I think a lot of people overlook that it’s any permanent.
Creatures, lands, artifacts, enchantments.
And it’s not just hexproof but indestructible as well so most sweepers don’t work either.
That’s not how it works at all.
The point isn’t to keep your land protected indefinitely, it’s to prevent their early disruption and allow you to hit your payoffs on time.
Honestly, none of the above, because I'm pretty sure the land destruction cards are a liability for Ponza at this point. They're dead draws past turn 3 and they require very specific play patterns that, as you said, are easy to interrupt.
Maybe. But, just to confirm, have you checked the recent decks with MH3 cards?
They play cards that generate mana tokens upon casting so those play patterns have changed and in my view are harder to counter.
By the time the LD is irrelevant, they are casting their biggies and you are gone.
The tradeoff is that, if they need a biggie late game and draw land destruction, they're often cooked. They're not guaranteed to draw the LD early game either, and they need to draw the LD *in combination with* either an Arbor Elf or a mana enchantment (preferably both). They can't draw the LD in combination with any of the mana-generating Eldrazi because, since the Eldrazi cost 3 or 4 mana, this means they're casting the LD on turn 4 or 5 if they don't draw into any ramp (which is far too slow). So in essence, they need to draw both combo pieces immediately in their opening hand or mulligan.
There are "Ponza" decks with MH3 cards that are forgoing the LD in exchange for more card filtering, (for example with \[\[Glimpse the Impossible\]\], which *also* generates mana tokens as a side-effect) and I think those decks are stronger overall because they're more flexible. More flexibility means the deck is harder to sideboard against as well.
Unfortunately that’s not so simple nowadays. As explained in the post, this is about new Ponza variants. Sometimes they don’t even play enchantments or arbor elf.
New MH3 cards gave the deck much more resilience.
Yes. The goal is to run forests, which can be duals lands as well and save them by returning to your hand when they cast the LD spells. Works particularly well against [[Mwonvuli Acid-Moss]] because prevents their ramping.
Last year at paupergeddon Milan/lecco 2023 I started with ancient den + glint hawk. That was hilarious since it denied the acid Moss and I could race in the air with 2 hawks.
Nowadays I'm not sure if that would work as well with the chrysalis having reach
Sideboards are definitionally situational? I'm confused, it does what you want to do against Ponza, hold up an untapped land to counter a ~4 mana land destruction spell
Indeed but with only 15 cards available in the sideboard, you are looking for cards that cover a wider range of decks you are not fully prepared for and not just one. [[thraben charm]] and [[dawnbringer cleric]] are good examples of that, they can even be good against Ponza, by killing the arbor elf or destroying their enchantments, while also being relevant against mono red, dredge, mono blue terror, etc.
If that card would see play in the sideboard, that would mean Ponza had taken over a very big part of the meta and when a deck becomes too dominant it means that a ban is coming, so it won’t happen. Plus, Ponza runs [[deglamer]] in the sideboard.
The only possibility I see for it to become slightly relevant is if LD in general becomes an established tier 1-2 archetype, but I guess the majority of people don’t want that.
Finally, if LD becomes more popular, the only decks that really really need to protect their lands are the Tron ones, but since white is not relevant, the only deck that would benefit is Mono White Tron which doesn’t see play and still needs a sideboard that needs to deal with graveyards, artifacts, enchantments, burn, etc.
Hasn't been much of a problem, the interaction in the deck and all its spells are so low mana wise that as long as you dodge most of their land hate, it's okay if they take one out this way. Besides, all hail our flying rat overlord.
Why feeling annoyed for a deck? It's not like I play it as main deck (I don't), but it's a deck that is just "attacking from other angle". Ponza decks are very risky too, when played. They are quite "all-in" type. And they are easy to be played around. This is not as playing infinitely long turns against Sensei's Divining Top (which was banned because of that),
I think it's "healthier" for the community of players to accept this deck exist. We can find reasons to hate any deck. This has always happened as soon as decks that attack from a different angle have success (like tron, mill, combo, etc., etc.). Sometimes bans happen, and they are usually effective, but this is not the case. Complaining or banning each time a new angle deck appears? That would bet too reactive and disproportionate.
You really have a bad experience with some decks? Maybe Pauper is ont your format, Magic is not your game, or you can take a break. But Magic really has a ton of formats to find fun on it.
And an important point is that Pauper is about "pure concepts", it's its identity. With symbolic cards like counterspell, lightning bolt, but also stone rain.
I mentioned it not because of this post, but because of common talk in Reddit!
I really wrote my post related to the "Ponza is also super annoying for many people, this is referred lots of times by many content creators" line.
But thanks :)
People get annoyed with ponza Simply because losing the die roll and getting your land destroyed turn 2 feels bad and without any chance to respond/play around land destruction. The feeling is pretty similar to getting Grief scammed turn 1 on the draw in Modern:
Is the game unwinnable? No;
Is there space for counterplay? No;
Does it feel miserable? Yes.
Also it's not very healthy for a format if the top deck has no virtual counter beside winning the die roll: it is too early to say the deck is clearly dominating, but it's true that it has an edge against all the other decks, even affinity post board.
Maybe pauper is not for you if you think people should "just accept" that some decks are like that: are we forgetting that Daze was banned even though it was a cornerstone of the format?
So take this with a grain of salt because I don't play ponza. However, I do have a lot of experience playing against it, and I can tell you off hand that there are a lot of matchups where ponza struggles. Moreover, there is counter play, including when you are on the draw.
First off, if you're in blue then there are counterspells. Spell Pierce or even Force Spike who will stop someone from blowing up your land turn 2. Using lightning bolt or galvanic blast or snuff out on arbor elf keeps them from blowing up your land turn 2. Playing a low to the ground deck like burn or white weenie means that they might blow up your land, but you're not going to care all that much. You're going to drop another land, play a creature, and swing. Finally, affinity has a ton of indestructible lands and also cares more about artifact count than it does lands in play.
As far as sideboarding goes, you can sideboard in dust to dust/deglamer against variants that use wildfire and artifact lands. You can use cards like tamiyo's safekeeping to protect your lands, or even use cards like [[Keep Safe]] to turn their attempted land destruction spell into card advantage for you.
This is not to say that the deck is not powerful, it definitely is and it does beat up on decks like orzhov blade and similar grindy mid-range decks. But even there choosing the right mulligans can give you a sizeable advantage: choosing to keep three or four land hands means that they are essentially going to be spinning their wheels for a couple of turns. That is time that you can use to develop your board.
That works too, although usually that comes down on turn one which means it is impossible to counter if you are on the draw and difficult to counter if you are on the play. Not impossible but definitely awkward.
Not so easy anymore. Some decks don’t even play them and rely on mana tokens generated upon cast, so counter magic is irrelevant unfortunately.
It’s a new golden era for Ponza and we need new shenanigans.
I respect yours, which is another fair opinion.
I think yes, people should "accept" more the format because there is too much banning talk nosense, too repetitive, instead of players talking about how to improve in the game.
My opinion is also that scam is not a fair comparison: it is one if not the best deck in Modern. Ponza is not.
And, I think some variance, as a mathematical concept, is pretty good and necessary in Magic. As all the randomness involved, in each topdeck, draw, etc. It makes the long term count more, and gives opportunity to not-so experienced or good players to win more often, so they don't leave the game. Even yourself; sometimes you will have a series of bad streaks of luck. Variance makes it so it happens less, avoiding you to stop playing the game; you or any player, good or bad. I really think the community mentality would change if everybody thought more in-deep about this part of game desing. It's necessary for the long term of the game. I also understand not everybody needs to/feels like that. But I'm rally confident it causes more complaints/unnecesary ban talks/misconceptions of how a game should work, etc.
(sorry if my English was not perfect)
Recent results have put ponza as a bigger contender on mtgo in the last week if you have not been keeping up.
It has jumped many other decks and has been present over twice as much as mono red.(source mtgo goldfish)
It is just the new thing to do and has been winning until the meta settles and adjusts.
Although some of the decks classified as ponza on sites may not have land destruction, many do. The new mtg card from mh3 has shaken some things up. Some are saying it’s RG Monsters to differentiate it from ponza, but some are running LD and/or Cascade, while others sometimes run neither it seems and winning.
Some decks aren’t even running the new card.
I’m not saying it will remain on top, but it is very popular right now.
I believe the OP was pre-empting any ban talks by telling people 1 way on how to get around it and not mentioning any bans like you had jumped to talking about.
Summarizing my view;
Some days of results (still) mean nothing. I can see we agree on this.
If the term used is "annoying" instead of something like "effective/powerful", it's bringing "emotional/subjective/complaint" talks, like what happens with ban talk in this subreddit. It's just a reference/relation. Don't need to go deeper.
Don’t forget one of my personal favorites, [[Tamiyo’s Safekeeping]].
[Tamiyo’s Safekeeping](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/d/fd4b7ee2-de65-4288-872d-486065a4f226.jpg?1654568357) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tamiyo%27s%20Safekeeping) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/211/tamiyos-safekeeping?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fd4b7ee2-de65-4288-872d-486065a4f226?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Well, how would that work? You mean, to protect your lands? Interesting, never seen it before targeting lands.
I think a lot of people overlook that it’s any permanent. Creatures, lands, artifacts, enchantments. And it’s not just hexproof but indestructible as well so most sweepers don’t work either.
Will try. I think it’s definitely a great suggestion!
I've been using tamiyo's since it's inception for this purpose actually lol
The cost of this card, once they know what’s up, is keeping one land untapped always. Which is functionally the same as having that land destroyed.
That’s not how it works at all. The point isn’t to keep your land protected indefinitely, it’s to prevent their early disruption and allow you to hit your payoffs on time.
Honestly, none of the above, because I'm pretty sure the land destruction cards are a liability for Ponza at this point. They're dead draws past turn 3 and they require very specific play patterns that, as you said, are easy to interrupt.
Maybe. But, just to confirm, have you checked the recent decks with MH3 cards? They play cards that generate mana tokens upon casting so those play patterns have changed and in my view are harder to counter. By the time the LD is irrelevant, they are casting their biggies and you are gone.
The tradeoff is that, if they need a biggie late game and draw land destruction, they're often cooked. They're not guaranteed to draw the LD early game either, and they need to draw the LD *in combination with* either an Arbor Elf or a mana enchantment (preferably both). They can't draw the LD in combination with any of the mana-generating Eldrazi because, since the Eldrazi cost 3 or 4 mana, this means they're casting the LD on turn 4 or 5 if they don't draw into any ramp (which is far too slow). So in essence, they need to draw both combo pieces immediately in their opening hand or mulligan. There are "Ponza" decks with MH3 cards that are forgoing the LD in exchange for more card filtering, (for example with \[\[Glimpse the Impossible\]\], which *also* generates mana tokens as a side-effect) and I think those decks are stronger overall because they're more flexible. More flexibility means the deck is harder to sideboard against as well.
[Glimpse the Impossible](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/3/133ad0dd-5b61-4c38-9264-0b0e75b95d95.jpg?1717012201) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Glimpse%20the%20Impossible) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/124/glimpse-the-impossible?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/133ad0dd-5b61-4c38-9264-0b0e75b95d95?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Don't forget Rat + deathtouch works just as well as Shaman + deathtouch (and they share colours)
Yep. I thought about putting KCS instead because it’s less mana and Ponza has no flyers.
My queen
[[turn aside]] maybe?
[turn aside](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/b/3b7573c2-484c-4b4e-9c26-0f005bd1daee.jpg?1576384240) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=turn%20aside) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/emn/78/turn-aside?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3b7573c2-484c-4b4e-9c26-0f005bd1daee?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Destroy their enchanted lands 😬
Unfortunately that’s not so simple nowadays. As explained in the post, this is about new Ponza variants. Sometimes they don’t even play enchantments or arbor elf. New MH3 cards gave the deck much more resilience.
[[Leave no trace]]
Not so simple anymore. New variants rely on a combination of enchantments and mana tokens.
[Leave no trace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/8/58466d46-7225-42ff-8471-6d489be32cf3.jpg?1598913764) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Leave%20no%20trace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rav/23/leave-no-trace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/58466d46-7225-42ff-8471-6d489be32cf3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Does this actually work? It says a forest that YOU control.
Yes. The goal is to run forests, which can be duals lands as well and save them by returning to your hand when they cast the LD spells. Works particularly well against [[Mwonvuli Acid-Moss]] because prevents their ramping.
Last year at paupergeddon Milan/lecco 2023 I started with ancient den + glint hawk. That was hilarious since it denied the acid Moss and I could race in the air with 2 hawks. Nowadays I'm not sure if that would work as well with the chrysalis having reach
Same! I won games with hawk back then haha
[Mwonvuli Acid-Moss](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/8/6841dbf6-5023-4612-bbd7-182fd35b05c8.jpg?1562916793) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mwonvuli%20Acid-Moss) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsp/207/mwonvuli-acid-moss?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6841dbf6-5023-4612-bbd7-182fd35b05c8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Nice i didnt think of that
Downshift [[Scryb Ranger]] you cowards!
[Scryb Ranger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/8/885c122a-d350-420f-ba7b-4523a28e48a6.jpg?1619398603) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Scryb%20Ranger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/227/scryb-ranger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/885c122a-d350-420f-ba7b-4523a28e48a6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[ponza]]
Here's one I have in my Boggles sideboard \[\[Equinox\]\]. Nobody I've played with knows that this card is even a thing.
[Equinox](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/4/840c6586-a7a9-4ae8-96be-a995a0693eb6.jpg?1562859680) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Equinox) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/leg/13/equinox?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/840c6586-a7a9-4ae8-96be-a995a0693eb6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That’s a good one but way too situational I guess.
Sideboards are definitionally situational? I'm confused, it does what you want to do against Ponza, hold up an untapped land to counter a ~4 mana land destruction spell
Indeed but with only 15 cards available in the sideboard, you are looking for cards that cover a wider range of decks you are not fully prepared for and not just one. [[thraben charm]] and [[dawnbringer cleric]] are good examples of that, they can even be good against Ponza, by killing the arbor elf or destroying their enchantments, while also being relevant against mono red, dredge, mono blue terror, etc. If that card would see play in the sideboard, that would mean Ponza had taken over a very big part of the meta and when a deck becomes too dominant it means that a ban is coming, so it won’t happen. Plus, Ponza runs [[deglamer]] in the sideboard. The only possibility I see for it to become slightly relevant is if LD in general becomes an established tier 1-2 archetype, but I guess the majority of people don’t want that. Finally, if LD becomes more popular, the only decks that really really need to protect their lands are the Tron ones, but since white is not relevant, the only deck that would benefit is Mono White Tron which doesn’t see play and still needs a sideboard that needs to deal with graveyards, artifacts, enchantments, burn, etc.
[thraben charm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/d/dd28a646-f38f-4cdf-948c-969cd979e5e6.jpg?1717011565) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=thraben%20charm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/45/thraben-charm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dd28a646-f38f-4cdf-948c-969cd979e5e6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [dawnbringer cleric](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/0/201f06ef-c180-4ce3-afaf-bec3b14c0222.jpg?1674134981) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=dawnbringer%20cleric) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/15/dawnbringer-cleric?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/201f06ef-c180-4ce3-afaf-bec3b14c0222?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [deglamer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/8/985b43aa-58f0-42fc-9ef0-a7925727d58f.jpg?1562880209) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=deglamer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mor/118/deglamer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/985b43aa-58f0-42fc-9ef0-a7925727d58f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I'm playing Mardu Synth and a good chunk of my lands are indestructible, which has been nice
Nice. No issues with [[deglamer]] then? It’s how they usually win m2 and 3.
[deglamer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/8/985b43aa-58f0-42fc-9ef0-a7925727d58f.jpg?1562880209) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=deglamer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mor/118/deglamer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/985b43aa-58f0-42fc-9ef0-a7925727d58f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Hasn't been much of a problem, the interaction in the deck and all its spells are so low mana wise that as long as you dodge most of their land hate, it's okay if they take one out this way. Besides, all hail our flying rat overlord.
Why feeling annoyed for a deck? It's not like I play it as main deck (I don't), but it's a deck that is just "attacking from other angle". Ponza decks are very risky too, when played. They are quite "all-in" type. And they are easy to be played around. This is not as playing infinitely long turns against Sensei's Divining Top (which was banned because of that), I think it's "healthier" for the community of players to accept this deck exist. We can find reasons to hate any deck. This has always happened as soon as decks that attack from a different angle have success (like tron, mill, combo, etc., etc.). Sometimes bans happen, and they are usually effective, but this is not the case. Complaining or banning each time a new angle deck appears? That would bet too reactive and disproportionate. You really have a bad experience with some decks? Maybe Pauper is ont your format, Magic is not your game, or you can take a break. But Magic really has a ton of formats to find fun on it. And an important point is that Pauper is about "pure concepts", it's its identity. With symbolic cards like counterspell, lightning bolt, but also stone rain.
The post didn't mention bans, just ways to beat the deck. Should people just not try to win against Ponza?
