Scion is very low-impact depending on your boardstate, and often enough your bitterblossom tokens are going to get there in most cases except in the case of other flyers. Scion doesnt look good on an empty board, and his effectiveness is lackluster due to the nature of our 'play from the backfoot' play patterns. Snapcaster however does depend on the right instant being in your graveyard at the right time, and has no real other benefits- but for now he's the best we've got (which is still pretty good). Scion by itself is a 1/1 for 3 that counters removal (which spellstutter sprite already does for us, outside of abrupt decay). Most times I would rather have snapcaster since there isnt a faerie that really fills out the deck well. I think the only case for scion is lingering souls, but Id go as far as saying Id rather test plague mare since it wipes most of the mardu pyromancer boardstate
This is why I stopped collecting meta data. It is a thankless job and usually it is discarded because n<1,000,000.
You can get a pretty narrow confidence interval with n=100. That's in the +/- 10% range, which helps us narrow a matchup in the favorable/unfavorable ranges. A 60/40 match at n=100, assuming an unbiased sample, is in that 50-70 range, so at least even and likely favorable. That's not to say it isn't thankless work, which it totally is. Just to say that one can do this work without n being 1000000. Although it sometimes feels that way when talking to people online haha.
See the Infernal Judgment entry. Notable quotes: "One of the tasks of Core Set 2019 was to make some cards relevant in Modern but not disruptive to Standard. "
"First, how do we make it relevant in Modern? Find a problem Modern has and try to solve it. How about the Eldrazi, especially the large legendary ones?" "This means that the spell has some functionality in Standard but has qualities that address a Modern issue."
We can quibble about whether or not this card accomplishes its stated goals, and/or whether or not Wizards is addressing the right issues. But the fact that they are deliberately addressing such issues and publicizing those efforts is a huge step in the right direction, even if there's more work to be done.
I think this merfolk wanted an ability like flying or shadow, because in vial based matchups it wont be doing much attacking on the ground; otherwise its a big help to merfolk because it can attack profitably in the matchups where it counts. Not a bad card, just missing a few lines of text that make sense imo.
I think this is just what needs to happen. Players are going to start learning the KCI deck, as they very well should. Its a reaction to being unable to interact. So some of you will suffer through this new competitive metagame for a short while. I'm applauding shaheen Soorani for picking up KCI wholeheartedly though, as a blue player who plays other colors to learn the decks myself. This is what modern has made players do to be competitive, as the nature of the beast. So until we get a different environment more players with a background in combo loops and play-sequencing will likely pick up the deck, and maybe more people struggling to interact will learn how to play it, or how to beat it...but isnt that what we're here to do anyway?
you will want engineered explosives and ratchet bomb if budget is a huge concern. Damnation is a big necessity for the match more often than not so the overall money for 2 Modern Masters versions may be well spent. otherwise up your spot removal count between maindeck and sideboard
you would have to allow the needs of modern to impact standard, but with the new planeswalkers in the standard format I dont see too much of a problem with that. "too strong for standard" shouldnt exist anyway
do you think seal away does anything as another potential white removal spell?
I think it's better than people give it credit for. People make the Condemn comparison, but it's not quite right. Condemn forces you to remove the creature in the attack step only, which provides information to your opponent, and reduces your mana, during the post-combat main. Seal Away is usable during the end step and your turn. This lets you trade the life from one attack to keep up/threaten countermagic mana. If they don't cast something too scary, you can elect to let it resolve and then Seal Away the threat. This creates way more decision tress than Condemn ever did, which I always value highly when I play control. I'll also add that Seal Away has some corner-case edges over Condemn's targeting modes in hitting dorks (sadly, after they tap), Drum creatures, convoked creatures, Lavamancer, Emrakul, Knight of the Reliquary, and some other random targets.
The other comparison I've heard is Detention Sphere, but that one doesn't sit well with me. Sphere costs +1 mana and is sorcery-speed. That's a totally different card and slot in my books.
Of course, the real question is 1 vs. 2 mana, which is a major drawback of Seal Away over Condemn. Some decks can also remove the Seal Away, which is a big problem. For instance, I would not run Seal Away in a Jund-heavy metagame. But for all the reasons mentioned above, I still think Seal Away has potential. If I were still playing UW Control, I'd test out 2 in the main.
this, i think, is what i was looking for. thank you
Nothing can fix reactive blue decks. It's just a problematic category in Modern(I am talking about pure control decks, without combo finishes)
The only thing that would realistically fix them is to ban Cavern of Souls(this alone could cut it to be honet), Eldrazi Temple, Tron, Valakut, Hollow one, Boggles, Dredge, Lingering Souls and several other problematic cards/decks(or just many of them), aka make Modern as it was during Mclauren's era: a non-diverse format, where your sideboard can cover really everything.
Control is a lost cause in Modern if you seek to have a Tier 1 deck that can consistently take GP's down.
That doesn't mean Preordain wouldn't help at all, even if it's not happening(Wizards probably won't unban a 1 cmc mana card).
Banning Cavern makes the Eldrazi matchup better for sure, but the humans deck is already 50/50 at worst for removal oriented decks. Making it worse would just bring its metashare down and another aggro deck up which might be better against control.
Nothing can fix reactive blue decks. It's just a problematic category in Modern(I am talking about pure control decks, without combo finishes)
The only thing that would realistically fix them is to ban Cavern of Souls(this alone could cut it to be honet), Eldrazi Temple, Tron, Valakut, Hollow one, Boggles, Dredge, Lingering Souls and several other problematic cards/decks(or just many of them), aka make Modern as it was during Mclauren's era: a non-diverse format, where your sideboard can cover really everything.
Control is a lost cause in Modern if you seek to have a Tier 1 deck that can consistently take GP's down.
That doesn't mean Preordain wouldn't help at all, even if it's not happening(Wizards probably won't unban a 1 cmc mana card).
Banning Cavern makes the Eldrazi matchup better for sure, but the humans deck is already 50/50 at worst for removal oriented decks. Making it worse would just bring its metashare down and another aggro deck up which might be better against control.
Humans already has meddling mage thalia and kitesail freebooter and aether vial otherwise. I wouldnt be opposed to making a better game out of the cavern decks as a blue player.
[Theory]: With hollow one in particular, I came across the idea of Steel Sabotage which I am currently discussing as an option with the rest of the Faeries crew in the discord. Also with the printing of cast down I think the removal coverage can help cover ground against the deck. Flaying Tendrils is a card that also helps. But my issue is the question of "Where in the metagame do these cards also slot into, so they arent for one matchup" Affinity does come to mind here for both, but I am certain I will need more of a developing theory/plan to sleeve these up and test them in practice.
[Thought]: The deck seems answerable from this perspective, but metagaming in an actual environment is harder without racing pressure. That being said, I think the issue is that the development of blue from an R&D standpoint should move back to blue's resource being tempo and time rather than slow grindy control value. Maybe modern blue needs an array of efficient tempo threats to race what it cant answer
Modern players are also a lot more jovial from my own experience than most standard players that do the same type of thing. I mean, if you sat down and played a game vs IdSurge or purklefluff it's probably going to be a good experience.
Isn't FoodChainGoblins on this list as well?
I think there are definitely more of the mtgsal crew on that list. But yeah the people in your environment make modern an easier format to play in, even if games are a struggle.
man, im trying precognition field in cockatrice... is busted. i dont know what you mean by slow, we already play many 4 drops. its a continuous source of card advantage and selection that doesnt involve the gy.. exactly what the deck needs, in my eyes
Again: how? It seems like coming down turn 4, and then needing open mana to do anything with it means we're just dead anyway. It keeps you from fizzling, but it seems like it wastes 2 turns unless you're already ready...
How are you using it? Hard cast on turn 4 and start hoping? Wouldn't Azcanta be better there?
Im not sold on the idea yet but I believe Precognition Field has the potential to benefit you with multiple extra spells per turn, in conjunction with the serum visions that set up your draws. There are definite misses in the chain of spells, but its a decent idea
What do you guys think about unwind? is the power level there to take a spot in faeries? Its nice to think you can counter and clique same turn, too expensive to occupy many slots, and semi restrictive with the non creature clause, but i think its probably good with one in the deck. and good in matchups where we want to not only counter things but be able to get our own clock out as well (burn, ad nauseum, storm...)
3 mana is too slow for an answer card even if it does untap lands, so unfortunately I dont think so. Modern is getting faster, so many new cards we would play have to be between 1-2 mana to be considered.
you want people to be honest? Kevin Jones Gerrard Fabiano and Jacob Van Lunen called my particular brand of blue deck trash on camera because it couldn't interact with bloodbraid elf or humans with cavern of souls...when its popular enough to get actual support instead of trash like smuggler's copter...and yet doesn't. You want skill testing interactive magic? Faeries is where people constantly wish got archetype support because it is interactive and very skill testing. But yeah, "Faeries is magic on hard mode and jund with bloodbraid is magic on easy mode". Idk what to tell you. Not having free wins isnt the issue, the issue is not having interactive means to race what you cant answer. so yeah I guess its affinity and storm for a while.
thanks for sharing this
this, i think, is what i was looking for. thank you
Humans already has meddling mage thalia and kitesail freebooter and aether vial otherwise. I wouldnt be opposed to making a better game out of the cavern decks as a blue player.
[Thought]: The deck seems answerable from this perspective, but metagaming in an actual environment is harder without racing pressure. That being said, I think the issue is that the development of blue from an R&D standpoint should move back to blue's resource being tempo and time rather than slow grindy control value. Maybe modern blue needs an array of efficient tempo threats to race what it cant answer
I think there are definitely more of the mtgsal crew on that list. But yeah the people in your environment make modern an easier format to play in, even if games are a struggle.
Im not sold on the idea yet but I believe Precognition Field has the potential to benefit you with multiple extra spells per turn, in conjunction with the serum visions that set up your draws. There are definite misses in the chain of spells, but its a decent idea
3 mana is too slow for an answer card even if it does untap lands, so unfortunately I dont think so. Modern is getting faster, so many new cards we would play have to be between 1-2 mana to be considered.