gifts without unburial rites/fatty seems borderline idiocy. Play mystical teachings if you want a ton of singleton bullets.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
gifts without unburial rites/fatty seems borderline idiocy. Play mystical teachings if you want a ton of singleton bullets.
I'm not sure if I agree with that. The unburial rites package is great if you pull it off (vs. counters/remand it isn't happening and it can be slow coming down on turn 5 and it sometimes doesn't even stabalize you). Also it makes it so you want to play some way to discard cards from your hand so they aren't useless if you naturally draw them.
Gifts can be used as a value card as it gives the most CA from 1 4cmc card in Modern imo. You can use it to tutor for a wrath, multiple removal or multiple counters if need be which is great but the main CA engine would be to do something like tutor for gifts, snap, charm and think twice which guarantees you a 4 for 1 at a minimum. It basically acts like your sphinx rev but with the upside of being able to find specific answers or CA earlier.
All three PTQ's I've top 8'd in my life were with old extended gifts control. I promise, value gifts is not good enough in modern.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
I agree with that modern is not as bad people think. Seeing the comments to his article it just seems like people over exaggerate the power level of junk just because some of the cards get see play in legacy. Different format have different contexts and the power level of cards are determined by the format.
On another note I feel like v. Clique is so good right now. It helps our rough matchups and is not dead to aggro since it can trade in a pinch. I am running 2 mainboard currently and am liking it over shadow of doubt, extra spot removal, or counterspells.
Revelations is just much better than gifts in the matchup where you need a big value draw spell and you do not have to put in bad cards for this sort of deck like Lingering Souls just to make the gifts work. You really want to be something degenerate with gifts and Lingering Souls and think twice value packages are not it. I would also cut back on remand. 2 seems like the right number since it is great early and the matchups where it is good in in the late game but is terrible in some of our harder matchups. You are also lacking in your early game interaction with only 1 condenm and path along with the 4 snares is not enough. 4 snapcasters seem very much not optimal at all here either. You have other cards fighting for the graveyard and you do not have enough cheap spells that are worth flashing back.
I read the SCG article. I have a few points of contention, not the least of which is that the deck he posted by the standards of this forum is clearly esper midrange. Mainboard discard, mana leaks, ousts, multiple planeswalkers, tasigur/resto--those are all what we've (I believe) collectively agreed constitute the major differences between the midrange shell and the control shell for esper.
He's not wrong about his sideboard points--anyone who's read any of my posts about sideboards and deck construction knows I'm the same way in that I favor broad answers that are applicable in more matchups vs narrow answers. I agree that for the most part, people in modern are complaining about junk without trying to innovate around it. That being said, there are some problems with the format, namely that the reward for playing tempo or control strategies doesn't outweigh the costs from a competitive standpoint because there IS still a powerlevel discrepancy between the BGx shell and most other nonlinear decks. That's something I can wait on wizards to fix, because those strategies are playable even if they aren't top tier right now.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
So, I believe there's a guy running Dega Midrange at my LGS... I'm having difficulty figuring out what to side out against him. Current maindeck is as follows:
So, I believe there's a guy running Dega Midrange at my LGS... I'm having difficulty figuring out what to side out against him. Current maindeck is as follows:
Dega seems like it may be a bit of a rough matchup. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I think we need more info like what threats is the deck running but for the most part it seems like it would be similar to bgx where you just bring in over the top bombs and
The problem is I don't know exactly what he runs. I know he's in Dega colors but I didn't get to play him. I'm working on a meta-based sideboard plan and I'm just having trouble figuring out how I should sideboard against him. Almost my entire sideboard is good against his deck, though. Here's the primer for it:
I recommend bringing in EE, negates, deprive, batterkull, and purges. Expect him to run lingering souls and planeswalkers post board, so you probably cut remands, rewind, and cryptics. leave in snare for hitting bob/pyromancer/tidehollow sculler/terminate.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I've been looking at esper control seeing as I think it has a pretty good positioning right now. UWr's burn isn't going to do much when "toughness of 4 and greater" is the flavour of the month. There are some things I'd like to get some input on.
1. Tasigur is fantastic in this deck. It does everything I want for my finisher and more. I currently run 2 but might go to 3.
2. It really surprises me how many people mainboard Thoughtseize. I think it is an awful mainboard card for this deck and should only be sideboarded in x2 or x3 in combo matchups. Inquisition of Kozilek seems much better, seeing as it doesn't cost life and the sole purpose to run discard in this is to take out early threats more efficiently. Before the opponent is able to cast cmc4 and greater spells esper should be already far and well be set up with cryptic and other counterspells.
3. I can't get Tec Edge into the deck. With T1 IoK T2 counterspell T3 Esper Charm T4 Cryptic/Wrath this deck is insanely mana intensive and colored lands just really get in the way. I've been trying to fit in 2 but without much success so far
4. Because of the above, lands pose a big issue. Manlands are tough to deal with and I haven't found any way to not make GR tron an 30-70 disadvantageous matchup
5. I'm still on the fence on Geist sideboard. It is difficult to know when he should be boarded in or not
6. Removal beyond PtE is a bit of an issue. I'm currently using Dismember because of its flexibility in casting cost but it is far from perfect. Murderous Cut might be a good 1-of, Oust seems utterly awful
If anyone has any input on some of these points that'd be awesome
I've been looking at esper control seeing as I think it has a pretty good positioning right now. UWr's burn isn't going to do much when "toughness of 4 and greater" is the flavour of the month. There are some things I'd like to get some input on.
1. Tasigur is fantastic in this deck. It does everything I want for my finisher and more. I currently run 2 but might go to 3.
2. It really surprises me how many people mainboard Thoughtseize. I think it is an awful mainboard card for this deck and should only be sideboarded in x2 or x3 in combo matchups. Inquisition of Kozilek seems much better, seeing as it doesn't cost life and the sole purpose to run discard in this is to take out early threats more efficiently. Before the opponent is able to cast cmc4 and greater spells esper should be already far and well be set up with cryptic and other counterspells.
3. I can't get Tec Edge into the deck. With T1 IoK T2 counterspell T3 Esper Charm T4 Cryptic/Wrath this deck is insanely mana intensive and colored lands just really get in the way. I've been trying to fit in 2 but without much success so far
4. Because of the above, lands pose a big issue. Manlands are tough to deal with and I haven't found any way to not make GR tron an 30-70 disadvantageous matchup
5. I'm still on the fence on Geist sideboard. It is difficult to know when he should be boarded in or not
6. Removal beyond PtE is a bit of an issue. I'm currently using Dismember because of its flexibility in casting cost but it is far from perfect. Murderous Cut might be a good 1-of, Oust seems utterly awful
If anyone has any input on some of these points that'd be awesome
1. I would not run more than one and even then not be sure of it since all he does is turn on your opponents removal.
2. No one who has been a long time control player or has been a a part of this discussion wuld even run any form of discard in the main. IOK is just as bad as Thoughtseize main. The point of discard is not to get rid of early threats but to get rid of reactive cards to your threats which this deck has none. Discard is great in the sideboard to disrupt synergistic and combo based decks or the mirror. The only time you will be aiming for threats are in matchups like boggles and infect but those are special cases.
3.If you do not aim for turn 1 discard which you should not then you only need 12 black sources to cast esper charm reliably. Esper is actually a uw control deck splashing black only for esper charm and black sideboard cards. 22 u, 18 w, and 12 b sources is really feasible to do and still have room for 2 utility lands and 5 basic lands. You should run Ghost Quarter over tec edge in the current meta.
4. Tron will always be unfavorable. Best cards against tron are thoughtseize, v. clique, stony silence, shadow of doubt, geist, and extraction effects on their lands.
5. He does take up a lot of room but you want him against control, combo, and tron.
6. You do not really need more than just path in the main. Board wipes do a lot of catching up for you. Oust is actually really good. 1 mana removal even at sorcery speed is just better than 2 mana removal unless playing against twin. Murderous Cut can be considered depending on how many cards you have fighting over your graveyard already.
you dont count remand as a counter , its a cycle spell like shadow of doublt , but slows our opponent down , what we helps us reaching easier the 4 mana zone cryptic zone not to mention value games against flashback cards ( yes i mean you lingering souls ) and any blue deck ( countering your own spells ) . Keeping 2 lands plus remand just feels muuuuch saver than just 2 lands logic knot or spell snare . If I could I would play them as a 4 off but that would probably too much ... besides cryptic, I would say its the best blue card in modern ( personal opinion )
Its good against blue and yes running 4 is dangerous due to it being horrible against linear decks which are some of our harder matchups.
People who say Oust is a bad card have never played with it before.
It's better than path in some situations. Oust their t1 birds/hierarch, and you slow them down while also making their t3 draw useless.
It also makes fetchlands awkward for your opponent. You ousted their goyf? Now they have to think about whether they want to fetch + play rhino, or wait to draw their goyf again. If they fetch and play rhino, then you've essentially hard-removaled their goyf for 1 mana.
I read the SCG article. I have a few points of contention, not the least of which is that the deck he posted by the standards of this forum is clearly esper midrange. Mainboard discard, mana leaks, ousts, multiple planeswalkers, tasigur/resto--those are all what we've (I believe) collectively agreed constitute the major differences between the midrange shell and the control shell for esper.
He's not wrong about his sideboard points--anyone who's read any of my posts about sideboards and deck construction knows I'm the same way in that I favor broad answers that are applicable in more matchups vs narrow answers. I agree that for the most part, people in modern are complaining about junk without trying to innovate around it. That being said, there are some problems with the format, namely that the reward for playing tempo or control strategies doesn't outweigh the costs from a competitive standpoint because there IS still a powerlevel discrepancy between the BGx shell and most other nonlinear decks. That's something I can wait on wizards to fix, because those strategies are playable even if they aren't top tier right now.
I think the torrent of Modern articles started with Damo De Rosa complaining about the complete lack of quality blue cantrips and interactive spells, even if he didn't realize that that's what his problem with Modern was. Blue and Black are the two colors that get universal hand/stack disruption, so every viable deck in Legacy is either one of these two colors or full-out combo. In Modern Force of Will was never a possibility, and Spell Pierce is rendered useless on account of fast combo being banned out of existence. Add that in with the fact that the card selection that blue gets to make up for it's lack of value creatures is all banned, and blue is basically the worst color in the format. So now the tempo color is BGx, as opposed to URx, which is what one would expect to see if R&D didn't screw with Modern so heavily. Damo de Rosa is a hardcore Ux Tempo player and I feel his pain. BGx is a massively dumbed-down tempo deck with a pile of 60 fire-and-forget cards. It even functions best when it's pilot has no hand and correspondingly no decisions to make.
Fabiano is the kind of player that Modern was made for. All midrange, all the time. Players like that must think Modern is a paradise. Constant grindy creature matchups. I think R&D won't do anything about blue tempo being garbage unless these pro players will man-up and say "we want blue back". Sperling basically dared them in his Channel Fireball article:
So we can’t bring one deck that prepares for all the rest, well, except for Abzan. We can’t bring Mana Leaks and Cryptic Commands and just do our thing (though we can bring our Inquisitions and Lilianas). Why is that a problem for the rest of us? This is where the article fell short. He explains why other reactive decks are struggling, but not why we ought to care. If the principle supporting the thesis is that there ought to be a top-tier way to play reactive Magic, well, there is—Abzan.
They most likely made Dig Through Time to help address blue being far and beyond the worst color in Modern, but the basic approach they took in designing these cards is ridiculous. They want to design expensive cards that yield huge payoffs to blue players for drawing the game out past turn 6. They don't want blue players to be able to interact efficiently with other decks early on, and they don't want them accruing card advantage. I assume this is because they're all hurt in the butt from playing against Faeries back in the day or something...
At the end of the day, you can be sure that even if they do print cards for blue in Modern, they're going to be lategame cards like Dig Through Time, but a whole lot weaker. If those help any deck, it'll likely be UWR Flash/Midrange, as Esper already can't be ground out. They're not going to reprint Counterspell, though, and I highly doubt they print something incrementally better than Serum Visions. Assuming that's even possible. If Preordain was miraculously unbanned, maybe actualcombo decks would become Tier 1 and Delver decks could enter the metagame with cards like Spell Pierce, but that would be entirely too much creatureless-combo and blue for R&D's taste.
Remand is good for delaying your opponent while replacing itself, much like how Azorius Charm was used in RTR/THS standard. It also shines in counterwars and against flashback lingering souls.
The problem with Condemn is that it's horrible against voice of resurgence, twin, primevil titan, mana dorks, etc. Oust is also pretty bad against twin, but answers the other things easily. They're both about the same against affinity/infect, and Condemn has the upside of hitting manlands. It's up to you.
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Pretty lengthy post by a guy who has obviously put in a lot of work on this deck. I like his list.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
2 Snapcaster Mage
Sorceries (5)
2 Lingering Souls
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Day of Judgment
1 Wrath of God
Instants (25)
3 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
3 Spell Snare
1 Think Twice
4 Mana Leak
2 Logic Knot
4 Esper Charm
2 Dissipate
1 Dismember
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Cryptic Command
2 Murderous Cut
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Watery Grave
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Stony Silence
1 Disfigure
2 Path to Exile
1 Spellskite
1 Deathmark
1 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Vendilion Clique
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I'm not sure if I agree with that. The unburial rites package is great if you pull it off (vs. counters/remand it isn't happening and it can be slow coming down on turn 5 and it sometimes doesn't even stabalize you). Also it makes it so you want to play some way to discard cards from your hand so they aren't useless if you naturally draw them.
Gifts can be used as a value card as it gives the most CA from 1 4cmc card in Modern imo. You can use it to tutor for a wrath, multiple removal or multiple counters if need be which is great but the main CA engine would be to do something like tutor for gifts, snap, charm and think twice which guarantees you a 4 for 1 at a minimum. It basically acts like your sphinx rev but with the upside of being able to find specific answers or CA earlier.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
I agree with that modern is not as bad people think. Seeing the comments to his article it just seems like people over exaggerate the power level of junk just because some of the cards get see play in legacy. Different format have different contexts and the power level of cards are determined by the format.
On another note I feel like v. Clique is so good right now. It helps our rough matchups and is not dead to aggro since it can trade in a pinch. I am running 2 mainboard currently and am liking it over shadow of doubt, extra spot removal, or counterspells.
Revelations is just much better than gifts in the matchup where you need a big value draw spell and you do not have to put in bad cards for this sort of deck like Lingering Souls just to make the gifts work. You really want to be something degenerate with gifts and Lingering Souls and think twice value packages are not it. I would also cut back on remand. 2 seems like the right number since it is great early and the matchups where it is good in in the late game but is terrible in some of our harder matchups. You are also lacking in your early game interaction with only 1 condenm and path along with the 4 snares is not enough. 4 snapcasters seem very much not optimal at all here either. You have other cards fighting for the graveyard and you do not have enough cheap spells that are worth flashing back.
He's not wrong about his sideboard points--anyone who's read any of my posts about sideboards and deck construction knows I'm the same way in that I favor broad answers that are applicable in more matchups vs narrow answers. I agree that for the most part, people in modern are complaining about junk without trying to innovate around it. That being said, there are some problems with the format, namely that the reward for playing tempo or control strategies doesn't outweigh the costs from a competitive standpoint because there IS still a powerlevel discrepancy between the BGx shell and most other nonlinear decks. That's something I can wait on wizards to fix, because those strategies are playable even if they aren't top tier right now.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Snapcaster Mage
Counters
3 Cryptic Command
3 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
2 Remand
1 Rewind
4 Think Twice
4 Esper Charm
2 Sphinx's Revelation
Removal
4 Path to Exile
2 Smother
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Wrath of God
1 Supreme Verdict
And my current sideboard is as follows:
1 Batterskull
2 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Deprive
2 Celestial Purge
3 Duress
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Revoke Existence
1 Disenchant
1 Stony Silence
Dega seems like it may be a bit of a rough matchup. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
GBW Nic-Fit GBW
UBRWG Dredge UBRWG
Modern:
R RDW R
UBW Esper Control UBW
EDH:
BG Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord BG
I think we need more info like what threats is the deck running but for the most part it seems like it would be similar to bgx where you just bring in over the top bombs and
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-deck-creation/528062-dega-bwr-midrange
GBW Nic-Fit GBW
UBRWG Dredge UBRWG
Modern:
R RDW R
UBW Esper Control UBW
EDH:
BG Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord BG
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
GBW Nic-Fit GBW
UBRWG Dredge UBRWG
Modern:
R RDW R
UBW Esper Control UBW
EDH:
BG Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord BG
1. Tasigur is fantastic in this deck. It does everything I want for my finisher and more. I currently run 2 but might go to 3.
2. It really surprises me how many people mainboard Thoughtseize. I think it is an awful mainboard card for this deck and should only be sideboarded in x2 or x3 in combo matchups. Inquisition of Kozilek seems much better, seeing as it doesn't cost life and the sole purpose to run discard in this is to take out early threats more efficiently. Before the opponent is able to cast cmc4 and greater spells esper should be already far and well be set up with cryptic and other counterspells.
3. I can't get Tec Edge into the deck. With T1 IoK T2 counterspell T3 Esper Charm T4 Cryptic/Wrath this deck is insanely mana intensive and colored lands just really get in the way. I've been trying to fit in 2 but without much success so far
4. Because of the above, lands pose a big issue. Manlands are tough to deal with and I haven't found any way to not make GR tron an 30-70 disadvantageous matchup
5. I'm still on the fence on Geist sideboard. It is difficult to know when he should be boarded in or not
6. Removal beyond PtE is a bit of an issue. I'm currently using Dismember because of its flexibility in casting cost but it is far from perfect. Murderous Cut might be a good 1-of, Oust seems utterly awful
If anyone has any input on some of these points that'd be awesome
1. I would not run more than one and even then not be sure of it since all he does is turn on your opponents removal.
2. No one who has been a long time control player or has been a a part of this discussion wuld even run any form of discard in the main. IOK is just as bad as Thoughtseize main. The point of discard is not to get rid of early threats but to get rid of reactive cards to your threats which this deck has none. Discard is great in the sideboard to disrupt synergistic and combo based decks or the mirror. The only time you will be aiming for threats are in matchups like boggles and infect but those are special cases.
3.If you do not aim for turn 1 discard which you should not then you only need 12 black sources to cast esper charm reliably. Esper is actually a uw control deck splashing black only for esper charm and black sideboard cards. 22 u, 18 w, and 12 b sources is really feasible to do and still have room for 2 utility lands and 5 basic lands. You should run Ghost Quarter over tec edge in the current meta.
4. Tron will always be unfavorable. Best cards against tron are thoughtseize, v. clique, stony silence, shadow of doubt, geist, and extraction effects on their lands.
5. He does take up a lot of room but you want him against control, combo, and tron.
6. You do not really need more than just path in the main. Board wipes do a lot of catching up for you. Oust is actually really good. 1 mana removal even at sorcery speed is just better than 2 mana removal unless playing against twin. Murderous Cut can be considered depending on how many cards you have fighting over your graveyard already.
Its good against blue and yes running 4 is dangerous due to it being horrible against linear decks which are some of our harder matchups.
It's better than path in some situations. Oust their t1 birds/hierarch, and you slow them down while also making their t3 draw useless.
It also makes fetchlands awkward for your opponent. You ousted their goyf? Now they have to think about whether they want to fetch + play rhino, or wait to draw their goyf again. If they fetch and play rhino, then you've essentially hard-removaled their goyf for 1 mana.
I think the torrent of Modern articles started with Damo De Rosa complaining about the complete lack of quality blue cantrips and interactive spells, even if he didn't realize that that's what his problem with Modern was. Blue and Black are the two colors that get universal hand/stack disruption, so every viable deck in Legacy is either one of these two colors or full-out combo. In Modern Force of Will was never a possibility, and Spell Pierce is rendered useless on account of fast combo being banned out of existence. Add that in with the fact that the card selection that blue gets to make up for it's lack of value creatures is all banned, and blue is basically the worst color in the format. So now the tempo color is BGx, as opposed to URx, which is what one would expect to see if R&D didn't screw with Modern so heavily. Damo de Rosa is a hardcore Ux Tempo player and I feel his pain. BGx is a massively dumbed-down tempo deck with a pile of 60 fire-and-forget cards. It even functions best when it's pilot has no hand and correspondingly no decisions to make.
Fabiano is the kind of player that Modern was made for. All midrange, all the time. Players like that must think Modern is a paradise. Constant grindy creature matchups. I think R&D won't do anything about blue tempo being garbage unless these pro players will man-up and say "we want blue back". Sperling basically dared them in his Channel Fireball article:
http://www.channelfireball.com/home/leave-modern-alone/
They most likely made Dig Through Time to help address blue being far and beyond the worst color in Modern, but the basic approach they took in designing these cards is ridiculous. They want to design expensive cards that yield huge payoffs to blue players for drawing the game out past turn 6. They don't want blue players to be able to interact efficiently with other decks early on, and they don't want them accruing card advantage. I assume this is because they're all hurt in the butt from playing against Faeries back in the day or something...
At the end of the day, you can be sure that even if they do print cards for blue in Modern, they're going to be lategame cards like Dig Through Time, but a whole lot weaker. If those help any deck, it'll likely be UWR Flash/Midrange, as Esper already can't be ground out. They're not going to reprint Counterspell, though, and I highly doubt they print something incrementally better than Serum Visions. Assuming that's even possible. If Preordain was miraculously unbanned, maybe actualcombo decks would become Tier 1 and Delver decks could enter the metagame with cards like Spell Pierce, but that would be entirely too much creatureless-combo and blue for R&D's taste.
The problem with Condemn is that it's horrible against voice of resurgence, twin, primevil titan, mana dorks, etc. Oust is also pretty bad against twin, but answers the other things easily. They're both about the same against affinity/infect, and Condemn has the upside of hitting manlands. It's up to you.