Hi all! Hope everyone is excited with all the new Gatecrash cards out. If you're not building new decks and testing new ideas, then WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GET TO IT!
But before you do that, I wanted to discuss the recent bannings for the Modern format (effective as of Feb 1, 2013). Modern season is on its way and Modern Masters is coming this summer so I think we should all start thinking about this format to prepare for major events coming down the pipeline. 2 new cards have been added to the banlist and the one I want to focus on today is Bloodbraid Elf and the deck that ran it, Jund.
Jund refers to the Shard from the Shards of Alara block consisting of green, red, and black cards. Decks that run these 3 colors are thus referred to as Jund. These decks have been known for their strong resilience and flexibility in multiple situations but also their brute power to beat down opponent (red for removal, black for control, green for power). It's no wonder this has been such a popular (dominating?) deck in Modern and Standard. So I don't blame Wizards for banning a card in hopes of slowing it down a bit.
Bloodbraid Elf, while nice to have a 3/2 haste for 4, was best known for its Cascade effect. For anyone unaware with Cascade, once you play the card, you may exile cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card that costs less and cast it for free. The other exiled cards then go to the bottom of your library in any order. Pretty good right? Cascade into anything you need as all other cards in the deck cost less. Cast, for free, removal spells to establish board dominance. Get your Liliana out for hand control to grow your Tarmogoyf. Bloodbraid Elf definitely was a card that would get the engine going for Jund decks. Does it completely shutdown this deck with its banning? No, I don't think so. Jund still has all the other tools its always had to deal with any situation. BBE just made it that much faster for the deck to win.
Should we worry that another deck will sweep in and become uncontrollable? Will a deck that's way too fast and aggressive run unchecked? I hope not but I'm sure the folks at Wizards have playtested this decision thoroughly what with Modern season ahead of us.
And hey, for those of you that haven't been keeping up with Modern cards. Removal of BBE has nerfed Jund just enough where other decks are getting a chance to shine. Take a look at UrzaTron decks. Karn Liberated has jumped in price quite a bit to $35.00. Oh sorry. When I said jumped, I mean SKYROCKETED. Going from a $15-$20 card to $35 almost overnight!
I'm excited for the changes. I'm particularly excited because it feels like Wizards is looking to the future and planning ahead to make this format extremely balanced and diverse.
No comments:
Post a Comment