You've misinterpreted his words. It has set a precedent of the archetype being allowed to be good again for an extended time, not that it can be good again. After all, they **** up and make these cards don't they?

Bant midrange/tempo is great with these two. Don't think the deck is getting much support from AER though.

I don't see that, even watching streamers online. Copter is way above curve, but even when I play against aggro decks it isn't all that. IF we had 4 of them, it would be pretty bad, but with some of the tools we have coming in Aether Revolt it shouldn't be too bad.

I'm wondering if the format will slow down due to the threat of some of these cards or if it will still be as aggro-oriented. I'm kind of hoping for keeping the fasts format, as it makes it easier to plan for when deckbuilding.

Sure, but that's exactly why you can't read too much into it. It's possible that they will never make Control good again (highly unlikely), but using the Mage ban as an indication of that doesn't make sense.

So we all agree that tourneys should have sideboards now, right?

To include Negate?

No because then my mechanised production deck stands no chance.

Well, since I can't maindeck it...

Oh yeah, sideboards are the reason your Mechanized Production deck stands no chance.

I don't want control to be gone.. I just want counter spell based control to die in hell. With kill spell based control, at least you get your ETBs, a chance to swing with haste, or something like Devil's Playground doesn't fall to a two mana Negate. Ditto for a six mana Sorin going down to a Negate. If you wanna pay 3 life and a card to exile it.. fine. Ramp me one mana with an enchantment.. fine. But at least I still got the chance to access the loyalty for a desired effect one time. Counters chit all over that.. they don't allow the other player ANY interaction. So.. because of their extremely unfun nature, and being incredibly economical for what they remove (except against low curve aggro).. yes.. I want them to die in fire. I'm glad Wizards wants to crusade against the frustrating and unfun.

I am EXTREMELY happy that we didn't get Negate. That said.. the Reflector Mage ban doesn't make much sense to me. If you really want to take Azorious Flash down a peg.. Spell Queller is the card I'd go after.

Lol

@Beast: I suggest copy/pasting that in an email to R&D, they seem to be listening atm

They couldn't ban Queller because that's what was keeping Marvel in check, and they were probably too afraid of Marvel even without Emrakul.

So surely ban Marvel? This is what I'm not getting, it allows cast triggers. So when they print something in the ballpark of Emrakul power with this still in standard...I dunno, it really feels like that is limiting the design space more than her.

Marvel is not the problem because cast triggers aren't common outside of the Eldrazi, and Emrakul herself is a problem (BG Delirium was the top dog of Standard largely because of her). Without Emrakul, Marvel is fine. It's a deck they want in the format because there are people that like it, but it can't be a top contender because it's not healthy for the format.

Here's the thing: Emrakul is a problematic card. It's unfun and too powerful. Denying that is part of the problem. I'm glad Wizards noticed that.

Rarity restrictions don't mean T2 Thopter is less swingy than it is as a 4-of, it just means you'll see T2 Thopter roughly half as often and if you kill it, it's roughly half as likely to be immediately replaced. The games it shows up in are still annoying though.

It does seem odd to bring in the ban in particular for SC before AED has had a chance to show it has answers, to be fair there were a few good answers to copter, at least in duels. Emrakul I get but is it because she was proving too easy to consistently cast out but mainly due to Marvel. That and the players turn ability were probably in hindsight ill thought out by R&D.

There are still no good answers for Marvel. They needed to print pything needle (would nerf marvel, copter and gideon). But in the end Emrakul was just too powerfull, a 6-7 mana 13/13 mindslaver that often shows up on turn 4 is just unfun.

I don't think we see bans on Copter or Reflector in Duels.

To be honest I don't understand why Reflector got banned in paper, but I haven't followed paper in a while. It's a good card in Duels, but not close to broken. I can think of a dozen cards that make me sweat more when I see them.

Copter is kept in check a bit by rarity restrictions. It's annoying to face it on curve, but not gamebreaking - and it's fairly rare to see a second one played after you've dealt with the first. Plus I suspect the new 3/5 flying lifelink energy vehicle will help deal with the on-curve choppers...

That's not exactly fair. You can interact with the counter by countering their counter. Also counterspells are notoriously weak if the opponent has already resolved a threat. Something like a Sylvan Advocate resolved before 3-mana counterspells come online for example can plink away for 2 damage a turn and eventually 4 or more (thanks to manlands). Eventually he has to tap his mana to remove the Sylvan Advocate, and then you can stick a different threat. There are also several spells that are either not worth countering (e.g. Elvish Visionary), do something even if countered (e.g. Ulamog) or even flat out cannot be countered (e.g. Gaea's Revenge). Counterspell-based control isn't anywhere close to unbeatable right now if teched appropriately against it, indicating it's not broken.

I think counterspells are good because they allow you to protect a winning position without committing more to the board. This is in stark contrast to Hearthstone, where the only option you have is to play something that survives the possible sweeper.