Hi fellow Highlander Players,
since there likely will be some changes to the banned list soon, I would like to provoke a discussion about potential upcoming changes to Demonic Tutor and share my thoughts on it.
Surveys at MGM and the Highlander Grand Prix have shown that quite some people think Demonic Tutor should be banned. I am not one of them and I am convinced the card needs to stay in our format and I will tell you why. As you can see it is quite a bit of Text but please stay with me.
1. How would a potential Demonic Tutor ban affect certain archetypes?
There are basically three archteypes that use Demonic Tutor: Combo, Control and Midrange. Since there is mostly RDW as a viable aggro Deck, besides some fringe options, I do not think a DT ban would affect that archetype too much.
Combo:
I think combo would be the Archetype that would suffer the most from a ban on Demonic Tutor. It would take away consistency from those Decks. In the last couple of tournaments we have had more midrange and aggro decks putting up good results than combo. Besides from Scapeshift and the the 5c Artifact Deck we haven't seen a lot of them. Storm has basically disappeared and we do not see many reanimator decks either.
Although I dislike playing against solitaire decks myself and It does feel miserable to lose against them I want to see combo decks in our Format. Diversity is good and makes Tournament experience interesting. Weakening Combo is not a good option in my opinion.
Control:
Black Control would suffer a little less, but still hard enough. In those Decks Demonic Tutor mostly finds you a win condition or an answer. As a control-player myself I feel that the flexibility DT provides is very much needed. It is difficult to find the right mix of answers, threads, silver bullets and win conditions for your deck. Having cards that can be either is very important. Yes, Control also has mystical Tutor and I think the card is even better than DT for control, because you don't have to "tap out" on your turn to find what you need. Anyways, taking DT away makes it even more difficult to find the right answers in any given matchup. Besides, there haven't been a lot of black control decks or DT-Splashing control Decks in the last top 8s either. Why make it even harder for them?
Midrange:
Black midrange Decks would feel the DT ban the least. Those decks are packed with Goodstuff Creatures and Planeswalkers, have a high thread density and thus high redundancy. They want to present threats and ask for answers. (As well they have Tainted Pact, which cannot be consistently played by the majority of control Decks.) Mostly it does not matter too much whether you slam a Kaya, Thrun or Leovold. If DT was banned – well – I am sure there are enough value PWs or Creatures waiting in the maybeboard to take its place. I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I think most of it is true. Besides, there are Midrange Decks like Jeskai putting up good results consistently without having access to DT.
To Sum it Up, I think Black Control and Combo would get hit the most and those Decks are and have not been overrepresented in recent Top8s. Banning DT would give Midrange decks an even bigger edge against the other Archetypes since creatures are so powerful these days and oftentimes hard to answer. Especially with the potential unbanning of Stoneforge Mystic on the horizon there might be another 2 Mana thread running around which needs you to find an answer right away.
2. What does DT do and is it too good?
Most people in favor of a DT ban argue, that DT is the best Card in the format and thus needs to go. I partly agree with the statement that it is the best Card, because it is basically every Card in your Deck. Plus 2 Mana. But that is the Limit. And having to pay the 2 Mana extra to get your card oftentimes isn't nothing. Especially in the Mid-Game if you have access to 4-5 Mana. Sometimes you don't have the time to get the real optimal card because of mana limitations. Or you have to anticipate what you will need (which can go very wrong). So the playing DT is not a no-brainer and involves some thinking and leads to interesting lines of play.
Of course it is insane in Top-Deck Mode and often leads to a win. And for combo Decks the whole story might be a bit different, because they can look for a key piece of their combo. In those cases it also might let you win instantly. In Control or Midrange this is not the Case though. Don't get me wrong, the card is strong, but not busted or oppressive by any means in my opinion.
Very important in my opinion: What DT (and other tutor effects) also allow you to do, is to play silver bullets against certain bad matchups, which is great. Highlander Decks do not have a Sideboard so it is much harder to gain some percentage points against Bad matchups. You can't beat everything but DT can help you make your Deck a little better against weak spots without having to commit too much and make your other matchups worse.
In general DT decreases variance in our Format which isn't a bad thing for a 100 Card singleton format. I even think it gives you more deckbuilding options and creates diversity instead of taking it away.
3. The Metagame is quite diverse and not Dominated by DT!
So I took a look at the decklists of the recent 9 bigger HL Tournaments we had back to MGM #6 and Broke down the Archetypes. Out of 72 Top8 Decks there were:
15 Control Decks (4 of which Played Demonic, 11 did not, none splashed for DT)
29 Midrange Decks (17 with DT, 12 without, none splashed for DT)
15 Combo Decks (All of them played DT)
13 Aggro Decks. (12 did not play DT and 1 Deck splashed for it. It was Dion's mono Ub Wizards)
Sidenotes:
- In Total 37 Decks played Demonic Tutor, 35 did not. That's a pretty even distribution. The only Azorious Control Deck was NOT splashing Demonic. The Only one doing it was Dion's Mono Blue Wizards Aggro Deck.