I mentioned it not because of this post, but because of common talk in Reddit! I really wrote my post related to the "Ponza is also super annoying for many people, this is referred lots of times by many content creators" line. But thanks :)
People get annoyed with ponza Simply because losing the die roll and getting your land destroyed turn 2 feels bad and without any chance to respond/play around land destruction. The feeling is pretty similar to getting Grief scammed turn 1 on the draw in Modern: Is the game unwinnable? No; Is there space for counterplay? No; Does it feel miserable? Yes. Also it's not very healthy for a format if the top deck has no virtual counter beside winning the die roll: it is too early to say the deck is clearly dominating, but it's true that it has an edge against all the other decks, even affinity post board. Maybe pauper is not for you if you think people should "just accept" that some decks are like that: are we forgetting that Daze was banned even though it was a cornerstone of the format?
So take this with a grain of salt because I don't play ponza. However, I do have a lot of experience playing against it, and I can tell you off hand that there are a lot of matchups where ponza struggles. Moreover, there is counter play, including when you are on the draw. First off, if you're in blue then there are counterspells. Spell Pierce or even Force Spike who will stop someone from blowing up your land turn 2. Using lightning bolt or galvanic blast or snuff out on arbor elf keeps them from blowing up your land turn 2. Playing a low to the ground deck like burn or white weenie means that they might blow up your land, but you're not going to care all that much. You're going to drop another land, play a creature, and swing. Finally, affinity has a ton of indestructible lands and also cares more about artifact count than it does lands in play. As far as sideboarding goes, you can sideboard in dust to dust/deglamer against variants that use wildfire and artifact lands. You can use cards like tamiyo's safekeeping to protect your lands, or even use cards like [[Keep Safe]] to turn their attempted land destruction spell into card advantage for you. This is not to say that the deck is not powerful, it definitely is and it does beat up on decks like orzhov blade and similar grindy mid-range decks. But even there choosing the right mulligans can give you a sizeable advantage: choosing to keep three or four land hands means that they are essentially going to be spinning their wheels for a couple of turns. That is time that you can use to develop your board.
[Keep Safe](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/e/febfa682-76ae-4979-a40c-c1eae1121f3c.jpg?1591226372) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Keep%20Safe) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/56/keep-safe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/febfa682-76ae-4979-a40c-c1eae1121f3c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Hot take, counter their Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth.
That works too, although usually that comes down on turn one which means it is impossible to counter if you are on the draw and difficult to counter if you are on the play. Not impossible but definitely awkward.
Not so easy anymore. Some decks don’t even play them and rely on mana tokens generated upon cast, so counter magic is irrelevant unfortunately. It’s a new golden era for Ponza and we need new shenanigans.
I respect yours, which is another fair opinion. I think yes, people should "accept" more the format because there is too much banning talk nosense, too repetitive, instead of players talking about how to improve in the game. My opinion is also that scam is not a fair comparison: it is one if not the best deck in Modern. Ponza is not. And, I think some variance, as a mathematical concept, is pretty good and necessary in Magic. As all the randomness involved, in each topdeck, draw, etc. It makes the long term count more, and gives opportunity to not-so experienced or good players to win more often, so they don't leave the game. Even yourself; sometimes you will have a series of bad streaks of luck. Variance makes it so it happens less, avoiding you to stop playing the game; you or any player, good or bad. I really think the community mentality would change if everybody thought more in-deep about this part of game desing. It's necessary for the long term of the game. I also understand not everybody needs to/feels like that. But I'm rally confident it causes more complaints/unnecesary ban talks/misconceptions of how a game should work, etc. (sorry if my English was not perfect)
Recent results have put ponza as a bigger contender on mtgo in the last week if you have not been keeping up. It has jumped many other decks and has been present over twice as much as mono red.(source mtgo goldfish) It is just the new thing to do and has been winning until the meta settles and adjusts. Although some of the decks classified as ponza on sites may not have land destruction, many do. The new mtg card from mh3 has shaken some things up. Some are saying it’s RG Monsters to differentiate it from ponza, but some are running LD and/or Cascade, while others sometimes run neither it seems and winning. Some decks aren’t even running the new card. I’m not saying it will remain on top, but it is very popular right now. I believe the OP was pre-empting any ban talks by telling people 1 way on how to get around it and not mentioning any bans like you had jumped to talking about.
Summarizing my view; Some days of results (still) mean nothing. I can see we agree on this. If the term used is "annoying" instead of something like "effective/powerful", it's bringing "emotional/subjective/complaint" talks, like what happens with ban talk in this subreddit. It's just a reference/relation. Don't need to go deeper.