Last week, we talked about the cards we wanted to get banned. So naturally, we decided to pick a couple cards we thought we'd like to see unbanned.
So let's get to it! This is THE STACK!
UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK
I do my best to support and uphold the banlist. It's the best way to ensure consistent game play where the group isn't some small clique of kids playing in a basement or apartment. That said, I've also played with a lot of the banned cards in this latter setting with GG, so been there, done that.
Academy, I suppose, used to be less baffling than it is now. I know Artifacts are more important than Enchantments, which is why this is here and Serra's Sanctum isn't, but I don't see the big deal now. Nykthos is a thing. Cabal Coffers is still a thing. Gaea's Cradle is a thing. We already play hate for it in the metagame. I agree with Gifts and Karakas and Recurring Nightmate and most of this suggested list. Academy could definitely be revisited, in my opinion.
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I don't like the idea of imposing outside restrictions on my possibility space and typically I won't accept it. There are some standards I will accept however, but the EDHRC's official banned list doesn't seem to follow them. Chief among these standards is consistency. I see no profit in drawing arbitrary lines to decide what is 'good enough' and 'too good'. I have no doubt that Academy is more powerful than Nykthos, Cradle, Sanctum, and Coffers. That said, I don't agree with just drawing a line in the sand and saying, "Academy is too good. Anything as good or better should be banned." If fast mana is a problem, limit all fast mana. This card is not much better than Sol Ring, and would only show up in a fraction of the decks, but you don't see people crying out for the banning of Sol Ring.
GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK
I think that it's worth stating that I don't support any card being banned in Commander. Limiting myself to talking about just a few cards feels like it is sending the wrong message. This card shouldn't be banned, but neither should any other. So bear in mind that this discussion does not have any bearing on what I think it the 'most deserving' of ban list amnesty.
If your stars sway low, let them wobble to and fro'. I think this card is silly and not a real threat to anyone. I don't think people would play it with sufficient regularity for it to become a 'problem'. That problem wouldn't even be a issue of card strength either. There is simply no in-game reason to limit the play of Sway because there simply isn't any strategic reason to play it at all. This card doesn't create a degenerate board state, doesn't instantly grant a player an easy victory, and is more difficult to take advantage of than other similar cards. Its cost is already prohibitive. At best it is worse than Upheaval. What the EDHRC doesn't like about this card is that it is mass disruption. Mass feel-bads for people who have over-spent their resources setting up "impressive", but fragile, board states. Upheaval should be legal. Sway should be legal. And if you had the first you would never even hear about the second.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
I wrote Thumbs Down, but it's more of a leaning thing than a pure "No." I have the same relationship with this card as GG mentioned last week in talking about Top. Whereas Top is a card that can be used for skill and value, it is often a card Bad Magic Players use thinking they can be better at Magic. I feel the same way about Sway because I too was bad at Commander once, and did in fact buy this card with the intentions of playing it. Honestly, I think that reason is decent enough grounds for banning, and I don't mind being told what to do in this regard, simply because my experience and knowledge about this card and the way it impacts the game isn't necessarily so much a "spirit of the format" argument as much as it is a preventative measure for bad magic players and Kitchen Table Trolls who enjoy chaos decks where they blow up the board without intentions. Most cards of this caliber have a purpose, which isn't to blow stuff up for the sake of itself.
Unbanning wouldn't be so much a big deal- I just don't see how giving bad Magic players another card to play enhances the game. If Top is annoying, this would be a lot worse. Thank goodness most people prefer not to play Goblin Game.
UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK
I know all about the boring 'ol infinite turns combo and that's surely enough to explain why Mirror is on this list. However, if a conversation ever arose in my group about someone who wanted to play this without Time Walking everyone, or Infini-Wrathing the board, I'd love to see the kinds of weird stuff that could be put on this card.
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I concur. There is a wealth of interesting interactions that can be created with this card and two-card instant-win combos are still available in every color combination. Why single out this card? Because it was popular? Because it is more versatile? Because it could actually be used as a value engine when a higher powered alternative wasn't available? That last explanation seems plausible at least, but this is still substantially worse than a good deal of combo cards that are still legal, which erodes the evidenciary argument for why this shouldn't be played.
GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK
Using the same thought process as above, I see no real strategic reason for banning this because it simply isn't strong enough to play. The EDHRC seems to be afraid of cards that declare instant victory, as the prospect of several players experiencing disappointment simultaneously is apparently not an event they want to be seen to condone. The unfortunate truth (at least for the potential players of Coalition Victory, is that it is so unrealistic that you will hardly ever achieve it. This renders the idea of it being a problem to the format irrelevant. Additionally, this is a "win-more" card. If you have access to perfect mana and a board full of choice permanents...why aren't you winning already? In your five color deck you couldn't just assemble a handful of cards that were good enough to just win outright? I find that hard to believe. I find it even harder to believe that Coalition Victory would grant even a slight increase to the odds of five color decks winning more often were it made legal. Even though the printing of Nylea's Presence makes achieving the first half of the conditional clause the easiest it has ever been, this card is still abysmal and a waste of time for players who are serious about winning. In that light, it just seems like we are banning cards BECAUSE they are gimmicky and that is akin to having no reason at all.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
Sometimes I don't read cards. It's only recently that I realized this card is not an Enchantment with an upkeep trigger, but a Sorcery that says "Win Target Game," should you hit its double rainbow of conditions. Were it an enchantment, I'd be more likely to say yes.
I guess I feel like there's zero sum in unbanning this card. I know GG, and he wasn't going to play this janky piece of chaff, and I think it'd be the general consensus among the more serious Commander players. I don't disagree with his point about saying "No" in an inconsistent way and limiting deckbuilding. But this is a rare case where I don't think we should care about this card, and we shouldn't have to consider it in the metagame either.
Do you agree or disagree with us? Would you have picked something else? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.
Have a good day. Pass it up.
-UL/GG
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