yeah there is too much overlap between the two. jace just seems like the stronger option
also if you are playing white and looking at 5 cmc planeswalkers then Gideon Jura sets the bar.
maybe playable in UW tron? untapping lands being more impactful. though if you are playing tron you are probably already slinging better haymakers.
i see the new karn as having a little more potential at the moment. maybe taking the eldrazi decks in a slightly different direction, but still leveraging Ancient Stirrings
jaya ballard is a wildcard. probably not good enough, but the abilities are unique enough so someone might find a use for it. rituals and past in flames all in one card.
for reference:
Jaya Ballard
2RRR
Legendary Planeswalker - Jaya
[+1]: Add RRR. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
[+1]: Discard up to three cards, then draw that many cards.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. If a card cast this way would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead."
edit: damping sphere wont be killing off anything. the format has been throwing any conceivable method of land disruption at tron for years, yet it always has a presence in the format.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
if Prophetic Prism doesnt see play i dont think the compass can make the cut. it has some unique interactions with cards like Arbor Elf though. id have to look at the rules text, but i believe it can fizzle cards that target nonbasic lands: like Fulminator Mage.
i believe there is a creature already in the format that does the same thing as Llanowar Scout that occasionally pops up as a 1-of in big mana decks. though after looking for it for a few minutes i couldnt find it; so maybe im delusional lol
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
i believe there is a creature already in the format that does the same thing as Llanowar Scout that occasionally pops up as a 1-of in big mana decks. though after looking for it for a few minutes i couldnt find it; so maybe im delusional lol
I have to be honest, I can't see a way of Mox Amber ever being worthwhile. If you want it to be consistently ramping you T1, then you need to be running 12+ 1-drop Legends to do that, and as none of the existing 1-drops see any play that seems bad.
In addition, when is spending 2 cards for a mana (Mox+legend) ever going to be better than BoP or Heirarch?
The great Frank Karsten is trying very hard to make it usable. We even got him to invoked the the **actual** lowest-rated land card in the entire Magic Gatherer (as at the date of this post)*, That Which Must Not Be Named, though most players are too young to know.
Llanowar Scout would naturally fit into an Elf deck, although I don't know what would get cut or if it would be playable or not. It also seems like with the return of BBE, that maybe there could be some sort of RG Ramp Aggro Elf deck pop up as well.
Again Navigator's Compass would be some sort of sideboard tech against decks running Blood Moon. Getting 3 life on ETB would help as well. Prophetic Prism is a different style card, a mana fixer. Plus is costs 2 over Compass 1. Lastly it requires a mana for activation, Compass does not. 1 mana overall versus 3. That is a big deal in Modern. Compass needs to be thought of as maybe giving you that extra turn with 3 life and working through Blood Moon or a Spreading Seas.
Again these are situational at best, but possibilities.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
yeah elves decks are sorta in transition right now. GW (or abzan) was more focused on the combo, but the deck can easily become more grindy and aggro oriented with Bloodbraid Elf, Lead the Stampede, and Shaman of the Pack.
as for the compass, you still need to tap the land - its not like compass ramps you. so its just fixing like the prism. the 1 versus 2 mana could make a difference, but prism also replaces itself. so its plausible, but im still leaning towards unlikely.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
I dont think we can underestimate Damping Sphere, at the moment looking at the currect deck I would not mind running it in the main deck.
I got in at 6 dollars and even as a rare I'm not sure it's going to dip a lot. until rotation or dominaria hype dies off. I think some of the new wizard tribal spells are good since they work with Snapcaster Mage, but I'm skeptical of it.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I dont think we can underestimate Damping Sphere, at the moment looking at the currect deck I would not mind running it in the main deck.
I got in at 6 dollars and even as a rare I'm not sure it's going to dip a lot. until rotation or dominaria hype dies off. I think some of the new wizard tribal spells are good since they work with Snapcaster Mage, but I'm skeptical of it.
For price I think we can compare to Trinisphere, obviously it won't hit this price instantly but it does show that such a card as potential to hit high. I'll buy my playset for sure.
