Ripscale Predator was my pick easily, until i realized it did not have flying.
Then I thought about it...
Ripscale Predator is still my pick. The paladin is good, if you end up boros and have the right lands to maximize its abilities. I also noticed, however, that there are three spells in the pack that allow you to deal with it. They are situational, but effective. Those same spells are far less effective against the predator.
Funny thing is it beats 5/3 pretty easily. In fact your opponent could play 4 straight tusks after you cast this and you would still beat him with just this enchantment.
I still have to verify the 4 consecutive tusks, but it doesn't really matter. It would deal with two and that's good enough for me.
I already posted in one thread about this card, but I feel I have to do it again for posterity. I think this enchantment is well positioned for control decks to deal with the good removal and creatures we have in the format.
The one thing I don't is that the tokens can't deal with fliers. You can't have everything I suppose.
WR control can and will be a thing. Aurelia's Fury, Bonfire, Magmaquake, Terminus.
Assemble the legion can end games by itself against a clear board. I don't think this is in dispute. I think that players have reservations due to Boros being an aggressive guild, which presupposes creatures... cheap, efficient creatures. That's your grandfather's Boros guild.
But enough about Boros, other control decks can just splash to play this as a finisher. It's not the best finisher out there (it's not even close), but it does have a unique angle of attack. Board wipes don't really work against it and even if you can wipe the board for several turns, the army is just going to get bigger until you deal with the enchantment itself.
Homer: Five-alarm chili, eh? Ned: Uh-huh. Homer: [eats some] One, two… hey, what’s the big idea? Ned: Oh, I admit it. It’s only two-alarm, two-and-a-half, tops. I just wanted to be a big man in front of the kids. Todd: Daddy? Are you going to jail? Ned: We’ll see, son. We’ll see.
If you have no creatures in play, this card can not gain blaze counters on it's own (as things are spoiled at the moment)
If you topdeck this card with 5 creatures in play, you can cast it before combat, swing with your team, and provided none of your creatures are removed before damage you can activate the enchantment's ability the same turn it was cast to deal 5 damage to a creature or player.
To use the ability more than once, you have to deal combat damage ten times (sources).
UUB
Counter target spell. Target player puts the top four cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Would it be playable in limited?
Might be too powerful for limited at uncommon. Blue already has common effects that mill the opponent. Rakdos decks wouldn't have too much of a problem dealing enough damage before getting milled out, but other archetypes may have an isssue if you can just draft 3 of these and add it to the inevitable 2/2 at common that will mill two cards when it ETB.
Affinity hasn't run chrome mox since the T2 days, but yeah lets just make stuff up.
I've heard the pope twittered he sees Chrome Mox as the devils work, but BBE is his holy inquisitor to beat up the unworthy.
So because Affinity hasn't run Chrome Mox since it was Standard legal, you're implying that the deck wouldn't run it if it was unbanned in Modern?
Let's make a list of some of the things that have changed since then.
Artifact Lands are Banned in Modern.
Scars of Mirrodin was released
Metalcraft is a thing.
I'm not going to go into detail, but please know that affinity could, and most likely would, run chrome mox if it was unbanned. The deck composition would change... but perhaps you just can't visualize that until you see the list in top 8, which i guess is understandable.
Were lock decks ever even really successful? It's a very inconsistent strategy, it folds to hate just like any combo. if chrome Mox wasn't dangerous in old extended how would it be dangerous in modern. They wanted to stop fast combo but totally missed the marks with the Initial banns. If a combo is to strong with acceleration it should be banned, not a card disadvantage engine that is only good in the first turns or with high curves. You can still wrath, play a planes walker or even combo off with a mana rock or elf a turn earlier.
Chrome Mox didn't prey upon any one specific archetype. Instead you had a multitude of Archetypes running it to make the format a bit more cutthroat than it would have been otherwise. Both combo and control ran Chrome Mox effectively in old extended. At this point, I don't think you can risk unbanning it to make some decks better, because inevitably some decks that are already good will also run it to put it over the top. Allowing Affinity Access to chrome mox alongside what it already has is straight up asking for trouble. When you unban a card, it's ability to improve different types of decks is not equal. Some decks won't run it, other decks will for small gains, and some will get put over the top. With something as organic as a metagame it's difficult to predict just how things will turn out, so it's better to safe than sorry.
Mana dorks and other artifact acceleration just aren't comparable because both of those require mana to play, generally can't be used for mana the same turn, and have a window in which they can be removed by the opponent before used.
If your talking about some janky demi-god stompy deck those were tier 2 in extended even with rite of flame. Might even be a good choice now against jund though which would probably only help the format.
2 Mana is all you need to generate 3 mana. We don't need to count the ways.
Those tier 2 All in Red decks definitely existed in old Extended and kept some decks honest. But Chrome mox was also exploited by other decks and let them go from "fair" to "unfair".
I think you don't ban fast mana due to specific abusive applications. Rather you ban it for the applications that aren't immediately apparent and could get out of hand quickly.
Which combo decks? Its terrible for storm and scapeshift. I am almost certain that eggs doesn't run enough colored spells for it to be consistent.(not to mention the fact that lotus bloom is better for that deck)
Leaves us with twin and pod.
I'm moreso refering to combo decks that aren't viable as much in the current meta. Unbanning chrome mox makes a turn 1 blood moon a reliable play. A play that warps the format. Sure, you can play "8 Moon" right now, but decks like jund, zoo, and tron, still have a way to answer it before they get shut out of the game.
Its the same reason why rite of flame had to go. When the first three turns in a format are critical, being able to have access to extra mana than your opponent on the first turn is backbreaking.
No one speaks about chrome mox anymore, is it because everyone thinks it should be unbanned? If they want blue controlish decks back (not blue permission please), chrome mox is a key part coupled with thirst for knowledge.
Chrome mox would make random combo decks better. Fast mana spells just aren't good for the format.
I believe Jund will be an overwhelming problem soon. The deck has too many different angles of attack. Every new powerful B,R,or G card printed with 3cmc or less becomes a potential tool for that deck. Look at what Deathrite Shaman, and Abrupt Decay have done in just the last 2 months to make the deck better.
There are no hopes of Control being viable in Modern as long as Jund has the "choice" of running 8 hand disruption spells alongside 4 liliana of the veil.
Combo decks can certainly get through the sea of targeted discard by just emptying their hand on the first two turns, but G2, and G3 become very difficult when you realize there are some excellent SB options for Jund.
I think Bloodbraid Elf needs to get banned. There I said it. If you look at the powerful plays Jund can make on turns 1,2, and 3. There's absolutely no reason Jund should be getting a 3/2 with Haste and a Free Spell without having to jump through any hoops to do so.
I also think Emrakul should get banned along with Inkmoth Nexus.
I advocate Unbanning Jace in the current enviornment, but only if Bloodbraid elf stays legal, as the latter keeps the former in check.
Has anyone else been testing Deathrite Shaman? I've tested a pair over Worm Harvest and Siphon Life and it has done absolute wonders against W/U Rest Angel.dek
Yes! I started with just a B/G loam deck with shaman and then decided I didn't need red. It ended up turning into a death cloud deck, but whatever.
Then I thought about it...
Ripscale Predator is still my pick. The paladin is good, if you end up boros and have the right lands to maximize its abilities. I also noticed, however, that there are three spells in the pack that allow you to deal with it. They are situational, but effective. Those same spells are far less effective against the predator.
I still have to verify the 4 consecutive tusks, but it doesn't really matter. It would deal with two and that's good enough for me.
I already posted in one thread about this card, but I feel I have to do it again for posterity. I think this enchantment is well positioned for control decks to deal with the good removal and creatures we have in the format.
The one thing I don't is that the tokens can't deal with fliers. You can't have everything I suppose.
WR control can and will be a thing. Aurelia's Fury, Bonfire, Magmaquake, Terminus.
Assemble the legion can end games by itself against a clear board. I don't think this is in dispute. I think that players have reservations due to Boros being an aggressive guild, which presupposes creatures... cheap, efficient creatures. That's your grandfather's Boros guild.
