Quote
I am aware it has been on the watchlist for a long time. But this is kind of the point i want to make - in those two years, no one thought of an alternative to weakening a supposedly "oppessive" deck other than banning its namesake card/ centerpiece? Like, aren't there other ways to make the deck less powerful instead of outright dropping the hammer on it?
As I already posted this in another thread ...
In my opinion you could justify the BAN of 'Tolarian Academy' just with it's own power level, this is why I think the BAN is still coming a few years too late.
... but still deservedQuote
So tell me, then: which fair deck is now better off in the format?
I quote myself again ...
In my opinion there are some more who need to go ... this was just the beginning, I hope so
One BAN is not enough yet to make that kind of impact I would like to see.
Examples of decks I kind of miss in the format right now are more creature based aggro decks (Naya, Jund, ...) and midrange decks (UGX, Goodstuff, ...). These kind of decks struggle a lot at the moment especially against these kind of combo decks.
In my opinion combo decks in highlander shouldn't be allowed to combo so early and being hard to disrupt at the same time, like destroying a land ('Tolarian Academy') or enchantment ('Oath of Druids').
For example there is a reason why 'Flash' is already BANNED and will never be UNBANNED, because you barely can disrupt that fast pace combo, too.
Quote
Which deck would cease to exist because you take away Demonic Tutor?
The approach I would prefer is answered before ...
You hurt more different decks with a BAN of certain tutor cards than you hurt with the specific keycard. In my opinion need to be as specific as possible to take out or hurt the least amount of decks in the format.
So the conclusion is our opinions on the approach of BANNING cards specificly cards for oppressive combo decks differs in the way that you would try to weaken these decks with BANNING out cards around which can also have effects on other decks too and I prefer to shut them down with BANNING the key card(s) and the least amount of impact on other decks as possible.
Your approach could have the desired effect but also could have no effect at all on the problem. Solving the problem step by step takes a lot of time with only two BAN announcements per year.
My approach completely deletes a deck from the format which lower or increase the diversity of decks. Solves the problem instantly for a quick change of the format,
Pros and contras on both sides ... we will see which way the council will take in the future.
With the BAN of 'Tolarian Academy' and in my opinion hopefully more BANs of cards like this coming with the next BAN announcement we will see if european highlander will change in the best way for the format and community. But I think we all can agree the current state is not the best so it needs changes nonetheless.