Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only person who believes in the new cards.
Well, here's my Top 10 DTK cards for Modern:
Collected Company: The pretty solid #1 choice for Modern, this card often cheats in 2 creatures at instant speed with a combined cmc of 4 or more. From my testing, you can run as few as 17 creatures and still get value out of it, and I predict it will revive Pod-like decks.
Atarka's Command: I hear that Skullcrack that doesn't target (but doesn't stop damage prevention) is a card worth splashing for in Burn. I hear that Skullcrack that can trade in life gain-stopping for extra damage or ramp is even better.
Myth Realized: Any 1-drop that can become a 7/7 while you're still stuck on 3 lands or less has to be considered for serious Modern play. (Yes, I've made 7/7 MRs at least 4 times so far, sometimes in response to double Bolt aimed at it!)
Anticipate: It's 1 card short of an Impulse, but it'll be one of the best cantrips Modern will get for a while.
Roast: When Twin is desperate enough to run Harvest Pyre, it's a sign that Roast should see play.
Sarkhan Unbroken: 5-cmc finishers are good in grindy Modern match-ups. RUG Sarkhan is one dandy, CA-generating, Dragon-making 5-cmc finisher.
Kolaghan's Command: We'll see if Shock + instant-speed discard is good enough as a default mode, but recurring creatures has to be pretty good, and blasting artifacts is gravy.
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit: Speaking of revived Pod-like decks, Spirit Anafenza does Melira, Sylvok Outcast's job whenever Melira is in an infinite combo. Spirit Anafenza is also a funky pseudo-Lord on her off days, unlike Melira the Infect hoser. Yeah, I'd rather take the pseudo-Lord against any deck not named Infect.
Narset Transcendent: Jace, Architect of Thought's recent good performance tells us that 4-drop draw engine walkers that can't protect themselves are currently surprisingly well-positioned in Modern.
Modern: RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries Legacy:BRx Renimator Playing right now:Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Jace, Architect of Thought obviously can protect himself.
All right, Jace, Architect of Thought can technically protect himself with his +1...as long as the opponent has one 2/X, and all of the opponent's other creatures are 1/X's (or 0/X's). There are too many 3+/X's (or 2/X swarms) in Modern for Jace AOT to protect himself for long.
Collected Company: Too expensive. Requires creatures to be in the graveyard in the first place. I do not think this will see play at all.
I think you need to read what the card does again. It doesn't mention graveyard at all and TWO 3 (or less) drops for 4 mana at instant speed is not too expensive.
Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
The list might be the 10 best cards for modern but that does not mean that all 10 of them will actually see play. In my opinion, there are maybe 5 modern playables:
Collected Company: Too expensive. Requires creatures to be in the graveyard in the first place. I do not think this will see play at all.
Rending Volley: Fine card. Would have been a clear upgrade to Combust a year ago, but the current success of Siege Rhino makes Combust the better sideboard card, unless you need narrow hate vs Twin.
Anticipate: Costs too much mana. For two mana you can play Peer Through Depths which digs deeper and does the same thing in the kind of deck that wants to play this kind of effect.
Sarkhan Unbroken: Which kind of deck would want this? You need to tap a lot of mana at sorcery speed. And even then it takes a long time to generate an advantage or even win the game. Harsh color requirements.
Kolaghan's Command: If only it cost RB. Even then this would be a hard sell. Does not do enough and what it does is often irrelevant as the possible effects do not seem to synergize very well.
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit: Can't see the deck that wants this. Creature heavy decks that would want this effect have access to better creatures at 2 CMC. The nontoken-clause makes most combos impossible.
Narset Transcendent: Maybe. But it's a tough sell. 4 CMC makes this much better than Sarkhan but the same criticism still applies. In spell heavy U/W decks you usually do not want to tap that much mana at sorcery speed unless you already have an overwhelming advantage. At which point you have better options to finish the game.
