I'm interested by Disciple of Deceit. It's slow, i'll admit, but it has a solid advantage over transmute (something i've tried to work with before) and that's that you can cast the card in question when you transmute for it.
T1- Inquisition/Thoughtseize
T2- Disciple of Deceit
T3- Removal, attack with disciple.
T4- Transmute redundant or less useful card of choice, for a card that's actually useful at that moment.
Then you can actually choose to swing again removing another blocker (especially if you just traded a discard spell for said removal) or cast whatever card you tutored for. Perhaps value isn't what everyone here initially thought of when they saw the card, but trading in something like a dead Inquisition of Kozilek, for a path/lightning bolt seems pretty good. Extra Disciple's can turn into Victim of Night/Smother/Mana Leak/Remand. Have a Phyrexian Arena in hand when you really would rather cast Liliana of the Veil? No problem. Whatever you do, spending the following turn "transmuting" an Extra Liliana into your singleton Sword of X and Y could turn the Disciple completely loose, and let it swing past tons of stuff without further assistance. I look forward to brewing with her.
Tethmos High Priest has a sweet Heroic trigger--return target 0-2-drop from your graveyard to the battlefield! Your creature removal spells finally do something against heavy control, and since it's a 3-cmc 2/3, you can run removal spells that it doesn't die to such as Pillar of Flame and Forked Bolt!
There's not much in this set that immediately screams "Modern staple" at me, but below is a list of cards I could see being considered for decks that are currently popular in the Modern meta:
This is a quick list off the top of my head so I'm probably missing something. I don't think any of the cards I've listed are shoe-ins for Modern (except Mana Confluence), but I will say, there are more cards with potential in this set than I've seen in the other two sets in Theros, whether it be build around me potential (ie. Battlefield Thaumaturge, Sage of Hours, King Macar etc..), or decent cards/keywords that are trying to push an archetype over the hump (ie. Eidolon of Blossoms and Constellation for Enchantress, Iroas, God of Victory and Launch the Fleet for Boros aggro). I'm highly skeptical that any of the cards I've just mentioned will actually end up doing much, but I don't think they should be immediately dismissed either.
(22 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019
(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)
Wow. Journey to Nyx is being like the DREAM SET for me. As an avid competitive Modern brewer who just can't stop scribbling decks on my notes app, let me tell you, JOU is absolutely fantastic. Born of the Gods was the worst set I've seen in ages, but Jorney is making up for it, so much potential, so many good cards, so many new interactions which WILL change the Modern format.
I've already got quite a few decks thought up, but the new card spoiled, Tethmos High Priest, just blew up all over me. So, even though this is a thread about JOU spoilers I MUST share this list with you, it's just sooo sweet
Anyone who enjoys sinergy decks I think will be delighted to find all of them here, but I'll point a few ones:
I've spent quite a few hours finding the perfect Heroic enablers and I've narrowed to to basically one: Piracy Charm. This fringe card can trigger heroic for U whenever you need to BUT (and this is important) is also useful in other situations, mainly because it kills many important creatures in the format (dorks, Confidants, Pestermites, Snaps, Delvers, etc) and is even good against control/combo in certain situations with the instant discard.
Apostle's Blessing protects your creatures, triggers heroic, and only costs also 2 life with Thaumaturge out.
Meddling Mages just straight up destroy many decks in combo-fest Modern, like Living End, Ad Nauseam, etc, and are severely annoying to others. The sinergy with Probes and Peeks is just sweet. One of its problems has always been decks with lots of different removal, but that's where the new card comes in and makes all your Mages and other threats really, really persistent.
Tethmos High Priest just completely ties everything up. You can return back Battlemages, Snaps and Meddling Mages (at instant speed!) with either Piracy Charm or Apostle' Blessing, and you can set up ridiculous chains like:
They try to bolt your High Priest, you Piracy Charm it getting Thaumaturge back, protect the Priest with Apostle's Blessing for free, get a Snapcaster back in the process, flashback the Piracy Charm into the Priest again, get back Meddling Mage naming whatever, activate Ephara's Devotion, and draw cards because of her. You can imagine many more scenarios I'm sure
And by the way, the scenario described above only costed 2 mana. UU. Yeah!
Finally, Aurelia's Fury is the nutz with Thaumaturge, shuts down combo decks and Tron, is good against creatures, and you can even place one damage from it on the High Priest to get more creatures from the GY.
There are two more interactions involving Izzet Charms and Moorland Haunts which I'll let you figure out
Wow. Journey to Nyx is being like the DREAM SET for me. As an avid competitive Modern brewer who just can't stop scribbling decks on my notes app, let me tell you, JOU is absolutely fantastic. Born of the Gods was the worst set I've seen in ages, but Jorney is making up for it, so much potential, so many good cards, so many new interactions which WILL change the Modern format.
