Not sure it's worth it to invest in another deck, Snapcaster Mage was in a ridiculous number of decks at the PTQ, and in 5/8 of the Top 8. I don't think he'll be sticking around in Modern much longer. Maybe once the PTQ hype dies down I'll try out a combo deck like Amulet of Vigor or Living End.
Snapcaster Mage should be pretty safe from a ban. The card is powerful, but nowhere even close to broken. It just gives you some value. It doesn't suppress any particular strategies or give you insane reach (like DRS did), it can't win the game by itself (well, not very quickly anyway... I have won games with Snapcaster beatdowns, but that's like poking someone to death with a banana — the whole time you're thinking, "he's got to be able to stop me somehow... there's no way he's going to let me keep doing this long enough to kill him..."), and it isn't part of a degenerate combo. It's just a guy that does a thing.
Tier "I wish these were in one of the other tiers so I could maybe play with them":Mystic Genesis, Plasm Capture, Overwhelming Intellect (I want to live this dream. Just once.), Sage's Dousing, Odds // Ends (I hate coin flips, but if you choose your targets right, this will do something no matter what. And the other side of the card adds value).
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben seems very underplayed right now. I don't know if it's just "lack of a good deck that can use her effect", but slowing down the combo decks by at least a turn, neutering the rituals in Storm, making the UW/x control decks that much less efficient, and the like seems like it has to be really good, no? I know she's common in the hatebears deck, but is that the only deck that can run her? Why don't more Pod decks play her?
I've been very pleased with Thalia's results in testing, but maybe spell-decks are just much stronger than creature decks in Modern? Has anyone else extensively tested Thalia?
Thalia is definitely a solid card, but right now, the decks she's best against tend to run enough removal that she often reads: "Until end of turn, target Lightning Bolt becomes Searing Spear." If Storm surges in popularity, she'll get better again, but she doesn't seem worth it against UWR.
I'm curious what Blue Moon's plan for GR Tron is. I of course know that Blood Moon and Spreading Seas turn off Urzatron, but Blue Moon looks like such a slow deck that Tron can just wait to hit enough lands to hardcast its stuff.
By that point, though, the Blue Moon player will also have drawn quite a few counterspells. With the exception of hard-casting Emrakul, the Tron player's threats will most likely just continue to get countered.
Yeah, from my experience, most people concede once they see you've got the combo assembled. Sometimes you have to cycle through a couple iterations of it, but most people will concede as soon as they figure out what's going on (unless they have some way to interact, of course).
Haha, that's awesome. Do you remember what you were playing?
The deck went through a couple different iterations (one with a couple Stoic Angels, one with Shamble Sharks, Vapor Snags and Mana Leaks), but it was always a blast to play.
So can anyone give me a roundup of today's events? I left to go to FNM during round 5 or 6. How has modern changed? What cards are good now?
Michael Hetrick (who is playing Living End) is currently undefeated, Matthias Hunt (playing Bloom Titan/Amulet of Vigor combo) and Andrew Shrout (don't remember which deck he's playing) are doing well (both 7-1, I think), and a bunch of pros are currently sitting at 6-2 (Kibler, Finkel, Reid Duke, Alexander Hayne, Owen Turtenwald, Craig Wescoe). Finkel and Kai are playing Storm with Thought Scours.
There have been numerous Zoo sightings (both big and small), a Faeries deck was beaten by Storm on camera, and there is a UR deck called Blue Moon with main deck Blood Moons and a bunch of counters that has been performing really well.
I like Vexing Sphinx, but not as a full 4-of. Perhaps run one or two and supplement it with a couple Stitched Drakes (again, a decent card at far as CMC: power/toughness goes, but not as a 4-of), Lotleth Trolls (as a secondary discard outlet), Snapcaster Mages, and possibly even Thought Scours.
I also played a hilariously embarrassing budget multicolor aggro deck when I first joined Modo and was still in the process of slowly collecting staples. The only good cards I had managed to acquire at the time were Loxodon Smiter, Marsh Flats, a couple Detention Spheres and some random dual lands. I have no dignity and a penchant for doing stupid things for comedic value, so I spent a grand total of two dollars on some cheap draft commons and created what would come to be known as Rainbow Saber Friends. The deck got there a surprising amount, and the sheer stupidity of the thing made more than a few of my opponents rage quit:
The game-plan was to either get there with Civic Saber on a 3-color guy with Dispel backup, or drop a Knight of New Alara and overrun them in a sparkling tide of rainbow monsters.
The sideboard was filled to the brim with insulting cards like a full-on playset of Deft Duelists (gotta stay ahead of those Geist of Saint Trafts and get my double blocks on), some extra Curse of Chains for the "mirror," and Beckon Apparitions to hose Snapcaster Mages while giving myself more sweet action for my Civic Sabers.
