Mar 2, 1997

The idea that the Paris PTQ format is broken, or even unbalanced, is silly at best. Like any other competitive format, there are a couple of very good players in the final 8 (and in the end, the final 8 is all that matters) with the other 5 or so there by luck or good matchups. Obviously, a number of strong players will be weeded out in the Swiss pairings by being outplayed by comparable opponents, or eliminated by simple bad draws, or held back by slow play (or slow decks).

To say that the format is unbalanced because of the possibility of card selection requires a significant suspension of disbelief by any intelligent player. If this were the case, every schmuck who copied Weissman-Balance, Florida "gimmick" Winter Orb, or Finkel-Balance would be in the final 8, beating far better players using less "broken cards"-oriented decks. Moreover, these decks would be dominating the winner's circle itself.

Instead, we have a situation where a number of players, including Joe Weber, Dave Price, Jason Stahl, and of course Pat Chapin, have qualified for Paris with the Sligh deck. Sligh is packed not with broken cards, but quite frankly, pathetic cards. Can you honestly say that an Orcish Cannoneers compares with a Wrath of God, or an Orcish Librarian with a Necropotence? Is an Ironclaw Orcs that much more powerful than a Kjeldoran Outpost? One of the top creatures in the Sligh pecking order is the Goblin Balloon Brigade -- which is quite obviously inferior to a Scryb Sprites -- and how many players use Scryb Sprites? Clearly the argument is moot. Sligh doesn't even have access to any broken cards, whereas the other chief creature decks, like Necrodisk, G/W Armageddon, and White Weenie, use cards like Ivory Tower, Hymn to Tourach, Land Tax, and Balance. Yet the Sligh deck wins consistently, and almost always has representatives in the final 8.

As much as I personally have been burned by Balance, I still maintain that the November 1996 Type II format is the best format (with the possible exception of Alliances/Ice Age) that Magic has ever seen. This format allows for the possibility of any number of really good decks, all of which have contention possibility. Yes, there are frustrating decks, like the Finkel-Balance and Florida Winter Orb decks; yes, there are trite decks, like Necro and Sligh; however, once in a while, there are very interesting decks too, like a U/W Brainstorm/Blinking Spirit deck that did very well in DC, and the 4-color (or is it 5-color?) Monstrosity that tore up the Swiss in Edison. Argument against this format is argument against the creativity of the deck designers and players who make some of these decks possible.

Of course, there is the possibility of current Type II, where red (or copying Erik Lauer’s decks) rules, or Mirage/Visions, where red really rules. Yes, we could have that... but I prefer Balance, Land Tax, and Necropotence (all of which require a minimum capability at arithmetic) to some other formats, where "I draw the Fireblast" far to often equals "I win."