The Banned List talk momentum that Emma Handy got underway hasn’t stopped yet. I spoke about my viewpoints on what cards should be banned in my article last week. This week, I would like to go through the current Modern Banned List and talk about each card individually, giving my thoughts whether or not the card should stay on the list or become unbanned.
A brief disclaimer: As someone who used to work in Magic R&D, I feel much more strongly about banning cards to make the format better than unbanning, but banning is a very tricky thing in a game like Magic where cards hold a lot of value. While these are my opinions on whether or not a card can be unbanned, I don’t particularly care if any of these cards are unbanned, so it’s not like, “Of course he wants Jace, the Mind Sculptor to be unbanned. He’s a blue player.” I don’t want Jace unbanned; I don’t really care. I just think it could be with no real changes to the format.
Let’s get to it!
Verdict: Keep banned.
First off, we have the artifact lands that have been banned since the start of Modern. It is likely wise to keep these on the banned list. If these became unbanned, Affinity would start playing cards with the actual keyword affinity and it would be quite powerful. The deck would look fairly different from how it does now. If we could trade cards on the banned list with other cards, there is a world where these could come off the list, but not this one.
If these cards were legal in Affinity, Stony Silence would go from a near-knockout against current Affinity to nigh-unbeatable. I’m sure enchantment hate would become more prevalent as to combat the potent sideboard card. Modern would probably start to see more artifact cards in the sideboard. This would be an interesting set of cards to unban, but I’m not nearly comfortable making that call.
Verdict: Keep banned.
I have heard some people talk about unbanning this card, and that would be a pretty big mistake. As someone who would love to again register the card Birthing Pod, this card allows for a diverse toolbox of creature threats, answers, and combo pieces. With creature combos in Modern like Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies or Kitchen Finks and Viscera Seer along with a sacrifice outlet, Modern is a dangerous place for a card like Birthing Pod.
Verdict: Keep banned.
I’m not too well-versed in the history of Blazing Shoal in Modern. I wasn’t playing too much Magic around then, but I’m pretty sure this card is busted. This card allows you to combo with Infect creatures to kill your opponent in one fell swoop. This one should remain on the banned list.
Verdict: Safe to unban.
Safe to unban, with the caveat that I am not worried about this being too good in Jund. I am more worried about a Temur strategy that plays Bloodbraid Elf into Ancestral Vision. That being said, I can’t really remember a time where that was considered an unfair thing to do in a format like Modern. This card likely pushes Jund over the top of Abzan in Modern, but Lingering Souls is still a very powerful card. GORGONZOLA this card is pretty safe to unban at this point
Verdict: Safe to unban?!
This card might be okay to unban in Modern, but I am pretty skeptical it would hapen. This card saw a lot of play back in the day of Extended Dark Depths, and I’m not sure where it would slot into Modern. I’m sure someone would find a way to abuse this in Modern, and for that reason, it’s probably a bad idea. That being said, I’m not convinced this would become a huge problem in Modern.
Verdict: Keep banned.
Cloudpost is sillier than Tron in Modern and I have zero interest in letting this see the light of day. Dark Depths would be absolutely nuts with both Thespian’s Stage and Vampire Hexmage in the format. This is clearly asking for abuse in Modern, where there is no Swords to Plowshares or Diabolic Edict. These are two highly lethal lands that should remain on the Modern Banned List.
Verdict: Keep banned.
As much as I love playing Deathrite Shaman in Legacy, this card would be nuts in Modern. This card is so good with fetchlands that I would almost always play this in a format where both are legal.
Verdict: Keep banned.
Both of these spells are essentially free in Modern and they are both culprits for unfair play. Dig Through Time was a menace in Scapeshift decks and would still be insane in Modern if unbanned. Dread Return has been on the Banned List since the inception of Modern and would make Modern Dredge too powerful.
Verdict: Keep banned.
All of these cards are individually ridiculous in their own ways. There are four decks I can think of right away that would surge in power level if any one of these cards were unbanned. Golgari Grave-Troll was a clear mistake when it was unbanned from Modern, and all of these cards should stay on the Modern Banned List for good.