Appart from that I am mainly looking at the commands. Dromoka's command could see sideboard play as it has a low CMC and does stuff that is relevant against a lot of different decks. Ojutai's Command obviously has to be compared to Cryptic Command. Cryptic is better if you can cast it. Ojutai's could see play as Cryptics number 5-8 (if you really need more) or in decks that cannot satisfy Cryptic's color requirements.
These are my responses to your comments, labelled by card rank number:
Collected Company: Too expensive. Requires creatures to be in the graveyard in the first place. I do not think this will see play at all.
I think you need to read what the card does again. It doesn't mention graveyard at all and TWO 3 (or less) drops for 4 mana at instant speed is not too expensive.
5: Ad Nauseam(-Angel's Grace) is basically the only Modern deck left that plays Peer Through Depths, seeing as Scapeshift inconsistently plays it and UR Storm VERY inconsistently plays it. Scapeshift, especially with its need to hit its 7th land drop and the fact that it's already prone to playing Telling Time instead of Peer Through Depths, might play Anticipate. And seeing as Ad Nauseam plays Phyrexian Unlife and Pentad Prism, and Unlife also combos with Ad Nauseam...I think Ad Nauseam wants Anticipate over Peer Through Depths (even though Peer Through Depths is better at getting Ad Nauseam).
9: Yeah, the only decks I'm seeing Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit in are "Melira Combo" decks. There, Spirit Anafenza similarly combos with an infinite sac outlet (Viscera Seer, Cartel Aristocrat, etc.) and the usual Persist dudes (Kitchen Finks, Murderous Redcap) for infinite Persist dude triggers. #9's success heavily depends on #1's success (seeing as Melira Combo crashed after Birthing Pod got banned, and since Pod decks slowly ripped out their combos, I don't think having 5+ "Meliras" is better than having 4-)--heck, #9 might not see play even if #1 becomes ban-worthy good.
10: Yeah, #10 is also a tough sell. Narset Walker has been pretty flaky in my testing.
I would agree, but Narset is tenth.
The reason I object is because if you play her in an Ojutai deck, she will pump your many, many spells so freakin much that you can kill them on turn 3 (I've tested it).
I won a pre-release today with an Azorius deck and would like to make my contribution to the limited cards list :
Disclaimer: This list is extremely Azorius biased, as these are the only cards I got to see in action. As I won every game I played, I barely got to see the impact of enemy players' cards and only mentioned ones that were noticable and made me fall behind.
1. Anticipate (This just wins the game if you cast it at the end of your opponents turn 2)
2. Any of the dragonlords. (They're all absolute bombs and rank up well. From playing 2 Ojutais today I can assure you even with very low toughness they're a HUGE threat)
3. Pacifism (Insane with the amount of big creatures [read : dragons] in the format)
4. Negate (Too many combat tricks in the format)
5. The uncommon enemy-hate cycle (Sideboarding 2 of a single hate-card in vs the color combination it hates out is instant game)
6. Great Teacher's Decree (Imagine trumpet blast except its not ***** and wins the game. With only 2 creatues this thing adds 8 dmg's worth of threat to the board, with W/U flyiers or W/R aggro, this is game.)
7. Misthoof Kirin (By far the best common creature in the limited enviroment, it enables white aggro and U/W fliers on its very on.)
8. Youthful Scholar ( I'm sorry, this feels like an uncommon Sphinx's Revelation. Think about it, even if it just chumps the turn you cast it, what did you do? You gained 2 [or more] life, and drew 2 cards for 1 card and 4 mana. To get the same result with a Sphinx's you'd need to pay 5 mana in 2 colors! If it trades, you get a 3 for 1. )
Here ends my contribution as I didn't get to play with or against any other cards that were noticable.
I would agree, but Narset is tenth.
The reason I object is because if you play her in an Ojutai deck, she will pump your many, many spells so freakin much that you can kill them on turn 3 (I've tested it).
