OK Guys, I firmly believe Bolas' Citadel can be broken in Modern. Sooo on what turn do we want to play it?
Notably, this doesn't just allow you to flip your deck onto the table. Eventually you will hit a land and have no more land drops and then the chain stops even if you are under Phyrexian Unlife and can afford to keep paying. AdNaus doesn't care about lands one way or another.
If you can get it into play in an OoopsAllSpells deck, you could use it to win as long as Infinite life is in effect. But that strategy isn't viable in Modern because we lack cards like Lions Eye Diamond/other free spells/mana.
Now if you have some way to get lands off your top deck infinitely then sure, but then you're infinitely milling yourself and then why not play Labman and just not bother with Citadel at all?
The fact that it is its own wincon is mildly notable, but it takes two turns unless you can untap it, and at that point there are again better options.
Yeah, I'm going to be frank that I'm not feeling it for modern with this set. There are definitely good cards in there, they just aren't at the level of Snapcaster Mage or Spell Queller.
Tajic is potentially good enough to supplant some number of Mantis Riders in Humans. Notably, it attacks with 4 power instead of 3 the turn it comes down, with that number steadily increasing on subsequent turns. It also acts as a counterspell against Anger of the Gods/Bolt if it gets Vial'd in response. All this for the low cost of losing flying. I would argue that merits a 3, since it goes directly into one of the best decks in the format.
Seems very unlikely that Wizards added JTMS to the set in the 2 months following Iconic Masters' failures and before the B&R update which was itself merr months before the release of Masters 25. Set selection and development, especially packaging and the like, takes longer. This also wouldn't address why they unbanned BBE in the same update when that clearly wasnt a sales move. Seems more likely that at least one of those was an unban to open Modern decks than some corporate conspiracy that indicates SFM is an unlikely unban. I know you like alleging such conspiracies but the evidence is scattered and circumstantial at best, complete biased conjecture at worst
While I don't disagree with your overall argument, they needn't have done it that way in the first place. Jace could have been included in the set from day one, but when IMM tanked and then they realized that the EV of M25 was pretty low and changed the B&R Announcement from a "No Changes" to a "Jace and BBE Unbanned". Unbanning a pair of cards that solely slot into underplayed archetypes could have been an attempt to bolster those archetypes, certainly. Or it could have been them desperately grabbing at a method of massively boosting a sets EV after it had already been sent to the printers.
The important part here is that these two theories are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it is entirely possible that they support one another! If we assume that they wanted to bolster Blue decks and also breath a little more life into conventional midrange decks at the same time, unbanning this historic pair makes perfect sense. If we assume that they decided to have Jace be one of the cards that was unbanned by virtue of him bolstering sales of a very weak product, then BBE makes sense as both a historical counterweight (rightly or wrongly) to Jace, and as a card that wouldn't slot into any "existing" archetype.
Of course, to me that makes it more likely SFM eventually gets off the list, not less. If Wizards is willing to use unbans to bolster sales of a set that has weak EV after it goes off the to the printers, and they are committed to their current course regarding Masters sets, then I think it is only a matter of time until we have a set that hits both needed criteria. Namely, a set that has SFM in it, and also is otherwise to weak on the EV front to sell itself. It might not even need to be a Masters set either. If the Signature Spell Book sets or any other non-Multiple Release (ie, multiple Commander decks, because no one wants a second True Name Nemesis) supplemental product is projected to fail and it has a banned card in it that would otherwise be a candidate for an unban in a given rotation, then they very well could decide to pull the trigger on an unban that otherwise...... wouldn't necessarily make sense.
I think that the fact that Preordain is banned while Stirrings is legal is nonsense. Preordain digs 3 cards deep at most, while Stirrings digs 5 cards deep. The colorless restriction is totally not worth 2 cards less and while it might have been a greater restriction before the printing of Devoid and lower cmc generic cards, it is now pretty much a joke in decks that are built for it.
Since Stirrings decks aren't a problem right now, we should unban Preordain.
That, and two card combos are inherently not as threatening in a singleton format. I'm not especially worried about Copter for the same reason. It is a fantastic deck filtering tool when you can make sure you almost always have one, but it becomes simply an annoyingly efficient and highly prevalent card when it is a single card of 59.
And that really is my biggest complaint about Brawl going into the future, is that using the Standard banlist is a lazy copout by Wizards. The two formats are fundamentally not the same, and tying them to one another simply makes sure both are at risk of being less playable.
