MTG Salvation

This card is so oddly specific that there must be something else in the set that puts her into a better light. Blood Operative also happens to interact with the graveyard which is a bit odd. If that isn't the case then yeah she is pretty bad.
Maybe WotC thought Undergrowth would turn out more powerful and designed these as some hosers? I don't know.

I mean I would welcome the possibility of getting cards into Modern that circumvent Standard. Things like Baleful Strix or Swords to Plowshares might be fine in Modern but they surely would not be fine in Standard and that has always been a bottleneck.

Could also be something Commander related right?

Spoilers will start tomorrow

https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1080071140477988864

Quote from idSurge »

Quote from Spsiegel1987 »

Sword of plowshares would make shadow in modern unplayable

Its close enough to be functionally Condemn. It wouldnt do ***** to GDS, they would just Stubborn it and move on. Sword's is pretty much what a Modern playable looks like.

You shouldn't forget that all white decks would be able to play up to 8 one mana removal spells that basicaly don't care about textboxes of creatures. The Control matchup already isn't the best. It certainly wouldn't get better.

Besides in what Standard would this be fine? Maybe in one where everything has hexproof or protection from white or instants which obviously comes with a slew of other problems.

There is also Chemister's Insight now which I really took a liking to by playing it in Standard.

I think from these kind of cards Glimmer of Genius is the best one just based on the effect but what sets Hieroglyphic Illumination apart is that's never a dead card. There are games where you just can't afford to pay 4 to draw two cards and in those games you can just cycle Illumination while all the others would be stuck in your hand. And who knows? Sometimes you hit a Terminus of the top with it and blow somebody out with it.
I think that versatility is currently worth it over the other options but obviously if in your local meta all you do is facing mirrors and BG/x decks then run Glimmer instead since you will be able to afford the cost there.

Just saw this on Channel Fireball. A metagsme analysis of GP Portland

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/phoenixes-over-portland-massive-modern-metagame-analysis/?_ga=2.3277744.1089761048.1546011417-112431521.1546011417

Quote from idSurge »

I believe its advantaged against Tron, but you may need Kiln Fiend as you do have to race.

Funnily enough I have seen that on the Tron side they feel advantaged which probably means it's somewhere in the middle and kinda even. I think a fast start destroys them but you need to have it. You can't just cantrip a bunch and setup something because it will very likely not be a game with a bunch of back and forth. You either destroy them or you get destroyed.

Quote from SCP7 »

If you want daily discussion on decks, you should join dedicated Discord servers. I feel that there is a lot less activity in the 'Salvation deck forums recently.

It's still OK in the Modern section though. Have you tried posting in the Standard forums? It's like a wasteland over there.

Pod thrived in an environment where Delver and Burn were powered by TC. The deck stopped aggressive elements in their tracks and would still do so now which is unfortunate because then it also out-values most things that are not 100% focused on aggression. It also gets to play the best removal, disruption and sideboard cards that the format has to offer as the cherry on the cake.

Unbanning it would be another Golgari Grave-Troll fiasco by being quickly banned again. The reason for the banning is still in effect and since WotC doesn't plan on making creatures bad again that will pretty much always be so. Cards like Collected Company and Eldritch Evolution are clear signs that WotC wants to support that style of deck but not with Pod itself.

Quote from Ayiluss »

Quote from Darkest_before_dawn »

Any streamers on GDS that are worth watching? Helps to identify places for improvement as I'm trying to get a decent level with the deck.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2W_DhkNjDJmCSuRDqTDyYg/videos?pbjreload=10

Just watched a video of him and it's very helpful and interesting. Thanks for posting that.
After trying out a bunch of decks I have decided to stick with GDS so now it's all just a matter of really learning all there is. Targeting yourself with Mishra's Bauble and cracking a fetch if you don't like the card is a play that I didn't have on my radar for example.

I have been on here for 6 years now and it's funny to see that still nothing has changed in this thread.

Quote from DaveJacinto »

I'm playing both GDS and UW. More the latter as of late. (Wishing that RUG Scape/4C Gifts were decks... they are right up my alley).

I never played with 9 counters. What are you cutting for them from the more stock lists?

I agree that 4CC is way too many. On UWr or UR I could really see it working but we have too many late game spells. It's really easy to lose because you had your hand filled with high cmc spells. I've been liking the versatility of our counters but it feels so bad when they don't line up.

On your list I'd definitely cut 1 CC for 1 Leak. Probably cut 1 Negate/Logic Knot for 1 Spell Snare. Negate looks really bad on the Spirits/Humans matchup...

What about Absorb? Would you cut one of those for it? Would you cut a DSphere? A Timely?

I will just post my deck list so you can take a look yourself.



For Absorb I would get rid of the Logic Knots. As you can see I don't play Timely in the main and I would be hesitant about cutting a Sphere. The deck has so many ways to interact with creatures but other permanents are more problematic. That was also the logic about the Negates in the main but I guess changing one into a Leak is for the better.

I haven't actually played UW in recent times since Im still thinking about a secondary deck. If I want one and if so which one should it be? That question has me occupied playing other decks so I haven't updated my list yet but I can certainly see shaving a Logic Knot and a Cryptic for two additional 1-2 mana counters.

My old list looks like this
- 4 Cryptic Command
- 2 Logic Knot
- 2 Negate
- 1 Spell Snare

As much as I love Cryptic 4 is very likely too much currently and I already talked about Logic Knot. Maybe a second Snare and 1 Mana Leak? Maybe even a second Leak instead of a Negate?

I agree that Snare is really good when it's good and while Mana Leak is indeed terrible later into the game it's still a 2 mana catch all early and unfortunately there isn't much competition when it comes to that.

Quote from ThinkingChimp »

What’s the difference between “broken” and “powerful”?

I see them used a lot here, on reddit, discord, or in real life, and often interchangeably. I’d think they’d be different though. I want there to be powerful cards. I don’t want there to be cards that are unbalanced (the term I prefer) which is what broken has always meant to me. What are some powerful but not broken cards? Bolt, thoughtseize, snapcaster, goyf, Jace, lili, and path are powerful. TC, DTT, Eye, and GGT are unbalanced cards to me.

That's the problem. It's not only a subjective matter but also a matter of context too. TC and DTT for example were powerful but not broken in Standard since that's what they were designed for.
Eye is objectively a horrible card. A legendary land that doesn't even tap for mana but of course a bunch of pushed Eldrazi were made and the Urza lands easily take care of the activated ability.