If no counterspell I think it's time to sell my stuff. Prohibit is just ***** by comparison.
I would discourage you from selling your cards based on the inclusion/exclusion of one possible reprint. Every set introduces new and surprising additions to Modern decks and so many are viable from so many different ends of the archetypal/strategic spectrums. If you prefer Ux Control, there will undoubtedly be strong options for you and other players to consider, whether in MH1 or future sets.
Goblin Matron is a sweet reprint. Here's hoping for Ringleader next!
Counterspel, much like Stoneforge Mystic, is just a matter of principle. Neither of these cards are even all that good compared to what the format is doing and cares about.
Prohibit is underwhelming, just as Counterspell would be underwhelming.
Goblin Matron...interesting. I think I have been asking for Patriarch's Bidding since 2016? Can I please have modern goblin bidding, WOTC?
Firebolt might be a low-key powerhouse in burn. one card, four damage simply requiring a delay. I don't know for sure, but there is potential.
I think Firebolt is more likely to see play in Rx attrition-based decks (Jund, Grixis Midrange-Control, Rx Eldrazi, UR Wizards, maybe even UR Phoenix) than Burn. Burn already cracks Ramunap Ruins pretty late, and I don't think it's interested in sorcery-speed Shock when there's stuff like Light Up the Stage and re-raising the number of Skullcracks.
Dang it, I'm already drooling at the flood gates, though. Lava Dart (mainly in Rx tempo decks like UR Phoenix and Grixis Death's Shadow--GDS has trouble with speedy go-wide aggro), Goblin Matron (tutors for several combo piece Goblins, can chain tutor for more copies of itself, may provide an interesting new avenue for Moon Prison/Stompy as long as Karn, the Great Creator isn't just plain better than that path), Firebolt (you already heard me on this), Wing Shards (nonzero chance of wiping 2 opposing creatures against decks with Haste creatures like Jund, Burn, Eldrazi; also makes people sac Bogles and Emrakul)...Prohibit makes me suspect that Counterspell won't make it, but more cheap hard counters are always welcome.
Matron is nice, but Wing Shards has my attention. if Storm count is even 1-2, which is very doable, that HURTS
I forgot how much Wing Shards rucks UR Phoenix. They flip Thing in the Ice at something faster than glacial speed, they lose their 7/8 and at least one Arclight Phoenix...or at least lose two Phoenixes and need to bust cards resurrecting them next turn.
Force of Negation 1UU
Instant
If it is not your turn, you may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay ~ mana cost.
Counter target non-creature spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it in its owner's graveyard. Try, if you must
New Hermit 3GG
Creature
Vanishing 3 (3 time counter, remove 1 at upkeep, sac ~ when last is removed).
Create 4 1/1 squirrel.
Squirrel get +1/+1
1/1
Deep Forest Hermit: Deranged Hermit Elf Druid with Vanishing 3 instead of Echo, only +1/+1 for your squirrels. FORCE OF NEGATION: 1UU Instant, If it's not your turn you may exile a blue card from hand rather than pay mana cost. Negate but card is exiled.
Hermit is a cool throwback, probably not playable. Next.
FORCE OF NEGATION. So first, FoW is probably out. That's fine. Let's talk about FoN. This is similar to one of the FoW Negate variants I speculated on a few pages ago, and it's definitely a Modern game-changer. The majority of early non-games with broken decks come down to non-creature spells resolving and setting up broken lines. This stops all the major engines of most decks: Vial, Looting, Opal, Stirrings, Scrying, Map, Amulet, etc. Some decks can play around it (Ad Naus winning at instant speed, EoT Goryo's/Breach in other decks). Some decks/cards aren't affected by it (Electromancer/Baral, Prime Time, etc.). But overall, this will be a maindeckable catchall for most Ux strategies. Perhaps the best advantage of this card is allowing Ux players to develop a board and not hold up mana. This benefits tempo/fish decks which can deploy threats and protect them or stop haymakers, and it benefits control decks that can play T2 Search or T3 Teferi/Narset without dropping shields.
Overall, I am very pleased with this card and look forward to playing it.
Exactly how much more flexibility does this have over Disrupting Shoal? It lets us knock out Tron pieces, which Shoal couldn't... But I'm thinking that's the only place where New Force will see action. Otherwise hands that are blue and play counters will usually have the right cmc card to exile for Shoal - so much is under 2cmc in Modern...
Shoal is super narrow and requires you have specific cmc blue cards in hand. It's pretty clear this is a step up, at least when combined with creature removal.
Well that was fast... Probably precludes Counterspell. I'm conflicted, but this is very likely just fine if not hardly playable. Not hitting creatures is a real issue. I'm speculating that Prohibit sees more play than the FoNz in the current meta.
