Putting Scry 2 onto Divination, making it black and giving it the token black card draw penalty of arbitrary loss of life... I am actually tempted to play this in control.
IT SCRIES.
AND YOU DRAW.
BUT BEST OF ALL, IT SCRIES BEFORE YOU DRAW!
It's no substitute for Preordain, but dammit it sure is trying to be something more than just bookmark fodder.
Curse of the Swine is like Pongify if it produced worse tokens, it exiled, and you could machine gun it...for a sorcery-speed xUU. It probably can't even hold back aggro as well as Aetherize can (and I've only heard inklings about that card in Mono-U Tron), but at least turning Pod's guys into dumb idiots might help...
for a block designed with modern in mind, there is nothing that is currently modern playable... oh well, only day 1.
By that you mean obviously modern playable... Nykthos and the gods/weapons really depend on if they can find a home. And for that, I'm actually quite glad. Modern doesn't need more shoo-ins for midrange, it needs cards that are worth trying out in fringe archetypes to spawn new decks. Besides, we're already getting Thoughtseize.
for a block designed with modern in mind, there is nothing that is currently modern playable... oh well, only day 1.
Well they might be targetting the non-tier decks with their design. So if we are looking for cards that will fit in Jund, UWR, etc we might see zero new cards for them. However, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a card designed to boost Elves in Modern with it's pseudo Gaea's Cradle ability. First Beck//Call was printed as a fixed Glimpse of Nature, then Nykthos as a Gaea's Cradle for Modern Elves.
Heliod might have a bit of promise in Death and Taxes as a finisher who can be Vialed in, doesn't argue with Thalia, and doesn't die to nearly all removal (especially when not Devoted, but even when Devoted, he's Indestructible and Dismember just fails to kill him).
Heliod might have a bit of promise in Death and Taxes as a finisher who can be Vialed in, doesn't argue with Thalia, and doesn't die to nearly all removal (especially when not Devoted, but even when Devoted, he's Indestructible and Dismember just fails to kill him).
If GW Hatebears plays this, Chord of Calling will be a pseudo GSZ due to Heliod's Vigilance.
Heliod might have a bit of promise in Death and Taxes as a finisher who can be Vialed in, doesn't argue with Thalia, and doesn't die to nearly all removal (especially when not Devoted, but even when Devoted, he's Indestructible and Dismember just fails to kill him).
No, he needed a hatebear ability like opponents stuff etb tapped. He is meh.
The gods will only see competitive play if they are worth playing without being a creature. So far the only one that fits that is Thassa as the card is strong enough without being a creature to consider being played.
EDIT: The ability to make enchantment creature tokens is interesting. That has some possible potential in an enchantress like deck. Still that's very fringe.
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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.
No, he needed a hatebear ability like opponents stuff etb tapped. He is meh.
The gods will only see competitive play if they are worth playing without being a creature. So far the only one that fits that is Thassa as the card is strong enough without being a creature to consider being played.
From my testing of Thassa in Merfolk, I don't think she's strong enough without Devotion. Her Scry 1 was useless more than half the turns she was out, and I lost nearly all the games where she never connected (my only wins so far in that situation were one game where she made my stragglers unblockable and a few games against UWR Control--she sucked against RG Tron).
Read the bones
Omen speaker
Magma jet
thassa god of the sea
Elspeth 3.0
these are notable cards. cant wait for the other gods!
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A team should be as happy as a meal - TEAM HAPPYMEAL
EDH - UWGrand Arbiter Agustin IV UBW Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Modern - Mono U tron / Polymorph / NFTW (ninja for the win)GR tronGR
Buy All the planeswalkers!!!
Buy All the Dual Lands!!!
Buy All the fetches!
Create tons of EDH Decks!!!
Eat Nothing but Oats!! (LOL, not true)
Train MMA!!!
Marry My girlfriend!!!
Get her Pregnant only Once!
Teach my Son/Daughter Sports and magic cards!!!
Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
well, they wouldn't design cards with decks in mind. this set was designed 2 years ago. i have zero faith in them figuring out what the meta will be 3 months from now, let alone 2 years.
if anything makes a notable splash in modern, it'll either be an over powered creature (of which they haven't really shown one yet) or some spell that slips through the cracks, of which there hasn't been one yet either.
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I speak in sarcasm because calling people ******* ******** is not allowed.
Still waiting for the "Deathrite shaman of Theros"
OH, GOD. No. Please, no.
