Modern Banned List ranked by brokenness.
Modern forum
Posted on Oct. 4, 2014, 10:05 p.m. by DX5
The preview of this has the numbers backwards. Whatever is under this line of text is the LEAST broken and gets increasingly broken as you scroll down.
Bloodbraid Elf - Let me start by saying these rankings are just my opinion, and I encourage you to redo them yourselves. It's like that one guy who ranked all the planeswalkers in order of power. It's hard to really say. I mostly think that as far as every card on the list, this is the least likely to break the format and be highly played in every deck of its colors. Cascade is good, but what are the odds you're going to hit what you need? Especially in Red and Green.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - He doesn't seem as powerful as he once was. He's going to get Lightning Bolt ed or Dreadbore ed or Hero's Downfall ed immediately. I also don't think he will end up being put into every blue deck. He's most likely to end up being 4 mana for a Brainstorm or Unsummon
Punishing Fire - This card would probably see sideboard play in every burn deck, but then again Lightning Bolt is in every deck with red in it, and it isn't banned. Unless there is some magical combo that I don't know about, Punishing Fire is still 2 damage for 2 mana and it can't even be split! It also has a buyback that would only be relevant in very few matchups.
Sensei's Divining Top - Basically 2 mana for a much much worse Ponder . Doesn't seem that bad. You do get to somewhat pick what draw every turn, but it costs 2 mana to do so. Also as an artifact, it is pretty easy to remove. It's a good card no doubt, but it doesn't seem too broken in Modern.
Golgari Grave-Troll - Tarmoyd's Crypt in response! This card is easily sideboarded against. Granted it is not easy to remove with its regenerate ability, and the dredge can make it come back even stronger than before, but Rest in Peace (which should be in any white deck's sideboard) ends this card. The crypt I mentioned earlier costs NO MANA to use! It's great.
Sword of the Meek - Granted this can give a 2/3 Memnite for no mana, but you can get a 5/6 Tarmogoyf for 2 Mana. It's a solid value card, but it doesn't seem like it'd complelety break modern. It only attaches to 1/1's for free. Not any creature for 1 mana. It won't attach to a Goblin Guide or anything too crazy.
Ancient Den - The first of the artifact lands to make the least. I think it's the weakest of them as it's the least useful color to Tron and Affinity. Still makes it much easier to get Metalcraft and increase Affinity discounts. If it was the only artifact land unbanned, it'd still probably see play in every artifact-based deck.
Vault of Whispers - Slightly more useful than the white artifact land, but still not very useful. Much the same, it'd still see play in every artifact deck if it were unbanned, so that bumps up its ranking.
Preordain - It's great card draw, but it's not elite card draw. Seems like it'd be a big deal in a storm deck as it can help out setting up big combos. It's better than Sensei's Diving Top because it allows you to Scry instead of just looking, and you won't be screwed on your next draw. It also costs 1 less mana to get full use out of.
Dread Return - This is not a turn 1 Griselbrand card or anything like that. 4 mana for a reanimator that may or may not hit anything big seems pretty fair. Its flashback cost is incredibly steep as well. A turn 4 Griselbrand is still a big deal though, so that's why it's this high.
Seething Song - Seems like it'd immediately be put in every Storm deck in existence and make them all much more deadly. Anytime you are playing a spell that generates you more mana, it's a good thing, but Seething Song turns 3 mana into 5. That's a huge deal. Storm is already a powerful deck, but this would make it that much better.
Tree of Tales - The middle artifact land. I've seen RG Tron and RG Affinity before, so this card would actually be somewhat useful for those decks to have available. They are already Tier 1 modern decks without it.
Great Furnace - Red is a color commonly used in Tron and Affinity builds. It's far ahead of Green in usefulness, but not ahead of any other card on the banned list in brokenness I would say. It would vastly improve those archetypes, but so would every card after it as well.
Deathrite Shaman - Mr. Utility. Deathrite has got it all. Can be paid with multiple colors of mana. A 1/2. Has 3 highly relevant abilities. Hurts your opponent's Grim Lavamancer Snapcaster Mage Tarmogoyf and more. Any card that needs Graveyard interaction is disrupted by Deathrite. Adds Mana of ANY color as well. This guy can be played in mono-green and mono-black and would be the superstar of Modern Golgari decks, or any color combo with G/B.
Ponder - The second best cantrip in magic would highly change the format. Every blue deck would run Ponder. It is really that good. It's better than Sensei's Diving Top as you can shuffle away garbage and it costs less mana. It can set up decks much better than Preordain and would make Storm decks and Combo decks highly more consistent. Some non-blue combo decks would run blue just for this card. That is how good Ponder is.
