Since Fate Reforged spoiler season seems to be starting soon, I would like to start off with Valorous Stance. I think this card has a lot of potential in Modern. And I think it will fit nicely into a deck with RW colors, since it deals with creatures too big for Bolt and Helix.
Valorous Stance 1W
Instant
Choose one-
-Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
-Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
I like it. It could be a good sideboard tech in abzan in the mirror or vs jund. But other than that, I find the first mode rather underwelming. Yes its indestructible but... its just that. But the other mode is just ''F*ck you goyf/rhino''.
Also not bad in melira pod SB card.
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Playing modern: all BGx, storm, burn, green eldrazi, dredge.
The trouble with Valorous Stance is that its second mode is dead against too many decks. Besides failing to hit relatively creature-free combo decks (it only hits Scapeshift post-board, good luck hitting Ad Nauseam/UR Storm) and smelling bad against RG Tron/8-Rack/Bogles, it also whiffs against U(W)R Delver, Burn, quite a few of Affinity's draws, some UB Faeries draws, some Blue Moon draws, and some unlucky Soul Sisters draws.
Its first mode salvages it a bit against Scapeshift, Tron, 8-Rack, U(W)R Delver, UB Faeries, Blue Moon, some Affinity draws, and sometimes Burn, but it still looks like the card whiffs too often for me.
The problem with spells that protect creatures is that the decks you want them in are decks that will tap out most of the time. You want to keep one single mana up at most. This costs two. Because of that, the first ability is nowhere near good enough to run on its own, so it should be regarded as a bonus ability to the second mode, and the second mode, well, it's not good enough for all the reason Lectrys mentioned in the post above mine - it whiffs way too often in this format.
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Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
It's worth noting that this card makes a perfect complement to Lightning Bolt. Anything that Bolt can't kill, this can, and anything that this can't kill, Bolt can (with the obvious exception of untargetable stuff).
That makes this a plausible inclusion in Geist of Saint Traft type decks, where it can both fill the role of Path (without ramping your opponent) and protect your Geist from combat or Clasms.
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The problem with spells that protect creatures is that the decks you want them in are decks that will tap out most of the time. You want to keep one single mana up at most. This costs two. Because of that, the first ability is nowhere near good enough to run on its own, so it should be regarded as a bonus ability to the second mode, and the second mode, well, it's not good enough for all the reason Lectrys mentioned in the post above mine - it whiffs way too often in this format.
I don't agree, delver decks don't and I think they'd like this card as a blowout of sorts that protects delver and gets around tough to bolt creatures that typically can give some delver decks a hard time. Zoo decks running counters also might like this.
Not to say that the card is 100% modern playable at first glance.
Since Fate Reforged spoiler season seems to be starting soon, I would like to start off with Valorous Stance. I think this card has a lot of potential in Modern. And I think it will fit nicely into a deck with RW colors, since it deals with creatures too big for Bolt and Helix.
Valorous Stance 1W
Instant
Choose one-
-Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
-Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
RW colors is not strong enough to be a deck in Modern. Too bad...
If we just focus on Valorous Stance itself, it has to compete with PTE, where most of time, PTE is better than Valorous Stance in most Modern decks.
I think it might see some niche use. I'll try it in my GW Hatebears, for instance, which might be the ideal deck for it. I run threats that I need to not die (in order to keep my hate effects in play) and the deck is always looking for good removal spells to supplement the automatic 4x Path to Exile. I'm not sure if it's good enough, but I think it's worth a look.
Since Fate Reforged spoiler season seems to be starting soon, I would like to start off with Valorous Stance. I think this card has a lot of potential in Modern. And I think it will fit nicely into a deck with RW colors, since it deals with creatures too big for Bolt and Helix.
Valorous Stance 1W
Instant
Choose one-
-Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
-Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
RW colors is not strong enough to be a deck in Modern. Too bad...
If we just focus on Valorous Stance itself, it has to compete with PTE, where most of time, PTE is better than Valorous Stance in most Modern decks.
Since Fate Reforged spoiler season seems to be starting soon, I would like to start off with Valorous Stance. I think this card has a lot of potential in Modern. And I think it will fit nicely into a deck with RW colors, since it deals with creatures too big for Bolt and Helix.
Valorous Stance 1W
Instant
Choose one-
-Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
-Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
RW colors is not strong enough to be a deck in Modern. Too bad...
If we just focus on Valorous Stance itself, it has to compete with PTE, where most of time, PTE is better than Valorous Stance in most Modern decks.
But what about the cool new Heroic mechanic from theros guys!?!
...
Guys?
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Playing modern: all BGx, storm, burn, green eldrazi, dredge.
I tried making RW Heroic in Modern. The problem with that deck is that if you play protection spells that give protection from X color (e,g, Emerge Unscathed, Apostle's Blessing, Gods Willing), you can't use it if the removal spell is red or white, because that would cause all the auras to fall off that creature. On the other hand, if you play something that makes the creature indestructible (e.g. Hyena Umbra, Ajani's Presence), you die to Path.
2 mana is too much for a Heroic deck anyway, it's unplayable when there are so many similar options at 1 mana. The other mode is of little use since your Heroic dude should be massive enough to beat any creature your opponent has (or if it's Akroan Crusader, you can alpha strike with all the tokens). It beats Spellskite, that's about it. In a RW deck you should have Wear//Tear in the SB though, making Valorous Stance kind of unnecessary.
Sandsteppe Mastodon is crap unless there is some combo I'm missing or some yet-to-be-revealed card that combos with it. Increasing Savagery is a better combo with Sage of Hours.
We've seen other cards that generated as much buzz and became nothing with the release of past sets. Example: Rootborn Defenses. As already stated, white has PtE and unless you're running mono-white you probably have plenty of other better sources of removal for the format than this one allows. If the second choice was to exile 4+ that would make it more of a contender but as it stands there's better options.
I like bolster. Its got some potential. Like a 1 mana 2/1 with bolster 1, or a 3 mana 4/4 bolster 1. Is somethin likr this gunna happen? I dunno.
Bolster isnt an exiting mechanic, but with the right power/toughness/mana cost/bolster, you could get a very powerful card. Heres a great example:
Kindagoyf- 1G
Bolster 2
1/2
It seems unassuming, until you realize i can pump your experiment one into a 4/4 (stack triggers, evolve-bolster) on turn 2 or on an empty board you get a 3/4, currently impossible to do in most non cute aggro decks. Its also fair even, because the opponent gets an opportunity to bolt the dude.
I like bolster. Its got some potential. Like a 1 mana 2/1 with bolster 1, or a 3 mana 4/4 bolster 1. Is somethin likr this gunna happen? I dunno.
Bolster isnt an exiting mechanic, but with the right power/toughness/mana cost/bolster, you could get a very powerful card. Heres a great example:
Kindagoyf- 1G
Bolster 2
1/2
It seems unassuming, until you realize i can pump your experiment one into a 4/4 (stack triggers, evolve-bolster) on turn 2 or on an empty board you get a 3/4, currently impossible to do in most non cute aggro decks. Its also fair even, because the opponent gets an opportunity to bolt the dude.
Or there's always the reverse Kird Ape I've been hoping.
Reverse Kird Ape G
Creature-Ape
Reverse Kird Ape gets +1/+2 if you control a Mountain.
1/1
Raid flopped hard because they were completely unwilling to push the costing and power level to appropriate levels for this format. They didn't even give us as good a card as Swiftspear, for Christ's sake. Raid could have been the mechanic Zoo was looking for to help it out of its irrelevancy, but instead it did nothing.
Outlast was never even in contention due to it not being Instant speed. The fact that it mostly was overcosted anyway was pretty irrelevant at that point.
Here's hoping Bolster gives us better cards to work with than Raid and Outlast did.
I think it might see some niche use. I'll try it in my GW Hatebears, for instance, which might be the ideal deck for it. I run threats that I need to not die (in order to keep my hate effects in play) and the deck is always looking for good removal spells to supplement the automatic 4x Path to Exile. I'm not sure if it's good enough, but I think it's worth a look.
From my experiences with the deck, even if you're not considering that it's likely to cost 3 with Thalia, you'll want to spend that mana to cast more creatures and apply pressure insted of keeping it open just in case you need to protect something.
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When I hit my 3000 post mark, I'm gone for good.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
I doubt it. 8 mana is a lot, and it means that he can't be cast off of Tron.
Edit: It's possible that he might see sideboard play in Tron for his -X ability, which is pretty crazy against aggro decks. The problem is that it's not quite as good as Oblivion Stone in board wiping and he doesn't immediately control the board when he lands like Karn does.
...At 8 mana, he looks like a Turn 4 play in RG Tron (shoot, 1 mana off from being a Turn 3 play like Karn Liberated and All Is Dust). Since Karn shoots lands and costs 1 crucial mana less, I don't think Ugin is squeezing him out in RG Tron, and since he can't shoot out permanents at instant speed or have a chance at nuking Blood Moon for cheap enough, he's not replacing Oblivion Stone, but let's see how good he is compared to All Is Dust:
Pros over All Is Dust:
Can actually do something against Affinity (his +2 shoots a Cranial Plating-equipped dude that might be named Etched Champion, then Affinity might actually swing into him to prevent another guy from being shot)
Doesn't look silly against 0-to-1-permanent-threats-at-a-time decks (so he looks at least marginally better against Scapeshift, UWR Control, UWR Midrange, Twin (nowadays), Ascendancy Storm, Ad Nauseam, Breach Trap, Amulet/Bloom Titan, Tron, UR Storm (when it doesn't play Empty the Warrens)...)
In particular, he doesn't suck against RG Tron (if Karn -3's immediately and you can play Ugin next turn, Ugin can +2 and snipe Karn--Ugin can also dump way too many (Tron) lands, cantrip rocks, and maybe Karn/creatures with his ult, and he can ult a mere 2 turns after he ETB)
Can board wipe twice or more in a game
Exiles instead of kills
Can gain life and draw cards (...2+ turns after he ETB)
Has a nonzero chance of pulling an Oblivion Stone with the mana to blow it up out of his butt with his ult (he's still enormous Remand bait, and tapping out for him against Twin/Ascendancy Storm when they haven't played combo nonland permanents is still silly, but at least he can snipe the Pestermite they played the turn before, shoot their head, then ult and potentially force Twin's combo turn way backwards)
Guess I'll be trying Ugin out in my last RG Tron flex slot. He doesn't fix RG Tron's worst match-ups, but at least he can eat 3 Young Pyromancers with friends...
I really like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon over Karn Liberated in RG tron. Ugin can decimate an opponent's board for -3 90% of the time, and Wurmcoil Engine still gives you a crucial turn 3 play. I can understand Karn is better against control because it nukes manlands and steals cards out of hand, but Ugin's ultimate is incredible and his abilities are great against everything but control which isn't currently in the meta (although that may change when Fate Reforged is released).
Valorous Stance 1W
Instant
Choose one-
-Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
-Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
Also not bad in melira pod SB card.
At least it can break up most creature-based combos (Deceiver Exarch, Restoration Angel, Primeval Titan, pumped Ascendancy Storm dorks), but failing to hit Pestermite with Splinter Twin is a downside.
Its first mode salvages it a bit against Scapeshift, Tron, 8-Rack, U(W)R Delver, UB Faeries, Blue Moon, some Affinity draws, and sometimes Burn, but it still looks like the card whiffs too often for me.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
That makes this a plausible inclusion in Geist of Saint Traft type decks, where it can both fill the role of Path (without ramping your opponent) and protect your Geist from combat or Clasms.
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I don't agree, delver decks don't and I think they'd like this card as a blowout of sorts that protects delver and gets around tough to bolt creatures that typically can give some delver decks a hard time. Zoo decks running counters also might like this.
Not to say that the card is 100% modern playable at first glance.
RW colors is not strong enough to be a deck in Modern. Too bad...
If we just focus on Valorous Stance itself, it has to compete with PTE, where most of time, PTE is better than Valorous Stance in most Modern decks.
Anything, but nothing at the moment...
Modern:
WUBRGAmulet Titan, WUBRGHuman
WUBRAd Nauseam, WBRGDeath Shadow, UBRGScapeshift, UBRGDredge
WURJeskai Nahiri, WURCheeri0s, WBGCounter Company, WRGBurn, UBRMadcap Moon, BRGJund Midrange
UBTurn,BRGriselbrand Reanimator, WGKnight Company, RGRG Tron, RGRG Ponza, XAffinity, XEldrazi Tron
Modern: GW Hatebears/midrange, WGU Knightfall/evolution midrange stuff
Standard: nope
Legacy: W Death & Taxes
EDH (not Commander!): W Avacyn, Angel of Hope, GR Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, WGB Anafenza, the Foremost, WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator
Yeah but you can only run 4 copies of Path.
But what about the cool new Heroic mechanic from theros guys!?!
...
Guys?
Try brewing with Sage of Hours and the new mammoth.
- L
"The problem isn't when Scissors says Rock is overpowered, it's when Paper says it is."
-Mark Rosewater
2 mana is too much for a Heroic deck anyway, it's unplayable when there are so many similar options at 1 mana. The other mode is of little use since your Heroic dude should be massive enough to beat any creature your opponent has (or if it's Akroan Crusader, you can alpha strike with all the tokens). It beats Spellskite, that's about it. In a RW deck you should have Wear//Tear in the SB though, making Valorous Stance kind of unnecessary.
Sandsteppe Mastodon is crap unless there is some combo I'm missing or some yet-to-be-revealed card that combos with it. Increasing Savagery is a better combo with Sage of Hours.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
BWGJunkBWG
BRGJundBRG
B1Eldrazi ShopsB1
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
BGMeren of Clan Nel TothBG
BUWJenara, Asura of WarBUW
GURAnimar, Soul of ElementsGUR
Bolster isnt an exiting mechanic, but with the right power/toughness/mana cost/bolster, you could get a very powerful card. Heres a great example:
Kindagoyf- 1G
Bolster 2
1/2
It seems unassuming, until you realize i can pump your experiment one into a 4/4 (stack triggers, evolve-bolster) on turn 2 or on an empty board you get a 3/4, currently impossible to do in most non cute aggro decks. Its also fair even, because the opponent gets an opportunity to bolt the dude.
Reverse Kird Ape G
Creature-Ape
Reverse Kird Ape gets +1/+2 if you control a Mountain.
1/1
Outlast was never even in contention due to it not being Instant speed. The fact that it mostly was overcosted anyway was pretty irrelevant at that point.
Here's hoping Bolster gives us better cards to work with than Raid and Outlast did.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
Edit: It's possible that he might see sideboard play in Tron for his -X ability, which is pretty crazy against aggro decks. The problem is that it's not quite as good as Oblivion Stone in board wiping and he doesn't immediately control the board when he lands like Karn does.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
...At 8 mana, he looks like a Turn 4 play in RG Tron (shoot, 1 mana off from being a Turn 3 play like Karn Liberated and All Is Dust). Since Karn shoots lands and costs 1 crucial mana less, I don't think Ugin is squeezing him out in RG Tron, and since he can't shoot out permanents at instant speed or have a chance at nuking Blood Moon for cheap enough, he's not replacing Oblivion Stone, but let's see how good he is compared to All Is Dust:
Pros over All Is Dust:
Cons over All Is Dust:
Guess I'll be trying Ugin out in my last RG Tron flex slot. He doesn't fix RG Tron's worst match-ups, but at least he can eat 3 Young Pyromancers with friends...
RBU
Splinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBUUUUMono U TronUUU
GRGGR TronGRG
GWURKnight FallGWUR
Legacy
GWBDark MaverickGWB
--> EDH <--
BWUErtai, the CorruptedBWU
Awesome!
Wildfire that leaves back a win condition.
EDIT: The combo could be fun in UW Tron since they already run the Gifts/Rites/Iona package to go with Painter.
Modern: GW Hatebears/midrange, WGU Knightfall/evolution midrange stuff
Standard: nope
Legacy: W Death & Taxes
EDH (not Commander!): W Avacyn, Angel of Hope, GR Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, WGB Anafenza, the Foremost, WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator