I've seen existing art corresponding to Rapunzel and to walking straight into a book.
Based on the showcase card, I don't think we'll get double-faced cards in the set, so I think any and all werewolves will not be DFCs.
Looking at the fairy tales again, I think a reference to The Three Heads in the Well or to Diamonds and Toads (i.e. someone gets prizes from generous patrons while a relative gets punished by those same patrons for treating them poorly) looks fairly plausible to me, and so do references to The Three Billy Goats Gruff or The Bremen Town Musicians, though I'm long-shot hoping for a reference to the Grimm fairy tale The Boots of Buffalo Leather (or at least a soldier drinking to the health of thieves and freezing them on the spot, or maybe an incognito mage-warrior travelling with an incognito king).
We already have a frog prince and the dessert house in Hansel and Gretel in confirmed art, and on the Arthurian side, we already have the Lady of the Lake (complete with Excalibur).
I'm hoping for some of the more obscure and dark Grimm fairy tales, such as a reference to The Juniper Tree (or at least a bird dropping a millstone on a despicable lady), a reference to King Thrushbeard (or at least a knight knocking over some poor lady's pottery for sale), or a reference to one of the love stories such as Hurleburlebutz (or at least a lady riding on a fox's tail) or Hans My Hedgehog (or at least a hedgehog bard), but those are quite obscure, so it's hard for me to expect them.
There are so many fairy tales to mine that I'm now expecting scant Arthurian references, although I'm hoping for a Green Knight, a loathly lady, Mordred, or maybe even a kitchen scullion who gets himself knighted.
The frog prince-like art looks like Turn to Frog art, I have to admit. Since the crown is hung up on the chair, I can easily imagine the witch on the other side of the table catching the prince while he is vulnerable.
Also, is the showcase card art that of a dwarf? Based on the proportions, that's what I was thinking, but the argument that the art is of Goldilocks killing the Three Bears is looking more and more convincing to me.
While we're on that topic, are dwarves coming back in this set? It's not just Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that has them--I remember Snow White and Rose Red has an evil dwarf, too.
The art direction looks fairly grimdark--the Lady of the Lake looks like the type to imprison Merlin, the lighting looks quite darkened to me--and I do like to think that, unlike the other planeswalkers, Rowan and Will are running away from their home plane and don't want to come back, but are being forced to.
Oh man, now I'm imagining this kind of thing for Rowan's storyline in this set:
"Rowan Kenrith has been summoned back to her home plane by the monarch of Eldraine and asked to bring over all the booty she won at Valor's Reach. Rowan was having such a fun time de-stressing at Kylem that she is NOT looking forward to this. At. All. They didn't even have the dignity to invite her twin brother Will!"
I think it's also clever for Rowan and Will to come from this fairy tale plane of Eldraine--a plane where twins, like in the folklore, likely hold real power.
Also, Ftzz has been playing a spicy URGb version of this deck since Hogaak was released! Do the combination of Kessig Wolf Run, Kher Keep, and Lumbering Falls really compensate for the loss of utility lands, though?
Vault Skirge makes for a potential 22 point life swing on turn 2. Not quite as good as an 11/11 double striker, but close.
Plus, it counts towards metalcraft.
It's pretty hard to consistently mulligan for one creature, one Hammer, and one cheat, let alone putting another Hammer (and quite possibly another cheat) on top of that, so I don't recommend Vault Skirge in this deck.
I still like Mystic Forge better than Paradox Engine in this deck, anyway; I believe the disadvantages Mystic Forge has of getting hosed by (possibly our own) Grafdigger's Cage, getting bricked by nonartifact spells (in addition to lands, which both get bricked by), and getting bricked by not enough mana are outweighed by Mystic Forge not needing Urza, costing 1 mana less, and burning up 1 land per turn instead of getting bricked by it.
So I have been going pretty hard on the wishboard, I want it to do everything. it has bugged me that I actually have to side in my artifact/enchantment removal and have to draw it, I can't go the '4 KGC gives me a functional 4 mainboard' route. Quick Gatherer search, Sylvok Replica seems pretty sweet. can't be cast at instant speed, but it can go off, cast it early, have it chilling there for a target. It might be too cute, but it would be nice to have the Surgicals be the only thing I actually have to side in.
I think Sylvok Replica is too cute because it's hosed by Stony Silence and friends. While Sylvok Replica is better against Blood Moon, Oblivion Stone in the wishboard is often good enough against that.
