I'm not sure if Shambling Vent is better than Vault of the Archangel in BW decks. BW decks tend to have Lingering Souls and a bunch of other token makers (in BW Tokens those token makers are obvious, in Deadguy there's Pack Rat and Brimaz, King of Oreskos), so the land that boosts every guy on your side seems better.
Right, and yes, like packrat this can use removal and discard to help it out. I suppose what most people are agruing is "vents doesnt help any existing tier 1 black white decks. It barely, if does, help tokens, and isnt good enought to make any tier 2 black and white decks up a knotch."
Vents is a "fine" card. Its not super strong, but by virtue of being a land that makes colored mana, and does something, its not bad either. It will never be "taking up a valueable slot", which is why most manlands (even lavaclaw, who like this, doesnt suck in red black decks) are never truely aweful. Just only ever "meh".
But the real point im getting at is this. If junk was total worth "20" points made up by lots of small point values in cards (siege rhino is 3 points, lingering souls is 2, whatever arbatry value you wanna place) and jund was worth 18 points. Junk is the better deck. Than k command is printed and that card is worth 3 points. Well its 20-21 and jund is the better deck.
Vents would be worth .5. Its not horrible, but its not amazing. So would it jump junk back above jund (assuming the slot you cut was worse than this, which is a big assumption) no. But what about decks like people are bringing up? Pat rack, tokens, pox, death and taxes?
Sure? It probably makes the deck better, i wont agrue that. But going from a total worth of 10 to 10.5 isnt that big of a deal. It helps pet decks out, but doesnt blast it off like team rocket.
Team Rocket Reference is humorous and fairly accurate, even though they usually only blast of spectacularly in defeat (^_^). On the topic of the vents, I do believe they are a necessity on defense in decks like esper control simply because you can use it on defense to soak up some damage and trade for X/2 creatures while still using removal like path to exile and disfigure to further advantage. Not a terrible card just not very exciting either. At the same time it isnt very well suited in an offensive role power and toughness wise, and that has to do with the color choices in relation to the effect in an age of depowering cards. So it will see play, just not something to write home about by itself
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
I'm not sure if Shambling Vent is better than Vault of the Archangel in BW decks. BW decks tend to have Lingering Souls and a bunch of other token makers (in BW Tokens those token makers are obvious, in Deadguy there's Pack Rat and Brimaz, King of Oreskos), so the land that boosts every guy on your side seems better.
It's better than isolated chapel, and in more control builds that play less creatures it's better than vault.
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Modern
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
Tried Skyrider Elf in Siege Rhino Domain Zoo, and it was fine. It's best against midrange as a 4/4 (or 5/5 if you draw it late enough), but it's nice to have a 3/3 (or even 2/2 on bad days) in the same card.
Stasis Snare looks fringe playable as Flash enchantment creature removal. It can't be Dispelled (but it can be Abrupt Decayed), and it boots untapped stuff. Maybe those White Nykthos Enduring Ideal builds or even UW Control might pick it up...
I don't really think so. If you can't interact early enough with tron, these kinds of hate cards are basically blanks--fulminator mage can be too slow on the draw or a turn too late and sometimes doesn't do anything at all depending on how redundant the tron players hand is. Crumble to dust being 4 mana doesn't really seem like it'd lend points to the match up except for the instances where sowing salt was good but you missed the second red source.
I expect it *may* end up in some grixis sideboards against tron--the easier mana requirement might lead to the difference of card choice.
Yay Allies get the Sliver treatment with our own Miracle Magic Christmas Mana Land!!! Now if they'd just for the love of god stop printing CMC>4 ALLIES!!!! Just give me another vanilla 1 drop like Hada Freeblade so I can be happy.
Cards like Brutal Expulsion and Crumble to dust are really making me wish they'd left the colorless spells as Eldrazi Tribal cards that could benefit from Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi temple. On turn 4 they are probably not really powerful enough for modern, but if you'd been able to turbo them out they could've been really strong.
