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Hi, I was just somewhat confused.

According to the banned list page on this site changes don't take effect until April 15 - why does this say April 1 and will these be the official changes made to the banned list on this site?  I have a circle of friends who play Highlander in Boston and we've been going by this list, I'm just not sure what's official anymore...Is it going to be updated to include these changes?

Thanks

Hi I'm new to the forums, I just wanted to comment on the banned list.

Having VAMPIRIC TUTOR banned and DEMONIC TUTOR not banned is nothing short of a joke. If you want the format to be taken seriously then have a consistent policy on these cards.  I think they both need to be banned because they are overpowered and deck-manipulation is too strong in the 100-card format.  Lesser Tutor effects are balanced, but these two stand out as decidedly unbalanced.

The same is true of LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA.  Someone raised the point and they are correct that playing this turn 1 is as close to an auto-victory as you can get.  Also, by deck construction standards every deck should run this, pure and simple.  Finally, I see this format as one that has a dedicated following but should be trying to expand on that.  A casual observer who's interested in playing Highlander would be discouraged by the fact that there's a $100+ card that they SHOULD by all accounts be playing with. By every commonly used metric this card deserves to be banned.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST and OATH OF DRUIDS are other cards that should be requisite on the banned list.  Both are too overpowered.  In the case of Survival, it isn't very fun to play with or against considering that you will be searching through and shuffling your 100-card deck every turn (a reason why LAND TAX should also definitely be banned).  Both inevitably lead to degenerative combo decks. I'd also dismiss the argument that that green needs powerful cards like those because Oath and Survival aren't being used to bolster aggressive green decks, and more often being abused by multi-color combo decks that revolve around exploiting their unfairness.

Finally, I'm conflicted on the DUST BOWL unbanning.  There's a long list of nonbasic land hosers and I don't see why you would arbitrarily ban this one, except for the fact that it's a colorless land that runs into the same "should be in every deck" argument as Library.  Either way you go is fine - I would put it on the Watch List.

I think a lot of cards that get left off the banned list are simply left off because they're "golden oldie" cards people want to play with, but there isn't enough consideration given to how unfair they are or how much they undermine the fun factor of the format.  When someone plays a turn 2 Demonic or a turn 1 Library it totally drains the fun out of it for me.  If you were able to put together a more comprehensive and well-thought-out banned list (some of the bannings are very well thought out, others not so much), I think you'd be further on your way to making it a real, DCI-endorsed Magic format if it caught on in popularity.  But until people set aside their nostalgic attitudes about old broken cards it's going to take longer to do.  Just my 2 cents.