Yeah I know everyone got exited over Baral, Chief of Compliance, but I was also coming here to say that decks that like eggs just got more egg options. 3-4 of em to be exact since the blue one is bad. Pretty big for them.
on Baral, Chief of Compliance, I think it shows wizards is at least trying to step in the right direction for "counter" blue options. I still think this is good, but snapcaster and flip jace are still probably better go tos for those strats in that cmc slot.
Hmm this is a really long shot but Aethertide Whale goes infinite with some way to cheat it into play. Now I know Omniscience is not the best thing to do, but infinite energy can probably do some broken things. It reminds me of the Urza block 'free' cards in a way.
For Baral, Chief of Compliance, do we really find it to have high enough upside over goblin electromancer that control decks would want to play it? I just don't see how UW control, for instance, can afford 2 mana's tempo early game on a do-nothing card.
Storm - that's about it imo.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
I wonder if the combo of Necrotic Ooze, and triskelion works now with a dumpable Trisk on hand instead of trying to find ways to get 2 cards in the graveyard, you now only need to find 1 way, and other just draw it.
I wonder if the combo of Necrotic Ooze, and triskelion works now with a dumpable Trisk on hand instead of trying to find ways to get 2 cards in the graveyard, you now only need to find 1 way, and other just draw it.
Still need to find a way to get the +1+1 counters on the Ooze. Probably works better with an infinitemanacombo, but Tasigur + Collective Brutality does that job better in any case. I've been perusing potential combo cards for Ooze for a while, and still haven't found a more effective one than the infinite mana...
For Baral, Chief of Compliance, do we really find it to have high enough upside over goblin electromancer that control decks would want to play it? I just don't see how UW control, for instance, can afford 2 mana's tempo early game on a do-nothing card.
Storm - that's about it imo.
For this card, you wouldn't play it turn 2 in a situation you could get burned on. You hold it until turn 3 with a Mana leak or Remand backup, then go from there. Also, his filtering ability with counterspells should be quite relevant - it allows you to dig for answers as well as discard extra Baral copies.
I don't think he'll be a difference maker in Modern for control decks, but I could definitely see him making a splash in some standard control deck possibly.
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I don't think he'll be a difference maker in Modern for control decks, but I could definitely see him making a splash in some standard control deck possibly.
Yep, this is the modern forum - I hope it goes without saying I was referring to the card within the context of modern. I'm sure the card will be good in standard or limited or whatever.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
I was actually thinking Jeskai Polymorph might be the way to go. You can play Polymorph, Indomitable Creativity, and Nahiri, the Harbinger as your main ways to cheat out Emrakul (which all cost 4cmc so at least it makes deckbuilding more consistent), Lingering Souls and Raise the Alarm as your token generators, and then protect the combo/stall/dig with blue draw, bolts, counters, and paths.
Still very much doubt it would be competitive, but it sounds fun...
@Lantern
In regards to the new "eggs", the one thing these do not do that eggs vitally needs is mana filter. Each "egg" usually costs 1 mana to activate, but then gives a mana back. These do not give a mana back, so you crack one and thats that with your mana. As opposed to several Chromatic Star in play where you can crack all of them with just 1 mana.
As for Renegade Rallier, (the 1GW 3/2 warrior that has revolt-put a 2cmc or less permanent into play from gy) I think it could actually see play. The vital difference between it being unplayable and possibly playable is that it says permanent, rather than creature. This lets you now just grab any 2cmc creature from your gy when you slam it down, but also acts as a pretty sweet way to cheat in things like Lotus Bloom, or even an extra land, assuming you can get it to your gy somehow. It dies to bolt, but at least it does something on entry so it technically passes the bolt test. It's also a total value machine in any deck that plays lots of blink effects, as blinking it counts for revolt.
I feel like there has to be some sort of broken 2 or 3 card combo this could work with. At the very least I feel like it may have a space in Abzan Combo or Kikki Chord, as it has all sorts of good targets there.
But yeah, this isn't looking like the medium between Snapcaster Mage and Young Pyromancer or anything. At least not with how the format plays right now. Cool abilities, though.
I like it but it really just goes in storm decks as a better goblin electromancer and that's it. We haven't had a mono blue creature come to modern and be impactful since original innistrad. That was 6 years ago....
True but he needs an entire dedicated strategy to work (devotion). I meant to say an all purpose card that is just a "good stuff" creature. Mono colors don't get those creature anymore. These days they all go in gw.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy saw a lot of play for a while, but the format got too fast for him. Drowner of Hope (while not 'really' blue) is here to stay as top end of the eldrazi decks.
That said the bar for a new creature to turn out as a modern staple in good stuff decks is incredibly high and blue in it's core is about powerful spells not creatures.
Eldritch Evolution on turn 3 sacing Voice of Resurgence, evolving into renegade, reanimate resurgence, now you have another voice, a 3/2, and a 3/3 token with potential to grow. On the other hand, the usual Evolution sac for Resurgence is just Pia and Kiran Nalar, which gives you 8 power over 4 bodies as opposed to 8 power over 3 bodies.
Still, Renegade plays very well with evolution and resto angel, seems like it could find a home in that deck. \
Hidden Reserve seems better than it actually is. You only get one token per turn and not per death, so you can't sac your board and get a whole bunch of tokens immediately, unlike Abzan Ascendancy. The 1 cost on its activated ability also makes it much harder to sac your board at once compared to Viscera Seer.
As always, I'd ask myself "how many tokens do you need out of this to make it worth your mana?" The answer is 3, given that Servo Exhibition makes two. Fetchlands help, of course.
It would have been great for Norin, if only it didn't have B in its cost. Maybe it's worth the sacrifice.
But yeah, this isn't looking like the medium between Snapcaster Mage and Young Pyromancer or anything. At least not with how the format plays right now. Cool abilities, though.
I like it but it really just goes in storm decks as a better goblin electromancer and that's it. We haven't had a mono blue creature come to modern and be impactful since original innistrad. That was 6 years ago....
True but he needs an entire dedicated strategy to work (devotion). I meant to say an all purpose card that is just a "good stuff" creature. Mono colors don't get those creature anymore. These days they all go in gw.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy saw a lot of play for a while, but the format got too fast for him. Drowner of Hope (while not 'really' blue) is here to stay as top end of the eldrazi decks.
That said the bar for a new creature to turn out as a modern staple in good stuff decks is incredibly high and blue in it's core is about powerful spells not creatures.
I forgot about jace. Wizards doesn't believe in printing many strong non creature spells anymore so we have to hope for creatures. My point being that it's rare that we get a bone.
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On mtgsalvation people don't want to discuss ideas, so I give people something else to discuss: my controversial opinions.
As more sets are printed the barrier to pass for being playable becomes taller. That is good. If wizards printed enough cards that modern got a 5% increase in playable cards per sett magic would crumble due to power creep over a coppel of years.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
As I've pointed out in the spoiler thread, Baral's stock count on SCG was going down at a steady pace (presumably storm deck mainers most interested)
Until it hit 27 remaining copies, and then almost immediately became out of stock. Either it's some speculator doing a buyout or SCG pulling stock to drive hype.
Of course, they're free to do that but we're also free to be suspicious.
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
As I've pointed out in the spoiler thread, Baral's stock count on SCG was going down at a steady pace (presumably storm deck mainers most interested)
Until it hit 27 remaining copies, and then almost immediately became out of stock. Either it's some speculator doing a buyout or SCG pulling stock to drive hype.
Of course, they're free to do that but we're also free to be suspicious.
IMO, no one should be pre-ordering niche rares from this set. Masterpieces ensure lots of stock getting opened, and rares are frequently overvalued during pre-ordering season. People should stay away.
