Before I respond to this in detail, what other elements/decks/cards do you believe are problematic?Tomatotime wrote: ↑4 years agoThis statement to some extent implies that Modern's problems with degenerate gameplay started in and are exclusive to 2019, they are not.
Admitting fault alone won't change anything. Admitting fault as a signal of a broader internal change, however, will. The problem goes beyond just a lack of generic answers. It's also, as you noted below, external pressure on designers to push cards to sell packs.They already did this back in Kaladesh when they gave us Fatal Push, they had long form articles going over how they strayed from the correct path and answers were too weak compared to threats and they promised to learn from it, they did not. What makes you think that them admitting fault once more will change anything?
Play Design is clearly still one of the relevant bodies. They did not do their job with Field, Oko, or any of the other broken Standard cards that might be banned. Or Hogaak for that matter. Or probably many of the WAR walkers. They might be getting external pressure to push cards like Oko, but that doesn't mean they are absolved from bad testing. There was a way to make Oko a chase planeswalker without making him a multi-format staple that is soon to be banned in multiple formats.I don't know how relevant Play Design actually is to the current state of affairs, in a recent livestream with Melissa and Paul Cheon they, in no uncertain terms explained that they were instructed to push Oko, for whatever reason people want to believe. At this point if Play Design is nothing more than a for show team of people who "double check" R&D's work, then it serves no purpose than to reassure and placate the masses.
Tried to find it on blogatog/Maro design columns, but couldn't remember or identify good search terms. On a few of those sources, he's mentioned how players don't like their high investment spells getting answered so easily. They also talked about how Wizards has diversified removal/countermagic so players must weigh pros/cons of using different spells, e.g. Negate vs. Essence Scatter. This has eliminated generic catch-alls like true Counterspell because that card would just be the go-to over all the other countermagic flavors. They've also discussed this regarding removal. Of course, this makes it very difficult to reliably interact with varied threats, which is one of the reasons both Standard and other formats are in the current mess. Not the only reason, mind you; the threats are probably too pushed regardless. But it's a big issue.Curious, which survey results are you speaking of? Did they talk about it on any of their platforms?
Tron would be more acceptable if there was better interaction against its most broken elements. Imagine if we had a relevant Wasteland alternative, or even a proper FoW to allow decks to answer T3 haymakers and get on board. Tron would also be more acceptable if Wizards stopped indirectly upgrading Tron every few sets with pushed cards: Ballista, Ulamog, Blast Zone, Karn the Great Creator, etc.
It's also way too subjective to make a case that Tron is secretly keeping back the entire Modern format. What's the evidence for that? Its MWP spectrum has never been problematic, its win-rate has never been problematic, and with only one semi-exception (a bad 2018 GP), its metagame share has never been problematic. I know a vocal contingent of Moderners like to support this view, but it's just hard to support in any actual data. I'm open to it being an issue, but show us the numbers or at least something beyond just a gut feel.
As for ramp generally, Pioneer is going to have these types of Tron decks. Nykthos strategies will likely remain even after more bans, as will Field strategies (barring a Field ban itself). As for Modern, we'll still have both Titanshift and Amulet Titan as ramp alternatives even if Tron went away. Those decks would remain strongly positioned in a post-Tron metagame, especially Amulet. You can't ban your way out of these problems without truly sweeping bans which are simply too costly for the Modern playerbase. These bans would also only be temporary solutions until Wizards printed its way into still further problems. The only lasting solution is to help Wizards understand, and for them to act on that understanding, that the current development/design philosophy is fundamentally broken. Whether its failed Play Design testing, caving to marketing pressures, misguided philosophy, etc., the end result will be persistent, broken metagames with continued multi-format bans. This will erode player confidence to new lows and we'll see a playerbase even more exhausted than what we're currently experiencing.