Not really. No matter what you choose, the card is removed from the top of their library. With fatesealing, if it's something that they don't need e.g. a land, you can choose to leave it on top.
Indeed, it's not a real fateseal, but it does what the decks wants: weaken the opponents late-game draw or give you a better card than the opponent. Besides, from what I have seen, this deck will have bad topdecks too (Thoughtseize for example) and this will help. It will probably be a kill-on-sight anyway, if it ever gets in the meta.
Edit: yeah, the merfolk is not actually that good, it eats more removal than a fat lady in an all you can eat buffet
Honestly I don't think people really expected courser of kruphix to be a thing for modern jund either--the second they saw it anyway. I for one don't mind cards not being spirit of the labyrinth obvious shoe-ins for archtypes of a specific format. I'd hold out on the merfolk--its not perfect, but all it needs to be is slot in as a 1-drop better than cursecatcher does. A problem I have with the deck is drawing islands late instead of gas in the form of one or two more lords, and I don't want to run thassa as more than a 2x, I'd happily trade a mana to loot in the event that this little one drop stuck--but I dunno. I just wouldn't dismiss it yet.
I'm also predicting the UR scryland gets played heavily in modern.
Honestly I don't think people really expected courser of kruphix to be a thing for modern jund either--the second they saw it anyway. I for one don't mind cards not being spirit of the labyrinth obvious shoe-ins for archtypes of a specific format. I'd hold out on the merfolk--its not perfect, but all it needs to be is slot in as a 1-drop better than cursecatcher does.
Of course, we're just making blind guesses here, and that merfolk is surely interesting, I mean if we can make him stick on the board it produce so much virtual card advantage that it becomes very hard to overcome. Only two things: it's slow, and it's a removal-magnet, just like Fauna Shaman is. If we can manage to protect him, it could be awesome.
I'm liking Hall of Triumph. Sure, it costs a bit more than Honor the Pure, but it's colorless. I'm seeing the possibilities for this in Merfolk for sure (possibly in aggro-y Faeries, too).
Merfolk already has a huge amount of lord effects and Faeries is now cutting even Scion of Oona. Hall of Triumph won't make the cut.
You motto under your forum name should say sword of nope.
I think the merfolk might see play in Turbo-Fog. I think I'd rather have it than, say, Font of Mythos.
The starfish has it's issues, but I could easily see it turning up in budget decks as an alternative to Thassa, or maybe to utilize mechanics like Clash (I have my doubts about it being useful for counterbalance). It's lack of ability to effectively attack normally, combined with it's 3 toughness, and relatively minor affect on the board-state may mean that it won't face as much hate as some stuff, and thus due to psychological game providing you with steady consistency, while also being able to serve as a blocker of smaller opponent creatures, or a chump-blocker in a pinch. It's not as good as Omenspeaker in some cases, since it can't kill one toughness stuff on the block, and it might never get off it's scry, or as much scry, but I think it still has a potential niche to be discovered.
Eidolon of Blossoms might have too high a mana cost for Modern, although perhaps it could fit into an enchantress deck that somehow benefits a lot from a ton of card draw, as something to play the turn after a Verduran Enchantress, thus getting 2 draws off of it, and off further enchantments as long as both remain on the battlefield. Not entirely sure what you might do with all the card draw. Try to figure out a bloodrush + encantress deck? Stormbind based combo?
I'm guessing the Hall will only see more budget/casual play, maybe in deck with creatures (mostly of the same color) that like lots of artifacts on the field or in the deck.
Iroas's best (more reliable) ability seems to be his Dolmen Gate effect, so I think this hurts his modern viability, since the gate itself is much cheaper mana wise. 4 drops have a hard time being Modern viable, and he needs too much support in your board-state to be worth the slot in most decks I'm guessing. He seems more like they put him in as an inspired enabler for limited, or a potential aggro enabler in standard.
At the risk of being That Guy, why the heck can't we just have Enchantress's Presence back? Why do they feel the need to make enchantress effects either expensive, fragile, or both?
At the risk of being That Guy, why the heck can't we just have Enchantress's Presence back? Why do they feel the need to make enchantress effects either expensive, fragile, or both?
I rather appreciate that Theros has an Enchantress effect of some sort.
And that it doesn't have Hexproof.
I just see a bunch of overcosted creatures that will never see anything more than fringe play in Modern. The only cards that have useful abilities are 4 CMC (besides the merfolk and they don't have room for it) and none of them seem to have enough of an impact for play.
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Modern xWBreakfast at Urza'sxW UWGBantUWG GWRNaya ZooRWG
I just see a bunch of overcosted creatures that will never see anything more than fringe play in Modern. The only cards that have useful abilities are 4 CMC (besides the merfolk and they don't have room for it) and none of them seem to have enough of an impact for play.
So far, this is true. however, I'm just happy that they are making Standard interesting again.
Spawn of Thraxes looks interesting for TitanShift(-like) Scapeshift variants. Shame it costs 5RR, but it's a flying 5/5 dragon that deals damage equal to the number of Mountains you control to target creature or player when it ETB!
...Then again, I typically have 4-5 Mountains in play by the time I cast Primeval Titan, so mileage may vary...
Spawn of Thraxes looks interesting for TitanShift(-like) Scapeshift variants. Shame it costs 5RR, but it's a flying 5/5 dragon that deals damage equal to the number of Mountains you control to target creature or player when it ETB!
...Then again, I typically have 4-5 Mountains in play by the time I cast Primeval Titan, so mileage may vary...
It costs 7. It is much worse than Primeval Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Aetherling, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Batterskull, Godo, Sun Titan, Frost Titan, Hero of Bladehold, and several other finisher cards at the same or lower costs.
At the risk of being That Guy, why the heck can't we just have Enchantress's Presence back? Why do they feel the need to make enchantress effects either expensive, fragile, or both?
I rather appreciate that Theros has an Enchantress effect of some sort.
And that it doesn't have Hexproof.
At the risk of being That Guy, why the heck can't we just have Enchantress's Presence back? Why do they feel the need to make enchantress effects either expensive, fragile, or both?
I rather appreciate that Theros has an Enchantress effect of some sort.
And that it doesn't have Hexproof.
...so as to make it next to useless?
So as to capitalize on the enchantment theme without going all out stupid in making a dangerous Argothian Enchantress variation.
I fear the day Argothian Enchantress with hexproof instead of shroud ever becomes a thing, and I appreciate that they totally averted that nightmare scenario.
Giving this creature hexproof, or any resistance to removal of any kind, would be far from an Argothian Enchantress reprint. 4 mana and 2 mana are different worlds. I'm all for not printing overpowered cards- I would just like to see 4 cmc creatures that don't die to every relevant creature AND enchantment removal in the format.
Dakra Mystic doesnt really fit with anything Merfolk really wants to do really. Yeah you want to draw cards but so does every deck, including your opponent. If it said "put in owners hand" instead of "draw" then perhaps if your local meta is unusually Hate Bear filled..
Maybe in something where you can still get card advantage through discard effects like in Rack. Activate Dakra, judge whether opponent's card is an instant speed bomb and if not draw , play your card and then +1 Liliana.
Spawn of Thraxes looks interesting for TitanShift(-like) Scapeshift variants. Shame it costs 5RR, but it's a flying 5/5 dragon that deals damage equal to the number of Mountains you control to target creature or player when it ETB!
...Then again, I typically have 4-5 Mountains in play by the time I cast Primeval Titan, so mileage may vary...
It costs 7. It is much worse than Primeval Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Aetherling, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Batterskull, Godo, Sun Titan, Frost Titan, Hero of Bladehold, and several other finisher cards at the same or lower costs.
Avenger of Zendikar and Gaea's Revenge also cost 7 mana, I've seen both of them in Scapeshift (and in Revenge's case, Amulet) sideboards, and both of them have utility--Avenger threatens to be an absolute swarm and at least chump-blocks like heck, while Gaea's Revenge is uncounterable and hard to remove.
IMO, Spawn of Thraxes's main competition is Inferno Titan. Inferno Titan is probably the better card in the current meta (Affinity/Pod/Delver/Tokens/Twin make it look better than Wurmcoil Engine, and being 1 cmc less than Spawn is crucial), but Spawn likely burns for harder when it ETB, so it can take out bigger creatures (and a late one is probably hilarious in the TitanShift mirror or against Amulet, as it can potentially take out an opposing Primeval Titan when it ETB).
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Edit: yeah, the merfolk is not actually that good, it eats more removal than a fat lady in an all you can eat buffet
I'm also predicting the UR scryland gets played heavily in modern.
Of course, we're just making blind guesses here, and that merfolk is surely interesting, I mean if we can make him stick on the board it produce so much virtual card advantage that it becomes very hard to overcome. Only two things: it's slow, and it's a removal-magnet, just like Fauna Shaman is. If we can manage to protect him, it could be awesome.
You motto under your forum name should say sword of nope.
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
4 mana.
Abilities are kinda redundant.
It's never going to be a creature.
Eh, kinda saw that coming.
It's interesting (in a one-dimensional way), I'll give it that.
The starfish has it's issues, but I could easily see it turning up in budget decks as an alternative to Thassa, or maybe to utilize mechanics like Clash (I have my doubts about it being useful for counterbalance). It's lack of ability to effectively attack normally, combined with it's 3 toughness, and relatively minor affect on the board-state may mean that it won't face as much hate as some stuff, and thus due to psychological game providing you with steady consistency, while also being able to serve as a blocker of smaller opponent creatures, or a chump-blocker in a pinch. It's not as good as Omenspeaker in some cases, since it can't kill one toughness stuff on the block, and it might never get off it's scry, or as much scry, but I think it still has a potential niche to be discovered.
Eidolon of Blossoms might have too high a mana cost for Modern, although perhaps it could fit into an enchantress deck that somehow benefits a lot from a ton of card draw, as something to play the turn after a Verduran Enchantress, thus getting 2 draws off of it, and off further enchantments as long as both remain on the battlefield. Not entirely sure what you might do with all the card draw. Try to figure out a bloodrush + encantress deck? Stormbind based combo?
I'm guessing the Hall will only see more budget/casual play, maybe in deck with creatures (mostly of the same color) that like lots of artifacts on the field or in the deck.
Iroas's best (more reliable) ability seems to be his Dolmen Gate effect, so I think this hurts his modern viability, since the gate itself is much cheaper mana wise. 4 drops have a hard time being Modern viable, and he needs too much support in your board-state to be worth the slot in most decks I'm guessing. He seems more like they put him in as an inspired enabler for limited, or a potential aggro enabler in standard.
I rather appreciate that Theros has an Enchantress effect of some sort.
And that it doesn't have Hexproof.
Also:
Haru-Onna
Kavu Climber
Skullmulcher
Regal Force
as well as a few enchantments that allow you to cantrip when they enter the battlefield。
Modern
xWBreakfast at Urza'sxW
UWGBantUWG
GWRNaya ZooRWG
So far, this is true. however, I'm just happy that they are making Standard interesting again.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
...Then again, I typically have 4-5 Mountains in play by the time I cast Primeval Titan, so mileage may vary...
It costs 7. It is much worse than Primeval Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Aetherling, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Batterskull, Godo, Sun Titan, Frost Titan, Hero of Bladehold, and several other finisher cards at the same or lower costs.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
...so as to make it next to useless?
So as to capitalize on the enchantment theme without going all out stupid in making a dangerous Argothian Enchantress variation.
I fear the day Argothian Enchantress with hexproof instead of shroud ever becomes a thing, and I appreciate that they totally averted that nightmare scenario.
Maybe in something where you can still get card advantage through discard effects like in Rack. Activate Dakra, judge whether opponent's card is an instant speed bomb and if not draw , play your card and then +1 Liliana.
Avenger of Zendikar and Gaea's Revenge also cost 7 mana, I've seen both of them in Scapeshift (and in Revenge's case, Amulet) sideboards, and both of them have utility--Avenger threatens to be an absolute swarm and at least chump-blocks like heck, while Gaea's Revenge is uncounterable and hard to remove.
IMO, Spawn of Thraxes's main competition is Inferno Titan. Inferno Titan is probably the better card in the current meta (Affinity/Pod/Delver/Tokens/Twin make it look better than Wurmcoil Engine, and being 1 cmc less than Spawn is crucial), but Spawn likely burns for harder when it ETB, so it can take out bigger creatures (and a late one is probably hilarious in the TitanShift mirror or against Amulet, as it can potentially take out an opposing Primeval Titan when it ETB).
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
It's a card perhaps worth keeping an eye on.