I think the trick to Fires of Invention is to find a useful way to spend your mana when you have this on the battlefield. If you do you essentially triple the amount of mana you have available. Kicker has be mentioned, cycling is another possibility, activated abilities like that on Vivien's Arkbow is a standard legal option.
Making a 4/4 flier on T4 is simply not good enough right now. If it was, Phoenix would see a LOT more play.
What a silly thing to say. By the same logic you could argue that Nissa, Who Shakes the World is bad, because "making a 3/3 on turn 5 is not good enough". Clearly, there is great value in making a creature while leaving a planeswalker behind.
Insanely strong planeswalker. This on turn 3 is a major threat for most decks. The only "problem" is that there is an arguably better card - Teferi, Time Raveler - at the same CMC, and which conveniently is a great answer to a turn 3 Yianling.
Ok please help me understand what i'm missing that makes you think that this is a powerful walker??? I even forgot about teferi which is leagues better than this card.
Obviously I think Mu is good because that's my username
On a more serious note, I think she is good because she has game against all types of decks:
-she's usually at least 6 life gain against aggro, buying you 1-2 turns if not more
-she's a cheap win con against control
-she's probably a major hassle for midrange, unless they have removal in hand
Insanely strong planeswalker. This on turn 3 is a major threat for most decks. The only "problem" is that there is an arguably better card - Teferi, Time Raveler - at the same CMC, and which conveniently is a great answer to a turn 3 Yianling.
(...) and then proceed to cite an outlier from a random-ass standard deck (...)
Yeah, safe to say at this point you're just trolling. Baiting someone with something irrelevant to the format in question (Modern, as in, you know, Modern Horizons) and acting all like "I was merely pretending to be dumb" while disregarding the rest of the argument while at the same time spamming the forum with some random emoji sure makes you right. Ignore and move on.
Haha, nice try rewriting history. YOU brought up standard ("Amber IS indeed unplayable jank, even in Standard..."), I guess you want to forget that.
Anyway, back on topic: I agree with the guys saying that free mana should never be underestimated, and that it has a tendency to be broken somehow. Now, clearly in eternal formats the bar is much higher than in Standard, so yeah it may ultimately be "unplayable".
Lots of people thought Chrome Mox was bad (card disadvantage).
Lots of people though Mox Opal was bad, or at least not powerful (too slow)
Mox Amber is certainly not unplayable.
Mox Tantalite... time will show.
Where's the proof tho. Just saying "yeah people thought this and Mox Amber is not unplayable and Tantalite will be played in some uncertain future" when you have a post history and search tool to look through, Standard and Modern results with zero (0) Ambers aside from some random 5-0 meme deck in Standard, and Lotus Bloom in the same cardpool isn't cutting it.
Then again, these are the same people that were decrying that Champion of Rhonas was a Modern playable card because "historically cheating permanents into play has always been a powerful effect" so I don't know what I was expecting.
Sorry, I can't be bothered to look up quotes to prove my points to random strangers on the internet. Take my word for it, or not, I don't care. I know I'm right.
Oh, and a Jeskai Superfriends deck running 2 Mox Amber placed first in SCG Syracuse. I guess you'll just blow that off as well.
Chrome Mox - "You have to exile a card, and risk getting 2-for-1ed. Total jank." Mox Opal - "You have to get three whole artifacts on the battlefield. Unplayable garbage." Mox Amber - "You need to have a legendary creature or planeswalker on the battlefield. Jaaaaank." Mox Tantalite - "You have to wait three whole turns!? JAAAAAANK!"
I wonder how many players deride Lotus Bloom for the same reason.
Yeah, nah. Quote me exactly in which posts Chrome and Opal were deemed unplayable. Amber IS indeed unplayable jank, even in Standard, and this needed Suspend 1 to be even remotely playable. I wonder how it's always people who don't even play modern the ones that complain the loudest about "people complaining" and thinking card are absurdly busted because they share part of their name with another busted card while reposting meme rhetoric like this. Do you think Cabal Therapist is also good because it's a callback to Cabal Therapy?
Lots of people thought Chrome Mox was bad (card disadvantage).
Lots of people though Mox Opal was bad, or at least not powerful (too slow)
Mox Amber is certainly not unplayable.
Mox Tantalite... time will show.
I don't particularly care for this one. It seems too slow for any deck that wants to abuse the Bazaar effect, and decks that want a beater typically do not like card disadvantage.
Meh. A lot of hype in this thread. The boar is only good if your opponent cannot deal with a 6/6 for 3RR, in which case any fatty would serve the purpose.
I'm not very familiar with the meta atm, but the above decks look painfully slow, imo. Though, with 7 sweepers at 3CMC and the possibility of recovering through lifegain (Clarion, angel), thesedaiv's second deck looks intriguing.
hmm, should it have been a gate too and say three instead of two ?
Yeah, should definitively have been a gate. That may in fact have pushed gates from being a terrible mechanic to an ok one, as having a gate that don't etbt is sorely missed. The gate mechanic generally wants to reward you for playing many gates, and playing a non-gate land in place of a gate seems like a terrible idea.
If you want to get any value from this you need to destroy 2+ creatures with its engine. Otherwise you might as well slot in any 2-3 cmc black removal spell like murder or cast down for better effect. The only output on this card is destroying creatures. And if its 2B to destroy 1 creature only after you've paid 4 life somehow, that's terrible. But if you're destroying 2+ creatures, that means you're both paying 8+ life in a game and facing a creature matchup where you need to destroy enemy threats- where paying 8 life is suicidal.
I agree with your evaluation, but want to point out that this card could be played against control (e.g. wincons like Niv-mizzet), where Font of Agonies slips past counterspells and where the life loss is less important.
Hi Ronnie!
Thank you for great feedback. The land count may be a bit low, you're right, but with all the card draw it often works ok. I will try to up the land count to 22-23, though.
I disagree with your thoughts on Pirate's Pillage; it is great in this deck, as it ramps as well as providing food for Marionette Master. Tormenting Voice and Cathartic Reunion is so-so, I agree. Chart a Course is a good idea, but since I rarely attack it will play as Tormenting Voice 99% of the time, only harder on my mana base...
I like your suggestion of Key to the City. Making Colossus unblockable can be backbreaking. The draw effect is certainly nice too! Will try 2 copies!
What a silly thing to say. By the same logic you could argue that Nissa, Who Shakes the World is bad, because "making a 3/3 on turn 5 is not good enough". Clearly, there is great value in making a creature while leaving a planeswalker behind.
Obviously I think Mu is good because that's my username
On a more serious note, I think she is good because she has game against all types of decks:
-she's usually at least 6 life gain against aggro, buying you 1-2 turns if not more
-she's a cheap win con against control
-she's probably a major hassle for midrange, unless they have removal in hand
Haha, nice try rewriting history. YOU brought up standard ("Amber IS indeed unplayable jank, even in Standard..."), I guess you want to forget that.
Anyway, back on topic: I agree with the guys saying that free mana should never be underestimated, and that it has a tendency to be broken somehow. Now, clearly in eternal formats the bar is much higher than in Standard, so yeah it may ultimately be "unplayable".
Sorry, I can't be bothered to look up quotes to prove my points to random strangers on the internet. Take my word for it, or not, I don't care. I know I'm right.
Oh, and a Jeskai Superfriends deck running 2 Mox Amber placed first in SCG Syracuse. I guess you'll just blow that off as well.
Probably a good thing. Counterspell would make spells with CMC 4+ a major liability.
Lots of people thought Chrome Mox was bad (card disadvantage).
Lots of people though Mox Opal was bad, or at least not powerful (too slow)
Mox Amber is certainly not unplayable.
Mox Tantalite... time will show.
Yeah, should definitively have been a gate. That may in fact have pushed gates from being a terrible mechanic to an ok one, as having a gate that don't etbt is sorely missed. The gate mechanic generally wants to reward you for playing many gates, and playing a non-gate land in place of a gate seems like a terrible idea.
I agree with your evaluation, but want to point out that this card could be played against control (e.g. wincons like Niv-mizzet), where Font of Agonies slips past counterspells and where the life loss is less important.
Thank you for great feedback. The land count may be a bit low, you're right, but with all the card draw it often works ok. I will try to up the land count to 22-23, though.
I disagree with your thoughts on Pirate's Pillage; it is great in this deck, as it ramps as well as providing food for Marionette Master. Tormenting Voice and Cathartic Reunion is so-so, I agree. Chart a Course is a good idea, but since I rarely attack it will play as Tormenting Voice 99% of the time, only harder on my mana base...
I like your suggestion of Key to the City. Making Colossus unblockable can be backbreaking. The draw effect is certainly nice too! Will try 2 copies!
Thank you!