Highlander Magic

MagicPlayer Highlander => Highlander Strategy => Banned List & Rules => Topic started by: Dr. Opossum on 02-12-2019, 04:12:12 PM

Title: Results Survey 9/11/2019 (Continental Cup #2)
Post by: Dr. Opossum on 02-12-2019, 04:12:12 PM
This survey was handed out on the Continental Cup #2 in Halle, November 2019. 47 of 90 people took part in the survey.

How often do you play Highlander (highlandermagic.info rules)?
(absolute frequencies)

(https://i.imgur.com/jsycCLQ.png)


How satisfied are you with the format currently on a scale from 1 to 10 (1=not at all, 10=very much)?
(absolute frequencies)

(https://i.imgur.com/FdJZ4Jo.png)

(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)

(https://i.imgur.com/rdQR0Ls.png)

satisfaction according to how often highlander is played

(https://i.imgur.com/GcmQe02.png)


These card(s) should be banned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
(cards currently on the Watchlist are italic)

(https://i.imgur.com/eYHi1h2.png)


Reasonings (single cards):
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (e.g. "too strong" vs. "too powerful").)

Demonic Tutor
- quite slow
- fairly costed
- Tutors make the format too consistent in the face of power creep
- Combo seems too good atm
- broken, but if you splash its greedy
- allows strategies
- nothing broken
- easy splash for every deck
- 100 singleton format -> not having 2 copies of every card x4
- too powerful
- format defining card
- iconic card x2
- no tutors x2
- control needs this card
- fair powerful
- people splash b for tutor
- maybe too cheap
- generic
- skill intensive
- black payoff
- singleton
- banned Mystical < Demonic
- combo needs it
- not too strong at cmc 2 + sorcery
- too good overall
- it's the best card of each deck with black
- combo and card too strong
- powerful card, not nuts

Dig Through Time
- doesn't seem oppressive
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- maybe too good
- finds answers, digs deep
- finds too often heavy solution
- UU is often complicated
- nothing broken
- no action needed
- no tutors
- too good
- double U somewhat balance this card
- U staple that makes blue competitive
- one of the blue spells should be banned
- fuels decks with cantrips a lot
- extremely swingy
- undercosted
- out of nowhere
- 2 mana = 7 cards ?!
- too strong on balanced boards
- powerful card, not nuts
- too strong top deck
- good but not too good
- too much advantage for easy restriction
- is ok
- too strong and better than cruise
- too many delve cards in one deck are not possible
- if a delve spell should go i think it should be DTT

Entomb
- Best 1cc Tutor
- enables hard to interact with strategies
- only one deck plays this effectively
- Reanimator not oppressive
- a lot of combos
- nothing broken
- depends on Reanimate / Echo the Aeons abuse
- fair
- could be broken if more people bought Bazaar
- no tutors x2
- good for reanimator x2
- ban echo of aeons instead
- too strong
- narrow applications
- reanimator not Tier 1
- has not dominated in any archetype
- not more busted than other cards in the format
- is fine
- possibly too strong, but demonic is worse
- hard to say since reanimator is not that representative
- powerful card, not nuts

Mana Drain
- glorified Counterspell
- reactive, not worth banning
- most of the time Counterspell x3
- manapush is insane x2
- too good Counterspell
- it's so Yu-Gi-Oh -> OP!
- nothing broken
- unnecessary to have Counterspell with huge tempowing
- almost fair
- necessary UU harcounter
- ramp in mono U + counter
- powerful card, not nuts
- variance increases
- strong but not unfair
- hard to abuse
- mostly no value
- strong but ok
- slightly better than Counterspell
- i think here are more problematic cards
- not as strong anymore, since the speed of the format has increased

Tainted Pact
- deck building restrictions  x3
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- bad Demonic
- requires greedy deck
- nothing broken x2
- no tutors x2
- ok, this card cannot be used by combo x2
- instant demonic
- in the right deck critical
- not universally playable
- skill intensive
- maybe too strong
- better than DT in most scenarios, but restrict deck building enough
- exiles library
- as long as DT is in the format we dont have to talk about pact
- the downside of exiling is real
- powerful card, not nuts
- fair card

Tolarian Academy
- hard to interact with x2
- deck is becoming too strong and will be able to win without x2
- not the problem in Academy
- ban other Academy stuff x3
- play solitaire
- deck is too fast, too consistent
- need to be weakened
- too boring to play against
- nearly every deck is playing Wasteland
- annoying to play against
- broken x2
- unfun
- too oppressive
- too good
- deck is retarded
- obv
- instant speed tutor, but needs deck built around it
- powerlevel?
- deck is inconsistent enough
- skill intensive
- too strong?
- much too strong
- very powerful
- too consistent
- if proxies are allowed, academy might be too powerful
- people should learn to adept first

