I was kind of confused my the PT sideboard... so many 1 ofs. going to have to figure that out.
I don't personally agree with only 2 leylines of sanctity SB, you really don't want to be hardcasting that spell against burn or discard. If you're running any of them 3 or 4 is where I'd be.
Also, Torpor Orb is suspiciously missing. It owns snapcasters and bedlam revelers which offer a way out of the lock and basically the entire humans deck as well as random cards from Elves, Living End, etc.
For a little clarification for the OP, triggered abilities which would trigger simultaneously are placed on the stack in APNAP order. Meaning all triggers the active player controls goes on first (in whatever order they desire) and then it goes around the table and each other player does the same. As a result they resolve in opposite order, as WizardMN states: NAP, then AP. See 603.3b.
I swear to god though, after having Eye of Ugin ban, then my brain in the jar rules-****ed, if they ban Ancient Stirrings or Mox Opal I'm done with Modern. I'll save a singleton Karn, Opal, Ugin, Bridge for EDH and start drafting.
I've been killed on T3 by burn or Affinity more times than I can remember, but T3 Karn is a bridge too far for people?
Leylines are goodish but take 4 slots of your side if you really want them to work. Nature's claim and thrag and g so it's not really a difference. Blessed Alliance just isn't as good as brutality. For 2 mana, you can remove a swiftspear and get a burn spell out of their hand. They can't skullcrack or atarka's command you in response to negate it either like blessed or thrag.
I've lost too many games to a skullcrack in response to thragtusk.
About leylines, burn is almost certainly bringing in destructive revelry. If their start is 1-2 gobbos/swifties then blow up your leyline before burning you you're very dead.
Everyone was sick of just auto-losing to burn and brutality gives you a fighting chance. If you don't have any burn in your meta, G/W is perfectly fine. Path is an amazing removal spell. And RiP and Rule of Law are baller sideboard options.
As loathe as I am to ask rules questions about silver-bordered cards this is now legal so I need to know what judges think.
The line on the card that I'm concerned about is this:
Players can only play the first card of their program.
Does this mean that the only way you can cast spells at all with The Grand Calcutron on the battlefield is by playing the first card of your program? Can you not cast spells from your graveyard, exile, imprint, etc?
Edit: you know what, disregard this. Talking this out on Reddit some more made me realize that if this were the case then no one else could play their Commander either. I wouldn't agree to this ruling even if it was printed on the card.
Yeah, I'm not saying getting 9 mana out of lands and rocks is *impossible* just a fair bit more difficult than 1. I do agree that if you do get to resolve and crack it against certain decks it's definitely gg I just wonder how reliable that action is. I'd love to hear your experience trying it out against storm and U/W.
With canonist, getting them while their ritual is on the stack means you've wasted their resources and make it that much less likely to go off next turn, especially if they have to *also* remove the canonist. For 5 mana/rocks that sounds like a deal. Or you could wait for Gifts/Past in Flames and whir out a cage in response I guess but that opens you up to cantrip'ing into a way to remove cage which they can't do against canonist.
Storm is MIA at my shop anyway so I'm just theorycrafting here. Lemme know what happens in your neck of the woods.
My problem with cap is that we can basically assume we're going to have to whir for it. So in order to get them without passing priority you'd need 9 mana/rocks. So that's not really a benefit. Or stir for it and need 7 mana. Or luck out and hardcast it and need 6 mana. This feels like 2-3 turns after they've killed you.
On the other hand I think cage is not only fine as it forces them to have it and make their gifts sub-optimal (they can't gifts for wipe away and past in flames and expect it to do anything) but only costing one makes it trivial to get online AND it has applications in **many** other matchups. I'd honestly just run more copies of cage instead of jester's cap if I was worried about getting overpowered by wipe aways.
Don't forget about the 8 discard spells we're running too. I haven't actually played against Storm with Lantern but on paper it doesn't look like a huge hill to climb.
An ethersworn cannonist in the side is sweet too. Whir for that in response to their ritual and they're pretty much done, even if they have a wipe away in hand. Splash damage against anyone still excited about Living End.
I don't personally agree with only 2 leylines of sanctity SB, you really don't want to be hardcasting that spell against burn or discard. If you're running any of them 3 or 4 is where I'd be.
Also, Torpor Orb is suspiciously missing. It owns snapcasters and bedlam revelers which offer a way out of the lock and basically the entire humans deck as well as random cards from Elves, Living End, etc.
V, I get it, and I'll probably just take my Opals and Glimmervoids and play Affinity.
I've been killed on T3 by burn or Affinity more times than I can remember, but T3 Karn is a bridge too far for people?
I've lost too many games to a skullcrack in response to thragtusk.
About leylines, burn is almost certainly bringing in destructive revelry. If their start is 1-2 gobbos/swifties then blow up your leyline before burning you you're very dead.
My singleton EE isn't going anywhere. Yeah, whirring for it and then recurring it is basically dreamland but Ancient Stirrings into it isn't.
As loathe as I am to ask rules questions about silver-bordered cards this is now legal so I need to know what judges think.
The line on the card that I'm concerned about is this:
Does this mean that the only way you can cast spells at all with The Grand Calcutron on the battlefield is by playing the first card of your program? Can you not cast spells from your graveyard, exile, imprint, etc?
Edit: you know what, disregard this. Talking this out on Reddit some more made me realize that if this were the case then no one else could play their Commander either. I wouldn't agree to this ruling even if it was printed on the card.
With canonist, getting them while their ritual is on the stack means you've wasted their resources and make it that much less likely to go off next turn, especially if they have to *also* remove the canonist. For 5 mana/rocks that sounds like a deal. Or you could wait for Gifts/Past in Flames and whir out a cage in response I guess but that opens you up to cantrip'ing into a way to remove cage which they can't do against canonist.
Storm is MIA at my shop anyway so I'm just theorycrafting here. Lemme know what happens in your neck of the woods.
On the other hand I think cage is not only fine as it forces them to have it and make their gifts sub-optimal (they can't gifts for wipe away and past in flames and expect it to do anything) but only costing one makes it trivial to get online AND it has applications in **many** other matchups. I'd honestly just run more copies of cage instead of jester's cap if I was worried about getting overpowered by wipe aways.
Don't forget about the 8 discard spells we're running too. I haven't actually played against Storm with Lantern but on paper it doesn't look like a huge hill to climb.
An ethersworn cannonist in the side is sweet too. Whir for that in response to their ritual and they're pretty much done, even if they have a wipe away in hand. Splash damage against anyone still excited about Living End.