Eldrazi Tron might make a comeback if Humans go away. I saw a few articles saying it was Humans that caused E.Tron to decline in popularity.
Well, a comeback is quite within the normal state of things for modern. Happens all the time.
As for the reason for eldratron biting the dust for a while? Very likely. Humans is the woooooooorst if you're on the eldrazi deck haha
However, as this is the 'state of modern' it's worth pointing out that humans and spirits are kind of like a yin-yang. They are good against different things.
One of the major reasons for humans picking up steam so quickly when it first broke onto the top tables was because it *destroyed* storm. At that point in time, storm had been maybe the best deck in the format for a few months. Humans also had (and still has) a proactive game against many other decks in the format too. Spirits is good in the 'tribal mirror' and better in other spots (dredge, kci) so it's likely we'll see a seesaw over the next year or two where humans and spirits vie for top dog and we see a tidal effect where they fall in and out of prominence.
Just like in the story in BFZ - humans defeated the eldrazi. I was wondering last year where did all the e-tron decks went, only after reading some articles did I realize they were sent away by Humans. Although to be fair, there are still a few e-tron that put up good results at mtgtop 8 in 2018.
WotC historically has unbanned something at regular 1 to 1.5 year intervals. The last unbanning was February this year, so anyone expecting another unban before February 2019 was having some wishful thinking. The February announcement is the earliest we might see something come off. If we get nothing by August and the format has remained healthy, that's when I'll start getting upset about the lack of an unbanning
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Modern UBR Grixis Shadow UBR UR Izzet Phoenix UR UW UW Control UW GB GB Rock GB
Commander BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
well i think most of us, myself included, were working under the assumption that there would be another modern pro-tour at the start of next year; which would have weighed heavily into any potential decision. who knows what is going to happen now.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Eldrazi Tron might make a comeback if Humans go away. I saw a few articles saying it was Humans that caused E.Tron to decline in popularity.
Well, a comeback is quite within the normal state of things for modern. Happens all the time.
As for the reason for eldratron biting the dust for a while? Very likely. Humans is the woooooooorst if you're on the eldrazi deck haha
However, as this is the 'state of modern' it's worth pointing out that humans and spirits are kind of like a yin-yang. They are good against different things.
One of the major reasons for humans picking up steam so quickly when it first broke onto the top tables was because it *destroyed* storm. At that point in time, storm had been maybe the best deck in the format for a few months. Humans also had (and still has) a proactive game against many other decks in the format too. Spirits is good in the 'tribal mirror' and better in other spots (dredge, kci) so it's likely we'll see a seesaw over the next year or two where humans and spirits vie for top dog and we see a tidal effect where they fall in and out of prominence.
Just like in the story in BFZ - humans defeated the eldrazi. I was wondering last year where did all the e-tron decks went, only after reading some articles did I realize they were sent away by Humans. Although to be fair, there are still a few e-tron that put up good results at mtgtop 8 in 2018.
It's not just Humans - Eldrazi Tron matches up poorly against all the go-wide aggressive decks - Dredge, Hollow One, Hardened Scales, Spirits, you name it. None of those decks were good or even existed for the most part a year and a half ago when E-Tron was a great deck. Plus, the fair matchups that were good before (UWx, BGx), are not even that great anymore given all the tools they've gotten recently. Finally, Chalice of the Void is just not very good in Modern right now, with all the Aether Vials, Collected Companies and Dredging going on. The only actual good matchups E-Tron has among widely played decks are Burn and Storm. So unless the meta shifts in a big way I don't see the deck making a comeback anytime soon.
The Mythic Championships are just a rebranding of the Pro Tour, aren't they? That was the sense I got from the announcement, it didn't sound like they were actually changing much besides the name.
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Modern UBR Grixis Shadow UBR UR Izzet Phoenix UR UW UW Control UW GB GB Rock GB
Commander BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
It's not just Humans - Eldrazi Tron matches up poorly against all the go-wide aggressive decks - Dredge, Hollow One, Hardened Scales, Spirits, you name it. None of those decks were good or even existed for the most part a year and a half ago when E-Tron was a great deck. Plus, the fair matchups that were good before (UWx, BGx), are not even that great anymore given all the tools they've gotten recently. Finally, Chalice of the Void is just not very good in Modern right now, with all the Aether Vials, Collected Companies and Dredging going on. The only actual good matchups E-Tron has among widely played decks are Burn and Storm. So unless the meta shifts in a big way I don't see the deck making a comeback anytime soon.
Thanks for the added info. Referring to part of the post I put in bold. I guess my friend did the right decision selling his 3 chalice some months ago.
Hollow One is a real pain - biased opinion - because it is the natural predator of my pet deck Ponza ... but I'm still among those who believe that nothing needs to be banned in Modern right now.
So, Spirits would probably play Stoneforge Mystic, right? Opinions on that?
If the card goes into a Tier 1 deck, that might be a concern for Wizards.
Absolutely. I see no reason why Spirits wouldn't run SFM.
