Ætherling is every bit the unkillable house it was in Standard. Run it as one of my 3 main wincons in my budget Jeskai control deck, alongside Luminarch Ascension and Gideon Jura(two other underrated cards imo).
I could see Dash Hopes and Countersquall do work in a UB deck that MIGHT splash white for Punish Ignorance & Esper Charm. A UB control deck with Tarpits and Snaps as well to contribute to the gameplan. Would be an interesting brew I think. Pretty much a pile of counters, draw, and removal where your counters double as 'burn'.
I could see Dash Hopes and Countersquall do work in a UB deck that MIGHT splash white for Punish Ignorance & Esper Charm. A UB control deck with Tarpits and Snaps as well to contribute to the gameplan. Would be an interesting brew I think. Pretty much a pile of counters, draw, and removal where your counters double as 'burn'.
I run Countersquall in my Grixis Delver list, and I must say it does wonders; protects Delver while punishing them further.
I must say my favorite play with it has been when someone tried to Dismember my Delver.
"I'mma pay 4 life and kill Delver."
"Nah, you'll pay 6 life and Delver will stay. Oh, by the by, take 3 :D."
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Oath of the Gatewatch; the set that caused the competitive community to freak out over Basic Lands.
Squelch and Shadow of Doubt - I've tried to make this deck work. I've not got it working yet, but I'm sure someone can do something with eight cantripping Sinkholes in this fetchland format.
Being partially inspired by the Sagu Mauler thread, what cards do you guys feel are underutilized in Modern, whether as main deck or sideboard options? Here are some of my favorites:
Annul in the sideboard for your Affinity/Bogles/Twin/Amulet Titan match-ups. Has a lot of targets in a variety of different decks, so it's rarely dead.
Gideon Jura. Though he's lost a few steps since the Modern format is so fast nowadays, Gideon's still a strong finisher for the slower decks like UW Control.
Noxious Revival. Did you finisher not quite have enough to finish your opponent off the first time? Need to save a key component of your combo from exile? Worry not! Just apply Noxious Revival to the afflicted area and watch your opponent's game plan crumble to dust on your next turn!
Quicken is my top pick. I don't understand how Quicken isn't being used by BGx for draw step targeted discard at the very least. I mean, worst-case-ontario is that you end up cycling it. I guess its mostly just that no one is playing sultai control. Esper/sultai/grixis builds should consider this card imo.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Burning-Tree Emissary. Zoo has a lot of cool cards it can play but unfortunetly at the same time only so many flex spots after the obvious staples, and she often doesn't make the cut unless its in the creature heavy gruul lists. Going from Turn 1 Wild Nacatl, into turn 2 Burning-Tree Emissary then dropping into say another Wild Nactal and Kird Ape or even dropping Tarmogoyf is way fun, feels like you're playing Affinity but with larger bodies.
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Modern Active: BGRock/Jund/JunkRW GRTron 0Affinity0 WGRZoo
Being partially inspired by the Sagu Mauler thread, what cards do you guys feel are underutilized in Modern, whether as main deck or sideboard options? Here are some of my favorites:
Annul in the sideboard for your Affinity/Bogles/Twin/Amulet Titan match-ups. Has a lot of targets in a variety of different decks, so it's rarely dead.
Gideon Jura. Though he's lost a few steps since the Modern format is so fast nowadays, Gideon's still a strong finisher for the slower decks like UW Control.
Noxious Revival. Did you finisher not quite have enough to finish your opponent off the first time? Need to save a key component of your combo from exile? Worry not! Just apply Noxious Revival to the afflicted area and watch your opponent's game plan crumble to dust on your next turn!
Search function underrated; thread merged with existing topic.
I must also say Blood baron of vizkopa. I play him as a one of in abzan midrange, maindeck and one time in the side. I ride him to victory at least one time every event I go. Jeez dat guy is good. For 3$ anyway, he's worth trying in any deck runing black and white. Like Olivia voldaren: he looks way to expensive to play but man, that cardboard piece is the real deal.
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Playing modern: all BGx, storm, burn, green eldrazi, dredge.
Condescend, Gideon Jura, Pearl Lake Ancient, Elspeth Sun's Champion, and Bribery are all pretty underrated Control cards in Modern.
Pearl Lake Ancient isn't even good in standard, why would it be good in modern, a format with a much higher power level? Elspeth is at least a very good card in standard, but at 6 mana there's so much more you can be doing than playing Elspeth.
Bribery I only can see as tech for Tron, to steal Emrakul before it hits the field and you have to bank on Emrakul not being in their hand by then.
Condescend, Gideon Jura, Pearl Lake Ancient, Elspeth Sun's Champion, and Bribery are all pretty underrated Control cards in Modern.
Pearl Lake Ancient isn't even good in standard, why would it be good in modern, a format with a much higher power level?
