The main problem is that even if it's big, it get chumped for days by blockers. If it had flying like delver or trample like mandrills (or even menace would be good enough imho) then I think it would see more play.
Yeah that was one of the problems was that it usually was just an expensive Goyf #5. It was big but no evasion. Oh well time to cut it I guess.
What did you cut for your one-off Serpent? Has the Serpent been better than that card? It's possible it is playable in a small number. I don't think anyone tested it, so it may very well be good.
That said, I don't think it is good. I've never played it, but in theory, I don't like it. Serpent has a few issues that add up.
It lacks evasion. That means that once you go through the effort of enabling it, you have to get through their board before you can get damage in. Affinity, Dredge, Company, Bant Eldrazi, and even Burn can make plenty of chump blockers. Death's Shadow also gives incentive for people to pack more chump blockers. Lingering Souls is also fairly common currently, so I'd pack an answer to it so that Serpent can get through.
But we play Goyf, which doesn't have evasion either. Evasion isn't essential. However, Goyf comes down reliably on turn 2. That means Goyf has way more time to work it's way through blockers, or to get damage in before they come down.
Costing UU is a serious downside. Either you'll shock more, or you'll have trouble cantriping and countering. Also, Blood Moon. Unless you side this out when you bring Moon in.
I don't think Serpent's stats are actually that good in the meta. I mean, a 6/5 for UU Is a good rate, but Modern is the land of good rates! It doesn't survive combat with Angler, 5/6 Goyfs, Reality Smasher, or Exalted Thought-Knot Seer. Trading with those is a start, but I don't think it is what you need. Angler was great back when everyone was running around with 4/5s. When the common fatties have 5 or more power, 5 toughness doesn't shine through.
I was testing the serpent in the 14th creature spot. The first 13 being:
4 Delver
4 Goyf
4 Mandrills
1 Snapcaster
The 14th creature was the 2nd Snapcaster, and the Serpent was definitely worse than the 2nd Snapcaster most of the time. Now thinking about it, I should have traversed for a Goyf anyway, even if goyf was only a 4/5 and there were 5 or more instant/sorcery cards in my GY, because the serpent's double blue sometimes made me just forgo casting cantrips/hold counter spells, which is may more important than hacing +2 power. Maybe if the serpent had a 5/6 body or some evasion, it could be better. I am considering putting narnam renegade in this now empty 14th creature spot, since a lot of people here seem very impressed by it.
With mandrills in the deck there are too many times when you're spending 3-5 mana for the serpent, at which point the payoff for Bedlam Reveler is just so much better.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
How have you all found the Affinity matchup lately? In the last few matches I've played against it (super duper anecdotal, but still a bad sign), I was mercilessly crushed. They spewed their hand, landed an Etched Champion before I could interact with it, and followed up with Plating and/or Ravager to seal the deal. Affinity hasn't really changed enough over the last few sets to get much faster, but we have gotten a bit slower, and I think this is where we pay for it. That, or Affinity was always this bad. Of course, this could be an outlier (with the matchup being fine), and these fast starts could be rare enough that we should just accept and ignore them.
How has the Affinity matchup been for you, and (if it is bad) what should we do to improve it?
The Forked Bolt I added is a hedge against Affinity and mana dork decks. I know that Kozilek's Return has been discussed to deal with Champion, but that seems too slow, and is made fairly useless in that respect by Ravager. Pyroclasm is good when we have it. Perhaps a third sweeper in the board is due? EE technically fits but is also quite slow.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Affinity and pretty much all the linear matchups get worse to varying degrees without Probe.
This is true, and why I'm back on the shoal train. I don't have enough testing to earn credibility yet, but so far I've taken down some minor tournaments and have a twinkle of hope for Monkey Grow. Will get back to you guys once I've cleaned the rust off and have more results and testing.
I understand there are some different things going on here but seeing as how this deck hasn't had any results to speak of in months, I think it's very important to keep an open mind. This guy did well for a reason. Not many playing the deck now can point to legitimate successes, and and at this point anecdotal and personal successes simply place bias in our testing/tweaking rather than provide us with real data to help us progress the deck.
Firstly, bauble with no traverse. I think the ability to fuel mandrills with bauble is criminally overlooked. Very rarely is it less efficient than probe in the early turns at pushing out mandrills.
Second, a full set of shoal even with bauble reducing the total blue card count.