Dark Depths - Pretty much unbeatable combo with Vampire Hexmage . Can be a Turn-3 20/20 with indestructible. Sure it dies to Path to Exile but any deck running this combo would certainly have some serious backup for it. Most combo decks are tremedously hard to set up, but Dark Depths is so easy that it'd be the only combo deck. It's pretty highly broken in my opinion, but I could see how it could be lower. I've seen it do work in legacy though.
Seat of the Synod - Blue Tron is the best Tron. If affinity runs any colored cards, they are blue the majority of the time. This would make those decks much more consistent, and make their mana base so much more powerful. Unbanning this would make Tron way too good.
Glimpse of Nature - Will likely generate a ton of card advantage for any green deck running it. If there is one thing green does well it's ramp. And when they are tapping their Elvish Mystic and Avacyn's Pilgrim and Noble Hierach and Birds of Paradise for mana and they have four lands, you can see how they are going to be drawing a bunch of cards. This would be way out of the color pie for Green.
Rite of Flame - Storm is already unbearable, but this would make it even more unbearable. I can already see it: Rite of Flame, into Rite of Flame, into Rite of Flame, into Rite of Flame, into 40 Goblin Tokens. This would completely break Storm into a ridiculously annoying deck to play.
Ancestral Visions - 3 cards for 1 mana is insane. But the earliest you'll get it is turn 5. And your opponent knows it's coming, and has 4 turns to prepare for it. Still, it's huge card advantage. Broken card advantage. I'd say that every blue deck in Modern would run it if it came back. It's too much card advantage not to play.
Green Sun's Zenith - Better than Denomic Tutor for Green Decks. This card is infinitely broken and makes Birthing Pod look like garbage. If unbanned, would make Green the strongest color in Modern as you can get out whatever creature you want, as long as you can pay for it.
Hypergenesis - I put down Blightsteel the Colossus you put down AEther Vial . I put down Emrakul, the Aeons Torn you put down Lord of Atlantis . I put down Omniscience you put down Spreading Seas . I think this card would do well against Merfolk. And any other deck as well. This is a slightly more fair Show and Tell and no one likes Show and Tell.
Second Sunrise - Gets all your stuff back! If you get board wiped, you just play this and end up right back in great shape! It's the ultimate white counterspell.
Blazing Shoal - Makes Worldfire playabale. If a card is so good it makes WORLDFIRE viable in a constructed format, it needs to be factory recalled. Unfortunately, it's not THAT great. Hexproof, Infect, and Unblockable decks suddenly become amazing with this card though. Combine it with a large mana costed Red Card and you can potentially deal 10+ damage on turn 1. That's unacceptable.
Cloudpost - I'm pretty sure if these were legal, they would replace the Urza lands. There are 8 locus lands that I can find, so that could be four lands tapping for 8 mana a piece. O.O Yeah that's not something we need in modern. As bad as the artifact lands break stuff, who needs affinity when you have 32 mana every turn????
Skullclamp - Ridiculous Card. MTG's version of Pot of Greed! This card makes people want to kill their own creatures. This generates ridiculous card advantage. We are now in the part of the list where it is like, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???" when they printed this. Skullclamp is so good.
Stoneforge Mystic - Her abilities may be broken, but her looks ain't. Regardless she gets Batterskull in play turn 3. That's insane. She dominates legacy as it is. Modern can't handle her. In a format where you can't Force of Will or Daze her to save yourself, she's insanely broken. Every deck would run white with her legal in Modern.
Umezawa's Jitte - Now that I'm thinking about it, Jitte might be slightly less broken in a format without Stoneforge. It's still the best equipment ever printed. It has INFINITE flexibility. It can kill your opponent's creatures, pump yours, and gain life. You also get 2 charge counters every time you attack, which is honestly two too many.
Chrome Mox - Significantly better than Mox Opal as you don't have to metal craft to get this thing rolling. I would venture to say that almost every deck would run this card if it were legal. It's honestly not that much different than a Mox Ruby or Mox Sapphire or Mox whatever you want. It costs one card exiled, which is not a steep price to pay considering what you're getting out of it.
Mental Misstep - Mental Misstep doesn't have the most powerful effect, but it does have the most broken. This card would ruin Modern. Every deck can run it, because you can cast it using life, and honestly no blue mage is going to spend mana for it anyway. All your 1 drops: Goblin Guide Lightning Bolt Path to Exile Delver of Secrets Flip Thoughtseize and whatever is going on in green these days would get countered! By any deck. You have to ask a Burn Player if your Serum Visions resolves! A Burn Player!!! Any card that makes you respect a Burn Player's intelligence is a card that would ruin a format.
