Slane Castle by Thomas Roberts (18th c). Dromoka the Eternal by Slawomir Maniak.
It's been a long week. I've gone from posting work that was so well received that some readers suggested it be sticky-posted on the /r/EDH page to a post that got me and my writing roundly mocked and denigrated. In truth, both reactions were probably warranted, but I can see that last week's installment was sub-par and tone deaf to the sensibilities of some of my readers. If you read it and it actually offended you - or if you simply found it disappointing or inarticulate, I apologize and promise to do my best to create better content.
After that debacle of a post, I figured I might as well walk right up to the third rail, lean over and stick my tongue right onto it.
Today I'll be exploring a topic everyone has an opinion on - the subject of Bans. Specifically I'm going to discuss and explore the argument for banning the card I've long felt was one of the likeliest candidates for such treatment - Cyclonic Rift.
The Argument For
Removal is hugely important for any good EDH deck. For one and a blue, you can return target nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand. Not a big deal. You can't target your own stuff, it isn't exiling the permanent, so the threat you removed will be back next turn.
The problem is in part that when you pay its overload cost you get a one-sided boardwipe that takes care of anything that's indestructible or hexproof and clears the way for you to do whatever you want. The fact that it clears away nonland permanents means anyone ramping with anything other than lands may be challenged to reestablish their board or respond to anything before they can rebuild.
It is an instant, which means the experienced player may well do it on the previous player's end step, forcing them to dump a bunch of cards into the graveyard as they discard down to seven cards. It's brutally effective to do that to someone on their end step so they have to discard down to seven cards. The fact that it returns cards to players' hands may seem like you'll just get to rebuild the next turn but it is often used to just seal a win right then and there.
Balancing the Color Pie
If Cyclonic Rift were in any other color, one might be able to argue that it's fine, but Rift is in blue. The strongest color in the format is blue - possibly by a long shot. One might make the argument that Green and maybe Black can complete but the power of Blue draw and control make it hard to match. My gut feeling is that if there was one card to remove from any single color to try to balance out the color pie and bring the strongest color closer to the power levels of the other four, that color would be blue and that card would be Cyclonic Rift. Even without Rift, blue would probably still be the strongest color, so the argument would be that removing it would make for a more balanced game.
Variety in Deckbuilding
Among my friends, we joke that playing an overloaded Cyclonic Rift is what makes a game an "official" EDH game. For us, the card is so strongly tied to the format that it has become a running joke and an auto-include in any blue deck you build. If you don't include Rift, you're doing it wrong. After I write this article, I am literally planning on moving a Cyclonic Rift from my rarely-played Momir Vig deck to a new Dimir Zombies deck I've been working on. I kid you not. It should go in every single one of the blue decks you play and if you don't run it, you're just willfully playing a subpar deck. Banning it will keep blue as the strongest deck but will open up a slot that every blue player is currently using for Rift. Sure, they might just throw another counterspell in, but the basic idea is that encouraging deck variety is good for the format and auto-includes that are this powerful and iconic reduce the game to who can get their well-timed Rift off first. It's that good.
Counterspell Support
The final argument basically comes down to the idea that not only doesn't blue need such a powerful card to be the strongest color in the game, it's irresponsible to allow the color of counter magic to be able to use Rift. The problem isn't just Rift - it's that the Rift is supported by anywhere from 1-3 (or more) counterspells to make sure the win is secured.
Fairness
Cyclonic Rift is a one-sided boardwipe. Lots of things in Magic are unfair, but most boardwipes don't care who casts them. Sure, players will make their stuff indestructible and use their "destroy all ____" card in a way that doesn't hurt them one bit. The feeling after someone rifts isn't that they made a clever play - it's often more along the lines of "fuck that card". It's patently unfair. That doesn't mean it's ban-worthy but in combination with other factors it definitely strengthens the argument.
Reality Check
While it might seem like Cyclonic Rift is so prevalent that it has become a running joke, what if most players never saw or played Rift? What if my experience is unique to my playgroup and the reality is that some other card or cards are really the most ban-worthy cards currently legal in the format.
I can use EDHRec.com to get some idea of how often Rift is being used. As of this writing, Rift was in 38,790 decks. You can view Cyclonic Rift on EDHRec.com yourself. For comparison, Counterspell was found in 28736 decks, so it's probably not inaccurate to say that Rift is widely used and has become a staple in the format. The following chart shows its ranking in terms of cards viewed on the website.
It is consistently at the top, but other cards are too and that doesn't by itself make it ban-worthy.
As someone sympathetic to the idea of banning Rift - even if I'm not sure I'd actually pull that trigger - it struck me that the real question is whether or not Rift really is universally seen as ban-worthy. Do other players have a knee jerk reaction to that card, or does each league or playgroup have their own unique power cards that everyone is tired of and would like to see just go away?
The way I decided to try to answer that was by posing a question to the wise and wily inhabitants of the /r/EDH subreddit. I posted the following question there:
I was impressed with the number of responses, though it turned out that a lot of them were in discussions, not actual answers. I went through and recorded every card suggested in a top-level response to the post. I then compiled the list of answers and posted it to TappedOut.net as a decklist so that I could look at the results easily.
