Over the week, I found time to go through all of the current Modern-playable cards. I actually came up with a huge list of cool cards that I never knew existed. I'm sure many of the cards I wrote down were Standard all stars/playables but maybe they are not quite good for Modern. Still, I put them all in a Word document for future reference.
I am curious why these cards never found a home though. They seem quite powerful to me, or just useful.
1. Night's Whisper: Is the sorcery speed the reason it does not see any play? Seems very splashable to me.
2. Cosi's Trickster: Seems like a reasonable one-drop for Merfolk decks, or is the Judge's Familiar-like merfolk better?
3. Phyrexian Arena: If Bob is good, why not this? Too slow now? Was thinking of playing BUx control of some kind. Card advantage is the real problem with control decks. They are good controlling tempo, and they can get value in some cases, but raw card advantage/selection is their weak spot. Seems like this card will solve that.
4. Victim of Night: Removal is bad in Standard potentially, but seems great in Modern. I guess Terminate is also good, and probably easier to cast, but no-restriction removal at instant speed is pretty hard to come by, even for modern. Or are we afraid of the random Olivia here?
5. Isochron Scepter: Seems like a fun card to me, and can be very powerful. Might be weak to pod since they can just tutor for the answer, but I am surprised nobody plays this. Just too slow? The potential for 2-for-1 is too much to risk? Seems really good with Lightning Bolt, or Terminate, or Peer Through Depths, or Abrupt Decay, or many other things.
6. Mask of Memory: This card seems underrated to me. How was it in Mirrodin block? Did Skullclamp overshadow it? It's cheaper than a sword, but doesn't give combat bonuses. Does that make it bad?
7. Steelshaper's Gift: Seems like a pretty sweet tutor for equipment. If you had 1 of each sword in your deck, you can just get the one you need. Seems like it would fit into a bunch of decks. Bad?
8. Hold the Line: I know this seems narrow, but when I saw it, I laughed. I couldn't stop thinking of Mass Effect 1's Hold The Line speech.
9. Ideas Unbound: Seems like a good card in Merfolk decks that can easily dump their hand. Are there really no cards to cut to add 2-3 of these?
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: Seems like it would have a good interaction with Knight of the Reliquary and just fetch lands in general. Bad?
12. Augury Adept: Did this card see any serious play? I know hitting an opponent via combat is not the easiest thing in the world to do, so I am dismissing it. However, drawing a card AND gaining life seems pretty awesome to ignore. Neat little card.
13. Reflecting Pool: Why is nobody playing these? I didn't even know this was legal in modern. I used to play them back in Tempest block. I think it's worth it to play at least one, if not two. Better than taking 2 damage.
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: I dislike conditional cards, but on the bright side, he's not that horrible if you didn't deal 3 damage. It's kind of funny, but if you're playing against Jund, you might just get a bunch of free cards for playing against them, lol. And if they bolt it, well, that's a lord that didn't get eaten by his bolt.
15. Vexing Shusher: Probably not really strong in the current meta, but has to be a player at times, no? Seems pretty crazy.
16. Gilder Bairn: I only noticed this because it had a lot of interactions with Simic/Golgari cards from the RTR block.
17. Wake Thrasher: I know, I know - it's a 3 drop that kind of sucks when he comes into play. But it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me that he will get to be quite larger than a 3/3 every turn, just by playing real magic.
18. Talara's Battalion: I like this card, although maybe it wouldn't be a good. Seems to be pretty silly with Burning-Tree Emissary. You can also cheat it into play with Aether Vial. Lots of explosive ways to use it.
19. Stigma Lasher: I didn't know this card existed. I know Soul Sisters isn't too popular, but my guess is that they wouldn't like this card at all, lol (if he connects, which is the real gimmick, sigh).
20. Qasali Ambusher: Not crazy overpowered, but seems rather nice if you're playing with Temple Garden. I'm guessing this would punish a lot of players attacking with their bobs, mana dorks, deathrite shamans, etc. Of course, it would only work for the first game. There's no way they are going to play around this card. Then sideboard it out for the second game, and they won't attack you in game 2
21. Vampire Hexmage: I was not aware of a creature that could sacrifice itself to kill a planeswalker. Pretty neat. Easy to play around though
22. Kargan Dragonlord: 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer that's out of bolt range on turn 3 doesn't seem bad to me. It's no Tarmogoyf, but what is?
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: With all of the horrible cantrips and card filters, wouldn't this be of some use to control players?
Some are played, some are bad, most are clearly you just joking (or from an angry person's perspective trolling)
Plenty of the cards that don't see competitive play probably show up at modern FNMs here and there. Which means that they are technically played. Why aren't the pros playing them? Because it's their job to win, and they can't play high variance cards in their decks.
Hold the line is pretty terrible in all formats minus draft/sealed
11. So I'm sneaking this in with vial when apostle's blessing exists why?
Good question. Card already has flash and dies when you vial it in... personally I like Plaxmanta but countering spot removal is not an exciting feat to pull off.
Peer Through Depths sees play in Scapeshift, cause it digs for the combo or even if it doesn't hit the combo, it will hit another Peer, counterspell or ramp card.
Some are played, some are bad, most are clearly you just joking (or from an angry person's perspective trolling)
Plenty of the cards that don't see competitive play probably show up at modern FNMs here and there. Which means that they are technically played. Why aren't the pros playing them? Because it's their job to win, and they can't play high variance cards in their decks.
Hold the line is pretty terrible in all formats minus draft/sealed
Good question. Card already has flash and dies when you vial it in... personally I like Plaxmanta but countering spot removal is not an exciting feat to pull off.
I am not trolling, lol. I don't play too much modern - just getting in. Learning decks, cards. This is all legitimate
I know Hold the Line is not playable. I just thought the card was funny. If you play Mass Effect, you'd know what I mean:
2. Cosi's Trickster: Seems like a reasonable one-drop for Merfolk decks, or is the Judge's Familiar-like merfolk better?
Too often a dead card, unreliable (but undeniably cool)
I was thinking it might be good against the fetch lands and especially against the pod decks. Maybe if they are shuffling for answers, that's a bad sign, but even if he gets to be a 2/2 or a 3/3 over the course of the game, that isn't too bad, is it? I was more thinking of pod than anything, but doesn't seem to bad against anything in Modern. I dunno though. I never tested it obviously, hence discussion
3. Phyrexian Arena: If Bob is good, why not this? Too slow now? Was thinking of playing BUx control of some kind. Card advantage is the real problem with control decks. They are good controlling tempo, and they can get value in some cases, but raw card advantage/selection is their weak spot. Seems like this card will solve that.
Bob is good because he is a creature and actually does something while he draws you card. Maybe the Arena could be good in a deck with a lot of sweepers, but such deck still doesn't exists
I'd love to make one. I like playing control type of decks. But if it sucks, I'd rather not try real hard to get 4x Arenas. Black seems to be the right colour for such a deck though. Blue/White is not quite the colour it used to be. It's more tempo oriented now.
5. Isochron Scepter: Seems like a fun card to me, and can be very powerful. Might be weak to pod since they can just tutor for the answer, but I am surprised nobody plays this. Just too slow? The potential for 2-for-1 is too much to risk? Seems really good with Lightning Bolt, or Terminate, or Peer Through Depths, or Abrupt Decay, or many other things.
I tested it, but it always looked too slow to work for me. Kinda good when it worked, but 2 for 1 can be devastating
If pod wasn't so dominate, I'd think this would make a good 1-of or 2-of in a control deck for sure. If unanswered, seems to give so much card advantage and inevitability.
7. Steelshaper's Gift: Seems like a pretty sweet tutor for equipment. If you had 1 of each sword in your deck, you can just get the one you need. Seems like it would fit into a bunch of decks. Bad?
Some equipment-heavy deck use it, I think
I might invest in some Seems like a cheap price for what it does.
11. Plaxmanta: Seems like a good creature to sneak into play using Aether Vial.
I don't see the value in vialing it rather than casting it. When cast correctly, I agree that this is a good card. A blue bear with flash which also "counters" a removal? Awesome because it leaves a 2/2 behind (apostle's blessing doesn't)
Yeah, I wasn't just referring to the Vial. It seemed like a nice little gem. I've never see the card played as I've been watching games for Modern. In my next order, I'm getting a playset and I'm going to try them out.
13. Reflecting Pool: Why is nobody playing these? I didn't even know this was legal in modern. I used to play them back in Tempest block. I think it's worth it to play at least one, if not two. Better than taking 2 damage.
5-colors Slivers will use it
Hrm, does it have to be 5-colour decks? I'm thinking any deck could use it, no? Obviously putting 4 of these in the deck may be bad, but I certainly wouldn't mind saving myself 2 or 3 life during some games and essentially have the same manabase as before. I suppose there will be the enevitable draw where you see only 2 colours and a Reflecting Pool, but that could just as easily been two Overgrown Tombs or Temple Gardens too. I think at least 1 has to be correct in a 3-color deck.
15. Vexing Shusher: Probably not really strong in the current meta, but has to be a player at times, no? Seems pretty crazy.
Maaayyybee as a sideboard in a deck who truly hates countermagic?
Now that someone else pointed this out, Aether Vial and Cavern of Souls are much better solutions anyway, so yeah, you're probably right.
17. Wake Thrasher: I know, I know - it's a 3 drop that kind of sucks when he comes into play. But it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me that he will get to be quite larger than a 3/3 every turn, just by playing real magic.
Merfolk doesn't need finishers, as each of its creature will become huge. This doesn't add any sinergy
18. Talara's Battalion: I like this card, although maybe it wouldn't be a good. Seems to be pretty silly with Burning-Tree Emissary. You can also cheat it into play with Aether Vial. Lots of explosive ways to use it.
Worst topdeck ever, hard to cast
21. Vampire Hexmage: I was not aware of a creature that could sacrifice itself to kill a planeswalker. Pretty neat. Easy to play around though
As soon as Dark Depths is unbanned, this will see more play
Yeah, I guess it would be good for that too. I was just thinking planeswalkers since I don't know of many cards in Modern where counters are a huge problem.
22. Kargan Dragonlord: 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer that's out of bolt range on turn 3 doesn't seem bad to me. It's no Tarmogoyf, but what is?
Maybe good in monored, but very mana hungry
I just noticed that this was different than Student of Warfare - it doesn't become a 4/4 until quite a few mana sinks - not just the first one. So I think it's rather meh now.
I have only played Steelshaper's Gift in Puresteel Paladin decklists. I'm surprised paladin lists rarely, if ever, use it, I wouldn't run the deck without gift, finding the perfect equip for the matchup is essential.
I thought about using Ideas Unbound on the Top Control deck because most spells are 0cc or 1cc, so we could cast IU and dump all 3 cards, never tested it though.
Modern has the problem that cards dont only have to pass the bolt test, but the decay test also. Most of the cards you mention above are just inferior to other cards being played in the format. To most they are considered budget alternatives, not really top level competitive.
1. Night's Whisper: This actually does see play in the Mono-Black Infect deck. Back when UWR was running rampant, that deck was actually not bad. Right now it's terrible.
3. Phyrexian Arena: Mostly because Bob is better. Also because Liliana is better.
4. Victim of Night: There's basically no reason to stick to just one color in Modern, which means that BB is actually harder to cast than RB. Mono-Black Control is strictly worse than any of the other control variants, and those variants have access to better cards.
5. Isochron Scepter: A scepter deck did make it to the top tables a couple of GPs ago. But with Abrupt Decays running around, this is just asking for a blowout.
6. Mask of Memory: I believe I've seen some Death and Taxes lists running this for filtering. The trouble is that if you can afford to spend three mana on equipping a creature with something that doesn't make it better in combat, you're probably winning the game already and don't need the effect.
7. Steelshaper's Gift: The trouble is that tutoring for equipment just isn't good enough. This thing basically wants you to be running a toolbox of equipment, which means that I guess you're running one of each Sword and a Batterskull? And...then you are equipping what exactly with it? This doesn't sound like what I want to be doing.
8. Hold the Line: It's a limited fodder combat trick.
9. Ideas Unbound: A lot of bad combo decks are in love with this card. The trouble is that nobody wants to pay this much mana for card disadvantage.
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: I hate to say it, but it's true - there's literally zero reason to run this guy over Tarmogoyf. Hell, there's zero reason to run him over Flinthoof Boar. You have to work way too hard to make this guy a size worth attack with.
11. Plaxmanta: There aren't any creature-based UG decks in the format, which means there aren't any decks that even want to consider this guy.
12. Augury Adept: He's a 3 mana 2/2 that does nothing when he enters the battlefield and gets blocked by everything in the format. Next!
13. Reflecting Pool: I believe some of the control decks run this guy. It's only good if you're playing a long game. If your deck is aiming to win the game quickly, this is just a liability.
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: If it wasn't clear enough by now, Modern doesn't give you enough time to durdle around.
15. Vexing Shusher: If I want me spell to be uncounterable, I'll just run Boseiju instead.
16. Gilder Bairn: Another huge durdle and way too conditional. Next!
17. Wake Thrasher: I feel like I've seen this guy in Merfolk decks before, but not very often.
18. Talara's Battalion: It's cute, but it'll be dead in your hand too often and it's a terrible top deck.
19. Stigma Lasher: Yep, you got it - too hard to get him to connect.
20. Qasali Ambusher: Turns out that a 3CC 2/3 isn't good enough. Even if you sometimes get to cast it for free at instant speed.
21. Vampire Hexmage: There are better sorceries that kill planeswalkers, especially now. And a 2CC 2/2 isn't relevant.
22. Kargan Dragonlord: Try reading it again. It's a 6 mana 4/4 flier. It also spends much of its life as a 5 mana 2/2 durdle.
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: It's just worse than Think Twice. Card selection doesn't make up for how slow it is.
plaxmanta can be interesting. its a living simic charm.
peer through depths is a cool card, can be considered the best cantrip in modern with the absence of brainstorm... also with the right build of deck. since it is terrible in a creature based deck.
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Over the week, I found time to go through all of the current Modern-playable cards. I actually came up with a huge list of cool cards that I never knew existed. I'm sure many of the cards I wrote down were Standard all stars/playables but maybe they are not quite good for Modern. Still, I put them all in a Word document for future reference.
I am curious why these cards never found a home though. They seem quite powerful to me, or just useful.
1. Night's Whisper: Is the sorcery speed the reason it does not see any play? Seems very splashable to me.
2. Cosi's Trickster: Seems like a reasonable one-drop for Merfolk decks, or is the Judge's Familiar-like merfolk better?
3. Phyrexian Arena: If Bob is good, why not this? Too slow now? Was thinking of playing BUx control of some kind. Card advantage is the real problem with control decks. They are good controlling tempo, and they can get value in some cases, but raw card advantage/selection is their weak spot. Seems like this card will solve that.
4. Victim of Night: Removal is bad in Standard potentially, but seems great in Modern. I guess Terminate is also good, and probably easier to cast, but no-restriction removal at instant speed is pretty hard to come by, even for modern. Or are we afraid of the random Olivia here?
5. Isochron Scepter: Seems like a fun card to me, and can be very powerful. Might be weak to pod since they can just tutor for the answer, but I am surprised nobody plays this. Just too slow? The potential for 2-for-1 is too much to risk? Seems really good with Lightning Bolt, or Terminate, or Peer Through Depths, or Abrupt Decay, or many other things.
6. Mask of Memory: This card seems underrated to me. How was it in Mirrodin block? Did Skullclamp overshadow it? It's cheaper than a sword, but doesn't give combat bonuses. Does that make it bad?
7. Steelshaper's Gift: Seems like a pretty sweet tutor for equipment. If you had 1 of each sword in your deck, you can just get the one you need. Seems like it would fit into a bunch of decks. Bad?
8. Hold the Line: I know this seems narrow, but when I saw it, I laughed. I couldn't stop thinking of Mass Effect 1's Hold The Line speech.
9. Ideas Unbound: Seems like a good card in Merfolk decks that can easily dump their hand. Are there really no cards to cut to add 2-3 of these?
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: Seems like it would have a good interaction with Knight of the Reliquary and just fetch lands in general. Bad?
12. Augury Adept: Did this card see any serious play? I know hitting an opponent via combat is not the easiest thing in the world to do, so I am dismissing it. However, drawing a card AND gaining life seems pretty awesome to ignore. Neat little card.
13. Reflecting Pool: Why is nobody playing these? I didn't even know this was legal in modern. I used to play them back in Tempest block. I think it's worth it to play at least one, if not two. Better than taking 2 damage.
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: I dislike conditional cards, but on the bright side, he's not that horrible if you didn't deal 3 damage. It's kind of funny, but if you're playing against Jund, you might just get a bunch of free cards for playing against them, lol. And if they bolt it, well, that's a lord that didn't get eaten by his bolt.
15. Vexing Shusher: Probably not really strong in the current meta, but has to be a player at times, no? Seems pretty crazy.
16. Gilder Bairn: I only noticed this because it had a lot of interactions with Simic/Golgari cards from the RTR block.
17. Wake Thrasher: I know, I know - it's a 3 drop that kind of sucks when he comes into play. But it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me that he will get to be quite larger than a 3/3 every turn, just by playing real magic.
18. Talara's Battalion: I like this card, although maybe it wouldn't be a good. Seems to be pretty silly with Burning-Tree Emissary. You can also cheat it into play with Aether Vial. Lots of explosive ways to use it.
19. Stigma Lasher: I didn't know this card existed. I know Soul Sisters isn't too popular, but my guess is that they wouldn't like this card at all, lol (if he connects, which is the real gimmick, sigh).
20. Qasali Ambusher: Not crazy overpowered, but seems rather nice if you're playing with Temple Garden. I'm guessing this would punish a lot of players attacking with their bobs, mana dorks, deathrite shamans, etc. Of course, it would only work for the first game. There's no way they are going to play around this card. Then sideboard it out for the second game, and they won't attack you in game 2
21. Vampire Hexmage: I was not aware of a creature that could sacrifice itself to kill a planeswalker. Pretty neat. Easy to play around though
22. Kargan Dragonlord: 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer that's out of bolt range on turn 3 doesn't seem bad to me. It's no Tarmogoyf, but what is?
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: With all of the horrible cantrips and card filters, wouldn't this be of some use to control players?
1: Draw 2's can't be sorcery speed unless they cost 1. Creatures are too good.
2: Blue is terrible. Blue's creatures are worse.
3: Bob is better, you'd never want 8 of the effect.
4: Terminate exists as does abrupt decay.
5: This is instant card disadvantage and just bad. People never understood that because it's a casual card.
6: It's a slow draw 1. For another mana you get a sword of fire and ice which is boarder line playable.
7: There's only one equipment worth searching for and this IS occasionally seen in that deck. Plating.
8: Terrible.
9: It used to be in combo but combo is now bad. Double blue is killer.
10: Goyf is better.
11: Terrible.
12: 3 mana has to hit to have an effect. If it was just inverse bob for 1 more it might be good.
13: This card doesn't play 1 drops. Unlike other formats this is a format which starts on turn 1.
14: Terrible. You can only draw 6 cards before killing them. This guy is better as a 3 power beater.
15: Blue is terrible.
16: Terrible, slow, super bad.
17: Used to be good when blue and merfolk was good.
18: Conditional worse than tarmogoyfs are bad mkay.
19: Terrible. It's too slow.
20: Most decks don't win by attacking for a finite amount.
21: Walkers are terrible besides liliana and by the time it resolves you're behind a card.
22: Mana investments are bad.
23: Abysmal
24: This is played, a lot.
I have only played Steelshaper's Gift in Puresteel Paladin decklists. I'm surprised paladin lists rarely, if ever, use it, I wouldn't run the deck without gift, finding the perfect equip for the matchup is essential.
I thought about using Ideas Unbound on the Top Control deck because most spells are 0cc or 1cc, so we could cast IU and dump all 3 cards, never tested it though.
The rest of the cards do seem bad...
Yeah, I admitted that many of them I thought were bad or unsure, but it's always nice to have discussions. You never know, maybe there's 1 or 2 gems here that actually will help someone win their tournament or something. At this point, it only takes some subtle tunings to do much better than other people if that small change makes a big difference.
Being new to the format though, it's good to ask questions. I don't assume I know all of the answers. This is why I ask.
Over the week, I found time to go through all of the current Modern-playable cards. I actually came up with a huge list of cool cards that I never knew existed. I'm sure many of the cards I wrote down were Standard all stars/playables but maybe they are not quite good for Modern. Still, I put them all in a Word document for future reference.
I am curious why these cards never found a home though. They seem quite powerful to me, or just useful.
1. Night's Whisper: Is the sorcery speed the reason it does not see any play? Seems very splashable to me.
2. Cosi's Trickster: Seems like a reasonable one-drop for Merfolk decks, or is the Judge's Familiar-like merfolk better?
3. Phyrexian Arena: If Bob is good, why not this? Too slow now? Was thinking of playing BUx control of some kind. Card advantage is the real problem with control decks. They are good controlling tempo, and they can get value in some cases, but raw card advantage/selection is their weak spot. Seems like this card will solve that.
4. Victim of Night: Removal is bad in Standard potentially, but seems great in Modern. I guess Terminate is also good, and probably easier to cast, but no-restriction removal at instant speed is pretty hard to come by, even for modern. Or are we afraid of the random Olivia here?
5. Isochron Scepter: Seems like a fun card to me, and can be very powerful. Might be weak to pod since they can just tutor for the answer, but I am surprised nobody plays this. Just too slow? The potential for 2-for-1 is too much to risk? Seems really good with Lightning Bolt, or Terminate, or Peer Through Depths, or Abrupt Decay, or many other things.
6. Mask of Memory: This card seems underrated to me. How was it in Mirrodin block? Did Skullclamp overshadow it? It's cheaper than a sword, but doesn't give combat bonuses. Does that make it bad?
7. Steelshaper's Gift: Seems like a pretty sweet tutor for equipment. If you had 1 of each sword in your deck, you can just get the one you need. Seems like it would fit into a bunch of decks. Bad?
8. Hold the Line: I know this seems narrow, but when I saw it, I laughed. I couldn't stop thinking of Mass Effect 1's Hold The Line speech.
9. Ideas Unbound: Seems like a good card in Merfolk decks that can easily dump their hand. Are there really no cards to cut to add 2-3 of these?
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: Seems like it would have a good interaction with Knight of the Reliquary and just fetch lands in general. Bad?
12. Augury Adept: Did this card see any serious play? I know hitting an opponent via combat is not the easiest thing in the world to do, so I am dismissing it. However, drawing a card AND gaining life seems pretty awesome to ignore. Neat little card.
13. Reflecting Pool: Why is nobody playing these? I didn't even know this was legal in modern. I used to play them back in Tempest block. I think it's worth it to play at least one, if not two. Better than taking 2 damage.
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: I dislike conditional cards, but on the bright side, he's not that horrible if you didn't deal 3 damage. It's kind of funny, but if you're playing against Jund, you might just get a bunch of free cards for playing against them, lol. And if they bolt it, well, that's a lord that didn't get eaten by his bolt.
15. Vexing Shusher: Probably not really strong in the current meta, but has to be a player at times, no? Seems pretty crazy.
16. Gilder Bairn: I only noticed this because it had a lot of interactions with Simic/Golgari cards from the RTR block.
17. Wake Thrasher: I know, I know - it's a 3 drop that kind of sucks when he comes into play. But it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me that he will get to be quite larger than a 3/3 every turn, just by playing real magic.
18. Talara's Battalion: I like this card, although maybe it wouldn't be a good. Seems to be pretty silly with Burning-Tree Emissary. You can also cheat it into play with Aether Vial. Lots of explosive ways to use it.
19. Stigma Lasher: I didn't know this card existed. I know Soul Sisters isn't too popular, but my guess is that they wouldn't like this card at all, lol (if he connects, which is the real gimmick, sigh).
20. Qasali Ambusher: Not crazy overpowered, but seems rather nice if you're playing with Temple Garden. I'm guessing this would punish a lot of players attacking with their bobs, mana dorks, deathrite shamans, etc. Of course, it would only work for the first game. There's no way they are going to play around this card. Then sideboard it out for the second game, and they won't attack you in game 2
21. Vampire Hexmage: I was not aware of a creature that could sacrifice itself to kill a planeswalker. Pretty neat. Easy to play around though
22. Kargan Dragonlord: 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer that's out of bolt range on turn 3 doesn't seem bad to me. It's no Tarmogoyf, but what is?
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: With all of the horrible cantrips and card filters, wouldn't this be of some use to control players?
1. Bob is just generally better as a card. That's quite literally the reason. There really aren't decks that want to draw cards that badly and don't want to play Bob. Bob is continual card advantage that your opponent has to blow removal on. And let's not forget, Bob never loses you the game, it just doesn't happen.
2. Cursecatcher is just that much better. We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket is the answer here. I mean, yeah, the average deck fetches enough to make it playable, but it's like a bad Merfolk lord. The deck doesn't interact nearly enough so they would rather play interacting creatures. And at 28 creatures, they simply don't have room.
3. It's slow, costs double black (aka you'd rather avoid splashing) and guarantees a life loss. Bob doesn't necessarily lose you life. Yeah, Arena is harder to kill, but a whole turn matters quite a bit. And when you could play Liliana instead, it's just better. Arenas are worse than Bobs, so you'd be playing Bobs 5-8, and you really don't need that kind of draw power. Your deck needs functional cards that do things, and you'd take a lot of damage.
4. Mostly because there aren't many mono black decks. Most black decks are either WB (so they can run Path) or RB (so they can run Terminate). There aren't a lot of those types in high level play, though Huntmaster does see some Jund play. Regardless, there isn't really a mono black deck to make the mana cost relevant.
5. Scepter was really just too slow. You have to like tap out turn 2 to put something on it and then activate it turn 3. In a format where there are turn 4 wins, it tends to not be interactive enough. It also plays your hand, meaning that your opponent can play around the card easily, and potentially doesn't care about it. If you think about it, you have 1 mana up on turn 3 and 2 mana up on turn 4, which is potentially a huge problem. Even if the card does interact with them, you don't advance your board position.
6. Well, for one, Sword of Fire and Ice draws a card as well as doing other things. The one mana on an equipment like this is irrelevant. Not to mention that Swords rarely see any play. The only equipment seeing consistent play is Cranial Plating, and that's for obvious reasons.
7. I've seen it in some Affinity lists but ultimately the deck needs a culmination of cards to win. While it's obviously great to force the Cranial Plating, it ends up being slow. The deck really needs to utilize its mana well to play enough beaters early and pump through the damage. If you put so much into forcing Cranial Plating, you lose to Bolt or Path or any other removal.
8. There aren't many white decks that block. You're asking for 3 mana stem the bleeding, which is the problem. Decks that have creatures to block with don't typically want to do so. And at 1WW, it's not splashable and Remand will totally screw you. You have to make the blocks, so if it doesn't resolve, it potentially screws you really hard.
9. Merfolk doesn't dump hands well enough, and it forces you to do everything main phase. It has seen play in Storm but it makes you do everything the turn you play it. Merfolk likes to Vial in lords EoT to avoid cards like Wrath or Pyroclasm, and you basically tap out if you run this card. At like 6 mana it might be okay but otherwise it's not powerful enough.
10. The same reason as Cosi's Trickster, it's not powerful enough. More so though, it's just straight up worse than Goyf. It will always be budget Goyf or Goyfs 5-8.
11. It could be fine but the only deck that would play it is Merfolk, and they'd rather make their guys bigger yet again. Vial is underplayed in this format. Maybe Eternal Command could make use of it but that would be it. They're more concerned with value on their creatures as opposed to keeping them alive.
12. If I haven't said it before, being forced to deal combat to a play is hard. Yeah, the effect is nice, but remember, you don't necessarily gain life. The same way Bob never kills you, this card won't stop you from dying. It also doesn't necessarily trigger every turn either, and it's such a gamble if it does.
13. Some people do. But in a format where fetches and shocks exist, there's not a huge reason to. I've seen it in like Wafo-Tapa control lists but not a lot outside. Even at 4 colours the fixing is usually okay. Then again, most 4 colour decks run mana dorks like Birds, Deathrite Shaman, and Noble Hierarch, which fix them quite a bit.
14. Merfolk works on the basis that things get out of hand quickly. 2-drops that don't buff creatures are basically unplayable. The difference between 2/2s and 3/3s is huge. Card advantage is fine, but the deck's ultimately not concerned with that.
15. This one, I'm actually lost on. I got totally blown out by this once. It really just depends on the amount of blue since it's weaker than other alternatives in that deck, but provides more utility. I really like this card as a whole though.
16. Simic / Golgari cards from RtR see little play. That's why. Untap is also problematic because you have to attack with a 1/3. There just aren't many applications for huge amounts of counters on a single target.
17. It's the same thing as Cosi's Trickster. The biggest issue is that if you fall behind, it doesn't help you. It won't block and is weaker than Marrow Reejery.
18. Again, a worse Goyf. Sure it has impressive stats, but doesn't drop on turn 2, which is crucial. Turn 3 maybe, but you need to put consistent pressure. Modern is the land of going fast and not falling behind, and this card simply doesn't do that. If you can't attack with it until turn 4 or 5, that's an issue.
19. Again, having to deal damage is a problem. The thing is, they have cards that already prevent life gain like Skullcrack, so there's never a need for this. Soul Sisters can go to 30 on turn 2, at which point mono red likely already lost. It's just not worth it.
20. For starters, there aren't a lot of WGx lists. More importantly, it does nothing in so many matchups. Combo and control can mostly ignore it which is the problem for this card. It being 2/3 also means it probably doesn't kill Goyf.
21. There are very few Planeswalkers seeing play. Mostly Lili and Karn, not a lot outside that. It also costs some life to do so. When you can just Bolt Planeswalkers the card becomes less and less powerful.
22. It's a 2/2 for 2. Level up creatures are bad with all the good removal. You'd have to sink 4 extra mana to make it a 4/4. Even the end game on this isn't that impressive. If you play it on 2, your fastest start with this has it as a 4/4 on turn 4 and an 8/8 on turn 5, and then I just kill it with some removal. You can just sink mana EoT into it like most people do but realistically that doesn't happen a lot in the kind of deck that would play this. It's also red only for the level up.
23. It's just worse than Augur of Bolas or Wall of Omens. Draw cards now is the motto. We don't have time to wait for this card in this format. We want to be proactive, and it's a 2-drop that does nothing early. It's significantly worse than Isochron Scepter is. It's also significantly worse than the next card.
24. It sees some fringe play but ultimately we'd rather pay 1 mana for draw effects. Most blue decks just accept Remand as draw and forget the rest, because the 1 mana draw spells in this format suck due to it pushing Storm into OP territory.
7. Steelshaper's Gift: The trouble is that tutoring for equipment just isn't good enough. This thing basically wants you to be running a toolbox of equipment, which means that I guess you're running one of each Sword and a Batterskull? And...then you are equipping what exactly with it? This doesn't sound like what I want to be doing.
I'll have to disagree with that one. Paying W to tutor for equipment is extremely good. It does want you to be running a toolbox, but that does not mean that you have to run the swords, and much less batterskull. Those are high cost equipment, you need W to tutor, 3 to play and then 2 to equip, batterskull is worst. I played standard up until Paladin rotated out and then switched to modern to keep playing paladin. I never liked either the swords or batterskull, sure they are beast equipment, but their cc is too high to be efficient and in modern its even worst, by the time you can play one of these you're opponent will most likely have you begging for mercy.
My main toolbox consists of these:
Basilisk Collar
Viridian Longbow
Cranial Plating
Gift tutors whichever of those 3 I am missing, you shouldn't need anything else since:
All you have to do is accompany those with other low cost equipment like Mortarpod (longbow substitute), Flayer Husk (free chumpblocks), Swiftfoot boots (protection) and Accorder's Shield (Paladin cantrip and gets them out of bolt range).
Why would you need sword shennanigans or batterskull? Leaving the swords and batterskull out opens useful slots in the deck for other stuff, like cheap creatures to equip them unto, ornithopter, P.paladin, spellskite and etched champion are excellent for that.
If your having a problem against lifegain, don't play Stigma Lasher. As stated before, you have to connect with him in order to prevent life gain. And that can be rather difficult against Soul Sisters and other Life Gain decks. They will often gum the board up with their 1 drops and spirit tokens so much so that it would be nearly impossible to connect.
However, Rain of Gore is super amazing against Lifegain, as it would basically shut them down as early as Turn 2.
If your having a problem against lifegain, don't play Stigma Lasher. As stated before, you have to connect with him in order to prevent life gain. And that can be rather difficult against Soul Sisters and other Life Gain decks. They will often gum the board up with their 1 drops and spirit tokens so much so that it would be nearly impossible to connect.
However, Rain of Gore is super amazing against Lifegain, as it would basically shut them down as early as Turn 2.
It's not really that I have a problem with lifegain - I've actually never played against Soul Sisters yet. I've just videos online of people playing it.
The cards I put in my post were ones that caught my interest in one way or another. Most I was actually considering and wanted to discuss and test. Some were just for laughs (Hold the Line). One I think would actually have been better in Standard or RTR block constructed (the one that doubles counters).
Anyway, I definitely agree that it would be very difficult (i.e. near to impossible) to connect with him in the first place. That enchantment's pretty sick though against said Soul Sisters, and is definitely much better. I think I remember seeing this enchantment, or perhaps a spell that did the same thing actually, but just glossed over it. It's very good to know that exists if Soul Sisters should explode in popularity. Thanks
1. Night's Whisper: Is the sorcery speed the reason it does not see any play? Seems very splashable to me.
Well, if I was running a midrange deck that wanted to run high CMC cards, then I may want this over Dark Confidant. I may also want this in some sort of control deck where I can re-cast it with Snapcaster. However, in most situations Dark Confidant is going to be the correct card for the job.
2. Cosi's Trickster: Seems like a reasonable one-drop for Merfolk decks, or is the Judge's Familiar-like merfolk better?
Could this be workable with a card that forces opponents to search their libraries, like Ghost Quarter? Probably not, since Cursecatcher and various cheap bounce and counters will be better in most cases.
3. Phyrexian Arena: If Bob is good, why not this? Too slow now? Was thinking of playing BUx control of some kind. Card advantage is the real problem with control decks. They are good controlling tempo, and they can get value in some cases, but raw card advantage/selection is their weak spot. Seems like this card will solve that.
I'm with you on this. IDK if a RWB or Esper colors control deck is workable, but its worth a shot, especially since UWR shows us that control is a workable strategy in the format. With Arena you would not have to rely as much on Think Twice, although finding an opportune turn to stick Arena might be a tough proposition.
4. Victim of Night: Removal is bad in Standard potentially, but seems great in Modern. I guess Terminate is also good, and probably easier to cast, but no-restriction removal at instant speed is pretty hard to come by, even for modern. Or are we afraid of the random Olivia here?
I guess this is more of a function of costing BB than anything. If you are GBx then Abrupt Decay is the default choice. If you are BWx Path to Exile is the default choice. Go For The Throat is almost as good, but much easier to cast.
5. Isochron Scepter: Seems like a fun card to me, and can be very powerful. Might be weak to pod since they can just tutor for the answer, but I am surprised nobody plays this. Just too slow? The potential for 2-for-1 is too much to risk? Seems really good with Lightning Bolt, or Terminate, or Peer Through Depths, or Abrupt Decay, or many other things.
This card is hard to use in a format filled with Abrupt Decay. With that said, its quite powerful, so I think the trick is to build a deck that would like to have Scepter in play, but doesn't NEED Scepter in play to win. Ex: As a sideboard option in UWR to stop Pyromancer decks. Board in these and Silence, see if that works? Or maybe board it in match ups where you know Scepter will not easily get popped, like against Affininty (put a Bolt or Helix on it!)
6. Mask of Memory: This card seems underrated to me. How was it in Mirrodin block? Did Skullclamp overshadow it? It's cheaper than a sword, but doesn't give combat bonuses. Does that make it bad?
The deck where I see this being played is Affinity, but Affinity already has an amazing equipment to use. Past that, we have Swords at 3 and Batterskull at 5. This could be a card for Bogle.dec, if that list has a couple of slots open.
7. Steelshaper's Gift: Seems like a pretty sweet tutor for equipment. If you had 1 of each sword in your deck, you can just get the one you need. Seems like it would fit into a bunch of decks. Bad?
I use this in midrange decks where I want to run 1 of two different Swords and need one or the other. I don't see more than 2 being used anywhere max. I have seen some Affinity decks that run a couple of these as Cranial Plating #s 5-6.
8. Hold the Line: I know this seems narrow, but when I saw it, I laughed. I couldn't stop thinking of Mass Effect 1's Hold The Line speech.
I know this is less serious, but it makes you wonder if a "must attack" deck can do anything. Probably not...
9. Ideas Unbound: Seems like a good card in Merfolk decks that can easily dump their hand. Are there really no cards to cut to add 2-3 of these?
What about as a card to use with Pyromancer, or as a draw spell in Cheeri0s? Or a Dredge style deck that doesn't want a hand anyway? The UU cost really hurts this card's chances.
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: Seems like it would have a good interaction with Knight of the Reliquary and just fetch lands in general. Bad?
I was toying with the idea of a "super landfall aggro" deck, starring Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede, this, and Scapeshift. It can win on turn 4, but things have to go right for you, AND you are only as fast or a turn slower than any other aggro deck's nut draws. Maybe it can be worked into the Summer Bloom deck as more of an aggro option?
This could be a sweet combat trick, but not with Vial necessarily. Maybe as a 1 of in BUG or RUG Eternal Command? A protection spell, even with a bear attached, has a hard time beating out a counter spell to do the same thing.
12. Augury Adept: Did this card see any serious play? I know hitting an opponent via combat is not the easiest thing in the world to do, so I am dismissing it. However, drawing a card AND gaining life seems pretty awesome to ignore. Neat little card.
You would need some way to make this unblockable, or at least protect it from removal. Is it worth the work to "draw" an extra card? Maybe, but I think in those colors Geist of Saint Traft is simply the better card.
13. Reflecting Pool: Why is nobody playing these? I didn't even know this was legal in modern. I used to play them back in Tempest block. I think it's worth it to play at least one, if not two. Better than taking 2 damage.
There are a couple of shells that I am surprised don't see more Modern play/brewing:
5 Color Control - Reflecting Pool & Vivid Lands or City of Brass, etc. Certainly someone can figure out a way to make that deck work with the card pool provided?
4 Color Aggro/Rainbow Aggro - Ancient Ziggurat & Reflecting Pool & City of Brass makes for a great start to casting any creature you want. Stick to a tribe, like Elementals or Slivers, and you can run Cavern of Souls as well for a nearly perfect mana base!
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: I dislike conditional cards, but on the bright side, he's not that horrible if you didn't deal 3 damage. It's kind of funny, but if you're playing against Jund, you might just get a bunch of free cards for playing against them, lol. And if they bolt it, well, that's a lord that didn't get eaten by his bolt.
Again, this is another case of simply better cards taking up Sygg's slot in the Merfolk decks. As-is we barely have enough room to run every Modern-legal Merfolk "lord" which is insane enough... it might be a good SB option against control, if by control we didn't mean decks that start with Lightning Bolt :/
15. Vexing Shusher: Probably not really strong in the current meta, but has to be a player at times, no? Seems pretty crazy.
Its a great card, but like all hate bears, it dies to most removal. That makes it an unreliable answer, compared to, say, an uncounterable hexproof creature like Thrun, The Last Troll. Not to mention UWR is probably beating you with a pile of cheap spot removal and only 6 or so actual counters.
16. Gilder Bairn: I only noticed this because it had a lot of interactions with Simic/Golgari cards from the RTR block.
If someone can make that 5 color control deck work, combine this with a Nicol Bolas (or most Plainswalkers) and go for the 1-turn ultimate! This could be a thing if Bairn didn't die to anything (see a common thread here?)
17. Wake Thrasher: I know, I know - it's a 3 drop that kind of sucks when he comes into play. But it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me that he will get to be quite larger than a 3/3 every turn, just by playing real magic.
I've seen it as a 2-of at most in some Merfolk lists. It is certainly big, but nowadays we have no slots to work with.
18. Talara's Battalion: I like this card, although maybe it wouldn't be a good. Seems to be pretty silly with Burning-Tree Emissary. You can also cheat it into play with Aether Vial. Lots of explosive ways to use it.
The Burning-Tree interaction is exciting, and probably worth trying. IDK if its worth the extra work to do stuff like run Simian Spirit Guide to get three mana on turn 2 more often. Who knows? If it had 4 toughness, this would be more enticing.
19. Stigma Lasher: I didn't know this card existed. I know Soul Sisters isn't too popular, but my guess is that they wouldn't like this card at all, lol (if he connects, which is the real gimmick, sigh).
This is a very sweet card, but it is easily stopped. Skullcrack may be the better option in most cases. There's also a three-mana enchantment from Shadowmoor that stops lifegain, or Leyline of Punishment from the Core sets.
20. Qasali Ambusher: Not crazy overpowered, but seems rather nice if you're playing with Temple Garden. I'm guessing this would punish a lot of players attacking with their bobs, mana dorks, deathrite shamans, etc. Of course, it would only work for the first game. There's no way they are going to play around this card. Then sideboard it out for the second game, and they won't attack you in game 2
Everyone is bashing this card, but I think it has the most potential of those on this list! Its a sweet sideboard card against any sort of creature deck. You're right, who's playing around this?!?
21. Vampire Hexmage: I was not aware of a creature that could sacrifice itself to kill a planeswalker. Pretty neat. Easy to play around though
As a removal spell it only has Karn and potentially Ajani Vengeant to target in Modern. It is still a good option for running in a Modern Vampires list, which may have the tools to be viable.
22. Kargan Dragonlord: 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer that's out of bolt range on turn 3 doesn't seem bad to me. It's no Tarmogoyf, but what is?
This card is fine for RDW decks. I prefer Gathan Raiders if I want a "three" drop, or to just run a 4-damage spell like Char, Staggershock, or Flames of The Blood Hand.
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: With all of the horrible cantrips and card filters, wouldn't this be of some use to control players?
I've seen this tried in some Storm lists pre-bans, and it was OK.
A better shrine to look at is the Red shrine. Do you know how hard that card is for players to deal with game one? While you're sitting there throwing burn at their face, this is ticking up... Your opponent MUST deal with the Shrine or at some point they just lose. Ditto for the White shrine, although that one isn't nearly as explosive. Still a good option if you are finding it difficult to actually get a creature to connect in your Red decks.
It was used in Scapeshift lists. Ditto on Telling Time. I saw in another thread the suggestion for Truth or Tale as another alternative cantrip type card. IDK which one is best, although I guess it depends on what you are trying to do.
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You can't always win, and just because you lose doesn't mean you played badly.
Even if you lose, it is important to remain confident in your ability to make good plays and decisions. Lose that and you are truly lost.
Testing is great, and the better the testing is, the better off you'll be.
It is impossible to tilt and play well.
It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose.
Modern has the problem that cards dont only have to pass the bolt test, but the decay test also. Most of the cards you mention above are just inferior to other cards being played in the format. To most they are considered budget alternatives, not really top level competitive.
The decay test doesn't exist. If you're only playing cards that dodge decay, you only have 2 choices of decks. They're Boggle and Living End.
You're just listing marginal cards that see some play. None of them are format breakers so it isn't amazing that they see no play.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Over the week, I found time to go through all of the current Modern-playable cards. I actually came up with a huge list of cool cards that I never knew existed. I'm sure many of the cards I wrote down were Standard all stars/playables but maybe they are not quite good for Modern. Still, I put them all in a Word document for future reference.
I am curious why these cards never found a home though. They seem quite powerful to me, or just useful.
1. Night's Whisper: Is the sorcery speed the reason it does not see any play? Seems very splashable to me.
2. Cosi's Trickster: Seems like a reasonable one-drop for Merfolk decks, or is the Judge's Familiar-like merfolk better?
3. Phyrexian Arena: If Bob is good, why not this? Too slow now? Was thinking of playing BUx control of some kind. Card advantage is the real problem with control decks. They are good controlling tempo, and they can get value in some cases, but raw card advantage/selection is their weak spot. Seems like this card will solve that.
4. Victim of Night: Removal is bad in Standard potentially, but seems great in Modern. I guess Terminate is also good, and probably easier to cast, but no-restriction removal at instant speed is pretty hard to come by, even for modern. Or are we afraid of the random Olivia here?
5. Isochron Scepter: Seems like a fun card to me, and can be very powerful. Might be weak to pod since they can just tutor for the answer, but I am surprised nobody plays this. Just too slow? The potential for 2-for-1 is too much to risk? Seems really good with Lightning Bolt, or Terminate, or Peer Through Depths, or Abrupt Decay, or many other things.
6. Mask of Memory: This card seems underrated to me. How was it in Mirrodin block? Did Skullclamp overshadow it? It's cheaper than a sword, but doesn't give combat bonuses. Does that make it bad?
7. Steelshaper's Gift: Seems like a pretty sweet tutor for equipment. If you had 1 of each sword in your deck, you can just get the one you need. Seems like it would fit into a bunch of decks. Bad?
8. Hold the Line: I know this seems narrow, but when I saw it, I laughed. I couldn't stop thinking of Mass Effect 1's Hold The Line speech.
9. Ideas Unbound: Seems like a good card in Merfolk decks that can easily dump their hand. Are there really no cards to cut to add 2-3 of these?
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: Seems like it would have a good interaction with Knight of the Reliquary and just fetch lands in general. Bad?
12. Augury Adept: Did this card see any serious play? I know hitting an opponent via combat is not the easiest thing in the world to do, so I am dismissing it. However, drawing a card AND gaining life seems pretty awesome to ignore. Neat little card.
13. Reflecting Pool: Why is nobody playing these? I didn't even know this was legal in modern. I used to play them back in Tempest block. I think it's worth it to play at least one, if not two. Better than taking 2 damage.
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: I dislike conditional cards, but on the bright side, he's not that horrible if you didn't deal 3 damage. It's kind of funny, but if you're playing against Jund, you might just get a bunch of free cards for playing against them, lol. And if they bolt it, well, that's a lord that didn't get eaten by his bolt.
15. Vexing Shusher: Probably not really strong in the current meta, but has to be a player at times, no? Seems pretty crazy.
16. Gilder Bairn: I only noticed this because it had a lot of interactions with Simic/Golgari cards from the RTR block.
17. Wake Thrasher: I know, I know - it's a 3 drop that kind of sucks when he comes into play. But it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me that he will get to be quite larger than a 3/3 every turn, just by playing real magic.
18. Talara's Battalion: I like this card, although maybe it wouldn't be a good. Seems to be pretty silly with Burning-Tree Emissary. You can also cheat it into play with Aether Vial. Lots of explosive ways to use it.
19. Stigma Lasher: I didn't know this card existed. I know Soul Sisters isn't too popular, but my guess is that they wouldn't like this card at all, lol (if he connects, which is the real gimmick, sigh).
20. Qasali Ambusher: Not crazy overpowered, but seems rather nice if you're playing with Temple Garden. I'm guessing this would punish a lot of players attacking with their bobs, mana dorks, deathrite shamans, etc. Of course, it would only work for the first game. There's no way they are going to play around this card. Then sideboard it out for the second game, and they won't attack you in game 2
21. Vampire Hexmage: I was not aware of a creature that could sacrifice itself to kill a planeswalker. Pretty neat. Easy to play around though
22. Kargan Dragonlord: 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer that's out of bolt range on turn 3 doesn't seem bad to me. It's no Tarmogoyf, but what is?
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: With all of the horrible cantrips and card filters, wouldn't this be of some use to control players?
1. I think that it isn't powerful enough compared Dark Confidant.
2. I've considered playing it, but it is worse than Cursecatcher in merfolk and not good enough anywhere else.
3. I play it, but most decks would prefer Bob. I just run it because its so much cheaper and because I run a playset of both Tombstalker and Archive Trap.
4. Great card, but worse than Terminate if you have red in your deck, and worse than Abrupt Decay if you have green. Mono-Black decks could probably use it well.
5. I've seen it played, but as long as Abrupt Decay exists, it is too vulnerable.
6. I don't know for this one.
7. I could see it being used as a tutor for the swords and Cranial Plating. Don't know why it isn't used though.
8. There are just better cards that you could use to destroy a lot of creatures.
9. I've seen this used in Storm decks.
10. Its too easy to kill at first, and once it gets out of burn range it can just be chump blocked. Most green decks would prefer Goyf as their two-drop of choice.
11. Sneaking it into play with Aether Vial would cause it to be sacrificed. Most decks that run Aether Vial have better things to do with it.
12. I've tried to use it, but it is a little hard to repeatably connect with the opponent.
13. I really don't know. Maybe it is because if you get a hand full of them you can't do anything, and you can't fetch for it. Most decks would prefer lands that they can use on turn 1 and that aren't crippled by land destruction on another one of your lands.
14. I like him, but merfolk simply has better stuff to use and doesn't have enough room for him.
15. I could see him being played. I've used him in combo decks before and he works.
16. Fails the bolt test. Uses up a lot of mana. There aren't enough planeswalkers that are heavily played in modern to make it useful.
17. Merfolk has better options, but it might be able to be used in other decks.
18. The green two-drop of choice is Tarmogoyf. This card is slower than Goyf, can only come out conditionaly, and dies to Lightning Bolt.
19. If Soul Sisters ever became the top deck in the format, this would see play. The problem is, it isn't. Having to connect doesn't help it either.
20. This is an interesting card, but it is just not powerful enough. It doesn't kill most creatures that would be attacking you and it doesn't do anything against control or combo.
21. Not enough planeswalkers see play for this to be relevant.
22. Too red heavy. The mono-red decks that could use it would want to cast spells on turns 2 and 3, and he can still be bolted on turn 2.
I am curious why these cards never found a home though. They seem quite powerful to me, or just useful.
1. Night's Whisper: Is the sorcery speed the reason it does not see any play? Seems very splashable to me.
2. Cosi's Trickster: Seems like a reasonable one-drop for Merfolk decks, or is the Judge's Familiar-like merfolk better?
3. Phyrexian Arena: If Bob is good, why not this? Too slow now? Was thinking of playing BUx control of some kind. Card advantage is the real problem with control decks. They are good controlling tempo, and they can get value in some cases, but raw card advantage/selection is their weak spot. Seems like this card will solve that.
4. Victim of Night: Removal is bad in Standard potentially, but seems great in Modern. I guess Terminate is also good, and probably easier to cast, but no-restriction removal at instant speed is pretty hard to come by, even for modern. Or are we afraid of the random Olivia here?
5. Isochron Scepter: Seems like a fun card to me, and can be very powerful. Might be weak to pod since they can just tutor for the answer, but I am surprised nobody plays this. Just too slow? The potential for 2-for-1 is too much to risk? Seems really good with Lightning Bolt, or Terminate, or Peer Through Depths, or Abrupt Decay, or many other things.
6. Mask of Memory: This card seems underrated to me. How was it in Mirrodin block? Did Skullclamp overshadow it? It's cheaper than a sword, but doesn't give combat bonuses. Does that make it bad?
7. Steelshaper's Gift: Seems like a pretty sweet tutor for equipment. If you had 1 of each sword in your deck, you can just get the one you need. Seems like it would fit into a bunch of decks. Bad?
8. Hold the Line: I know this seems narrow, but when I saw it, I laughed. I couldn't stop thinking of Mass Effect 1's Hold The Line speech.
9. Ideas Unbound: Seems like a good card in Merfolk decks that can easily dump their hand. Are there really no cards to cut to add 2-3 of these?
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: Seems like it would have a good interaction with Knight of the Reliquary and just fetch lands in general. Bad?
11. Plaxmanta: Seems like a good creature to sneak into play using Aether Vial.
12. Augury Adept: Did this card see any serious play? I know hitting an opponent via combat is not the easiest thing in the world to do, so I am dismissing it. However, drawing a card AND gaining life seems pretty awesome to ignore. Neat little card.
13. Reflecting Pool: Why is nobody playing these? I didn't even know this was legal in modern. I used to play them back in Tempest block. I think it's worth it to play at least one, if not two. Better than taking 2 damage.
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: I dislike conditional cards, but on the bright side, he's not that horrible if you didn't deal 3 damage. It's kind of funny, but if you're playing against Jund, you might just get a bunch of free cards for playing against them, lol. And if they bolt it, well, that's a lord that didn't get eaten by his bolt.
15. Vexing Shusher: Probably not really strong in the current meta, but has to be a player at times, no? Seems pretty crazy.
16. Gilder Bairn: I only noticed this because it had a lot of interactions with Simic/Golgari cards from the RTR block.
17. Wake Thrasher: I know, I know - it's a 3 drop that kind of sucks when he comes into play. But it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me that he will get to be quite larger than a 3/3 every turn, just by playing real magic.
18. Talara's Battalion: I like this card, although maybe it wouldn't be a good. Seems to be pretty silly with Burning-Tree Emissary. You can also cheat it into play with Aether Vial. Lots of explosive ways to use it.
19. Stigma Lasher: I didn't know this card existed. I know Soul Sisters isn't too popular, but my guess is that they wouldn't like this card at all, lol (if he connects, which is the real gimmick, sigh).
20. Qasali Ambusher: Not crazy overpowered, but seems rather nice if you're playing with Temple Garden. I'm guessing this would punish a lot of players attacking with their bobs, mana dorks, deathrite shamans, etc. Of course, it would only work for the first game. There's no way they are going to play around this card. Then sideboard it out for the second game, and they won't attack you in game 2
21. Vampire Hexmage: I was not aware of a creature that could sacrifice itself to kill a planeswalker. Pretty neat. Easy to play around though
22. Kargan Dragonlord: 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer that's out of bolt range on turn 3 doesn't seem bad to me. It's no Tarmogoyf, but what is?
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: With all of the horrible cantrips and card filters, wouldn't this be of some use to control players?
24. Peer Through Depths: Is this worse than Think Twice and other such cards?
Any thoughts on any of these?
warning for spam ~Lantern
Thanks for that insightful, detailed comment. I understand the error of my ways now completely.
Plenty of the cards that don't see competitive play probably show up at modern FNMs here and there. Which means that they are technically played. Why aren't the pros playing them? Because it's their job to win, and they can't play high variance cards in their decks.
Hold the line is pretty terrible in all formats minus draft/sealed
Good question. Card already has flash and dies when you vial it in... personally I like Plaxmanta but countering spot removal is not an exciting feat to pull off.
you're welcome
I am not trolling, lol. I don't play too much modern - just getting in. Learning decks, cards. This is all legitimate
I know Hold the Line is not playable. I just thought the card was funny. If you play Mass Effect, you'd know what I mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXLVFnl3WcE
I was thinking it might be good against the fetch lands and especially against the pod decks. Maybe if they are shuffling for answers, that's a bad sign, but even if he gets to be a 2/2 or a 3/3 over the course of the game, that isn't too bad, is it? I was more thinking of pod than anything, but doesn't seem to bad against anything in Modern. I dunno though. I never tested it obviously, hence discussion
I'd love to make one. I like playing control type of decks. But if it sucks, I'd rather not try real hard to get 4x Arenas. Black seems to be the right colour for such a deck though. Blue/White is not quite the colour it used to be. It's more tempo oriented now.
If pod wasn't so dominate, I'd think this would make a good 1-of or 2-of in a control deck for sure. If unanswered, seems to give so much card advantage and inevitability.
I might invest in some Seems like a cheap price for what it does.
Yeah, I wasn't just referring to the Vial. It seemed like a nice little gem. I've never see the card played as I've been watching games for Modern. In my next order, I'm getting a playset and I'm going to try them out.
Hrm, does it have to be 5-colour decks? I'm thinking any deck could use it, no? Obviously putting 4 of these in the deck may be bad, but I certainly wouldn't mind saving myself 2 or 3 life during some games and essentially have the same manabase as before. I suppose there will be the enevitable draw where you see only 2 colours and a Reflecting Pool, but that could just as easily been two Overgrown Tombs or Temple Gardens too. I think at least 1 has to be correct in a 3-color deck.
Now that someone else pointed this out, Aether Vial and Cavern of Souls are much better solutions anyway, so yeah, you're probably right.
That's true for sure.
That is also very true
Yeah, I guess it would be good for that too. I was just thinking planeswalkers since I don't know of many cards in Modern where counters are a huge problem.
I just noticed that this was different than Student of Warfare - it doesn't become a 4/4 until quite a few mana sinks - not just the first one. So I think it's rather meh now.
I thought about using Ideas Unbound on the Top Control deck because most spells are 0cc or 1cc, so we could cast IU and dump all 3 cards, never tested it though.
The rest of the cards do seem bad...
"When you get your opponent down to 0 sanity, you win the game!"
2. Cosi's Trickster: You nailed it - Cursecatcher is better.
3. Phyrexian Arena: Mostly because Bob is better. Also because Liliana is better.
4. Victim of Night: There's basically no reason to stick to just one color in Modern, which means that BB is actually harder to cast than RB. Mono-Black Control is strictly worse than any of the other control variants, and those variants have access to better cards.
5. Isochron Scepter: A scepter deck did make it to the top tables a couple of GPs ago. But with Abrupt Decays running around, this is just asking for a blowout.
6. Mask of Memory: I believe I've seen some Death and Taxes lists running this for filtering. The trouble is that if you can afford to spend three mana on equipping a creature with something that doesn't make it better in combat, you're probably winning the game already and don't need the effect.
7. Steelshaper's Gift: The trouble is that tutoring for equipment just isn't good enough. This thing basically wants you to be running a toolbox of equipment, which means that I guess you're running one of each Sword and a Batterskull? And...then you are equipping what exactly with it? This doesn't sound like what I want to be doing.
8. Hold the Line: It's a limited fodder combat trick.
9. Ideas Unbound: A lot of bad combo decks are in love with this card. The trouble is that nobody wants to pay this much mana for card disadvantage.
10. Vinelasher Kudzu: I hate to say it, but it's true - there's literally zero reason to run this guy over Tarmogoyf. Hell, there's zero reason to run him over Flinthoof Boar. You have to work way too hard to make this guy a size worth attack with.
11. Plaxmanta: There aren't any creature-based UG decks in the format, which means there aren't any decks that even want to consider this guy.
12. Augury Adept: He's a 3 mana 2/2 that does nothing when he enters the battlefield and gets blocked by everything in the format. Next!
13. Reflecting Pool: I believe some of the control decks run this guy. It's only good if you're playing a long game. If your deck is aiming to win the game quickly, this is just a liability.
14. Sygg, River Cutthroat: If it wasn't clear enough by now, Modern doesn't give you enough time to durdle around.
15. Vexing Shusher: If I want me spell to be uncounterable, I'll just run Boseiju instead.
16. Gilder Bairn: Another huge durdle and way too conditional. Next!
17. Wake Thrasher: I feel like I've seen this guy in Merfolk decks before, but not very often.
18. Talara's Battalion: It's cute, but it'll be dead in your hand too often and it's a terrible top deck.
19. Stigma Lasher: Yep, you got it - too hard to get him to connect.
20. Qasali Ambusher: Turns out that a 3CC 2/3 isn't good enough. Even if you sometimes get to cast it for free at instant speed.
21. Vampire Hexmage: There are better sorceries that kill planeswalkers, especially now. And a 2CC 2/2 isn't relevant.
22. Kargan Dragonlord: Try reading it again. It's a 6 mana 4/4 flier. It also spends much of its life as a 5 mana 2/2 durdle.
23. Shrine of Piercing Vision: It's just worse than Think Twice. Card selection doesn't make up for how slow it is.
24. Peer Through Depths: UR Storm plays 1-2 of these.
It's your job win every game of Magic where you're not.
peer through depths is a cool card, can be considered the best cantrip in modern with the absence of brainstorm... also with the right build of deck. since it is terrible in a creature based deck.
EDH - UWGrand Arbiter Agustin IV
UBW Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Modern - Mono U tron / Polymorph / NFTW (ninja for the win)GR tron GR
Buy All the Dual Lands!!!
Buy All the fetches!
Create tons of EDH Decks!!!
Eat Nothing but Oats!! (LOL, not true)
Train MMA!!!
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Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
1: Draw 2's can't be sorcery speed unless they cost 1. Creatures are too good.
2: Blue is terrible. Blue's creatures are worse.
3: Bob is better, you'd never want 8 of the effect.
4: Terminate exists as does abrupt decay.
5: This is instant card disadvantage and just bad. People never understood that because it's a casual card.
6: It's a slow draw 1. For another mana you get a sword of fire and ice which is boarder line playable.
7: There's only one equipment worth searching for and this IS occasionally seen in that deck. Plating.
8: Terrible.
9: It used to be in combo but combo is now bad. Double blue is killer.
10: Goyf is better.
11: Terrible.
12: 3 mana has to hit to have an effect. If it was just inverse bob for 1 more it might be good.
13: This card doesn't play 1 drops. Unlike other formats this is a format which starts on turn 1.
14: Terrible. You can only draw 6 cards before killing them. This guy is better as a 3 power beater.
15: Blue is terrible.
16: Terrible, slow, super bad.
17: Used to be good when blue and merfolk was good.
18: Conditional worse than tarmogoyfs are bad mkay.
19: Terrible. It's too slow.
20: Most decks don't win by attacking for a finite amount.
21: Walkers are terrible besides liliana and by the time it resolves you're behind a card.
22: Mana investments are bad.
23: Abysmal
24: This is played, a lot.
Wizards in relation to modern.
"The bannings will continue until attendance improves."
Not sure if trolling or just very stupid.:fry:
Yeah, I admitted that many of them I thought were bad or unsure, but it's always nice to have discussions. You never know, maybe there's 1 or 2 gems here that actually will help someone win their tournament or something. At this point, it only takes some subtle tunings to do much better than other people if that small change makes a big difference.
Being new to the format though, it's good to ask questions. I don't assume I know all of the answers. This is why I ask.
1. Bob is just generally better as a card. That's quite literally the reason. There really aren't decks that want to draw cards that badly and don't want to play Bob. Bob is continual card advantage that your opponent has to blow removal on. And let's not forget, Bob never loses you the game, it just doesn't happen.
2. Cursecatcher is just that much better. We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket is the answer here. I mean, yeah, the average deck fetches enough to make it playable, but it's like a bad Merfolk lord. The deck doesn't interact nearly enough so they would rather play interacting creatures. And at 28 creatures, they simply don't have room.
3. It's slow, costs double black (aka you'd rather avoid splashing) and guarantees a life loss. Bob doesn't necessarily lose you life. Yeah, Arena is harder to kill, but a whole turn matters quite a bit. And when you could play Liliana instead, it's just better. Arenas are worse than Bobs, so you'd be playing Bobs 5-8, and you really don't need that kind of draw power. Your deck needs functional cards that do things, and you'd take a lot of damage.
4. Mostly because there aren't many mono black decks. Most black decks are either WB (so they can run Path) or RB (so they can run Terminate). There aren't a lot of those types in high level play, though Huntmaster does see some Jund play. Regardless, there isn't really a mono black deck to make the mana cost relevant.
5. Scepter was really just too slow. You have to like tap out turn 2 to put something on it and then activate it turn 3. In a format where there are turn 4 wins, it tends to not be interactive enough. It also plays your hand, meaning that your opponent can play around the card easily, and potentially doesn't care about it. If you think about it, you have 1 mana up on turn 3 and 2 mana up on turn 4, which is potentially a huge problem. Even if the card does interact with them, you don't advance your board position.
6. Well, for one, Sword of Fire and Ice draws a card as well as doing other things. The one mana on an equipment like this is irrelevant. Not to mention that Swords rarely see any play. The only equipment seeing consistent play is Cranial Plating, and that's for obvious reasons.
7. I've seen it in some Affinity lists but ultimately the deck needs a culmination of cards to win. While it's obviously great to force the Cranial Plating, it ends up being slow. The deck really needs to utilize its mana well to play enough beaters early and pump through the damage. If you put so much into forcing Cranial Plating, you lose to Bolt or Path or any other removal.
8. There aren't many white decks that block. You're asking for 3 mana stem the bleeding, which is the problem. Decks that have creatures to block with don't typically want to do so. And at 1WW, it's not splashable and Remand will totally screw you. You have to make the blocks, so if it doesn't resolve, it potentially screws you really hard.
9. Merfolk doesn't dump hands well enough, and it forces you to do everything main phase. It has seen play in Storm but it makes you do everything the turn you play it. Merfolk likes to Vial in lords EoT to avoid cards like Wrath or Pyroclasm, and you basically tap out if you run this card. At like 6 mana it might be okay but otherwise it's not powerful enough.
10. The same reason as Cosi's Trickster, it's not powerful enough. More so though, it's just straight up worse than Goyf. It will always be budget Goyf or Goyfs 5-8.
11. It could be fine but the only deck that would play it is Merfolk, and they'd rather make their guys bigger yet again. Vial is underplayed in this format. Maybe Eternal Command could make use of it but that would be it. They're more concerned with value on their creatures as opposed to keeping them alive.
12. If I haven't said it before, being forced to deal combat to a play is hard. Yeah, the effect is nice, but remember, you don't necessarily gain life. The same way Bob never kills you, this card won't stop you from dying. It also doesn't necessarily trigger every turn either, and it's such a gamble if it does.
13. Some people do. But in a format where fetches and shocks exist, there's not a huge reason to. I've seen it in like Wafo-Tapa control lists but not a lot outside. Even at 4 colours the fixing is usually okay. Then again, most 4 colour decks run mana dorks like Birds, Deathrite Shaman, and Noble Hierarch, which fix them quite a bit.
14. Merfolk works on the basis that things get out of hand quickly. 2-drops that don't buff creatures are basically unplayable. The difference between 2/2s and 3/3s is huge. Card advantage is fine, but the deck's ultimately not concerned with that.
15. This one, I'm actually lost on. I got totally blown out by this once. It really just depends on the amount of blue since it's weaker than other alternatives in that deck, but provides more utility. I really like this card as a whole though.
16. Simic / Golgari cards from RtR see little play. That's why. Untap is also problematic because you have to attack with a 1/3. There just aren't many applications for huge amounts of counters on a single target.
17. It's the same thing as Cosi's Trickster. The biggest issue is that if you fall behind, it doesn't help you. It won't block and is weaker than Marrow Reejery.
18. Again, a worse Goyf. Sure it has impressive stats, but doesn't drop on turn 2, which is crucial. Turn 3 maybe, but you need to put consistent pressure. Modern is the land of going fast and not falling behind, and this card simply doesn't do that. If you can't attack with it until turn 4 or 5, that's an issue.
19. Again, having to deal damage is a problem. The thing is, they have cards that already prevent life gain like Skullcrack, so there's never a need for this. Soul Sisters can go to 30 on turn 2, at which point mono red likely already lost. It's just not worth it.
20. For starters, there aren't a lot of WGx lists. More importantly, it does nothing in so many matchups. Combo and control can mostly ignore it which is the problem for this card. It being 2/3 also means it probably doesn't kill Goyf.
21. There are very few Planeswalkers seeing play. Mostly Lili and Karn, not a lot outside that. It also costs some life to do so. When you can just Bolt Planeswalkers the card becomes less and less powerful.
22. It's a 2/2 for 2. Level up creatures are bad with all the good removal. You'd have to sink 4 extra mana to make it a 4/4. Even the end game on this isn't that impressive. If you play it on 2, your fastest start with this has it as a 4/4 on turn 4 and an 8/8 on turn 5, and then I just kill it with some removal. You can just sink mana EoT into it like most people do but realistically that doesn't happen a lot in the kind of deck that would play this. It's also red only for the level up.
23. It's just worse than Augur of Bolas or Wall of Omens. Draw cards now is the motto. We don't have time to wait for this card in this format. We want to be proactive, and it's a 2-drop that does nothing early. It's significantly worse than Isochron Scepter is. It's also significantly worse than the next card.
24. It sees some fringe play but ultimately we'd rather pay 1 mana for draw effects. Most blue decks just accept Remand as draw and forget the rest, because the 1 mana draw spells in this format suck due to it pushing Storm into OP territory.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
I'll have to disagree with that one. Paying W to tutor for equipment is extremely good. It does want you to be running a toolbox, but that does not mean that you have to run the swords, and much less batterskull. Those are high cost equipment, you need W to tutor, 3 to play and then 2 to equip, batterskull is worst. I played standard up until Paladin rotated out and then switched to modern to keep playing paladin. I never liked either the swords or batterskull, sure they are beast equipment, but their cc is too high to be efficient and in modern its even worst, by the time you can play one of these you're opponent will most likely have you begging for mercy.
My main toolbox consists of these:
Basilisk Collar
Viridian Longbow
Cranial Plating
Gift tutors whichever of those 3 I am missing, you shouldn't need anything else since:
Basilisk + Longbow kills aggro (lifegaining machinegun) and Basilisk + Cranial beats combo (through massive damage & lifegain).
All you have to do is accompany those with other low cost equipment like Mortarpod (longbow substitute), Flayer Husk (free chumpblocks), Swiftfoot boots (protection) and Accorder's Shield (Paladin cantrip and gets them out of bolt range).
Why would you need sword shennanigans or batterskull? Leaving the swords and batterskull out opens useful slots in the deck for other stuff, like cheap creatures to equip them unto, ornithopter, P.paladin, spellskite and etched champion are excellent for that.
"When you get your opponent down to 0 sanity, you win the game!"
However, Rain of Gore is super amazing against Lifegain, as it would basically shut them down as early as Turn 2.
"There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." -Terrance Fletcher, Whiplash (2014)
I don't know if you guys realise that putting Plaxmanta in with a Vial causes it to be sacrificed.
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
It's not really that I have a problem with lifegain - I've actually never played against Soul Sisters yet. I've just videos online of people playing it.
The cards I put in my post were ones that caught my interest in one way or another. Most I was actually considering and wanted to discuss and test. Some were just for laughs (Hold the Line). One I think would actually have been better in Standard or RTR block constructed (the one that doubles counters).
Anyway, I definitely agree that it would be very difficult (i.e. near to impossible) to connect with him in the first place. That enchantment's pretty sick though against said Soul Sisters, and is definitely much better. I think I remember seeing this enchantment, or perhaps a spell that did the same thing actually, but just glossed over it. It's very good to know that exists if Soul Sisters should explode in popularity. Thanks
Although it sucks about the lifelink thing.
Well, if I was running a midrange deck that wanted to run high CMC cards, then I may want this over Dark Confidant. I may also want this in some sort of control deck where I can re-cast it with Snapcaster. However, in most situations Dark Confidant is going to be the correct card for the job.
Could this be workable with a card that forces opponents to search their libraries, like Ghost Quarter? Probably not, since Cursecatcher and various cheap bounce and counters will be better in most cases.
I'm with you on this. IDK if a RWB or Esper colors control deck is workable, but its worth a shot, especially since UWR shows us that control is a workable strategy in the format. With Arena you would not have to rely as much on Think Twice, although finding an opportune turn to stick Arena might be a tough proposition.
I guess this is more of a function of costing BB than anything. If you are GBx then Abrupt Decay is the default choice. If you are BWx Path to Exile is the default choice. Go For The Throat is almost as good, but much easier to cast.
This card is hard to use in a format filled with Abrupt Decay. With that said, its quite powerful, so I think the trick is to build a deck that would like to have Scepter in play, but doesn't NEED Scepter in play to win. Ex: As a sideboard option in UWR to stop Pyromancer decks. Board in these and Silence, see if that works? Or maybe board it in match ups where you know Scepter will not easily get popped, like against Affininty (put a Bolt or Helix on it!)
The deck where I see this being played is Affinity, but Affinity already has an amazing equipment to use. Past that, we have Swords at 3 and Batterskull at 5. This could be a card for Bogle.dec, if that list has a couple of slots open.
I use this in midrange decks where I want to run 1 of two different Swords and need one or the other. I don't see more than 2 being used anywhere max. I have seen some Affinity decks that run a couple of these as Cranial Plating #s 5-6.
I know this is less serious, but it makes you wonder if a "must attack" deck can do anything. Probably not...
What about as a card to use with Pyromancer, or as a draw spell in Cheeri0s? Or a Dredge style deck that doesn't want a hand anyway? The UU cost really hurts this card's chances.
I was toying with the idea of a "super landfall aggro" deck, starring Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede, this, and Scapeshift. It can win on turn 4, but things have to go right for you, AND you are only as fast or a turn slower than any other aggro deck's nut draws. Maybe it can be worked into the Summer Bloom deck as more of an aggro option?
This could be a sweet combat trick, but not with Vial necessarily. Maybe as a 1 of in BUG or RUG Eternal Command? A protection spell, even with a bear attached, has a hard time beating out a counter spell to do the same thing.
You would need some way to make this unblockable, or at least protect it from removal. Is it worth the work to "draw" an extra card? Maybe, but I think in those colors Geist of Saint Traft is simply the better card.
There are a couple of shells that I am surprised don't see more Modern play/brewing:
5 Color Control - Reflecting Pool & Vivid Lands or City of Brass, etc. Certainly someone can figure out a way to make that deck work with the card pool provided?
4 Color Aggro/Rainbow Aggro - Ancient Ziggurat & Reflecting Pool & City of Brass makes for a great start to casting any creature you want. Stick to a tribe, like Elementals or Slivers, and you can run Cavern of Souls as well for a nearly perfect mana base!
Again, this is another case of simply better cards taking up Sygg's slot in the Merfolk decks. As-is we barely have enough room to run every Modern-legal Merfolk "lord" which is insane enough... it might be a good SB option against control, if by control we didn't mean decks that start with Lightning Bolt :/
Its a great card, but like all hate bears, it dies to most removal. That makes it an unreliable answer, compared to, say, an uncounterable hexproof creature like Thrun, The Last Troll. Not to mention UWR is probably beating you with a pile of cheap spot removal and only 6 or so actual counters.
If someone can make that 5 color control deck work, combine this with a Nicol Bolas (or most Plainswalkers) and go for the 1-turn ultimate! This could be a thing if Bairn didn't die to anything (see a common thread here?)
I've seen it as a 2-of at most in some Merfolk lists. It is certainly big, but nowadays we have no slots to work with.
The Burning-Tree interaction is exciting, and probably worth trying. IDK if its worth the extra work to do stuff like run Simian Spirit Guide to get three mana on turn 2 more often. Who knows? If it had 4 toughness, this would be more enticing.
This is a very sweet card, but it is easily stopped. Skullcrack may be the better option in most cases. There's also a three-mana enchantment from Shadowmoor that stops lifegain, or Leyline of Punishment from the Core sets.
Everyone is bashing this card, but I think it has the most potential of those on this list! Its a sweet sideboard card against any sort of creature deck. You're right, who's playing around this?!?
As a removal spell it only has Karn and potentially Ajani Vengeant to target in Modern. It is still a good option for running in a Modern Vampires list, which may have the tools to be viable.
This card is fine for RDW decks. I prefer Gathan Raiders if I want a "three" drop, or to just run a 4-damage spell like Char, Staggershock, or Flames of The Blood Hand.
I've seen this tried in some Storm lists pre-bans, and it was OK.
A better shrine to look at is the Red shrine. Do you know how hard that card is for players to deal with game one? While you're sitting there throwing burn at their face, this is ticking up... Your opponent MUST deal with the Shrine or at some point they just lose. Ditto for the White shrine, although that one isn't nearly as explosive. Still a good option if you are finding it difficult to actually get a creature to connect in your Red decks.
It was used in Scapeshift lists. Ditto on Telling Time. I saw in another thread the suggestion for Truth or Tale as another alternative cantrip type card. IDK which one is best, although I guess it depends on what you are trying to do.
~ Brian DeMars
The decay test doesn't exist. If you're only playing cards that dodge decay, you only have 2 choices of decks. They're Boggle and Living End.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
1. I think that it isn't powerful enough compared Dark Confidant.
2. I've considered playing it, but it is worse than Cursecatcher in merfolk and not good enough anywhere else.
3. I play it, but most decks would prefer Bob. I just run it because its so much cheaper and because I run a playset of both Tombstalker and Archive Trap.
4. Great card, but worse than Terminate if you have red in your deck, and worse than Abrupt Decay if you have green. Mono-Black decks could probably use it well.
5. I've seen it played, but as long as Abrupt Decay exists, it is too vulnerable.
6. I don't know for this one.
7. I could see it being used as a tutor for the swords and Cranial Plating. Don't know why it isn't used though.
8. There are just better cards that you could use to destroy a lot of creatures.
9. I've seen this used in Storm decks.
10. Its too easy to kill at first, and once it gets out of burn range it can just be chump blocked. Most green decks would prefer Goyf as their two-drop of choice.
11. Sneaking it into play with Aether Vial would cause it to be sacrificed. Most decks that run Aether Vial have better things to do with it.
12. I've tried to use it, but it is a little hard to repeatably connect with the opponent.
13. I really don't know. Maybe it is because if you get a hand full of them you can't do anything, and you can't fetch for it. Most decks would prefer lands that they can use on turn 1 and that aren't crippled by land destruction on another one of your lands.
14. I like him, but merfolk simply has better stuff to use and doesn't have enough room for him.
15. I could see him being played. I've used him in combo decks before and he works.
16. Fails the bolt test. Uses up a lot of mana. There aren't enough planeswalkers that are heavily played in modern to make it useful.
17. Merfolk has better options, but it might be able to be used in other decks.
18. The green two-drop of choice is Tarmogoyf. This card is slower than Goyf, can only come out conditionaly, and dies to Lightning Bolt.
19. If Soul Sisters ever became the top deck in the format, this would see play. The problem is, it isn't. Having to connect doesn't help it either.
20. This is an interesting card, but it is just not powerful enough. It doesn't kill most creatures that would be attacking you and it doesn't do anything against control or combo.
21. Not enough planeswalkers see play for this to be relevant.
22. Too red heavy. The mono-red decks that could use it would want to cast spells on turns 2 and 3, and he can still be bolted on turn 2.
23. Too slow.
24. I've seen storm decks use this.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.