It doesn't fly, it doesn't affect the board, it doesn't remove blockers, it doesn't synergize with anything else in the deck, the equipment is mostly dead outside of drawing stoneforge herself, it doesn't speed up the aggro clock, it doesn't meaningfully benefit from phantasmal image or any of the Lord effects, it can't be meaningfully cast off their tribal lands (is not a spirit), and the deck would need to completely rework its manabase to accommodate the W needed to activate her ability. It would only be played if the deck transforms into some random amalgamation mid-range deck, and not Spirits tribal.
So, Spirits would probably play Stoneforge Mystic, right? Opinions on that?
If the card goes into a Tier 1 deck, that might be a concern for Wizards.
Absolutely. I see no reason why Spirits wouldn't run SFM.
It doesn't fly, it doesn't affect the board, it doesn't remove blockers, it doesn't synergize with anything else in the deck, the equipment is mostly dead outside of drawing stoneforge herself, it doesn't speed up the aggro clock, it doesn't meaningfully benefit from phantasmal image or any of the Lord effects, it can't be meaningfully cast off their tribal lands (is not a spirit), and the deck would need to completely rework its manabase to accommodate the W needed to activate her ability. It would only be played if the deck transforms into some random amalgamation mid-range deck, and not Spirits tribal.
Regarding the manabase: Bant spirits already can very easily accommodate W spells. Proof of this is the fact that they run mainboard Path to Exile and sideboard Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, and now Knight of Autumn. The deck runs 13+ ways to find white mana from its mana base and 4 Noble Hierarch. In addition it runs 4 vials, which makes it even easier to cast SFM. As such there would be no need for tweaking the mana base to accommodate the creature or its ability.
The deck already runs powerful non-spirit creatures in Reflector Mage and Knight of Autumn, granted that these do synergize pretty well with Phantasmal Image. However the latter is now only a 3-off in the deck.
The added value of swords in a deck with evasion is actually incredibly strong and will make the MUs against any fair deck even stronger. Uncounterable way to cast SFM into uncounterable sword basically breaks anything that tries to play fair. It can also provide added pressure against some of the combo decks.
I think the deck will indeed transform a bit, but will just be that much stronger with SFM than it already is.
The Mythic Championships are just a rebranding of the Pro Tour, aren't they? That was the sense I got from the announcement, it didn't sound like they were actually changing much besides the name.
if the announcement is anything to do by then they will be quite different than pro-tours. they are only the same in the sense that they are the top echelon of competitive play. afaik mythic championships are centered around the 32 player pro-league, and anyone else who rises through the qualification system to compete with them. the tournaments are smaller/more exclusive and have prize payouts top to bottom; with the added incentive of earning a spot in the pro-league by dethroning one of the current members - likely through some sort of point and or challenge system.
wizards hasnt released any information on how people are supposed to qualify for the mythic championships, but there will allegedly be routes in both paper and arena form. given this it is likely the championships will be focused only on formats featured on arena, because its the common denominator for fans, viewers, and players; a good portion of which will have zero exposure to paper magic. if true the question then becomes how wizards intends to fit modern into the paper (or possibly mtgo) qualification system/events.
this is just speculation of course.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
So, Spirits would probably play Stoneforge Mystic, right? Opinions on that?
If the card goes into a Tier 1 deck, that might be a concern for Wizards.
Absolutely. I see no reason why Spirits wouldn't run SFM.
It doesn't fly, it doesn't affect the board, it doesn't remove blockers, it doesn't synergize with anything else in the deck, the equipment is mostly dead outside of drawing stoneforge herself, it doesn't speed up the aggro clock, it doesn't meaningfully benefit from phantasmal image or any of the Lord effects, it can't be meaningfully cast off their tribal lands (is not a spirit), and the deck would need to completely rework its manabase to accommodate the W needed to activate her ability. It would only be played if the deck transforms into some random amalgamation mid-range deck, and not Spirits tribal.
All of this is true, plus the fact that the ~3 slots dedicated to the Equipment will make CoCos that much worse. SFM seems a much better fit in straight UW Spirits; she will probably only see sustained play in Bant Spirits if her power level proves to be significantly higher in the format than most people here are predicting.
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So, Spirits would probably play Stoneforge Mystic, right? Opinions on that?
If the card goes into a Tier 1 deck, that might be a concern for Wizards.
Absolutely. I see no reason why Spirits wouldn't run SFM.
It doesn't fly, it doesn't affect the board, it doesn't remove blockers, it doesn't synergize with anything else in the deck, the equipment is mostly dead outside of drawing stoneforge herself, it doesn't speed up the aggro clock, it doesn't meaningfully benefit from phantasmal image or any of the Lord effects, it can't be meaningfully cast off their tribal lands (is not a spirit), and the deck would need to completely rework its manabase to accommodate the W needed to activate her ability. It would only be played if the deck transforms into some random amalgamation mid-range deck, and not Spirits tribal.
All of this is true, plus the fact that the ~3 slots dedicated to the Equipment will make CoCos that much worse. SFM seems a much better fit in straight UW Spirits; she will probably only see sustained play in Bant Spirits if her power level proves to be significantly higher in the format than most people here are predicting.
I agree. Once you add 2 pieces of equipment to a deck that already runs Aether Vial and Path to Exile, you begin to make your Collected Company's much worse.
Stoneforge will not fit into Bant Sprits as it currently stands without some shifting of the deck to accommodate it. I agree UW spirits seems like the more natural fit for her
The minute SFM gets unbanned, the price will spike, people will realize it doesn't work in anything, and it will come down again and become the legacy / commander staple it was born to be.
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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!
Honestly, I was wanting to make Esper Deathblade FOREVER. But between GDS, and now Arclight Phoenix... I have lost all interest in jamming bad, fair decks.
Honestly, I was wanting to make Esper Deathblade FOREVER. But between GDS, and now Arclight Phoenix... I have lost all interest in jamming bad, fair decks.
So my gut may be wrong but I feel like those decks struggle against lingering souls and batterskull. I hope so anyway
K Command and Temur Battle Rage work wonders when backed by tons of discard apells. The only reason I'm not on GDS now is I'm on the Phoenix hype train.
If that Esper deck becomes a thing, I'll just Bolt and cantrip 3-12 power onto the field for free.
Stoneforge Mystic and Batterskull are way too slow and fair for 2018 Modern.
I appreciate this post, and the bigger post you did at the previous page. Have read them, good informtion.
Just like in the story in BFZ - humans defeated the eldrazi. I was wondering last year where did all the e-tron decks went, only after reading some articles did I realize they were sent away by Humans. Although to be fair, there are still a few e-tron that put up good results at mtgtop 8 in 2018.
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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
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
Thanks for the added info. Referring to part of the post I put in bold. I guess my friend did the right decision selling his 3 chalice some months ago.
Hollow One is a real pain - biased opinion - because it is the natural predator of my pet deck Ponza ... but I'm still among those who believe that nothing needs to be banned in Modern right now.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Regarding the manabase: Bant spirits already can very easily accommodate W spells. Proof of this is the fact that they run mainboard Path to Exile and sideboard Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, and now Knight of Autumn. The deck runs 13+ ways to find white mana from its mana base and 4 Noble Hierarch. In addition it runs 4 vials, which makes it even easier to cast SFM. As such there would be no need for tweaking the mana base to accommodate the creature or its ability.
The deck already runs powerful non-spirit creatures in Reflector Mage and Knight of Autumn, granted that these do synergize pretty well with Phantasmal Image. However the latter is now only a 3-off in the deck.
The added value of swords in a deck with evasion is actually incredibly strong and will make the MUs against any fair deck even stronger. Uncounterable way to cast SFM into uncounterable sword basically breaks anything that tries to play fair. It can also provide added pressure against some of the combo decks.
I think the deck will indeed transform a bit, but will just be that much stronger with SFM than it already is.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
if the announcement is anything to do by then they will be quite different than pro-tours. they are only the same in the sense that they are the top echelon of competitive play. afaik mythic championships are centered around the 32 player pro-league, and anyone else who rises through the qualification system to compete with them. the tournaments are smaller/more exclusive and have prize payouts top to bottom; with the added incentive of earning a spot in the pro-league by dethroning one of the current members - likely through some sort of point and or challenge system.
wizards hasnt released any information on how people are supposed to qualify for the mythic championships, but there will allegedly be routes in both paper and arena form. given this it is likely the championships will be focused only on formats featured on arena, because its the common denominator for fans, viewers, and players; a good portion of which will have zero exposure to paper magic. if true the question then becomes how wizards intends to fit modern into the paper (or possibly mtgo) qualification system/events.
this is just speculation of course.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)All of this is true, plus the fact that the ~3 slots dedicated to the Equipment will make CoCos that much worse. SFM seems a much better fit in straight UW Spirits; she will probably only see sustained play in Bant Spirits if her power level proves to be significantly higher in the format than most people here are predicting.
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I agree. Once you add 2 pieces of equipment to a deck that already runs Aether Vial and Path to Exile, you begin to make your Collected Company's much worse.
Stoneforge will not fit into Bant Sprits as it currently stands without some shifting of the deck to accommodate it. I agree UW spirits seems like the more natural fit for her
Coco decks never last when they play more than 4-5 other non-coco hits (e.g. chord or path or vial).
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
End of turn Coco into SFM would make me vomit though
Can't have that.
Spirits
Honestly, I'd rather they CoCo into that all day than something stupid like double Drogskol.
Not that they would though, mostly due to the dozen-or-so reasons listed above why they would never play this card.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
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!
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Spirits
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Spirits
So my gut may be wrong but I feel like those decks struggle against lingering souls and batterskull. I hope so anyway
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
If that Esper deck becomes a thing, I'll just Bolt and cantrip 3-12 power onto the field for free.
Stoneforge Mystic and Batterskull are way too slow and fair for 2018 Modern.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate