"Why Strip Mine but not Dust Bowl?"
ApothecaryGeist is correct with the activation cost. I would also like to point out that
Dust Bowl can only go after non-basics and
Strip Mine can go after ANY land.
mjb, I applaud your playgroup's use of a local ban list.
Thank You
If no one is playing a card, there is no reason to ban it.
The "staples" on the list have more to do with the range of skill that is in our play group; we have new comers to a magic collector that has access to any card he wants. Without boundaries, the new people would be at a significant disadvantage. Not to mention, we want everyone to be judged by skill and not by what they can afford.
Hermit Druid isn't even that good...
Yes he is, google the combos you can hit with him
things like Doomsday, the cradle, and Food Chain are only good in specific decks and i think bans should be for general over poweredness
You got me on
Doomsday; the big combo with that card is a way to cheat Emrakul, however, we already have him banned (even though I personally love the card) so that is one we probably will revisit.
Cradle and
Food Chain is just simply out of price range for most people in the group. However, I would also argue that you wouldn't run them if they weren't a great fit for your deck and thus cause the deck to abuse those abilities.
things like strip mine and mana crypt are EDH staples
I've already addressed
Strip Mine in another post, but as for
Mana Crypt I would say that in a format that the loss of life for mana just simply doesn't matter makes this card broken. People still argue that
Sol Ring should be banned so we felt a more powerful version of
Sol Ring should be banned. This also is another card that some could afford and others can't (currently ~$70 on TCG).