I'm looking forward to giving the new Vivien a shot.
playing everything at instant speed seems like a huge boon for us.
Instant-speed Reflector Mage or Deputy of Detention or always having Queller mana open gives us great flexibility in deploying our threats, and answering theirs.
Her Plus ability seems fine on Kotr for vigilance shenanigans, and Reach is always useful, but this isn't really the compelling reason to play her.
Her Minus ability seems good despite having to work around it, as a 'soft' cantrip, looking 3 cards deep should frequently hit a creature in lists with ~30 dudes, so we should be getting our value. Because this puts her to 2 loyalty she requires us to have existing blockers, or additional mana to make use of the card 'drawn' for protection. For this reason, It makes me a little worried that she may end up being a bit of a win-more type card, as she's not going to vastly improve an already bad board state.
I am also excited about playing Blast Zone.
Being able to tutor up a ratchet bomb effect seems very powerful, EOT Kotr into Blast Zone, Add counter(s)
I think this finds a home in our sideboards, right next to Bojuka Bog
I'll be testing either new Vivien or her Arkbow over CoCo. CoCo is just awkward, Hitting stuff that interacts with the stack when I need stuff that deals with the board and vice versa.
Been playing 2 of the new vivien in my list at my LGS with some success going 6-2 in my last 8. My losses were to amulet, and humans where I got mana screwed(I usually like this matchup). The interaction with knight is huge because KOTR can attack, block(flyers too!) and tap for mana making it significantly better then it was. I took out the 2 tireless trackers I was running for her, which makes my cocos worse as I'm down to 28 creatures. Not that our control matchup was bad at all, but this makes it even better along with any resource driven matchup like BGx. Getting a card out of vivien no matter what is big as I often have my trackers killed on site by good players.
I still want to keep running coco though since it basically gives our other creatures flash pairing with vivien and my side board strategies. I decided game 1 I would rather run quellers, and adjust accordingly with my SB to help with the deputy/mage vs queller conflict. My logic being queller is dead less than deputy/mage, and the quellers are worse games 2 and 3 once there is removal and your opponent knows about them. I still have a single deputy, pridemage, and knight of autumn as sort of a catch all in game 1 to stay well rounded.
Another card that gets even better with vivien is eidolon of rhetoric. It helps out in a lot more matchups then I expected. It makes queller a hard counter because they can't bolt it and cast the spell for free, it means amulet can't cast titan after pact, it slows down pheonix from flipping thing and getting pheonix back, and can slow down the burn matchup. I'm adding an aven mindcensor to the SB to help with the amulet matchup which I can't avoid at my LGS and it is good against tron. Flash pairs nicely with eidolon as well.
Oh, and blast zone is nuts. Just whether it should be main board or not. I prefer to keep it sideboard as I'd rather have the tron hate game 1.
Curious to know how everyone else is doing with their lists!
I agree with your analysis on Vivian @hannam72
Vivien's plus ability has felt much stronger than my initial thoughts - especially on KotR.
And I felt she really helped against BGx and control, having a 2nd 'hand' and playing at instant speed has been huge in the grindy attrition matches they end up being.
I can understand swapping Trackers for Vivian, card draw for card draw.
Did you miss not having the extra threat that tracker turns into? How about the extra card draw?
Would you consider cutting anything else for her?
---
My Last two FNMs were a little rough, I went 2-2 at each, with a bye one week so really 3-7
Some takeaways:
- Quellers vs Reflector mages/Deputy of Detention create this awful reactive-proactive pull in the deck. Vivian removed this tension, but without her it felt like holding up mana for queller punished us for not committing to the board. In the interest of all the turns without a Vivian in play, I think dropping the Reflector mages to the SB is the right move.
- Perhaps its bias from being on this side of Voice of Resurgence, but I don't think this guy is as impactful as he once was. Wanting to lean into Quellers and a reactive plan has me looking for other flash creatures to maintain tempo while keeping up quellers.
