Slightly more expensive green sun zenith, but can get any color creature and from the yard as well.
Was down on this card until I realized it read AND/or. You can get two creatures. If modern slows down to where fair green creaturedecks don't die on turn 3 anymore it might have some potential, although Sorcery speed probably means Chord of Calling is better.
Nope, you can't get two creatures. It reads "Search your library and/or graveyard for A creature". The and/or means that you can search your library, search your graveyard and then decide.
Thanks for clearing that up, very oddly worded if you ask me
Paying two more for your single creature means whatever you get should win on the spot then I'd say.
Paying 2 more for haste, and any creature in the deck is a pretty good rate. Chord of Calling is already paying similar once you factor in Convoke, if you consider instant speed to be similar to haste, and it has very good selection. I think the card is pretty fair honestly. It's good, but not broken.
I think the wording is odd because it almost seems like you have to make a decision to search your library, your graveyard, or both. The distinction seems unnecessary because you’re searching for one card, one time. Unless there’s a rule about not being able to search for multiple zones at the same time? The other issue is that the ‘and/or’ clause has been used frequently lately to indicate that you get both options upon resolution, even within this very cycle! While not technically flawed to say the wording isn’t confusing is just wrong.
Slightly more expensive green sun zenith, but can get any color creature and from the yard as well.
Was down on this card until I realized it read AND/or. You can get two creatures. If modern slows down to where fair green creaturedecks don't die on turn 3 anymore it might have some potential, although Sorcery speed probably means Chord of Calling is better.
Nope, you can't get two creatures. It reads "Search your library and/or graveyard for A creature". The and/or means that you can search your library, search your graveyard and then decide.
Thanks for clearing that up, very oddly worded if you ask me
Paying two more for your single creature means whatever you get should win on the spot then I'd say.
Paying 2 more for haste, and any creature in the deck is a pretty good rate. Chord of Calling is already paying similar once you factor in Convoke, if you consider instant speed to be similar to haste, and it has very good selection. I think the card is pretty fair honestly. It's good, but not broken.
You need X = 10 or more in order for anything you tutor for with Finale of Devastation to get Haste (or a pump). That's reachable only in big mana decks and infinite mana combos (e.g. the Devoted Vizier package).
Possibly useable in devoted druid then maybe. It's copies 5-8 of any combo pieces and once you go off it's a win condition. Kind of expensive, but if you untap with devoted druid on turn 3 that's enough mana to get Vizier and go inifinite.
Holy, the new GSZ is really strong. Taking creatures from the yard isn't something to dismiss. GSZ is obviously stronger (mostly because it acts as a mana dork with Dryad Arbor) but the power level isn't THAT different.
Finale of Revelation is completely useless in U-Tron, except if you already Tronned and can cast it for 10+ (in what case, any other bomb is already fine). The problem isn't the double blue, but Sorcery speed. No way in hell it would be played there.
Blast Zone: LSV and Matt Nass named this as the biggest card for Modern and I have to agree. It's just so universally powerful and easily slotted into any deck that has room for colorless lands
Despark: I have barely see any discussion on this card maybe because it's just so obvious. Seems almost guaranteed to become a sideboard mainstay for Modern although BW is a bit restrictive
Neoform; Elritch Evolution 5-8 probably make it possible to make an all-in combo deck around upgrading a cheap to cast high CMC creature. Conveniently Allosaurus Rider is one cmc under Griselbrand.
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer scares me as it is yet another card that gives a high payoff for Xerox AND also an artifacts matters card. If you could cast her from the graveyard she's be the holy trinity of busted things in modern
Karn, the Great Creator: I've heard different opinions on this from unplayable to guaranteed 4-of in tron and I am definitely more in the latter camp. The opportunity cost for making a wishboard in tron is fairly low and the Mycosynth Lattice combo is just gravy.
Final runner up is Dovin's Veto for not really adding that much to the format but making the UWx mirror even more miserable. Boy do I hate can't be countered effects.
A bit late for my usual reviews, but this was pretty interesting to write up.
5
Blast Zone
4
Finale of Promise
Finale of Devastation
3
Narset, Parter of Veils
Liliana's Triumph
Dovin's Veto
Teferi, Time Raveler
Ashiok, Dream Render
Karn, the Great Creator
2
Contentious Plan
Finale of Revelation
Bolas's Citadel
Dreadhorde Arcanist
Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
Angrath's Rampage
Domri, Anarch of Bolas
Neoform
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
Emergence Zone
Finale of Revelation: this thing has "untap five lands" on it so some combo deck is gonna use it. If you've ramped up to six basic lands, you can go Heartbeat of Spring -> Early Harvest -> Finale for 13 (or transmute Muddle the Mixture and Finale for 10) and untap five lands. Although if you had six lands, wouldn't it be easier to cast Primeval Titan?