The third thing that stuck out to me was the clique maindeck. The creature suit used here is actually the configuration I used very early on in this decks existence, and while eldrazi winter made clique much more popular here, it sees almost no play among users here currently.
Don't need to open my mind too far---this is actually the closest to a classical "stock" list I've seen in quite some time! I'll add to your list of notables. Here's what I like about this build:
- 2 Snare to complement 4 Shoal as early, tempo-positive answers to faster decks. I like these a lot right now for Shadow (Snap or Goyf) and CoCo (Druid or Vizier).
- Anger over Clasm in the side. I think this change is defensible with a lot of Dredge on the radar; otherwise Clasm is better. Finks is picking up steam, too; agree now is a good time for Angers.
- 18 lands. Makes sense without Probe or Sleight/Traverse.
- Forked Bolt over Leak #3. Very creature-centric metagame right now with less pure Tron decks and linear combo decks like AN running around, plus Affinity and CoCo are doing well.
- Clique. A great option against slower decks and against combo decks. Especially nice right now since Bolt is at an all-time low and Push doesn't kill it without Revolt.
- Classical core. Ranges from the mainboard (no Renegade, 2 Snap, 4 Shoal, no Sleight) to the side (4 Hunts, 3 Moons, 2 red sweepers, no Traverse). This is a direction I went in with the deck last time I unearthed it two months ago, which I wrote about here. I posited that with Jund Midrange on the decline, and Shoal's added relevance against the new breed of BGx decks that now incorporate Shadow, a classical build starts to look more appealing. The major difference between my proposed list and this one is that Caleb went with the more efficient Bauble as a Probe replacement instead of Sleights and the fourth Scour, and he also cut a Mandrills to accommodate this change.
So overall, looks pretty good to me. Happy to see this deck cash a tournament despite my opinion of it becoming increasingly grimmer over the last two months.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
That list is very interesting. It'd be awesome if they showed up on the thread to tell us all about their deck building decisions!
11 is a lot of counterspells, but given that four of them are Shoal, that could actually be perfectly fine. On Shoal with Bauble, due to having more counters (including Shoal pitching to other Shoals), there are 23 spells that can pitch to Shoal (I didn't count the last Shoal as you'd be casting it). That is the same number I am running currently, so Bauble and Shoal together seem fine to me.
Clique definitely sticks out, but I guess it gets easier with an 18th land. The full set of Shoal also makes Clique being uncastable a little less likely to be relevant.
Trimming Mana Leak is interesting because Shoal and Snare don't necessarily cover the same ground. But if the big threats cost two mana, that seems excellent. Big mana probably gets more difficult to face, but I'm sure the sideboard Disdainful Stroke is there for that.
Anger over Pyroclasm is probably a meta call. Or just a hedge against graveyard shenanigans. I don't think that part of the sideboard is integral to their build specifically.
The four Huntmasters have to be for when true midrange and control decks show up, right? That is the only way I could see wanting all four. Although, Clique helps at least a bit there. I've been growing increasingly worried about Huntmaster being a bit clunky against fast decks, and actually was entertaining the idea of cutting my third one for a third sweeper.
I'm going to try it out. I think it is a different enough build that I should actually try it out instead of just saying why I think it performed. Although, I might change that manabase a touch. I don't think Spirebluff Canal is worth the fourth Tarn's slot.
What are peoples thoughts on a classic tempo card like Remand?
I agree with Nacatl being a good card currently, but I don't like going 4 colors for the Counter-cat version, so I am looking at trying out a full playset of the renegade. I suspect it will not be good as the P/T is the wrong way around compared to what we want (3+ power for G or U).
And then supplement that with a shoal/remand centric counterspell suite.
Anyone else been considering this and maybe even able to give feedback on the testing?
(For extra information: Yes, it means dropping Monkey, Denial and Scour)
Here the "Remand explanation" that comes back once every about 5 pages. Remand is useless in this build. We need a tool to answer a problem permanently since, except for bolts, we don't interact much with permanents (at least pre-side).
Monkeys are our best creature since they are bolt and push proof and they trample past chumpblockers. I'd think twice before cutting them.
About Counter-cat versus Temur. I'm trying both version now. And both have pro and cons. In some matchup moon is devastating in other path to exile shines. I like temur mana stability but also countercat versatility. In can't figure out which is the best (maybe there isn't a "best").
