maybe this finally wakes them up to tone the power of the format down
I doubt it, to be honest. There have been more bans in the last 8 years than the previous 23 years combined, including the creation of the initial Type 2 banlist, Urza’s block, and Mirrodin. Mark Rosewater often recites the story about how his job in R&D is the only time he’s been yelled at in a professional setting after an exec heard a joke at the Pro Tour over the speed of games. He also wrote an article when the Mirrodin bans happened about how bans negatively impact the game, since they frequently make players quit a format or Magic altogether.
Flash forward to today where similar bans are happening nearly every year, sometimes multiple times a year. Standard may be dead on paper, but it’s the most popular format on Arena alongside Brawl. They aren’t hemorrhaging numbers there, so there’s no reason for them to change their behavior. Nor have sales of sealed product declined. FIRE design is here to stay, I’m afraid.
I doubt it, to be honest. There have been more bans in the last 8 years than the previous 23 years combined, including the creation of the initial Type 2 banlist, Urza’s block, and Mirrodin. Mark Rosewater often recites the story about how his job in R&D is the only time he’s been yelled at in a professional setting after an exec heard a joke at the Pro Tour over the speed of games. He also wrote an article when the Mirrodin bans happened about how bans negatively impact the game, since they frequently make players quit a format or Magic altogether.
Flash forward to today where similar bans are happening nearly every year, sometimes multiple times a year. Standard may be dead on paper, but it’s the most popular format on Arena alongside Brawl. They aren’t hemorrhaging numbers there, so there’s no reason for them to change their behavior. Nor have sales of sealed product declined. FIRE design is here to stay, I’m afraid.