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Mar 26, 2012 -- 7:40PM, Slivers79 wrote:

Even though I'm very pessimistic about the response I'll receive, I thought I'd post my thoughts on what cards I feel need to be banned in the Modern format.

-Emrakul, the Aeons Torn: The argument of "it's 15 mana" doesn't work for me. When this guy comes out, he ends the game. That's what he does. I have never seen any deck win against another deck that could reliably cast Emrakul. Urzatron players who utilize Gifts Ungiven (a strong card that borders on absolutely broken) can find three Eldrazi on your end step. No matter which you choose to put in the graveyard, that player will either draw four cards, destroy a permanent or take an extra turn. The Eldrazi tribe is by far the most poorly designed tribe in magic, and Emrakul is the worst offender of the lot. Banning him in Modern doesn't take away from Urzatron's strength, but it does allow other players the option of interacting with the deck by using Path to Exile.

I agree completely and whole-heartedly. The other two you mentioned, though powerful, I don't see as being an issue, but this one is, and people keep missing the point. Lots of decks play Emrakul and still lose, but they always lose for the same reason: they don't  manage to get him into play. A tron deck might be beatable, but Emrakul is not. Just because the deck isn't overpowered, doesn't mean the card is.

There are other cards which can beat a wide variety of decks - Iona hoses a lot of mono-decks, Ensnaring Bridge can screw over a lot of decks, Dovescape can wreck control decks - but Emrakul beats almost EVERY deck. There are a lot of cards I'd like to see banned from the game for fun reason (I discard all my cards and can't draw more, so I have to sit hear and do nothing, wow, fun!) but Emrakul is probably the only one that strikes me as truly overpowered. (And maybe Isochron Scepter).

Consider: a creature's base cost is roughly the average of it's power and toughness (15). Making a player sacrifice a permanent is worth about 1 mana (6). Walk the Aeons lets you take another turn (6). Emrakul is immune to colored spells (I'll say 2 mana), can't be countered (1 mana) and he shuffles himself back into the library if killed (2 mana, similar to an Elixer of Immortality but without the lifegain). So we're up to 30 mana. He costs 15. And that 15 is colourless. I know mana math gets wonky once you hit double digits, but 15 still seems pretty cheap.

Sep 9, 2012 -- 12:29AM, Alias402 wrote:

legendary -10 cmc, mythic - 5

-10? How can legendary be worth more than a mirror gallery? Are you saying Sigarda, Host of Herons is worth 15?