My favorite Magic card has to be Supreme Verdict and every similar wrath effect.
The ability to destroy every creature on the board just feels so powerful and makes so much fun in my opinion.
-
- Galerion
- Registered User
-
Member for 11 years, 4 months, and 9 days
Last active Mon, Jun, 7 2021 17:13:52
- 0 Followers
- 4,588 Total Posts
- 1451 Thanks
SFM is at its best in an UW/x shell. That was true in Standard, it's true in Legacy and there is no reason to assume that it wouldn't be so in Modern and that's the problem because results are results. UW/x based decks have performed very well over this year and the big three of them are obviously both Control decks in from of Jeskai and Azorius and then of course Spirits. The thing about them is they are all fair decks and they are actually pretty decent against other fair decks. Would SFM go into any these? Maybe not but it would certainly spawn another UW/x based deck that by its nature would probably be very good against other fair decks.
You would have Tribal Aggro, Control and the SFM deck which would probably be Midrange so what would be the problem? Well that's not the only way to look at it and color diversity has been shown to be a concern too and with SFM it might become a concern that if you want to play a fair deck UW/x is the only real way to go. I mean Death's Shadow decks and BG/x decks still exist and put up results but they don't have easy games against the UW decks and would rather face something else the entire day. SFM certainly wouldn't make that better.
Always hard to make predictions like this but I would say that nothing much changes. KCI was a fringe deck in terms of meta share after all.
In Standard certainly no Tier deck is casting that card. In cases like this it is safe to always assume Commander is the reason.
A 9 mana Mythic Rare Legendary Dinosaur. That's as hard a Timmy creature as it can get. Perfect for the format.
I haven't thought about updates to my list but I would definitely say that Quench has mainboard potential and the synergy with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is not be overlooked. Getting to play him and then still being able to snipe stuff like The Eldest Reborn, Conclave Tribunal, Ixalan's Binding, Vraska's Contempt or stuff like Vivien Reid is huge.
Realistically most losses will be by being overwhelmed in the early game and then never stabilizing so playing around Quench will be tough for the opponent. If they want to delay their good spells for 2 turns they won't have it any easier because by then your card advantage spells, sweepers and hard counters are all active.
Yes, I do.
I mean let's turn this around. Krark-Clan Ironworks is banned. Now what?
Then the format is suddenly fine? UW/x, BG/x, Humans, Spirits, Burn, Dredge, Tron, Titan, Scales, GDS, Storm, Hollow One, etc. all aren't going anywhere.
It's one thing to look at numbers absolutely objectively and say this might be better than others. It could be a problem.
It's another one when it becomes about personal enjoyment. When I play the game I certainly don't think "man those few KCI decks that I never face are way too good and ruin my fun". That's not how it works.
If anybody claims that a single deck that doesn't even has a high metashare is the only reason they are not enjoying a format and think it's not fine then they are only fooling themselves. KCI hasn't even shown to be a deck that suppresses certain kind of strategies. Decks like Phoenix on the other hand have definitely shown to annihilate certain kind of strategies. So you can ban KCI and it will do absolutely nothing because the format will be just as it is now just without KCI.
What an outstanding job! Well done. You have done something absolutely inconsequential instead of powering up other things via unbans.
If that line of action makes someone personally happy then whatever. I would only shake my head and shrug my shoulders in the face of it.
I wouldn't be mad about it.
Sure it would be time to finally unleash Stoneforge Mystic after her partner-in-crime Jace, The Mind Sculptor was already released but that's also pretty much it. I mean I also would be for unbanning Preordain but I guess with Phoenix being the new hot thing I guess we can forget about that. Thanks Arclight Phoenix
I don't support any bans currently so there is nothing on that front.
Some interesting things in there but it shows that nobody should take this as the absolute gospel. The data is incomplete and so should be paired with something else to draw conclusions from it.
For example in this it shows that Spirits has done absolutely terrible against KCI but in ktkenshinxs analysis Spirits does actually pretty decent against KCI. So it's easy to draw wrong conclusions just based on this. If I take this and compare it with ktkenshinxs data though a few things can become clear though.
Spirits indeed doesn't do well against Phoenix. As a matter of fact Phoenix does decent against all decks that rely on heavy board presence to win the game. Bolts for days and Thing in the Ice make sure of that. Against decks that don't do that things are looking not as hot though.
GDS is interesting because in ktkenshinxs data it's not well represented and by the data that is there it looks not so good. Hard to draw conclusions here based on that. Pairing this with my personal opinion though I would at least say that GDS doesn't have a favorable matchup against Phoenix. I think that the matchup is even and very skill dependent. In the last SCG Open Top 8 both GDS players quickly lost 0-2 against their Phoenix opponents.
Misevaluating how much life you can safely pay can be punished quickly and harshly by the Phoenix deck and there is also the fact that GDS is ill-equipped to handle all the angles of attack. Destroy removal is notoriously bad against a flying creature with haste that returns from the graveyard and the premier spell of choice for that is Fatal Push which in turn needs Revolt to even be able to hit a Phoenix. Something that will not the case every single time. Stubborn Denial also isn't at its best in the matchup because both Arclight Phoenix and Thing in the Ice don't actually care if a spell resolves or not. They only care about casting them so if they have a mixture of their 1 mana cantrips and bolts it's trivial to bring back Phoenixes or transform a Thing and Denial won't change that. Speaking of Thing I wouldn't say it's at its best in the GDS matchup but the text is still relevant. Gurmag Angler getting bounced is very bad news and 7 power also means you might not be able to even afford a single hit from it.
I know Phoenix players like Ross Merriam actually say to not bring in graveyard hate against them and I think that's right for decks like UW/x or GB/x which already have maindeck answers to stop getting grinded out by Phoenixes. In GDS you probably really want those Leyline of the Void or Surgical Extractions though to stop that angle of attack. But Phoenix players are also wising up and bring in their own Extractions to counter opposing ones. Something to keep in mind probably.
It's funny you say that because I too think there is some hive mind thinking among certain Modern players. I don't want to paint anyone in a bad light here. Reid Duke for example is a way better and more experienced player than me and in many videos of his there is a theme where he states that being proactive is a trait he values and thinks is better. In the last SCG Open he dropped 5-3 with Abzan. Two of his losses were on camera and both times it was against a UW/x player and he lost them pretty convincingly to be honest. Even the commentators said that.
I also remember a watching a Youtube video of a GDS players who said at the beginning that he thinks he has a good matchup against UW. He lost the match 0-2 after that.
Let's make one thing clear. UW Control is an objectively powerful deck. The numbers are there to prove it. Personal opinion doesn't play a role in that. Even the "fair deck killer" Tron doesn't have an auto win against UW because that is not how things work.
Will the deck ever rule the meta? Probably not unless we get stuff like Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm, Ponder to unlock the full potential of the Miracle spells and Counterbalance of course or we get some other new toys to play with. But here is the thing everybody should keep in mind. Control by its very nature doesn't appeal to everyone which means it will always have a lower share than it objectively should have.
In RTR-Theros Standard Sphinx's Revelation Control was the objectively most powerful deck in the format and yet Mono-Black Devotion was still played in higher numbers despite of that. There are tons of people who just love to smash with creatures and that is OK. That's just how it is and nobody will be able to change that.
But Control will always be there and it will punish decks and people who don't respect it. Now more then ever in the entire history of Modern. Because Jace, The Mind Sculptor, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Azcanta, The Sunken Ruin aren't screwing around. They can put games away quickly and make it nigh unwinnable for the opponent. A trait that Control didn't really have before them in Modern but it is here now and it is there to stay.
I honestly don't think so. I think we saw him two times on camera and both times he lost against UW/x Control decks. So the choice of his removal didn't play that much of a role there
Oof. I don't think one of your decks is able to beat all of them. Heavy creatures decks that rely on board presence and are not packing much interaction are very likely a dog against Thing in the Ice and a flurry of bolts.
And Grishoalbrand isn't the most consistent deck if you want to do well in a event.
I fear you might have to pick your poison there.
Look here
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/community-forums/community-discussion/804002-for-my-account-was-just-deleted-users
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/community-forums/community-discussion/804002-for-my-account-was-just-deleted-users
People who didn't agree with the transfer got their accounts deleted and that obviously included Primers they have written. Looks like a huge oversight and something that have could have been thought of before.
Wasn't actually Nahiri behind everything? Turning Avacyn against the people and Sorin and summoning Emrakul to the plane?
As always you never disappoint.
Something interesting things in the matchup section that surprised me or reaffirmed my feelings.
For example Jeskai having that poor of a Burn matchup in this data set surprised me. I mean that's one of the few matchups where Lightning Helix can truly shine.
UW pulling way ahead of Jeskai on the other hand isn't surprising. I already said it before but the sacrifices you make in Jeskai are questionable IMO. The difference in the Tron matchup being the best example of it and it's not like UW actually has trouble with heavy creature decks as this shows. I mean Terminus is there for a reason. Spirits is an exception but then Jeskai is still only dead even against it in this data set so yeah whatever.
Funnily enough this even shows why the last GP Top 8 probably turned out the way it did. Spirits does pretty good against KCI but it in turn gets picked apart by the Phoenix decks and indeed there was no Spirits in the Top 16 while 4 Phoenix decks were so KCI got one of it's bad matchups cleaned away all the way to the top. How convenient.
What's the takeaway of that? Blame Arclight Phoenix for everything bad