Albegas wrote: ↑3 years ago
I also doubt that the Secret Lair alone drove this decision.
While the Secret Lair may not have dictated WHETHER it should be banned, I believe 100% that the Secret Lair that drove this decision to happen when it did. Because it sure isn't meta share or tournament performance. If either of those were the case, it would have (and should have) been banned months ago. The catalyst for making them take action is 100% the Secret Lair. Just like Twin was banned 100% because of the timing of the PT.
If WotC is guilty of anything, it's giving false hope by letting Uro run around in so many formats since the shut down since we know they get enough online data to make faster snap decisions.
Yes, they are absolutely guilty of this. I SPECIFICALLY bought into it because it had survived numerous B&R announcements where it absolutely could have (and should have) been banned. But it wasn't. Week after week, month after month, for A YEAR, Uro effectively dominated Modern. And WOTC was silent the entire time. Me, personally, I was waiting for the "We're having a B&R update next week" to immediately dump them and move on. But no, I literally saw the article at 8:06am PST, and by the time I could successfully log in and attempt to trade my copies at around 8:15am, bots had already stopped buying them, and the ones that hadn't had dropped to $15 (from $60).
However, the decision to announce it now is better than later for both consumers and WotC, and MTGO grinders have known for months that Uro was already the best deck and an equivalent amount of time to weigh the risk and reward of its possible ban.
Is it better than letting people buy it and then ban it? Yes. But it is SO MUCH WORSE than banning it ANY OTHER WAY, including in a normal announcement MONTHS AGO.
Like I said, even when they do the right thing, they find a way to f**k it up. If it's bannable now, it was bannable when KHM released. And likely when ZNR released. But no. They sat, and waited, and let people continue to buy copies.