Quick notes, Grixis DS (dont recall seeing any Lightning Bolts in any of them) and Affinity very prominent in top 32. Eldrazi and Burn with 4 decks each. 2 Hatebears. Dredge 1 and Living End 0. Some random 1 of's like Rallier Zoo, GW Humans, Smallpox, Faeries and Jeskai Control.
From the field.........
- Some Mirran Crusaders running around.
- A bunch of different graveyard hate out there, maybe/speculating thats why Dredge and Living End wasnt running wild and the Devoted/Vizier Combo/Company was only a few variations.
- Affinity is definitely using Ghirapur Æther Grid but also some other tech like Stubborn Denial, Spell Snare, Ceremonious Rejection, Thoughtseize showing up.
- Not a lot of Anti-Burn stuff, seemed like the Burn players had more Anti-Burn stuff then the others. The one Anti-Burn/hate card used by non-Burn players was Burrenton Forge-Tender. A few Leylines.....
- Not a lot of Land destruction or Blood Moon.
Added Ensnaring Bridge to my Naya Burn sidedeck a few weeks back and got a lot of utility out of it, primarily against Death Shadow and reanimator builds.
GG everyone it was nice playing burn for all these years but there is no way to fight this. Crack and Command are powerless to help here. All anti life gain are null and void against this. Time to sell off burn and build a new deck.
GG everyone it was nice playing burn for all these years but there is no way to fight this. Crack and Command are powerless to help here. All anti life gain are null and void against this. Time to sell off burn and build a new deck.
I was looking for a solution on Reddit and some guys mentioned that this actually counts as life gain, so Skullcrack and Atarka's Command would still get it.
you can skullcrack or command this card, and it is a sorcery but i dont know if your opponent still dont get to untap the lands next turn if you do it. either way i see it as a worse timely reinforcements as a sideboard aganist burn, if they resolve a timely reinforcements its probably over anyway, so why would they risk playing with that card? kor firewalker is way better. Also if people start using it and they dont untap lands after a crack, i will just use 4 command + 2 crack instead of 2 helix or something like that.
GG everyone it was nice playing burn for all these years but there is no way to fight this. Crack and Command are powerless to help here. All anti life gain are null and void against this. Time to sell off burn and build a new deck.
I was looking for a solution on Reddit and some guys mentioned that this actually counts as life gain, so Skullcrack and Atarka's Command would still get it.
I would like a second opinion, though.
Second opinion yes please. The way I see this is that it doesn't say "gain life" on the card therefore it's not gaining life. Similar to how "target" works. It has to explicitly say it the card to count as targeting, not "choose" or any other wording. That's why Palm gets around Hexproof.
Edit: I also found a Reddit forums arguing that any increase in life is gaining life.
Also according to a gatherer ruling of Resolute Archangel, "If your life total is less than your starting life total, you actually gain the appropriate amount of life. Other effects that interact with life gain will interact with Resolute Archangel’s ability accordingly."
So looks like crack is good enough to stop Oketra. False alarm people don't sell your burn cards, don't take that kind of advise from random people on the internet lol.
Oketra's Last Mercy is to much to fight through, it's been fun. The best you can do is play a jund version to run Discard. Every deck that has access to white mana will sb this against burn. Burn is tier 3 now .
GG everyone it was nice playing burn for all these years but there is no way to fight this. Crack and Command are powerless to help here. All anti life gain are null and void against this. Time to sell off burn and build a new deck.
I was looking for a solution on Reddit and some guys mentioned that this actually counts as life gain, so Skullcrack and Atarka's Command would still get it.
I would like a second opinion, though.
Second opinion yes please. The way I see this is that it doesn't say "gain life" on the card therefore it's not gaining life. Similar to how "target" works. It has to explicitly say it the card to count as targeting, not "choose" or any other wording. That's why Palm gets around Hexproof.
Edit: I also found a Reddit forums arguing that any increase in life is gaining life.
Also according to a gatherer ruling of Resolute Archangel, "If your life total is less than your starting life total, you actually gain the appropriate amount of life. Other effects that interact with life gain will interact with Resolute Archangel’s ability accordingly."
So looks like crack is good enough to stop Oketra. False alarm people don't sell your burn cards, don't take that kind of advise from random people on the internet lol.
If your life total changes, then you have either gained or lost life. Skullcrack and Atarka's Command absolutely stop this life gain. In general, it's a more expensive, harder to splash, sorcery version of Feed the Clan. It's not the end of the world.
PS: It looks like "God's Last X" is a cycle. Here's hoping that Hazoret's Last Whatever doesn't suck, though I'm not sure there's any effect I'd want to pay 1RR for and not have my lands untap.
GG everyone it was nice playing burn for all these years but there is no way to fight this. Crack and Command are powerless to help here. All anti life gain are null and void against this. Time to sell off burn and build a new deck.
I was looking for a solution on Reddit and some guys mentioned that this actually counts as life gain, so Skullcrack and Atarka's Command would still get it.
I would like a second opinion, though.
Second opinion yes please. The way I see this is that it doesn't say "gain life" on the card therefore it's not gaining life. Similar to how "target" works. It has to explicitly say it the card to count as targeting, not "choose" or any other wording. That's why Palm gets around Hexproof.
Edit: I also found a Reddit forums arguing that any increase in life is gaining life.
Also according to a gatherer ruling of Resolute Archangel, "If your life total is less than your starting life total, you actually gain the appropriate amount of life. Other effects that interact with life gain will interact with Resolute Archangel’s ability accordingly."
So looks like crack is good enough to stop Oketra. False alarm people don't sell your burn cards, don't take that kind of advise from random people on the internet lol.
If your life total changes, then you have either gained or lost life. Skullcrack and Atarka's Command absolutely stop this life gain. In general, it's a more expensive, harder to splash, sorcery version of Feed the Clan. It's not the end of the world.
I'm waiting for an official ruling. Oketra's Last Mercy wording is more of a life restart.
10/4/2004: If a player controls no creatures when this resolves, their life total will become zero and he or she will lose the game.
10/4/2004: This spell causes the player to lose or gain enough life to change to the new life total.
2/9/2017: For your life total to become your starting life total (normally 20), you gain or lose the appropriate amount of life. For example, if your life total is -4 when Exquisite Archangel’s ability applies, it will cause you to gain 24 life; alternatively, if your life total is 40 when it applies, it will cause you to lose 20 life. Other cards that interact with life gain or life loss will interact with this effect accordingly.
This card is no different. "Can't gain life" effects stop it.
Just go through the gatherer rulings for cards that say "life total becomes": http://magiccards.info/query?q=o:"life total becomes"&v=card&s=cname All of them say that it counts as gaining or losing life (except the Ante one, because it's banned in all formats and doesn't matter).
Skullcrack will work here's the ruling. 1/24/2013: If an effect says to set a player’s life total to a certain number and that number is higher than the player’s current life total, that part of the effect won’t do anything. (If the number is lower than the player’s current life total, the effect will work as normal.) I'm guessing Atarka's command will work too.
Skullcrack will work here's the ruling. 1/24/2013: If an effect says to set a player’s life total to a certain number and that number is higher than the player’s current life total, that part of the effect won’t do anything. (If the number is lower than the player’s current life total, the effect will work as normal.) I'm guessing Atarka's command will work too.
There's no need to guess. If your life total changes, you have gained or lost life. Literally every card with text like this explicitly says in the gatherer rulings that you "gain or lose as appropriate". An effect that says "you can't gain life" stops you from gaining life. Skullcrack works. AC works. Leyline of Punishment works. Rain of Gore works. We already know exactly how this works because it's defined by the rules of the game. We don't have to wait for the gatherer rulings for this card. The gatherer rulings are just clarifications from the official rules in an easy to look up place.
Skullcrack will work here's the ruling. 1/24/2013: If an effect says to set a player’s life total to a certain number and that number is higher than the player’s current life total, that part of the effect won’t do anything. (If the number is lower than the player’s current life total, the effect will work as normal.) I'm guessing Atarka's command will work too.
There's no need to guess. If your life total changes, you have gained or lost life. Literally every card with text like this explicitly says in the gatherer rulings that you "gain or lose as appropriate". An effect that says "you can't gain life" stops you from gaining life. Skullcrack works. AC works. Leyline of Punishment works. Rain of Gore works. We already know exactly how this works because it's defined by the rules of the game. We don't have to wait for the gatherer rulings for this card. The gatherer rulings are just clarifications from the official rules in an easy to look up place.
Yep, We are good to go. Not to mention if they play Oketra's Last Mercy and we prevent the lifegain there lands will still stay tapped.
Here's the actual rule from the MTG Comprehensive rules that state absolutely how a life total setting effect works:
118.5. If an effect sets a player’s life total to a specific number, the player gains or loses the necessary amount of life to end up with the new total.
Therefore, any effect that says that a player can't gain life would stop any effect that sets that player's life total to something higher than their current life total.
Here's the actual rule from the MTG Comprehensive rules that state absolutely how a life total setting effect works:
118.5. If an effect sets a player’s life total to a specific number, the player gains or loses the necessary amount of life to end up with the new total.
Therefore, any effect that says that a player can't gain life would stop any effect that sets that player's life total to something higher than their current life total.
The more I think about it I'm not sure if Oketra's Last Mercy will even see much play against us. If we Skullcrack or Command there Oketra's Last Mercy it's likely game over for them being tapped out for 2 turns. Sorry for overreacting earlier.
Here's the actual rule from the MTG Comprehensive rules that state absolutely how a life total setting effect works:
118.5. If an effect sets a player’s life total to a specific number, the player gains or loses the necessary amount of life to end up with the new total.
Therefore, any effect that says that a player can't gain life would stop any effect that sets that player's life total to something higher than their current life total.
The more I think about it I'm not sure if Oketra's Last Mercy will even see much play against us. If we Skullcrack or Command there Oketra's Last Mercy it's likely game over for them being tapped out for 2 turns. Sorry for overreacting earlier.
It won't. It's hard to splash and the downside is huge (though irrelevant if it sticks against us). Feed the Clan is cheaper and probably gains about as much life as Oketra's Last Mercy would (because you see it out of decks with big enough creatures), but does it at instant speed. Even if it doesn't gain as much, it probably gains enough. Timely Reinforcements is the sideboard card this competes with in white, but Timely is easier to splash and generally sufficient enough of a gain to do the job and it does it without the huge downside.
Affinity had 3 decks in the top 8
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gplv17-modern/top-8-decklists-2017-06-18
Here's the GP list, congrats to Paul Peterson
Creature (12)
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
Sorcery (8)
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
Instant (20)
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
Land (20)
4 Arid Mesa
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Ground
3 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard (15)
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Kor Firewalker
3 Path to Exile
2 Relic of Progenitus
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7th - Naya Burn.....2 Ensnaring Bridge in side
18th - Naya Burn....2 Exquisite Firecraft in main, 2 Ensnaring Bridge in side
26th - Mardu Burn...0 Eidolon in main but 4 in side, 1 Painful Truths and 4 Searing Blood
29th - Naya Burn....
Quick notes, Grixis DS (dont recall seeing any Lightning Bolts in any of them) and Affinity very prominent in top 32. Eldrazi and Burn with 4 decks each. 2 Hatebears. Dredge 1 and Living End 0. Some random 1 of's like Rallier Zoo, GW Humans, Smallpox, Faeries and Jeskai Control.
From the field.........
- Some Mirran Crusaders running around.
- A bunch of different graveyard hate out there, maybe/speculating thats why Dredge and Living End wasnt running wild and the Devoted/Vizier Combo/Company was only a few variations.
- Affinity is definitely using Ghirapur Æther Grid but also some other tech like Stubborn Denial, Spell Snare, Ceremonious Rejection, Thoughtseize showing up.
- Not a lot of Anti-Burn stuff, seemed like the Burn players had more Anti-Burn stuff then the others. The one Anti-Burn/hate card used by non-Burn players was Burrenton Forge-Tender. A few Leylines.....
- Not a lot of Land destruction or Blood Moon.
Added Ensnaring Bridge to my Naya Burn sidedeck a few weeks back and got a lot of utility out of it, primarily against Death Shadow and reanimator builds.
Going to be running R/w Burn this week with Ensnaring Bridge x1, Relic of Progenitus x1, and Grafdigger's Cage x1. Don't have them at the moment but will likely add a second Relic.
Me too, except I don't want to buy foil Bridges
I'm 1 card short of completely foiling Naya Burn right now, and only a few cards short of having completely foil Boros Burn if I decided to switch.
Can we fight this?
GG everyone it was nice playing burn for all these years but there is no way to fight this. Crack and Command are powerless to help here. All anti life gain are null and void against this. Time to sell off burn and build a new deck.
I was looking for a solution on Reddit and some guys mentioned that this actually counts as life gain, so Skullcrack and Atarka's Command would still get it.
I would like a second opinion, though.
Second opinion yes please. The way I see this is that it doesn't say "gain life" on the card therefore it's not gaining life. Similar to how "target" works. It has to explicitly say it the card to count as targeting, not "choose" or any other wording. That's why Palm gets around Hexproof.
Edit: I also found a Reddit forums arguing that any increase in life is gaining life.
Also according to a gatherer ruling of Resolute Archangel, "If your life total is less than your starting life total, you actually gain the appropriate amount of life. Other effects that interact with life gain will interact with Resolute Archangel’s ability accordingly."
So looks like crack is good enough to stop Oketra. False alarm people don't sell your burn cards, don't take that kind of advise from random people on the internet lol.
If your life total changes, then you have either gained or lost life. Skullcrack and Atarka's Command absolutely stop this life gain. In general, it's a more expensive, harder to splash, sorcery version of Feed the Clan. It's not the end of the world.
PS: It looks like "God's Last X" is a cycle. Here's hoping that Hazoret's Last Whatever doesn't suck, though I'm not sure there's any effect I'd want to pay 1RR for and not have my lands untap.
Gatherer rulings for Blessed Wind:
Gatherer rulings for Exquisite Archangel:
This card is no different. "Can't gain life" effects stop it.
Just go through the gatherer rulings for cards that say "life total becomes": http://magiccards.info/query?q=o:"life total becomes"&v=card&s=cname All of them say that it counts as gaining or losing life (except the Ante one, because it's banned in all formats and doesn't matter).
There's no need to guess. If your life total changes, you have gained or lost life. Literally every card with text like this explicitly says in the gatherer rulings that you "gain or lose as appropriate". An effect that says "you can't gain life" stops you from gaining life. Skullcrack works. AC works. Leyline of Punishment works. Rain of Gore works. We already know exactly how this works because it's defined by the rules of the game. We don't have to wait for the gatherer rulings for this card. The gatherer rulings are just clarifications from the official rules in an easy to look up place.
Therefore, any effect that says that a player can't gain life would stop any effect that sets that player's life total to something higher than their current life total.
It won't. It's hard to splash and the downside is huge (though irrelevant if it sticks against us). Feed the Clan is cheaper and probably gains about as much life as Oketra's Last Mercy would (because you see it out of decks with big enough creatures), but does it at instant speed. Even if it doesn't gain as much, it probably gains enough. Timely Reinforcements is the sideboard card this competes with in white, but Timely is easier to splash and generally sufficient enough of a gain to do the job and it does it without the huge downside.