Spoiler Highlight: Vexing Bauble on Eternal Formats

On the other hand, these are the common abilities in eternal formats that it doesn't counter:

In other words, the scope of targets against which Vexing Bauble works are relatively large and very present in competitive Magic, in addition, because it is an artifact and costs only one mana, it is capable of being found with Urza's Saga, allowing the use of a copy in the maindeck, in addition to also sacrificing itself to draw cards, being a powerful engine with Lurrus of the Dream-Den in Timeless and Vintage.

The main targets for Vexing Bauble in Modern obviously include the MH2 elemental cycle.

Generally, players will consider the artifact as a response against Grief, which can be a bad choice in play if the opponent starts the game with the elemental, and even if they don't, Vexing Bauble makes it too specific to deal with just one card on a specific occasion - and if Grief becomes even more prevalent in the competitive Metagame, it is likely to be banned.

Other creatures, like Solitude and Endurance can be worth a few slots of Vexing Bauble as well, but they depend on the role they perform in archetypes they are placed in: the more Evokers the list runs, the better the artifact will be. In other words, a deck like Esper Reanimator has many more legal targets than Rakdos Evoke for the artifact.

Depending on the archetype, the need to protect yourself from hate and/or cheap counterspells can make the new artifact gain spaces in the Sideboard, or even in the maindeck, as a response to Force of Vigor and Force of Negation in addition to any other card from the free spell cycle from Modern Horizons and the Flares from MH3, with Flare of Cultivation and Flare of Denial being the likely to impact the format.

Another option, also somewhat obvious, is to insert the card to deal with Cascade spells and their interactions with Suspend, or with other spells that allow you to use other resources to pay mana values, such as the recently revealed Amped Raptor.

Vexing Bauble, in fact, would have been the ideal response to dealing with Temur Footfalls before Violent Outburst was banned - and let's also not forget the occasions where it can counter Mutagenic Growth or Mishra’s Bauble in Prowess decks

Urza's Saga decks will certainly be the ones that benefit most from the new artifact, even strategies like Affinity which, in theory, can be harmed by its presence in play, can use it as a one-of or even including more copies in the Sideboard for the possibility of sacrificing it, transforming it into an important resource in the game when the artifact count and/or the need to stop free spells are no longer necessary.

However, even without an Urza's Saga package, it is very likely that Vexing Bauble will find a spot in the Sideboard and even in the maindeck according to the Metagame, ensuring that no archetype aimed at playing spells without paying costs preys on the format.

Vexing Bauble is a huge elephant in the Legacy room, starting with the way it interacts with two of the most important cards in the competitive Metagame: Daze and Force of Will.

A copy of this artifact in the first turn essentially means blocking the main counterspells of the format, in addition to hindering several decks: Storm cannot use Lotus Petal or Lion's Eye Diamond, Reanimator cannot bet on Grief without taking a negative value, cards like Chrome Mox from Mono Red Prison are unusable, Patchwork Stompy is almost completely invalidated and cards like Omniscience or Cascade they lose all their function in the game.

Therefore, the new Bauble looks like a card that could define the way games will be played in Legacy along very similar lines to Orcish Bowmasters, but the biggest concern surrounding it is its potential to “lock” free spells that normally protect Legacy from degenerate strategies - and while Storm may have trouble reaching the ideal count without free accelerators, other strategies may benefit greatly from a Vexing Bauble on the first turn because they don't need to worry with Daze and Force of Will on the next turn.

While the results and deckbuilding have not yet adapted to the novelty, the only certainty is that this artifact could significantly change the way Legacy is played, and for some, this could eventually lead to its ban - or a significant increase in cards like Veil of Summer to deal with it.

And while its ban in Legacy is a “maybe” to “unlikely”, Vexing Bauble shouldn't last long in Vintage - after all, in addition to blocking all free spells, it also blocks the majority of playable Power 9, Hollow One, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, Mana Crypt and collaborates with two archetypes that, in general, players tend to consider an issue: Shops and Lurrus of the Dream-Den.

If that wasn't enough, this artifact has a very dangerous interaction with Lurrus of the Dream-Den, where we can sacrifice it to draw a card and play our free spells and then cast it from our graveyard and block Moxen and other zero-mana spells in the opponent's hand again - and while this is a problem with Lurrus and not Vexing Bauble, it is impossible not to consider that its presence in the format is counter-interactive with what Vintage proposes.

The inclusion of MH2 Elementals will make Vexing Bauble gain more value in Timeless, and just like in Vintage, the card benefits from the presence of Lurrus of the Dream-Den to make its “one-sided” lock.

However, in the current Metagame, there are no really impactful free spells on Timeless outside of Once Upon a Time, making the artifact much more focused on Sideboards than the Maindeck (after all, Urza's Saga does not exist in Magic Arena), where it is, currently, an ideal answer against the combos of Omniscience and Show and Tell, which has stood out as one of the best decks in the format.

That said, the insertion of this new card is a perfect safety valve for Arena's eternal formats, especially with the arrival of the Evokers and the possibility of them significantly changing the way games play out in Timeless!

That's all for today!

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