Any non rotating format without FoW is doomed to fail eventually, as its card pool increases and as players figure out the best decks eventually decks will get too consistent without cheap permission to police them, and modern doesn't even have counterspell. Control suffers further from the need to ban cheap blue cantrips that typically allow permission to function because the weakness of the permission means they do more to enable combo than permission.
QFT. A certain amount of quality permission and other "unfun" spells are necessary to keep a non-rotating format healthy in the long run. That's what the "fun police" who hates these types of cards don't get. All their efforts in the last few years to make fun-cards-only sets have failed to produce a fun, healthy format in the long run. I suppose that they think banning cards every six months is fun. When they should be making proper circuit breaker cards so that powerful cards don't easily break the format.
The problem with the universal answer being counterspells is that it creates a situation where Blue is required. Brainstorm and Force have created that in Legacy, and it continues to be a different problem for them. Instead of having problems with strong threats, they have a problem where 80% of the decks run Brainstorm and 40% run Force of Will.
Tbh, I don't think FoW or Counterspell is the only thing that could make a "fun police". Stuff like Wasteland and Rishadan Port would probably be fine as well. Ofc, I'm a big fan of Legacy Death and Taxes, so I might be biased
Since mtgimage.com is no longer live, how you get images for the cards? At the moment I'm considering just pulling them off gatherer and storing them locally, but I'm wondering if there are any alternatives.
They could go all digital. It would remove so many of the problems of the game financially. Printing and supporting events that cost tons to run. <-serious about this, even if its a far out there thought.
While I don't have any experience running big events, I would assume that it would be cheaper to run paper events. After all, even if you make it a BYOC event, you still have to pay for power and internet consumption. You would also still have to set up tables and chairs so you couldn't even save money there.
Noteable absences: Collected Company - While obviously a powerful card, I don't have enough targets as it currently is, and cards like Scourge Wolf and Village Messenger are not powerful enough to make up for the loss of removal or Resurgence in my opinion. As it is, Pack Guardian is a solid stand in for CoCo. Arlinn Kord - I tried her out for a bit, but I never really found out when I actually wanted to see her. If the bolt and token abilities had switched sides, she would be a lot better.
The main deck feels pretty solid, the only change I'm considering is cutting a Silverfur Partisan for a mountain. I've found that I have problems going wider than me, like tokens or elves, so I'm considering cutting either a Twin Bolt or Roast for a Kozilek's Return, possibly even 2 copies.
Since the ban announcements, I have been testing a build set up around utilizing Ancestral Vision to the highest degree possible. As such it differs quite a lot from the other lists I've seen in this thread. That said, it still seems the most appropriate place to post this.
Card choices: Seeker of the Way: The deck can be a bit slow early, which makes the lifelink very helpful. Very nice synergy with Ardent Plea. Soulfire Grand Master may be a possible replacement for it, no prowess, but permanent lifelink and a very good lategame ability may make it a viable alternative. Meddling Mage: A versatile hatecard which can be cascaded into. It is OK, but not amazing, and I would like something better in this spot. I already tried Snapcaster Mage and Abbot of Keral Keep in this spot, but I cut them since they didn't work with Ancestral Vision and fairly hard to utilize proberly if cascaded into in the early game. Monastery Mentor: Gets out of hand if it lives a turn or two and provides a very solid clock. While we lack the protection offered in eternal formats like Force of Will and Mental Misstep this is still quite nice. I originally had Geist of Saint Traft here, but everyone was playing Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo which made it pretty hard to connect with him. I suspect the use of either Mentor or Geist is mostly a question of which meta you are expecting. Restoration Angel: Protects you other creatures from spot removal and abuses the ETB trigger of Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Goblin Dark-Dwellers: A beefy evasive creature that provides value by casting stuff in your graveyard. Notably able to cast Ancestral Vision.
Ardent Plea: Playing this due its ability to cast Ancestral Vision. The exalted trigger is a nice bonus but particularly exciting. Provides two prowess triggers if cascade hits a non-creature spell. A neat interaction against decks using Ensnaring Bridge is attacking with Spellskite, dealing damage with the exalted triggers.
Ancestral Vision: The entire reason to play this deck. Three cards for U has always been amazing.
In the sideboard I'm using Relic of Progenitus over Rest in Peace as graveyard hate, since a big part of the decks gameplan hinges on being able to cast stuff out of the graveyard with Dark-Dwellers. The rest of the sideboard should be pretty obvious.
The build is still very much a work in progress and I would love to get some feedback
I've been playing against a combo deck with Goblin Charbelcher and Burning Wish into Empty the Warrens. So far it seems like my best options are hoping he fizzles or doesn't go for the combo, while playing a Thalia on my turn 2. After sideboarding I also have Pithing Needle for belcher and Ethersworn Canonist for his rituals, but it honestly doesn't seem to do much. There is only one guy playing it at the moment, so I'm mostly considering just writing it off as an awful matchup, but I'm wondering if there are any useful sideboard cards with applications for other matchups I could be using.
Rare seems a little high, but with the right setup it seems to be the best mana rock I have seen.
-filling your graveyard with the right color is not that hard. So you are easily on par with mirage diamonds.
-it can easily add all your colors, even more so than star compass, if you are in color death.
-I believe it is the first rock ever that can produce any color + colorless. (The way it is worded, if you choose a land, you get a colorless mana I believe, while with the classic "add one of any color" you cannot).
That last point, plus the power level in limited, are enough to make it a rare.
You guys are making a false assumption. Colorless isn't a color. ONLY colored cards in the bin will generate mana from this.
Quote from Comprehensive Rules »
105.4. If a player is asked to choose a color, he or she must choose one of the five colors.
“Multicolored” is not a color. Neither is “colorless.”
106.5. If an ability would produce one or more mana of an undefined type, it produces no mana instead. Example: Meteor Crater has the ability “{T}: Choose a color of a permanent you control.
Add one mana of that color to your mana pool.” If you control no colored permanents,
activating Meteor Crater’s mana ability produces no mana.
The first 2cmc mana rock we've had for a while, if I recall correctly. It doesn't seem that good though, considering you need at least one card in your greaveyard for it to generate any mana.
Tortured Existence + Sanitarium Skeleton for CA.
Tortured Existence + Any dredge creature if you want to fill your graveyard.
Meren of Clan Nel Toth is a recursion engine by itself.
Recurring Nightmare is great as well.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang, also a self contained recursion engine.
4x Kessig Forgemaster
4x Lambholt Pacifist
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Geier Reach Bandit
4x Breakneck Rider
3x Silverfur Partisan
4x Pack Guardian
3x Howlpack Resurgence
Instants(6):
2x Fiery Impulse
4x Moonlight Hunt
Sorceries(2):
2x Roast
Land(22):
4x Cinder Glace
4x Game Trail
8x Forest
6x Mountain
3x Hermit of the Natterknolls
2x Rending Volley
1x Display of Dominance
2x Tears of Valakut
2x Naturalize
3x Twin Bolt
2x Roast
Collected Company - While obviously a powerful card, I don't have enough targets as it currently is, and cards like Scourge Wolf and Village Messenger are not powerful enough to make up for the loss of removal or Resurgence in my opinion. As it is, Pack Guardian is a solid stand in for CoCo.
Arlinn Kord - I tried her out for a bit, but I never really found out when I actually wanted to see her. If the bolt and token abilities had switched sides, she would be a lot better.
The main deck feels pretty solid, the only change I'm considering is cutting a Silverfur Partisan for a mountain. I've found that I have problems going wider than me, like tokens or elves, so I'm considering cutting either a Twin Bolt or Roast for a Kozilek's Return, possibly even 2 copies.
4x Seeker of the Way
4x Meddling Mage
3x Monastery Mentor
4x Restoration Angel
3x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Enchantments (4):
4x Ardent Plea
Instants (12):
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Helix
4x Ancestral Vision
Lands (22):
4x Arid Mesa
4x Flooded Strand
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Steam Vents
2x Plains
2x Island
1x Mountain
2x Relic of Progenitus
3x Kor Firewalker
2x Spellskite
3x Blood Moon
3x Stony Silence
2x Pyroclasm
Seeker of the Way: The deck can be a bit slow early, which makes the lifelink very helpful. Very nice synergy with Ardent Plea. Soulfire Grand Master may be a possible replacement for it, no prowess, but permanent lifelink and a very good lategame ability may make it a viable alternative.
Meddling Mage: A versatile hatecard which can be cascaded into. It is OK, but not amazing, and I would like something better in this spot. I already tried Snapcaster Mage and Abbot of Keral Keep in this spot, but I cut them since they didn't work with Ancestral Vision and fairly hard to utilize proberly if cascaded into in the early game.
Monastery Mentor: Gets out of hand if it lives a turn or two and provides a very solid clock. While we lack the protection offered in eternal formats like Force of Will and Mental Misstep this is still quite nice. I originally had Geist of Saint Traft here, but everyone was playing Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo which made it pretty hard to connect with him. I suspect the use of either Mentor or Geist is mostly a question of which meta you are expecting.
Restoration Angel: Protects you other creatures from spot removal and abuses the ETB trigger of Goblin Dark-Dwellers.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers: A beefy evasive creature that provides value by casting stuff in your graveyard. Notably able to cast Ancestral Vision.
Ardent Plea: Playing this due its ability to cast Ancestral Vision. The exalted trigger is a nice bonus but particularly exciting. Provides two prowess triggers if cascade hits a non-creature spell. A neat interaction against decks using Ensnaring Bridge is attacking with Spellskite, dealing damage with the exalted triggers.
Path to Exile & Lightning Bolt: Efficient removal.
Lightning Helix: Pretty solid removal. I might end up cutting one or two for an extra land and/or a Condemn though.
Ancestral Vision: The entire reason to play this deck. Three cards for U has always been amazing.
In the sideboard I'm using Relic of Progenitus over Rest in Peace as graveyard hate, since a big part of the decks gameplan hinges on being able to cast stuff out of the graveyard with Dark-Dwellers. The rest of the sideboard should be pretty obvious.
The build is still very much a work in progress and I would love to get some feedback