If this sees play anywhere in Modern, it'll be in storm, not tempo. Getting the ability to loot whenever you cast something is pretty dang nice. I don't know if it'll see play, but it would be interesting to see someone try.
Relic gets widespread play for two main reasons:
1. It's colorless, making it available to decks that otherwise wouldn't have great grave hate (particularly red and blue)
2. It cantrips, so it replaces itself if it's dead for whatever reason and is even maindeckable in a deck like Tron.
End Hostilities seems like one of the best white sweepers against Affinity as it gets both Plating and Ensoul. Might come down too late though.
Also kills Batterskull dead.
Interesting to note that there are no cards in MTG that are strictly better than Smelt - it's the only red 1-drop instant artifact destruction spell. That's not to say I wouldn't play something else over it in almost every situation (Ancient Grudge, Shattering Spree, Ingot Chewer, Wear // Tear, and Vandalblast all come to mind), but there's really nothing that's a universally better choice, so it probably has a niche.
I've been thinking about a singleton Wilt-Leaf Liege somewhere in the 75 to help as a fast, Bolt - proof game closer that also serves as insurance against Anger. Works particularly well with Voice (and its elemental) but turns pretty much every creature into a threat. Has anyone tried this?
Went to the 72 player Minnesota TCGPlayer States on Saturday and went 5-2, getting 12th. All my wins were 2-0 and my losses were 1-2 so I was happy with how the deck did. Here's the list and a rundown of the matches. (The fastlands and Catacombs are because I wasn't able to borrow Groves or a 4th misty. Didn't cause any problems though.)
Round 1: Slivers (!)
G1: he mulls to 4 or 5 and I see nothing except Mutavault all game. Win via natural combo. I sideboard thinking he's on Merfolk, which would've been fine if I didn't side out Chord (which I shouldn't have done either way).
G2 and G3 both result in me getting pounded by a Galerider - assisted flying army of croissants. Was a stalemate until he got the vigilance sliver. Never saw a search piece all match. I also flashed in a Resto way too early one of the games, rather than saving it to ambush something, which may have cost me a game.
1-2 0-1
Round 2: Melira Pod (paired up)
G1: He gets a bit land screwed and I find Linvala to slow him down and eventually pod into a Kiki to win.
G2: I think it went T1 dork dork, T2 he plays Pod I play Scooze, T3 he pods Finks (eaten) into Linvala, then I blow him out with Fiery Justice taking his Linvala and dork. Scooze proceeds to be the versatile slime that we all love, beating hard and eating numerous persist dudes. Redcap and Path take care of the rest of the creatures he gets out.
2-0 1-1
Round 3: U/R Pyrodelver. He said he'd played the game since Alpha but was mainly a limited player, so this was his first big Modern event. (note: I may have gotten rounds 3 and 4 mixed up)
G1: Very very grindy game that took 30 minutes. I mull to 5 but it was a solid 5. He has a couple Grim Lavamancers and a couple Young Pyromancers that are churning out tokens like crazy. Said tokens generally ended up being chump blockers for my Voice and Finks. Eventually I hit 6 mana and land a Conscripts that I'd had in hand for a while: I steal a Lavamancer and use it to blow up one of his Pyromancers. Board is pretty stalemated until he flips a Delver. He gets my life total low but I get a Chord and use it to get Witness. Next turn I go for Resto blinking Witness and blocking Delver: for whatever reason he neglects to kill either with Lavamancer. I win next turn.
G2: he flips a Delver and starts swinging: eventually I leave up mana and, thinking I have Chord (and remembering the Chord - Resto shenanigans), he deems it safe to attack. I surprise him with Resto in hand and he scoops. He sounded like he was just tired of playing and wanted to go home and catch up on sleep.
2-0 2-1
Round 4: U/W Geist midrange
G1: I see little out of him except for Vapor Snags, Remands, and possibly a Snapcaster. I get a pod and win easily when he taps out.
G2: By T3, he has a Geist and I have Hierarch, Wall, and Gavony. He swings: I double block Geist and activate Gavony to try to kill it (a risky move; if he Path'd my Wall it would be a total blowout). He calls a judge because he thinks that once I tap Hierarch, it's not blocking any more. Judge says otherwise and he begrudgingly puts Geist in the yard. Later he Verdicts and I follow up with a hierarch and a Scooze, and Scooze once again does work as a huge beater and misplay punisher (he tries to Snapcaster something when I have green mana open.)
2-0 3-1
Round 5: Mono-R Burn
G1: I stupidly keep a hand with a Gavony, dork, one other land, and a few high cost spells and he punishes me for it. Killed the dork and I didn't see a third land until it was too late.
G2: he gets some Goblin Guides out early but Wall, Finks, and Spellskite make life difficult for him. He gets me down to 2 and either taps out or has no cards, I don't remember. I crack a Verdant putting me at 1 (I now have 5 lands and a Hierarch); hardcast Kiki, copy Hierarch, tap both Hierarchs and pod Spellskite into Exarch untapping Kiki and winning. I was proud of that one.
G3: Lose to nut draw. He kills me fast and still has 3 cards in hand after doing so.
Really nice and funny guy, so I didn't mind the loss. We played a few more games and had some great laughs.
1-2 3-2
Round 6: Affinity
G1: Couldn't help but notice some of the cards in his deck when he was taking it out of the box and shuffling, so I kept an otherwise iffy hand with Reclamation Sage in it. Nothing I did was against the rules (he was very careless handling his deck) but I still felt like a scumbag. Proceeded to beat him by Reccing a plating, podding Sage into Redcap killing the Ornithopter equipped with a new Plating, then winning.
G2: He had 2 Etched Champions going but he was only drawing lands. I think I ended up outracing him with Finks and Resto.
2-0 4-2. Not a victory I felt too good about getting.
Round 7: Tarmo-Twin
G1: Didn't see much out of him except for a Remand, Serum Visions, and RUG lands, so I was able to identify the deck. Got a pod and combo'd off.
G2: Grindy game involving multiple Tarmogoyfs, a Huntmaster, and Twins on both. Between Witness, Resto, and Chording for Resto, I'm pretty sure I used the same Path at least 4 times. Won with Resto beats (news flash: Resto is a good card that lots of decks can't deal with).
2-0, finished 5-2. Got 6 packs and was happy with how my deck treated me.
The MVP of the day was Scooze without a doubt. It just does so many things at once and either helped me win or outright won probably half of my games. I had Staticaster thinking I might see lots of Junk or Affinity, but only brought it in a few times and never saw it. I think I'll keep it in for the time being but it'll probably get cut eventually.
Black Sun's Zenith kills persist dead and permanently weakens everything else. Since not much in this format actually has 3 toughness (most have 1, 2, or 4), it can often be better than Damnation and act as a pseudo - Anger in decks without red.
Problem with Salt is that Scapeshift players these days are usually smart enough to run 10 mountains, so they'll still be able to reach 6. Negates are usually pretty good (as with vs. UWR), and Eidolon of Rhetoric is good there too (makes your Negates, Chords, and Mindcensors uncounterable a lot of the time).
I thought about it right away but I feel like it's a bit too fragile. If I tap Pod to get a 4-drop, I don't want it to get bolted. It's a shame, because I'd totally run it if it was, say, 3/4, because i THINK it wins by itself: activate Pod - ability triggers - sac Ogre - both abilities go on stack - find Kiki and conscripts and win.
For real though...If wizards is actually designing for Modern like they say they are, they need to make less boltable creatures... /rant
edit: Made the game. password is lantern as usual.
MostlyLost - MostlyLost - c0ci35lc
Also, that phoenix might be enough of a push to make Big Red a deck.
1. It's colorless, making it available to decks that otherwise wouldn't have great grave hate (particularly red and blue)
2. It cantrips, so it replaces itself if it's dead for whatever reason and is even maindeckable in a deck like Tron.
Also kills Batterskull dead.
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Wall of Roots
4 Restoration Angel
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Spellskite
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
Land (23)
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Arid Mesa
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Stomping Grounds
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Copperline Gorge
1 Razorverge Thicket
2 Gavony Township
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Combust
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Fiery Justice
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Negate
3 Path to Exile
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Round 1: Slivers (!)
G1: he mulls to 4 or 5 and I see nothing except Mutavault all game. Win via natural combo. I sideboard thinking he's on Merfolk, which would've been fine if I didn't side out Chord (which I shouldn't have done either way).
G2 and G3 both result in me getting pounded by a Galerider - assisted flying army of croissants. Was a stalemate until he got the vigilance sliver. Never saw a search piece all match. I also flashed in a Resto way too early one of the games, rather than saving it to ambush something, which may have cost me a game.
1-2 0-1
Round 2: Melira Pod (paired up)
G1: He gets a bit land screwed and I find Linvala to slow him down and eventually pod into a Kiki to win.
G2: I think it went T1 dork dork, T2 he plays Pod I play Scooze, T3 he pods Finks (eaten) into Linvala, then I blow him out with Fiery Justice taking his Linvala and dork. Scooze proceeds to be the versatile slime that we all love, beating hard and eating numerous persist dudes. Redcap and Path take care of the rest of the creatures he gets out.
2-0 1-1
Round 3: U/R Pyrodelver. He said he'd played the game since Alpha but was mainly a limited player, so this was his first big Modern event. (note: I may have gotten rounds 3 and 4 mixed up)
G1: Very very grindy game that took 30 minutes. I mull to 5 but it was a solid 5. He has a couple Grim Lavamancers and a couple Young Pyromancers that are churning out tokens like crazy. Said tokens generally ended up being chump blockers for my Voice and Finks. Eventually I hit 6 mana and land a Conscripts that I'd had in hand for a while: I steal a Lavamancer and use it to blow up one of his Pyromancers. Board is pretty stalemated until he flips a Delver. He gets my life total low but I get a Chord and use it to get Witness. Next turn I go for Resto blinking Witness and blocking Delver: for whatever reason he neglects to kill either with Lavamancer. I win next turn.
G2: he flips a Delver and starts swinging: eventually I leave up mana and, thinking I have Chord (and remembering the Chord - Resto shenanigans), he deems it safe to attack. I surprise him with Resto in hand and he scoops. He sounded like he was just tired of playing and wanted to go home and catch up on sleep.
2-0 2-1
Round 4: U/W Geist midrange
G1: I see little out of him except for Vapor Snags, Remands, and possibly a Snapcaster. I get a pod and win easily when he taps out.
G2: By T3, he has a Geist and I have Hierarch, Wall, and Gavony. He swings: I double block Geist and activate Gavony to try to kill it (a risky move; if he Path'd my Wall it would be a total blowout). He calls a judge because he thinks that once I tap Hierarch, it's not blocking any more. Judge says otherwise and he begrudgingly puts Geist in the yard. Later he Verdicts and I follow up with a hierarch and a Scooze, and Scooze once again does work as a huge beater and misplay punisher (he tries to Snapcaster something when I have green mana open.)
2-0 3-1
Round 5: Mono-R Burn
G1: I stupidly keep a hand with a Gavony, dork, one other land, and a few high cost spells and he punishes me for it. Killed the dork and I didn't see a third land until it was too late.
G2: he gets some Goblin Guides out early but Wall, Finks, and Spellskite make life difficult for him. He gets me down to 2 and either taps out or has no cards, I don't remember. I crack a Verdant putting me at 1 (I now have 5 lands and a Hierarch); hardcast Kiki, copy Hierarch, tap both Hierarchs and pod Spellskite into Exarch untapping Kiki and winning. I was proud of that one.
G3: Lose to nut draw. He kills me fast and still has 3 cards in hand after doing so.
Really nice and funny guy, so I didn't mind the loss. We played a few more games and had some great laughs.
1-2 3-2
Round 6: Affinity
G1: Couldn't help but notice some of the cards in his deck when he was taking it out of the box and shuffling, so I kept an otherwise iffy hand with Reclamation Sage in it. Nothing I did was against the rules (he was very careless handling his deck) but I still felt like a scumbag. Proceeded to beat him by Reccing a plating, podding Sage into Redcap killing the Ornithopter equipped with a new Plating, then winning.
G2: He had 2 Etched Champions going but he was only drawing lands. I think I ended up outracing him with Finks and Resto.
2-0 4-2. Not a victory I felt too good about getting.
Round 7: Tarmo-Twin
G1: Didn't see much out of him except for a Remand, Serum Visions, and RUG lands, so I was able to identify the deck. Got a pod and combo'd off.
G2: Grindy game involving multiple Tarmogoyfs, a Huntmaster, and Twins on both. Between Witness, Resto, and Chording for Resto, I'm pretty sure I used the same Path at least 4 times. Won with Resto beats (news flash: Resto is a good card that lots of decks can't deal with).
2-0, finished 5-2. Got 6 packs and was happy with how my deck treated me.
The MVP of the day was Scooze without a doubt. It just does so many things at once and either helped me win or outright won probably half of my games. I had Staticaster thinking I might see lots of Junk or Affinity, but only brought it in a few times and never saw it. I think I'll keep it in for the time being but it'll probably get cut eventually.
Problem with Salt is that Scapeshift players these days are usually smart enough to run 10 mountains, so they'll still be able to reach 6. Negates are usually pretty good (as with vs. UWR), and Eidolon of Rhetoric is good there too (makes your Negates, Chords, and Mindcensors uncounterable a lot of the time).
For real though...If wizards is actually designing for Modern like they say they are, they need to make less boltable creatures... /rant