To Ban or Rebalance

Today Wizards announced a new bans list (see that here) and a new rebalanced list for Alchemy (here), the online-only format. These approaches show the pros and cons of paper vs. digital.

As previously discussed, ban lists are necessary because when a new set is released, it is impossible to exhaustively predict how the new cards will interact with the existing. Sometimes, a new card (or combination made possible by it) unbalances the format- the only way to be competitive is to play that card (or build a deck specifically to counter it). This makes the format stale and frustrating, and so banned cards are a reality because you cannot change the wording of a card once printed. The banning itself is both welcome (for those who hate the broken cards) and cursed (by those who are using them). Players can lose quite a bit of money, sinking money into cards that may no longer be legal tomorrow. It's a risk.

Digital formats don't have such drawbacks- you can easily adjust card cost or abilities when overly powerful (or weak) cards are found. And Wizards does just that in their Magic Arena format, Alchemy. Alchemy features the 'paper' cards but 

• adds new digital-only cards, often with mechanics made plausible by the computer-aided tracking
• adjusts wording on the paper cards to rebalance them

It's nice to be able to change cards on the fly like that- and it's also annoying. It introduces the situation where your paper deck and your Alchemy deck may have all the same cards in it, but the Alchemy deck's cards will be slightly different. It's a lot to keep track of, and easily confusing.

As a traditionalist, I'm happy for the opportunity to play on Arena but worry that the constant adjustment of digital cards will create a confusing environment for new (or old) players and may, eventually, lead to Wizards making Magic digital-only. Time will tell.

Commander Deck Building

With the new year, I'm focusing on building decks (vs. collecting cards). Two weeks ago, a writer at coolstuffinc had an article for beginners on making commander decks (the 100-card singleton format with a commander). You can read the article in its entirety here; today, I focus on his first two points.

1. Include 40 lands
• This makes sense; it holds to the 60% spells/40% land formula recommended for 60-card decks. It sounds like a lot, but especially if you're running multiple colors, it's probably necessary.
2. Include mana ramp and card draw
• Mana ramp are spells and abilities that increase your access to mana, generally through spells (like Rampant Growth, below) that enable you to search for and/or play more lands on your turn.
• Card draw is just that- spells and abilities that enable you to draw cards. Like Concentrate below.

The author recommends 8-10 slots for mana ramp, and 10-12 slots for card draw. These could be single-focus cards like the above, or cards who feature mana ramp or card draw as one of their abilities.

This tip in particular was a good reminder for me. My commander decks frequently lack this- I overly focus on my theme of choice and don't include enough of these types of things (or removal, for that matter, which the author also talks about as 'interaction' in his third tip). And I find myself hitting the wall where I either lack the lands I need to play the spells I have in-hand, or have the lands but lack any cards to play. 

Simplifying, let's say Commander decks should have:

• 40 land cards
• 10 mana ramp-related cards
• 10 card draw-related cards
• 5 removal cards
• 1 commander

Voila- you have two-thirds of your deck right there.

Similarly, the below template (found in the 'Budget Magic' Facebook group) is helpful aid:

Happy brewing!

Conspiracy

Today I'll begin a series looking at different ways to play Magic. I've already covered the basic formats (constructed and limited) on this page; now I'll look at some variations. Today: Conspiracy.

Conspiracy is a twist on drafting. This official page gives a great overview. In a nutshell,

• You draft like normal, with the exception that some cards affect the drafting process itself (like allowing you to draft two cards on a turn)
• Once you have a pool of cards, you build your deck (40 cards; typical for sealed) and then play in a free-for-all against the other players. This also goes like normal, except you have a new card type: conspiracy cards. You can have as many of these as you like in your command zones, and they're effectively enchantments that cannot be targeted or removed by anyone.

Examples of cards that affect the drafting itself:

Examples of conspiracy cards:

Wizards released two Conspiracy sets:

• Conspiracy (2014)
• Conspiracy: Take the Crown (2016)

I've never played, but am intrigued and would love to try someday, if they release a third set in this vein.

Reflecting and Looking Ahead

I should have reflected on 2021 yesterday, but I forgot. So here it is. 

In Magic, 2021 was defined by quantity. Look at all the sets that were released:

Seven. Seven?! It was too much. A normal year features four releases, maybe five if you count a special set. No wonder I'm burned out, and many others with me.

For the sets themselves, Kaldheim (Nordic theme) had some cool cards but wasn't quite as fun as I'd hoped. I enjoyed Time Spiral Remastered and Modern Horizons II for the cards they gave me for my modern/casual decks. I ignored Strixhaven- I never got into what was effectively "Magic does Harry Potter." I loved D&D: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms- that was the highlight of the year. The two Innistrad sets (Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow) were pretty good, but not overwhelming. I liked that they improved the wording/mechanics on the werewolf cards.

Looking ahead to 2022, a lot more is on the horizon . . .

Thankfully, I'm not interested in Kamigawa, Unfinity, or Streets of New Capenna. That will give my wallet some breathing room. I hope to get at least some staples from the D&D Battle for Baldur's Gate Commander Legends set. I'm intrigued by Dominaria United and The Brothers War. But we'll see what the budget allows . . . a 2022 resolution is to spend less money. 

Happy 2022!