"Free" to Cast Cards - Explaining All Banned Cards in Modern [Part 2]

[@OverlyCriticalAnime]

Metal misstep also can be played with decks that dont even run blue. Phyrexian mana is broken in general. Two cards that have it are in this list.

[@ltjgambrose]

That's one of the most underrated parts of Phyrexian mana. Being able to play Slash Panther in WG or Apostle's Blessing in Mono-R can be its own kind of back breaking, just for color pie reasons.

[@GreatgoatonFire]

For sure that is a big part of why Phyrexian mana is so damn powerful

[@fwg1994]

Yeah, if I could redesign Phyrexian mana, I'd probably see it replacing the generic costs of a spell, rather than the colored costs. For starters, that almost completely excludes it from allowing free spells, but also prevents it from breaking the color pie. Making a 1u spell cost u and 2 life is a lot weaker than making it cost 1 and 2 life. Just that and then not deciding to make any colorless spells that can become free goes a long way in limiting how broken this ability can be. The other thing would be to look for effects people price out to being worth half a mana. For example, looking at an unconditional counter. That effect is too strong with Counterspell costing uu, but too weak with Cancel costing 1uu, so its estimated an unconditional counterspell would be fairly costed a 2.5 mana. So having an unconditional counterspell priced at 2 blue mana and a phyrexian mana would be pretty fair. 2 life is a pretty non-trivial cost, but it's not nothing, and that helps push the effect up to be more fairly costed.

[@thorin1045]

yep, it gives general counter to other colors with the life cost, and that is insanely broken.

[@BerniPro]

or just have a clause for phyrexian mana that you need a basic land type of that color to be able to pay the 2. that way you either need pain lands/triomes... or actually play the color. maybe that would be enough of a hindrance to warrant it not being played in other colored decks.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

The thing about blazing shoal wasn't that it amounts to a two card combo with glistener elf, allowing for a turn 2 kill, but that it does so for 0 mana, allowing you to get your turn 2 kill with countermagic up.

[@AngoDecay]

Card can still be unbanned. Infect wouldnt run it.

[@Mirvana]

Don't underestimate just how much "enters the battlefield tapped" can nerf a card. Among other outside factors, that single line of text is the only difference between a cycle of $.05 cards that see no competitive play, and a cycle of $500+ ones that are format staples.

[@TheLuckySpades]

Reserve list also helps that price tag

[@Mirvana]

@@TheLuckySpades Yes, but the point still stands how big a nerf "enters tapped" actually is. The reserved list is part of those "among other outside factors".

[@williamdrum9899]

Compare Breeding Pool to any other forest island that always enters tapped. Similar deal.

[@ExeloMinish]

There's something really funny about half the Magic banlist being effectively made of Yugioh cards. So much stuff that dodges the mana system.

[@dianauwu1312]

You'd think, at this, rate, there'd be a big poster in the middle of Wizards RnD that's just says NO FREE CASTING

[@TheSeventhChild]

The discussion around Misstep made me think of YGO Hand trap meta.

[@josephwodarczyk977]

That's actually a really good comparison!!

[@jessicalundholm2773]

I love Mental Misstep. Not for what the card does but the flavour text is one of my favourites

[@ewancampbell7857]

it should be unbanned and then printed at uncommon in the next modern set

[@DiscoCokkroach]

Yeah, that flavor text just screams, "I am an awesome line of MTG flavor text," similar to Last Word and Raging Goblin.

[@crondog]

Misstep made Legacy so miserable for a while. The fact that every deck could run it and that Misstep was by far the best counterplay for Misstep meant that you had decks like Goblins, Elves, and Death and Taxes packing a playset. I think even costing 2 Physician blue would go a long way to balancing it. Countering itself is such a big part of why it warps formats so badly.

[@raindrainxi]

I remember this vividly. When it was spoiled everybody was bracing to add it immediately to their decklists proactively, as they knew it would target their pieces. Phyrexian mana, along with the companion mechanic, is really one of the biggest mechanic blunders WOTC came up with.

[@williamdrum9899]

@@raindrainxi Funnily enough I think they got Phyrexian Mana right this time. None of the new designs let you pay the entire colored mana cost with life.

[@TacticalOmelette]

With Gitaxian Probe, there's also the interaction it has with Death's Shadow decks, where dropping your life total as quickly as possible is actually a positive, because it just makes your Shadow's bigger and bigger. With minimal effort, you could -Probe the opponent to check their hand -Put a shock land into play untapped -And case a Thoughtsieze, dropping your life total to 14. And this is all while your opponent is still assembling their win con

[@vxicepickxv]

Fetch your untapped shockland to get to 13.

[@gilliganallmighty3]

You skipped using the fetch to get the shock, bring you to 13.

[@peterpeterson4800]

With a fetch land, you get to 13. And that's all while your enemy hasn't even played his first land if you are on the play.

[@TacticalOmelette]

@@gilliganallmighty3 Right! Haven't played Modern in a hot minute, and I typically stick to budget decks that don't use fetch lands

[@DotHacker99]

I remember Death Shadow in Su*cide Zoo was the big reason why git probe got banned. It made it super consistent and the fact it added a free card to the yard for Become Immense pushed it over the edge

[@GumballMachinery]

Infect has actually been struggling in the format for a while now, despite having multiple ways to win on turn 2. The main thing holding it back is the amount of efficient removal the format has now (e.g. Fury, Solitude, Unholy Heat, etc.) While Shoal does pump your creatures, it doesn't actually protect them.

