Vault of the Archangel will be a definite sleeper--probably because it can't find as good a home in Standard. It'll rip some stuff up in Modern, though. In the right deck (runs enough chump blocker-style creatures--say, Martyr Proc), this is Ghostly Prison on a land.
I suspect Falkenrath Aristocrat will see less play than Ghost Council of Orzhova did. It similarly protects itself by saccing a guy, but its toughness is incredibly weak.
You missed Saffi Eriksdotter--she may wait until the other guy dies, but she will act then. (She's popular in EDH, as far as I can tell.)
You may as well also post what this card doesn't hose--Cascade and Living End are two prominent examples of what dances around the Cage because they involve casting stuff and having stuff ETB from exile.
Yeah, that gargoyle is painfully unelegant. Does anyone have any insight as to why it isn't just a 2/3 creature with defender? They don't even need the "comes into play tapped" line due to summoning sickness.
Also, as someone pointed out way at the beginning of the thread - what happened to this card to make it not a flip card? If it were a flip card, this structure would make a little more sense.
It CIP tapped so it can't block on your opponent's next turn. Not investing mana for a defender mana rock is surprisingly powerful, and unlike Pristine Talisman, it eats Moorland Haunt tokens all day.
I'd cry if it hosed cheating all stuff in from libraries. Paying 1 sorcery-speed colourless mana for an eternally active Stifle (admit it: most of the time, you target fetchlands with it) is godawful.
I thought the deck ran enough threats to give Teachings headaches. I was wrong. Teachings won the great majority of the games I play-tested a similar list to yours against. It didn't care about the ramp dudes, it often didn't even care about Master Transmuter, and it booted every fat robot with 5+ cmc it saw. It even bounced Lightning Greaves equipped onto Platinum Angel, and when the Greaves were re-cast, it Pathed the Angel in response. Teachings won with Tiagos and V. Cliques.
My testing says this deck still does badly against Zoo (actually sticking Wurmcoil Engine or Steel Hellkite is hard and often comes too late). This deck needs to be strong against some archetypes to be able to compete, and I'm not sure which ones it can be strong against.
Another up and coming deck that I don't think has been mentioned yet that the Cage totally hoses is Nic Fit, and it hoses it on pretty much every possible level. No tutoring up an answer with Green Sun's Zenith, no Recurring Nightmare, no Birthing Pod, no getting back creatures with Sun Titan. It's like a one stop shop for beating Nic Fit
Good news--it doesn't turn off Eternal Witness! We can still get stuff back to our hand and Pernicious Deed them for, like, the third time.
Besides, Nic Fit is mainly a goodstuffs deck--it doesn't lean on any one thing to do well (besides blow up Veteran Explorer and Hymn to Tourach them immediately afterward--and jamming GSZ sort of sucks).
The Academy Rector versions are probably snickering in their boots, as they can tutor up Deed and blow the Cage up.
In short, the card isn't actually good in Modern. The ony deck you'd want to sideboard it in for over regular graveyard hate is Melira, and there's already plenty of multipurpose hate that also hits that deck available.
It all depends on what you need to hose. Decks have limited sideboard slots. If you want to hose both Melira Pod and Exarch Twin (like Martyr Proc does--that deck also still wants to use activated abilities and get its guys from the dead), Torpor Orb is pretty good, and Pithing Needle isn't shabby. If you want to hose both Melira Pod and UR Storm with some Unburial Rites into Iona hate, Grafdigger's Cage is often ideal.
Trinket Mage can get this card, so Tezzerator will like it a lot.
In the meantime, I am testing Vault of the Archangel in BW Tokens and that card is insane against aggro. Get 1 or 2 tokens out and enough mana to activate it and it's virtually Ghostly Prison on a land (that doesn't stop Exarch Twin, but eh, it's a land). That deck can often chump-block long enough to get Vault active, and once it does, it will stabilize. I use 1 Mortarpod to ensure the stabilization, but I suspect the card is good enough to be a Weathered Wayfarer target in Martyr and Seek (Martyr Proc with Hide//Seek).
It does too little too late against combo, so I'm not sure whether people will hop off GW Tokens and its Gavony Township to get on BW Tokens. But getting hand disruption with Black is also nice, and also using Sorin 2.0 is like having an Ajani Goldmane whose plus ability isn't useless or an Elspeth 1.0 whose 2nd ability grants an even faster clock. (Not to mention using Sorin's -6 to finally stabilize against aggro after they refuse to attack into your Vault of the Archangel.)
Further testing shows that Vault stops being such a deterrent to attackers when someone pops an Elspeth ultimate. Bant and UW Control probably get better match-ups due to this.