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper is just a glorified Talrand, Sky Summoner. For this kind of card that rewards you for playing other cards after it, the lower the CMC the better. Stick to Young Pyromancer or Monastery Mentor.
Endless One is unexciting. First there was Ivy Elemental in Odyssey, then came two Hydras (Feral Hydra, Mistcutter Hydra) that were strictly better than it and saw 0 Modern play. Now we're back to plain old Ivy Elemental with G shaved off. A vanilla X/X for X is too fair for Modern, unless perhaps X is 0, which lets you loop it endlessly with Enduring Renewal. You's still going to need a third card that triggers off your creature dying/ETBing though.
Allies gets its own rainbow land now, but I'd hesitate to say that this automatically gives Allies a huge boost. People thought the same when the Sliver rainbow land came out, "I'll play 4 Cavern of Souls and 4 Sliver Hive". The problem with such a mana base is that those lands only tap for colorless when you're casting your sideboard cards. You might even have trouble playing the new Gideon on time with those two lands.
The other thing I feel is that people overrate the impact of having a better mana base. Take the allied fetches for example - people were saying that they would make Esper, Grixis, Faeries playable back then. Sadly Esper and Faeries are still tier 3 decks, and it took Tasigur and Kolaghan's Command to pull Grixis out of its slump. Having good spells matters the most; good lands still matter, but not as much.
While the third ability on Ally Encampment is synergystic with what Allies wants to be doing, Horizon Canopy is not that far off. Ally Encampment is a net -1 unless you're saving one of your Allies from removal. Horizon Canopy is always a net +0.
Painful Truths is a sad Night's Whisper. I know, it's solid CA, but you need to cast it consistently for 3 colors, otherwise Night's Whisper or Read the Bones are better.
Crumble to Dust is Sowing Salt with an easier casting cost, and Devoid. I don't think it matters much now though; people see Amulet as the bigger threat, so they would want cheaper LD like Fulminator Mage. Kolaghan's Command is another push towards FM.
Sanctum of Ugin compares to Eye of Ugin. Plus points: Sanctum taps for mana, doesn't require mana to activate, and is not legendary (not that it matters, Eye is a 1-of). Minus: Sanctum only works once and requires you to have another bomb in hand to cast. Said bomb cannot be Wurmcoil Engine or Oblivion Stone. Overall, Sanctum of Ugin is a win-more card and I don't expect it to dislodge Eye in Ton decks.
You can also play Myr Enforcer or Tangle Golem with Sanctum. The problem is casting them in a timely manner, which is hard enough for Tangle Golem, but also hard for Myr Enforcer because there are only 4 artifact lands. And your reward for doing all that is another Myr Enforcer or Tangle Golem, which is not that exciting. And if you draw Myr Enforcer and Sanctum of Ugin in the wrong order you don't get anything extra out of it.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Vents is a "fine" card. Its not super strong, but by virtue of being a land that makes colored mana, and does something, its not bad either. It will never be "taking up a valueable slot", which is why most manlands (even lavaclaw, who like this, doesnt suck in red black decks) are never truely aweful. Just only ever "meh".
But the real point im getting at is this. If junk was total worth "20" points made up by lots of small point values in cards (siege rhino is 3 points, lingering souls is 2, whatever arbatry value you wanna place) and jund was worth 18 points. Junk is the better deck. Than k command is printed and that card is worth 3 points. Well its 20-21 and jund is the better deck.
Vents would be worth .5. Its not horrible, but its not amazing. So would it jump junk back above jund (assuming the slot you cut was worse than this, which is a big assumption) no. But what about decks like people are bringing up? Pat rack, tokens, pox, death and taxes?
Sure? It probably makes the deck better, i wont agrue that. But going from a total worth of 10 to 10.5 isnt that big of a deal. It helps pet decks out, but doesnt blast it off like team rocket.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
It's better than isolated chapel, and in more control builds that play less creatures it's better than vault.
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
I was thinking more along the kind of mutavault
Not too unlikely, maybe some type of Awakened hedron or something. High cost fits with dumb overcosted theme.
Stasis Snare looks fringe playable as Flash enchantment creature removal. It can't be Dispelled (but it can be Abrupt Decayed), and it boots untapped stuff. Maybe those White Nykthos Enduring Ideal builds or even UW Control might pick it up...
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
I'm sad.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Edit: I wonder if Dragonmaster outcast could see play in Scapeshift as an alternate wincon/sideboard tech
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
Painful Truths seems powerful but im not sure what it fits into - I suppose I can test it in Grixis Delver
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
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Endless One is another creature to combo with Protein Hulk!! Two sets in a row we've got combo creatures which is good.
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper is what I've been looking for with Jeskai Ascendancy, but it costs 5 so it's not seeing play. :C
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Dragonmaster is a reprint.
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
I wonder if the Jund/Junk v Tron matchup will be less unfavorable now.
I expect it *may* end up in some grixis sideboards against tron--the easier mana requirement might lead to the difference of card choice.
Whoever picked the returning lands has good taste nonetheless.
Stargate Mountain is back.
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Endless One is unexciting. First there was Ivy Elemental in Odyssey, then came two Hydras (Feral Hydra, Mistcutter Hydra) that were strictly better than it and saw 0 Modern play. Now we're back to plain old Ivy Elemental with G shaved off. A vanilla X/X for X is too fair for Modern, unless perhaps X is 0, which lets you loop it endlessly with Enduring Renewal. You's still going to need a third card that triggers off your creature dying/ETBing though.
Allies gets its own rainbow land now, but I'd hesitate to say that this automatically gives Allies a huge boost. People thought the same when the Sliver rainbow land came out, "I'll play 4 Cavern of Souls and 4 Sliver Hive". The problem with such a mana base is that those lands only tap for colorless when you're casting your sideboard cards. You might even have trouble playing the new Gideon on time with those two lands.
The other thing I feel is that people overrate the impact of having a better mana base. Take the allied fetches for example - people were saying that they would make Esper, Grixis, Faeries playable back then. Sadly Esper and Faeries are still tier 3 decks, and it took Tasigur and Kolaghan's Command to pull Grixis out of its slump. Having good spells matters the most; good lands still matter, but not as much.
While the third ability on Ally Encampment is synergystic with what Allies wants to be doing, Horizon Canopy is not that far off. Ally Encampment is a net -1 unless you're saving one of your Allies from removal. Horizon Canopy is always a net +0.
Painful Truths is a sad Night's Whisper. I know, it's solid CA, but you need to cast it consistently for 3 colors, otherwise Night's Whisper or Read the Bones are better.
Crumble to Dust is Sowing Salt with an easier casting cost, and Devoid. I don't think it matters much now though; people see Amulet as the bigger threat, so they would want cheaper LD like Fulminator Mage. Kolaghan's Command is another push towards FM.
Sanctum of Ugin compares to Eye of Ugin. Plus points: Sanctum taps for mana, doesn't require mana to activate, and is not legendary (not that it matters, Eye is a 1-of). Minus: Sanctum only works once and requires you to have another bomb in hand to cast. Said bomb cannot be Wurmcoil Engine or Oblivion Stone. Overall, Sanctum of Ugin is a win-more card and I don't expect it to dislodge Eye in Ton decks.
You can also play Myr Enforcer or Tangle Golem with Sanctum. The problem is casting them in a timely manner, which is hard enough for Tangle Golem, but also hard for Myr Enforcer because there are only 4 artifact lands. And your reward for doing all that is another Myr Enforcer or Tangle Golem, which is not that exciting. And if you draw Myr Enforcer and Sanctum of Ugin in the wrong order you don't get anything extra out of it.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.