Hypothetically an excess of support cards are printed making Merfolk the most consistent deck in the format,(say they printed Master of the Pearl Trident on top of Merfolk Mistbinder in Rivals and Kumena was dominating Standard as a result). In such a situation, Kumena might be banned from Standard, or they might ban one of the Lords. Either way, we weaken one of the few strategies with enough support to be playable as a non-goodstuff list in Brawl as a side effect.
Or the reverse with a card like The Scarab God, where it is a legend that might be fine in Standard due to lacking an otherwise solid deck in his colors, but could end up absolutely dominating Brawl. At that point you have to ban him from Standard as well, and neither of those are good options.
Draw into power, candelabra of tawnos, basic lands, boseiju, and merciless eviction. Use candelabra to untap boseiju and cast merciless eviction to exile all artifacts.
They lose then correct?
You still can't resolve Candelabra of Tawnos. It immediately gets countered without some way to sneak it into play.
That was my suggestion on another forum, and someone pointed out that they will always have more Norns than you, which means your -x-x status never beats their +x+x. Because the extra Norn's produced off the EgocopiedMimics enter play one at a time, they never are on the field long enough to over come that, even if you are producing infinite of them. And since you can only cast one spell per turn, you can't keep the infinite turns lock going and cast Altered Ego. This combo gets you infinite cards, infinite power on board, infinite ETB triggers, infinite mana, and a bunch of other stuff, but still doesn't allow you to win.
As long as it has Atraxa in it, I'll be happy enough to buy it. That deck is completely overpriced and really needed a second printing like Oloro and Jelava got for their year, but never got it. If it also has the Mimeoplasm deck on top of that, so much the better.
Claw of Progress would be cool too. They could do the UR Deck instead, which while I wouldn't mind that, Ezuri is much more highly sought after. While I like Daxos as a deck concept, there's nothing sought after in his list, so I doubt it'll be him.
So this is now confirmed fake after the big dominaria spoiler. There is only one card with Serra in its name and it’s an aura; there are only two cards with Sentinel in their names and neither are white.
Are all cards in the faq, or only those that need specific questions answered about them? In any case, yeah, this one would need questions answered, so it is fake.
Quote from wizards acknowledgment of the leak »
We have a super-secret project associated with Dominaria that involves a fun new way to play Magic. We had already planned to talk about it, but now we can talk about it using Dominaria cards as an example. So, we'll call that a silver lining.
So, this card could be from whatever this new thing is from, maybe a new Explorers esque set?
EDIT: But yes, Serra is dead. We won't be seeing her card in Dominaria. However, this year's Commander set is apparently doing PW Commanders again, so there's a good possibility that we might get her there.
Source on the bolded?
I'm not against more Commander Walkers, and would love for some two or three color ones, but I haven't seen anything about this. With the recent rule change regarding them being Legends, there's now even more reason to do so too.
Yes, that works fine. As a general rule, ETB effects only care that something entered play, and don't care from where. Thus, cards like Conjurer's Closet exist to allow one to repeatedly trigger ETB effects over the course of a game. In Gishath's case the cards are coming in from the Library, and the Closet's case they are coming in from exile, the effect doesn't care. Unless the ability specifies "When this card enters the battlefield, if you cast it from your hand, do X", in which case that's different. But such cards are few and far between, and have largely been replaced with "When you cast X do Y" triggers.
Also, this doesn't belong the Standard forum. A mod will be along eventually to move it to the appropriate location.
If I had to guess, I'd say that it will go Dominaria, Core Set, Regatha, Ravnica 3 Part 1, Ravnica 3 Part 2, Core Set, new plane with Nissa, Return to Theros Part 1, Return to Theros Part 2.
One possibility I've not seen anyone mention yet is that they will be using the Core Set as an actual story expansion. Have you considered that Regatha could also be Core 2018? Regatha was the historical core set plane for a few years, and they might not want to expand on it enough for a full expansion on top of that fact. If they make the Core set an actual plot point (and not just an interlude like previous Cores), they will not only have a solid story focused mechanical basis for the half new - half old way they are now doing them, but also help keep the plot moving along just as fast, which is something they've made a priority out of for the last few years.
Also, while Ravnica makes sense for a 2 part Return set (it being basically impossible to cram all 10 guilds into one set), Theros doesn't IMHO. They were scraping the bottom of the barrel for new mechanics the last time they went there (see: Tribute's existence, and the massive under utilization of Constellation since they handicapped themselves to much on the enchantment theme), and with Born of the Gods being widely regarded as the worst second set ever, I can't see them sticking their hand back into the snake pit for a second time after getting bit multiple times the first.
Other than that, I think you've got a good/probable road map here, even if I disagree with a few of the specific choices.
I typically slot this (among other things) into my Oloro Control build when I know there's going to be some broken Commanders at the table. Stopping Narset, Nekuzar or Sigarda decks cold until they remove it often is a huge edge. In many ways it is a blue Nevermore.
I agree about Master of Waves. But Curcatcher is so good at early disruption. It's going to be hard to find a one drop that's better.
Well, I agree that it probably won't replace Cursecatcher outright, but if we get enough cards for a UG Merfolk to get seriously looked at as a deck, the deck would probably go to a 3-3 or 4-2 split with this guy and 'catcher. Starting as a 2/2 by default is a serious advantage. It means a single lord makes it a 3/3 islandwalk, which is a significant improvement over a 2/2 islandwalk, and it also can get in for an extra point of damage or two in the first couple turns, which is not irrelevant. Think less "Cursecatcher replacement" and more "Goblin Guide that trades Haste for evasion and Tribal Synergy".
If we get a second playable Merfolk in Green, I could see a version of Fish that plays 4 CoCo + 4 Vial as its non-creature spells, swapping CoCo in as the "boardbuilder in a can" that Master of Waves is no longer able to be because of Push. It already has the 3cmc Merfolk version of Kira to help it incentivize going up a few 3cmc cards anyway. I'm really hoping for a second or third good Green Merfolk for exactly this reason.
Notably, this doesn't just allow you to flip your deck onto the table. Eventually you will hit a land and have no more land drops and then the chain stops even if you are under Phyrexian Unlife and can afford to keep paying. AdNaus doesn't care about lands one way or another.
If you can get it into play in an OoopsAllSpells deck, you could use it to win as long as Infinite life is in effect. But that strategy isn't viable in Modern because we lack cards like Lions Eye Diamond/other free spells/mana.
Now if you have some way to get lands off your top deck infinitely then sure, but then you're infinitely milling yourself and then why not play Labman and just not bother with Citadel at all?
The fact that it is its own wincon is mildly notable, but it takes two turns unless you can untap it, and at that point there are again better options.
Um. Trophy disagrees.
Tajic is potentially good enough to supplant some number of Mantis Riders in Humans. Notably, it attacks with 4 power instead of 3 the turn it comes down, with that number steadily increasing on subsequent turns. It also acts as a counterspell against Anger of the Gods/Bolt if it gets Vial'd in response. All this for the low cost of losing flying. I would argue that merits a 3, since it goes directly into one of the best decks in the format.
While I don't disagree with your overall argument, they needn't have done it that way in the first place. Jace could have been included in the set from day one, but when IMM tanked and then they realized that the EV of M25 was pretty low and changed the B&R Announcement from a "No Changes" to a "Jace and BBE Unbanned". Unbanning a pair of cards that solely slot into underplayed archetypes could have been an attempt to bolster those archetypes, certainly. Or it could have been them desperately grabbing at a method of massively boosting a sets EV after it had already been sent to the printers.
The important part here is that these two theories are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it is entirely possible that they support one another! If we assume that they wanted to bolster Blue decks and also breath a little more life into conventional midrange decks at the same time, unbanning this historic pair makes perfect sense. If we assume that they decided to have Jace be one of the cards that was unbanned by virtue of him bolstering sales of a very weak product, then BBE makes sense as both a historical counterweight (rightly or wrongly) to Jace, and as a card that wouldn't slot into any "existing" archetype.
Of course, to me that makes it more likely SFM eventually gets off the list, not less. If Wizards is willing to use unbans to bolster sales of a set that has weak EV after it goes off the to the printers, and they are committed to their current course regarding Masters sets, then I think it is only a matter of time until we have a set that hits both needed criteria. Namely, a set that has SFM in it, and also is otherwise to weak on the EV front to sell itself. It might not even need to be a Masters set either. If the Signature Spell Book sets or any other non-Multiple Release (ie, multiple Commander decks, because no one wants a second True Name Nemesis) supplemental product is projected to fail and it has a banned card in it that would otherwise be a candidate for an unban in a given rotation, then they very well could decide to pull the trigger on an unban that otherwise...... wouldn't necessarily make sense.
Since Stirrings decks aren't a problem right now, we should unban Preordain.
And that really is my biggest complaint about Brawl going into the future, is that using the Standard banlist is a lazy copout by Wizards. The two formats are fundamentally not the same, and tying them to one another simply makes sure both are at risk of being less playable.
Hypothetically an excess of support cards are printed making Merfolk the most consistent deck in the format,(say they printed Master of the Pearl Trident on top of Merfolk Mistbinder in Rivals and Kumena was dominating Standard as a result). In such a situation, Kumena might be banned from Standard, or they might ban one of the Lords. Either way, we weaken one of the few strategies with enough support to be playable as a non-goodstuff list in Brawl as a side effect.
Or the reverse with a card like The Scarab God, where it is a legend that might be fine in Standard due to lacking an otherwise solid deck in his colors, but could end up absolutely dominating Brawl. At that point you have to ban him from Standard as well, and neither of those are good options.
You still can't resolve Candelabra of Tawnos. It immediately gets countered without some way to sneak it into play.
That was my suggestion on another forum, and someone pointed out that they will always have more Norns than you, which means your -x-x status never beats their +x+x. Because the extra Norn's produced off the EgocopiedMimics enter play one at a time, they never are on the field long enough to over come that, even if you are producing infinite of them. And since you can only cast one spell per turn, you can't keep the infinite turns lock going and cast Altered Ego. This combo gets you infinite cards, infinite power on board, infinite ETB triggers, infinite mana, and a bunch of other stuff, but still doesn't allow you to win.
The additional rules not contain in the picture:
Their Boardstate is what is depicted in that picture. No hand, no library, no lands.
You start with no cards in hand and none in play. No Leylines, no nothing.
You may have any number of cards in your deck. Any number of copies of a given card in your deck (50+ Copies of Emrakul is A-ok).
You may stack your deck any way you like. You will always draw whatever you want.
Other than these rules, all normal rules of the normal game apply. No Commander variant rules or whatever.
The closest I could get was infinite Turns, Mana, Power on Board and Cards in hand. But I still couldn't actually break the lock and win.
Claw of Progress would be cool too. They could do the UR Deck instead, which while I wouldn't mind that, Ezuri is much more highly sought after. While I like Daxos as a deck concept, there's nothing sought after in his list, so I doubt it'll be him.
So, this card could be from whatever this new thing is from, maybe a new Explorers esque set?
Source on the bolded?
I'm not against more Commander Walkers, and would love for some two or three color ones, but I haven't seen anything about this. With the recent rule change regarding them being Legends, there's now even more reason to do so too.
Also, this doesn't belong the Standard forum. A mod will be along eventually to move it to the appropriate location.
One possibility I've not seen anyone mention yet is that they will be using the Core Set as an actual story expansion. Have you considered that Regatha could also be Core 2018? Regatha was the historical core set plane for a few years, and they might not want to expand on it enough for a full expansion on top of that fact. If they make the Core set an actual plot point (and not just an interlude like previous Cores), they will not only have a solid story focused mechanical basis for the half new - half old way they are now doing them, but also help keep the plot moving along just as fast, which is something they've made a priority out of for the last few years.
Also, while Ravnica makes sense for a 2 part Return set (it being basically impossible to cram all 10 guilds into one set), Theros doesn't IMHO. They were scraping the bottom of the barrel for new mechanics the last time they went there (see: Tribute's existence, and the massive under utilization of Constellation since they handicapped themselves to much on the enchantment theme), and with Born of the Gods being widely regarded as the worst second set ever, I can't see them sticking their hand back into the snake pit for a second time after getting bit multiple times the first.
Other than that, I think you've got a good/probable road map here, even if I disagree with a few of the specific choices.
I typically slot this (among other things) into my Oloro Control build when I know there's going to be some broken Commanders at the table. Stopping Narset, Nekuzar or Sigarda decks cold until they remove it often is a huge edge. In many ways it is a blue Nevermore.
Well, I agree that it probably won't replace Cursecatcher outright, but if we get enough cards for a UG Merfolk to get seriously looked at as a deck, the deck would probably go to a 3-3 or 4-2 split with this guy and 'catcher. Starting as a 2/2 by default is a serious advantage. It means a single lord makes it a 3/3 islandwalk, which is a significant improvement over a 2/2 islandwalk, and it also can get in for an extra point of damage or two in the first couple turns, which is not irrelevant. Think less "Cursecatcher replacement" and more "Goblin Guide that trades Haste for evasion and Tribal Synergy".
If we get a second playable Merfolk in Green, I could see a version of Fish that plays 4 CoCo + 4 Vial as its non-creature spells, swapping CoCo in as the "boardbuilder in a can" that Master of Waves is no longer able to be because of Push. It already has the 3cmc Merfolk version of Kira to help it incentivize going up a few 3cmc cards anyway. I'm really hoping for a second or third good Green Merfolk for exactly this reason.