I really like the Hexproof Mana-wall and Master of Waves so far. Its interaction with Force of Savagery is just silly and I want it to be a thing but I doubt it hahah. But seriously, more fuel for Overgrown Battlement engine? Could yield some interesting brews.
Now, when you compare the prevalence of Dismember to the prevalence of Decay or Bolt, it's more than reasonable to say it sees minimal play. Bolt is in more than 1/3 of all decks and often has the full playset. Decay is in about 25% of decks with 2-3 copies on average. Dismember? 10%, 1-2 copies. When it does get included in a deck, it is generally as a singleton or pair in the board, or a pair in the maindeck. Of course, Dismember's prevalence might increase as BG Midrange continues to be a FOTM deck. But even then, it still only uses a few slots, and it still isn't used in most decks in any appreciable quantity.
I agree that if this card did not have pro red, it would not be playable. But pro red on top of the answer-or-die effect is big. It's definitely worth trying. If that means modifying an element of a deck that is currently unsuccessful, then that's fine with me.
Okay, let's just get down to the heart of the issue. Because this has been rather bothering me. You're trying to argue that, as a 4-cost finisher, it dodges decay. EVERY 4-cost finisher dodges decay. This is not a point in favor of it. This is not unique to this card. If you wanted to water down(pun intended) a merfolk deck with islands and have a bomby finisher there's already hundreds of other 4-cost finishers. And they ALL dodge decay. Trying to act like this is some unique advantage is rather misleading. And the fact that many 4-cost finishers have 4+ toughness means they dodge bolt too. And there's a reason people tried it, and then stopped trying it. Because it was counter to what the deck was trying to do, and those bombs fit better elsewhere.
But speaking of comparing in vacuums, that's what you keep doing. And ignoring the key point. You're trying to argue why it's a good card. And I've already agreed, in every post, why I think it's a good card. What you've yet to do is make any attempt at saying why it's good in merfolk. What advantage does it gain from being in merfolk as opposed to any deck that it could actually synergize with. A deck that had other elementals to play with. A deck that has a way to draw out the game to turn 5+ against combo allowing this card to be useful. A deck that can pump the field allowing the tokens to survive if the master dies. The only selling point for merfolk is that they have 2 UU creatures. And everything else is basically a counter-synergy.
As for Merfolk itself being an under-performing deck...according to mtgtop8(so now you can't call me out on my source), in the past 2 months(standard metric) they have placed on a similar footing as RDW and Hatebears, they were ahead of Bogle(considered one of the stronger decks). The only aggro decks they are really behind are Jund and Affinity(which along with pod and twin are dominating the format). I wouldn't say merfolk is 'underperforming' compared to other aggro decks. In the aggro category its above average.
Okay, let's just get down to the heart of the issue. Because this has been rather bothering me. You're trying to argue that, as a 4-cost finisher, it dodges decay. EVERY 4-cost finisher dodges decay. This is not a point in favor of it. This is not unique to this card. If you wanted to water down(pun intended) a merfolk deck with islands and have a bomby finisher there's already hundreds of other 4-cost finishers. And they ALL dodge decay. Trying to act like this is some unique advantage is rather misleading. And the fact that many 4-cost finishers have 4+ toughness means they dodge bolt too. And there's a reason people tried it, and then stopped trying it. Because it was counter to what the deck was trying to do, and those bombs fit better elsewhere.
Perhaps I was unclear. Its immunity to Decay is incidental to the rest of the card. But in the 4 cost finisher slot, that dual immunity to Decay and every red removal in the field is unique. Add to that its one-turn-clock effect and natural Merfolk synergy, and the Decay-proofness of Master is worth mentioning. It's not worth emphasizing more than any other point, but it's one more point in favor of the card. I should say that it's not my big argument in favor of Master. Those two arguments are 1) It has protection from red and 2) it must be answered in one turn. Decay-proof is a nice bonus on top of that.
But speaking of comparing in vacuums, that's what you keep doing. And ignoring the key point. You're trying to argue why it's a good card. And I've already agreed, in every post, why I think it's a good card. What you've yet to do is make any attempt at saying why it's good in merfolk. What advantage does it gain from being in merfolk as opposed to any deck that it could actually synergize with. A deck that had other elementals to play with. A deck that has a way to draw out the game to turn 5+ against combo allowing this card to be useful. A deck that can pump the field allowing the tokens to survive if the master dies. The only selling point for merfolk is that they have 2 UU creatures. And everything else is basically a counter-synergy.