Narset, Parter of Veils: combos with Day's Undoing, but fine just hating on opposing cantrip-heavy decks without resorting to combos. She replaces herself with her -2, though that puts her in Bolt range.
Bolas's Citadel: the hard part is getting lands out of the way. It's not really a one card combo since you need to gain life (which means either Aetherflux Reservoir or having a deck full of life gain cards).
Bolt Bend: Not as good as Stubborn Denial since you can't Bolt Bend an attempt by your opponent to combo off, doesn't stop board wipes, and does nothing against spot removal if you're the only one with creatures on the board. Ricochet Trap gets played in cascade Living End only because they can't play spells with CMC < 3.
Arboreal Grazer: an option for Amulet. I don't think it's good as Amulet is more about storing mana for future turns then ramping immediately. This is reflected in their choice of Coalition Relic over Explore - T3 Relic, charge counter leads to T4 remove counter, play untapped land, tap everything for 6 mana, whereas you can only get to 5 if you had Explore instead of Relic. Likewise, if you end turn 2 with Sakura-Tribe Scout, Amulet and 2 lands in play, you can play double bounceland next turn for 6 mana. This sequence isn't possible if you end turn 2 with Grazer, Amulet and 3 lands (having spent the extra land drop on turn 2 because Grazer forces you to) instead.
Neoform: overrated, I played Beck // Call Elves and the problem was blue mana because Heritage Druid didn't produce it and Simic is a pretty bad color combination (you don't want to touch blue at all, but Beck//Call forces you to, so you sigh and play it anyway until something better comes along). In Devoted Vizier decks, assembling the combo gives you infinite green mana, then what? You don't have blue to Neoform into Duskwatch Recruiter, and you can't Neoform your 2-drops into 2-drops anyway. Neither of these problems exists with Chord of Calling, Eldritch Evolution, or the new Finale of Devastation.
Ashiok, Dream Render: It doesn't affect spells and abilities controlled by you, so unfortunately there's no fun to be had with Field of Ruin or Path to Exile. Nevertheless, it's quite hard to remove since it survives Bolt and isn't a creature. It hates on graveyards too, repeatedly even, so it's not like Nihil Spellbomb where you blow it once and they just Loot next turn to get their engine going again now that your Spellbomb is gone. Ashiok will stop them completely unless they can do everything in one turn.
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer: better in Legacy/Vintage due to cards that they have but we don't (Moxen, Force of Will). Just like the obvious comparison Monastery Mentor, which is a commonly played card there but not in Modern.
Karn, the Great Creator: playable, but overrated. When Karn does anything at all, it's one of three scenarios:
1) Your opponent is playing an artifact deck, and his static is winning you the game.
2) You've just searched up and played Mycosynth Lattice, and his static is winning you the game.
3) You've just used him as a colorless Mastermind's Acquisition to get some artifact lock piece against your opponent.
1) depends on what your opponent is playing, 2) costs a lot of mana, and 3) costs a lot of mana too. 4 mana to tutor an artifact in the worst case is not a great rate. There are prison decks that use Whir of Invention to tutor for lock pieces, sure, but those decks are built with cheap artifacts to pay for Whir as well as to keep their hands empty if the lock piece is Ensnaring Bridge.
Emergence Zone: for combo decks, this threatens a kill if your opponent ever taps out, at the cost of having 2 less mana to work with during that turn. Having less mana means you're more likely to fizzle. There are some other things it enables relating to summoning sickness, like endstep Empty the Warrens and attacking before they have a chance to play sorcery speed board wipes, or endstep Footsteps of the GoryoGriselbrand so you get one attack before Yawgmoth's Bargaining. The problem is, combo decks don't have room for colorless-producing lands, since they need most of their lands to cast cheap colored spells like Serum Visions or Faithless Looting, so this is SB material at best, but you can play other cheap cards in your SB to beat counters/removal such as Dispel or Silence and those reduce the amount of mana you have on the combo turn by 1 instead of 2.
Most of the PWs are basically enchantments that can be attacked (aren't they all?). Those that have an ability that cantrips (i.e. the blue ones) are better.
Card: # of decks on mtgtop8
As always, data includes MTGO 5-0s which are not chosen at random, so take the numbers with a pinch of salt.
Tithe Taker: 4
Benthic Biomancer: 17 Pteramander: 39
Sphinx of Foresight: 0
Cry of the Carnarium: 3
Drill Bit: 0
Pestilent Spirit: 0
Spawn of Mayhem: 4
Electrodominance: 19
Immolation Shaman: 0 Light up the Stage: 69
Rix Maadi Reveler: 1 Skewer the Critics: 108
Growth-Chamber Guardian: 0
Incubation Druid: 0
Rampage of the Clans: 2
Wilderness Reclamation: 6 Absorb: 37
Bedevil: 2
Biomancer's Familiar: 0 Deputy of Detention: 126
Dovin, Grand Arbiter: 0
Emergency Powers: 0
Growth Spiral: 9
Gruul Spellbreaker: 4
Judith, the Scourge Diva: 3 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper: 33
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade: 4
Prime Speaker Vannifar: 8
Rhythm of the Wild: 7
Incubation//Incongruity: 1
It's time again for the quarterly "hits and misses from the previous set", brought to you by yours truly.
The big winners were Skewer the Critics, Deputy of Detention, and Light Up the Stage. Deputy has seen play in the two premier Aether Vial decks (Humans and Spirits), while the red spells have been a godsend for Burn and mono-red Phoenix. While Light up the Stage has seen plenty of play, at GPs the Light decks have been outclassed by their counterparts - Light Burn by traditional Boros and mono-red Phoenix by Izzet Phoenix. Eidolon of the Great Revel punishes opponents for cantripping to find their action; playing Light up the Stage in the same deck is hanging yourself with your own rope. Mono-red Phoenix is less consistent than Izzet Phoenix due to the lack of Serum Visions.
Moving down the list, we have Pteramander and two surprises. Pteramander goes into Izzet Phoenix, combining desirable attributes from Monastery Swiftspear (can be played on turn 1) and Bedlam Reveler (2 mana total for a big beater). Lately, Phoenix has been moving back to Snapcaster Mage and Pyromancer Ascension in the flex slots though.
The two surprises are...Absorb and Kaya, Orzhov Usurper! Despite both cards being released to lukewarm if not negative reception, Absorb has managed to find a way into some UW Control decks as a 1-of, and Kaya has been mainboarded in Esper and Lantern Control. I'm honestly quite surprised at Kaya; Faerie Macabre is not normally a playable card and neither is Isolate, but put them together on a 3-mana card that lets you use both effects more than once and...they are? Anyway, Ashiok from War of the Spark follows the same template (2 repeatable hate effects on a 3 mana walker), so if you want to look like a genius and/or speculate on cards, there's your pick.
Digging a bit deeper, we've got some good news and bad news. The good news is that Ravnica Allegiance spawned multiple new deck archetypes. Well done! The bad news is they could charitably be called tier 3. Nevertheless, it's instructive to look at these decks and find out why they're stuck in that rut.
Electrodominance: the shell for this deck is Electrodominance/As Foretold + Living End/Ancestral Vision. Casting Living End or Ancestral Vision gives you a huge amount of resources and, in Living End's case, can be enough to win the game shortly. Where did it go wrong? The devil is in the details. You need to play cyclers to revive with Living End, and as a result you can't play actual cantrips with card selection, like Serum Visions. Secondly, Faithless Looting decks are pretty popular, and Living End is two-sided. They can play one creature to pressure you while discarding a few more to Looting so that they've still got a board if Living End hits.
Prime Speaker Vannifar: this Pod variant brought a lot of attention to itself (they always do - remember Evolutionary Leap and Eldritch Evolution?), along with a spike in Scryb Ranger's price. It had the same Bolt-proofness as Sai, Master Thopterist, but for a 4-drop meant for Modern play, it damn well have. Where did it go wrong? Vannifar decks are a lot like Bubble Hulk decks:
1) you need to memorize a long sequence of tutor targets to search up
2) those targets are kind of bad, and you wouldn't play them in your deck if not for the fact that you need them for the kill
3) if any of those tutor targets is anywhere but in your library, tough titty. Sometimes if you draw one of the pieces you can hardcast it and combo off anyway. Other times that piece costs 5 or 6 mana.
And that 4 toughness? With the continued dominance of Phoenix, decks (including Phoenix itself) have been turning to Flame Slash to get rid of Thing in the Ice and Crackling Drake. Suddenly that 4 toughness doesn't seem so invincible.
The key lesson from Electrodominance and Vannifar is that the refrain "you win as soon as you resolve X/untap with X" is often not true on closer inspection. There's usually some kind of additional setup needed, like having certain cards in the graveyard or library, and that costs you percentage points.
Growth Spiral, Wilderness Reclamation: the terrors of BO1 Standard made it to Modern, where they continue to... make matches go to time . The deck plays out quite similarly to blue Scapeshift: you play a bunch of ramp so you can Cryptic Command on turn 3 and feed your eventual wincon, or Remand to stall them without going down on cards. It even has a tutor (Mystical Teachings) to match Bring to Light.
