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So... we learned that mythics dominate standard and that Jace is so stupidly good that it also dominates extended.

And yet, Mike, you don't seem to think that's a bad thing.

I'd say you may have learned 10 things, but you've also learned nothing.

@Highwayman - How are mythics relevant to this discussion? There are a few of them that are really good. Is that the only thing we can say about this format? There is so much more to discuss and think about here than this pretty simplistic and uninteresting conclusion.

That would be the non-mythic Jace Beleren avatar.

And considering almost every deck listed had 3-4 copies of JTMS, I'd say it's fair game. 

Dec 16, 2010 -- 12:49PM, Highwayman wrote:

Dec 16, 2010 -- 9:37AM, tmartell wrote:

@Highwayman - How are mythics relevant to this discussion? There are a few of them that are really good. Is that the only thing we can say about this format? There is so much more to discuss and think about here than this pretty simplistic and uninteresting conclusion.

No, its not the only thing we can say about this format. But it is the first thing that jumps out.

I'm not disguising that this is a *moan*, but it is a moan coupled with a plea. I don't think the "new power 9" standard is healthy. Never have. Mike's article is a comment, amongst other things, on the health of the formats he reviews, but he always steps around this point.

On other points, to show I was reading the rest of the article, I enjoyed the wargate/scapeshift/omen deck. About six months ago I posted a deck that used omen with valakut and scapeshift, but never really took it far enough. Well done that guy.

Calling it a "new power 9" isn't very realistic.  Power level is relative.  Obviously Jace, TMS is very powerful, but the average power level of cards has increased significantly.  The difference in power level between Jace and the next best set of cards isn't very big.

And I'm not sure what bemoaning mythics as a rarity achieves.  While Jace is certainly an expensive card, the overall cost of cards has not really increased significantly.  In pre-mythic days, while no single card really got over $30-35 in standard, decks had many different $10-15 cards.  Now you have 4 cards that are $50 and then the rest of your deck is filled with $3 cards.

If Jace is your poster child for "mythics are bad", he isn't even particularly omnipresent.  There are 3 decks in standard that are playing him at the moment.

And as for Jace dominating Extended, he is actually barely played in extended at the moment. 

Fair enough.  I never wanted to be part of the problem, but in my defence the only times I felt minded to comment were when Mike's reports  seemed to expose the dominance of a handful of chase mythics, and yet despite much debate in the magic community he failed to comment. Trouble is, that seemed to happen most weeks.

New year's resolution then. Mike, I've tried to make the point through persistence but I concede that your stubborn silence has outlasted the patience of the forums to hear the debate.  Though I feel your (otherwise excellent) articles avoidance of this the issue is shameful, I won't comment on it in your thread any more.