Except that they are the primary drivers of sales for new sets, according to Wizards. Planeswalkers sell sets, regardless of how some players personally view them.
I wonder if people bought Khans of Tarkir packs in order to crack a Sarkhan Dragonspeaker or Sorin? Or maybe was there some other reason a lot of enfranchised players liked the set?
I get what you mean about Wizards saying Planeswalkers are primary drivers of sales, but I think it's BS. Strong and useful cards are enough of a primary driver in and of themselves.
Mischief will feel real bad rotting in your hand when your opponent targets your Death's Shadow with Condemn.
True, that is a good point since it's attacking creature.
Condemn is normally only a 2-of, and local meta-wise, I haven't seen it played a ton yet. So we will see. I'll report back tonight.
Can't even come up with a coherent reply, that's the funniest part.
Also, regarding Rise//Fall, it's definitely a meta call. Also, in a lot of ways it's nicer than Hymn because it's multicolored, so it's a lot easier to cast. I'm a big fan of it and have even maindecked one. I still keep a Bolt in for early on and for some Snapcaster recursion, but Rise/Fall is the way to go.
Mischief does not shore up our bad matchups. Broken record here.
Again, I think it will be quite strong vs U/W control rather than just playing Countersquall. Hopefully, my FNM will fire and I can report back with some games.
People on this forum look for things to complain about. Your either find one or more pet topics to drag into every thread and beat over everyone else's head, or you complain about people who complain.
If you'd actually read the thread instead of acting all smug and unironically hypocritical, you'd realize that many of the posters lack confidence in this new "department". There is already a "department", the Future Future League, that was supposed to stop these things, and they've failed miserably. I personally also lack faith in this department doing any good. When's the last time we even saw Melissa de Tora even playing at a high level, anyway?
But understand this is WotC actually hiring a brand new team of people. This is expensive. They are serious about it.
It might not be as expensive if they go through with firing Sam Stoddard and other items of dead weight on the Future Future League teams.
This new department reminds me of McDonald's advertising their "now 100% white meat chicken". What was there before? They clearly didn't care, and they're now admitting that in the past things were messed up. But now you, loyal consumer, get to have our new and enhanced product! Please ignore all the times you got screwed by us before.
Also, gkourou, I'm really liking the U/B decks so far. Not exactly Grixis but it's pretty cool to see. Not sure about the deal with the Vampiric Links in the sideboard, though.
Yeah, I have to try them out as well. A big problem is the lack of an unconditional sweeper for big dudes(Terminate) and the lack of permanent removals(Kolaghan's Command). This is why they run 8 disruption spells and the full playset of Stubborn Denial plus Dispel though.
Well, the thing is that the deck already has its own huge creatures. I'd like to see some number of Murderous Cut or Big Game Hunter in the 75 to kill off opposing larger creatures, since we tend to outsize just about everything else.
The deck just seems like it can't let anything resolve at all versus certain decks. 5-0s still have enough variance that you can dodge bad matchups. Let us know how testing goes.
Cfusionpm - Yeah losing Gitaxian Probe was pretty lame but I think the format is probably better off for it, even if Delver is worse
Imp's Mischief only works on spells with a single target. Cool, you redirected a Bolt for 2 mana and prevented 2 damage. If that's your best case scenario, my 'Burn doesn't give a *****' argument still applies as far as I'm concerned.
You can also redirect a bolt to one of their creatures if they have one out. Obviously that's the highest power you can get, but that's pretty strong.
Of course I'd rather draw 3 than just counter an AV, but I already have a maindeck answer to AV that costs 1 mana less and has so many more applications. I'm not going to dedicate precious sideboard space to a fringe scenario where I have to have a specific card in hand and 2 mana up as my opponent resolves an AV without a counterspell to protect it.
In your exact same scenario, someone could have a counterspell for the Stubborn denial. Don't see the big deal here. Also, this is a card that'd be used in tandem with SD in the matchup.
Again, none of our bad matchups care about Imp's Mischief and neither should you. It's a cool card and I'd definitely run it if it had its merits in our deck but hey, let's not go down that road because I have an Ashiok waiting in line here.
Right, because Ashiok is sooooo good against Eldrazitron and U/W control? The card is only truly bad vs Tron, but then so are a lot of things so I wouldn't sweat it.
Also, gkourou, I'm really liking the U/B decks so far. Not exactly Grixis but it's pretty cool to see. Not sure about the deal with the Vampiric Links in the sideboard, though.
Speaking of which, has anyone ever sideboarded Imp's Mischief ? I remember it was talked about a lot when Ancestral Visions was spoiled. I think it might be good now too.
