^ i was thinking about that, protection from colors matters seems like a very interesting and potentially fun theme. I don't know how effective a Ghostfire reprint could be though, 3 mana 3 damage, even if its colorless seems a little underpowered. But then again i guess it depends how good the "protection from X color" cards are in this new block, should there be any.
an interesting question is how good is remand vs think twice. I do love think twice but remand has a high ceiling in terms of the potential blowouts it can perform. I think remand might be better in a majority of the matchups, although it might still be worth it to have 1 think twice in the deck so that you can get that really long grindy matchup advantage especially if you want to side out some number of remands when your facing an opponent who plays a lot of low mana costing spells.
Although now that i think about it, doesnt remanding a flashbacked think twice actually just negate a think twice CA? hm, the only benefit i can think of now for an instance where remand is worse than think twice is when you're getting thoughtseized, but they never really take ur think twice with a thoughtseize anyway.
I think the fact that remand cycles (possibly into a mana leak) and early on often timewalks your opponent is just too good of an upside. not to mention later on in a counterfight its very far from dead if used correctly. in addition its a hard counter to flashbacked spells and has potential to be a cryptic command counter draw for 2 mana (that value has me drooling) in a lot of different scenarios and the fact that it cycles has me wanting to play more of them, probably around 2.
I think 4 leak is still probably correct, also remand might let you keep more opening hands that you would feel less comfortable keeping (because you dont have a mana leak in your opening draw), so that you have more chances of cycling into it.
overall remand just reminds me of shadow of doubt in so far as how free and good it is since it cycles.
Another question is since most cruel control decks run rakdos charm in the sideboard, graveyard hate is covered fairly well, however i think a split of 1 charm 1 relic of progenitus is a good idea since rakdos charm does cost you a card, and if they dont go for any graveyard shenanigans its dead, whereas relic just cycles if that happens, Also the fact that relic is colorless actually does come up a lot vs the living end matchup, since living end plays SO many land destruction cards like beast within ( my god is that a nasty card.. ) and fulminator mages. Keeping us off of 1 black 1 red is not that hard.
electrolyze is just better than magma jet in modern for a lot of different reasons, first off it has a realistic chance of becoming a 3 for 1 if your opponent has 2 creatures in play with 1 toughness each, like what you'd face against early pod or affinity.
scry 2 is great and i won't say it isn't attractive but when you can 3 for 1 for 3 mana at instant speed, I think the upside just outweighs scry 2 by too large an amount. Also if your deck is filled with a lot of magma jets and your opponent is playing lingering souls or coming at you fast by dumping their hand with affinity on the first couple turns you really can't afford to just 1 for 1 them even if it means scrying 2 each time you do so.
lingering souls is a nightmare if you're just playing magma jets, whereas at least electrolyze trades fairly even with lingering souls.
Really interesting picture Tupie-San, Although your first attachment doesn't show (maybe its just for me). The second one is a picture that i hadn't actually seen before and does seem to further bolster the ugin follower rationale. To address your question
Now I do also wonder if each clan is just worshipping a part of Ugin, if so then why would the Jeskai tribe be the only ones to use the ghostfire?
the Eye of Ugin seems to be constantly emphasized as the main attribute of Ugin. We don't really ever hear about his claw etc. but i suppose that doesn't completely rule out other parts of him being worshiped. Since so little is known about Ugin (especially by me since I didn't play magic during that time) I don't know that we can really say.
"U•gin
noun
A spirit dragon of legend whose fiery breath is invisible. Certain monks who worship Ugin are granted a third eye and the ability to see and use the dragon's breath."
This is when i took a closer look at the art on ghostfire and realized the monk depicted had some asian style or quality about him.
Then I realised that there were bound to be monks on Tarkir and remembered the images spoiled for us at the SDCC panel. Sure enough I found a piece of art depicting a monk with a third eye.
This art is of the Jeskai clan whose symbol is also the "Eye of the dragon"
Edit: Tupie-San pointed out another similar picture to this one, it can be seen on the 4th post of this thread.
Since this monk has a third eye there is reason to believe that they are a worshiper of Ugin and that they were granted the third eye, also that they might have the ability to use and see ghostfire. The monk having a third eye could of course be just a coincidence but I thought that it was just too unlikely that it was only a coincidence since a third eye on a monk is something magic seems to have prepared for already given the date of the first link.
If it is indeed the case that this monk is a worshiper of Ugin the spirit dragon, then this brings up many questions.
P.S. Was unsure if this post belonged in this section, if it should be moved please move it mods, Ty. Moved to Speculation - Wildfire393
I was thinking perhaps Sultai: Resource manipulation, mechanic is a way to "manipulate resources".
their mechanic could maybe be "Delve" or "Threshold" because of the resource of using their graveyard perhaps ? its very black green
Adding to your point on Fetches also filling your graveyard as a use for them, this seems like it could fit with the BUG clan i think it was that were all about accruing more and more resources ( i think i read somewhere that was their theme). Also it has been stated that another old thing would be returning in Khans that was in addition to Morph. A possibility would be that the BUG clan could accrue their resources by filling up their grave and Utilizing the Threshold mechanic, an old favorite ;).
Although now that i think about it, doesnt remanding a flashbacked think twice actually just negate a think twice CA? hm, the only benefit i can think of now for an instance where remand is worse than think twice is when you're getting thoughtseized, but they never really take ur think twice with a thoughtseize anyway.
I think the fact that remand cycles (possibly into a mana leak) and early on often timewalks your opponent is just too good of an upside. not to mention later on in a counterfight its very far from dead if used correctly. in addition its a hard counter to flashbacked spells and has potential to be a cryptic command counter draw for 2 mana (that value has me drooling) in a lot of different scenarios and the fact that it cycles has me wanting to play more of them, probably around 2.
I think 4 leak is still probably correct, also remand might let you keep more opening hands that you would feel less comfortable keeping (because you dont have a mana leak in your opening draw), so that you have more chances of cycling into it.
overall remand just reminds me of shadow of doubt in so far as how free and good it is since it cycles.
Another question is since most cruel control decks run rakdos charm in the sideboard, graveyard hate is covered fairly well, however i think a split of 1 charm 1 relic of progenitus is a good idea since rakdos charm does cost you a card, and if they dont go for any graveyard shenanigans its dead, whereas relic just cycles if that happens, Also the fact that relic is colorless actually does come up a lot vs the living end matchup, since living end plays SO many land destruction cards like beast within ( my god is that a nasty card.. ) and fulminator mages. Keeping us off of 1 black 1 red is not that hard.
scry 2 is great and i won't say it isn't attractive but when you can 3 for 1 for 3 mana at instant speed, I think the upside just outweighs scry 2 by too large an amount. Also if your deck is filled with a lot of magma jets and your opponent is playing lingering souls or coming at you fast by dumping their hand with affinity on the first couple turns you really can't afford to just 1 for 1 them even if it means scrying 2 each time you do so.
lingering souls is a nightmare if you're just playing magma jets, whereas at least electrolyze trades fairly even with lingering souls.
"U•gin
noun
A spirit dragon of legend whose fiery breath is invisible. Certain monks who worship Ugin are granted a third eye and the ability to see and use the dragon's breath."
This is when i took a closer look at the art on ghostfire and realized the monk depicted had some asian style or quality about him.
Then I realised that there were bound to be monks on Tarkir and remembered the images spoiled for us at the SDCC panel. Sure enough I found a piece of art depicting a monk with a third eye.
This art is of the Jeskai clan whose symbol is also the "Eye of the dragon"
Edit: Tupie-San pointed out another similar picture to this one, it can be seen on the 4th post of this thread.
Since this monk has a third eye there is reason to believe that they are a worshiper of Ugin and that they were granted the third eye, also that they might have the ability to use and see ghostfire. The monk having a third eye could of course be just a coincidence but I thought that it was just too unlikely that it was only a coincidence since a third eye on a monk is something magic seems to have prepared for already given the date of the first link.
If it is indeed the case that this monk is a worshiper of Ugin the spirit dragon, then this brings up many questions.
P.S. Was unsure if this post belonged in this section, if it should be moved please move it mods, Ty.
Moved to Speculation - Wildfire393
their mechanic could maybe be "Delve" or "Threshold" because of the resource of using their graveyard perhaps ? its very black green