Newly spoiled 4 drop that goes infinite in tons of ways, including a fairly easy turn 4 kill
Crackdown Construct 4 Artifact Creature
Whenever you activate an ability of an artifact or creature that isn't a mana ability, Crackdown Construct gets +1/+1 until end of turn 2/2
Setup 1: have 1 other creature and Lightning Greaves in play. Slam this guy down. Jump greaves between this guy and the other creature as many times as needed, swing for lethal. The fact that greaves both activates his combo and gives shroud seems like it could be playable. You also don't even need to swing with him, Fling or a similar effect would work just as well.
Setup 2: Wandering Fumarole, no explanation needed. Cast crackdown, untap with him, animate fumarole at instant speed, infinite activations. This combo is in standard, which I have to imagine was by design. Fling also works well here, as with this combo you can go infinite at instant speed, assuming you have the mana to animate fumarole when you cast crackdown, or that crackdown survives to untap
Any others in modern I'm forgetting? Just thought of Blinking Spirit, not sure if this is possible but couldn't you respond to it's own ability by activating the ability again? Then repeat that loop over and over? What matters isn't that it's resolving, but that it's being activated.
My buddy's been sitting on the idea of a Saheeli Rai/Sun Titan deck for over a month but hasn't bought Saheeli yet. Told him about Felidar Guardian. Sounds like he had a hard time completing his TCGplayer order.
What's nice about this combo is that it wins on the spot the minute you successfully cast Saheeli or Felidar. Don't know if the Turn 4 is too slow though.
I think it's a decent combo but one that has a lot of weaknesses. Guardian isn't Boltable but Saheeli is; with the Guardian or Saheeli trigger on the stack, an opponent can just Bolt the 1 loyalty Saheeli. Guardian also doesn't have flash (unlike Exarch/Mite), costs four mana, and can't interact with an opposing threat. Furthermore, there are only 4 Guardian as opposed to the 4/2 Exarch/Mite split.
It has some potential because it's a compact two card combo that does win the game on turn four, but it's much more vulnerable than Twin was. I do like that it goes into a Jeskai shell. I don't like that Guardian is worse than Exarch/Mite, which makes a tempo plan B harder.
It's a positive thing that the saheeli combo is more vulnerable than twin. That being said, I welcome our newest infinite friends to the party that is modern.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Newly spoiled 4 drop that goes infinite in tons of ways, including a fairly easy turn 4 kill
Crackdown Construct 4 Artifact Creature
Whenever you activate an ability of an artifact or creature that isn't a mana ability, Crackdown Construct gets +1/+1 until end of turn 2/2
Setup 1: have 1 other creature and Lightning Greaves in play. Slam this guy down. Jump greaves between this guy and the other creature as many times as needed, swing for lethal. The fact that greaves both activates his combo and gives shroud seems like it could be playable.
Setup 2: Wandering Fumarole, no explanation needed. Cast crackdown, untap with him, animate fumarole at instant speed, infinite activations. This combo is in standard, which I have to imagine was by design.
Any others in modern I'm forgetting?
Shuko, Outrider En-Kor probably there are some more out there.
I don't think Fumarole is the way to go (although maybe additional redundancy if you end up in UR) because Ceaseless Searblades exists and both card have never really seen play together.
The boots seem like the most viable solution so far, mainly because they also give haste which means you don't need to untap with Crackdown, giving it something Twin-esque. Also both are artifacts, which is awesome for finding them. Only problem: Lingering Souls stalls the combo for 4 turns...
Saheeli Rai is a much more difficult combo piece to protect than Deceiver Exarch.
The latter can be cast at instant speed, letting you keep countermagic shields up for the turn.
It also could tap down an opponent's land, majorly limiting the opponent's capacity to interact.
With Saheeli, basic creature beatdown can jeopardize it. Dreadbore. Or the disruption can be focused on the Felidar Guardian.
Or if they get the Guardian out before Saheeli, you can ping her on the stack.
