Thread by @JudgeDanGames, Why do games of Magic snowball so much recently? I think it's [...]

Why do games of Magic snowball so much recently? I think it& #39;s because of the way threats are designed.
For the longest time, threats that saw play were really good at one thing. Nowadays, most threats are good at multiple things and Uro is good at everything.
Thread: 1/X

There are several things a threat can be good at. Winning the race, being tough to answer, being tough to trade with or being good at many points in the game.
What do I mean by those? Let me explain.
2/X

Winning the race: It kills your opponent before your opponent kills you. Cards that deal a lot of damage and/or gain life are very good at this.
Being tough to answer: How many different ways are there to kill this? Cards that protect themselves are good at this.
3/X

Being tough to trade with: If I have one of the ways to kill this, am I behind on cards? Cards with built-in card advantage are good at this.
Being good at many points in the game: You don& #39;t care if it& #39;s in your opener or you draw it some turns in. Cheap cards are good here.
4/X

Now let& #39;s look at some threats that were played throughout the history of Magic (in no particular order) and see how they did on the stated metrics and see how newly designed threats match up to that.
I& #39;ll start with a classic: Baneslayer Angel.
5/X

Baneslayer Angel is almost impossible to race, but easy to kill and trade with, and mostly good in the later game. It& #39;s the classic case of "if they can& #39;t answer it, they lose but if they can, you& #39;re sad".
6/X

Next: Goblin Guide. Also races hard, is very easy to kill and trade with, only good in the early game. If you can last until it& #39;s just a bad 2/2, you win.
Next up: Aetherling/Morphling
7/X

Aetherling and Morphling only race well if you& #39;re not too far behind, are very hard to kill but easy to trade with (if you get them with removal they die without giving value), and only matter in the very late game.
8/X

Blade Splicer is easy to kill, doesn& #39;t race super hard and is mostly good in the mid game but when you trade with it, it leaves an extra body around, generating value.
And then we enter an era of threats that are good in two of these things.
9/X

Bloodbraid Elf: Doesn& #39;t race super hard (just a 3/2 for 4), easy to kill, hard to trade with and good as soon at any point where you have 4 mana.
Thragtusk: Hard to race, easy to kill, hard to trade with, only good at 5+ mana.
10/X

Tarmogoyf: Hits fairly hard for its cost, is cheap enough to be played early but gets stronger late, however it is easy to kill and easy to trade with.
11/X

Now look at a threat that was banned in Standard a long time ago: Stoneforge Mystic.
Good early, mid and late. Races very good if you factor in Batterskull. Easy to kill but hard to trade with. It& #39;s good at most of these things.
12/X

Now look at threats in recent sets. Dream Trawler is impossible to race, kill or trade with and has the only downside of costing 6 mana. Hydroid Krasis can be played at any point in the curve, gains life, hits hard, and draws cards. At least it dies to Doom Blade.
13/X

Then we get to the current culprits: Uro and Omnath.
Uro can be played at almost any point in the game. It makes it hard to race you, gets you ahead on cards and the board, and can& #39;t be killed permanently. It& #39;s good at everything.
14/X

Omnath is in a similar spot. It cantrips right away, so it& #39;s hard to trade with. It gains life, making it hard to race. It can& #39;t be killed before it has its effect and it& #39;s good as soon as you have the mana to play it.
15/X

Now, when your threats are always good at everything, there can never be a moment of weakness. No chance for the opponent to react to what you& #39;re doing. And there& #39;s no point for them to play answers to your things because they can& #39;t be reasonably answered.
16/X

So the only thing they can do is play the same unbeatable threats and hope to draw better and get there faster. That feeling of games snowballing comes from there never being a point of weakness. All your threats are good all the time. There& #39;s no build-up.
17/X

There isn& #39;t even a chance for the opponent to create a point of weakness, because playing removal makes little sense. So since everything is good all the time and can& #39;t be answered, board states tend to just explode with the other side simply watching.
18/X

So when people say they want a format where Baneslayer Angel is playable, they want a format where threats aren& #39;t always "on", can be answered and it makes sense to play back and forth, instead of everyone doing their thing and trying to get there first.
19/X

Imagine how busted answers would have to be to match up to these threats. Vindicate, but it exiles, has escape, draws a card and gains life maybe.
When the threat you make is so powerful, that you can& #39;t imagine the answer you& #39;d want to play against it, you went too far.
20/20

Btw one reason why threats get designed like this might very well be that this way, creature threats can compete with Planeswalker threats but that& #39;s worth an entire thread on its own (or several) and this thread is already long enough.
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