As a sideboarded win-con in Control decks for the draw-go mirror, Splinter Twin, and Scapeshift. Most win-cons either can be countered or force you to tap out on your turn. If you get to 7 mana against Twin with a Control deck (which is pretty easy to do with a Control deck), you can cast PLA and they lose. Same thing against Scapeshift. Against those kinds of combo decks, you can be forced to get into a counterspell war to protect your win-cons, which allows the opponent to combo off. That just doesn't happen with PLA.
Elspeth is at least a very good card in standard, but at 6 mana there's so much more you can be doing than playing Elspeth.
How much better can you get for 6 mana against midrange decks in Modern than Elspeth (other than Grave Titan)? You really can't. I am not saying that it should be a staple. I just think that it could be a useful sideboard card against Midrange decks.
Bribery I only can see as tech for Tron, to steal Emrakul before it hits the field and you have to bank on Emrakul not being in their hand by then.
If you spend 5 mana to take a Wurmcoil Engine from their deck because you can't take Emrakul that isn't exactly a bad thing. It just seems like a sideboard option that Control decks would use more.
I'd like Gideon if he were cheaper than 5 mana.
Why does everything need to be cheap for you to like it? In a Control deck, you are going to get to 5 mana. And Gideon doesn't even open you up to anything. Against Midrange he is perfect. Against Control he is perfect if he resolves. If Splinter Twin or Infect untaps and tries to kill you the turn you play him, they won't be able to actually attack you. He can buy you at least a turn against all-out aggro decks. Even against Tron he at least can technically kill Emrakul if you tap Emrakul with Cryptic Command. Sure, he is bad against Scapeshift and isn't great against Burn, but not everything can be perfect in every matchup, and Gideon is good in most matchups.
Why does everything need to be cheap for you to like it? In a Control deck, you are going to get to 5 mana. And Gideon doesn't even open you up to anything. Against Midrange he is perfect. Against Control he is perfect if he resolves. If Splinter Twin or Infect untaps and tries to kill you the turn you play him, they won't be able to actually attack you. He can buy you at least a turn against all-out aggro decks. Even against Tron he at least can technically kill Emrakul if you tap Emrakul with Cryptic Command. Sure, he is bad against Scapeshift and isn't great against Burn, but not everything can be perfect in every matchup, and Gideon is good in most matchups.
Burn
Infect
Affinity
These decks exist in large quantities in this metagame. They're also quite capable of killing you off well before you can even think of casting Gideon. Its not uncommon for any of those three decks to kill on turn 3 (from what I understand, its possible for Infect to get a turn 2 kill with a perfect opener). What makes you think sitting there durdling, hoping to cast Gideon will do for you against them?
To combat those decks, not only do you need answers, but cheap answers that you can reliably play on turn 2/3 if you want to even hope to win. That's why expensive answers are just flatout bad right now and aren't worth the ink they're printed on. You're already dead before they even matter.
Gideon is anything but cheap. And so is Elspeth, and PLA, and Bribery.
Why does everything need to be cheap for you to like it? In a Control deck, you are going to get to 5 mana. And Gideon doesn't even open you up to anything. Against Midrange he is perfect. Against Control he is perfect if he resolves. If Splinter Twin or Infect untaps and tries to kill you the turn you play him, they won't be able to actually attack you. He can buy you at least a turn against all-out aggro decks. Even against Tron he at least can technically kill Emrakul if you tap Emrakul with Cryptic Command. Sure, he is bad against Scapeshift and isn't great against Burn, but not everything can be perfect in every matchup, and Gideon is good in most matchups.
Burn
Infect
Affinity
These decks exist in large quantities in this metagame. They're also quite capable of killing you off well before you can even think of casting Gideon. Its not uncommon for any of those three decks to kill on turn 3 (from what I understand, its possible for Infect to get a turn 2 kill with a perfect opener). What makes you think sitting there durdling, hoping to cast Gideon will do for you against them?
To combat those decks, not only do you need answers, but cheap answers that you can reliably play on turn 2/3 if you want to even hope to win. That's why expensive answers are just flatout bad right now and aren't worth the ink they're printed on. You're already dead before they even matter.
Gideon is anything but cheap. And so is Elspeth, and PLA, and Bribery.
Who said that they are answers? They are win-cons that stabilize you in the process. Blue control decks in Modern (the ones that still exist) currently win off of Celestial Colonnade beats or similarly costed cards like Batterskull. Why not Gideon, Elspeth, or PLA? Also, you seem to be ignoring that I was advocating running PLA, Elspeth, and Bribery out of the sideboard. Of course you wouldn't being them in against Burn and Affinity.
I just meant cheap cards in general. Expensive win conditions are awful against burn, since they rot in your hand while you're getting lava spike'd every turn.
I suppose you could just run your win conditions in the sideboard, but the control decks have a hard enough time with the hyper aggressive decks, why would you run those instead of better aggro hosers? (IE, instead of having Elspeth in your sideboard, you could have a Leyline of Sanctity instead)
I just believe that if you're playing control, you need some way to have both cheap answers, and cheap ways to win the game. Those don't exist in modern, therefore, its not really viable.