Further, the defensive power is weighted in the Felidar Guardian. Deceiver is a 1/4 with Flash that can tap down an attacker. This can steal the game against a hyper aggro deck.
If you play Saheeli on turn 3 and are on the draw, the opponent could very well kill you before you even get to untap.
So this combo looks like Splinter Twin, but loses a significant chunk of the noninteractive 'oops, I win' windows. Nice.
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.
The boots seem like the most viable solution so far, mainly because they also give haste which means you don't need to untap with Crackdown, giving it something Twin-esque. Also both are artifacts, which is awesome for finding them. Only problem: Lingering Souls stalls the combo for 4 turns...
The Saheeli/Guardian combo seems like an acceptable and probably welcome addition to Modern. It's easy to interact with but still powerful. Saheeli is not a useless card by herself, unlike, say, Splinter Twin. In fact, she helps dig for the combo. Not that this is the place to mention it, but I'm much more concerned about the combo's impact on Standard. Seems too strong for that environment.
Well then, that happened. Regardless biggest difference between this and Twin. You can't EoT Saheeli. Giving your foe a atleast a turn to interact. Furthermore they cannot Flash Saheeli in response to Discard or tap down a land.
And for what it matters the copies are artifacts, so it means cards like Hurkyl Recall stops the combo in it's tracks for one turn. And finally this combo is three colors. So it cannot be splashed for as easily into any deck already running blue or red.
Saheeli's/Guardian's biggest problem is their dual lack of flash. This slows the combo or opens you up to both interaction and red zone damage. If you go for the T4 win (T3 Saheeli, T4 Guardian), you tap out to cast Saheeli on T3 and risk either losing her to combat damage or just losing the game outright. If you go for the T5 win (T4 Guardian, T5 Saheeli), you have only one mana open to protect yourself (Guardian flickers a land) and now have to wait until T5 to win. This is on top of Guardian's vulnerability to Path and Push, alongside Saheeli's vulnerability to Bolt and Decay.
These weaknesses, in addition to the others I/others have listed, mean a dedicated Saheeli Guardian deck is unlikely to work. If this combo succeeds in Modern, it needs a Jeskai shell that has other avenues to victory. I'd start with Alex Bianchi's Jeskai Twin list from 2015's GP Pittsburgh and work from there. Fun bonus: Guardian also combos with Kiki-Jiki .
Saheeli Rai is a much more difficult combo piece to protect than Deceiver Exarch.
The latter can be cast at instant speed, letting you keep countermagic shields up for the turn.
It also could tap down an opponent's land, majorly limiting the opponent's capacity to interact.
With Saheeli, basic creature beatdown can jeopardize it. Dreadbore. Or the disruption can be focused on the Felidar Guardian.
Or if they get the Guardian out before Saheeli, you can ping her on the stack.
Further, the defensive power is weighted in the Felidar Guardian. Deceiver is a 1/4 with Flash that can tap down an attacker. This can steal the game against a hyper aggro deck.
If you play Saheeli on turn 3 and are on the draw, the opponent could very well kill you before you even get to untap.
So this combo looks like Splinter Twin, but loses a significant chunk of the noninteractive 'oops, I win' windows. Nice.
Well it is a 'fixed' version of twin. Twin could do it EOT and tap down your removal. This you se coming turn 4 (or 3) and you get to attack into shaeli. Twin suualy taped down your land so you had to path or bolt blind (or not in the case of 4 thoughnes exarch.)
What I find interesting is that they both combo with oath of nissa (in standar and modern) and you can probably just slot both cards into kiki chord and be fine. Sheli + wall of omens is all good. And just have a suntitan topp end to get it back if they kill her.
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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.
I think the Twin comparison works in Standard, but less in Modern. Personally, I'm thinking of it as is a 3-drop Venser, the Sojourner engine that just abuses all sorts of fun CIP abilities.
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Maulfist Revolutionary interesting as well. 3/3 trample for 3 that proliferates when it enters the battlefield or dies.
