i am building a BW Tokens deck.. because of my current budget, i have no Marsh Flats yet..
i play with 2 Gideons, 3 Sorins, 4 Duress (no IoK or Thoughtseize yet).. the other cards are much the same cards as already mentioned the 67 pages before (no creatures, only Tokens; 2 Oath of Gideon; 4 Path to Exile and so on..)
i have 4 Windswept Heaths, 4 Godless Shrines, 2 Isolated Chapels.. can somebody tell me how many Basic lands i should add? i thought to add 8 plains and 4 Swamps..?
If you cannot afford any fetchlands or fastlands that's coming out, then I think you will need that many basics. Maybe cut some down for a Cave of Koilos and Vault of the Archangel.
Instead of playing Oath of Gideon, I suggest you first maximize lingering souls and spectral procession (which you probably did) and then play some number of Secure the Wastes, Midnight Haunting, or Raise the Alarms.
I'm absolutely going to run the full 4 concealed courtyard. Having turn one Thoughtseize and only fetches/non-black source is rough and fetching a swamp usually effs the curve to an otherwise good hand. I'm on the plan about bringing down the fetch count to six like others have mentioned and will probably drop a couple shrines and eliminate the check lands all together.
I have 4 lingering souls, 4 spectral, 4 raise the alarms and 1 secure the wastes.. then 1 dismember, 1 murderous cut, 4 paths..
I don`t like the fastlands, because i don`t see any positive thing about them after turn 2.. and there is no guarantee that i will have one in the opening hand..
Fast lands are fine turn-three.
One Swamp is good, multiple Swamps are bad. One should not run more than one unless one has BB casting costs and it's debatable then. Fill up on other W fetches or some other BW dual. Fetid Heath is fine. A Caves of Koilos or two isn't bad.
There seems to be a lot of debate in this thread about whether the fastlands are good, which I find very odd. The new BW fastland is exactly what this deck wants. It's definitely a 4 of. Also, to anyone who has never played Liliana of the Veil in this deck I suggest that you try it out. The card is great and it just lets you grind way more. I play 3 and like that amount.
There seems to be a lot of debate in this thread about whether the fastlands are good, which I find very odd. The new BW fastland is exactly what this deck wants. It's definitely a 4 of. Also, to anyone who has never played Liliana of the Veil in this deck I suggest that you try it out. The card is great and it just lets you grind way more. I play 3 and like that amount.
Fastlands are awesome in decks that have two different color first-turn plays. That's not really the case in BW tokens, but BW tokens can want WW on turn-two and WWW on turn-three so it feels like a deck that wants both colors turn-one. Concealed Courtyard seems an automatic four-of going forward.
In builds that are very keen on hitting four-drops on curve, the fastland might not seem so groovy, but I think BW tokens needs Concealed Courtyard.
The additions of fastlands means dismember should be path 5-6 (depending on build) in favor of murderous cut. 2 reasons- we are less incentivized to fetch on early turns and so our graveyard is slimmer. Also, paying life for dismember is less painful with less fetch/shock.
Anyone figured out a solution for Bant Eldrazi? Ghostly Prison hasn't been great, I'm thinking of running Elspeth Tirel as her -5 is easily achieved and very effective against several decks including them. Please don't suggest off color splashes, I'm talking straight BW Tokens only.
Worship is the best answer although they do bring in world breaker post board. Bring in extra removal (dismember, anguished unmaking). Key path to exile targets are displacer (eats tokens) and reality smasher (tramples). Other eldrazi can be chumped relatively soundly. Zealous persecution is also surprisingly useful in wiping their dorks and scions, as well as creating favorable blocks. Good luck!
The additions of fastlands means dismember should be path 5-6 (depending on build) in favor of murderous cut. 2 reasons- we are less incentivized to fetch on early turns and so our graveyard is slimmer. Also, paying life for dismember is less painful with less fetch/shock.