Seriously - RtR had too many format warping cards already... can't we have some comboish cards to spawn new 1.5-2 tier decks instead? I mean, compare Pod pre-RTR to post-RTR... it's a gigantic power creep.
Yeah cuz Fervor is totally tearing up the format right now.
Because Hammer is totally Fervor that happens to turn lands into dudes and not a land-dudeifier that just happens to have a Fervor stapled on for free.
Alternatively, something something something remember when Fires of Yavimaya was a thing?
The Hammer looks unplayable. There are more than enough mana sinks for any deck, regardless of archetype. Aggro decks have Grim Lavamancer and Deathrite Shaman. Midrange and control have manlands.
Really, just play manlands.
edit: Just noticed Karametra's Acolyte, which goes infinite with Staff of Domination and 4 additional devotion to green. It's playable as Elvish Archdruid #5-8 in a Staff/Elves combo deck, though it's not like that deck is super powerful.
Thassa
Nykthos
Nyleas Bow
Curse of the Swine
Chained to the Rocks
Gift of Immortality
Thoughtseize
Magma Jet
Commune with the Gods
Destructive Revelry
Reverent Hunter
Purphoros Hammer
maybe Heliod and Nylea
They are all playable in modern, they just need to find a home or a new home has to be created for them but they are certainly powerful enough cards to be played.
Thassa might be playable.
Nykthos might be playable in fringe decks
Nyela's Bow might be playable
Curse of the Swine might possibly be playable in Tron.
Chained to Rocks is unplayable, if you have white mana and a mountain, you should be running Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt instead.
Gift of Immortality is interesting, but unplayable. Thoughtseize doesn't count, its a reprint. It being cheaper will make Modern more accessible, but it won't create any new decks or change the meta at all. Magma Jet is just a reprint. It wasn't even Thoughtseize expensive. It being reprinted will change nothing at all.
Commune with the Gods could possibly be playable, but probably not
Destructive Revelry is okay, but there aren't many good enchantments and there is better RG artifact destruction (Ancient Grudge)
Reverent Hunter is basically unplayable. It is no Goyf, and there are several cards that make better budget Goyfs.
Hammer of Purphoros is unplayable. Fervor isn't good, and sacrificing lands to get 3/3 creatures with haste isn't particularly good either.
Heliod sucks. It costs more mana than the others, it grants a horrible ability, and its activated ability is far too expensive.
Nyela is okay, but her activated ability sucks so she probably isn't playable.
The problem that I see with Theros is that they are obviously trying to slow down standard. Modern is an incredibly fast format. Because of this, nearly all of the cards in this set will be unplayable because they are designed for a slow standard, not a fast modern.
The Hammer looks unplayable. There are more than enough mana sinks for any deck, regardless of archetype. Aggro decks have Grim Lavamancer and Deathrite Shaman. Midrange and control have manlands.
Really, just play manlands.
well... it feeds KOTR. but thats just it. i'd rather play Kotr's ability and look for utility lands...
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A team should be as happy as a meal - TEAM HAPPYMEAL
EDH - UWGrand Arbiter Agustin IV UBW Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Modern - Mono U tron / Polymorph / NFTW (ninja for the win)GR tronGR
Buy All the planeswalkers!!!
Buy All the Dual Lands!!!
Buy All the fetches!
Create tons of EDH Decks!!!
Eat Nothing but Oats!! (LOL, not true)
Train MMA!!!
Marry My girlfriend!!!
Get her Pregnant only Once!
Teach my Son/Daughter Sports and magic cards!!!
Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
We need to remember that new sets, even big opening blocks, rarely have more than a few staples for non-rotating formats. RtR was an exception, with at least a dozen playables (DRS, Decay, Electromancer, Experiment, etc.). But that set was an anomaly and still only had maybe 12-15 cards playable out of a whole 249-card set. So our expectations shouldn't be too high. We should probably be happy with around 6 playables and ecstatic with anything more than 8 or so.
We also need to remember to be more honest with ourselves about Theros card quality. Everyone, myself included, wants Modern playable cards in this set. But in the past, I have fallen into the trap of overvaluing cards just because I wanted (read: desperately hoped) that something would be playable in our format. For a card to be playable in Modern, it needs to a) be better than an existing card that does a similar thing and/or b) provide a unique effect that doesn't currently exist in the format.
Nykthos definitely fits that bill without a doubt. But I'm not sure about the rest. The closest fit is Commune with the Gods which provides 2 CMC dig for a pairing of permanents that no other card offers. Other than that, however, there isn't much in the set yet for our format.