Worth noting that you're only adding counters to a "target permanent" or "target player" and not proliferating across multiple permanents/players; however, you do get to add multiple different counters on that permanent, if say, you have something like a Student of Warfare that already has a +1/+1 counter and a loyalty counter on it.
I think the Twin comparison works in Standard, but less in Modern. Personally, I'm thinking of it as is a 3-drop Venser, the Sojourner engine that just abuses all sorts of fun CIP abilities.
Yeah I suppose, I use him in an Esper super friends mess around deck. I'm just still pining for Twin still, forever...
The boots seem like the most viable solution so far, mainly because they also give haste which means you don't need to untap with Crackdown, giving it something Twin-esque. Also both are artifacts, which is awesome for finding them. Only problem: Lingering Souls stalls the combo for 4 turns...
Rancor? Fling?
Both make the combo at least one turn slower (not really where you wanna be at in modern).
3
Sram, Senior Edificer (it's a solid 5 in Cheeri0s, but I don't think Cheeri0s is actually that good, so call it a 3 overall)
Baral, Chief of Compliance (Storm, same as Cheeri0s)
Narnam Renegade (1-drop Zoo, Stompy)
2
Aethergeode Miner
Disallow
Trophy Mage
Whir of Invention (mainly to get Lotus Bloom)
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
Rishkar, Peema Renegade (combo Elves, with Beck // Call or Cloudstone Curio)
Silkweaver Elite
Unbridled Growth
Hidden Stockpile
Renegade Rallier
Rogue Refiner
Metallic Mimic
Scrap Trawler
Servo Schematic (Eggs, or some Thopter Sword deck. Slightly better than Myr Sire.)
Walking Ballista (Enduring Renewal)
All Expertises. R > W > B > U > G
1
Everything else
Reprint or functional reprint: Negate, Ornithopter, Natural Obsolescence
This set is amazing. Black finally has a good 1-mana removal spell. A ton of decks got upgrades or new cards to try out, such as:
Cheeri0s
Storm
1-drop (Bushwhacker) Zoo and Stompy
Combo Elves
Green Devotion
Living End, Restore Balance, and Beck//Call decks
Eggs and Thopter Sword decks
Burning-Tree Emissary decks
Tribal decks
Enduring Renewal
Norin Sisters
any black deck which had to splash red or white for removal
Revolt is a powerful mechanic. It's like morbid, but you have a lot more control over it because of fetches. Improvise (or rather, Whir of Invention) has the potential to be good, given that Chord of Calling is a playable card. There are a lot more 0-mana artifacts than 0-mana creatures.
I'm high on Hidden Herbalists (no pun intended). I believe that there is a deck that wants 8 Burning-tree Emissary effects. I've made a thread in Deck Creation, and if you want a reason to look at it, how about "10 power on turn 2"?
The best cards were the fastlands, Cathartic Reunion and Blossoming Defense. Chandra, Torch of Defiance showed up a lot too, but nobody really noticed because they were all focused on Dredge and Infect.
Inventors' Fair and Blooming Marsh, and to a lesser extent Glint-Nest Crane, really helped Lantern Control.
Fragmentize saw extremely little play for such a mana-efficient SB card. A possible explanation is that white already has Stony Silence, but I believe a large part of it is also being a sorcery.
There were a whole bunch of combo duds, like Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter, Paradoxical Outcome, Dubious Challenge and both Aether____ artifacts. Pro tip: if you want to play a "whenever you do something" engine card, you should reconsider if it costs 4 mana.
Could someone explain the Hidden Herbalists excitement to me? It looks a lot like Burning-Tree Emissary to me, which IDK is a thing in Modern. Is there a deck that wanted BTE 5-8 and I just missed it? Or something else?
I do seem to remember another card from this set that enabled Myr Superion, but I don't imagine that was the reason for the hype.
