Torch Courier is a cheap way of granting haste. It could be part of Protean Hulk kill, I'll have to figure out the details.
1) Reanimate Protean Hulk and let it die (Footsteps of the Goryo does this automatically).
2) Search for Torch Courier, Doomed Necromancer, Wild Cantor, Viscera Seer.
3) Sac Courier to give Necromancer haste, sac Cantor to pay for Necromancer, reanimate Hulk.
4) Sac Hulk to Seer.
5) Repeat steps 2-4 as long as you have Couriers/Necromancers/Cantors in your library. You can get a non-Viscera Seer 1-drop each time.
6) On the last Hulk trigger, search for Kraul Harpooner and Heart-Piercer Manticore. Harpooner should be pretty big from all the creatures you just sacrificed. Fling it at your opponent with Manticore.
A Loaming Shaman could get Harpooner or Manticore back into the library if they're in the graveyard.
Anyway, my top 3 cards for this set are Assassin's Trophy, Knight of Autumn and Mission Briefing. I think Mausoleum Secrets and Risk Factor are overrated.
I do think Mausoleum Secrets is the best card in the set. There's a tons you can do with an instant speed Tutor. Even with 1 creature card in teh graveyard. Sure it gets hosed badly by Rest in Peace but I think it still has potential. I also like Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice. Don't think it's super playable, but it can easily fit into a jeskai control deck in the sideboard or a 1 of.
I do think Mausoleum Secrets is the best card in the set. There's a tons you can do with an instant speed Tutor. Even with 1 creature card in teh graveyard. Sure it gets hosed badly by Rest in Peace but I think it still has potential. I also like Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice. Don't think it's super playable, but it can easily fit into a jeskai control deck in the sideboard or a 1 of.
Secrets may be underrated but there is no way it's the best card in the set. That honor is unquestionably going to Assasin's Trophy and it's not particularly close.
So the clear staple is Assassin's Trophy. Outside of that, Mission Briefing and Mausoleum Secrets seem like they just need a home, but are strong cards. Necrotic Wound could see play since it's a reasonably efficient removal in a graveyard-centric creature deck. Knight of Autumn is a combination of Reclaimation Sage and Kitchen Finks, so of course it will see play in any GWx creature deck. Pelt Collector isn't strong enough; the "power greater than Pelt Collector's" clause makes it basically useless in a tribal deck. If we ever get good Surveil cards outside of Mission Briefing, Dimir Spybug could be pretty strong. Lasav the Multifaious is neat, and it's awesome that its ability is instant speed- I just don't know of a deck that actually wants that combination of abilities. The split cards all seem a bit too slow for Modern, but the best of the bunch, IMO, are Discovery//Dispersal and Invert//Invent because they can be strong with cards like Torrential Gearhulk. Citywide Bust seems like a great sideboard card, but Ritual of Soot is way too expensive.
Some honorable mentions are Chemister's Insight and Radical Idea. I'm not sure that they're strong enough, but it's nice to see more reasonable instant speed draw spells getting printed. Creeping Chill could see play in Dredge sideboards against Burn. Selective Snare is a pretty nifty anti-tribal card too, but I don't think it's got enough impact for it to really catch on.
I tested Experimental Frenzy in Affinity last night, and I must admit I have to eat my words regarding EF's power level. While EF was often flaky in Affinity, giving me only 2 cards in a turn surprisingly often, it was also plenty capable of pumping out 5(!!!) cards in a turn. Unsurprisingly, Affinity was also one of the best decks at making EF do something the turn it ETB (free stuff, mana rocks). As a late-game CA grinder and nigh-finisher, it's definitely up there with Karn, Scion of Urza. (I also must note that I blew up my own EF for the first time last night--it was to get a Galvanic Blast to close out the game.) The massive CA boost is definitely enough to compensate for Remand suddenly becoming a total haymaker against you. (It turns into Counterspell that cantrips.)
I tested Experimental Frenzy in Affinity last night, and I must admit I have to eat my words regarding EF's power level. While EF was often flaky in Affinity, giving me only 2 cards in a turn surprisingly often, it was also plenty capable of pumping out 5(!!!) cards in a turn. Unsurprisingly, Affinity was also one of the best decks at making EF do something the turn it ETB (free stuff, mana rocks). As a late-game CA grinder and nigh-finisher, it's definitely up there with Karn, Scion of Urza. (I also must note that I blew up my own EF for the first time last night--it was to get a Galvanic Blast to close out the game.) The massive CA boost is definitely enough to compensate for Remand suddenly becoming a total haymaker against you. (It turns into Counterspell that cantrips.)
I've been thinking about cantrips. Cards that dig to get you to EF as you don't want too many in the deck, but that are still good once it's on the field.
Opt can dig but it's quite bad post EF. Serum Visions is good pre EF but actually gets better post EF as you can use it to clear a card you can't play, and then to stack your next two cards. Search for Azcanta is also quite good on both sides in both situations. Faithless Looting is mediocre, but probably ok with the right GY enablers. Then there's the cards that can easily be played alongside it like Collective Brutality and both 3 mana Lilianas.
I think the card has a home in Jund, but I also think it could be very playable in a Grixis Midrange/Blue Jund style deck that takes advantage of both Jaces and Serum Visions.
Mission Briefing I'm a little less sure of; Snapcaster Mage seems like the better effect for most decks, but there are things like Mill which wants alternative costs, or some Thing in the Ice/Pyromancer Ascension deck that wants more instants or cards in the graveyard. I think it's better to treat it as a more expensive Thought Scour with better card selection instead of "wow Snapcaster killer!!!" for the most part (except Mill, of course).
There are a few build-arounds, from Hunted Witness in Aristocrats to Pelt Collector in Temur Evolve, on top of some stuff that I'm not even willing to touch (Runaway Steam-Kin). Torch Courier is a very fascinating card; the Hulk loop I posted probably isn't the best way to use it (Doomed Necromancer is the weak link), but it is pretty neat if I say so myself. I skipped over Arclight Phoenix when it was first spoiled, but if we can get two creatures for Vengevine, we might be able to string together three spells for Phoenix. Might.
Dimir gets a good mechanic for once, hooray.
Card: # of decks found on mtgtop8
Data contains MTGO results, which are not chosen at random.
M19 was a good set with several Modern playables. Spirits and Elves got 2-mana lords, and Humans and Bridgevine got dig spells (a bit too good for Humans, if you ask me). KCI got Sai to dodge artifact/grave hate.
One card that might have escaped your notice is Sarkhan, Fireblood. He's part of the new generation of mono-red Blood Moon prison decks, being half Search for Azcanta, half Worn Powerstone. He's limited to that deck though, since you get better options once you play other colors.
Mistcaller flopped too. Between that and Hallowed Moonlight we should have a new rule of thumb: one-turn Containment Priest effects are just not good. Vs Aether Vial you're trading a whole card for a temporary mana advantage - they just choose not to put anything in with Vial. Maybe the Vial makes 2-3 mana worth of creatures, so it's kind of like Mana Leaking them, except they had 3 mana to pay for it (you shut down 3 lands, vs you shut down their Vial). Vs Bloodghast they don't care because Bloodghast isn't compulsory, and if they used a fetchland they can try again before one full turn cycle. I suspect our brains are conditioned to think "Rest in Peace (continuous) is good, Nihil Spellbomb (one-shot) is good, so if Containment Priest (continuous) is good, Hallowed Moonlight should be good too, right?" It doesn't really work that way, because if you Spellbomb someone, you take away all their resources and force them to rebuild from scratch, but if you Hallowed Moonlight someone, the creature they were going to Vial/Breach in is still in their hand, and their Bloodghasts are still in the graveyard. They just need one turn (maybe more for Breach) to do what they were going to do anyway. TL;DR read the second sentence.
The card that caused the most controversy in Standard didn't do a lot in Modern. Thank god for that.
On a final note, Supreme Phantom was pretty much responsible for Ondřej Stráský's unretirement. The other pieces were literally all there; all it took was the little Spirit to engineer a 2-GP run second only to Matt Nass's. Oh, and to keep him from playing Merfolk, too.
