MTG Salvation

Strix is a great card but in my opinion not too powerful for Modern. He'd be a great addition to the Grixis list and may help Esper out a bit, which is needed. The problem with Strix is that he's probably too powerful for most Standards.

Would love to see the old cycling lands on Modern (Secluded Steppe; Lonely Sandbar; Barren Moor; Forgotten Cave; Tranquil Thicket), they could probably give grindy Life from the Loam strategies a much needed push to play around graveyard hate and turbo their draws. Also, it could help Modern Dredge be a thing.

Regarding Baleful Strix, I'd say it's a bit too much - it's not like Wall of Omens that simply blocks and nets you some virtual life, it's a cantrip creature that blocks really well (due to flying) and trades up with anything. It's already a 2:1 effect on itself, and if either trades in combat or takes removal, it's a 3:1 with zero effort. Too much.

Quote from Blitkun »

Regarding Baleful Strix, I'd say it's a bit too much - it's not like Wall of Omens that simply blocks and nets you some virtual life, it's a cantrip creature that blocks really well (due to flying) and trades up with anything. It's already a 2:1 effect on itself, and if either trades in combat or takes removal, it's a 3:1 with zero effort. Too much.

People need to stop evaluating cards in a vacuum alone. They also need to looked at in the context of the format. Where is Strix going to see play at UB? Grixis is the best shell and that's a pretty solid Tier 2 player. Esper is somewhere down in Tier 3 or lower, and Sultai barely exists. Straight UB even less so. Is Strix going to suddenly make Grixis a Tier 0 monstrosity? Or is Strix likely to make Grixis a little better, maybe getting it to Tier 1? The latter seems significantly more likely than the former. Tezzerator and Sword strategies might use it too, but because those strategies aren't even Tier 3, I'm also not super worried about them. Overall, Strix would almost certainly be fine in Modern. People are so alarmist about new things in this format, whether trying to argue they are too broken or trying to argue that new powerful strategies are bannable. Rerpints like Strix are right in line with the power-levels of other Modern cards and would be perfectly fair.

Quote from ktkenshinx »

Quote from Blitkun »

Regarding Baleful Strix, I'd say it's a bit too much - it's not like Wall of Omens that simply blocks and nets you some virtual life, it's a cantrip creature that blocks really well (due to flying) and trades up with anything. It's already a 2:1 effect on itself, and if either trades in combat or takes removal, it's a 3:1 with zero effort. Too much.

People need to stop evaluating cards in a vacuum alone. They also need to looked at in the context of the format. Where is Strix going to see play at UB? Grixis is the best shell and that's a pretty solid Tier 2 player. Esper is somewhere down in Tier 3 or lower, and Sultai barely exists. Straight UB even less so. Is Strix going to suddenly make Grixis a Tier 0 monstrosity? Or is Strix likely to make Grixis a little better, maybe getting it to Tier 1? The latter seems significantly more likely than the former. Tezzerator and Sword strategies might use it too, but because those strategies aren't even Tier 3, I'm also not super worried about them. Overall, Strix would almost certainly be fine in Modern. People are so alarmist about new things in this format, whether trying to argue they are too broken or trying to argue that new powerful strategies are bannable. Rerpints like Strix are right in line with the power-levels of other Modern cards and would be perfectly fair.

As long as they have a Standard window to reprint it. They've said they're only introducing new cards to Modern through Standard, and Strix will probably be really strong in that format for a long time considering how they've been designing cards for Standard. But I agree that saying Strix is too good for Modern is pretty silly.

Quote from Ayiluss »

Quote from Equinox2793 »

Quote from Ayiluss »

Quote from Equinox2793 »

Quote from Ayiluss »

1/1 creature that draws a card and trades with everything for just 2 mana is very strong. Of course Strix would be on defense mode most of the time-this is what he's intended for but this doesn't make it any less powerful.

This card also dies to any type of removal so while it's a strong card, it's not "game breaking" or "too strong"

I didn't said it's game breaking but there's no doubt that it's a very powerful card, in my opinion too strong for Modern considering what I've said in the previous post. Also I don't think control (this archetype would play it) doesn't need that kind of help as it's in a good spot and already has good ways of dealing with creatures and card advantage.

I disagree with this as it seems like you don't play grixis. Grixis struggles heavily against merfolk and Burn. Strix helps in those matchups a lot. There is more to control than just Jeskai.

I agree that Grixis struggles against these two decks but hey every deck has its bad matchups. So I could say let Wizards make Wasteland reprint in Modern to help Jund/Junk to fight ramp decks a bit because they struggle against it but we all know Wasteland has no place in Modern. That said Grixis is doing good enough that it doesn't need any help so there's no reason to reprint Baleful Strix to help it.