- My miser's Scryb Ranger still feels good. I have an old post on here about this pet card and can confirm it slices and dices with the best of them.
It blanks Colonnade, TiTi, Pteramander and others
It can flash block a big scary, or flash untap another blocker for a blow-out defense
It grants psudo vigilance - we've seen how good that has been with Vivian,
It has these great value loops with Tracker/Corsair/Retreat/Knight/Dorks
Its bad when, it doesn't have anything to interact with, and if we're mana flooding.
- Ramunap looks to be all upside, and especially so now with Blast Zone, I however haven't been able to 'live the dream' so to speak. Has anyone else tried this out, is it mostly wishful thinking, or have I just not experienced nirvana.
- While I like the Retreat combo I didn't miss it much in the last few weeks. I going to leave it out in favor of Vivian for now.
---
Spoiler Season!
Giver of Runes
This is our Sejiri Steppe on a dude. Do we want a mom effect? Where do we have wiggle-room, what match-up(s) does it improve?
Ice-Fang Coatl
Most of our lists run 5-6 basics, If we run snow-basics instead, and without any other snow-permanents, I think it more realistic to get snowcraft on turn 4-5. Is this too late to turn on deathtouch? We're still cantripping, and we can still flash it in. With deathtouch its basically a removal spell against titi/phoenix and other big scary threats and It lets us keep tempo if we're holding up a Queller. I'd considering running these over Voice, trying them as a 3-of to see them more often.
Waterlogged Grove
Some lists are running a Botanical Sanctum, others an Island here. I think this is a 3rd contender for the slot.
It's probably an upgrade over Sanctum, but can we support the life cost?
for thoes running a basic, its probably because you want to fetch for it, is this effect worth it? - for me no since I want to try out Ice-Fang.
Mist-Clan Naga
Probably be too cute, but It does clock the opponent for 3 and clone itself when we ninjitsu it in, hopefully snow-balling out of control in later turns. The value play is to return an ewitt, or an Ice-Fang. Birds of Paradise or Selfless Spirit are enablers, as is Remorseful Cleric, and Vendilion Clique out of the board. Do we ever return Knight/Scooze/Tracker? how about re-setting a queller or deputy?
Any other spoilers worth talking about?
Force of Vigor?
Eladamri's Call?
@kozent Kirin and conjurant seems like a cool combo, but I have no idea how this deck would play. Once kirin is out spell queller is killing all our best creatures which seems brutal. Blowing up lands when we still have mana dorks might be pretty useful to shut down certain decks, but I'm stuck on the queller thing and the fact that we don't have company. It does seem interesting though and I'd like to see someone do a write up or something.
@mds688 Tracker is almost always killed on site at my LGS before even my knights so I never get to grow it much. Most of my wins come from a large board followed by exalted quellers or huge KOTR. I also think excavator is great and was running 1 in the board before my post. It is excellent against tron, any blast zone matchup, and can be a value engine. I took it out though because I needed some more help at my LGS to beat amulet in the form of aven mindcensor. I also agree that voice can be very meh at times but at minimum its 2 bodies for 1 which is relevant in aggro matchups where you need to chump, control players need it gone asap(I have no problems with it getting pathed instead of my knight), and its value in the midrange matchup. It rarely wins me games on its own, but I'd like to think it is the reason we are able to grind out matches against aggro decks like humans. I think scryb ranger is a great knightfall card that doesn't get enough love. I don't run it cause I don't have enough relevant landfall triggers where I think it is worth it now that tracker and retreat are out. I have a pet deck I'll post here where scryb ranger is an allstar. https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-05-19-bant-landfall/?cb=1559178501
Also Horizons cards that have sparked my interest are obviously the UG Horizon land as well as collector ouphe(stony silence on a stick). The 2 drop spot in this deck has always been unimpressive for me and I'm excited to have a very useful option in ouphe.
