The Absolute State of MTG

 Number of Standard bans from 2010 - 2016: 2.

Number of Standard bans from 2017 - 2020: 23.

There have been 10 cards banned for the Standard format within the past 10 months: Agent of Treachery, Fires of Invention, Cauldron Familiar, Growth Spiral, Teferi, Time Raveler, Wilderness Reclamation, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, and now Lucky Clover, Escape to the Wild and Omnath, Locus of Creation. Somehow 2020, that little year that could, is now the year with the most bans in Standard. Yes, we have surpassed even the eight bans of Combo Winter in 1999.

Speaking of which, Omnath has also (handily!) taken the record for the quickest Standard banning of a card after its printing - a lightning-fast 18 days compared to Memory Jar's tepid 45 days.

 Oh yeah, and there are still two months left in the year for them to ban something else. I guess don't buy any cards, folks. They might be banned the next day.

When Is a Mill Not a Mill?

It's one thing to have to change your mind on something. It's quite another to be pissy and indignant about it right up until you make the change.

Ripples of the Past

This is something I just noticed, and I haven't seen any indication online of people talking about this, so I think I may have discovered a very minor and particular typo that slipped through the cracks here.

Notice how Oakhame Adversary says it costs less if "your opponent" controls a green permanent, rather than "an opponent"? It implies you'll only ever have one opponent... that's some 1994 wording right there.

The Bell Curve of Power

Regulars will know I have a habit of complaining about the state of Magic, particularly in terms of the direction it's headed. The art's getting worse, the story's getting worse, the card stock is getting worse, the strategies being supported are getting worse, yadda yadda yadda... is there no stone left unturned? What if, in an ironic twist of fate... even being worse is getting worse?

Not All That Glitters Is Gold

Well, that didn't last long. Where's that archivist I was clamouring for years back?