Good as in, it shores up bad matchups? Which ones exactly? It's ***** against Burn, Abzan and Tron. Yeah it hits AV but so does Denial.
Don't see how it's bad vs burn, especially since you can redirect a Bolt or Searing Blaze towards one of their own creatures. Also, I'd rather draw 3 cards vs counter it completely, not sure about you. Vs Abzan, you can still redirect a path or an abrupt decay. Agreed it's bad vs Tron - that's why I suggested it as a sideboard card.
Anyway, I'm going to test it out as a 2-of in the sideboard in place of Countersquall and see how I like it.
Let us know how it went. I don't like the MB Surgical Extraction though that much, but I know it's kind of a pet card of yours Let us know how the card did as well.
Surgical Extraction functions best as a crappy Cabal Therapy in this deck, especially since you already get a decent amount of discard. It's also very good vs the U/W control deck. I've created a couple blowouts with it vs certain matchups, especially graveyard decks that aren't really expecting something G1. It's a very meta dependent card, I know I wouldn't play it in mine but I could see it in others.
Speaking of which, has anyone ever sideboarded Imp's Mischief ? I remember it was talked about a lot when Ancestral Visions was spoiled. I think it might be good now too.
To elaborate: even the author doesn't seem entirely convinced of his own sideboarding choices. He doesn't even mention why he uses it until the end, and doesn't even specify the matchups it'd be good in. The clique does add evasion, but so does a Temur Battle Rage out the sideboard, and I guarantee that is going to end matches a lot faster than a 3 mana 3/1 flier.
Then again I've never really been a fan of the Clique.
I understand YOU prefer the bigger picture, but the majority of regular Modern players do not. I hear it all the time at my LGS. People talk about tiers as though decks outside of Tier 1 should lose to Tier 1. I hear people walking up and asking to build "this list" which ends up being a tier 1 list net decked from the most recent event(s).
Then that's their problem. They think of tiers as if it's Super Smash Bros. The ultimate issue comes down to educating the greater encompassing player base all about what Tiers in the Modern format really mean.
The more I think about it, the more I like MTGtheSource's view of Tiers. There is no "Tier 1", it's simply "Decks To Beat" which is comprised of what are often the strongest and most popular decks that you need to prepare to face at tournaments. Instead of "Tier 2", you have "Established Decks", and these decks are ones that you could feasibly face at a tournament as they have decent records. T3 is just New and Developmental decks.
how do you guys find the Trawler KCI matchup? They seem to be way more resilient than I'd expected
Key cards to counter or kill ASAP are the two cards the deck is named for. It's easier said than done, I know.🤓 It's a lynchpin deck and just falls apart without those. Prioritize the actual Krark Clan Ironworks when you can. He can recur as much stuff he wants if he can't sac it. I prefer siding in 2 Surgical Extraction to try and get big stuff out of the way permanently and I keep all of my counters and discard. What's your main deck and SB configuration like?
I still think this is a good card. It's basically never a dead draw and goes a long way towards control mana efficiency. You also only need to hit something once and opponents will often play around it. I expect 1-2 in many blue-based controlling decks over the coming months.
I've personally played 2 in place of Mana Leak in my Grixis Death's Shadow deck since it came out. I've said it in other threads so I'll say it here too - it's a medium strong card but has some very neat interactions with Delve cards as well as with Snapcaster Mage. Also, it forces your opponents to play off curve which can be good in its own right.
Viewing it as a cantrip that sometimes can counter is a good way to look at it.
I wonder when we get the montage card of the Bolas gods injecting steroids and running on treadmills with heart monitors ala Rocky 4?
I wonder if people bought Khans of Tarkir packs in order to crack a Sarkhan Dragonspeaker or Sorin? Or maybe was there some other reason a lot of enfranchised players liked the set?
I get what you mean about Wizards saying Planeswalkers are primary drivers of sales, but I think it's BS. Strong and useful cards are enough of a primary driver in and of themselves.
True, that is a good point since it's attacking creature.
Condemn is normally only a 2-of, and local meta-wise, I haven't seen it played a ton yet. So we will see. I'll report back tonight.
Can't even come up with a coherent reply, that's the funniest part.
Also, regarding Rise//Fall, it's definitely a meta call. Also, in a lot of ways it's nicer than Hymn because it's multicolored, so it's a lot easier to cast. I'm a big fan of it and have even maindecked one. I still keep a Bolt in for early on and for some Snapcaster recursion, but Rise/Fall is the way to go.
