Point Updates
Update for 1st august 2023
(as announced by Thomas Ribet on Facebook)
- Armageddon 3pts (+1)
- Disintegrate 3pts (+1)
- Balance 2pts (+1)
- Control Magic 2pts (+1)
- Earthquake 1pt (+1)
- Icy Manipulator 1pt (+1)
- Pyrotechnics 1pt (+1)
- Steal Artifact 1pt (+1)
- Mox Emerald 2pts (-1)
- Mox Pearl 2pts (-1)
- Mox Jet 2pts (-1)
- Channel 0pt (-1)
- City in a Bottle 0pt (-1)
This is by far the biggest points list change we’ve ever done in 7pts. Since the beginning of 7pts 3 years ago, our primary concern has been to maintain an easy entry level by not overwhelming newcomers with a long & complicated list of cards and many points or changes to remember. However, after some lengthy discussions with the players over the past few weeks, it has become clear that the 7pts community has now reached the level of maturity, commitment and expertise that enables us to push further the deck building decisions and metagaming strategies. For these reasons, the making up of this new list differs a little from our previous “one step at a time” approach and it also reflects that 7pts is a Live format that can be reshaped endlessly every season.
Red is still widely played & over-splashed because burn spells enable decks to swiftly change roles from defense/removal to offense/wincon. Red has been showing in 56% of the decks in our regular online tournaments and 88% of Top8 decks at the World Champs in Madrid (78% in the top23 decks and down to 48% in the bottom23 decks). For this reason, we not only decided to ramp up Disintegrate to 3pts (to the same level as Fireball) but we also decided to nearly double the number of red cards on the list by adding Earthquake and Pyrotechnics. Both cards are some of the best examples of Red versatility with peak CMC (Converted Mana Cost). Supported by some of the best creatures, we do not think that Red will disappear from the environment but we hope that these changes will create more diversity and bring new cards to the table.
All Moxen are now 2pts. The previous list with a mix of Moxen at 3pts & 2pts was never simple nor elegant. It was a little conservative because we did not think that Mono-Coloured decks needed any boost and also we did not want the format to only become a speed race. With now 40 cards on the list and more tough choices to make, we think that the format is now ready for building with Moxen or being prepared to play against them.
Armageddon is now 3pts (+1). Armageddon on its own is too often a game-win in an unfun non-interactive way. Also, in a format where the majority of the decks start operating from 4 lands, the “keep some lands in hand” strategy is not a reasonable solution to prevent the damages from a mid-game Armageddon. With Mox Pearl (read: White Weeny) and Mox Emerald (Read: Ramp, Birds, Elves…) going down, it seems logical to balance this with Armageddon going up.
Icy Manipulator. The Maze of Ith of the “Artifact gang” (ie: Tomes, Scepter, Fellwar, Aeolipile, Disk, Coffin…). We feel that the deck building, game dynamics and strategy can only improve from having less auto-include cards such as Icy. Similar to Maze of Ith, we targeted Icy because it is a card that offers a lot of options both in defense/offense, that only gets better the longer the game goes and that is present in nearly every deck. We feel this points update as a whole may be difficult for Control decks therefore we decided to not impact the artifact draw engines this time.
+1 on Balance, Control Magic, Steal Artifact. Thinking ahead and trying to predict the future environment, we anticipated that mid-range blue decks would still be a very potent competitor in the format. The power of these cards need no real explanation, same as Icy we feel that the overall experience can only improve from having less auto-include cards. The main driver for these changes is to create games and mirror matches that are less mechanical and less predictable. Adding more layers of mind-games and metagaming can only create a more dynamic and more exciting environment.
City in a Bottle 0pt. First, City in a Bottle is hugely different from Karakas because Karakas at 0pt would be a straight auto-include in every deck playing some amount of white. City in a Bottle saw less than 1% play. We feel that the decks who may want to run it will have to make some tough deck building choices and consequently probably play with fewer Arabian cards. Then, with most of the targets being absolute staples of 7pts, we feel that adding a new kind of removal is a good thing for the format. Bye-Bye: Drop of Honey, Army of Allah, Jihad, Cuombajj Witches, Juzam Djinn, Guardian Beast, Ifh-Biff Efreet, Erhnam Djinn, City of Brass, Desert, WakWak, Diamond Valley, Old Man, Kird Ape, Oubliette… With City in a Bottle potentially being a dead-draw in many situations, we feel it is a safe high risk/high reward removal that we are happy to see play again.
Channel 0pt. Seeing less than 1% play, Channel disappeared completely from the format as a direct consequence of Fireball and Disintegrate having gone up over the past few updates. The high risk/high reward aspect of the cards brings some level of randomness to the format and we think it deserves to see some play - the way it probably was initially intended for, such as: Turn2 play a bunch of fatties and cross my fingers. We know that the players are good sport when facing such epic random plays and, more importantly, we know that the format has the tools to handle such craziness.
To finish, you will find below the agenda for this coming season:
- 1st August 2023: the new Points List is effective (and it must be used for the Summer League)
- September 2023 to July 2024: Expect about 6 online tournaments (all info on the 7pts Facebook group)
- November 2023: French National Cup in Paris with 7pts on the Sunday (exact date to be confirmed)
- July 2024: 7pts World Champs in Madrid (exact date to be confirmed)
- August 2024: Next Points List update (unless an emergency fix is required prior to that)
Happy summer holidays and good deck-building for this new season!
Discussions
Comments on facebook here.
Update 1st august 2022
(as announced by Thomas Ribet on Facebook)
- Fireball 3pts (+1)
- The Abyss 2pts (+1)
- Hymn to Tourach 1pt (+1)
- Triskelion 1pt (+1)
- Library of Alexandria 3pts (-1)
- Mox Sapphire 2pts (-1)
- Mox Ruby 2pts (-1)
- Mishra's Workshop 1pt (-1)
Fireball and Disintegrate are still in the Top3 most played cards (after Maze of Ith). Red in general is still widely played & over-splashed because burns spells enable decks to swiftly change roles from defence/removal to offence/wincon. Disintegrate offers 2 quite unique abilities in 7pts (can’t regen & exile) and so we feel it’s the most interesting card of the two. For these reasons, we decided to ramp up the red X-spells again one step at a time and Fireball is now 3pts.
Hymn to Tourach was previously on the Points List and it was removed in November 2020. The reason for removing it back then was that X-spells were absolutely crushing the format (Braingeyser was only 1pt, Fireball & Disintegrate 0pt!) and we realised that Discard was a good tool to disrupt these late game back-breaking X-spells. Since then, the X-spells have been going up in points (Fireball is going up again this time!) and in parallel Black decks have become more & more popular and very powerful. Black is now showing in 50% of the decks, Mono Black is straightforward to build and we think that Hymn to Tourach back to 1pt will create more tension when deck-building and also it should bring down Black decks/splash below 50% of the metagame. Note: Mind Twist at 3pts is clearly on the watch-list but we decided to go one step at a time. Also, we think that Mind Twist and Black in general still has an important role to play in and against Control decks.
The Abyss (along with Moat) has seen less play over the past year. However, The Abyss is still showing in about 10% of the decks and 5-colours Control decks "Vogt" style have been repeatedly making Top16 and winning online Tourneys. Yes playing The Abyss in 7pts means making very radical deck building choices (like playing near creature-less) and yes we want prison & heavy control decks to be part of 7pts. However, we also acknowledge that The Abyss can be very frustrating and very unfun in a format where enchantment removals are very scarce and not available for all colours. Last, with Mishra’s Workshop going down we feel it is balancing out with The Abyss going up.
At 2pts, Mishra’s Workshop sees some casual play in only 5% of decks. As a 1-off and in a format where most very good artifacts require activation costs (Icy, Tomes, Coffin, Skull of Orm…) we want to try it out at 1pt. This may open some room for some new Shop/artifact heavy decks both in Control & in aggro which could be an interesting addition to the format. Artifacts can be super efficient but they are also weak and we think the format will adjust to that without too much struggle (see Champion’s deck in Madrid playing cards like Shatterstorm…).
Triskelion is the best creature in the format and it is played in nearly every deck (except maybe in White Weenie). It can kill itself so it is auto-immune to exile, stealing & copying. It is an efficient removal, a key combo engine, a colourless Wincon, there are many ways to recurse him back forever (Archaeologist, Reconstruction, Animate Dead/Skull…). The card is so good that in some Prison/Control decks it is the only Wincon and not too long ago, regardless of the power-creep, it was still a key staple even in Vintage.
In terms of deck-building, Triskelion at 1pt is functionally similar to Maze of Ith at 1pt: about 50% of the decks will probably still play it but deck building will be even more tense and the format more diverse as a result. With the exception of Shop decks (because Workshop is going down to 1pt), everybody will have to make some very meaningful choices and that’s the reason why we are confident that this is a great change for the format.
Library of Alexandria sees absolutely 0 play at 4pts and, we admit that this was somewhat a virtual ban. We are not big fans of dice-roll cards: “Oh it’s in my opening hand so I guess I win” but we acknowledge that such plays & situations are also a part of Oldschool Magic. At the same time, it is very possible that in 7pts, Library turn1 may not be a definite win either. The format has less redundancy than normal Oldschool, it has more room for poor or inefficient draws and without all the Moxen it is possible that Library in the first 4 turns often leads to some discard. Anyways, we think that some amount of Library can only widen up the overall experience of the format. Time to dust off your Candelabra of Tawnos & your Ley Druid!
Moxen have been an ongoing debate in 7pts since forever. The vibe of the format is what it is mainly because it is slower than normal Oldschool. In 7pts, decks have time to develop & to plan for the long term. Most decks rely heavily on less efficient high mana cost cards or more situational spells like we used to play back in the days and we really like this, we don't want the format to only become a speed race. Also, due to the nature of the format and the 1-off constraints on Duals & Cities, multicolour decks require more time to develop and to stabilise their mana base and so, as a consequence, Mono-Coloured decks have been consistently performing very well. For a long time, it was clear that reducing Moxen would only exacerbate this and favour even more the Mono-Coloured decks. Looking at the numbers more closely, both Mox Sapphire & Mox Ruby saw 0 play at all due to the high competition in these two colours. With Fireball going +1pt again, we feel it’s the correct time to open up the format and the deckbuilding to some more Moxen. Loyal to our “one-step-at-a-time” approach, we decided to consider the Moxen’s power individually rather than as a group. With 3 Moxen still at 3pts and Sapphire/Ruby now at 2pts, the list is not as simple and elegant as before. It is a little more complicated to remember, but we are confident that everybody here is passionate enough to understand the reasons and to remember why not all Moxen are pointed the same. To conclude, Moxen are now virtually at 2.5pts average which is probably the correct number. Some decks will now be able to play 3 Moxen which is a new meaningful strategic direction. Moxen are not anecdotal anymore and we believe it will broaden up the variety of builds and of course, we know that the debate is not over. ;)
Good deck-building & happy summer holidays!
Discussions
Earlier Updates:
The format was created in April 2020 and in the beginning there was more frequent updates until July 2021 in which the points stayed the same for a full year. The points should from now on probably only be updated once a year after the World Championship each summer.
See this Google Sheet for all point updates over time since the beginning.