Treasure Cruise
- doesn't seem oppressive
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- maybe too good
- finds answers, digs deep
- too much [???] power
- who don't like going on a cruise
- it's ok
- too powerful
- too oppressive
- powerful card, not nuts
- too good
- blue needs some toys, this is one of it
- U staple that makes blue competitive
- extremely swingy
- undercosted
- out of nowhere
- 1 Mana = 3 cards ?!
- too strong on balanced boards
- too strong top deck
- good but not too good
- comparable to Ancestral Recall, which is banned as well
- is fine
- too strong, almost Ancestral Recall
- too many delve cards in one deck are not possible


Following cards were asked as well, even though they are currently not on the Watchlist:

Oko, Thief of the Crown
- hoses all creature strategies
- unfun
- too strong
- not able to kill without removal
- this survey is now a 3/3 Elk
- game turns to elk

Oath of Druids
- too oppressive
- 2 mana 'I win'
- should at least be on the Watchlist
- it's one of the most powerful card in our format

Scapeshift
- search and win
- just ridiculous
- too strong
- too consistent
- now also got Field of the Dead


These card(s) should be unbanned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
(cards currently on the Watchlist are italic)

(https://i.imgur.com/O0OxoHv.png)


Reasonings (single cards):
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (e.g. "too strong" vs. "too powerful").)

Skullclamp
- just broken
- needs setup to be good
- advantage doesn't outright win
- to get creature decks going again
- could be interesting
- try out  x2
- that's broken stuff
- too strong in the current meta
- needs setup, creature based decks
- fair enough
- enough antitech
- not sure, probably too good
- too strong
- please never unban
- unban jitte instead
- not universally playable
- archetype enabler
- too strong
- busted in already good creature decks
- takes aways the cost of playing mana dorks
- go creatures, go elves
- only helps mono G
- problematic in other formats
- stupid card
- auto include in every creature deck

Survival of the Fittest
- just broken
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- easy repeatable tutors are even worse
- too much combo already
- a lot of mana + setup + combo deck
- that's broken stuff
- enables too strong interactions
- multiple tutor
- should be tried
- too oppressive
- too good and tutor
- maybe but first keep Academy in check
- that one is retarded
- repeatable tutor too strong
- i dont know
- broken combos possible
- please test it
- probably not too powerful anymore
- potentially too strong for reanimator
- I would love to but NO! Pls NO!

True-Name Nemesis
- unfun
- hard to interact with
- creature that can be answered
- too oppressive
- is actually not so bad
- not oppressive enough
- not good enough anymore
- not too strong
- fair enough
- complete unfun
- enough antitech
- dumb
- i really do hate this card
- good ban
- why ban?
- unfun card
- bad for gameplay
- not OP
- not for powerlevel, but for bad impact on the games it appears in
- dont care
- ban makes the match up against blue decks better
- not problematic for the most decks
- it's and creature

Umezawa's Jitte
- hoses all creature strategies
- unfun x2
- too stupid in creature match ups
- to get creature decks going again
- first unban Skullclamp
- jitte is just unfair
- only unban if SFM get's banned x2
- fair enough
- enough antitech
- too good
- will warp every creature mirror
- if you really want to unban equipment, unban Jitte, NOT Skullclamp
- equipment drawback
- fun card
- too support creature toolbox decks
- not too strong at the moment
- seems ok to test
- turns all around once it enters
- please don't
- tested and was too strong
- stupid card


How satisfied are you with the current Mulligan on a scale from 1 to 10 (1=not at all, 10=very much)?
(absolute frequencies)

(https://i.imgur.com/BvUti9o.png)

(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)

(https://i.imgur.com/IyglddL.png)


Comments on the Mulligan:
- better than scry
- more games decided by flood/screw or bad hands vs. good hands
- today was fun
- more lopsided wins than with free mulligan
- i like this mulligan
- keep the current mulligan
- 1 free mulligan would be totally fine
- it's nice to have a mulligan like in standard, modern etc.
- favours combo decks
- didn't fix the non-game issue
- free mulligan would increase the number of games which are not decided by a bad starting hand
- mulligan is fine x2
- please ban it
- much more non-games x2
- maybe it's too good with two-card combos
- current mulligan is ok
- i think the free mulligan should be a part of HL
- still undecided
- amount of non-games increased, but free mulligan + LM feels too strong
- i think more exciting games would happen on a free mull
- brawl uses freemull
- no opinion
- LM is perfect
- spoil 2 cards mulligan <3
- Mulligan is good
- especially mulligan to 5 still enables interactive gameplays
- non-games were drastically reduced compared to vancouver mulligan
- I would prefer London + Free Mulligan
- a lot worse without free mulligan
- free mulligan is not needed
- you can easier win games with mulligan on 5
- i prefer london + free


Comments on the Format:
- feels combo heavy
- need to be super aggressive or have a combo win
- fair decks seem to be not good enough
- powerlevel of cards is too high  x2
- currently in a pretty good spot
- combo decks are fine for the format as long as they don't dominate
- I like the strong cards that cannot be played in other formats
- nice format
- i always hate bannings
- the Academy deck needs to be nerfed (ban Academy or tutors)
- the current format splits my community
- I would like if you ban some cards
- meta was nicely diverse