Verdict: Could see a swap with Dryad Arbor.
This card is too good with Dryad Arbor in the format. Being able to cast this with X=0 on Turn 1 is a lot of its power. I’m not even sure if it’s fair if Dryad Arbor didn’t exist, but this card would be an interesting unban that I would like to explore, assuming that it were swapped with Dryad Arbor.
Verdict: Keep banned.
This would be far worse than Living End for the format. No thanks!
Verdict: Safe to unban.
Ah, Jace, the Mind Sculptor… a card that has attracted quite the controversy over the last couple of weeks. Okay, here it is: Jace, the Mind Sculptor is fine to unban in Modern. For starters, it’s a four-mana sorcery-speed card that doesn’t win the game. Gifts Ungiven and Cryptic Command are both instants; one nearly wins you the game and the other is a reactive card that helps you not lose the game, so those both get a pass. Scapeshift is a sorcery; however, you usually win the game when you cast it, so that also gets a pass.
Jace is indeed a very powerful planeswalker that would see play in Modern if it were to be unbanned. It would give blue an edge in fair matchups (Jund, Jeskai, Abzan, etc.) but not enough that it would make nonblue midrange decks unviable. When I play Nahiri, the Harbinger against decks like Death’s Shadow and Storm, do you know what I have to do? Sideboard them out. Jace is similar in that regard. While Jace is more powerful than Nahiri, you can’t pay four mana at sorcery speed for a Brainstorm and expect to live to the next turn against some decks in Modern.
Modern is an extremely linear format. There are decks that are trying to kill you as soon as possible and do so uninteractively. There are decks that are trying to play fairly and strip your hand away or counter some key spells. There are decks that are trying to assemble a lot of mana and go way over the top of other decks in the format. Diversity is the watchword.
Jace matches up very poorly against a lot of decks in Modern and very well against some others. I doubt that Jace would cause that many changes in Modern. That being said, at the end of the day, it’s hard to tell if I’m right. Comparing it to its power in Legacy isn’t correct; Modern and Legacy are two completely different formats.
Verdict: Keep banned.
These blue one-cost spells are too good for Modern. Once Mental Misstep unleashes on a format, it becomes all about one-drops and it is awful. U/R Gifts Storm doesn’t need Ponder or Preordain to win any more than it already is.
Verdict: Keep banned.
Gifts Storm also doesn’t need any more potent Rituals to be more successful, and both Rite of Flame and Seething Song would be insane in the deck. Second Sunrise makes its own combo deck that is hard to interact with, and this is why it’s never coming back. Punishing Fire would edge out all the viable creature decks and not be healthy for the format.
Verdict: Keep banned.
Two one-mana artifacts that shouldn’t be legal in Modern anytime soon… despite how much fun Modern Miracles sounds.
Verdict: Keep banned.
I could actually see a world where they unban Splinter Twin. I consider it an acceptable boogeyman of the format, but I see it remaining on the Banned List for the time being.
Verdict: Keep banned.
I have seen people talk about unbanning this card and that it is absolutely laughable. Are you kidding me? You want to be playing against this card in Modern? This and Batterskull will make an absolutely devastating blow to Modern’s health, not to mention the many Swords you can go find to cripple decks that are playing the colors of your choice. Unbanning this card would be a huge mistake and I don’t think it’s even close.
Verdict: Keep banned.
These were banned for a very good reason. I don’t really want Amulet Bloom to be a deck anymore and I don’t think anyone wants it back in Modern. Treasure Cruise would be absolutely busted in many decks.
Verdict: Safe to unban.
I personally believe that Umezawa’s Jitte is pretty slow for Modern. Would it see play? Of course, as a healthy sideboard card for creature decks and maybe even in maindecks. Yet there are a lot of matchups where this card is a complete do nothing like Storm or Living End. I’m not convinced this card is completely okay, but it’s likely safe in Modern.
These are my thoughts on what could happen with the Modern Banned List. What cards do you think could be unbanned in Modern?