[@EbonAvatar]

How can you log the mana if it doesn't cost any mana?

[@Atmapalazzo]

Back in my day we had to convert the mana in order to log it. Gosh darn kids don't know what's what anymore. Lol

[@thatguyinthecorner4648]

Carefully

[@Shambles95]

The future is now old man

[@bencrandall-malcolm8303]

Gitaxian probe is also great in combo decks because if you play it at 4 copies, you're effectively just running a 56-card deck, making it more likely that you draw into your combo pieces. I really don't know how anyone thought that card would be ok

[@fernandobanda5734]

It's not the only "I'm playing a 56-card deck" card though. Street Wraith does the same, and the Baubles make you wait half a turn for the draw instead of paying life.

[@bunnyben5607]

Not to mention fetches essentially remove a card from your deck. Course you can only play one fetch a turn and it doesn't let you look at their hand and it doesn't get a card in your hand. It wasn't mentioned but Gitaxian probe has something which sets itself apart immediately from all the other "free cards" and that storm count. You can play it and it gives you another spell for grapeshot while also replacing itself. Street wraith replaces itself but it's not cast, while mishra's bauble adds to your storm count, but doesn't replace itself until after that turn's storm count has ended. It essentially says that storm decks can do an extra 4 damage when they go off, which might not sound like much, but it was practically completely free so there was no tradeoff to doing it. WOTC actually really hates storm because it supposedly has the same problem as splinter twin: your opponent can be beating you for the first 3 turns, then on turn 4 you can just straight up win without any warning or precedent. EDIT: manamorphose is a free card technically, but it doesn't offer the same utility as probe and requires mana to initially cast, meaning that you either have to leave mana open or be mid storm and just cast one of your rituals. Also I should add that probe was supposedly problematic with past in flames, it allowed you to reuse the completely free draw ability, meaning that you can get positive card draw from it as well, so it's even better than replacing itself. Street wraith and bauble don't combo with past in flames. The probe ban only sits below seething song as wizard's biggest fu to storm.

[@God-ch8lq]

@@fernandobanda5734 street wraith doesnt give u hand knowledge, and baubles are too slow for combo decks who wqnt card draw now i use street wraith in my legacy yorion piles to increase consistency

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@God-ch8lq I'm not saying Street Wraith is better, I'm just saying "draw a card for free" wasn't completely unprecedented.

[@God-ch8lq]

@@fernandobanda5734 i know

[@MrLoveless90210]

For Mox Opal, I would add, "Use this mana to only cast artifacts or activate abilities of artifacts." May end up fixing it, though I'm not entirely sure it will.

[@bryndayy]

You could also have it make colorless instead of any color. Would be a lot worse, maybe enough?

[@williamdrum9899]

The real nasty thing about opal is if you have more than one. They basically become simian spirit guides at that point

[@eliotoole4534]

For Once apon a time perhaps making you pay it’s mana cost in a few turns rather than never might help

[@williamdrum9899]

Or make it so that whatever land you play this turn doesn't untap next turn if you tapped it for mana this turn.

[@TacticalOmelette]

"Wizards doesn't like it when cards get too homogeneous in a format" *Insert Modern Horizon's 2 Ragavahn, Elementals, Urza's Saga, etc.*

[@peterpeterson4800]

Totally agree.

[@God-ch8lq]

me: laughs in vintage srsly, the last time a new deck was vintage playable was when kaladesh added PO

[@peterpeterson4800]

@@God-ch8lq what is PO?

[@God-ch8lq]

@@peterpeterson4800 paradoxical outcome this deck can consistently win on turn 1 and it goes like this: play a bunch of fast mana rocks, float all the mana, use 4 mana to cast PO bouncing all of them and drawing that much cards, then replay all of em, as well as any more mana rocks you drew into, eventually win via tinker after drawing a bajilion cards and making a bajilion mana

[@GlichCentral]

Once Upon a Time is also noteworthy in that it boosts specific decks like Tron, Primeval Titan, and Urza’s Saga decks, which are all already top tier and would have even more consistent nut draws with said card.

[@williamdrum9899]

It really needed to make it so you had to give up something to play it. Like if lands you control enter the battlefield tapped this turn.

[@robertphillips7943]

I'm so happy you started making MtG content, I love your Yu-Gi-Oh videos but have more of a love for Magic as a game, thank you so much for all the hard work you do and making such good videos!

[@seliphsnom2596]

Biggest thing I remember about probe is it's essentially a free spell that gives you information on what your opponents playing and cantrips which in a format like modern is really good

[@williamdrum9899]

It's like playing a 56 card deck

[@paragondeku1225]

Hey, just wanted to say you're one of my newest favorite magic content creators and I'm glad there's some good content coming out for Modern format related topics (:

[@Vearru]

Mental misstep would probably be fair if it cost 4-5 phyrexian mana. It would still be “free” but you can only really ever use one in a game, and it accelerates the clock against you by a very large margin.

[@ICABAS1C]

love these vids as a yugioh player, i feel like i understand nothing lol, but thats the fun part to me

[@Folfire]

I watched TDL YGO vids without playing the game. When I jumped into MD, I only picked a deck based on the times TDL had said something was broken. Hence TriZoo

[@God-ch8lq]

mtg is super straightforward, whatever the card says is what it does, (except companions, who had to be errata'd)

[@hurnn1543]

There was a standard or extended event that had 128 missteps being played in the top 32 decks. Pretty much the reason it got prebanned in modern.

[@gabrote42]

Love everything. Especially the editing and the legality text. But also your narration!

[@raindrainxi]

He sounds like CGP Grey.

[@L0wallyn]

@@raindrainxi or hirumaredx

[@zeke7076]

The Mox artifacts are pretty much just extra basic lands you can play as many of as you can draw, needless to say they are a bit broken at a base concept level

[@SomeGuy712x]

(5:48) Whoops, Scale Up makes a creature become 6/4, not 6/5.

[@jeanpierrepolnareff2356]

I feel like if you gave Mox opal cumulative upkeep it would make it more balanced because you mana positive positive at first but the longer you keep it out the more of a liability it is so it would function a lot closer to a Lotus pedal than to a mocks while still keeping its design intact

[@williamdrum9899]

That and you should only be able to cast one opal a turn.

[@corey397]

So, this list is outstanding. It goes over the proper reason for everything Modern Banned. Mental misstep, Git Probe, OUaT (Once Upon a Time), and Mox Opal are completely honest bans. Misstep, and Probe are banned in Legacy. That's a MUCH STRONGER format for those who don't know. Hearing about Probe, Ragavan, Oko Thief of Crowns, and Misstep being banned over all this time is just understandable. They are FORMAT warping power houses. Misstep is limited to a single copy in Vintage (Unhinged turn 1 wins at times) where all of the most powerful cards are legal. Probe being able to give you free information turn 1 before a land drop is just to much even for a legacy player. Chrome Mox being banned is a simple thing. If a mana rock gets banned in anyway, shape, or for. Just think this. Free Mana for Faster Plays. If this phrase confuses you. I'll explain here -- If I can turn 1 win. There's There's issue. There needs to be a balance. If I can dump my hand, draw my library, or do anything that you cannot interact with. The format is not longer aggro, it's warped and beyond broken. Can try to argue these, but I've played much more legacy, and I like to see these opened to legacy (minus Ragavan, and Oko). Balance is needed. And can we all agree that Phyrexian Mana was a mistake (but an okay one with a few cards like Metamorph). Love the videos man. Keep it up.

[@crondog]

The other thing about Blazing Shoal is that you could tutor it with Muddle the Mixture. Once you were on the Muddle train you could tutor for your threat in Blighted Agent or free interaction in Snapback or Disrupting Shoal. That said, back then you could play Preordain, Ponder, and Probe and IIRC those were the main culprits of the deck's consistency, not the Muddle package. ETA: Personally I think unbanning Shoal could be interesting. Infect isn't much of a player in the meta and a combo focused version might play better. And I think Force of Negation really checks how dominant spell based combos can be these days.

[@NoName-yd9fi]

A good way to fix Phyrexian mana is to errata the entire mechanic so that it requires you to control a land with a basic land type of that color (so you need to be playing blue to play these blue cards even if they are free).

[@tcoren1]

Or make it so you still need to pay the mana but paying the life gets you a refund

[@fernandobanda5734]

No, that would be terrible. Part of the idea of phyrexian mana was to blur the line between colored and artifact (colorless) cards and get off-color effects. Plus, you'd need very specific lands to play them, and that just makes shocklands better and better compared to other dual lands.

[@anannoyedpanda]

@@fernandobanda5734 Regarding shock lands they are already the best. I think his solution is half decent.

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@anannoyedpanda Yes. And making more cards care about basic land types just widens the gap more and more in a really bad way.

[@VVheeli]

Phyrexian mana is just inherently too flawed. Basic land is one thing, but you already had issues with Misstep and Probe, and it would just make blue even stronger than before. And the green phyrexian pump spell being essentially free infect in decks that already are pretty green focused would do nothing to curb it either. Also Birthing Pod is just… messed up. The only thing that would really do is make blue and green better, push shock lands’ prices higher, and still not nerf 90% of the strategies those cards are used in. Best you could really do is make Surgical Extraction less splashable and make all non-blue colors worse.

