It's Burn, but tuned heavily towards 1-mana spells. Rift Bolt and Seal of Fire let you store damage for a spectacled Light the Stage. Note that Light the Stage says "until the end of your next turn", not "until end of turn". I missed that the first time round and was pleasantly surprised that I have more time to cast exiled cards than I expected.
Pros:
Swiftspear and Lavamancer get a bit of a boost, with Bauble and Light the Stage to cycle through your deck and feed them.
Slightly better lategame with Light the Stage to refill, more Lavamancers for repeatable burn, and Bump flashback if the game goes that long.
Light the Stage gives you more chances to draw creatures early before they become outclassed.
Cons:
Very one-dimensional; no Eidolon since it doesn't play nice with draw spells, no Helix to race opposing aggro, no Skullcrack to stop lifegain.
Have to play underpowered burn (Seal) to enable Light the Stage.
Can't suspend Rift Bolt off Light the Stage.
I saw Light the Stage and it made me think of Arclight Phoenix. Something like RW burn with some lifegain and a bit of reach.
But then you wouldn't enjoy it if the Phoenix goes to exile so maybe it's not such a great idea...
exiling phoenixes WOULD be bad, but its still a matter of probabilities. maybe you exile 2 phoenixes, but you could get 2 relevant spells. its no different than something like GDS running 3 total actual red sources but still running a playset of thought scours, or maybe they mill over their 2 basics. another example is hollow one, maybe they discard 3x hollow ones with burning inquiry/goblin lore. the upside of running those cards still outweighs that chance.
maybe light up the stage doesnt ever appear in arclight decks, or any decks for that matter, but i dont think it will be because of the exile. rather it will be because turning on spectacle is too much of a deck building obstacle (or turning it on AND having mana to do other things).
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Lots of new Ravnica Allegiance (RNA) cards have been spoiled so far, and it's past time we get a discussion thread going. See our site spoilers here: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/spoilers/229-ravnica-allegiance. We also have some previews discussed on Reddit that have not yet made it to the spoilers. This includes Growth Spiral, the Simic instant-speed Explore, and the powerful new Human, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade.
Lavinia, Azorius RenegadeUW Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Each opponent can't cost noncreature spells with converted mana cost greater than the number of lands that player controls.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast it, counter that spell.
2/2
Obviously a nice little boost to Humans a big middle finger to decks like Gx Tron. Excited to see where else the set takes us! What other cards are people looking forward to?
Big middle finger to the Sram/puresteel combo deck.
Lots of new Ravnica Allegiance (RNA) cards have been spoiled so far, and it's past time we get a discussion thread going. See our site spoilers here: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/spoilers/229-ravnica-allegiance. We also have some previews discussed on Reddit that have not yet made it to the spoilers. This includes Growth Spiral, the Simic instant-speed Explore, and the powerful new Human, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade.
Lavinia, Azorius RenegadeUW Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Each opponent can't cost noncreature spells with converted mana cost greater than the number of lands that player controls.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast it, counter that spell.
2/2
Obviously a nice little boost to Humans a big middle finger to decks like Gx Tron. Excited to see where else the set takes us! What other cards are people looking forward to?
Big middle finger to the Sram/puresteel combo deck.
i mean so is thalia, which any decks that would play lavinia are probably already running. a deck like cheerios already needs answers for various hatebears.
if lavinia makes any impact it will be because it allows another white disruptive deck to rise in the ranks besides humans and spirits. given so much shared space i just dont see that being likely (ie some death and taxes AND humans being top tier at the same time).
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Well it's gonna help Humans to begin with, no need to see another archetype rise. The card will make an impact because it's a good SB card overall. If we speak of impact among the top tier decks, well, Humans is the prime beneficiary : the deck loses to archetypes where Lavinia helps.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
exiling phoenixes WOULD be bad, but its still a matter of probabilities. maybe you exile 2 phoenixes, but you could get 2 relevant spells. its no different than something like GDS running 3 total actual red sources but still running a playset of thought scours, or maybe they mill over their 2 basics. another example is hollow one, maybe they discard 3x hollow ones with burning inquiry/goblin lore. the upside of running those cards still outweighs that chance.
maybe light up the stage doesnt ever appear in arclight decks, or any decks for that matter, but i dont think it will be because of the exile. rather it will be because turning on spectacle is too much of a deck building obstacle (or turning it on AND having mana to do other things).
With most decks, Light Up the Stage can be interpreted as "draw two cards, if you don't use them by the end of your next turn they're gone forever". This is not the case with Phoenix (or other stuff that wants to be in the graveyard, like Bloodghast) however, because "using" a Phoenix means discarding it into the graveyard, and you can't do that if the Phoenix is in exile.
Let's say my hand is empty and I cast Chart a Course raided, drawing two Phoenixes. I then cast Faithless Looting, drawing two more cards and discarding the Phoenixes. At the end of all this I have two fresh cards in hand and two Phoenixes in the graveyard. If that Chart a Course were Light up the Stage instead, I'd have 0 cards in hand and two Phoenixes in exile, a much worse outcome, despite "drawing" the same two cards. One or even zero Phoenixes "drawn" still leads to a worse outcome, because you can't choose to discard the exiled cards to Looting if they turn out to be useless.
Tested Light Up the Stage in Burn (less build-around-me than izzetmage's build, but RBg) and Runaway Arclight Red (my 16-creature build with 4 Young Pyromancer as the last 4 creatures) and Rix Maadi Reveler in Humans.
Rix Maadi Reveler has been surprisingly good--easily able to take up maindeck slots instead of new Lavinia. (New Lavinia hoses nothing all game against quite a few decks.) Admittedly, I've been playing this guy most of the time as a mere 2-drop, and I've only discarded nothing to it as a 2-drop once, but Humans often has something it wants to loot away (even if RMR is your first creature all game, which it was once so far for me because I kept a hand with too many 3-drops). Yes, even the single changed-out card sometimes helps. Getting Spectacle can be surprisingly hard at times, especially against zillion blockers.dec like Mardu Midrange. Sometimes, I wish I have Storm Fleet Sprinter back in the deck. But hey, being castable through Blood Moon helps!
Light Up the Stage was actually fine in Runaway Arclight Red. My higher creature count is kinda helping, but it's (obviously) significantly harder to get Spectacle in this deck than in Burn. I flipped an Arclight Phoenix once and managed to hardcast it the next turn. I cast LUtS for its full cost once in this deck...but this deck is built to be able to cast Risk Factor. Occasionally, I cannot use up both cards flipped in time.
LUtS was also dandy in Burn. It actually didn't nonbo substantially with Eidolon of the Great Revel so far in testing, although EotGR was a must-remove against Runaway Arclight Red, so it often insta-died against that deck. I've found myself sandbagging a burn spell in hand just to make LUtS cheaper, although Seal of Fire's ability to delayed-release damage has been surprisingly useless, and its dealing 1 damage less almost cost me a game. Bump in the Night costing only 1 mana has been an absolute life-saver once, though (LUtS flipped enough gas and mana for exactsies when facing lethal next turn). I've lost at least one card to LUtS once or twice so far, and hardcast it for its full cost once so far. Getting Spectacle is almost guaranteed every turn in Burn, thank goodness.
For both decks, the cheap CA is sweet overall, but make sure to play this before using your land drop if possible. The Spectacle discount is substantial enough that this does kinda nonbo with Prowess unless you use up a burn spell to the face.
With most decks, Light Up the Stage can be interpreted as "draw two cards, if you don't use them by the end of your next turn they're gone forever". This is not the case with Phoenix (or other stuff that wants to be in the graveyard, like Bloodghast) however, because "using" a Phoenix means discarding it into the graveyard, and you can't do that if the Phoenix is in exile.
