Drafted a pretty filthy Sultai control deck last night with triple Dinrova Horror and Deadeye Navigator. The Spiders and Webs were pretty handy too in keeping me alive:
That said, there are some powerful mana sinks in Kaladesh to create Thopters, Servos and counters.
There are a few, but I've noticed they tend to be at higher rarities. If you have a Whirlermaker, Master Trinketeer or some of the Modules, maybe 17-18 land is correct for that deck. (Or Key to the City, which lets you loot them away). But aside from the affinity Serpent, I don't see many cards at common with mana-intensive abilities.
I usually default to 17 land in my Limited decks, but in my experience with Kaladesh so far, that has frequently felt like too many. One thing I've noticed only recently is a lack of mana sinks--it seems like a lot of the creatures with repeatable activated abilities run on energy instead. Between that and the lower curves I've been seeing, should I consider going down to 16 lands more frequently?
Hospital Wagon confuses me--why would I want to untap the creatures I just tapped to crew the Wagon? Or is it supposed to let me untap the crew of other vehicles? From the name I would expect it to prevent damage somehow...
FossilizationW
Enchantment (R)
Permanents in graveyards are artifacts in addition to their other types.
Specifically sacrificing a crewed Vehicle seems like a pretty stiff additional cost. I expect this would still be fair at the current mana cost with sacrificing any Vehicle.
Something I thought of basef on recent discussions on the future of regeneration:
Drudge Troll2B
Creature--Troll Skeleton (U) B: Return Drudge Troll from the graveyard to the battlefield tapped. Activate this ability only if Drudge Troll died this turn.
(2/2)
Went 3-0 with this at FNM. First pick was Bloodhall Priest out of an otherwise uninspiring pack, and the deck ended up being fairly open. I put in Prophetic Ravings because I had a bunch of madness cards but was short on discard outlets.
Seems pretty undercosted compared to Fleetwheel Cruiser. The alternate activation seems interesting, though.
Clawback1(W/B)G
Sorcery (U)
Target creature you control gains lifelink until end of turn and deals damage equal to its power to target creature an opponent controls.
One thing I'm curious about: that mosaic of Kiran. If the Nalaars are/were wanted criminals, who put it up and why doesn't the Consulate take it down? I feel like it could be a hint that politics in Kaladesh are not quite as Chandra left them...
I haven't figured out how to evaluate Vehicles in the real world yet, but this looks at least theoretically plausible. Note that as far as I can tell, you can pile in all your other creatures for a one-sided Pyroclasm...
Templating on this one might need a little work:
ApotheosisWUB
Instant (R)
Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains flying. At the beginning of the end step or if that creature would leave the battlefield, return it to your hand.
I had a game recently where I had to put two of these on the same Dronepack Kindred--my opponent had equipped it with an Ashmouth Blade and Wolfkin Bond, and had about a dozen mana to pump it. Even with a sizable graveyard, I still lost that one.
Apart from that, though, it's still a card I'm glad to have access to--maybe it synergizes better in U/B or U/G, but I wouldn't be sorry to play one in any blue deck.
Has anyone here ever put Boon of Emrakul on their own creature for the power boost? Given that Boon is the best black removal, it seems like an edge case, but I'm curious...
As a removal spell for 1-toughness creatures, it's fine. But I find it a little lacking as a combat trick--for example, you have to use both modes for your 3/2 to kill their 3/2 and not just trade...
I don't think I've ever had this played against me, and I've seen it go around pretty late. I had a chance to play it in a W/R aggro deck the other day, and it was quite solid there, helping my guys punch through slightly larger blockers. Despite having a couple of madness outlets, I don't think I ever cast it for its madness cost.
So I was idly thinking about the progression of Modern Masters sets, and the difficulties inherent in reprinting double-faced cards, when a question occurred to me: how soon would it be before a Modern Masters set could include a significant number of double-faced cards (enough to justify their printing)?
My answer: Summer of 2021, when the original INN & DKA cards, the ORI flipwalkers, and the SOI & EMN cards should all be fair game. (At which point, the next question is: would this actually make for a fun/interesting/valuable set?)
There are a few, but I've noticed they tend to be at higher rarities. If you have a Whirlermaker, Master Trinketeer or some of the Modules, maybe 17-18 land is correct for that deck. (Or Key to the City, which lets you loot them away). But aside from the affinity Serpent, I don't see many cards at common with mana-intensive abilities.
Fossilization W
Enchantment (R)
Permanents in graveyards are artifacts in addition to their other types.
Something I thought of basef on recent discussions on the future of regeneration:
Drudge Troll 2B
Creature--Troll Skeleton (U)
B: Return Drudge Troll from the graveyard to the battlefield tapped. Activate this ability only if Drudge Troll died this turn.
(2/2)
Went 3-0 with this at FNM. First pick was Bloodhall Priest out of an otherwise uninspiring pack, and the deck ended up being fairly open. I put in Prophetic Ravings because I had a bunch of madness cards but was short on discard outlets.
Clawback 1(W/B)G
Sorcery (U)
Target creature you control gains lifelink until end of turn and deals damage equal to its power to target creature an opponent controls.
Templating on this one might need a little work:
Apotheosis WUB
Instant (R)
Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains flying. At the beginning of the end step or if that creature would leave the battlefield, return it to your hand.
Apart from that, though, it's still a card I'm glad to have access to--maybe it synergizes better in U/B or U/G, but I wouldn't be sorry to play one in any blue deck.
Anyway, at least it was interesting to put together, and I'm curious to see what they pick as the finalists.
My answer: Summer of 2021, when the original INN & DKA cards, the ORI flipwalkers, and the SOI & EMN cards should all be fair game. (At which point, the next question is: would this actually make for a fun/interesting/valuable set?)