I've mentioned it in my last two posts, but I will restate my highly contextual, Merfolk specific arguments for you:
1) Merfolk is not a good deck right now. Its paper and online performance attest to this. It needs some help, and although that doesn't mean that Master is the solution, he's definitely under consideration.
2) One issue with Merfolk is card quality. Merfolk has no real bombs to speak of that land and cause an opponent to go "oh ****". One might argue that aggro doesn't need such high-quality cards, especially if it's going for a critical mass of threats as in Merfolk. But in Modern, the best aggro decks all have high quality bullets that make an opponent "oh ****" in response. Affinity has Plating, Nexus, and Ravager (and that's why it's the best aggro deck in the format). Burn has Skullcrack and Boros Charm. Bogles has Daybreak Coronet. Merfolk might benefit from such a top of the curve, high quality threat, as long as that card synergized with the rest of the deck.
3) Master provides some badly needed, top of the curve stopping power to the deck. Merfolk often finds itself in a position with 2-3 guys on the board at the start of turn 4, with at least 1 Lord killed or countered. Master, with just one card, instantly recovers your board position and forces an immediate answer. Merfolk is already packing a ton of devotion enablers, and even a 2 creature board state is still going to give you probably 4 tokens. Master also enables an additional synergy with Spreading Seas. And, of course, the Master himself is getting pumped by a lord and probably going across for 3.
4) There is, however, one issue with Master that I will happily concede: Merfolk currently plays 19-20 lands, and Master really needs to reliably resolve on turn 4 or 5. This is the big issue. Vial tries to solve this, to an extent, but I'd be hesitant to tick a vial up to 4 unless I knew that my Master would be a lethal blow on turn 6 (And that's a slow/unreliable line of play anyway). All of the other points you raise (lack of other elementals, lack of other pump for the tokens, can't draw out the game to turn 5, etc.) are either not important given the obvious advantages of Master, or not relevant to the deck. But the land issue is a real one to consider.
That all said, I haven't tested him yet. I'm also pretty sure that no one has tested him yet given that he was spoiled 12 hours ago. The land issue could be enough to see Master finding a home in another deck (or no home at all). But on every other count, he's a total beast. So that's why we are debating it.
If this card cost 3, I guarantee you that there would be no question about its inclusion in Merfolk. Similarly, if he cost 5, no one would even pay attention to him. 4 is the weird midpoint that forces us to think critically about the card. It's an issue both of 4 mana objectively in the format, and 4 mana in a deck that runs only 19-20 lands. Is it worth it to go up on lands to accommodate the guy? I think it might be because the 19-20 land Merfolk build is hardly taking home GP or PTQ finishes left and right.
EDIT: As for the performance of Merfolk, any dataset that does not include the TOTAL number of Merfolk decks being played, relative to the finishing decks, is suspect. It doesn't matter if X Merfolk decks are going 4-0/3-1 if there are 3X players going 2-2 or worse with that deck. It's just a misleading dataset. I try to solve this by actually taking random samples from MTGO and recording finishes directly from the client, and by those metrics, Merfolk is pretty bad. It made up barely 2% of the metagame in July, 3% in early August, and about 3% now. And that says nothing about paper finishes; over the past 8 months, Merfolk has only sent 2 players to Top 8 finishes in event with 100+ players. 2 decks out of 474. Merfolk needs some serious help, and I'd love for Master to be one of the solutions.
People in black green aren't running go for the throat doom blade and maelstrom pulse? See this is why I don't like card evaluation that compares it in relation to popular cards. Id say change it up, what does this card give decks in relation to other decks. Maybe then you will see something about this card. Firstly, looking at the current environment, master is not going to produce much value in anything except merfolk and maybe grand architect, as most have said, so what does it do for the deck? It allows you to not overextend by playing more creatures and still apply pressure AND it eats a removal spell that would target one of your engine creatures. Its not an eggs in a basket kind of thing its more like buy a basket get free eggs so if someone blows up your basket you didn't lose much .