In the end, I think the Civic Sabers were the hardest for my opponents to swallow. They at least had the most even ratio of times cast : number of names called. The random creatures and horrible mana base primed the rage center of the opponents' brains for the ultimate, crushing blow of the sabers.
Here are some of the weirder brews I've tested (none of them seriously):
A Jund Birthing Pod list that used Sarkhan Vol to take their dudes and sac them to pod (other uses include pumping Sprouting Thrinax tokens and untapping your guys).
A list running Evershrike, Rancor, Lotleth Troll, Oona's Prowler, Stinkweed Imp, and Hyena Umbra. I enjoyed the times I was able to reanimate a flying, trampling, can-only-be-killed-if-you-exile-it, 6/4 monster on turn three. Deck also had a decent beatdown plan with goyfs and trolls, or any of the fliers plus Rancor.
You can also try Twitch.tv streams. I can't think of anyone who plays tokens specifically, but here are some people who stream Modern sometimes or have good Modern videos in their past broadcasts:
http://www.twitch.tv/haumph (streams regularly, often Modern. He's been playing Kiki Pod and Faeries lately, but changes it up often)
http://www.twitch.tv/dzyl (good player, streams fairly regularly, has plenty of Modern videos in his past broadcasts even if he's not currently streaming a lot of it).
http://www.twitch.tv/bmkibler (Kibler doesn't stream much anymore, but there are some good Modern testing videos in his archives)
I haven't played the matchup with Wild Nacatls yet, but from what I recall, Wurmcoil Engine is a HUGE problem, and they tend to be able to find it and cast it pretty consistently. Path helps, but it's still one of the scariest things the deck can do against us.
Also, in lists running Tarmogoyf and KotR, Tron's Relic of Progenituses really hurt.
One way to get value from your creatures regardless of whether they are removed or not is to play creatures that have enters the battlefield effects, like Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, and Restoration Angel.
Also, having a high number of creatures with 4 or greater toughness makes it difficult for the opponent to deal with all of them, even if they can deal with the first few.
Snapcaster Mage should be pretty safe from a ban. The card is powerful, but nowhere even close to broken. It just gives you some value. It doesn't suppress any particular strategies or give you insane reach (like DRS did), it can't win the game by itself (well, not very quickly anyway... I have won games with Snapcaster beatdowns, but that's like poking someone to death with a banana — the whole time you're thinking, "he's got to be able to stop me somehow... there's no way he's going to let me keep doing this long enough to kill him..."), and it isn't part of a degenerate combo. It's just a guy that does a thing.
Tier 1 (Main deck staples for the decks that want them/can cast them): Cryptic Command, Remand, Mana Leak, Spell Snare, Rune Snag (I've been running it over leak now that DRS is gone, and I think I like it better), Deprive (I love this as a 1 or 2-of), Counterflux (hard on the mana, but probably the best 3-mana counter), Spell Pierce (I've been liking this less lately, but still a good card), Disrupting Shoal, Spellstutter Sprite.
Tier 2 (Sideboard/meta-dependent/situationally fantastic counters): Negate, Voidslime, Dissipate, Delay, Dispel, Swan Song, Flashfreeze, Unified Will, Bant Charm, Izzet Charm, Countersquall, Condescend, Guttural Response, Render Silent, Trickbind, Pact of Negation.
Tier 3 (corner-case counterspells that might do things in the correct situation): Logic Knot, Mystic Snake (I randomly stuck one of these in a RUG Twin list of mine and it's a hilarious value target for Splinter Twin. I've also seen it abused with Restoration Angel), Muddle the Mixture (slow, but sometimes useful to search out combo pieces/protect those combo pieces) Mana Tithe, Counterbore (hard to justify paying 5 for anything that isn't Pact of Negation), Familiar's Ruse (cute with Snapcaster Mage and Spellstutter Sprite, but perhaps too cute), Lapse of Certainty (the only reason this one is here is because it's in a color that rarely gets access to this type of effect), Psychic Barrier (usually you'll just want kills spells, but who knows), Punish Ignorance (might be worth it?), Spell Rupture (probably worse than Unified Will in the decks you want to bring it in against, but not always), Stoic Rebuttal (someday, perhaps).
Tier "I wish these were in one of the other tiers so I could maybe play with them": Mystic Genesis, Plasm Capture, Overwhelming Intellect (I want to live this dream. Just once.), Sage's Dousing, Odds // Ends (I hate coin flips, but if you choose your targets right, this will do something no matter what. And the other side of the card adds value).
Thalia is definitely a solid card, but right now, the decks she's best against tend to run enough removal that she often reads: "Until end of turn, target Lightning Bolt becomes Searing Spear." If Storm surges in popularity, she'll get better again, but she doesn't seem worth it against UWR.
