I agree that Push gives Jund/Mardu Burn a new sideboard card, but I don't agree that it's going to hit $10 in the current print climate. I don't think an uncommon in a Standard set is going to sustain $10.
I see where you are coming from and I agree mostly, just based on statistics and card availability, in Theory... but... Fatal Push will dominate Standard, be prevalent in Modern, and might even make Legacy deck lists. Let me diverge for a second.
I have opened a ton of Kaladesh, tons of packs, and my son got a box for Christmas, so we have seen even the guts of more Kaladesh packs since then, opening a few packs every few days. It seems that all the "good" uncommons are harder to find. I just Finally got a full set of Harnessed Lightning, months later, and I have opened a lot of packs. So, humor me here, if the good uncommons are getting harder to find, it seems to me that a really In Demand uncommon like Fatal Push will have a higher price. It is already at 5.00 at least in a couple of places I have seen on the web. So, we'll see... You are probably right, but it's going to be one expensive "uncommon" for sure.
While others have opted for the Naya build of Modern Burn, I have sat stubbornly in my corner, playing a nice Mardu burn list. For years, I have always felt that maybe I was just one more card away from justifying the Mardu choice, and if nothing else, I liked the sideboard options that came from running black with my Rakdos Charms. I also just felt that something would be printed in black that would help justify that choice.
And it feels like Mardu Burn gets a really nice little sideboard card in Fatal Push. I see a lot of lists running Path to Exile in their sideboards, and I think Fatal Push can fill that role nicely, and not grant the basic land and mana acceleration that Path gives to our opponent. I'm excited to buy a bunch of Fatal Pushs now... I'm going to need a couple of sets. This uncommon will be $10.00 before it's all said and done.
I've been running a variant of this deck, which I started building over the last few weeks. Back in the days when "Extended" was the format most closely resembling "Modern," I played a Recurring Nightmare and Survival of the Fittest deck that was really fun, and employed much of the "toolbox" quality that was later exemplified in Birthing Pod decks and decks like this using Eldritch Evolution. I often find when playing that type of deck that the "toolbox" aspect could be both a blessing and a detriment, as I would often spend time being so reactive to other decks' threats, that I failed to establish my own threats, and if a person played with Islands and counterspells, that I was losing more than I liked...
Anyway, fast forward 15 years, and I get a set of "Eldritch Evolution." I start playing around with various ideas and devise a rougher draft of the following list, which has now been fine-tuned and tweaked a bit, and is a blast to play. I play with a less toolbox-oriented approach, opting for high value beaters (that pair well with Eldritch Evolution), mana dorks for acceleration, and a nice removal package, and the deck has been surprising resilient in my recent matches for Friday Night Magic. I like that it comes across as fairly "rogue" in the current meta, and that it has surprisingly explosive qualities.
I guess my notable changes would be the use of Congregation at Dawn over Chord of Calling, a heavier reliance on the Archangel/Spike Feeder "Death Peaches" combo, and use of Path to Exile in the sideboard. My intuition tells me that I should use them main deck, but I just got the 3 Paths Friday, and haven't had a chance to figure what to take out. Anguished Unmaking is probably the card to go from main deck to sideboard, but I do like that Anguished targets any non-land permanent, and not just creatures. I imagine that many lists use Hierarch or Wall of Roots instead of the Caryatid, but I do find the "hexproof" quality of the Caryatid to be extra nice in Modern, and I like that I can get some black mana out of the Sylvan Caryatid, while the Bant-y Hierarch, only taps for white, blue and green. The black in this deck is pretty light, but I do like being able to hard cast Siege Rhinos, and black is critical, of course, for the Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse.
Anyway... I love putting out a second turn Leatherback Big-Butt, and applying pressure in the early game from a beat down perspective. If the Baloth loses superiority in the Power/Toughness arena, the Baloth is also a great Eldritch sacrifice, netting me anything in the deck, but especially the Gearhulk, a Baneslayer if needed, or Archangel to complete the "combo" for ultimate lifegain. Couple really large creatures, infinitely large at times, with a nice removal package, and it's not unusual to get in for a TON of damage, and to do it quickly.
The deck is a rough draft, but has "placed" in my last 4 FNM's, in a pretty diverse, competitive meta, and I get lots of props from all the "rogues" in the store who like seeing a fresh take on this deck. The deck proves to be pretty explosive, remarkably resilient, and seems to have "game" against most of the decks I see in my respective arena. Sure, there are bad matchups, but this deck is focused enough that it can still win, even against decks it should conceivably have a poor match-up.