Wilderness Reclamation in Modern has the leg up against other midrange/control decks; the high density of 4-CMC cards (and Mystical Teachings' flashback) means you'll out-topdeck them every time, and all that ramp allows you to out-mana them every time. Where did it go wrong? Well, aggro decks. Especially that pesky Burn which got another Bolt to add to its arsenal. The comparison to blue Scapeshift is apt as it traditionally has not been a good choice in an aggro-heavy meta.
As for flops, Humans is still sticking to Gaddock Teeg over Lavinia, Azorius Renegade in their SBs. Being a Human isn't all that matters (just ask Deputy of Detention). And there can be no bigger flop than Sphinx of Foresight, a card which posed us the question, "Would you play Mystic Speculation if it cost 0 mana?" And the answer was no, because scrying 3 doesn't make up for the fact that you're effectively 1 card down.
You need X = 10 or more in order for anything you tutor for with Finale of Devastation to get Haste (or a pump). That's reachable only in big mana decks and infinite mana combos (e.g. the Devoted Vizier package).
Oh, I had read the card wrong. I thought the pump was at 10 and the haste was always there.
I had been waiting for this izzetmage, I didnt want to have to beg.
I'm waiting for him to be available on MTGO, but I think Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage see's play in 8-12rack.
Definitely, I'll swap Necrogen Mists out for him in my budget 8-rack build for sure. Even non-budget versions might want him, given how much the deck needs more win conditions.
I've been hearing about Ashiok, Dream Render in Modern. This guy at my LGS made it seem like the card would get banned in Modern, which is incredulous. Is he onto something or is he blowing smoke up my ass?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I mean it stops fetching and is repeatable graveyard removal and slow milling. I don't see it needing a ban. Unless there is some other card that its broken with.
I've been hearing about Ashiok, Dream Render in Modern. This guy at my LGS made it seem like the card would get banned in Modern, which is incredulous. Is he onto something or is he blowing smoke up my ass?
I mean it stops fetching and is repeatable graveyard removal and slow milling. I don't see it needing a ban. Unless there is some other card that its broken with.
I've been hearing about Ashiok, Dream Render in Modern. This guy at my LGS made it seem like the card would get banned in Modern, which is incredulous. Is he onto something or is he blowing smoke up my ass?
No more fetch, no more tron looking up lands, no more Prime Time fetch. Bannable? Not at all. Annoying? Probably.
Okay, makes sense. It does seem pretty strong, but whenever some guy says that something will get banned in Modern, you always have to take that with a huge grain of salt. The graveyard ability is not a static one like Rest in Peace; it's like a Relic of Progenitus at Sorcery speed. It is indeed very strong, but at 3 mana, probably balanced enough for Modern.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I've been hearing about Ashiok, Dream Render in Modern. This guy at my LGS made it seem like the card would get banned in Modern, which is incredulous. Is he onto something or is he blowing smoke up my ass?
It's currently a 2 dollar uncommon... banmania is crazy.
Anyone playing Return to Nature? Pretty narrow in terms of decks that want it, but I think I'm replacing the Destructive Revelries in my RUG Delver sideboard. The flexibility seems bigger than the 2 damage, and it's also a little easier to cast.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I've been hearing about Ashiok, Dream Render in Modern. This guy at my LGS made it seem like the card would get banned in Modern, which is incredulous. Is he onto something or is he blowing smoke up my ass?
It's currently a 2 dollar uncommon... banmania is crazy.
You want the true cheap War of the Spark uncommon that might eat a ban, it's Neoform. From my testing, it gives Allosaurus Rider Grishoalbrand a crazy high chance of Turn 2 wins (I honestly suspect close to Blazing Shoal Infect levels). Some other users like Allosaurus Grishoalbrand decks with a noticeably higher chance of winning on Turn 1. It's already pressuring me to play no other combo decks because they cannot combo off fast enough and they often fold to the same hate. The best disruption against this combo is pretty much cheap counterspells (preferably 1-mana ones), targeted discard (preferably with Liliana of the Veil backup), and Grafdigger's Cage; Turn 3 disruption is often too slow, Leonin Arbiter can have its tax paid, Pithing Needle doesn't stop the Allosaurus player from swinging with Griselbrand more than half the time, creature removal only rips out 7 life and they keep drawing cards in response. I suspect Meddling Mage on Allosaurus Rider and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben may do work against them, although Thalia is more doubtful because delaying the draw combo as late as possible has been working out well for me in testing, and I can easily pay for 2-3 Thalia taxes mid-combo if I merely wait for my Summoner's Pact trigger to try to bite me in the butt.
Some might cheer for the return of BGx Midrange and for UR Phoenix to be forced to fill itself with counterspells, but I don't like the direction the Modern meta will take as a result of Allosaurus Grishoalbrand. Squeezing out close to all other combo decks with a combo deck that can take on Burn is not a development I want to see.
You want the true cheap War of the Spark uncommon that might eat a ban, it's Neoform. From my testing, it gives Allosaurus Rider Grishoalbrand a crazy high chance of Turn 2 wins (I honestly suspect close to Blazing Shoal Infect levels). Some other users like Allosaurus Grishoalbrand decks with a noticeably higher chance of winning on Turn 1. It's already pressuring me to play no other combo decks because they cannot combo off fast enough and they often fold to the same hate. The best disruption against this combo is pretty much cheap counterspells (preferably 1-mana ones), targeted discard (preferably with Liliana of the Veil backup), and Grafdigger's Cage; Turn 3 disruption is often too slow, Leonin Arbiter can have its tax paid, Pithing Needle doesn't stop the Allosaurus player from swinging with Griselbrand more than half the time, creature removal only rips out 7 life and they keep drawing cards in response. I suspect Meddling Mage on Allosaurus Rider and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben may do work against them, although Thalia is more doubtful because delaying the draw combo as late as possible has been working out well for me in testing, and I can easily pay for 2-3 Thalia taxes mid-combo if I merely wait for my Summoner's Pact trigger to try to bite me in the butt.
Some might cheer for the return of BGx Midrange and for UR Phoenix to be forced to fill itself with counterspells, but I don't like the direction the Modern meta will take as a result of Allosaurus Grishoalbrand. Squeezing out close to all other combo decks with a combo deck that can take on Burn is not a development I want to see.
Talking about format-wide implications with your new brew is bold and premature. Maybe revisit this later with some tournament/MTGO league results, rather than just testing. Whether or not Neoform is a ban-worthy combo piece requires a certain level of popularity and a lot of data.
I tried the Neoform Rider deck. It has a lot of failure modes are unlikely to happen, but will cost you games here and there: not drawing into Shoal/Wurm (by far the most common, and becomes more likely when you're forced to pitch Shoal to cheat Rider out), having a library size that isn't a multiple of 7 and Lightning Storm being stuck in the cards that you can't draw, or drawing into both Griselbrands.
Additionally, the deck is really soft to counters and discard: discard because you need a whole 4 cards to even begin the combo (Rider, Neoform/Evolution and 2 green cards to pitch) and it's tough to maintain that many cards in hand when your opponent is IoK/TS/Lili +1ing you left and right; counters because you sac as an additional cost so if they counter your Neoform/Evolution you're out a whole four cards. (Unlike, say, Goryo's Vengeance or Through the Breach where if they counter it you're only out one card, and you can power through counters by simply drawing more Vengeances/Breaches than they have counterspells).
I think the most overlooked strength of the deck is that you don't have to combo off immediately after cheating in Griselbrand. Again, Vengeance/Breach are different (worse in this regard) because Griselbrand would die at the end of the turn*. You can win games just with a huge flying lifelinker, like how Bogles does it. The other great thing about waiting is that you get to untap your lands and play one more, allowing you to eliminate the third failure mode of not being able to draw Lightning Storm by casting cantrips to get your library size right. Of course waiting is not always an option, especially if you got your Rider with Pact and don't have enough lands to pay for it, or if they force your hand with Path/Assassin's Trophy, so that's when you get to spin the "will I draw enough Shoals and Wurms" wheel.
I don't think the deck is that broken because it does lose to itself (sometimes) and disruption (often). I do believe that it can spike events like any other inconsistent combo deck though.
*On the other hand, Vengeance/Breach grant haste, so the first 7 is free. That significantly lowers the chance of fizzling. Though in Neoform's case, if they don't have an answer for Griselbrand, you can just wait one turn for summoning sickness to clear and attack, with similar results.
can already see some brewing going on. karn + lattice combo showing up in lantern and tron as predicted, neoform combo, oddball superfriends running thalia for whatever reason, straight mono-blue control featuring blast-zone,etc.
it isnt hugely noticeable since its a 5-0 dump, but the london mulligan is showing some influence as well. i imagine the meta is going to be chaotic for a good bit without much time to settle before horizons.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Of note: The Karn-Lattice combo makes it in on a Mono-G Tron deck with Karn, the Great Creator as a 4-of (another Mono-G Tron deck places higher with 1 Ugin, the Ineffable), Allosaurus Grishoalbrand gets 30th place with what looks like an unrefined list, Arboreal Grazer gets 5th place in Amulet Titan, and Blast Zone sees play (in Amulet Titan's sideboard, RG Eldrazi, and UW Control).
Offtopic but it's amazing to me Shocktroopa is still going strong wit his Utron lists. Still consistently dragging The Little One-ofs That Could over the finish line when he could shuffle in forest and 4 Karn Liberated instead.
Paying 2 more for haste, and any creature in the deck is a pretty good rate. Chord of Calling is already paying similar once you factor in Convoke, if you consider instant speed to be similar to haste, and it has very good selection. I think the card is pretty fair honestly. It's good, but not broken.
You need X = 10 or more in order for anything you tutor for with Finale of Devastation to get Haste (or a pump). That's reachable only in big mana decks and infinite mana combos (e.g. the Devoted Vizier package).
Finale of Revelation is completely useless in U-Tron, except if you already Tronned and can cast it for 10+ (in what case, any other bomb is already fine). The problem isn't the double blue, but Sorcery speed. No way in hell it would be played there.
Blast Zone: LSV and Matt Nass named this as the biggest card for Modern and I have to agree. It's just so universally powerful and easily slotted into any deck that has room for colorless lands
Despark: I have barely see any discussion on this card maybe because it's just so obvious. Seems almost guaranteed to become a sideboard mainstay for Modern although BW is a bit restrictive
Neoform; Elritch Evolution 5-8 probably make it possible to make an all-in combo deck around upgrading a cheap to cast high CMC creature. Conveniently Allosaurus Rider is one cmc under Griselbrand.
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer scares me as it is yet another card that gives a high payoff for Xerox AND also an artifacts matters card. If you could cast her from the graveyard she's be the holy trinity of busted things in modern
Karn, the Great Creator: I've heard different opinions on this from unplayable to guaranteed 4-of in tron and I am definitely more in the latter camp. The opportunity cost for making a wishboard in tron is fairly low and the Mycosynth Lattice combo is just gravy.
Final runner up is Dovin's Veto for not really adding that much to the format but making the UWx mirror even more miserable. Boy do I hate can't be countered effects.
Blast Zone
4
Finale of Promise
Finale of Devastation
3
Narset, Parter of Veils
Liliana's Triumph
Dovin's Veto
Teferi, Time Raveler
Ashiok, Dream Render
Karn, the Great Creator
2
Contentious Plan
Finale of Revelation
Bolas's Citadel
Dreadhorde Arcanist
Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
Angrath's Rampage
Domri, Anarch of Bolas
Neoform
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
Emergence Zone
1
The rest
Opinions on specific cards:
2) You've just searched up and played Mycosynth Lattice, and his static is winning you the game.
3) You've just used him as a colorless Mastermind's Acquisition to get some artifact lock piece against your opponent.
1) depends on what your opponent is playing, 2) costs a lot of mana, and 3) costs a lot of mana too. 4 mana to tutor an artifact in the worst case is not a great rate. There are prison decks that use Whir of Invention to tutor for lock pieces, sure, but those decks are built with cheap artifacts to pay for Whir as well as to keep their hands empty if the lock piece is Ensnaring Bridge.
Most of the PWs are basically enchantments that can be attacked (aren't they all?). Those that have an ability that cantrips (i.e. the blue ones) are better.
As always, data includes MTGO 5-0s which are not chosen at random, so take the numbers with a pinch of salt.
Tithe Taker: 4
Benthic Biomancer: 17
Pteramander: 39
Sphinx of Foresight: 0
Cry of the Carnarium: 3
Drill Bit: 0
Pestilent Spirit: 0
Spawn of Mayhem: 4
Electrodominance: 19
Immolation Shaman: 0
Light up the Stage: 69
Rix Maadi Reveler: 1
Skewer the Critics: 108
Growth-Chamber Guardian: 0
Incubation Druid: 0
Rampage of the Clans: 2
Wilderness Reclamation: 6
Absorb: 37
Bedevil: 2
Biomancer's Familiar: 0
Deputy of Detention: 126
Dovin, Grand Arbiter: 0
Emergency Powers: 0
Growth Spiral: 9
Gruul Spellbreaker: 4
Judith, the Scourge Diva: 3
Kaya, Orzhov Usurper: 33
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade: 4
Prime Speaker Vannifar: 8
Rhythm of the Wild: 7
Incubation//Incongruity: 1
It's time again for the quarterly "hits and misses from the previous set", brought to you by yours truly.
The big winners were Skewer the Critics, Deputy of Detention, and Light Up the Stage. Deputy has seen play in the two premier Aether Vial decks (Humans and Spirits), while the red spells have been a godsend for Burn and mono-red Phoenix. While Light up the Stage has seen plenty of play, at GPs the Light decks have been outclassed by their counterparts - Light Burn by traditional Boros and mono-red Phoenix by Izzet Phoenix. Eidolon of the Great Revel punishes opponents for cantripping to find their action; playing Light up the Stage in the same deck is hanging yourself with your own rope. Mono-red Phoenix is less consistent than Izzet Phoenix due to the lack of Serum Visions.
Moving down the list, we have Pteramander and two surprises. Pteramander goes into Izzet Phoenix, combining desirable attributes from Monastery Swiftspear (can be played on turn 1) and Bedlam Reveler (2 mana total for a big beater). Lately, Phoenix has been moving back to Snapcaster Mage and Pyromancer Ascension in the flex slots though.
The two surprises are...Absorb and Kaya, Orzhov Usurper! Despite both cards being released to lukewarm if not negative reception, Absorb has managed to find a way into some UW Control decks as a 1-of, and Kaya has been mainboarded in Esper and Lantern Control. I'm honestly quite surprised at Kaya; Faerie Macabre is not normally a playable card and neither is Isolate, but put them together on a 3-mana card that lets you use both effects more than once and...they are? Anyway, Ashiok from War of the Spark follows the same template (2 repeatable hate effects on a 3 mana walker), so if you want to look like a genius and/or speculate on cards, there's your pick.
Digging a bit deeper, we've got some good news and bad news. The good news is that Ravnica Allegiance spawned multiple new deck archetypes. Well done! The bad news is they could charitably be called tier 3. Nevertheless, it's instructive to look at these decks and find out why they're stuck in that rut.
Electrodominance: the shell for this deck is Electrodominance/As Foretold + Living End/Ancestral Vision. Casting Living End or Ancestral Vision gives you a huge amount of resources and, in Living End's case, can be enough to win the game shortly.
Where did it go wrong? The devil is in the details. You need to play cyclers to revive with Living End, and as a result you can't play actual cantrips with card selection, like Serum Visions. Secondly, Faithless Looting decks are pretty popular, and Living End is two-sided. They can play one creature to pressure you while discarding a few more to Looting so that they've still got a board if Living End hits.
Prime Speaker Vannifar: this Pod variant brought a lot of attention to itself (they always do - remember Evolutionary Leap and Eldritch Evolution?), along with a spike in Scryb Ranger's price. It had the same Bolt-proofness as Sai, Master Thopterist, but for a 4-drop meant for Modern play, it damn well have.
Where did it go wrong? Vannifar decks are a lot like Bubble Hulk decks:
1) you need to memorize a long sequence of tutor targets to search up
2) those targets are kind of bad, and you wouldn't play them in your deck if not for the fact that you need them for the kill
3) if any of those tutor targets is anywhere but in your library, tough titty. Sometimes if you draw one of the pieces you can hardcast it and combo off anyway. Other times that piece costs 5 or 6 mana.
And that 4 toughness? With the continued dominance of Phoenix, decks (including Phoenix itself) have been turning to Flame Slash to get rid of Thing in the Ice and Crackling Drake. Suddenly that 4 toughness doesn't seem so invincible.
The key lesson from Electrodominance and Vannifar is that the refrain "you win as soon as you resolve X/untap with X" is often not true on closer inspection. There's usually some kind of additional setup needed, like having certain cards in the graveyard or library, and that costs you percentage points.
Growth Spiral, Wilderness Reclamation: the terrors of BO1 Standard made it to Modern, where they continue to... make matches go to time . The deck plays out quite similarly to blue Scapeshift: you play a bunch of ramp so you can Cryptic Command on turn 3 and feed your eventual wincon, or Remand to stall them without going down on cards. It even has a tutor (Mystical Teachings) to match Bring to Light.
Wilderness Reclamation in Modern has the leg up against other midrange/control decks; the high density of 4-CMC cards (and Mystical Teachings' flashback) means you'll out-topdeck them every time, and all that ramp allows you to out-mana them every time.
Where did it go wrong? Well, aggro decks. Especially that pesky Burn which got another Bolt to add to its arsenal. The comparison to blue Scapeshift is apt as it traditionally has not been a good choice in an aggro-heavy meta.
As for flops, Humans is still sticking to Gaddock Teeg over Lavinia, Azorius Renegade in their SBs. Being a Human isn't all that matters (just ask Deputy of Detention). And there can be no bigger flop than Sphinx of Foresight, a card which posed us the question, "Would you play Mystic Speculation if it cost 0 mana?" And the answer was no, because scrying 3 doesn't make up for the fact that you're effectively 1 card down.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Oh, I had read the card wrong. I thought the pump was at 10 and the haste was always there.
In that case, it is considerably worse.
I'm waiting for him to be available on MTGO, but I think Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage see's play in 8-12rack.
Spirits
Definitely, I'll swap Necrogen Mists out for him in my budget 8-rack build for sure. Even non-budget versions might want him, given how much the deck needs more win conditions.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Turn 1 Overgrown Tomb -> Bird
Turn 2 Ashiok, Dream Render
No more fetch, no more tron looking up lands, no more Prime Time fetch. Bannable? Not at all. Annoying? Probably.
