These Cards Should Be Unbanned in Modern

Season 15, Episode 18: Weekly Roundup

Yorion, Sky Nomad is the latest addition to Modern’s endless ranks of the banned. There are now 48 cards in Modern jail, some of which have been there since the beginning.

Today on Faithless Brewing, the crew takes a hard look at the Modern ban list to see whether it stands up to scrutiny in the post-MH2 era. With so much power creep, many cards could likely be released back into the format safely, joining the ranks of successful unbans like Sword of the Meek, Valakut, Wild Nacatl, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

Broadly speaking, the banned cards fall into six categories.

Category 1: Gone forever. These are the best of the best, the most broken of the broko. They should be locked away until the end of time. (Example: Hogaak, Oko, Dark Depths).

Category 2: Banished for reasons other than power level. These cards are problematic for reasons other than win rate, and are therefore also gone forever. (Ex: Sensei’s Divining Top, Second Sunrise, KCI).

Category 3: Safe, but no upside. Some cards only support a single deck or combo. Even if those combos are not overpowered (and in fact some are likely quite weak), their existence would be a net negative on the format. There is no upside to ever unbanning these cards. (Ex: Blazing Shoal, Hypergenesis, Splinter Twin)

Category 4: Risky and probably not okay. These cards used to be too powerful. Today, they’d fall in the gray area. If you want to live dangerously, you could unban them, but they are likely still too strong. (Ex: Mystic Sanctuary, Eye of Ugin, Glimpse of Nature)

Category 5: Risky but probably okay. These are powerful cards that would impact the meta. The resulting decks would likely be fine, but would need to be watched carefully. (Ex: Faithless Looting, Birthing Pod, Seething Song)

Category 6: Should be unbanned today. These cards are completely safe to unban, and Wizards should do so as soon as possible. (Ex: Preordain, Bridge from Below, artifact lands).

Cavedan and Morde don’t see eye to eye on everything, but they broadly agree that the current ban list is outdated and too conservative. Which cards are the most controversial, and which ones did we get right and wrong? Listen to the full episode to find out!

 

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

 

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Decklists and Timestamps

[1:01] Eulogy for a Sky Noodle

[4:42] Housekeeping

[6:56] Dissecting the Yorion ban

[13:18] Where does Modern go next?

[20:44] Brewing after Yorion: Morde’s journey begins

[30:16] The state of the Modern ban list: Oct 2022

[36:35] Category 1: Gone forever

[40:47] Category 2: Banished for reasons other than power level

[42:29] Category 3: Safe, but no upside

[46:24] Category 4: Risky and probably not okay

[51:43] Category 5: Risky but probably okay

[56:42] Category 6: Should be unbanned today

[1:11:18] A modest proposal