Eldritch Evolution on turn 3 sacing Voice of Resurgence, evolving into renegade, reanimate resurgence, now you have another voice, a 3/2, and a 3/3 token with potential to grow. On the other hand, the usual Evolution sac for Resurgence is just Pia and Kiran Nalar, which gives you 8 power over 4 bodies as opposed to 8 power over 3 bodies.
Still, Renegade plays very well with evolution and resto angel, seems like it could find a home in that deck. \
Project X Abzan Company? Seems like an alternative to melira company if the metagame were to call for it
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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
Just did some testing in a pure UB control shell. 6 Discard, 4 push, 4 baral, 4 delver, 3 snap, fill the rest with stuff like remand/mana leak/spell snare/cryptic/damnation, wincons are delver, Snap beats or creeping tar pit. Pretty fun, feels like a real control deck.
Don't know if it's been said, but Renegade Rallier works very well with fetchlands. You can sac a fetch to get a land to pay for it, then renegade Rallier brings the fetch back.
It seems extremely good in Emeria control decks, working like a psuedo-sun titan. Helps you ramp to your big cards while thinning your deck with fetches, or it brings back Inquisitor Exarchs and such.
Baral seems exciting for any control player, but it does to bolt, so Spell Pierce or negate is a must.
I don't play affinity so I don't know best, but Reverse Engineer seems very good as a card refill.
Metallic Mimic and Last Push especially excite me as a Esper Spirits player. They seem like they might be able to bring some more life to the deck.
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Modern: G Stompy G UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR UWB Spirits UWB UWB Brain Control UWB WUB Esper Reveillark WUB EDH: WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
Asuming the metagem continues to remain diverse the 'bolt test' will continue to loose ground. It was at it's senith when splinter twin was 10% of the meta and their plan B was tempoing you out.
Does it die to bolt? Does it die to fatal push? It the creature very stupid to path at some points in the game? (Mana dorks.)
I think modern will be an exciting place the next few months.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
Yes, Baral dies to bolt. But it's a 2 drop, so it's not as big a deal if you get 1 for 1'd.
Keep in mind, control won't play him on turn 2, that's a waste. Instead, you hold up mana on turn 2 for a remand/leak, then cast him on turn 3. If you hit your land drops, you can now protect him with a remand/leak for just U, since he reduces cost. Then at that point he's all value. If he dies, oh well. 1 for 1 isn't the worst thing, and I'd rather baral eat a bolt than my delvers/creeping tar pits. But if he sticks, he's incredible:
Protecting him with a remand costs U for draw 2 discard 1. Mana leaks become incredible, and he let's you cast a 1cmc spell on turn 4 and still hold mana for cryptic command or snap+remand/leak.
I think that's what people aren't factoring in for his evaluation, the incredible interaction between the ramp and filtering he provides for a counter-heavy deck. It's actually pretty damn powerful if it sticks around, giving a hefty tempo boost to any control deck and generating card advantage. If he eats a bolt, it's at worst a 1-for-1, which is a pretty sweet worst case scenario when the best case is such huge upside, and he's only 2 cmc. Thats really the key. If he was a 3 drop he'd be unplayable. Instead, he's a great turn 3 tempo play that let's you hold mana for a counter anyway. (It's not like you can do anything better on turn 3, since cryptic can't be cast till turn 4. This way control gets both a turn 3 play and can still leak/remand/negate if need be. Then they untap and all their spells cost 1 less while their counters also have a loot attached.)
Another thing to remember is he isn't just a 1 mana tempo difference, it's 1 mana per spell. So now with UU available you can cast two 1U spells in a turn. In other words, it's a 1 mana tempo boost per spell cast. It's too bad there is the discard clause, but I suppose it would be crazy OP without.
Baral actually has a pretty healthy relationship with Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt takes him out quite cleanly, but only once he's resolved and on the field. That allows you to take advantage of his abilities if you have a little extra mana.
So he fails the bolt test but with like a D instead of an F. Really not bad.
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Baral actually has a pretty healthy relationship with Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt takes him out quite cleanly, but only once he's resolved and on the field. That allows you to take advantage of his abilities if you have a little extra mana.
So he fails the bolt test but with like a D instead of an F. Really not bad.
Honestly, I don't think the bolt test should apply to anything 2cmc or less. Bob fails the bolt test. Trading 2cmc for 1cmc isn't good, but it certainly doesn't mean the card isn't modern playable. Like I said earlier, if it were a 3 drop it'd be trash. At 2cmc, it has a pretty sweet effect and can be used to block goblin guides, snapcasters, etc.
My favourite things about Baral: first, it says "spell or ability you control counters a spell". Why hello there, Chalice of the Void! Second: it says "counters a spell", without "your opponent's control." Remanding my own spell just became a lot more fun.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
I think Baral could get some decent use in a different meta. But right now not many (successful) decks are sleeving up large numbers of counterspells, and the idea of jamming this guy turn 3 with Negate or Remand backup seems less saucy when you consider that you did that instead of Lightning Bolting your opponent's Blighted Agent and then Path to Exileing in response to Blossoming Defense, in which case now you're dead. You can hold it for later, but you've still cut either your interaction or your clocks (which also help you stabilize) for this. I don't see being happy that I cast this guy on turn 4 to maybe cycle a card when I could have cast Tasigur on the same turn for 1 mana who will also block almost anything my opponent has, bury them in card advantage, and then kill them in a couple of turns. Cycling a card for protecting him is a nice upside, but I don't see that being enough.
If Storm wants to go the 8-Electromancer route, I can see that. Or if we see a shift in the meta away from blisteringly fast linear plays. But right now, I'm just not feeling it.
Baral actually has a pretty healthy relationship with Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt takes him out quite cleanly, but only once he's resolved and on the field. That allows you to take advantage of his abilities if you have a little extra mana.
So he fails the bolt test but with like a D instead of an F. Really not bad.
Honestly, I don't think the bolt test should apply to anything 2cmc or less. Bob fails the bolt test. Trading 2cmc for 1cmc isn't good, but it certainly doesn't mean the card isn't modern playable. Like I said earlier, if it were a 3 drop it'd be trash. At 2cmc, it has a pretty sweet effect and can be used to block goblin guides, snapcasters, etc.
The bolt test in this case is essentially just the fact that it turns on your opponents removal. In the shells this wants to be played I can't imagine there being many if any other bolt targets outside of snap. I suppose best case scenario in this regard is that it eats a path that would've dealt with your Colonnade.
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on Baral, Chief of Compliance, I think it shows wizards is at least trying to step in the right direction for "counter" blue options. I still think this is good, but snapcaster and flip jace are still probably better go tos for those strats in that cmc slot.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Storm - that's about it imo.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
Still need to find a way to get the +1+1 counters on the Ooze. Probably works better with an infinite mana combo, but Tasigur + Collective Brutality does that job better in any case. I've been perusing potential combo cards for Ooze for a while, and still haven't found a more effective one than the infinite mana...
For this card, you wouldn't play it turn 2 in a situation you could get burned on. You hold it until turn 3 with a Mana leak or Remand backup, then go from there. Also, his filtering ability with counterspells should be quite relevant - it allows you to dig for answers as well as discard extra Baral copies.
I don't think he'll be a difference maker in Modern for control decks, but I could definitely see him making a splash in some standard control deck possibly.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
I was actually thinking Jeskai Polymorph might be the way to go. You can play Polymorph, Indomitable Creativity, and Nahiri, the Harbinger as your main ways to cheat out Emrakul (which all cost 4cmc so at least it makes deckbuilding more consistent), Lingering Souls and Raise the Alarm as your token generators, and then protect the combo/stall/dig with blue draw, bolts, counters, and paths.
Still very much doubt it would be competitive, but it sounds fun...
@Lantern
In regards to the new "eggs", the one thing these do not do that eggs vitally needs is mana filter. Each "egg" usually costs 1 mana to activate, but then gives a mana back. These do not give a mana back, so you crack one and thats that with your mana. As opposed to several Chromatic Star in play where you can crack all of them with just 1 mana.
As for Renegade Rallier, (the 1GW 3/2 warrior that has revolt-put a 2cmc or less permanent into play from gy) I think it could actually see play. The vital difference between it being unplayable and possibly playable is that it says permanent, rather than creature. This lets you now just grab any 2cmc creature from your gy when you slam it down, but also acts as a pretty sweet way to cheat in things like Lotus Bloom, or even an extra land, assuming you can get it to your gy somehow. It dies to bolt, but at least it does something on entry so it technically passes the bolt test. It's also a total value machine in any deck that plays lots of blink effects, as blinking it counts for revolt.
I feel like there has to be some sort of broken 2 or 3 card combo this could work with. At the very least I feel like it may have a space in Abzan Combo or Kikki Chord, as it has all sorts of good targets there.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy saw a lot of play for a while, but the format got too fast for him.
Drowner of Hope (while not 'really' blue) is here to stay as top end of the eldrazi decks.
That said the bar for a new creature to turn out as a modern staple in good stuff decks is incredibly high and blue in it's core is about powerful spells not creatures.
Eldritch Evolution on turn 3 sacing Voice of Resurgence, evolving into renegade, reanimate resurgence, now you have another voice, a 3/2, and a 3/3 token with potential to grow. On the other hand, the usual Evolution sac for Resurgence is just Pia and Kiran Nalar, which gives you 8 power over 4 bodies as opposed to 8 power over 3 bodies.
Still, Renegade plays very well with evolution and resto angel, seems like it could find a home in that deck. \
Infinite ETB effects with Saffi Eriksdotter and Viscera Seer/a sac outlet, but that in itself is a 3 card combo and doesn't actually win the game. Infinite mill with Altar of the Brood, infinite life with Soul Warden, infinite bolster with Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, infinite damage with Blasting Station or Purphoros, infinite tokens with Abzan Ascendancy.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
Cloud Key/Etherium Sculptor turn all your eggs into free cantrips, but you still need a sac outlet like Arcbound Ravager/Grinding Station. That's too many pieces.
Hidden Reserve seems better than it actually is. You only get one token per turn and not per death, so you can't sac your board and get a whole bunch of tokens immediately, unlike Abzan Ascendancy. The 1 cost on its activated ability also makes it much harder to sac your board at once compared to Viscera Seer.
As always, I'd ask myself "how many tokens do you need out of this to make it worth your mana?" The answer is 3, given that Servo Exhibition makes two. Fetchlands help, of course.
It would have been great for Norin, if only it didn't have B in its cost. Maybe it's worth the sacrifice.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
I forgot about jace. Wizards doesn't believe in printing many strong non creature spells anymore so we have to hope for creatures. My point being that it's rare that we get a bone.
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
As more sets are printed the barrier to pass for being playable becomes taller. That is good. If wizards printed enough cards that modern got a 5% increase in playable cards per sett magic would crumble due to power creep over a coppel of years.
Until it hit 27 remaining copies, and then almost immediately became out of stock. Either it's some speculator doing a buyout or SCG pulling stock to drive hype.
Of course, they're free to do that but we're also free to be suspicious.
"OH GOD MY BRAIN IS EXPLOADING AT HOW BAD THE ART IS ON MY OWN CARD"
-A friend's first impression of Ancestral Recall
10/10, I tapped.
IMO, no one should be pre-ordering niche rares from this set. Masterpieces ensure lots of stock getting opened, and rares are frequently overvalued during pre-ordering season. People should stay away.