I really love how this deck and that "Counter Cat" list look. I sold my original goyfs and all fetches well before the reprints when they were still way up in price and I really don't want to drop a ton of money again. I just finished a UW control deck which was already more expensive than I thought it would be, but this deck looks like it would be so much fun! I'm considering making this my MTGO deck at some point, I've had an account since it started but rarely use it and I have no tickets or cards anymore. So I guess what I want to ask is what would be an optimal (cheaper is good too) build to get on MTGO sometimes in the near future? and should I go with the monkey grow or counter cat list? I like how it's about 1/4th of the price in tickets as it is on paper.
Remand is a cantrip, not a counterspell. Once people start seeing it that way, people can start appreciating it. Its a truly devastating piece of cardboard, that can range from a mere cycler to near-timewalk-potency. Remand is particularly potent in a list like this, which can generate fast clocks while leaving mana open continuously, providing so many opportunities to get the most out of remand. With all that being said this deck has an incredibly poor removal suite and hard counters are a necessity, often making remand seem unnecessary. The truth is that Remand is 10x the cantrip thought scour is, we just don't have room for both.
Actually I'm pretty sure it's not taboo to talk about spoiled cards here, even if leaked, so long as we don't derail the thread (mods, correct me if wrong?). And there's no chance of that! EM does look very good for us. Threads was always fine against Goyf but a little too narrow for Modern generally, since it didn't hit anything bigger; besides, not being an i/s always hurt it. EM avoids both of those problems. It's a bit pricey, but I'm excited to try the card alongside Shoal so we can bin it in matchups we don't want the effect for.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Youre right, the versatility here makes Threads look completely unplayable. Not being vulnerable to removal, playing nice with delver/snapcaster, and coming in at instant speed while being able to take creatures higher along the curve if the game goes long makes this a uniquely powerful card for blue decks in modern. While decks with more lands will be better able to abuse it, I dont think any one archetype benefits more from this printing than RUG tempo due to the lack of alternative removal spells available.
We finally have a way to deal with any size Tarmogoyf directly, and permanently all while wrapped up nicely in a spell that always results in a 2-for-1. It's hard to get an opponent to attack into their own creature during the combat step because taking control of a tapped attacker cant result in a block, but if they choose to leave a blocker back you can take that creature, block, and wind up with a 3-for-1. That's pretty impressive for a card whose main role is hiding our biggest flaw. It's also worth noting that this can target manlands, tokens, and beefed up ornithipters for UU.
My thoughts on the leaked card that Lemonbuster mentioned:
My first inclination is that this gives us enough incentive to want 18 lands. Huntmaster, Blood Moon, and this are all good in Midrange matchups, so our curve will probably go way up postboard.
This really does give us a huge answer though. It's an out to resolved fatties, manlands, and is straight up card advantage. I think I'd be willing to maindeck one. Maybe two, but there are a lot of decks that make this "meh." It is probably too mana-intensive for the effect to he great against Affinity or Burn, and Eldrazi tend to be expensive enough that we won't have enough lands game 1. Unless the meta shifts (which it has plenty of time to do), subsequent copies probably belong in the board.
Being a Blue, 2 CMC Instant lowers its opportunity cost, but I think it is still too expensive to maindeck a bunch of these in the deck's current form. It's also kind of a mana sink, making extra lands and Traverses that couldn't have Delirium less bad.
I really want to take out EE for this. EE is usually too slow as a sweeper, and stealing creatures sounds great.
Hopefully this is real, and more answers like it are on the way!
What about Nimble Obstructionist recently spoiled?
I'm intrigued by it. I'm going to try it since I've always loved stifle-like card. Maybe it costs too much, but it's very versitile and a good beater. Single U in the cost makes it work under moon and flash is always welcome.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Decks played: Modern:
0 Affinity;
URG Delver
URGW Countercats
(Here you can find some video contents about Countercats and Temur Delver decks)
What about Nimble Obstructionist recently spoiled?
I'm intrigued by it. I'm going to try it since I've always loved stifle-like card. Maybe it costs too much, but it's very versitile and a good beater. Single U in the cost makes it work under moon and flash is always welcome.
Are you considering it for the main or the side? Any ideas as to what matchups this card could improve?
