I have still some questions and improvements regarding the FAQ.
First at all, if I´m in a Subforum it is not possible to go to the latest posting of a thread. Maybe, I´m just to dumb to find it. If this feature isn´t in yet, you should upgrade the FAQ in this point.
EDIT: Dumb me found it
Second, in the FAQ, if you are using the Black Version of the Forum, the font colour isn´t correct. There are some points, where the font colour is black although it should be white.
Sincerly,
Kathal
PS: The new Forum is pretty insane, love it
Oh well.
Greetings,
Kathal
Furthermore, Ghostly Prison is rather mediocre, when it comes down on turn 3 and the opp can attack with an 8/8 through it. It only gets relevant, if you follow up with a Sphere, but than again, needing to draw two specific cards to not just die on turn 4 sucks.
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
Card looks cool, but is in the end not good.
There is exactly one deck which might want it and that is Twiddle Storm, since it is more resilient than a basic forest but the deck sucks either way.
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
In the history of Modern (and even Legacy) the graveyard was never really seen as an resource, cause there were not many pay off cards there, which would force you to interact with that zone. Dredge was the first mechanic which really showcased, what can be done with the graveyard (as in a resource similar to the hand or the battlefield). Since than, a lot of new cards have been printed, all of them interacting favourable with the graveyard, from some "innocent" mechanics like Delve to flashback (Snapcaster) and recurring creatures (from Nether Spirit to Gravecrawler). Nowadays, the graveyard is a resource which a lot of decks "abuse" in some forms, be it just for "some" value chains (baby Jace, Snappy, Unearth, Lingering Souls) to dedicated decks (Dredge, Phoenix, Bridgevine, Loam decks). That the share of those decks are rising due to that twofold development of
a) Increase of playable graveyard matters cards and
b) Players learning to value the graveyard
should also mean, that players learn to realise than graveyard hate is mandatory.
There were time periods, where you simply couldn't leave the house without Artefact hate without getting stomped by Affinity, Artefact hate nowadays is mostly counter hate and for most normal decks, bringing artefact hate (even in the SB) is even trolling.
So yes, to get to your initial standpoint, the graveyard is where the "busted" things happen in Modern, not the stack as in Legacy. Hence, yes, playing graveyard hate even maindeck (as long as it is absolutely dead elsewhere) is and was the correct choice for many months now.
Greetings,
Kathal
Feeder just generates big bodies or a wide board (depending on what exactly they have), which can be dealt with either sweeper (especially Terminus, Hallowed Burial or Anger of the Gods) or big dumb beaters from your self (+ have an out to an 8/8).
Ideally watch some games on twitch/youtube to get a better understanding for what I meant (like to one of Kanisters streams: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/436193956). Within 4-5 games you should get the grasp of how to play against that deck (assuming you know how to play against Dredge already).
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
1) Altar of Dementia and a few creatures/set-up tools to start a chain mill (wins if unchecked)
2) Carrion Feeder and re-curring sac outlets for the Vine kills (generates tons of pressure if unchecked)
Most of the lists do not even run the Dredge package, since it is rather mediocre (+ you only have 2-3 slots available to begin with). A Needle on Altar shuts down close to all early wins and thus forces the deck to win via a Beatdown plan, which can be fast (in theory you can have 24+ power on turn 2 on the battle field, but the chance of this happening is basically 0 (god draw)) but generally needs a couple of turns to be able to clock you where it is basically an aggro deck, with a recurring creature package without reach (so basically Dredge without Flag or Chill).
So basically: Either remove Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis via Surgical (hampers the Aggro plan also) or deal with Altar and you are facing basically dredge.
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
- Elf attacks, flash in Snappy (target Push), block, he uses a pump spell, I let it resolve, Snappy dies, use Push, he has another protection spell
- Untap fetch Pulse via Teachings, grab Snappy with it, untap lands via Wild Rec
- Elf attacks, flash in Snappy, target Pulse, block, he uses a pump spell again, I let it resolve, Snappy dies, EOT I Pulse back Snappy
- Fetch Teachings via Teachings
- Elf attacks, flash in still the same Snappy, he needs to pump again, I Cryptic bounce my Snappy, opp is tilted
Yeah, absurd value train I had there going, re-using the same Snappy 4 times (1x cast, 2x Pulse, 1x Cryptic) to drain the majority of his pump spell resulted into a super easy win for me.
So, yay Snappy abuse
Btw. has somebody already played around with FoF? I kinda want to test it, but I struggle to justify it as a teaching targets and running more than 2 will probably feel clunky.
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
Besides that, close to no one said back than, that Pod might limit design space (since that argument was felt as a lackluster to say it this way), the common sense was rather, that Pod will get continuously better due to the shift from a spell based system towards a creature based system (talking not about the last 4-6 years, but the last 12+ years). Sure, there were people arguing along that line, but given the information we (as the playerbase) had back than, it seemed foolish. Why? Since we knew, that Wizards disregards Modern regarding printing of new cards (as we have seen with TC and DTT), at least back than. Only with the B&R announcement, that train of thought really "took off", since it was "indirectly" mentioned to say it this way.
People mainly talked about the oppressiveness of the Pod shells, we had the Melira shells, than the Kiki Summer into the Rhino Winter into the Pod Ban, and each iteration felt worse to play against basically. But than again, back than I had the feeling, that the playerbase was overall more "relaxed" regarding bans, aka no echo chamber outcries 24/7 basically (what we witness since the Summer Bloom/Splinter Twin bans) and that is imo the biggest difference from back than to today.
Greetings,
Kathal
PS: Only talking about Pod, not Stoneforge.
Currently I'm looking at the following cards:
Will be played in high Tier level decks:
Ranger-Captain of Eos (Humans)
Force of Negation (UW Control)
Force of Vigor (different U based decks)
Lava Dart (Mono R Phoenix, but probably to prohibit in UR Phoenix)
Seasoned Pyromancer (Mono R Phoenix, everything even remotely looking like Mardu Pyromancer (or Grixis version))
Unearth
Collector Ouphe (Gxx decks)
Eladamri's call (Druid Combo)
Horizon Lands
Will see play, but only in specific decks:
Giver of Runes (D&T)
Wrenn and Six (Assault Loam)
Scale Up (Infect)
Force of Despair (BUG Teachings, SB card for other decks)
Archmage's Charm (heavy U based decks not called Esper)
Astral Drift (Astral Slide)
On Thin Ice (UW Control as decent removal spell 5-6 instead of Oust/Condemn)
Plague Engineer (Bxx decks, great vs Hardening Scale, Humans, Spirits and co)
Pillage (Ponza, Rxx Midrange)
Kaya's Guile (BWx.decks, card is great)
Cycling Lands (Loam and Astral Drift decks)
Prismatic Vista (decent fetch for 2c decks)
Not totally sure, but will get tested:
Snow Cards (Marit Lage's Slumber, Dead of Winter, Ice-Fang Coatl, Arcum's Astrolabe) - Own deck. Honestly doubt, that the payoff cards are enough though
Goblin Cards (Pashalik Mons, Goblin Matron, Munition's Expert, Sling-Gang Lieutenant - BR Gobbo Aristocrats basically)
Unbound Flourishing (Hardening Scales)
Bazaar Trademage
Fact or Fiction (BUG Teachings for sure, no idea what other deck would want to have that card)
Echo of Eons (not that hyped about that card, since Time Twister in Modern is not that great tbh)
Urza, Lord High Artificer (Tezzerator ft. Urza)
Goblin Engineer (Tezzerator ft. Urza) - those two cards (Urza and Goblin Engineer) might push the deck a ton, easier access to silver bullets/lock pieces, interacts quite well with themself (especially with Sai), might result into a shift towards the Legacy The Antiquities War shell which saw a lot of success around the DRS ban.
Aria of Flames (R/UR Phoenix)
Ransack the Lab (Griseldaddy, but might be worse than Discovery though, especially in the Emmi versions)
So I'm looking at roughly 20 cards where I'm quite confident, that they will make a splash, which is honestly way more than what I originally expected (expected roughly 10 high impact cards).
Greetings,
Kathal
Most likely because of slots, there is only that much room in a set, so cramming all 5 swords in AND all 10 Horizon lands takes to much space away from other inclusions (especially the Swords since they are Mythic).
Greetings,
Kathal