![]() Legacyįor a format as old as Legacy, it’s impressive that 2019 was able to disrupt it so much. But it’s hard to find competitive Pauper events these days as it’s one of the least supported formats. But once that was banned, the format has returned to a state of normalcy and isn’t ravaged by the likes of Oko and companions thanks to commons not being as pushed. Arcum’s Astrolabe quickly proved to be centralizing as a one mana version of an effect that is already played. Out of all the formats that have been ravaged by 2019, Pauper came out almost unscathed. And now with an older format, we see cards like Lurrus become even more prominent, reducing diversity among decks and pushing other staples like Liliana of the Veil out of the format. Format staples such as Mox Opal have been banned for the sins of Urza. Hogaak was a tier 0 deck for an entire summer, and took down Bridge From Below and Faithless Looting with it. However, now that we have it, many players are going back in time to before War of the Spark and playing as if the last year of Magic didn’t even happen. Modern Horizons was a very exciting set initially, and was something the playerbase has been wanting for years. If your deck doesn’t fit into that paradigm (such as my personal deck in spirits) you might as well not be playing. Now with Ikoria, the top 5 decks are either combo in Dimir Inverter and Lotus Breach, or something with a companion. With less tools to deal with combo decks compared to Modern, it’s a lot easier for these decks to overrun the format. 4 of the top 5 decks came about as a result of Theros (Dimir Inverter, Lotus Breach, Sultai Delirium, Mono-White Devotion). This format used to be a beacon in a sea of bad formats, but ever since the release of Theros: Beyond Death things have been different. Most strategies are single minded with enacting their own gameplan and interacting minimally with the opponent (a trend we are seeing in all formats). ![]() 4 cards are currently banned in Standard with a new banned and restricted being announced for next week. ![]() The core of Uro, Growth Spiral, and Nissa creates an oppressive pressure on the meta that is felt no matter what deck you are playing. ![]() There are dozens of ways to cheat on mana in this standard, from playing a turn 4 Agent of Treachery, Fires of Invention doubling or tripling your mana, and Green being ludicrously strong. Every sanctioned format has suffered as a result of the design decisions of 2019 and beyond, and has led to formats that are completely different from where they were a year ago. Oko is easily the most powerful Planeswalker of all-time, taking the previous throne of Jace, the Mind Sculptor a 9 year old card and companions break the game in a completely different way. Teferi, Time Raveler is powerful because of how un-fun it is, and cards like Hogaak weren’t balanced with the Modern format in mind. Having stronger creatures than Shivan Dragon is good for the game, and new card types like Planeswalkers have provided really great design space.īut 2019 pushed the envelope in a way that was completely unprecedented. Power creep is inevitable, but it has largely been good for the game. Lightning Bolt is still a format all-star and dual lands can never be as powerful as a Volcanic Island. Fast mana can never be as fast as Black Lotus, and drawing cards can’t be as efficient or as good as Ancestral Recall. The Power Nine is a legendary set of cards that all other effects are balanced around. Unlike it’s cousins of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, many cards from Alpha are still considered to be the most powerful cards in the game. Is a game that prides itself on not suffering from power creep.
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