Dig Through Time confirmed on the mothership. Control players everywhere rejoice.
And they said Control was de-
wait a second.
It's a rare.
What in the seven hells, I was thinking this'd be an uncommon.
I mean, it's pushed enough that I can concede to rare status for such a lovely dig and mine, the sort of card Wizards seems wary of letting us have because usually it leads to Combo taking advantage of it... but still, rare...
Tangentially, I think Delve as a mechanic really hit it out of the park for Khans. It took a while, but it's showing great promise. Part of me wants to see it be part of the farewell to Core Sets that will be M16...
Well the whole point of it being rare is for limited which is a pretty good reason. It may not be format warping like Pack Rat, but this card allows you to go through about a third of your deck and find the two most relevant cards at the end of your opponent's turn. Definitely rare worthy.
Initial testing with Treasure Cruise in UR Twin (2-of, no build-around) vs. Jund has been great. I've resolved it for 1-2 mana on Turn 6+ reliably enough, and Tiago actually cooperates with it. Heck, in one of the games, Tiago flashed it back for the full discount (I'm assuming Delve works with Flashback--please tell me if I'm wrong). Oddly enough, I only won 1 out of 3 games where at least one Treasure Cruise resolved.
Congratulations, I WILL test Treasure Cruise in everything else. I predict it'll be bonkers in Delver.
Delve does indeed work with flashback. To be honest I'm not sure where everyone got the idea that Tiago is terrible with delve. Just leave the most relevant spell in the GY and delve the rest away.
The flashback cost doesn't have to be more expensive though. Unburial Rites and Lingering Souls are examples of cards that are cheaper in the grave than up front.
The hydra will die and the defenders will live. All first strike damage is dealt at once before regular damage is dealt so the hydra will die to first strike damage and not be around to deal damage anymore.
I don't understand the people who think this would be fair at CMC 6 or less. With just two cards in the GY (which means you fetched once and cast almost anything) you would have a better Concentrate. A card WotC is already saying is too good for standard. Particularly since this set doesn't seem to have anything a control player would really want to better use with their GY this would often just be Divination + draw 1 more. By the time you need to refuel you should have plenty in the GY.
I can't see myself ever wanting to sideboard it. If they can cast CMC 4 spells then I should have 3 mana to cast Dissipate as just a general hard counter. Yes it's one mana less, but if they are casting big spells then they aren't going to be casting multiples of them in the same turn anyway. Standard will stick to Dissolve with sideboard Negate for things that need to be countered.
Linvala will shut off anything that is an activated ability coming from a creature. An activated ability is essentially anything written in the form [Cost] : [Effect].
So a creature like Scavenging Ooze is shut down entirely. Where as a creature like Blood Artist has a triggered ability and will go on as normal.
Some creatures can have both like Noble Heiarch. In this case you cannot tap the Noble for mana, but she will still give the exalted trigger to the appropriate attacker.
Sultai Charm is solid, but the real question is how much better than Abrupt Decay is it. Being able to hit Pod and cycle against control decks is very useful so I suspect that so long as aggro isn't a major threat an BUG deck will run some number of Sultai Charm in place of Decay.
Unfortunately no. Each activated ability is a separate ability and each cost most be paid separately. In this case that is almost impossible as tapping the enchanted creature is part of the cost. Best to enchant two separate creatures.
You've almost got it right. After your upkeep you move to the draw step where you immediately draw a card. No one gets priority to do anything before you draw. They do get priority to cast spells and activate abilities after the draw (and before the main phase) so casting Vendillion Clique there is perfectly reasonable. In fact this is one of the most common uses of Clique.
Worth noteing, its not flame slash, its mizzium mortars. Instant speed makes it much, much better.
every mode on that charm is worth 2 mana. Morters, alarm (with strike tacked on), and distress. Playable? I dunno. 3 mana is alot. Id like to think this is an aggressive charm, and 3 cmc is a ton for aggro. But I suppose by its nature of being a charm, it could be tempo or control. It kills creatures, can make dudes to kill walkers or block weenies, and can hurt combo. If there wasssss a rwb control deck (like that walker moon deck) this could use it.
Mizzium Mortars is a sorcery. The best comparison is either instant Flame Slash or Sonic Burst without the extra cost. The charm is certainly versatile, but the question is does that versatility make it worthwhile. So long as aggro isn't too big of an issue 3 mana removal isn't the worst price to pay but is making a removal spell better against combo/control worth the loss of strength against aggro/midrange. Maybe.
So this though literally popped into my head and I'm here like wtf. angel of jubilation is a complete kick to the crotch of all decks playing shock lands and fetchlands.
She doesn't interact with Shocklands since you aren't paying life to activate an ability. Plus she is triple white which means either you are playing fetches yourself or in mono-white. Really if you want to get her effect Aven Mindcensor is pretty similar.
I'm not sure Mardu Charm will be that great in Modern. It's not bad by any means, but 3 mana color intense Flame Slash, Duress, and Raise the Alarm are not all that exciting. Unless the deck can put the tokens to use in a different way most people will probably still prefer just Slaughter Pact. I could be wrong though.
Yes. Once first strike damage is dealt both players will get an opportunity to cast spell and activate abilities before normal damage occurs. Generally this is used to combo first strike damage with a burn spell to kill a larger creature before it can strike back, but it works just as well with double striking feast and famine.
Well the whole point of it being rare is for limited which is a pretty good reason. It may not be format warping like Pack Rat, but this card allows you to go through about a third of your deck and find the two most relevant cards at the end of your opponent's turn. Definitely rare worthy.
Delve does indeed work with flashback. To be honest I'm not sure where everyone got the idea that Tiago is terrible with delve. Just leave the most relevant spell in the GY and delve the rest away.
Linvala will shut off anything that is an activated ability coming from a creature. An activated ability is essentially anything written in the form [Cost] : [Effect].
So a creature like Scavenging Ooze is shut down entirely. Where as a creature like Blood Artist has a triggered ability and will go on as normal.
Some creatures can have both like Noble Heiarch. In this case you cannot tap the Noble for mana, but she will still give the exalted trigger to the appropriate attacker.
Edit: Spelling
Mizzium Mortars is a sorcery. The best comparison is either instant Flame Slash or Sonic Burst without the extra cost. The charm is certainly versatile, but the question is does that versatility make it worthwhile. So long as aggro isn't too big of an issue 3 mana removal isn't the worst price to pay but is making a removal spell better against combo/control worth the loss of strength against aggro/midrange. Maybe.
She doesn't interact with Shocklands since you aren't paying life to activate an ability. Plus she is triple white which means either you are playing fetches yourself or in mono-white. Really if you want to get her effect Aven Mindcensor is pretty similar.