Man, no reprint of Chord of calling or Dark Confidant. I'd say that was a mistake with coming back to rav.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Nobody is talking about Plaguespreader? That guy is very strong. A much improved version of previous effects like this
You mean Plaguecrafter? Yeah I called it out immediately. It could be a huge beating for anyone trying to play removal or walkers (UWr, hi!) against Humans.
im not convinced it will even show up in human sideboards. its tech i could see a humans player turning to if they want to beat bogles or some superfriends deck at a local level.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Yeah, I'm going to be frank that I'm not feeling it for modern with this set. There are definitely good cards in there, they just aren't at the level of Snapcaster Mage or Spell Queller.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Yeah, I'm going to be frank that I'm not feeling it for modern with this set. There are definitely good cards in there, they just aren't at the level of Snapcaster Mage or Spell Queller.
It feels like there are a lot of "near miss" and "almost there" cards that may or may not break out depending on which decks pick them up or not.
Since I don't have Goyfs, experimenting with Sultai may be out of my wheelhouse, but I know I will be testing some number of Mission Briefing as additional Snaps. I'm also very excited for Unmoored Ego, and Mnemonic Betrayal seems interesting.
But then again, as a URx player, I don't know what it's like to have the expectation that my deck is anything other than "cute" or "interesting."
Yeah, I'm going to be frank that I'm not feeling it for modern with this set. There are definitely good cards in there, they just aren't at the level of Snapcaster Mage or Spell Queller.
Tajic is potentially good enough to supplant some number of Mantis Riders in Humans. Notably, it attacks with 4 power instead of 3 the turn it comes down, with that number steadily increasing on subsequent turns. It also acts as a counterspell against Anger of the Gods/Bolt if it gets Vial'd in response. All this for the low cost of losing flying. I would argue that merits a 3, since it goes directly into one of the best decks in the format.
Yeah, I'm going to be frank that I'm not feeling it for modern with this set. There are definitely good cards in there, they just aren't at the level of Snapcaster Mage or Spell Queller.
You say that as if Snaps isn't one of the strongest creatures printed, and that Queller is actually good.
Trophy, the Black Tutor, Knight of Autumn, unmoored ego and those are just the cards that don't even need much to be good.
Tajic is potentially good enough to supplant some number of Mantis Riders in Humans. Notably, it attacks with 4 power instead of 3 the turn it comes down, with that number steadily increasing on subsequent turns. It also acts as a counterspell against Anger of the Gods/Bolt if it gets Vial'd in response. All this for the low cost of losing flying. I would argue that merits a 3, since it goes directly into one of the best decks in the format.
Nah, if Tajic is going in Humans, he ain't replacing Mantis Rider. From my testing with Humans (it ends up being one of the primary aggro decks in the gauntlet), flying is highly prized evasion and blocking, and vigilance is huge, too. Phantasmal Image copying Mantis Rider also finishes off games pretty well, while Image can't profitably copy Tajic.
If Tajic is replacing anything, it's one of the anti-combo slots like the fourth Thalia.
But then Tajic's job of soaking up removal is partially done by Militia Bugler's precision double body.
1) Reanimate Protean Hulk and let it die (Footsteps of the Goryo does this automatically).
2) Search for Torch Courier, Doomed Necromancer, Wild Cantor, Viscera Seer.
3) Sac Courier to give Necromancer haste, sac Cantor to pay for Necromancer, reanimate Hulk.
4) Sac Hulk to Seer.
5) Repeat steps 2-4 as long as you have Couriers/Necromancers/Cantors in your library. You can get a non-Viscera Seer 1-drop each time.
6) On the last Hulk trigger, search for Kraul Harpooner and Heart-Piercer Manticore. Harpooner should be pretty big from all the creatures you just sacrificed. Fling it at your opponent with Manticore.
A Loaming Shaman could get Harpooner or Manticore back into the library if they're in the graveyard.
Anyway, my top 3 cards for this set are Assassin's Trophy, Knight of Autumn and Mission Briefing. I think Mausoleum Secrets and Risk Factor are overrated.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Spirits
For Shame Militia Bugler.
I am disappointed honestly I wanted some Guild Ascendancy and/or Guild Commmand cards instead we got garabage split cards as the cycle? SMFH.
As for Snare would be relevant if it was instant.
Spirits
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
Secrets may be underrated but there is no way it's the best card in the set. That honor is unquestionably going to Assasin's Trophy and it's not particularly close.
Some honorable mentions are Chemister's Insight and Radical Idea. I'm not sure that they're strong enough, but it's nice to see more reasonable instant speed draw spells getting printed. Creeping Chill could see play in Dredge sideboards against Burn. Selective Snare is a pretty nifty anti-tribal card too, but I don't think it's got enough impact for it to really catch on.
I've been thinking about cantrips. Cards that dig to get you to EF as you don't want too many in the deck, but that are still good once it's on the field.
Opt can dig but it's quite bad post EF. Serum Visions is good pre EF but actually gets better post EF as you can use it to clear a card you can't play, and then to stack your next two cards. Search for Azcanta is also quite good on both sides in both situations. Faithless Looting is mediocre, but probably ok with the right GY enablers. Then there's the cards that can easily be played alongside it like Collective Brutality and both 3 mana Lilianas.
I think the card has a home in Jund, but I also think it could be very playable in a Grixis Midrange/Blue Jund style deck that takes advantage of both Jaces and Serum Visions.
Assassin's Trophy
4
Knight of Autumn
Mission Briefing
3
Unmoored Ego
2
Hunted Witness
Venerated Loxodon
Mausoleum Secrets
Arclight Phoenix
Goblin Cratermaker
Legion Warboss
Torch Courier
Pelt Collector
Tajic, Legion's Edge
Discovery//Dispersal
Chamber Sentry
1
The rest
Reprints: Disdainful Stroke, Narcomoeba, Goblin Electromancer, shocklands
Assassin's Trophy is a clear Modern staple, like Abrupt Decay from the last Ravnica or Fatal Push from Aether Revolt. Knight of Autumn goes into any Collected Company/Chord of Calling deck replacing Reclamation Sage (except Elves, which could use the creature type, poor guys).
Mission Briefing I'm a little less sure of; Snapcaster Mage seems like the better effect for most decks, but there are things like Mill which wants alternative costs, or some Thing in the Ice/Pyromancer Ascension deck that wants more instants or cards in the graveyard. I think it's better to treat it as a more expensive Thought Scour with better card selection instead of "wow Snapcaster killer!!!" for the most part (except Mill, of course).
There are a few build-arounds, from Hunted Witness in Aristocrats to Pelt Collector in Temur Evolve, on top of some stuff that I'm not even willing to touch (Runaway Steam-Kin). Torch Courier is a very fascinating card; the Hulk loop I posted probably isn't the best way to use it (Doomed Necromancer is the weak link), but it is pretty neat if I say so myself. I skipped over Arclight Phoenix when it was first spoiled, but if we can get two creatures for Vengevine, we might be able to string together three spells for Phoenix. Might.
Dimir gets a good mechanic for once, hooray.
Data contains MTGO results, which are not chosen at random.
Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants: 2
Cleansing Nova: 3
Isolate: 1
Leonin Warleader: 0
Militia Bugler: 151
Remorseful Cleric: 42
Resplendent Angel: 0
Suncleanser: 0
Mistcaller: 2
Sai, Master Thopterist: 38
Supreme Phantom: 64
Tezzeret, Artifice Master: 0
Bone Dragon: 0
Graveyard Marshal: 0
Infernal Reckoning: 2
Demon of Catastrophes: 0
Liliana, Untouched by Death: 0
Stitcher's Supplier: 49
Alpine Moon: 50
Apex of Power: 0
Dark-Dweller Oracle: 0
Doublecast: 0
Goblin Instigator: 0
Goblin Trashmaster: 0
Sarkhan, Fireblood: 15
Viashino Pyromancer: 0
Volley Veteran: 0
Elvish Clancaller: 16
Elvish Rejuvenator: 0
Gigantosaurus: 3
Runic Armasaur: 2
Thorn Lieutenant: 0
Vivien Reid: 4
Chromium, the Mutable: 1
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager: 4
Satyr Enchanter: 0
Amulet of Safekeeping: 3
Desecrated Tomb: 0
Detection Tower: 3
Nexus of Fate: 2
M19 was a good set with several Modern playables. Spirits and Elves got 2-mana lords, and Humans and Bridgevine got dig spells (a bit too good for Humans, if you ask me). KCI got Sai to dodge artifact/grave hate.
Tron hate was hugely overrated. While Alpine Moon saw enough play to be considered a success (a mild one, perhaps), Infernal Reckoning was a total bust. Tron's threats aren't just Wurmcoil Engine and World Breaker, they also have Oblivion Stone, Karn Liberated, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon...
One card that might have escaped your notice is Sarkhan, Fireblood. He's part of the new generation of mono-red Blood Moon prison decks, being half Search for Azcanta, half Worn Powerstone. He's limited to that deck though, since you get better options once you play other colors.
Mistcaller flopped too. Between that and Hallowed Moonlight we should have a new rule of thumb: one-turn Containment Priest effects are just not good. Vs Aether Vial you're trading a whole card for a temporary mana advantage - they just choose not to put anything in with Vial. Maybe the Vial makes 2-3 mana worth of creatures, so it's kind of like Mana Leaking them, except they had 3 mana to pay for it (you shut down 3 lands, vs you shut down their Vial). Vs Bloodghast they don't care because Bloodghast isn't compulsory, and if they used a fetchland they can try again before one full turn cycle. I suspect our brains are conditioned to think "Rest in Peace (continuous) is good, Nihil Spellbomb (one-shot) is good, so if Containment Priest (continuous) is good, Hallowed Moonlight should be good too, right?" It doesn't really work that way, because if you Spellbomb someone, you take away all their resources and force them to rebuild from scratch, but if you Hallowed Moonlight someone, the creature they were going to Vial/Breach in is still in their hand, and their Bloodghasts are still in the graveyard. They just need one turn (maybe more for Breach) to do what they were going to do anyway. TL;DR read the second sentence.
The card that caused the most controversy in Standard didn't do a lot in Modern. Thank god for that.
On a final note, Supreme Phantom was pretty much responsible for Ondřej Stráský's unretirement. The other pieces were literally all there; all it took was the little Spirit to engineer a 2-GP run second only to Matt Nass's. Oh, and to keep him from playing Merfolk, too.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
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!
You mean Plaguecrafter? Yeah I called it out immediately. It could be a huge beating for anyone trying to play removal or walkers (UWr, hi!) against Humans.
Spirits
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Spirits
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 feels like there are a lot of "near miss" and "almost there" cards that may or may not break out depending on which decks pick them up or not.
Since I don't have Goyfs, experimenting with Sultai may be out of my wheelhouse, but I know I will be testing some number of Mission Briefing as additional Snaps. I'm also very excited for Unmoored Ego, and Mnemonic Betrayal seems interesting.
But then again, as a URx player, I don't know what it's like to have the expectation that my deck is anything other than "cute" or "interesting."
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Um. Trophy disagrees.
Tajic is potentially good enough to supplant some number of Mantis Riders in Humans. Notably, it attacks with 4 power instead of 3 the turn it comes down, with that number steadily increasing on subsequent turns. It also acts as a counterspell against Anger of the Gods/Bolt if it gets Vial'd in response. All this for the low cost of losing flying. I would argue that merits a 3, since it goes directly into one of the best decks in the format.
You say that as if Snaps isn't one of the strongest creatures printed, and that Queller is actually good.
Trophy, the Black Tutor, Knight of Autumn, unmoored ego and those are just the cards that don't even need much to be good.
This may not be M19 but it's got power.
Spirits
Nah, if Tajic is going in Humans, he ain't replacing Mantis Rider. From my testing with Humans (it ends up being one of the primary aggro decks in the gauntlet), flying is highly prized evasion and blocking, and vigilance is huge, too. Phantasmal Image copying Mantis Rider also finishes off games pretty well, while Image can't profitably copy Tajic.
If Tajic is replacing anything, it's one of the anti-combo slots like the fourth Thalia.
But then Tajic's job of soaking up removal is partially done by Militia Bugler's precision double body.
Certainly true. Plenty of cards that could potentially find homes modern decks.
Looking forward to the release date.
I assume you want Bob to be cheaper, so you want a reprint? Hmm, but chords aren't really that expensive.. so there's no urgent need to reprint those.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread