Unban
Demonic Consultation/Demonic Tutor - Too many cheap unrestricted tutors are rarely a good thing for any format. And these aren't even card disadvantage.
Verdict - Keep banned
Doomsday - Without ancestral recall, any combo you play is going to take a few turns. And the casting cost certainly isn’t very flexible, but cheap combos like mask/dreadnought keep this too tough a call for now.
Verdict - Not sure. Probably keep banned
Dreamhalls - I'm sure this would make for some crazy wins in a deck designed to abuse the mechanic even without the power (ie. a playset of concentrate, opportunity and other card drawers along with some bombs).
Verdict - Keep banned
Enlightened tutor – A less versatile vampiric tutor in a format where many of the really cheap combo cards (grim monolith, earthcraft) as well as all of the broken artifacts and enchantments (yawgmoth’s bargain) are already banned. But virtually every combo abuses artifacts and enchantments, so combos like Mask would undoubtedly take on new life.
Verdict – Tough call but should probably stay banned
Fact or Fiction – Without any of the acceleration to help get this out early and without any of the bombs that make this card so potent, I’m not certain that it would be powerful enough to justify banning. But it’s certainly a good deal more powerful than it’s cousin, concentrate.
Verdict – Possibly unban
Fork – For godsake, can we take this card of the restricted list already? Fork is just not a very good card. Considering the casting cost and without ancestral recall to target, it’s pretty worthless actually.
Verdict – Unban
Frantic Search – Tolarian Academy doesn’t exist. First turn combo kills don’t exist. However, madness decks, dragon decks, and any decks that use bazaar of bagdad could abuse the mechanic. So for now, it might be better to be safe than sorry.
Verdict – Tough call, probably keep banned.
Lion’s Eye Diamond – Long was the reason this card was even considered for restriction in the first place. But as usual, the restriction caused unintended collateral damage in Type 1.5. In 1.5, about the most broken thing this card allows for is a flying 6/6 wurm token very early on. This is a powerful effect in a deck designed to abuse it, but I’m not convinced that it justifies banning. Then again, we should be very careful about just how much acceleration type 1.5 can support.
Verdict – Tough call, possibly unban.
Lotus Petal – Elvish Spirit Guide has a nearly identical effect for green and Dark Ritual is a good deal more powerful. Unbanning this card while keeping the other two intact could lead to an explosion of combo decks. But in the interests of fairness, one could reasonably argue that this card be unbanned and both ESG and Dark Ritual be banned so that all five colors get access to early acceleration.
Verdict – The decision rests on what happens to Dark Ritual and ESG. But it’s probably best to leave it as is.
Mind Over Matter – The card is near impossible to hardcast in type 1.5. And without Tolarian Academy or Library of Alexandria, the card is also very limited in it’s usefulness.
Verdict – Unless I’m missing something, I think we can probably unban this.
Mind Twist – With acceleration so much rarer in this format, large mind twists early on are just that much harder. The card often ends up being a more expensive hymn to tourach. But in certain situations (or when combined with mana elves), the effect can certainly be game swinging.
Verdict – Tough call, probably keep banned.
Mind’s Desire – While the card is absolutely insane when combined with type 1’s inherent brokenness, I see it as being merely somewhat powerful in type 1.5. It doesn’t even see play in extended.
Verdict – Can probably unban.
Mox Diamond – Any deck that plans to reliably use this early on must play several lands just to speed up the deck’s development by one turn. And if countered, the player being mana screwed. I see very few situations where this would actually be advantageous or even worthwhile.
Verdict – Can probably unban. .
Mystical Tutor – Not only is this card disadvantage, it’s near worthless without cards such as Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Balance, Yawgmoth’s Will etc. to back it up. It’s not a bad option for combo decks but I can’t even think of any combo decks that would benefit from this card. Extended has the far more versatile Vampiric Tutor and yet still can’t seem to break it.
Verdict – Tough call. Can probably unban.
Regrowth – This card is only playable because of the many broken bombs that are found in type 1. Without cards like Ancestral Recall, Time Walk and the like to make it worthwhile, the card isn’t even playable.
Verdict – Can probably unban.
Stroke of Genius – Between it’s high mana cost, the lack of Academy and the overall lack of acceleration in type 1.5, I see little reason to think this would even see play. Braingeyser is more efficient and yet still warrants consideration for unbanning.
Verdict – Can probably unban.
Time Spiral – Tolarian Academy is what allowed this card to crossover from powerful to outright broken. Without Academy, this card is worth a second look. The card certainly has a very powerful effect and being essentially free, it definitely warrants much deliberation.
Verdict – Tough call. Should probably leave banned for now.
Timetwister – If Time Spiral shouldn’t be unbanned, I see a tough time arguing that Timetwister should be.
Verdict – Tough call. Should probably leave banned for now.
