The interaction of multiple creatures with flanking and banding is a much cooler then most things goblins could do.
FragNutMK1
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(8 votes)
Banding is a mechanic they should have never dropped
Belz_
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(10 votes)
I think Banding is much better than people give it credit for.
Kefra
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(7 votes)
The problem with banding wasn't that it was a weak mechanic. It was just too much of a rules headache. It's illogical, because up to one creature without banding may be included in a band, except when it's "bands with other (creature type)," for example "bands with other Legends" that was given by the nonbasic lands in Legends (Seafarer's Quay etc). Let's not even talk about the way combat damage was assigned to banded creatures, banding while blocking, etc. Ugh. The Magic rules were in need of streamlining or else it would have gone the way of Star Wars CCG, so banding had to be eliminated.
Gaussgoat
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
This card is so much better than its current ranking. The real strength here is the ability to band more than one creature at a time, and at instant speed. This makes any attack or block a nightmare for your opponent, and it is reasonably costed.
Not amazing, but way above what it's showing now.
3.5/5 at least.
BegleOne
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
Banding is a great, abstract embodiment white's tactical combat mastery. They kicked banding out of the game, but not before they printed this wonderful artifact that lets any deck splash banding with minimal effort. I would thank Wizards for the foresight, but I know the only foresight they have is entirely accidental...
Fun in a casual rebel deck I have. If all your little rebels can form bands they're not so worthless in the mid-to-late game. Cho-Manno, Revolutionary and Knight of the Holy Nimbus are great in bands because you can stack all the damage onto them. The rebel knights Holy Nimbus, Riftmarked Knight and Outrider en-Kor all have flanking, and the latter has a mini-banding damage redirection ability to combo off Holy Nimbus and Cho-Manno. I'm sure that better things can be done with this card, but at under a buck for a playset it's worth keeping my rebels occupied.
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Achtung! Beatings will continue until morale improves.
Fanaticmogg
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Play this in any creature-based deck. Activate it. Watch as your opponents concede rather than figure out what the heck it does.
LordLamneth
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I rated it a 5 to help push the number up. This card turns combat into a potential nightmare for your opponents.
"I'll use my 4/2 and my 1/1 to block your 7/5 trampler, your 7/5 and my 1/1 will die, and I'll take no damage."
tavaritz
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
They should have errated 'band with others' to just banding, instead of getting rid of banding. Now they've introduced banding creatures onto the Online community, which to me means that we still might see banding coming back.
umumwhatshisname
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Awesome card. Banding got shafted because people didn't know how to use it.
yyukichigai
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Banding is awesome. It's an old mechanic that has some very illogical components to it, but at its core it is really a winner. The way it outright defeats Trample is alone worth having the ability, to say nothing of how you can gang-block some giant dude, kill it, and wind up only losing a 1/1 token creature, or having something with regeneration take the whole mess. Still, the complex interplay involved make things a little hairy. It really is kind of a headache to figure out sometimes, at least for new people.
The future I see for banding is in the recent (Magic 2010) re-working of the "bands with other" ability. Previously it was this really, really illogical system that required every creature to have the same "bands with other X" ability. Now it's a lot more logical: if you have a creature that has "bands with other X", it can form a band with any number of other creatures with quality "X"; only one creature has to have "bands with other X", attacking or blocking. That's it. A lot more simple, a lot more streamlined, WAY less headaches. On top of that it really emphasizes the whole "tribal" side of magic that WotC has been playing up more in recent sets.
While I don't expect it, I would not be too surprised if some future set printed a few "Bands with other" creatures.
dingophone
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
{2}: Target player gets a rules-headache.
DrJack
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Pokemon kid: Derpy derp, I'm too thtoopid to figgur out banding!
Hasbro: That's OK, kid. Here, we'll eliminate banding, and mana burn too while we're at it.
Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter in the Saga of the $$$ Ever Changing $$$ game of Magic, where they further simplify the game by eliminating the upkeep phase!
BongRipper420
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.7/5.0)(3 votes)
No matter how many times I examine it, the "Banding" and "Bands with others" abilities are so complex I don't even have it in me to use these cards, even if there extremely effective when played right. I'm glad those mechanics are gone for good.
Psychrates
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
702.20j During the combat damage step, if an attacking creature is being blocked by a creature with banding, or by both a creature with “bands with other ” and another creature, the defending player (rather than the active player) chooses how the attacking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures blocking it.
702.20k During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding, or both a creature with “bands with other ” and another creature, the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures it’s blocking.
If you can follow the rules, banding is the singularly safest, most efficient mechanic to winning a match.
The_Jabberwocky
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Banding is a cool ability which appreciates both technique and skill. All of you guys complaining about banding being so confusing and worthless should go play Candy Land instead of Magic.
graey24601
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
They should have kept banding in the game and left it almost totally limited to white, instead of giving white more and more point removal (esp creature removal) which should never have become a strength of that color.
Technetium
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This is actually pretty good. Banding is powerful; it's too bad they took it out of the game just because some people found it confusing.
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
What happens when a creature with shadow bands with a creature without shadow in a blocking defense? Nothing. The creature doesn't actually band in blocking, so you can't block with shadow if the attacknig creature doesn't have it. And vice versa. Also, trample and banding is boss.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
OK, so I get that all you older people play hardcore MAGIC and think Banding isn't that complicated--
you know what, don't get overly defensive, Banding is...Kinda OK as mechanics go. I hear "grapple" rules in D&D are an even worse nightmare. I think I like Banding only enough to want to see it be a major feature of a single set--
Lets see them clean up house real good and give us a Blue Band of Thieves, a Red Goblin War Band, and other awesome Flavorful Bands that give the mechanic some real dignity and respect.
But I still don't think I want to see Banding as an evergreen word ever again. I think it was a hard mechanic for them to balance- it probably isn't as strong as I would like it to be because it has the potential to be way too broken for words. I don't hate Banding, but I don't love it either.
BorosGreengrocer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I quite like this sort of old school, simple art.
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@DrJack
Sigh... the problem with banding is not that it is impossible to understand; the problem is that it is very unintuitive and it is something can't be explained very well in a mere 10 seconds or so. By just looking at the reminder text for banding on the gatherer, I wouldn't have guessed that banding can totally stop trample. In order for someone to really understand how banding works, they basically just have to go online and look up how it works. However, the problem is that they shouldn't have to do that! What if people are playing in some location where the internet isn't easily accessible, and one person plays a card with banding? It's just annoying. A new player doesn't have to look online for what flying does, because a person can easily explain it to him/her. It's clearly a problem if someone has to look online for an explanation for a keyword that is simply meant to change who divides damage among two creatures.
Comments (25)
Not amazing, but way above what it's showing now.
3.5/5 at least.
Fun in a casual rebel deck I have. If all your little rebels can form bands they're not so worthless in the mid-to-late game. Cho-Manno, Revolutionary and Knight of the Holy Nimbus are great in bands because you can stack all the damage onto them. The rebel knights Holy Nimbus, Riftmarked Knight and Outrider en-Kor all have flanking, and the latter has a mini-banding damage redirection ability to combo off Holy Nimbus and Cho-Manno. I'm sure that better things can be done with this card, but at under a buck for a playset it's worth keeping my rebels occupied.
Beatings will continue until morale improves.
"I'll use my 4/2 and my 1/1 to block your 7/5 trampler, your 7/5 and my 1/1 will die, and I'll take no damage."
The future I see for banding is in the recent (Magic 2010) re-working of the "bands with other" ability. Previously it was this really, really illogical system that required every creature to have the same "bands with other X" ability. Now it's a lot more logical: if you have a creature that has "bands with other X", it can form a band with any number of other creatures with quality "X"; only one creature has to have "bands with other X", attacking or blocking. That's it. A lot more simple, a lot more streamlined, WAY less headaches. On top of that it really emphasizes the whole "tribal" side of magic that WotC has been playing up more in recent sets.
While I don't expect it, I would not be too surprised if some future set printed a few "Bands with other" creatures.
Hasbro: That's OK, kid. Here, we'll eliminate banding, and mana burn too while we're at it.
Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter in the Saga of the $$$ Ever Changing $$$ game of Magic, where they further simplify the game by eliminating the upkeep phase!
702.20k During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding, or both a creature with “bands with other ” and another creature, the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures it’s blocking.
If you can follow the rules, banding is the singularly safest, most efficient mechanic to winning a match.
you know what, don't get overly defensive, Banding is...Kinda OK as mechanics go. I hear "grapple" rules in D&D are an even worse nightmare. I think I like Banding only enough to want to see it be a major feature of a single set--
Lets see them clean up house real good and give us a Blue Band of Thieves, a Red Goblin War Band, and other awesome Flavorful Bands that give the mechanic some real dignity and respect.
But I still don't think I want to see Banding as an evergreen word ever again. I think it was a hard mechanic for them to balance- it probably isn't as strong as I would like it to be because it has the potential to be way too broken for words. I don't hate Banding, but I don't love it either.
Sigh... the problem with banding is not that it is impossible to understand; the problem is that it is very unintuitive and it is something can't be explained very well in a mere 10 seconds or so. By just looking at the reminder text for banding on the gatherer, I wouldn't have guessed that banding can totally stop trample. In order for someone to really understand how banding works, they basically just have to go online and look up how it works. However, the problem is that they shouldn't have to do that! What if people are playing in some location where the internet isn't easily accessible, and one person plays a card with banding? It's just annoying. A new player doesn't have to look online for what flying does, because a person can easily explain it to him/her. It's clearly a problem if someone has to look online for an explanation for a keyword that is simply meant to change who divides damage among two creatures.