[@WangerZ3291]

I have an idea that will fix once upon a time - add a clause stating that if it's the first spell, scry 1 (look at the top card, then put it on top or bottom. Being able to dig that deep for 0 mana shouldn't be allowed. Interesting fact - throne of eldraine is the set where people started meme-ing that green is the best color in all of magic

[@ashortcut_cutshort2275]

I don't know about that being a fact. Green had been getting memed on for huge mana ramp and creatures (carnage tyrant and the like) and especially egregious color pie brakes (i. e. Veil of summer) for years before that. But Throne was a ridiculously high powered set that really messed with game balance so it was where things came to a head... and then continued for the better part of a year with cards like Uro and 4c Omnath

[@WangerZ3291]

@@ashortcut_cutshort2275 green before eldraine was in a reasonable place. Post eldraine made me hate the color so much that I refuse to build anything green. Why can green make treasures? Idk, because green is capable of making any color of mana. But it's an arti - nope, because it's within green's color pie to make colored mana

[@williamdrum9899]

You sure? Green was the best color in magic long before that

[@WangerZ3291]

@William Drum regardless of "when", it doesn't change the fact that green is still bonkers

[@gmradio2436]

Can we get a list featuring UN cards? P.S.A. If your opponent puts gloves on before the game starts, DO NOT TOUCH THEIR DECK. There is a good chance there is 1 or more Vile Biles in it. Vile Bile states that if someone touches the card with skin nail, or hair; they lose 2 life. Vile Bile can also turn Magic in to a game of tag. This all applies to casual games.

[@williamdrum9899]

Surely it has to be on the battlefield. Right?

[@gmradio2436]

@@williamdrum9899 No. This is the power of UN cards.

[@williamdrum9899]

@@gmradio2436 You sure? I find it hard to believe that it would work in any zone. Since it doesn't specify where I assumed it was only while on the battlefield.

[@gmradio2436]

@@williamdrum9899 The UN sets are all joke cards. Not meant for any official play. They are a little more lax on their play style.

[@WillyBay]

Could Mox Opal also tap for colorless mana? That combined with entering the battlefield tapped would be card worth considering an add back into the format

[@harrisonvaldez1265]

great video very informative but 1 thing I think should be mentioned in the Once Upon A Time entry is how Wizards changed the mulligan rule a few sets before it was released originally if you decided to mulligan you just went down 1 card so if you started with 7 cards mulliganed you started with 6 and that was it then they changed to where you now also look at the top card of your deck and decide if you want it on the top or the bottom of your deck this was a small change but it just made the card even better

[@fernandobanda5734]

This is not the current rule anymore, though.

[@harrisonvaldez1265]

@@fernandobanda5734 it was when Once Upon A Time was both released and banned not that the rule was that much of a boost but the fact that it made it even better was crazy I mean they changed the rule well before Once Upon A Times release and thought it was perfectly fine

[@Dranlia]

I have never played a game of magic and most of my knowledge of cards comes from this channel and a brief look at some magic channels. So I think it says something of how obviously broken Mental Misstep is that I realized it was extremely broken before his explanation.

[@makokx7063]

Really? Because I played magic for years and didn't find it "broken" at first glance. Aside from beat-down decks not many people are holding hands of essential 1 mana cards and 2 damage is often more than what non-aggressive decks would hope to do with 1 mana cards anyway.

[@josephwodarczyk977]

@@makokx7063 that's true in casual, but not competitive. Mana costs are so low when you're going try hard that the majority of decks were able to play lurrus until it was banned.

[@Dranlia]

@@makokx7063 Well as far as I know 1 mana cards are the most common as you need stuff for your first turn and to use up any spare mana you may have after casting your bigger spells. Also 2 damage is only 10% of your total life. Not that big a deal.

[@makokx7063]

@@Dranlia Yeah, I was talking from experience of a casual, not people who are playing tournament winning meta decks. If you're playing games that only last 3 turns then of course 1 mana cards will be more than half your deck. For casuals outside of Red there are likely few 1s because a 2 is usually better than 2 1s, and a 3 better than a 2 and a 1. etc.

[@targetbuddy5]

For Mox Opal, honestly having it enter tapped would probably be good enough, yeah? The fact that it's legendary means you can't have multiple on the board to untap with, and entering tapped now means that you can't just replace one with another once you've used the first. It would do a lot to slow it down beyond just "you can't use it turn one". Opal is usually featured in fast or combo artifact decks, so it would be interesting to see how it transitions into a more traditional ramp card. Edit: honestly the more I think about this, it's still too much advantage on one card in affinity.

[@TheArcv2]

Yeah most you could do and still call it a mox would be both entering tapped and making the mana it produces colorless. OR Maybe word it like the amber mox and have it only produce mana if you have a colored artifact

[@EPC-ue2ci]

Change the legendary rule to where you cant cast legendarys if you already control one. That would be in line with the flavor of legendarys and fix alot of problems with PW's and legendary creatures like ragavan.

[@Spooky_Bard]

For mox opal, what about changing the metalcraft to require three artifacts with mana abilities? Theoretically that would require more of an investment in deck building instead of being an auto-include.

[@zirilan3398]

The only reasonable fix for Opal would be that the mana can only be used for artifact-spells. That would limit it`s uses without making it borderline unplayable.

[@sarpedon702]

I just really like your videos. Lays things out very nicely.

[@CrescentLegend]

Mox Opal fix? Untap cost: Tap 1 land card in play/Keep 1 land card tapped in play. Trade a specified Mana color for any mana color, makes it not entirely free to play. Best thing I could think of. Loving the MTG content just like everything else you put out!

[@duderuler]

My thought for fixing Mox Opal would be increasing the number of artifacts it requires, possibly to 5 or 7. I don't know anything about MTG though, as all I know about it is what I've seen in ManaLogs videos, so I cannot guarantee this would solve it.

