Some cards whose price had raised too much in the last two years have been reprinted as well. In this category we find Fulminator Mage, Noble Hierarch, Spellskite, Remand, Splinter Twin and Daybreak Coronet. In the case of the later two, these cards have appeared in the collection without the combo cards that make them work in Modern (Deceiver Exarch for Twin, and any other aura for Coronet). Kiki-Jiki+Pestermite was a combo that was very present in the first Modern Masters format, and probably they wanted to avoid it; however, not making room to cards like Rancor and some totem armors and/or hybrid mana auras from Shadowmoor/Eventide to make Daybreak Coronnet playable in the format is a clear mistake. The conclusion is clear: if you get a money rare, don't expect to win Limited games with it.
Finally, there are the missing cards from this set. There are many cards that were printed in the first Modern Masters edition that didn't appear in this new edition, like Blood Moon, Engineered Explosives and Vedalken Shackles. In order to make room to new additions, specially if they're rare cards, you need to cut older cards, so there's little to complain about it. However, after two editions there are some cards that haven't been printed yet. The most flagrant case is Serum Visions. With the scry ability being present in Theros, we all thought (or hoped) that the card would be reprinted in that block; we didn't only get the original one, but nothing remotely similar. Now it hasn't been reprinted in Modern Masters again, and its price is skyrocketing.
Once the understanding of the game has improved, Wizards have realized the best decks are both consistent and versatile, something you can only achieve with the control of what you draw via cantrips. Modern is a format in which you can't have it all and you are forced to make a choice: the consistent deck that has a very streamlined plan but can be easily hated, or the versatile deck that has reactive cards that can be useful in a large amount of match-ups, but will still have some unwinnable pairings and, since there aren't completely versatile answers against the full metagame, can still draw the wrong ones against a given opponent.
Other effects that Wizards seem to dislike are stealing creatures (not only Shackles disappear, but Sower of Temptation and Threads of Disloyalty haven't been reprinted), preventing players from searching their libraries (Shadow of Doubt and Aven Mindcensor haven't made the cut twice, while Leonin Arbiter could have been reprinted this year but it wasn't as well) and cheating fatties into play (Goryo's Vengeance and Through the Breach). Inquisition of Kozilek hasn't been printed too, but it appeared in the Modern event deck a year ago.
Overall, the selection of cards in Modern Masters 2015 is pretty good, and if we only look at money cards even better than in the previous Modern Masters edition (something we should already expect from the price increase). The price of some of the reprinted cards is already falling down, so May is a good month to start building or completing your Modern pool, before there is the rebound effect that we observed with the original Modern Masters edition.
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Last active Fri, Oct, 11 2019 06:05:01
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Against Hollow One take out Snapcaster Mage and bring it whatever you find more useful in the sideboard (Abrade being choice number 1). I don't know how necessary is graveyard hate against them (Leyline of the Void definitely seems worth bringing in if you still play it, Surgical Extraction looks less exciting). The plan against Phoenix is catching it with Surgical Extraction, have removal for Thing in the Ice and stay out of Bolt range. Against both decks, prioritize stopping their loot effects, using Stubborn Denial aggressively (hitting Manamorphose is also nice).
If you want to make room to any specific card for your metagame, just see which cards are only useful against decks you aren't used to face and cut those. If you're planning to attend larger events, I'd personally try to make some room to more artifact destruction effects in the sideboard.
Liliana of the Veil also gives your opponent the choice with all her three abilities, although it's not a very aggressive card.
Perhaps tapping all their lands is enough. In that situation I proposed, not playing a spell turn 2 isn't as harmful as being forced to miss a land drop.
That's considering you don't mind netdecking and expending money in getting the best deck. If you just want to improve yours with minimum expending, I think you play too many finishers (3 walkers, 2 big creatures, 2 expensive black sorceries) and I would cut at least the black sorceries. Mind Stone and 2 mana counterspells don't combine well. With Talisman of Dominance you can at least cast Spell Snare or Fatal Push the turn you play it, but you can't cycle it later, so I would cut the mana rocks entirely and play 4th copies of Serum Visions and Fatal Push; the remaining slot could be an extra land in case you feel mana screwed often.
Control decks aren't goldfishing against the wall, so in the end the best way to know what works better is practicing against the decks you want to defeat later in tournaments to tune it.
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Bitterblossom
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
2 Cast Down
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Opt
1 Field of Ruin
4 Mutavault
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Polluted Delta
2 Watery Grave
2 Island
2 Swamp
I don't know if this draft has too much removal, too many lands or not enough Opts. Perhaps the singleton Spell Pierce to tilt opponents could become a random Cryptic Command.
Second mode looks broken imo. Being on the play and playing this turn 2 gives you a huge advantage, and any deck can play it. I don't know which deck did you try to hate with that mode, but it goes well beyond your intention.