I'm really looking forward to seeing lower costed cards with surge. Surge itself lends to some very synergistic interactions in non-rotating formats such as modern, legacy, and vintage. My first thought is a Delver-esque deck. If there are any powerful surge cards with a low CMC they would work very well with the prowess mechanic as well.
It's much stronger in Modern than it is in Standard though. Gitaxian Probe followed by this guy sounds pretty painful to me.
But realistically, is there a single Modern deck that wants this effect over Cyclonic Rift? The token is pretty much negligible as it has no evasion. no protection, no utility and even in the worst case (no relevant removal) may be chumped for days by whatever you've just bounced.
but cyclonic doesn't bounce your etb effect critters, so this isn't a swap for that. cyclonic rift is better, bounce a key threat early yes. But bounce everything AND get a thumper at no extra cost is not bad. not great, but interesting
I'm perplexed by the talk about seeing this in Modern... even the best-case scenario of dumping a 0-mana spell and Surging this for 5, then having a two-turn clock starting on turn 6, is pretty weak. Maybe my meta is just faster than others, but games don't tend to last beyond turn 4-5. Honestly, when I'm looking for cards for Modern play, I just completely ignore them if they cost more than 4.
Maybe there are some decks that can draw the game out longer and leverage this, but the token still dies to Abrupt Decay, so I'm not sure this does anything but buy you a turn in a pinch.
As for Storm, I haven't played Storm but I've played it against it enough, and from my experience if I see a Storm played tapping mana and dumping cantrips after turn 3 or so, I'm not expecting to have my stuff bounced; I'm getting ready to scoop as soon as I hear the words "Past in Flames." This seems pretty off-the-plan to me:
So, we'll have to wait until all of OGW is released, but I wanted to take a look at the 1CMC instants/sorceries currently in Standard that could be played before Crush of Tentacles for its surge cost on turn 6. Here are a few, with some comments:
Animist's Awakening -- this might actually be interesting in a UG ramp/control-ish deck. You can either do it for X=0 just to enable surge, or, if you have spell mastery, you can X=5, get some lands, untap your lands, bounce everything and get an 8/8 octopus with lots of mana to untap with. Despise, Duress, et al. -- Check to see if the coast is clear before casting it. Seems good. Foul-Tongue Shriek -- Alpha strike in a UB deck with ETB effects, like Kalastria Healer. Magmatic Insight -- Drawing cards is always good, especially in U/x. Downside: If you have lots of permanents bounced, you have the first cleanup step, so you might lose cards to discarding at end of turn.
if any X card can be played for 0, a situation might be that you'd dump a hangarback to play this for 5. ramp can play this sooner than t5. you'd probably only have 1 of in any case.
but I agree with above posts, this won't see much play outside of casual. it's not real removal,, not like a wrath.
I wonder if any surge cards will actually be very good for constructed
I wonder if any surge cards will actually be very good for constructed
I think we can imagine some good designs. Maybe they'll try a Counterspell variant, Divination variant, maybe some creatures with a surge benefit, kind of like Kicker.
Some exciting opportunities for 2HG play here!
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I know they really wanted to make Gatewatch a Two-Headed Giant themed set. This is a pretty good mechanic to do that.
But realistically, is there a single Modern deck that wants this effect over Cyclonic Rift? The token is pretty much negligible as it has no evasion. no protection, no utility and even in the worst case (no relevant removal) may be chumped for days by whatever you've just bounced.
Maybe there are some decks that can draw the game out longer and leverage this, but the token still dies to Abrupt Decay, so I'm not sure this does anything but buy you a turn in a pinch.
As for Storm, I haven't played Storm but I've played it against it enough, and from my experience if I see a Storm played tapping mana and dumping cantrips after turn 3 or so, I'm not expecting to have my stuff bounced; I'm getting ready to scoop as soon as I hear the words "Past in Flames." This seems pretty off-the-plan to me:
"Manamorphose, Crush of Tentacles, go."
"Cool story, bro. Ugin, -0 him, go."
"..."
"By the way, why did you bounce your Pyromancer Ascension?"
I might be missing a place where this is Modern-Playable, but pretty damn sure it's not Storm.
Animist's Awakening -- this might actually be interesting in a UG ramp/control-ish deck. You can either do it for X=0 just to enable surge, or, if you have spell mastery, you can X=5, get some lands, untap your lands, bounce everything and get an 8/8 octopus with lots of mana to untap with.
Despise, Duress, et al. -- Check to see if the coast is clear before casting it. Seems good.
Foul-Tongue Shriek -- Alpha strike in a UB deck with ETB effects, like Kalastria Healer.
Magmatic Insight -- Drawing cards is always good, especially in U/x. Downside: If you have lots of permanents bounced, you have the first cleanup step, so you might lose cards to discarding at end of turn.
Thoughts?
but I agree with above posts, this won't see much play outside of casual. it's not real removal,, not like a wrath.
I wonder if any surge cards will actually be very good for constructed
I think we can imagine some good designs. Maybe they'll try a Counterspell variant, Divination variant, maybe some creatures with a surge benefit, kind of like Kicker.
This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.
This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.