Wasteland WOULDN'T solve any of jund's issues, it would make more of them, baleful strix isn't in the same realm as wasteland in terms of powerlevel, grixis is a tier 2 deck that could certainly use strix. Did jund need help whatsoever when it got Scavenging Ooze? The card is around the same powerlevel in modern. (I'd argue a little stronger)

Quote from ktkenshinx »

Quote from Blitkun »

Regarding Baleful Strix, I'd say it's a bit too much - it's not like Wall of Omens that simply blocks and nets you some virtual life, it's a cantrip creature that blocks really well (due to flying) and trades up with anything. It's already a 2:1 effect on itself, and if either trades in combat or takes removal, it's a 3:1 with zero effort. Too much.

People need to stop evaluating cards in a vacuum alone. They also need to looked at in the context of the format. Where is Strix going to see play at UB? Grixis is the best shell and that's a pretty solid Tier 2 player. Esper is somewhere down in Tier 3 or lower, and Sultai barely exists. Straight UB even less so. Is Strix going to suddenly make Grixis a Tier 0 monstrosity? Or is Strix likely to make Grixis a little better, maybe getting it to Tier 1? The latter seems significantly more likely than the former. Tezzerator and Sword strategies might use it too, but because those strategies aren't even Tier 3, I'm also not super worried about them. Overall, Strix would almost certainly be fine in Modern. People are so alarmist about new things in this format, whether trying to argue they are too broken or trying to argue that new powerful strategies are bannable. Rerpints like Strix are right in line with the power-levels of other Modern cards and would be perfectly fair.

Finally a voice of reason in this thread. In the last two pages Strix has been compared to snapcaster mage and to wasteland in terms of power level. It's really obvious when people haven't played with a card or a deck when they make outlandish claims.

Quote from ktkenshinx »

Quote from Blitkun »

Regarding Baleful Strix, I'd say it's a bit too much - it's not like Wall of Omens that simply blocks and nets you some virtual life, it's a cantrip creature that blocks really well (due to flying) and trades up with anything. It's already a 2:1 effect on itself, and if either trades in combat or takes removal, it's a 3:1 with zero effort. Too much.

People need to stop evaluating cards in a vacuum alone. They also need to looked at in the context of the format. Where is Strix going to see play at UB? Grixis is the best shell and that's a pretty solid Tier 2 player. Esper is somewhere down in Tier 3 or lower, and Sultai barely exists. Straight UB even less so. Is Strix going to suddenly make Grixis a Tier 0 monstrosity? Or is Strix likely to make Grixis a little better, maybe getting it to Tier 1? The latter seems significantly more likely than the former. Tezzerator and Sword strategies might use it too, but because those strategies aren't even Tier 3, I'm also not super worried about them. Overall, Strix would almost certainly be fine in Modern. People are so alarmist about new things in this format, whether trying to argue they are too broken or trying to argue that new powerful strategies are bannable. Rerpints like Strix are right in line with the power-levels of other Modern cards and would be perfectly fair.

Completely agreed. I think he'd be a wonderful addition to Modern and about spot(ted owl)-on for power level in Modern.

To the poster you responded to, it's also not a 3 for 1. That's not how cantrips work. You spent a card to get a card, and then if/when it trades in combat your "free" board presence traded with what we're assuming was a non-free board presence for the opponent. So that's a 2 for 1. And you spent UB to get it, not "zero effort."

I think Strix in Standard would be on the same level as Scavenging Ooze, Thoughtseize, or Mutavault in Standard in recent years.

I don't really see how you guys think strix is so week? I'd love for it to be in modern but I don't think you can say its weaker than counterspell and far behind snapcaster. Snappy needs additional stuff to generate card advantage (ie mana, cards in the bin) and is easier to profitably interact with (scooze, grave hate, dumb stuff like torpor orb etc). Strix is a 2 for 1 no added work, gets bolted? Sweet you 2 for 1'd them, trades with a goyf? Sweet 2 for 1. Trades with an inkmoth/signal pest/glistener elf etc. You're only interacting profitably with counterspells, discard or more expensive cards like Ancient grudge, lil, electrolyze.

I personally think it's probably too powerful for where wizards want modern to be. It would probably power up tezzeret which is good in my books.

Quote from Ayiluss »

Quote from Equinox2793 »

Wasteland WOULDN'T solve any of jund's issues, it would make more of them, baleful strix isn't in the same realm as wasteland in terms of powerlevel, grixis is a tier 2 deck that could certainly use strix. Did jund need help whatsoever when it got Scavenging Ooze? The card is around the same powerlevel in modern. (I'd argue a little stronger)

I didn't compare Wasteland to Baleful Strix in terms of power level but I just wanted to say that it would help against some of the Jund worst matchups (not that they would be good but just a bit better). Still this isn't the reason to make Wasteland legal in Modern because it's obviously too good for it. As that I wanted to say that you can't justify reprinting Baleful Strix just with saying that Grixis Control would need a help and make it Modern legal because of that. This doesn't make it any less powerful and firstly Grixis needs no help. It doesn't need to have good game against every deck, no deck has.

