The deck wasn't extremely successful in Legacy but it was still a midrange contender in a format that's normally quite hostile to midrange. Eventually I think Jund and BUG Shardless splintered into two decks that saw much more success, but RUG was still a powerful deck. Of the 3 related decks, Shardless BUG saw the most success thanks largely to DRS and Decay getting printed, and I think because Jace + Counterspells and Discard is just better in a format with numerous fast combo decks. Also, 4 mana is a lot in the Wasteland/Daze/Stifle format and Shardless agent still hit basically all the relevant targets anyway. I was just getting started in Legacy when the RUG version was a thing, but I was run over more than once by a local version of the deck that used regular mana dorks to ramp prior to RTR block. It wasn't Tier 1 but it was easily Tier 1.5-2 and it spawned a Tier 1 deck.
To my knowledge, I didn't think BBE and AV were ever legal together in extended, but I hardly ever played that format beyond a single GPT in Alara era. If they were legal together and nothing came if it, that's certainly a relevant data point but it doesn't mean it wasn't viable. Extended was a weird format with a relatively short PTQ season. Perhaps it could have existed but was bad, or simple was never developed. But my hunch is that it simply wasn't an option. Can anyone verify what sets were legal when BBE was in extended?
Regardless, the deck was good and it wasn't solely because BBE into AV was insane value. It just so happens that they are also fine cards by themselves. And when you fill the deck with other great cards that are also fine cascade targets, it turns out it's pretty good.
If it was even remotely viable in Legacy or Extended it would be worth looking at the interaction in Modern. And it's not like there are decks in Modern that reliably kill you before you can flood the board with threats and then hold up Cryptic while you pressure your opponent. There are plenty of decks in modern that don't play counter magic or discard and do just fine. Just because AV is blue doesn't mean you have play counters to be competitive. And when you realize that you have access to plenty of good disruption that DOES play well with cascade, it should be obvious that the deck is viable. Vendilion Clique, Izzet Charm, Cryptic Command, Flame Slash, Spellskite, Teferi, Venser, Glen Elendra. Thee are cards that work in this strategy. Keep in mind you are more Aggro control than anything else. It's fine to apply pressure first and then hold up a pair of disruption spells rather than counter everything. All you need is to hold up disruption for a turn or two while Goyf, Elf, or even Delver close the game.
The sheer card advantage from BBE alone can be pretty oppressive as we've seen before. Ancestral Vision just gives it a whole new level of power that easily rivals Treasure Cruise.
I don't think you realize just how important Brainstorm and Force of Will are to this strategy in Legacy. Setting up cascades and counterspells that can't be cascaded into is a big deal. We don't have great options for either of those things in Modern.
Right now I'm on Mardu Aristocrats. Not a final list by any means but I think it's a good jumping-off point. The ridiculous amounts of Gx decks going around has me considering playing more copies of Ride Down.
Woooow Skinshifter is really good in this deck! I like how it can have evasion or hit for 8, so either way, it's always coming in for something. Okay, well that's replacing Indomitable Ancients for sure. It hits for 2 less, but getting smacked for 13 is still a big deal. I was thinking about this a little while ago. You can T1: BoP. T2: Skinshifter T3: Doran, activate swing for 8. T4: Activate swing for 13. If you have removal in your hand, that's a seriously good board position.
Updated the deck to include Skinshifter.
Just a word of caution: Skinshifter is often either the best or absolutely worst card in the deck. Gets blown out by Bolt/Electrolyze all the time. Which is a shame, because the rest of the deck is so resilient to those cards.
Back before the Deathrite ban, I used to play 2 or 3 copies of Tower Defense and managed to get some turn 3 kills off of Doran + Deathrite haha.
This is the list I've been playing for a long while. I used to play Tarmogoyf in the place of the Skinshifters, but then I sold mine after the price spike. If this helps you with some ideas.
Personally, I would play Pain Seer over Scrivener, if you're trying to play a budget Dark Confidant. Also, cutting some of the top of your curve for burn wouldn't be a bad idea either. Bump in the Night and Lava Spike are both worth playing in addition to Lightning Bolt. I'm actually a fan of Master of the Feast in this deck. Not being stonewalled by Tarmogoyf is a big plus if you ask me.