My personal current anti-Stony Silence tech in the wishboard is Golos, Tireless Pilgrim tutoring for Blast Zone. While it may be somewhat slow and it's hosed by Blood Moon, at least it can attack opposing Karn, the Great Creator, unlike Culling Scales (whuch can't even kill Karn GC), and it costs less than 7 mana, unlike Meteor Golem.
This deck reminds me of an Urza Paradoxical Outcome deck I've seen on MTGO that I'd argue is better (not as vulnerable to graveyard hate, not dependent on sticking a 2-drop creature that dies to Gut Shot, neither initial engine card can be hit with Inquisition of Kozilek, both initial engine cards being 4 cmc opens up the possibility of tutors like Clutch of the Undercity, easier time casting mondo draw spell pre-combo). I think Paradoxical Urza deserves its own thread despite having similar card choices, though.
Also, on only one Mirrodin Besieged maindeck: with Echo of Eons repeatedly shuffling your graveyard into your library and milling your opponent being a viable alt win con, I've never felt the need for more than 1 Mirrodin Besieged in this deck.
I also recommend running 1 Finale of Promise, which means going for a 4/3 split between Lava Dart and Gut Shot. Going with eight horizon lands seems a bit too much for me as the damage does add up. Most lists I see run 3 (any configuration is fine).
Sideboard wise, I see many decks are now running 1 or 2 (typically 2) mass removal spells, which is usually Kozilek's Return. Although the new Flame Sweep from M20 may be better due to not hitting our phoenixes (the devoid part of return rarely matters). Many lists are also running two Shrine of Burning Rage now for some extra reach.
I don't know how Finale of Promise encourages a 4/3 Lava Dart/Gut Shot split instead of a 3/4 one or a 4/4 one; Lava Dart doesn't stay in the graveyard for long in this deck.
I see that the most recent lists rarely go beyond 4 cantrip lands (Sunbaked Canyon, Fiery Islet), but I still have no clue why; I only uncommonly get to see cantrip lands whenever I play only 4 of them (Humans, Burn), and regardless of how aggro-filled the meta is, I'd still rather have the insane gas without mana screw of 8 cantrip lands, especially since unlike UR Phoenix, this deck doesn't really need any more than 3 lands.
I can't figure out how to upload a decklist to the chat here so I have attached a screenshot of the decklist. It is a visual view, I have not done much testing however from the few times I have worked on it the Mox Opals have been huge and pulled the whole decks consistency together.
Regardless of how hard you try to get Metalcraft, 3 Kor Duelist instead of 4 looks wrong to me. From my goldfish testing, this has more Turn 2 wins but fewer Turn 3 wins than Infect, so you need all the OHKO 1-drops you can get.
That's modern right now. Ya super healthy format! WOTC has been notorious in banning the wrong cards for years now. They are simply unwilling to ban the enablers. Remember Blood Braid? Ya that card was scary! While a little elf went on to wreck further havoc...
If you honestly think Modern is just those three decks, I no longer believe you play Modern.
ah see, there's the illusion of diversity when in fact, there really isn't. all you have to do is look at all the last paper tourneys to see this. modern has never been diverse. it's always been about doing the most degenerate thing possible without giving your opp the chance too interact. that's Modern.
I saw way too many Humans and UW Control decks in paper tournament Top 8 results this month.
You may want to check www.tcdecks.net, especially its "Metagame of Last Month" section; a clear majority of the Modern results it gets are from paper tournaments.
For the record, I only remember Eldrazi Tron spiking within the last few days in MTGO results; it wasn't so hot in the early Hogaak days, from my recollection.
What I'm trying to get at is to say that Modern is genuinely NOT as diverse as people want to think it is. There was an article not too long ago that discussed this very facet (cannot recall who had written it but I think it might have been Ari Lax). Cards like faithless looting are an issue because it tends to homogenize archetypes (as it's clearly one of - if not- the most powerful thing you can do in modern). A healthy and varied format would contain aggro, midrange, control decks. What we are seeing are mostly just combo decks that ignore entirely what their opponents are doing.
Ok we have UW control, Burn and Jund. Those are 3 decks representing the major archetypes. However, when you look at the decklists that are consistently winning, these are not the decks (deck types) that represent the format. What you see are decks that look at minimizing the interaction and ensuring that their opponents have virtually no windows to respond. This in turn makes the games more much like a coin toss (going first is significantly better in modern, to the point of being the difference between a win and a loss). Cards like blood moon, chalice of the void, rest in peace etc create a non-zero number of non-games. These tend to be the cards most represented.
