Tested Bag of Holding (in Mardu 8-Pyromancers Midrange because it has 8 discard outlets and not that much graveyard abuse). One neat thing that came up is that Bag of Holding can semi-nullify Turn 1 targeted discard by soaking up the forcibly discarded card. It also profitably loots while you're Hellbent. Maybe combo decks actually want it in their sideboard?
Last few cards before the spoilers floodgates open!
Might Bag of Holding become a slow draw engine? It gets faster at actually producing CA with ramp and mass self-discard, though.
Glint-Horn Buccaneer is a 2/4 with Haste for 1RR. Not only does it loot for 2 mana while you attack with it, it also pings each opponent for 1 whenever you discard a card. Breakable somewhere?
It does have Turn 2 redundancy with Magnetic Theft, but if my testing with the Leyline of Abundance-Freed From the Real-Birds/Hierarch infinite combo is any indication, the London mulligan won't make it consistent enough, and your opponent will have a blocker or removal by Turn 2 surprisingly often.
Full spoiler up now!
Pattern Matcher looks fun to search for more redundant but good creatures. If only it didn't cost 4 mana and require a creature-heavy deck...
Salvager of Ruin costs 3 generic mana, is a 2/1, and can sacrifice itself to recur a permanent card to your hand that got into the graveyard from the battlefield this turn. Worse Eternal Witness, I know....
We get yet another Future Sight variant in Mystic Forge, which is a 4-generic-mana artifact that only lets you cast the top card of your library if it's an artifact or colourless nonland card, but at least taps (and makes you pay 1 life) to get a land off the top of your library. It does seem better than Experimental Frenzy in Affinity, but can it see play anywhere else?
I've already seen brewers come up with ideas for how to involve Colossus Hammer in a Turn 2 kill in Modern. It seems rather fragile to me, though, and it's got no infinite mana back-up plan when you're against blockers and all you have are 3 combo cards...
Tale's End is an almost-Trickbind that might counter a legendary spell some day. Will it see play anywhere?
Brought Back is like 2-mana Second Sunrise if it brought back only 2 things max. Will any deck want to abuse it?
"Resonating Summons" tutors for 2 creatures into your hand for 3GG at instant speed. Useful somewhere?
Tried Elvish Reclaimer in BG Midrange last night. The land-tutoring ability is quite expensive and a bit slow, but man do some decks rage when you tutor for multiple Field of Ruins in a single game! I can also imagine this guy completely making fun of Blood Moon.
Tried my Leyline of Abundance-Freed From the Real Green Ramp deck against Jund last night and it actually won close to half the games (granted, Karn, the Great Creator is overpowered), one of them notably with the combo. I'm thinking of making a thread for Freed Abundance builds!
Might Cerulean Drake be useful somewhere? 2 mana, flying, protection from red, can sac itself to counter a spell that targets you...shame about that 1/1 body...
Elvish Reclaimer is really really good. Most people will think of the obvious applications like tutoring up tron lands, nykthos, etc. But it can slot into a lot of other stuff. Heck, I would love to play it in a bant midrange shell where you can end of turn tutor up Halimar Depths to mimic Ponder. Best thing is that it becomes a nice little beatstick later on in games.
I don't think Halimar Depths quite cuts it, though. I suspect Sejiri Steppe is the only good enough ETB tapped land Elvish Reclaimer decks may want to play that otherwise doesn't see play. But then again, Knightfall gave up on the Steppe even though it protects the combo, so....
Elvish Reclaimer looks like it has promise in quite a few decks, with potential in anything from BGx Midrange to Elves to Amulet Titan to Collected Company decks to Gx Tron to Green Ramp variants (not just Nykthos Green, but also Tooth and Nail or those rogue decks in the latest MTGO Modern League results). ...OK, maybe it won't see play in Tron or Amulet, but a 1-drop 1/2 with an ETB tapped version of Knight of the Reliquary's land tutor for only 2, t to activate is quite sweet, and becoming a 3/4 as long as you have at least 3 land cards in your graveyard is sweet gravy.
Dunno how to evaluate Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer that well. On the one hand, she does produce a mighty fat flying token, she does protect herself with her +2, she does get out of Bolt range easy peasy, and this is all for a 3-mana walker. On the other hand, her +2 is ALL she can do the turn she ETB.
How good might Legion's End be? Being a sorcery that hits only opposing creatures with 2 cmc or less hurts it, but it costs only 2 mana, and imagine hitting ALL the Death's Shadows, Goyfs, or Tiagos this way! Even better, Tiago decks are often not that threat-dense...
Fry is basically Combust 2.0 that also hits white and/or blue planeswalkers.
Is Leyline of Abundance worth it? Makes your 1-cmc mana dorks tap for double the mana (although the 2nd mana is green), adds 2 Devotion to Green, is a mana sink...but it isn't a creature, which hurts its ability to get into Collected Company decks. Someone in the Rumor Mill already noticed that it goes infinite with Turn 1 Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch and Turn 2 Freed From the Real, though.
Any really nasty vampire Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord can cheat in the turn he ETB? Man, this walker wants vampires in your deck otherwise....
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim looks like pretty sweet ramp payoff. Just tutor for the indestructible Cascading Cataracts with it and, next turn, if you have access to 7 other mana, you can start spamming spells and consistently hitting your land drops simply by activating its ability! Shame this guy usually eats up 1 more deck slot than it seems (or your mana base is hellish), so I think Gx Tron will be tough-pressed to find enough slots for it. Oh well, at least if you don't have Valakut, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, or the complete Tron, Golos can get it, too...5 generic mana is a bargain for an any-land tutor with legs, but the legs are 3/5 and have no protection.
It seems that the last thing Spirits needs is yet another lord, then they get Empyrean Eagle.
Maybe Soul Sisters or Martyr Proc wants Ajani, Strength of the Pride? Makes Ajani's Pridemates, gains life, can one-sided board wipe at the cost of himself if you have enough life...
Flame Sweep looks hilarious as a 3-mana, instant-speed red 2-damage sweeper that hits everything except creatures you control with flying.
"Wakeroot Elemental" is infinite green mana with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and 8 Devotion to Green. Animating lands makes it a decent mana sink outside of the combo, too.
How do we break Scheming Symmetry? It's good mid-combo but not so hot pre-combo. It's great with Thought Scour, Jace, the Mind Sculptor's +2, or Ashiok, Dream Render's -1, but then you need an additional card. It's yet another way to enable Archive Trap. You can cast it at instant speed with Teferi, Time Raveler, but then you need to capitalize on the tempo gain fast before they inevitably draw into the answer they tutored for.
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Might Bag of Holding become a slow draw engine? It gets faster at actually producing CA with ramp and mass self-discard, though.
Glint-Horn Buccaneer is a 2/4 with Haste for 1RR. Not only does it loot for 2 mana while you attack with it, it also pings each opponent for 1 whenever you discard a card. Breakable somewhere?
It does have Turn 2 redundancy with Magnetic Theft, but if my testing with the Leyline of Abundance-Freed From the Real-Birds/Hierarch infinite combo is any indication, the London mulligan won't make it consistent enough, and your opponent will have a blocker or removal by Turn 2 surprisingly often.
Full spoiler up now!
Pattern Matcher looks fun to search for more redundant but good creatures. If only it didn't cost 4 mana and require a creature-heavy deck...
Salvager of Ruin costs 3 generic mana, is a 2/1, and can sacrifice itself to recur a permanent card to your hand that got into the graveyard from the battlefield this turn. Worse Eternal Witness, I know....
I've already seen brewers come up with ideas for how to involve Colossus Hammer in a Turn 2 kill in Modern. It seems rather fragile to me, though, and it's got no infinite mana back-up plan when you're against blockers and all you have are 3 combo cards...
Tale's End is an almost-Trickbind that might counter a legendary spell some day. Will it see play anywhere?
Brought Back is like 2-mana Second Sunrise if it brought back only 2 things max. Will any deck want to abuse it?
Tried Elvish Reclaimer in BG Midrange last night. The land-tutoring ability is quite expensive and a bit slow, but man do some decks rage when you tutor for multiple Field of Ruins in a single game! I can also imagine this guy completely making fun of Blood Moon.
Tried my Leyline of Abundance-Freed From the Real Green Ramp deck against Jund last night and it actually won close to half the games (granted, Karn, the Great Creator is overpowered), one of them notably with the combo. I'm thinking of making a thread for Freed Abundance builds!
Yeah, this looks like a good enough 1-drop for Spirits, especially UW Spirits.
I don't think Halimar Depths quite cuts it, though. I suspect Sejiri Steppe is the only good enough ETB tapped land Elvish Reclaimer decks may want to play that otherwise doesn't see play. But then again, Knightfall gave up on the Steppe even though it protects the combo, so....
Drawn From Dreams is 4-mana sorcery Dig Through Time. Sorcery? Whyyyy?!? (If it were an instant, it risks upstaging Fact or Fiction, but still.)
Dunno how to evaluate Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer that well. On the one hand, she does produce a mighty fat flying token, she does protect herself with her +2, she does get out of Bolt range easy peasy, and this is all for a 3-mana walker. On the other hand, her +2 is ALL she can do the turn she ETB.
Bloodthirsty Aerialist is black flying 3-mana Ajani's Pridemate. Soul Sisters doesn't seem that willing to splash black, though...
Tried building a Leyline of Abundance-Freed From the Real Tooth and Nail deck. It races Gx Tron in its current state (although the Karn, the Great Creator mirror gets interesting, especially since I put Golos, Tireless Pilgrim in Gx Tron's wishboard specifically to Blast Zone its way out of Stony Silence effects), but you're rarely juking out opponents on Turn 2 because that infinite mana and pump combo requires 3 cards.
Fry is basically Combust 2.0 that also hits white and/or blue planeswalkers.
Is Leyline of Abundance worth it? Makes your 1-cmc mana dorks tap for double the mana (although the 2nd mana is green), adds 2 Devotion to Green, is a mana sink...but it isn't a creature, which hurts its ability to get into Collected Company decks. Someone in the Rumor Mill already noticed that it goes infinite with Turn 1 Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch and Turn 2 Freed From the Real, though.
Any really nasty vampire Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord can cheat in the turn he ETB? Man, this walker wants vampires in your deck otherwise....
Hanged Executioner is rather like Midnight Haunting without Flash but with the ability to boot a creature some day. Might Spirits want it?
Blightbeetle hoses Hardened Scales Robots harder than Stony Silence does (unless Scrapyard Recombiner really picks up in popularity), but that's seemingly all it hoses (you don't board this in against Scavenging Ooze).
For Zoo-like decks, Barkhide Troll is a 2-mana 3/3 that can protect itself from one removal spell at the cost of shrinking.
"Punitive Rod" is funny if you have a sac outlet for it and Rod of Ruin if you don't. Not quite good enough?
Maybe Soul Sisters or Martyr Proc wants Ajani, Strength of the Pride? Makes Ajani's Pridemates, gains life, can one-sided board wipe at the cost of himself if you have enough life...
Flame Sweep looks hilarious as a 3-mana, instant-speed red 2-damage sweeper that hits everything except creatures you control with flying.
"Wakeroot Elemental" is infinite green mana with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and 8 Devotion to Green. Animating lands makes it a decent mana sink outside of the combo, too.
How do we break Scheming Symmetry? It's good mid-combo but not so hot pre-combo. It's great with Thought Scour, Jace, the Mind Sculptor's +2, or Ashiok, Dream Render's -1, but then you need an additional card. It's yet another way to enable Archive Trap. You can cast it at instant speed with Teferi, Time Raveler, but then you need to capitalize on the tempo gain fast before they inevitably draw into the answer they tutored for.