@kozent Kirin and conjurant seems like a cool combo, but I have no idea how this deck would play. Once kirin is out spell queller is killing all our best creatures which seems brutal. Blowing up lands when we still have mana dorks might be pretty useful to shut down certain decks, but I'm stuck on the queller thing and the fact that we don't have company. It does seem interesting though and I'd like to see someone do a write up or something.
@mds688 Tracker is almost always killed on site at my LGS before even my knights so I never get to grow it much. Most of my wins come from a large board followed by exalted quellers or huge KOTR. I also think excavator is great and was running 1 in the board before my post. It is excellent against tron, any blast zone matchup, and can be a value engine. I took it out though because I needed some more help at my LGS to beat amulet in the form of aven mindcensor. I also agree that voice can be very meh at times but at minimum its 2 bodies for 1 which is relevant in aggro matchups where you need to chump, control players need it gone asap(I have no problems with it getting pathed instead of my knight), and its value in the midrange matchup. It rarely wins me games on its own, but I'd like to think it is the reason we are able to grind out matches against aggro decks like humans. I think scryb ranger is a great knightfall card that doesn't get enough love. I don't run it cause I don't have enough relevant landfall triggers where I think it is worth it now that tracker and retreat are out. I have a pet deck I'll post here where scryb ranger is an allstar. https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-05-19-bant-landfall/?cb=1559178501
Also Horizons cards that have sparked my interest are obviously the UG Horizon land as well as collector ouphe(stony silence on a stick). The 2 drop spot in this deck has always been unimpressive for me and I'm excited to have a very useful option in ouphe.
What's everyones thoughts on Eledamri's call ? I think it could really excel in a deck like this.
>2 mana
>instant speed
>gets silver bullets in the main or Sideboard
>gives you virtural extra copies of creatures
I think especially with creatures like Spell queller that you can get at instant speed then flash in on your opponents turn. It also works really well with vivian. Allowing you to flash in threats and anwsers that you tutor for. Thoughts?
I like it. I personally don't play a silver bullet style build, but for those that do, I think this is like chord without the possibility of having your 5-6 mana spell get countered by a 1 to 2 mana spell possibly resulting in a blowout. If they counter this it is an even trade and the fact you can cast this at 2 mana at the end of turn to set up your next turn gives it more versatility then chord. With a vivien I think this is a safer chord. I'd like to try this in a bant counters company build with devoted druid combo.
Another thing to note is that it will cost 1 less mana then chord with the downside being no convoke. Also there are a lot of counter spells in modern targeting non creature spells. In this case if they counter the calling then they payed 1 or 2 to counter your 2 mana spell, or they let it resolve and often can't cast their counter spell anymore.
I think being able to cast Eledamri's call at instant speed to get re-active creatures like spell queller for only 2 mana seems pretty powerful. Plus not needing a ton of mana like you do for chord means in the early turns when you need a specific answer like Gaddock Teeg or Thalia, guardian of thraben you can cast it on your opponents end phase and cast the creature during your turn. I also think it makes Giver of runes really appealing being able to fetch it and cast it turn 2 off of a dork. Something Green Sun's Zenith cant even do. Maybe their's a maverick-like build in bant colors now.
I wasn't really planning on commenting on spoilers, but this thread has been rather active, so I thought I'd contribute my 2 cents.
4x Includes in Knightfall Giver of Runes - Who didn't see this one coming? In short, we play a lot of must be killed threats (See Spell Queller and Deputy of Detention) and giving them protection is quite potent. Furthermore, it helps to generate and break up board stalls (something our deck loves). Lastly, I've always been against knightfall being a silver bullet deck (see below). This card might change that notion.
In terms of how to include it, that's a subject I'm a bit more shaky on and, as such, will leave for another day.
Possibly worth playing Collector Ouphe - Stony silence on a stick is going to change how artifact decks have to play. When I look at the 75 of hardened scales, I see ~4x Nature's claim and ~2x Dismember. Simply said, two ways to take this card off the table won't be enough. I don't know if that really means anything to us, but it's something worth keeping in mind.
In terms of knightfall, I don't intend to play this card by default. Between Spell Queller, Deputy of Detention, Giver of Runes, and Knight of Autumn, I think we have enough game that I'm not actually interested in this card as it's just a tad too specific a sideboard call. Of course, this card really is meta-dependent.
Serra the Benevolent - Her plus can be relevant, but generally isn't all that great. Her minus is wonderful, and worship is a card that sometimes just wins the game. Normally, I would say that she is competing with the 1x sideboard grindy card slot, but I think she does a little more than just grind. So, I think it's a possibility.
Probably not worth playing Eladamri's Call - Let me preface this by saying that I can easily see people playing this card, but I am extremely suspicious of if it's right. Naturally, the card will be quite potent against midrange and control decks, but that's a match-up that we're already highly favored against.
So then, why not? When I saw this card, I thought of Eldritch Evolution. Both cards tutor up "anything" (I don't play 4 drops) and I'll occasionally play Evolution in my side. That said, Eldritch Evolution is vastly more efficient in that it puts that creature immediately into play. As modern is a blazing fast format, I value the speed of that card over the added cost it provides. As an example, I need to play a card on turn 2 that interacts with tron (typically Knight of the Reliquary to tutor up ghost quarter, but, if I'm on the play, I can see an argument for something like Knight of Autumn to destroy Expedition Map). Bird into Evolution does this while Eladamri's Call can't. Said in another way, if I'm casting a card that tutors up a creature, that creature needs to provide significant card/tempo advantage, moreso than the loss in card/tempo advantage of spending the extra mana.
This, naturally leads to my second point about how knightfall functions. We are a deck where all our spells are quite potent at 1-1 and 2-1. Hence, it's usually more important for Collected Company to hit 2 creatures than it is for Collected Company to hit two specific creatures. This is further shown in post board games where we side out all the cards that don't achieve the desired 1-1 effect with cards that do (See Unified Will, Negate or whatever else you're playing). Said in a different way, we aren't a silver bullet deck. I wouldn't recommend playing specific answer cards (like Kataki, War's Wage) as our card advantage engine (see Collected Company) usually means that we will be the last one standing if all we do is trade against the unfair decks.
Cards not worth playing: Force of Negation - Currently, we definitely don't have enough blue cards for Force of Negation to be up a significant enough amount of time to warrant playing it. Simply said, we'd have to switch around the numbers to play more blue cards. This just isn't worth it.
Force of Vigor - I am quite glad they printed this card. I think it will do great things for the format, but I doubt I'll ever play it. I've found most of our artifact/enchantment themed decks to be pretty reasonable match-ups. As pointed out earlier with Eladamri's Call, Knightfall is a deck that tends to play cards that try to 1 for 1 and 2 for 1 our opponent. Hence, our deck and our sideboard need to be extremely flexible to enable us to that. Cards, like Spell Queller, Deputy of Detention, Knight of Autumn enable that with a bit more flexibility than Force of Vigor.
Cute things from the set: Tranquil Thicket - Has anyone ever Path to Exiled a Reality Smasher and then used it's trigger to discard a land for more favorable blocks? Well, Tranquil Thicket means you can do that against other decks now. Please don't (but if you're a bit competitive, feel free to subtly mention that this is doable to your opponent).
Now that the site is closing down, do we have a spot to continue conversations about this deck? Wasn't sure if there was another site or discord people have been using
We do have a Reddit page. It's under r/Knightfall MTG. I think I'd be cool if we had a discord channel too. I'll be posting a decklist soon on the Reddit page.
working on Bant Counters Company. IMO, having midrange options in this format seems better than going all in on combo with the Abzan list. Still working on the SB, but will probably have 4 graveyard hate cards at a minimum and Blast Zone. Opinions or questions? Recently took it to a 25+ Modern Monday tournament and went 4-1, facing Phoenix 3 times and winning 2 out of those three times. Also crushed elves and a mono U deck as well.
Has anyone tried no Knight of the reliquary lately? first of all Lavinia, azorious renegade seems maindeckable RN. Between Hogaak, tron, her interaction with spell queller and fringe decks/spells that cast without mana cost
Running CoCo with just 22 creatures is way too greedy, imho.
The reason why I would choose to play this deck over something like, let’s say, Abzan Finale, is having access to Force of Negation. My take would be something of the sort:
playing everything at instant speed seems like a huge boon for us.
Instant-speed Reflector Mage or Deputy of Detention or always having Queller mana open gives us great flexibility in deploying our threats, and answering theirs.
Her Plus ability seems fine on Kotr for vigilance shenanigans, and Reach is always useful, but this isn't really the compelling reason to play her.
Her Minus ability seems good despite having to work around it, as a 'soft' cantrip, looking 3 cards deep should frequently hit a creature in lists with ~30 dudes, so we should be getting our value. Because this puts her to 2 loyalty she requires us to have existing blockers, or additional mana to make use of the card 'drawn' for protection. For this reason, It makes me a little worried that she may end up being a bit of a win-more type card, as she's not going to vastly improve an already bad board state.
I am also excited about playing Blast Zone.
Being able to tutor up a ratchet bomb effect seems very powerful, EOT Kotr into Blast Zone, Add counter(s)
I think this finds a home in our sideboards, right next to Bojuka Bog
I still want to keep running coco though since it basically gives our other creatures flash pairing with vivien and my side board strategies. I decided game 1 I would rather run quellers, and adjust accordingly with my SB to help with the deputy/mage vs queller conflict. My logic being queller is dead less than deputy/mage, and the quellers are worse games 2 and 3 once there is removal and your opponent knows about them. I still have a single deputy, pridemage, and knight of autumn as sort of a catch all in game 1 to stay well rounded.
Another card that gets even better with vivien is eidolon of rhetoric. It helps out in a lot more matchups then I expected. It makes queller a hard counter because they can't bolt it and cast the spell for free, it means amulet can't cast titan after pact, it slows down pheonix from flipping thing and getting pheonix back, and can slow down the burn matchup. I'm adding an aven mindcensor to the SB to help with the amulet matchup which I can't avoid at my LGS and it is good against tron. Flash pairs nicely with eidolon as well.
Oh, and blast zone is nuts. Just whether it should be main board or not. I prefer to keep it sideboard as I'd rather have the tron hate game 1.
Curious to know how everyone else is doing with their lists!
Here is my list as of now:
1x Botanical Sanctum
1x Breeding Pool
4x Collected Company
2x Courser of Kruphix
1x Deputy of Detention
2x Eternal Witness
1x Field of Ruin
3x Flooded Strand
3x Forest
1x Gavony Township
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Island
1x Knight of Autumn
4x Knight of the Reliquary
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Path to Exile
1x Plains
1x Qasali Pridemage
3x Scavenging Ooze
4x Spell Queller
1x Temple Garden
2x Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
3x Voice of Resurgence
4x Windswept Heath
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Blast Zone
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Deputy of Detention
3x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Knight of Autumn
2x Negate
2x Reflector Mage
2x Unified Will
1x Vendilion Clique
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
Vivien's plus ability has felt much stronger than my initial thoughts - especially on KotR.
And I felt she really helped against BGx and control, having a 2nd 'hand' and playing at instant speed has been huge in the grindy attrition matches they end up being.
I can understand swapping Trackers for Vivian, card draw for card draw.
Did you miss not having the extra threat that tracker turns into? How about the extra card draw?
Would you consider cutting anything else for her?
---
My Last two FNMs were a little rough, I went 2-2 at each, with a bye one week so really 3-7
Some takeaways:
- Quellers vs Reflector mages/Deputy of Detention create this awful reactive-proactive pull in the deck. Vivian removed this tension, but without her it felt like holding up mana for queller punished us for not committing to the board. In the interest of all the turns without a Vivian in play, I think dropping the Reflector mages to the SB is the right move.
- Perhaps its bias from being on this side of Voice of Resurgence, but I don't think this guy is as impactful as he once was. Wanting to lean into Quellers and a reactive plan has me looking for other flash creatures to maintain tempo while keeping up quellers.
- My miser's Scryb Ranger still feels good. I have an old post on here about this pet card and can confirm it slices and dices with the best of them.
It blanks Colonnade, TiTi, Pteramander and others
It can flash block a big scary, or flash untap another blocker for a blow-out defense
It grants psudo vigilance - we've seen how good that has been with Vivian,
It has these great value loops with Tracker/Corsair/Retreat/Knight/Dorks
Its bad when, it doesn't have anything to interact with, and if we're mana flooding.
- Ramunap looks to be all upside, and especially so now with Blast Zone, I however haven't been able to 'live the dream' so to speak. Has anyone else tried this out, is it mostly wishful thinking, or have I just not experienced nirvana.
- While I like the Retreat combo I didn't miss it much in the last few weeks. I going to leave it out in favor of Vivian for now.
---
Spoiler Season!
Giver of Runes
This is our Sejiri Steppe on a dude. Do we want a mom effect? Where do we have wiggle-room, what match-up(s) does it improve?
Ice-Fang Coatl
Most of our lists run 5-6 basics, If we run snow-basics instead, and without any other snow-permanents, I think it more realistic to get snowcraft on turn 4-5. Is this too late to turn on deathtouch? We're still cantripping, and we can still flash it in. With deathtouch its basically a removal spell against titi/phoenix and other big scary threats and It lets us keep tempo if we're holding up a Queller. I'd considering running these over Voice, trying them as a 3-of to see them more often.
Waterlogged Grove
Some lists are running a Botanical Sanctum, others an Island here. I think this is a 3rd contender for the slot.
It's probably an upgrade over Sanctum, but can we support the life cost?
for thoes running a basic, its probably because you want to fetch for it, is this effect worth it? - for me no since I want to try out Ice-Fang.
Mist-Clan Naga
Probably be too cute, but It does clock the opponent for 3 and clone itself when we ninjitsu it in, hopefully snow-balling out of control in later turns. The value play is to return an ewitt, or an Ice-Fang. Birds of Paradise or Selfless Spirit are enablers, as is Remorseful Cleric, and Vendilion Clique out of the board. Do we ever return Knight/Scooze/Tracker? how about re-setting a queller or deputy?
Any other spoilers worth talking about?
Force of Vigor?
Eladamri's Call?
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1951967#paper
@mds688 Tracker is almost always killed on site at my LGS before even my knights so I never get to grow it much. Most of my wins come from a large board followed by exalted quellers or huge KOTR. I also think excavator is great and was running 1 in the board before my post. It is excellent against tron, any blast zone matchup, and can be a value engine. I took it out though because I needed some more help at my LGS to beat amulet in the form of aven mindcensor. I also agree that voice can be very meh at times but at minimum its 2 bodies for 1 which is relevant in aggro matchups where you need to chump, control players need it gone asap(I have no problems with it getting pathed instead of my knight), and its value in the midrange matchup. It rarely wins me games on its own, but I'd like to think it is the reason we are able to grind out matches against aggro decks like humans. I think scryb ranger is a great knightfall card that doesn't get enough love. I don't run it cause I don't have enough relevant landfall triggers where I think it is worth it now that tracker and retreat are out. I have a pet deck I'll post here where scryb ranger is an allstar. https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-05-19-bant-landfall/?cb=1559178501
Also Horizons cards that have sparked my interest are obviously the UG Horizon land as well as collector ouphe(stony silence on a stick). The 2 drop spot in this deck has always been unimpressive for me and I'm excited to have a very useful option in ouphe.
@mds688 Tracker is almost always killed on site at my LGS before even my knights so I never get to grow it much. Most of my wins come from a large board followed by exalted quellers or huge KOTR. I also think excavator is great and was running 1 in the board before my post. It is excellent against tron, any blast zone matchup, and can be a value engine. I took it out though because I needed some more help at my LGS to beat amulet in the form of aven mindcensor. I also agree that voice can be very meh at times but at minimum its 2 bodies for 1 which is relevant in aggro matchups where you need to chump, control players need it gone asap(I have no problems with it getting pathed instead of my knight), and its value in the midrange matchup. It rarely wins me games on its own, but I'd like to think it is the reason we are able to grind out matches against aggro decks like humans. I think scryb ranger is a great knightfall card that doesn't get enough love. I don't run it cause I don't have enough relevant landfall triggers where I think it is worth it now that tracker and retreat are out. I have a pet deck I'll post here where scryb ranger is an allstar. https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-05-19-bant-landfall/?cb=1559178501
Also Horizons cards that have sparked my interest are obviously the UG Horizon land as well as collector ouphe(stony silence on a stick). The 2 drop spot in this deck has always been unimpressive for me and I'm excited to have a very useful option in ouphe.
>2 mana
>instant speed
>gets silver bullets in the main or Sideboard
>gives you virtural extra copies of creatures
I think especially with creatures like Spell queller that you can get at instant speed then flash in on your opponents turn. It also works really well with vivian. Allowing you to flash in threats and anwsers that you tutor for. Thoughts?
Another thing to note is that it will cost 1 less mana then chord with the downside being no convoke. Also there are a lot of counter spells in modern targeting non creature spells. In this case if they counter the calling then they payed 1 or 2 to counter your 2 mana spell, or they let it resolve and often can't cast their counter spell anymore.
4x Includes in Knightfall
Giver of Runes - Who didn't see this one coming? In short, we play a lot of must be killed threats (See Spell Queller and Deputy of Detention) and giving them protection is quite potent. Furthermore, it helps to generate and break up board stalls (something our deck loves). Lastly, I've always been against knightfall being a silver bullet deck (see below). This card might change that notion.
In terms of how to include it, that's a subject I'm a bit more shaky on and, as such, will leave for another day.
Possibly worth playing
Collector Ouphe - Stony silence on a stick is going to change how artifact decks have to play. When I look at the 75 of hardened scales, I see ~4x Nature's claim and ~2x Dismember. Simply said, two ways to take this card off the table won't be enough. I don't know if that really means anything to us, but it's something worth keeping in mind.
In terms of knightfall, I don't intend to play this card by default. Between Spell Queller, Deputy of Detention, Giver of Runes, and Knight of Autumn, I think we have enough game that I'm not actually interested in this card as it's just a tad too specific a sideboard call. Of course, this card really is meta-dependent.
Soulherder - This card seems to be the payoff that a flicker deck was looking for. I don't think that deck will play Knight of the Reliquary, I wanted to give it a shout out because I look forward to brewing with it, Collected Company, Eternal Witness, Reflector Mage, and possibly Coiling Oracle.
Serra the Benevolent - Her plus can be relevant, but generally isn't all that great. Her minus is wonderful, and worship is a card that sometimes just wins the game. Normally, I would say that she is competing with the 1x sideboard grindy card slot, but I think she does a little more than just grind. So, I think it's a possibility.
Probably not worth playing
Eladamri's Call - Let me preface this by saying that I can easily see people playing this card, but I am extremely suspicious of if it's right. Naturally, the card will be quite potent against midrange and control decks, but that's a match-up that we're already highly favored against.