[@arroaboy7348]

The downside is if they did that it would effect all metalcraft cards since it would include changing the text on metalcraft

[@duderuler]

@@arroaboy7348 good point

[@williamdrum9899]

Wizards sees elegance and mechanical consistency as more important than balance. (Which it usually is)

[@ltjgambrose]

Re: Mox Opal It's crazy hard to "fix" moxes (which is part of why they're so rarely printed) but I'd probably start with something like what's worked for the fair lotus cards. -Suspend 1 (like Lotus Bloom) -Mana cost of (2) (like Gilded Lotus) -Mana can only be used on artifact spells (like Jeweled Lotus)

[@nanya524]

There was that Mox that suspended for a few turns. No mana cost, but at least had to be suspended.

[@leonjakobsen272]

Isn't the gilded lotus version of a mox just a manalith?

[@MonJilley]

Yeah I think the only spendable on artifacts would be good, also make it colorless, not any. Still would probably be too good at that point. Mox's are just so strong.

[@noehonegger4624]

@@leonjakobsen272 what, no, maybe im missunderstanding but firstly gilded lotus costs 5 not 2, secondly manalith costs 3 not 2 it would be a arcane signet more than a manalith and well then its not a mox and they wont make more 2 cost ramp that just adds any colour (hopefully) what works with lotus is that lotus adds 3 an insane amount of mana moxen just add one making them mana rocks that cost mana takes away their identity

[@Ms666slayer]

@@nanya524 And there was the eggs deck that actually could cheat it and use it withour suspending it.

[@mushclone298]

I think if Mox Opal didn't also color fix for you then it would be okay-ish. I honestly just hate how Wizards is just never able to make a not-broken artifact set.

[@thedude3445]

It'll certainly try again with Brothers' War!

[@williamdrum9899]

Also if you can't cast it if you already control one

[@FalloutFan011]

What about if for Opal, you had to choose a color when it came into play, and could only tap for the chosen type

[@williamdrum9899]

I think it wouldn't be enough of a nerf. Even though Mox Opal is legendary you can just play a second one in the same turn and choose a new color for it. Cheerios would choose white to get both Sram and Puresteel into play and then red for the second opal for grapeshot

[@Dodgerific]

Just wanted to say I love this series on magic and hope you keep it going

[@Tree3D]

"Mental Misstep is banned because it lets you counter things when you are tapped out.... Good thing Modern Horizons 2 came out"

[@khurgar8120]

I dont think that any fast mana should be unbanned ever since it allows for way too fast plays. However, if we were to speculate how to fix it, I would probably remove the metalcraft rule and add some affinity-esque ability such as "5, tap: Add one mana of any color. This ability cost 1 less for each artifact you control". Another solution would be to add the line "This mana can only be used to cast non-creature aftifacts" to the opals tap ability. That way you would keep the theme of it being an artifact mox and you wouldnt be able to push out a lot of things in affinity. In hammertime you would be able to play hammers so it would probably not even be played in hammer.

[@imperialphoenix1229]

For opal you could *maybe* make it only produce colorless, but even then it's probably too good

[@MarsBarszs]

My thought was to make it not an artifact or add text along the lines "this card and lands do not count towards metalcraft"

[@imperialphoenix1229]

@@MarsBarszs That completely breaks the idea of it being a mox if it's not an artifact. And the second thing edits the text of metal craft.

[@MomirViggwilv]

14:58 "Wizards doesn't really like it when cards become too homogenous in the format" unless of course they're cards from the new set like Ragavan and all the other MH2 cards ruining the format. Then they're allowed to run rampart without any restrictions 🙃

[@pumkinswift8263]

the theory is that these make the format more based around interaction by forcing players to have turn 1 answers and providing good interactive spells, which I think is bunk, but it does at least make combo decks worse in the format

[@arsenicide3375]

if mox opal tapped for colorless and made you sacrifice an artifact on entry that might balance it out

[@tinfoilslacks3750]

Seems like a huge problem with cards that can be cast for free (even ignoring what an innate upside in and of itself that is) is that you can play cards without regard for their colour. You can play mental misstep even if your deck isn't blue. You could play once upon a time even in a deck that wasn't green (though this would incur a different deck building cost where you'd need to find a way to make it useful if it's not your first card, like pitching it). Maybe some kind of condition going forward for new releases could be something where to play a coloured card for "free" you at least need any mana of its colours even though you don't pay that mana.

[@whitenarcissu5082]

I randomly clicked on this video for listening and I thought I missclicked on a duellogs vid. Didn't knew you do mtg vid too pog

[@prodijee9615]

Making Mox Opal only tap for 1 colorless mana would "help" and be the only way I could see fixing it without fundamental changes... or maybe sac'ing like a Lotus Petal could be a thing as well, but it would still fulfill most of its duties in both cases. RIP to one of my favorite cards in Modern! I don't actively play anymore, and it was banned shortly after I sold mine... the ban still hurt me when I heard about it!

[@howlingwolfart8380]

They could probably fix mox opal by requiring the artifacts to be ones that cost at least 2 mana each. That would at least slow it down enough to ensure it doesn't just pop up with its effect right away.

