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[I'm primary not interested in just playing. I'm more interested, after this long time of inactivity, in testing out decks, new cards and discuss about it with different people and different opinions]

I'm primary not interested in just playing. I'm more interested, after this long time of inactivity, in testing out decks, new cards and discuss about it with different people and different opinions. This is not really possible and worth it with this kind of online community,
I don't see a point for now to configure my cockatrice again and reconstruct all these (outdated) decks ...

[Mono Black] Suicide
[Mono Blue] Skies
[Mono Green] Stompy
[Mono Green] Eldrazi Ramp
[Mono Red] Burn
[Mono White] Weenie

[Azorius] Skies
[Boros] Metalcraft
[Dimir] Zombies
[Golgari[ Midrange
[Gruul] Ravaged Lands
[Gruul] Aggro
[Orzhov] Death & Taxes
[Orzhov] Knights
[Rakdos] Goblins
[Selesnya] Hate Bears
[Simic] Merfolks

[Abzan] Midrange
[Bant] Boggles
[Bant] Blink
[Bant] Defenders
[Esper] Midrange
[Grixis] Midrange
[Jeskai] Tempo Prowess
[Jund] Midrange
[Mardu] Super Friends
[Naya] Zoo
[Sultai] Recursion
[Temur] Tempo

[Dune] Pattern Hulk
[Dune] Tokenmania
[Glint] Dark Depths of TwinShift
[Witch] Proliferate

[4 Color] Blood
[5 Color] Royal Blood

[4 Color] Robots
[5 Color] Elves
[5 Color] Zoo

... and possibly building new ones.
Looks like I just remain as observer of the format until something changes in the future, maybe.

[Modern Horizon II]

Recently I saw the spoilers of 'Modern Horizon II' and I'm considering a comeback to the European-Highlander Format on Cockatrice after around two years inactivity, because some cards looking pretty much fun and could power up some niche decks.
But if the community is still like two years ago I think I will remain staying inactive, because I don't wanna spend the time in deck construction to play always against the same 1-2 players with the same 1-2 decks again.

[Esper Midrange:]

This deck is pretty much outdated (built it around 1.5 years ago) and it's NOT really on a budget but maybe you can find some card choices you want to adopt

Esper Midrange:
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/28-05-21-esper-midrange/

[BAN]

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 deserved

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.

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.

[straight up]

Just to give another point of view on this article or whatever this is ...

The straight-up ban of Tolarian Academy made me sad

Which "straight up" BAN? 'Tolarian Academy' was on the BAN WATCHLIST for how long? 1 year, 2 years or longer?
That is what I already said in the other thread about the BAN is coming really late but deserved.

First off, it severely reduces the overall deck diversity in the format

Banning out oppressive Combo-Decks opening up the format for more "fair" decks, so in the end it offers more deck diversity.
In my opinion there are some more who need to go ... this was just the beginning, I hope so.

there were Affinity-Brews developing left and right that drew on Academy as a boost helping them to compete against more established decks

Affinity decks relying on 'Tolarian Academy' as keycard? As far as I know Affinity trying to operate on a very little amount of mana. Are you sure, you aren't talking about Stax builds?

I am also not an expert, but I don't think this ban has a large fall-out effect to constrain the Oracle-Breach deck

'Thassa's Oracle' and 'Underworld Breach' are already on the BAN WATCHLIST, the future will show if they will remain in the format.

if the council were to pursue a more visionary and structural approach in curating the banlist, we could actually decrease the amount of bannings we would need to force through (and trust me, under the current model, there will inevitably follow more bans as the format gets watered down more and more).

In my opinion BANNINGS are not bad for a format. They just need to be done correctly to protect the format from decks which use an oppressive playstyle or enforcing players to play specific cards to be competitive.

first to unban a few cards in order to make other archetypes more viable and attractive

The first point I can agree to a lttle bit. Cards like 'Mystical Tutor' and 'Treasure Cruise' are not BAN worthy cards in my opinion. If you want to hurt the BLUE dominance BAN cards like 'Dig Through Time' and 'Mana Drain' Some long time BANNED cards should be reconsidered again, too. For example 'Strip Mine' or 'Umezawa's Jitte'

second to ban generically playable tutor (such as Demonic Tutor and Tainted Pact) to decrease the consistency of combodecks to a level where more decks can actually compete.

Here I disagree again. You hurt more different decks with a BAN of certain tutor cards than you hurt with the specific keycard BANs. In my opinion BANs need to be as specific as possible to take out or hurt the least amount of decks in the format.

This text seals many extremely valid points so well and clearly, that I wanted to share it on few places (like this) after i red it.

For me this text shows only a bias point of view. I don't see any valid points for an UNBAN of 'Tolarian Academy' here.


In the end I would like to say that I'm not against Combo-Decks in general, for example at the moment ProteanHulk-Combodecks or Reanimator-Decks are totally fine because most of the time they are slower and easier to disrupt than a turn 3-4 kill from an Academy- or Hermit-/Oath-Combodeck. My wish for the future of the format is "make it fair again".

[UNBAN]

As far as I read and understood the thread yet, the main reason for those who are trying to justify an UNBAN of 'Tolarian Academy' is because it is not dominating the format hard enough? You guys should consider that the price tag and the specific Solitaire playstyle are other reasons why Academy-Decks like "Eggs" are not dominating tournaments more!
My conclusion on the points are made yet "expensive and specific niche decks shouldn't get BANNED out keycards, because many people don't play those decks in tournaments to create a big enough dominance". Sounds reasonable, not.

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. You don't need to look with every BAN necessarily  at the dominance of certain decks. Several other cards on the BAN-List are BANNED for their own power level and not because of the dominance they are creating.
Are you want to UNBAN them all, too?

[Throne of Eldraine]

All links in the first post updated once again for 'Throne of Eldraine'. Added Scryfall.com links in the Google.docs decklists

[ruin all thundergods]

TBH I am more in the "ruin all thundergods" mood now. Please don't destroy it!

Poor Keranos

[I really appreciate the extensive and fast answer.Maybe some other players or council members can share their opinion here, too.]

I really appreciate the extensive and fast answer.
Maybe some other players or council members can share their opinion here, too.

I can understand some of the points you specified above, especially the face-to-face talk with the initiators of this campaign and maybe some other council members like Maqi (Mannheim) or Dr. Opossum (Berlin) if they attend to the tournament in Halle, too.

I will look forward on the result of the discussion.

At least at the moment I can see that maybe some changes are coming in the future.

[Today by coincidence I received a link to a massive thread with criticism on the council]

Around 6 month ago I decided to temporary quit the format until changes in the structure (BANs & UNBANs, council, transparency, ...) will be made.
Today by coincidence I received a link to a massive thread with criticism on the council.
Because the thread was deleted in the facebook group as far as I heard, I won't post the link here or will post my further opinion on the different points of critic now.

Just to remember, here some of my posts with criticism on the format structure (mostly banlist related) for those who are interested in my point of view in the past:

Critic on the handling with banlist changes
Suggestions for changes on banlist votes


Another problem I want to point out again is, since my Facebook BAN I saw it's hard to follow whats happening in the format/community, because kinda no one use the forum or discord nowadays for whatever reasons.
In my opinion an independent platform which don't require a log in is necessary to read and follow up whats happening in the community (tournament results/reports, decklists, discussions, announcements, ...).

I will look forward on how this thread of criticism will change the structure of the format, maybe it's worth to start playing and participate in the community again if changes will be made.

[Proxies at tournaments are no long-term solution]

Some reserved list cards are going for absurd prices.

Allow x amount of recognizable proxies (color prints) in HL decks. This would attract new players to try the format, and maybe even encourages current/old players to become more active as they can play more decks.

Proxies at tournaments are no long-term solution to make the format more attractive for new players in my eyes. The "absurd" prices of some reserved list cards, is just one of a few reasons why more and more players are not attracted to highlander anymore (exception Berlin).
A bigger reason for me is the current highlander meta. It is just too similar with competitive Commander (Combo and/or Blue-Based Decks), players are of course more attracted to an official than a self-made format which is kinda the same.
If I would be a Control- or Combo-Player I would ask myself "Why should I play MP.org Highlander? When Commander has the bigger community".

In my opinion to attract new players to the format, the meta needs to be redefined to have something unique and special again.
As example there is no singleton format I know at the moment where aggressive decks have a shot (exception RDW in our format).

For me highlander was the most fun back in the days when decks like 'Naya Zoo', '5c Aggro', '4c Goodstuff', 'Bant Midrange', and so on where Top-Tier ... because these decks where mostly built for interaction and not a straight "unfair" gameplan.
We had some of those "unfair" deckstrategies back then too like 'Oath' and 'Stax' but they weren't as dominant as the oppressive decks these days.

We will see where the council will lead the format in the future by their bans and unbans.

Updated the decklists once again.

[BANLISTED]

Interesting, thanks.
Finally some BANLISTED cards getting re-watched and tested under realistic conditions.

[Banlist]

Laughed pretty good at some BAN/UNBAN reasonings, thanks for sharing.
Looking forward for the next Banlist changes