I am out of play by many, many years, but man, people threw a big fit back when we got Phyrexian poison counters saying they were OP as fuck. I am not nerd enough to know where it stands relative to the games entire span of cards, but that was definitely a thing. I recognize that’s not a format, but I mostly just played the standard 60 card format. I wound up leaving the game just as commander decks started (fun format tho, but I was done by then.)
Commander killed my Llanowar Sentinel, Gaias Blessing, Harrow deck. I needed four of each for the deck theme.
I’ve played Standard and EDH, started circa Khans of Tarkir and had a long break, coming back ~year or two ago.
Both formats are uncomparably faster.
The spirit of EDH also shifted from “this is a fun pile of big mana cards I like” to “this is synergetic deck, every card here has a meaning”. Obviously cards “printed for commander” didn’t do it any good, because good commander card in the past was unplayable 6cmc creature, not “can be cast without paying cost if you control your commander”. And also tonns of 4cmc commander powerhouses, now they went with 3cmc (see Nadu, Vivi), at this rate we’ll end up with 0-cost in like 3 years.
But game speed in commander is still less of an issue, as the format is self-regulated (to a degree). Standard is fucked. I went all the way from “we want to slow down standard” in battle for zendikar, to “you take 18 damage to the face turn2” / “turn 4-5 is ok to combo” standard. And it’s full of IPs I hate/indifferent to. Can I have magic playing magic please? If I wanted another Marvel slop, I’d go to a movie.
I’m trying to get the pauper going but the scene isn’t big there. If I’ll find the TCG that would have a theme I enjoy, decent mechanics and a scene, I’ll jump the ship.
Edit1: oh yeah, sorry I forgot the subject behind the rant. I miss Lambhold Pacifist (UG tempo shell). I miss Demonic Pact (yeah can play in gift EDH decks but first 3 lines don’t even feel like much in todays meta).
I had a black card that just destroyed all white creatures currently in play (even your own). I called it my race card.
This one?
Yes! 😃
I’ve been out of the game for about a year, I got exhausted of perpetual hype and all of the Universes Beyond stuff. I don’t mind the occasional set like that, but getting more non-Magi IP sets/releases in a year than in-universe ones is too much IMO
That, plus WotC printing mostly for commander and/or ruining modern with MH2&3.
It probably doesn’t help that I hate the “free to play” gaming model, and so I refuse to get Arena.
I really used to like classic cards like Serra Angel and Shivan Dragon and I don’t know exactly when they became so bad, but I couldn’t even consider playing them now in most formats.
I believe Throne of Eldraine in 2019 was the set where power creep started accelerating most.
It was definitely Throne of Eldraine (Oko was a mistake!) where things just got crazy, but War of the Spark did not help by dumping like 50 other new planeswalkers into the pool and giving them statics.
Siege Rhino, my beloved. Modern was better when you were there.
Also, it was never playable but I wish I could make ebony owl netsuke work. That card is so fun.
One of my favorite cards is Rabid Wombat. I tried making a corked different decks with it, totally unplayable… no idea if it was ever really playable.
