I wouldn't mind throwing in KoTR as a one of with perhaps a Bojuka Bog to fetch up for the really nasty GY strategies that will be reemerging. She'll also be a little stronger without DRS munching up her lands. But yea, 4 Birds, 4 Hierarch for me. Hitting that turn 2 Pod is extremely important. The black DRS produced was rarely relevant; easy enough to get with our fetches. I will miss Ranger-ing for 2 DRS to grind out games though...I remember having 3 DRS on the table one time, gg.
Hahaha, yea Geist is in deep right now. I mean, Lingering Souls was one of the worst things this deck could run into, and now we gotta deal with Bitterblossom? At least with Souls, you could electrolyze, clear one instance of it and cantrip to replace electrolyze, and maybe remand the second half of Souls. But now, every, freakin, turn, 1/1 flyer. Electrolyze won't be near efficient enough. Geist is never getting through.
I'm really disappointed. My deck just got a turn slower and significantly worse and my least favorite deck to play against(Zoo) just got a lot better.
I've been a huge supporter of Modern for about two years now but this leaves a really bitter taste in my mouth. I've never really considered giving up on Modern before now.
Stick with it, try some new cards out. I'm bummed too, both the decks I play are gonna feel this change, but I have hope
Did Melira Pod get worse? I know they played Deathrite, but it seems to me that Deathrite Shaman was honestly more powerful against their deck than it was for it.
Also, I might be giving Voice of Resurgence too much credit, but it seems like that card gives Melira Pod a pretty decent matchup against Faeries.
DRS helped with Melira's grind plan. You actually tend to win with beatdown more than you combo off, and Deathrite is perfect for that. Also produced black which is sometimes relevant, and is better than a Birds or Hierarch to search up with Ranger of Eos.
I get snapcaster decks easily dealing with DRS, but you're not thinking about some of the pure graveyard decks.
Rites was nearly unplayable, loam just dissapeared lol, living end dropped back into 2.5, dredgevine dissapeared too.
In all of modern, deathrite shaman is the second most played creature. That's reducing diversity. It's a one mana planeswalker for god sakes.
There's more than just DRS keeping the grave in check. Reprinting Scavenging Ooze was a huge hit for those decks too. People will just play it as a 4-of now without DRS to share the stuff to munch on. Wouldn't be surprised to see Relic of Progenitus make a comeback too.
I've been on both sides of DRS, and you just gotta pack some hate for it, same as any other good creature. Their reasoning was that it was good at all stages of the game, but so is a creature like Dark Confidant, and you don't see them banning him.
The return of BB pretty much means Geist of Saint Traft is done. Also, I'm in the "DRS didn't need the ban" camp. Card was not broken. Easy to kill, easy to play around.
So, now DRS drops in price, BB goes up $40, and I'm out some cash and will never see any BB's. This blows.
Looking into this deck so I can play an actually good deck in modern. Any suggestions on how to play the deck or build it?
UWR comes in several flavors, but the core is pretty much the same throughout all the lists. I would put together a typical list (good place to start is the list that won GP Prague) and practice with that to get a feel for the deck. From there, tweak it how you like.
Been goldfishing with it and its ok but like it doesn't feel as sturdy as my UWR build. I'm not 100% sold on the lack of removal, but maybe I've gotten too accustomed to Helix, Bolt and Electrolyze. Any advice would be welcome!
I've always been a huge fan of Temporal Isolation. Enchantments with flash are a rare thing, and we all know how good flash is. That's some EoT or pre-combat draw with either Spiritdancer or Enchantress in play.
Any sideboard advice against affinity and boggles? I cant remember what it was but theres a creature that gives all artifacts an upkeep cost. Anyone using that?
[CARD]
Kataki, war's wage[/CARD] is the card you're looking for. And no, no one uses it in UWR. A better alternative is Stony Silence and Wear/Tear. Kataki is better in a toolbox deck like Pod.
Do you think the list that I posted above might benefit by having Remand in the Main Deck? I do like how he stayed clear of Path to Exile.
