Lantern is still identifiable as Magic. However, it has some of the least fun mechanics everyone hates about Magic: fateseal, creatures can't attack, etc. It's Stasis with untap steps. If you're playing Lantern Control, you're walking around with a sign on your chest that states "I would play Stasis if it were Modern legal, but it's not." You don't actually want to outplay and outwit someone, you want to stop him from making any plays at all.
Can we get a Stasis reprint, please? I would love to play Stasis in Modern.
Failing that . . . how about Winter Orb? Tangle Wire?
Modern Stax with real stax pieces would be amazing.
The guy who invented Bogles is just a random guy in Portland who sent his list around an email listhost a few years ago.
The Lantern deck was perfected by Zac Elsik, who is on this forum.
Grixis Control was built largely by folks on this forum and reddit. Same with Eldrazi.
8Rack was built by MemoryLapse on this forum.
Building new decks isn't some mythically hard thing to do. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Liliana of the Veil goes well with Lingering Souls and Tarmogoyf.
You just put cards together and play them. Most of the time they aren't good enough, but sometimes they are, and to me, that's the Modern dream.
Graig Wescoe's Hatebears is another example of a deck composed in it's entirety of weak cards without linear synergies but with excellent meta preparation (and all encompassing hate in this case) making it to a GP semi finals
This is the first thing I thought of, too.
Part of it is playing a good deck, which is way, way more expansive than just tier 1.
Part of it is playing a deck that's good against the meta.
Part of it is the skill of the pilot.
With some decks, the percentages of importance may change. Twin was rarely a bad call, for instance. Dredgevine was a terrible call at GP Charlotte, but once the Relics go away, I could see that deck top 8ing. Hatebears top 8ed. Lantern won. Griseldad top 8ed. There are way, way more options than tier 1. And let's remember that tier 1 changes all the time.
If I were in a combo-heavy meta, I'd play 2x mainboard Raven's Crime with a third in the side and let the Loam engine do the work. I'd much rather have a few Extirpate or Surgical Extraction in the side to replace irrelevant removal in those matchups. I hate having 4+ mana cards to deal with fast decks.
I've actually done that in the past against blue Tron: side out Abrupt Decay, Flame Jab, and Darkblast, and side in another Raven's Crime and 3x Extirpate. Ghost Quarter or Smallpox your Tower, Extirpate it, try to keep the mana and hand size reasonable while building a zombie army. Finish with Conflagrate. Alternately you can Extirpate their Wurmcoil Engines or Academy Ruins. That seems good too.
There have been 3 unbans. Bitterblossom, Valakut, and Wild Nacatl all of which were early bans. Nacatl being the only one banned after the format began and brought back years later. So please tell me these several cards you are talking about?
I'm thinking of going down 1x Golgari Brownscale and 1x Vengeful Pharaoh main, with one of each extra in the side, to play 2x Stinkweed Imp. Casting Brownscale or Pharaoh is difficult, and there isn't much burn in my meta. Stinkweed fills the grave quickly and the flying deathtouch body feels pretty good. It's easy to cast, recurrable for value, etc.
As Pandemonium said, you need to have Infestation or Vortex or Faithless Looting to keep a hand. I'll keep a one land hand if I have Looting and can cast it turn 1. If you're playing a deck that Smallpox is good against, make sure to have 3 lands in hand, or perhaps 2 and a Looting you can cast on turn 1.
The deck just takes lots of practice.
Don't try to live the dream and cast Lingering Souls. You flash it back 95% of the time, at least.
I'm in no hurry to cut my Smallpoxes. I've been playing 2x Conflagrate and 1x Stinkweed Imp in the main for a while, and another Squee or two doesn't seem terrible.
I think this version is even worse against Eldrazi than the old version, though I haven't actually played the match. To those of you saying you have to pack the deck up because 14% of the format is playing maindeck Relic of Progenitus, I just say: where is your sense of adventure? They still have to play the spell right to cut you off at the knees.
Can we get a Stasis reprint, please? I would love to play Stasis in Modern.
Failing that . . . how about Winter Orb? Tangle Wire?
Modern Stax with real stax pieces would be amazing.
The Lantern deck was perfected by Zac Elsik, who is on this forum.
Grixis Control was built largely by folks on this forum and reddit. Same with Eldrazi.
8Rack was built by MemoryLapse on this forum.
Building new decks isn't some mythically hard thing to do. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Liliana of the Veil goes well with Lingering Souls and Tarmogoyf.
You just put cards together and play them. Most of the time they aren't good enough, but sometimes they are, and to me, that's the Modern dream.
Something like that.
This is the first thing I thought of, too.
Part of it is playing a good deck, which is way, way more expansive than just tier 1.
Part of it is playing a deck that's good against the meta.
Part of it is the skill of the pilot.
With some decks, the percentages of importance may change. Twin was rarely a bad call, for instance. Dredgevine was a terrible call at GP Charlotte, but once the Relics go away, I could see that deck top 8ing. Hatebears top 8ed. Lantern won. Griseldad top 8ed. There are way, way more options than tier 1. And let's remember that tier 1 changes all the time.
I've actually done that in the past against blue Tron: side out Abrupt Decay, Flame Jab, and Darkblast, and side in another Raven's Crime and 3x Extirpate. Ghost Quarter or Smallpox your Tower, Extirpate it, try to keep the mana and hand size reasonable while building a zombie army. Finish with Conflagrate. Alternately you can Extirpate their Wurmcoil Engines or Academy Ruins. That seems good too.
Golgari Grave Troll, too.
But losing to one doesn't feel any worse than losing to a suited-up Uril or whatever.
In any case, Ensnaring Bridge seems great.
Counterspell in Shadows?
The deck just takes lots of practice.
Don't try to live the dream and cast Lingering Souls. You flash it back 95% of the time, at least.
Don't miss your triggers.
Innocent Blood in general would be swell.
I think this version is even worse against Eldrazi than the old version, though I haven't actually played the match. To those of you saying you have to pack the deck up because 14% of the format is playing maindeck Relic of Progenitus, I just say: where is your sense of adventure? They still have to play the spell right to cut you off at the knees.