I don't understand the manabase of the deck that made Top 8. All those one-ofs and two-ofs. It would be great if someone could explain how it was constructed. Thanks a lot!
Silly question about Nissa's Defeat. Any planeswalkers, or just green planeswalkers? The theme of the cycle sticks to answering the colour, but the card is also three-mana.
Oh it's really good. You can put it back with brainstorm to allow you to keep a good card, or you can discard it to lion's eye diamond. Plus they never think to chalice for 8, so you get an alternate win con.
Technically prison is a subset of control, like a tomato is a fruit... it doesn't help understand what a tomato is or how it should be used. That's why we classify them separately.
Something also to consider, if its a 'rampant growth'...thats not exactly a bad thing. :]
1. Dig 1 card deeper than our opponent.
2. Play 1 more land (odds are good, we have 23 lands normally) than our opponent.
3. We are 1 turn closer to combo, and they have not progressed their board state at all.
I have no issues with setting up a turn 3 miracle, I do it often, off a turn 1 Serum.
For fun: end of turn cycle Censor, see if I hit Temporal Mastery. Not sure if it's good play, I do know it will put people on tilt though.
Speaking of which, Censor might be quite under-rated at the moment. In comparison, I don't like new Nissa in this deck, she's for UG elves. Scry 2 is nice but I could just play traditional Jace for actual card draw. Same reason why I don't play Thassa.
I don't think Censor is that bad. It's largely a hard counter on T2 and T3, wih hard counter potential on T4 and even later. More importantly, cycling U is awesome. It means the card is never quite dead and lets you cycle it out as early as T1 if it's totally matchup inappropriate. I expect many blue controlling decks will play 2+ copies.
Agreed. Cycling has not been in a set as a main theme for too long, I think people are not sure how to assess them properly. Especially the ones where you get an effect when you cycle. Same with the aftermath cards; I think they are quite underestimated. The problem is that some are genuinely bad and some are hidden gems. The skill-level ceiling of this set is quite high.
Also, all this "options" and "incremental card advantage" has more potential with control/midrange than aggro/combo.
A little bit disappointed that the Lily in this set has such a high casting cost.
You mean the one from the intro deck? There hasn't been a Lily spoiled yet, and the intro deck ones are meant to be over-costed.
Throne of the God-Pharaoh has a neat effect. It's good for aggro decks but they won't play it in Modern. Will be a house in 2HG I bet though.
As Foretold has lots of potential in the fact that it is an Aether Vial for Magic cards. To get over its slow buildup though I can see it only getting played in Restore Balance decks where you can wipe the board, hand, and lands then ride this thing to victory. As Izzet mentioned, going straight UR would probably work as Greater Gargadon is your finisher and can take out off of your lands for Restore Balance. Then the opponent will have to deal with it while you have an engine pumping out spells the rest of the game. I'll probably play around with the concept for a bit. Perhaps Blood Moon could also be used like a Blue Moon shell, but then the 3-drop slot starts to get a little crowded. I'm sure someone will break it.
As Foretold might actually work in the taking turns deck. The card needs a few turns to get going. Playing timewalk effects with counter-magic backup sounds good. It also makes Walk the Aons stronger.
I'm for the split card rule change, even if it stops the kind of interactions that I like to abuse. People love to make a big deal out of rules changes but everyone accepts it in the end.
It's a good change but it's not inconsequential. A lot of cards care about converted mana cost. I hope it doesn't make it harder to search for cards on gatherer!
Discard spells are (broadly) very good vs countermagic; if you want a blue card that interacts favorably against discard, to my knowledge their are 2: brainstorm, and mental misstep. Daze is ok if you can play enough 1-drops. It would be extraordinarily difficult to introduce cards into modern that interact with turn 1 discard without also breaking the format.
"Death Shadow Jund" is not "Death Shadow Aggro" at all!!! Aggro decks kill as fast as possible by landing a lot of threats quickly. Disruption is minimal and only when necessary. "Death Shadow Jund" plays many discard spells. Like RUG delver in legacy, it lands one threat and protects it with disruption. The disruption that the two decks play, like Stifle, Daze, Wasteland, Inquisition of Kozilek , Thoughtseize are also all fairly bad lategame.
So, any deck that empties hands quickly and/or drags the game. Artifact Aggro, Lantern Prison, 8-rack (taste your own medicine).
Nothing needs to be banned. Stop being crybabies. Way too many bans and crybabies in Modern already.
I see, thanks! Since the question is answered, perhaps the moderators can close this thread.
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/legacy-metagame-and-deck-lists-galore/
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Aladdin's Ring
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Dark Ritual
3 Duress
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Grim Tutor
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Past in Flames
4 Ponder
2 Preordain
1 Tendrils of Agony
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Fatal Push
2 Flusterstorm
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thoughtseize
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Xantid Swarm
What is the one-of Aladdin's Ring there doing? Just curious how this deck works.
Modern player here. Looks like Wizards are equal-opportunity offenders, huh.
For fun: end of turn cycle Censor, see if I hit Temporal Mastery. Not sure if it's good play, I do know it will put people on tilt though.
Speaking of which, Censor might be quite under-rated at the moment. In comparison, I don't like new Nissa in this deck, she's for UG elves. Scry 2 is nice but I could just play traditional Jace for actual card draw. Same reason why I don't play Thassa.
Agreed. Cycling has not been in a set as a main theme for too long, I think people are not sure how to assess them properly. Especially the ones where you get an effect when you cycle. Same with the aftermath cards; I think they are quite underestimated. The problem is that some are genuinely bad and some are hidden gems. The skill-level ceiling of this set is quite high.
Also, all this "options" and "incremental card advantage" has more potential with control/midrange than aggro/combo.
As Foretold might actually work in the taking turns deck. The card needs a few turns to get going. Playing timewalk effects with counter-magic backup sounds good. It also makes Walk the Aons stronger.
It's a good change but it's not inconsequential. A lot of cards care about converted mana cost. I hope it doesn't make it harder to search for cards on gatherer!
Think Twice (trollface)?
"Death Shadow Jund" is not "Death Shadow Aggro" at all!!! Aggro decks kill as fast as possible by landing a lot of threats quickly. Disruption is minimal and only when necessary. "Death Shadow Jund" plays many discard spells. Like RUG delver in legacy, it lands one threat and protects it with disruption. The disruption that the two decks play, like Stifle, Daze, Wasteland, Inquisition of Kozilek , Thoughtseize are also all fairly bad lategame.
So, any deck that empties hands quickly and/or drags the game. Artifact Aggro, Lantern Prison, 8-rack (taste your own medicine).
Nothing needs to be banned. Stop being crybabies. Way too many bans and crybabies in Modern already.