Great list.
Obviously a lot of the cards have problems (which is why they haven't truly broken out yet), such as zur's weirding just being a worse lantern deck, or runechanter's pike missing it's stoneforge mystic.
Shining shoal in particular has a ton of potential though.
A while back, I played against this deck: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/modern-bant-tallowisp-shoal/ (I believe it wasn't the identical 75, I seem to remember steel of the godhead making an appearance, but otherwise its close) and shining shoal is definitely disgusting.
Thanks! Yeah I feel like there should be a decent spiritcraft deck that can leverage white and blue shoals and tallowisp. Cards like Geist, Queller, Steel of the Godhead, Crystallization can be used for both shoals . Mausoleum Wanderer is a 1cmc pitch to D.shoal that also has some synergy with power boosting auras. The shoals also let you dump surplus copies of the cards you don't need when you draw them (extra geists, tallowisps, shoals).
Just seems like there's enough support there to cobble something reasonable together
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Nykthos and Bring to Light have seen play in succesful decks before but thos are either not great right now (Devotion decks)
or there more efficient alternatives (to BtL).
My experience with glittering wish is that you have to somehow negate the inefficiency of fronting the two mana - so either the target card has to be high enough impact that the slow 2 mana frontload doesnt matter (slaughter games, fracturing gust, sigarda) or you have to have enough ramp that the 2 mana doesnt matter, or you're a control/attrition deck that can just sit on wish until you have nothing else to do and/or have the mana to tutor and cast it the same turn.
Some of your targets fit the bill - meddling mage, kambal, teeg, staticaster - but most of the other ones are pretty low impact for paying 2 extra mana (pridemage, fulminator, sin collector, etc). I'm okay with pulse in any wishboard because its just a catch-all when you need it but I guess just all in all I'm not sure a 5c aggro deck is really in the market for a 2 mana tutor. Its really not an aggressive card - it can be midrange, control, or combo for sure - but aggro? doesnt feel right.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Bring to Light is a great card, in Scapeshift it's awesome. Maybe not the best since Jace's unban, but it made quite an impression in 2015-2016 with Lukas Blohon taking it to the Pro Tour ans still in 2017 with Sebastian Wiebmer 9th place at GP Copenhagen. It took down MKM Series in Frankfurt if I recall in a mirror match. So to me, on that list, Bring to Light has been really solved. Others have yet to be broken out. Some wont, some have issues (like Zur and Runechanter Pike), but maybe Shoal can be something in white deck and Pike in some aggro decks.
Bloodbraid can cascade into Wish to negate the tempo loss of a 2-mana tutor.
Also, an aggro-tempo deck like this one can close out games pretty fast so getting a silver bullet to either hose an opposing combo deck or slow it down long enough (or solve a board stall against some hard to remove creature/permanent) can really help the deck.
The "wishboard" can probably be tweaked and improved further.
It was but the deck was only top tier in the Treasure Cruise era, it fell off to brew tier after that, then took another hit with Gitaxian Probe ban. The main problem with the deck is that if you can't stick an ascendancy you lose - there is no backup plan. Sometimes you wish for it and they thoughtseize/TKS you, you cast it and they counter it, you resolve it and they bounce/decay it, or they meddling mage it etc. If they can't interact its super consistent, and out of the board things like Leyline and Swan Song help vs interaction, but in the end it just comes out a worse version of other all-in combo decks. I really liked the gifts/ascendancy hybrid where you could loop flame jab and life from the loam (untapping and growing dorks) to win - but that version doesn't play wish - and its super vulnerable to grave hate.
It saw some recent play in UW control splashing G and 3 wishes to get things like verdict, geist, mage, sigarda, sphinx's rev out of the board. I suspect JTMS torpedoed that plan since its just a clunkier "consistency engine" than jace.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Bring to Light is a great card, in Scapeshift it's awesome. Maybe not the best since Jace's unban, but it made quite an impression in 2015-2016 with Lukas Blohon taking it to the Pro Tour ans still in 2017 with Sebastian Wiebmer 9th place at GP Copenhagen. It took down MKM Series in Frankfurt if I recall in a mirror match. So to me, on that list, Bring to Light has been really solved. Others have yet to be broken out. Some wont, some have issues (like Zur and Runechanter Pike), but maybe Shoal can be something in white deck and Pike in some aggro decks.
I hesitated on BTL to be honest as I feel like scapeshift may very well be the best it can ever be. But I've seen people brewing with kiki/resto and unburial rites value packages that make me think there might be something better to come. IIRC there was a gifts ungiven list at the PT that was doing the BTL-Unburial rites thing (not very successfully, but trying at least).
Pike I saw in monoblack infect back in the day and with the reveler/pyro decks I don't know - maybe there's something there? Hard to say if the decks need a faster way to close games but surely 2 cast 2 equip for +6+0 first strike is worth a look, right?
Zurs weirding locked me out once vs norin sisters and I was like wow, that... kinda works. JTMS may mean it never gets off the ground since there's another 4 mana blue permanent that nearly locks the game if you're stable/ahead. But weirding with some life gain really is a hard lock, and stuff like - I don't know - gnaw to the bone can make the lock tight and other flashback cards or "put into your hand" effects can break the symmetry if needed. Or you just play 2 copies of gaea's blessing and lock them out via mill too.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
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There is a lot more chance Jace will get played over Zurs Weirding and I don't think you would need a 5-8 of that effect.
Savor the moment might be the best card overall, it is quite strong combined with Vigilance creature so for 3 Mana you get 1 Draw + 1 Land + 1 Attack Phase.
Runechanter's Pike is quite decent and could lead to an affinity style build but the main reason it doesn't it's that it's a really slow clock compared to Cranial Plantinginfect kill and by the time you have spent 4 Mana on Runechanter's Pike + invest into a couple serum vision,lightning bolt and the like it will already be turn 4-5 and your opponent would most likely already have a removal for either your creature or your artifact since you probably won't be playing 2 creature except if they could mill your deck.
Shining Shoal is not bad but I feel you make that card look way overpowered when it doesn't even compare to other card on this list.Maybe I don't see it's full potential but I rather not discard a card to pay for it's cost when my hand might already be low on cards against black deck. It's also an useless top deck in most scenario and do not protect against Destroy spells. It's a niche combat trick at most.
Glittering Wish makes you wish you simply had a good card already in hand. I think proper deck building is better than having a sideboard card in hand the next turn (in the scenario that you Glittering Wish on turn 2)
Bring to light is in my opinion the best card on this list and I still don't understand why Chord of calling is still played over this card. I feel you are right about it enabling Kiki combo since it can tutor both pieces. I do love this card and I play it. The only issue I have with the Kiki combo at the moment is how frail it is compared to scapeshift.
Theoretically, most of those cards should continue to be bad as time progresses. The format will inevitably become cheaper and cheaper when it comes to the curve and decks will continue to grow stronger and stronger low-end curves. This ultimately makes cards like Glittering Wish become weaker because decks will work with less and less mana, ultimately pushing more mono colored cards. That is not to say that Wish does not have potential, simply saying that theoretically it does not have a lot of room to improve as time goes on. Outlier scenarios where 2 or 3 drop cards that are multi color and well above current power levels, could eventually surface and tip the scales towards giving the Wish breathing room. Current design trends suggest not.
With the other cards, back to my statement about curves getting lower and lower. I think Disrupting Shoal is probably the one that is going to gain the most as the format progresses and curves get lower and lower.
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STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
I used to run a 4 color Wild Nacatl+Delver of Secrets tempo deck. It was very spell heavy to support Delver and I ran a 1-of Runechanter's Pike with a copy of Steelshaper's Gift which I always thought was a nice combination. I don't know how good that 4c deck would be in the current meta (with burn being so popular right now) but maybe a UW tempo deck could be fun.
The problem with the Pike is that there are cards that do the same thing for cheaper. You have Myth Realized for W, which becomes a creature until end of turn with the Pike effect for another W. You also have Enigma Drake for 1RU which has the Pike effect on the power side of things.
Nykthos is, in my opinion, begging to be put into a Relentless Rats deck alongside Thrumming Stone. There's probably better ways to build it than my list, however
The problem with the Pike is that there are cards that do the same thing for cheaper. You have Myth Realized for W, which becomes a creature until end of turn with the Pike effect for another W. You also have Enigma Drake for 1RU which has the Pike effect on the power side of things.
Nykthos is, in my opinion, begging to be put into a Relentless Rats deck alongside Thrumming Stone. There's probably better ways to build it than my list, however
Relentless Rats is fun until all of your copies are exiled.
The problem with the Pike is that there are cards that do the same thing for cheaper. You have Myth Realized for W, which becomes a creature until end of turn with the Pike effect for another W. You also have Enigma Drake for 1RU which has the Pike effect on the power side of things.
Nykthos is, in my opinion, begging to be put into a Relentless Rats deck alongside Thrumming Stone. There's probably better ways to build it than my list, however
Myth Realized requires it to be in play prior to casting all your spells to get the Lore Counters on it. Enigma Drake forces you into UR; which are fine colors for playing lots of spells but is also limiting. Pike is always counting the spells in the graveyard. So it instantly puts power onto what should already be good creatures (eg. Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage, Geist of Saint Traft, Spell Queller, Young Pyromancer, etc.). I think the real kicker for what makes Pike strong is that it gives First Strike as well as the buff. So your creatures can suddenly start trading well in combat.
TLDR:
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Obviously a lot of the cards have problems (which is why they haven't truly broken out yet), such as zur's weirding just being a worse lantern deck, or runechanter's pike missing it's stoneforge mystic.
Shining shoal in particular has a ton of potential though.
A while back, I played against this deck: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/modern-bant-tallowisp-shoal/ (I believe it wasn't the identical 75, I seem to remember steel of the godhead making an appearance, but otherwise its close) and shining shoal is definitely disgusting.
Just seems like there's enough support there to cobble something reasonable together
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
or there more efficient alternatives (to BtL).
Of the other cards I find Glittering Wish the most promising and I think that I've found a decent shell for it in "5C Creatures":
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/750970-five-color-aggro?comment=65
Some of your targets fit the bill - meddling mage, kambal, teeg, staticaster - but most of the other ones are pretty low impact for paying 2 extra mana (pridemage, fulminator, sin collector, etc). I'm okay with pulse in any wishboard because its just a catch-all when you need it but I guess just all in all I'm not sure a 5c aggro deck is really in the market for a 2 mana tutor. Its really not an aggressive card - it can be midrange, control, or combo for sure - but aggro? doesnt feel right.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Also, an aggro-tempo deck like this one can close out games pretty fast so getting a silver bullet to either hose an opposing combo deck or slow it down long enough (or solve a board stall against some hard to remove creature/permanent) can really help the deck.
The "wishboard" can probably be tweaked and improved further.
It was but the deck was only top tier in the Treasure Cruise era, it fell off to brew tier after that, then took another hit with Gitaxian Probe ban. The main problem with the deck is that if you can't stick an ascendancy you lose - there is no backup plan. Sometimes you wish for it and they thoughtseize/TKS you, you cast it and they counter it, you resolve it and they bounce/decay it, or they meddling mage it etc. If they can't interact its super consistent, and out of the board things like Leyline and Swan Song help vs interaction, but in the end it just comes out a worse version of other all-in combo decks. I really liked the gifts/ascendancy hybrid where you could loop flame jab and life from the loam (untapping and growing dorks) to win - but that version doesn't play wish - and its super vulnerable to grave hate.
It saw some recent play in UW control splashing G and 3 wishes to get things like verdict, geist, mage, sigarda, sphinx's rev out of the board. I suspect JTMS torpedoed that plan since its just a clunkier "consistency engine" than jace.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I hesitated on BTL to be honest as I feel like scapeshift may very well be the best it can ever be. But I've seen people brewing with kiki/resto and unburial rites value packages that make me think there might be something better to come. IIRC there was a gifts ungiven list at the PT that was doing the BTL-Unburial rites thing (not very successfully, but trying at least).
Pike I saw in monoblack infect back in the day and with the reveler/pyro decks I don't know - maybe there's something there? Hard to say if the decks need a faster way to close games but surely 2 cast 2 equip for +6+0 first strike is worth a look, right?
Zurs weirding locked me out once vs norin sisters and I was like wow, that... kinda works. JTMS may mean it never gets off the ground since there's another 4 mana blue permanent that nearly locks the game if you're stable/ahead. But weirding with some life gain really is a hard lock, and stuff like - I don't know - gnaw to the bone can make the lock tight and other flashback cards or "put into your hand" effects can break the symmetry if needed. Or you just play 2 copies of gaea's blessing and lock them out via mill too.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
There is a lot more chance Jace will get played over Zurs Weirding and I don't think you would need a 5-8 of that effect.
Savor the moment might be the best card overall, it is quite strong combined with Vigilance creature so for 3 Mana you get 1 Draw + 1 Land + 1 Attack Phase.
Runechanter's Pike is quite decent and could lead to an affinity style build but the main reason it doesn't it's that it's a really slow clock compared to Cranial Plantinginfect kill and by the time you have spent 4 Mana on Runechanter's Pike + invest into a couple serum vision,lightning bolt and the like it will already be turn 4-5 and your opponent would most likely already have a removal for either your creature or your artifact since you probably won't be playing 2 creature except if they could mill your deck.
Nykthos is broken already, I've work on the first primer on this forum with a couple guys. Genesis Wave is no longer a viable strat for this deck, we play Pact or Tooth and Nail[/card. You can also go with a Zoo variant and run Banefire for consistent turn 3 wins.
Shining Shoal is not bad but I feel you make that card look way overpowered when it doesn't even compare to other card on this list.Maybe I don't see it's full potential but I rather not discard a card to pay for it's cost when my hand might already be low on cards against black deck. It's also an useless top deck in most scenario and do not protect against Destroy spells. It's a niche combat trick at most.
Glittering Wish makes you wish you simply had a good card already in hand. I think proper deck building is better than having a sideboard card in hand the next turn (in the scenario that you Glittering Wish on turn 2)
Bring to light is in my opinion the best card on this list and I still don't understand why Chord of calling is still played over this card. I feel you are right about it enabling Kiki combo since it can tutor both pieces. I do love this card and I play it. The only issue I have with the Kiki combo at the moment is how frail it is compared to scapeshift.
With the other cards, back to my statement about curves getting lower and lower. I think Disrupting Shoal is probably the one that is going to gain the most as the format progresses and curves get lower and lower.
STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
Nykthos is, in my opinion, begging to be put into a Relentless Rats deck alongside Thrumming Stone. There's probably better ways to build it than my list, however
Relentless Rats is fun until all of your copies are exiled.
Myth Realized requires it to be in play prior to casting all your spells to get the Lore Counters on it. Enigma Drake forces you into UR; which are fine colors for playing lots of spells but is also limiting. Pike is always counting the spells in the graveyard. So it instantly puts power onto what should already be good creatures (eg. Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage, Geist of Saint Traft, Spell Queller, Young Pyromancer, etc.). I think the real kicker for what makes Pike strong is that it gives First Strike as well as the buff. So your creatures can suddenly start trading well in combat.
Draft My Cube!