Wasteland WOULD'T help jund whatsoever (reprinting sinkhole would so idk why you keep using this as an example), Baleful strix helps other decks besides grixis as the creature is an artifact, grixis is a tier 2 deck that definitely needs help, jund has at least an even game against 90 percent of the field (downplaying your own deck for some reason), did Jund need help with they printed Scooze, you are still comparing the powerlevel of one of the most degenerate land destruction cards ever with a good creature in this post still.

I was watching round 3 of the most recent MOCS. Mike Sigrist on Shardless against someone on an Eldrazi build. Baleful Strix did quite a lot of work for Sigrist, and LSV, while commentating, said Strix is too powerful for Modern but "about right" for Legacy's power level.

I don't agree, I think it's good but not too good for Modern, but wanted to add LSV's quote to the discussion.

Quote from rcwraspy »

I was watching round 3 of the most recent MOCS. Mike Sigrist on Shardless against someone on an Eldrazi build. Baleful Strix did quite a lot of work for Sigrist, and LSV, while commentating, said Strix is too powerful for Modern but "about right" for Legacy's power level.

I don't agree, I think it's good but not too good for Modern, but wanted to add LSV's quote to the discussion.

I think LSV is falling into the same trap people here are falling into: the context trap. Exactly where is Strix going to be too good for Modern? There is only one Tier 1/Tier 2 deck that can reliably use Strix in a powerful way, and that's Grixis. Is Grixis suddenly going to rocket up from a middling Tier 2 player to the top of the Tier 1 charts off Strix alone? That seems incredibly unlikely.

All the other strategies which can use Strix effectively are Tier 3 or worse. It takes a truly broken card to push a Tier 3 or lower strategy into Tier 1 (or Tier 0) levels, and Strix is not that card.

The bottom line is outside of some Grand Prix Modern Mill Deck hype, Blue/Black sucks pretty badly in Modern. Baleful Strix is very harmless (the same thing that I said about Sword of the Meek and Ancestral Vision as well to a lesser extent). The main problem to me is if there is an actual incentive to print it for Modern. Then again, does there need to be an incentive?

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

The bottom line is outside of some Grand Prix Modern Mill Deck hype, Blue/Black sucks pretty badly in Modern. Baleful Strix is very harmless (the same thing that I said about Sword of the Meek and Ancestral Vision as well to a lesser extent). The main problem to me is if there is an actual incentive to print it for Modern. Then again, does there need to be an incentive?

Agreed, Strix at best chump blocks and trades with something while replacing itself, at worst it cantrips and promptly eats a bolt. Plus it might be an artifact but I doubt Affinity would run it at all and definitely not main.

Quote from DHamlin »

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

The bottom line is outside of some Grand Prix Modern Mill Deck hype, Blue/Black sucks pretty badly in Modern. Baleful Strix is very harmless (the same thing that I said about Sword of the Meek and Ancestral Vision as well to a lesser extent). The main problem to me is if there is an actual incentive to print it for Modern. Then again, does there need to be an incentive?

Agreed, Strix at best chump blocks and trades with something while replacing itself, at worst it cantrips and promptly eats a bolt. Plus it might be an artifact but I doubt Affinity would run it at all and definitely not main.

I have been a Blue/Black player for a long time and I just hate the fact that I can't really play the colors competitively. Grixis is decent and there are some things about it that I enjoy, but the fact that I dislike the color Red the most makes enjoying Grixis a bit awkward at times.

I told people that if Sword of the Meek was unbanned, I would play UB Tezzeret for a bit. Well, I lied. I tested it and it didn't seem good enough. Buuuuut...if Baleful Strix is available in Modern, I would reconsider UB Tezzeret again.

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

The bottom line is outside of some Grand Prix Modern Mill Deck hype, Blue/Black sucks pretty badly in Modern. Baleful Strix is very harmless (the same thing that I said about Sword of the Meek and Ancestral Vision as well to a lesser extent). The main problem to me is if there is an actual incentive to print it for Modern. Then again, does there need to be an incentive?

Idk if I would call a legacy staple harmless but it would fit in grixis the same way that Scooze fits in Jund. That's the main reason why I hope it's in the fall set (artifact themed)

Well, I don't know if harmless is the correct word, but in the same vein as Sword of the Meek is where I see this card. Spending 2 different colors of mana (and probably 2 of the worst in combination with each other in Modern) just to get a "free 1/1 flying deathtouch creature" isn't the most amazing thing going in Modern. Sure, it could slightly slow down Aggro decks in conjunction with Lightning Bolt/Terminate/Path, but that is more a product of those cards doing most of the work.