The new cards that work with Wizard are I think quite relevant. You get a Counterspell and a 5-8 lightning bolt for the cost of playing Snapcaster and Vendilion Clique. This alone could bring back UWR, since their main goal is to win via burn. 8 Lightning bolt is 24 Damage + 4 snapcaster turns it into 32 with 1 electrolyze and some Lightning Helix the deck could pack a good 40 point of burn damage.
Also I think there is a new rule that imply that you won't be able to use lightning bolt on planeswalker.. this could help Saheeli decks by a lot.
you can still bolt planeswalkers, they are just cleaning up the rules to get rid of weird situations where the opponent has hexproof so you cant redirect to their walkers.
the tribal wizard cards are just a little short of being playable imo. if you were allowed to reveal a wizard or have one on the field, then it might be worth considering.
also sphere will never be a main deck card unless you can make the taxing effect one sided, or you are running it as a 1-of in a artifact/whir of invention shell.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Llanowar Scout would naturally fit into an Elf deck, although I don't know what would get cut or if it would be playable or not. It also seems like with the return of BBE, that maybe there could be some sort of RG Ramp Aggro Elf deck pop up as well.
Doubtful that it will see play. Skyshroud Ranger is already available in Modern and only costs one mana. Instant speed and the ability to survive Pyroclasm don't seem like enough of an upgrade to make Llanowar Scout playable.
you can still bolt planeswalkers, they are just cleaning up the rules to get rid of weird situations where the opponent has hexproof so you cant redirect to their walkers.
the tribal wizard cards are just a little short of being playable imo. if you were allowed to reveal a wizard or have one on the field, then it might be worth considering.
also sphere will never be a main deck card unless you can make the taxing effect one sided, or you are running it as a 1-of in a artifact/whir of invention shell.
I agree with your first 2 paragraphs. Wizards cards-wise, yes, you do get a Bolt and a Counterspell, except they're uncastable on Turn 2 too often. And the early turns are often the most crucial.
Responding to your 3rd paragraph, it's fairly easy to make Damping Sphere one-sided--just cast one spell per turn. (OK, Cascade, Tiago, and cantrip spam make that a bit of a stretch.) I predict it'll be more maindeckable than Thorn of Amethyst in Modern--think Thorn-in-Legacy levels of playability.
you can still bolt planeswalkers, they are just cleaning up the rules to get rid of weird situations where the opponent has hexproof so you cant redirect to their walkers.
the tribal wizard cards are just a little short of being playable imo. if you were allowed to reveal a wizard or have one on the field, then it might be worth considering.
also sphere will never be a main deck card unless you can make the taxing effect one sided, or you are running it as a 1-of in a artifact/whir of invention shell.
I agree with your first 2 paragraphs. Wizards cards-wise, yes, you do get a Bolt and a Counterspell, except they're uncastable on Turn 2 too often. And the early turns are often the most crucial.
Responding to your 3rd paragraph, it's fairly easy to make Damping Sphere one-sided--just cast one spell per turn. (OK, Cascade, Tiago, and cantrip spam make that a bit of a stretch.) I predict it'll be more maindeckable than Thorn of Amethyst in Modern--think Thorn-in-Legacy levels of playability.
yeah like you mentioned i cant see building a deck that casts 1 spell per turn and that deck being good at all. especially in the cases where you dont draw sphere. people would just run you over with more efficient stuff lol.
outside of artifact decks, there are a couple of ways i could see people trying to capitalize on the effect. like making plays without actually casting spells. for instance like aether vial or loam/dredge.
the other method is playing at instant speed. since it only counts the turn you could play a spell on your turn, then one on your opponents. this sounds like it would fit blue decks, but that would make cantrips and snapcaster worse - and i cant see blue decks giving up those things and being better off.
funny people look at the wizard counterspell and think how great it would be to play actual Counterspell in the format. when in reality Logic Knot sees a good bit of play, and the majority of the time it IS counterspell.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
I'm kind of surprised people are ignoring all the wizards in the set and how good they all seem to be. Naban, Dean of Iteration combined with Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive in a snap / delver deck seems somewhat good. Lets just make everybody unblockable and when Delver of Secrets transforms he's got flying anyway. Not to mention Siren Stormtamer is a wizard.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Phyrexian Scriptures looks decent to me. Despite virtually having Suspend 1 for a 4-mana Wrath that is countered by Maelstrom Pulse and fails to kill artifact creatures (this awkwardly includes Hollow One), it's often a one-sided Wrath.
I've seen someone else mention pairing it with Hex Parasite. A nigh-Wrath every turn that spares your Parasite and one of your other guys sounds truly evil.
that seems like way too many moving parts. which is part of the issue for a lot of tribes. if you dont assemble the right pieces the deck just ends up looking like some random draft pile.
maybe there is something a little more pushed in the cards that have yet to be spoiled.
i have no doubt people will try to make it work. people love their tribal decks.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
that seems like way too many moving parts. which is part of the issue for a lot of tribes. if you dont assemble the right pieces the deck just ends up looking like some random draft pile.
maybe there is something a little more pushed in the cards that have yet to be spoiled.
i have no doubt people will try to make it work. people love their tribal decks.
I don't really like making a deck of all 4 of cards these days and if someone doesn't have room for a few playable pet cards then they aren't enjoying life. That and I'm not really implying all those cards go in the same deck, but more so just pointing out that wizards got a lot of pieces to work with now.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Phyrexian Scriptures looks decent to me. Despite virtually having Suspend 1 for a 4-mana Wrath that is countered by Maelstrom Pulse and fails to kill artifact creatures (this awkwardly includes Hollow One), it's often a one-sided Wrath.
I've seen someone else mention pairing it with Hex Parasite. A nigh-Wrath every turn that spares your Parasite and one of your other guys sounds truly evil.
Phyrexian Scriptures looks decent to me. Despite virtually having Suspend 1 for a 4-mana Wrath that is countered by Maelstrom Pulse and fails to kill artifact creatures (this awkwardly includes Hollow One), it's often a one-sided Wrath.
I've seen someone else mention pairing it with Hex Parasite. A nigh-Wrath every turn that spares your Parasite and one of your other guys sounds truly evil.
storm is getting a lot of interesting cards to test. Jaya Ballard and Precognition Field make me want to use them as 1-ofs in my sb if anything.
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
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also if you are playing white and looking at 5 cmc planeswalkers then Gideon Jura sets the bar.
maybe playable in UW tron? untapping lands being more impactful. though if you are playing tron you are probably already slinging better haymakers.
i see the new karn as having a little more potential at the moment. maybe taking the eldrazi decks in a slightly different direction, but still leveraging Ancient Stirrings
jaya ballard is a wildcard. probably not good enough, but the abilities are unique enough so someone might find a use for it. rituals and past in flames all in one card.
for reference:
Jaya Ballard
2RRR
Legendary Planeswalker - Jaya
[+1]: Add RRR. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
[+1]: Discard up to three cards, then draw that many cards.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. If a card cast this way would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead."
edit: damping sphere wont be killing off anything. the format has been throwing any conceivable method of land disruption at tron for years, yet it always has a presence in the format.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Navigator's Compass seems like it could be some sideboard tech against Blood Moon.
Seal Away could be a better Journey to Nowhere in the few decks that may play it.
Llanowar Scout Some place for this???
Sylvan Awakening also seems like it could find a place somewhere.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
i believe there is a creature already in the format that does the same thing as Llanowar Scout that occasionally pops up as a 1-of in big mana decks. though after looking for it for a few minutes i couldnt find it; so maybe im delusional lol
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Sakura-Tribe Scout -- it even only costs G.
(Also, Budoka Gardener?)
Nope. Giving a land a basic land type does not make it an actual basic land.
The great Frank Karsten is trying very hard to make it usable. We even got him to invoked the the **actual** lowest-rated land card in the entire Magic Gatherer (as at the date of this post)*, That Which Must Not Be Named, though most players are too young to know.
IMHO this alone makes everything worth it (LOL).
*first time the card was printed, not reprints
it will definitely depend on how pushed some of these legendary instants/sorceries are.
also yeah Sakura-Tribe Scout. i knew i wasnt making it up. the old snake-shaman-scout. classic creature type
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Again Navigator's Compass would be some sort of sideboard tech against decks running Blood Moon. Getting 3 life on ETB would help as well. Prophetic Prism is a different style card, a mana fixer. Plus is costs 2 over Compass 1. Lastly it requires a mana for activation, Compass does not. 1 mana overall versus 3. That is a big deal in Modern. Compass needs to be thought of as maybe giving you that extra turn with 3 life and working through Blood Moon or a Spreading Seas.
Again these are situational at best, but possibilities.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
as for the compass, you still need to tap the land - its not like compass ramps you. so its just fixing like the prism. the 1 versus 2 mana could make a difference, but prism also replaces itself. so its plausible, but im still leaning towards unlikely.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I got in at 6 dollars and even as a rare I'm not sure it's going to dip a lot. until rotation or dominaria hype dies off. I think some of the new wizard tribal spells are good since they work with Snapcaster Mage, but I'm skeptical of it.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
For price I think we can compare to Trinisphere, obviously it won't hit this price instantly but it does show that such a card as potential to hit high. I'll buy my playset for sure.
The new cards that work with Wizard are I think quite relevant. You get a Counterspell and a 5-8 lightning bolt for the cost of playing Snapcaster and Vendilion Clique. This alone could bring back UWR, since their main goal is to win via burn. 8 Lightning bolt is 24 Damage + 4 snapcaster turns it into 32 with 1 electrolyze and some Lightning Helix the deck could pack a good 40 point of burn damage.
Also I think there is a new rule that imply that you won't be able to use lightning bolt on planeswalker.. this could help Saheeli decks by a lot.
the tribal wizard cards are just a little short of being playable imo. if you were allowed to reveal a wizard or have one on the field, then it might be worth considering.
also sphere will never be a main deck card unless you can make the taxing effect one sided, or you are running it as a 1-of in a artifact/whir of invention shell.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Doubtful that it will see play. Skyshroud Ranger is already available in Modern and only costs one mana. Instant speed and the ability to survive Pyroclasm don't seem like enough of an upgrade to make Llanowar Scout playable.
I agree with your first 2 paragraphs. Wizards cards-wise, yes, you do get a Bolt and a Counterspell, except they're uncastable on Turn 2 too often. And the early turns are often the most crucial.
Responding to your 3rd paragraph, it's fairly easy to make Damping Sphere one-sided--just cast one spell per turn. (OK, Cascade, Tiago, and cantrip spam make that a bit of a stretch.) I predict it'll be more maindeckable than Thorn of Amethyst in Modern--think Thorn-in-Legacy levels of playability.
Spirits
yeah like you mentioned i cant see building a deck that casts 1 spell per turn and that deck being good at all. especially in the cases where you dont draw sphere. people would just run you over with more efficient stuff lol.
outside of artifact decks, there are a couple of ways i could see people trying to capitalize on the effect. like making plays without actually casting spells. for instance like aether vial or loam/dredge.
the other method is playing at instant speed. since it only counts the turn you could play a spell on your turn, then one on your opponents. this sounds like it would fit blue decks, but that would make cantrips and snapcaster worse - and i cant see blue decks giving up those things and being better off.
funny people look at the wizard counterspell and think how great it would be to play actual Counterspell in the format. when in reality Logic Knot sees a good bit of play, and the majority of the time it IS counterspell.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I've seen someone else mention pairing it with Hex Parasite. A nigh-Wrath every turn that spares your Parasite and one of your other guys sounds truly evil.
maybe there is something a little more pushed in the cards that have yet to be spoiled.
i have no doubt people will try to make it work. people love their tribal decks.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I don't really like making a deck of all 4 of cards these days and if someone doesn't have room for a few playable pet cards then they aren't enjoying life. That and I'm not really implying all those cards go in the same deck, but more so just pointing out that wizards got a lot of pieces to work with now.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
It's just a bad Damnation, or a horrible Whipflare. People are trying to jam Jace, the Mind Sculptor in Modern right now with not as much expected success. Phyrexian Scriptures has no place in Modern. It's a commander card.
you could play it in a mono black deck with some success. it wipes the board and preserves one of your creatures.
the saga's over all can be accelerated with thrumming bird. i don't see a need to accellerate phyrexian scriptures, but the others may warrent it.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control