A new Eternal format is approaching. Whether due to the failures of Extended, the rising costs of Legacy, or just a general desire to experience something new, Wizards is now seriously looking at new Eternal options. Debates rage online about the exact nature of this hypothetical format, and whether it will look like the Community Cup–tested Modern Format (Mirrodin and 8th Edition forward) or the Overextended Format (Invasion and 7th Edition forward) that many players and community members are advocating. Questions about the proper cutoff, a good ban list, and a diverse metagame are at the forefront of this conversation, and the result of this will help shape the future of contemporary Magic. In this article, I want to do a careful and in-depth comparison between the arguments for Modern and Overextended, looking at the justifications for both formats. While Wizards has been positive about Modern, a lot of this rhetoric has been quite misleading. I hope to show that the concept of “Overextended” with an earlier Mercadian Masques cutoff is much better than Modern and its Mirrodin starting point. The difference in the cutoff point will have huge implications for the future of tournament Magic, and the community has a big part to play in how that turns out. Wizards’ representatives have been clear that community input is important in their Eternal-format decision-making, and in this article, I want to help guide and inform some of that dialogue. A new Eternal format might be coming, but the players have the biggest say in how it is ultimately going to look.

Problems with Modern: The Mirrodin Cutoff

There was a lot of initial excitement when Wizards announced its Modern format for the 2011 Community Cup. The ban list was pretty reasonable, the cutoff seemed acceptable, and the prospect of a new Eternal format was generally thrilling. While Wizards did not offer any explanation of the decisions for the format, the overall community reaction was quite positive. But on May 21, 2011, the explanations came out. Tom LaPille of DailyMTG, in his article “A Modern Proposal,” discussed the reasoning process behind choosing Mirrodin as the cutoff format, and for choosing the ban list. The ban-list justifications made perfect sense. The Mirrodin cutoff, however, did not. I am going to be quoting a lot from Tom’s article to make sure that Wizards’ position is represented fairly; they chose Tom as their spokesperson on this format, so that decision should be respected.

Tom states that

We could have chosen any number of different starting points. Mercadian Masques block, Invasion block, and Ravnica block were all floated, and each one had good points and bad points. However, they each shared one common problem, which was that they felt completely arbitrary.

He also says that all of these possible starting points looked “equally random.” For Wizards, the solution to the problem of an arbitrary cutoff was to use Mirrodin and 8th Edition as the starting point for Modern. On this point, Tom explains that

Like every other choice, this was arbitrary, but it provided two things the others didn’t: it began at a major change to the way we made Magic cards, and it gave us a visual marker that can be used to tell whether a set is legal or not.

This is the core of Wizards’ argument in favor of a Mirrodin cutoff: The new card frame design can be used as a “visual marker” to determine a card’s or set’s legality. So whenever we think about Modern, we should realize that this cutoff was primarily chosen because of this “visual marker” argument (or, at least, that is the reason that Wizards is openly admitting).

Strengths of the Visual-Marker Argument

In a lot of cases, having a visual indicator of a set’s legality can be useful. This is especially true of a new format that presumably wants to welcome new players to Eternal Magic. It might be a lot easier for guys who are just finding their footing in the format if they can easily determine a card’s legality. This would theoretically make the format more popular and more accessible to prospective players.

In addition, the updated card frames definitely marked perhaps the most obvious change in Magic history. Of all that has happened in our card game’s past, there is probably no other change that is more immediately recognizable than the updated card frames. Rules changes? Design philosophy? New mechanics? None of this is immediately clear to most players. But the glitzy new card frames is a clear indicator of a shift in Magic history, and thus it could serve as a suitable marker to a new Eternal format.

Weaknesses of the Visual-Marker Argument

Unfortunately, there are two giant problems with Wizards’ idea that modern frames make a good format. This is bad news for Modern, because Wizards has based the Mirrodin starting point almost 100% on the “visual marker” argument. If that argument is flawed, the whole underlying premise of the format itself is also flawed.

The first problem has to do with Wizards’ perception of Magic players. Discussing the benefits of having a visual aid to determine card legality, Tom writes that

If you’re reading this, and you care about Modern, you probably know the order that Magic sets came out in by heart. If that’s true, you are in the statistical minority. Most Magic players don’t, and we don’t want them to have to know in order to guess whether a particular card is legal.

Quite simply, this is a ridiculous statement. In the era of the Internet, with forums, podcasts, daily articles, Gatherer, and so forth, Magic players are more than informed enough to know what cards are legal in any given set. Legacy players do not need visual indicators to tell them which cards are banned in the format. They can easily look this information up. You do not need to know the exact chronological order of Magic sets in order to understand a card’s legality in a new format. This information is just picked up by virtue of reading, research, and playing in the vast Magic community.

