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Topics - Dr. Opossum

#1
Watchlist changes August 1st 2020

Cards on the following list will be closely observed and are potential candidates for a banning on November 15th, 2020.


  • Demonic Tutor
  • Dig Through Time
  • Intuition
  • Mana Drain
  • Oath of Druids
  • Oko, Thief of Crowns
  • Tainted Pact
  • Thassa's Oracle *new*
  • Tolarian Academy
  • Treasure Cruise
  • Underworld Breach


Cards from the following list are still banned but will be under testing for a potential unbanning on November 15th, 2020.



  • Skullclamp
  • Survival of the Fittest
  • True-Name Nemesis
  • Umezawa's Jitte


On the Ban watchlist:

Thassa's Oracle
In May this Year, Underworld Breach was introduced to the watchlist for enabling a new powerful combo deck that has been putting up good results in the Vienna community. On one hand, Oracle is used in the Breach Combo Deck as a finisher and an enabler of a second combo with tainted pact or demonic consultation. On the other hand, it has also made Hermit Druid a lot stronger than before. A powerful and resilient deck which is maybe flying a little under the radar at the moment. It is also very likely that Thassa's Oracle will enable a UB based combo deck by itself if Breach were to be banned in the future. Right now it is only seen as a sidekick (although a very powerful one) but in reality it has the potential to be the main gameplan aswell and we want to be prepared for that instant.
To keep our options open we chose to add Thassa's Oracle to the Watchlist, so that we can react accordingly to new developments.


Off the Ban watchlist:

Mana Drain
Mana Drain has been on the watchlist for a very long time. While it is still a very powerful and perceptively broken card, the number of times where Mana Drain is used to play game ending spells ahead of time has declined significantly with mana curves getting lower and lower.

The decks that can really abuse this spell to its fullest are mostly control decks which aren't too well positioned right now. Getting rid of Mana Drain would hurt those a lot more than blue tempo decks, leaving them with only one unconditional hardcounter for two mana.

If we choose to weaken blue decks, our focus will be on the two delve spells Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time instead of Mana Drain. Thus we have decided to cut this card from the watchlist.


Off the Unban watchlist:

Survival of the Fittest
Survival of the Fittest, which has now been banned for 10 years, was put on the watchlist for a potential unban last year.
Back in October we wrote the following in our statement:

"Nowadays the meta looks quite different and it is doubtful if the powerful synergies of the past using Squee, Genesis or Reveillark are still viable in any way."

Nothing has changed about this statement, as a slow and grindy game plan is under heavier attack than ever and probably not fast enough anymore to keep up with streamlined combo or tempo-oriented decks.
Though on the contrary, Survival of the Fittest would fit very neatly in these powerful creature combo shells like Hermit Druid or midrange green-based decks like Sultai or Temur. We think that, especially in combination with Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, the repeatable tutor function of Survival of the Fittest would push these already established deck types into even more powerful territories.

Having all of your silver bullet haymakers available while working as a combo enabler at the same time makes for too strong of an effect for the mere investment of 2 mana and could lead to frustrating games when playing against it.
Because power creep is especially evident with the printing of new creatures, the door has closed on a comeback of Survival of the Fittest into our format for now. We have thus decided to remove Survival from the watchlist.


True-Name Nemesis
True-Name Nemesis leaves the Watch list for now. The power level of this card is also a hot topic of discussion in the Council, but the trigger for this decision is rather questions like why a large part of the community is frustrated by this card and to what extent the current format would benefit from an unban. True-Name Nemesis showed us again that there can be many reasons for a ban. Nevertheless, we naturally try to keep the list as manageable as possible. Therefore we will reevaluate the topic around this card from time to time with you. Until then, we will focus on other format-dominant cards.


Other announcements:

Racism and card design

After intensive discussion, we decided to follow WotC's decision and not allow the following cards any longer:


  • Invoke Prejudice
  • Cleanse
  • Stone-Throwing Devils
  • Pradesh Gypsies
  • Jihad
  • Imprison
  • Crusade

We know about the bitter aftertaste that WotC's announcement brings with it due to the allegations that were raised against WotC itself. We want to emphasize that we do not see ourselves in the position to judge whether and which cards are perceived by someone as denouncing and hurtful, but we decide for the cards already listed that have been officially confirmed as cross-border and racially intoned to no longer recognize them as legal.

WotC's official statement, to which we hereby refer, can be viewed on the official website: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/depictions-racism-magic-2020-06-10


Council members

Thomas / Maqi has left a gap in the council that we are currently trying to fill. For this reason, we are in discussion with several potential candidates. Please note that we will take the time we need to make an informed selection in the best interest for the Highlander format instead of a rash decisions.
#2
Mind Game Mages Berlin 11/01/2020


Decklists Top 8:

Rank 1: Nils R. - Grixis Tempo
https://deckstats.net/decks/113590/1517932-grixis-tempo/de

Rank 2: Tobias W. - 5C Scapeshift
https://deckstats.net/deck-20761031-8cf8f4928a71d2508d325bc2440e2b6d.html

Rank 3: Karl-Florian P. - 4C Reanimator
https://deckstats.net/deck-20761398-2ba351ed21fc11e180fbb8dc1c0a458e.html

Rank 4: Thomas H. - Mono U Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-20760549-8536afaa2049e906148b6b16e1e3f1b5.html

Rank 5: Hendrik S. - Gwb Ramp
https://deckstats.net/deck-20760997-af6c30174df87a9bee5ddcbc041748e7.html

Rank 6: Yannic O. - Izzet Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-20760784-48a89d60ac32e79bd0c5d84d6c7c4751.html

Rank 7: Richard K. - 4C (w/o U) Blood
https://deckstats.net/deck-20760600-583d609255b9367532a1255f5d39b6cb.html

Rank 8: Jacob K. - Temur Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-20760894-5db7b46adb1cae9d9549a792dc572205.html


Final Standings:




Top 8:

QF

Karl- Florian (4C Reanimator) vs. Jacob (Temur Tempo)
Nils (Grixis Tempo)  vs. Hendrik (Gwb Ramp)
Thomas (Mono U Tempo)  vs. Yannic (Izzet Control)
Tobias (5C Scapeshift)  vs. Richard (4C (w/o U) Blood)

SF

Karl- Florian (4C Reanimator) vs. Nils (Grixis Tempo)
Thomas (Mono U Tempo) vs. Tobias (5C Scapeshift)

F

Nils (Grixis Tempo)  vs. Tobias (5C Scapeshift)

Winner: Nils (Grixis Tempo)


Meta Breakdown:




Archtype Breakdown:






Additional Decklists:

Rank 9: Niclas E. - Mono B Aggro
https://deckstats.net/deck-20766298-3a99f4b1f8d2ad90eae4f064fb0a492c.html

Rank 10: Dominik B. - Bant Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-20416763-3b9029f19c4a9b443ea413610614f29b.html

Rank 21: Carsten K. - TPS (5C Storm)
https://deckstats.net/deck-20762391-f79e939bf076bf97b307e3343b9cd532.html

Rank 33: Tim W. - Izzet Artifact Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-20761844-085d9e37c8542193a467e884bb8fb4f3.html


Video Coverage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnx50kQn0go&list=PL-Oj9PuhYKKpNX9CaugwMPeI65S_ufbky




Leave me a comment if you are interested in another decklist.

#3
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)




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



(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)



satisfaction according to how often highlander is played




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




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)




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)



(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)




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

#4
Continental Cup Halle 9/11/2019


Decklists Top 8:

Platz 1: Sven V. - UW Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412058-ca8f18685de733d94c3c8edbc666f683.html

Platz 2: Luca D. - Temur Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412060-274f0ea29be084f32030a557c10d9256.html

Platz 3: Patrick R. - 5C Academy
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412061-01dc78737cb9aedb3851d763f1d8f72c.html

Platz 4: Marvin M. - GWu Aggro
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412064-87dc56cfb7eaec8f7f96fe327f8326bd.html

Platz 5: Werner D. - RDW
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412066-3ab23c9f895ee352dc2cd021ec7b689f.html

Platz 6: Max H. - Grixis Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412067-c572f47c5e943fc1dee7071f942721bc.html

Platz 7: Hendrik S. - Gwb Ramp
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412068-0ad791ba20b8e067bc211df472c15885.html

Platz 8: Alexander R. - Esper Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412070-8a3ad533fcd5b651423638a6cc7112a0.html


Final Standings:




Top 8:

QF

Werner (RDW)  vs. Marvin (GWu Aggro)
Max (Grixis Tempo)  vs. Sven (UW Control)
Patrick (5C Academy)  vs. Alexander (Esper Control)
Luca (Temur Midrange)  vs. Hendrik (Gwb Ramp)

SF

Luca (Temur Midrange)    vs. Marvin (GWu Aggro)
Sven (UW Control)   vs. Patrick (5C Academy)

F

Luca (Temur Midrange)  vs. Sven (UW Control)

Winner: Sven (UW Control)


Meta Breakdown:




Archtype Breakdown:






Additional lists:

Platz 9: Cedric Z. - Bant Creature Stax
https://deckstats.net/deck-20412504-bdb76b557413ec8ee85f7fca622fea27.html

Platz 10: Dominik B. - Bant Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-20416763-3b9029f19c4a9b443ea413610614f29b.html

Platz 12: Björn O. - UB Reanimator
https://deckstats.net/deck-20418310-a96d2d151dce7fed21bab231e43f1cc6.html

Platz 15: Jan D. - 4C Tempo (w/o B)
https://deckstats.net/deck-20446919-70ceb9ebfb4dc7bf27677d74518046da.html

Platz 18: Jonas L. - 5C Aluren Hermit
https://deckstats.net/deck-20418634-acabb07d99c4abfbe8dc75be3bd3619e.html