I've already got quite a few decks thought up, but the new card spoiled, Tethmos High Priest, just blew up all over me. So, even though this is a thread about JOU spoilers I MUST share this list with you, it's just sooo sweet
Anyone who enjoys sinergy decks I think will be delighted to find all of them here, but I'll point a few ones:
I've spent quite a few hours finding the perfect Heroic enablers and I've narrowed to to basically one: Piracy Charm. This fringe card can trigger heroic for U whenever you need to BUT (and this is important) is also useful in other situations, mainly because it kills many important creatures in the format (dorks, Confidants, Pestermites, Snaps, Delvers, etc) and is even good against control/combo in certain situations with the instant discard.
Apostle's Blessing protects your creatures, triggers heroic, and only costs also 2 life with Thaumaturge out.
Meddling Mages just straight up destroy many decks in combo-fest Modern, like Living End, Ad Nauseam, etc, and are severely annoying to others. The sinergy with Probes and Peeks is just sweet. One of its problems has always been decks with lots of different removal, but that's where the new card comes in and makes all your Mages and other threats really, really persistent.
Tethmos High Priest just completely ties everything up. You can return back Battlemages, Snaps and Meddling Mages (at instant speed!) with either Piracy Charm or Apostle' Blessing, and you can set up ridiculous chains like:
They try to bolt your High Priest, you Piracy Charm it getting Thaumaturge back, protect the Priest with Apostle's Blessing for free, get a Snapcaster back in the process, flashback the Piracy Charm into the Priest again, get back Meddling Mage naming whatever, activate Ephara's Devotion, and draw cards because of her. You can imagine many more scenarios I'm sure
And by the way, the scenario described above only costed 2 mana. UU. Yeah!
Finally, Aurelia's Fury is the nutz with Thaumaturge, shuts down combo decks and Tron, is good against creatures, and you can even place one damage from it on the High Priest to get more creatures from the GY.
There are two more interactions involving Izzet Charms and Moorland Haunts which I'll let you figure out
Hope you enjoy it!
You aren't running enough cards that have their mana reduced by Thaumaturge to be running him, much less as a 4 of.
As a preliminary warning to the thread, don't just post things like "block is bad" or "set is trash". That's going to be considered spam. Feel free to discuss how the cards aren't good for Modern, but at least post something more substantial than a sentence.
Reprisal is a neat reprint for Modern, but shame it's so selective...
Hour of Need is instant-speed creature exiling in blue! ...They (or you) get 4/4 flying Sphinxes, though, which is probably too steep for 2U, right?
Would any Ritual Gifts, Scapeshift, or other brew get any use out of Pull from the Deep? It's expensive at 2UU, but you know what you'll get with it (an instant and a sorcery)!
Tormented Thoughts can dump a lot of cards out of opposing hands for 2B...unfortunately, you'll have to lose a big creature in order to do so. I guess losing half a Kitchen Finks to it is unattractive enough already...
Nessian Game Warden might be able to basically guarantee an Eternal Witness in your hand after you Genesis Wave into it depending on how lucky your Wave is...then again, maybe not? At least it costs only 3GG, making it significantly cheaper than Regal Force...
There's some interesting stuff which could be fun to mess with, but nothing really jumps out at me when I look at the set. Skybind is like a poor mans Astral Slide
Riptide Chimera has some interesting synergies but doesn't really have the raw power to get there. Reality Aid and a one sided Zur's weirding are fun, but not super competitve.
Dakra Mystic is the first card of its kind, it could be really cool and possibly good, but modern doesn't seem like it's place to shine. Athreos, god of passage could be cool to in the right shell, but it'll take a while to find that shell and even find if its worth playing.
Not much else really hits or excites me in the block. There's the hatebears which may see play, the new city of brass, and the u/r scry land. This set will definitely impact modern if anything because of the lands, but it really fails to get me excited or hyped.
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If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
It isn't good enough. Not enough decks in Modern play enchantments that are strong against Bogles to the point at which they would side out their stronger spells for weaker ones with minor hate.
Reprisal is a neat reprint for Modern, but shame it's so selective...
Agreed.
Hour of Need is instant-speed creature exiling in blue! ...They (or you) get 4/4 flying Sphinxes, though, which is probably too steep for 2U, right?
What you are exiling will probably be a worse creature than a 4/4 flier.
Would any Ritual Gifts, Scapeshift, or other brew get any use out of Pull from the Deep? It's expensive at 2UU, but you know what you'll get with it (an instant and a sorcery)!
I don't know if Ritual Gifts would want it, but I can't think of anything else that might.