I'm on my backup prayer now; unconditional 2cmc Black creature exile.
Well that was fast... Probably precludes Counterspell. I'm conflicted, but this is very likely just fine if not hardly playable. Not hitting creatures is a real issue. I'm speculating that Prohibit sees more play than the FoNz in the current meta.
I'm on my backup prayer now; unconditional 2cmc Black creature exile.
A lot of the cards that facilitate many of the broken creatures though (Looting, Manamorphose, Cathartic Reunion, Stirrings) get hit by this though. I think it's a big win overall. Maybe not 4x staple like FoW, but I could see running 1-3 in any heavy blue deck moving forward.
Force of Negation is pretty good. A Negate that costs 1 extra mana, but also exiles the card if countered. Early game, you can just exile another blue card in your hand if tapped out to counter a lot of stuff.
This will see some competative play, but I don't know if U/W control wants more than 1-2.
Force of Negation is a sideboard in card at best, whereas force of will is a sideboard out card in most situations. It's true power will be in a brainstorm format as probably a two-of.
In modern, that card is very costly and all your combo opponent has to do is just play pact of negation as it's free and doesn't pitch a card if they are playing combo. Or in the case of the majority of decks in modern simply put creatures and merc you while you stare at your fancy force of will wannabe.
For people being like, "Oh don't sell your stuff." I get discouraged at the fact that the one card that I was really looking forward to is now most likely gone out of the set. I really didn't want force of will or force of negation.
If no swords or counterspell then **** it I'm out.
Mostly disappointed with Force of Negation; Negate is a sideboard card in Modern. I could be wrong, cause I do like Spell Pierce in Modern, and 0 mana is a lot less than 1, but 2-for-1'ing yourself is not great either. Only time will tell. Guess this makes actual Counterspell even less likely... Sad.
I'm having a hard time seeing it as anything other than worse Dissipate. I suppose its worth depends on how many non creature enablers/wincons are sorcery speed vs instant.
Force of negation lets UW players tap out for turn 4 jace vs every deck. Normally if you tap out vs tron or combo you lose, this is no longer the case.
Perhaps the best advantage of this card is allowing Ux players to develop a board and not hold up mana. This benefits tempo/fish decks which can deploy threats and protect them or stop haymakers, and it benefits control decks that can play T2 Search or T3 Teferi/Narset without dropping shields.
Overall, I am very pleased with this card and look forward to playing it.
Force of negation lets UW players tap out for turn 4 jace vs every deck. Normally if you tap out vs tron or combo you lose, this is no longer the case.
Going to quote myself and rickster here to again highlight the most important function of this card. It's not just that FoN allows Ux decks to stop T1/T2 plays that would normally have no counterplay, especially on the draw. This is an important function of FoN and one of the reasons it's playable, but it's not the reason the card is so exciting. The reason it's so exciting to me is that it opens up so many more windows where you can tap out for T2 Search, T3 Narset/Teferi, T4 JTMS, etc. and either protect your board presence or stop the opponent from doing something broken.
Ux decks have a serious problem with traction right now because they need to hold up mana on all their turns to handle opposing stuff at instant speed. This means Ux decks are waiting until T5+ before they can actually get some board presence, and they are always playing on an opponent's initiative. FoN changes this and allows Ux players to get on board and stick something important without dropping shields. Ux decks have previously been unable to do this in Modern, and this is the very reason we don't see FoW-like effects in Standard; tapping out for a walker and still having protection spells is too strong for that format. Now, Ux decks can enjoy this edge, an edge they haven't really had before in Modern. Your only other option was Shoal, which was simply too narrow.
I can still see a possibility of Counterspell, however, if they include it, I suspect they'll put it at uncommon rarity. In that situation, we'd have Prohibit at common, and providing for Modern something that doesn't require UU for decks that don't get lots of blue mana as reliably early on, counterspell itself for most decks that care about such spells, and Force of Negation at rare as a something that is targeted more at emergency against degenerate combo and protecting against powerful turn 1 plays that would screw you over, like Thoughtseize or something, depending on the deck you are playing and whatnot. Plus Prohibit could be Counterspell 5-8 in some decks. It's existence in the set certainly reduces my confidence of seeing Counterspell significantly, but doesn't eliminate hope just yet.
On the other hand, with prohibit as an option, I'm almost hoping more for Force Spike or a slightly better variant on it than Counterspell itself, if only for another option at a different CMC in decks that are generating blue but not white.
While the ratio of modern playables is looking like it will be lower than I'd hoped with cards like Wall of One Thousand Cuts even existing in the set, the things we are getting so far are interesting enough that I have high hopes for the set.
Force of negation lets UW players tap out for turn 4 jace vs every deck. Normally if you tap out vs tron or combo you lose, this is no longer the case.
You still plausibly lose to Gx Tron if you tap out for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and they go for a Turn 4 creature. Jace TMS can bounce Wurmcoil Engine, but Walking Ballista kills him before he can bounce it if Jace TMS goes for the +0, and woe if Gx Tron Magical Christmas Lands 10 mana by Turn 4-5 and hits Jace TMS with an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger you could have countered and not have to suffer 10 damage and 20 exile mill a turn from. Post-board, Thragtusk isn't too pleasant to face.
That Jace TMS line does look plausible against combo and control, though.
Force of negation lets UW players tap out for turn 4 jace vs every deck. Normally if you tap out vs tron or combo you lose, this is no longer the case.
You still plausibly lose to Gx Tron if you tap out for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and they go for a Turn 4 creature. Jace TMS can bounce Wurmcoil Engine, but Walking Ballista kills him before he can bounce it if Jace TMS goes for the +0, and woe if Gx Tron Magical Christmas Lands 10 mana by Turn 4-5 and hits Jace TMS with an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger you could have countered and not have to suffer 10 damage and 20 exile mill a turn from. Post-board, Thragtusk isn't too pleasant to face.
That Jace TMS line does look plausible against combo and control, though.
This can happen, but the lines of T4 Ulamog or T4 Ballista are rarer than the lines that T4 JTMS + FoN beat. Those lines include T4 O-Stone, T4 Ugin, T4 Karn Liberated, and T4 Karn TGC. Something like 98%+ (MTGoldfish stats) of Gx Tron decks are playing 2 Ballista and 2 Ulamog main. Using the same #s, about 100% are also playing 4 Karn Liberated, 2 Ugin, 4 O-Stone, and 2-4 KTGC. If I'm a betting man, I'm betting on T4 JTMS with FoN backup beating 12-14 of their lines and not worried about the 4 that will punish me, especially when the Ulamog line also required the 2nd Tower.
In G2-G3, the Tron plan changes a bit with more creature-based threats, but the Ux player is still ahead if the counterplay to a T4 JTMS is a Thragtusk. Overall, I'm digging FoN in this matchup.
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I would discourage you from selling your cards based on the inclusion/exclusion of one possible reprint. Every set introduces new and surprising additions to Modern decks and so many are viable from so many different ends of the archetypal/strategic spectrums. If you prefer Ux Control, there will undoubtedly be strong options for you and other players to consider, whether in MH1 or future sets.
Goblin Matron is a sweet reprint. Here's hoping for Ringleader next!
Prohibit is underwhelming, just as Counterspell would be underwhelming.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I think Firebolt is more likely to see play in Rx attrition-based decks (Jund, Grixis Midrange-Control, Rx Eldrazi, UR Wizards, maybe even UR Phoenix) than Burn. Burn already cracks Ramunap Ruins pretty late, and I don't think it's interested in sorcery-speed Shock when there's stuff like Light Up the Stage and re-raising the number of Skullcracks.
Dang it, I'm already drooling at the flood gates, though. Lava Dart (mainly in Rx tempo decks like UR Phoenix and Grixis Death's Shadow--GDS has trouble with speedy go-wide aggro), Goblin Matron (tutors for several combo piece Goblins, can chain tutor for more copies of itself, may provide an interesting new avenue for Moon Prison/Stompy as long as Karn, the Great Creator isn't just plain better than that path), Firebolt (you already heard me on this), Wing Shards (nonzero chance of wiping 2 opposing creatures against decks with Haste creatures like Jund, Burn, Eldrazi; also makes people sac Bogles and Emrakul)...Prohibit makes me suspect that Counterspell won't make it, but more cheap hard counters are always welcome.
I forgot how much Wing Shards rucks UR Phoenix. They flip Thing in the Ice at something faster than glacial speed, they lose their 7/8 and at least one Arclight Phoenix...or at least lose two Phoenixes and need to bust cards resurrecting them next turn.
Force of Negation 1UU
Instant
If it is not your turn, you may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay ~ mana cost.
Counter target non-creature spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it in its owner's graveyard.
Try, if you must
New Hermit 3GG
Creature
Vanishing 3 (3 time counter, remove 1 at upkeep, sac ~ when last is removed).
Create 4 1/1 squirrel.
Squirrel get +1/+1
1/1
Deep Forest Hermit: Deranged Hermit Elf Druid with Vanishing 3 instead of Echo, only +1/+1 for your squirrels.
FORCE OF NEGATION: 1UU Instant, If it's not your turn you may exile a blue card from hand rather than pay mana cost. Negate but card is exiled.
Hermit is a cool throwback, probably not playable. Next.
FORCE OF NEGATION. So first, FoW is probably out. That's fine. Let's talk about FoN. This is similar to one of the FoW Negate variants I speculated on a few pages ago, and it's definitely a Modern game-changer. The majority of early non-games with broken decks come down to non-creature spells resolving and setting up broken lines. This stops all the major engines of most decks: Vial, Looting, Opal, Stirrings, Scrying, Map, Amulet, etc. Some decks can play around it (Ad Naus winning at instant speed, EoT Goryo's/Breach in other decks). Some decks/cards aren't affected by it (Electromancer/Baral, Prime Time, etc.). But overall, this will be a maindeckable catchall for most Ux strategies. Perhaps the best advantage of this card is allowing Ux players to develop a board and not hold up mana. This benefits tempo/fish decks which can deploy threats and protect them or stop haymakers, and it benefits control decks that can play T2 Search or T3 Teferi/Narset without dropping shields.
Overall, I am very pleased with this card and look forward to playing it.
Doesn't hit creatures, but... Interesting.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I'm on my backup prayer now; unconditional 2cmc Black creature exile.
"Reveal a Dragon"
A lot of the cards that facilitate many of the broken creatures though (Looting, Manamorphose, Cathartic Reunion, Stirrings) get hit by this though. I think it's a big win overall. Maybe not 4x staple like FoW, but I could see running 1-3 in any heavy blue deck moving forward.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Finally! WoTC gives us something useful. This and Prohibit should give blue some help.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
This will see some competative play, but I don't know if U/W control wants more than 1-2.
Spirits
In modern, that card is very costly and all your combo opponent has to do is just play pact of negation as it's free and doesn't pitch a card if they are playing combo. Or in the case of the majority of decks in modern simply put creatures and merc you while you stare at your fancy force of will wannabe.
For people being like, "Oh don't sell your stuff." I get discouraged at the fact that the one card that I was really looking forward to is now most likely gone out of the set. I really didn't want force of will or force of negation.
If no swords or counterspell then **** it I'm out.
This card will have an impact. Don't outsmart yourself.
Going to quote myself and rickster here to again highlight the most important function of this card. It's not just that FoN allows Ux decks to stop T1/T2 plays that would normally have no counterplay, especially on the draw. This is an important function of FoN and one of the reasons it's playable, but it's not the reason the card is so exciting. The reason it's so exciting to me is that it opens up so many more windows where you can tap out for T2 Search, T3 Narset/Teferi, T4 JTMS, etc. and either protect your board presence or stop the opponent from doing something broken.
Ux decks have a serious problem with traction right now because they need to hold up mana on all their turns to handle opposing stuff at instant speed. This means Ux decks are waiting until T5+ before they can actually get some board presence, and they are always playing on an opponent's initiative. FoN changes this and allows Ux players to get on board and stick something important without dropping shields. Ux decks have previously been unable to do this in Modern, and this is the very reason we don't see FoW-like effects in Standard; tapping out for a walker and still having protection spells is too strong for that format. Now, Ux decks can enjoy this edge, an edge they haven't really had before in Modern. Your only other option was Shoal, which was simply too narrow.
On the other hand, with prohibit as an option, I'm almost hoping more for Force Spike or a slightly better variant on it than Counterspell itself, if only for another option at a different CMC in decks that are generating blue but not white.
While the ratio of modern playables is looking like it will be lower than I'd hoped with cards like Wall of One Thousand Cuts even existing in the set, the things we are getting so far are interesting enough that I have high hopes for the set.
You still plausibly lose to Gx Tron if you tap out for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and they go for a Turn 4 creature. Jace TMS can bounce Wurmcoil Engine, but Walking Ballista kills him before he can bounce it if Jace TMS goes for the +0, and woe if Gx Tron Magical Christmas Lands 10 mana by Turn 4-5 and hits Jace TMS with an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger you could have countered and not have to suffer 10 damage and 20 exile mill a turn from. Post-board, Thragtusk isn't too pleasant to face.
That Jace TMS line does look plausible against combo and control, though.
This can happen, but the lines of T4 Ulamog or T4 Ballista are rarer than the lines that T4 JTMS + FoN beat. Those lines include T4 O-Stone, T4 Ugin, T4 Karn Liberated, and T4 Karn TGC. Something like 98%+ (MTGoldfish stats) of Gx Tron decks are playing 2 Ballista and 2 Ulamog main. Using the same #s, about 100% are also playing 4 Karn Liberated, 2 Ugin, 4 O-Stone, and 2-4 KTGC. If I'm a betting man, I'm betting on T4 JTMS with FoN backup beating 12-14 of their lines and not worried about the 4 that will punish me, especially when the Ulamog line also required the 2nd Tower.
In G2-G3, the Tron plan changes a bit with more creature-based threats, but the Ux player is still ahead if the counterplay to a T4 JTMS is a Thragtusk. Overall, I'm digging FoN in this matchup.