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I've been away from MtG for awhile. I'm not "back" exactly but I did want to look into this new format to see what is interesting about it. It's clear there was a need for a format beyond extended but not legacy back when I was a player I asked for this and I'm excited to see it and look forward to digging out some of my olderish cards to join in this new format. With that said I've got a few questions about the banned list. It seems really long for such a format. I realize decks like dredge, fairies and artifacts deserved some hate so I can understand the bannings of many of these cards but some of them aren't making a whole lot of sense. For example the counterspell that costs 1 mana or 2 life to counter a CMC 1 spell.... what does the banning of this card do for the format?

Just reading through this forum there are multiple threads calling for more bannings. I am not really asking for more or less banned cards. I guess better players than me will help define the format and which cards are deserving of the bans but I am worried based on the banned list that they're being too liberal and that it may turn into a Yu Gi Oh banned list. Please help me understand that all of these bannings are necessary (or are there some which are excessive).

Cyrus hit the main points.  I would just like to add that Modern is extremely new (I think it's coming up on being one year old).  So it is still very much a work in progress.

Also, unlike Legacy, Modern is missing a lot of the get-out-of-jail "free" cards (like Force of Will ), so they had to be very careful about what kind of combos they let live in the format.  That explains a lot of the list by itself.

Finally, in the early stages of the format, a deck would dominate a tournament, then the next tournament would be overrun by the same deck.  After this goes one for a few months, the DCI would decide that something would need to be banned to keep the format alive long enough to keep people interested.  What keeps Legacy fairly ban light (they're even unbanning things) is that the format has enough interest that if something comes out that completely dominates for a few weeks, someone is going to brew up a deck that beats that.  Modern didn't have the kind of dedication (and probably still doesn't).

Basically, the reason the ban list is so extensive is that the DCI wants to protect such a young format.  Eventually, bannings will slow down and potentially cards will be unbanned in the future once the format matures.  Until then, the format is completely wide open and brewers have free reign.

As for Mental Misstep, it definitely wrecked Legacy.  Basically, every deck ran it as a 4-of because the list had 1-drops they wanted to protect or there were 1-drops that you have to counter (like Entomb ).  Every deck list began with "4x Mental Misstep", and that was unhealthy for the format.  It's not nearly as important in Modern (fewer game-breaking turn 1 plays), but the DCI didn't want to take the chance it would ruin the format.  It's entirely possible they might revisit it in the future, but I doubt it.

Look at the decklists for the MTGPC. There are 52 Lightning Bolts, 50 Tarmogofys, and 36 Snapcaster Mage.
That means 13 of 16 decks at the PC were playing Bolts. Same number for Tarmogoyfs, and 10 decks with Snapcaster.
That doesn't include counts for Path to Exile, Vendilion Clique, or Geist of Saint Traft. Almost every one of these decks looked like the exact same bland deck. I have a feeling this is what Modern is going to be for the future, which means it will never replace Legacy like Wizards wants it to.

Aug 30, 2012 -- 8:35AM, Jman22 wrote:

Look at the decklists for the MTGPC. There are 52 Lightning Bolts, 50 Tarmogofys, and 36 Snapcaster Mage.
That means 13 of 16 decks at the PC were playing Bolts. Same number for Tarmogoyfs, and 10 decks with Snapcaster.
That doesn't include counts for Path to Exile, Vendilion Clique, or Geist of Saint Traft. Almost every one of these decks looked like the exact same bland deck. I have a feeling this is what Modern is going to be for the future, which means it will never replace Legacy like Wizards wants it to.

I think you're making my argument for me. By banning so many cards there is less deck variety. Would all 16 players go pick up a dredge deck if golgari grave-troll or dread return were legal? I doubt it but I wonder how different the tournament would look if dredge had a place?

I've only started playing modern recently but I really like it so far and I just hope they're letting players figure things out rather than going heavy on the bannings which is my fear.

Aug 30, 2012 -- 8:35AM, Jman22 wrote:

Look at the decklists for the MTGPC. There are 52 Lightning Bolts, 50 Tarmogofys, and 36 Snapcaster Mage.
That means 13 of 16 decks at the PC were playing Bolts. Same number for Tarmogoyfs, and 10 decks with Snapcaster.
That doesn't include counts for Path to Exile, Vendilion Clique, or Geist of Saint Traft. Almost every one of these decks looked like the exact same bland deck. I have a feeling this is what Modern is going to be for the future, which means it will never replace Legacy like Wizards wants it to.

I think that's just a little biased by the fact that you picked three of the best cards ever printed in their colors.  Any deck that even splashes red is going to run Bolts, just because it's an amazing card.  Same with Goyf and Snapcaster; seeing them in a list doesn't mean it's all the same deck, it just means that those people started with the best cards in the format and built from there.