Was listening to an old, old Drive to Work on Gold cards and Mark Rosewater discussed how bad the gold legendaries from Legends were. Yes, they seemed awesome when they first came out, and they created an interest that developed the Elder Dragon Highlander format, but by modern standards few of the cards are playable.
What the ones that would still be considered playable?
Populate: White/Green, easily.
Madness: Black/Red, likely. Could see Grixis.
Morph: Blue with others. Maybe Sultai or Temur.
Flashback: Unclear, would likely need White, maybe Red.
We've seen a two drop Defender Hexproof 0/3 in Sylvan Caryatid, a two drop semi-Hexproof 2/1 with Paradise Druid, I've been really wishing for a one drop weak (like 0/3) Hexproof with either a mild ETB ability or even Paradise Druid's semi-Hexproof status (which is fine once you make it vigilance). I can get that a one drop 1/1 Hexproof isn't what they want anymore, so is it possible to imagine what a 0/3 without being a mana dork at one drop would have to have to make it printable?
So the check lands will rotate out with the introduction of the new set at the end of the year, code name Archery.
Right now the Standard manabase is the check lands and shock lands.
It's possible, based on past core sets, that we'll see a cycle of lands in the Core Set 2020. I'd actually bet on it, given that War of the Spark didn't contain any cycles.
But given that we know the checks are rotating out, what seems like the more plausible replacement. A reprint of existing cycles or a new cycle?
Oh and remember Modern Horizons is also on the horizon.
My guess, something like a half-cycle, like new enemy cycle lands, in Magic 2020, or the fall set.
Ah, I see what you mean. But that's not really easy to balance things.. some colors would be stronger than others in a format. For example, blue is strong in legacy, while other colors are strong in modern.
I think it's interesting to think about why certain colors are stronger than others in a format. Blue is strong in legacy because WOTC printed some absurd blue cards earlier on when they didn't do as much internally to balance cards, mana cost, etc. Red and white are weaker in Commander because the higher life total and multiplayer format, which isn't what most cards are designed for, skews the game.
When considering why some colors are stronger in Modern, one reason is that WOTC hasn't, until Horizons, been able to add tools to the Modern toolbox without going through Standard first, and for a variety of reasons they don't want to mess up Standard as their gateway Constructed format. So this is the first time that WOTC may address some perceived imbalances directly into Modern.
Of course that raises the question of what is Modern "missing" in other colors. Even if White and Black have the best removal and best hate cards, it's not like WOTC is going to violate their own color pie and print more Beast Within variants in a color like Green. But Green could get cheap, efficient utility creatures or more hate bears.
And to answer your question, I actually do think bant bogles could be a thing should we ever get a blue gladecover or something of the ilk. I always hear people refer to Bogles as a green deck and I assume it's largely in part due to the fact that our hexproof dudes are green. However if we were to hypothetically have access to a white or blue hexproof 1 drop, I think it'd be totally plausible to have successful UW lists running around. That's not to ***** on Rancor or Spider Umbra as they're two of my favorite cards that we play, but Gladecover is the main reason why we play green in the first place. I have no idea whether or not a new U/W 1 drop hexproofer would be enough to make that prototypical list stray away from GW, but I certainly think it would give plenty of incentive to try. I'd still want to splash green for Rancor, Spider, Teeg; the biggest problem the deck has splashing a third color currently is the fact that we're lucky to see more than 3 lands in many games. On paper it seems like having a "blue gladecover" could mitigate some of the risk associated with adding another color (green in this example) as we can still drop a T1 Bogle if our opening hand includes one of the green sources we'd be running. It's definitely interesting to think about.
What else could Bogles benefit from? More cheap Auras? Or more sideboard help?
I was thinking about Horizon Canopy and what if it had been like one of the other allied lands from Future Sight. Graven Cairns wouldn't work, neither would Nimbus Maze. I think River of Tears would be iffy depending on how it was worded. Only the Grove of the Burnwillows format would have worked as well. Curious if we'll see any new lands in Modern Horizon that help. I think the card draw from Horizon Canopy makes it superior to a Green-White Grove of the Burnwillows.
It looks like WOTC is doing that for White and Red in Commander, slowly over time, and with Modern Horizons I'm curious what approach they would take to designing specifically for Modern. You either could take the approach of looking at what people already play and add more utility, or you could take the approach of looking at what people aren't playing and finding cards to make those decks more viable. Who knows what WOTC comes up with.
GW - Druid Counters
RG - RG Eldrazi?
UG - There's a fun aggro build you could do here.
Bant - Knightfall for sure.
Sultai - Not sure.
Temur - Monkey Grow
Valakut has been putting up a decent showing recently, why not it for RG?
What the ones that would still be considered playable?
I wonder with poisoned apples running around if we'll see the return of poison.
Giants. Dwarves. Mermaids. Already have seen faeries. Old hags and witches.
Populate: White/Green, easily.
Madness: Black/Red, likely. Could see Grixis.
Morph: Blue with others. Maybe Sultai or Temur.
Flashback: Unclear, would likely need White, maybe Red.
If it's more Edict effects, side in more Cartouche of Solidarity with Open the Armory?
Are you playing the deck from post #73 or rebuilt again?
Right now the Standard manabase is the check lands and shock lands.
It's possible, based on past core sets, that we'll see a cycle of lands in the Core Set 2020. I'd actually bet on it, given that War of the Spark didn't contain any cycles.
But given that we know the checks are rotating out, what seems like the more plausible replacement. A reprint of existing cycles or a new cycle?
Oh and remember Modern Horizons is also on the horizon.
My guess, something like a half-cycle, like new enemy cycle lands, in Magic 2020, or the fall set.
Didn't know this was a thing.
I think it's interesting to think about why certain colors are stronger than others in a format. Blue is strong in legacy because WOTC printed some absurd blue cards earlier on when they didn't do as much internally to balance cards, mana cost, etc. Red and white are weaker in Commander because the higher life total and multiplayer format, which isn't what most cards are designed for, skews the game.
When considering why some colors are stronger in Modern, one reason is that WOTC hasn't, until Horizons, been able to add tools to the Modern toolbox without going through Standard first, and for a variety of reasons they don't want to mess up Standard as their gateway Constructed format. So this is the first time that WOTC may address some perceived imbalances directly into Modern.
Of course that raises the question of what is Modern "missing" in other colors. Even if White and Black have the best removal and best hate cards, it's not like WOTC is going to violate their own color pie and print more Beast Within variants in a color like Green. But Green could get cheap, efficient utility creatures or more hate bears.
If you were going into a hypothetical Blue Bogles, the list of auras could include Unstable Mutation, which could be pretty sweet. Would look to Arcane Flight, Curious Obsession, and maybe some options like Eel Umbra, Ghostly Wings, and Cartouche of Knowledge.
What else could Bogles benefit from? More cheap Auras? Or more sideboard help?
I was thinking about Horizon Canopy and what if it had been like one of the other allied lands from Future Sight. Graven Cairns wouldn't work, neither would Nimbus Maze. I think River of Tears would be iffy depending on how it was worded. Only the Grove of the Burnwillows format would have worked as well. Curious if we'll see any new lands in Modern Horizon that help. I think the card draw from Horizon Canopy makes it superior to a Green-White Grove of the Burnwillows.
It looks like WOTC is doing that for White and Red in Commander, slowly over time, and with Modern Horizons I'm curious what approach they would take to designing specifically for Modern. You either could take the approach of looking at what people already play and add more utility, or you could take the approach of looking at what people aren't playing and finding cards to make those decks more viable. Who knows what WOTC comes up with.
Valakut has been putting up a decent showing recently, why not it for RG?