I played this Jund deck on Friday; the deck look like it cost Eleventy Billion dollars... All the Lili's, the Tarmos, expensive lands, everything... As a card lover, it was really fun to see the cards my opponent was dropping, and the deck was beautiful. We battled to a true "draw," with us going to time in the third game, and no winner. At the end, we complimented each other on our decks, and shared congratulations for a really fun matchup, full of interaction. I got a lot of satisfaction in taking that deck "to time," considering it probably cost $2000, to the roughly $200 mine cost.
This deck has game, especially as sort of a rogue deck out of left field. There is something very fun about casting huge creatures, and being able to do so in the early turns of the game. I love playing this deck, and it has become my "pet deck" in Modern over the last month.
Collective Defiance has a nice "wheel" effect, though it's not straightforward and has to be set up properly. However, the general versatility of the card makes it seem like a good fit here. Pay 5 mana, do 4 damage to creature, 3 damage to player, with "wheel" effect added in. I like the card a lot in Standard, but seems like a powerful enough card to warrant inclusion in a singleton format.
True... And that makes for difficult mana sequencing on occasion, but with a deck that lacks any real strong 1-drop, I have found it to work on most occasions. Usually, a have CIPT land first turn, but then can sequence up to 3- and 4 mana without any dropoff in pace or production. After I get 4 or 5 lands, it doesn't even really matter anymore.
But I'm ruing a change towards Nird Apes and Toolcraft Ex's and that will undoubtedly make me reconsider the land base.
I had poor draws on Saturday, going 1-3, and making me consider some changes to the deck.
I have also found that I play much better at NIGHT than at DAY events. I'm one of the best FNM players; I tend to always suck at Saturday day events.
I've been playing with several elements of this deck since Kaladesh was released. At first, I sought a true marriage between "Innistrad" and "Kaladesh" themes, using a lot of "madness" cards to go with the new equipment and a nice Mardu land base. In my build, I was running a stronger theme of "burn" and coupled that with madness, equipment, and value oriented creatures... And it looked really good on paper, and even started to "win games" as I tweaked and adjusted it. But I would often find myself needing to just KILL a creature, and have Alms of the Vein in hand. After a month or so of playtesting, I changed gears, pulled the Heirs and Alms, and opted for the list I am running below.
This deck is more of a "Mardu Midrange Control" than most of the decks presented here, as I'm eschewing several of the 1 drop creatures for a stronger burn package. The deck has played really well as of late, going 3-1 last week for FNM (where I OBLITERATED my foes in my 3 wins) and I hope for some good results for the "Standard Showdown" being played at my local shop tomorrow. Here is my list:
In thinking about this deck, I find the cards Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Collective Defiance (especially, "escalated" by 1) to be very powerful cards that help control the board state. I find those cards to really be the MVP's of the deck, and my inclusion of those two cards seems to be different than most approaches for this deck. I like that THC makes people's creatures and non-basic lands come into play "stoned"/tapped, while Collective Defiance with 4 to creature and 3 to the Dome is also really powerful in this current Standard. I hope for some good results tomorrow.
One thing I like about this deck is that it is versatile enough in its options, that sideboarding is less necessary. I'm still working on my sideboard in fact, and need to piece together those 15 cards for tomorrow. But I like that the deck has answers for most threats. It may not be as fast as the typical lists being presented here, but I think it's better in long, grind games, with more of a "back end" and burn package for the final bits of damage. And I finally beat a GR Delirium deck last week that has beaten my like 4 times over the last month. So, it's making progress, and it's really fun to play.
The Lavamancer is an awesome card, but one I don't get to use very often. As a 2-of in my deck, it's not a major part of the game plan, and I don't very often see it. In fact, it had been such a rarity that I pondered replacing him with something else, maybe an Thermo-Alchemist or something... And then I had one of "those games."
I place a turn 1 or 2 Lavamancer, my opponent has a lot of 1 and 2-toughness creatures... My opponent cannot seem to get rid of Grim Lavaman, while Grim Lavaman makes short work of his weenie horde, showing himself to have real value, and to be an all-star when in the right situation...
So, yeah... GL is a great card, very useful, and great for grindy matchups or creature stalls.
As a "Modern" player, rotations didn't bother me too much, but now that my 13 year old has expressed playing "Standard" like his friends, I made some investment in the beginning pieces of a decent standard deck. I rationalized the cost by saying, "well, at least it's 6 months to play with the deck." This new rotation means I get longer with freshly bought cards for Standard, so I find this to be good news.
I purchased 4 packs at FNM last week, and got a Copter and Torrential Gearhulk. With Bomat Courier and the new weird green Fabricate elf that bolsters other attacking creatures with its power. Although the last 2 rares were less exciting, getting a Mythic and a Chase rare same night seemed awesome to me.
That felt like a WIN.
Please avoid spam/brag posts in this thread ~Lantern
I know that the Tier 1 Modern burn lists are pretty highly tuned now, and there isn't much room for deviation/derivation at the top, if you still want to be "competitive."
I've been running the same standard 14 creatures (4 Guides, 4 Swiftspear, 4 Eidolon, and 2 LavaMan) that most people run, but I've gotten real intrigued with that new Thermo-Alchemist. I took a list to FNM last Friday, and although I went 3-2 for the night, I did find the Alchemist to be useful, and very good in any sort of grindy matchup.
I'm going to start running 14 creatures with the following arrangement, and see how it plays; 4 Guide, 4 Swiftspears, 4 Alchemist and 2 Eidolon, and leave the other 2 Eidolon in the sideboard... I'm curious to see how the Alchemist does going forward... I was getting sometimes 4 or 5 damage out of his 2 mana spent. He may be a turn slow, since he doesn't have haste, but he really does well in grindy matchups.
In thinking about it, though, it seems that several of the cards get cast into Exile, so kind of counterproductive to Reveler plans. I have been messing with Reveler with Lightning Bolts and Modern burn spells and those fill the graveyard faster, while this mana curve is highly more intensive, meaning Reveler sits in my hand too long to be useful. So, my idea is probably rubbish... Which is fine... It feels like I need more mana, so lose Revelers, up lands to 24 maybe, and play test the Bloodhall Priest, either replacing or upping depending on their utility.
At least it's an idea, and I have most everything, so can be done on the cheap, and will have "something" to play/refine for awhile in the Standard universe at FNMs.
I'm more of a modern player, and usually play modern at FNM events, but my 13 year old (who has many cronies that play at FNM too) is looking for a standard deck, and I had many of the pieces of this B/R Madness thing presented in great detail here...
I'm not seeing many references to Bedlam Reveler and he feels incredibly strong for this archetype. I also really like Thermo-Alchemist and think he fits synergistically with the deck well, as long as the deck is stacked with instants and sorceries.
So, my list is less creature oriented, to maximize my Alchemist... Otherwise, I seem to be running many of the same cards presented here...
Nahiri's Wrath seems to be the odd man out... If other cards are getting us to discard, and we are discarding lands to fill the graveyard for the Splendid Reclamation, discarding tons of lands to Nahiri's Wrath equals no damage.
Maybe this is just another piece to a bigger puzzle, but the Wrath doesn't seem to fit.
I guess there are no Land's Edge effects anywhere in Standard, but it seems like an interesting idea that could potentially be abused in one of the Eternal formats, especially Legacy. Of course, that is not the intent in a Standard forum.
"Sylvan" is an adjective, and not a location. "Sylvan" means "of or related to the woods or wooded areas." So, the caryatid and the library were merely in wooded locations, and thus were "sylvan."
Internet "trolls" basically have no life, and their mission is to get under your skin. If you are letting the trolls win, then you either need to re-evaluate your goals, re-evaluate the places you frequent on the Internet, or re-evaluate where and how you "display" yourself on the web.
I fail to see why this young lady is even important to the MtG community. It's not apparently because she plays Magic well, it's because she displays herself in skimpy costumes dressed like Chandra or Liliana... She wants a million followers on Instagram or something...
When you freely display yourself on the web, you're going to be subject to some ugly talk. I hate that for the young lady, but this isn't a MtG problem, this is an Internet/Real World problem. Does this girl play tournament level Magic? If she doesn't, then why do we care? I'm not attacking the young lady in my free time, but this hardly seems germane to the conversation on mtgsalvation.com.
I see where you are coming from and I agree mostly, just based on statistics and card availability, in Theory... but... Fatal Push will dominate Standard, be prevalent in Modern, and might even make Legacy deck lists. Let me diverge for a second.