So then, why not? When I saw this card, I thought of Eldritch Evolution. Both cards tutor up "anything" (I don't play 4 drops) and I'll occasionally play Evolution in my side. That said, Eldritch Evolution is vastly more efficient in that it puts that creature immediately into play. As modern is a blazing fast format, I value the speed of that card over the added cost it provides. As an example, I need to play a card on turn 2 that interacts with tron (typically Knight of the Reliquary to tutor up ghost quarter, but, if I'm on the play, I can see an argument for something like Knight of Autumn to destroy Expedition Map). Bird into Evolution does this while Eladamri's Call can't. Said in another way, if I'm casting a card that tutors up a creature, that creature needs to provide significant card/tempo advantage, moreso than the loss in card/tempo advantage of spending the extra mana.
This, naturally leads to my second point about how knightfall functions. We are a deck where all our spells are quite potent at 1-1 and 2-1. Hence, it's usually more important for Collected Company to hit 2 creatures than it is for Collected Company to hit two specific creatures. This is further shown in post board games where we side out all the cards that don't achieve the desired 1-1 effect with cards that do (See Unified Will, Negate or whatever else you're playing). Said in a different way, we aren't a silver bullet deck. I wouldn't recommend playing specific answer cards (like Kataki, War's Wage) as our card advantage engine (see Collected Company) usually means that we will be the last one standing if all we do is trade against the unfair decks.
Cards not worth playing:
Force of Negation - Currently, we definitely don't have enough blue cards for Force of Negation to be up a significant enough amount of time to warrant playing it. Simply said, we'd have to switch around the numbers to play more blue cards. This just isn't worth it.
Force of Vigor - I am quite glad they printed this card. I think it will do great things for the format, but I doubt I'll ever play it. I've found most of our artifact/enchantment themed decks to be pretty reasonable match-ups. As pointed out earlier with Eladamri's Call, Knightfall is a deck that tends to play cards that try to 1 for 1 and 2 for 1 our opponent. Hence, our deck and our sideboard need to be extremely flexible to enable us to that. Cards, like Spell Queller, Deputy of Detention, Knight of Autumn enable that with a bit more flexibility than Force of Vigor.
Cute things from the set:
Tranquil Thicket - Has anyone ever Path to Exiled a Reality Smasher and then used it's trigger to discard a land for more favorable blocks? Well, Tranquil Thicket means you can do that against other decks now. Please don't (but if you're a bit competitive, feel free to subtly mention that this is doable to your opponent).
Of course, who knows where the format will be?
4x Devoted Druid
2x Duskwatch Recruiter Flip
2x Giver of Runes
1x Knight of Autumn
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Rhonas the Indomitable
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Spell Queller
4x Vizier of Remedies
1x Walking Ballista
1x Breeding Pool
3x Forest
1x Gavony Township
3x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
4x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
2x Chord of Calling
3x Collected Company
2x Path to Exile
Sorcery (3)
3x Finale of Devastation
creature spells 28
4x Tireless Tracker
4x Lavinia, Azorious Renegade
4x Deputy of Detention
4x Reflector Mage
4x Knight of autumn
4x Spell queller
4x Noble Hierarch
noncreature spells 10
4x Vivien, champion of the wilds
4x path to exile
2x Dovin's Ban
lands 22
4x Flooded strand
3x Windswept heath
3x Hallowed foutain
3x Temple Garden
2x breeding pool
3x Forest
2x Island
2x Plains
is my starting grounds
Sideboard
4x Thalia, Guardian of thraben
2x Dovin's ban
2x Declaration in stone
4x Stony silence
3x Damphing sphere
4 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
3 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Waterlogged Grove
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
2 Tireless Tracker
//Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
3 Retreat to Coralhelm
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
3 Ravenous Trap
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Force of Negation
2 Damping Sphere
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Serra the Benevolent
Spirits
The reason why I would choose to play this deck over something like, let’s say, Abzan Finale, is having access to Force of Negation. My take would be something of the sort:
4 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
3 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Waterlogged Grove
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
3 Vendilion Clique
//Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Jace, the Mindsculptor
4 Force of Negation
3 Retreat to Coralhelm
4 Rest In Peace
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Damping Sphere
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Knight of Autumn
I really like the idea of Clique and FoN main.
Spirits