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Could someone explain the Hidden Herbalists excitement to me? It looks a lot like Burning-Tree Emissary to me, which IDK is a thing in Modern. Is there a deck that wanted BTE 5-8 and I just missed it? Or something else?
Hidden Herbalists gets you GG instead of GR. Which means once enabled, a deck like Stompy can get some ridiculous plays with Experiment One T1, Avatar of the Resolute and one or two Herbalists and a T3 Nissa locking the game. It don't just act like an extra Emissary, there are some places he just fits a little bit better, enough to enable some new strategies.
Could someone explain the Hidden Herbalists excitement to me? It looks a lot like Burning-Tree Emissary to me, which IDK is a thing in Modern. Is there a deck that wanted BTE 5-8 and I just missed it? Or something else?
I do seem to remember another card from this set that enabled Myr Superion, but I don't imagine that was the reason for the hype.
I wouldn't call it "hype" if only one person thinks it's good
The thing about synergy-heavy decks is, the transition from "tier 5 jank" to "actually playable" can be sudden. New cards enable older cards that wouldn't have seen play without it. Dredge is a good example - before Amalgam, the default Dredge deck (Dredgevine) couldn't use Narcomoeba well, because it didn't trigger Vengevine. Bloodghast didn't either (although it was still a strong card and Dredgevine played it anyway). But once Amalgam hit, suddenly those two cards became a lot stronger - it's almost as though Amalgam added one or two additional new cards to the deck, even though it was just one card by itself.
Herbalists has a similar effect. It gives you the critical mass required to play Myr Superion and/or trigger Vengevine on turn 2 consistently, or get in for more damage with Reckless Bushwhacker. Previously there was Priest of Urabrask, but you couldn't play a T2 Superion with it.
The deck that wants more BTEs is extremely obscure. Here it is. The obvious upgrades are Priest -> Herbalists, Commune with the Gods -> Gather the Pack and 1-drops -> Insolent Neonate. Personally I favor more cards that cost 1G over aggressive R 1-drops - this decision is also due in no small part to Herbalists.
I am excited about Secret Salvage. I realise it is five mana but I think we can do things with it. Apologies if I can't find the thread that discusses this, if it exists.
Pact of Negation in Ad Nauseum. Counter whatever you play next turn. Pact triggers on stack, win at instant speed, probably with one more pact in hand for protection.
Mindbreak Trap in UB-mill. If they search libraries during your turn, mill them for a bunch.
Slaughter Pact in some aggressive or midrange deck with black. Kill a few creatures, swing for lethal.
If you have a way to give all your creatures haste, maybe Pact of the Titan for some punch. Goblins?
Any grindy control or mid-range decks with black becomes... more grindy. Search for all the Ancestral Visions for total BS.
They're all pie-in-the-sky ideas but I sense this might be similar to Seasons Past in standard earlier. Overcosted grindy card that is powerful enough to build around.
I am excited about Secret Salvage. I realise it is five mana but I think we can do things with it. Apologies if I can't find the thread that discusses this, if it exists.
Pact of Negation in Ad Nauseum. Counter whatever you play next turn. Pact triggers on stack, win at instant speed, probably with one more pact in hand for protection.
Mindbreak Trap in UB-mill. If they search libraries during your turn, mill them for a bunch.
Slaughter Pact in some aggressive or midrange deck with black. Kill a few creatures, swing for lethal.
If you have a way to give all your creatures haste, maybe Pact of the Titan for some punch. Goblins?
Any grindy control or mid-range decks with black becomes... more grindy. Search for all the Ancestral Visions for total BS.
They're all pie-in-the-sky ideas but I sense this might be similar to Seasons Past in standard earlier. Overcosted grindy card that is powerful enough to build around.
Too low in the current Modern META. But if it is for fun, why not.
Cheeri0s
Storm
1-drop (Bushwhacker) Zoo and Stompy
Combo Elves
Green Devotion
Living End, Restore Balance, and Beck//Call decks
Eggs and Thopter Sword decks
Burning-Tree Emissary decks
Tribal decks
Enduring Renewal
Norin Sisters
any black deck which had to splash red or white for removal
So... with the exception of fatal push which is clearly very good in abzan, all other cards helped non tier1 decks and that's a very good news imho. The top 3 cards of the set which could change a bit the meta are:
-Fatal Push
-Hidden Herbalists
-Narnam Renegade
Hidden Herbalists Helps zoo alot less than people think. Renegade is a nice addition, but is only a slight upgrade to zoo over kird ape, and might not even get the nod CURRENTLY because of burning-tree mana giving and color balance for that.
Lets out it this way. Burning-tree is good in zoo because it helps them go wide. So does Hidden Herbalists, but the difference is the trigger. Burning tree always is a 2 mana flexable 2/2 that gives g/r, which helps filter sometimes against blood moon... but means zoo can cast 1R or 1G it. Most noteably, to be able to spam out kird ape or guide as well as bushwacker. The timing is key on that one. So GG is alot worse in zoo builds than it appears.
Izzet's deck is built around the free mana in mind, not zoo which is built around aggressive efficient creatures that dont need to be enabled. Which is why they are different.
Narnam Renegade IS better than Kird Ape, but tougher to use in the current breed of zoo because A. you need to balance out green with red. and B. Kird Ape blows. And this is me who made the Zoo Primer saying that. The deck needed another 3 power 1 drop, and a 2 drop that makes removal hard for our opponent (think thalia or a better fleecemane) Kird ape was a worser part of the deck. In fact, we do have access to another kird ape. Its called loam lion and we dont use it. So all this does it bench kird ape for a slight upgrade. The thing holding it back was the fact that all other aggro is faster, and control and tempo, the deck it beats, is aweful, and combo is really good along with its need for some thalia powerful 2 drops it needs and a better 1 drop on par with nacatl.
So in short. Zoo's problem is its missing 2 key cards and control and tempo need to get better. Hopefully push fixes the later, but the first problem is still there.
Other than Fatal Push, I only see about 2-3 other cards that MIGHT be role-players in a few tier 3 or lower builds. IMO a very weak Eternal/Non-Rotating set, even though the Revolt mechanic has so much eternal potential.
Crackdown Construct 4
Artifact Creature
Whenever you activate an ability of an artifact or creature that isn't a mana ability, Crackdown Construct gets +1/+1 until end of turn
2/2
Setup 1: have 1 other creature and Lightning Greaves in play. Slam this guy down. Jump greaves between this guy and the other creature as many times as needed, swing for lethal. The fact that greaves both activates his combo and gives shroud seems like it could be playable. You also don't even need to swing with him, Fling or a similar effect would work just as well.
Setup 2: Wandering Fumarole, no explanation needed. Cast crackdown, untap with him, animate fumarole at instant speed, infinite activations. This combo is in standard, which I have to imagine was by design. Fling also works well here, as with this combo you can go infinite at instant speed, assuming you have the mana to animate fumarole when you cast crackdown, or that crackdown survives to untap
Any others in modern I'm forgetting? Just thought of Blinking Spirit, not sure if this is possible but couldn't you respond to it's own ability by activating the ability again? Then repeat that loop over and over? What matters isn't that it's resolving, but that it's being activated.
Other infinite enablers i've found Outrider en-Kor, Viscid Lemures
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
I think it's a decent combo but one that has a lot of weaknesses. Guardian isn't Boltable but Saheeli is; with the Guardian or Saheeli trigger on the stack, an opponent can just Bolt the 1 loyalty Saheeli. Guardian also doesn't have flash (unlike Exarch/Mite), costs four mana, and can't interact with an opposing threat. Furthermore, there are only 4 Guardian as opposed to the 4/2 Exarch/Mite split.
It has some potential because it's a compact two card combo that does win the game on turn four, but it's much more vulnerable than Twin was. I do like that it goes into a Jeskai shell. I don't like that Guardian is worse than Exarch/Mite, which makes a tempo plan B harder.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Shuko, Outrider En-Kor probably there are some more out there.
