Hmm, I’m not sure I agree (I think your CAMS '18 deck is less of a problem than Nightmare or Mono-Black), but I’d be fine with the broader ban if people would prefer that.
Upon reflection, I think the following combos would emerge as “just below S-tier”
- [Necro]/Blood/Fire. @Bob199 ran this a fair bit in early tournaments, and I can attest it is Very Strong (graveyard + lobbers is nasty, skeletons + drakk frenzy is gross)
- [Present]/Truth/X (probably Necro or Anarchy, maybe Future or Feral. Quince copying Hyperions is scary, as is Quince copying Omegacrons).
- Blood/Peace/X (probably Necro or Anarchy, Frenzy offers similar upshot as Suits, good tech 1s to cycle through Peace engine)
- Anarchy/Growth/Necro (similar to Miracle Grow)
- Finesse/Demon/Necro I think would still be very strong (Harmony + Dark Pact / Discord / Nether Drain is still good, Finesse Engine + Dark Pact is still good, Meta is still good)
- Anarchy/Blood/Strength (Birds and Drakk are friends, Zane is still Zane)
- Balance/Strength/Demon (scary Meta targets, green starter plays keep-away pretty well, birds are still obnoxious)
- [Past]/Strength/X (Present or Discipline or maybe Necro maybe. Birds + Stewardess makes for some nasty early tempo, splashing Grave gives you upgrade control and a bully hero, Present has purple synergy)
Basically, a lot of red and black still, with a little of the other colors XD
Mono Red and Mono Purple I think would be pretty competitive as well
Who else has thoughts on what would be “playing to win” tournament-viable in this “Codex 19XX” format?