B&R changes for September!

[Machinus]

B/R

Legacy
Imperial Seal is banned (effective October 20, 2005)

Vintage
Mind Over Matter is unrestricted
Imperial Seal is restricted (effective October 20, 2005)
Personal Tutor is restricted (effective October 20, 2005)

[Bastian]

Well, nothing that we weren't expecting. The most radical changes were to Extended where they banned a couple of cards to take down Affinity before it becomes too much. Wether what they have banned will be enough to keep it in check remains to be seen...

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dci/announce/dci20050901a

September 2005 DCI Banned and Restricted List Announcement -- Magic: The Gathering

Announcement Date: September 1, 2005
Effective Date: September 20, 2005
Magic Online Effective Date: September 22, 2005 (after the regularly scheduled Thursday downtime)

Standard
No changes

Kamigawa Block Constructed
No changes

Extended
Aether Vial is banned
Disciple of the Vault is banned

Reminder: The Extended format will rotate when the Ravnica: City of Guilds set becomes legal for sanctioned Constructed play on October 20, 2005. The Tempest, Stronghold, Exodus, Urza's Saga, Urza's Legacy, Urza's Destiny, Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, and Prophecy sets, as well as the Sixth Edition core set, are rotating out at that time. After October 20, 2005, only cards from the following sets will be permitted in the Extended format: Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse, Seventh Edition, Odyssey (Entomb is banned), Torment, Judgment, Onslaught, Legions, Scourge, Eighth Edition, Mirrodin, Darksteel (Skullclamp is banned), Fifth Dawn, Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa, Ninth Edition, and Ravnica: City of Guilds.

Legacy
Imperial Seal is banned (effective October 20, 2005)
Reminder: On October 20, 2005, cards from the Portal, Portal Second Age, Portal Three Kingdoms, Starter 1999 and Starter 2000 sets become legal for play in the Legacy format.

Vintage
Mind Over Matter is unrestricted
Imperial Seal is restricted (effective October 20, 2005)
Personal Tutor is restricted (effective October 20, 2005)
 
The rest doesn't really matter, does it? I suppose they're taking a card one at a time from Vintage and they should just proceed to changes to Legacy after the GPs..

[Bulls on Parade]

Well, nothing that we weren't expecting.

Man, Grim Tutor is still unrestricted. I'm confident this will be big.

[everythingitouchdies]

Well, nothing that we weren't expecting.

Man, Grim Tutor is still unrestricted. I'm confident this will be big.

I am hoping so. Its been really strong in testing.

[Matt]

Two-Headed Giant Constructed

    * Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is banned

[Komatteru]

Two-Headed Giant Constructed

    * Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is banned

Did you see it in action? It was re-fucking-tarded.

[forests failed you]

About time Mind Over Matter got unrestricted.

[The Atog Lord]

Oh, man!!!!

Extended

    * Aether Vial is banned
    * Disciple of the Vault is banned


They just seriously crippled Affinity in Extended and hurt Little Red Men, too.

[Bastian]

They didn't cripple it, they just toned down its power and I think they did the best by just hitting those two rather than nuking affinity like they did in standard. That way Affinity remains a possibility, just not a broken one.

Goblins were pretty solid around Onslaught block and although the deck loses a lot of what it has gained ever since then it loses nothing from those that it gained from that block, so I'm expecting Goblins will still make appearances no matter what.

[KrauserKrauser]

After getting 2nd at the big 2HG tourney with my teched out Erayo deck.  This card had to go.  Think 4 3-spheres in your deck with a free mulligan.  Oh and the FoW equivalent, Disrupting shoal, isn't generally not played.

For the first 5 rounds of the tourney, I only played about 3-4 turns per game.  It was sick and twisted.

[forests failed you]

To all of you naysayers who doubt my omnipotence:  I've been saying Aether Vial and Disciple would go before the season started!  (this is directed at certain Michigan players who thought I was insane for saying the  DCI would ban cards before the season even started...)

But, with respect to the Vintage format... Its about time that Mind Over Matter got unrestricted.  Hopefully Neo-Academy decks won't make some kind of broken resurgence in the format... Oh, wait a second... Wizards printed a card called Tendrils of Agony.  It seems lke a pretty easy call to unrestricted it now considering it isn't much of a threat.  However, what would really be ballsy is if they unrestricted Dream Halls, it is pretty damn broken while at the same time pretty heavily costed.  The less cards on the restricted list, the less random the format is.  So, the less chaff that there is on the Restricted List, the better the format becomes.

