I'm doing some initial work for the next Fixing Modern articles. I have a few topics already set, especially about Wizards' communication on Modern, but want to do some brainstorming on unbans. I also eventually want to talk more about "nerf bans" (i.e. banning at the fringes of decks with hits such as Force of Vigor and Veil of Summer), but I have a little more certainty about what that will look like. Unbans are more interesting. Rather than advocate for a specific unban, I'm thinking of making the case to unban a bunch of cards simultaneously and allow real data to inform re-bannings. Basically, this is the Pioneer ban experiment reapplied to Modern.
Of course, we don't need to totally reinvent the wheel. Stuff like Skullclamp doesn't see the light of day as a result of these unbans. But I do think we can unban more cards than people think, at least if we're committed to this experimental approach. Here are the cards I do not want to unban and think Wizards should keep locked up:
1. Any T4 rule violators
Modern already struggles with too many fast/less interactive decks. Even if we can't agree that this is necessarily reflected in the data, it's certainly an optics issue Modern needs to overcome. More cards that enable fast, broken strategies does not promote the kind of strategic diversity we want Modern to reach. In that spirit, I would not unban any card that was initially banned for speed/T4 rule violations, or cards that pair with new threats to create T3 wins.
Blazing Shoal,
Chrome Mox,
Dread Return,
Eye of Ugin,
Glimpse of Nature,
Gitaxian Probe,
Golgari Grave-Troll,
Hypergenesis,
Rite of Flame,
Seething Song,
Summer Bloom
2. Anything legal in the Modern and Legacy cardpool that's banned in Legacy
With the exception of W6, anything that's banned in Legacy and potentially legal in Modern is also banned in Modern. If those cards are inappropriate at both power levels, we don't need to reconsider them now.
Deathrite Shaman,
Dig Through Time, Probe (captured in category 1)),
Mental Misstep,
Sensei's Divining Top,
Skullclamp,
Treasure Cruise
3. Anything banned in the 2019/2020
The idea of this mass unbanning is to give old cards new chances. We don't need to put the new offenders back on trial when they were just convicted in a contemporary context.
Bridge from Below,
Faithless Looting,
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis,
Krark-Clan Ironworks,
Mox Opal,
Mycosynth Lattice,
Oko, Thief of Crowns
4. Logistical problems
Cards that broke tournament structures in the past will probably continue to do so in the future. It only takes one person on Eggs to grind the entire tournament to a halt.
Second Sunrise, Top (capture in category 2)
That nixes 25 cards from our unban experiment and leaves us with the following:
Ancient Den,
Birthing Pod,
Cloudpost,
Dark Depths,
Great Furnace,
Green Sun's Zenith,
Ponder,
Preordain,
Punishing Fire,
Seat of the Synod,
Splinter Twin,
Tree of Tales,
Umezawa's Jitte,
Vault of Whispers
A few of these cards are troubling. Depths + Stage is probably a little too consistent for Modern without a real Wasteland effect, so I don't mind Depths going. It's also an iconic Legacy card that doesn't need to bleed into Modern. Ponder and Preordain are also interesting cases, because they were initially banned for alleged T4 rule violations. In that regard, they should probably be in my list of T4 rule violators above. I'm excluding them from that list for a few reasons. First, there's only one fast blue combo deck in Modern right now (Storm), which had multiple cards banned from it alongside or after Ponder/Preordain. Second, there are two extremely strong green cantrips in Modern right now (OUaT, Stirrings) which pushes overall consistency in those strategies. Maybe P&P end up being broken, but we should at least give them a shot in the experiment. Finally, I'd be a little worried about Cloudpost. Just like Modern has a bunch of linear, aggressive decks undercutting strategic diversity, so too does it have at least four top-tier ramp decks (Gx Tron, Titanshift, Simic Titan, Amulet Titan). I don't think we really need one more.
Given that, here's the list of cards I'd consider in our experiment:
The Great Modern Unban Experiment
Ancient Den,
Birthing Pod,
Great Furnace,
Green Sun's Zenith,
Ponder,
Preordain,
Punishing Fire,
Seat of the Synod,
Splinter Twin,
Tree of Tales,
Umezawa's Jitte,
Vault of Whispers
I would like to see Wizards unban these 12 cards simultaneously in a period with no GP/PT events for a few months. Then we can watch what happens on MTGO and make new bans based on that. I suspect a number of these cards would be rebanned for a variety of reasons, but I also think we would be left with a few surprises that are secretly acceptable for the format and need a second chance. The experiment's goal is not necessarily to exonerate all 12 of these cards. It's to give the greatest number of banlist inmates the best chance at exoneration in a new Modern context. This will also help us mythbust or confirm banlist beliefs/arguments that have splintered (bahaha) the community for years. Finally, it will excite the playerbase and further cement Modern's identity. The cost to all this is a period of 2-3 months of instability with the promise of a more diverse Modern, assuming Wizards/the community gets the bans right, thereafter.
To restate a point earlier, I'm not 100% sold on this list or the underlying rationale. I'm just brainstorming out loud for a future article and am happy to hear feedback, criticism, and ideas about this approach.