But enough about Boros, other control decks can just splash to play this as a finisher. It's not the best finisher out there (it's not even close), but it does have a unique angle of attack. Board wipes don't really work against it and even if you can wipe the board for several turns, the army is just going to get bigger until you deal with the enchantment itself.
On a side note, Jace owns this card.
I like this.
/Thread
Awesome
If you have no creatures in play, this card can not gain blaze counters on it's own (as things are spoiled at the moment)
If you topdeck this card with 5 creatures in play, you can cast it before combat, swing with your team, and provided none of your creatures are removed before damage you can activate the enchantment's ability the same turn it was cast to deal 5 damage to a creature or player.
To use the ability more than once, you have to deal combat damage ten times (sources).
This card is unplayable unless there is a new Boros "enchantments matter" card.
I don't look forward to cracking this card at all.
Thatt should be the flavor text.
Might be too powerful for limited at uncommon. Blue already has common effects that mill the opponent. Rakdos decks wouldn't have too much of a problem dealing enough damage before getting milled out, but other archetypes may have an isssue if you can just draft 3 of these and add it to the inevitable 2/2 at common that will mill two cards when it ETB.
So because Affinity hasn't run Chrome Mox since it was Standard legal, you're implying that the deck wouldn't run it if it was unbanned in Modern?
Let's make a list of some of the things that have changed since then.
Artifact Lands are Banned in Modern.
Scars of Mirrodin was released
Metalcraft is a thing.
I'm not going to go into detail, but please know that affinity could, and most likely would, run chrome mox if it was unbanned. The deck composition would change... but perhaps you just can't visualize that until you see the list in top 8, which i guess is understandable.
Chrome Mox didn't prey upon any one specific archetype. Instead you had a multitude of Archetypes running it to make the format a bit more cutthroat than it would have been otherwise. Both combo and control ran Chrome Mox effectively in old extended. At this point, I don't think you can risk unbanning it to make some decks better, because inevitably some decks that are already good will also run it to put it over the top. Allowing Affinity Access to chrome mox alongside what it already has is straight up asking for trouble. When you unban a card, it's ability to improve different types of decks is not equal. Some decks won't run it, other decks will for small gains, and some will get put over the top. With something as organic as a metagame it's difficult to predict just how things will turn out, so it's better to safe than sorry.
Mana dorks and other artifact acceleration just aren't comparable because both of those require mana to play, generally can't be used for mana the same turn, and have a window in which they can be removed by the opponent before used.
2 Mana is all you need to generate 3 mana. We don't need to count the ways.
Those tier 2 All in Red decks definitely existed in old Extended and kept some decks honest. But Chrome mox was also exploited by other decks and let them go from "fair" to "unfair".
I think you don't ban fast mana due to specific abusive applications. Rather you ban it for the applications that aren't immediately apparent and could get out of hand quickly.
I'm moreso refering to combo decks that aren't viable as much in the current meta. Unbanning chrome mox makes a turn 1 blood moon a reliable play. A play that warps the format. Sure, you can play "8 Moon" right now, but decks like jund, zoo, and tron, still have a way to answer it before they get shut out of the game.
Its the same reason why rite of flame had to go. When the first three turns in a format are critical, being able to have access to extra mana than your opponent on the first turn is backbreaking.
Chrome mox would make random combo decks better. Fast mana spells just aren't good for the format.
There are no hopes of Control being viable in Modern as long as Jund has the "choice" of running 8 hand disruption spells alongside 4 liliana of the veil.
Combo decks can certainly get through the sea of targeted discard by just emptying their hand on the first two turns, but G2, and G3 become very difficult when you realize there are some excellent SB options for Jund.
I think Bloodbraid Elf needs to get banned. There I said it. If you look at the powerful plays Jund can make on turns 1,2, and 3. There's absolutely no reason Jund should be getting a 3/2 with Haste and a Free Spell without having to jump through any hoops to do so.
I also think Emrakul should get banned along with Inkmoth Nexus.
I advocate Unbanning Jace in the current enviornment, but only if Bloodbraid elf stays legal, as the latter keeps the former in check.
Yes! I started with just a B/G loam deck with shaman and then decided I didn't need red. It ended up turning into a death cloud deck, but whatever.