On behalf of the Peasant Magic Council: Changes to official Peasant Magic rules, June 28.
As of July 15, the banned list for Peasant Magic now includes:
Brain Freeze.
The Peasant Magic Council is also concerned about, but is not acting on:
High Tide
Prosperity
Skullclamp, and
Sinkhole.
Reasoning:
Brain Freeze:
Decks combining High Tide with free-spells from Urza's Block have proven to be very strong. Brain Freeze, in particular, seems to have taken the deck from one that plays a role in the metagame to a deck that warps it. We feel that a great deal of space for deck design has been opened by eliminating this deck's cheap, nearly uncounterable win condition.
High Tide and Prosperity:
Other components of the aforementioned Tides decks, we considered taking action against both of these cards, but ultimately decided against it. While Prosperity as a win condition is still an option, and High Tide with the "free-spells" can be recognized as somewhat dangerous, we belive that without Brain Freeze as a cheap, nearly uncounterable win condition, the metagame is capable of containing Tides decks. We believe that every color, with the possible exception of green, has a way to disrupt the combo which we believe will serve as a check on potential abuse. However, we are still concerned, and intend to solicit more input from the community and watch results from uncoming touraments to determine whether further action needs to be taken.
Skullclamp:
Skullclamp has been banned in Standard and Mirrodin Block Constructed play because it is a cheap card that fits well in almost any agressive deck. It is especially effective at giving these decks an edge against control. While we see Skullclamp's power, the Peasant Magic Council believes that Skullclamp's being uncommon makes it far less clear whether it belongs in every aggressive deck in this format, and so we have decided to take no action at this time. However, we are still concerned, and intend to solicit more input from the community and watch results from uncoming touraments to determine whether further action needs to be taken.
Sinkhole:
We believe that Sinkhole is not an inherently overpowered card, although its casting cost places it in a class of its own among land destruction effects. The Peasant Magic Council recognizes that it is a good common that is far more expensive than most other commons. We considered making Sinkhole an uncommon for cost purposes alone, but we decided to continue to watch tournament results to determine whether Sinkhole is or is not a problem.
Chis Morling