Not that I could find. Aside from the Blood Moons, it seems to be running 2 Batterskulls and Vedalken Shackles main, plus Cryptic Commands, Mana Leaks, some number of Spell Snares, Master of Waves, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir (though I'm not sure whether it's in the main deck).
By that point, though, the Blue Moon player will also have drawn quite a few counterspells. With the exception of hard-casting Emrakul, the Tron player's threats will most likely just continue to get countered.
The deck went through a couple different iterations (one with a couple Stoic Angels, one with Shamble Sharks, Vapor Snags and Mana Leaks), but it was always a blast to play.
Michael Hetrick (who is playing Living End) is currently undefeated, Matthias Hunt (playing Bloom Titan/Amulet of Vigor combo) and Andrew Shrout (don't remember which deck he's playing) are doing well (both 7-1, I think), and a bunch of pros are currently sitting at 6-2 (Kibler, Finkel, Reid Duke, Alexander Hayne, Owen Turtenwald, Craig Wescoe). Finkel and Kai are playing Storm with Thought Scours.
There have been numerous Zoo sightings (both big and small), a Faeries deck was beaten by Storm on camera, and there is a UR deck called Blue Moon with main deck Blood Moons and a bunch of counters that has been performing really well.
And if you go with white over black, you get access to Squadron Hawk, Knight of the Reliquary, and Restoration Angel, which is likely just a better 4-toughness creature anyway.
Midnight PST, I believe.
4x Naya Hushblade
4x Esper Stormblade
4x Bant Sureblade
4x Loxodon Smiter
2x Knight of New Alara
2x Detention Sphere
2x Curse of Chains
4x Dispel
3x Civic Saber
4x Pillar of the Paruns
4x Marsh Flats
4x Razorverge Thicket
4x Seachrome Coast
2x Temple Garden
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Seaside Citadel
The game-plan was to either get there with Civic Saber on a 3-color guy with Dispel backup, or drop a Knight of New Alara and overrun them in a sparkling tide of rainbow monsters.
The sideboard was filled to the brim with insulting cards like a full-on playset of Deft Duelists (gotta stay ahead of those Geist of Saint Trafts and get my double blocks on), some extra Curse of Chains for the "mirror," and Beckon Apparitions to hose Snapcaster Mages while giving myself more sweet action for my Civic Sabers.
In the end, I think the Civic Sabers were the hardest for my opponents to swallow. They at least had the most even ratio of times cast : number of names called. The random creatures and horrible mana base primed the rage center of the opponents' brains for the ultimate, crushing blow of the sabers.
A Jund Birthing Pod list that used Sarkhan Vol to take their dudes and sac them to pod (other uses include pumping Sprouting Thrinax tokens and untapping your guys).
A list running Evershrike, Rancor, Lotleth Troll, Oona's Prowler, Stinkweed Imp, and Hyena Umbra. I enjoyed the times I was able to reanimate a flying, trampling, can-only-be-killed-if-you-exile-it, 6/4 monster on turn three. Deck also had a decent beatdown plan with goyfs and trolls, or any of the fliers plus Rancor.
A UWR Nivmagus Elemental deck that attempted to double up on the value of my exiled spells by playing Fabled Heroes and Young Pyromancers. Was more consistent than it sounds.
And the mother of all weird decks I've played around with:
4x Blood Seeker
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Hunted Phantasm
4x Hunted Troll
2x Spellskite
3x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Engineered Explosives
4x Illness in the Ranks
1x Killing Wave
1x Academy Ruins
18x The rest of the mana base
http://www.twitch.tv/haumph (streams regularly, often Modern. He's been playing Kiki Pod and Faeries lately, but changes it up often)
http://www.twitch.tv/dzyl (good player, streams fairly regularly, has plenty of Modern videos in his past broadcasts even if he's not currently streaming a lot of it).
http://www.twitch.tv/bmkibler (Kibler doesn't stream much anymore, but there are some good Modern testing videos in his archives)
http://www.twitch.tv/secludedglenn (some Modern in past broadcast archives)
Also, in lists running Tarmogoyf and KotR, Tron's Relic of Progenituses really hurt.
Small Zoo might have a better go of it, though.
Also, having a high number of creatures with 4 or greater toughness makes it difficult for the opponent to deal with all of them, even if they can deal with the first few.
Another option is to make the opponent's spot removal bad by playing cards that generate multiple threats at once (Lingering Souls, Huntmaster of the Fells) or non-creature permanents that threaten to generate multiple threats over time (planeswalkers like Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Xenagos, the Reveler, enchantments like Bitterblossom, etc.)
Of the cards you listed, Kitchen Finks, Strangleroot Geist, Thrun, the Last Troll, and Lotleth Troll are probably the best. Geist of Saint Traft is also very difficult to get rid of.