In addition to that, pros also agree with me that looting is a card that will need to be banned (at some point in the future). It's not like i'm talking out of my ass. It's the "subtle" glue that holds so many of these linear combo decks together.
Faithless isn't the only card i'd like to see gone. But it would be a start.
My mentions of Humans and UW Control doing well enough in this month's Hogaak meta were to counter this direct mention of yours:
I agree that the (Altar of) Hogaak (Bridgevine) deck was pushing down deck diversity, but your mention that Eldrazi Tron was one of the most prominent decks in the Hogaak meta, to the expense of others I do recall seeing in greater numbers such as Humans and UW Control, looked pretty wrong to me and led me to believe that you have a pretty skewed view of the meta. While www.tcdecks.net does not get the complete paper or MTGO metas into its database, it does get fairly close in my experience, and at least in its results collection (which is mostly of paper results), Eldrazi Tron has NOT been doing anywhere near as well in a Hogaak meta as you imply.
Based on the showcase card, I don't think we'll get double-faced cards in the set, so I think any and all werewolves will not be DFCs.
Looking at the fairy tales again, I think a reference to The Three Heads in the Well or to Diamonds and Toads (i.e. someone gets prizes from generous patrons while a relative gets punished by those same patrons for treating them poorly) looks fairly plausible to me, and so do references to The Three Billy Goats Gruff or The Bremen Town Musicians, though I'm long-shot hoping for a reference to the Grimm fairy tale The Boots of Buffalo Leather (or at least a soldier drinking to the health of thieves and freezing them on the spot, or maybe an incognito mage-warrior travelling with an incognito king).
I'm hoping for some of the more obscure and dark Grimm fairy tales, such as a reference to The Juniper Tree (or at least a bird dropping a millstone on a despicable lady), a reference to King Thrushbeard (or at least a knight knocking over some poor lady's pottery for sale), or a reference to one of the love stories such as Hurleburlebutz (or at least a lady riding on a fox's tail) or Hans My Hedgehog (or at least a hedgehog bard), but those are quite obscure, so it's hard for me to expect them.
There are so many fairy tales to mine that I'm now expecting scant Arthurian references, although I'm hoping for a Green Knight, a loathly lady, Mordred, or maybe even a kitchen scullion who gets himself knighted.
Also, is the showcase card art that of a dwarf? Based on the proportions, that's what I was thinking, but the argument that the art is of Goldilocks killing the Three Bears is looking more and more convincing to me.
While we're on that topic, are dwarves coming back in this set? It's not just Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that has them--I remember Snow White and Rose Red has an evil dwarf, too.
The art direction looks fairly grimdark--the Lady of the Lake looks like the type to imprison Merlin, the lighting looks quite darkened to me--and I do like to think that, unlike the other planeswalkers, Rowan and Will are running away from their home plane and don't want to come back, but are being forced to.
"Rowan Kenrith has been summoned back to her home plane by the monarch of Eldraine and asked to bring over all the booty she won at Valor's Reach. Rowan was having such a fun time de-stressing at Kylem that she is NOT looking forward to this. At. All. They didn't even have the dignity to invite her twin brother Will!"
I think it's also clever for Rowan and Will to come from this fairy tale plane of Eldraine--a plane where twins, like in the folklore, likely hold real power.
1 Island
2 Breeding Pool
2 Waterlogged Grove
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Gemstone Mine
Creatures
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Wild Cantor
2 Autochthon Wurm
2 Griselbrand
4 Allosaurus Rider
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Life Goes On
1 Noxious Revival
1 Pact of Negation
4 Manamorphose
4 Nourishing Shoal
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Edge of Autumn
1 Safewright Quest
4 Eldritch Evolution
4 Neoform
4 Serum Visions
2 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Oxidize
2 Pact of Negation
4 Slaughter Pact
4 Veil of Summer
1 Blast Zone
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
2 Breeding Pool
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Hinterland Harbor
2 Watery Grave
3 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Snow-Covered Island
Creatures
1 Ice-Fang Coatl
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Archmage's Charm
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Logic Knot
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Pulse of Murasa
2 Assassin's Trophy
3 Fatal Push
3 Mystical Teachings
4 Cryptic Command
4 Growth Spiral
4 Opt
4 Remand
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Consume the Meek
1 Dispel
1 Echoing Decay
1 Fracturing Gust
3 Ice-Fang Coatl
1 Life Goes On
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Weather the Storm
Also, Ftzz has been playing a spicy URGb version of this deck since Hogaak was released! Do the combination of Kessig Wolf Run, Kher Keep, and Lumbering Falls really compensate for the loss of utility lands, though?
It's pretty hard to consistently mulligan for one creature, one Hammer, and one cheat, let alone putting another Hammer (and quite possibly another cheat) on top of that, so I don't recommend Vault Skirge in this deck.
I still like Mystic Forge better than Paradox Engine in this deck, anyway; I believe the disadvantages Mystic Forge has of getting hosed by (possibly our own) Grafdigger's Cage, getting bricked by nonartifact spells (in addition to lands, which both get bricked by), and getting bricked by not enough mana are outweighed by Mystic Forge not needing Urza, costing 1 mana less, and burning up 1 land per turn instead of getting bricked by it.
I think Sylvok Replica is too cute because it's hosed by Stony Silence and friends. While Sylvok Replica is better against Blood Moon, Oblivion Stone in the wishboard is often good enough against that.
My personal current anti-Stony Silence tech in the wishboard is Golos, Tireless Pilgrim tutoring for Blast Zone. While it may be somewhat slow and it's hosed by Blood Moon, at least it can attack opposing Karn, the Great Creator, unlike Culling Scales (whuch can't even kill Karn GC), and it costs less than 7 mana, unlike Meteor Golem.
1 Breeding Pool
1 Island
3 Waterlogged Grove
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Yavimaya Coast
Creatures
1 Borborygmos Enraged
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Wild Cantor
2 Autochthon Wurm
2 Griselbrand
4 Allosaurus Rider
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Desperate Ritual
1 Life Goes On
1 Noxious Revival
4 Manamorphose
4 Nourishing Shoal
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Reckless Charge
1 Safewright Quest
3 Eldritch Evolution
4 Neoform
4 Serum Visions
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Autumn's Veil
1 Display of Dominance
3 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Guttural Response
2 Hope of Ghirapur
Only 3 Eldritch Evolution looks rather wrong.
I've seen two Paradoxical Urza lists in MTGO results and here's the one from https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-league-2019-07-09:
4 Darksteel Citadel
3 Ghost Quarter
10 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
Creatures
3 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
Spells
1 Thoughtcast
3 Metallic Rebuke
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Everflowing Chalice
1 Grinding Station
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
1 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Force of Negation
3 Galvanic Blast
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Navigator's Compass
1 Spellskite
2 Tormod's Crypt
Also, on only one Mirrodin Besieged maindeck: with Echo of Eons repeatedly shuffling your graveyard into your library and milling your opponent being a viable alt win con, I've never felt the need for more than 1 Mirrodin Besieged in this deck.
I don't know how Finale of Promise encourages a 4/3 Lava Dart/Gut Shot split instead of a 3/4 one or a 4/4 one; Lava Dart doesn't stay in the graveyard for long in this deck.
I see that the most recent lists rarely go beyond 4 cantrip lands (Sunbaked Canyon, Fiery Islet), but I still have no clue why; I only uncommonly get to see cantrip lands whenever I play only 4 of them (Humans, Burn), and regardless of how aggro-filled the meta is, I'd still rather have the insane gas without mana screw of 8 cantrip lands, especially since unlike UR Phoenix, this deck doesn't really need any more than 3 lands.
Regardless of how hard you try to get Metalcraft, 3 Kor Duelist instead of 4 looks wrong to me. From my goldfish testing, this has more Turn 2 wins but fewer Turn 3 wins than Infect, so you need all the OHKO 1-drops you can get.
My mentions of Humans and UW Control doing well enough in this month's Hogaak meta were to counter this direct mention of yours:
I agree that the (Altar of) Hogaak (Bridgevine) deck was pushing down deck diversity, but your mention that Eldrazi Tron was one of the most prominent decks in the Hogaak meta, to the expense of others I do recall seeing in greater numbers such as Humans and UW Control, looked pretty wrong to me and led me to believe that you have a pretty skewed view of the meta. While www.tcdecks.net does not get the complete paper or MTGO metas into its database, it does get fairly close in my experience, and at least in its results collection (which is mostly of paper results), Eldrazi Tron has NOT been doing anywhere near as well in a Hogaak meta as you imply.