In Legacy, it's good only in Shardless BUG. Legacy is a format where many creatures can't get past Strix easily and not a format where the sheer number of creatures (like Affinity or Zoo in Modern) can easily slide past this little Owl.

I can understand the comparison to Scavenging Ooze, but I don't think it can compare in the slightest to Ooze. That's a creature that is the only way (outside of Kalitas) that BGx has Graveyard hate, which they can be weak to, while also being a creature that hurts Burn and is a beast in the late game of attrition battles and shrinks opposing Goyfs. I don't think Baleful Strix can compare, especially in that color combination. (Yes, I will keep coming back to that since it is indeed my favorite color combination.)

I would love Strix in Modern, I am working on a UB control deck that does well against slow decks but really suffers from having as many spot removal cards as I need to face Affinity or Zoo in my 75. Strix would actually slot in quite nicely

Man if innocent blood was printed, I could play cool stuff like Monastery mentor, young pyromancer and Abyssal Persecutor (can sack him with innocent blood)

I agree, Strix would be too strong in such a creature heavy format. Kill a creature + draw a card for 2 mana is ridiculous value and nothing that we currently have in the format matches that. I love Strix in Legacy, but in Modern it would be too strong.

@FoodChainGoblins, I played good old Tezz in good old Exteneded and when Sword got unbanned I said, that it will do exactly nothing in that deck, since it is not something the deck needs (it has already the best finisher in Tezzeret), what the UB version really needs, is a good 2 Drop (and no, a Signet is not a good 2 drop). Strix would be perfect for this and would push the deck into playable range.

@All, everybody who says, that Strix is to good for modern is just wrong. It would be the same as Innocent Blood, which looks broken if you look at it but when you start to think about the context of the format, it looks just like a decent removal spell. Same is true for Strix.

Greetings,
Kathal

Quote from Kathal »

@FoodChainGoblins, I played good old Tezz in good old Exteneded and when Sword got unbanned I said, that it will do exactly nothing in that deck, since it is not something the deck needs (it has already the best finisher in Tezzeret), what the UB version really needs, is a good 2 Drop (and no, a Signet is not a good 2 drop). Strix would be perfect for this and would push the deck into playable range.

@All, everybody who says, that Strix is to good for modern is just wrong. It would be the same as Innocent Blood, which looks broken if you look at it but when you start to think about the context of the format, it looks just like a decent removal spell. Same is true for Strix.

Greetings,
Kathal

I don't see how Strix and Innocent Blood can be compared. IB is a 1 for 1 removal spell (I don't think it looks broken at all and I think it would be a fine addition to Modern) while Strix is a 2 for 1 for 2 mana, they are completely different cards.

There are more than enough people, who are claiming that Innocent Blood is broken. So I just took it as an example, where people just lack the context component.

Greetings,
Kathal

Quote from Ayiluss »

You can't even compare Innocent Blood and Baleful Strix as the latter is way more powerful card. I would be fine with Innocent Blood but can't say this for Baleful Strix.

What exactly is Strix breaking? Is a Tier 1 Grixis deck such a problem? I'm sure it would see about as much play as Jeskai currently (~6% of the format), and that might be optimistic. Is this Tier 2 to Tier 1 jump so scary? Seems like it increases diversity across the board, to say nothing of all the Tier 3 or lower decks Strix helps.

Someone please make a case about what DECK Strix breaks. I don't care about how Strix is a broken card in a vacuum or the theoretical discussion of it being a 2-for-1. What DECK does the card break and why?

Because more Tier 1 decks isnt a bad thing? Theres no rule that says Tier 1 needs to have exactly one combo deck, one aggro deck, one midrange deck, one white deck, one red deck, etc. etc.

I also disagree that it would break Grixis Control and I don't know Strix interferes with fair Magic (what IS fair Magic? Just swinging with creatures?) UB/x isn't exactly the greatest color combination anyways, not like it's GB/x, Strix would probably be too much in GB, but UB? Esper, UB, Bug, Grixis, I severely doubt it would break any of those, in the worst case it could make some of them Tier 1. Why is more Tier 1 decks a bad thing?

Quote from Kathal »

There are more than enough people, who are claiming that Innocent Blood is broken. So I just took it as an example, where people just lack the context component.

Greetings,
Kathal

I don't think it's broken, but it does make my Bogle a sad panda. I wouldn't mind the card though and think it's completely fine for Modern's play level; I'll estimate it at a 6 out of 10.