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised to see Gifts Ungiven restricted within the next eight months.  I'm not saying that it does or doesn't deserve it, I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised.

As for Grim Tutor; we've been testing it and it is definitely an improvement to Deathlong... However, I'm still not sure that the deck is good enough to compete seriously against Gifts, Slaver, and Stax.  Only time will tell.  Also, since the deck isn't even in the field there have been no real lists posted that reveal everyone's tech yet.  It might take a few big tourneys for all of the separate deck designers to have enough datum to put together a truly optimized skeleton for the actual genre of 'Grim Long' decks.

[Revvik]

About time Mind Over Matter got unrestricted.

Fools!  They've given Smmenen exactly what he wanted!
 

[Bastian]

They'd never unrestrict Dream Halls. It's been proven over and over that in Vintage casting costs sometimes just don't matter... Tinker, Mishra's Workshop, Academy Rector, Moxen, Lotus, Ring, Crypt, Oath, Tolarian Academy are all easily able to cheat casting costs. Don't count on EVER seeing Dream Halls coming out of the list.

Gifts Ungiven was a card that some people discussed restricting a while back, wasn't it? Well, I think that long before that happens we would see either Mishra's Workshop or Goblin Welder getting the restriction axe, since those cards have been stirring around for longer.

These are just my €0,02

[forests failed you]

Welder and Shop will not get restricted.  However, Gifts Ungiven might. 

[Matt]

We don't need two of these. Threads merged.[/color]

[PacmanXSA]

While Gifts is easily comparible to FoF and, in my opinion, way stronger, I wouldn't be surprised to see it go or see FoF unrestricted (Which Josh Franklin would love). 

Mind Over Matter is of no real threat, as are cards like Voltaic Key which remains for some reason.

I am VERY happy that Grim Tutor did not get the boot.  Hopefully combo can make some sort of comback.  I know that I've been testing a build with it and it is AMAZING.

Pac

[Smmenen]

Dream Halls combo would be fair though.  IT woudl basically be turn three combo deck with Mana Drain maindeck.  So what?  We have plenty of turn three combo decks. 

They'd never unrestrict Dream Halls. It's been proven over and over that in Vintage casting costs sometimes just don't matter... Tinker, Mishra's Workshop, Academy Rector, Moxen, Lotus, Ring, Crypt, Oath, Tolarian Academy are all easily able to cheat casting costs. Don't count on EVER seeing Dream Halls coming out of the list.

Gifts Ungiven was a card that some people discussed restricting a while back, wasn't it? Well, I think that long before that happens we would see either Mishra's Workshop or Goblin Welder getting the restriction axe, since those cards have been stirring around for longer.

These are just my €0,02

[Whatever Works]

Why cant people just give up on the notion that FoF will get unrestricted... IT will NEVER happen... ever... and if you doubt me then you were around for legend blue. FoF is sooo much stronger in multiples, and that being said its still redicules on its own. This isnt even mentioning the fact that mana crypt, and other accelerators werent even used when legend blue was dominating magic (I mean seriously dominating everything) for months!!!

Grim Tutor is not being restricted because I guess they might want to see if allowing it will make combo playable again, and then if the card causes any problems in 3 months I am sure it will be fixed... But why not try to let an entire arch type get to its feet... Its not like it cant be fixed in 3 months, and if it is a serious issue its not exactly to hard to hate out.

[Machinus]

We pulled Mind over Matter off the restricted list after several players pointed out that its power has been eclipsed in recent years. In general, we'll try to clean up the restricted list a card at a time as we see fit.

Looks like we can expect the list to be cleaned up more slowly in the future.

[Bastian]

Dream Halls combo would be fair though.  IT woudl basically be turn three combo deck with Mana Drain maindeck.  So what?  We have plenty of turn three combo decks. ]Dream Halls combo would be fair though.  IT woudl basically be turn three combo deck with Mana Drain maindeck.  So what?  We have plenty of turn three combo decks.

And you need more? Type 1's already broken enough. They're not going to unrestrict cards that contribute to decks that quite basically ignore whatever the opponent's doing.

Are you missing Voltaic Key? Or anything at that power level that's still on the restricted list for that matter? Probably not. So they won't take more than a card at a time because they want to see if each thing they're unrestricting won't make more harm than good. I can't see very well how some of the restricted cards would do this if they were unrestricted but if you're not missing them you can just as well wait until they're all taken off the list.

Besides, after taking Voltaic Key off the restricted list do you think there's anything else that can or should be realistically taken off too? I think not... So Voltaic Key is quite probably the last card that should be there and it should be coming out three months from now.