[@osterpenpen9379]

For Mox Opal, it probably would be sufficiently nerfed if it came in tapped and the mana can only be spent on artifacts. It would still be powerful, but it would highly limit the utility of it.

[@Flamingcloud083]

Even colorless and tapped is probably fine. (Would still be overpowered but probably not too overpowering)

[@Knjaz_Zlogrd]

Nerf idea for Mox Opal, keeps the same effects but it gets: After it gets tapped for mana put a charge counter on it. After it gets three charge counters sacrifice Mox Opal. Would it be a bit more balanced then?

[@fenixiliusstrife1253]

Mox Opal got banned in modern because Urza's Sage was already designed, there is zero ways to have both of those cards in modern at the same time. Makes Urza Saga just become a rainbow land at worse. And between the two mox opal is clearly going to be the one banned. WoTC greed alone would require it, if you wanted to make and sell Urza's Saga in a modern set without banning it in modern, you have to ban mox opal. Also mox opal is the correct choice because any artifact strategy will always break it. Mox Opal died because of Urza's Saga, but to be honest had to die anyway. Sadly Urza's Saga is even worse and is played OUTSIDE of artifact decks, which at least was super rare with Mox Opal. I am actually tired of seeing Urza's Saga everywhere.

[@williamdrum9899]

I understand Once Upon a Time was meant to reduce mana screw but it really needed a downside. Such as "Lands you control enter tapped this turn", or it's only free if you don't go first, or you have to reveal your hand... there was just no reason NOT to play it

[@Romashka_Sov]

I think there can be better way to fix Misstep in two *steps*: it no longer costs Phyrexian mana, just 1 blue, and it counters only spells with converted mana cost 4. Then it will be incredibly good for sideboarding, because cmc 4 is also in most control and midrange decks, but it crushes against many aggro decks and some combo decks. Or maybe giving it 2 blue and it counters only cmc 3, now it becomes kind of Counterspell, but unlike Counterspell it has limited targets (as it was with cards like Negate or Annul, or Disdainful Stroke, or Ceremonious Rejection,)

[@redsaraleeroy1602]

for the mox opal making it so you have to qualify for threshold and delirium before the metalcraft would balance it better

[@zackestin1368]

long term magic player here, and for probe you missed the main deck that got it banned finally, deaths shadow. and for mox opal, just make it tap for colourless mana, itll get rid of a lot of the combo decks that ran it but keep it good in affinity style aggro decks.

[@EPC-ue2ci]

The way to fix mox opal is to do something with the legendary rule. Something along the lines of it not being able to tap for mana if mox opal was already used once this turn or you cant cast it if you already control one - that would nerf PW's and legendary creatures a bit too which would be in line with the idea of legendry's anyways. That would nerf it enough. What made mox opal really strong was being able to play several in one turn and just stack the mana. IF that were eliminated the card would be safer but I still dont believe it needed to be banned. I think Urzas Saga is gonna prove to be stronger its only a matter of time before they claim it is restricting design space like they did with Mox Opal - unless of course they have vowed to stop making 1 and 0 mana artifacts. There are many many more sideboard cards that would stop mox opal decks today. I also dont believe its that good with urzas saga, its strong no doubt, but it would be just like Jace the mind sculptor - looks better than it is. It sucks that affinity is gone it was certainly a pillar of modern.

[@breawycker]

Gitaxian Probe is also just a card that in modern there's just no reason not to play it. It's free card advantage with a really powerful effect as a bonus. If your opponent counters it, then you're not down that much and if they don't you can see they have that counter

[@williamdrum9899]

Countering a free spell is such a bad trade. It's not happening. 1 mana cards may as well be uncounterable because of that.

[@KrisRogos]

Idea to make a "fair" mox opal: - doesn't untap in your untap step - in your upkeep you may sacrifice an artifact, if you do, untap mox The other way is to limit the amount of times it can be used, e.g. have it enter with 3 counters and make removing one of them part of the cost.

[@williamdrum9899]

I think the biggest problem with Opal is that there's no limit to how many you can use in a turn. Yes, they are legendary, but there's nothing stopping you from playing all four in the same turn. When you have to bury one for the legend rule you put the tapped one in your graveyard.

[@KrisRogos]

@@williamdrum9899 Yeah that is a fair point. Though they could just make a mox that enters tapped. Or one that specifically says "You can only only cast one [this card] per turn". Of course some people would find a way to play around that and have a free untap or a way to put them into play without casting... but you only start with 7 cards and still need your 3-4 opals and a win con amongst that, so it won't be consistent enough to win T1 or T2, by which point all other decks have their ramp available.

[@benappleton1554]

Love this series ❤

[@moshladaan]

And thus we now have MINOR MISSTEP

[@ulamgexe7442]

Opal mox was for a long time my most expensive card. I remember it was worth about 80€ back when it was legal in modern.

[@EPC-ue2ci]

Scars of Mirrodin foils are at $250-$300 which is wayyy more expensive than they were when they were legal.

[@JesseCarver]

Metalcraft is the problem with Mox Opal, and the solution would be make it total Mana Value 3 instead of count 3. Fixes all the 0 mana interactions maybe makes it a cool part of actual affinity and also does something about treasure.

[@irarosenblum9062]

I thought shoal was banned because of progenitus interaction. Free 10 turn 1 with spirit guides being available at the time

[@injokerthejoker7154]

After stop playing wow i never though that i would hear hirumaredx voice agai , good to know that you are a magic player too. Just sub to the Chanel.

[@fwg1994]

Looking at how to balance Mental Misstep, there's actually a pretty clear solution by looking at other "free" counterspells. They're all tempo negative or card disadvantage. Force of Will and Force of Negation require you to exile a blue card from your hand, while Daze requires you to return an island to hand. In either case, you're down resources. So there's a few ways Misstep could be tweaked to also put you down resources. It could just require exiling another card if you pay the life so that it's card disadvantage, though that would make it significantly worse, as there are far fewer situations where a one mana spell is worth two cards out of your hand. Another way would be to give your opponent resources. Such as having them draw a card, or perhaps being a Remand effect where the spell goes back to their hand instead of to the graveyard. Just making the opponent draw a card makes it a lot less of an auto include. Even if there are a lot of targets for countering a 1 mana spell, you need to further narrow that to 1 mana spells where the average spell drawn is worse than it resolving, or situations where giving them a card is unlikely to matter. As for Mox Opal, I think it could be unbanned... if Urza's Saga gets banned. I feel Urza's Saga is in much the same position Opal was in, in that it's a borderline too good card that sees play in way too many decks to make them way too good. But, much like Opal, it's the only reason some more fringe decks in the format can be good enough to survive. When Opal got banned, Affinity just fell out of the metagame, and it came back with Urza's Saga and a new cycle of artifact lands, but its pretty much agreed that Saga is what's really propping the deck up. Additionally, a lot of the other decks after MH2 got pretty juiced up by cards other than Saga, and I don't think the decks that did run Opal would be too strong trading Saga for Opal against the current metagame. However, I think there's a safer unbanning that could prop up Affinity in a hypothetical post Saga ban modern, and that's the original artifact lands from Mirrodin. The format has increased dramatically in power since they were banned (or since the beginning, since I think they might have been on the initial ban list). Additionally, some of the cards that really abused them, like KCI have been gone for years. Not to mention, without Saga, the main deck they would see play is almost certainly going to fall out of the metagame. Unbanning this lands after that would likely bring Affinity back into relevance, but not much more than that.

[@jadedheartsz]

I think there's a simple solution to unban Mox Opal without banning Saga-just make it so that Opal only gives you colorless mana, the thing that really makes it broken is being able to get mana of any color, having it produce colorless mana makes it still useful but more niche and it also arguably fits in with the lore of the card more.

[@fwg1994]

@@jadedheartsz Honestly, I think that'd still be too strong. It'd probably be a 1 of in every deck that runs Urza's Saga, and a a 4 of in every monocolored deck that runs Saga. I've played a decent amount of decks with Saga and Opal in them, and the relevant part isn't that Opal taps for colored mana so much as it taps for mana at all and can be found off of Saga, especially because Saga can set up metalcraft all on its own. It's just a straight upgrade to Springleaf Drum in a lot of cases, as you don't need to tap down creatures to get mana. Off the top of my head Affinity, Hammertime, and Belcher would probably get a significant power boost from running a full playset of Opals with this change. Affinity isn't the strongest deck right now, so it probably wouldn't be too bad if it got a power boost. We just got out of Hammertime being unequivocally the best deck in the format back when Lurrus got banned. Belcher has been winning a lot of tournaments lately and certainly doesn't need any more help too.

[@rainbowcoloredsoapdispenser]

0 Mox Opal Artifact M Metalcraft - T: Add one mana of any color. Spend this only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.

[@turtleinvader2982]

Can't wait for the incarnations to join this list

[@hobez64]

Maybe changing what colors Mox Opal can make would be enough. Something like "Add one mana of any color to your mana pool that another artifact you control could produce" that way it keeps the metalcraft/artifact theme and makes you play something like a multi color mana rock to get it online

[@josephwodarczyk977]

That's a reasonable fix, but it doesn't feel like the same card anymore. To me anyway.

[@brainpower45]

I think your once opon a time fix is definitely not the way to go. We already have Abundant Harvest, which sees essentially no play, and has no chance to wiff. A better solution would be to adjust the number of cards seen, so that there is a real risk of seeing only non-creature spells without major deck building restrictions. Something like "look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the twice the mana spent to cast this spell plus 2." Most decks in the format run enough non-creatures that the chance of finding 2 of them off the top and discarding the once opon a time for nothing would be an unacceptable risk. The decks that ARE willing to cut non-creatures to the point that they always hit still lose significant consistency by seeing 3 fewer cards, but that might be fine for creature based combo decks which just want to churn through their decks as quickly as possible.

[@ircjesselee]

The visual of two wizards casting mental misstep against each other is funny. One wizard starts to chant an incantation and another wizard makes him stumble on his words by chanting so the wizard stumbling on his words causes the other wizard to stumble on his words so he can continue his original incantation lol

[@colaphizer2191]

Mox opal simply being a filter instead of a free mana would do it. Make it slightly stronger as tap any land so utility lands might get extra utility if making it a filter weakens it too much.

[@7Alberto7]

This serie is amazing Thank you

[@apotaz3353]

I always found it weird that mox opal add any mana tbh. I think it should add colorless and enter the battlefield tapped, it would still be very good tho.

[@throwaway7425]

Cant wait for the update of this that includes the mh2 elementals

[@Beam_on_team]

including thought monitor in the discussion around mox opal feels strange to me, considering thought monitor came out in MH2 - almost 18 months after opal was banned

[@theemathas]

Adding one mana to Mental Misstep makes it unplayably terrible, right? And similarly, Peek is unplayably bad, right?

[@melonyfbb]

idk spell snare is still good (played in murktide)

[@theemathas]

@@melonyfbb Spell Snare trades up on mana though.

[@Griever49]

for mox... maybe make it so instead of generating mana straight away by taping, maybe you have to pay 1 colorless mana and tap to generate mana of any color, that way instead of it being a mana positive card, it is a mana fixer

[@Pryhos]

Mox Opal died for the sins of Modern Horizons and the FIRE mentality they had (flashy, eternal warping power creep). Mox Opal was part of the few surviving modern archetypes that lasted since its creation. Unfortunately, we get stuck with playing Modern Horizons block.

[@MoosGoCow1]

Mental misstep - I would change it from 1 phyrexian mana to 1 blue mana in addition to paying 2 life. I think that would place it in an ok place.

[@Panda-db2jw]

For mox opal, maybe also add a life point cost? Like 2 each time it’s tapped or something?

[@williamdrum9899]

Wouldn't help

[@Living_End]

Isn’t blazing shoal banned now because the decks that would play it just be infect creatures, cantrips, and cheap tempo interaction like spell pierces. You would forgo the other pump spells and just try to assemble the 3 card combo with the most protection to kill someone on turn 2 with the most ways to protect your combo.

[@cream3148]

Maybe if mox opal produced colorless? On top of entering tapped probably.

[@Gamerfalcon]

For Mox Opal, I would maybe have it only tap for colors of mana that artifacts you control have. Granted, I’m not sure if colored artifacts existed when it was printed, but it would get around cheating the restriction with cheap artifacts since I don’t think many cheap artifacts are colored.

[@bryndayy]

They did exist, there were quite a few of them in Alara block for example.

[@williamdrum9899]

Just barely. Not nearly as many as there are now

[@MrTONDINI]

To fix Mox Opal I would have it exile a card the same way as chrome Mox would and have it etb tapped

[@itskmillz]

What about making Mox Opal only activateable if you control 6 or more artifacts? Seems like this could slow it down to make it more fair

[@vifanboy4989]

gitaxian probe can also be used as a free prowess trigger, a free life loss in death shadow alongside street wraith...phyrexian mana is broken .

[@vifanboy4989]

also it fills graveyard for delve

[@Necroskull388]

Mox Opal: Have it make only colorless mana, and give it the text "Use this mana only to X" where X is maybe "cast artifact spells," "cast creature artifacts," etc.

[@gilliganallmighty3]

Still too powerful in decks like tron.

[@tonysmith9905]

Trying to restrict a card by saying it can only work with what it already works with is...well...not a restriction.

[@christianrojas7353]

Mox opal could tap for colorless only, that would support its metal craft synergy lore wise at least, and maybe it burns you for 2 when you tap it but idk

[@jadedheartsz]

yeah that's what I was thinking, metalcraft producing colored mana feels out of place so making it colorless makes more sense and does not ruin the spirit of the card, it'll still be useful but you won't used it in damn near every deck like it was before.

[@joaquinkhourysilvestre2530]

Maybe mox opal wouldn't be so broken if it only could generate colorless mana, and not mana of any color, in addition to entering the battlefield tapped.

[@robttore2]

Maybe if the Mox only counted 2+ cost artifacts instead of one-or-two, and you have to sacrifice an artifact to gain that mana? If you can generate 0-cost artifacts easy enough could use it effectively, but it would still be much harder and have a much higher cost associated with it.

[@leftysheppey]

Probe in deaths Shadow would be disgusting. The deck uses street wraith currently and it does *nothing* apart from replacing itself

[@cassie5248]

whirza is one of my favorite deck names

[@lettucechef]

i recognize your voice, did you do world of warcraft content in the past? loved the video :)

[@joanaguayoplanell4912]

Misstep is a handtrap in a game not designed for handtraps to exist. That last one sounds like a good really stupid ban when Magic has a mulligan system to do basically the same thing without even using a card. Sure you loose 1 card from your hand if you do that, but it's almost always worth it anyway.

[@TheEmperorGulcasa]

Maybe for the Mox require a discard to play it?

[@noehonegger4624]

we kinda have that in mox opal and even more restrictive actually and no thats not enough

[@TheEmperorGulcasa]

@@noehonegger4624 I assume you meant Chrome Mox. Chrome mox is more generic and doesn't need to be in an artifact heavy deck though.

[@neroneroren6788]

MTG: We banned once upon a time to avoid an homogenous format YGO: DPEs and Adventurers for all!!

[@CaptainJLinebeck]

Just wait until you hear about Modern Horizons 2 in MTG

[@cardplayer2124]

Could you make the same argument about saga as you did about once upon a time?