So you probably disagree with everything I wrote. Tell me what's wrong and re-order it yourself :)
MSU_Iced_Z says... #3
Well I'll start with the easy one. Sensei's Divining Top wasn't banned for power level, it was banned for game speed.
October 4, 2014 10:20 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #4
By reading your evaluations of this banlist something tells me that for some of them you aren't really aware of why they were put on the banlist in the first place are you?
Not intending to sound rude but specifically your review of Second Sunrise highlights it. Sunrise was banned because it made Second Breakfast a thing, if you remember they banned it in an attempt to kill a deck that was taking 15-20 minute turns.
October 4, 2014 10:22 p.m.
Jace will never, and should never be unbanned in modern. No questions. lol
October 4, 2014 10:24 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #6
This list is painful. Please know what you're talking about before trying to convince people that you know what you're talking about...
October 4, 2014 10:24 p.m.
Nigeltastic says... #7
I don't mean to come off rude, but are you joking? I only got through your first few items, as your reasoning for all of these cards shows a massive misunderstanding of how the cards are used and why they are banned in the first place.
October 4, 2014 10:25 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
Also, please explain to me how Seat of the Synod is more ban-worthy than Deathrite Shaman ?
October 4, 2014 10:27 p.m.
A lot of combo items are on here. BTW, Dread Return does mean t1 Grizz.
October 4, 2014 10:28 p.m.
Also, Sword of the Meek combos with Thopter Foundry hella easily
October 4, 2014 10:33 p.m.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor is 2nd lest broken card? Credibility ruined.
October 4, 2014 10:34 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #12
I think the project was a fine project. Ranking the ban list is a doable task and it's entirely possible. That being said, there isn't a single card on here that doesn't deserve to be banned and I grossly disagree with some of your rankings.
For example, Preordain would grossly enable combo and control. It's arguably better than Ponder to.
October 4, 2014 10:39 p.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #13
Least broken cards on banlist: Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor
What
October 4, 2014 10:40 p.m.
ItchiUchiha117 says... #14
I feel his credibility was ruined when he started saying Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded was better that Liliana of the Veil , because, if I remember correctly, this is that same guy...
October 4, 2014 10:41 p.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #15
Hold on, hold on. You see Punishing Fire as just a 2 mana burn 2 spell for sideboards, and think that's more broken than Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Bloodbraid Elf ?
Hey guys, this just in, Magma Jet more busted than JtMS. Wizards please ban Lightning Strike .
October 4, 2014 10:46 p.m.
I find it odd that the Artifact Lands are so scattered across the list.
October 4, 2014 10:57 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #17
You should probably research as to why these cards were banned. A lot of them were banned for different reasons than you would imagine.
Also, I think it's time for Golgari Grave-Troll to come off of the ban list. Dredge is pretty easy to stop now, with Relic of Progenitus exiling all their good stuff for 1 mana, Tormod's Crypt being not as good, and RIP removing graveyards.
Sure it's a powerful card, but would it really see play? Wild Nacatl isn't seeing much play.
October 4, 2014 11:11 p.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #18
@ItchiUchiha117 Oh my god, you're right. It's the same guy. The quotes from that thread up on fluffybunnypants's wall are great.
"'...makes Tibalt even more overpowered than normal.' This is the first time these words have ever been combined in this order."
October 4, 2014 11:11 p.m.
I feel like this is a first look of the banlist from someone who's never seen any of the cards before.
October 4, 2014 11:13 p.m.
I'm 50% sure this guy is trolling...honestly its kindof impossible for me to tell. If trolling this makes me laugh super hard, and if not i'll be crying. On second thought i do think just doesnt know the reason behind the specific decks these cards fit into besides the obviously broken cards, if new to modern Second Sunrise for eggs and the Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry combos wouldnt be apparent but dont hate too badly, everyone has different levels of play in mtg...although i would give a thumbs up to someone who would KINDLY reorder these in a post
October 4, 2014 11:55 p.m.
miracleHat says... #21
Holy RANT UP THE SWAG!!!
Artifact lands makes affinity broken!
Sword of the Meek
+
Thopter Foundry
is a thing
Preordain
makes storm much better
Any storm card that has been banned has been so for a reason STORM!
Reanimation / Dredge, because turn 1 win is difficult to deal with
Glimpse of Nature
elves is a nasty combo thing
mystic + jitte = stupid
Chrome Mox
because fast mana is bad in modern
Mental Misstep
, i guess that you go that one right...
/rant
October 4, 2014 11:57 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #24
You can bolt a walker but not before the walker gets to activate a loyalty ability.
Maybe thats what Ragnarocker meant? (Awesome name btw.)
Just playing devil's advocate?
October 5, 2014 12:50 a.m.