I'll assume that's Narset Walker's behaviour in Modern/Legacy/Vintage, as I see no way that I can kill with Turn 3 Narset in Standard. (Turn 1 Elvish Mystic, Turn 2 Sylvan Caryatid + Elvish Mystic, Turn 3 Narset Transcendent into...uh...give me an idea here...
If the kill is in Modern or Legacy (and if it's in Legacy, it doesn't involve Omniscience or Dream Halls), how do you pull it off?
I think people are over evaluating Narset Transcendent. Don't get me wrong, the potential to shine is there, however she's going to want a fairly specific style of deck.
I think people are over evaluating Narset Transcendent. Don't get me wrong, the potential to shine is there, however she's going to want a fairly specific style of deck.
So does Myth Realized, which I placed at #3, and Collected Company to some extent, which the guys over at the Modern forum generally agree is #1. Heck, I placed Atarka's Command at #2 almost solely on the back of its forecast performance in Burn (it's got potential in Zoo...less potential).
To be fair, Narset Walker feels fringe at #10 to me. She's stronger than I thought in a UWR Control shell, but she's better at drawing cards than at -2'ing, and yes, that includes the fact that her +1 doesn't draw cards half the time even in decks built around her.
display of dominance, yeah SB, but green killing ashiok, jace and lilianas? too awesome
More like green making its stuff have protection from Abrupt Decay...oh, and kill Lilianas, too. And maaaaaybe Jace, the Mind Sculptor in Legacy...and maybe you can protect your Oath of Druids (from Decay) if you want to get in real deep...
Roast does a very poor impression of Harvest Pyre for Twin, given how crucial it is for that deck to be able to deal with threats at instant-speed. It doesn't even kill Vendilion Clique or Pestermite, making it worse than something like Incinerate (let alone Lightning Bolt).
Of course my list will vary depending on what format I'm talking about, but overall my top 10 list for Dragons is as follows:
1. Collected Company - Incredibly powerful in multiple formats, and in standard I'd probably still consider it constructed-playable at sorcery speed.
2. Narset Transcendent - Yes, she's that good. Incredibly high loyalty for a 4cc walker, relevant abilities, the hype is real.
3. Atarka's Command / Dromoka's Command - I think both of these commands will see standard play, and possibly modern testing.
4. Roast - Very powerful removal in standard in a color that I think will be seeing plenty of play this standard season.
5. Thunderbreak Regent - He's a house in limited, and if dragons is a deck in standard (and I fully expect they will), this guy will be an automatic 4-of.
6. Radiant Purge - The exile is becoming extremely relevant in standard, and if a few of the new Dragons cards pick up in popularity, this will be a formidable answer.
7. Stratus Dancer - Fine as an early game beater and late game protection. I also expect mono blue to come back, and this will fit in nicely.
8. Hidden Dragonslayer - A dude that I think a lot of people are dismissing too quickly. In standard he's already got a deck to fit in (GW Mastery), where he's removal, a beater, and a source of lifegain all in one. He's even relevant late game, where for 5 mana you get a 3/2 lifelink and destroy a fatty.
9. Blood-Chin Rager - We've all been waiting for warriors to be "a thing," and I think this guy will make it so. He's an early drop that will be able to push through massive damage as early as t3.
10. (Dark Horse Pick): Assault Formation - I want this walls deck to become legitimate, and if it does, this card will be amazing. If not, it's still a cool concept.
You might notice there's only one mythic rare in my list, and I'm sticking to it! Narset Transcendent feels about as strong as Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. +1 to 30-60% draw a card doesn't seem good on a four mana planeswalker, even with the high loyalty. The -2 Rebound ability has a lot of potential but requires you to play differently, at sorcery speed. Narset doesn't feel like a very good Control card and might be decent in a Midrange Spells deck but I still think there are better choices for the main deck. Of course, I could be wrong, but Narset seems quite overrated at the moment.
