sorry i didn't rehash all of your review into my reply, but I didn't want to boggart the entire page of the thread with it.
The problem I have with your assessment of Supreme Will is the "its isn't dead until turns 3-5" but you can't even cast the mana leak side until turn 3 so it is always closer to starting out as dead half of a card. I think Censor is better over all because while it isn't taxing the spell for as much it also is all around cheaper for each function the card offers. Not saying it wont see play, I just have trouble thinking of a deck that can actually make use of it. Esper is already heavily clogged at the 3cc and this doesn't seem better than the things like Esper Charm or Lingering Souls, UW doesn't even run many counters at all and the ones it prefers are hard counters with upside like Cryptic or functionally hard counters like Logic Knot, Grixis also runs very light on counters in favor of creature removal and Cryptic or Spell Snare as hard counter options, Jeskai similar to UW doesn't run many counters and the ones it does run are again leaning more towards the harder counter options and is more of a long game burn deck with creature removal; maybe they swap out the one of leak for this?
Again I'm not saying it will not see play, its just that 3 mana is expensive for a affect that currently sees little to no play in the decks that have access to the affect for a mana less.
Nimble Obstructionist also I think will suffer from the cost stapled onto it, if it had the ability as a ETB trigger on top of the cycle affect it would be much more playable but as it stands the format is so fast and most decks that offering targets for the affect are doing so very early T1 T2 so maybe you snipe a T3 fetch but decks like Grixis DS will have most likely seen him in your hand by that point and either discarded him if he is problematic or simply be at a phase in the game in which they can disregard him as they will likely have you in a position of needing to cast him to chump block. And cycling this against something like Inkmoth Nexus just seems like a losing situation since affinity likely can simply pay 1 to activate it in response so you achieved what? making a Inkmoth activation cost 2 instead of 1? hardly seems worth it. the Stifle affect should have been costed at 1U if the creature is going to simply be a vanilla flash flier.
I also think that Bontu's Last Reckoning is a bit better than your giving it credit for, I could see it easily sliding into any UBx since getting to the late game is paramount in those types of decks and casting this on 3, serum visions or fatal push on 4, and having the option to Snap it back on 5 seems like a solid plan for pulling aggro decks into deep water. Haste creatures are not hyper prevalent out side of burn and your likely isn't going to want to over commit in the face of a follow up wipe on 5.
Hallow One doesn't seem worthy of a Honorable mention his stats are just bad, if you cast him for 1 you get a vanilla 4/4, way better things that you can cheat into play for 1 mana in the format. Not to mention he dies to the shatter half of Kcommand which just seems like such a swing in favor of the Kcommand caster.
Hollow One is a free card when you meet it's threshold and that's worth talking about. "dies to removal" is a poor argument for him not seeing play since he dodges fatal push/bolt with ease. I can see reanimator decks trying it out at the very least since they run faithless looting/other loot effects. Explain why Damnation/Supreme Verdict/Wrath of God are worse than Bontu's last reckoning in traditional decks that are full of removal. Out of the tier 1 decks only affinity kills you by turn 3 with creatures alone for someone to turn faster wrath. Bontu's last reckoning needs a reason to be played over the other ones for it's high drawback. You have to think of Obstructionist like shadow of doubt where it gets you value for very little cost or it's a beater. You are mad that it doesn't do everything. I agree to disagree on how you view supreme will. The most played deck in the format is almost never out of mana leak range. Supreme Will slots into UW control nicely as a 1-2 of since that deck has almost nothing to do on turn 3 of it's curve.
4
Claim // Fame (mostly just the Claim half, even though it's worse than Unearth)
3
Solemnity (combos with Phyrexian Unlife)
Lurching Rotbeast (Living End. Second rate compared to Horror or Carabid, but every black cycler counts.)
Scavenger Grounds (1-of in Eldrazi Tron. Bojuka Bog is better with Knight/Amulet)
2
Overwhelming Splendor
Steward of Solidarity (combos with Intruder Alarm. DAE unban Earthcraft? )
Sunscourge Champion (sleeper pick. It looks like a noob creature, but it's a 2/3 gain 2 followed by 4/4 gain 4. That's probably the definition of a noob creature though.)