I don't think Fumarole is the way to go (although maybe additional redundancy if you end up in UR) because Ceaseless Searblades exists and both card have never really seen play together.
The boots seem like the most viable solution so far, mainly because they also give haste which means you don't need to untap with Crackdown, giving it something Twin-esque. Also both are artifacts, which is awesome for finding them. Only problem: Lingering Souls stalls the combo for 4 turns...
The latter can be cast at instant speed, letting you keep countermagic shields up for the turn.
It also could tap down an opponent's land, majorly limiting the opponent's capacity to interact.
With Saheeli, basic creature beatdown can jeopardize it. Dreadbore. Or the disruption can be focused on the Felidar Guardian.
Or if they get the Guardian out before Saheeli, you can ping her on the stack.
Further, the defensive power is weighted in the Felidar Guardian. Deceiver is a 1/4 with Flash that can tap down an attacker. This can steal the game against a hyper aggro deck.
If you play Saheeli on turn 3 and are on the draw, the opponent could very well kill you before you even get to untap.
So this combo looks like Splinter Twin, but loses a significant chunk of the noninteractive 'oops, I win' windows. Nice.
"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.
Rancor? Fling?
CG
And for what it matters the copies are artifacts, so it means cards like Hurkyl Recall stops the combo in it's tracks for one turn. And finally this combo is three colors. So it cannot be splashed for as easily into any deck already running blue or red.
CerberusJund (Modern)GRB
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Morphentress (Commander) GUB
I also play YGO (DragunFusion) and Hearthstone (Dragon Control Warrior)
These weaknesses, in addition to the others I/others have listed, mean a dedicated Saheeli Guardian deck is unlikely to work. If this combo succeeds in Modern, it needs a Jeskai shell that has other avenues to victory. I'd start with Alex Bianchi's Jeskai Twin list from 2015's GP Pittsburgh and work from there. Fun bonus: Guardian also combos with Kiki-Jiki .
I feel like cards like blade splicer and Pia and kiran nalaar really help defend her from this. Plus they are good to clone.
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/)
A twin-lite T4 combo though?! I will have to try it.
Spirits
What I find interesting is that they both combo with oath of nissa (in standar and modern) and you can probably just slot both cards into kiki chord and be fine. Sheli + wall of omens is all good. And just have a suntitan topp end to get it back if they kill her.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Worth noting that you're only adding counters to a "target permanent" or "target player" and not proliferating across multiple permanents/players; however, you do get to add multiple different counters on that permanent, if say, you have something like a Student of Warfare that already has a +1/+1 counter and a loyalty counter on it.
Yeah I suppose, I use him in an Esper super friends mess around deck. I'm just still pining for Twin still, forever...
Spirits
Both make the combo at least one turn slower (not really where you wanna be at in modern).
Fatal Push
4
Hidden Herbalists (with Burning-Tree Emissary)
3
Sram, Senior Edificer (it's a solid 5 in Cheeri0s, but I don't think Cheeri0s is actually that good, so call it a 3 overall)
Baral, Chief of Compliance (Storm, same as Cheeri0s)
Narnam Renegade (1-drop Zoo, Stompy)
2
Aethergeode Miner
Disallow
Trophy Mage
Whir of Invention (mainly to get Lotus Bloom)
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
Rishkar, Peema Renegade (combo Elves, with Beck // Call or Cloudstone Curio)
Silkweaver Elite
Unbridled Growth
Hidden Stockpile
Renegade Rallier
Rogue Refiner
Metallic Mimic
Scrap Trawler
Servo Schematic (Eggs, or some Thopter Sword deck. Slightly better than Myr Sire.)
