@maximumcdawg said in Vintage 101: Cat Scratch Fever:
This is far more fundamental than the introduction of planeswalkers, though. That new card type caused problems because all the old cards which were valued based on how they interacted with other card types now had to be totally re-evaluated. And Planeswalkers did not change a fundamental core rule of Magic, namely, the starting hand size and variance.
I mean, having free spells that start in play (leylines, chancellor effects) also undermined core standing tenets of the game. Dredge is a deck that traditionally can win without spending mana, playing mana, or in some cases ever casing a spell. What is more fundamental to the game of Magic, the way you get your opening hand, or using mana to cast spells.
The fact that this effect is novel is not in and of itself grounds for banning.
@maximumcdawg said in Vintage 101: Cat Scratch Fever:
Unlike most other cards, there's no real punishment for choosing to run a companion. If one is compatible with your deck list, it seems to me that you are compelled to run it. This gets worse if you print more. The more they print, the higher the chances you can jam one not because it actually makes sense in your deck but because having access to a 5/5 for 5 without any cost is just a good idea. One sideboard slot versus starting with a free card that can't be thoughtseized and just sits there in case you need it? Hmmmm...
I mean the "punishment" is that you are limited in your deck building. That is a real cost for some decks, which is really the driver for the disparity right now. If there was a companion that could slide into every deck in the format we would be having a much different conversation.
This cost will only become more real as new cards get printed that cannot be used in a Lurrus shell. Over a period of time I suspect you will see new strategies pop up that will not run Lurrus in favor of some other cards, maybe without a companion, maybe with a different one.
Another hypothetical. WOTC prints a Mox with companion. It's restriction is something that excludes you from using the other moxen. If I'm looking to pilot a monored bloodmoon deck, I am suddenly VERY interested in this card and would never even consider Lurrus.