Hi everyone, The Archon Council decided to put two changes up for vote. You can vote on the following changes:
Unban Dig Through Time
Unban Imperial Seal
You can had over to Discord to cast your vote! You have time to do so until 15-July-2024 12:00 CET.
Here are the reasonings for the proposed changes:
Dig Through Time:
We propose to unban Dig Through Time which has been on the banlist since the format’s inception. It is currently the only “Delve” spell remaining on the banlist after its distant cousins Treasure Cruise and Tasigur, the Golden Fang have been unbanned in Archon. Both spells show little to no play in Archon. The impression is that they fit into the format’s power level and are surely far way from being too powerful. Their unbanning has shown that “Delve” spells cannot be treated as free spells like in other formats. It also again emphasized that pure value cards are not dominating games of Archon. The format is too fast for Delve spells to be relevant in the first couple turns and they are therefore a payoff for decks that try to play a longer game. Dig through time is typically considered the strongest of the three Delve spells, which is why we were previously hesitant to unban it. It being instant speed and being able to “dig” seven cards deep were in the past deemed too strong for Combo and Control decks. We argue that Dig through time is probably still a strong asset for these two Archetypes, but neither of those will receive a tool that they did not have access to before. Control will have another late game advantage card helping to take over the game, while Combo might also gain a tool to increase consistency at the loss of explosiveness. In particular combo decks might have a hard time delving cards away from their graveyard early as they might need to recurr them during their combo turn.
Overall, we think that Dig through Time fits into the power level of Archon and benefits decks that try to aim for a long game. Given the fast nature of our current format we think the card is a good addition to the format and its place on the banlist can no longer be justified.
Imperial Seal:
Imperial Seal has been on the banlist almost since its printing. At first it was very expensive, unavailable and rare, after it‘s reprint in double masters it has hit the market for a reasonable price. However, concerning the powerlevel of this card in a game of Magic it is hard to find data, because the card does not really see play. Even in formats where it is legal. Playing a sorcery speed tutor for 2 life is quite hard to integrate in your play patterns because your opponent can interact with your hand/lands/creatures making your next draw probably even bad. Due to your opponent having an entire turn after your tutor. A whole new play evaluation/ situation may have evolved and the searched card on top of your deck could very well be a bad topdeck. We believe that this card won’t be part of a critical mass of tutors, will maybe see play in combo decks but not have an impact on Archon as a whole. To further reduce our banlist we recommend Imperial Seal to be unbanned in Archon.