Vampiric Tutor – The cheapest versatile tutor in the game, this isn’t an easy card to unban. Sure it’s card disadvantage but I see no reason why every combo deck won’t pack a playset. Recall however that extended allows a playset and has yet to break it. But type 1.5 isn’t quite extended.
Verdict – Should probably leave banned.
Voltaic Key – Without grim monolith, sol ring, mana vault or mana crypt, the usefulness of this card drops dramatically. Sure it can let you disk a turn earlier, but is this effect really ban worthy?
Verdict – Unban.
Wheel of Fortune – See time twister.
Verdict – Tough call. Should probably leave banned for now.
Windfall – Very similar to Timetwister, but makes for even more of a game swinging effect in a very fast deck.
Verdict – Tough call. Should probably leave banned for now.
Now, the candidates for banning from type 1.5...
Mana Drain - Mana drain allows for even larger tempo swings than moxen in type 1. There is a reason that landstill is dominant in type 1.5 to the point of distortion. This card is simply too broken in a format meant to go without so much cheap acceleration. If it saw as little play in type 1 as Entomb and Earthcraft did, it would probably already have been restricted for the sake of type 1.5.
Verdict – Should probably be banned.
Mishra's Workshop – A permanent source of three mana each turn in artifact decks (affinity, welder mud and the like) is a tough card to defend in an environment without moxen. This a strong candidate for banning at a time when so many artifact decks are popping up so fast.
Verdict – Should probably be banned.
Bazzar of Bagdad - The dragon combo is the most powerful, resilient combo in type 1, and it really doesn't need power to shine. Considering that much lesser combo pieces like Earthcraft got the boot, why not this? Plus it can do nutty stuff with madness, survival of the fittest and Squee, to the point that bazaar was a very strong candidate for restriction even in type 1.
Verdict – Could justifiably be banned.
Survival of the Fittest – This is an extremely powerful engine when combined with even a single Squee. But without Squee, it’s just a versatile and fun option for creature decks and an easy way to get Worldgorger Dragon into the graveyard, but no easier than buried alive.
Verdict – Before even considering this card, why not simply ban Squee.
Squee, Goblin Nabob – This mechanic really fuels some very powerful engines (Bazzar, Squee, etc.). But it’s tough to decide if the engines are powerful enough to justify a ban.
Verdict – Tough call either way.
Food Chains - This is a very powerful combo making for a very powerful deck. If the dci felt Earthcraft was too broken for type 1.5, this card maybe as well. But the card requires an entire deck to be built around it and the combo aspect of it just dies to a Counterspell or Naturalize (as you have no means to protect the card) and you’re left with a decent aggro deck. So I think that while the deck is powerful, it doesn’t justify a ban.
Verdict – Leave unbanned.
Dark Ritual – Not really that powerful. Unless Lotus Petal is unbanned, there’s no reason to consider banning this card.
Verdict – Shouldn’t be considered for banning unless lotus petal is unbanned.
Illusionary Mask – While the combos that this card fuels aren’t quite as powerful as some of the other combos in the format, the fact that this combo is so cheap and can afford to dedicate the rest of the deck to disruption and tutoring makes it quite powerful indeed. But artifact hate is quite prominent, even in type 1.5 and I’m not convinced that the combo justifies a banning.
Verdict – Tough call but should probably leave unbanned.
Psychatog – Win conditions, however powerful they may be, aren’t what decide matches. They’re simply the means to an end.
Verdict – Leave unbanned.
Intuition – Worldgorger Dragon, Deep Analysis or Accumulated Knowledge, these are the chief culprits that make Intuition a powerful card. Simply put, they don’t justify restricting a three mana easily counterable tutor.
Verdict – Leave unbanned.
Type 1.5 deserves to flourish. It is without question the most diverse and open format in magic. You can play pretty much any card. And a lot more cards, strategies, archetypes and decks are viable due to the lack of power. A budget deck doesn't have to dedicate several slots to null rods and further weaken themselves to compete in type 1.5. A budget deck doesn't have to run a playset of force of wills to have a shot against combo decks. This opens up a lot more options. I sincerely hope that this article goes further along in encouraging the lists to be separated and furthering the very promising format. And I think that if done correctly, many different archeatypes of aggro, combo, and control can all flourish in type 1.5.
Wizards has a lot to gain from supporting type 1.5. It contains many of the oldest and most dedicated players of the game, the players that often draw new players into the game. In addition, type 1.5 is the format that embodies the spirit of the vast majority of magic players. The casual ones that like to play with their very first cards but neither have access, nor wish to utilize the brokenness that type 1 offers. If a format is created that actually encompasses them and their philosophy, this could well be enough to convince them to regularly play magic once again, possibly even competitively. Eventually, they may begin to buy the newer cards and contribute to other formats as well.
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