They can go into any deck, and right now the Modern meta calls for graveyard hate as a must have in order to not auto-lose to Dredge (and to a lesser extent, Living End).
I'm curious what people have to say about which they like and in what archetype. In that regard having a poll is a little off balance, but whatevs...
Figured I'd toss my own thoughts out to start the fun:
Blanking out your own yard can be undesirable (see: Suicide Zoo, Tarmogoyf, Dredge mirror)
Most expensive option at 2 total CMC
Grafdigger's Cage
Pros:
Perpetually shuts down Dredge (unless they find their MD Grudge)
Shuts off Nahiri, CoCo, Chord, Evolution as well
Shuts down flashback/SCM
Cons:
Does nothing to Living End (exiles first)
If removed, likely opens the gates of hell against you
Tormod's Crypt
Pros:
Free to cast
Free to activate
Only targets the opponent
Cons:
All or nothing (Relic can at least slow roll)
Doesn't replace itself like Relic does
I'm currently trying to get good with GU Infect, and I'm trying to decide between them. I'm probably going to run some combination of Cage and Crypt since Cage can shut down CoCo/Evo/Chord strategies and Crypt is free as keeping that one mana open for Apostle's Blessing or Vines is important and doesn't shut you off Become Immense. Also, if you're just trying to go off, Tormod's Crypt is essentially a ramp spell as for zero mana it puts a card in your graveyard which is as good as 1 mana for delve.
One thing about cage vs dredge is that it doesn't completely shut down the deck. They can still hardcast, and the dredge "plan b" when facing cage is to dredge anyway, hard cast when you can, and use life from the loam to make it to your fifth land at which point you can start hard casting huge Golgari Grave Trolls (while using faithless looting and all your other draw spells to try to find your anti-hate). It's not an amazing gameplan, but worth thinking about since a well timed relic/crypt shuts down the strategy entirely.
I've been disliking Cage because it misses completely against Living End. That deck is a bit fringe right now, but once players catch wind that the yard hate of choice doesn't affect Living End, I feel like people will have to move off the card.
I'm pretty sure that Crypt is the best answer Living End / Dredge if you use your own yard as well. Relic otherwise.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Between Relic and Cage, pick the one that your deck isn't hosed by. If your deck has Nahiri, play Relic, if it has Become Immense, play Cage. Also, there is Nihil Spellbomb if you play black and need your graveyard.
Crypt is not that common. You might want it if your deck is super aggressive, or if you play Tolaria West. Actually, if your deck is super aggressive, you'd probably want Cage instead since it stops Company/Chord for Finks.
I'm generally amazed at how people are picking relic hand over fist instead of cage. Cage hits way more than dredge, which makes it worth it, unless it hits you too. And relic doesnt actually slow down dredge all that much, since they will recur stuff over it, or if you pop it it slows them a turn only.
For now, I pick Relic because Living End is more common in my area while Nahiri and Dredge type decks are rare.
The only Coco / chord decks that are common here are combo Elves, and I deal with them not with cage but with 3 Pyroclasm and one Engineered Explosives in the sideboard.
It depends on the deck you play against. If you don't expect Living End I think Grafdigger's Cage is the best, not just against Dredge but against all gy decks and because it's also good against Chord/CoCo decks.
My favorite one, although you didn't mmentioned here, is Nihil Spellbomb because it's the most versatile, fast and cycles. Overall I think the best thing to do is to play soime combination (now) or adapt it to the metagame. So I currently play split of Grafdigger's Cage and Nihil Spellbomb in my Jund decks and it works good for me.
Between Relic and Cage, pick the one that your deck isn't hosed by. If your deck has Nahiri, play Relic, if it has Become Immense, play Cage. Also, there is Nihil Spellbomb if you play black and need your graveyard.
Crypt is not that common. You might want it if your deck is super aggressive, or if you play Tolaria West. Actually, if your deck is super aggressive, you'd probably want Cage instead since it stops Company/Chord for Finks.
Yeah, I probably should have put Nihil in the list too; I hadn't because of the B in it, but it's still perfectly effective as just being a colorless card (though strictly worse than Crypt if you're not in black).
I chose Tormod's Crypt for my SB for two reasons:
-first, I sometimes want to use my own Graveyard (no Relic) or flashback a spell (no Cage)
-second, but maybe even more important, Crypt can be played/activated without any mana. This is sometimes important vs Dredge, but it is quite good against Grishoalbrand and the like. And Living End. And against Delve Creatures (if I was to board it in)
So I see no alternative. Just Leyline of the Void has the same benefits (plus no good removal against it by Dredge), but that would need at least 3 SB slots, and I will never be able to cast it.
I voted for Relic, even though I also believe that which of Relic, Cage, and Crypt depends on the rest of the deck (although Crypt generally loses for me unless I can tutor for it and not Relic/Cage because it doesn't replace itself and it can't hose more), because Relic replaces itself and mass exiles. Relic replacing itself is so swell that it's the only one that decks will maindeck (see RG Tron, Eldrazi Processors).
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Relic of Progenitus
Grafdigger's Cage
Tormod's Crypt
They can go into any deck, and right now the Modern meta calls for graveyard hate as a must have in order to not auto-lose to Dredge (and to a lesser extent, Living End).
I'm curious what people have to say about which they like and in what archetype. In that regard having a poll is a little off balance, but whatevs...
Figured I'd toss my own thoughts out to start the fun:
Relic of Progenitus
Pros:
Grafdigger's Cage
Pros:
Tormod's Crypt
Pros:
I'm currently trying to get good with GU Infect, and I'm trying to decide between them. I'm probably going to run some combination of Cage and Crypt since Cage can shut down CoCo/Evo/Chord strategies and Crypt is free as keeping that one mana open for Apostle's Blessing or Vines is important and doesn't shut you off Become Immense. Also, if you're just trying to go off, Tormod's Crypt is essentially a ramp spell as for zero mana it puts a card in your graveyard which is as good as 1 mana for delve.
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BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
I'm pretty sure that Crypt is the best answer Living End / Dredge if you use your own yard as well. Relic otherwise.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Crypt is not that common. You might want it if your deck is super aggressive, or if you play Tolaria West. Actually, if your deck is super aggressive, you'd probably want Cage instead since it stops Company/Chord for Finks.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
The only Coco / chord decks that are common here are combo Elves, and I deal with them not with cage but with 3 Pyroclasm and one Engineered Explosives in the sideboard.
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Yeah, I probably should have put Nihil in the list too; I hadn't because of the B in it, but it's still perfectly effective as just being a colorless card (though strictly worse than Crypt if you're not in black).
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-first, I sometimes want to use my own Graveyard (no Relic) or flashback a spell (no Cage)
-second, but maybe even more important, Crypt can be played/activated without any mana. This is sometimes important vs Dredge, but it is quite good against Grishoalbrand and the like. And Living End. And against Delve Creatures (if I was to board it in)
So I see no alternative. Just Leyline of the Void has the same benefits (plus no good removal against it by Dredge), but that would need at least 3 SB slots, and I will never be able to cast it.
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