This thread will be used for spoilers of Dragon Maze as it pertains to Modern. This also incudes all hopes for the set/talks about cycles. Spoiler discussion must remain in this thread. Enjoy.
I think that with midrange being the current king of the format (debatable, yeah), this guy will land frequently as a finisher, and I really do think he is as good as some of the titans for his cost. The only non-creature spell that you can really justify casting with him on the battlefield is removal targeting him, and even that is going to net you 6 damage and a card. He's big enough to swing through most stuff, and he stays upright to block. I really like it. He's like a huge swiss army knife for midrange.
I tested Ruric Thar as a Gifts Rock reanimation target (replacing Iona) and shoved him in against UWR Midrange and Jund. Unfortunately, only 1 game each so far, but he got booted very fast both games. Yeah, UWR Midrange and Jund won those games--UWR had the Traft and Jund had the Goyf, and they did take the 6 and stabilized.
He needs more testing, but I don't think he's quite as good against midrange as Iona is--and Iona will either eat Path to Exile or Liliana of the Veil from Junk.
(His performance against combo has been iffy so far, but at least he's better against Tron than Iona is! Unfortunately, Terastodon and Realm Razer are starting to look appealing in the combo hate slot...)
(Perhaps the wet dream may be them sticking a planeswalker--e.g. Liliana of the Veil--and losing another walker in the process.)
He's built for a gr ramp shell. Scape shift, bloom et. For the most part if you wouldn't pay 4RG to do 6 to the face you won't want him.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
He doesn't fight a Wurmcoil Engine very well. Doesn't mean he won't see play, but if he does Engine gets better. I can't think of a better foil.
Also doesn't seem good to cast him if you will still be behind on board somehow, since then you can't use your noncreature spells as effectively to catch up.
That's a really powerful creature and ability, although it comes with a pretty steep casting cost. Quite a bit of upside in that it's usually going to deal at least 6 to an opponent, even if they manage to remove it.
I definitely things its more suited for EDH, where its brutal. I don't see a modern deck he fits into, and I'm skeptical he spawns a new archetype.
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Currently Playing:
Modern: UWUW TronUW
Legacy: WDeath N TaxesW CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Im probably either insane or drunk, but wouldn't this + Scapeshift be... interesting? I know, technically Valakut also wins on the spot while not requiring half of your lands be unfetcheable, come into play tapped duals but for some reason i can see this kinda working.
Wouldn't land destruction of any kind wreck this plan, way too easy?
Having multiples of each gate seems impractical. Even fetching destroyed lands from graveyard still makes it unfeasible.
Playing all your lands tapped seems like a huge drawback for a win condition which is so easily disrupted.
Scapeshift don't stumble like that to a little land destruction.
Wouldn't land destruction of any kind wreck this plan, way too easy?
Having multiples of each gate seems impractical. Even fetching destroyed lands from graveyard still makes it unfeasible.
Playing all your lands tapped seems like a huge drawback for a win condition which is so easily disrupted.
Scapeshift don't stumble like that to a little land destruction.
I tried Maze's End in a BUGx Gifts heavy control shell. This means I get access to Life from the Loam to get my dead Gates back (and retrieve Maze's End from the Gifts pile). The mana base has been surprisingly good with 10 Gates and 2 Maze's Ends (and 26 lands), and LD has barely slowed me down...
...because I found this win con is extremely sluggish. By the time I get the first Maze's End, I've only got 2-3 Gates out on average, and I win faster with a Batterskull Gifts pile.
I think Maze's End is going to break modern. No just kidding. It is unplayable. In EDH it could have a real home and be a legitimate win condition. In modern, it is just way way too slow. As stated earlier in the thread, Scapeshift wins with 7 lands, this take 10.
Shouldn't we at least wait and see what the set brings to the table, before we dismiss a highly synergetic card like this?
No, we can dismiss this easily
- high cost
- loss of tempo
- slower to combo off than other currently available options
- requires your entire deck to be at a large loss of tempo
I think people are overlooking how good Ruric Thar could be in a lotus cobra + Domri Rade shell. There are multiple decks in the format that cannot beat a turn 3/4 Ruric thar, and turn 3 ruric thar could be common in the right build. Its as if everyone forgot about how consistent: t1 mana dork, t2 cobra, t3 6 drop can be.
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RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
I think people are overlooking how good Ruric Thar could be in a lotus cobra + Domri Rade shell. There are multiple decks in the format that cannot beat a turn 3/4 Ruric thar, and turn 3 ruric thar could be common in the right build. Its as if everyone forgot about how consistent: t1 mana dork, t2 cobra, t3 6 drop can be.
I'm trying Ruric Thar in Gifts Rock (8 mana dorks, bunch of 3-drops, Goyf, other Gifts piles, Elesh Norn, Unburial Rites). He's been hit-and-miss so far. I don't get nut hands of Turn 1 mana dork, Turn 2 3-drop, Turn 3 Gifts, Turn 4 Ruric that often, and if he's my first real threat, he tends to be dealt with fairly easily. I've lost quite a few games where my opponent dealt with all my other guys and took 6 dealing with Ruric. Heck, Ruric has died ramming into a Goyf and a bunch of Spirit tokens.
He's also been hit-and-miss against combo--he hoses Eggs, yes, and he basically stops combo from playing cantrips, but both Exarch Twin and Scapeshift have gladly taken 6 damage to combo off if they already have the combo in hand.
At least he's fairly easily hardcast in long, grindy games, though. He's also bigger than most of the format, and in Gifts Rock, I've been able to play around his drawbacks somewhat well.
Shouldn't we at least wait and see what the set brings to the table, before we dismiss a highly synergistic card like this? We could see an enchantment for example that turns every creature into a gate. Or things that count as gates like artifacts.
Nah, you're still gonna need 10 permanents at the minimum.
Maze's End and gates both ETB tapped, so that's another strike against them.
Will it make a mark as a way to stop Eggs from going off and UWR Wafo-Tapa Control to stop going nuts at EOT that doesn't suck maindeck, or will Counterflux remain the premier 3-cmc counterspell to stiff decks with because it preemptively stops other counterspells?
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Legendary Creature - Ogre Warrior
4GR
Vigilance, reach
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed attacks each turn if able.
Whenever a player casts a noncreature spell, Ruric Thar deals 6 damage to that player.
Illus. Tyler Jacobsen
Thoughts?
Yeah it is just way to slow.
Current post- Grand Prix KC Modern Postmortem (7/7/13)
CG
He needs more testing, but I don't think he's quite as good against midrange as Iona is--and Iona will either eat Path to Exile or Liliana of the Veil from Junk.
(His performance against combo has been iffy so far, but at least he's better against Tron than Iona is! Unfortunately, Terastodon and Realm Razer are starting to look appealing in the combo hate slot...)
(Perhaps the wet dream may be them sticking a planeswalker--e.g. Liliana of the Veil--and losing another walker in the process.)
Also doesn't seem good to cast him if you will still be behind on board somehow, since then you can't use your noncreature spells as effectively to catch up.
Other than those two things, he seems solid.
Level 1 Judge
WUBRG
I definitely things its more suited for EDH, where its brutal. I don't see a modern deck he fits into, and I'm skeptical he spawns a new archetype.
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
Im probably either insane or drunk, but wouldn't this + Scapeshift be... interesting? I know, technically Valakut also wins on the spot while not requiring half of your lands be unfetcheable, come into play tapped duals but for some reason i can see this kinda working.
BRG Living End
UGWRB Titan Bloom (40% complete)
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Having multiples of each gate seems impractical. Even fetching destroyed lands from graveyard still makes it unfeasible.
Playing all your lands tapped seems like a huge drawback for a win condition which is so easily disrupted.
Scapeshift don't stumble like that to a little land destruction.
I tried Maze's End in a BUGx Gifts heavy control shell. This means I get access to Life from the Loam to get my dead Gates back (and retrieve Maze's End from the Gifts pile). The mana base has been surprisingly good with 10 Gates and 2 Maze's Ends (and 26 lands), and LD has barely slowed me down...
...because I found this win con is extremely sluggish. By the time I get the first Maze's End, I've only got 2-3 Gates out on average, and I win faster with a Batterskull Gifts pile.
Now, what easily disrupts this win con are Surgical Extraction, Sowing Salt, and Karn Liberated.
Level 1 Judge
WUBRG
No, we can dismiss this easily
- high cost
- loss of tempo
- slower to combo off than other currently available options
- requires your entire deck to be at a large loss of tempo
do I need to say more?
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
I'm trying Ruric Thar in Gifts Rock (8 mana dorks, bunch of 3-drops, Goyf, other Gifts piles, Elesh Norn, Unburial Rites). He's been hit-and-miss so far. I don't get nut hands of Turn 1 mana dork, Turn 2 3-drop, Turn 3 Gifts, Turn 4 Ruric that often, and if he's my first real threat, he tends to be dealt with fairly easily. I've lost quite a few games where my opponent dealt with all my other guys and took 6 dealing with Ruric. Heck, Ruric has died ramming into a Goyf and a bunch of Spirit tokens.
He's also been hit-and-miss against combo--he hoses Eggs, yes, and he basically stops combo from playing cantrips, but both Exarch Twin and Scapeshift have gladly taken 6 damage to combo off if they already have the combo in hand.
At least he's fairly easily hardcast in long, grindy games, though. He's also bigger than most of the format, and in Gifts Rock, I've been able to play around his drawbacks somewhat well.
Also, I want to see a deck made with the shadownborn apostle and bloodbond march when m14 is released
-MTG Salvation.
Nah, you're still gonna need 10 permanents at the minimum.
Maze's End and gates both ETB tapped, so that's another strike against them.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Will it make a mark as a way to stop Eggs from going off and UWR Wafo-Tapa Control to stop going nuts at EOT that doesn't suck maindeck, or will Counterflux remain the premier 3-cmc counterspell to stiff decks with because it preemptively stops other counterspells?