Sorry Bloodbraid Elf.  So sorry Seething Song.  Modern is no longer a welcome haunt for the likes of you.

In what is sure to be a major discussion point for the competitive community for the next little while, the ban hammer has struck Modern again, this time crippling the consensus best deck, and murdering the Storm deck in the format.  I want to take a look at the decisions made, their impact on Modern, and the failed pleas for the unbanning of certain cards.

Let us start with the easiest one; Seething Song.  I hate Storm.  Storm was a design faux pas, and Wizards of the Coast research and development knows it.  The concept was noble.  Play some spells, get some additional mileage off of said spells.  However, when those spells are powered by rituals (mana producing spells that accumulate more mana than they cost, for the uninitiated), they offered a blisteringly quick way to go into solitaire mode.  While infrequent, the Storm decks in Modern did offer a turn three win, and WotC is on record as stating they do not want Modern to be that sort of format.  It is okay for a fair deck to win via a nutty aggressive draw, but just playing out a ton of mana production and card draw while offering little to no interaction is an overall negative for the game. I know there are degenerates out there that truly enjoy not letting their opponent actually interact in the game, but most people are not in that camp.  Would anyone play chess if it was limited to only two moves?  Doubtful.

So where does this leave Storm for Modern?  Pretty effectively neutered I would say.  Yes, there are still spells available like Battle Hymn, Manamorphose, and Pyretic Ritual, but then we are building a completely different sort of Storm deck.  It is much more delicate and easy to disrupt with the creature removal that fills the waters of Modern.  Honestly, I would not anticipate Storm being a major player in the format now.  I predict that Eggs, Kiki-Pod, Splinter Twin, Scapeshift, and Infect (it is really a combo deck) will all be much more reliable combo decks than Storm.  So for those that enjoy the rush of exploding their opponent with a flurry of spells, it will probably need to be done without the aid of the Storm mechanic.

Now, we get to address the chart-topper of the 01/27/2013 midnight announcement.  Ms. Berserker Elf herself is making a hasty exit from Modern.  This one changes the landscape of the format dramatically.  Jund was borderline oppressive, even though it was completely fair.  It is an extremely good Rock deck that utilized the best one for one spells in black, red, and green, but sprinkled in the efficient creatures and the occasional two for one, that when backed by the proper disruption could easily win the game.  Bloodbraid Elf helped the deck reach a critical mass that was difficult to overcome.  Playing a nickel and dime game with Jund based off card quality is almost impossible to achieve, but adding the ability to alter the game state with the magnitude that Bloodbraid Elf allowed created the Modern monster that dominated the format.

While I personally do not believe that Modern needed this banning, I do not take issue with it.  Modern is still going through infancy as an eternal format, and having a single deck establish itself during that infancy as THE deck, is bad for the growth of the format.  WotC wants to see their baby all grown up, and banning Bloodbraid Elf will help accelerate that process.  I found Modern to be an exciting stomping ground, and with these changes, I can not help but be intrigued by the possibilities.  The brewer in me salivates at the opportunities presented by the bannings. The Modern world is now our oyster.

Also, I would like to address the speculative unbannings for Modern that have been kicked around by many folk, and give my take on them.  Let us start with Big Papa himself, Jace, the Mindsculptor.  There are many people that would argue that Jace would help to make a control deck a more viable option in Modern.  Perhaps there is some legitimacy to that claim, but there is no way that Jace should be unbanned.  If Bloodbraid was deemed to oppressive, try to imagine a world where Jace, the Mindsculptor is the tier one.   Where Jund creates a slippery slope that is hard to scale, Jace creates a sheer cliff and gains loyalty while doing it.  Also, allowing control and midrange decks access to one of the most powerful blue cards ever printed (think about powerful blue cards, and let that sink in), is a dangerous proposition at best.  With all of the cards in Modern, allowing one of the most efficient card advantage, board advantage, and win conditions ever printed to be readily available would not create a desirable environment, despite how much the blue mages may yearn for it.  Basically, Jace, the Mindsculptor is the keys to a Bugatti, and, really, nobody deserves the keys to a Bugatti.

Moving along, I have heard the word Bitterblossom bandied about.  While the Faerie menace is long in the rearview for most players, I do not believe that is an environment that Wizards wants to recreate any time soon.  Allowing the amalgamation of tempo, permission, and board control that Faeries offers to become a major player in Modern is not conducive to growing the format.  Faeries are not fun to play against, and in large part it is because of Bitterblossom.  Not much interacts favorably with the enchantment, and the snowball effect Bitterblossom creates is one of the most demoralizing in all of Magic: the Gathering.  That stated, if it did not have the word "Tribal" printed on it, I would be far more open to this one being removed from the banned list.

Our next contestant is Ancestral Visions.  This one is another outcry from the blue based control mages that crave a way to control Modern, and I can understand why.  What control deck does not want to put a minimal investment into such a massive reward?  Modern may be too fast for this card to matter, but WotC is playing it safe by keeping Ancestral Visions on lock down.  I would not be completely opposed to Ancestral Visions coming out to play, but in light of Bloodbraid Elf getting smashed by the hammer, there are enough tools in the box for control to work... unless the default deck to beat becomes Geist of St. Traft eccentric, which is probably what is going to happen.

After quite a bit of thought, I have to say I am excited about the shakeup brought on by the bans, and I applaud the commitment that Wizards has shown to making the Modern format the best possible format it can be.  With that in mind, carpe diem!  The Modern format will not be broken by lamenting over the have and have nots.  So friends, hobbyists, planeswalkers,  lend me your decks;  I come to bury Bloodbraid Elf, not to praise her. The evil that elves do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones;  So let it be with Bloodbraid Elf.

...Oh, and good riddance to Seething Song. Storm decks can go die in a fire...

As always, thanks for reading,

Jeremy Skelton
@peepschamp