I get the sense that the deck you posted is more control oriented with the Sphinx's Rev, wraths and verdicts, and swords. So no, Remand wouldn't really help you much. Remand is good in decks that put on an early clock. A good example is Twin. They're going to win quickly so they don't really care that you get the spell back. A Time Walk or two is good enough; the game will be over before the spell becomes a problem. In UWR, you put on the clock with Geist, and while its not as fast as something like Twin, you do want to slow your opponent down because you run efficient beaters and efficient removal. Geist will get there, so you don't necessarily need a hard counter, but Remand helps to hold back the tide till you do win.
Also, as...annoying...as Path is, it's still an easy answer to a lot of terrifying creatures that UWR can't deal with normally. Running at least 2 is a necessary evil.
pretty much this, Death Rite Shaman way too good for its cost
I've been on both sides of DRS (play him in Melira Pod, and against plenty of times with UWR) and honestly, he is not that broken of a card. He's good. He's real good, don't get me wrong, but not ban worthy. You can attack him from plenty of angles: for example, Snapcaster after they try to activate him, exile graveyards, bolt/helix/electrolyze/abrupt decay/dismember/etc. He is certainly a staple in anything that runs GB, but he doesn't polarize the format by encouraging everybody to play GB decks, which would be something that WoTC would deem ban worthy.
My plan for those decks running the life gain dorks is generally two for one them with electrolyze, and steal their bigger dude with Threads of Disloyalty.
I played against a Martyr-life deck a few times, he even got the combo off twice in one game. But, even if they're sitting on 70 some odd life, it ain't over. Save paths for Serra Ascendent, maximize your value with Electrolyze, and keep their board clear as much as possible. Hold up counters for trouble cards like Honor of the Pure, Ranger of Eos, and Proclamation of Rebirth; let their durdle creatures through. They get into topdeck mode pretty quickly, and Ranger is usually their way out. And, even at 70 life, I brought him down to 0 with just a Geist and Clique swinging every turn once I stabilized.
I remember Ajani Vengeant doing work that game as well; I think he swung with the Ascendant and I dropped Ajani the following turn and kept her tapped for the rest of the game.
Reason: At the time of its banning in Modern, Ancestral Vision was showing up in Legacy Stoneblade decks. The goal was to suspend AV on the first turn, then try to use 1-for-1 counters and removal to not fall behind while trying to stick Stoneforge Mystic into Batterskull. If the move failed, you would get a free fistful of cards to recover from it, and if it succeeded, you'd push so far ahead the match was almost unloseable. Since WotC was (and still is?) determined to making Modern 'feel' different from Legacy, they banned it as a precaution. In the meantime, Ancestral Vision has been dropped from UW Stoneblade, and only sees play in the Shardless Agent based BUG control deck.
The concept of thwarting the opponent 1-for-1, then pulling far ahead when AV came off of suspend would have been "unfun" at the dawn of the format and might have tainted the format in the eyes of a certain demographic of players. That's a reasonable fear, but what ended up happening instead was a bunch of combo decks goldfishing past each other, so it was a moot point.
Question:
If its no longer part of the UW shell that defines one of Legacy's pillars, should it remain banned? Personally, I think the answer is no. And for the record, I think cross-format relevance is a stupid metric anyways. The notion that the two formats can't have some common ground is ridiculous, and if you go back to the initial announcement, its strongly implied that overlap between them is the intent. Modern Jund porting into Legacy and thriving without its entire core being stripped by a ban (like Modern UW) was proves WotC's thinking is changing. I wouldn't be surprised to see AV, Jace, and SFM back in the format someday. Maybe not soon, but the wind is changing.
From what I've heard about Stoneforge, it won't probably ever come back. It was so polarizing that the vast majority of decks in the meta were Esper Deathblade and hardly anything else. Ancestral visions is one thing, but Jace and SFM are way too OP.
