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Standard No Longer Makes Sense for Magic
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Hard to disagree with any of the points he makes, but Standard accounts for most of my playtime right now, and I'd feel pretty lost if it went away.
It's not actually that I like Standard in particular so much as that I prefer formats with lower power levels. I like games to last longer and involve more back-and-forth. I would actually prefer a power level much lower than Standard, but Standard is the best I can get, so I take it. I would rather have seen them change Standard rotation to one year than three years -- but they'd have to accompany that by making it much, much easier to obtain new cards quickly, and it's hard to imagine that happening.
I would probably quit the game rather than move to Modern. Modern combines the worst aspects of Legacy/Vintage (high power level, short games, high monetary cost) with the worst aspect of Standard (you don't get to play all your cards). Pioneer/Explorer are a little better I guess, but give them time, they'll become "Second Modern" eventually.
I'll play Commander with friends, but not with strangers. It's alright but it's not really the same game. Too swingy, too flashy for my tastes. No opportunity to gain small advantages over time. It's nothing for the entire battlefield to be wiped and refilled twice before it even comes around to your turn again. And no sense of personal achievement, even when you win. Commander is about doing cool things, and all winning means is that you did the last cool thing. It doesn't necessarily reflect on good strategic decisions you made. Sometimes things just happen to line up for you due to decisions that other people made while you were tapped out and in the kitchen getting a soda. And Commander seems to be filling up more and more with Universes Beyond cards, which are a real turn-off for me.
I like Draft and Sealed plenty, but I can't afford to play them every day. How many of us can? Plus, without Standard, how much do I care about the cards I acquire in Limited? Is there room to make free or very low-cost phantom drafts available on a permanent basis? I'd consider making that my primary format, but I doubt Wizards can justify it financially.
So yeah, it's pretty much Standard or Pauper for me, and Pauper isn't available on Arena.
Sounds like someone needs to play my favorite format: relatively low powered cube.
Sign me up!
I play commander almost exclusively but don’t really disagree with any of those points. Commander also just feels more pay-to-play too these days. The other issue with draft/sealed is it takes so long, like after the draft and building a deck you’re already hour or so in.
I lowkey wish brawl wasn’t a joke. It would be nice to have a 1:1 format that was singleton and a little thematic.
@Nurgle @Evu For Singleton, there's always #CanadianHighlander - it's a lot closer to singleton Vintage than 1v1 Commander though.