Let's say my hand is empty and I cast Chart a Course raided, drawing two Phoenixes. I then cast Faithless Looting, drawing two more cards and discarding the Phoenixes. At the end of all this I have two fresh cards in hand and two Phoenixes in the graveyard. If that Chart a Course were Light up the Stage instead, I'd have 0 cards in hand and two Phoenixes in exile, a much worse outcome, despite "drawing" the same two cards. One or even zero Phoenixes "drawn" still leads to a worse outcome, because you can't choose to discard the exiled cards to Looting if they turn out to be useless.
i get where you are coming from. it isnt outright better than those other options you listed, as well as others you didnt. my point was that plenty of cantrip-esque effects are played despite their downsides. chart? its 2 mana. sleight? see 2 cards you really want. serum? doesnt help you immediately. thought scour? mill something important. etc etc.
i mean you could also just list out where LUtS would be good. maybe you exile a manamorphose and tormenting voice, or 2 faithless lootings, or a bolt and a gut shot, or a land drop you need plus whatever.
i know the issue is probably easily answered by doing the math. dont get me wrong im not disagreeing with you, it could be the case that the downside is a few too many percentage points in the wrong direction. so ill rescind my claim that the exile would never be the reason it isnt played; however i think deckbuilding hurdle to turn on spectacle still outweighs it considerably.
intuition tells me that its not a 4-of type card, but if you can turn on spectacle its comparable in power to other 1 cmc options out there for monoR (but probably not UR). i think once you move into BR territory with ghasts or even delve creatures that is probably too much equity lost.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
I remember now - Eternal Scourge is one of the cards I always wanted to break. The exile clause on this card has synergy with Eternal Scourge and that's probably why I'm interested in it.
So I'm not sure if I remember it but it was like... Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, a handful of prowess creatures, etc...
Rely on Eternal Scourge and lifegain to outlast aggro decks, use Eternal Scourge to grind down control decks, use prowess creatures and sideboard to rush against combo decks.
Not sure if there's enough pieces for this yet. It wasn't competitive then but LutS may move it one step closer.
I don't think adapt as a mechanic will make any waves in modern. Typically mana sinks have to be insanely good to make it in modern (ezuri, renegade leader for example).
Was seriously hoping for some UG love that was modern applicable. Sigh...
yeah the adapt mechanic is pretty uninspired. its kinda like with boros and crappy weenie combat mechanics, the nature of the guild isnt giving a whole lot of space to work with. sure you could say that they should think of something because its their job, but there is some value in giving people what they expect; especially for a third visit to the plane.
doesnt mean they cant push the power of cards. as long as they dont mess up like making a creature centric mechanic in colors with counterspells then print an uncounterable sweeper at 4 mana. OOPS LOL!
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
With them going 'ride or die' with +1/+1 counters it seems that mechanic is going to anchor UG forever. A shame.
There is a RUG deck grow/stompy deck that is very aggressive, but it will never have the time to utilize the Adapt mechanic, thats just too slow for Modern.
Limited/Standard though? I can see that being a player. Especially in limited.
I remember now - Eternal Scourge is one of the cards I always wanted to break. The exile clause on this card has synergy with Eternal Scourge and that's probably why I'm interested in it.
So I'm not sure if I remember it but it was like... Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, a handful of prowess creatures, etc...
Rely on Eternal Scourge and lifegain to outlast aggro decks, use Eternal Scourge to grind down control decks, use prowess creatures and sideboard to rush against combo decks.
Not sure if there's enough pieces for this yet. It wasn't competitive then but LutS may move it one step closer.
You could try this in "Skred Red" and use burn spells to trigger "Spectacle".
I remember some deck playing a copy or two of Commune with Lava and this is a more mana efficient version of it.
Just because the guild mechanic isn't that great doesn't mean there won't be good Simic cards for modern. In fact the very first Simic card spoiled (the instant speed explore) is modern playable.
The mechanics are mostly just for limited anyways. It isn't like cards with undergrowth are seeing a lot of play in standard, but Golgari is still the most popular deck
Spellbreaker is a bad card. In what subpar deck can we play it anyway ? Zoo wouldn't play a 3-drop unless it's super broken. Loxodon Smiter probably still better. Mantis Rider still better, Steal Leaf Champion still better...
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Spellbreaker is a bad card. In what subpar deck can we play it anyway ? Zoo wouldn't play a 3-drop unless it's super broken. Loxodon Smiter probably still better. Mantis Rider still better, Steal Leaf Champion still better...
Opens up a possible rug coco shell. Goyf, the new spell breaker, savage knuckleblade are all pretty threatening plays that you can BBE into. The rest of the deck can be direct damage with minimal permission or just cryptic command so you don't fudge up the cascades.
yeah that card to me just reads 'break glass in case of UW dominance' since it shuts down settle the wreckage. the mechanic itself is kinda 'meh', but i cant see much cross synergy with itself so the cards should be generically better on their own. as in riot isnt something you work to get, it just happens so the quest to enable some gruul 'cares about riot' card is completed by...playing with gruul creatures. as 'flat' as the effect is i expect to see it on a lot of creatures, even at common.
it does buddy with simic using +1/+1 counters.
on another note that is 4 out of 5 guild mechanics known. if wizards intends to keep RNA symmetrical with GRN it means azorius should get detain or forecast.
I saw Light the Stage and it made me think of Arclight Phoenix. Something like RW burn with some lifegain and a bit of reach.
But then you wouldn't enjoy it if the Phoenix goes to exile so maybe it's not such a great idea...
maybe light up the stage doesnt ever appear in arclight decks, or any decks for that matter, but i dont think it will be because of the exile. rather it will be because turning on spectacle is too much of a deck building obstacle (or turning it on AND having mana to do other things).
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Big middle finger to the Sram/puresteel combo deck.
i mean so is thalia, which any decks that would play lavinia are probably already running. a deck like cheerios already needs answers for various hatebears.
if lavinia makes any impact it will be because it allows another white disruptive deck to rise in the ranks besides humans and spirits. given so much shared space i just dont see that being likely (ie some death and taxes AND humans being top tier at the same time).
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)That's not necessarily true. It certainly can't replace Faithless Looting in existing decks but it might be more broadly applicable.
I personally love to play control but hate playing islands, so red card draw is like gold to me.
Let's say my hand is empty and I cast Chart a Course raided, drawing two Phoenixes. I then cast Faithless Looting, drawing two more cards and discarding the Phoenixes. At the end of all this I have two fresh cards in hand and two Phoenixes in the graveyard. If that Chart a Course were Light up the Stage instead, I'd have 0 cards in hand and two Phoenixes in exile, a much worse outcome, despite "drawing" the same two cards. One or even zero Phoenixes "drawn" still leads to a worse outcome, because you can't choose to discard the exiled cards to Looting if they turn out to be useless.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Rix Maadi Reveler has been surprisingly good--easily able to take up maindeck slots instead of new Lavinia. (New Lavinia hoses nothing all game against quite a few decks.) Admittedly, I've been playing this guy most of the time as a mere 2-drop, and I've only discarded nothing to it as a 2-drop once, but Humans often has something it wants to loot away (even if RMR is your first creature all game, which it was once so far for me because I kept a hand with too many 3-drops). Yes, even the single changed-out card sometimes helps. Getting Spectacle can be surprisingly hard at times, especially against zillion blockers.dec like Mardu Midrange. Sometimes, I wish I have Storm Fleet Sprinter back in the deck. But hey, being castable through Blood Moon helps!
Light Up the Stage was actually fine in Runaway Arclight Red. My higher creature count is kinda helping, but it's (obviously) significantly harder to get Spectacle in this deck than in Burn. I flipped an Arclight Phoenix once and managed to hardcast it the next turn. I cast LUtS for its full cost once in this deck...but this deck is built to be able to cast Risk Factor. Occasionally, I cannot use up both cards flipped in time.
LUtS was also dandy in Burn. It actually didn't nonbo substantially with Eidolon of the Great Revel so far in testing, although EotGR was a must-remove against Runaway Arclight Red, so it often insta-died against that deck. I've found myself sandbagging a burn spell in hand just to make LUtS cheaper, although Seal of Fire's ability to delayed-release damage has been surprisingly useless, and its dealing 1 damage less almost cost me a game. Bump in the Night costing only 1 mana has been an absolute life-saver once, though (LUtS flipped enough gas and mana for exactsies when facing lethal next turn). I've lost at least one card to LUtS once or twice so far, and hardcast it for its full cost once so far. Getting Spectacle is almost guaranteed every turn in Burn, thank goodness.
For both decks, the cheap CA is sweet overall, but make sure to play this before using your land drop if possible. The Spectacle discount is substantial enough that this does kinda nonbo with Prowess unless you use up a burn spell to the face.
i get where you are coming from. it isnt outright better than those other options you listed, as well as others you didnt. my point was that plenty of cantrip-esque effects are played despite their downsides. chart? its 2 mana. sleight? see 2 cards you really want. serum? doesnt help you immediately. thought scour? mill something important. etc etc.
i mean you could also just list out where LUtS would be good. maybe you exile a manamorphose and tormenting voice, or 2 faithless lootings, or a bolt and a gut shot, or a land drop you need plus whatever.
i know the issue is probably easily answered by doing the math. dont get me wrong im not disagreeing with you, it could be the case that the downside is a few too many percentage points in the wrong direction. so ill rescind my claim that the exile would never be the reason it isnt played; however i think deckbuilding hurdle to turn on spectacle still outweighs it considerably.
intuition tells me that its not a 4-of type card, but if you can turn on spectacle its comparable in power to other 1 cmc options out there for monoR (but probably not UR). i think once you move into BR territory with ghasts or even delve creatures that is probably too much equity lost.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)So I'm not sure if I remember it but it was like... Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, a handful of prowess creatures, etc...
Rely on Eternal Scourge and lifegain to outlast aggro decks, use Eternal Scourge to grind down control decks, use prowess creatures and sideboard to rush against combo decks.
Not sure if there's enough pieces for this yet. It wasn't competitive then but LutS may move it one step closer.
Spirits
Was seriously hoping for some UG love that was modern applicable. Sigh...
doesnt mean they cant push the power of cards. as long as they dont mess up like making a creature centric mechanic in colors with counterspells then print an uncounterable sweeper at 4 mana. OOPS LOL!
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)There is a RUG deck grow/stompy deck that is very aggressive, but it will never have the time to utilize the Adapt mechanic, thats just too slow for Modern.
Limited/Standard though? I can see that being a player. Especially in limited.
Spirits
You could try this in "Skred Red" and use burn spells to trigger "Spectacle".
I remember some deck playing a copy or two of Commune with Lava and this is a more mana efficient version of it.
Regarding Scourge, all you need to break" it is Relic though something like Chandra (or Outpost/Cannons) also works pretty well.
The mechanics are mostly just for limited anyways. It isn't like cards with undergrowth are seeing a lot of play in standard, but Golgari is still the most popular deck
Spirits
Opens up a possible rug coco shell. Goyf, the new spell breaker, savage knuckleblade are all pretty threatening plays that you can BBE into. The rest of the deck can be direct damage with minimal permission or just cryptic command so you don't fudge up the cascades.
it does buddy with simic using +1/+1 counters.
on another note that is 4 out of 5 guild mechanics known. if wizards intends to keep RNA symmetrical with GRN it means azorius should get detain or forecast.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)