Mox Opal and Splinter Twin Have Been Unbanned

[@PleasantKenobi]

Don't forget that if you want to pick up Elgato gear, you can do so at this link, and it supports the show! elgato.sjv.io/EKMoVe

[@Dotesmite]

the monkeys paw curls and the best twin shell is boros energy

[@astrograph7875]

oh god.... If it actually becomes the best twin shell I'm gonna cry

[@demiurge2501]

you can double the token copies with ocelot pride lmao

[@erikedelkamp473]

@@demiurge2501 bruh…

[@danieldelmara]

Sadly yeah. As far as I know abt the current meta, with Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride, it's going to be the best place for it, and with raptor gone they have 4 slots empty, and cutting four more slots they can fit in FOMO for the infinite combo.

[@seangoldman6833]

@@danieldelmara Good news! The ring was banned too so those slots are open as well.

[@zonko]

I was google searching you 5 seconds ago trying to find if you talked about this then the notif hits lol

[@PleasantKenobi]

I gave it a day, and played some Modern first.

[@Rev3rberations]

The prophecy has come to pass. "Every few years, when the moon sits high and full in the sky, Dredge will get -a new toy- an old toy back." Welcome back, Faithless Looting.

[@thatguyintherain3168]

The bans were coming, but the unbans are so fricking surprising

[@LeifTheRogue]

“But they were all of them were deceived, for another ring was made. Deep in the land of-“

[@Kryptnyt]

"-the Elder Scrolls Universes Beyond set, a modern legal product, there was The Mundane Ring-"

[@thergonomic]

Impressive. Very nice. Let's see Birthing Pod's unban next.

[@Grumpollion]

Oh my God. The tasteful thickness of it. It even has a watermark.

[@joehemmerling6793]

I can’t believe Grumpillion likes thergonomic’s unbans more than mine.

[@jasonking3182]

You just know the Infinity gauntlet is going to make The One Ring look like JuJus Bubble in a few years!

[@LlywellynOBrien]

Or be implausibly bad. Super hyped feature cards sometimes go that way.

[@worstcyberpunkdystopia2188]

Shortly after the card came out, someone really drove it home for me when they said it was "kind of a colorless ancestral recall stapled to kind of a time walk"

[@refundreplay]

WotC saw people playing "Modern 2015", and said... "Wait wait wait... What if it was an official format, then you could give us more of your money? That sound good?"

[@tomnookyankees3761]

I remember when stoneforge first got unbanned and you immediately were about getting splinter unbanned back in 2019. Truly ahead of the curve.

[@ephyewt00]

As a Hollow Bois player, the Faithless Looting unban is hnng

[@EbonAvatar]

I knew you'd be frothing at the gash over this news!

[@PleasantKenobi]

You know me too well!

[@EbonAvatar]

@@PleasantKenobi By the by, I used that phrase in conversation with my wife once. She thought it was the grossest thing she'd ever heard in her life. Well done, mate, you coined a good one!

[@screwthisin]

I was expecting a PK video the day of the B&R announcement.

[@LlywellynOBrien]

​@@EbonAvatarI don't think PK coined that but yes it is gross, I have (unprompted) heard three different UK women explain how horrifying it is to them.

[@colinhobbs7265]

I don't think Jegantha was banned for being too good, it was banned for being too boring.

[@Hapkins-le6xf]

Banned for being too free. Majority of decks playing it didn't need to make any deck building choices, they could naturally run it so they did.

[@d.barrett578]

Ya. It is definitely because it discourages deck diversity. Not because it was too strong.

[@epochsgaming]

​@@d.barrett578not really. A lot of decks fit the requirement without even considering Jegantha. Well see if removing him causes lists to change and add double pips, but i don't think that happens much. I she this one wasn't strictly based on power but rather lack of sacrifice to get the bonus

[@d.barrett578]

@epochsgaming Right, so what I meant is that it may have killed small variations people may have made in their decks. Like certain sideboard cards not being played or certain 1 or 2 ofs that people may have experimented with that they just didn't because of the restriction not affecting the most important cards in the deck. It is the cards passive potential to further limit card diversity within a specific deck that, while not dire, just serves to make the format have less expression and experimentation.

