Ssssooooooo... I Made A Self-Banning Format
The Kitchen Table forum
Posted on April 14, 2017, 12:26 a.m. by Will_O_Wisp13
I have been playing MTG for over half my life (I'm 15), and I'd consider myself pretty good, specifically in commander. But last summer, my playgroup tried something new, We made a new format, perfect for us. We call it BulkBox, because, well, it gives purpose to our boxes of bulk rares, uncommons, and even mythics. It has the same cardpool and rules as modern, but with a twist, you can only use cards with a value of $1.50 or less (based on TCGplayer prices). We realized though, that, in theory, this format bans itself, because if one deck or card becomes too dominant, the price rises, the price gets too high, the card isn't legal anymore. The reason I'm bringing this up though, I just want to know how you feel about this? Do you think this you'd want to try? Would you want this to be an official format? I want to know your thoughts.
There's budget EDH, where each individual card can't be over $2, including the commander. I personally love budget commander decks, as I own a $30 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind deck that can beat my other decks which are usually over 3-5x its price haha.
Personally I think it'd be a fun idea to do with your playgroup, since you wind up with janky decks and cards you've never seen.
April 14, 2017 12:34 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #4
Unfortunately this could never really become a sanctioned format. As Atony1400 said, the prices fluctuate so much that a card can be banned one day, and unbanned the next. Furthermore, prices are different in different stores, and since wizards doesn't set official card prices, it would be difficult to find a source everyone agrees on.
It is a great casual format, but it wouldn't work officially.
April 14, 2017 3:56 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
This thread was moved to a more appropriate forum (auto-generated comment)
April 14, 2017 8:09 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #6
Honestly, I would say that the each card's legality updates at the time of each update to the banlist of other formats, but I think that having a format where it's possible for decks to phase in and out due to legality seems a bit off-putting.
April 14, 2017 8:42 a.m.
I think the concept is cool, with the self-banning part, but its slightly flawed. I would say maybe judge it by its average price since printing, that way, the prices can't spike, and price increases wouldn't fluctuate as much.
April 14, 2017 9:41 a.m.
Atony1400 That's not how Penny Dreadful works though; the legality list gets updated after each Standard-legal set is released.
April 14, 2017 10:49 a.m.
For a format like this, with a limited card pool, people joining the format could cause decks to be banned even if there isn't anything inherently wrong with the deck.
April 14, 2017 6:56 p.m.
For people like me, who only play on a incredibly tight buget, having to spend in the region of $10 a week would be rediculas. Every 3 would be best, as it gives the format a chance to settle down.
Atony1400 says... #2
Only problem with this format is using price as a guideline. This causes you to have a very unstable format where cards are shifting between legal or not daily. (Same reason I'm wary of Penny Dreadful)
April 14, 2017 12:32 a.m.