My first take is that it costs at least 1 mana too much to cycle which in turn causes the stifle ability to be irrelevant by the time it comes online against too many decks in the current meta especially when playing on the draw. That said, an uncounterable stifle + card draw + a creature in the yard sounds promising in theory! The body is nothing to scoff at and it might make up for the times when the stifle ability is dead. I'm just not convinced that it will have practical applicability in the matchups that we currently struggle against.
The go-to comparison for me is Vendilion Clique which I think I would rather play despite UU in the cost because the body is the same but with greater utility. At any rate, I think it would be possible to see a single copy of Nimble Obstructionist somewhere in the 75 if the meta slows down even just a little further.
I'm going to just throw this out there... But do we see any potential in running leyline of anticipation and roast until deaths shadow and eldrazi tron move down the tier list? I think we all agree what we are missing right now is removal and that we are in a difficult time for our deck. Maybe having instant speed roast and end of turn flash in goyf are gimmicks we could use right now? I'm not saying it's practical or awesome I'm just saying it might get us back into the game right now.
New spoiled card today. Refuse // Cooperate.
Give's some Great momentum to move to a late game burn plan in an eldrazi/angler meta.
As always, you should give it a go and see how it plays. Instant-speed Goyf actually sounds fantastic, but I think Leyline is going to cause some problems in terms of card advantage against the Black based midrange decks if you don't get value out of it. The plan has a lot of moving parts. Roast is a fine card, but it is a little sub-par unless you have Leyline (I am a big fan of the one-off Dismember), and Leyline without a good way to capitalize on it isn't great. Especially if it gets stuck in your hand.
Personally, I have been enjoying running a fifth Shoal/Snare. I'm running 3/2 currently after trying out that list that had 4/2, and I have been liking it. Both cards are really good right now I think.
If you really want better removal, I think you should just splash a fourth colour. I've never tried, so maybe it's actually not as good. Even if you don't want to shift all the way to Counter-Cat, you could probably just run a shock or two for the fourth colour and get away with it. It would be a little awkward with Blood Moon (there are matchups in which you would want Moon and removal), but there are at least some matchups where you would just switch Moon in for Path/Push/Terminate. The times it is bad will probably even be somewhat mitigated by you either having Moon active or access to good removal (you don't necessarily need both).
I was testing the serpent in the 14th creature spot. The first 13 being:
4 Delver
4 Goyf
4 Mandrills
1 Snapcaster
The 14th creature was the 2nd Snapcaster, and the Serpent was definitely worse than the 2nd Snapcaster most of the time. Now thinking about it, I should have traversed for a Goyf anyway, even if goyf was only a 4/5 and there were 5 or more instant/sorcery cards in my GY, because the serpent's double blue sometimes made me just forgo casting cantrips/hold counter spells, which is may more important than hacing +2 power. Maybe if the serpent had a 5/6 body or some evasion, it could be better. I am considering putting narnam renegade in this now empty 14th creature spot, since a lot of people here seem very impressed by it.
http://modernnexus.com/scratching-itch-returning-counter-cat/
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Hooting Mandrills
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Narnam Renegade
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Tarfire
1 Forked Bolt
1 Simic Charm
1 Dismember
2 Disrupting Shoal
1 Spell Snare
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Mana Leak
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Forest
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Destructive Revelry
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Blood Moon
1 Vapor Snag
1 Pillar of Flame
2 Pyroclasm
1 Mountain
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
How have you all found the Affinity matchup lately? In the last few matches I've played against it (super duper anecdotal, but still a bad sign), I was mercilessly crushed. They spewed their hand, landed an Etched Champion before I could interact with it, and followed up with Plating and/or Ravager to seal the deal. Affinity hasn't really changed enough over the last few sets to get much faster, but we have gotten a bit slower, and I think this is where we pay for it. That, or Affinity was always this bad. Of course, this could be an outlier (with the matchup being fine), and these fast starts could be rare enough that we should just accept and ignore them.
How has the Affinity matchup been for you, and (if it is bad) what should we do to improve it?
The Forked Bolt I added is a hedge against Affinity and mana dork decks. I know that Kozilek's Return has been discussed to deal with Champion, but that seems too slow, and is made fairly useless in that respect by Ravager. Pyroclasm is good when we have it. Perhaps a third sweeper in the board is due? EE technically fits but is also quite slow.
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
This is true, and why I'm back on the shoal train. I don't have enough testing to earn credibility yet, but so far I've taken down some minor tournaments and have a twinkle of hope for Monkey Grow. Will get back to you guys once I've cleaned the rust off and have more results and testing.
I understand there are some different things going on here but seeing as how this deck hasn't had any results to speak of in months, I think it's very important to keep an open mind. This guy did well for a reason. Not many playing the deck now can point to legitimate successes, and and at this point anecdotal and personal successes simply place bias in our testing/tweaking rather than provide us with real data to help us progress the deck.
Firstly, bauble with no traverse. I think the ability to fuel mandrills with bauble is criminally overlooked. Very rarely is it less efficient than probe in the early turns at pushing out mandrills.
Second, a full set of shoal even with bauble reducing the total blue card count.
The third thing that stuck out to me was the clique maindeck. The creature suit used here is actually the configuration I used very early on in this decks existence, and while eldrazi winter made clique much more popular here, it sees almost no play among users here currently.
Thoughts?
- 2 Snare to complement 4 Shoal as early, tempo-positive answers to faster decks. I like these a lot right now for Shadow (Snap or Goyf) and CoCo (Druid or Vizier).
- Anger over Clasm in the side. I think this change is defensible with a lot of Dredge on the radar; otherwise Clasm is better. Finks is picking up steam, too; agree now is a good time for Angers.
- 18 lands. Makes sense without Probe or Sleight/Traverse.
- Forked Bolt over Leak #3. Very creature-centric metagame right now with less pure Tron decks and linear combo decks like AN running around, plus Affinity and CoCo are doing well.
- Clique. A great option against slower decks and against combo decks. Especially nice right now since Bolt is at an all-time low and Push doesn't kill it without Revolt.
- Classical core. Ranges from the mainboard (no Renegade, 2 Snap, 4 Shoal, no Sleight) to the side (4 Hunts, 3 Moons, 2 red sweepers, no Traverse). This is a direction I went in with the deck last time I unearthed it two months ago, which I wrote about here. I posited that with Jund Midrange on the decline, and Shoal's added relevance against the new breed of BGx decks that now incorporate Shadow, a classical build starts to look more appealing. The major difference between my proposed list and this one is that Caleb went with the more efficient Bauble as a Probe replacement instead of Sleights and the fourth Scour, and he also cut a Mandrills to accommodate this change.
So overall, looks pretty good to me. Happy to see this deck cash a tournament despite my opinion of it becoming increasingly grimmer over the last two months.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
11 is a lot of counterspells, but given that four of them are Shoal, that could actually be perfectly fine. On Shoal with Bauble, due to having more counters (including Shoal pitching to other Shoals), there are 23 spells that can pitch to Shoal (I didn't count the last Shoal as you'd be casting it). That is the same number I am running currently, so Bauble and Shoal together seem fine to me.
Clique definitely sticks out, but I guess it gets easier with an 18th land. The full set of Shoal also makes Clique being uncastable a little less likely to be relevant.
Trimming Mana Leak is interesting because Shoal and Snare don't necessarily cover the same ground. But if the big threats cost two mana, that seems excellent. Big mana probably gets more difficult to face, but I'm sure the sideboard Disdainful Stroke is there for that.
Anger over Pyroclasm is probably a meta call. Or just a hedge against graveyard shenanigans. I don't think that part of the sideboard is integral to their build specifically.
The four Huntmasters have to be for when true midrange and control decks show up, right? That is the only way I could see wanting all four. Although, Clique helps at least a bit there. I've been growing increasingly worried about Huntmaster being a bit clunky against fast decks, and actually was entertaining the idea of cutting my third one for a third sweeper.
I'm going to try it out. I think it is a different enough build that I should actually try it out instead of just saying why I think it performed. Although, I might change that manabase a touch. I don't think Spirebluff Canal is worth the fourth Tarn's slot.
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg
Here the "Remand explanation" that comes back once every about 5 pages. Remand is useless in this build. We need a tool to answer a problem permanently since, except for bolts, we don't interact much with permanents (at least pre-side).
Monkeys are our best creature since they are bolt and push proof and they trample past chumpblockers. I'd think twice before cutting them.
About Counter-cat versus Temur. I'm trying both version now. And both have pro and cons. In some matchup moon is devastating in other path to exile shines. I like temur mana stability but also countercat versatility. In can't figure out which is the best (maybe there isn't a "best").
Modern:
A foil rare sheet got spoiled of Ixalan and boy, was there a doozy.
Enchanting Melody
XUU
Instant
Gain control of target creature with converted mana cost equal to x.
We're still quite some time away from being able to play with it but I personally think this is what the archetype has been missing.
It would be best to keep all discussion on it in spoiler tags as I know how some feel about leaks.
Amazing that this card is an instant 😍😍
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Youre right, the versatility here makes Threads look completely unplayable. Not being vulnerable to removal, playing nice with delver/snapcaster, and coming in at instant speed while being able to take creatures higher along the curve if the game goes long makes this a uniquely powerful card for blue decks in modern. While decks with more lands will be better able to abuse it, I dont think any one archetype benefits more from this printing than RUG tempo due to the lack of alternative removal spells available.
We finally have a way to deal with any size Tarmogoyf directly, and permanently all while wrapped up nicely in a spell that always results in a 2-for-1. It's hard to get an opponent to attack into their own creature during the combat step because taking control of a tapped attacker cant result in a block, but if they choose to leave a blocker back you can take that creature, block, and wind up with a 3-for-1. That's pretty impressive for a card whose main role is hiding our biggest flaw. It's also worth noting that this can target manlands, tokens, and beefed up ornithipters for UU.
I know ill be trying at least 2 in my 75.
My first inclination is that this gives us enough incentive to want 18 lands. Huntmaster, Blood Moon, and this are all good in Midrange matchups, so our curve will probably go way up postboard.
This really does give us a huge answer though. It's an out to resolved fatties, manlands, and is straight up card advantage. I think I'd be willing to maindeck one. Maybe two, but there are a lot of decks that make this "meh." It is probably too mana-intensive for the effect to he great against Affinity or Burn, and Eldrazi tend to be expensive enough that we won't have enough lands game 1. Unless the meta shifts (which it has plenty of time to do), subsequent copies probably belong in the board.
Being a Blue, 2 CMC Instant lowers its opportunity cost, but I think it is still too expensive to maindeck a bunch of these in the deck's current form. It's also kind of a mana sink, making extra lands and Traverses that couldn't have Delirium less bad.
I really want to take out EE for this. EE is usually too slow as a sweeper, and stealing creatures sounds great.
Hopefully this is real, and more answers like it are on the way!
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg
I'm intrigued by it. I'm going to try it since I've always loved stifle-like card. Maybe it costs too much, but it's very versitile and a good beater. Single U in the cost makes it work under moon and flash is always welcome.
Modern:
My first take is that it costs at least 1 mana too much to cycle which in turn causes the stifle ability to be irrelevant by the time it comes online against too many decks in the current meta especially when playing on the draw. That said, an uncounterable stifle + card draw + a creature in the yard sounds promising in theory! The body is nothing to scoff at and it might make up for the times when the stifle ability is dead. I'm just not convinced that it will have practical applicability in the matchups that we currently struggle against.
The go-to comparison for me is Vendilion Clique which I think I would rather play despite UU in the cost because the body is the same but with greater utility. At any rate, I think it would be possible to see a single copy of Nimble Obstructionist somewhere in the 75 if the meta slows down even just a little further.
Edit: check out Jordan's brief opinion of the card (and others) here http://modernnexus.com/whats-time-hou-xln-first-impressions/
New spoiled card today. Refuse // Cooperate.
Give's some Great momentum to move to a late game burn plan in an eldrazi/angler meta.
Modern: MONKEY GROW & Amulet Titan
Legacy: RG Lands
EDH: Merieke Ri Berit Esper Good stuff
Personally, I have been enjoying running a fifth Shoal/Snare. I'm running 3/2 currently after trying out that list that had 4/2, and I have been liking it. Both cards are really good right now I think.
If you really want better removal, I think you should just splash a fourth colour. I've never tried, so maybe it's actually not as good. Even if you don't want to shift all the way to Counter-Cat, you could probably just run a shock or two for the fourth colour and get away with it. It would be a little awkward with Blood Moon (there are matchups in which you would want Moon and removal), but there are at least some matchups where you would just switch Moon in for Path/Push/Terminate. The times it is bad will probably even be somewhat mitigated by you either having Moon active or access to good removal (you don't necessarily need both).
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg