“No changes” read the Banned and Restricted update this week. No explanations why, just a simple “no changes.” I immediately tweeted a very toned down version of what I was thinking: “Won’t lie I’m super unhappy about no changes to legacy” and then shortly re-tweeted Erin Campbell’s genius response to Wizards’ tweet about the B&R of “#Shade.”
The amount of Miracles has steadily increased over the last few years and has cozily made itself a large part of the Legacy format. Thanks to
Counterbalance there is very little reason to even try playing different control deck. You aren’t going to find something better than Counter/Top lock so why play something else that might still be good if you can play something that’s overpowered.
If Wizards isn’t going to a ban Counterbalance then they should considering unbanning something to bring some balance to the format. For example, un-banning Survival of the Fittest would be a great way to make creature decks more resilent against Miracles and cards like Terminus. For the same reason they would be able to unban Oath of Druids. Yes both decks were very powerful and strong but we had far less enchantment removal then (now we have things like K-Grip,Wear/Tear, etc) and with Eldrazi running around a couple Vengevines on turn three isn’t really all that powerful anymore.
None of these things are more powerful than Miracles and aren’t that really crazy for Legacy anymore. More importantly why is Mind Twist banned while Counterbalance isn’t? Mind Twist sucks when we have access to cards like Hymn to Tourach, Thoughtseize, and Inquisition of Kozilek.
Overall I’m pretty upset about this lack of bans, and based on the responses I got on Twitter I’m finally not alone. It seems like everyone around me is getting sick of this as well. Rounds shouldn’t go to time so often, one deck shouldn’t be such a big part of the format, and we shouldn’t have to repeat this issue for two years without being heard. Wizards printed Eternal Masters as well as some wonderful reprints in Conspiracy 2, as well as the Expedition/Masterpiece series that we now have access to. They’ve made it pretty clear that they care about Legacy players in some capacity. But until they start paying attention to the legacy metagame and treating with it something level of respect, I’m going to have a lot of trouble taking them seriously.
Kate hails from Worcester MA and also does a bit of Card Altering. Check her Stuff out on Facebook! She mainly plays legacy and modern though will occasionally find herself playing EDH.