Moreover, Magic players are intelligent, strategically minded individuals. On the one hand, Wizards thinks that the average Magic player needs assistance in understanding a set’s or card’s legality. But on the other hand, Magic players pilot an extremely complex set of deck lists in diverse and challenging metagames every day. Anyone who is capable of playing tournament-level Magic, and who is interested in entering a new Eternal format at all, is also more than capable of spending the few minutes needed to determine a set’s legality. This is especially true of those new players who have the card base, energy, time, and interest to seek out the format in the first place. They assuredly also have the intelligence to figure out what is legal in it. Because of these reasons, it is hard to support Wizards’ claim that players need a visual aid to help them figure out a card’s legality. It is just unnecessary for the otherwise intelligent and digitally connected Magic community.

The second problem with the visual-marker argument is that it can provide a false positive for whether a card is legal. In Modern, only cards that were printed in core and expansion sets after Mirrodin and 8th Edition are legal. This excludes a huge range of duel deck and promo cards that are also printed in the new card frame, such as Sol Ring (Commander), Pernicious Deed (judge promo), Daze/Wild Mongrel/Dark Ritual (duel decks), and so forth. Unfortunately, with Wizards claiming that “modern card frames serve as a visual indicator of a card’s legality,” a lot of new players might think that these cards are legal. In that sense, the visual-marker argument is actually more confusing than not having a visual marker at all! It does not accomplish what it is supposed to.

For veteran Magic players, this is not going to be an issue. But for new players to the format, this could definitely cause problems (especially in paper Magic events). A new player might build an otherwise legal deck for Modern, but with four copies of Daze because he saw that it had a new card frame and knew that Wizards made the format to have a “visual marker” test of legality. There would be no reason for him to look up the legality of this card, unless he recognized the expansion symbol as coming from a duel deck and not from a “real” set. While this would not happen in all tournaments or with all players, it is definitely a huge potential problem to consider, and something that really undermines the integrity of the visual-marker test.

So on these two counts, we see that there are big problems with using Mirrodin and 8th Edition as a cutoff for a new Eternal format. Wizards claims that this is a good starting point because, unlike all the other arbitrary starting points, this one at least has new card frames. These card frames supposedly indicate a set’s legality and help players figure out what cards are allowed. In reality, most players are not going to need this test to help them build decks. Magic players are quite competent at building and playing complex decks, and in this Internet era, they are equally competent at determining a card’s legality. But for those new players, the ones whom Wizards is trying to help, the modern-card-frame test sometimes actually gives them a false positive about a card’s legality. These two problems are big ones that Modern and its supporters will have to deal with.

Deck Diversity

One of the fundamental assumptions of a new Eternal format is that it appeals to the masses. Tom seconds this idea, commenting that “As I said, many of you have called for a non-rotating format that doesn’t have the card availability problems of Legacy. We propose Modern as that format.” Because of this assumption, it is important that any new format appeals to as many people as possible. One of the best ways to do that is to prove that it has a diverse and healthy metagame with lots of viable deck options. But does Modern really live up to that promise? On the one hand, Modern is certainly going to have lots of decks. Jund, Faeries, Hypergenesis, Caw Blade, Scapeshift Valakut, Living Death, Combo Elves, All In Red, Zoo, Twelvepost, etc. are all major contenders in a theoretical Modern metagame, along with dozens of other decks that I have not listed. This leads to the question, “Is Modern’s diversity enough?”

This is where the idea of an earlier cutoff, at Mercadian Masques or Invasion for example, comes into play (Note that Mercadian Masques is the earliest cutoff that would be viable because otherwise the Reserve List would still be a part of the format). What does a new Eternal format lose by not having these earlier cutoffs? Is the loss in diversity worth a change in starting point? Or does including older sets mean too many broken cards and too many ugly bannings?

Overall, it seems that too much is lost in Modern that would not be lost with an earlier cutoff. Cards like Daze, Tangle Wire, rebels, Unmask, Fires of Yavimaya, Careful Study, Psychatog, Astral Slide, Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Warchief, Counterspell, Orim’s Chant, Fire/Ice, Polluted Delta/Bloodstained Mire/Windswept Heath/Flooded Strand/Wooded Foothills, Tendrils of Agony, Burning Wish/Living Wish/Cunning Wish, and a huge host of other cards are iconic Magic cards and archetype-defining staples. Without these cards, a lot of decks just wilt away and perish. This artificially limits the diversity of a new Eternal format, cutting out 3 years of Magic history and decks. These strategies helped to define the game and make it what it is today. The presence or absence of these older sets will be decisive in bringing Legacy players into the new format and bringing old players back to the game. The Legacy players in particular are community members who should not be alienated, and they deserve as optimal a format as Wizards can offer. Even new players who are unfamiliar with a lot of these cards would enjoy the diversity that such a format had.