BW Tokens finally gets a Spectral Procession sub in Lingering Souls! Woohoo! Time to ditch Squadron Hawk and replace it with Bob!
It only looks like a Sorcery-speed Midnight Haunting, but it also produces two more tokens for only 1B! 5 mana for 4 flying tokens ain't bad, especially when you can distribute it over two turns.
Thought Scour...no clue how useful milling two cards is, even in a Tiago or dedicated mill deck, but at least it cantrips at instant speed.
Stromkirk Captain might finally make BR Vampires a deck, or it might fizzle because it's a 3 cmc lord. (Granted, I don't feel like getting smacked by 3/2 Bloodghasts with first strike.)
Reaper of Sheoldred was used to represent the Thane of Rot (whatever his name was) during Scars block. They just use whatever looks nice and fits the character.
Reaper of Sheoldred is used to represent Roxith, I'm pretty certain, because Sheoldred got him shredded up and reassembled him to become her servant. See here for what happened to him.
On the other hand, maybe Geralf kept getting stalked by an Evil Twin.
If I'm playing Gifts, I start searching for counterspell or removal piles instead.
If I'm playing Living End, I laugh because Cascade isn't turned off (I cast cards from exile) and Living End isn't turned off (I put creature cards onto the battlefield from exile).
If I'm playing Storm, I grumble and pray that the Empty the Warrens plan and/or Pyromancer Ascension plan work (they sometimes do). Games 2-3, I board in bounce.
If I'm playing Twin Pod, I either figure I may as well draw combo pieces by luck (4 Exarch 2 Kiki-Jiki are fairly good odds) or get it off the battlefield with Venser, Shaper Savant or Acidic Slime (if I luck into them--fat chance, but there are two of these guys, and I can board in Vithian Renegades afterwards).
If I'm playing Melira Pod...that is the most devastating hate card ever for that deck. If I see Damping Matrix, I Chord of Calling for Harmonic Sliver and blow it up. If I see Torpor Orb, I Birthing Pod into Qasali Pridemage and blow it up. If I see Grafdigger's Cage, I am now reduced to finding either of these guys by pure, dumb luck. And I run 1 Pridemage main and 1 Sliver in the board. Odds get even worse if you run only one artifact hate bear in your 75. Now Melira Pod has to run 2+. (Our Plan B, attacking with Kitchen Finks and whatever we luck into, may work against Teachings, but it doesn't work against decks like Bant.)
Would there be this outcry if they reprinted Tormod's Crypt or Relic of Progenitus? Wouldn't starting the game with Leyline of the Void on the battlefield hose GY use even more?
Keep calm, pack some artifact removal and/or some strategic versatility in your deck, and carry on.
Modern UR Storm can play around it. Dredge can play around it. Reanimator is practically forced to counter it or targeted discard it or die. (The saving grace is Show and Tell in the sideboard--you can still cheat in creatures from hands!)
Melira Pod just hates, hates, hates Grafdigger's Cage. Not only does it hose Persist, it also hoses Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling, which are the ways it tutors for hate. Now it has to dig for that stupid one-of Harmonic Sliver and/or Qasali Pridemage by dumb luck. Woe to Melira Pod if it doesn't stick in artifact hate maindeck.
I suspect Falkenrath Aristocrat will see less play than Ghost Council of Orzhova did. It similarly protects itself by saccing a guy, but its toughness is incredibly weak.
You may as well also post what this card doesn't hose--Cascade and Living End are two prominent examples of what dances around the Cage because they involve casting stuff and having stuff ETB from exile.
It CIP tapped so it can't block on your opponent's next turn. Not investing mana for a defender mana rock is surprisingly powerful, and unlike Pristine Talisman, it eats Moorland Haunt tokens all day.
My testing says this deck still does badly against Zoo (actually sticking Wurmcoil Engine or Steel Hellkite is hard and often comes too late). This deck needs to be strong against some archetypes to be able to compete, and I'm not sure which ones it can be strong against.
Good news--it doesn't turn off Eternal Witness! We can still get stuff back to our hand and Pernicious Deed them for, like, the third time.
Besides, Nic Fit is mainly a goodstuffs deck--it doesn't lean on any one thing to do well (besides blow up Veteran Explorer and Hymn to Tourach them immediately afterward--and jamming GSZ sort of sucks).
The Academy Rector versions are probably snickering in their boots, as they can tutor up Deed and blow the Cage up.
It all depends on what you need to hose. Decks have limited sideboard slots. If you want to hose both Melira Pod and Exarch Twin (like Martyr Proc does--that deck also still wants to use activated abilities and get its guys from the dead), Torpor Orb is pretty good, and Pithing Needle isn't shabby. If you want to hose both Melira Pod and UR Storm with some Unburial Rites into Iona hate, Grafdigger's Cage is often ideal.
Trinket Mage can get this card, so Tezzerator will like it a lot.
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In the meantime, I am testing Vault of the Archangel in BW Tokens and that card is insane against aggro. Get 1 or 2 tokens out and enough mana to activate it and it's virtually Ghostly Prison on a land (that doesn't stop Exarch Twin, but eh, it's a land). That deck can often chump-block long enough to get Vault active, and once it does, it will stabilize. I use 1 Mortarpod to ensure the stabilization, but I suspect the card is good enough to be a Weathered Wayfarer target in Martyr and Seek (Martyr Proc with Hide//Seek).
It does too little too late against combo, so I'm not sure whether people will hop off GW Tokens and its Gavony Township to get on BW Tokens. But getting hand disruption with Black is also nice, and also using Sorin 2.0 is like having an Ajani Goldmane whose plus ability isn't useless or an Elspeth 1.0 whose 2nd ability grants an even faster clock. (Not to mention using Sorin's -6 to finally stabilize against aggro after they refuse to attack into your Vault of the Archangel.)
Further testing shows that Vault stops being such a deterrent to attackers when someone pops an Elspeth ultimate. Bant and UW Control probably get better match-ups due to this.
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New stuff:
BW Tokens finally gets a Spectral Procession sub in Lingering Souls! Woohoo! Time to ditch Squadron Hawk and replace it with Bob!
It only looks like a Sorcery-speed Midnight Haunting, but it also produces two more tokens for only 1B! 5 mana for 4 flying tokens ain't bad, especially when you can distribute it over two turns.
Thought Scour...no clue how useful milling two cards is, even in a Tiago or dedicated mill deck, but at least it cantrips at instant speed.
Stromkirk Captain might finally make BR Vampires a deck, or it might fizzle because it's a 3 cmc lord. (Granted, I don't feel like getting smacked by 3/2 Bloodghasts with first strike.)
Reaper of Sheoldred is used to represent Roxith, I'm pretty certain, because Sheoldred got him shredded up and reassembled him to become her servant. See here for what happened to him.
On the other hand, maybe Geralf kept getting stalked by an Evil Twin.
If I'm playing Living End, I laugh because Cascade isn't turned off (I cast cards from exile) and Living End isn't turned off (I put creature cards onto the battlefield from exile).
If I'm playing Storm, I grumble and pray that the Empty the Warrens plan and/or Pyromancer Ascension plan work (they sometimes do). Games 2-3, I board in bounce.
If I'm playing Twin Pod, I either figure I may as well draw combo pieces by luck (4 Exarch 2 Kiki-Jiki are fairly good odds) or get it off the battlefield with Venser, Shaper Savant or Acidic Slime (if I luck into them--fat chance, but there are two of these guys, and I can board in Vithian Renegades afterwards).
If I'm playing Melira Pod...that is the most devastating hate card ever for that deck. If I see Damping Matrix, I Chord of Calling for Harmonic Sliver and blow it up. If I see Torpor Orb, I Birthing Pod into Qasali Pridemage and blow it up. If I see Grafdigger's Cage, I am now reduced to finding either of these guys by pure, dumb luck. And I run 1 Pridemage main and 1 Sliver in the board. Odds get even worse if you run only one artifact hate bear in your 75. Now Melira Pod has to run 2+. (Our Plan B, attacking with Kitchen Finks and whatever we luck into, may work against Teachings, but it doesn't work against decks like Bant.)
If I'm playing Jund, all it stops is Kitchen Finks.
Modern UR Storm can play around it. Dredge can play around it. Reanimator is practically forced to counter it or targeted discard it or die. (The saving grace is Show and Tell in the sideboard--you can still cheat in creatures from hands!)
Melira Pod just hates, hates, hates Grafdigger's Cage. Not only does it hose Persist, it also hoses Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling, which are the ways it tutors for hate. Now it has to dig for that stupid one-of Harmonic Sliver and/or Qasali Pridemage by dumb luck. Woe to Melira Pod if it doesn't stick in artifact hate maindeck.
I'm not a fan of 8 pump effects--you'll have fewer tokens than you want to with too many anthems.
Try swapping the Path to Exile and Doom Blade numbers, since you'll be leaning more on white.
Thraben Doomsayer gets going sooner than Bloodline Keeper. (Hey, you're talking about Dark Ascension cards, right?)