Re: Mass nonbasic hate in standard and pioneer pretty please with a cherry on topI have read the threads from my previous questions, and I now understand why most of the extreme nonbasic hate cards, stuff like blood moon, back to basics, or ruination, can feel oppressive against decks with 2 or even 1 color, which is obviously not the goal of such cards. I do want to ask now, as question of curiosity more than a specific request: what kinds of things make hate cards go too far? Whether it be blood moon or rest in peace or engineered plague; at what point does a hate piece cause too much collateral damage (like blood moon), or at what point is the punishment so severe that it can fully lock some decks out of the game (like Rest in Peace). Where is the sweet spot, how do you know you’ve found it, and what kinds of knobs do you turn to help get there? I know that’s way more than one question and might be better suited as an article, but I’d still be fascinated to hear about it.

It’s just yet another reason why play balance is so difficult. Not enough and it’s not effective. Too much and it has impacts you don’t want. Mostly it’s a lot of trial and error in playtesting, and then some finger crossing.

I understand nahiri being red. It's impulse and emotion. Why is she white though? She's risking destroying an entire plane of people for revenge on Sorin, and she thinks her plane is dead so she isn't even doing it to save her own plane in some collateral damage way. Isn't white the color of balance, duty, the greater good, and things of that nature?

She is using white tools, not trying to achieve white goals. There is a bit of “eye for an eye” mentality which dips into White.

You said, "You’ll notice the vast majority of those cards are from many years against. We have majorly cut back on regeneration hosing." Is this true when considering exile effects? I understand they're not necessarily targeting regeneration as much as indestructible and graveyard shenanigans, but it seems like collateral damage.

I was counting specific named hosing and not exile.

"I’m saying every once in a rare while we let red destroy everything." This is why I like Anarchy. Its not a card about destroying white enchantments, its a card about destroying everything white, the white enchantments are just collateral damage not the targets. I like that red can go nuclear every once in a blue moon, especially against its enemies.

Red can occasionally (and very occasionally at that) destroy everything not everything of my opponent’s. Anarchy is as much a color violation as it comes in red.

When cards get banned from block, does that feel like a defeat or is that just to-be-expected collateral damage when trying to be innovative?

Part of making Magic is taking risks and getting close to “the edge”. If nothing is ever banned, that means we’re playing it too safe. If things get banned too often, we’re being to risky. We like to have a nice balance erring on the side of less things banned.