Monastery Swiftspear is good, not because of the double Titan's Strength bad magic people are suggesting. It's good because in any tempo deck, it rewards you for playing your deck the way you'd be playing it anyway. I feel like people saying it's bad were the same people who thought Delver was bad at launch because "you don't want to run a 1/1 in your deck full of instants and sorceries."
I do think Monastery Swiftspear is largely better than Goblin Guide in Burn, but I think Goblin Guide is better than Vexing Devil, so I think you'll see Modern Burn start utilizing Swiftspear as 1-drop 5-8 for consistency. In the deck, they will both do approximately the same amount of damage, and both are better topdecks than Devil.
The thing is, you don't need to cast this at U for it to be worth it.
At 2U, this is undercosted in standard. Divination has made the cut before. This almost certainly will.
In Modern and Legacy, this is even better. You don't play this into a Remand. You play this after both decks have spent their payloads to refill to get ahead of the opponent, and that's when this is AMAZING.
It's an uncommon! And it's good! Force Spike is worse than Spell Pierce, but the ability to scale to Negate in a tempo shell with Goyf is very relevant.
I think the Phoenix is much better than people here think it is.
Sadly, though, seeing the set, I'm already left wanting the next wedge set, because I now know that this won't deliver what I wanted from a wedge set, outside of charms and tri-lands.
Kind of similar to how, immediately after Theros, I wanted to get the next enchantment block, because Theros was actually the Aura block, and I sure DIDN'T want that. I want to see interesting global enchants, and cards that play well with enchantments. Not a bunch of Auras and creatures with with word "enchantment" tacked on to the type-line.
But the biggest issue, both here and with Theros, is knowing they won't be doing either again soon, because they're passing off this shash as "we already did it not long ago" because of the tri-lands and the charms in Khans, and because of the Constellation mechanic in Journey, and we know we aren't getting anymore wedge support this block, outside of what's needed for limited play in Fate Reforged.
My UWR deck has full playsets of full art Cryptic Commands, Lightning Bolts, Lightning Helixes, and Mana Leaks, as well as a playset of foil Path to Exiles, 1 promo, 3 Modern Masters.
I don't think anyone will disagree with Browbeat not being good.
With Vexing Devil, the two modes are similar enough for a deck as fast as burn that, while it's not a functional finisher for burn, it's great at getting you from 20 to 4.
Anyone who tries arguing that Vexing Devil is bad after it wins a tournament goes against what a good card is: If a card wins a tournament, it is by definition a good card, at least, it was in that metagame.
Also noteworthy; ANY deck can play this as mana ramp for an explosive turn 4. Being the morph costs are all colorless, any deck with a potent 6-drop can play this to try to power it out on turn 4. Green uses it best, being able to drop it for morph on turn 2 with a mana dork, and therefore potentially powering out a 6-drop on turn 3.
It's not Noble Hierarch, but it certainly is it's own thing, and I think a lot of people are dismissing the potential applications of it.
I've seen Zur lists, and once your opponent knows what's up, Zur often won't be able to swing. I'm not denying Zur is good, but with Zur, you don't get Angelic Destiny, and once your opponent knows what's up, Zur is much less reliable than Heliod's Pilgrim.
Zur is probably worth running in the black splash, and the better ability to fetch sideboard tech is relevant. I'll have to think about it.
The issue I have with Zur is:
A) You need to attack with it, and the summoning sickness give the opponent a whole turn to answer it in the meantime. Heliod's Pilgrim simply needs to come into play.
B) I'd much rather run red than black for a third color, because Lightning Bolt works so well with Snapcaster, as well as the Tempo plan in general.
That's not to say I don't think a black splash is valid, I just don't like it as much.
Aether Vial + Flickerwisp is certainly a thing to consider, and being able to flicker an opponents blocker helps our tempo plays as well. It's something to consider, I'll add it to the primer.
Also, another thing this deck can do that Zur can't is Angelic Destiny. The opponent has to play knowing that if they tap out against you, you can suit up any creature you have with it, and it's very difficult to answer with what cards players run mainboard.
Also, the Zur deck is far more vulnerable to hate. While we, on the other hand, can just play the Geist Tempo deck even if our opponent boards in all the enchantment hate. (I've toyed around with the idea of a transformative sideboard to blank enchantment removal that get boarded in, even.)
I do think Monastery Swiftspear is largely better than Goblin Guide in Burn, but I think Goblin Guide is better than Vexing Devil, so I think you'll see Modern Burn start utilizing Swiftspear as 1-drop 5-8 for consistency. In the deck, they will both do approximately the same amount of damage, and both are better topdecks than Devil.
At 2U, this is undercosted in standard. Divination has made the cut before. This almost certainly will.
In Modern and Legacy, this is even better. You don't play this into a Remand. You play this after both decks have spent their payloads to refill to get ahead of the opponent, and that's when this is AMAZING.
Sadly, though, seeing the set, I'm already left wanting the next wedge set, because I now know that this won't deliver what I wanted from a wedge set, outside of charms and tri-lands.
Kind of similar to how, immediately after Theros, I wanted to get the next enchantment block, because Theros was actually the Aura block, and I sure DIDN'T want that. I want to see interesting global enchants, and cards that play well with enchantments. Not a bunch of Auras and creatures with with word "enchantment" tacked on to the type-line.
But the biggest issue, both here and with Theros, is knowing they won't be doing either again soon, because they're passing off this shash as "we already did it not long ago" because of the tri-lands and the charms in Khans, and because of the Constellation mechanic in Journey, and we know we aren't getting anymore wedge support this block, outside of what's needed for limited play in Fate Reforged.
Also, my basics are all foil Zendikar full arts.
With Vexing Devil, the two modes are similar enough for a deck as fast as burn that, while it's not a functional finisher for burn, it's great at getting you from 20 to 4.
Anyone who tries arguing that Vexing Devil is bad after it wins a tournament goes against what a good card is: If a card wins a tournament, it is by definition a good card, at least, it was in that metagame.
It's not Noble Hierarch, but it certainly is it's own thing, and I think a lot of people are dismissing the potential applications of it.
Zur is probably worth running in the black splash, and the better ability to fetch sideboard tech is relevant. I'll have to think about it.
A) You need to attack with it, and the summoning sickness give the opponent a whole turn to answer it in the meantime. Heliod's Pilgrim simply needs to come into play.
B) I'd much rather run red than black for a third color, because Lightning Bolt works so well with Snapcaster, as well as the Tempo plan in general.
That's not to say I don't think a black splash is valid, I just don't like it as much.
Aether Vial + Flickerwisp is certainly a thing to consider, and being able to flicker an opponents blocker helps our tempo plays as well. It's something to consider, I'll add it to the primer.
Also, another thing this deck can do that Zur can't is Angelic Destiny. The opponent has to play knowing that if they tap out against you, you can suit up any creature you have with it, and it's very difficult to answer with what cards players run mainboard.
Also, the Zur deck is far more vulnerable to hate. While we, on the other hand, can just play the Geist Tempo deck even if our opponent boards in all the enchantment hate. (I've toyed around with the idea of a transformative sideboard to blank enchantment removal that get boarded in, even.)