Re:How the Magic: The Gathering Color Wheel Explains Humanity
by bernawil on Monday June 08, 2020 @10:24PM
(#23463028)
Dark Ritual was banned for as long as I remember (I played extended during 2003-2006). It's pretty much the definition of an OP card: if you were to draw 2 copies and a strong creature it'd be almost imposible to lose that game.
Re:How the Magic: The Gathering Color Wheel Explains Humanity
by YeGoblynQueenne on Tuesday June 09, 2020 @08:05AM
(#23465856)
Dark Ritual was OP because of the abundance of BBB or 2B threats that it could plomp on the table on turn 1, most famous of them being Necropotence, of course, followed closely by Phyrexian Negator or Bad moon and a swarm of black weenies and with honourable mentions to Stupor or Duress + Ravenous Rats (Stupor and Duress not being threats, but still it sucks to lose two cards on turn 1 before you can do anything about it).
It's interesting to note that when the ability to produce a lot of quick mana with a sorcery was shifted to Red, two of them (Seething Song and Rite of Flame) also got banned (in Modern).
Re:How the Magic: The Gathering Color Wheel Explains Humanity
by gpderetta on Tuesday June 09, 2020 @08:27AM
(#23466008)
yes, the ability is so strong that even significantly weaker variants got banned.
Interestingly even the third most powerful boon is powerful enough to be a multi-format all star.
The last two of course... are not.
I don't think those three are super comparable; Dark Ritual is much stronger than Lighting Bolt, which is much stronger than Giant Growth. Dark Ritual has purposely not been printed in a "standard legal" set since 1999; it's not legal in the Modern format (cards printed in standard sets since 2003), only in formats that allow cards from any time period. Lighting Bolt is legal in Modern, with its last standard printing being in 2010, although the head designer has indicated that they wouldn't print it in a standard set now. Giant Growth was printed in a standard legal set just last year, meaning it's still currently legal to play in the Standard format (roughly speaking, cards printed in standard sets in the past two calendar years).