Pioneer player here. Thank GOD Sorin and Amalia are gone.

Definitely agree that banning Sorin is a better move than removing Vein Ripper. Sorin existing basically means that they can't print any powerful/high cost vampires ever, and so removing him gives more creative freedom for the future.

And removing Amalia is great because of how the counterplay to the combo was sometimes just pushing for a draw. Not fun for anyone, and the draws just end up pushing the match into turns every dang time.

I feel like I would have been fine with them banning Treasure Cruise and Fable, but I guess they didn't want to just shatter the format, just shake it up gently.