[2022] Please for the love of all that is holy... ban paradox engine is historic brawl

This comes up every now and then, so I don't mind checking in on the subject.

We currently have no plans to ban Paradox Engine in Historic Brawl.

Paradox Engine is banned in Commander (a format that shares a lot with HB), but the primary reasons for that banning do not directly carry over. The primary reasons for that ban were, one, Commander decks play a high density of mana rocks as a baseline due to other elements of the format. That means that having enough things to untap with Engine wasn't really a deckbuilding cost - everyone was doing it already. Historic Brawl has lower life totals and more aggression in general, so these cards are not as prevalent or "required" - it's an intentional choice for players to build a deck that can take advantage of Engine.

Two, when a Commander player starts comboing off, they are taking up three other people's time, who are all under social pressure to stick around even if they aren't enjoying themselves. The net of that exchange is pretty negative. In Historic Brawl, the different game structure means an Engine player can have their fun in a more equitable manner. If you are tired of it as the opponent, well, that's why we have CR 104.3a.

Historic Brawl's matchmaking also allows for a bit more control over who plays against powerful hard-combo decks. It's certainly not perfect, but it's one more piece of the puzzle, and all of this together is enough to currently land on no action.

Bannings - especially in a casual format like HB - really are a last resort, and we want to lean toward allowance as much as is practical. Cards do get banned, but it's more often for exploiting the game mode, like Field of the Dead, whereas Paradox Engine is actually better off for how this mode works. This is not to say it will never happen, but I personally would want to hear more compelling reasons than I have so far.

Of course it matters. But both players matter, including the person who wants to play with Engine. In a casual format, players getting to do things they like carries extra value. It doesn't scale to all situations, but at least for the moment, we believe it applies here.