The following changes are going into effect Monday October 23rd 2017.
Doomsday from 2 to 1
Hermit Druid from 3 to 2
Lim-Dul’s Vault from 1 to 0
Oath of Druid from 1 to 0
Sol Ring from 4 to 3
Tinker from 5 to 4
Time Vault from 7 to 6
Time Walk from 6 to 5
Please see the rationale for each change below.
Doomsday:
While powerful Doomsday has struggled to perform in recent years. The dedicated Doomsday lists have never really been dominant however the was originally pointed to two due to it’s power in Storm combo decks. The council believes that the format has become more interactive and faster and as a result the life loss from Doomsday and its relative fragility mean that it is now safe to have at one point.
Hermit Druid:
A very strong but fragile build around card. These decks have the ability to win the game as early as turn 3. However with the speed of the format increasing and the prevalence of decks utilizing non-basic land hate such as Blood Moon the deck has been seeing very little play and even less success. Our hope is that in lowering the key card the deck will be able to utilize the additional point to bring it closer to par with the other fast combo decks.
Lim-Dul’s Vault:
This card has sat on the points list as a relic of a time where combo decks were far and away the most potent strategies in the format. As the format has developed players have expanded to other archetypes and have found more ways to combat combo. Additionally Lim-Dul’s Vault used to be much lower opportunity cost because the life loss did not matter as much as it does now. As the format is now Lim-Dul’s Vault is top of the deck tutor that sometimes doesn’t even find you the card you need and can cost you a considerable amount of life. The council thinks that this card is close and that is why it has stayed on the list till now. Problematically the card sees no play at one but may well see a lot of play zero. Ultimately the speed of the format and the quality of interaction has lead the council to the conclusion that this card should be given a chance at zero.
Oath of Druids:
Like many of the other cards on this list Oath of Druids has not been seeing a lot of play in recent months. The combo is powerful but the cost of only playing a few haymaker creatures is a real cost particularly as more value creatures get printed. The combo is also at times unreliable and does not always win the game the turn that Oath triggers. Ultimately the council hopes that lowering Oath will allow more decks to experiment with different point’s spreads.
Sol Ring:
Sol Ring has been seeing little play recently largely due to the abundance of Moxen. Even in decks that would have traditionally played Sol Ring in the past such as UW Control, Academy and The Rock have all opted for Moxen over Sol Ring in the recent past. We hope this change will revitalize some of these archetypes as well as give some life to other 2 colour midrange/control decks. We believe that this change will have little impact among the current top tier decks and as such felt safe in lowering Sol Ring to 3.
Time Vault:
Time Vault decks haven’t seen much play as late. These decks tend to be combo-control decks that aren’t able to control the game well enough nor are they able to combo fast enough which has caused them to fall out of favor. We hope this point decrease opens this deck up to seeing more play in the future.
Time Walk:
Time Walk has been changed yet again, with the intent to promote the card’s playability in comparison to Ancestral Recall. It has been proven that when both Walk and Recall sit at equivalent points Recall sees much more play and tournament success, and decks that could play either will and likely should choose Recall. With a disparity in pointing we believe there will be a significant choice to be made when deciding on Walk or Recall, and we may see some variation in strategies with a revival of decks looking to cast Time Walk focusing either on value or combo as opposed to the ‘all-answers’ strategy Blue has occupied. We will continue to be monitor Walk as a premier spell in the format, but this change hopes to promote some diversity among the Blue point spreads while opening up some other value-driven decks.
Tinker:
Tinker has been on par points-wise with Natural Order for quite some time. However the disparity in their power level is becoming greater and greater. Natural order decks have 2 clear paths available; Craterhoof to win or Primeval Titan to set up an insurmountable board position. Tinker has Blightsteel Colossus however that is easier to interact with than either Craterhoof or Titan, and after Blightsteel the targets become much less exciting. For these reasons we have lowered Tinker to 4.