Tormented Thoughts can dump a lot of cards out of opposing hands for 2B...unfortunately, you'll have to lose a big creature in order to do so. I guess losing half a Kitchen Finks to it is unattractive enough already...
You can make your opponent discard a few cards on turn 3 if you sacrifice a creature. That doesn't sound good.
Nessian Game Warden might be able to basically guarantee an Eternal Witness in your hand after you Genesis Wave into it depending on how lucky your Wave is...then again, maybe not? At least it costs only 3GG, making it significantly cheaper than Regal Force...
Which doesn't necessarily matter in a deck with a huge amount of ramp.
So...reprisal. You can hit Tarmogoyf, a big Ooze, Celestial Colonnade, Phyrexian Obliterator, and um.....Reveillark? (It's not a good card against Wurmcoil.) I'd rather they print a card with the same CMC, and regen clause, but with 4 toughness instead (Restoration Angel, earlier Tarmogoyf, Exarch, etc. etc.).
Nyx-Fleece Ram- I KNOW this card will see play, because my girlfriend raced sheep as a kid, and she has an extra slot in her side, that she jokingly fills in with random jank... Not anymore.
Eidolon of the Great Revel- It will be used in Mono red. It might be used in sides of delver and zoo. Its not a question it will see play. Pillar would.
Athreos, God of Passage- Id think this will see play in pod, maybe... I wouldnt count on this, but there is always a zombie sac aristicrats kinda deck floating around. Im sure this will fit the bill if someone can break it. Its powerful enough to jump into some tier 2 decks, be in pod, or invent a new deck
Not Broken at a glance, but could be used in modern: Oppressive Rays- Might be. Its like a 1 cmc arrest, that can eventually turn on... but adding 3 to any activation cost really screws stuff up. Other than that, it really puts a hamper on attacks/blocks. Could be used in an aura deck/prision deck, who knows. Dakra Mystic/Dictate of Kruphix Those lets do the time warp decks will use it.
Mana Confluence Its a city of brass. It will see play, if only because standard people are too lazy to get city of brass when they already have copies of this in their trade binder.
Cards with some/little hype, but it wont make it: Aegis of the Gods - Better mana than the other dude... Hes fine. But Id think if your trying to ivory mask, leyline of sanc takes the cake 9 times outta 10 Eidolon of RhetoricDecks cool with the 3 cmc cost will play rule of law. Decks that want a creature will play cannonist. Godsend With out stoneforge, its got no chance. Battlefield Thaumaturge- No real way to break it in my head. I'm not a combo player. Nivelemntals dont care for it, and thats the deck that would want it the most. I'll say Meh til smarter people figure out a way to break it. I just think the hero mechanic that isnt working with infect, boogles, or Nivmangus combo is trash.
Nyx-Fleece Ram... Me and tiffy were laughing at this. But that sheep blocks Tarmogoyfs 4/5 average modern size all day. Its a sheep. It blocks a giant lump of fleshe and teeth. Then gains you life rather then you losing it.
Nyx-Fleece Ram... Me and tiffy were laughing at this. But that sheep blocks Tarmogoyfs 4/5 average modern size all day. Its a sheep. It blocks a giant lump of fleshe and teeth. Then gains you life rather then you losing it.
It has fringe applicability (namely against burn), otherwise Wall of Omen's is superior.
Nyx-Fleece Ram... Me and tiffy were laughing at this. But that sheep blocks Tarmogoyfs 4/5 average modern size all day. Its a sheep. It blocks a giant lump of fleshe and teeth. Then gains you life rather then you losing it.
It has fringe applicability (namely against burn), otherwise Wall of Omen's is superior.
I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter to tiffy.
RE the full list: I am just such a practical learner and creator that it is very hard for me to look at a list of cards and tell their true value. I gotta play with them against other people.
Cards that I think are playable: Aegis of the Gods: useful in hatebear decks to disrupt Storm, Ad Nauseam, Scapeshift. Plus it blocks Liliana's -2. One thing I'll point out: it is NOT Leyline of Sanctity; Leyline stops turn 1 discard, which this guy doesn't. I know, before this there was True Believer (which went unplayed), but Aegis has a less restrictive mana cost. Banishing Light: redundant Oblivion Ring/Detention Sphere, for Gifts decks. Eidolon of Rhetoric: I believe it will see play in Pod and Pod only. For other decks Rule of Law/Ethersworn Canonist is better. Oppressive Rays: neat, a 1-mana Arrest. Super efficient. Try it in Zur. Possibly worth playing over Dismember in UW Restoration or Path to Exile in RW Twin (RW doesn't like Path beacuse it negates Blood Moon), but Dismember/Path being instant-speed is a lifesaver against opposing Twin decks. Dictate of Kruphix: Temple Bell replacement, for Owling Mine, Time Warp and maybe Turbofog (Fog is mostly white, so Bell is easier on their mana). Triton Shorestalker: It's an unblockable Merfolk 1-drop. I think at one point some players were using Mothdust Changeling, but I don't play Merfolk so I don't know if that was a good decision. If it was though, then Triton Shorestalker is simply better. Gnarled Scarhide: 2-power 1-drop for mono-black aggro. Gives you something to do when you flood, and has the fringe use of enchanting an opponent's creature and alpha striking. Master of the Feast: Something else for mono-black aggro. Please don't play this in midrange, or play a bunch of discard spells to try to cancel its drawback.
