I don't normally post here, but Wizards made multiple slips in gender pronoun assignment in that article:
Nassari is referred to as "his" in Uvilda's blurb but as a gender-neuter "they" in their own blurb. (I instinctively thought of Nassari as male from the card before I read tweets from Wizards saying they were gender-neutral.)
Even worse, Tivash is referred to as both "he" and "she" in his/her own blurb. Does Tivash flip their gender as they see fit?
Gyome as a food commander looks fun to build thought not sure how to go about it. The flavor is on point thought, he makes food when the guests arrive and the food is so good (and spelled) to give the creature a boost when they eat it.
And the food is so good that you can offer it to opposing creatures and they tap out while eating it.
The simultaneous granting Indestructible and tapping reminds me of Regeneration.
If the opponent doesn't respond to the 1st Oriq activation trigger, they dead.
A single Jarad's Orders can setup a kill in a few turns too.
Even better, Oriq Loremage can set up the combo by itself over several turns. Entomb a copy of itself, then Entomb Necrotic Ooze, then Entomb Unburial Rites. Entomb a Haste-granter in between if you're scared. Your opponent now needs to kill 8 creatures in time instead of 4 (assuming Modern and not EDH), and you can raise hell by Entombing stuff like Tracker's Instincts instead and also including Vizier of Remedies in your deck.
Divide by Zero looks like a souped-up Remand strapped to a Teferi, Time Raveler-style bounce spell as long as you have enough Lessons. ...Sadly, Learn and Lessons have been to the clunky and overcosted side in my testing in Modern RG Ponza, which is a shame because the CA is fairly potent.
Dunno if Ingenious Mastery is the best in the cycle when undercosted or too risky to cast for 3 mana. Cards like Settle the Wreckage and Path to Exile have taught me that decks often cannot take advantage of the extra mana after they lose their edge, but giving Burn 2 more mana and letting them dig for that last burn spell seems dicey, and you do NOT want to see what UR Storm or Ad Nauseam-Angel's Grace can do with 2 more mana.
Shame that Explore and Growth Spiral rapidly become mere cantrips by Turn 4 or later, or Journey to the Oracle actually might have been good in Modern.
Actually, with around 28 or so out of 60 cards being lands, how often can Journey to the Oracle dump 2 or more lands out of your hand?
Cool card. Village Rites costs 1 less and has no life loss attached though, so if you want this to be good, you either need a lot of sac fodder or have Magecraft triggers for extra value. As the card art implies, this is great with Extus, as sacking is a cost and Extus's Magecraft triggers will happen after your creatures hit the bin, essentially making this "free" aside the tempo loss.
Never forget that "Connect With the Forbidden" doesn't require you to sacrifice anything in order to draw a card. I feel more comfortable with this card than Village Rites as a result.
Looks like Modern's only chance at Innocent Blood is in Modern Horizons 2. The ability to get a permanent card back is often not worth what you had to sacrifice, even at 2 mana.
"Failure", while kinda a whiff against U/X(/Y) Control late-game, should be decent to quite good against other decks. Opponents going near-Hellbent so this can kill Goyf is shockingly common, and if most else fails, this can kill Bob.
"Oriq Spellcaster" (that second word does not match the more probable Warlock creature type it has) looks pretty good when Entombing Flashback spells like Lingering Souls. ...Of course, it's a 4-cmc creature that dies to Bolt.
Oh fricken boy, Leovold, Emissary of Trest is finally basically Modern-legal with Mila! Leovold made activating Wasteland annoying as heck, and I expect Mila to be good even when she's the first to eat removal (she draws a card when targeted, too).
...OK, Leovold has a Narset, Parter of Veils static attached, but Leovold's second ability was already annoying enough.
I don't normally post here, but Wizards made multiple slips in gender pronoun assignment in that article:
And the food is so good that you can offer it to opposing creatures and they tap out while eating it.
The simultaneous granting Indestructible and tapping reminds me of Regeneration.
Even better, Oriq Loremage can set up the combo by itself over several turns. Entomb a copy of itself, then Entomb Necrotic Ooze, then Entomb Unburial Rites. Entomb a Haste-granter in between if you're scared. Your opponent now needs to kill 8 creatures in time instead of 4 (assuming Modern and not EDH), and you can raise hell by Entombing stuff like Tracker's Instincts instead and also including Vizier of Remedies in your deck.
Dunno if Ingenious Mastery is the best in the cycle when undercosted or too risky to cast for 3 mana. Cards like Settle the Wreckage and Path to Exile have taught me that decks often cannot take advantage of the extra mana after they lose their edge, but giving Burn 2 more mana and letting them dig for that last burn spell seems dicey, and you do NOT want to see what UR Storm or Ad Nauseam-Angel's Grace can do with 2 more mana.
But what about Totem Armor such as Hyena Umbra?
But wait, we've never had a full set dump on a weekend before! I also suspect a Monday Card Image Gallery dump.
Actually, with around 28 or so out of 60 cards being lands, how often can Journey to the Oracle dump 2 or more lands out of your hand?
Never forget that "Connect With the Forbidden" doesn't require you to sacrifice anything in order to draw a card. I feel more comfortable with this card than Village Rites as a result.
Sedgemoor Witch looks like a beefier, more expensive Young Pyromancer. Looks like fun in the right deck.
"Oriq Spellcaster" (that second word does not match the more probable Warlock creature type it has) looks pretty good when Entombing Flashback spells like Lingering Souls. ...Of course, it's a 4-cmc creature that dies to Bolt.
Not bad for a scalable threat/finisher, though. You already get 4 flying power for 4 mana, and it only gets more efficient from there
...OK, Leovold has a Narset, Parter of Veils static attached, but Leovold's second ability was already annoying enough.