I feel like recently they spoiled a lot of cards with value in modern with opt, duress, and spell pierce. I wonder if there was a strategy behind that. All of those cards could be commons in a modern masters set.
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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
I feel like recently they spoiled a lot of cards with value in modern with opt, duress, and spell pierce. I wonder if there was a strategy behind that. All of those cards could be commons in a modern masters set.
It's good to have cheap answer cards in standard too. Imagine if we had Duress and Spell Pierce around when Marvel/Saheeli was running rampant? Might have been able to keep them in check
Time Reversal also shuffles graveyards as well. It's really only good when your opponents turns are largely irrelevant.
Overflowing Insight is more like an expensive Opportunity than it is Time Reversal. Pull from tomorrow seems so much better though.
The only deck in Modern looking to draw cards and actually play Time Reversal is this, which is why I brought it up.
Arguel's Blood Fast is a really neat card. It's an engine until you're almost dead then it brings you back up in life. Don't forget how the Fateful Hour mechanic turned out though...
Ranging Raptors has potential to be the best ramp in the format, but by the time you build your deck around it there isn't much point so it won't see play.
Again, Old-Growth Dryads looks the best in hyper aggro decks from that initial testing of mine.
Which deck you are testing against? No bolt or push or path?
True, neither Merfolk nor Eldrazi Tron (nor Hollow Vengevine Goryo's) play Bolt/Push/PtE, and Small Naya Revolt Zoo plays so many creatures that it can easily absorb a single removal spell.
Tried OGD against Burn last night. Sometimes, it screws over Small Zoo by giving Burn enough lands to win, but sometimes, the 3/3 body still wins games fast enough. I'm not sure whether it's a liability in this match-up.
Also tried OGD against Dredge last night. OGD seems to screw over Small Zoo a bit more often there, as Dredge is surprisingly mana-hungry, and accelerating their Conflagrates isn't all that good. Heck, neither is reanimating their Bloodghasts for them (although Dredge ends up self-milling its basics pretty quickly). I think I need more testing there, though.
I suspect OGD will be good against Jund/Junk/UWR because they can't take advantage of the mana accel fast enough (in a similar fashion to Merfolk--all these match-ups are attrition-based and depend mainly on the quality of the spells), but I can test them today.
As for the biggest reason to play OGD over Goblin Guide/Kird Ape/Narnam Renegade/etc. but not Wild Nacatl? 3 immediate and permanent power for 1 mana is so dang good that it's likely worth playing as long as it doesn't slow down your tempo (see Scythe Tiger as an example of 3 power for 1 mana that slows your tempo too much).
Growing Rites of Itlimoc 2G
Legendary Enchantment
When ETB, look at the top 4 cards of your library and put a creature on your hand.
At the begining of your end step, if you have 4 or more creatures, flip.
Fliped side is a Gaea's Cradle that has a second ability to tap for G.
I think Chart a Course has promise! For 1U, it's basically, "Draw 2 cards. Raid: Then discard a card unless you attacked with a creature this turn." I think Merfolk and maybe tempo decks can find room for this card.
I'm not so sure about Growing Rites of Itlimoc. About the only decks with the creature density to support it also have to support Collected Company/Chord of Calling/Eldritch Evolution/Lead the Stampede, so they can't afford to play too many noncreature cards, and then the large amounts of mana may still be a waste a fair chunk of the time. (I sometimes can't win with the Devoted Vizier combo for turns straight.)
-Opt: The most anticipated card from the set thus far and for good reason. Opt gives a really nice boost to control decks that really wanted this kind of card. Decks like Jeskai Flash, UW Control, Jeskai Control, Esper Control get really nice boosts from this card being reprinted in modern frame. I'm interested to see how delver looks now that it has this card as a potential cantrip. I'm also interested in seeming now much better blue decks in general get from this card existing.
-Sorcerous Spyglass: I feel like I may be overrating this card but I really like what this card is doing. If you are on the play and you play spyglass, you can look at their hand and if they have a fetchland in their hand you just get to stone rain them by naming the fetchland. If they have two of the same fetchland then it's a double stone rain. Since it's a pithing needle effect, it's pretty good against basically every deck. I see this as a definite sideboard card for the future. IMHO it's one of the best modern card from this set so far.
-Growing Rites of Itlimoc: One of the flashiest cards of the entire set. The ability to get the Gaea's Cradle effect on this card will hinge on whether or not it's playable. Clearly, it looks like it fits in elves either in the maindeck or the sideboard. The question to ask is: how hard is it to get/keep four creatures on the field? I think it's easier than most think which is why I think this will see play as a 1-2 of in the main.
-Unclaimed Territory: This is a niche card but I see it slotting into 5 color human mana bases really nicely.
-Chart a Course: We have never seen a draw 2 discard 1 effect at 1U before. The closest that we get is see beyond and that doesn't dump a card in the graveyard. This card seems very good to say the least. I could honestly see a world where this is just used to discard a card since there are graveyard centric decks that would love to get a card in the yard. Stuff like Esper Reanimator/gifts seems like they could use this to a really good effect. I haven't even talked about the fact that there are tempo decks that can make this card consistently be a 1Udivination. This card is doing a lot of powerful things and I suspect that people will sleep on this card until they see what it's made of.
-Carnage Tyrant: Slots right into scapeshift decks's sideboard. They were playing Gaea's Revenge before and this looks like a nice upgrade. Easy to tutor it with summoner's pact.
-Kopala, Warden of Waves: Seems like a slamdunk for merfolk players that want a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner esque effect but do not want to play kira in the maindeck. I see this splitting some kind of numbers with kira in the sideboard. Seems like a nice 2 of for fish players. It's nice that walking ballista can't machine gun down their armies now.
Has a low chance of seeing play in modern
-Jace, Cunning Castaway: Many people have called this card bad and left it at that. I see the potental for this card to see play in modern. Having a three drop planeswalker poop out a 2/2 is really good. The plus ability is not the greatest but I honestly believe that most of the time you are in to get a 2/2 creature then ride the loot waves until you find another jace. The only card that really hurts the new jace is electrolyze (it can kill the token and jace) and that's not seeing much play these days. It has a very low chance of being good enough in tempo decks but I will try it anyhow.
-Settle the Wreckage: Wrath of god meets Path to exile. Obviously this card seems great with aven mindcensor/shadow of doubt. The question that I have for this card is "will this card be good enough without needing a players can't search libraries effect out." Or is it too detrimental? Since many modern decks don't play many basics I want to say that it's playable but I'm hesitant to say 100 percent.
-Hostage Taker: It is very unheard of for UB to ever get the ability to ever interact with artifacts outside of just bouncing them back to the opponent's hand. Having the ability to exile artifacts/creatures seems really good. This card is pretty slow for dealing with affinity but if it's good enough, being able to exile a threat then cast it the next turn seems good since most of modern's threats are on the cheap end.(worth noting that if you steal a delve creature, you can delve to cast it). If this gets there it makes a nice addition to the sideboard.
-Siren Stormtamer: Seems like a nice card for Saheeli Rai if it's good enough since it can protect felidar guardian. It reminds me of a ghetto spellskite. The problem is that you have to hold up mana to get the ability off which can be really annoying. It has promise since it can attack but holding mana may prove to be too annoying.
-Old-Growth Dryads: Similar to Settle the Wreckage, we haven't had many cards that gives your opponents lands before in modern this aggressively costed. A 3/3 is no joke in terms of power and if they don't have the removal for this card it can quickly win the game paid with goblin guide or wild nacatl. This one may surprise people.
-Kinjalli's Sunwing: A Thalia, Heretic Cathar effect with tapping creatures down but this one doens't tap nonbasics down. Instead it trade that for evasion and swapped power and toughness. I don't really see this one getting there since new thalia only sees fringe play.
-Tocatli Honor Guard: This torpor orb on a stick has been seen before in Hushwing Gryff with flash and it didn't do anything. This one doesn't have flash or evasion which makes it even harder for me to believe that this gets there. Worth noting that the jank torpor orb deck has 12 orb effects now.
-Arguel's bloodfast: As much as I love this card's design, it has no chance of seeing play in modern. It does nothing when it ETBs, it asks you to sink 2 mana to draw a card, and the payoff is low when it flips. And no, death shadow decks would rather play painful truths than play this.
-Deadeye Tracker: See Sentinel Totem's issues with seeing modern play. You can clearly tell that this card has been heavily nerfed to avoid a deathrite shaman 2.0 from happening.
-Vanquisher's Banner: Initially I was excited about this card for elves but the more I think about it, the most I see this card having its work cut out for it. Elves have to get to 5 mana, cast this for it's glorious anthem effect then they need more creatures in order to get the glimpse of nature effect. That seems like a winmore scenario almost everytime.
-Deeproot Champion: As much as I love miracle grow creatures, they just haven't panned out in modern because we lack good enough protection spells/they are horrid top decks. I fell for the myth realized trap once and I'm not falling for it this time. The Quirion Dryad effect isn't good enough these days sadly.
-Ripjaw Raptor: A dino for a great rate but that rate is outclassed at 1-2 mana.
-Rowdy Crew: Not as bad as many believe this to be since it does put two cards in your graveyard. The issue is that this would have to go in a deck that doesn't care about discarding random pieces. Sadly it doesn't say discard three cards so hollow one decks do not quite get there with this card.
-Ranging Raptors: Really cool build around me card that asks a lot to ramp you in a format where ramp is easy to do.
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On mtgsalvation people don't want to discuss ideas, so I give people something else to discuss: my controversial opinions.
Growing Rites of Itlimoc is being super hyped and with good reason. The thing is that the Company decks people are trying to just shove this into are getting diluted by it. All of the Company decks are also playing a ton of manadorks and not really needing a Cradle effect. I'd expect to play one (mayyyyybe two) in the deck just to have the effect and some extra digging potential, but in reality the existing decks just don't need it I feel.
I'm confident Growing Rites and Opt will both be duds. You can't transform it on command, and only at the end step. Opt is interesting but it has no home. Modern is a format where you either need to dig deeper (Serum Visions) or use the Graveyard (Thoughtscour). Scry one, draw one is only good when you have another instant at the same cost. SO it looks promising in a control build until you remember that these builds would be running Snapcaster and he would prefer you filled up the graveyard, not hide the card away.
Growing Rites of Itlimoc is being super hyped and with good reason. The thing is that the Company decks people are trying to just shove this into are getting diluted by it. All of the Company decks are also playing a ton of manadorks and not really needing a Cradle effect. I'd expect to play one (mayyyyybe two) in the deck just to have the effect and some extra digging potential, but in reality the existing decks just don't need it I feel.
I've been keeping an eye on things that play well with cryptolith rite because I think it is a modern power level card waiting for a home. This card works well there but I'm just not sure what you would do with it and the front side seems really underwhelming. I think at 1G growing rites may see play but the 2G cost seems a little steep.
I'm confident Growing Rites and Opt will both be duds. You can't transform it on command, and only at the end step. Opt is interesting but it has no home. Modern is a format where you either need to dig deeper (Serum Visions) or use the Graveyard (Thoughtscour). Scry one, draw one is only good when you have another instant at the same cost. SO it looks promising in a control build until you remember that these builds would be running Snapcaster and he would prefer you filled up the graveyard, not hide the card away.
I don't disagree with Rites, but the Opt assessment seems way off. Digging +1 in Modern control is way less important than holding up mana for answers. Control decks, especially on the draw, no longer need to tap out on T1 for a cantrip. They can also Snapcaster/Opt on an opponent's T3, instead of tapping out for Snap/SV on their own T3. Finally, you don't get a blind draw off Opt, which is critical in a Modern format that demands specialized answers. Overall, Opt will be a strong card in control, GDS, and other strategies.
I'm confident Growing Rites and Opt will both be duds. You can't transform it on command, and only at the end step. Opt is interesting but it has no home. Modern is a format where you either need to dig deeper (Serum Visions) or use the Graveyard (Thoughtscour). Scry one, draw one is only good when you have another instant at the same cost. SO it looks promising in a control build until you remember that these builds would be running Snapcaster and he would prefer you filled up the graveyard, not hide the card away.
I don't disagree with Rites, but the Opt assessment seems way off. Digging +1 in Modern control is way less important than holding up mana for answers. Control decks, especially on the draw, no longer need to tap out on T1 for a cantrip. They can also Snapcaster/Opt on an opponent's T3, instead of tapping out for Snap/SV on their own T3. Finally, you don't get a blind draw off Opt, which is critical in a Modern format that demands specialized answers. Overall, Opt will be a strong card in control, GDS, and other strategies.
GDS? Grixis Death's shadow? What would Opt replace?
I'm confident Growing Rites and Opt will both be duds. You can't transform it on command, and only at the end step. Opt is interesting but it has no home. Modern is a format where you either need to dig deeper (Serum Visions) or use the Graveyard (Thoughtscour). Scry one, draw one is only good when you have another instant at the same cost. SO it looks promising in a control build until you remember that these builds would be running Snapcaster and he would prefer you filled up the graveyard, not hide the card away.
I don't disagree with Rites, but the Opt assessment seems way off. Digging +1 in Modern control is way less important than holding up mana for answers. Control decks, especially on the draw, no longer need to tap out on T1 for a cantrip. They can also Snapcaster/Opt on an opponent's T3, instead of tapping out for Snap/SV on their own T3. Finally, you don't get a blind draw off Opt, which is critical in a Modern format that demands specialized answers. Overall, Opt will be a strong card in control, GDS, and other strategies.
GDS? Grixis Death's shadow? What would Opt replace?
I agree, I doubt opt will replace thought scour in GDS. Especially with Tasigur and Delve Fish in the deck.
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Decks I play:
Modern:
BR Control
Grixis Bloo
EDH:
Food Chain Prossh
Land Wipe Maelstrom Wanderer
Selvala, Hearth of the Wilds Eldrazi
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx looks like a better version of that new Cradle. It's free and by the time you have 4 creatures, it will provide enough mana to do whatever you want in Elves.
Now in ramp decks that play dorks, like MonoG Devotion, I could see that card dig for a pay-off and then cast it. Could be a better Oath of Nissa.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
The most likely use for Chart a Course is to replace Izzet Charm in Grixis Reanimator, I think. You'd play it simply as reverse Tormenting Voice, without the intention of negating the discard drawback. In fact you want the discard for ditching Griselbrand to Goryo's Vengeance back later.
It's not good in straightforward aggro decks - if you play a creature on turn 1 and attack with it on turn 2, you'd want to play another creature on turn 2 to add pressure, not spend 2 mana to draw 2 cards. I can't see it in a deck like Merfolk, for example - you have Silvergill Adept or any number of lords to play on turn 2 over it.
What it might be good in are graveyard-based aggro decks that aren't playing red for some reason, like this one. The problem with a blue-based graveyard aggro deck is that it's great at milling itself with things like Hedron Crab to get Vengevine etc into the graveyard, but not so great at discarding those Vengevines if you happen to draw them. Red doesn't have this problem between Faithless Looting and Cathartic Reunion. Chart a Course could plug this gap - I say "could" because personally I'd just cut blue for red than try to make blue work with Chart a Course, but maybe someone else will make it work somehow.
Additionally, if you're playing recurring creatures like Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, Prized Amalgam or Vengevine, you can attack with abandon to turn off the discard on Chart a Course if the situation calls for it. Just play a land and Bloodghast comes back.
The other card that's got my attention (and everyone else's) is Growing Rites of Itlimoc. The front side is a really bad Gift of the Gargantuan, but the back is Gaea's Cradle. Two decks come to mind for getting the 4 requisite creatures to flip Growing Rites. The first is Elves: it has no shortage of 1-drops and mana dorks, and Growing Rites can happen on turn 2 off T1 dork, T2 Heritage Druid, 2 more dorks, Growing Rites. Note that this sequence requires 7 cards, so it's not terribly likely, nor will you always have a mana sink next turn for all that sweet Itlimoc mana.
However, Elves is also a Company deck, and every noncreature spell you play dilutes Company. At the moment the only other maindeck noncreature spell it plays is Chord of Calling, so that's got to go if you want to play Growing Rites. Is it worth playing over Chord? In my opinion, no - the thing about Chord is that you get to choose, depending on the board state, if you want more mana (get Heritage Druid/Elvish Archdruid) or a mana sink for all the mana you already have (get Ezuri, Renegade Leader). With Growing Rites it's possible that you can already generate a lot of mana and are just looking for Ezuri, Archdruid or Shaman of the Pack to close out the game. Then GR ends up giving you a 1/1 dork and the flip side doesn't help matters. feelsbadman
The other deck is mono-green Devotion. Growing Rites has a few synergies in the deck: Burning-Tree Emissary and Hidden Herbalists cost 0 net mana, making the 4-creature threshold easier to hit. GR acts like a sorcery but counts at 1 green symbol for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, just like Oath of Nissa. And they do something if revealed off Genesis Wave. It sounds nice in theory, but so far everything I've tried is more miss than hit. Either I flood out without drawing a wincon, or I fail to get any ramp going and get stuck with multiple 4-drops and X spells in hand.
I'm confident Growing Rites and Opt will both be duds. You can't transform it on command, and only at the end step. Opt is interesting but it has no home. Modern is a format where you either need to dig deeper (Serum Visions) or use the Graveyard (Thoughtscour). Scry one, draw one is only good when you have another instant at the same cost. SO it looks promising in a control build until you remember that these builds would be running Snapcaster and he would prefer you filled up the graveyard, not hide the card away.
Growing Rites will be a dud for sure. Its an EDH only card
Opt, however, is most certainly not a dud. It will see lots of play
izzetmage, you don't need to cast Chart a Course on Turn 2 in Merfolk. You can cast it on Turns 3-5 when you're running out of gas, just like Affinity's Thoughtcast.
...Oh, who am I kidding? I see a lot more Galvanic Blasts than Thoughtcasts in Affinity decks nowadays!
In the meantime, Search for Azcanta just might be the best card spoiled so far for Modern. Sure, it's a pseudo-Scry 1 every upkeep for 1U, but you get to dump the bad card into your graveyard instead of tuck it, and once you hit Threshold, you get to flip it into a legendary land! That land not only taps for U, but it also lets you Impulse for a noncreature, nonland card for 2Ut! I'm sticking it in a lot of U/x decks, from UWR variants and UW variants to Scapeshift, Esper Control, and more.
Which deck you are testing against? No bolt or push or path?
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
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
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Control decks really needed the instant speed selection cantrip so they could hold up answers and still cantrip if their answers aren't needed.
It's good to have cheap answer cards in standard too. Imagine if we had Duress and Spell Pierce around when Marvel/Saheeli was running rampant? Might have been able to keep them in check
Arguel's Blood Fast is a really neat card. It's an engine until you're almost dead then it brings you back up in life. Don't forget how the Fateful Hour mechanic turned out though...
Ranging Raptors has potential to be the best ramp in the format, but by the time you build your deck around it there isn't much point so it won't see play.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
True, neither Merfolk nor Eldrazi Tron (nor Hollow Vengevine Goryo's) play Bolt/Push/PtE, and Small Naya Revolt Zoo plays so many creatures that it can easily absorb a single removal spell.
Tried OGD against Burn last night. Sometimes, it screws over Small Zoo by giving Burn enough lands to win, but sometimes, the 3/3 body still wins games fast enough. I'm not sure whether it's a liability in this match-up.
Also tried OGD against Dredge last night. OGD seems to screw over Small Zoo a bit more often there, as Dredge is surprisingly mana-hungry, and accelerating their Conflagrates isn't all that good. Heck, neither is reanimating their Bloodghasts for them (although Dredge ends up self-milling its basics pretty quickly). I think I need more testing there, though.
I suspect OGD will be good against Jund/Junk/UWR because they can't take advantage of the mana accel fast enough (in a similar fashion to Merfolk--all these match-ups are attrition-based and depend mainly on the quality of the spells), but I can test them today.
As for the biggest reason to play OGD over Goblin Guide/Kird Ape/Narnam Renegade/etc. but not Wild Nacatl? 3 immediate and permanent power for 1 mana is so dang good that it's likely worth playing as long as it doesn't slow down your tempo (see Scythe Tiger as an example of 3 power for 1 mana that slows your tempo too much).
Growing Rites of Itlimoc 2G
Legendary Enchantment
When ETB, look at the top 4 cards of your library and put a creature on your hand.
At the begining of your end step, if you have 4 or more creatures, flip.
Fliped side is a Gaea's Cradle that has a second ability to tap for G.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
I'm not so sure about Growing Rites of Itlimoc. About the only decks with the creature density to support it also have to support Collected Company/Chord of Calling/Eldritch Evolution/Lead the Stampede, so they can't afford to play too many noncreature cards, and then the large amounts of mana may still be a waste a fair chunk of the time. (I sometimes can't win with the Devoted Vizier combo for turns straight.)
I think this will see modern play
-Opt: The most anticipated card from the set thus far and for good reason. Opt gives a really nice boost to control decks that really wanted this kind of card. Decks like Jeskai Flash, UW Control, Jeskai Control, Esper Control get really nice boosts from this card being reprinted in modern frame. I'm interested to see how delver looks now that it has this card as a potential cantrip. I'm also interested in seeming now much better blue decks in general get from this card existing.
-Sorcerous Spyglass: I feel like I may be overrating this card but I really like what this card is doing. If you are on the play and you play spyglass, you can look at their hand and if they have a fetchland in their hand you just get to stone rain them by naming the fetchland. If they have two of the same fetchland then it's a double stone rain. Since it's a pithing needle effect, it's pretty good against basically every deck. I see this as a definite sideboard card for the future. IMHO it's one of the best modern card from this set so far.
-Growing Rites of Itlimoc: One of the flashiest cards of the entire set. The ability to get the Gaea's Cradle effect on this card will hinge on whether or not it's playable. Clearly, it looks like it fits in elves either in the maindeck or the sideboard. The question to ask is: how hard is it to get/keep four creatures on the field? I think it's easier than most think which is why I think this will see play as a 1-2 of in the main.
-Unclaimed Territory: This is a niche card but I see it slotting into 5 color human mana bases really nicely.
-Chart a Course: We have never seen a draw 2 discard 1 effect at 1U before. The closest that we get is see beyond and that doesn't dump a card in the graveyard. This card seems very good to say the least. I could honestly see a world where this is just used to discard a card since there are graveyard centric decks that would love to get a card in the yard. Stuff like Esper Reanimator/gifts seems like they could use this to a really good effect. I haven't even talked about the fact that there are tempo decks that can make this card consistently be a 1U divination. This card is doing a lot of powerful things and I suspect that people will sleep on this card until they see what it's made of.
-Carnage Tyrant: Slots right into scapeshift decks's sideboard. They were playing Gaea's Revenge before and this looks like a nice upgrade. Easy to tutor it with summoner's pact.
-Kopala, Warden of Waves: Seems like a slamdunk for merfolk players that want a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner esque effect but do not want to play kira in the maindeck. I see this splitting some kind of numbers with kira in the sideboard. Seems like a nice 2 of for fish players. It's nice that walking ballista can't machine gun down their armies now.
Has a low chance of seeing play in modern
-Jace, Cunning Castaway: Many people have called this card bad and left it at that. I see the potental for this card to see play in modern. Having a three drop planeswalker poop out a 2/2 is really good. The plus ability is not the greatest but I honestly believe that most of the time you are in to get a 2/2 creature then ride the loot waves until you find another jace. The only card that really hurts the new jace is electrolyze (it can kill the token and jace) and that's not seeing much play these days. It has a very low chance of being good enough in tempo decks but I will try it anyhow.
-Settle the Wreckage: Wrath of god meets Path to exile. Obviously this card seems great with aven mindcensor/shadow of doubt. The question that I have for this card is "will this card be good enough without needing a players can't search libraries effect out." Or is it too detrimental? Since many modern decks don't play many basics I want to say that it's playable but I'm hesitant to say 100 percent.
-Hostage Taker: It is very unheard of for UB to ever get the ability to ever interact with artifacts outside of just bouncing them back to the opponent's hand. Having the ability to exile artifacts/creatures seems really good. This card is pretty slow for dealing with affinity but if it's good enough, being able to exile a threat then cast it the next turn seems good since most of modern's threats are on the cheap end.(worth noting that if you steal a delve creature, you can delve to cast it). If this gets there it makes a nice addition to the sideboard.
-Siren Stormtamer: Seems like a nice card for Saheeli Rai if it's good enough since it can protect felidar guardian. It reminds me of a ghetto spellskite. The problem is that you have to hold up mana to get the ability off which can be really annoying. It has promise since it can attack but holding mana may prove to be too annoying.
-Old-Growth Dryads: Similar to Settle the Wreckage, we haven't had many cards that gives your opponents lands before in modern this aggressively costed. A 3/3 is no joke in terms of power and if they don't have the removal for this card it can quickly win the game paid with goblin guide or wild nacatl. This one may surprise people.
This card has not shot of seeing play in modern
-Entrancing Melody: This card got a lot of hype when it was leaked until we learned that it's a sorcery. We have Threads of Disloyalty,Bribery,Sower of temptation and Vedalken Shackles as better cards and none of those see much play these days. Being a sorcery kills this spell's shot at seeing play in modern.
-Kinjalli's Sunwing: A Thalia, Heretic Cathar effect with tapping creatures down but this one doens't tap nonbasics down. Instead it trade that for evasion and swapped power and toughness. I don't really see this one getting there since new thalia only sees fringe play.
-Tocatli Honor Guard: This torpor orb on a stick has been seen before in Hushwing Gryff with flash and it didn't do anything. This one doesn't have flash or evasion which makes it even harder for me to believe that this gets there. Worth noting that the jank torpor orb deck has 12 orb effects now.
-Arguel's bloodfast: As much as I love this card's design, it has no chance of seeing play in modern. It does nothing when it ETBs, it asks you to sink 2 mana to draw a card, and the payoff is low when it flips. And no, death shadow decks would rather play painful truths than play this.
-Sentinel Totem: This seems like a good graveyard hate card until you realize that modern has things like relic of progenitus, tormod's crypt, leyline of the void, scavenging ooze, rest in peace, grafdigger's cage, etc. There is many cards that do graveyard hate better than this card does sadly.
-Deadeye Tracker: See Sentinel Totem's issues with seeing modern play. You can clearly tell that this card has been heavily nerfed to avoid a deathrite shaman 2.0 from happening.
-Vanquisher's Banner: Initially I was excited about this card for elves but the more I think about it, the most I see this card having its work cut out for it. Elves have to get to 5 mana, cast this for it's glorious anthem effect then they need more creatures in order to get the glimpse of nature effect. That seems like a winmore scenario almost everytime.
-Deeproot Champion: As much as I love miracle grow creatures, they just haven't panned out in modern because we lack good enough protection spells/they are horrid top decks. I fell for the myth realized trap once and I'm not falling for it this time. The Quirion Dryad effect isn't good enough these days sadly.
-Ripjaw Raptor: A dino for a great rate but that rate is outclassed at 1-2 mana.
-Rowdy Crew: Not as bad as many believe this to be since it does put two cards in your graveyard. The issue is that this would have to go in a deck that doesn't care about discarding random pieces. Sadly it doesn't say discard three cards so hollow one decks do not quite get there with this card.
-Ranging Raptors: Really cool build around me card that asks a lot to ramp you in a format where ramp is easy to do.
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/)
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Add Secure the Wastes for maximum fun.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Added it right before you mentioned it. *Great Minds*
I've been keeping an eye on things that play well with cryptolith rite because I think it is a modern power level card waiting for a home. This card works well there but I'm just not sure what you would do with it and the front side seems really underwhelming. I think at 1G growing rites may see play but the 2G cost seems a little steep.
I don't disagree with Rites, but the Opt assessment seems way off. Digging +1 in Modern control is way less important than holding up mana for answers. Control decks, especially on the draw, no longer need to tap out on T1 for a cantrip. They can also Snapcaster/Opt on an opponent's T3, instead of tapping out for Snap/SV on their own T3. Finally, you don't get a blind draw off Opt, which is critical in a Modern format that demands specialized answers. Overall, Opt will be a strong card in control, GDS, and other strategies.
GDS? Grixis Death's shadow? What would Opt replace?
I agree, I doubt opt will replace thought scour in GDS. Especially with Tasigur and Delve Fish in the deck.
Modern:
BR Control
Grixis Bloo
EDH:
Food Chain Prossh
Land Wipe Maelstrom Wanderer
Selvala, Hearth of the Wilds Eldrazi
Now in ramp decks that play dorks, like MonoG Devotion, I could see that card dig for a pay-off and then cast it. Could be a better Oath of Nissa.
It's not good in straightforward aggro decks - if you play a creature on turn 1 and attack with it on turn 2, you'd want to play another creature on turn 2 to add pressure, not spend 2 mana to draw 2 cards. I can't see it in a deck like Merfolk, for example - you have Silvergill Adept or any number of lords to play on turn 2 over it.
What it might be good in are graveyard-based aggro decks that aren't playing red for some reason, like this one. The problem with a blue-based graveyard aggro deck is that it's great at milling itself with things like Hedron Crab to get Vengevine etc into the graveyard, but not so great at discarding those Vengevines if you happen to draw them. Red doesn't have this problem between Faithless Looting and Cathartic Reunion. Chart a Course could plug this gap - I say "could" because personally I'd just cut blue for red than try to make blue work with Chart a Course, but maybe someone else will make it work somehow.
Additionally, if you're playing recurring creatures like Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, Prized Amalgam or Vengevine, you can attack with abandon to turn off the discard on Chart a Course if the situation calls for it. Just play a land and Bloodghast comes back.
The other card that's got my attention (and everyone else's) is Growing Rites of Itlimoc. The front side is a really bad Gift of the Gargantuan, but the back is Gaea's Cradle. Two decks come to mind for getting the 4 requisite creatures to flip Growing Rites. The first is Elves: it has no shortage of 1-drops and mana dorks, and Growing Rites can happen on turn 2 off T1 dork, T2 Heritage Druid, 2 more dorks, Growing Rites. Note that this sequence requires 7 cards, so it's not terribly likely, nor will you always have a mana sink next turn for all that sweet Itlimoc mana.
However, Elves is also a Company deck, and every noncreature spell you play dilutes Company. At the moment the only other maindeck noncreature spell it plays is Chord of Calling, so that's got to go if you want to play Growing Rites. Is it worth playing over Chord? In my opinion, no - the thing about Chord is that you get to choose, depending on the board state, if you want more mana (get Heritage Druid/Elvish Archdruid) or a mana sink for all the mana you already have (get Ezuri, Renegade Leader). With Growing Rites it's possible that you can already generate a lot of mana and are just looking for Ezuri, Archdruid or Shaman of the Pack to close out the game. Then GR ends up giving you a 1/1 dork and the flip side doesn't help matters. feelsbadman
The other deck is mono-green Devotion. Growing Rites has a few synergies in the deck: Burning-Tree Emissary and Hidden Herbalists cost 0 net mana, making the 4-creature threshold easier to hit. GR acts like a sorcery but counts at 1 green symbol for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, just like Oath of Nissa. And they do something if revealed off Genesis Wave. It sounds nice in theory, but so far everything I've tried is more miss than hit. Either I flood out without drawing a wincon, or I fail to get any ramp going and get stuck with multiple 4-drops and X spells in hand.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Growing Rites will be a dud for sure. Its an EDH only card
Opt, however, is most certainly not a dud. It will see lots of play
...Oh, who am I kidding? I see a lot more Galvanic Blasts than Thoughtcasts in Affinity decks nowadays!
In the meantime, Search for Azcanta just might be the best card spoiled so far for Modern. Sure, it's a pseudo-Scry 1 every upkeep for 1U, but you get to dump the bad card into your graveyard instead of tuck it, and once you hit Threshold, you get to flip it into a legendary land! That land not only taps for U, but it also lets you Impulse for a noncreature, nonland card for 2Ut! I'm sticking it in a lot of U/x decks, from UWR variants and UW variants to Scapeshift, Esper Control, and more.
Temple of Aclatzotz + Death's Shadow Is always 13 life.
Forecast Proclamation of rebirth and you're always at 13 life!