Cards that I think are traps: Eidolon of the Great Revel: What deck does this beat? Storm? Why not just play some grave hate instead? Grave hate is less dead against non-Storm decks. "But I can use it to knock off some life from my opponent in a burn deck!" - why not just play something that, you know, actually burns your opponent? Like Skullcrack. In almost every situtation I'd rather have a burn spell than an Eidolon; when Eidolon works, congratulations, you get to...finish the game with an extra burn spell in hand? Like that even matters. In contrast when you're topdecking for your life, Eidolon is a complete bust compared to any 2-mana 3-damage spell.
Minotaurs. Seriously, don't try to build a Minotaur tribal deck and expect it to be competitive. Your creatures cost 3 (meaning your curve is absolutely horrid) and die to Bolt (huge tempo loss for casting a 3-drop). Eidolon of Blossoms: Enchantresses need to come down early - there's no point playing your hand, casting an Enchantress, then having no other enchantments to cast to trigger it. This guy costs 4, which is not fast by any definition. Athreos, God of Passage. Let's not forget that this card gives your opponent a choice, and you can expect him to always make the play that is less beneficial for you. If, for example, you're using it in a aggro deck and are getting stonewalled by a blocker, your opponent will choose to let you return creatures to your hand as they die and you'll never make any progress. Secondly, it's a useless topdeck, meaning for you to even consider playing it, you need to fill your deck with other cards that have synergy with it. Kind of like Pyromancer Ascension in that regard. You can't just stuff it into "goodstuff.dec" - goodstuff.dec works exactly because it has no bad topdecks.
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Lastly, I'd like to see mono-black aggro succeed. I think with Bitterblossom's unban and the printing of Mogis's Marauder + Gnarled Scarhide, it has what it takes to make it to at least tier 2. From goldfish tests, it plays out rather similarly to Goblins (Mogis's Marauder = Goblin Bushwhacker, Bad Moon = Goblin Chieftain), but Bob and BB means you don't run out of gas as easily. Of course part of the reason Goblins is tier 2.5 is that it's cheap, which mono-black isn't (Bob + BB = $$$). Still, I can always hope...
Wow. Journey to Nyx is being like the DREAM SET for me. As an avid competitive Modern brewer who just can't stop scribbling decks on my notes app, let me tell you, JOU is absolutely fantastic. Born of the Gods was the worst set I've seen in ages, but Jorney is making up for it, so much potential, so many good cards, so many new interactions which WILL change the Modern format.
I've already got quite a few decks thought up, but the new card spoiled, Tethmos High Priest, just blew up all over me. So, even though this is a thread about JOU spoilers I MUST share this list with you, it's just sooo sweet
Anyone who enjoys sinergy decks I think will be delighted to find all of them here, but I'll point a few ones:
I've spent quite a few hours finding the perfect Heroic enablers and I've narrowed to to basically one: Piracy Charm. This fringe card can trigger heroic for U whenever you need to BUT (and this is important) is also useful in other situations, mainly because it kills many important creatures in the format (dorks, Confidants, Pestermites, Snaps, Delvers, etc) and is even good against control/combo in certain situations with the instant discard.
Apostle's Blessing protects your creatures, triggers heroic, and only costs also 2 life with Thaumaturge out.
Meddling Mages just straight up destroy many decks in combo-fest Modern, like Living End, Ad Nauseam, etc, and are severely annoying to others. The sinergy with Probes and Peeks is just sweet. One of its problems has always been decks with lots of different removal, but that's where the new card comes in and makes all your Mages and other threats really, really persistent.
Tethmos High Priest just completely ties everything up. You can return back Battlemages, Snaps and Meddling Mages (at instant speed!) with either Piracy Charm or Apostle' Blessing, and you can set up ridiculous chains like:
They try to bolt your High Priest, you Piracy Charm it getting Thaumaturge back, protect the Priest with Apostle's Blessing for free, get a Snapcaster back in the process, flashback the Piracy Charm into the Priest again, get back Meddling Mage naming whatever, activate Ephara's Devotion, and draw cards because of her. You can imagine many more scenarios I'm sure
And by the way, the scenario described above only costed 2 mana. UU. Yeah!
Finally, Aurelia's Fury is the nutz with Thaumaturge, shuts down combo decks and Tron, is good against creatures, and you can even place one damage from it on the High Priest to get more creatures from the GY.
There are two more interactions involving Izzet Charms and Moorland Haunts which I'll let you figure out
Hope you enjoy it!
You aren't running enough cards that have their mana reduced by Thaumaturge to be running him, much less as a 4 of.
You are making a pretty common (and forgivable) mistake, which is to just run as many "bad" cards (in a vacuum) as possible just to make another card in the deck much better. Think of Thaumaturge as Modern's new Nimble Mongoose, a creature which in the right shell is incredibly difficult to kill and will lead to many 2 for 1's. His ability is very sweet, but secondary.
By having Aurelia's Fury you already more than make up for it (especially since multiple Thaumaturges make it better and you can Snapcaster it for a much lower mana cost), but you also have Apostle's Blessing and electrolyze, which, again can be Snapcastered for much less mana.
Thaumaturges WILL die (although in this build much less) in a format as brutal as Modern, so, as a tempo deck, you are already winning if your creatures just live, without having to play a ton of horrible cards which don't work without the Mage
Oh seems like the spoiler is up! Amazing set, best one since Innistrad. So, so many promising cards!
Here are my predictions for most impactful Modern cards.
1. Battlefield Thaumaturge: could be Modern's new Nimble Mongoose, lots and lots of potential. Maybe he doesn't even find a deck... but I have blind faith in him.
2. Eidolon of Great Revel: very abusable, brutal damage, in the right deck (Vial? Evoke?) the card could be an absolute monster.
3. Athreos, God of Passage: in Dega or Esper this guy could get out of control, good win/win punsiher ability, cheap, relatively easy to turn on (Squadron Hawk, etc).
4. Prophetic Flamespeaker: over the roof value if it connects just once, almost game if it connects more than once. Very vulnerable to Bolt... maybe in a RUG shell.
5. Tethmos High Priest: amazing card advantage in a deck arond him, can get back Snapcasters, Lavamans, Delvers... even Goyfs! Crazy value.
6. Pharika, God of Affliction: quite easy to turn on in a BGx shell (dorks, Confis, Goyfs, Liliana...), ability seemlingly inoccous but single handedly stops things like Tarmogoyf. People need to get through, and deathtouch doesn't allow that, so maybe they have to spend removal on the snakes, netting you some nice card advantage,
7. Master of Feast: his drawback is hilariously backbreaking, but in a deck which simply doesn't care (maybe Remanding and time walking the opponents), it's an absolutely huge flying clock (not ****) which kills the opponent in 4 hits. Difficult to assess, really.
8. Keranos, God of Storm: I absolutely love him, but he's very expensive. Maybe as a 1-of in WUR control, provides a lot of utility.
There are a lot of sudo-reprints going on in this set aren't there...
Banishing Light is Oblivion Ring without all the tricks. Will Gifts decks pick it up as their third nonland permanent removal spell?
Renowned Weaver...is a Human Shaman 1/1 for G who can pop and produce a 1/3 Spider with Reach for a steep 1G. ...Not what Shamans are looking for?
Nyx Weaver feeds its own Recollect ability, but dang, is that ability expensive...(at least it'll be good in Standard BG "Dredge").
And Dictate of Erebos is a Grave Pact!
T1- Inquisition/Thoughtseize
T2- Disciple of Deceit
T3- Removal, attack with disciple.
T4- Transmute redundant or less useful card of choice, for a card that's actually useful at that moment.
Then you can actually choose to swing again removing another blocker (especially if you just traded a discard spell for said removal) or cast whatever card you tutored for. Perhaps value isn't what everyone here initially thought of when they saw the card, but trading in something like a dead Inquisition of Kozilek, for a path/lightning bolt seems pretty good. Extra Disciple's can turn into Victim of Night/Smother/Mana Leak/Remand. Have a Phyrexian Arena in hand when you really would rather cast Liliana of the Veil? No problem. Whatever you do, spending the following turn "transmuting" an Extra Liliana into your singleton Sword of X and Y could turn the Disciple completely loose, and let it swing past tons of stuff without further assistance. I look forward to brewing with her.
Aegis of the Gods and Eidolon of Rhetoric in Pod sideboards. (Hatebear also perhaps?)
Maybe Nyx-Fleece Ram as a sideboard card vs. Burn or Small Zoo (probably worse than Spellskite vs. Burn).
Maybe Dakra Mystic in Merfolk?
Perhaps Brain Maggot here and there.
Mana Confluence will definitely see some amount of play.
Also, I'm interested in testing Keranos, God of Storms in as a 1-1 split with Ajani Vengeant in U/W/R control. (this is probably just me though)
This is a quick list off the top of my head so I'm probably missing something. I don't think any of the cards I've listed are shoe-ins for Modern (except Mana Confluence), but I will say, there are more cards with potential in this set than I've seen in the other two sets in Theros, whether it be build around me potential (ie. Battlefield Thaumaturge, Sage of Hours, King Macar etc..), or decent cards/keywords that are trying to push an archetype over the hump (ie. Eidolon of Blossoms and Constellation for Enchantress, Iroas, God of Victory and Launch the Fleet for Boros aggro). I'm highly skeptical that any of the cards I've just mentioned will actually end up doing much, but I don't think they should be immediately dismissed either.
I've already got quite a few decks thought up, but the new card spoiled, Tethmos High Priest, just blew up all over me. So, even though this is a thread about JOU spoilers I MUST share this list with you, it's just sooo sweet
4 Tethmos High Priest
4 Meddling Mage
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Ephara, God of the Polis
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Peek
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Piracy Charm
3 Apostle's Blessing
2 Aurelia's Fury
2 Izzet Charm
1 Electrolyze
4 Arid Mesa
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Glacial Fortess
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Moorland Haunt
Anyone who enjoys sinergy decks I think will be delighted to find all of them here, but I'll point a few ones:
I've spent quite a few hours finding the perfect Heroic enablers and I've narrowed to to basically one: Piracy Charm. This fringe card can trigger heroic for U whenever you need to BUT (and this is important) is also useful in other situations, mainly because it kills many important creatures in the format (dorks, Confidants, Pestermites, Snaps, Delvers, etc) and is even good against control/combo in certain situations with the instant discard.
Apostle's Blessing protects your creatures, triggers heroic, and only costs also 2 life with Thaumaturge out.
Meddling Mages just straight up destroy many decks in combo-fest Modern, like Living End, Ad Nauseam, etc, and are severely annoying to others. The sinergy with Probes and Peeks is just sweet. One of its problems has always been decks with lots of different removal, but that's where the new card comes in and makes all your Mages and other threats really, really persistent.
Tethmos High Priest just completely ties everything up. You can return back Battlemages, Snaps and Meddling Mages (at instant speed!) with either Piracy Charm or Apostle' Blessing, and you can set up ridiculous chains like:
They try to bolt your High Priest, you Piracy Charm it getting Thaumaturge back, protect the Priest with Apostle's Blessing for free, get a Snapcaster back in the process, flashback the Piracy Charm into the Priest again, get back Meddling Mage naming whatever, activate Ephara's Devotion, and draw cards because of her. You can imagine many more scenarios I'm sure
And by the way, the scenario described above only costed 2 mana. UU. Yeah!
Finally, Aurelia's Fury is the nutz with Thaumaturge, shuts down combo decks and Tron, is good against creatures, and you can even place one damage from it on the High Priest to get more creatures from the GY.
There are two more interactions involving Izzet Charms and Moorland Haunts which I'll let you figure out
Hope you enjoy it!
You aren't running enough cards that have their mana reduced by Thaumaturge to be running him, much less as a 4 of.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/journeyintonyx/cig
Story of this block.
Carry on!
Reprisal is a neat reprint for Modern, but shame it's so selective...
Hour of Need is instant-speed creature exiling in blue! ...They (or you) get 4/4 flying Sphinxes, though, which is probably too steep for 2U, right?
Would any Ritual Gifts, Scapeshift, or other brew get any use out of Pull from the Deep? It's expensive at 2UU, but you know what you'll get with it (an instant and a sorcery)!
Triton Shorestalker is an unblockable 1/1 Merfolk (Rogue) for U. Can it compete with Cosi's Trickster, Mothdust Changeling, and Dakra Mystic for the title of Best 1-drop Merfolk Not Named Cursecatcher?
Tormented Thoughts can dump a lot of cards out of opposing hands for 2B...unfortunately, you'll have to lose a big creature in order to do so. I guess losing half a Kitchen Finks to it is unattractive enough already...
Bassara Tower Archer is a Hexproof 2/1 (with Reach) for GG. Would Silhana Ledgewalker be better for Bogles or not?
Consign to Dust costs as much as Krosan Grip but can nuke another target for 2G more! ...Not Fracturing Gust and Naturalize's best love child, is it?
Nessian Game Warden might be able to basically guarantee an Eternal Witness in your hand after you Genesis Wave into it depending on how lucky your Wave is...then again, maybe not? At least it costs only 3GG, making it significantly cheaper than Regal Force...
Riptide Chimera has some interesting synergies but doesn't really have the raw power to get there. Reality Aid and a one sided Zur's weirding are fun, but not super competitve.
Dakra Mystic is the first card of its kind, it could be really cool and possibly good, but modern doesn't seem like it's place to shine.
Athreos, god of passage could be cool to in the right shell, but it'll take a while to find that shell and even find if its worth playing.
Not much else really hits or excites me in the block. There's the hatebears which may see play, the new city of brass, and the u/r scry land. This set will definitely impact modern if anything because of the lands, but it really fails to get me excited or hyped.
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
It isn't good enough. Not enough decks in Modern play enchantments that are strong against Bogles to the point at which they would side out their stronger spells for weaker ones with minor hate.
Agreed.
What you are exiling will probably be a worse creature than a 4/4 flier.
I don't know if Ritual Gifts would want it, but I can't think of anything else that might.
Triton Shorestalker is an unblockable 1/1 Merfolk (Rogue) for U. Can it compete with Cosi's Trickster, Mothdust Changeling, and Dakra Mystic for the title of Best 1-drop Merfolk Not Named Cursecatcher?
The islandwalk makes it unnecessary.
You can make your opponent discard a few cards on turn 3 if you sacrifice a creature. That doesn't sound good.
Nope. Unblockability is important.
No it isn't.
Which doesn't necessarily matter in a deck with a huge amount of ramp.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Nyx-Fleece Ram- I KNOW this card will see play, because my girlfriend raced sheep as a kid, and she has an extra slot in her side, that she jokingly fills in with random jank... Not anymore.
Eidolon of the Great Revel- It will be used in Mono red. It might be used in sides of delver and zoo. Its not a question it will see play. Pillar would.
Athreos, God of Passage- Id think this will see play in pod, maybe... I wouldnt count on this, but there is always a zombie sac aristicrats kinda deck floating around. Im sure this will fit the bill if someone can break it. Its powerful enough to jump into some tier 2 decks, be in pod, or invent a new deck
Not Broken at a glance, but could be used in modern:
Oppressive Rays- Might be. Its like a 1 cmc arrest, that can eventually turn on... but adding 3 to any activation cost really screws stuff up. Other than that, it really puts a hamper on attacks/blocks. Could be used in an aura deck/prision deck, who knows.
Dakra Mystic/Dictate of Kruphix Those lets do the time warp decks will use it.
Iroas, God of Victory Could go into boros.
Mana Confluence Its a city of brass. It will see play, if only because standard people are too lazy to get city of brass when they already have copies of this in their trade binder.
Cards with some/little hype, but it wont make it:
Aegis of the Gods - Better mana than the other dude... Hes fine. But Id think if your trying to ivory mask, leyline of sanc takes the cake 9 times outta 10
Eidolon of RhetoricDecks cool with the 3 cmc cost will play rule of law. Decks that want a creature will play cannonist.
Godsend With out stoneforge, its got no chance.
Battlefield Thaumaturge- No real way to break it in my head. I'm not a combo player. Nivelemntals dont care for it, and thats the deck that would want it the most. I'll say Meh til smarter people figure out a way to break it. I just think the hero mechanic that isnt working with infect, boogles, or Nivmangus combo is trash.
It has fringe applicability (namely against burn), otherwise Wall of Omen's is superior.
RE the full list: I am just such a practical learner and creator that it is very hard for me to look at a list of cards and tell their true value. I gotta play with them against other people.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Aegis of the Gods: useful in hatebear decks to disrupt Storm, Ad Nauseam, Scapeshift. Plus it blocks Liliana's -2. One thing I'll point out: it is NOT Leyline of Sanctity; Leyline stops turn 1 discard, which this guy doesn't. I know, before this there was True Believer (which went unplayed), but Aegis has a less restrictive mana cost.
Banishing Light: redundant Oblivion Ring/Detention Sphere, for Gifts decks.
Eidolon of Rhetoric: I believe it will see play in Pod and Pod only. For other decks Rule of Law/Ethersworn Canonist is better.
Oppressive Rays: neat, a 1-mana Arrest. Super efficient. Try it in Zur. Possibly worth playing over Dismember in UW Restoration or Path to Exile in RW Twin (RW doesn't like Path beacuse it negates Blood Moon), but Dismember/Path being instant-speed is a lifesaver against opposing Twin decks.
Dictate of Kruphix: Temple Bell replacement, for Owling Mine, Time Warp and maybe Turbofog (Fog is mostly white, so Bell is easier on their mana).
Triton Shorestalker: It's an unblockable Merfolk 1-drop. I think at one point some players were using Mothdust Changeling, but I don't play Merfolk so I don't know if that was a good decision. If it was though, then Triton Shorestalker is simply better.
Gnarled Scarhide: 2-power 1-drop for mono-black aggro. Gives you something to do when you flood, and has the fringe use of enchanting an opponent's creature and alpha striking.
Master of the Feast: Something else for mono-black aggro. Please don't play this in midrange, or play a bunch of discard spells to try to cancel its drawback.
Cards that I think are traps:
Eidolon of the Great Revel: What deck does this beat? Storm? Why not just play some grave hate instead? Grave hate is less dead against non-Storm decks. "But I can use it to knock off some life from my opponent in a burn deck!" - why not just play something that, you know, actually burns your opponent? Like Skullcrack. In almost every situtation I'd rather have a burn spell than an Eidolon; when Eidolon works, congratulations, you get to...finish the game with an extra burn spell in hand? Like that even matters. In contrast when you're topdecking for your life, Eidolon is a complete bust compared to any 2-mana 3-damage spell.
Minotaurs. Seriously, don't try to build a Minotaur tribal deck and expect it to be competitive. Your creatures cost 3 (meaning your curve is absolutely horrid) and die to Bolt (huge tempo loss for casting a 3-drop).
Eidolon of Blossoms: Enchantresses need to come down early - there's no point playing your hand, casting an Enchantress, then having no other enchantments to cast to trigger it. This guy costs 4, which is not fast by any definition.
Athreos, God of Passage. Let's not forget that this card gives your opponent a choice, and you can expect him to always make the play that is less beneficial for you. If, for example, you're using it in a aggro deck and are getting stonewalled by a blocker, your opponent will choose to let you return creatures to your hand as they die and you'll never make any progress. Secondly, it's a useless topdeck, meaning for you to even consider playing it, you need to fill your deck with other cards that have synergy with it. Kind of like Pyromancer Ascension in that regard. You can't just stuff it into "goodstuff.dec" - goodstuff.dec works exactly because it has no bad topdecks.
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Lastly, I'd like to see mono-black aggro succeed. I think with Bitterblossom's unban and the printing of Mogis's Marauder + Gnarled Scarhide, it has what it takes to make it to at least tier 2. From goldfish tests, it plays out rather similarly to Goblins (Mogis's Marauder = Goblin Bushwhacker, Bad Moon = Goblin Chieftain), but Bob and BB means you don't run out of gas as easily. Of course part of the reason Goblins is tier 2.5 is that it's cheap, which mono-black isn't (Bob + BB = $$$). Still, I can always hope...
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Did we have similar effect before on a creature? Can be useful for pod.
You are making a pretty common (and forgivable) mistake, which is to just run as many "bad" cards (in a vacuum) as possible just to make another card in the deck much better. Think of Thaumaturge as Modern's new Nimble Mongoose, a creature which in the right shell is incredibly difficult to kill and will lead to many 2 for 1's. His ability is very sweet, but secondary.
By having Aurelia's Fury you already more than make up for it (especially since multiple Thaumaturges make it better and you can Snapcaster it for a much lower mana cost), but you also have Apostle's Blessing and electrolyze, which, again can be Snapcastered for much less mana.
Thaumaturges WILL die (although in this build much less) in a format as brutal as Modern, so, as a tempo deck, you are already winning if your creatures just live, without having to play a ton of horrible cards which don't work without the Mage
Here are my predictions for most impactful Modern cards.
1. Battlefield Thaumaturge: could be Modern's new Nimble Mongoose, lots and lots of potential. Maybe he doesn't even find a deck... but I have blind faith in him.
2. Eidolon of Great Revel: very abusable, brutal damage, in the right deck (Vial? Evoke?) the card could be an absolute monster.
3. Athreos, God of Passage: in Dega or Esper this guy could get out of control, good win/win punsiher ability, cheap, relatively easy to turn on (Squadron Hawk, etc).
4. Prophetic Flamespeaker: over the roof value if it connects just once, almost game if it connects more than once. Very vulnerable to Bolt... maybe in a RUG shell.
5. Tethmos High Priest: amazing card advantage in a deck arond him, can get back Snapcasters, Lavamans, Delvers... even Goyfs! Crazy value.
6. Pharika, God of Affliction: quite easy to turn on in a BGx shell (dorks, Confis, Goyfs, Liliana...), ability seemlingly inoccous but single handedly stops things like Tarmogoyf. People need to get through, and deathtouch doesn't allow that, so maybe they have to spend removal on the snakes, netting you some nice card advantage,
7. Master of Feast: his drawback is hilariously backbreaking, but in a deck which simply doesn't care (maybe Remanding and time walking the opponents), it's an absolutely huge flying clock (not ****) which kills the opponent in 4 hits. Difficult to assess, really.
8. Keranos, God of Storm: I absolutely love him, but he's very expensive. Maybe as a 1-of in WUR control, provides a lot of utility.