For the past 27 years magic has been a game played by drawing 7 random cards. Gaining access to an 8th known card that cannot be interacted with is fundamentally different.
@Protoaddict have you played any games with Lurrus?
Lotus, recall, brainstorm ,etc are all one-ofs randomized in a 60 card deck. Lurrus is available to you every game, whenever you want it, in a place no one can touch it. Companions are fundamentally different than all other cards. That's why people are looking at them differently.
I'm not talking about kitchen table. I mean weekly/monthly tournaments that are still held which allow 15 proxies. There may be others but the only truly sanctioned events I'm aware of in the US where u cannot proxy are EW and SCG con. Also online most vintage decks are cheaper than modern.
Unless your goal is to play in those two tournaments the format is accessible. Driving interest to it is a different issue and one that I don't see being fixed by any different number/style of companion printings.
@Protoaddict mox ruby is free to proxy and costs $2 online. Similar for the rest of the power. Vintage in its current form is accessible for all but 1 or 2 tournaments a year.
@MaximumCDawg no wouldn't describe it as the new brainstorm in legacy. It's a card that you know op has every game and if you want to be competitive you also have it every game in a zone that can't be interacted with. After you play a couple matches you'll see its really more of a chess match to see who can deplete the others resources and stick lurrus. Whoever does that will bury the the op in card advantage and win at some point afterwards. Then start over and repeat.
Most of this discussion seems to be theory or just based on the notion that nothing can every be banned in vintage. Has anyone in here played vintage or legacy online since companions were released? It's miserable. I love both these formats and if they don't make a change (bannings) i have no desire to play them.
I see this is sold out on EC website. Does anyone know if there are any thoughts of increasing the # of players?
@smmenen
I totally agree for the full 12 force list but I'm testing lessor # of forces + lesser # of powders with more accelerant (wraith & probe). 4 may still be the right # of powders but it also may be worth giving up a little consistency for more speed/evasion in the current meta. Atleast that's what I'm exploring.