Quote from Snowflakes »Quote from ktkenshinx »The negativity towards this set, whether in this thread or the Reddit comment sections, is just unwarranted.
1. Less than half of the set has been spoiled. Wizards obviously started with some big ones like FoN, but it's been much slower since then. It is like this every preview season as the previews are a curated experience that need to appeal to various players. Wizards intersperses exciting cards to keep hype high.
2. All Magic communities frequently miss powerful cards. Powerhouses like WAR Narset were under-appreciated by most evaluators until people started playing the set. LSV, Joel Larsson, MTG Goldfish, Dylan Donegan, Emma Handy, and a half dozen other writers barely mentioned Search for Azcanta in their Modern reviews (or didn't mention it at all). I don't remember reading a single Modern review of Rivals that included Arclight Phoenix. Card evaluation is hard and people need to play cards to figure out if they are actually good or bad.
3. There are numerous eternal staples that Wizards has not yet referenced or remade for Modern. Some, like FoN and FoW are clearly on-mark. Others, like Mom and Giver, are more open. Still others, like Pondering Mage, are clearly just references and probably not as powerful. But any number of the remaining throwbacks, most of which are obviously absent right now, could be very strong. Examples include Daze, Wasteland, Brainstorm, Hymn, Port, and others. I am excited to see these cards, and it will only take 1 to have a huge impact.
It just seems like basic entitlement and assumption that what they want is all that matters. I've seen a few people say the total opposite of things that have been mentioned here, modern is it's own format and is vastly different from legacy and should be, it being a less powerful legacy is just not a good idea.
I'm glad they went about it this way, there's some pretty good cards, and even some potentially broken or format warping cards included in the first half alone. What this set has done for just random theorycrafting is awesome and there's some interesting new decks potentially to come out of this set and some new cards for older decks already of various power levels.
Instead of complaining about what isn't there yet with still half a set to come out start theorycrafting and testing with what we've got.
I for one am pretty happy with some of these cards, albeit I feel some colours have gotten a lot less, probably cause I think blue seems to have gotten so much so far and I would like to see some additions for other colours.
Most of the people *****ing are *****ing because the set has almost zero relevant answers to slow the format down or create a more interactive environment. There's more EDH non-sense than needed answers for the format. How many times have we heard "Wait for MH", they can't print XYZ needed answer in standard it's too powerful "Wait for MH", no need to look at the banlist "Wait for MH". Well, we've waited, and what we've gotten so far is a farce. No one asked for a white reprint of Beast Within (a not playable card outside of LE decks). A 2 mana Swords though...would be useful. Awful red burn spells that can't efficiently deal with X/5's? No one said sign me up for that. For a set called "Modern Horizons" and a player base chanting, "Wait for MH" for needed answers, the set has tremendously flopped so far.
Maybe we're all wrong though and WoTC left all the answer cards to be spoiled in the second week...I doubt it though.
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Consider this:
UW player taps out for JtMS. Brainstorm
Opp EoT Lightning Bolt...
I'm not saying FoN is necessarily bad, but the free part being active only half the time, And only hitting non-creatures, sounds like a sideboard card to me. If anything, FoN might just incentivize more instants being played.
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I've been thinking there needs to be another black sweeper. Most the 3 CMC ones only do -2/-2 and that just isn't enough a lot of the time.
Improved Infest 1BB
Sorcery
All creatures get -3/-3 until end of turn.
They could also just reprint Toxic Deluge, but that might be too strong.
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My best guess at what they would make is probably something like:
BR
Fulminate
Sorcery
Destroy target nonbasic land.
Or, if they really want to go for it, they can reprint From the Ashes.
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One of these two would be nice.
1UU
Cheaper Concentrate
Sorcery
Draw three cards.
or...
XU
Cheaper Mind Spring
Sorcery
Draw X cards.
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But, graveyard strategies are a problem right now. Maybe we should consider a Stinkweed Imp ban. Dredge gets new toys so often, its possible it needs to just be taken down a notch. Coupled with new exile/tuck removal likely to be printed in MH1, if not sooner, this would allow looting to stay and help reign in the graveyard issue.
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Land
{T}, Sacrifice New Fetchland U: Search your library for an Island card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
And have one for each basic land type.
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Instant
Draw two cards, then put a card from your hand on top of your library.
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I've always been of the opinion that linear decks should not be as powerful as they are, and strong interaction should reign supreme. Reason being that the better the interaction is, the more incentive there is to play it, which means more games where people are actually having to out think and out play their opponent instead of just out drawing them.
Just my 2¢. Hopefully Modern Horizons will help us fair mages out...
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I'm very interested in seeing how Vegas shakes out.