- 8 of the 15 Combo Decks were Scapeshift variants. I put them into this Category since Scapeshift mostly is the primary wincondition although they play more as a control Deck, so you might put them into this Category.
- I found only 2 non-RDW Aggro Decks.
- The Only Control Decks that Played Demonic were 2 Grixis lists, 1 Mardu and 1 Sultai Control. The Rest was basically UR and very few Mono U and a Jeskai Control deck. (True control, not midrange)
4. Last thoughts:
The arguments against Demonic I recall have been
a. "The Card is so Good, Decks even splash for only Demonic"
- I think my summary of the Metagame has shown that this is not true (anymore). UWb Decks seem to have fallen out of favor and for the people playing the Deck splashing for DT is not a slam Dunk (anymore).
- The most successful Control Deck (UR) also does not splash for Demonic. I know Payron has tinkered with the Idea but as far as I know, the version he tried was by no means superior to the straight UR version.
b. "It is the best Card in the Format"
- Well. That does not convince me. Just because it is said to be the best Card, it does not mean it needs to be banned. Brainstorm is the best card in legacy but it stays there. (Although I know some people also suggest for it to be put on the banned list.) Brainstorm defines and warps that format though. I would not say that DT does the same with ours.
- If DT goes, there will be another best Card. And after that another. Those cards might be more difficult to identify but should they be banned as well? I don't think the "best card argument" really is a valid one.
I know it feels miserable to lose against a (top-decked) Demonic. But it also feels miserable to lose against RDW when you resolved a Siege Rhino, equipped it with Sword of light and shadow and connected 3 times (Yes, happened), as well as losing to combo Decks without being able to interact at all. There are feel-bad situations in Magic. We should accept that and move on.
Last but not least Bans and Unbans should be used to make a format better, create diversity, maybe help underrepresented Decks to shine again or get rid of oppressive cards that are so good that you basically can only either play them or try to beat them. I do not see that in our current format at all. And by no means have I ever heard anyone say "I can never beat Demonic Tutor Decks! I guess I need to join them!". We play a high power level format. Some Decks do busted things. But I haven't encountered a truly oppressive Deck lately. People adapted to the 5c Artifact deck or learned to play against it and so will we try to adapt to the RDW menace. I think our format is at a very healthy state at the moment. So I do not think we need to fix a problem that doesn't exist. I am even convinced that taking DT out of our format could decrease diversity and push Decks that are viable or close to being viable out of competition.
Thanks for staying with me through this Wall of Text! Maybe I was able to convince some people that DT isn't too bad, maybe even needed in our format. At least I hope to have provoked some new thoughts on that matter. Feel free to share your thoughts.
Cheers
Max
since there likely will be some changes to the banned list soon, I would like to provoke a discussion about potential upcoming changes to Demonic Tutor and share my thoughts on it.
Surveys at MGM and the Highlander Grand Prix have shown that quite some people think Demonic Tutor should be banned. I am not one of them and I am convinced the card needs to stay in our format and I will tell you why. As you can see it is quite a bit of Text but please stay with me.
1. How would a potential Demonic Tutor ban affect certain archetypes?
There are basically three archteypes that use Demonic Tutor: Combo, Control and Midrange. Since there is mostly RDW as a viable aggro Deck, besides some fringe options, I do not think a DT ban would affect that archetype too much.
Combo:
I think combo would be the Archetype that would suffer the most from a ban on Demonic Tutor. It would take away consistency from those Decks. In the last couple of tournaments we have had more midrange and aggro decks putting up good results than combo. Besides from Scapeshift and the the 5c Artifact Deck we haven't seen a lot of them. Storm has basically disappeared and we do not see many reanimator decks either.
Although I dislike playing against solitaire decks myself and It does feel miserable to lose against them I want to see combo decks in our Format. Diversity is good and makes Tournament experience interesting. Weakening Combo is not a good option in my opinion.
Control:
Black Control would suffer a little less, but still hard enough. In those Decks Demonic Tutor mostly finds you a win condition or an answer. As a control-player myself I feel that the flexibility DT provides is very much needed. It is difficult to find the right mix of answers, threads, silver bullets and win conditions for your deck. Having cards that can be either is very important. Yes, Control also has mystical Tutor and I think the card is even better than DT for control, because you don't have to "tap out" on your turn to find what you need. Anyways, taking DT away makes it even more difficult to find the right answers in any given matchup. Besides, there haven't been a lot of black control decks or DT-Splashing control Decks in the last top 8s either. Why make it even harder for them?
Midrange:
Black midrange Decks would feel the DT ban the least. Those decks are packed with Goodstuff Creatures and Planeswalkers, have a high thread density and thus high redundancy. They want to present threats and ask for answers. (As well they have Tainted Pact, which cannot be consistently played by the majority of control Decks.) Mostly it does not matter too much whether you slam a Kaya, Thrun or Leovold. If DT was banned – well – I am sure there are enough value PWs or Creatures waiting in the maybeboard to take its place. I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I think most of it is true. Besides, there are Midrange Decks like Jeskai putting up good results consistently without having access to DT.
To Sum it Up, I think Black Control and Combo would get hit the most and those Decks are and have not been overrepresented in recent Top8s. Banning DT would give Midrange decks an even bigger edge against the other Archetypes since creatures are so powerful these days and oftentimes hard to answer. Especially with the potential unbanning of Stoneforge Mystic on the horizon there might be another 2 Mana thread running around which needs you to find an answer right away.
2. What does DT do and is it too good?
Most people in favor of a DT ban argue, that DT is the best Card in the format and thus needs to go. I partly agree with the statement that it is the best Card, because it is basically every Card in your Deck. Plus 2 Mana. But that is the Limit. And having to pay the 2 Mana extra to get your card oftentimes isn't nothing. Especially in the Mid-Game if you have access to 4-5 Mana. Sometimes you don't have the time to get the real optimal card because of mana limitations. Or you have to anticipate what you will need (which can go very wrong). So the playing DT is not a no-brainer and involves some thinking and leads to interesting lines of play.
Of course it is insane in Top-Deck Mode and often leads to a win. And for combo Decks the whole story might be a bit different, because they can look for a key piece of their combo. In those cases it also might let you win instantly. In Control or Midrange this is not the Case though. Don't get me wrong, the card is strong, but not busted or oppressive by any means in my opinion.
Very important in my opinion: What DT (and other tutor effects) also allow you to do, is to play silver bullets against certain bad matchups, which is great. Highlander Decks do not have a Sideboard so it is much harder to gain some percentage points against Bad matchups. You can't beat everything but DT can help you make your Deck a little better against weak spots without having to commit too much and make your other matchups worse.
In general DT decreases variance in our Format which isn't a bad thing for a 100 Card singleton format. I even think it gives you more deckbuilding options and creates diversity instead of taking it away.
3. The Metagame is quite diverse and not Dominated by DT!
So I took a look at the decklists of the recent 9 bigger HL Tournaments we had back to MGM #6 and Broke down the Archetypes. Out of 72 Top8 Decks there were:
15 Control Decks (4 of which Played Demonic, 11 did not, none splashed for DT)
29 Midrange Decks (17 with DT, 12 without, none splashed for DT)
15 Combo Decks (All of them played DT)
13 Aggro Decks. (12 did not play DT and 1 Deck splashed for it. It was Dion's mono Ub Wizards)
Sidenotes:
- In Total 37 Decks played Demonic Tutor, 35 did not. That's a pretty even distribution. The only Azorious Control Deck was NOT splashing Demonic. The Only one doing it was Dion's Mono Blue Wizards Aggro Deck.
- 8 of the 15 Combo Decks were Scapeshift variants. I put them into this Category since Scapeshift mostly is the primary wincondition although they play more as a control Deck, so you might put them into this Category.
- I found only 2 non-RDW Aggro Decks.
- The Only Control Decks that Played Demonic were 2 Grixis lists, 1 Mardu and 1 Sultai Control. The Rest was basically UR and very few Mono U and a Jeskai Control deck. (True control, not midrange)
4. Last thoughts:
The arguments against Demonic I recall have been
a. "The Card is so Good, Decks even splash for only Demonic"
- I think my summary of the Metagame has shown that this is not true (anymore). UWb Decks seem to have fallen out of favor and for the people playing the Deck splashing for DT is not a slam Dunk (anymore).
- The most successful Control Deck (UR) also does not splash for Demonic. I know Payron has tinkered with the Idea but as far as I know, the version he tried was by no means superior to the straight UR version.
b. "It is the best Card in the Format"
- Well. That does not convince me. Just because it is said to be the best Card, it does not mean it needs to be banned. Brainstorm is the best card in legacy but it stays there. (Although I know some people also suggest for it to be put on the banned list.) Brainstorm defines and warps that format though. I would not say that DT does the same with ours.
- If DT goes, there will be another best Card. And after that another. Those cards might be more difficult to identify but should they be banned as well? I don't think the "best card argument" really is a valid one.
I know it feels miserable to lose against a (top-decked) Demonic. But it also feels miserable to lose against RDW when you resolved a Siege Rhino, equipped it with Sword of light and shadow and connected 3 times (Yes, happened), as well as losing to combo Decks without being able to interact at all. There are feel-bad situations in Magic. We should accept that and move on.
Last but not least Bans and Unbans should be used to make a format better, create diversity, maybe help underrepresented Decks to shine again or get rid of oppressive cards that are so good that you basically can only either play them or try to beat them. I do not see that in our current format at all. And by no means have I ever heard anyone say "I can never beat Demonic Tutor Decks! I guess I need to join them!". We play a high power level format. Some Decks do busted things. But I haven't encountered a truly oppressive Deck lately. People adapted to the 5c Artifact deck or learned to play against it and so will we try to adapt to the RDW menace. I think our format is at a very healthy state at the moment. So I do not think we need to fix a problem that doesn't exist. I am even convinced that taking DT out of our format could decrease diversity and push Decks that are viable or close to being viable out of competition.
Thanks for staying with me through this Wall of Text! Maybe I was able to convince some people that DT isn't too bad, maybe even needed in our format. At least I hope to have provoked some new thoughts on that matter. Feel free to share your thoughts.
Cheers
Max