Spirits
Okay, makes sense. It does seem pretty strong, but whenever some guy says that something will get banned in Modern, you always have to take that with a huge grain of salt. The graveyard ability is not a static one like Rest in Peace; it's like a Relic of Progenitus at Sorcery speed. It is indeed very strong, but at 3 mana, probably balanced enough for Modern.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)It's currently a 2 dollar uncommon... banmania is crazy.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
You want the true cheap War of the Spark uncommon that might eat a ban, it's Neoform. From my testing, it gives Allosaurus Rider Grishoalbrand a crazy high chance of Turn 2 wins (I honestly suspect close to Blazing Shoal Infect levels). Some other users like Allosaurus Grishoalbrand decks with a noticeably higher chance of winning on Turn 1. It's already pressuring me to play no other combo decks because they cannot combo off fast enough and they often fold to the same hate. The best disruption against this combo is pretty much cheap counterspells (preferably 1-mana ones), targeted discard (preferably with Liliana of the Veil backup), and Grafdigger's Cage; Turn 3 disruption is often too slow, Leonin Arbiter can have its tax paid, Pithing Needle doesn't stop the Allosaurus player from swinging with Griselbrand more than half the time, creature removal only rips out 7 life and they keep drawing cards in response. I suspect Meddling Mage on Allosaurus Rider and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben may do work against them, although Thalia is more doubtful because delaying the draw combo as late as possible has been working out well for me in testing, and I can easily pay for 2-3 Thalia taxes mid-combo if I merely wait for my Summoner's Pact trigger to try to bite me in the butt.
Some might cheer for the return of BGx Midrange and for UR Phoenix to be forced to fill itself with counterspells, but I don't like the direction the Modern meta will take as a result of Allosaurus Grishoalbrand. Squeezing out close to all other combo decks with a combo deck that can take on Burn is not a development I want to see.
Talking about format-wide implications with your new brew is bold and premature. Maybe revisit this later with some tournament/MTGO league results, rather than just testing. Whether or not Neoform is a ban-worthy combo piece requires a certain level of popularity and a lot of data.
Additionally, the deck is really soft to counters and discard: discard because you need a whole 4 cards to even begin the combo (Rider, Neoform/Evolution and 2 green cards to pitch) and it's tough to maintain that many cards in hand when your opponent is IoK/TS/Lili +1ing you left and right; counters because you sac as an additional cost so if they counter your Neoform/Evolution you're out a whole four cards. (Unlike, say, Goryo's Vengeance or Through the Breach where if they counter it you're only out one card, and you can power through counters by simply drawing more Vengeances/Breaches than they have counterspells).
I think the most overlooked strength of the deck is that you don't have to combo off immediately after cheating in Griselbrand. Again, Vengeance/Breach are different (worse in this regard) because Griselbrand would die at the end of the turn*. You can win games just with a huge flying lifelinker, like how Bogles does it. The other great thing about waiting is that you get to untap your lands and play one more, allowing you to eliminate the third failure mode of not being able to draw Lightning Storm by casting cantrips to get your library size right. Of course waiting is not always an option, especially if you got your Rider with Pact and don't have enough lands to pay for it, or if they force your hand with Path/Assassin's Trophy, so that's when you get to spin the "will I draw enough Shoals and Wurms" wheel.
I don't think the deck is that broken because it does lose to itself (sometimes) and disruption (often). I do believe that it can spike events like any other inconsistent combo deck though.
*On the other hand, Vengeance/Breach grant haste, so the first 7 is free. That significantly lowers the chance of fizzling. Though in Neoform's case, if they don't have an answer for Griselbrand, you can just wait one turn for summoning sickness to clear and attack, with similar results.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
https://twitter.com/nikachumtg/status/1122513186081652736
I just want to do 'normal' things in Modern, is that too much to ask?
Spirits
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-modern-constructed-league-2019-04-30
or
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/competitive-modern-league-2019-04-30#online
can already see some brewing going on. karn + lattice combo showing up in lantern and tron as predicted, neoform combo, oddball superfriends running thalia for whatever reason, straight mono-blue control featuring blast-zone,etc.
it isnt hugely noticeable since its a 5-0 dump, but the london mulligan is showing some influence as well. i imagine the meta is going to be chaotic for a good bit without much time to settle before horizons.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-challenge-2019-04-30
Of note: The Karn-Lattice combo makes it in on a Mono-G Tron deck with Karn, the Great Creator as a 4-of (another Mono-G Tron deck places higher with 1 Ugin, the Ineffable), Allosaurus Grishoalbrand gets 30th place with what looks like an unrefined list, Arboreal Grazer gets 5th place in Amulet Titan, and Blast Zone sees play (in Amulet Titan's sideboard, RG Eldrazi, and UW Control).
1.- Blast Zone
2.- Dovin, hand of control
3.- Neoform
4.- Ashiok, dream render
5.- Saheeli