Roast does a very poor impression of Harvest Pyre for Twin, given how crucial it is for that deck to be able to deal with threats at instant-speed. It doesn't even kill Vendilion Clique or Pestermite, making it worse than something like Incinerate (let alone Lightning Bolt).
Roast does feel like the love child of Flame Slash, Harvest Pyre, and Dismember. From what I've read lately, Flame Slash is actually the most common of the 3 in Twin, so I don't think Twin minds having sorcery-speed removal.
Roast's main boon is that it blasts apart Siege Rhino, Tasigur, most Goyfs, Qasali Pridemage, and Spellskite. If Linvala, Keeper of Silence does come back, though, Roast's popularity should drop because it can't hit her and she hates Twin. (Roast also forgets to hit Hushwing Gryff...basically nobody plays Hushwing Gryff in Modern.)
I would agree, but Narset is tenth.
The reason I object is because if you play her in an Ojutai deck, she will pump your many, many spells so freakin much that you can kill them on turn 3 (I've tested it).
I'll assume that's Narset Walker's behaviour in Modern/Legacy/Vintage, as I see no way that I can kill with Turn 3 Narset in Standard. (Turn 1 Elvish Mystic, Turn 2 Sylvan Caryatid + Elvish Mystic, Turn 3 Narset Transcendent into...uh...give me an idea here...
If the kill is in Modern or Legacy (and if it's in Legacy, it doesn't involve Omniscience or Dream Halls), how do you pull it off?
Turn 2: Ancestral Recall Rebounds, Tundra, float mana, Gush, Preordain, they die (Mentor and tokens swing with +3 pump each)
Alright, so turn one you play black lotus and a land. Sacrifice the Lotus and tap the land, play Narset
Turn two- rebound lotus, play two more, play another land, sacrifice one lotus for adoor to nothingness
Turn three, play final lotus, one more land, rebound previous lotus, use door to nothingless's ability, you win. Yay.
So it's not allowed in any format, actually, but no one ever said it had to be. I just used it in a deck builder and tested it and it worked.
I won a pre-release today with an Azorius deck and would like to make my contribution to the limited cards list :
Disclaimer: This list is extremely Azorius biased, as these are the only cards I got to see in action. As I won every game I played, I barely got to see the impact of enemy players' cards and only mentioned ones that were noticable and made me fall behind.
1. Anticipate (This just wins the game if you cast it at the end of your opponents turn 2)
2. Any of the dragonlords. (They're all absolute bombs and rank up well. From playing 2 Ojutais today I can assure you even with very low toughness they're a HUGE threat)
3. Pacifism (Insane with the amount of big creatures [read : dragons] in the format)
4. Negate (Too many combat tricks in the format)
5. The uncommon enemy-hate cycle (Sideboarding 2 of a single hate-card in vs the color combination it hates out is instant game)
6. Great Teacher's Decree (Imagine trumpet blast except its not ***** and wins the game. With only 2 creatues this thing adds 8 dmg's worth of threat to the board, with W/U flyiers or W/R aggro, this is game.)
7. Misthoof Kirin (By far the best common creature in the limited enviroment, it enables white aggro and U/W fliers on its very on.)
8. Youthful Scholar ( I'm sorry, this feels like an uncommon Sphinx's Revelation. Think about it, even if it just chumps the turn you cast it, what did you do? You gained 2 [or more] life, and drew 2 cards for 1 card and 4 mana. To get the same result with a Sphinx's you'd need to pay 5 mana in 2 colors! If it trades, you get a 3 for 1. )
Here ends my contribution as I didn't get to play with or against any other cards that were noticable.
I would agree, but Narset is tenth.
The reason I object is because if you play her in an Ojutai deck, she will pump your many, many spells so freakin much that you can kill them on turn 3 (I've tested it).
I'll assume that's Narset Walker's behaviour in Modern/Legacy/Vintage, as I see no way that I can kill with Turn 3 Narset in Standard. (Turn 1 Elvish Mystic, Turn 2 Sylvan Caryatid + Elvish Mystic, Turn 3 Narset Transcendent into...uh...give me an idea here...
