I do, however, like the idea of Grand Architect style templating, in which you could have a card that says "Tap an untapped creature you control with no abilities: Deal 1 damage to target creature or player."
It isn't quite the same as 'Creatures without abilities' because for one, it doesn't qualify keywords, such as trample, and two, effects that say "As long as you have X, get Y" don't disable it either.
It would go to the graveyard, but I'm not sure what part of that you're confused about. There are several things that might contribute to that, so I'll hope that I can cover all of them.
Whenever a permanent changes zones, (In this case, your Bloodmad Vampire entering the battlefield from being cast) It is treated as an entirely new instance of that permanent. The card would 'forget' that it had been cast from exile as soon as it resolved. By that same token, once your Bloodmad Vampire was killed by a Doom Blade, it would follow all the normal rules of a card dying. In this case, going to the graveyard.
While you raise a relevant point, there are a few ways around it, I think.
The problem is, they make the deck less consistent. Hmm.
Well, I'll keep thinking, but a few of the things off the top of my head:
Reckless Fireweaver maybe? Either they use removal on him early, or they let him stay.
Decoction Module in the deck would allow you to run the Whirler Virtuoso combo, too. We don't even necessarily need the extra modules either, because the main combo grants us infinite energy. Could be a way to get around Authority of the Consuls or Thalia, too. Though they would still get a lot of life. Still, a couple combat phases of swinging with a flock of thopters could let you catch back up fairly quickly.
I recognize that this just makes the deck more clunky, and I'll admit that your point about the combat phase was something I had overlooked.
Lots of people are saying this is going to prevent people from "Buying into Modern".
That phrase really bothers me, because it implies that in order to play in this format, you need to pay up for some very specific things.
I'm hoping that this shakes up the format enough that people have to come up with new decks, and that net-decking might die down for a bit, at least until the next big Modern tournament where people will, doubtless, start copying the pros.
And without Copter to get in the way of it, it's got a much higher chance of hitting the opponent and rendering them incapable of countering whichever piece you don't have out.
I know it's not infallible, but it limits your opponent's ways of dealing with your combo, which is exactly what a combo player wants.
At common, we can have Highborn Ghoul, an evasive 2/1.
At uncommon, we can have Stromgald Crusader, an evasive 2/1 that can hit for more, if you pay.
At rare, we can have Bloodghast, a recurrable 2/1 without evasion that can't block.
...At Mythic Rare, we get this card, an evasive, recurrable, 2/2 that can resurrect other zombies...
Is this really that surprising?
Edit: And yes, I know Bloodghast isn't a zombie. But the principle is the same, as they don't specifically try to make Zombies or Vampires into the better tribe.
Here's my hope. By tying the Titans to the world, before kinda killing the world along with them, they find a way to spawn a rebirth of Zendikar, and discover that since they tied the Titans to Zendikar, they get reborn along with it.
What I thought of, when I first saw this card, is, "Huh. Don't we have Starfield of Nyx in standard right now? Wouldn't that turn this into a 3/3 Hexproof for 3? Hmm."
I don't know EXACTLY why, but the moment I saw this card, I fell in love and pre-ordered a playset. Something about it REALLY appeals to me. Here are the main reasons why:
Let's say that we see the rise of an aggressive mono-colorless deck. In such a deck, we could run the following cards:
Endless One: Curve-topper, curve-starter, all around curvy creature. Dem curves.
Thought-Knot Seer: The Eldrazi Clique may not have flash, but he's still pretty amazing in his own right. I still wish his first effect was an "On Casting" effect, though.
Reality Smasher: Pretty awesome dude, comes down fast, runs over things, and trades with spells in a way that most threats only wish they could.
Ghostfire Blade: Eldrazi Amplifier weapon, for cheap. Real cheap.
Matter Reshaper: Granted, other than land and Ghostfire Blade, you won't often get something for free. But drawing a card when he dies isn't bad. The ramp is an incredible upside, though.
Walker of the Wastes: It doesn't take that many Wastes to turn Walker into a horrifying threat. We can still afford to run a whole lotta our neato nonbasic colorless lands such as our good friend Sea Gate Wreckage.
Awesome Sweet Spells like:
Warping Wail: The plethora of things this card can do scarce need be mentioned, but I will anyways. Good against Swiftspears, Jace, Most of the sub-par standard removal that there aren't many alternatives to, surprise blocks, and even ramping. Truly, an amazing card.
Spatial Contortion: Removal/Pump spell? For an aggro deck? Yes. Yes please.
Titan's Presence: Since the whole deck is colorless, this thing can be good. Not as good as the colorless decks that run Ulamog or Cosi, but who knows?
I don't know too much about the meta, as should be obvious, but I just think that this land could have a home in a deck such as above. Any other thoughts on the viability of Sea Gate Wreckage?
I liked this post. I agree that Planeswalker-wise, Wizards seems to think that Black should be villainous. Other than Sorin, who really didn't need to have White added to him to feel noble, there is no black walker that we can REALLY admire. Sorin could have remained straight-black and remained in character. He feels like he needs to protect HIS world, and the Eldrazi need to be put down, to him, because they threaten ALL worlds. Including his. He doesn't really care about planar conflicts that won't affect his world, I feel.
Ahem "To Ulamog, billed as one of the three most powerful beings in the multiverse, you were written as little more than a giant hungry hungry hippo who could be held back by a lone planeswalker with a whip. In your grand finale you were easily trapped, thoroughly outshone by Ob Nixilis, and now it seems like your bigger, more hyped, and likely more powerful brother is coming to steal your thunder. If you survive OGW, in your future appearances it will be hard to consider you any worse than some random giant." On the real, I think Ula is aesthetically the coolest of the three titans and while I've all in all liked the BFZ stories, I'm kind of sorry for the way he's been handled.
Hey now. You know what Ulamog did before all of that? Ahem, "To Ulamog, the being that managed to near single-handedly devour multiple continents worth of life while his siblings chilled elsewhere, and drove all of Zendikar's peoples to their knees, to the point where they recruit a group of extremely powerful wizards that barely manage to contain the threat that he poses, only for their plans to get torn down by ONE extremely powerful demon wizard, who re-unleashed the awesome might that is Ulamog, bringing those same extremely powerful wizards down into black despair."
Seriously, the dude ate nearly everthing in the world worth eating. What sort of random giant can spawn an entire race of planet-eaters? Ulamog's awesome.
Whenever a permanent changes zones, (In this case, your Bloodmad Vampire entering the battlefield from being cast) It is treated as an entirely new instance of that permanent. The card would 'forget' that it had been cast from exile as soon as it resolved. By that same token, once your Bloodmad Vampire was killed by a Doom Blade, it would follow all the normal rules of a card dying. In this case, going to the graveyard.
Hope that helped.
The problem is, they make the deck less consistent. Hmm.
Well, I'll keep thinking, but a few of the things off the top of my head:
Reckless Fireweaver maybe? Either they use removal on him early, or they let him stay.
Decoction Module in the deck would allow you to run the Whirler Virtuoso combo, too. We don't even necessarily need the extra modules either, because the main combo grants us infinite energy. Could be a way to get around Authority of the Consuls or Thalia, too. Though they would still get a lot of life. Still, a couple combat phases of swinging with a flock of thopters could let you catch back up fairly quickly.
I recognize that this just makes the deck more clunky, and I'll admit that your point about the combat phase was something I had overlooked.
Just gonna have to keep brewing, I suppose.
That phrase really bothers me, because it implies that in order to play in this format, you need to pay up for some very specific things.
I'm hoping that this shakes up the format enough that people have to come up with new decks, and that net-decking might die down for a bit, at least until the next big Modern tournament where people will, doubtless, start copying the pros.
Brewing season is the best season.
Hope of Ghirapur!
And without Copter to get in the way of it, it's got a much higher chance of hitting the opponent and rendering them incapable of countering whichever piece you don't have out.
I know it's not infallible, but it limits your opponent's ways of dealing with your combo, which is exactly what a combo player wants.
At common, we can have Highborn Ghoul, an evasive 2/1.
At uncommon, we can have Stromgald Crusader, an evasive 2/1 that can hit for more, if you pay.
At rare, we can have Bloodghast, a recurrable 2/1 without evasion that can't block.
...At Mythic Rare, we get this card, an evasive, recurrable, 2/2 that can resurrect other zombies...
Is this really that surprising?
Edit: And yes, I know Bloodghast isn't a zombie. But the principle is the same, as they don't specifically try to make Zombies or Vampires into the better tribe.
This way, it could exile a Wastes and produce colorless mana.
But that's just cuz I'm obsessed with Starfield.
Let's say that we see the rise of an aggressive mono-colorless deck. In such a deck, we could run the following cards:
Endless One: Curve-topper, curve-starter, all around curvy creature. Dem curves.
Thought-Knot Seer: The Eldrazi Clique may not have flash, but he's still pretty amazing in his own right. I still wish his first effect was an "On Casting" effect, though.
Reality Smasher: Pretty awesome dude, comes down fast, runs over things, and trades with spells in a way that most threats only wish they could.
Ghostfire Blade: Eldrazi Amplifier weapon, for cheap. Real cheap.
Matter Reshaper: Granted, other than land and Ghostfire Blade, you won't often get something for free. But drawing a card when he dies isn't bad. The ramp is an incredible upside, though.
Walker of the Wastes: It doesn't take that many Wastes to turn Walker into a horrifying threat. We can still afford to run a whole lotta our neato nonbasic colorless lands such as our good friend Sea Gate Wreckage.
Awesome Sweet Spells like:
Warping Wail: The plethora of things this card can do scarce need be mentioned, but I will anyways. Good against Swiftspears, Jace, Most of the sub-par standard removal that there aren't many alternatives to, surprise blocks, and even ramping. Truly, an amazing card.
Spatial Contortion: Removal/Pump spell? For an aggro deck? Yes. Yes please.
Titan's Presence: Since the whole deck is colorless, this thing can be good. Not as good as the colorless decks that run Ulamog or Cosi, but who knows?
I don't know too much about the meta, as should be obvious, but I just think that this land could have a home in a deck such as above. Any other thoughts on the viability of Sea Gate Wreckage?
And while I'm not a HUGE fan of Oath of Jace, I'll probably still run it in my Starfield of Nyx deck. Hmph.
Hey now. You know what Ulamog did before all of that? Ahem, "To Ulamog, the being that managed to near single-handedly devour multiple continents worth of life while his siblings chilled elsewhere, and drove all of Zendikar's peoples to their knees, to the point where they recruit a group of extremely powerful wizards that barely manage to contain the threat that he poses, only for their plans to get torn down by ONE extremely powerful demon wizard, who re-unleashed the awesome might that is Ulamog, bringing those same extremely powerful wizards down into black despair."
Seriously, the dude ate nearly everthing in the world worth eating. What sort of random giant can spawn an entire race of planet-eaters? Ulamog's awesome.