With the recent shift in the council members, it was also time for points discussion. Some changes that had been made in the past seemed sloppy, and the points list was riddled with relics of the past. The following issues were top priorities when approaching any possible changes.
7 Points
Fourteen is a rather arbitrary number. So is five, ten and one-hundred and fifty-one. We’ve decided to ease people back into an ol’ standby, aka where the points list all began. The original change from seven to fourteen intended to bring attention to certain cards that deserved to be “half of a point”. At this stage, we’ve gone past needlessly pointing cards which are best left alone.
TL;DR – We’re back to 7 points!
Removal of “Value”
Certain cards on the older lists, seem quite out of place amongst the likes of Black Lotus and Strip Mine. In the past, I had labelled these as “value” cards; they weren’t format-warping nor intrinsically overpowered, but rather powerful cards in specific match-ups. Looking to give players more freedom to utilize these haymaker effects, while still recognizing their waning usefulness, the following cards were removed from the points list:
Balance
Gaea’s Cradle
Mana Drain
Mind Twist
Moat
Price of Progress
Recurring Nightmare
Scapeshift
Sensei’s Divining Top
Wasteland
Wheel of Fortune
Certain cards that can be deemed “value” were still left on the list, as they represent very little room for counter-play and can become a bit oppressive, while still being effective in essentially every possible match-up.
Addition of Tutors
Being a 100-Card Singleton format means that there is an increased diversity in the individual cards you come across from game to game. Tutors take away from the feel of this type of format, and allow for Combo decks to thrive. This doesn’t necessarily create for the healthiest of formats. It was because of this, that the following cards were added to the points list:
Doomsday – 2
Fabricate – 1
Lim-Dul’s Vault – 1
Muddle the Mixture – 1
Personal Tutor – 1
Summoner’s Pact – 1
Tainted Pact – 1
Transmute Artifact – 1
Worldly Tutor – 1
No Bannings
When announced, the banning of Flash, Time Vault and (essentially) Black Lotus came with mixed reception. Claims that this took away from the appeal of the format, or that the changes were made out of personal opinions ran rampant. Given the addition of several tutors, the council feels as though we can comfortably present a format with access to the following cards (at reasonable points):
Black Lotus – 5
Flash – 4
Time Vault – 5
It is worth noting that many of the “counterpart” pieces to these cards also (rightfully) have points tacked onto themselves.
Doomsday – 2
Protean Hulk – 3
Even with these restrictions, I for one am excited to sleeve up my Lotus again.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to shoot myself a message, or check out our Facebook page and ask the masses!