If the kill is in Modern or Legacy (and if it's in Legacy, it doesn't involve Omniscience or Dream Halls), how do you pull it off?
Turn 2: Ancestral Recall Rebounds, Tundra, float mana, Gush, Preordain, they die (Mentor and tokens swing with +3 pump each)
Alright, so turn one you play black lotus and a land. Sacrifice the Lotus and tap the land, play Narset
Turn two- rebound lotus, play two more, play another land, sacrifice one lotus for adoor to nothingness
Turn three, play final lotus, one more land, rebound previous lotus, use door to nothingless's ability, you win. Yay.
So it's not allowed in any format, actually, but no one ever said it had to be. I just used it in a deck builder and tested it and it worked.
I won a pre-release today with an Azorius deck and would like to make my contribution to the limited cards list :
Disclaimer: This list is extremely Azorius biased, as these are the only cards I got to see in action. As I won every game I played, I barely got to see the impact of enemy players' cards and only mentioned ones that were noticable and made me fall behind.
1. Anticipate (This just wins the game if you cast it at the end of your opponents turn 2)
2. Any of the dragonlords. (They're all absolute bombs and rank up well. From playing 2 Ojutais today I can assure you even with very low toughness they're a HUGE threat)
3. Pacifism (Insane with the amount of big creatures [read : dragons] in the format)
4. Negate (Too many combat tricks in the format)
5. The uncommon enemy-hate cycle (Sideboarding 2 of a single hate-card in vs the color combination it hates out is instant game)
6. Great Teacher's Decree (Imagine trumpet blast except its not ***** and wins the game. With only 2 creatues this thing adds 8 dmg's worth of threat to the board, with W/U flyiers or W/R aggro, this is game.)
7. Misthoof Kirin (By far the best common creature in the limited enviroment, it enables white aggro and U/W fliers on its very on.)
8. Youthful Scholar ( I'm sorry, this feels like an uncommon Sphinx's Revelation. Think about it, even if it just chumps the turn you cast it, what did you do? You gained 2 [or more] life, and drew 2 cards for 1 card and 4 mana. To get the same result with a Sphinx's you'd need to pay 5 mana in 2 colors! If it trades, you get a 3 for 1. )
Here ends my contribution as I didn't get to play with or against any other cards that were noticable.
Well, here's my Top 10 DTK cards for Modern:
Post your Top 10 DTK cards here! It doesn't matter which format your list is for!
RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron
R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries
Legacy:BRx Renimator
Playing right now: Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
All right, Jace, Architect of Thought can technically protect himself with his +1...as long as the opponent has one 2/X, and all of the opponent's other creatures are 1/X's (or 0/X's). There are too many 3+/X's (or 2/X swarms) in Modern for Jace AOT to protect himself for long.
I think you need to read what the card does again. It doesn't mention graveyard at all and TWO 3 (or less) drops for 4 mana at instant speed is not too expensive.
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
These are my responses to your comments, labelled by card rank number:
1: TehNoobe's response is good enough:
5: Ad Nauseam(-Angel's Grace) is basically the only Modern deck left that plays Peer Through Depths, seeing as Scapeshift inconsistently plays it and UR Storm VERY inconsistently plays it. Scapeshift, especially with its need to hit its 7th land drop and the fact that it's already prone to playing Telling Time instead of Peer Through Depths, might play Anticipate. And seeing as Ad Nauseam plays Phyrexian Unlife and Pentad Prism, and Unlife also combos with Ad Nauseam...I think Ad Nauseam wants Anticipate over Peer Through Depths (even though Peer Through Depths is better at getting Ad Nauseam).
6: These are the TC Decks results for Modern decks with Harvest Pyre in them. That's 8 Twin results and two other URx results (where x is either blank or Green). While a lot of Twin players run Flame Slash instead, Harvest Pyre is significantly better at beaning X/5's such as Siege Rhino and Tasigur.
7: These are the TC Decks results for Modern decks with Surrak Dragonclaw in the sideboard. These are the TC decks results for Modern decks labelled "RUG" with Keranos, God of Storms maindeck. Surrak Dragonclaw doesn't seem to be particularly powerful in those lists, other than being a big uncounterable lunk with Flash...who makes Obstinate Baloths uncounterable and gives them Trample, I guess. Keranos, God of Storms does increasingly poorly against Junk Midrange. These are the decks that will consider Sarkhan Unbroken.
8: Yeah, from my testing, Kolaghan's Command is a slightly tough sell. Sometimes, I'd rather cast Rise // Fall instead.
9: Yeah, the only decks I'm seeing Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit in are "Melira Combo" decks. There, Spirit Anafenza similarly combos with an infinite sac outlet (Viscera Seer, Cartel Aristocrat, etc.) and the usual Persist dudes (Kitchen Finks, Murderous Redcap) for infinite Persist dude triggers. #9's success heavily depends on #1's success (seeing as Melira Combo crashed after Birthing Pod got banned, and since Pod decks slowly ripped out their combos, I don't think having 5+ "Meliras" is better than having 4-)--heck, #9 might not see play even if #1 becomes ban-worthy good.
10: Yeah, #10 is also a tough sell. Narset Walker has been pretty flaky in my testing.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
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Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
The reason I object is because if you play her in an Ojutai deck, she will pump your many, many spells so freakin much that you can kill them on turn 3 (I've tested it).
Disclaimer: This list is extremely Azorius biased, as these are the only cards I got to see in action. As I won every game I played, I barely got to see the impact of enemy players' cards and only mentioned ones that were noticable and made me fall behind.
1. Anticipate (This just wins the game if you cast it at the end of your opponents turn 2)
2. Any of the dragonlords. (They're all absolute bombs and rank up well. From playing 2 Ojutais today I can assure you even with very low toughness they're a HUGE threat)
3. Pacifism (Insane with the amount of big creatures [read : dragons] in the format)
4. Negate (Too many combat tricks in the format)
5. The uncommon enemy-hate cycle (Sideboarding 2 of a single hate-card in vs the color combination it hates out is instant game)
6. Great Teacher's Decree (Imagine trumpet blast except its not ***** and wins the game. With only 2 creatues this thing adds 8 dmg's worth of threat to the board, with W/U flyiers or W/R aggro, this is game.)
7. Misthoof Kirin (By far the best common creature in the limited enviroment, it enables white aggro and U/W fliers on its very on.)
8. Youthful Scholar ( I'm sorry, this feels like an uncommon Sphinx's Revelation. Think about it, even if it just chumps the turn you cast it, what did you do? You gained 2 [or more] life, and drew 2 cards for 1 card and 4 mana. To get the same result with a Sphinx's you'd need to pay 5 mana in 2 colors! If it trades, you get a 3 for 1. )
Here ends my contribution as I didn't get to play with or against any other cards that were noticable.
WUR Control
WB Tokens
I'll assume that's Narset Walker's behaviour in Modern/Legacy/Vintage, as I see no way that I can kill with Turn 3 Narset in Standard. (Turn 1 Elvish Mystic, Turn 2 Sylvan Caryatid + Elvish Mystic, Turn 3 Narset Transcendent into...uh...give me an idea here...
If the kill is in Modern or Legacy (and if it's in Legacy, it doesn't involve Omniscience or Dream Halls), how do you pull it off?
In Vintage, you can probably do stuff like these:
So does Myth Realized, which I placed at #3, and Collected Company to some extent, which the guys over at the Modern forum generally agree is #1. Heck, I placed Atarka's Command at #2 almost solely on the back of its forecast performance in Burn (it's got potential in Zoo...less potential).
To be fair, Narset Walker feels fringe at #10 to me. She's stronger than I thought in a UWR Control shell, but she's better at drawing cards than at -2'ing, and yes, that includes the fact that her +1 doesn't draw cards half the time even in decks built around her.
More like green making its stuff have protection from Abrupt Decay...oh, and kill Lilianas, too. And maaaaaybe Jace, the Mind Sculptor in Legacy...and maybe you can protect your Oath of Druids (from Decay) if you want to get in real deep...
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
1. Collected Company - Incredibly powerful in multiple formats, and in standard I'd probably still consider it constructed-playable at sorcery speed.
2. Narset Transcendent - Yes, she's that good. Incredibly high loyalty for a 4cc walker, relevant abilities, the hype is real.
3. Atarka's Command / Dromoka's Command - I think both of these commands will see standard play, and possibly modern testing.
4. Roast - Very powerful removal in standard in a color that I think will be seeing plenty of play this standard season.
5. Thunderbreak Regent - He's a house in limited, and if dragons is a deck in standard (and I fully expect they will), this guy will be an automatic 4-of.
6. Radiant Purge - The exile is becoming extremely relevant in standard, and if a few of the new Dragons cards pick up in popularity, this will be a formidable answer.
7. Stratus Dancer - Fine as an early game beater and late game protection. I also expect mono blue to come back, and this will fit in nicely.
8. Hidden Dragonslayer - A dude that I think a lot of people are dismissing too quickly. In standard he's already got a deck to fit in (GW Mastery), where he's removal, a beater, and a source of lifegain all in one. He's even relevant late game, where for 5 mana you get a 3/2 lifelink and destroy a fatty.
9. Blood-Chin Rager - We've all been waiting for warriors to be "a thing," and I think this guy will make it so. He's an early drop that will be able to push through massive damage as early as t3.
10. (Dark Horse Pick): Assault Formation - I want this walls deck to become legitimate, and if it does, this card will be amazing. If not, it's still a cool concept.
Honorable Mentions: Damnable Pact, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Zurgo Bellstriker, and Myth Realized
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[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsOjutai Exemplars
Anticipate
Roast
Dromoka's Command
Surrak, the Hunt Caller
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
Zurgo Bellstriker
Arashin Foremost
Ultimate Price
Explosive Vegetation
You might notice there's only one mythic rare in my list, and I'm sticking to it! Narset Transcendent feels about as strong as Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. +1 to 30-60% draw a card doesn't seem good on a four mana planeswalker, even with the high loyalty. The -2 Rebound ability has a lot of potential but requires you to play differently, at sorcery speed. Narset doesn't feel like a very good Control card and might be decent in a Midrange Spells deck but I still think there are better choices for the main deck. Of course, I could be wrong, but Narset seems quite overrated at the moment.
Roast does feel like the love child of Flame Slash, Harvest Pyre, and Dismember. From what I've read lately, Flame Slash is actually the most common of the 3 in Twin, so I don't think Twin minds having sorcery-speed removal.
Roast's main boon is that it blasts apart Siege Rhino, Tasigur, most Goyfs, Qasali Pridemage, and Spellskite. If Linvala, Keeper of Silence does come back, though, Roast's popularity should drop because it can't hit her and she hates Twin. (Roast also forgets to hit Hushwing Gryff...basically nobody plays Hushwing Gryff in Modern.)
Alright, so turn one you play black lotus and a land. Sacrifice the Lotus and tap the land, play Narset
Turn two- rebound lotus, play two more, play another land, sacrifice one lotus for adoor to nothingness
Turn three, play final lotus, one more land, rebound previous lotus, use door to nothingless's ability, you win. Yay.
So it's not allowed in any format, actually, but no one ever said it had to be. I just used it in a deck builder and tested it and it worked.
Er, how are you getting 2 life from Youthful Scholar?
You can't Rebound a Black Lotus--sorry, folks.
Chump with Youthful Scholar (or, if you're even luckier, trade it off). You probably effectively gained at least 2 life.
I have one and it's only 1.