Project X Abzan Company? Seems like an alternative to melira company if the metagame were to call for it
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Just did some testing in a pure UB control shell. 6 Discard, 4 push, 4 baral, 4 delver, 3 snap, fill the rest with stuff like remand/mana leak/spell snare/cryptic/damnation, wincons are delver, Snap beats or creeping tar pit. Pretty fun, feels like a real control deck.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
It seems extremely good in Emeria control decks, working like a psuedo-sun titan. Helps you ramp to your big cards while thinning your deck with fetches, or it brings back Inquisitor Exarchs and such.
Baral seems exciting for any control player, but it does to bolt, so Spell Pierce or negate is a must.
I don't play affinity so I don't know best, but Reverse Engineer seems very good as a card refill.
Metallic Mimic and Last Push especially excite me as a Esper Spirits player. They seem like they might be able to bring some more life to the deck.
G Stompy G
UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR
UWB Spirits UWB
UWB Brain Control UWBWUB Esper Reveillark WUB
EDH:
WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG
W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW
WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
Does it die to bolt? Does it die to fatal push? It the creature very stupid to path at some points in the game? (Mana dorks.)
I think modern will be an exciting place the next few months.
Keep in mind, control won't play him on turn 2, that's a waste. Instead, you hold up mana on turn 2 for a remand/leak, then cast him on turn 3. If you hit your land drops, you can now protect him with a remand/leak for just U, since he reduces cost. Then at that point he's all value. If he dies, oh well. 1 for 1 isn't the worst thing, and I'd rather baral eat a bolt than my delvers/creeping tar pits. But if he sticks, he's incredible:
Protecting him with a remand costs U for draw 2 discard 1. Mana leaks become incredible, and he let's you cast a 1cmc spell on turn 4 and still hold mana for cryptic command or snap+remand/leak.
I think that's what people aren't factoring in for his evaluation, the incredible interaction between the ramp and filtering he provides for a counter-heavy deck. It's actually pretty damn powerful if it sticks around, giving a hefty tempo boost to any control deck and generating card advantage. If he eats a bolt, it's at worst a 1-for-1, which is a pretty sweet worst case scenario when the best case is such huge upside, and he's only 2 cmc. Thats really the key. If he was a 3 drop he'd be unplayable. Instead, he's a great turn 3 tempo play that let's you hold mana for a counter anyway. (It's not like you can do anything better on turn 3, since cryptic can't be cast till turn 4. This way control gets both a turn 3 play and can still leak/remand/negate if need be. Then they untap and all their spells cost 1 less while their counters also have a loot attached.)
Another thing to remember is he isn't just a 1 mana tempo difference, it's 1 mana per spell. So now with UU available you can cast two 1U spells in a turn. In other words, it's a 1 mana tempo boost per spell cast. It's too bad there is the discard clause, but I suppose it would be crazy OP without.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
Lightning Bolt takes him out quite cleanly, but only once he's resolved and on the field. That allows you to take advantage of his abilities if you have a little extra mana.
So he fails the bolt test but with like a D instead of an F. Really not bad.
"OH GOD MY BRAIN IS EXPLOADING AT HOW BAD THE ART IS ON MY OWN CARD"
-A friend's first impression of Ancestral Recall
10/10, I tapped.
Honestly, I don't think the bolt test should apply to anything 2cmc or less. Bob fails the bolt test. Trading 2cmc for 1cmc isn't good, but it certainly doesn't mean the card isn't modern playable. Like I said earlier, if it were a 3 drop it'd be trash. At 2cmc, it has a pretty sweet effect and can be used to block goblin guides, snapcasters, etc.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
If Storm wants to go the 8-Electromancer route, I can see that. Or if we see a shift in the meta away from blisteringly fast linear plays. But right now, I'm just not feeling it.
[Edit]: Noted on Chalice of the Void, though. Nice catch.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
The bolt test in this case is essentially just the fact that it turns on your opponents removal. In the shells this wants to be played I can't imagine there being many if any other bolt targets outside of snap. I suppose best case scenario in this regard is that it eats a path that would've dealt with your Colonnade.