Platz 19: Felix M. - Gruul Aggro
https://deckstats.net/decks/97035/1466320-gruul-is-cool-cc2-in-halle?fbclid=IwAR3ljnKRxosCCj_apibMTEFW7gvLSa_LMM3VGOdNWx_HlCpk7p-DSmHC34M

Platz 22: Alexander E. - Golgari Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-20422924-2aadeb783a504133da7acc6503f98cc3.html

Platz 27: Marcel S. - Izzet Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-20418456-686b8fd01fd92dd2729b9f7d0d0d55cc.html

Platz 29: Thomas H. - Mono U Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-20421438-5c8eda9f4453ab3cdb6b4157396441ea.html

Platz 36: Sebastian N. - Sultai Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-20422934-9a0ab03e8cabd159d3b0f47d5a98ef9e.html

Platz 40: Roy H. - 4C Ramp (w/o U)
https://deckstats.net/decks/124819/1466623-halle-cc2-grwb-ramp?fbclid=IwAR3Rl_m4CFKaRQ4-s7d9_s3qoj2uvhPGePd79tnbfNnH5smDZFNr9jQqcJM

Platz 54: Benjamin M. - White Weenie
https://deckstats.net/deck-20451321-695ad56e268344966ff6024a4332c4bf.html

Platz 63: Gerry S. - UBg Reanimator
https://deckstats.net/deck-20447024-61af347bf19ad53ecbeb1f6b672672c6.html


Articles/ Video Content:

Tournament Report - GR Elves:
https://www.mtg-forum.de/topic/162190-mgm-continental-cup-ii-in-halle-highlander/

Tournament Report - 5C Good Stuff:
http://metagamemasters.eu/a-time-of-change-continental-cup-2019-tournament-report

Tournament Report - Izzet Control:
https://www.dd3.eu/report/2019/11/13/creature-based-strategies-are-bad.html

Video Coverage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQuERVNigfE


Leave me a comment if you are interested in another deck lists.

#5
This survey was handed out by Council member Thrias to the Vienna Community in October 2019. 18 people took part in the survey. (There are some differences to the previous survey versions, which are also noticeable in the evaluations. I will address it in the appropriate places.)

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




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




(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)




satisfaction according to how often Highlander is played
unlike in other regions, playfulness correlates positively with satisfaction




These card(s) should be banned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)




Reasonings (single cards):
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (eg "too strong" vs. "too powerful").)
survey had a different layout
-> complete banned list + additional specific cards were given
-> also comments on cards that are judged the same by the whole area (eg Black Lotus -> 12/18 comments, why it should stay banned)
-> because of the mass of comments/ workload I had to cut/ focus on the more important candidates

Demonic Tutor:
- acceptable tutor
- efficient
- always included II
- makes combos easier
- too strong II
- not too strong
- good but not broken
- sorcery speed
- costs one turn
- auto include in every black deck
- some tutors should be legal
- not overpowered
- format defining
- the reason to play black
- splashable tutor

Dig Through Time:
- have no problems with it
- too efficient
- important for control
- you rarely lose after DTT
- not too strong II
- if you want to weaken blue ban DTT
- + cards in hand -> too many choices/options
- good but not broken
- if you want to weaken blue ban delve cards
- control should stay playable
- too strong
- fair because of delve
- not problematic as a one off
- needs setup

Entomb:
- have no problems with it
- fifty fifty
- strong tutor
- tough but not as strong as demonic
- not too strong
- good but not broken
- no broken targets
- not format defining
- possibly fair enough in 100 cards
- combo enabler
- card disadvantage

Mana Drain:
- not fun but ok
- not as explosive as expected
- mostly not much better than counterspell II
- not too strong
- good but not broken
- auto include in nearly every blue deck
- control should stay playable
- really weak
- only really playable counterspell
- lack of counterspells
- just a counterspell
- much too strong
- wins random games

Tainted Pact:
- like it
- should not be banned
- difficult to play
- has disadvantages in some decks
- drawback big enough
- instant
- not too strong
- good but not broken
- interesting deck building
- 100 card singleton needs good tutors
- removes half of the deck anyway
- does hurt nobody
- deck requirement
- not so good as one thinks

Tolarian Academy:
- don't like it
- don't understand card/deck good enough
- fifty fifty
- a meta correction would be necessary (more control or Aven Mindcensor / Ashiok effects)
- Imba combo shit
- too constant
- not too strong
- price of the deck shouldn't be a reason for non-ban
- good but not broken
- ...
- enough counterplay II
- power
- no autopilot
- needs skill to win
- too broken if you build the deck correct
- produce too much mana in the right color
- too fast, too much mana

Treasure Cruise:
- is ok
- one strong delve spell should stay
- weaker than DTT
- not sure
- not too strong
- good but not broken
- not strong enough
- = recall
- not op in 100 card singleton
- fair because of delve
- not problematic as a one off
- needs setup


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

Karakas:
- don't think it is strong
- has real costs in deck building
- important against reanimate
- want to play legendaries :)
- not too strong
- good but not broken
- too random
- often frustrating
- i like to play it xD
- maybe really too good, but necessary for some decks
- can be easily answered
- good answer card
- necessary maledy

Oath of Druids:
- strong and something to be looked at, but don't really think it should be banned
- every deck has a lot of ways around it
- imba combo shit
- one card combo
- not too strong
- mostly needs a specific answer immediately
- good but not broken
- too oppressive against creatures
- power tutor
- for many decks an autolose
- one card combo is too strong
- one card combo bullshit with Emrakul
- deck requirements
- not as good as one thinks

Scapeshift:
- is ok but should be watched
- turn 6 kill is Ok in Highlander
- in Highlander very fair
- would ban the whole deck
- not too strong
- good but not broken
- too consistent for speed
- in my opinion at the moment not op
- one card combo is too strong
- cool card
- made an own deck -> deck diversity
- needs set up


These card(s) should be unbanned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)




Reasonings (single cards):
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (eg "too strong" vs. "too powerful").)
survey had a different layout
-> complete banned list + additional specific cards were given
-> also comments on cards that are judged the same by the whole area (eg Black Lotus -> 12/18 comments, why it should stay banned)
-> because of the mass of comments/ workload I had to cut/ focus on the more important candidates

Skullclamp:
- please no
- fifty fifty
- would make Aristocrats and Elves decks more playable, but very strong
- imba
- totally fine
- makes new archetypes possible
- card advantage too strong
- pushes creature decks
- power
- too strong
- format defining
- only helps Elves (not T1)
- probably too good
- stupid card
- too abusable
- nope!!!

Survival of the Fittest:
- could be interesting
- not played before
- maybe not necessary
- could be tried out IIIII
- fifty fifty
- strong tutor
- creature tutor on a stick
- it's fine
- creature decks with tool boxes could be made interesting
- too strong
- fair tutor
- brakes singleton
- too conditional
- don't know why banned
- power tutor
- makes games repetitive
- too good card selection in 100 card decks
- brakes

True-Name Nemesis:
- didn't really bother me
- doesn't matter for combo and control
- he was not too bad
- free TNN
- doesn't care let's test it
- totally fine
- CMC 3 creature
- just doesn't matter
- fair card
- warped deck building
- don't know why it was banned
- not format defining
- not op
- format defining in my opinion
- depends on general banning policy
- just bought one in foil
- because it is a fucking 3/1 creature, what the fuck
- there are worse things
- there is some counterplay

Umezawa's Jitte:
- should be tested
- warped the battlefield
- creature fights are fun
- totally fine
- rather than skull clamp
- nope!!!
- fair card
- inhibits creature strategies
- irrelevant in enough match ups
- power
- too strong
- format defining
- strength creature decks
- destroys creature decks
- gives midrange decks a little bit more edge
- i don't know


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

Library of Alexandria:
- NO
- fifty fifty
- can you still play so slow
- ...
- conditionally strong
- strong, but ok
- OP II
- slow enough for eventuelly few impact
- test it
- slow enough for HL
- only on starting hand good?
- little bit op II
- does not have to be
- too expensive

Gifts Ungiven:
- do not really know
- could be ok, but maybe busted
- test it
- effect and combo too slow
- combo bullshit
- instant win tutor
- NOPE!!!
- too strong II
- breaks Singleton
- 4 mana combo, which does not win immediately is ok
- power
- format defining
- too good card selection in 100 card decks
- combo enabler
- good card for blue decks
- enough counterplay
- CMC 4

Mind Twist:
- would be fun (says the black mage in me), but kind of busted
- can be cast easier than Hymn, but can be stronger
- barely better than Hymn
- totally fine II
- there is already enough good discard
- frustrating
- is ok I think
- meh
- wins at random
- test it
- surely not a problem
- random discard is not cool

Mystical Tutor:
- it depends if we want to unban all tutors
- Mystical and Vampiric could be unbanned
- Miracles, UR with Ruination and Combo decks profit too much
- not sure
- not too strong
- fair tutor
- too strong
- format defining
- bad enough
- tutor
- makes Control more playable
- no additional tutors (especially not for blue!)
- too good card selection
- setup for Miracles
- seaches answers
- does not hurt anyone
- too efficient
- too good in Combo


These card(s) should be watchlisted
(all cards were named once)

Ankh of Mishra
Emrakul the Aeons Torn
Fastbond
Griselbrand
Hymn to Tourach
Inventors' Fair
Price of Progress
Rings of Brighthearth
Wasteland
Zuran Orb


What Mulligan do you prefer?
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
survey had a different layout
-> only dichotomous answer categories
-> differences in the conclusion (potential other options could not be named + potential dissatisfaction with LM (whether in combination with FM or not) not interpretable)
BUT: according to own statement Viennese community does not know other Mulligan variants anyway / is uniformly interested in the LM (whether in combination with FM or not)




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

FM + LM:
- there should be a FM in every Singleton format because variance is high
- maybe advantages for Combo II
- to counteract the variance II
- nice games
- requirement for a fair setup in Singleton formats
- more non-games because of land-spell-ratio with LM only
- decks with fewer ressources can barely catch up
- want to have as many games as possible in a casual format
- better for RDW
- less non-games
- LM is good, but card disadvantage decides games
- unification argument falls away because of Brawl
- not that much important for me
- does not make a big difference
- 100 cards format -> often take Mulligan -> card disadvantage is significant
- Midrange format -> card disadvantage is significant

LM:
- LM already makes Combo extremely good
- do not miss the FM
- fewer variance -> more games (Combo not strong enough)
- I like it now and do not miss FM
- constructed formats also use it
#6















#7
This survey was handed out by Council member pyyhttu at the Finnish Championships tournament in Helsinki, Finland, Sept. 21th. There were 62 players and 33 participated in the survey.