I honestly think he lost all credibility when he said 'Unsummon Jace'
October 5, 2014 12:54 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #26
To DX5 however, Have you ever tried to "kill a top"?
There are like 3 ways to get top... One? Krosan Grip . Two? Naturalize effect to make them draw a card, then respond with another Naturalize effect before the top LTB. Three? Naturalize effect then mill them for some amount.
Point being that it's INSANELY hard to kill a top.
October 5, 2014 12:57 a.m.
Ragnarocker says... #27
Honest Injun, I was completely unaware that one can Bolt a 'Walker seeing as the text does not specify "target creature or planeswalker". Googled that shizz and this came up:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-questions/can-you-use-cards-like-lightning-bolt-on-plansewalkers/
You learn something new every day. Based TappedOut (thanks for the compliment on my name btw :) ).
October 5, 2014 3:03 a.m.
Wow.... So much hate in this thread! :D
Well... I can see why people are hating. It is not really some good arguments.... I don't think, that you can rank the cards by how broken they are.
One thing I don't really understand is.... Why is Punishing Fire banned? I mean, there is that combo with Grove of the Burnwillows . But it is 1 dmg for 3 mana? It seems pretty bad? Could someone explain this? :D
October 5, 2014 3:47 a.m.
ryuzaki32667 says... #29
With enough mana/time you can machine gun down a bunch of creatures that are normally out of Lightning Bolt range, reusable burn would hurt aggro decks a bit
October 5, 2014 3:50 a.m.
I'm pretty sure this wasn't said yet, but there have been three or four threads asking if JTMS is OK to be unbanned, and so the question isn't that bad?
If something's going to get unbanned, it's either because Wizards made a mistake of banning it, or many new cards came in to combat it. Golgari Grave-Troll falls into this first catagory. Jace, the Mind Sculptor might fall into the second, with Hero's Downfall and Dreadbore printed and Despise reprinted. As a matter of fact, all cards that mention "Planeswalker" have been printed after Gatecrash. So Wizards is ramping up the hate on Planeswalkers. Therefore, it might be safe to let a Planeswalker into the metagame. Bloodbraid Elf fits neither of those criteria. It made one deck too strong and they haven't printed any realistically good answers to it since. Therefore, it can't be unbanned.
October 5, 2014 8:09 a.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #31
@ DX5 Weren't you the person who thought that Tibalt is actually good? Also, it's called 12 Post, not 8 Post because of Vesuva .
I really get the feeling that you did basically zero research on your subject matter.
October 5, 2014 8:24 a.m.
Being someone that knows next to nothing about Modern, the fact that I read this and new this guy was crazy/out of his mind is sad. Logic played 0 part in his post.
October 5, 2014 9:14 a.m.
I feel like this list would be better sorted into three categories.
Category one:
Cards that are just too powerful, and should remain banned for the foreseeable future. (most of the banned list falls into this category.)
Example: Seething Song
Category two:
Cards that are powerful, but could potentially be unbanned.
Example: Jace, the Mind Sculptor (personally I think it'd be dumb to unban JTMS, but this thread kinda agrees that it could happen, so here's the example for this category)
Category three:
Cards that should be unbanned.
Example: Golgari Grave-Troll
This would make for a more logical list, rather than rank them on a scale of 1-30.
October 5, 2014 9:45 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #36
Joking101 Or ordering like Wizards do, as to why they banned it.
-Too powerful/broken (Stoneforge Mystic)
-Ruining the games (Sensei's Diving Top lengthening games)
-Made decks far too good/consistent (Deathrite Shaman)
October 6, 2014 5:43 a.m.
CanadianShinobi says... #37
@ PreZchoICE1 No. Just no. It isn't broken and isn't remotely ban worthy. Most of the popular decks can handle it Game 1. Everything handles it game 2.
October 6, 2014 7:29 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #38
If Dread Return and Golgari Grave-Troll both get unbanned then my legacy turn 2 win deck will mostly be legal in modern (and the cards not printed after 8th edition are not exactly staple cards) so yeah unban both and watch a deck running 0 lands kill you repeatedly
October 6, 2014 10:46 a.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #39
CanadianShinobi I guess we'll agree to disagree for now, but I'd bet a farm that it gets the hammer.
Epochalyptik says... #2
Punishing Fire is part of a recurring burn interaction with Grove of the Burnwillows . It can wear down an opponent or machine gun the field pretty quickly. It's not the most efficient burn spell ever, but it does give you continuous options.
Sensei's Divining Top isn't banned because it's super broken. It's banned because it artificially lengthens games by encouraging players to spend an extra two minutes per turn cycle toolboxing their topdeck. The power level is only part of the equation.
October 4, 2014 10:18 p.m.