[@epochsgaming]

@d.barrett578 well said. Also, seems accurate

[@atingley0913]

Just started the video and maybe you'll answer this in the vid, but i hope this means more Modern play content from you! Love watching you play modern! 💜

[@PleasantKenobi]

That's the plan!

[@houndoom73]

They should have put the burden counters on the player. That way you can't just reset the amount of life lost when you play the one ring. Or they could have made it say you can only have one copy of the one ring. Hell they could have even made similar to the old legend rule that if another player also plays the one ring then they are both destroyed or maybe the old one goes away. It would have been more flavorful to it being THE ONE RING

[@calebbarnhouse496]

Deck limit one, if another one ring enters the battlefield, all one rings are exiled from play and cannot be casted for the rest of the game.

[@DerekScottBland]

GSZ surprised me, seeing as the reason for banning it was "it makes us have to evaluate every green creature printed and make sure it can't be abused with GSZ, so banning GSZ is easier."

[@edwardsperring9214]

We now have Chord, Finale and Invasion of Ikoria. The days of GSZ being the best and only real tutor to field in its class are long gone so it's much safer now.

[@DerekScottBland]

@@edwardsperring9214 - GSZ costs less.

[@somethingelse1339]

0:33 That's the only Sonic quote I know!

[@nickjoseph77]

Remember when they banned the summer bloom or whatever it's called for amulet titan and almost nothing happened to their results?

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

Amulet Titan is a fine deck to have in Modern! If it's ever too good, Tron can come and beat us down!

[@TheArcv2]

I will always associate amulet bloom with that one guy who would palm unbeatable amulet bloom opening hands

[@modernminded5466]

@@LakeVermilionDreams How do you manage to lose to tron with amulet. I don't think I have ever lost a best of 3 against tron with amulet.

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

@modernminded5466 I could just be not very good with the deck. But Tron decks go bigger than Titans, and the mono blue tron has counter spells and green/red tron has artifact removal and blood moons which give me grief at my LGS. The Aftermath Analyst setup might be better than the no Aftermath list against them, and I'm expecting GSZ to be helpful with tutoring answers as well.

[@modernminded5466]

@@LakeVermilionDreams I posted without realizing that I hadn't played in like two years, so the decks may look completely different righty now. I used to be really good with amulet, but I'm talking out my ass about the current builds, so I might be dead wrong.

[@boringmonkey6958]

I'm honestly heartbroken that Boros Energy is allowed to carry on running rampant in Historic. I read an article recently about how diverse Historic is, and the article implied the meta was the most diverse meta ever seen... But all I ever seem to get is Boros Energy Boros Energy Boros Energy. PLEASE! I'm EXHAUSTED of Ajani + Goblin Bombardment. So many decks just CAN NOT deal with it!

[@thefluffymunchkin5430]

It's really nice seeing you excited about modern again!

[@Mischievous_Moth]

Ugh, as though Mox Opal wasn't expensive enough as it is...

[@kylegonewild]

If they bring it off and decide it can stay off it incentivizes them to use it to sell future packs.

[@Maker_of_manners]

The other side of the coin are people like me. Modern horizons caused me to quit modern as the format sped up and the ban had me move opals to edh or a binder. I agree that the expensive pay to play aspect is unfortunite. I want to play 93/94 and I dont own power. End the ban list and reprint expensive singles!

[@L_Zant]

I own 1. So I'll proxy 10 😊

[@Disarray-ef4rt]

Call me crazy, but I'm almost certain we're gonna see it in aether drift

[@DAsrada]

> Lord of the Rings is a well designed set. I try and tell my new playgroup this over and over. For some reason, in a group that includes Jodah the Unifier and Meren, it's SARUMAN THE WHITE HAND that's the "overpowered design mistake".

[@minerman60101]

Big creature scary... anyway on my upkeep I'll sacrifice Viridian Emissary to Smothering Abomination--get a land tapped draw a card--then I'll play Wood Elves--get a forest untapped--and then cast Primal Growth sacrificing the Wood Elves--draw a card--getting two untapped basics I'll use to cast Sakura Tribe Elder and sac it--get a land tapped, draw a card--and then Meren brings back Wood Elves on my end step--get an untapped forest--and I'll use that to sac it to Evolutionary Leap--draw a card, draw the next creature card from the top of my library.

[@DAsrada]

@@minerman60101 "What is scarier? A perpetual motion engine of continuous value...? OR ORC BONK."

[@SyntheticEvil]

Hardened Scales Affinity is back! BABY!

[@Azeria]

I was shocked when they mentioned Fear of Missing Out in the Standard part of the article, I’ve never seen it played. There’s like half a dozen better ways to fuel your graveyard in Standard alone right now and most of them aren’t in a colour you don’t want to be playing in your graveyard decks!

[@gearframe87]

It's nice to know some of the Formats most powerful decks will be back, and some of them will be almost playable against post 2019 MTG.

[@olipod5470]

Just as I’ve been searching if you’ve done a video about it, how convenient

[@Zetimenvec]

I'm gonna see if I can put back together my lantern top deck. Maybe I'll actually start playing magic again.

[@storeblaa]

Were soooooo back , looove it so much ive already loved modern, but it is way more fun when everyone is happy!

[@WorldofSoupS]

I like their idea of diverifying the top card pool by adding classic powerhouses

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

A 3/x First Striker blocks infinite FOMOs all day long!! Now if only there was one for 2 generic mana.... Lol idc if Twin sucks, I'm loving that it's back!!

[@IronMiridian]

Check out Porcelain Legionnaire! A measly 2 life for exactly what you're looking for!

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

@@IronMiridian ... Yes, that's the reference I made here.

[@richy6177]

Looking forward to seeing some games and how this develops. I'd be happy to see the 'classics' thrive for a while.

[@Citinited]

twin for last place in all future modern FNMs!

[@seandun7083]

Would love to see Simian Spirit Guide and Deathrite Shaman. It's always seemed weird to me that they were all about removing fast mana and then just decided that Eldrazi/Tron still gets to have some with Ugin's Labyrinth, and now artifact decks get some with Mox Opal. These days there are worse things than T1 Chalice of the Void. I don't get why Deathrite should remain banned when Ragavan is allowed. Both are off color conditional mana dorks that give 3 total stats and have 2 other abilities. Both are banned in legacy, but I think at this point neither is an issue in the current card pool. The extra toughness also helps bring back mana dork decks that have been shredded to bits due to Bowmasters, W&6, Goblin Bombardment, Yawgmoth, Fury, etc over the past few years and it gives an interesting choice when compared to delighted halfling while also helping to reign in Faithless Looting if it ends up being too strong.

[@Jack-o-lantern-92]

Deathrite is much stronger than ragavan, but it could likely come back

[@brandtthebrent7227]

I'm super excited about the Vexing Bauble ban in legacy, because it means I can actually run my budget Mississippi River list and then lose to hate in game 2 and 3 instead of game 1. I'm also really excited to see Mox Opal unbanned in modern as it was present in many of my favorite lists, and I'm excited to see what non-Urza artifact lists it can find a home in. I'm most hoping it gives Lantern Control a chance to stand back up again, but I fear the horizons sets (and honestly over five years of power creep) have probably done too much damage to the speed of the format and the power of threats to make that kind of list viable in general.

[@ecpracticesquad4674]

I am super excited for the unbanning of opal and looting, two of my personal favorites. However, I do think, both, looting and opal are the most likely to break the format, again, and be re-banned in the future.

[@NeverDauntedRadioNetwork]

Lantern Control will draw the appropriate amount of tears.

[@nickjoseph77]

Mox Opal was crazy. Faithless Looting was mad. Splinter Twin is probably fine. I totally missed the Green Sun but that's neat. I still wish One Ring was the first restricted to one of card in modern but I can totally respect actual modern players not wanting anyone top decking their one of copy and making people table flip.

[@johngibbons2646]

Tron/karn decks would be the best ring deck cause you could always just tutor it up

[@carsonbos472]

That one ring idea is horrible. No offense, but that was the worst option for gameplay

[@scottmacwatters]

I think Static Prison needs the ban between the two. Sun Cleanser is great hate against most of energy EXCEPT static prison handles it for 1 mana. Discharge can’t remove cleanser. Make people go down on their energy synergy. Prison outside of energy is also get rid of anything for 2 turns. 2 turns in modern is amazing.

[@kaylee42900]

With how much modern has been changed, it's probably worth re-investigating twin with green for Krasis or white for village bell ringer. A big impact rn is that bowmasters is everywhere and matches up way too well with pestermite which impacts the ability to be pure UR. Both of those shells weren't better than pure UR but who knows now.

[@vincentkuijpers9219]

should wizzards reprint all the the cars they unban?

[@ecoKady]

That flashback to 29 year baby PleasantKenobi was adorable. He is soooo cute!

[@PleasantKenobi]

I'm thinking of doing a full reaction to that video. Self absorbed, I know. Also, I was 27 there!

[@TheForeverRanger]

I think a simple fix would have tied the burden counters to the player rather than the card. Would have limited the stacking of The One Ring.

[@MrPiotrV]

but, other than companions, they _never_ errata stuff, and for good reason. once cards have been printed, the text is fixed and there's no changing that. erratas make the game very strange since what's written on the card is not what the card does.

[@dougfile6644]

I don't play modern so I shouldn't get a vote anyway, but thematically I'd have loved to see it restricted to 1 copy

[@langstoncoates1636]

I'm patiently awaiting the next installment of DBZ bees combo deck with green sun's zenith :D

[@romanusvir]

Mox Opal bringing back lantern players like they're The Undertaker

[@collardcow4183]

10:40 Kappa Cannoneer was actually a card born of commander precons, and was later brought to modern via a horizons set, but the card wasn’t initially intended for modern play. Akshully 🤓

[@bloodblade487]

Excited for RDW with 4 faithless looting, 4 swiftspear, 4 slickshot, 4 monstrous rage, then all lightning bolt effects

[@drmajalis1583]

I'm worried that these unbans will just result in Ruby Storm being the new meta defining deck

[@gannonkendrick9343]

Jegantha is FAR from a free vanilla 5/5. The ways I've seen that mana ability broken are almost too many to count. It's not 'just flavor text'. It's what makes it a good card. Cheat it in and give it haste. It's not that hard to do. Untap it with Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner. You've got WWUUBBRRGG, potentially on turn three or four. On paper, it seems extremely slow. But there's so much ramp, cheat, and graveyard shenanigans available to us that, in practice, it wins games. So no. It's not just a problem with companion. The companions that have been banned are genuinely just that good. Also, the majority of companions are available to play. Zirda, Obosh, Keruga, Lutri, Umori, Gyruda, and Kaheera are all still legal in modern, and are all certainly more powerful than a vanilla 5/5. The companions they've banned are literally just Lurrus, Yorion, and Jegantha. Actually, Jegantha is less like a free 5/5, and more like a free Chromatic Orrery.

[@michaelsparks1571]

Decks that would otherwise love GSZ but want non-green creatures with MV4-or-less already have that. It's called Lively Dirge, or what I affectionately call it "Black Green Sun's Zenith" The One Ring I think just from a flavor aspect should have been used to test a "self-Restricted" mechanic like the inverse of the "You can run any number of..." where your deck can only have one period. Call it something like Unique or Iconic or some such.

[@seandun7083]

Sure, though it's not also a mana dork

[@michaelsparks1571]

@@seandun7083 No, but you do gain the ability to resurrect a 2nd creature if they both total MV4 or less.

[@JoshOfFire]

When the original companion rule was around I floated a potential change for it to my friends, and I still think my change would've been better than the one we got. I thought they should've changed the mulligan rule so you put an extra card back if you have a companion. It would've meant build-around decks that actually want the companion's effect still get reliable access to it, but puts a real cost on it for decks running it just because. Maybe it still would've needed more, but it definitely would'vs avoided the 8th card problem.

[@freddiesimmons1394]

Not bad

[@sokas3000]

Most exciting to me personally is the Maverick style toolbox-y deck enabled by Green Sun's being unbanned. I hope if Amulet gets too strong they don't re-ban GSZ and just hit something specifically played in Amulet. Toolbox decks are really cool and I'm a big fan of them and I hope it's good enough to see a good amount of play.

[@KeeganMcKinney]

I loved Modern from the 2010s and I'm sooo glad it's back! 😁

[@Hapkins-le6xf]

Yorian is in pioneer. It's not a free card like jegantha though. Rakdos played jegantha because they could, no deck building choices were needed naturally. Yorian requires choices to be made and the deck needs to actually want yorian for it to be worth it. Niv to light and enigmatic use yorian, people have tried control yorian but it doesn't work well. I'd be fine with banning yorian, but I don't think it's a problem and the decks using it a pretty unique and neat.

[@d.barrett578]

My argument from this unban is that Green Sun might still end up being too strong. Not saying this is a sure thing, but out of everything unbanned it seems to have the most potential to be broken. We will definitely give it a few months for the meta to settle. But I will be unsurprised if it's too good.

[@martonlerant5672]

Man, don't you recall summer bloom ban?

[@Pimpulus]

are we sure that sonic said that?

[@NarrativeStudies]

The universe and planet have been saved

[@DaWasabiHD]

Im ready to lose with my Rootwallas and my Faithless Looting alongside Lilly of the Veil.

[@ctomsky]

Love me some Twinter Splin

[@EmperorNapoleon1815]

Time to Twin!!

[@nickyerick3454]

Pod and GSZ in the same deck would be quite nutty, not sure we’d see both off the banlist

[@whitehawkomega]

Kahiera is the only companion I ever really played, and that was in a cat deck.

[@nosrin1988]

too little too late to be honest. I doubt they'll have any real impact given all the power creep. There are some who think they just need to remove the horizon sets, and other non-standard sets, for a start. Me, I dunno, never got into modern, no chain lightning or price of progress. :(

[@McLelland91]

Was funny to see the price spike on Mox Opal on TCG Player on the 12-14th weekend.

[@screwthisnaming]

would you share the maverick list? :) i hope the twin list that wins out is temur, but it pribably will be jeskai stoneblade or something

[@Tsunamiis]

I Feel like twin is just like an energy version of the old felidar blink shell with walkers and one combo wincon

[@Alikaakui808]

I was kind of hoping for the bracket system to be announced.

[@Khaldryn]

I am going to use this in my next campaign. Great system.

[@thenotoriouspie]

cherri0s is going to become the next protector of the format istg

[@AJHaydenTV]

I'm not unhappy about any of the changes made; however, I wish they had hit Phlage. It's too hard to interact without a bunch of exile effects, and when you can't exile it, it's crazy powerful.

[@kartoffelnpommesgut]

Well, finally, I can play dredge again.

[@corey397]

I'm actually excited to build for modern now. Actually play Hollow One again. Wanted to play it but it was just play the ring or lose. Wasn't fun.

[@wehpudicabok6598]

I feel like it's only a matter of time before they have to ban Looting again. It was *ubiquitous* back in 2019.

[@syndicate5357]

We're back!

[@DaniDoyle]

i first started playing magic a month before the twin ban. makes me feel old....

[@refundreplay]

Imagine playing when Ice Age was a new set. 🥲

[@OniXraxis]

Bought a Foil Mox Opal last month... turns out I made a good decision to not wait til the new year. lol.

[@LaBlueSkuld]

Kinda wish I bought the set of Mox Opals when I had been thinking about it. Oh well. I'll still build Mardu Pyromancer or Izzet Phoenix at the very least.

[@cannibalskitchen8421]

I kinda wanna see hogaak bridge vine vs boros energy.

[@dashkatae]

Twin probably main decks Vexing Bauble to help combat free spells and plays a control shell with it. Vexing Bauble against Mox Opal is kinda funny as well.

[@maclenag91]

JUND delirium is a big modern deck that's gonna want faithless looting . Twin is back baby!!!!

[@cerilious]

If guide of souls is the only thing holding together the architype is it really a good archetype?

[@PleasantKenobi]

Depends what you mean by good. If you mean winning games, then yes. It is. 🤣

[@atlys258]

TWIN IS BACK BABY!!!

[@narvuntien]

The cost of the one ring was keeping me out of modern, I am going to have to assess where my deck is at once the dust settles. But with faithless looting unbanned I can just convert my Pioneer arclight deck for modern when a tournament comes up

[@carsonbos472]

FINALLY, someone that realizes all companions should only be playable in legacy/vintage.

[@zakskiver]

They need to unbanned deathrite shamen. I feel like it would be perfectly fine.

[@edwardsperring9214]

Shaman is an insanely good card, it slots into a lot of decks, and it enables a lot of the Modern Horizons stuff. It also enables the 4-5c soup decks super hard. We don't want the return of decks like Omnath with just a pile of broke Modern Horizons mythics and that is what DRS does.

[@zakskiver]

@@edwardsperring9214 I think feel like it would be fine in modern. it's a whole different format than it was back when the card was legal. I think it can make some decks more powerful, but I see no harm in it ever coming back.

[@astrograph7875]

16:08 but it just looks so damn COOLLLLLLLLLL

[@Bobalini1]

4:00 To clarify, companion was another clear attempt from WotC to steal the commander format or otherwise test very obvious "for commander" style mechanics while failing to understand that EDH first and foremost power limit is player intention.

[@PleasantKenobi]

Not quite. I think it was definitely a clear attempt to emulate Commander's mechanics for 1v1 gameplay. I dont think it was trying to steal a format, imo.

[@Dimitar_Tsanev]

The less commander pollutes this otherwise good game, the better.

[@richardsmith9615]

Still have no idea why not just restrict the One Ring.

[@insekki]

Twin should never have been banned. Glad it's finally free. Might reinvigorate my love of the game which has been waning for years. Ill be sleeving up twin forever no matter if the deck is good or not. One of my fave decks of all time.

[@dogeparut]

Trust me they don't need to ban the other companions in modern. They are hard to build around

[@Rabid_Wombat]

Ban something busted and unban something even more busted. Business as usual.

[@alfyb4512]

Call me back when Birthing Pod gets unbanned. I loved that deck, paid a fortune to pimp it up and was gutted when they took it away. It felt worst because it clearly wasn’t that strong (but I did get the argument of the impact on future designs. But you know what? Maybe they would have been more careful with said designs if pod had been around 😂)

[@Russian_engineer_bmstu]

I'm pretty sure pod now can go do a chain and grab archon of cruelty Not pretty pog tbh

[@Maker_of_manners]

Green suns will be good for human toolbox architypes

[@thisusernamedoesntmatter]

Honestly, couldn’t a lot of its brokenness have been fixed if it had literally said on the card “A deck may only contain one copy of The One Ring”?

[@tomcadden8054]

Do we think The One Ring would get banned if it had the flavorful line of text "A deck may only play 1 copy of The One Ring"?

[@brettwalker8694]

Unban simian spirit guide!

[@seandun7083]

Yeah. Axing that while saying "we don't want fast mana in modern" then printing Ugin's Laberinth was rude. If they are giving us back Mox Opal, then they should free the monkey.

[@korsvisscher4898]

If Phoenix is a real deck again, I might, might get back into modern

[@chaoticjexak]

this list kind of makes me wanna play modern, mostly becuase a few people i know are very salty about one ring bans.

[@trancet]

Fuck yeah, Maverick

[@dragade101]

Could you talk more about why you dont like companions. Is there a world that sets sprinkle in a companion here and a companion there so new decks could exist. The floor is someone will play a fringe design. The ceiling, you wouldnt see so many Jegantha decks (before it being de-elk'd)

[@PleasantKenobi]

The ceiling is you break a format. I've done a few videos on "the most broken mechanics ever" have a search for them. Companion is easily top 3, maybe even number 1.