Horse wrote:
PsIKoTiC wrote:
The main problem with upheaval is the amount of artifact mana acceleration avalible in this format.
If you cast upheaval and then drop your mana vault, sol ringyour thran dynamo, and then some beefy creature, you are going to have an INCREDIBLE board advantage vs the players who werent allowed to float mana.
this is very true. everybody already knows this. the problem i have with it being banned is that there are SOOOOO many other things you can do that trick with. it's not like upheaval is the only board wiping spell in the game. thus, banning upheaval opens the door to banning wrath of god, armageddon, etc., which would be bad.
This, I think, is an invalid argument. You are declaring that there is a slippery slope between the banning of Upheaval and the eventual banning of all other board sweepers, and this isn't the case. As has been pointed out in your "This banned list is silly" thread, the bans come from months of playtesting and deliberation and are not made offhand after just one bad experience with them. Upheaval is not like Wrath except in that they share a trait of 'sweeper' - but the concept of a 'sweeper' can apply to many things - Aether Snap, Purity, Tranquility, Shatterstorm, etc.
Unlike Jokulhlaups or Obliterate, Upheaval leaves the player playing it with all that artifact mana back in his hand, so that he may replay it. A Haups player has to be more careful setting up his post-Haups turn, by choosing not to play an early Mana Vault or Sol Ring, sacrificing tempo in return for a good recovery. I think this contributes to Upheaval being banned over the other sweepers.