Some earlier discussion of Glittering Wish in Modern can be seen here. It concentrates more on the control aspects of a wishboard (and the potential of building a deck around it) but not the combo aspects. This primer aims to cover all aspects of the proper use of a Glittering Wishboard, from being a control-oriented toolbox to giving you access to 7 of one combo-enabling card.
Combo Piece Storage
Having 7 chances at getting any one combo piece in a 60-card deck can be devastating. Even having 5 or 6 chances can be good enough (say, 1 of that card and 4 Glittering Wishes in your maindeck). Here are examples of how (potentially Tier 2 or lower) Modern-legal decks can make a Glittering Wishboard store their combo pieces:
Melira Combo Kitchen Finks: It's a creature with Persist. It helps you gain infinite life when endlessly sacrificed with Melira, Sylvok Outcast in play. Running 7 makes opposing aggro decks cry.
Murderous Redcap: It's another creature with Persist. It instantly wins you the game when endlessly sacced. May as well run more than 4.
Safehold Elite: It's the cheapest Persist dude. If your Melira deck's sacrifice outlet can instantly win the game (like Blasting Station), this guy is usable.
Scarland Thrinax: It's the only Modern-legal multicoloured infinite sacrifice outlet. Actually casting this guy afterwards requires a bit of a mana base stretch, but it's nothing that Birds of Paradise can't handle.
Project X Saffi Eriksdotter: She endlessly revives Crypt Champion in an infinite creatures-entering-the-battlefield loop. Running 7 of her starts looking unfair.
Sunny Side Up Wargate: Okay, it's not really a combo piece, but having 11 chances (including Reshape) to stick a Black LotusLotus Bloom must be awesome (if slot-consuming).
Heartbeat Combo Invoke the Firemind: Draw cards or smash your opponent's face in for lethal? Casting this is going to be a real stretch, though, especially since you depend on basic lands to do the job...
Swans Combo Swans of Bryn Argoll: Damage them, draw cards, abuse said card draw, you know the drill.
Batwing Brume: Need an attack stopper now? Try Wishing for this.
Ghazi-Glare Glare of Subdual: As long as you have the creature advantage and they plan to kill you with creatures, this card should win you games by forcing their men to not attack or block.
Consistency Issues Solver
Aggro Loam decks run Burning Wish to get access to 7 Life from the Loams. If you lean on certain cards, a Glittering Wishboard might be the right choice for you. Here are some generally awesome multicoloured cards (or multicoloured tutors) that you might want 7 of:
Big Meat Doran, the Siege Tower: As if you weren't already looking for him with Treefolk Harbinger, you can get him out by Turn 3 even more often with Glittering Wish!
Bloodbraid Elf: It was once called the best creature in Standard. I think it's good enough to Wish for.
Rafiq of the Many: If you're still going for old-fashioned Mythic Bant, having 7 of this guy starts looking very good.
Geist of Saint Traft: A virtual 6/2 for 3 mana is still a pretty good deal. And he's Hexproof! Sure, White may be used to having fatties, but Blue isn't.
Mystic Enforcer: For a 6/6, you have to pay 2GW and jump through a lot of hoops that Knight of the Reliquary won't force you to. At least this guy flies.
Dude...Stuff Mirrorweave: We have to be able to abuse this way of making all our dudes look like one particular dude. Maybe if they all turned into lords of some sort?
Thopter Foundry: A few Legacy Affinity decks run this. We can't combo out with Thopter Sword any more, but this just might be the card that pushes Modern Affinity over the edge.
Planeswalkers Ajani Vengeant: He can tap down pesky permanents or use Lightning Helix multiple times. May as well have more of him.
Venser, the Sojourner: With enough ETB abilities, this guy becomes unreal. (Face it--you're never making creatures unblockable with him.)
Tutoring Wargate: Nerfed with the banning of Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, this card is still useful in Sunny Side Up decks. Maybe you can find another way to abuse this puppy?
Supply/Demand: ...It's yet another multicoloured card tutor. (It makes Saprolings in a pinch.)