I'm considering mainboarding some kind of enchantment removal, maybe Wispmare or War priest of Thune
Stick with it, try some new cards out. I'm bummed too, both the decks I play are gonna feel this change, but I have hope
DRS helped with Melira's grind plan. You actually tend to win with beatdown more than you combo off, and Deathrite is perfect for that. Also produced black which is sometimes relevant, and is better than a Birds or Hierarch to search up with Ranger of Eos.
There's more than just DRS keeping the grave in check. Reprinting Scavenging Ooze was a huge hit for those decks too. People will just play it as a 4-of now without DRS to share the stuff to munch on. Wouldn't be surprised to see Relic of Progenitus make a comeback too.
I've been on both sides of DRS, and you just gotta pack some hate for it, same as any other good creature. Their reasoning was that it was good at all stages of the game, but so is a creature like Dark Confidant, and you don't see them banning him.
So, now DRS drops in price, BB goes up $40, and I'm out some cash and will never see any BB's. This blows.
UWR comes in several flavors, but the core is pretty much the same throughout all the lists. I would put together a typical list (good place to start is the list that won GP Prague) and practice with that to get a feel for the deck. From there, tweak it how you like.
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Spells:
4 Remand
3 Mana Leak
3 Path to Exile
2 Sphinx's Revelation
Been goldfishing with it and its ok but like it doesn't feel as sturdy as my UWR build. I'm not 100% sold on the lack of removal, but maybe I've gotten too accustomed to Helix, Bolt and Electrolyze. Any advice would be welcome!
[CARD]
Kataki, war's wage[/CARD] is the card you're looking for. And no, no one uses it in UWR. A better alternative is Stony Silence and Wear/Tear. Kataki is better in a toolbox deck like Pod.
Too slow. Tron can power out Karn on turn 3 I believe. If you're going to pay 5 mana for something in Modern, it had better well win you the game.
I get the sense that the deck you posted is more control oriented with the Sphinx's Rev, wraths and verdicts, and swords. So no, Remand wouldn't really help you much. Remand is good in decks that put on an early clock. A good example is Twin. They're going to win quickly so they don't really care that you get the spell back. A Time Walk or two is good enough; the game will be over before the spell becomes a problem. In UWR, you put on the clock with Geist, and while its not as fast as something like Twin, you do want to slow your opponent down because you run efficient beaters and efficient removal. Geist will get there, so you don't necessarily need a hard counter, but Remand helps to hold back the tide till you do win.
Also, as...annoying...as Path is, it's still an easy answer to a lot of terrifying creatures that UWR can't deal with normally. Running at least 2 is a necessary evil.
I've been on both sides of DRS (play him in Melira Pod, and against plenty of times with UWR) and honestly, he is not that broken of a card. He's good. He's real good, don't get me wrong, but not ban worthy. You can attack him from plenty of angles: for example, Snapcaster after they try to activate him, exile graveyards, bolt/helix/electrolyze/abrupt decay/dismember/etc. He is certainly a staple in anything that runs GB, but he doesn't polarize the format by encouraging everybody to play GB decks, which would be something that WoTC would deem ban worthy.
I played against a Martyr-life deck a few times, he even got the combo off twice in one game. But, even if they're sitting on 70 some odd life, it ain't over. Save paths for Serra Ascendent, maximize your value with Electrolyze, and keep their board clear as much as possible. Hold up counters for trouble cards like Honor of the Pure, Ranger of Eos, and Proclamation of Rebirth; let their durdle creatures through. They get into topdeck mode pretty quickly, and Ranger is usually their way out. And, even at 70 life, I brought him down to 0 with just a Geist and Clique swinging every turn once I stabilized.
I remember Ajani Vengeant doing work that game as well; I think he swung with the Ascendant and I dropped Ajani the following turn and kept her tapped for the rest of the game.
From what I've heard about Stoneforge, it won't probably ever come back. It was so polarizing that the vast majority of decks in the meta were Esper Deathblade and hardly anything else. Ancestral visions is one thing, but Jace and SFM are way too OP.