I'm only interested in Knight of Autumn, actually. Conclave Cavalry is cute, but it doesn't really become abusive when copied ad nauseum. Knight of Autumn is just a superior Reclamation Sage; out of my two GW decks apparently only Trostani is the one using Rec Sage. So I will definitely get one but perhaps I should pick up more tmayhan one, depending on its price upon release.
Maybe its my meta but I play around a lot of wrath effects so endlessly copying conclave seems like a nice plan. That and blade of selves and mimic vating it are all bonuses for me.
So since it seems that a small white splash for Selesnya Charm or Dromoka's Command is on the table I have a small suggestion in Travel Preparations.
Its usable twice per card, fits on theme, investing in white for the second go isn't horrible, works with avatar and e1 both ways if needed and pumps in general.
I like it...to a point. 4cc hexproof on a 6/6 body is great for cc to power value. Issue is you cant play the last third of this deck after dropping him add the fact that you have to pay 2 colorless to give it penetration aids which it doesn't naturally have. In and of itself that wouldn't be bad but then you factor in that if your opponent can float the mana so THEY can do so as well on their removal or wait till you do something to buff it and yeah sorry hard pass. I might pick up a playset just to have later on if anything comes of it but its likely gonna be in the quarter rares bin.
First game I kept a 4 land hand and lost after only drawing lands after that.
Second game I sideboarded out the remands for kor firewalker. My hand was aether vial, two mausoleom wanderers, and a judges familiar. I won that game after finding a supreme spirit.
Third game I sided in 2 negates over selfless spirits. I ended up losing after I tapped out to play pride of the clouds, instead of waiting for my aether vial to tick up to play it. I had negate in hand. I believe I would have won if I waited.
Fourth game I chained mausoleom wanderer into remorseful cleric into another mausoleom wanderer and pride of the clouds. The remorseful cleric stopped him from going off, and I had a lot of pressure on board.
The matchup seems favorable to me. If I ever saw kor firewalker, I believe he would have folded to it. Pride of the clouds is a very fast clock. Spectral procession is card I saw, but never cast because I often didn't want to tap out for it. Maybe I should side it out, instead of the remands. Every game was basically won on turn 4.
It's a fun deck to pilot for sure. I hope to play it against some higher tier deck's next week.
If your not doing it during a main phase have you thought of midnight haunting. Sure one less body but instant speed and EOT on opponents. Also kinda funny in response to making wanderer into spell pierce while gaining more tempo.
I've been thinking of suggesting this for awhile now and while I know in and of itself its not a spirit it does synergies with the rest of the creatures in this deck and is not insane on the mana curve but if your moving away from image it may help and be a in color finisher. I will FREELY admit to you that I haven't played u/w sprits so I don't know how much board presence you can continually keep or what defensive strats to keep it in play.
FYI I would NEVER use the forecast ability but the card synergizes well with all your flyers and as a 2 or 3 it could grow decently big. Be aware it also counts your opponents flyers for its power toughness.
was also kinda surprised that Zo-zu the punisher and ankh of Mishra weren't in but upon further consideration they are more reactive than proactive like the stax deck your trying to build.
I'm not going to say your wrong about some of my motivations but one of the bigger things I hate is to see is u/w against u/w control decks and they take forever going against each other. If the meta gains enough that u/w whatever gets going it really makes the tournaments from a local level on up just become a slogfest. Even with the 5 turn rule in place some folks just cant seem to play the deck with any speed.
That was mostly joking for KTK since he was talking about turn three kills, but in truth the more turns you go down in modern the more a snap command can shut you down when you need to attack then they wack you upside the head with nothing to block with if decks have their finishers in play. Like anything if they can shut down the early plays you might not have the gas to win after a certain point or it just wont matter cause they get answers.
its not anything at all, because its never been in the format. also you are assuming UW would even be the best shell for stoneforge, which is highly debatable.
I'll concede that its never been in modern but I played through the cawblade era of magic. Just for a example the best red deck that could be made in standard with the ubiquitous lightning bolt, goblin guide, ect couldn't lay a finger on the beast that was cawblade. After that ban I had a month or so of playing what felt like a red modern deck of the time in standard. Red was insanely good but got out powered by batterskull, JTMS, stoneforge, and colonnade with snapcaster backup. Modern is a different beast yes but giving all those tools to remake a very unfun meta seems less than desirable.
As for what other decks SFM could be applied to, well affinity would get ALOT more playable since cranial plating is now assured not hoped. Dunno if that would warp the meta at all. After that I don't know what other archetypes might spring up with a stoneforge in modern. I just don't want to see modern variances get lower. Big meta is much more fun than bumping into the same 4 decks every tourney
Realistically what are the majority of w/x decks going to play if they put stoneforge back in? The only logical choice that gives the most power to weight ratio is batterskull which needs no other creature and can save itself decently. Like you said hollow one needs 16 enablers, stoneforge really only needs itself and one other card. Other than a weird voltron swords of deck what other equipment are you truely going to play with stoneforge.
Maybe its my meta but I play around a lot of wrath effects so endlessly copying conclave seems like a nice plan. That and blade of selves and mimic vating it are all bonuses for me.
knight of autumn seems interestingly techy
Its usable twice per card, fits on theme, investing in white for the second go isn't horrible, works with avatar and e1 both ways if needed and pumps in general.
If your not doing it during a main phase have you thought of midnight haunting. Sure one less body but instant speed and EOT on opponents. Also kinda funny in response to making wanderer into spell pierce while gaining more tempo.
Pride of the Clouds
FYI I would NEVER use the forecast ability but the card synergizes well with all your flyers and as a 2 or 3 it could grow decently big. Be aware it also counts your opponents flyers for its power toughness.
angrath, the flame-chained
rampaging ferocidon
heartless hidetsugu
was also kinda surprised that Zo-zu the punisher and ankh of Mishra weren't in but upon further consideration they are more reactive than proactive like the stax deck your trying to build.
I'll concede that its never been in modern but I played through the cawblade era of magic. Just for a example the best red deck that could be made in standard with the ubiquitous lightning bolt, goblin guide, ect couldn't lay a finger on the beast that was cawblade. After that ban I had a month or so of playing what felt like a red modern deck of the time in standard. Red was insanely good but got out powered by batterskull, JTMS, stoneforge, and colonnade with snapcaster backup. Modern is a different beast yes but giving all those tools to remake a very unfun meta seems less than desirable.
As for what other decks SFM could be applied to, well affinity would get ALOT more playable since cranial plating is now assured not hoped. Dunno if that would warp the meta at all. After that I don't know what other archetypes might spring up with a stoneforge in modern. I just don't want to see modern variances get lower. Big meta is much more fun than bumping into the same 4 decks every tourney