Call me crazy, but I think that Niveous Wisps is a pretty good card in any tempo deck that runs Snapcasters. You can basically ignore the "creature becomes white" portion of the card. Tap target creature and draw a card is solid for 1CMC.
Shadow of Doubt has been a pet card of mine since Ravnica. Part of me wishes it saw more play, but the other part likes the surprise factor it still brings.
Mana Titheand Gideon, Champion of Justice
UWR Control/Midrange/Delver
UWR TwinMiss youGBWJunk (still semi-budget; 3 tarmo only)
GWAura Hexproof
GWHatebears
I run Countersquall in my Grixis Delver list, and I must say it does wonders; protects Delver while punishing them further.
I must say my favorite play with it has been when someone tried to Dismember my Delver.
"I'mma pay 4 life and kill Delver."
"Nah, you'll pay 6 life and Delver will stay. Oh, by the by, take 3 :D."
Annul in the sideboard for your Affinity/Bogles/Twin/Amulet Titan match-ups. Has a lot of targets in a variety of different decks, so it's rarely dead.
Gideon Jura. Though he's lost a few steps since the Modern format is so fast nowadays, Gideon's still a strong finisher for the slower decks like UW Control.
Noxious Revival. Did you finisher not quite have enough to finish your opponent off the first time? Need to save a key component of your combo from exile? Worry not! Just apply Noxious Revival to the afflicted area and watch your opponent's game plan crumble to dust on your next turn!
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-community/219406-what-are-the-most-underrated-cards-in-modern
But yeah, there are several cards which a criminal underplayed (looking at you Knight of the Reliquary and Runed Halo).
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Active:
BGRock/Jund/JunkRW
GRTron
0Affinity0
WGRZoo
Search function underrated; thread merged with existing topic.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Pearl Lake Ancient isn't even good in standard, why would it be good in modern, a format with a much higher power level? Elspeth is at least a very good card in standard, but at 6 mana there's so much more you can be doing than playing Elspeth.
Bribery I only can see as tech for Tron, to steal Emrakul before it hits the field and you have to bank on Emrakul not being in their hand by then.
I'd like Gideon if he were cheaper than 5 mana.
As a sideboarded win-con in Control decks for the draw-go mirror, Splinter Twin, and Scapeshift. Most win-cons either can be countered or force you to tap out on your turn. If you get to 7 mana against Twin with a Control deck (which is pretty easy to do with a Control deck), you can cast PLA and they lose. Same thing against Scapeshift. Against those kinds of combo decks, you can be forced to get into a counterspell war to protect your win-cons, which allows the opponent to combo off. That just doesn't happen with PLA.
How much better can you get for 6 mana against midrange decks in Modern than Elspeth (other than Grave Titan)? You really can't. I am not saying that it should be a staple. I just think that it could be a useful sideboard card against Midrange decks.
If you spend 5 mana to take a Wurmcoil Engine from their deck because you can't take Emrakul that isn't exactly a bad thing. It just seems like a sideboard option that Control decks would use more.
Why does everything need to be cheap for you to like it? In a Control deck, you are going to get to 5 mana. And Gideon doesn't even open you up to anything. Against Midrange he is perfect. Against Control he is perfect if he resolves. If Splinter Twin or Infect untaps and tries to kill you the turn you play him, they won't be able to actually attack you. He can buy you at least a turn against all-out aggro decks. Even against Tron he at least can technically kill Emrakul if you tap Emrakul with Cryptic Command. Sure, he is bad against Scapeshift and isn't great against Burn, but not everything can be perfect in every matchup, and Gideon is good in most matchups.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Burn
Infect
Affinity
These decks exist in large quantities in this metagame. They're also quite capable of killing you off well before you can even think of casting Gideon. Its not uncommon for any of those three decks to kill on turn 3 (from what I understand, its possible for Infect to get a turn 2 kill with a perfect opener). What makes you think sitting there durdling, hoping to cast Gideon will do for you against them?
To combat those decks, not only do you need answers, but cheap answers that you can reliably play on turn 2/3 if you want to even hope to win. That's why expensive answers are just flatout bad right now and aren't worth the ink they're printed on. You're already dead before they even matter.
Gideon is anything but cheap. And so is Elspeth, and PLA, and Bribery.
Who said that they are answers? They are win-cons that stabilize you in the process. Blue control decks in Modern (the ones that still exist) currently win off of Celestial Colonnade beats or similarly costed cards like Batterskull. Why not Gideon, Elspeth, or PLA? Also, you seem to be ignoring that I was advocating running PLA, Elspeth, and Bribery out of the sideboard. Of course you wouldn't being them in against Burn and Affinity.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I suppose you could just run your win conditions in the sideboard, but the control decks have a hard enough time with the hyper aggressive decks, why would you run those instead of better aggro hosers? (IE, instead of having Elspeth in your sideboard, you could have a Leyline of Sanctity instead)
I just believe that if you're playing control, you need some way to have both cheap answers, and cheap ways to win the game. Those don't exist in modern, therefore, its not really viable.
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