Considering the time travel plot, it seems possible that even if Ugin is actually dead, the past events could still set in motion a chain of events that lead to Ugin's survival in the present.
$5 entry for us, with prizes for 3-1 and better. The owners have been considering dropping entry to $2 because they thought that entry might be discouraging players from attending but I assured them that entry wasn't the price barrier that Modern is suffering from at the moment. Besides, a bigger prize pool is a good incentive to get people to play and be competitive.
Foil Delvers because that card won't be printed again for quite some time, I think.
Double faced cards in general are unlikely to return anytime soon thanks to the obstacle they present in terms of the printing process. Particularly Innistrad-specific ones.
My friend has been developing this deck behind the scenes for the past couple months. The deck focuses on mana denial and the Aura draw engine of Kor Spiritdancer. After a while he eventually shared the list with me and we started making tweaks to get it in competitive shape. I asked his permission to post it here after he went 3-1 in a daily yesterday.
So here is my pet project I've been working on for the past couple of months. It came to me through using Spreading Seas in Merfolk because I noticed that the manabase for the metagame in modern is vulnerable. I started to gradually find more cards that worked together, and eventually arrived at this deck.. There was someone with a similar deck that used the Spreading Seas and Sea's Claim along with Sigil of the Empty Throne, which is where I got the idea to use that card.
I'm able to keep one land hands and do well because of the Abundant Growths and the Utopia Sprawls. The Kor Spiritdancer's let me dig through my deck very quickly. Idyllic Tutor's will get me out of sticky situations. Either way, by turn 3-5 I'm able to draw the Sphere of Safety or Ghostly Prison, or just able to mana control the opponent. Copy Enchantment is really flexible, and has helped a lot when I have a Ghostly Prison out already or if I need some more land control.
I'll be adding more as the deck continues to develop. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome.
I don't know if any of you guys are still trying to make this work, but I've been playing a more meta-specific version of this deck for the past few weeks. My goal is to hate out fetches and other tutors. It's either unforgiving and brutal or spends entirely too much time durdling. It's one of the most fun and infuriating decks I've ever played and really rewards tight play. Any thoughts?
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.
I can see this happening: Elspeth and Ajani fight Xenagos, Xenagos kills Ajani, Elspeth goes bananas and kills Xenagos, and through her valor and yadda yadda enters the Pantheon.
MAYBE.
Or...Xenagos can kill Elspeth and Ajani can become a god
That's a good amount of value, but not so much that they'll be over $150. It's a fairly straightforward deck, so better for newer players than pod, and doesn't rely on an infinite combo like melira or twin, something I doubt WOTC wants to put in a preconstructed deck. It also is a fairly well-rounded deck. If the first modern event deck does well, then WOTC can release ones with more valuable/needed rares.
Out of curiosity, I plugged this list into tcgplayer, sans basics, and it came out to $185.36. And that's not even accounting for the dice/box/sleeves. I dunno, I think people are getting a little carried away with the possibilities. Do we have figures for what the singles values of duel decks and such are approximately worth before they hit the shelves? Maybe we can get an idea of what this will actually be worth. Even accounting for the dip in prices the deck itself causes, I somehow doubt it'd be worth this much. Wizards seems to have a pretty good grip on making these kinds of things very close to actual MSRP.
chances are it will be one mythic rare and 4-5 rare from the modern masters set with vivid lands and other Modern cards to support the rares.
seriously doubt they will toss fetchlands in a prebuilt deck based on a set that didnt have fetches to begin with.
Curious, where'd you get the notion that this would be limited to Modern Masters cards? This seems like the opportune time to print some stuff that WASN'T in MM.
I don't think you realize just how important Brainstorm and Force of Will are to this strategy in Legacy. Setting up cascades and counterspells that can't be cascaded into is a big deal. We don't have great options for either of those things in Modern.
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Caves of Koilos
2x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Swamp
4x Temple of Malice
4x Temple of Silence
4x Temple of Triumph
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Creature
4x Bloodsoaked Champion
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Iroas, God of Victory
2x Purphoros, God of the Forge
2x Tymaret, the Murder King
2x Mardu Ascendancy
Instant
4x Magma Jet
2x Mardu Charm
4x Raise the Alarm
2x Ride Down
Just a word of caution: Skinshifter is often either the best or absolutely worst card in the deck. Gets blown out by Bolt/Electrolyze all the time. Which is a shame, because the rest of the deck is so resilient to those cards.
Back before the Deathrite ban, I used to play 2 or 3 copies of Tower Defense and managed to get some turn 3 kills off of Doran + Deathrite haha.
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Murmuring Bosk
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1x Stirring Wildwood
1x Swamp
2x Tectonic Edge
2x Temple Garden
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Garruk Relentless
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Courser of Kruphix
4x Doran, the Siege Tower
2x Dungrove Elder
2x Scavenging Ooze
3x Skinshifter
2x Treefolk Harbinger
1x Crib Swap
1x Nameless Inversion
4x Path to Exile
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Thoughtseize
1x Creeping Corrosion
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Heartwood Storyteller
3x Lingering Souls
2x Nyx-Fleece Ram
1x Rhox Faithmender
1x Silent Arbiter
2x Spellskite
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
This is the list I've been playing for a long while. I used to play Tarmogoyf in the place of the Skinshifters, but then I sold mine after the price spike. If this helps you with some ideas.
Double faced cards in general are unlikely to return anytime soon thanks to the obstacle they present in terms of the printing process. Particularly Innistrad-specific ones.
2 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Aura Gnarlid
1 Yavimaya Enchantress
Spells:34
3 Abundant Growth
1 Chained to the Rocks
4 Evil Presence
4 Sea's Claim
3 Utopia Sprawl
3 Contaminated Ground
3 Convincing Mirage
2 Spreading Seas
3 Ghostly Prison
2 Idyllic Tutor
1 Genju of the Realm
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Sphere of Safety
2 Arid Mesa
1 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Groundo
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Nature's Claim
1 Shattering Spree
2 Vandalblast
1 Contaminated Ground
1 Convincing Mirage
2 Spreading Seas
1 Trace of Abundance
2 Copy Enchantment
2 Ricochet Trap
I'll be adding more as the deck continues to develop. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome.
2x Harmonize
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Plow Under
2x Thoughtseize
Instant (20)
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Beast Within
2x Boomerang
1x Dismember
3x Mana Leak
1x Mystical Teachings
3x Shadow of Doubt
3x Trickbind
3x Voidslime
1x Jace Beleren
1x Vraska the Unseen
Land (24)
2x Breeding Pool
3x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Darkslick Shores
2x Forest
2x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Swamp
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Watery Grave
Artifact (1)
1x Batterskull
Creature (4)
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Counterbore
1x Creeping Corrosion
1x Dismember
1x Dispel
2x Drown in Sorrow
1x Gigadrowse
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Obstinate Baloth
2x Rain of Tears
1x Reap Intellect
3x Surgical Extraction
I don't know if any of you guys are still trying to make this work, but I've been playing a more meta-specific version of this deck for the past few weeks. My goal is to hate out fetches and other tutors. It's either unforgiving and brutal or spends entirely too much time durdling. It's one of the most fun and infuriating decks I've ever played and really rewards tight play. Any thoughts?
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.
Or...Xenagos can kill Elspeth and Ajani can become a god
Out of curiosity, I plugged this list into tcgplayer, sans basics, and it came out to $185.36. And that's not even accounting for the dice/box/sleeves. I dunno, I think people are getting a little carried away with the possibilities. Do we have figures for what the singles values of duel decks and such are approximately worth before they hit the shelves? Maybe we can get an idea of what this will actually be worth. Even accounting for the dip in prices the deck itself causes, I somehow doubt it'd be worth this much. Wizards seems to have a pretty good grip on making these kinds of things very close to actual MSRP.
Curious, where'd you get the notion that this would be limited to Modern Masters cards? This seems like the opportune time to print some stuff that WASN'T in MM.