Introduction

This week was going to be a discussion about building control from the bottom up, but two things happened to stifle that. The first was the fact that I totally hit a wall when trying to figure out what a certain deck in my testing gauntlet loses to, more on that later. The second was the fact that I would miss my opportunity to write about the Banned Restricted list before people ceased to care about it for a few weeks. So, all things considered, control will have to wait – that is what it's best at.

If you've recently become interested in Legacy or have just started learning about the community, something is happening right now that happens once every three months and lasts for about two months: People like to speculate about the changes to and complain about the current state of the banned list in Legacy. The cause of the changes and complaints never seem to be the same, sometimes a deck or specific card is doing fairly well and eliminating some decks from the metagame. Most often it is started with people lamenting that some of their favorite cards are banned in the format. This time it may have been caused by a number of reactionary articles written by outsiders after their brief experience with Legacy. What results is seldom a pretty sight and few people want to discuss the issues and least of all in a very civil way.

Without going into a crash course in both psychology and debate, when we observe any kind of an argument there is one paramount concept that it is important to observe and understand when formulating an opinion on the matte: Literally everyone in the discussion is going to have a bias and if you can understand what that person's bias is and perhaps some elements of what is at the root of it, you will be a few steps closer to understanding the argument that person presents. A combo player suggesting that Mystical Tutor be unbanned is fairly easy to see, but why would someone want something like Earthcraft off the Banned and Restricted list? Well... at that, why is Earthcraft even on said list?

This week we'll be taking a look at what is on the banned list and why it is there.

Philosophy

There is one paramount rule behind all bannings and that is this:

Legacy as a format and Magic should be defined by creatures attacking for the win.

When in no way are creatures able to keep pace with the strategy, there is a problem and that is the fundamental idea that fuels and maintains all of these bannings. This is the key concept to keep in mind while taking a look at any of the banned cards that we are discussing. There are few exceptions to this and probably only one when one doesn't think that the optimal way to win with infinite turns is to attack with a creature.

The Obvious

Amulet of Quoz, Bronze Tablet, Chaos Orb, Contract from Below, Darkpact, Demonic Attorney, Falling Star, Jeweled Bird, Rebirth, Tempest Efreet, Timmerian Fiends

Cards that require manual dexterity make it so that some players are not going to be able to play the game, which isn't exactly what WotC wants to do. Those cards haven't been printed since an Un-Set and none in a real set since it was obvious that tournament Magic had a chance at being a success. The last ones were printed in 4th Edition and Ice Age, about 15 years ago.

As for ante cards, when you involve betting into Magic it brings forth a lot of restrictions and unwanted legal concerns. I'm not personally too familiar with the restrictions, but I know that a tournament would be subjected to a barrage of taxes and other things become involved and it becomes flat-out illegal in many areas as a game of chance. This obviously isn't something that is feasible or desirable for a tournament.

Power

Ancestral Recall, Black Lotus, Library of Alexandria, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Time Walk, Timetwister

The strictly obvious cards are those that differentiate this format from Vintage. These are the inherently overpowered cards that make Vintage a unique experience to other formats. They all have high price tags and can do amazing things that nearly always result in the other player simply being pushed out of the game.

The Tutors

Demonic Consultation, Demonic Tutor, Goblin Recruiter, Imperial Seal, Mystical Tutor, Tinker, Vampiric Tutor

While all of these have proven, broken interactions, the first on this list is actually the best. It is essentially a one-cost Demonic Tutor. It was proven long ago that despite the fact that sometimes you'll lose the game to it, the fact that it costs one and is an instant will win far more games than whiffing on the top seven portion of the card.

Both Demonic and Vampiric present the problem that literally every archetype is going to want access to them, but only combo decks are really going to be able to use them effectively. Suddenly all the games that are randomly lost to a storm player not being able to get Hellbent for Infernal Tutor vanish when all of them turn into Demonic. Imperial Seal is the same thing, only a little worse. If Ancestral Recall were a sorcery, it would still be busted.

With Tinker, while there is no Memory Jar to fetch, there is a problem where you just can't beat a turn one Inkwell Leviathan / Sphinx of the Steel Wind. Tinker takes the problem of a tutor and pairs it with the problems of cards that let you do stupid things with mana acceleration.

People that have never needed to play against Goblin Recruiter often suggest that he likely isn't that good anymore, that stacking a deck with goblins probably isn't going to win you the game. People that have played with and against Food Chain Goblins know the strength of the card with or without a mana engine. Goblin Recruiter generally stacks the deck with Goblin Ringleader s, which will then each draw four cards and all of these cards are going to be things that kill your opponent. If you have Food Chain in play these cards will kill the opponent immediately. If Dwarves are ever supported the way I want them to, hopefully Dwarven Recruiter will end up on this list as well.

Mystical Tutor is last on this list and also the most recent addition of not only the category but of the entire Legacy banned list. It is also the most hotly debated card on the current banned list. Mystical Tutor was banned mostly for its applications with Reanimator, but the fact that it splashed over to every other combo deck certainly factored into the decision on the card. The problem with Reanimator is that it was such a consistent deck that it often put people into a game state where they were never able to cast a spell and that isn't a deck that should be at the forefront of competitive decks.

However, it is true that at the time the banning happened it seemed like the format had pretty much adapted to the strategy. That is why we're at the heated discussion we're having now in the Legacy community and why it has persisted for the last three months.

The Draw

Frantic Search, Gush, Land Tax, Memory Jar, Necropotence, Skullclamp, Time Spiral, Wheel of Fortune, Windfall, Yawgmoth's Bargain

Frantic Search enhances so many busted things that it is absurd to even begin to discuss. A lot of people don't see the strength in a card that lets you dig deeper into the deck for not only free, but will often times net the player mana. Frantic Search was too good when the only things that went well with it were Replenish and Reanimate, and it is far too good in a world of Storm and better cards for the graveyard.

Gush is another deceptively powerful card that enables so many stupidly good things. It used to be that it was a powerhouse in decks that featured Psychatog and Quirion Dryad but now it's difficult to imagine the card in anything other than a combo deck, especially in a world where we have an increasing number of blue-based combo decks as opposed to Dark Ritual based combo decks. To sum up the power of Gush, it draws two cards, most often nets you one mana, and then gives you an extra card to Brainstorm away all for literally no mana requirements and at instant speed. In a pinch it is just a bad draw spell, but it still nets a card.

Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain are obviously far too broken to consider a Legacy that involves them.

Windfall and Wheel of Fortune are incredibly powerful, undercosted effects that are generally just superior to Timetwister. Memory Jar is in the same vein of cards (except that it was one of the only cards to ever be emergency banned, back in the day), but you don't need to achieve any kind of mana requirement and then are allowed to untap and go from there.

Skullclamp existed in Legacy for a while and those days weren't fun at all. The card itself is just better than Glimpse of Nature and pushes the power level of so many current decks over the top, not to mention the barrage of Kobolds that come raining down if this card is ever legal.

Time Spiral is normally just better than Timetwister as well, often netting mana along the way of drawing some new cards. Time Spiral often comes up in lists of cards people feel could safely come off. I'm skeptical of it, but must admit that I've done no testing with it. However, there will be no three months of a broken deck if we err on the side of caution and keep it on the list.

Land Tax is the card that I fantasize about coming off the banned list every time the announcement is made. I don't know if it will ever happen, but I want it so much more than I want any other thing to happen in regards to Magic. Also, it's busted far more than anyone could ever know from just glancing at it, and that's all I have to say about that.

The Mana Cards

Channel, Earthcraft, Fastbond, Mana Crypt, Mana Drain, Mana Vault, Mishra's Workshop, Sol Ring, Tolarian Academy

Most of the time, when you're trying to establish an infinite mana combo, you don't actually need that much mana to win. Channel is a single card that will easily net you 15 mana. Charbelcher only costs seven to play and activate. Painter- Grindstone costs 6, Emrakul costs 15.

Channel makes games easy.

Fastbond proves that having extra mana, faster makes games easier to win. It isn't hard to brew a deck that does nothing fair when Fastbond is in the mix.

Mishra's Workshop, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault and Sol Ring all allow one specific type of deck to speed out cards that otherwise don't come on-line until turn two or three, when the cards are far less effective, such as Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance. Then they speed and feed hard lock pieces like Smokestack and Possessed Portal. This doesn't even touch upon how much a deck with Ad Nauseam would love to play a Sol Ring or Mana Crypt (Author's Note: They'd actually play 4 since there are no restricted cards!) and bypass Daze and Spell Pierces effects while never struggling for mana ever again.

Tolarian Academy is actually interesting to think about, but discussing it is likely the ultimate taboo because, look at what that card does.

Mana Drain was a card that was legal before the Vintage-Legacy B/R list split back in 2004 when Goblins and Landstill were the two tier one decks. I am reminded of reading an article that discussed what the correct spell to counter with Mana Drain was in Vintage. The conclusion was generally the first spell they played with a mana cost, and then you Drain into whatever you have. In Legacy, it would be too much of a hassle to really get the mana open to play Mana Drain on turn one, so if you played it on your opponent's turn two and hopefully got a two cost with it, when you untap you will have 2UU available and that can be used to play Jace, The Mindsculptor, Nevinyrral's Disk, Crucible of Worlds. Perhaps you did it with Underground Seas and want to play Ad Nauseam, or maybe it is a bit later in the game and you want to Drain into a Sphinx of Jwar Isle. The idea of taking away one of your opponent's cards and then giving yourself a boost to play a larger bomb than you should be able to at that point, likely with extra mana to back it up is a real problem, and likely will never be something we get to see in Legacy ever again.

Earthcraft is a card that is discussed frequently as a card that is likely safe to come off the list. Generally, when people discuss cards that I know can't be removed from the banned restricted list, I keep quiet in hopes that somehow this will result in that card becoming legal, as is the case with Earthcraft. At the point Earthcraft is legal for play, Enchantress ceases to be a control deck and enters the realm of combo deck. While it only plays four real creatures, the small boost that comes from tapping a draw engine to generate extra mana is likely enough to draw into a win condition be it Squirrel Nest, Sacred Mesa, the traditional Enchantress lock pieces or something closer to Words of Wind plus bouncing Argothian Enchantress for infinite mana and your opponent has no cards in play. If this sounds like a good deal to you, write WotC and say that your one, purest Christmas wish is to have Earthcraft unbanned on December 20th.

Cards That Are Obviously and Unfixably Busted

Balance, Bazaar of Baghdad, Black Vise, Flash, Hermit Druid, Mind Twist, Mind's Desire, Oath of Druids, Strip Mine, Time Vault, Worldgorger Dragon, Yawgmoth's Will

I'm pretty sure that when Balance was made, the joke was immediately obvious: Balance is anything but balanced. You get to put it in a deck with a bunch of artifacts and enchantments and then only your opponent loses cards. Sometimes you play it on your first turn and your opponent has no cards. Sometimes you play it at any point in the game and your opponent has no cards. Having a card like this legal sounds fun to me, but I don't think that too many other people would agree.

When I first heard about Vintage Dredge, I was told that you mulligan into Bazaar of Baghdad. I didn't know that was literally what people did and was shocked when my opponent mulliganed down to two cards. I lost that game. There is no need for two formats where a deck can mulligan to two and consistently win as long as it sees a single card.

Control has been becoming more and more difficult to play in the last few years. You don't need to print a card that will half someone's life total before they can even attempt to get enough cards out of their hand to mitigate it. I think Black Vise is an incredibly fun card casually, but a terribly overpowered one for competitive play.

Flash: We did that once.

Hermit Druid is a card that people will frequently look at and not see the true power of the card. This is one of those cards that was really just banned long before anything truly good could be done with him but has literally always read: , : Put your library into your graveyard.

I'm sure you can think of a way to win after you activate that guy. A lot of people have argued that this card isn't actually that powerful, but imagine a world where Dredge could play tutors and Force of Will and didn't need to bother with any actual Dredge cards. Even if there is enough removal and graveyard hate to wrap around the world six times, a player should never be in a position on turn one or two where you can say "If you don't kill/counter this guy right now, you lose." It's a really unhealthy place for Magic and I hope that this guy will never get to see the light of day again.

On the surface Mind Twist isn't all that much more powerful than Mind Shatter but the extra mana is actually huge. The comparison that people like to make is how on turn one Dark Ritual into Mind Twist isn't very good. The problem with this analysis is that they are only looking at turn one. A card doesn't need to be effective on [only] the first turn to be game-breaking. Mind Twist is a midgame spell that literally ends the game if it resolves with any sort of reasonable board state. Because the spell is just {B} as the restrictive mana cost, nearly any deck can find the splash for a card that for about 4-5 mana will knock the opponent so far back in the game that they just will not be coming back. There really is no comparable card to Mind Twist, trying to compare it to Mind Shatter is like attempting to compare Sinkhole to Rain of Tears – even though they have identical text-boxes they are not at all the same card. There is no discard effect that powerful in Legacy, nor should there be and that's why it's fine that it stay out of the format.

Mind's Desire...You've seen it, right?

Oath of Druids is another theoretically symmetrical card that in practice just doesn't work out how it's supposed to, especially with Forbidden Orchard. There was a time where everyone was clamoring for Tarmogoyf to be banned as it obsoleted so many other creatures, I think that rather than ban Goyf, if it ever comes down to it, we can just unban Oath. I don't think anyone will play Tarmogoyf after that.

Strip Mine looks like it just trades one land for one other land. That's fair right?

Time Vault, under one of it's many forms of errata was a key card in the "StasisFlameVaultStax" deck, back in the day. That was touted as the, "Greatest deck that never did anything" as it was eventually banned. But back then people thought that it was never going to get any better than Flame Fusillade and Time Vault. No one could have known what unspeakable changes were coming to that card and now it's most of Vintage's strongest two card combo ever.

Of all the broken cards, I feel that Worldgorger Dragon is the prime example of how a card can go totally wrong. Clearly all of the moxes and Black Lotus were supposed to make mana, Ancestral Recall was supposed to draw three cards. I'm pretty sure that Hermit Druid was supposed to just flip your library over and Oath is supposed to put a huge creature into play. Worldgorger Dragon, however, is supposed to be a bad card, one that no one ever wanted to win a game with except as a challenge. I don't think anyone really looked at Dragon and thought, "This guy is supposed to make infinite mana and/or end games in a draw." Dragon should be banned if for nothing else than it's arbitrary ability to end games in a draw due to an unstoppable infinite loop. It's just a bonus that it also can win a game.

Wouldn't Yawgmoth's Will be a fun card to think about unbanning?

Speculation

This of course is the fun part, where I get to make predictions on what happens with the banned list a little later this week.

Reasonably, I feel that nothing will be banned or unbanned. While Mystical Tutor may have ultimately been a mistake to ban, they are set on it now and are not going to be likely go admit that they made a mistake. As far as cards being unbanned, I once again feel that it is unlikely but wouldn't be surprised to see Time Spiral or Mind Twist come off. Of course I have very high hopes to see Land Tax or Earthcraft come off the list, as I could see myself doing things with those cards.

Any banning that we do see would need to be something that reflects a problematic interaction coming in Scars of Mirrodin, but I don't see that being very likely. We had speculated that something busted was coming out in M11 and that was why Mystical Tutor had to go, turns out that wasn't the case at all.

Well, that concludes the fun part and wraps up this week's words from me.

Christopher Walton

im00pi at Gmail for Electronic Mail

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