I have opened a ton of Kaladesh, tons of packs, and my son got a box for Christmas, so we have seen even the guts of more Kaladesh packs since then, opening a few packs every few days. It seems that all the "good" uncommons are harder to find. I just Finally got a full set of Harnessed Lightning, months later, and I have opened a lot of packs. So, humor me here, if the good uncommons are getting harder to find, it seems to me that a really In Demand uncommon like Fatal Push will have a higher price. It is already at 5.00 at least in a couple of places I have seen on the web. So, we'll see... You are probably right, but it's going to be one expensive "uncommon" for sure.
And it feels like Mardu Burn gets a really nice little sideboard card in Fatal Push. I see a lot of lists running Path to Exile in their sideboards, and I think Fatal Push can fill that role nicely, and not grant the basic land and mana acceleration that Path gives to our opponent. I'm excited to buy a bunch of Fatal Pushs now... I'm going to need a couple of sets. This uncommon will be $10.00 before it's all said and done.
Bastion?
Rampart?
Fortification?
I like "buttress" a lot, as that describes the effect well, and also sounds nice with "bolster" which is a sort of similar variant of this effect.
Anyway, fast forward 15 years, and I get a set of "Eldritch Evolution." I start playing around with various ideas and devise a rougher draft of the following list, which has now been fine-tuned and tweaked a bit, and is a blast to play. I play with a less toolbox-oriented approach, opting for high value beaters (that pair well with Eldritch Evolution), mana dorks for acceleration, and a nice removal package, and the deck has been surprising resilient in my recent matches for Friday Night Magic. I like that it comes across as fairly "rogue" in the current meta, and that it has surprisingly explosive qualities.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Leatherback Baloth
3 Archangel of Thune
3 Spike Feeder
2 Siege Rhino
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Siege Rhino
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
REMOVAL
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Anguished Unmaking
4 Eldritch Evolution
2 Congregation at Dawn
LANDS
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Murmuring Bosk
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Godless Shrine
2 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Plains
3 Path to Exile
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Ruinous Path
1 Flaying Tendrils
4 Naturalize
4 flex spots
I guess my notable changes would be the use of Congregation at Dawn over Chord of Calling, a heavier reliance on the Archangel/Spike Feeder "Death Peaches" combo, and use of Path to Exile in the sideboard. My intuition tells me that I should use them main deck, but I just got the 3 Paths Friday, and haven't had a chance to figure what to take out. Anguished Unmaking is probably the card to go from main deck to sideboard, but I do like that Anguished targets any non-land permanent, and not just creatures. I imagine that many lists use Hierarch or Wall of Roots instead of the Caryatid, but I do find the "hexproof" quality of the Caryatid to be extra nice in Modern, and I like that I can get some black mana out of the Sylvan Caryatid, while the Bant-y Hierarch, only taps for white, blue and green. The black in this deck is pretty light, but I do like being able to hard cast Siege Rhinos, and black is critical, of course, for the Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse.
Anyway... I love putting out a second turn Leatherback Big-Butt, and applying pressure in the early game from a beat down perspective. If the Baloth loses superiority in the Power/Toughness arena, the Baloth is also a great Eldritch sacrifice, netting me anything in the deck, but especially the Gearhulk, a Baneslayer if needed, or Archangel to complete the "combo" for ultimate lifegain. Couple really large creatures, infinitely large at times, with a nice removal package, and it's not unusual to get in for a TON of damage, and to do it quickly.
The deck is a rough draft, but has "placed" in my last 4 FNM's, in a pretty diverse, competitive meta, and I get lots of props from all the "rogues" in the store who like seeing a fresh take on this deck. The deck proves to be pretty explosive, remarkably resilient, and seems to have "game" against most of the decks I see in my respective arena. Sure, there are bad matchups, but this deck is focused enough that it can still win, even against decks it should conceivably have a poor match-up.
I played this Jund deck on Friday; the deck look like it cost Eleventy Billion dollars... All the Lili's, the Tarmos, expensive lands, everything... As a card lover, it was really fun to see the cards my opponent was dropping, and the deck was beautiful. We battled to a true "draw," with us going to time in the third game, and no winner. At the end, we complimented each other on our decks, and shared congratulations for a really fun matchup, full of interaction. I got a lot of satisfaction in taking that deck "to time," considering it probably cost $2000, to the roughly $200 mine cost.
This deck has game, especially as sort of a rogue deck out of left field. There is something very fun about casting huge creatures, and being able to do so in the early turns of the game. I love playing this deck, and it has become my "pet deck" in Modern over the last month.
But I'm ruing a change towards Nird Apes and Toolcraft Ex's and that will undoubtedly make me reconsider the land base.
I had poor draws on Saturday, going 1-3, and making me consider some changes to the deck.
I have also found that I play much better at NIGHT than at DAY events. I'm one of the best FNM players; I tend to always suck at Saturday day events.
This deck is more of a "Mardu Midrange Control" than most of the decks presented here, as I'm eschewing several of the 1 drop creatures for a stronger burn package. The deck has played really well as of late, going 3-1 last week for FNM (where I OBLITERATED my foes in my 3 wins) and I hope for some good results for the "Standard Showdown" being played at my local shop tomorrow. Here is my list:
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Veteran Motorist
2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
BURN/REMOVAL
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Collective Defiance
4 Fiery Temper
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Anguished Unmaking
4 Smuggler's Copter
1 Cultivator's Caravan
PLANESWALKER
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
LANDS
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Concealed Courtyard
3 Shambling Vent
3 Needle Spires
4 Mountain
In thinking about this deck, I find the cards Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Collective Defiance (especially, "escalated" by 1) to be very powerful cards that help control the board state. I find those cards to really be the MVP's of the deck, and my inclusion of those two cards seems to be different than most approaches for this deck. I like that THC makes people's creatures and non-basic lands come into play "stoned"/tapped, while Collective Defiance with 4 to creature and 3 to the Dome is also really powerful in this current Standard. I hope for some good results tomorrow.
One thing I like about this deck is that it is versatile enough in its options, that sideboarding is less necessary. I'm still working on my sideboard in fact, and need to piece together those 15 cards for tomorrow. But I like that the deck has answers for most threats. It may not be as fast as the typical lists being presented here, but I think it's better in long, grind games, with more of a "back end" and burn package for the final bits of damage. And I finally beat a GR Delirium deck last week that has beaten my like 4 times over the last month. So, it's making progress, and it's really fun to play.
I place a turn 1 or 2 Lavamancer, my opponent has a lot of 1 and 2-toughness creatures... My opponent cannot seem to get rid of Grim Lavaman, while Grim Lavaman makes short work of his weenie horde, showing himself to have real value, and to be an all-star when in the right situation...
So, yeah... GL is a great card, very useful, and great for grindy matchups or creature stalls.
That felt like a WIN.
Please avoid spam/brag posts in this thread ~Lantern
I've been running the same standard 14 creatures (4 Guides, 4 Swiftspear, 4 Eidolon, and 2 LavaMan) that most people run, but I've gotten real intrigued with that new Thermo-Alchemist. I took a list to FNM last Friday, and although I went 3-2 for the night, I did find the Alchemist to be useful, and very good in any sort of grindy matchup.
I'm going to start running 14 creatures with the following arrangement, and see how it plays; 4 Guide, 4 Swiftspears, 4 Alchemist and 2 Eidolon, and leave the other 2 Eidolon in the sideboard... I'm curious to see how the Alchemist does going forward... I was getting sometimes 4 or 5 damage out of his 2 mana spent. He may be a turn slow, since he doesn't have haste, but he really does well in grindy matchups.
At least it's an idea, and I have most everything, so can be done on the cheap, and will have "something" to play/refine for awhile in the Standard universe at FNMs.
I'm not seeing many references to Bedlam Reveler and he feels incredibly strong for this archetype. I also really like Thermo-Alchemist and think he fits synergistically with the deck well, as long as the deck is stacked with instants and sorceries.
So, my list is less creature oriented, to maximize my Alchemist... Otherwise, I seem to be running many of the same cards presented here...
This is my rough draft, not counting lands...
4 Thermo-Alchemist
4 Bedlam Reveler
2 Bloodhall Priest
4 Collective Brutality
4 Collective Defiance
4 Fiery Temper
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Alms of the Vein
4 Incendiary Flow
Maybe this is just another piece to a bigger puzzle, but the Wrath doesn't seem to fit.
I guess there are no Land's Edge effects anywhere in Standard, but it seems like an interesting idea that could potentially be abused in one of the Eternal formats, especially Legacy. Of course, that is not the intent in a Standard forum.