Control Toolkit
The main use of a wishboard is to store away every single possible answer you might need to any number of threats to your deck, with the full knowledge that not all those answers will be necessary against any one deck. Here are some multicoloured hate cards to put in your wishboard:
Generalists
Some hate cards hate more than one aspect of MTG, like these ones below: Knight of the Reliquary: She has to get an award for weirdest hate bear ever. Need to exile graveyards (with Bojuka Bog)? How about blank removal (with Sejiri Steppe)? Maybe you just need to draw cards (with Horizon Canopy), fix mana, or bloat your lady? KotR can do it all, and be a 6/6 for 1GW besides.
Bant Charm: It can destroy artifacts or strand creatures where they will likely never be seen again. It can also counter those pesky counterspells and other instants.
Naya Charm: For when you need graveyard recursion and small creature removal that badly.
Jund Charm: Want to kill weenies and exile graveyards but have a crowded wishboard? Use this card!
Grixis Charm: Mysteriously, it happens to be bounce and creature removal at the same time.
Esper Charm: Need enchantment destruction that isn't dead versus nearly every deck? Wish for this!
Artifacts and Enchantments Fracturing Gust: It's rather expensive, but it will sweep the board of all artifacts and enchantments (and give you a load of life in the process).
Harmonic Sliver: Yes, when this lone Sliver enters the battlefield, it will destroy an artifact or enchantment.
Qasali Pridemage: Its true value is being artifact and enchantment hate on a very good aggro bear, but it's also good in a wishboard.
Trygon Predator: Green can remove artifacts and enchantments, even without White's help. This time, it teamed up with Blue to create this manta ray-like monstrosity.
Discard and Deck Control Castigate: It's time to kick cards out of hands!
Tidehollow Sculler: It's time to put that (temporary) card-kicking on a bear! This guy can break combo decks' backs by basically being a Castigate on legs.
Loxodon Hierarch: A slower option than Kitchen Finks for those who like their life gain to give them 4 life in one shot and be on a 4/4 destruction-preventing bear elephant.
Rhox War Monk: With a butt bigger than 3 and Lifelink, this guy makes RDW tear its hair out.
Counters Mystic Snake: Yes, they will see the snake coming. No, they can't do anything about it.
Guttural Response: Give the middle finger to Draw-Go decks with this card.
Protection Saffi Eriksdotter: Need to protect other essential creatures from a board sweep? Saffi proves that she's useful on her own.
Search Hosing Shadow of Doubt: When you really need your opponent to stop searching for cards. Besides, this spell cantrips.
As this primer intends on covering all the viable options for a Glittering Wishboard, from combo to control, this is where you can contribute! Any suggestions for cards to add or remove are welcome!
The cards you wish for need to be either combo cards or cards with a large effect. Cards like fracturing gust, maelstrom pulse, meddling mage, gaddock teeg are worth paying an extra two mana for, so that's what a wishboard should focus on.
I have done two different things with this card in the past. neither worked real well, but naya midrange, and Glittering rock. These my be worth a try, but unfortunately most of the gold cards kinda fail at being impressive.
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Putrefy and Mortify are fine ideas. I'll add them to the OP. I guess I'll add Culling Sun, too, although I think it's a little expensive.
Also, thanks for giving me enough materials to create a "Consistency Issues" section in the OP! Doran, the Siege Tower, Bloodbraid Elf, and tutoring cards like Wargate will definitely go in.
As an aside, I'm personally not fond of building a deck around Glittering Wish. Your Wish card should have natural synergy with the rest of your deck. High Tide uses blue (for obvious reasons) and loves instants, so it runs Cunning Wish. Junk Depths already runs GW for Knight of the Reliquary and wants 7 copies of Vampire Hexmage, so it may as well run Living Wish. Aggro Loam leans heavily on Life from the Loam and already runs red for Countryside Crusher, so it often uses Burning Wish. And, besides, if people can get away with running 4 copies of Yawgmoth's Will instead of 1, they will.
I agree that a deck built around Glittering wish is a bad idea. Honestly when I have used it I will have maybe 5 cards that answer specific cards or specific situations.
Board sweeper
life gain
win con
permanent destruction
In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
lol good catch I just skimmed through the OP and didn't notice. Mind you there are like 12 other spells that do work with it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
I'd suggest adding Ajani Vengeant and Venser, Sojourner to the list -- both can be very broken Wish targets in the appropriate decks. Wishing for Venser in a Lark shell is especially disgusting.
Wishboards of all kinds dot the various decks of Magic: The Gathering. High Tide decks use Cunning Wish to find combo cards like spare Blue Sun's Zenith and Turnabout as well as control cards like Pact of Negation or Echoing Truth. The relatively new Junk Depths deck uses Living Wish to basically have 7 Tarmogoyfs and Vampire Hexmages as well as find cards like Shriekmaw, Kataki, War's Wage, and Gaddock Teeg when necessary. And Burning Wish's ability to find Yawgmoth's Will was so powerful that it was restricted in Vintage but not Legacy. Glittering Wish is the only Modern-legal Wish, and it can potentially be abused in this format as much as the other Wishes are in Legacy and Vintage.
Some earlier discussion of Glittering Wish in Modern can be seen here. It concentrates more on the control aspects of a wishboard (and the potential of building a deck around it) but not the combo aspects. This primer aims to cover all aspects of the proper use of a Glittering Wishboard, from being a control-oriented toolbox to giving you access to 7 of one combo-enabling card.
Combo Piece Storage
Having 7 chances at getting any one combo piece in a 60-card deck can be devastating. Even having 5 or 6 chances can be good enough (say, 1 of that card and 4 Glittering Wishes in your maindeck). Here are examples of how (potentially Tier 2 or lower) Modern-legal decks can make a Glittering Wishboard store their combo pieces:
Melira Combo
Kitchen Finks: It's a creature with Persist. It helps you gain infinite life when endlessly sacrificed with Melira, Sylvok Outcast in play. Running 7 makes opposing aggro decks cry.
Murderous Redcap: It's another creature with Persist. It instantly wins you the game when endlessly sacced. May as well run more than 4.
Safehold Elite: It's the cheapest Persist dude. If your Melira deck's sacrifice outlet can instantly win the game (like Blasting Station), this guy is usable.
Scarland Thrinax: It's the only Modern-legal multicoloured infinite sacrifice outlet. Actually casting this guy afterwards requires a bit of a mana base stretch, but it's nothing that Birds of Paradise can't handle.
Project X
Saffi Eriksdotter: She endlessly revives Crypt Champion in an infinite creatures-entering-the-battlefield loop. Running 7 of her starts looking unfair.
Sunny Side Up
Wargate: Okay, it's not really a combo piece, but having 11 chances (including Reshape) to stick a
Black LotusLotus Bloom must be awesome (if slot-consuming).Heartbeat Combo
Invoke the Firemind: Draw cards or smash your opponent's face in for lethal? Casting this is going to be a real stretch, though, especially since you depend on basic lands to do the job...
Swans Combo
Swans of Bryn Argoll: Damage them, draw cards, abuse said card draw, you know the drill.
No-Stick
Lightning Helix: It's a way to kill with an Isochron Scepter. It's an option.
Dimir Infiltrator: If only, if only, this were an instant or sorcery...oh well, it transmutes into Isochron Scepter, Mana Leak, Angelsong, Lightning Helix, and Glittering Wish anyway.
Batwing Brume: Need an attack stopper now? Try Wishing for this.
Ghazi-Glare
Glare of Subdual: As long as you have the creature advantage and they plan to kill you with creatures, this card should win you games by forcing their men to not attack or block.
Consistency Issues Solver
Aggro Loam decks run Burning Wish to get access to 7 Life from the Loams. If you lean on certain cards, a Glittering Wishboard might be the right choice for you. Here are some generally awesome multicoloured cards (or multicoloured tutors) that you might want 7 of:
Big Meat
Doran, the Siege Tower: As if you weren't already looking for him with Treefolk Harbinger, you can get him out by Turn 3 even more often with Glittering Wish!
Bloodbraid Elf: It was once called the best creature in Standard. I think it's good enough to Wish for.
Knight of the Reliquary: What's worse than 4 giant Terravore-imitating Crop Rotation ladies? 7 giant Terravore-imitating Crop Rotation ladies!
Rafiq of the Many: If you're still going for old-fashioned Mythic Bant, having 7 of this guy starts looking very good.
Geist of Saint Traft: A virtual 6/2 for 3 mana is still a pretty good deal. And he's Hexproof! Sure, White may be used to having fatties, but Blue isn't.
Sovereigns of Lost Alara: 7 Sovereigns, one Eldrazi Conscription, good game.