Again, I think it will be quite strong vs U/W control rather than just playing Countersquall. Hopefully, my FNM will fire and I can report back with some games.
If you'd actually read the thread instead of acting all smug and unironically hypocritical, you'd realize that many of the posters lack confidence in this new "department". There is already a "department", the Future Future League, that was supposed to stop these things, and they've failed miserably. I personally also lack faith in this department doing any good. When's the last time we even saw Melissa de Tora even playing at a high level, anyway?
It might not be as expensive if they go through with firing Sam Stoddard and other items of dead weight on the Future Future League teams.
This new department reminds me of McDonald's advertising their "now 100% white meat chicken". What was there before? They clearly didn't care, and they're now admitting that in the past things were messed up. But now you, loyal consumer, get to have our new and enhanced product! Please ignore all the times you got screwed by us before.
Well, the thing is that the deck already has its own huge creatures. I'd like to see some number of Murderous Cut or Big Game Hunter in the 75 to kill off opposing larger creatures, since we tend to outsize just about everything else.
The deck just seems like it can't let anything resolve at all versus certain decks. 5-0s still have enough variance that you can dodge bad matchups. Let us know how testing goes.
Cfusionpm - Yeah losing Gitaxian Probe was pretty lame but I think the format is probably better off for it, even if Delver is worse
You can also redirect a bolt to one of their creatures if they have one out. Obviously that's the highest power you can get, but that's pretty strong.
In your exact same scenario, someone could have a counterspell for the Stubborn denial. Don't see the big deal here. Also, this is a card that'd be used in tandem with SD in the matchup.
Right, because Ashiok is sooooo good against Eldrazitron and U/W control?
Also, gkourou, I'm really liking the U/B decks so far. Not exactly Grixis but it's pretty cool to see. Not sure about the deal with the Vampiric Links in the sideboard, though.
Don't see how it's bad vs burn, especially since you can redirect a Bolt or Searing Blaze towards one of their own creatures. Also, I'd rather draw 3 cards vs counter it completely, not sure about you. Vs Abzan, you can still redirect a path or an abrupt decay. Agreed it's bad vs Tron - that's why I suggested it as a sideboard card.
Anyway, I'm going to test it out as a 2-of in the sideboard in place of Countersquall and see how I like it.
Surgical Extraction functions best as a crappy Cabal Therapy in this deck, especially since you already get a decent amount of discard. It's also very good vs the U/W control deck. I've created a couple blowouts with it vs certain matchups, especially graveyard decks that aren't really expecting something G1. It's a very meta dependent card, I know I wouldn't play it in mine but I could see it in others.
Speaking of which, has anyone ever sideboarded Imp's Mischief ? I remember it was talked about a lot when Ancestral Visions was spoiled. I think it might be good now too.
In a word, no.
To elaborate: even the author doesn't seem entirely convinced of his own sideboarding choices. He doesn't even mention why he uses it until the end, and doesn't even specify the matchups it'd be good in. The clique does add evasion, but so does a Temur Battle Rage out the sideboard, and I guarantee that is going to end matches a lot faster than a 3 mana 3/1 flier.
Then again I've never really been a fan of the Clique.
Yep, it gets really bad if you don't have Temur Battle Rage. Personally, I've gone up to 2 in my 75 what with all of the annoying blockers nowadays.
Then that's their problem. They think of tiers as if it's Super Smash Bros. The ultimate issue comes down to educating the greater encompassing player base all about what Tiers in the Modern format really mean.
The more I think about it, the more I like MTGtheSource's view of Tiers. There is no "Tier 1", it's simply "Decks To Beat" which is comprised of what are often the strongest and most popular decks that you need to prepare to face at tournaments. Instead of "Tier 2", you have "Established Decks", and these decks are ones that you could feasibly face at a tournament as they have decent records. T3 is just New and Developmental decks.
Key cards to counter or kill ASAP are the two cards the deck is named for. It's easier said than done, I know.🤓 It's a lynchpin deck and just falls apart without those. Prioritize the actual Krark Clan Ironworks when you can. He can recur as much stuff he wants if he can't sac it. I prefer siding in 2 Surgical Extraction to try and get big stuff out of the way permanently and I keep all of my counters and discard. What's your main deck and SB configuration like?
I've personally played 2 in place of Mana Leak in my Grixis Death's Shadow deck since it came out. I've said it in other threads so I'll say it here too - it's a medium strong card but has some very neat interactions with Delve cards as well as with Snapcaster Mage. Also, it forces your opponents to play off curve which can be good in its own right.
Viewing it as a cantrip that sometimes can counter is a good way to look at it.