Post by kefke on Jul 1, 2020 12:11:00 GMT
I've recently been watching someone play through a mod of the old Shandalar PC game that adds in newer cards and rules. Out of that, the subject of Banding has returned and I was once again reminded of what a divisive subject Banding is. Depending on who you ask, it's either an incredibly useful and often underestimated combat trick, or an overly complex and confusing mechanic that adds too little to the game to be worth learning. Personally, as a member of the former camp, I think that Banding has gotten a bad rap.
While cards with Banding seem incredibly complex now, the Magic of yesterday was a more complex game. Almost every aspect of "Old Magic" was in some way more complicated, and less rigidly defined. Even so, I don't think the game was harder to learn. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the opposite. Old Magic was a very easy game to learn, because each and every box pack came with a handy little tool...
...the official Magic: The Gathering™ rule book. This handy little pocket-sized guide would contain all the information a player needed to get into the game, including examples of play and detailed explanations of exactly how mechanics worked. So far as I'm aware, you can't get these any more, and that makes me sad. There are guides to give beginners the basics, but with nowhere near the depth and detail of these little booklets. Yes, these days almost everyone has the internet, but aside from just being convenient, I've never felt like the Comprehensive Rules were a good substitute for the practical examples that the pocket rulebook gave.
So, what did it say about Banding?
Still confused? Don't worry, there's more. About six paragraphs more, made entirely of different practical examples. For berevity's sake, I won't include the whole section here. The point is, if you didn't understand what Banding did, there was a convenient, ready-to-hand guide to explain it in detail to you, and it covered most situations you were likely to encounter. So it's not exactly like players back in the day were being thrown straight into the deep end without a lifeguard on duty, or anything. Banding being "too complex" is entirely a conceit of modern Magic, where every rule is expected to fit entirely on the card, and if you want more detailed information you are expected to go look it up yourself, and/or get instruction from a more experienced player. There's nothing inherently wrong with the modern way of doing things, nor inherently better about the old way, but it does mean that certain things that worked just fine in their time don't work as well as they once did. There's also things that would have been difficult to do before that are now much easier, because of the consistency and clarity that "New Magic" has.
What is all that text mean, though? Basically, Banding can be broken down into two things.
When attacking, you can "band" any other creature to one with Banding, that doesn't currently have a creature banded to it. This can be chained. They still deal damage as individual creatures, but if one creature in the chain gets blocked, they all do.
When defending, you can already assign multiple blockers. So, there the theme of unity and cooperation works a little different. If you block a single creature or band with multiple creatures and one has Banding, you assign the combat damage of any creatures they block rather than the attacking player. That's it.
These were actually some powerful abilities if used tactically. For instance, if you have two creatures of about equal power and toughness, but one has Deathtouch, and one that lets you draw when it deals combat damage to the opponent, it's pretty obvious which one the opponent would want to block. What if they don't get to choose, though? With banding, you can force an "all or nothing" situation. You can also use the "drawback" of Banding to your advantage. Since all of the creatures in a band get blocked if any of them do, you can band creatures with evasion abilities to ones that don't, and force them to be able to fight an opponent's creature - useful if you know that they'd gladly block your creature without evasion, but don't want to block the one with it due to a poor matchup, or if you have a way to force a block, but need to make the blocking creature capable of blocking what you want it to fight.
On the flip side. Banding was an incredibly powerful defensive tool. I cannot understate just how huge getting to choose how the attacking creatures' damage was assigned could be. One Benalish Hero among the blockers would make the difference between a good trade, and a bad one. Although, blockers with Banding could interact...poorly...with attackers with Trample, but that gets into the original vs. modern wordings of how Trample works, and is a discussion for another time.
All in all, though, I think that Banding gets a bad rap, and I'd love to see it come back in some form.
While cards with Banding seem incredibly complex now, the Magic of yesterday was a more complex game. Almost every aspect of "Old Magic" was in some way more complicated, and less rigidly defined. Even so, I don't think the game was harder to learn. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the opposite. Old Magic was a very easy game to learn, because each and every box pack came with a handy little tool...
...the official Magic: The Gathering™ rule book. This handy little pocket-sized guide would contain all the information a player needed to get into the game, including examples of play and detailed explanations of exactly how mechanics worked. So far as I'm aware, you can't get these any more, and that makes me sad. There are guides to give beginners the basics, but with nowhere near the depth and detail of these little booklets. Yes, these days almost everyone has the internet, but aside from just being convenient, I've never felt like the Comprehensive Rules were a good substitute for the practical examples that the pocket rulebook gave.
So, what did it say about Banding?
Banding: Creatures with the ability "banding" may choose to join forces with
other creatures during an attack or defense.
You can form a band of attacking creatures out of any number of creatures that
have banding; you can even include one creature that doesn't have banding. You
must declare which creatures you want to band when you declare your attack;
attacking bands can't form or disband after your opponent declares defense.
When your banded group of creatures attacks, your opponent's creatures have to
block this band as one or let it through as one. If a defending creature blocks
any of the banded creatures, then it blocks them all. Any damage this defending
creature deals gets distributed among the creatures in your attacking band as
you desire. Banding doesn't allow creatures in a band to "share" other special
abilities.Banding works a little differently when you're defending. In the sample game,
Keisha blocked Brett's Minotaur with two Bears. Brett then got to decide how
the Minotaur's damage would be distributed between the Bears. If one of the
Bears had had banding, however, Keisha would have gotten to distribute the
damage.
If even one creature in a defending group has banding, then the controller of
the group gets to decide how the attacker's damage gets distributed. For
example, you can block one really big attacker with four creatures. If even one
of your defenders has banding, you get to decide how the attacking creature's
damage gets assigned. Remember, though, that only creatures that could legally
block the attacking creature on their own can band together to block the
attacker.
This damage-sharing ability only applies to damage taken in combat. Other
damage, like that from Lightning Bolts, still only hits the creature it
targets.
other creatures during an attack or defense.
You can form a band of attacking creatures out of any number of creatures that
have banding; you can even include one creature that doesn't have banding. You
must declare which creatures you want to band when you declare your attack;
attacking bands can't form or disband after your opponent declares defense.
When your banded group of creatures attacks, your opponent's creatures have to
block this band as one or let it through as one. If a defending creature blocks
any of the banded creatures, then it blocks them all. Any damage this defending
creature deals gets distributed among the creatures in your attacking band as
you desire. Banding doesn't allow creatures in a band to "share" other special
abilities.Banding works a little differently when you're defending. In the sample game,
Keisha blocked Brett's Minotaur with two Bears. Brett then got to decide how
the Minotaur's damage would be distributed between the Bears. If one of the
Bears had had banding, however, Keisha would have gotten to distribute the
damage.
If even one creature in a defending group has banding, then the controller of
the group gets to decide how the attacker's damage gets distributed. For
example, you can block one really big attacker with four creatures. If even one
of your defenders has banding, you get to decide how the attacking creature's
damage gets assigned. Remember, though, that only creatures that could legally
block the attacking creature on their own can band together to block the
attacker.
This damage-sharing ability only applies to damage taken in combat. Other
damage, like that from Lightning Bolts, still only hits the creature it
targets.
What is all that text mean, though? Basically, Banding can be broken down into two things.
When attacking, you can "band" any other creature to one with Banding, that doesn't currently have a creature banded to it. This can be chained. They still deal damage as individual creatures, but if one creature in the chain gets blocked, they all do.
When defending, you can already assign multiple blockers. So, there the theme of unity and cooperation works a little different. If you block a single creature or band with multiple creatures and one has Banding, you assign the combat damage of any creatures they block rather than the attacking player. That's it.
These were actually some powerful abilities if used tactically. For instance, if you have two creatures of about equal power and toughness, but one has Deathtouch, and one that lets you draw when it deals combat damage to the opponent, it's pretty obvious which one the opponent would want to block. What if they don't get to choose, though? With banding, you can force an "all or nothing" situation. You can also use the "drawback" of Banding to your advantage. Since all of the creatures in a band get blocked if any of them do, you can band creatures with evasion abilities to ones that don't, and force them to be able to fight an opponent's creature - useful if you know that they'd gladly block your creature without evasion, but don't want to block the one with it due to a poor matchup, or if you have a way to force a block, but need to make the blocking creature capable of blocking what you want it to fight.
On the flip side. Banding was an incredibly powerful defensive tool. I cannot understate just how huge getting to choose how the attacking creatures' damage was assigned could be. One Benalish Hero among the blockers would make the difference between a good trade, and a bad one. Although, blockers with Banding could interact...poorly...with attackers with Trample, but that gets into the original vs. modern wordings of how Trample works, and is a discussion for another time.
All in all, though, I think that Banding gets a bad rap, and I'd love to see it come back in some form.