Of course, some of these older cards are going to be ban candidates. Dark Ritual and Mind’s Desire are almost assuredly too broken to see play. Brainstorm might be too prevalent. Cards like Entomb and Rishadan Port might need to be carefully monitored. But overall, adding a few cards to the ban list, especially overpowered cards like Ritual and Desire, would not hold the format back. Players would understand why these cards were banned.

Overall, Modern’s Mirrodin cutoff just cuts out too many years of Magic history to be a worthy starting point for a new Eternal format. There is no reason to get rid of so many awesome cards and strategies which would be beneficial to the development of a new format. This is especially true if all we get in exchange are the modern frames and Wizards’ arguments about why those are useful. A new Eternal format needs as much diversity as possible, and Mirrodin does not deliver the optimal metagame health.

Advantages of Overextended: Historical Significance

As we have seen, 2003’s Mirrodin is a flawed cutoff for an upcoming Eternal format. 1999’s Mercadian Masques, however, could serve a truly historic starting point for a truly historic new format. It is important that the first set be historic because this new Eternal format needs to endure for a long while. Wizards wants this format to succeed, and the best way to do that is to choose a cutoff that symbolizes why the format is being created. There are three critical reasons as to why Masques block best fulfills this symbolic role. These reasons are 1) Masques represented the post-Urza’s Saga Block changes in design philosophy, 2) Masques was the first expansion set to implement the historic 6th Edition rules, and most importantly 3) Masques was the set that abolished the Reserve List. These reasons all contribute to Masques block being the best possible starting point for a new Eternal format, and one that everyone can be excited about.

Post–Urza’s Block Design Philosophy

Urza’s Saga, Legacy, and Destiny were disasters for tournament Magic. Some of the most obscenely powerful cards ever printed were birthed in those sets, tarnishing tournaments everywhere. This ranged from the comically broken Tolarian Academy, Memory Jar, Tinker, Yawgmoth’s Will, and Yawgmoth’s Bargain to the extremely powerful (but not flat out broken) Goblin Lackey, Gaea’s Cradle, Duress, Show and Tell, Grim Monolith, Metalworker etc. Urza’s Saga saw both the worst combo winter in Magic’s history, as well as the only emergency banning (Memory Jar) ever conducted by the DCI.

Masques represented a change to the design philosophy that had made Urza’s block so wacky. Cards were toned down, better tested, and more conservatively designed. Most importantly, the Masques block design philosophy changes were a conscious effort by Wizards to return Magic to sanity. As Aaron Forsythe wrote on the change, “Of course, Masques was meant to be a conscious resetting of the game’s overall power level on the heels of the broken Urza’s block, so it is quite possible that many cards in the set were made worse “just to be safe” or “just because” (Source: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=19850). Masques was the first time that Magic was sane in a long while, and ever since then (with the notable exception of Mirrodin), Magic cards have been far more controlled.

Now, it might be argued that Masques was TOO toned down. A lot of players complained that the block, especially Prophecy, was criminally underpowered with a lot of cards that not even casual players could enjoy. This objection is pretty far from the reality of Masques block. Over the course of its first two sets (not Prophecy however), a huge range of playable tournament staples and powerhouses saw print. But unlike Urza’s cards, these staples were just powerful, not broken. Rishadan Port, Misdirection, Invigorate, Unmask, Dust Bowl, rebels, Snuff Out, Daze, Tangle Wire, Saproling Burst, Land Grant, Brainstorm, Flame Rift, Accumulated Knowledge, Parallax Wave/Parallax Tide, Rising Waters, Blastoderm, and other cards all saw considerable Standard and Extended play, and many of these cards are still viable Legacy staples to this day. Including these cards in the new Eternal format would not only contribute to its diversity, but also showcase the beginning of a new era in Magic design. Urza’s Block philosophy was tossed out, ushering in a new era of how Magic got made. This was a historic development that still shapes design to this day.

6th Edition Rules Changes

Mana sources. Interrupts. The “batch” system. Living while at 0 life until the end of a phase. These were all fixtures of the pre-6th Edition Magic rules, and most people either do not remember them or do not care about them. But that change between Urza’s Legacy and 6th Edition was a huge one, and these new rules still exist to this day. The idea of “the stack” alone is of enormous historical importance for Magic as a game. Mercadian Masques was the first full block that demonstrated these new, logical, and improved rules (Urza’s Destiny was technically the first block to use them, but it was both soundly within Urza’s design philosophy and it had the Reserve List). Starting a new Eternal format here would pay tribute to this turning point in rules, something that a lot of older players still remember. Unlike with the modern card frames of 8th Edition, the rules changes in 6th Edition fundamentally changed how Magic was played. This is a truly historic moment in Magic’s past, and one that the new Eternal format could commemorate.

End of the Reserve List

This was Magic’s Fourth of July. This was the day where Magic broke free of the oppressive Reserve List, never again to have a new card held down by it. At the time, it seemed like a minor change, but looking back, we see how important it was. The Reserve List is the biggest problem with Legacy’s inaccessible prices. Cards like Underground Sea, Tundra, and Tropical Island all have triple digit price tags that have been on a constant rise since 2008. Cards like Moat and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale provide prohibitively high entry costs for certain archetypes. The Reserve List is at the core of Legacy’s price barrier, and in turn the core reason about why a new Eternal format is needed.

Starting a new Eternal format at the end of the Reserve List is a powerful gesture. It shows that this Eternal format, unlike Vintage and Legacy, will never be held back by the Reserve List. Masques represents the end of that past era and the beginning of a new one. Beginning a new Eternal format here implicitly ushers in a new era of Eternal Magic as a whole, an era where cards are more accessible and players are more welcome. No matter where Wizards wants the new Eternal format cutoff to be, implicit in that new format is that “this is the format where the Reserve List no longer matters.”

If Masques is the starting point, then that implicit historical significance is no longer hidden. It is now glorified, held high as a symbol for the new dawn of Eternal Magic. This historical break is easily identifiable by both old players and new players. It is also one that we will be proud of in the years to come. When people look back on the history of the new Eternal format, what are they going to think? What will a new player think in five years from now when they build their first Modern/Overextended deck? It is the choice between having a format that is linked with the silly “new-frame” cutoff, or having a format that is linked with the historic break between the dark ages of the Reserve List, and the new age of Magic reprinting, pricing, and collectability. A Masques cutoff represents that more than anything else, and it is truly deserving to be a starting point for an exciting new format that everyone can get behind.

Limitations of Masques

Although Masques is overall an exciting and inspiring starting point for the new format, there are a few snags that need to be worked out before it could be official. For one, Magic Online players do not have access to the Masques block yet. That means they would be unable to test out the format before hand, or fully partake in it once it became official. There would be no Community Cup-like events that could properly test the format, because a huge chunk of cards would be missing. That said, Wizards could easily release Masques on MTGO at the same time they announced a Masques-starting point format. Even if they could not make the two dates coincide, they could still have the format function without Masques for a time, in a similar way to how Legacy works on the site.

Additionally, there might be some concerns that a Masques-forward format would look too similar to Legacy. After all, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, and Daze are all present in Masques, cards that are also omnipresent in Legacy. I agree that a new Eternal format that amounted to just “Legacy Lite” would be a failure. For a new format to succeed, it needs to distinguish itself from Legacy in a big way. Looking closely at the available cards and the conversations that have gone on so far, I do not think this would be a likely scenario. Without Force of Will, Wasteland, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Swords to Plowshares, and the original dual lands, the format would look quite different (even with the Masques Legacy staples). Players would have to find new decks in which to play their old cards, and the metagame would stay diverse. In the end, Masques would not make a new Eternal format Legacy Lite. It would, however, give a lot of new tools to the decks in the format, increasing the metagame’s diversity and attracting new players from throughout the Magic world. This would be ideal for the budding format.

Conclusion

Wizards cannot make its new Eternal format alone. It requires input from across the online community to make an informed decision. Because of that, its first stab at Modern might have failed. Modern is just not the worthy Eternal format that Magic players deserve. Its new card frames are not only unhelpful for determining a set’s legality, they are also simply unnecessary. There is nothing historic and legendary about Mirrodin and 8th Edition, but there is something quite significant about another cutoff point: Mercadian Masques. Masques is the best point at which to start a new Eternal format because it represents three historical turning points in Magic history. It was the end of Urza’s design philosophy and the beginning of 6th Edition rules. Most importantly, it heralded the end to the Reserve List, something that holds back Legacy and Vintage to this day. Wizards wants this new Eternal format to address the problem of the Legacy price barrier, and there is no better way to do that than to make Masques the cutoff for its new format. This would be a powerful symbol of what the format stands for and a rallying point for players everywhere. It would give the format historical significance in the years to come. It would ensure that there are as many decks as possible available in the format, and it would attract both new and old players alike. The Magic community deserves more than Modern can offer, and I hope that his article has explained why. The debate will continue, but I hope that Overextended and a Masques cutoff will gain a slight edge in the conversation about the new Eternal format.