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
EDIT: As for the performance of Merfolk, any dataset that does not include the TOTAL number of Merfolk decks being played, relative to the finishing decks, is suspect. It doesn't matter if X Merfolk decks are going 4-0/3-1 if there are 3X players going 2-2 or worse with that deck. It's just a misleading dataset. I try to solve this by actually taking random samples from MTGO and recording finishes directly from the client, and by those metrics, Merfolk is pretty bad. It made up barely 2% of the metagame in July, 3% in early August, and about 3% now. And that says nothing about paper finishes; over the past 8 months, Merfolk has only sent 2 players to Top 8 finishes in event with 100+ players. 2 decks out of 474. Merfolk needs some serious help, and I'd love for Master to be one of the solutions.
Well at this point, I'm going to go down the 'agree to disagree' road, as this is going nowhere. I don't think any of those pro-merfolk arguments hold water, as if a bomb is what they needed, there's been plenty in the past. And the thought of Boros charm as a 'high cost finisher' is pretty laughable to me.
But if this is to be the metric by which we base 'viable' decks, then I can count the decks in Modern on 1 hand. Because all the rest are sitting around 3% or less.
Master of Waves is meh in Modern Merfolk. If it made Merfolk tokens I could almost see it as a 1-2 of, but as it stands it's just a risky 4-drop that could easily be the worst Silvergill Adept ever. Merfolk is about redundancy, not bombs. Having multiple Lords in play is scarier and more important than this guy, and if you have enough Merfolk in play to make the Devotion worthwhile, you probably don't need the help. When you have nothing in play, Master is strictly worse than Lord of Atlantis.
I'm very psyched on him for Standard though, hopefully an Izzet shell with Young Pyromancer will actually be playable.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
When you have nothing in play, Master is strictly worse than Lord of Atlantis.
With nothing else in play except for some means to get them on the board, a Lord of Atlantis is two mana for a 2/2 body, while the Master is four mana for two 2/1 bodies.
Master's the closest thing I've seen to playable for Modern out of the gate. Will be at least fun to playtest with YP and Merfolk.
Xenagos, the Reveler looks pretty sweet. He's sort of like Garruk Relentless in that he can spam 2/2's (with Haste this time), but he can produce mana and gain loyalty the turn he ETB (which means he loves mana sinks like Raging Ravine and Scavenging Ooze), and his ult is good game. I think he might see play in Jund!
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Party Animal looks pretty badass. I am not a Jund player so I will not comment on it's inclusion, but it looks like it has the potential to really effect the board.
Stormbreath is a little bit weaker in power/thoughness but instead gains protection from white. He is also able to grow and cant be blocked from LS, Colonade, Baneslayer, Resto Angel, Sigarda,... I think I will give him some testing.
I don't really see it as all that great. Most of the time it is a decent flying beater, but there are not that many archetypes that will be comfortable using what will likely be all their mana to turn him up to 11.
It is the first Monstrous card that is close to playable though, and I will keep my mind open to test it.
With nothing else in play except for some means to get them on the board, a Lord of Atlantis is two mana for a 2/2 body, while the Master is four mana for two 2/1 bodies.
Master's the closest thing I've seen to playable for Modern out of the gate. Will be at least fun to playtest with YP and Merfolk.
Fair point, I missed that. Still, getting 2x 2/1s for 4 isn't super exciting, but it's better enough than I was thinking that I could see it being Modern playable. Still can't imagine Merfolk wants more than a couple copies of this card, and most likely SB only.
Xenagos looks sweet, and definitely makes me think there will be R/G ramp deck in standard right out of the gates. I better start picking up Garruks!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
Xenagos could go either way, but I wouldn't call him a worse Garruk. He's different, does different things. If ramp is a thing in upcoming standard, which I think it could be, than Xenagos is pretty gross. As a standalone card, he is still quite powerful. Context is everything.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
you get a rebate of probably 2-4 mana after you play him. which is pretty good.. but i'm not sure what decks he'll slot into (RG aggro for starters, but they've typically dumped their hand by turn 4), and i don't think he's strong enough to straight up create a new deck by himself.
RG getting a lot of love. yay colors of creature beatdown..
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I speak in sarcasm because calling people ******* ******** is not allowed.
Xanagos is a pretty close analog to Burning-Tree Emissary in that he'll produce some combination of RG when he comes down, probably 2-4 on average, and he can swing for 2 the following turn. He'll chain nicely if you actually have any cards in your hand when he comes down.
No complaints here. Lol. He's good... But has a weird catch 22. He wants to make mana... But wants stuff on the board already. So that already limits it. For example... Jund has 16 creatures usually... Most cost 2. So he's mayb making 3 mana tops. If even. And then he does t make black. And he can't do It instant.
So dump your hand! The. You get all the mana! But you also don't have a hand. Sure you can have a random Titan this guy enables... But if you don't get him, you have a Titan who won't see the light of day. Elf ball would be th best... But I think they have better mana outlets with out going an extra color, beck was hard enough.
Next is his 0. Why would midrange want haste bears? They don't. They're rather blockers... And even then, sorin or Garruk does it better. With better other abilities too. This is the best part, but it screams aggro.
And the 0... Actually is alright. But Jund might totally miss. Flip souls? Ew. Or discard and removal? Sure hitting goyf is good. So is a revene. But meh?
But hitting kird ape, knight, and treetop in... Zoo? After a wipe? Or to force the last chunk in? Awesome.
I'm working on on a zoo brew (to the suprise of no one) that issue him the best I feel. It lays aggression while also focusing a bit more on activated abilities. Treetop, grim, ooze. Ect. It uses the mana to its full (and reliable 2-3) with that and burn, and other critters. It likes haste bears because it for we more damage against tempo control and midrange... Basicky the meta right now... And we'll. ultimate is ultimate.
Why would you cast everything and dump your hand? because you have mana?
and why would you attack with the satyr? because its haste?
my point is, Xenagos ramps mana and makes tokens. bottom line. if you are midrange, you wont attack ofcourse and you wont cast everything in a turn, strategically speaking, unless you combo out like elves.
on the other hand. the 1st and 2nd skill of xenagos has synergy... the ultimate ability is a genesis wave for 7. not bad. maybe an RG beats is on the brew here with xenagos?
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!!
The new dragon might be exactly what All-in red needed.
Just about every other dude it throws out tends to get Path to Exiled, but this guy can't. Lightning Bolt and Helix won't work either, unless you spend two removals on it.
I think I will test it over Demigod (as Deus is still pretty sick)
Plus it gives you a mana-sink with your Koth/lands/extra ritual effects
The new dragon might be exactly what All-in red needed.
Just about every other dude it throws out tends to get Path to Exiled, but this guy can't. Lightning Bolt and Helix won't work either, unless you spend two removals on it.
I think I will test it over Demigod (as Deus is still pretty sick)
Plus it gives you a mana-sink with your Koth/lands/extra ritual effects
I was thinking of running it in place of Thundermaw in American Midrange. Dodging Path and Helix is pretty powerful and games drag on frequently enough to make monstrosity useful. Against UWR Control I think it's pretty strong.
Gave a lot of thought to both Stormbreath and Xenagos. Card evaluation is hard enough with any old card, let alone the cards that are borderline playable just at first glance.
Stormbreath Dragon
After careful evaluation, I think this card is a major upgrade from Thundermaw Hellkite. Protection from white is insanely strong on this card, especially against UWR Control and Midrange. This makes Stormbreath immune to the following cards:
Path is the obvious entry on this list, but the Ajani/Gideon immunity is huge. Stormbreath can also block or be blocked by any of the premier white creatures without fear of a coup de grace from Electrolyze or Bolt. Hellkite eats Path all day, not to mention getting stomped flat by Gideon and Ajani. Hellkite also can't safely attack into any of those white creatures, nor safely block them. Protection from white really gives this dragon the resilience that Thundermaw lacked.
Then there's the Monstrosity activation. The key to this ability is that it can be played at instant speed, which is exactly the sort of mana sink that most Dragon decks can use late in the game. The new P/T at 7/7 will end the game just as quickly as Hellkite in most cases. Most importantly, the Sudden Impact will hit very hard against your average lategame UWR player. Going monstrous can be risky if you are worried about eating a Cryptic in response. But that option makes Stormbreath much more versatile than Hellkite.
All of that said, Stormbreath is not without its weaknesses. Resolved on turn 5, he can't kill an active Liliana before she forces the sac. A turn 3 Lilly will be at 6 counters when Stormbreath hits play, so unlike Hellkite, he can't guarantee a Lilly kill without himself being sacrificed. Stormbreath also can't swing through a lowly BoP, and he can't wipe out any Lingering Souls (he can still ignore them, however). Even accounting for those factors, I still think that Stormbreath is basically an upgrade to Thundermaw, and I would not be surprised if most decks (if not all) switched to the new Theros dragon.
Interestingly, Stormbreath might inadvertently breathe life (har har) into other B(x) strategies that rely more heavily on underplayed cards like Victim of Night. If nothing else, he will definitely lead to an uptick in Dismember effects for decks like Ajundi and Junk which could no longer rely on Path as their catch all answer to big dudes.
Regarding Xenagos, the thing I am seeing now is that he's very niche. Most decks would rather play Garruk Wildspeaker who gives roughly the same amount of mana and roughly the same quality of creatures. True, Garruk goes down 1 loyalty when he makes his beast, but there's not much material difference between 2 and 3 loyalty in Modern; both are easily burnt or attacked. I think that the key for Xenagos is abusing his limited, once-per-turn Gaea's Cradle effect, but that takes a very specific type of deck. Gruul Zoo can do it, but it doesn't want or need to. Elves can do it, but it doesn't want to add red, and mana isn't really the issue with Elves anyway. It's a powerful effect, that is certain, but I don't think that any deck currently exists that wants it...yet. And even if that deck did exist, it would have to be substantially better than Tron, or at least appreciably different with its own set of strengths.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Over-Extended/Modern Since 2010
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
Okay, let's just get down to the heart of the issue. Because this has been rather bothering me. You're trying to argue that, as a 4-cost finisher, it dodges decay. EVERY 4-cost finisher dodges decay. This is not a point in favor of it. This is not unique to this card. If you wanted to water down(pun intended) a merfolk deck with islands and have a bomby finisher there's already hundreds of other 4-cost finishers. And they ALL dodge decay. Trying to act like this is some unique advantage is rather misleading. And the fact that many 4-cost finishers have 4+ toughness means they dodge bolt too. And there's a reason people tried it, and then stopped trying it. Because it was counter to what the deck was trying to do, and those bombs fit better elsewhere.
But speaking of comparing in vacuums, that's what you keep doing. And ignoring the key point. You're trying to argue why it's a good card. And I've already agreed, in every post, why I think it's a good card. What you've yet to do is make any attempt at saying why it's good in merfolk. What advantage does it gain from being in merfolk as opposed to any deck that it could actually synergize with. A deck that had other elementals to play with. A deck that has a way to draw out the game to turn 5+ against combo allowing this card to be useful. A deck that can pump the field allowing the tokens to survive if the master dies. The only selling point for merfolk is that they have 2 UU creatures. And everything else is basically a counter-synergy.
As for Merfolk itself being an under-performing deck...according to mtgtop8(so now you can't call me out on my source), in the past 2 months(standard metric) they have placed on a similar footing as RDW and Hatebears, they were ahead of Bogle(considered one of the stronger decks). The only aggro decks they are really behind are Jund and Affinity(which along with pod and twin are dominating the format). I wouldn't say merfolk is 'underperforming' compared to other aggro decks. In the aggro category its above average.
Perhaps I was unclear. Its immunity to Decay is incidental to the rest of the card. But in the 4 cost finisher slot, that dual immunity to Decay and every red removal in the field is unique. Add to that its one-turn-clock effect and natural Merfolk synergy, and the Decay-proofness of Master is worth mentioning. It's not worth emphasizing more than any other point, but it's one more point in favor of the card. I should say that it's not my big argument in favor of Master. Those two arguments are 1) It has protection from red and 2) it must be answered in one turn. Decay-proof is a nice bonus on top of that.
I've mentioned it in my last two posts, but I will restate my highly contextual, Merfolk specific arguments for you:
1) Merfolk is not a good deck right now. Its paper and online performance attest to this. It needs some help, and although that doesn't mean that Master is the solution, he's definitely under consideration.
2) One issue with Merfolk is card quality. Merfolk has no real bombs to speak of that land and cause an opponent to go "oh ****". One might argue that aggro doesn't need such high-quality cards, especially if it's going for a critical mass of threats as in Merfolk. But in Modern, the best aggro decks all have high quality bullets that make an opponent "oh ****" in response. Affinity has Plating, Nexus, and Ravager (and that's why it's the best aggro deck in the format). Burn has Skullcrack and Boros Charm. Bogles has Daybreak Coronet. Merfolk might benefit from such a top of the curve, high quality threat, as long as that card synergized with the rest of the deck.
3) Master provides some badly needed, top of the curve stopping power to the deck. Merfolk often finds itself in a position with 2-3 guys on the board at the start of turn 4, with at least 1 Lord killed or countered. Master, with just one card, instantly recovers your board position and forces an immediate answer. Merfolk is already packing a ton of devotion enablers, and even a 2 creature board state is still going to give you probably 4 tokens. Master also enables an additional synergy with Spreading Seas. And, of course, the Master himself is getting pumped by a lord and probably going across for 3.
4) There is, however, one issue with Master that I will happily concede: Merfolk currently plays 19-20 lands, and Master really needs to reliably resolve on turn 4 or 5. This is the big issue. Vial tries to solve this, to an extent, but I'd be hesitant to tick a vial up to 4 unless I knew that my Master would be a lethal blow on turn 6 (And that's a slow/unreliable line of play anyway). All of the other points you raise (lack of other elementals, lack of other pump for the tokens, can't draw out the game to turn 5, etc.) are either not important given the obvious advantages of Master, or not relevant to the deck. But the land issue is a real one to consider.
That all said, I haven't tested him yet. I'm also pretty sure that no one has tested him yet given that he was spoiled 12 hours ago. The land issue could be enough to see Master finding a home in another deck (or no home at all). But on every other count, he's a total beast. So that's why we are debating it.
If this card cost 3, I guarantee you that there would be no question about its inclusion in Merfolk. Similarly, if he cost 5, no one would even pay attention to him. 4 is the weird midpoint that forces us to think critically about the card. It's an issue both of 4 mana objectively in the format, and 4 mana in a deck that runs only 19-20 lands. Is it worth it to go up on lands to accommodate the guy? I think it might be because the 19-20 land Merfolk build is hardly taking home GP or PTQ finishes left and right.
EDIT: As for the performance of Merfolk, any dataset that does not include the TOTAL number of Merfolk decks being played, relative to the finishing decks, is suspect. It doesn't matter if X Merfolk decks are going 4-0/3-1 if there are 3X players going 2-2 or worse with that deck. It's just a misleading dataset. I try to solve this by actually taking random samples from MTGO and recording finishes directly from the client, and by those metrics, Merfolk is pretty bad. It made up barely 2% of the metagame in July, 3% in early August, and about 3% now. And that says nothing about paper finishes; over the past 8 months, Merfolk has only sent 2 players to Top 8 finishes in event with 100+ players. 2 decks out of 474. Merfolk needs some serious help, and I'd love for Master to be one of the solutions.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Well at this point, I'm going to go down the 'agree to disagree' road, as this is going nowhere. I don't think any of those pro-merfolk arguments hold water, as if a bomb is what they needed, there's been plenty in the past. And the thought of Boros charm as a 'high cost finisher' is pretty laughable to me.
But if this is to be the metric by which we base 'viable' decks, then I can count the decks in Modern on 1 hand. Because all the rest are sitting around 3% or less.
I'm very psyched on him for Standard though, hopefully an Izzet shell with Young Pyromancer will actually be playable.
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
I'm willing to bet on Devotion-powered free spells becoming a thing.
With nothing else in play except for some means to get them on the board, a Lord of Atlantis is two mana for a 2/2 body, while the Master is four mana for two 2/1 bodies.
Master's the closest thing I've seen to playable for Modern out of the gate. Will be at least fun to playtest with YP and Merfolk.
He makes me want to build a deck that's basically Rock with red instead of black, though.
People will try him in Jund, and will be quite disappointed, I'm sure.
"OH GOD MY BRAIN IS EXPLOADING AT HOW BAD THE ART IS ON MY OWN CARD"
-A friend's first impression of Ancestral Recall
10/10, I tapped.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
It is the first Monstrous card that is close to playable though, and I will keep my mind open to test it.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Fair point, I missed that. Still, getting 2x 2/1s for 4 isn't super exciting, but it's better enough than I was thinking that I could see it being Modern playable. Still can't imagine Merfolk wants more than a couple copies of this card, and most likely SB only.
Xenagos looks sweet, and definitely makes me think there will be R/G ramp deck in standard right out of the gates. I better start picking up Garruks!
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
RG getting a lot of love. yay colors of creature beatdown..
CG
So dump your hand! The. You get all the mana! But you also don't have a hand. Sure you can have a random Titan this guy enables... But if you don't get him, you have a Titan who won't see the light of day. Elf ball would be th best... But I think they have better mana outlets with out going an extra color, beck was hard enough.
Next is his 0. Why would midrange want haste bears? They don't. They're rather blockers... And even then, sorin or Garruk does it better. With better other abilities too. This is the best part, but it screams aggro.
And the 0... Actually is alright. But Jund might totally miss. Flip souls? Ew. Or discard and removal? Sure hitting goyf is good. So is a revene. But meh?
But hitting kird ape, knight, and treetop in... Zoo? After a wipe? Or to force the last chunk in? Awesome.
I'm working on on a zoo brew (to the suprise of no one) that issue him the best I feel. It lays aggression while also focusing a bit more on activated abilities. Treetop, grim, ooze. Ect. It uses the mana to its full (and reliable 2-3) with that and burn, and other critters. It likes haste bears because it for we more damage against tempo control and midrange... Basicky the meta right now... And we'll. ultimate is ultimate.
and why would you attack with the satyr? because its haste?
my point is, Xenagos ramps mana and makes tokens. bottom line. if you are midrange, you wont attack ofcourse and you wont cast everything in a turn, strategically speaking, unless you combo out like elves.
on the other hand. the 1st and 2nd skill of xenagos has synergy... the ultimate ability is a genesis wave for 7. not bad. maybe an RG beats is on the brew here with xenagos?
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!!
Just about every other dude it throws out tends to get Path to Exiled, but this guy can't. Lightning Bolt and Helix won't work either, unless you spend two removals on it.
I think I will test it over Demigod (as Deus is still pretty sick)
Plus it gives you a mana-sink with your Koth/lands/extra ritual effects
I was thinking of running it in place of Thundermaw in American Midrange. Dodging Path and Helix is pretty powerful and games drag on frequently enough to make monstrosity useful. Against UWR Control I think it's pretty strong.
Stormbreath Dragon
After careful evaluation, I think this card is a major upgrade from Thundermaw Hellkite. Protection from white is insanely strong on this card, especially against UWR Control and Midrange. This makes Stormbreath immune to the following cards:
Path is the obvious entry on this list, but the Ajani/Gideon immunity is huge. Stormbreath can also block or be blocked by any of the premier white creatures without fear of a coup de grace from Electrolyze or Bolt. Hellkite eats Path all day, not to mention getting stomped flat by Gideon and Ajani. Hellkite also can't safely attack into any of those white creatures, nor safely block them. Protection from white really gives this dragon the resilience that Thundermaw lacked.
Then there's the Monstrosity activation. The key to this ability is that it can be played at instant speed, which is exactly the sort of mana sink that most Dragon decks can use late in the game. The new P/T at 7/7 will end the game just as quickly as Hellkite in most cases. Most importantly, the Sudden Impact will hit very hard against your average lategame UWR player. Going monstrous can be risky if you are worried about eating a Cryptic in response. But that option makes Stormbreath much more versatile than Hellkite.
All of that said, Stormbreath is not without its weaknesses. Resolved on turn 5, he can't kill an active Liliana before she forces the sac. A turn 3 Lilly will be at 6 counters when Stormbreath hits play, so unlike Hellkite, he can't guarantee a Lilly kill without himself being sacrificed. Stormbreath also can't swing through a lowly BoP, and he can't wipe out any Lingering Souls (he can still ignore them, however). Even accounting for those factors, I still think that Stormbreath is basically an upgrade to Thundermaw, and I would not be surprised if most decks (if not all) switched to the new Theros dragon.
Still thinking about Xenagos...
Interestingly, Stormbreath might inadvertently breathe life (har har) into other B(x) strategies that rely more heavily on underplayed cards like Victim of Night. If nothing else, he will definitely lead to an uptick in Dismember effects for decks like Ajundi and Junk which could no longer rely on Path as their catch all answer to big dudes.
Regarding Xenagos, the thing I am seeing now is that he's very niche. Most decks would rather play Garruk Wildspeaker who gives roughly the same amount of mana and roughly the same quality of creatures. True, Garruk goes down 1 loyalty when he makes his beast, but there's not much material difference between 2 and 3 loyalty in Modern; both are easily burnt or attacked. I think that the key for Xenagos is abusing his limited, once-per-turn Gaea's Cradle effect, but that takes a very specific type of deck. Gruul Zoo can do it, but it doesn't want or need to. Elves can do it, but it doesn't want to add red, and mana isn't really the issue with Elves anyway. It's a powerful effect, that is certain, but I don't think that any deck currently exists that wants it...yet. And even if that deck did exist, it would have to be substantially better than Tron, or at least appreciably different with its own set of strengths.