Walking Ballista (Enduring Renewal)
All Expertises. R > W > B > U > G
1
Everything else
Reprint or functional reprint: Negate, Ornithopter, Natural Obsolescence
Cheeri0s
Storm
1-drop (Bushwhacker) Zoo and Stompy
Combo Elves
Green Devotion
Living End, Restore Balance, and Beck//Call decks
Eggs and Thopter Sword decks
Burning-Tree Emissary decks
Tribal decks
Enduring Renewal
Norin Sisters
any black deck which had to splash red or white for removal
All manner of new combos have been created:
Siege Modification + Consulate Dreadnought
Renegade Rallier + Saffi Eriksdotter
Crackdown Construct + Shuko/Lightning Greaves
Felidar Guardian + Saheeli Rai
Revolt is a powerful mechanic. It's like morbid, but you have a lot more control over it because of fetches. Improvise (or rather, Whir of Invention) has the potential to be good, given that Chord of Calling is a playable card. There are a lot more 0-mana artifacts than 0-mana creatures.
I'm high on Hidden Herbalists (no pun intended). I believe that there is a deck that wants 8 Burning-tree Emissary effects. I've made a thread in Deck Creation, and if you want a reason to look at it, how about "10 power on turn 2"?
Aerial Responder: 0
Authority of the Consuls: 0
Cataclysmic Gearhulk: 1
Fairgrounds Warden: 0
Fragmentize: 1
Refurbish: 0
Toolcraft Exemplar: 0
Ceremonious Rejection: 14
Dramatic Reversal: 0
Glint-Nest Crane: 16, all Lantern Control
Paradoxical Outcome: 0
Torrential Gearhulk: 9
Gonti, Lord of Luxury: 1
Lost Legacy: 18
Cathartic Reunion: 118, mostly Dredge
Chandra, Torch of Defiance: 86
Combustible Gearhulk: 1
Inventor's Apprentice: 0
Madcap Experiment: 11
Noxious Gearhulk: 0
Pia Nalaar: 0
Spark of Creativity: 0
Blossoming Defense: 82, mostly Infect
Dubious Challenge: 0
Nissa, Vital Force: 1
Verdurous Gearhulk: 0
Wildest Dreams: 0
Contraband Kingpin: 0
Dovin Baan: 0
Kambal, Consul of Allocation: 4
Saheeli Rai: 0
Voltaic Brawler: 1
Aetherflux Reservoir: 0
Aetherworks Marvel: 0
Bomat Courier: 6
Filigree Familiar: 4
Foundry Inspector: 0
Metalwork Colossus: 0
Panharmonicon: 0
Smuggler's Copter: 4
Aether Hub: 7
Blooming Marsh: 136
Botanical Sanctum: 36
Concealed Courtyard: 35
Inspiring Vantage: 28
Inventors' Fair: 44, mostly Lantern Control
Spirebluff Canal: 119
The best cards were the fastlands, Cathartic Reunion and Blossoming Defense. Chandra, Torch of Defiance showed up a lot too, but nobody really noticed because they were all focused on Dredge and Infect.
Inventors' Fair and Blooming Marsh, and to a lesser extent Glint-Nest Crane, really helped Lantern Control.
Fragmentize saw extremely little play for such a mana-efficient SB card. A possible explanation is that white already has Stony Silence, but I believe a large part of it is also being a sorcery.
There were a whole bunch of combo duds, like Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter, Paradoxical Outcome, Dubious Challenge and both Aether____ artifacts. Pro tip: if you want to play a "whenever you do something" engine card, you should reconsider if it costs 4 mana.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
I do seem to remember another card from this set that enabled Myr Superion, but I don't imagine that was the reason for the hype.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Hidden Herbalists gets you GG instead of GR. Which means once enabled, a deck like Stompy can get some ridiculous plays with Experiment One T1, Avatar of the Resolute and one or two Herbalists and a T3 Nissa locking the game. It don't just act like an extra Emissary, there are some places he just fits a little bit better, enough to enable some new strategies.
The thing about synergy-heavy decks is, the transition from "tier 5 jank" to "actually playable" can be sudden. New cards enable older cards that wouldn't have seen play without it. Dredge is a good example - before Amalgam, the default Dredge deck (Dredgevine) couldn't use Narcomoeba well, because it didn't trigger Vengevine. Bloodghast didn't either (although it was still a strong card and Dredgevine played it anyway). But once Amalgam hit, suddenly those two cards became a lot stronger - it's almost as though Amalgam added one or two additional new cards to the deck, even though it was just one card by itself.
Herbalists has a similar effect. It gives you the critical mass required to play Myr Superion and/or trigger Vengevine on turn 2 consistently, or get in for more damage with Reckless Bushwhacker. Previously there was Priest of Urabrask, but you couldn't play a T2 Superion with it.
The deck that wants more BTEs is extremely obscure. Here it is. The obvious upgrades are Priest -> Herbalists, Commune with the Gods -> Gather the Pack and 1-drops -> Insolent Neonate. Personally I favor more cards that cost 1G over aggressive R 1-drops - this decision is also due in no small part to Herbalists.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Pact of Negation in Ad Nauseum. Counter whatever you play next turn. Pact triggers on stack, win at instant speed, probably with one more pact in hand for protection.
Mindbreak Trap in UB-mill. If they search libraries during your turn, mill them for a bunch.
Slaughter Pact in some aggressive or midrange deck with black. Kill a few creatures, swing for lethal.
If you have a way to give all your creatures haste, maybe Pact of the Titan for some punch. Goblins?
Chain those Stone Rains. If they're down, keep them down. Or maybe Plow Under.
Any grindy control or mid-range decks with black becomes... more grindy. Search for all the Ancestral Visions for total BS.
They're all pie-in-the-sky ideas but I sense this might be similar to Seasons Past in standard earlier. Overcosted grindy card that is powerful enough to build around.
Too low in the current Modern META. But if it is for fun, why not.
Anything, but nothing at the moment...
Modern:
WUBRGAmulet Titan, WUBRGHuman
WUBRAd Nauseam, WBRGDeath Shadow, UBRGScapeshift, UBRGDredge
WURJeskai Nahiri, WURCheeri0s, WBGCounter Company, WRGBurn, UBRMadcap Moon, BRGJund Midrange
UBTurn,BRGriselbrand Reanimator, WGKnight Company, RGRG Tron, RGRG Ponza, XAffinity, XEldrazi Tron
Hidden Herbalists Helps zoo alot less than people think. Renegade is a nice addition, but is only a slight upgrade to zoo over kird ape, and might not even get the nod CURRENTLY because of burning-tree mana giving and color balance for that.
Lets out it this way. Burning-tree is good in zoo because it helps them go wide. So does Hidden Herbalists, but the difference is the trigger. Burning tree always is a 2 mana flexable 2/2 that gives g/r, which helps filter sometimes against blood moon... but means zoo can cast 1R or 1G it. Most noteably, to be able to spam out kird ape or guide as well as bushwacker. The timing is key on that one. So GG is alot worse in zoo builds than it appears.
Izzet's deck is built around the free mana in mind, not zoo which is built around aggressive efficient creatures that dont need to be enabled. Which is why they are different.
Narnam Renegade IS better than Kird Ape, but tougher to use in the current breed of zoo because A. you need to balance out green with red. and B. Kird Ape blows. And this is me who made the Zoo Primer saying that. The deck needed another 3 power 1 drop, and a 2 drop that makes removal hard for our opponent (think thalia or a better fleecemane) Kird ape was a worser part of the deck. In fact, we do have access to another kird ape. Its called loam lion and we dont use it. So all this does it bench kird ape for a slight upgrade. The thing holding it back was the fact that all other aggro is faster, and control and tempo, the deck it beats, is aweful, and combo is really good along with its need for some thalia powerful 2 drops it needs and a better 1 drop on par with nacatl.
So in short. Zoo's problem is its missing 2 key cards and control and tempo need to get better. Hopefully push fixes the later, but the first problem is still there.
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero