There were whispers internally even then about banning the card, but we all hoped that maybe the players would find a way around the problem and it would all work out ok. Darksteel came out, and it didn't take long for players to uncover the Clamp's power. On top of that, we weren't even sure Skullclamp would survive in Standard until Champions was released, so we decided to sit on our hands and let the results from Pro Tour — Kobe and US Regionals tell us what to do.
Maybe the players would solve the puzzle yet. The results from Kobe were weird, and oddly uplifting. There weren't some insane number of Skullclamp s in the Top 8 decks, only eight total! We didn't immediately recognize what Skullclamp had done to make the format what it was, but it was pretty clear that we didn't need to ban anything on March 1.
But it just didn't happen that way. Three-quarters of the decks that qualified people for US Nationals that weekend had Skullclamp s in them. Something had to be done.
After much arguing, soul-searching, and gnashing of teeth, we decided to give Skullclamp the boot in both formats. In the weeks leading up to Regionals, as the Standard format's degeneracy was making itself painfully obvious, many players were crying out for a ban on Skullclamp.
We just haven't found the answer yet. By now these people know the truth, and I feel like we let them down. We didn't engineer this environment—heck, we didn't imagine Darksteel Standard to look anything like this. We didn't print fixes because we didn't know about the problem.
And we're sorry that your faith in us—the whole development process—has been shaken. But don't despair. You shouldn't expect us to be perfect—it's not possible for us to be, and it would be really boring if we were.
We don't want people to have the false idea that we have every environment mapped out and solved and we're just watching from above, waiting to see if you all fall in line. It's not like that at all. We have a decent idea of what decks will be good, but we never get it exactly right. We didn't put Wonder in our madness decks, Astral Slide in our cycling decks, or Patriarch's Bidding in our Goblin decks.
We never had a tier-1 Tooth and Nail deck or white Urzatron deck. We thought Wizards were a real deck, for crying out loud! And we obviously didn't put Skullclamp in our Affinity decks until it was too late. The whole development process of a TCG only works if there are doors left open for players to exploit, and that's naturally going to be the case due to unavoidable human error. You outnumber us several million to under We know we can't get away with any kinds of slip-ups… we try to stop them, but occasionally something goes wrong.
I can't say we're ever happy to ban cards, but we're happy to toe the line, even if it comes back to haunt us later. We printed over individual new cards in between the Urza block the last block to give us cards banned in Standard and Skullclamp. That's a pretty good record.
Combined, those 16 decks contained 58 out of a possible 64 Skullclamps. Never in my memory have I ever seen a card show up in those numbers. It's interesting to note that the development team themselves completely underestimated the power of this card. The story of how it made it to release, discussed in the linked article, is quite fascinating. I know this is an ancient post but I stumbled upon it in a Google search and figured I could add a bit more historical context.
As others have mentioned and linked , Skullclamp was proven pernicious in the Standard and Extended formats of its day. That said, nobody knows for certain what impact it would have on Legacy or Modern because it was never legal in either format. Both of those formats are relatively new, and unusual in that they're popular tournament formats that are younger than most of their card pools.
Because both formats started with a large card base, both formats also started with banlists that are somewhat speculative. It's tricky business because if they started with nothing banned, both formats would have been ruled by known broken decks for quite some time what Zvi Mowshowitz termed "Oh Lord, Not Again" , so Wizards extrapolated from past tournaments in other, similar formats. The result is that both formats have a number of cards that were "preemptively" banned in this fashion.
Sometimes those cards get unbanned; Mind over Matter , Replenish , and Land Tax are apparently not as bad as they were in their original contexts.
While Skullclamp was never proven broken in current formats as such, it ruined Standard, eventually proved broken in Extended and was almost Vintage playable. It's also arguably a more resilient Glimpse of Nature and certainly has a similar effect in the same decks , and that card is also illegal in Modern. It's almost certainly staying banned forever in Modern, and deservedly so, since that format is intentionally kept at a power level at or below the old Extended formats where we already established Skullclamp was too good.
Legacy is fast enough that I can see an argument for unbanning it coming up at some point in the far future, but there's a danger of it becoming an automatic 4-of in every aggro deck and becoming an autowin against control. There's also the risk that it fits too well in a creature-based combo deck like Elves! Puresteel Paladin?
