Since this event, I've heard many people in the MTG community talking about banning Brainstorm from the Legacy format. My immediate reaction was "HELL NO! They will never ban Brainstorm in Legacy!"After thinking about it and discussing it with my friend Anthony Harrison, there are a few truths about Brainstorm that people cannot argue with:
- Playing a non-Brainstorm deck in Legacy puts you inherently at a disadvantage.
- Blue decks are effectively 56 card decks with 4 required Brainstorm slots already taken.
- Brainstorm was deemed "too powerful" for Vintage, the format that allows for the Power 9 to be played (albeit restricted, but even so).
- Brainstorm is one of the most complicated spells to play properly.
Personally, I do not want Brainstorm to be banned. As a veteran BUG Delver player, I cringe at the thought of not being able to guarantee my Delver of Secrets flipping on Turn 2 off a Brainstorm with Delver's trigger on the stack.
But the question arises: Is Brainstorm too powerful for Legacy? Vintage players thought that Brainstorm was safe from banning back in 2008, and thankfully it was only restricted. When looking at the Vintage format today, many of us cringe to think what it would be like with un-restricted Brainstorms. It. Would. Be. Chaos.
Cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor can be cast on Turn 1 thanks to the Moxen and Black Lotus, but a 4 mana investment to Brainstorm is much more fair than 1 mana.
My argument for not banning Brainstorm actually stems from the fact that it is restricted in Vintage: If it is still partially legal in Vintage with cards like Yawgmoth's Will and Time Vault in the format, it only seems far that since we are casting spells no where near as powerful it should stay unbanned.
As for right now, my opinion still stands that it should not be banned, but given the above evidence, I would not be surprised if Wizards eventually decided to un-sleeve Brainstorm in Legacy for a while.
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