@Shahrazad: In some sense, it really had to go, it was only used for griefing people via copies or Hive Mind, etc. Worse, it wasn't even used to win the game; it was sheerly to waste people's time with pointless subgames with half consequences. Is it a waste of time? Yes. It is exactly like playing a real game, without the fun of winning and losing (however marginal that is for some people, though I think all must admit it exists).
@Erayo: "In some sense, it really had to go, it was only used for griefing people." On the other hand, I actually have and play an Erayo deck, and play it against people who have decks of similar power (of which there are many). I want to stress that I didn't use my Erayo deck to grief people, or that tired old line of 'teaching someone a lesson'; I only played it when people asked for my most broken and best, and they would bring it to match. One of the complaints is that she makes for boring games, though this is inherently subjective; I found games with Erayo very exciting, though I usually had adequate 'narrow' answers. If the argument were, "the games are boring because they are linear and stupid because it does the same thing every game and all the decks look the same", I would agree, but a great many commanders fall into that category (I'm looking at you, Zur, Sliver Overlord). I guess it gives me an excuse to build something new for the competitive arenas I play in ("... Zur? Buddy? HOW are you doin'? It's been so long. No I'm not busy Sunday, come by and we'll shoot the shit.") Maybe it'll be fun to get the modern moxen, mana crypt and other busted stuff into other decks.
Erayo wasn't for everyone, but it was definitely for
some people, and we mourn the loss.
@Lion's Eye Diamond: Buh. This is exciting. When I first started on these forums (and with this format in general), I created a thread asking about why LED was banned, not even realizing that you could pay for your general with it (
link). People seemed to think it was only good for infinite combos (with
Auriok Salvagers, even though you still don't have a hand when you have infinite mana), turn 1 Charbelcher activations, or turn 1 WAkromas, even though I only wanted to use it for Madness and reanimator jank. Are those things still possible? Likely? I feel pretty justified months later that it will go in a Dralnu deck I build very soon.