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




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



(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)



satisfaction according to how often Highlander is played




These card(s) should be banned/ unbanned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
Ban wishes:



Unban wishes:




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

Demonic Tutor
- 2 mana, sorcery is ok
- cool card
- card is too powerful
- we have enough tutors
- it usually finds answers 2x
- if banned, several archetypes lose to combo / aggro
- tutors are fine as long as there is non-basic land hate to keep the decks in check
- auto-include 2x
- makes games way too long (have to think a lot of lines)
- vampiric and mystical are not legal but demonic is?
- all black decks play this but dont feel unfair
- iconic
- needed to give control/ combo its tools against aggro
- enables boring games
- makes blue way too strong color to play
- is just a copy of best card in deck
- combo can manage without it
- repetitive game play

Dig Through Time
- staple in U decks, but not oppressive
- ban this or cruise
- just value
- against ban but this is closest to bannable
- UU instant too effective
- like playing with them
- first to cast this in blue mirror wins
- oppressive
- good when ahead
- fair control card
- needs setup
- easy to play against -> risk vs. reward

Entomb
- needs build around
- too easy to find combo pieces
- Reanimator is not too prominent
- fair card (for reanimator) 2x
- only benefits "the best deck" -> Animate
- too fast
- enables weird decks

Mana Drain
- ok I guess
- just another counterspell with upside
- creates unfun games when cast early
- too big swings in game state for very little cost
- 99% of the time just counterspell
- makes one-sided games
- blue is too strong color -> one blue ban is good
- too different of a powerlevel
- sometimes loppsided
- too randomly powerful
- randomly annoying, not too good
- most of the time just counterspell, sometimes rarely broken
- needed for control, otherwise combo gets too good
- can go if entomb goes, but requires commitment

Tainted Pact
- can't be used so well in combo
- requires good deckbuilding
- is a bit too strong in midrange
- gives multicolor decks instant Demonic Tutor
- fair tutor as requires to build deck around x2
- should not because power level
- instant speed tutor for answers is too good
- instant speed tutor that often wins the game
- after resolving finds the needed combo piece
- this card is actively bad
- low basic count to be really good
- instant demonic
- crazy tutor, broken instant speed
- no drawback tutor for combo

Tolarian Academy
- totally ok
- card is busted
- if not this -> ban mishra's workshop
- too powerful
- requires full build around
- maybe
- does too unfair things and reduces interaction
- should not as enables archetype
- unfair decks cant be beaten when on the draw
- deck not powerful enough
- academy decks would not exist without
- don't feel too unfair
- just fair
- random deck
- strong but not op
- stupid and uninteractive

Treasure Cruise
- totally ok
- blue is strong enough
- ban this or dig, not both
- just value
- a lot fairer than DTT
- cost is reasonable large and cards are random
- like playing with them
- first to cast this in blue mirror wins
- oppressive
- format is currently to focused on resolving this or dig
- good draw, too good when ahead
- needs setup
- easy to play against -> risk vs. reward

True-Name Nemesis
- enough ways to deal in format  2x
- a lot of decks don't even care about Nemesis
- unsure about this card
- stupid non-interactive card
- should be banned in all 2-player formats
- not because it's "powerfull", but just plain awful game design
- fair blue beatdown
- blue is too strong color -> one blue ban is good
- does not have enough answers in HL
- often "i win card" without interaction
- every time this resolves, game turns to stupid and has no interaction
- plain stupid x2
- lot of decks in format dont have answer for the card that has protection from player
- really oppressive card to play against
- way to oppressive and random
- some decks don't have answers
- come on WTF? Seriously?
- dies to everything
- can be raced
- non-interactive

Oath of Druids
- ruins all fair creature decks
- 1 card win
- stops aggro from progressing
- way too powerful

Wasteland
- autoinclude
- wins randomly too many games
- silver bullet
- non-games

Fetchlands
- funds delve
- makes stupidly good manabases
- makes games super long and round time becomes an issue
- shuffling is not fun
- no thought to be put in building manabases
- too much shuffling takes time

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
- 1 card win, no need huge build around it
- 1 card combo in midrange/control deck that does not require specific deck building around it
- can't be interacted with removal
- unnecessary and unfair 1-win-the-game card
- land ramp in that deck is completely optional, can play value spells instead

Savage Knuckleblade
- too stronk

Teferi, Time Reveler
- breaks control mirror matchups
- who ever has this wins
- static ability way too strong

Karakas
- getting better and better
- hoses pretty much all decks randomly

Blood Moon
- makes red in 3 color decks to dominant

General
- all of those cards are so high on powerlevel that they decide games by themselves
- legacy banlist would be a decent start
- format is in a good place -> no need for bans / unbans currently
- Highlander needs a sideboard
- Blood Moon and Back to Basics should NOT be banned -> otherwise 3c+ decks would dominate and format would become worse without 1-2 color decks

Skullclamp
- no please
- no thanks
- card is busted
- dont unban, horror midrange mirrors
- too much stupid combo potential
- more power for aggro
- card still broken, no need
- have tested -> too oppressive
- this one is tilting
- might create new decks
- are you in your right mind?
- i don't know but this card looks broke
- no simply just no
- never unban Skullclamp please

Umezawa's Jitte
- no please
- on the fence
- disruptable, many good artifact hate cards
- would be willing to test/ try this out
- dont unban, horror midrange mirrors
- easy to answer
- interesting decisions for both players
- creature matchups become a race to get Jitte
- card still broken, no need
- have tested -> too oppressive
- would be too decisive top deck in aggro mirrors
- way too strong and makes Stoneforge too
- Jitte could have try

Natural Order
- can also be used in fair decks
- Oath is legal while this is banned
- unban makes green decks better
- the card is expensive and fair since the cost of 4
- no reason to keep it banned
- power level of decks can compete with this nowadays
- the card is just fine
- 4cc sorcery with drawback of being green

Gifts Ungiven
- slow and decent control draw
- very slow card
- disruptable
- good unban if Academy gets banned
- worse than Cruise or Dig
- powerlevel of other cards is far beyond this
- was never ban worthy, again 4cc card

Library of Alexandria
- slow in a format that's fast and puuatol (?)
- so slow nowadays

Mystical Tutor
- there are better tutors now legal 2x

Birthing Pod
- this might be stretching but would like to see

Balance
- symmetrical and fair

Mind Twist
- Why not? Slow, strong but really good

Shahrazad
- just learn to play fast

Flash
- too random to be powerful


What Mulligan do you prefer?
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)




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

FM + LM:
- less non-games
- current mulligan is weaker than Vancouver
- HL is inconsistent due to 100 cards, even with London there are too many non-games due to increased variance of 100 card decks

LM:
- efficient and strategic
- better for new players
- fast
- removes non games 4x
- it's ok
- least shuffling
- same in all formats for clarity 5x
- easy to explain
- the best mulligan ever
- it's balanced
- seems fair and gives games even when going down to 5 and below
- is very fine
- is good 4x
- same as official by WotC 3x
- makes the format more approachable
- while it helps combo decks a little, it also makes mulliganing much easier
- great mulligan

FM + VC:
- I liked the previous rule better, since it obviously gave more games with 7 card hands


How many lands did you play? Did you or would you adjust your deck to the mulligan?
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)




I would adjust...

- added lands x7
- check landcount
- more land tutors
- cut 1-2 lands



Edit: fixed some spelling errors
fixed some translation errors
#8
This survey was handed out at the Metagame Masters #15 tournament in Berlin, Germany, June 22th. We had 24 participants. Although the survey was also open to other participants, this time only tournament participants completed and submitted a survey sheet.


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




Where are you from?
(absolute frequencies)
most participents from Berlin, Germany
nearly that many players from Halle and even one from Köln and Dortmund each (cool! :))




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




(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)




satisfaction according to how often Highlander is played
lowest satisfaction from players who play the most (blink twice when forced by someone! ;))




These card(s) should be banned/ unbanned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
put ban/ unban candidates in the same table because I expect that every brave Highlander player knows the banned list by heart  ;)




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

Demonic Tutor:
must-play in black x2
splashable x2
always good
banned in legacy
probably ban another tutor
not too strong

Dig Through Time:
blue too strong
Dig OR Cruise x2
blue delve spells are a mistake
blue needs this to keep up with power creep
too strong with cantrips
instant
auto Include in every blue deck
is ok

Entomb:
is fine x2

Mana Drain:
not as strong as in the past
not the best counter anymore
colorless Mana cannot be used so often

Scapeshift:
wins games on its own

Tainted Pact:
instant Demonic Tutor
overpowered
ridiculous

Tolarian Academy:
too strong
hard to interact with
"Varianzschleuder"?
can produce too much mana -> should not be possible
fast mana

Treasure Cruise:
blue too strong
Dig OR Cruise x2
blue delve spells are a mistake
blue needs this to keep up with power creep
one mana three cards is unfair
auto include in every blue deck
is ok

True-Name Nemesis:
doesn't need to be in the format x2
wins otherwise unwinnable games
boring x2
overpowered x2
non-interactive x3
weaken blue
does something blue shouldn't be able to do x2
requires specific answer for no setup cost

Gifts Ungiven:
I love Combo
cool card
no way this card is even stronger than Dig through Time
maybe test it

Umezawa's Jitte:
equipment is not an inherently good archetype
slow
lower power level than cards on banned list
should be fine
push creature decks x2
not game breaking anymore
only good against creatures
games are decided by planeswalker
shuts down all creatures (should stay banned)



What Mulligan do you prefer?
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
"others" -> some persons voted for different Mulligans (FM+LM or LM, Spoil M or FM+LM) or the current Mulligan or nothing
expected a much more homogeneous result for Berlin and was surprised about the quite large part for "others"





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

FM + LM:
feels good and fair               
more even games/ more games
high variance format needs strong mulligan
so i can assemble a reasonable hand
decks should win by tactics not by luck
LM better than VM               
more games when someone goes down to x
if a deck abuses the mulligan -> deck should be banned, not the mulligan changed
FM necessary to strengthen control strategies
hope combo decks will see more play


LM:
LM better than VM
more good games
cut FM to make decisions more meaningful
balanced
FM makes mulliganing not very punishable
FM promotes greediness
FM not needed anymore
better/ stable hands for everybody
official mulligan                  
reduces variance
makes games more interesting


FM + VM:
fair mulligan
not giving an advantage to any archetype specifically
forces more consistency


How many lands did you play? Did you or would you adjust your deck to the mulligan?
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
persons which prefer the LM only play slightly more lands






I would adjust...
mana producing lands x4
adding more silver bullets x2


Survey layout:



#9
Hi!

The Berlin Highlander community decided to test the London Mulligan for this saturdays tournament. We had 14 players for this testing session with 14 different deck types. After interviewing all participants, I tried to make it somehow clear arranged. In the following table you'll find the participating deck as well as its fought decks of each round (in order), reached points and the key arguments the deck owner gave.

What you cannot find is the name of the deck owner and a ranking/ final standings. In this thread the discussion about the theoretically advandages and disadvantages are mainly focussed. I can see reasons for an overview of how many points the specific deck reached, but to rank the players within the same point cluster could influence the weightning of their arguments.

Important: WE did not test the London Mulligan only, but a combination of our currently used Free Mulligan PLUS the London Mulligan after that. So it replaced the Scry Option in our currently Mulligan combination of Free Mulligan PLUS Scry Mulligan.








Overall thoughts:

- Nearly all of them described the London Mulligan option as "feeling good" within the Mulligan pre-game procedure.
- The main argument of supporters were, that they reduce "non-games", what means primary, that you have too few lands or too many of them (or spell/ land ratio in general).
- Please do not let you impress that much by the decks they played against. Some of them already made some experiences with the London Mulligan in private test sessions, too.
- The main argument of rejecters were, that the London Mulligan (could) benefit specific decks.
- The argument "benefits Combo strategies" occurred both, as a concern and as a hope, depending on the interview partner.
- Some players described the sample size as too small to make their final decision about the London Mulligan
- Overall we had a wide field of notions: "absolutely in love with it", "it has advantages AND disadvantages", "it is definitely too strong" and "i do not know yet".
#10
Decklists Top 8:

Rank 1: Max H., Grixis Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-18360905-c395077523c4554f696c8bb5e1a730a8.html?fbclid=IwAR0XEU1atK1PYYFY0BWU8sOB34Zi1iIf_NQhscfe5mLVpmUASiFQ4yp879Y

Rank 2: Paul T., 5C Artifact Combo
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/17-02-19-artifact-combo/?cb=1550395418&fbclid=IwAR1Ve-9QC-uR6SGNbz8-WEoDRts1rF9UpM6WHuaheIrrhufmbX_f8VLgvX8

Rank 3: Justus H., 4C Tempo (w/o G)
https://deckstats.net/deck-18361104-46bc0f4ba8e7418a2f1a013bf2b83871.html?fbclid=IwAR0WA_0gVJ5kNnxENQfLSGzG2DaT4ZPyebwRjTE9L7xI5CjK6ChI0ovKn4g

Rank 4: Jacob W., RDW
https://deckstats.net/deck-18361103-f3fe4a005c23279972f390b417fd60df.html?fbclid=IwAR1XqlheV-c3nr_xk_v2myt_Xecgs7-WRMclE-cWv0nMyayEeyF_V_4NGOY

Rank 5: Hendrik S., Gbw Ramp
https://deckstats.net/deck-18360936-fd90fd42f21b3d535300f7be96aac371.html?fbclid=IwAR0XEU1atK1PYYFY0BWU8sOB34Zi1iIf_NQhscfe5mLVpmUASiFQ4yp879Y

Rank 6: Tom F., 4C Blood (w/o U)
https://deckstats.net/deck-18360942-4672841a29b7fb00194ed737bd001a65.html?fbclid=IwAR2DrahTU_r6ejAsPdapZYOYHp3JEQ36EngHM5T-v9usHGxaOJCGadXdObA

Rank 7: Daniel T., Jeskai Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-18361111-69d924ce34bb1c425e7be0c13bfa701e.html?fbclid=IwAR1kcta8HDengXtsqSVoBwFKt4YzgG3c3y4lVU68YzkfAq479aSY0iS2Xy8

Rank 8: Karl Florian P., UW Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-18370081-11f3d8c07646b70f005bea1f7138cf67.html?fbclid=IwAR1OmJIVAA29A8bN2cJsjqfjuiR-YFM6t3orrMWOIgjptwYMRIW3lnZTay0


Top 8:

QF

Max (Grixis Tempo) vs. Karl Florian (UW Control)
Tom (4C Blood) vs. Justus (4c Tempo)
Paul (5C Artifact Combo) vs. Daniel (Jeskai Midrange)
Jacob (RDW) vs. Hendrik (Gwb Ramp)

SF

Max (Grixis Tempo) vs. Justus (4c Tempo)
Paul (5C Artifact Combo) vs. Jacob (RDW)

F
Max (Grixis Tempo) vs. Paul (5C Artifact Combo)

Winner: Max (Grixis Tempo)


Final Standings:




Meta Breakdown:




Additional lists:

Rank 9: Tobias T., 5C Artifact Combo
https://deckstats.net/deck-18379309-dd396601ca3feae3ff1da8a59e7ad18b.html?fbclid=IwAR0CVWNHcC8X9T8uxiPfMTwftdzzjuNGcK8ABp1y7mypM-yUQEDQ5vTd3tI

Rank 10: Dominik B., Grixis Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-18369500-962ab404529a71ad14859cc7b357da80.html?fbclid=IwAR38p-tXBzbjiAFqji57LcLQYmATHsHxDY_eo_arlxa-QEWXb6jJQq3-pOM

Rank 11: Luca D., Izzet Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-18379822-b1f1c06b286ca23d17c4e5ade0c947aa.html?fbclid=IwAR37JF2SKMzF3DsGQC81qQLlAXZZMsmI-HTOjGK4KVy2jnV2vob5VdiPWLc

Rank 24: Dion S., Medium Red
https://deckstats.net/deck-18363008-b4ca6ea2d4f269e7b5d8b895f7dabe56.html?fbclid=IwAR3gVMztikH74PxllhURD82LDDZuOr3wcUcJG-nFGTpm3VnIZSNPmQpF-OU


Video Coverage of the final match will follow. If you are interested in a specific list, leave me a comment.
#11
Valid during January 1st, 2019 0:00 CET until March 30nd, 2019 24:00 CET.

Cards, apart from the striked ones, on the following list will be closely observed and are potential candidates for a banning on April 15th, 2019.

• Demonic Tutor
• Dig Through Time
• Entomb
Imperial Seal
• Mana Drain
Oath of Druids
• Scapeshift
• Tainted Pact
• Tolarian Academy
• Treasure Cruise
• True-Name Nemesis
                                             

Cards, apart from the striked ones, from the following list are still banned but will be under testing for a potential unbanning on April 15th, 2019.

Birthing Pod
• Gifts Ungiven
• Skullclamp
• Umezawa's Jitte


Reasonings:

Imperial Seal:

Imperial Seal remained banned over ten years, until it was reintroduced to the format in October 2017. At the same time, we banned Mystical Tutor. Although we've had some concerns Combo could be too oppressive giving it Imperial Seal as another cheap tutor-spell this worries seemed unrighteous. At least the recent tournament results haven't pushed that concern as the meta seems almost balanced and the top 8 was filled with diverse decks of various archetypes. Furthermore it became clearer that there isn't currently any need of some drastic changes so we decided to concentrate on the other tutors on watchlist as candidates for a ban and cut Imperial Seal from this list as its card loss, sorcery speed and life-loss are often a high price for its versatility.

In recent community-survey Imperial Seal haven't got any top spot for a ban either: http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=1449.0


Oath of Druids:

Oath of Druids has been one of the longest watch-list entries, it has been observed since April 2013. It has been used in pure combo decks either as a perfect combo enabler, filling your graveyard with all the cards to go off, or as the tool in more "fair" decks to unleash the real archfiends of Magic, Emrakul or Griselbrand. But with every set printed the list of versatile answers for both of these threats are offered, and so it has become hard for an oath-player to assemble the combo. Although there are still some busted starts from time to time, the deck itself doesn't seem that consistent that it dominates. The card is also used as a side-plan for some Academy- and especially Reanimator-builds, but pure Oath-decks have become a rare archetype in top spots of the field recently.

In mentioned community-survey Oath of Druids also haven't gathered many votes for a ban: http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=1449.0


Birthing Pod:

Birthing Pod was added to watchlist in October 2011, pretty quickly after the card was released. Shortly, in April 2012, the card was banned. Five years later, in July 2017, Birthing Pod was reintroduced back to watchlist, and since then, it has been an on and off candidate for unbanning. It became clearer, that this every-turn-repeatable tutor won't get enough unban votes on April so we decided to cut it from unban watchlist and concentrate on the three remaining candidates. We encourage the community to give us more feedback, as it has been done in here: http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=668.msg14635#msg14635.

Council would like to give a big thank you for the feedback it has received so far!

#12
This survey was hand out at the Continental Cup in Halle, Germany, November 17th. We had 65 participants.


How often do you play Highlander (highlandermagic.info rules)?
(absolute frequencies)
more than 50% play at least once per week
more than 90% play at least once per month




Where are you from?
(absolute frequencies)
structured according to play activity
most participents from Berlin, Germany




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



(absolute frequencies)
(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)
satisfaction structured according to place of residence
very small samplesizes because of the heterogeneous distribution of place of residence
somehow interpretable are maybe Berlin, Halle and Leipzig (seems satified) and Mannheim (seems less satisfied)




These card should be banned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)




(absolute frequencies)
structured according to place of residence




(absolute frequencies)
satisfaction structured according to wished banned card




Reasonings:
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (eg "too strong" vs. "too powerful"). Same formulations were simply counted.)

True-Name Nemesis
- design II
- one-dimensional
- uncreative
- this card is banana
- non-interactive III
- game breaking
- boring II
- unfun II
- best creature in format II
- a tool blue creatues / decks should not have/ should not be able to
- every deck needs to add silver bullets for this
- auto-include
- blue beater
- a blue creature should not be the best creature in a healthy format
- great tool for blue
- not needed
- makes games stale
- blue should not have such a strong creature

Dig Through Time
- instant III
- soft tutor
- too cheap IIII
- card advantage and card selection (connected to other advantages) III
- too strong IIII
- broken
- blue is the strongest color II
- too powerful
- leads to non-games

Entomb
- too fast II
- random
- boring/ stupid
- too strong III
- best tutor in game
- prefers Combo
- two-card-combo with every reanimation spell
- would ban one black tutor (doesn't matter which one)
- Reanimator is no fun
- reanimator is under represented but too strong
- too powerful
- leads to non-games
- scary Reanimator

Mana Drain
- too much upside to Counterspell II
- too strong IIII
- my teammates urge me to vote for ban
- maybe too strong
- counter turn 2
- ramp III
- Counterspell is already too strong
- variance
- we already have enough counter spells IIII
- game is over after Mana is used
- turn-2-random-win
- too powerful
- too fast
- tempo swing can be insane

Demonic Tutor
- unconditional tutor
- too strong III
- easy splashable
- in nearly every deck
- best tutor
- against the spirit of Highlander
- most efficient tutor
- would ban one black tutor (doesn't matter which one)
- "I win"-button
- no skill needed
- too powerful II
- too many tutors in format
- Combo decks on the top
- lowering power level

Tolarian Academy
- non-interactive III
- broken II
- unfun
- generates a lot of Mana
- many decks only function with this
- absurd game starts
- ban, but ban would also make me sad
- without downside
- hard to recover with fast win clock
- deck ist not too powerful, but card itself is
- stupid

Treasure Cruise
- similar to Dig Through Time
- card advantage (connected to other advantages) IIII
- too cheap IIIII
- too strong
- broken ii
- nearly Ancestral Recall II
- blue is already too strong
- too powerful
- leads to non-games
- feels unfair

Oath of Druids
- design failure
- uninteractive II
- unfun
- unfair II
- enchantment/ hard to handle
- leads to non-games
- too fast

Imperial Seal
- too strong
- with oath (?)
- too efficient
- change it back to Mystical Tutor
- would ban one black tutor (doesn't matter which one)
- is not needed
- too many tutors in format II
- too powerful

Scapeshift
- unfun
- one-card-combo III
- boring
- one-card-win
- hard to handle
- game breaking
- nearly no cost for the Combo
- too dominant
- too little counter play
- "I win"-button
- stolen games
- easy to build

Tainted Pact
- instant II
- unconditional
- too strong
- would ban one black tutor (doesn't matter which one)
- if Demonic Tutor stays
- too many tutors in format II
- too powerful
- Demonic Tutor with at least some deck restrictions
- clear ban
- too much advantage in every multicolor deck with B
- over powered

Bring to Light
- if Scapeshift is a problem/ weakens Scapeshift III

Fireblast
- weakens (only) RDW II

Bloodmoon
- non-interactive

Back to Basics
- non-interactive

Karakas

Price of Progress
- too much damage
- too often game ending
- too cheap
- create spots where you can only lose to this
- feels too unlucky

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Stoneforge Mystic
- auto-include in nearly every white deck
- against the spirit of Highlander

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
- too strong against creature decks

Thrun, the Last Troll
- impossible to handle
- sometimes I have nightmares because of Thrun

Bazaar of Baghdad
- too much value


This card should be unbanned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)




(absolute frequencies)
structured according to place of residence




(absolute frequencies)
satisfaction structured according to wished unbanned card
people seem to be satisfied even if they would unban card(s)




Reasonings:
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (eg "too strong" vs. "too powerful"). Same formulations were simply counted.)

Umezawa's Jitte
- strengthens creature decks II
- better chances for creature decks
- fine compared to other equipments
- only hits creature-based decks
- not enough good equipments
- buff Aggro decks
- format can handle it
- :)
- only slightly better than Swords
- because I want to play it
- only unban, if Stoneforge Mystic is banned
- fair II
- safest unban of all 4 (watchlist cards)

Birthing Pod
- strengthens creature decks
- none of the dominating decks would play it
- would make creatures great
- more creature decks
- if we don't ban anything, this should be banned
- let's test it II
- needs brain to integrate it in a deck
- could be fine
- creature-based decks lose to Path to Exile (?) anyway
- enough solutions in format
- not relevant at the moment
- different times than before ban

Skullclamp
- strengthens creature decks II
- creature-based decks and midrange isn't that good anymore
- needs a special setup
- strengthens non-blue decks
- non-blue decks become less and less present
- benefits non-tier decks
- probaly too slow to be busted
- we should try it
- buff Aggro decks
- want to see what will happen

Gifts Ungiven
- Intuition is legal
- similar high-impact cards are legal/ not at critical mass
- reanimator is not very good, but viable
- format is fast enough
- tutor
- format too aggressive
- more diversity
- Why is this even banned?

Natural Order
- without tutors it is fine

Library of Alexandria
- format is fast enough

Mystical Tutor
- consistancy is fun

Sensei's Divining Top


Number of cards to change:
(mean)
structured according to place of residence




Survey layout:




#13
Continental Cup Halle 2018


Decklists Top 8:

Rank 1: Max H., Grixis Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642785-b83ab077203107bb73ed2fd6967e7e60.html

Rank 2: Xiaoliang Y.., Jeskai Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642803-d9542b05e2f4bbfe6528aca6808648a3.html

Rank 3: Sven V., Azorius Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642810-1ec4a5244bf13896e5669e3c2b996678.html

Rank 4: Nils R., Jeskai Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642816-abf5004dd14d56d40b4cdcd1b792fc8a.html

Rank 5: Robin S., RDW
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642821-c166c414c43d725ab1eee02ef3d13a60.html

Rank 6: Niclas E., Mono B Aggro
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642830-7053ca069648008793781d575d0a9a79.html

Rank 7: Dalibor S., 5c Reanimator
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642837-db38999da47ef0fa9470224c5bff31ac.html

Rank 8: Christian H. 4C (w/o U) Blood
https://deckstats.net/deck-17642844-f1021797509f45d1d14a62f8dd19eb99.html


Final Standings:




Top 8:

QF

Robin (RDW)  vs. Nils (Jeskai Midrange)
Sven (Azorius Control)  vs. Christian (Jeskai Midrange)
Xiaoliang (Jeskai Control)  vs. Dalibor (5C Reanimator)
Niclas (Mono B Aggro)  vs. Max (Grixis Tempo)

SF

Nils (Jeskai Midrange)    vs. Xiaoliang (Jeskai Control)
Sven (Azorius Control)   vs. Max (Grixis Tempo)

F

Xiaoliang (Jeskai Control)  vs. Max (Grixis Tempo)

Winner: Max (Grixis Tempo)


Meta Breakdown:




Additional lists:

Rank 9: Tobias K., Izzet Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-17645347-5bf75e03da8fbaf97bb4eb3d4f8c9c52.html?fbclid=IwAR2DGv1DJ_sgSaOajxgKTI-j0fmurOx_019_m_99uObESFmc_lK4Fvr5cvk

Rank 10: Patrick R., 5C Artifacts
https://deckstats.net/deck-17649863-67f30dd5602cdb561d02293d66221f92.html?fbclid=IwAR1PGq6gAIZvfEQKNBbDbKnAAwxVQ6kesB6MpGBD10y3Pd7gguiv2Tev71M

Rank 13: Luca D., Izzet Tempo
https://deckstats.net/deck-17765805-f4846a589f8e05237eacf81e6ede07b8.html?fbclid=IwAR0Z_T8qF99BHpp1-iMUQUSe5naKykBpYOncP2Wr5D0n1kAeVSASzAmvmig

Rank 14: Manuel H., Gruul Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17649671-f379d624118076353e3c67359615b5a5.html?fbclid=IwAR3HORW5-AGFo3iqxmZXWiyuV6SqHD-NbTlpkPg61yI-mRBMa7Mw4wfVagM

Rank 16: Thomas M., Sultai Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17675846-6b1cf012769581d878365503c899f078.html?fbclid=IwAR0acX8mYPR-N3CvpOc_0ICr5WJtDvPIIesMMtEpqZWDZDOaCFiE3CzIbhY

Rank 17: Björn O., Dimir Control/ Reanimator
https://deckstats.net/deck-17650001-c19344b2fd19622d635410a6afdadec8.html?fbclid=IwAR2jQS_JUshcpPFpjnFp0Zmg8NS2DLBgLg4BaQH7VfTXAKwWTP1OwzkvGs8

Rank 22: Alexander R., Esper Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17692548-d718ed30e16f3cb1fe2905e3b935357b.html?fbclid=IwAR0-iu0ejxRkEPFH2bM0mAannySKxyaN2PIgww4uBA8zDlH5EZLKgf5St9o

Rank 23: Karl D., 5C Artifact Combo
https://deckstats.net/deck-17651431-8c5f06bc0f7c2e26f4868e4357ff0062.html?fbclid=IwAR0KJvh5ox4RdAzLOpdGw79gj2gIjlAJv2BZR5vTBRBkcbCtuG1wZch6_a0

Rank 27: Florian B., Jeskai Midrange
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/continental-jeskai/?fbclid=IwAR2SalAKpIR9OwMDofO2T-woidQYUyrALPuk0-S9NaJsATee_0fbnoS9nY4

Rank 28: Cedric Z., Gruul Aggro
https://deckstats.net/decks/119998/1142437-rg-beats?fbclid=IwAR0FOFVWf8spQyp1aU6v1iskDoLSJlO3AIepZTAjVId00w--WfHkU05wR0s

Rank 36: Marcel F., Bant Boggles
https://deckstats.net/deck-17672037-9cbb6210d273722eae354cd76fdc8c72.html?fbclid=IwAR32a2Rx2cO4eYW40QzXx1baUvTSgByJEdv--xMRnC-JZVAWY-tHX0rUTs8

Rank 39: Paul T., Big Red
https://deckstats.net/deck-17911437-049107ac0012134f5926528f1fae5c80.html?fbclid=IwAR3ODPViwD-cl9uFxspyHr8SOEBrj37ZMP8fp6sw_YLRifrDmDeEctmikJA

Rank 61: Benjamin M., 4C Artifact Aggro
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/affininty-highlander/?cb=1542796530&fbclid=IwAR0TsktTs1TeArr0WvgKFCO-mKvTls2JZx1qKRs_BhmN4Pkn927-SzexE0w

Rank 62: Jonni L., Orzhov Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17765820-1b1a1a5196af887d169d594368a3d6e4.html?fbclid=IwAR3fiY_qhgCA5nXrUNxmG1YejvlhGnQBH3jkO6wn2MXAzb-QvU1vLUyamaE


Decktechs & Interviews:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hAAadn7aqw_cSBh0kATAQ/playlists



Leave me a comment if you are interested in another deck lists.
#14
Metagame Masters #13


Decklists Top 8:

Rank 1: Jonny A., Azorius Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17287742-5da7e53ca7aefa41e7cc5ffb37cf77a3.html

Rank 2: Justus H., 4c (w/o G) Aggro Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-17287563-ee01dd5f6fa0778039a419af4c323358.html

Rank 3: Nils R., Jeskai Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17287572-27eebb685a419d3c5ffcf3a2809f6fbe.html

Rank 4: Felix R., Selesnya Aggro
https://deckstats.net/deck-17287603-6d51a8d42f80514ac1a851d2329b1528.html

Rank 5: Anje H., Izzet Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-17288556-190ff40a3eea9aa5ecc157ebbfbf22a9.html

Rank 6: Jacob W., RDW
https://deckstats.net/deck-17287614-c5cf7fbe1113a0e08ac2ca29eb87e626.html

Rank 7: Felix K., 4c (w/o W) Reanimator
https://deckstats.net/deck-17287641-5b27b06b3ffb24b08f80b550ca0bd217.html

Rank 8: Hendrik S. Mono G (splash B) Ramp
https://deckstats.net/deck-17287652-6439d0c9f84c4d08ab2bab932018c61d.html


Final Standings:




Top 8:

QF

Antje (Izzet Control)          vs. Felix R. (Selesnya Aggro)
Felix K. (4c (w/o W) Reanimator)     vs. Justus (4c (w/o G) Aggro Control)
Nils (Jeskai Midrange)       vs. Hendrik (Mono G (splash B) Ramp)
Jacob (RDW)             vs. Jonny (Azorius Midrange)

SF

Felix R. (Selesnya Aggro) vs. Justus (4c (w/o G) Aggro Control)
Nils (Jeskai Midrange) vs. Jonny (Azorius Midrange)

F
Justus (4c (w/o G) Aggro Control) vs. Jonny (Azorius Midrange)

Winner: Jonny (Azorius Midrange)


Meta Breakdown:




Video Coverage:
http://www.planetmtg.de/articles/artikel.html?id=7294&typ=2&action=comments


Additional lists:

Rank 10: Luca D., Sultai Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-17289519-8dc6680c0c1626668550af1afc4e0cc7.html

Rank 12: Carsten K., TPS
https://deckstats.net/deck-17289218-28d049f1b26af47a348e5e360f33a595.html

Rank 22: Werner D., RDW
https://deckstats.net/deck-17290815-46f6c34fb457b4285bac83bbe241cfa1.html

Rank 23: Dominik B., 4c Blood
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/823409#paper

Rank 24: Benjamin M., 4c Artifact Aggro
https://deckstats.net/deck-17291760-c4ad0c4a7b4b53cdbafebd5d1b681b9b.html

Rank 25: Niklas R., Gruul Aggro
https://deckstats.net/deck-17307218-76f512a7c273a11bcd56612ae54ed6c3.html



Leave me a comment if you are interested in another deck lists.
#15
Metagame Masters #12



Decklists Top 8:

Rank 1: Malte Z., RDW
https://deckstats.net/deck-16498567-a1dd37721536d7eebdbaa63008a2d5d1.html


Rank 2: Tobias W., 4C Scapeshift
https://deckstats.net/deck-16501348-eb6cf90f4c7fdb3d839bb9c60a6c4234.html


Rank 3: Jonny A., UWbr Control
https://deckstats.net/decks/16958/1029284-uw-control


Rank 4: Jan D., 5C Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-16501380-8e6fb8913804d3f7d3386df2fc05341b.html


Rank 5: Florian B., Jeskai Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-16501513-63ee0e7c016dc16792912c7cc5e1b074.html


Rank 6: Dion S., Ub Aggro Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-16497476-97e866e43231e2bc55fa99ba9b961f1f.html


Rank 7: Luca D., Esper Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-16501553-39eee0c57c6b18cb73529a1d0777a640.html


Rank 8: Tom F., UWb Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-16501603-f981128d2b7ef0a203fd5ac7749c4690.html



Final Standings (after Top 8 ):






Top 8:

QF

Dion (Ub Wizards) vs Tobias (Scapeshift)
Jonny (UW Control) vs Tom (UWb Control)
Luca (Esper Midrange) vs Malte (RDW)
Jan (5C Midrange) vs Florian (Jeskai Midrange)


SF

Jonny (UW Control) vs Malte (RDW)
Tobias (Scapeshift) vs Jan (5C Midrange)


F

Malte (RDW) vs Tobias (Scapeshift)


Winner: Malte (RDW)



Meta Breakdown:





Judge Picture:


(No, it's not a painting. Yes, it's a photo. No, I don't take commissions.)



Additional Decklists:

Rank 9: Max H., Grixis Aggro Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-16513721-a500b9165303fb7132e8e5933a2b1923.html


Rank 11: Paul T., 5C Artifact Combo
https://deckstats.net/deck-16513862-097efde0da2672fca7e872895fd56e0c.html


Rank 12: Daniel T., Big Red
https://deckstats.net/deck-16504381-cd3dc965614430ed7ea1b718498ddead.html


Rank 13: Jürgen F., Izzet Control
https://deckstats.net/deck-16506463-029261a2d9a1ae8a9053e621500d6758.html


Rank 21: Karl-Florian P., Mono G Ramp
https://deckstats.net/deck-16504875-374a0f85f2028e1a63ba49a71379153b.html


Rank 23: Marc B., Grixis Midrange
https://deckstats.net/deck-16513777-2dacbe7b97cc90818dde0e4d1cb1071e.html


Rank 26: Karl D., 5C Artifact Combo
https://deckstats.net/deck-16513943-43950a33378dc11b29c7db2658070782.html

#16
Changes to the present banned list, effective 04/15/2018:

Banned:                                                      
-

Unbanned:                                                    
-
                                               

Current watchlists:

Ban watchlist:                                                    
• Blood Moon
• Back to Basics
• Bring to Light *new*
• Demonic Tutor
• Dig Through Time
• Entomb
• Imperial Seal
• Mana Drain
• Oath of Druids
• Tainted Pact
• Tolarian Academy
• Treasure Cruise
• True-Name Nemesis *new*
Yawgmoth's Will *new*

                                             
Unban watchlist:                                                      
• Mystical Tutor
• Gifts Ungiven
• Skullclamp *new*


Single cards explanations:

Ban-Watchlist:

Bring to Light

Based on recent available tournament data Scapeshift is one of the best combo decks currently - maybe even the best one. It isn't just a local meta phenomenon as Scapeshift decks has quite decent results on some bigger tournaments in quite different areas during the last months (e. g. in Finnland, Berlin, Mannheim, Erfurt, Frankfurt, online). It seems quite robust to any meta-changing and keeps that high level performance for already quite a while. As we don't want to ban combo-decks in total basically, but weaken it if necessary we decided not to put Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle or Scapeshift itself on watchlist but a specific tutor which shines most in Scapeshift-shells. Bring to Light do not see much play outside Scapeshift-combo so we suppose this could be the right tool to weaken the combo to adjust meta if outstanding performance will last on during the next months.
 
Same is true for uprising Reanimator as Entomb stays under special monitoring too.