Mystic Enforcer: For a 6/6, you have to pay 2GW and jump through a lot of hoops that Knight of the Reliquary won't force you to. At least this guy flies.
Broodmate Dragon: 8 flying power for 6 cmc isn't too shabby.
Finisher Spells
Cruel Ultimatum: Okay, the mana base is going to be a huge stretch, but this cards outright wins games.
Brilliant Ultimatum: Imagine Fact or Fiction, except you get to play everything in one of the piles. Okay, there have to be better ways to cheat Emrakul, the Aeons Torn onto the battlefield.
Invoke the Firemind: Heartbeat of Spring combo used it as a finisher. I suppose you can, too.
Worm Harvest: Want a dead lands-based finisher at your fingertips? Use this and never run out of creatures (or chump blockers, for that matter)!
Damage Prevention
Batwing Brume: Wishing for this can make Owling Mine or No-Stick more consistent.
Dude Pump
Finest Hour: With Rafiq of the Many alone, you can deal 20 damage in 1 turn. Yikes!
Dude...Stuff
Mirrorweave: We have to be able to abuse this way of making all our dudes look like one particular dude. Maybe if they all turned into lords of some sort?
Thopter Foundry: A few Legacy Affinity decks run this. We can't combo out with Thopter Sword any more, but this just might be the card that pushes Modern Affinity over the edge.
Planeswalkers
Ajani Vengeant: He can tap down pesky permanents or use Lightning Helix multiple times. May as well have more of him.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas: Any time you really need this guy to finish off the game with his artifact-based Tendrils of Agony, go ahead.
Venser, the Sojourner: With enough ETB abilities, this guy becomes unreal. (Face it--you're never making creatures unblockable with him.)
Tutoring
Wargate: Nerfed with the banning of Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, this card is still useful in Sunny Side Up decks. Maybe you can find another way to abuse this puppy?
Supply/Demand: ...It's yet another multicoloured card tutor. (It makes Saprolings in a pinch.)
Dimir Infiltrator: Lean on cards with 2 cmc? Use this.
Perplex: Like 3 cmc cards? Search for this. It also counters spells in a pinch (unless your opponent discards his/her 0-card hand).
Clutch of the Undercity: Need your 4 cmc win condition? Use this, I suppose.
Control Toolkit
The main use of a wishboard is to store away every single possible answer you might need to any number of threats to your deck, with the full knowledge that not all those answers will be necessary against any one deck. Here are some multicoloured hate cards to put in your wishboard:
Generalists
Some hate cards hate more than one aspect of MTG, like these ones below:
Knight of the Reliquary: She has to get an award for weirdest hate bear ever. Need to exile graveyards (with Bojuka Bog)? How about blank removal (with Sejiri Steppe)? Maybe you just need to draw cards (with Horizon Canopy), fix mana, or bloat your lady? KotR can do it all, and be a 6/6 for 1GW besides.
Bant Charm: It can destroy artifacts or strand creatures where they will likely never be seen again. It can also counter those pesky counterspells and other instants.
Naya Charm: For when you need graveyard recursion and small creature removal that badly.
Jund Charm: Want to kill weenies and exile graveyards but have a crowded wishboard? Use this card!
Grixis Charm: Mysteriously, it happens to be bounce and creature removal at the same time.
Esper Charm: Need enchantment destruction that isn't dead versus nearly every deck? Wish for this!
Removal
General
Maelstrom Pulse: Are two Bloodbraid Elfs ruining your day? How about a single Ghostly Prison? This card can take care of nearly anything.
Crime/Punishment: Let's say you're not the type of deck to pack Engineered Explosives...
Putrefy: It's an instant-speed answer to creatures and artifacts, I suppose. Maelstrom Pulse is more versatile, though.
Mortify: For a Vindicate substitute, it can't take care of planeswalkers, artifacts, or lands, but at least it's an instant.
Necrotic Sliver: 4WB for a Vindicate? It's questionable, but at least it's an option.
Wrecking Ball: ...It's 4 cmc. At least it hits lands (and creatures).
Wreak Havoc: Another 4 cmc land smasher, and this time, it can't hit creatures? Forget about it!
Creatures
Firespout: It's played in Legacy. Surely, with Zoo running over so many decks, it can be played in Modern.
Terminate: When Black and Red team together to destroy a creature for 2 cmc, they will destroy it more efficiently than Black or Red ever will alone.
Culling Sun: It's worse than even Consume the Meek, but at least it's a multicoloured creature sweeper.
Artifacts and Enchantments
Fracturing Gust: It's rather expensive, but it will sweep the board of all artifacts and enchantments (and give you a load of life in the process).
Harmonic Sliver: Yes, when this lone Sliver enters the battlefield, it will destroy an artifact or enchantment.
Qasali Pridemage: Its true value is being artifact and enchantment hate on a very good aggro bear, but it's also good in a wishboard.
Trygon Predator: Green can remove artifacts and enchantments, even without White's help. This time, it teamed up with Blue to create this manta ray-like monstrosity.
Lands
Fulminator Mage: Got trouble with 12-Post or Punishing Grove? This is a dork that blows up nonbasic lands like Cloudpost or Grove of the Burnwillows.
Discard and Deck Control
Castigate: It's time to kick cards out of hands!
Tidehollow Sculler: It's time to put that (temporary) card-kicking on a bear! This guy can break combo decks' backs by basically being a Castigate on legs.
Thought Hemorrhage: Last thing I heard was that eliminating all the Dragonstorms (or even better, Bogardan Hellkites) from a Dragonstorm deck was a good thing.
Life Gain
Kitchen Finks: Against Zoo decks, it gains 4 life, trades with a Wild Nacatl, and blocks a Tarmogoyf. Not bad at all.
Loxodon Hierarch: A slower option than Kitchen Finks for those who like their life gain to give them 4 life in one shot and be on a 4/4 destruction-preventing
bearelephant.Rhox War Monk: With a butt bigger than 3 and Lifelink, this guy makes RDW tear its hair out.
Counters
Mystic Snake: Yes, they will see the snake coming. No, they can't do anything about it.
Guttural Response: Give the middle finger to Draw-Go decks with this card.
Big Spell Hate
Gaddock Teeg: Does Dragonstorm make you cry? Do endlessly recurred Mindslavers make you want to rip your hair out? Do Wrath of God and Engineered Explosives ruin your day? Recruit the best Kithkin ever and you won't be disappointed!
Counterspell Hate
Vexing Shusher: Sick of counterspells getting in the way of everything you do? Look for this guy!
Specific Card Hate
Meddling Mage: It's such an iconic Invitational card that it inspired Meddling Kids and forced people to use 2 Wrath of Gods and 2 Day of Judgments in their decks.
Protection
Saffi Eriksdotter: Need to protect other essential creatures from a board sweep? Saffi proves that she's useful on her own.
Search Hosing
Shadow of Doubt: When you really need your opponent to stop searching for cards. Besides, this spell cantrips.
As this primer intends on covering all the viable options for a Glittering Wishboard, from combo to control, this is where you can contribute! Any suggestions for cards to add or remove are welcome!
Maybe it's not that in-depth; but it's a primer to a single card that can be hard to work in. Gratz.
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Also, thanks for giving me enough materials to create a "Consistency Issues" section in the OP! Doran, the Siege Tower, Bloodbraid Elf, and tutoring cards like Wargate will definitely go in.
As an aside, I'm personally not fond of building a deck around Glittering Wish. Your Wish card should have natural synergy with the rest of your deck. High Tide uses blue (for obvious reasons) and loves instants, so it runs Cunning Wish. Junk Depths already runs GW for Knight of the Reliquary and wants 7 copies of Vampire Hexmage, so it may as well run Living Wish. Aggro Loam leans heavily on Life from the Loam and already runs red for Countryside Crusher, so it often uses Burning Wish. And, besides, if people can get away with running 4 copies of Yawgmoth's Will instead of 1, they will.
Board sweeper
life gain
win con
permanent destruction
firespout/culling sun/crime//punishment
Kitchen finks, loxodon heiarch/Captured Sunlight/Dawnglow Infusion
broodmate dragon/mystic enforcer
Maelstom pulse/putrefy/mortify/harmonic sliver
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lol good catch I just skimmed through the OP and didn't notice. Mind you there are like 12 other spells that do work with it.
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I know it doesn't, but it's a spare
Orim's ChantFog when you really need it.