Once upon a time, there was a Magic format that was good and balanced, and the people enjoyed playing in it. The people played dual lands, and strange cards, and sought unusual combinations and synergies. And life was good.

Then, however, cards were introduced into the format that had too much synergy, and woe and misery was on the land. And the people prayed to the gods – who are called the DCI – to rescue them from their plight. And the DCI used bannings and set rotations to rid the format of evil – and thus were High Tide, Tolarian Academy, Memory Jar, and Fluctuator eliminated.

And once again, the format that was good and balanced, and the people enjoyed playing in it.

But soon, the people found a combination of cards that had too much synergy, and woe and misery was upon the land. The card Donate was blue, and it had the power to give others Illusions of Grandeur. And these others could not sustain their Illusions, and their Illusions destroyed them. And the power of mana and necromancy and Demonic Consultations caused evil mages to give such Illusions to everyone.

The people wept, and prayed for relief. The people prayed to the gods – who are called the DCI - to ban Donations of evil, or to errata the Illusions so that it acts whenever it leaves play or the owner's control.

And the DCI looked down, and considered.

The DCI knew that the combination of two blue cards, which won the game on their own, was powerful. But the DCI realized that it was the power of fast mana that caused the problem. And the DCI banned the evil Rituals and Monoliths that caused the problem.

Thus were Tinker and Suicide Black slain, although they were guiltless.

But still, the people found that the combination of Donate and Illusion that had too much synergy, and people could not sustain their Illusions, and woe and misery was still upon the land.

The people wept, and prayed for relief. The people prayed to the gods – who are called the DCI - to ban Donations of evil, or to errata the Illusions so that it acts whenever it leave play or the owner's control.

And the DCI looked down, and considered.

The DCI knew that the combination of two blue cards, which won the game on their own, was powerful. But the DCI realized that it was the power of card drawing that caused the problem. And the DCI banned the evil Necropotence and Demonic Consultation that caused the problem.

Thus were Free Card Necro and CounterSlivers and many others slain, although they were guiltless.*

But still, the people find that the combination of Donate and Illusion has too much synergy. And woe and misery is still upon the land, for six of the top 8 mages at the Detroit Pro Tour qualifier last weekend did Donate Illusions to others.

The people weep and pray for relief. The people pray to the gods – who are called the DCI - to ban Donations of evil, or to errata the Illusions so that it acts whenever it leave play or the owner's control.

And the DCI should consider what the people ask.

The DCI knows full well that the combination of two blue cards, which win the game on their own, are powerful. And the DCI can realized that it is, in part, the power of blue card drawing and blue counterspells that exacerbates the problem. Knowing that, the DCI could ban Accumulated Knowledge, or Force of Will, or Intuition, or Impulse, or Capsize, or Sapphire Medallion – or all of these.

By such acts will many decks be slain, though they are guiltless, but it will not solve the problem.

The DCI could also rotate Ice Age from the format, and many decks will be slain, but that is not necessary.

The DCI should realize that simply banning Donate, or errataing Illusions of Grandeur so that the life loss triggers when the card leaves a player's control, will cause the people to rejoice once again.

And once that is done, the DCI may consider bringing back Mana Vault and Dark Ritual, since those cards are not the problem. And thus will Tinker and black beatdown have new life.

Perhaps the DCI could even allow the return of Survival of the Fittest (after banning Volrath's Shapeshifter, perhaps?) Probably not, but I can hope, because I miss my G/B Survival deck.

I guess GP: Vegas will tell us how bad the situation really is. All my testing says Donate is still tough to beat. As much as I hate playing The best netdeck around, I'm thinking of playing Donate.

See you in Vegas. I'll be either playing Illusions, a deck tuned to beat it, or a fun deck that will almost certainly not make day 2. I'm not rejoicing, at the moment.

PRJ
jahnp@itis.com

* - True, other cards were also banned at the same time. Replenish was guilty as sin and Full English Breakfast was too much to swallow, but my G/B Survival deck did not deserve to die!