January 15th, 2018 Banned/Restricted List Announcement

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I don't want to go full rant-mode on this one. I'll save any commentary on the neglect of Legacy for the next time they leave all the junk on the list. And I don't play Standard. It also seems like no one here at the CPA plays much Standard, if any. I have a track record of not playing Standard. It'd be disingenuous of me to pretend that some recent development is at fault, that I would play Standard except it's too messed up. So if the format's not for me and never has been, I really shouldn't be one to cast judgment.

What I do find interesting, though, without saying that it's bad or good, is that with these bans and the ones last year, nearly all of the banned cards are unremarkable. Here, let's just list everything that was ever banned in Standard before 2017...

Amulet of Quoz
Ancient Den
Arcbound Ravager
Balance
Black Vise
Channel
Darksteel Citadel
Disciple of the Vault
Dream Halls
Earthcraft
Fluctuator
Great Furnace
Ivory Tower
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Jeweled Bird
Land Tax
Lotus Petal
Memory Jar
Mind Over Matter
Mind Twist
Rebirth
Recurring Nightmare
Seat of the Synod
Skullclamp
Stoneforge Mystic
Strip Mine
Tempest Efreet
Time Spiral
Timmerian Fiends
Tolarian Academy
Tree of Tales
Windfall
Vault of Whispers
Zuran Orb

Looking at that list and dismissing the ante cards, which don't count, just about all of these cards are noteworthy as being cards that had significant impact on formats beyond Standard. Most of them were/are banned in other formats, and the ones that weren't ended up being demonstrable powerhouses, at least in their day. The only exception, from where I'm sitting, is Fluctuator. I've written about Fluctuator a fair bit. Actually, I might have written more about Fluctuator than any other human has. The ban was, more or less, a panic-ban from the hectic circumstances caused by Urza's Saga. I maintain that it was a mistake in hindsight, but I can see why they were being aggressive about bans at the time. But the others, all of them, are what I think are famous as "good cards." Some of them are still powerful in some format, such as Lotus Petal. Others are no longer especially important, but were notorious for years, like Zuran Orb.

In contrast, these are the cards that have been banned in Standard since the start of 2017...

Aetherworks Marvel
Attune with Aether
Emrakul, the Promised End
Felidar Guardian
Rampaging Ferocidon
Ramunap Ruins
Reflector Mage
Rogue Refiner
Smuggler's Copter

It's not that they're bad. In fact, Smuggler's Copter and Reflector Mage, as niche cards, are really pretty good. But it still seems like there's a noticeable gulf between the Standard bans in the last year and the ones from the entire history of the game before that. Most of these cards are simply unremarkable.
 
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Psarketos

Guest
I play some Standard. My zero nonland permanents Approach deck kept Temur energy in check for the most part, which left interesting branchings out in the local environment to settle on Vampire tribal. Neither I nor anyone else in the group have formulated a convincing answer to the local flavor of it, and that challenge looks slightly more daunting after the latest bannings.
 
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