Subject: Where does all the banning lead? Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 15:51:05 +0100 From: Sasha Zorc Reply-To: 0Society@mindless.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com [ISSUE] First to introduce myself. Just as some guy said, if you count only the PRO players as somebodies then I am nobody, but I AM an experienced player having played magic since dark and I have won quite a few tournaments. This morning I read the new articles on the Dojo i found one that totally freaked me out. They were going to ban Recurring Nightmare and Tolarian Academy. I fully agree with banning of Tolarian Academy. If Squandered Resources were banned because they allowed "middle game effects to be played in early game" then what should be done to academy. Blue's basic characteristic has always been powerful but expensive spells and slow development (slow mana production). Just look at whispers of the muse, capsize, browse, braingeyser, dismiss and so on. Blue decks always struggled to survive until middle game when they can get control, they often uses artifact mana sources to speed their mana production. Academy allows blue mage to have 6+ mana turn 2 which it can easily use for all kinds of powerful effects. Academy deck is so powerful that there is virtually no deck that can be successful against it more than 50% of games and doesn't totally suck against other decks. Decks that are allowed to mulligan for 7 cards until they have a good hand still lose horribly. Many people compare the academy deck to bloom, but they are very different. While bloom was a suprise in LA, people were very aware of academy at States '98 and Rome and academy still won in most states and in Rome, most often the finals being academy/academy mirror matches. Also academy deck i contrary to the basic principles of magic where wizards STRUGGLE for control. Academy deck ignores his opponent and doesn't play the game. If a card that does that doesn't deserve to be banned i don't know what does. But on the other hand I totally disagree with banning of recurring nightmare. First a look from the power side: is the nightmare deck too powerful? It definitely is not. Recurring nightmare won the worlds, but people were mostly unprepared for it and it wasn't nearly as unbeatable as academy is now. After the worlds nightmare was still a powerful deck but not more then many others. Just look at the Rath environment in PTQs for Rome and last two Grand Prixes. Nightmare was always near the top but so were also sligh, tradewind awakening, mono blue control, humble prayer and counter chicken. It definitely was a powerful deck but THE deck to play. In the new T2 recurring nightmare hardly made any appearances in top 8. I really doubt it that nightmare is too powerful in hat format. In extended great players that opted to play nightmare like Finkel and Pikula didn't do nearly as well as they usually do. Another sign that nightmare deck is perhaps even too weak for the current environment and surely not too strong. Secondly: perhaps wizards are worried about infinite mana combos with Great Whale or Peregrine Drake. It could be so because decks that rely solely on that combo tend to ignore opponents and "not play the game". If it is combo they are worried about then it can easily be fixed by errating drake and whale to is successfully cast instead of comes to play. Besides that combo can also possible with corpse dance. And lastly and most importantly: the basic goal of magic and deck diversity. As Peter Adkinson says Wizards' long term goal is too make magic a classic strategic game like go and chess. Recurring Nightmare deck is a great example of success of that idea. It allows for a great strategic variety and is VERY reliant on how it is played. The nightmare deck is all about strategy, it is full of choices and very flexible and also very rewarding if played good. Banning intelligent decks like nightmare leaves the environment to decks like sligh and suicide which rely mainly on luck and leave very little space for strategy, it is that kind of decks which are bane to magic as intellectual and not luck based game. If you people out there agree with me, for the sake of the game, do something, let your opinions be known before it is too late. Flames expected at: zorc@faust.irb.hr Sasha Zorc Hear the barmies howling in the mazes? If you are here to learn the secrets of the multiverse you might as well spare yourself some time and go join them, 'cause that's all it means. There's nothing else. Factol Lhar of the Bleak Cabal