Does this pre-modern storm combo deck need Lion's Eye Diamond banned?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

It's pretty darn good, but also broken as heck.

4 Intuition

4 Cunning Wish

4 Ill-gotten gains

4 Lion's Eye Diamond

4 Dark Ritual

4 Cabal Ritual

4 Lotus Petal

4 Urza's Bauble

4 Sleight of Hand

4 Opt

20 lands (didn't see what the guy was running)

SB:

1 Brain freeze

I forget what else is in the SB. He has aa green instant that produces 4/4 wurm tokens and he can crank out up to 6 of them in one turn. I'll need to rewatch the video.

Anyway, he Cunning Wishes for Brain freeze and uses Lion's Eye Diamond and Ill gotten Gains to play Brain Freeze over and over and win on turn 2 every game. IF the opponent has Gaea's Blessing in their deck, he goes for the token generator spell instead and wins with 6 of 4/4 creature tokens on turn 3.

This is broken and warrants at least one card being banned. This format is new, and I suggest Lion's Eye Diamond needs a ban.

[AI Opinion]

In that shell, Lion’s Eye Diamond is absolutely the most dangerous piece ⚡

LED plus Ill-Gotten Gains is basically a “fixed” Yawgmoth’s Will that isn’t fixed anymore, and Intuition / Cunning Wish make it super consistent. A turn‑two kill deck with backup token plan in a small Pre‑Modern card pool is way too warping.

If anything gets axed, LED is the correct ban, not IGG or Cunning Wish.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Correct assessment this time. The only one-mana counterspell in the format is the pathetic Force Spike and Annul, and neither of them can realistically slow down this combo, least of all Force Spike.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I just figured out how to modify the deck to win on turn 2 without Lion's Eye Diamond. All you need to do is replace LED with Jet Medallion, and replace Brain Freeze with Drain Life or Death Grasp.

So Ill Gotten Gains does need to be banned.

[NathanDavis]

why are you all into banning so much... lol