When you throw out all the cards that appeared 1x and 2x, and all cards that are clearly not serious answers (3 people suggested banning Island), we see the following cards as ones that people would ban if they had a gun to their head and had to pick something.
3x Sensei's Divining Top
Top was suggested three times. My personal experience with it is that players do their best to "Top" responsibly - not wasting other players time or making turns take forever. It is a frustrating artifact to try to get rid of and it generates a huge amount of card advantage when used well. I can see it I guess, but it feels unnecessary. You exile or destroy a top, it's just hard and is all about timing.
3x Winter Orb
Orb was also suggested three times and I can see why. It slows the game down to a crawl and generally makes for an unfun experience. That said - it has no built-in protection and affects everyone equally. An argument that Winter Orb is against the spirit of the format isn't a terrible one, but it's no Leovold.
3x Laboratory Maniac
Lab Man is the last card that three commenters picked. Blue decks that win with Lab Man are indeed tiresome and hard to stop, as blue has the ability to counter any attempts to stop the win and most of these decks have drawn their entire library into their hand when they close out the game, so they have no shortage of answers. It's annoying but Lab Man dies to doom blade, and lots of other instants as well.
4x Consecrated Sphinx
This amazingly little flying draw engine was suggested four times because when this Sphinx hits the table the game becomes an exercise in trying to kill it before its owner gets so many cards that they just find a way to win the game. Banning cards that are too powerful isn't unheard of, but this just draws you cards. On its own, it doesn't win games. It does tend to warp games around removing it, but that's all.
4x Ad Nauseum
Ad Nauseum got four votes and my understanding is that it is key to the functioning of a number of top tier decks. These four players probably have to deal with those decks regularly. Me? I only know of the card's reputation but if it's ever beaten me I don't recall when. Maybe this card is so bad it should be banned but I've yet to see it (or Protean Hulk) end a game. I'm sure it happens. I just haven't seen it.
5x Cyclonic Rift
Five respondents mentioned Cyclonic Rift. While that's more than all but three other cards, it's much fewer than I had expected. If my expectation was that a ton of folks would have suggested Rift, that clearly didn't happen. It is clearly a powerful card and clearly plenty of folks have been on the wrong end of a Rift, but they didn't all jump up and volunteer it as their "gun to your head" banlist pick.
6x Iona, Shield of Emeria
Iona received six votes and it's understandable why. No card can more utterly hose a monocolored deck or severely cripple a two colored deck like Iona. The saving grace for her is that she's expensive and monocolored in white, so she isn't a viable commander for competitive play. Iona would be banned for being antithetical to the spirit of the format, and that's a strong argument indeed.
9x Deadeye Navigator
A whopping nine responses called for Deadeye Navigator get the axe. Deadeye is really difficult to deal with and often precedes a combo win. Note again that this is a blue card, so counter support is there to seal the deal. I can see how in a meta with strong Deadeye combo decks players would volunteer this guy for the chopping block. On his own he isn't a wincon, but neither was Protean Hulk.
12x Sol Ring
The most iconic card in the format - the one that is included preconstructed commander decks and belongs in virtually every EDH deck was picked by a dozen people. I can see the argument - removing it opens up a slot in every deck out there and that will lead to more variety and more interesting decks and games. Personally, I love the format and don't mind picking up a new one for every deck I build. It's something of a ritual and an essential part of the experience, but I can see their point.
It should be noted that the premise of the reddit question was what card you would ban if you had a gun to your head and had to pick one. It doesn't mean these respondents actually want to ban any cards at all. I was trying to see if there was an elephant in the room, and if that elephant was indeed named Cyclonic Rift. Apparently it was named Sol Ring.
I can see the argument for getting rid of Sol Ring, but it isn't because the card is so hopelessly overpowered that when it shows up the game either ends or warps around it so badly that it's not good for the format. Given the investment Wizards of the Coast has made on that card by including it in pre-con decks, I can't imagine and wouldn't want it to be banned. It's iconic to the format and that's not a bad thing.
People will have opinions about cards based upon their own experiences in their own local environment. They will generally assume that those experiences are shared everywhere, but that won't always hold up to scrutiny. My experience with Cyclonic Rift led me to believe that fully half of the responses might have been for Rift to be banned, but it wasn't even in the top 3 of suggestions. It was in the fourth spot, and I think the argument is still a strong one, but the argument against it is also strong.
The Arguments Against
If you've spent any time at all online in EDH circles, you've seen plenty of arguments against banning plenty of cards. I'm going to skip over the bad arguments like "just run blue" or "git gud" and dive into deeper waters. There are great arguments for Rift not being banned, and since it probably isn't going to be banned I think they are probably winning arguments.
Your problems aren't everyone else's problems
The thing about a ban is that it affects everyone who plays in the format. Just because you might think a card is ban-worthy doesn't mean anyone else is having problems with it. The Rules Committee bans cards that are universally detrimental to the health of the format. The premise of my reddit experiment was that if I was correct that Rift was universally reviled, it would easily be the top card suggested by commenters. That didn't happen. My playgroup is a place where Rifts fly freely. Other playgroups have problems with Deadeye, with Iona or with any of a dozen other cards.
It's a ton of mana, so it should be powerful
Cards that cost a ton of mana should be able to close out games. This seems like the most obvious thing in the world. The game's gotta end sometime, right? In our format, 7 mana may not seem like much but chances are good it's all you're going to do on the turn you cast it (which is why you cast it on an end step). For EDH this would be a better argument if it cost 9 mana, but at 7 it's still somewhat expensive and one can argue that at that cost it should have a big impact.
It isn't a win by itself
If you just cast Rift, you usually only win if you have lethal or a combo on board and your opponents don't have answers. By itself it isn't exactly an auto-win. It doesn't loop into an endless series of cards like Protean Hulk apparently can. It basically fails the "broken in a vacuum" test.
It isn't uniquely unsuitable to the format
Some banned cards are just wrong for EDH. Karakas will bounce a legendary to its owner's hands. Clearly, that's an ability that is just bonkers in a format where everyone builds their decks around a legendary creature. I don't see how Karakas could ever be unbanned in EDH but there's nothing about Cyclonic Rift that is uniquely unsuitable for our format.
Cards can't all be fair
WIth cards from the entire history of magic at our disposal, we don't and shouldn't have a format in which the only legal cards are ones that are "fair". Lots of cards affect opponents and not you, and lots of cards are "unfair". You should run them more. It's what makes them so good. Maybe Cyclonic Rift pushes the envelope in this regard, but something will - it might as well be Rift.
The color pie will never be balanced
Banning one card won't balance the color pie. Blue will probably always be strongest and that is part of what defines the landscape of Magic and the landscape of EDH. There are hills and valleys. In terms of power, blue may be the highest elevation in all the land. The Rules Committee could decide that they want to do something about that, but it would take so much more than just banning Rift to make the color pie ever feel truly balanced that I can't imagine they would want to go there. If nothing else, they would lose more players than the could every hope to gain through such an endeavor.
We shouldn't be banning cards
While this is a bold statement, EDH is a social format where conversations with players are the ideal venue for sorting out issues around the balance of power within a playgroup. If someone wants to play Leovold and the rest of the group is fine with it, that's great. If the other players hate Leo, they should hate that player off the table and build decks to deal with Leovold until that player scraps the deck as just not being worth the trouble. I understand that unbanning everything might not be wise, but if the RC decided to do allow everything and then re-ban cards as it became evident they needed to be banned, I would go along for that ride. Should Leo be banned? I don't know and I'm glad I didn't have to make that choice but Rift is the sort of thing you can deal with. It'll always be overpowered but so are dozens of other cards which aren't banned. Talk. Improve your decks. View it as a challenge and work through it.
Get used to losing
This might be a petty argument but you don't have a God-given right to win at EDH. It's a multiplayer format and odds are good that you could sit down to a night where you play three 4-player games, lose every single one and not even be statistically "down on your luck". The sooner you stop blaming losses on cards that "ought to be banned", the better. Banning a card because it's why you aren't winning enough might be misplaced. Try to win more, but don't blame cards for your losses because you're probably going to lose plenty in a multiplayer environment.
There will always be overpowered staples
Is Rift a staple in your playgroup? If it were banned, something else would become the constant headache you have to deal with. Maybe it would be Craterhoof Behemoth. Maybe it would be Iona, Deadeye or something else entirely. There will always be staples that become tiresome and annoying. Removing Rift won't solve the problem that you're feeling, it will just shift your annoyance to the next overpowered staple if you're the kind of player who gets really annoyed at opponents playing Rift.
Final Thoughts
It might come as a surprise to you that my conclusion has to be that while Rift is overpowered, is the strongest EDH card in the strongest color and routinely drives non-blue players to distraction, it shouldn't be banned.
If it were to be banned, that would be a statement to the community that they feel like blue is already strong enough and doesn't need a patently unfair, unbalanced one-sided boardwipe to put it so much further past the other colors that you're practically misplaying if you build a deck that includes blue and doesn't include Rift.
That's a strong statement, but clearly the RC feels like Rift is a part of the landscape - maybe even an iconic part.
They also believe in our ability to find answers to these kinds of problems on our own. Rift has been part of EDH for many years and not only do they believe we can cope with Rift, they unbanned Protean Hulk. Clearly they want to see if we can manage to somehow not fall apart with that added challenge over and above what we're already dealing with. So far we've been fine, and you know what? Maybe the next time someone threatens to combo off with Protean Hulk someone will come to the rescue and save the table with a Cyclonic Rift.
As always, thanks for reading and special thanks to those who have become regular readers of this blog. I do my best to write interesting EDH-related content each and every week. They won't all be brilliant, but my hope is that more often than not you'll find them worth the time you spent here.
