But recently, players have found a version of Mono-Red that is rebalancing the scales. Not only is it more played on the MTG Arena ladder, but it has a better win percentage against the field and is knocking off Vivi Cauldron decks at a clip above 60%.
People play mono red on Arena because it’s easy to craft, especially if you already crafted mono red the last time it was the best deck in standard. Also, mono red having a good winrate against Vivi means nothing. There were only two colors represented in the top 8 of the spotlight series, and all 8 decks had red. That’s not exactly a sign of a healthy standard.
We believe Standard play may be hurt in the short term by one or two dominant decks. Long term, it is certainly hurt by banning decks out from under players in a surprise move.
Long term, the format is hurt by players not playing it at all. Who cares about banning cards in a format nobody plays. RCQ players are supposed to be good at Magic. Let them adapt their strategies.
While we acknowledge that high-level competitive Standard is lopsided, the majority of Standard play is not. The MTG Arena ladder isn’t nearly this distorted,
MTGA ladder is a garbage test for the decks people play in standard. To begin with, matchmaking affects what decks you play against, whether it’s based on MMR or card scoring.
and in-store play isn’t nearly this distorted.
What in-store play? We’re talking about standard, right?
Anyway moving the ban date up is good, but it’s still 2 months away, and this doesn’t address the core of the issue at all. Why do cards need to be banned this frequently? I think we all know why, but WOTC sure seems to not care.
People play mono red on Arena because it’s easy to craft, especially if you already crafted mono red the last time it was the best deck in standard. Also, mono red having a good winrate against Vivi means nothing. There were only two colors represented in the top 8 of the spotlight series, and all 8 decks had red. That’s not exactly a sign of a healthy standard.
Long term, the format is hurt by players not playing it at all. Who cares about banning cards in a format nobody plays. RCQ players are supposed to be good at Magic. Let them adapt their strategies.
MTGA ladder is a garbage test for the decks people play in standard. To begin with, matchmaking affects what decks you play against, whether it’s based on MMR or card scoring.
What in-store play? We’re talking about standard, right?
Anyway moving the ban date up is good, but it’s still 2 months away, and this doesn’t address the core of the issue at all. Why do cards need to be banned this frequently? I think we all know why, but WOTC sure seems to not care.