I guess my point is that if the difference between 2 and 3 was so minimal, wouldn't rune snag be played?
It only gets better, and sure, maybe theres not a great chance you're ever charging 6 or 8, but in a deck with thought scours, or only 2-3 snaps (uw control and the like), it wouldn't be a liability over leak.
But its not played, which leads me to believe that the difference between 2 and 3 is significant.
Mana leak is also relevant for a single additional land drop, not a single additional turn, which is reasonably different with so many low-to-the-ground decks in modern right now.
On top of that, being able to counter things in tron can often come down to charging them 2 or 3, in the earlier turns. If they have 8 mana (tron + misc land) miscalc won't hit wurmcoil. If they have tron + nontower tron land (for 9 mana) miscalc won't stop karn, etc. I could come up with more examples, but I'm sure you get the point.
Simply put though, having one of your answers be "less" of an answer than mana leak is not a great place to be in a control deck, unless you have a very strong proactive plan.
In jeskai nahiri, or grixis delver, miscalc might see play. But even in grixis control, much less any U/W colonnade beats deck, I feel its just too weak, especially given that mana leak has fallen out of favor, I don't think miscalculation fixes its problems.
Rune snag isn't played because the first copy is strictly worse than Mana leak. Only copies 2+ are better, and this becomes much more important in decks running less than 4 copies.
Moreover, the (arguably) best blue card, Snapcaster Mage, makes it much harder for copies 2+ to be better than mana leak, further diminishing any added value you might get by replacing mana leak with rune snag.
The difference between Rune Snag and Miscalculation is that the upside for rune snag has tension with snapcaster mage, where miscalculation actually has minor synergy with snapcaster mage when you can cycle miscalculation and then flash it back with snappy.
edit: Note that if miscalculation gets reprinted, opponents will have to play around both unless they know your list, giving miscalculation some of mana leak's bluff strength for free. Imagine a world where you have 8 mana and a wormcoil engine in hand, but don't know if that 1U is representing miscalculation or mana leak. We see a similar effect right now with Negate. Do you jam?
Im posting this over from the faeries primer because I think multiple perspectives are helpful.Id like to say that faeries is getting a lot of popularity and publicity right now, and while I cant say that this is bad news I don't think the nature of a deck like faeries sustains the hype without people understanding that personalization and comfort with the cards in the deck is of the most importance. I feel like getting in front of the hype somehow is the best thing experienced faeries players could be doing. This is a deck that you HAVE to tweak and test and do research with and put the time in with, moreso than most other decks, and I dont think the hype makes that clear. Its great that we have another good matchup in tier 1 but all the reasons to not play faeries becomes readily apparent when you pick up a list online and jump into games because that list won. These well-placing lists are from players who know their deck and its relationship to the metagame they perceive to be playing in. Its a deck where you have to know your potential outs in any given turn phase of the game, and the many articles I have seen recently dont touch on that at all for suggesting that the deck is worth picking up, which honestly it can be, but only if you want to work with the challenge of pushing it through its faults. The faeries discord has 52 dedicated minds debating A) card choice B) metagame and C) lines of play trying to better their handle on the deck and there isnt one proper go-to list. TLDR the recent metagame hype doesn't explain that there are many ways to build and play faeries to success.
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
I would infer that if Counterspell is being reprinted as a masterpeice, it is not going to be printed as an actual card in the set. I think that holds true for all the masterpeices and expiditions so far.
Reprinting counterspell as a masterpeice signals to me that it is not being reprinted in standard any time soon.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
I would infer that if Counterspell is being reprinted as a masterpeice, it is not going to be printed as an actual card in the set. I think that holds true for all the masterpeices and expiditions so far.
Reprinting counterspell as a masterpeice signals to me that it is not being reprinted in standard any time soon.
As unlikely as that reprint sounds to me, I'd say it's best to read nothing into the Masterpiece reprints in terms of what is likely to get a reprint.