I agree, though I played Dismember over Murderous Cut even before the fastlands just for the fact that it can be used reliably turn 1-4.
Anyone figured out a solution for Bant Eldrazi? Ghostly Prison hasn't been great, I'm thinking of running Elspeth Tirel as her -5 is easily achieved and very effective against several decks including them. Please don't suggest off color splashes, I'm talking straight BW Tokens only.
Bant Eldrazi is roughly 50/50. Anthems and removals are pretty key in this match-up because generally their top deck is as good as ours, if not better, so we need to either slow them down or go faster. Chalice of the void can be a serious problem out of the sideboard. The problem with Tirel is if your opponent brings out Reality Smashers, it's basically a useless card.
Good solutions are:
1) Runed Halo: this means you cannot be targeted by thought-knot seer and can't get hit by reality smasher. Just remember your planeswalkers are still vulnerable.
2) Zealous persecution: is a very good card against everything but the seer and smasher, but even there, it can be good.
3) Sundering Growth: this card is now more playable than disenchant with the fastlands. Eldrazi brings out their Chalice of the Void and 1 Worship out of the sideboard.
Worship is the best answer although they do bring in world breaker post board. Bring in extra removal (dismember, anguished unmaking). Key path to exile targets are displacer (eats tokens) and reality smasher (tramples). Other eldrazi can be chumped relatively soundly. Zealous persecution is also surprisingly useful in wiping their dorks and scions, as well as creating favorable blocks. Good luck!
Bitterblossom is one of the best cards in the match-up due to its ability to chump most Eldrazi threats, so I would stay away from Worship personally. It's annoying that they run their own version of Worship, so you are forced to play artifact/ enchantment hate. Not unless you want to auto-scoop.
The more problematic match-up is Dredge. Both your removals and discards suck. They are faster than you. They can wipe your field with Conflagrate for days. This match-up is bad even after sideboarding because unless you draw your graveyard hate before your opponent fuels themselves, you're in a bad position. Don't run Grafdigger's Cage as it's less value than Rest in Peace if they blow it up (also enchantment hate is less common). Nihil Spellbomb is also quite good, though it's not as good as the games progress.
Honestly, I expect a ban on one of the key Dredge cards because this deck is almost as resilient as old Eldrazi for a hyper aggro linear strategy.
I considered going back to a pure BW token shell (as now the mana is better) but now I find Anger of the Gods more important than ever. Abzan Company is slightly unfavorable as well and Anger of the Gods also neuters that deck. The nice thing about AotG is that it can be played reactively to any board-state so it is a good top deck. If the card is a dead-draw because you have too many tokens on the field, you are probably winning that match-up anyways. But if you're losing, it's the best card in the deck.
Also, does anyone run a Pithing Needle in the side? It's much better than I thought. Turns off important planeswalkers, man-lands, spellskites, viscera seer, quasali pridemage, aether vial, aether grid, engineered explosives, etc. If you face a bunch of Tron, it might actually be better to just run 4 Pithing Needle over any land-hate.
The more problematic match-up is Dredge. Both your removals and discards suck. They are faster than you. They can wipe your field with Conflagrate for days. This match-up is bad even after sideboarding because unless you draw your graveyard hate before your opponent fuels themselves, you're in a bad position. Don't run Grafdigger's Cage as it's less value than Rest in Peace if they blow it up (also enchantment hate is less common). Nihil Spellbomb is also quite good, though it's not as good as the games progress.
Honestly, I expect a ban on one of the key Dredge cards because this deck is almost as resilient as old Eldrazi for a hyper aggro linear strategy.
I considered going back to a pure BW token shell (as now the mana is better) but now I find Anger of the Gods more important than ever. Abzan Company is slightly unfavorable as well and Anger of the Gods also neuters that deck. The nice thing about AotG is that it can be played reactively to any board-state so it is a good top deck. If the card is a dead-draw because you have too many tokens on the field, you are probably winning that match-up anyways. But if you're losing, it's the best card in the deck.