Scars block in general? So I don't like its chances there either. But then the standard bannings happened and by the time the Modern banlist was finalized for the general population Jace was on it. It's telling that neither felt the need to go into much detail justifying the banning. Its effect on Standard and Extended really was that bad. On the surface of things this may not look obviously broken, but honestly, in the right deck it's an engine that says "pay 1 mana: draw 2 cards".
As the article points out, at the time all the top decks were playing 4 Clamps; much as Jace, The Mind Sculptor just got banned for being ubiquitous at recent Magic tournaments. When a card becomes a non-optional 4-of constituent of any competitive deck that hopes to win games, it has to go. The way in which in grants the creature it is equipped to -1 toughness is the real selling point for it's degeneracy.
That means that any one toughness creature dies immediately to it and lets you draw two cards as a result. Turning it into a one colourless mana, repeatable version of Altar's Reap. Couple this with any semi efficient token producer that produces one toughness creatures and things get nutty pretty fast. One key to the continued health of Magic is diversity.
It is vitally important to ensure that there are multiple competitive decks for the tournament player to choose from. If there were only a single viable deck to play, tournaments would quickly stagnate as players were forced to either play that deck or a deck built specifically to beat it.
In addition, different players enjoy playing different types of decks. Equip an ornithopter with this: you make a flier blocker and draw 2 cards!!! Repeat this process with more ornithopters and other creatures and watch your opponent cry! Great combo card! Some say it could be one of the best uncommons! This card is the best i go to magic tournaments all the time and its really good in them any kind they are good in they make a total difference in a deck im 13 and a average good magic player.
Incredible card capable of generating amazing card advantage. With this, Wrath effects and other destruction are less painful for sure. FOW is sick sick sick It was just unfair, thus the restrictions You can only equip Skullclamp to creatures you control so it won't help you any against Goblin or WW decks.
It is very nice in casual :D. The problem with Rift is its amazing versatility, offering either an early removal or a late-game mass nuke. At base cost, Rift simply bounces a non-land you don't control back to its owner's hand, a multi-use check that can impact creatures, planeswalkers, and other non-land permanents.
Stopped there, we'd already have a good card. But if you save for Rift's overload cost, you bounce every non-land you don't control back to its owner's hand. Sure, this takes seven mana, but it leaves your own field unscathed, activates at instant speed, and bypasses defenses like indestructible, hexproof, and protection from blue since it doesn't target or destroy , eliminating even well-defended spells and excelling in multiplayer.
When playing EDH, you know your opponent will have at least one warrior available their commander throughout the match, making creature removals especially important. Enter legendary land Pendrell Vale, which simple forces players to pay one mana for each of their soldiers during their upkeep, sacrificing anyone left behind. Sure, you suffer the same penalty, but in non-creature decks, you evade the price while opponents are stuck losing either their creatures or their mana supply, making them easy pickings.
For a nasty combo, blend with commanders like "Oloro, Ageless Ascetic," whose effects activate from the command zone, letting you harness their powers without paying Vale's price. Cards like Ascendant here and "Felidar Sovereign" are simply designed for different formats.
But with EDH's initial life of 40, you begin with enough to trigger the boost. If you're not yet convinced of blue's dominance, try getting hit with one of these suckers. Like "Counterspell" in itself a great card , Mana Drain negates any spell for just two mana, a great way to thwart an opposing play.
But then it also gives you that spell's CMC as colorless mana during your next main phase, accessing high-cost cards several turns ahead of schedule. Combining a great counterspell with a great ramp, this juggernaut makes you constantly worry what your blue-using rivals have in hand. Expect to see this one in every deck. Sol Ring's colorless nature and low-cost make it available on your first turn, and it can tap for two colorless mana.
On the round it arrives, that's a net increase of one mana, and on future moves, it's an extra two. Even without other ramps, this means you can afford four-cost spells on just your second turn factoring in your regular land plays. Sure, it's important to include artifact removals in your deck, but just like with Ascendant, you're not guaranteed to have one available in time. Plus, using it on such an inexpensive card means your opponent's stronger relics will often slip through unchecked. Sol Ring not bad enough for you?
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