Finally, the other trap that we/I have fallen for is overvaluing a promising card just to avoid being wrong down the road. No one wants to be the jackass who said "DRS. What a piece of trash." That guy will be sigged for eternity. So we tend to overvalue all of the fringe playables just to avoid that embarrassment. So that's why I am uncomfortable saying that Hammer is good: It looks pretty bad by most metrics, and Wand of Elements sees exactly zero play. I don't see Hammer being substantially better than Wand.
I'm just of the camp that's looking at it like it's a possible Fires.
Alone, the individual effects are garbage.
Together, and perhaps put into context with relevant cards (which is kinda what put Fires on the map, what with the vanishing permanents and all), they might come together to make something fierce.
First of all, long-time lurker, first-time poster.
Second, I'm not seeing how Reverent Hunter is "unplayable." Fringe, sure, but I can see him being Goyf 5-8 in Gruul Aggro.
Consider a good-but-not-nutty one-mulligan opener of 2 lands, E1, BTE, some 1G dude, and Reverent Hunter.
On the play:
T1: E1
T2: draw, attack, BTE + guy
T3: draw. you probably drew a land on either T2 or this turn. Set Rev Hunter as a 5/5 or 6/6, then attack. (You'd set him first in case of combat attrition.)
Obviously this won't happen every game, and I concede he's an awful play into an empty board. But with Boar, E1, Geist, Rancor, Finks, BTE, and Goyf as options in our deck, it seems pretty easy to make him a big ol' guy who stretches the enemy removal pretty thin. Plus he gets around Spell Snare without wrecking our curve. I think he's a good boost for 2-color Zoo, and it's possible there will be at least 1 other Modern-playable devotion guy in RG.
IT SCRIES.
AND YOU DRAW.
BUT BEST OF ALL, IT SCRIES BEFORE YOU DRAW!
It's no substitute for Preordain, but dammit it sure is trying to be something more than just bookmark fodder.
By that you mean obviously modern playable... Nykthos and the gods/weapons really depend on if they can find a home. And for that, I'm actually quite glad. Modern doesn't need more shoo-ins for midrange, it needs cards that are worth trying out in fringe archetypes to spawn new decks. Besides, we're already getting Thoughtseize.
Cubetutor Link
Well they might be targetting the non-tier decks with their design. So if we are looking for cards that will fit in Jund, UWR, etc we might see zero new cards for them. However, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a card designed to boost Elves in Modern with it's pseudo Gaea's Cradle ability. First Beck//Call was printed as a fixed Glimpse of Nature, then Nykthos as a Gaea's Cradle for Modern Elves.
UWR Midrange
BRG Jund
BG Rock
UR Storm
The Philippine Modern Community
RGWUB MTG Modern Philippines
If GW Hatebears plays this, Chord of Calling will be a pseudo GSZ due to Heliod's Vigilance.
UWR Midrange
BRG Jund
BG Rock
UR Storm
The Philippine Modern Community
RGWUB MTG Modern Philippines
No, he needed a hatebear ability like opponents stuff etb tapped. He is meh.
The gods will only see competitive play if they are worth playing without being a creature. So far the only one that fits that is Thassa as the card is strong enough without being a creature to consider being played.
EDIT: The ability to make enchantment creature tokens is interesting. That has some possible potential in an enchantress like deck. Still that's very fringe.
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
Death and Taxes plays Restoration Angel and/or Hero of Bladehold, and Hero does not hate at all, while Resto is only anti-removal.
From my testing of Thassa in Merfolk, I don't think she's strong enough without Devotion. Her Scry 1 was useless more than half the turns she was out, and I lost nearly all the games where she never connected (my only wins so far in that situation were one game where she made my stragglers unblockable and a few games against UWR Control--she sucked against RG Tron).
Yeah cuz Fervor is totally tearing up the format right now.
Thanks to Rivenor for the signature and XenoNinja for the Avi!
Quotes:
Omen speaker
Magma jet
thassa god of the sea
Elspeth 3.0
these are notable cards. cant wait for the other gods!
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!!!
Marry My girlfriend!!!
Get her Pregnant only Once!
Teach my Son/Daughter Sports and magic cards!!!
Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
if anything makes a notable splash in modern, it'll either be an over powered creature (of which they haven't really shown one yet) or some spell that slips through the cracks, of which there hasn't been one yet either.
OH, GOD. No. Please, no.
Seriously - RtR had too many format warping cards already... can't we have some comboish cards to spawn new 1.5-2 tier decks instead? I mean, compare Pod pre-RTR to post-RTR... it's a gigantic power creep.
Because Hammer is totally Fervor that happens to turn lands into dudes and not a land-dudeifier that just happens to have a Fervor stapled on for free.
Alternatively, something something something remember when Fires of Yavimaya was a thing?
Really, just play manlands.
edit: Just noticed Karametra's Acolyte, which goes infinite with Staff of Domination and 4 additional devotion to green. It's playable as Elvish Archdruid #5-8 in a Staff/Elves combo deck, though it's not like that deck is super powerful.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Thassa might be playable.
Nykthos might be playable in fringe decks
Nyela's Bow might be playable
Curse of the Swine might possibly be playable in Tron.
Chained to Rocks is unplayable, if you have white mana and a mountain, you should be running Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt instead.
Gift of Immortality is interesting, but unplayable.
Thoughtseize doesn't count, its a reprint. It being cheaper will make Modern more accessible, but it won't create any new decks or change the meta at all.
Magma Jet is just a reprint. It wasn't even Thoughtseize expensive. It being reprinted will change nothing at all.
Commune with the Gods could possibly be playable, but probably not
Destructive Revelry is okay, but there aren't many good enchantments and there is better RG artifact destruction (Ancient Grudge)
Reverent Hunter is basically unplayable. It is no Goyf, and there are several cards that make better budget Goyfs.
Hammer of Purphoros is unplayable. Fervor isn't good, and sacrificing lands to get 3/3 creatures with haste isn't particularly good either.
Heliod sucks. It costs more mana than the others, it grants a horrible ability, and its activated ability is far too expensive.
Nyela is okay, but her activated ability sucks so she probably isn't playable.
The problem that I see with Theros is that they are obviously trying to slow down standard. Modern is an incredibly fast format. Because of this, nearly all of the cards in this set will be unplayable because they are designed for a slow standard, not a fast modern.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
well... it feeds KOTR. but thats just it. i'd rather play Kotr's ability and look for utility lands...
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!!!
Marry My girlfriend!!!
Get her Pregnant only Once!
Teach my Son/Daughter Sports and magic cards!!!
Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
We also need to remember to be more honest with ourselves about Theros card quality. Everyone, myself included, wants Modern playable cards in this set. But in the past, I have fallen into the trap of overvaluing cards just because I wanted (read: desperately hoped) that something would be playable in our format. For a card to be playable in Modern, it needs to a) be better than an existing card that does a similar thing and/or b) provide a unique effect that doesn't currently exist in the format.
Nykthos definitely fits that bill without a doubt. But I'm not sure about the rest. The closest fit is Commune with the Gods which provides 2 CMC dig for a pairing of permanents that no other card offers. Other than that, however, there isn't much in the set yet for our format.
Finally, the other trap that we/I have fallen for is overvaluing a promising card just to avoid being wrong down the road. No one wants to be the jackass who said "DRS. What a piece of trash." That guy will be sigged for eternity. So we tend to overvalue all of the fringe playables just to avoid that embarrassment. So that's why I am uncomfortable saying that Hammer is good: It looks pretty bad by most metrics, and Wand of Elements sees exactly zero play. I don't see Hammer being substantially better than Wand.
Alone, the individual effects are garbage.
Together, and perhaps put into context with relevant cards (which is kinda what put Fires on the map, what with the vanishing permanents and all), they might come together to make something fierce.
Just saying.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Second, I'm not seeing how Reverent Hunter is "unplayable." Fringe, sure, but I can see him being Goyf 5-8 in Gruul Aggro.
Consider a good-but-not-nutty one-mulligan opener of 2 lands, E1, BTE, some 1G dude, and Reverent Hunter.
On the play:
T1: E1
T2: draw, attack, BTE + guy
T3: draw. you probably drew a land on either T2 or this turn. Set Rev Hunter as a 5/5 or 6/6, then attack. (You'd set him first in case of combat attrition.)
Obviously this won't happen every game, and I concede he's an awful play into an empty board. But with Boar, E1, Geist, Rancor, Finks, BTE, and Goyf as options in our deck, it seems pretty easy to make him a big ol' guy who stretches the enemy removal pretty thin. Plus he gets around Spell Snare without wrecking our curve. I think he's a good boost for 2-color Zoo, and it's possible there will be at least 1 other Modern-playable devotion guy in RG.
Go ahead, tear my theory apart
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