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Other Amonkhet Masterpieces that are not Modern legal: Force of Will, Mind Twist, Dark Ritual, Chain Lightning, Vindicate. Including Counterspell, that's 6 of the 14 spoiled Amonkhet Masterpieces.
Other Amonkhet Masterpieces that are not Modern legal: Force of Will, Mind Twist, Dark Ritual, Chain Lightning, Vindicate. Including Counterspell, that's 6 of the 14 spoiled Amonkhet Masterpieces.
Yeah i had a reply just below that post that acknowledged my mistake.
Part one of Modern Nexus's Jace, the Mindsculptor testing is up. This installment just covers methodology and the gauntlet (no numbers yet), but has some good insights into how he functions in the retooled Jeskai Nahiri deck he used.
Unfortunately the testing dates back to October, so pre-Push, pre-DSJ, and pre-bans. Also too bad that it's (by necessity) a non-optimal list and an inexperienced pilot. But still, it's good to see some impressions based on testing.
Part two should be up next week.
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Those were some great games. I feel like these videos further convince me that both these cards would be ok to be unbanned at some point in the near future. Jace looked good, but not remarkably better than LotV or even the Chandra ToD in that last game. What played out in these games fits with the narrative I've been conjecturing on this topic, which is that he's much harder to protect in Modern. Sure, in the one game where he was protected he ran away with the game, but the same was true of the Chandra ToD in the last game. He definitely looks like he fits within acceptable power levels of Modern.
BBE looked fine. She sometimes bricked, and sometimes hit a LotV or Tarmogoyf, so there's some variance to it. I would not want to unban BBE if it's going to slot into DS Jund, but if they won't play it I think it's probably fine.
That said, I would prefer to see Jace in a better shell. Maybe a Sultai midrange or Esper Control shell.
Those were some great games. I feel like these videos further convince me that both these cards would be ok to be unbanned at some point in the near future. Jace looked good, but not remarkably better than LotV or even the Chandra ToD in that last game. What played out in these games fits with the narrative I've been conjecturing on this topic, which is that he's much harder to protect in Modern. Sure, in the one game where he was protected he ran away with the game, but the same was true of the Chandra ToD in the last game. He definitely looks like he fits within acceptable power levels of Modern.
BBE looked fine. She sometimes bricked, and sometimes hit a LotV or Tarmogoyf, so there's some variance to it. I would not want to unban BBE if it's going to slot into DS Jund, but if they won't play it I think it's probably fine.
That said, I would prefer to see Jace in a better shell. Maybe a Sultai midrange or Esper Control shell.
Jace really isn't more powerful than Lilly. The only problem is that if the goal to bring in reactive decks, he's not the best immediate fit in those decks. He slots wonderfully in aggro control or tempo variants like grixis delver or sultai delver. Those decks can do a good job of taking control of the board early making it hard to fight over the board and jace at the same time.
I really doubt Jace is actually more powerful than Liliana of the Veil, New Chandra, or Ally Gideon. I think he's as strong as any of those cards, but he doesn't seem particularly stronger based on what I've seen from him. He's more of a value card than Gideon, sure, but Gideon is a hilariously faster clock while still producing considerable value and doing a similar (or better) job of protecting himself.
I don't think JTMS should be unbanned, as he wouldn't fix the format, and I'd rather look at other blue cards to potentially help. I'd really like to see Preordain in the format. I think storm would need to eat a ban, which is fine, and I don't know that it'd "break" any other deck. Ad Nauseam is already so consistent that I doubt upgrading Slight of Hand would make the really strong deck "stronger enough" to be anything other than a fine tier 1/tier 1.5 deck.
I really doubt Jace is actually more powerful than Liliana of the Veil, New Chandra, or Ally Gideon. I think he's as strong as any of those cards, but he doesn't seem particularly stronger based on what I've seen from him. He's more of a value card than Gideon, sure, but Gideon is a hilariously faster clock while still producing considerable value and doing a similar (or better) job of protecting himself.
I don't think JTMS should be unbanned, as he wouldn't fix the format, and I'd rather look at other blue cards to potentially help. I'd really like to see Preordain in the format. I think storm would need to eat a ban, which is fine, and I don't know that it'd "break" any other deck. Ad Nauseam is already so consistent that I doubt upgrading Slight of Hand would make the really strong deck "stronger enough" to be anything other than a fine tier 1/tier 1.5 deck.
If you don't think JTMS is dangerous for the format then why keep him in the banlist?
People have this illogical notion that we shouldn't unban something because it may help, or become tier 1. So? Something is always tier 1. That's not an argument that should have any actual effect on what constitutes a card to be banned.
I think it's what happens when good cards get banned for being good. People seem to have a problem differentiating between good and broken. WotC hasn't helped here since what is broken is essentially whatever the hell they feel like.(Which, again is their right, but there is an organic aspect to magic and because of that they will never be able to set a criteria they can stick to.)
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Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
People have this illogical notion that we shouldn't unban something because it may help, or become tier 1. So? Something is always tier 1. That's not an argument that should have any actual effect on what constitutes a card to be banned.
Maybe i got your post wrong, but they actually stated as one of their goals to not unban cards that fit into Tier 1 strategies. Could a card on the banlist make certain strategies Tier 1, of course, that's out of question, it happened with Dredge and GGT although they didn't expect that one to end locked again.
Therefore Stoneforge being a card that wouldn't follow their past criteria if unbanned. Jace and/or Preordain(which are the common trends) check for their goals, moreso Jace being a 4-mana Planeswalker. Preordain being a 1-mana cantrip seems dubious.
@damagecase: This isn't against you, but all the bannings they have made were mostly correct from a player and tournament perspective(see the titanic mass of Tier 1 and Tier 2, even Tier 3's that crash Top 8's constantly). There are cards that seem overpowered rather than broken(Hypergenesis vs Bloodbraid Elf for example) but secretly, those overpowered cards remain banned as a product of WOTC trying to make Modern what it is, super diverse. It is perfectly reasonable to believe that once the power level of the format rises naturally with Standard, many cards in the banlist will become safe for our diversity again. Right now, i believe there are close to 0 cards banned that don't attempt against diversity in Modern. I think even Death's Shadow is being watched closely...
It only gets better, and sure, maybe theres not a great chance you're ever charging 6 or 8, but in a deck with thought scours, or only 2-3 snaps (uw control and the like), it wouldn't be a liability over leak.
But its not played, which leads me to believe that the difference between 2 and 3 is significant.
Mana leak is also relevant for a single additional land drop, not a single additional turn, which is reasonably different with so many low-to-the-ground decks in modern right now.
On top of that, being able to counter things in tron can often come down to charging them 2 or 3, in the earlier turns. If they have 8 mana (tron + misc land) miscalc won't hit wurmcoil. If they have tron + nontower tron land (for 9 mana) miscalc won't stop karn, etc. I could come up with more examples, but I'm sure you get the point.
Simply put though, having one of your answers be "less" of an answer than mana leak is not a great place to be in a control deck, unless you have a very strong proactive plan.
In jeskai nahiri, or grixis delver, miscalc might see play. But even in grixis control, much less any U/W colonnade beats deck, I feel its just too weak, especially given that mana leak has fallen out of favor, I don't think miscalculation fixes its problems.
Moreover, the (arguably) best blue card, Snapcaster Mage, makes it much harder for copies 2+ to be better than mana leak, further diminishing any added value you might get by replacing mana leak with rune snag.
The difference between Rune Snag and Miscalculation is that the upside for rune snag has tension with snapcaster mage, where miscalculation actually has minor synergy with snapcaster mage when you can cycle miscalculation and then flash it back with snappy.
edit: Note that if miscalculation gets reprinted, opponents will have to play around both unless they know your list, giving miscalculation some of mana leak's bluff strength for free. Imagine a world where you have 8 mana and a wormcoil engine in hand, but don't know if that 1U is representing miscalculation or mana leak. We see a similar effect right now with Negate. Do you jam?
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
Wow, and if you look at the other ones, they are all Modern legal cards.
Just do it goddammit!
Link: http://www.magicspoiler.com/amonkhet-spoiler/
I don't think chain lightning is legal, is it?
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
I'm not sure if I despise the look, or will like it in 'real life'.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway. I like the potential here, lots of control/removal type vibes represented...
Spirits
C: Affinity, WUB: Esper Draw-Go
UR: Blood Moon Delver, UBR: Grixis Control/Delver
GWUR: Allies, UBR: Cruel Control
RGB: Living End, GWB: Wilt-Leaf Abzan
GU: Infect, GWR: Naya Liege
WU: Emeria Control
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Reprinting counterspell as a masterpeice signals to me that it is not being reprinted in standard any time soon.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Spirits
As unlikely as that reprint sounds to me, I'd say it's best to read nothing into the Masterpiece reprints in terms of what is likely to get a reprint.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
Yeah i had a reply just below that post that acknowledged my mistake.
Unfortunately the testing dates back to October, so pre-Push, pre-DSJ, and pre-bans. Also too bad that it's (by necessity) a non-optimal list and an inexperienced pilot. But still, it's good to see some impressions based on testing.
Part two should be up next week.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
http://articles.mtgcardmarket.com/jace-tms-v-bloodbraid-elf/
BBE looked fine. She sometimes bricked, and sometimes hit a LotV or Tarmogoyf, so there's some variance to it. I would not want to unban BBE if it's going to slot into DS Jund, but if they won't play it I think it's probably fine.
That said, I would prefer to see Jace in a better shell. Maybe a Sultai midrange or Esper Control shell.
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
Jace really isn't more powerful than Lilly. The only problem is that if the goal to bring in reactive decks, he's not the best immediate fit in those decks. He slots wonderfully in aggro control or tempo variants like grixis delver or sultai delver. Those decks can do a good job of taking control of the board early making it hard to fight over the board and jace at the same time.
I don't think JTMS should be unbanned, as he wouldn't fix the format, and I'd rather look at other blue cards to potentially help. I'd really like to see Preordain in the format. I think storm would need to eat a ban, which is fine, and I don't know that it'd "break" any other deck. Ad Nauseam is already so consistent that I doubt upgrading Slight of Hand would make the really strong deck "stronger enough" to be anything other than a fine tier 1/tier 1.5 deck.
Modern - GB Elves, UW Ojutai Control
Legacy - BWG Junk Stoneblade
Gay and Proud
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Maybe i got your post wrong, but they actually stated as one of their goals to not unban cards that fit into Tier 1 strategies. Could a card on the banlist make certain strategies Tier 1, of course, that's out of question, it happened with Dredge and GGT although they didn't expect that one to end locked again.
Therefore Stoneforge being a card that wouldn't follow their past criteria if unbanned. Jace and/or Preordain(which are the common trends) check for their goals, moreso Jace being a 4-mana Planeswalker. Preordain being a 1-mana cantrip seems dubious.
@damagecase: This isn't against you, but all the bannings they have made were mostly correct from a player and tournament perspective(see the titanic mass of Tier 1 and Tier 2, even Tier 3's that crash Top 8's constantly). There are cards that seem overpowered rather than broken(Hypergenesis vs Bloodbraid Elf for example) but secretly, those overpowered cards remain banned as a product of WOTC trying to make Modern what it is, super diverse. It is perfectly reasonable to believe that once the power level of the format rises naturally with Standard, many cards in the banlist will become safe for our diversity again. Right now, i believe there are close to 0 cards banned that don't attempt against diversity in Modern. I think even Death's Shadow is being watched closely...