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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.

-Cranial Plating: Would it be fair to say that artifact affinity falls on its face without Cranial Plating? It sure has felt that way to me in the matchups I've played. This single card- printed as a common- is so dangerous that causes a disproportionate game swing within the first two or three turns. Creature removal doesn't help, and targeted artifact removal like Harmonic Sliver will only get you so far because the deck will just play another one. There are answers, of course (ie, Kataki, War's Wage) but this means you have to mulligan aggressively to find two lands (one white) and Kataki just to have a chance at winning the match.  Clearly, Cranial Plating is far stronger than it ought to be and banning this allows decks of all types a chance to interact with an artfiact-heavy deck, instead of losing very early.

-Tarmogoyf: Is he a vanilla creature? Sure, but at two mana, he can be a 5/6 or a 6/7. That's far too strong for his mana cost. He is clearly a broken card and a design mistake. Today in standard, if you get a 5/5 for 4 mana, that's really pushing the envelope. Tarmogoyf not only pushed the envelope, he destroyed it. He forces players to have lots of removal, which they may or may not choose to do. Coupled with Dark Confidant, he becomes extremely strong. He forces chump blocking, causing a disproportionate creature advantage. Zoo decks are strong without him (see Knight of the Reliquary) but they become ridiculously strong with Tarmogoyf. He is not the only option out there, he is simply the best one all around. Playing with him and playing against him, I got the same sense I had with Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Inexplicably, as long as that card was in play, I knew the player who used it was going to win.

None of the deck archetypes which utilize these cards prove themselves to be unbeatable, but all of these cards are far too powerful for what they do, and I believe they should all be banned.

Weird, so far this PTQ season in the UK, a different deck each week has won, Bant, Caw Blade, 5 colour Gifts Rock, UW Tron(with no emrakul), UB Delver.

From that list, I guess island should be banned :|

Emrakul is good, but the only tron deck to have succeeded in the UK didn't run it. The only deck that casts Emrakul is Tron, and they lose hard to quite a few decks. Do I like Emrakul? no, it's poorly designed, is it too powerful to be legal? No.

Gifts Ungiven has a much better chance of being banned because it allows you to do the most broken things, tutoring fatties into play, or finding game over gifts packages. Do I think Gifts needs banning? Probably not.

Cranial Plating? Jund smashes affinity all the time, as does loam. Caw-blade and delver decks can beat affinity too, so it's hardly an amazing deck.

Goyf? Out of the three best green decks, two of them run goyf, and neither of them depend that much on it. Goyf is only just good enough in legacy thesedays, since decks like Maverick don't run him etc. He sees play in one or two good legacy decks(RUG and BUG), but he's often not good enough, so he really should be the right power level for modern. 90% of decks would rather see a goyf hit the table on the other side than a Thalia.

I think it's a case of people not wanting to fork out money for good decks or not playing in a competitive enough environemtn to evaluate cards properly.

Mar 27, 2012 -- 6:40PM, catowner wrote:

Oh God.  It's witchhunters like you who want everything you've ever lost to banned that screw up formats.  If everything is overpowered, nothing is overpowered, and if you want to ban out 3 decks, then you're practically saying that everything is overpowered.

Also, Niche, why does goyf see so little play?  This format has fetches and every good discard spell other than hymn and therapy.  If KOTR (the other gigantic beatstick) can see play at 3 cmc, why can't goyf at 2?

I just want to do away with cards that are insanely more powerful than all others. Modern as a format is very diverse and removing even one of these cards from the format won't change that.

Mar 27, 2012 -- 9:09PM, CranialDistraction wrote:

Mar 27, 2012 -- 7:31PM, Slivers79 wrote:

Mar 27, 2012 -- 6:40PM, catowner wrote:

Oh God.  It's witchhunters like you who want everything you've ever lost to banned that screw up formats.  If everything is overpowered, nothing is overpowered, and if you want to ban out 3 decks, then you're practically saying that everything is overpowered.

Also, Niche, why does goyf see so little play?  This format has fetches and every good discard spell other than hymn and therapy.  If KOTR (the other gigantic beatstick) can see play at 3 cmc, why can't goyf at 2?

I just want to do away with cards that are insanely more powerful than all others. Modern as a format is very diverse and removing even one of these cards from the format won't change that.

It's diverse BECAUSE of cards like Emrakul, Goyf, and Cranial Plating. If you start banning these non-format breaking cards, where does it end? Suddenly you have a decidedly non-diverse format because there's no splashy plays left. Slippery slope.

Please explain to me how having a 15/15 can't be countered, sac six permanents, take an extra turn, protection from colored spells creature is good for ANY metagame? I have yet to observe Emrakul as anything other than abusive and broken. Cards are not supposed to be designed like this.

As far as Tarmogoy and Plating, if you think they're fine for the format, that's okay. I don't agree, but fortunately for us the decision to ban cards isn't mine.

Mar 27, 2012 -- 11:34PM, Slivers79 wrote:

Please explain to me how having a 15/15 can't be countered, sac six permanents, take an extra turn, protection from colored spells creature is good for ANY metagame? I have yet to observe Emrakul as anything other than abusive and broken. Cards are not supposed to be designed like this.

To reward people who can consistently get 15 mana before you kill them, or jump through some unusual hoops to cast it another way (not put it straight into play).  If you're letting someone get to that point, the game is over no matter what they're spending 15 on.  Off the top of my head, Banefire for the same cost wouldn't put you in any better position.