Also, does anyone run a Pithing Needle in the side? It's much better than I thought. Turns off important planeswalkers, man-lands, spellskites, viscera seer, quasali pridemage, aether vial, aether grid, engineered explosives, etc. If you face a bunch of Tron, it might actually be better to just run 4 Pithing Needle over any land-hate.
I run two needles in my board and they have always been helpful; the only issue with Tron is they can STILL get an Ulamog off casting an Ugin if they have a Sanctum and then blow up your Pithing needle; this past week at my Local store the ONLY match I dropped was against Tron; he blew up my Needle that was preventing him from Using Ugin and then it was game over. However in my experience thus far it has been the most useful card against them. Especially since I don't have to dedicate the slot to JUST something to try and beat Tron; since I find myself bringing it in against many other matchups.
The more problematic match-up is Dredge. Both your removals and discards suck. They are faster than you. They can wipe your field with Conflagrate for days. This match-up is bad even after sideboarding because unless you draw your graveyard hate before your opponent fuels themselves, you're in a bad position. Don't run Grafdigger's Cage as it's less value than Rest in Peace if they blow it up (also enchantment hate is less common). Nihil Spellbomb is also quite good, though it's not as good as the games progress.
Honestly, I expect a ban on one of the key Dredge cards because this deck is almost as resilient as old Eldrazi for a hyper aggro linear strategy.
I considered going back to a pure BW token shell (as now the mana is better) but now I find Anger of the Gods more important than ever. Abzan Company is slightly unfavorable as well and Anger of the Gods also neuters that deck. The nice thing about AotG is that it can be played reactively to any board-state so it is a good top deck. If the card is a dead-draw because you have too many tokens on the field, you are probably winning that match-up anyways. But if you're losing, it's the best card in the deck.
Also, does anyone run a Pithing Needle in the side? It's much better than I thought. Turns off important planeswalkers, man-lands, spellskites, viscera seer, quasali pridemage, aether vial, aether grid, engineered explosives, etc. If you face a bunch of Tron, it might actually be better to just run 4 Pithing Needle over any land-hate.
I run two needles in my board and they have always been helpful; the only issue with Tron is they can STILL get an Ulamog off casting an Ugin if they have a Sanctum and then blow up your Pithing needle; this past week at my Local store the ONLY match I dropped was against Tron; he blew up my Needle that was preventing him from Using Ugin and then it was game over. However in my experience thus far it has been the most useful card against them. Especially since I don't have to dedicate the slot to JUST something to try and beat Tron; since I find myself bringing it in against many other matchups.
I know and sometimes they run World Breaker too which is a pain. I'm considering a 2nd Pithing Needle. If the meta is heavy with combo and Tron decks, adding 4 Raise the Alarm significantly improves the match-ups but Bitterblossom is too good at the moment. This is an amazing deck and its only significant flaw is its slow clock... I would love to see a 1/2 cmc sorcery flying token generator in the future.
Has anyone ever tried Midnight Haunting? Was thinking of putting a single card in my deck after moving my Timely Reinforcements back from the mainboard to the sideboard.
Has anyone ever tried Midnight Haunting? Was thinking of putting a single card in my deck after moving my Timely Reinforcements back from the mainboard to the sideboard.
It's better than I thought and I have tested it for months. Often it is better than Spectral Procession, but in this meta, I would run the Timely Reinforcement before it. Secure the Wastes is also a possibility.
7 plains and 3 swamps are too many basics, you won't be able to cast discard turn 1 or spectral turn 3 in some cases. Also, 4 shrines are at least 1 too many with the new fastland imo. Add some number of shambling vent (I prefer 2), I also love Caves of Koilos as an 1of, as it rarely costs you more than 1 life and it can still provide the right color if needed. If you don't want to spend more (-> I would run at least 6 fetches) there isn't much to improve otherwise I think.
The more problematic match-up is Dredge. Both your removals and discards suck. They are faster than you. They can wipe your field with Conflagrate for days. This match-up is bad even after sideboarding because unless you draw your graveyard hate before your opponent fuels themselves, you're in a bad position. Don't run Grafdigger's Cage as it's less value than Rest in Peace if they blow it up (also enchantment hate is less common). Nihil Spellbomb is also quite good, though it's not as good as the games progress.
Honestly, I expect a ban on one of the key Dredge cards because this deck is almost as resilient as old Eldrazi for a hyper aggro linear strategy.
I considered going back to a pure BW token shell (as now the mana is better) but now I find Anger of the Gods more important than ever. Abzan Company is slightly unfavorable as well and Anger of the Gods also neuters that deck. The nice thing about AotG is that it can be played reactively to any board-state so it is a good top deck. If the card is a dead-draw because you have too many tokens on the field, you are probably winning that match-up anyways. But if you're losing, it's the best card in the deck.
Also, does anyone run a Pithing Needle in the side? It's much better than I thought. Turns off important planeswalkers, man-lands, spellskites, viscera seer, quasali pridemage, aether vial, aether grid, engineered explosives, etc. If you face a bunch of Tron, it might actually be better to just run 4 Pithing Needle over any land-hate.
I run two needles in my board and they have always been helpful; the only issue with Tron is they can STILL get an Ulamog off casting an Ugin if they have a Sanctum and then blow up your Pithing needle; this past week at my Local store the ONLY match I dropped was against Tron; he blew up my Needle that was preventing him from Using Ugin and then it was game over. However in my experience thus far it has been the most useful card against them. Especially since I don't have to dedicate the slot to JUST something to try and beat Tron; since I find myself bringing it in against many other matchups.
I know and sometimes they run World Breaker too which is a pain. I'm considering a 2nd Pithing Needle. If the meta is heavy with combo and Tron decks, adding 4 Raise the Alarm significantly improves the match-ups but Bitterblossom is too good at the moment. This is an amazing deck and its only significant flaw is its slow clock... I would love to see a 1/2 cmc sorcery flying token generator in the future.
I know it's been discussed before but Beckon Apparition fits that 1 CMC flying token generator slot. I remember playing it in BW tokens back in Lorwyn standard and it was usually pretty good. I can see it being very good in Modern; it's instant speed and usually graveyard interaction is a thing giving us another card against dredge (especially on Turn 1). I honestly don't see this ever not being castable even in most cases on turn 1 with all the fetchlands in Modern. Also can help against Goyf, Snapcaster and some other stuff.
The more problematic match-up is Dredge. Both your removals and discards suck. They are faster than you. They can wipe your field with Conflagrate for days. This match-up is bad even after sideboarding because unless you draw your graveyard hate before your opponent fuels themselves, you're in a bad position. Don't run Grafdigger's Cage as it's less value than Rest in Peace if they blow it up (also enchantment hate is less common). Nihil Spellbomb is also quite good, though it's not as good as the games progress.
Honestly, I expect a ban on one of the key Dredge cards because this deck is almost as resilient as old Eldrazi for a hyper aggro linear strategy.
I considered going back to a pure BW token shell (as now the mana is better) but now I find Anger of the Gods more important than ever. Abzan Company is slightly unfavorable as well and Anger of the Gods also neuters that deck. The nice thing about AotG is that it can be played reactively to any board-state so it is a good top deck. If the card is a dead-draw because you have too many tokens on the field, you are probably winning that match-up anyways. But if you're losing, it's the best card in the deck.
Also, does anyone run a Pithing Needle in the side? It's much better than I thought. Turns off important planeswalkers, man-lands, spellskites, viscera seer, quasali pridemage, aether vial, aether grid, engineered explosives, etc. If you face a bunch of Tron, it might actually be better to just run 4 Pithing Needle over any land-hate.
I run two needles in my board and they have always been helpful; the only issue with Tron is they can STILL get an Ulamog off casting an Ugin if they have a Sanctum and then blow up your Pithing needle; this past week at my Local store the ONLY match I dropped was against Tron; he blew up my Needle that was preventing him from Using Ugin and then it was game over. However in my experience thus far it has been the most useful card against them. Especially since I don't have to dedicate the slot to JUST something to try and beat Tron; since I find myself bringing it in against many other matchups.
I know and sometimes they run World Breaker too which is a pain. I'm considering a 2nd Pithing Needle. If the meta is heavy with combo and Tron decks, adding 4 Raise the Alarm significantly improves the match-ups but Bitterblossom is too good at the moment. This is an amazing deck and its only significant flaw is its slow clock... I would love to see a 1/2 cmc sorcery flying token generator in the future.
I know it's been discussed before but Beckon Apparition fits that 1 CMC flying token generator slot. I remember playing it in BW tokens back in Lorwyn standard and it was usually pretty good. I can see it being very good in Modern; it's instant speed and usually graveyard interaction is a thing giving us another card against dredge (especially on Turn 1). I honestly don't see this ever not being castable even in most cases on turn 1 with all the fetchlands in Modern. Also can help against Goyf, Snapcaster and some other stuff.
I might test out 3 or 4 this up coming monday.
I meant to mention Not Forgotten Which is one mana more, sorcery speed but it can either help us get a fetch land back, recast a walker, mess up your opponents draw for the next turn or remove something form their graveyard. It has a lot of upsides for being one mana more and Sorcery speed; I want to test both of them.
Relic of Progenitus is better in the 1 CMC grave hate= advantage slot. Why? Mana efficiency+ card advantage. I get 1 flier for 1 CMC+ 1 card. Frankly, we expect more than that from tokens: Spectral Procession is 3 mana for 3 fliers and 1 card used. Not Forgotten and Beckon Apparition are 1 card for 1 spirit. It just isn't worth it.
Relic at least gives me grave hate + 1 mana cantrip+ grave hate. Post board, there is a fair chance I draw into a 2-3 token generator for 3 mana. This will almost always have utility somewhere in the game whereas Beckon Apparition is pretty much pointless after turn 2. Not Forgotten relies on an assumption that there are things I want to recast in the yard.
Midnight Haunting is fantastic. I run a 3-3 split of that and spectral procession. Flying is super relevant right now. Its also fabulous versus control. I still run ghost quarter main, but it is less relevant than it was. Still good against tron though, but tron is a house.
Relic of Progenitus is better in the 1 CMC grave hate= advantage slot. Why? Mana efficiency+ card advantage. I get 1 flier for 1 CMC+ 1 card. Frankly, we expect more than that from tokens: Spectral Procession is 3 mana for 3 fliers and 1 card used. Not Forgotten and Beckon Apparition are 1 card for 1 spirit. It just isn't worth it.
Relic at least gives me grave hate + 1 mana cantrip+ grave hate. Post board, there is a fair chance I draw into a 2-3 token generator for 3 mana. This will almost always have utility somewhere in the game whereas Beckon Apparition is pretty much pointless after turn 2. Not Forgotten relies on an assumption that there are things I want to recast in the yard.
Midnight Haunting is fantastic. I run a 3-3 split of that and spectral procession. Flying is super relevant right now. Its also fabulous versus control. I still run ghost quarter main, but it is less relevant than it was. Still good against tron though, but tron is a house.
We weren't talking about pure grave hate or pure efficient token generation (well I was). Yes ideally it would be nice to have an early token generator that is also efficient. The key thing is that it must be cast early because the deck is often behind before it can generate the necessary power. Running the best disruption and removals help but is often not enough against the redundant creature decks and these are often dead against combo, which we have to race.
Midnight Haunting is a great card I agree. It is rather annoying games 2 and 3 when your opponent sides in Dispel however. Being instant speed means that we can often resolve more important cards like Bitterblossom if it gets countered, but if it is our only threat, their spot removals are significantly better. Overall, great choice for a tri-color deck or a Ghost Quarters build.
can somebody explain why there are not so many Oath of Gideon in the decklists of BW Tokens?
i play with 3 Sorins and 2 Gideons.. first, with Oath i get 2 tokens.. second, my planeswalker get 1 loyalty counter and this means that sorin comes into play with 5 counters and after the first turn with +1 he has 6 and i get the emblem.. same with Gideon, he doesn't even die for the emblem in his first turn on the battlefield..
Our 3-drop is already loaded with the most efficient token generation possible. If we raised our curve and added more 3-drops, I believe Liliana of the Veil is consistently the more powerful option, as is Midnight Haunting. What you are describing is an ideal situation and when deck building, we cannot simply consider these type of scenarios. And even when it works, it is not necessarily back-breaking.
Another weakness of this deck is that it is synergistic, as you must draw the right combination of pieces. A hand full of disruption and anthem means that the anthem is a dead card. Of course the upside is that this synergy is what gives this deck the best grinding power but this is a downside for the early turns. Oath of Gideon is also a synergistic card and for it to be a consideration, its impact must be back-breaking (but it isn't).
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If you cannot afford any fetchlands or fastlands that's coming out, then I think you will need that many basics. Maybe cut some down for a Cave of Koilos and Vault of the Archangel.
Instead of playing Oath of Gideon, I suggest you first maximize lingering souls and spectral procession (which you probably did) and then play some number of Secure the Wastes, Midnight Haunting, or Raise the Alarms.
Fast lands are fine turn-three.
One Swamp is good, multiple Swamps are bad. One should not run more than one unless one has BB casting costs and it's debatable then. Fill up on other W fetches or some other BW dual. Fetid Heath is fine. A Caves of Koilos or two isn't bad.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Fastlands are awesome in decks that have two different color first-turn plays. That's not really the case in BW tokens, but BW tokens can want WW on turn-two and WWW on turn-three so it feels like a deck that wants both colors turn-one. Concealed Courtyard seems an automatic four-of going forward.
In builds that are very keen on hitting four-drops on curve, the fastland might not seem so groovy, but I think BW tokens needs Concealed Courtyard.
I love Lily, but I don't like BB costs here.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
I agree, though I played Dismember over Murderous Cut even before the fastlands just for the fact that it can be used reliably turn 1-4.
Bant Eldrazi is roughly 50/50. Anthems and removals are pretty key in this match-up because generally their top deck is as good as ours, if not better, so we need to either slow them down or go faster. Chalice of the void can be a serious problem out of the sideboard. The problem with Tirel is if your opponent brings out Reality Smashers, it's basically a useless card.
Good solutions are:
1) Runed Halo: this means you cannot be targeted by thought-knot seer and can't get hit by reality smasher. Just remember your planeswalkers are still vulnerable.
2) Zealous persecution: is a very good card against everything but the seer and smasher, but even there, it can be good.
3) Sundering Growth: this card is now more playable than disenchant with the fastlands. Eldrazi brings out their Chalice of the Void and 1 Worship out of the sideboard.
Bitterblossom is one of the best cards in the match-up due to its ability to chump most Eldrazi threats, so I would stay away from Worship personally. It's annoying that they run their own version of Worship, so you are forced to play artifact/ enchantment hate. Not unless you want to auto-scoop.
Honestly, I expect a ban on one of the key Dredge cards because this deck is almost as resilient as old Eldrazi for a hyper aggro linear strategy.
I considered going back to a pure BW token shell (as now the mana is better) but now I find Anger of the Gods more important than ever. Abzan Company is slightly unfavorable as well and Anger of the Gods also neuters that deck. The nice thing about AotG is that it can be played reactively to any board-state so it is a good top deck. If the card is a dead-draw because you have too many tokens on the field, you are probably winning that match-up anyways. But if you're losing, it's the best card in the deck.
Also, does anyone run a Pithing Needle in the side? It's much better than I thought. Turns off important planeswalkers, man-lands, spellskites, viscera seer, quasali pridemage, aether vial, aether grid, engineered explosives, etc. If you face a bunch of Tron, it might actually be better to just run 4 Pithing Needle over any land-hate.
I run two needles in my board and they have always been helpful; the only issue with Tron is they can STILL get an Ulamog off casting an Ugin if they have a Sanctum and then blow up your Pithing needle; this past week at my Local store the ONLY match I dropped was against Tron; he blew up my Needle that was preventing him from Using Ugin and then it was game over. However in my experience thus far it has been the most useful card against them. Especially since I don't have to dedicate the slot to JUST something to try and beat Tron; since I find myself bringing it in against many other matchups.
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I know and sometimes they run World Breaker too which is a pain. I'm considering a 2nd Pithing Needle. If the meta is heavy with combo and Tron decks, adding 4 Raise the Alarm significantly improves the match-ups but Bitterblossom is too good at the moment. This is an amazing deck and its only significant flaw is its slow clock... I would love to see a 1/2 cmc sorcery flying token generator in the future.
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It's better than I thought and I have tested it for months. Often it is better than Spectral Procession, but in this meta, I would run the Timely Reinforcement before it. Secure the Wastes is also a possibility.
I know it's been discussed before but Beckon Apparition fits that 1 CMC flying token generator slot. I remember playing it in BW tokens back in Lorwyn standard and it was usually pretty good. I can see it being very good in Modern; it's instant speed and usually graveyard interaction is a thing giving us another card against dredge (especially on Turn 1). I honestly don't see this ever not being castable even in most cases on turn 1 with all the fetchlands in Modern. Also can help against Goyf, Snapcaster and some other stuff.
I might test out 3 or 4 this up coming monday.
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I meant to mention Not Forgotten Which is one mana more, sorcery speed but it can either help us get a fetch land back, recast a walker, mess up your opponents draw for the next turn or remove something form their graveyard. It has a lot of upsides for being one mana more and Sorcery speed; I want to test both of them.
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Relic at least gives me grave hate + 1 mana cantrip+ grave hate. Post board, there is a fair chance I draw into a 2-3 token generator for 3 mana. This will almost always have utility somewhere in the game whereas Beckon Apparition is pretty much pointless after turn 2. Not Forgotten relies on an assumption that there are things I want to recast in the yard.
Midnight Haunting is fantastic. I run a 3-3 split of that and spectral procession. Flying is super relevant right now. Its also fabulous versus control. I still run ghost quarter main, but it is less relevant than it was. Still good against tron though, but tron is a house.
We weren't talking about pure grave hate or pure efficient token generation (well I was). Yes ideally it would be nice to have an early token generator that is also efficient. The key thing is that it must be cast early because the deck is often behind before it can generate the necessary power. Running the best disruption and removals help but is often not enough against the redundant creature decks and these are often dead against combo, which we have to race.
Midnight Haunting is a great card I agree. It is rather annoying games 2 and 3 when your opponent sides in Dispel however. Being instant speed means that we can often resolve more important cards like Bitterblossom if it gets countered, but if it is our only threat, their spot removals are significantly better. Overall, great choice for a tri-color deck or a Ghost Quarters build.
Our 3-drop is already loaded with the most efficient token generation possible. If we raised our curve and added more 3-drops, I believe Liliana of the Veil is consistently the more powerful option, as is Midnight Haunting. What you are describing is an ideal situation and when deck building, we cannot simply consider these type of scenarios. And even when it works, it is not necessarily back-breaking.
Another weakness of this deck is that it is synergistic, as you must draw the right combination of pieces. A hand full of disruption and anthem means that the anthem is a dead card. Of course the upside is that this synergy is what gives this deck the best grinding power but this is a downside for the early turns. Oath of Gideon is also a synergistic card and for it to be a consideration, its impact must be back-breaking (but it isn't).