True-Name Nemesis

First off, we get that True-Name Nemesis is ,,only" a creature and creatures tend to not get banned. The usual argument is, a creature is rather easily handled, therefore making a ban unreasonable.
True-Name Nemesis however is different in this regard because it isn't answered easily at all. Most common solutions for problematic creatures are useless against True-Name Nemesis.
This alone would not be a problem if True-Name Nemesis wouldn't also be unblockable (making it a formidable tool to keep opposing Planeswalkers off the table) and wouldn't be almost impossible to destroy in combat (thus often times being a full-stop to opposing aggressive strategies).
Furthermore, True-Name Nemesis is blue. As it happens, Blue is the dominant color in our format at the moment. The fact that Blue also gets to get the arguably best midrange creature is unfortunate – to say the least – for the purposes of balancing the power level among colors for our format.
Current top performing decks do not care all that much about True-Name Nemesis. Scapeshift, Reanimator and Blue-based Control all have reasonable tools against the pesky merfolk.
It is rather the decks we don't see as often at the moment, which have a harder time dealing with it. It could be the right call to reduce the obstacles for those decks in order to shift the metagame to a point where they can more easily flourish.


Yawgmoth's Will

Yawgmoth's Will has been on watch for a long time now and all that can really be said about the card is, that it is a non-issue.
It only really becomes broken when used in conjunction with Dark Ritual-like cards. However, the nature of a singleton format makes this combination rather complicated to execute.
If one succeeds at going off with Yawgmoth's Will, congratulations to the person because they really pulled off a feat.
Consequently, Yawgmoth's Will leaves the watchlist for the time being.


Unban-Watchlist:

Skullclamp

Skullclamp is on banned list for ages now and this for some good reasons. The clamp looks quite grim on paper and would be absolutly dominating in a few scenarios. Nevertheless Skullclamp has been already picked up by the community for some discussions lately. Why? In fact not many tier 1 decks would play Skullclamp currently, powerlevel has been increased quite a lot since this card has entered the banned-list and it could be a nice tool for decks which are on the decline at the moment maybe. Card like Treasure Cruise gives "instant" 1:3 card-advantage while Skullclamp needs a special setting to reach this and is more often just a dead card from the top without any impact on the game. Maybe this cards grants new strategic aspects in deck-building (cards like Bitterblossom seem almost vanished, Bloodghast would have a new friend) and game-play (when is the right time/turn to "cycle" your Mana-Elf for 2 cards? when do card-advantage outclass tempo-loss?).

In other singleton-formats where Skullclamp is unbanned, this card does not have an overwhelming influence too. In Canadian Highlander for example this card hasn't even an entry on the point-list.

#17
METAGAME MASTERS 10

Date: Nov 11th 2017
Location: Der andere Spieleladen (ASL), Berlin
#players: 70
#rounds: 7 + Top 8


Top 8:




Decklists:

Rank 1
Stefan S.
4C Scapeshift (w/o W)

1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Eternal Witness
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Sylvan Library
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Brainstorm
1 Burst Lightning
1 Clutch of the Undercity
1 Dig Through Time
1 Electrolyze
1 Evasive Action
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Fatal Push
1 Fire // Ice
1 Spell Pierce
1 Go for the Throat
1 Impulse
1 Izzet Charm
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Mana Drain
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Negate
1 Opt
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Remand
1 Repeal
1 Swan Song
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cinder Glade
1 Flooded Grove
1 Flooded Strand
1 Lumbering Falls
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Sheltered Thicket
1 Smoldering Marsh
3 Snow-Covered Forest
3 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Steam Vents
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Stomping Ground
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Bring to Light
1 Cultivate
1 Dark Petition
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Farseek
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Nature's Lore
1 Personal Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Radiant Flames
1 Rampant Growth
1 Scapeshift
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Serum Visions
1 Three Visits
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Into the North

_________________________________________


Rank 2
Dalibor S.
5C Reanimator

1 Abrupt Decay
1 Anger
1 Animate Dead
1 Arid Mesa
1 Ashen Rider
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Botanical Sanctum
1 Brainstorm
1 Buried Alive
1 Careful Study
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 City of Brass
1 Collective Brutality
1 Corpse Dance
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Crop Rotation
1 Dance of the Dead
1 Dark Depths
1 Dark Ritual
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Daze
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Duress
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Exhume
1 Expedition Map
1 Faithless Looting
1 Firestorm
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Force of Will
1 Forest
1 Frantic Search
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Griselbrand
1 Imperial Seal
1 Inferno Titan
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Intuition
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Island
1 Izzet Charm
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Life from the Loam
1 Life/Death
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Living Death
1 Lotus Petal
1 Magister of Worth
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Mana Confluence
1 Mana Drain
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Necromancy
1 Oath of Druids
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Primeval Titan
1 Reanimate
1 Resolute Archangel
1 River of Tears
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Show and Tell
1 Spell Pierce
1 Stitch Together
1 Sultai Charm
1 Swamp
1 Swan Song
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Taiga
1 Tainted Pact
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Thoughtseize
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Trench Gorger
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Unmask
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodfall Primus

_________________________________________


Rank 3
Jan M.
5C Artifacts

1 Mind Stone
1 Mox Diamond
1 Chromatic Sphere
1 Chromatic Star
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Grim Monolith
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Voltaic Key
1 Talisman of Unity
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Talisman of Impulse
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Expedition Map
1 Chrome Mox
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mox Opal
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Defense Grid
1 Zuran Orb
1 Coalition Relic
1 Staff of Domination
1 Memory Jar
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Scrabbling Claws
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Hedron Archive
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sun Droplet
1 Orbs of Warding

1 Griselbrand
1 Sun Titan
1 Eternal Witness

1 Oath of Druids
1 Fastbond
1 Power Artifact
1 Artificer's Intuition

1 Dig Through Time
1 Crop Rotation
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Mana Drain
1 Frantic Search
1 Brainstorm
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Tainted Pact
1 Commit

1 Polluted Delta
1 Great Furnace
1 Tundra
1 Tree of Tales
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins
1 Wasteland
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Underground Sea
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Bayou
1 Deserted Temple
1 City of Traitors
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Volcanic Island
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Ancient Den
1 Tropical Island
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Flooded Strand
1 Savannah
1 Spire of Industry
1 Karakas
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Glacial Chasm

1 Tezzeret the Seeker

1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Imperial Seal
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Personal Tutor
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Upheaval
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Timetwister
1 Time Spiral
1 Preordain
1 Pore Over the Pages
1 Wargate
1 Ponder

_________________________________________

Rank 4
Jonny A.
Mono U Control

1x Academy Ruins
1x Back to Basics
1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
1x Batterskull
1x Blighted Cataract
1x Brainstorm
1x Bribery
1x Champion of Wits
1x Condescend
1x Counterspell
1x Cryptic Command
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Daze
1x Dig Through Time
1x Drift of Phantasms
1x Emrakul, the Promised End
1x Engulf the Shore
1x Expedition Map
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Flooded Strand
1x Force of Will
1x Force Spike
1x Frostburn Weird
1x Gitaxian Probe
1x Impulse
23x Island
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1x Karakas
1x Karn Liberated
1x Mana Drain
1x Mana Leak
1x Maze of Ith
1x Meekstone
1x Miscalculation
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Mystic Confluence
1x Negate
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Order of Succession
1x Pithing Needle
1x Polluted Delta
1x Ponder
1x Portent
1x Preordain
1x Remand
1x Repeal
1x Sapphire Medallion
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Search for Azcanta
1x See Beyond
1x Serum Visions
1x Sleight of Hand
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spell Snare
1x Spellskite
1x Supreme Will
1x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1x Tectonic Edge
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Thought Scour
1x Threads of Disloyalty
1x Tolaria West
1x Torrential Gearhulk
1x Treachery
1x Treasure Cruise
1x Treasure Map
1x Trinket Mage
1x True-Name Nemesis
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1x Vedalken Shackles
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Wasteland
1x Withdraw

_________________________________________


Rank 5
Jan D.
Esper Midrange

1 Arid Mesa
1 Ash Barrens
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Baleful Strix
1 Batterskull
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Brainstorm
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Collective Brutality
1 Council's Judgment
1 Counterspell
1 Dark Confidant
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Daze
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Dig Through Time
1 Dismember
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Duress
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Fatal Push
1 Flooded Strand
1 Force of Will
1 Force Spike
1 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Island
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Karakas
1 Kaya, Ghost Assassin
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Lingering Souls
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Leak
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mental Misstep
1 Miscalculation
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Palace Jailer
1 Path to Exile
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reanimate
1 Recoil
1 Remand
1 Restoration Angel
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Serum Visions
1 Shambling Vent
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Queller
1 Spell Snare
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Swamp
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tainted Pact
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Silence
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Thought Scour
1 Thoughtseize
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Treasure Cruise
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Vindicate
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Zealous Persecution

_________________________________________


Rank 6
Christoph Q.
Abzan Midrange

1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of War and Peace

1 Elvish Mystic
1 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Ripjaw Raptor
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Siege Rhino
1 Loxodon Smiter
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Scrapheap Scrounger
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Doran, the Siege Tower
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Alms Collector
1 Restoration Angel
1 Eternal Witness
1 Mother of Runes
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Containment Priest
1 Prowling Serpopard
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Renegade Rallier

1 Sylvan Library

1 Path to Exile
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fatal Push
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Chord of Calling

2 Snow-Covered Forest
3 Forest
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Marsh Flats
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Flooded Strand
1 Wasteland
1 City of Traitors
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Fetid Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Scrubland
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
1 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Twilight Mire
1 Arid Mesa
1 Misty Rainforest

1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Kaya, Ghost Assassin
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Nissa, Vital Force

1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vindicate
1 Duress
1 Collective Brutality
1 Council's Judgment
1 Lingering Souls
1 Demonic Tutor

_________________________________________


Rank 7
Benjamin R.
4C Control (w/o G)

1 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Underground sea
1 Plateau
1 Volcanic island
1 badlands
1 plains
1 island
1 swamp
1 mountain
1 arid mesa
1 marsh flats
1 misty rainforest
1 windswept heath
1 verdant catacomb
1 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
1 scalding tarn
1 wooded foothills
1 shambling vent
1 wasteland
1 glacial fortress
1 blood crypt
1 godless shrine
1 watery grave
1 hallowed fountain
1 steam vents
1 sacred foundry
1 wandering fumarole
1 ash barrens
1 karakas
1 maze of ith
1 darkslick shores
1 celestial colonnade
1 drowned catacombs
1 reflecting pool
1 creeping tarpit
1 bloodstained mire
1 swords to plowshares
1 lightning bolt
1 fatal push
1 electrolyze
1 councils judgement
1 vindicate
1 supreme verdict
1 toxic deluge
1 brainstorm
1 humility
1 force of will
1 search for azcanta
1 remand
1 mana drain
1 exclude
1 demonic tutor
1 miscalculation
1 preordain
1 collective brutality
1 lightning helix
1 ancetral vision
1 painful truths
1 dig through time
1 mana leak
1 cryptic command
1 counterspell
1 fire/ice
1 duress
1 negate
1 sphinx's revelation
1 timely reinforcements
1 cruel ultimatum
1 fact or fiction
1 tainted pact
1 lat-nam's legacy
1 lingering souls
1 thoughtseize
1 mystic confluence
1 inquistion of kozilek
1 evasive action
1 spell pierce
1 izzet charm
1 jace, the mindsculptor
1 liliana of the veil
1 dack fayden
1 gideon jura
1 kaya, ghost assasin
1 chandra, torch of defiance
1 gideon ally of zendikkar
1 torrential gearhulk
1 elspeth sun's champion
1 vendilion clique
1 keranos god of storm
1 stoneforge mystic
1 snapcaster mage
1 tasigur, the golden fang
1 true-name nemesis
1 batterskull
1 ajani vengeant
1 ugin, the spirit dragon

_________________________________________


Rank 8
Kristian M.
Selesnya Midrange

1 Mox Diamond
1 Smuggler's Copter
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Winter Orb
1 Batterskull
1 Chrome Mox

1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Blade Splicer
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Den Protector
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fleecemane Lion
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Loxodon Smiter
1 Mother of Runes
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Restoration Angel
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Vengevine
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Renegade Rallier
1 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Ulvenwald Tracker

1 Banishing Light
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Parallax Wave
1 Rancor

1 Dismember
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Path to Exile
1 Selesnya Charm
1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Arid Mesa
1 Bayou
1 Brushland
1 Flooded Strand
9 Forest
1 Canopy Vista
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Gavony Township
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Rishadan Port
1 Savannah
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
1 Treetop Village
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Yavimaya Hollow
2 Plains

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Council's Judgment
1 Eldritch Evolution



Meta Breakdown:






#18
Valid during July 1st, 2017 0:00 CET until October 31st, 2017 24:00 CET.

Cards on the following list will be closely observed and are potential candidates for a banning on Oct 15th, 2017.

Back to Basics
Blood Moon
Demonic Tutor
Dig Through Time
Fastbond
Grindstone
Mana Drain
Mystical Tutor
Oath of Druids
Stoneforge Mystic
Tainted Pact
Tolarian Academy
Treasure Cruise
Yawgmoth's Will


Cards from the following list are still banned but will be under testing for a potential unbanning on Oct. 15th, 2017.

Birthing Pod *new
Entomb
Imperial Seal
Vampiric Tutor


Reasonings:

Birthing Pod:

Birthing Pod has been banned April 2012 and has never been added to watchlist afterwards.
Although the reasons for its ban are still be valid we guess it is time to rediscuss this card as the meta has changed much during the last 5 years.
The creature-centered deck become less successful while straight control-, combo- and aggro-decks become more powerful lately based on the results of bigger tournaments: http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=1274.0.
To assemble combo kills with birthing pod seems more difficult than it was in the past, phyrexian mana seems more expensive while RDW is one of the dominating decks recently.
To announce Birthing Pod to watchlist should encourage the community to test and maybe rejudge that card.


Fastbond:
This card - as many other cards can be strong in the opening hand. And this is where it causes most of the problems, of course. As fast mana is always a thing that needs to be looked at while keeping the format in balance, this card doesn't belong to "no restriction" fast mana cards like Moxen, neither to short term fast mana cards like Dark Ritual. Fastbond is somewhere in the middle.
Cards like Wheel of Fortune make it work even in lategame, but if these do not resolve or go wrong, Fastbond is a lot of times to no use and in fact a card disadvantage. As a topdeck (one of the best indicators of a banworthy cards), it rarely does something. This card has been unbanned already 2 years ago and since then spent a lot of time on the watchlist. And because no new card made it more dangerous in the meantime, we feel it is time to remove it from watchlist now.


Vampiric Tutor:

Vampiric was added to the watch list as we wanted to open up the discussion about tutors as whole. While jury is still on the other cards, everyone seems to agree that Vampiric is the most powerful and dangerous of generic tutors. Thus we can narrow our focus to Demonic, Mystical, Imperial Seal and Tainted Pact.
#19
Valid during July 1st, 2016 0:00 CET until October 14th, 2016 24:00 CET.


Cards on the following list will be closely observed and are potential candidates for a banning on October 15th, 2016.

Demonic Tutor
Fastbond
Mana Drain
Mishra's Workshop
Mystical Tutor
Oath of Druids
Tainted Pact
Timetwister
Tolarian Academy
Yawgmoth's Will


Cards from the following list are still banned but will be under testing for a potential unbanning on October 15th, 2016.

Gifts Ungiven
Stoneforge Mystic


Changes:

Dig Through Time
Natural Order
Sensei's Divining Top
Timetwister


Single card explanations:

Natural Order comes off the list and will stay banned at least for the immediate future. The card has been subject to much discussion during the past two years, so we will not repeat the reasons for its ban. We will say though, the vast majority of the community and the council seem content with it being gone. Games are just much more enjoyable without the randomly powerful swings this card creates.

Just recently banned and now gone for a while is Sensei's Divining Top. We have reasons to believe – and community opinion is backing us up here – that overall gameplay is improved or at least not harmed at all by the absence of the Top. Nevertheless, we will further monitor the performance of Control decks. Should they decline, a renewed discussion of SDT would likely become appropriate.

Power-level wise, Dig Through Time ranges just a little beneath other blue cards currently on the list (we're looking at you, Mana Drain and Mystical Tutor!). Because of that, DTT falls off the list.

We introduce Timetwister to the banning watchlist. There are hints of Combo potentially being too strong (although the verdict if this true is still up in the air). We certainly would like to have a little control over some of the lower tier key cards those combo decks use, in order to retain the option of not having to completely axe Combo (for example by banning Tolarian Academy) but being able to modulate its power-level by cutting a good but not crucial card from the strategy.



The Council
#20
Reports / Statistical tournament analysis
09-06-2016, 02:17:38 AM
The interest of the community to statistical analysis of tournaments, like the ones published regularly below bigger tournaments in the report category, is bigger than expected. From time to time players ask me, whether other questions, which are interesting for themselves, can be answered about these tournaments. For this reason and because analyzing manually is very time consuming, I created a program with the help of a friend, where deck lists from MTGPulse and Cockatrice can be added or simply feed in by hand. The program then analysis certain questions for the registered deck lists, tournaments or just single players or cards.

Until now I analyzed the tournaments separately. Mainly because certain questions cannot be used for multiple tournaments simultaneously.  For example, the mean placement of a certain keycard would not bring reasonable results for 2 tournaments with big differences in the number of participants. Because there lie worlds between a mean placement of a card of 9 in a 9-man tournament and 9 in a 50-man tournament. (I've tried to solve this problem by standardizing on the player count/ calculating the Z-value.) However, other questions can be answered very well for multiple tournaments, for example "How popular is a card overall?" or "What color combinations are popular at the moment?". Therefore, this thread will address all questions, that cannot be assigned to a certain tournament or are valid for multiple tournaments. Also comparisons have a place here.

In the Council we use statistics for quite some time. However, we are also aware, that these results have to be treated with care. Especially single tournaments only give little information about the strength of a card or the popularity of a deck.
This can be noticed especially well, while comparing the Berlin Meta with the tournaments in Maintal. With increasing sample number (and not only sample size) the results obviously become more realistic. Means, with every added tournament more meaningful insights are possible. But also here not all factors are considered.

Statistics, which are coupled to many unknown or not includable factors, always underlie some uncertainty. A victory of a deck can speak for its strength but doesn't have to. The deck maybe was well positioned in the field or its pilot was plain more experienced or the match ups favorable or the player had luck etc.  Maybe the release of a new set had a remarkable influence on the format, certain decks, some single cards...

We, players and Council members, therefore are encouraged to question them, instead of relying on them. Nevertheless, the gained data is interesting enough to get at least a "clue" or a "tendency". With this, problematic cards have at least a chance to be visible for the overall community, get tested and watched more intense and are finally taken out of the format.

If you also have questions, write us a message and I will, if possible, analyze it here.
_______________________________________________________________________


But first, let us take a look at the big tournaments since the last bannings (Season April 2016):

* MKM Series Frankfurt - Highlander Event 14.05.2016
* Spring Weekend Erfurt 28.05./ 29.06.2016
* Metagame Masters Berlin Vol.6 4.6.2016

-> 114 decks


Decktypes:




Archetypes:






Colors:






Color Combinations:



-> Red as color (separately and in combination) is very popular!


Keycards:



Count: absolute number
Color %: x% of all [color] decks played this card