Nimble Obstructionist
Strategic Planning (better than Taigam's Scheming, because it replaces itself)
Razaketh's Rite
Crash Through (replacement for Gitaxian Probe in Kiln Fiend)
Life Goes On (could have been better if it was revolt instead of morbid)
Ramunap Excavator
Consign // Oblivion
Hollow One
Hostile Desert
Defeat cycle (B>R=W>U>G)
God's Last _____ cycle and Hazoret's Undying Fury (B>R>G=W>U)
After thinking about it, I don't think the God's Last _____ cycle is that good. They get worse as the game goes on because those spells still exert the lands that you tapped for other spells. So if you Snap -> black wrath, you miss out on 5 lands worth of mana next turn, not 3. That's bad. It's less of a disadvantage for the red one because it's meant as a combo finisher, but it's an inconsistent combo finisher.
All the random Desert stuff doesn't seem playable. The payoff for building around Deserts is mostly creatures with combat abilities, which begs the question of "why not play Goyf/Tasigur/whatever efficient beater". They missed an opportunity to make Into the North for Deserts (Shefet Monitor doesn't count).
Overall there's enough random combos in this set to make me happy. Claim//Fame seems like a really good card for fair decks (by that I mean Grixis DS).
card # of decks on mtgtop8
Cartouche of Solidarity 1 Cast Out 14 Gideon of the Trials 20
Glory-Bound Initiate 1
Oketra the True 0
Renewed Faith 0 Vizier of Remedies 69
As Foretold 2 (both UW control with AV and RB)
Censor 6
Cryptic Serpent 1
Curator of Mysteries 2 (all LE)
Drake Haven 0
Kefnet the Mindful 2
New Perspectives 0
Pull from Tomorrow 1 Archfiend of Ifnir 24 (all LE)
Bone Picker 1
Bontu the Glorified 0 Horror of the Broken Lands 34 (all LE)
Liliana, Death's Majesty 0
Plague Belcher 0
Shadow of the Grave 0
Trial of Ambition 0 By Force 16
Consuming Fervor 0 Desert Cerodon 32 (all LE)
Flameblade Adept 0
Glorious End 0
Harsh Mentor 8
Hazoret the Fervent 8
Soul-Scar Mage 0 Sweltering Suns 19
Channeler Initiate 0
Dissenter's Deliverance 1
Exemplar of Strength 0
Greater Sandwurm 0
Honored Hydra 0
Manglehorn 5 Rhonas the Indomitable 26
Sixth Sense 0
Vizier of the Menagerie 5
Enigma Drake 0
Nissa, Steward of Elements 7
Samut, Voice of Dissent 0
Dusk // Dawn 9
Never // Return 4
Start // Finish 8 (7 Dredge, 1 Tokens)
Reduce // Rubble 3 (all redge)
Failure // Comply 0
Cut // Ribbons 0
Bontu's Monument 0
Hazoret's Monument 0
Kefnet's Monument 0
Oketra's Monument 0
Oracle's Vault 0
Pyramid of the Pantheon 0
Rhonas's Monument 0
Throne of the God-Pharaoh 1
Canyon Slough 10 (9 Dredge, 1 Rakdos Demigod)
Cascading Cataracts 0
Fetid Pools 2
Irrigated Farmland 9 (all UWx control)
Scattered Groves 0 Sheltered Thicket 21 (mostly Dredge and Valakut)
The best card form the set is Vizier of Remedies. Joel Larsson boldly predicted just that, and Harsh Mentor would be unplayable, so props to him. Vizier is the heart of both combos in the Company deck (Seer + Vizier + Finks, Devoted Druid + Vizier + Recruiter/Chord/Ballista/Rhonas), and one of those combos doesn't use the graveyard.
The next best cards are the cyclers for Living End: Horror, Cerodon and Archfiend. The extra 1-mana cyclers have made the deck much more mana-efficient; you'll see nary a Jungle Weaver or Pale Recluse in today's LE. Archfiend costs 2 to cycle, but he comes with a relevant ability and evasion. Nevertheless, he's often played as a 2-of, not 4-of. Also worth noting that the overwhelming majority of LE decks did not add blue for Curator of Mysteries or the plan Bs of Drake Haven/As Foretold.
Gideon of the trials is a staple in UW control decks. I would hardly call that underwhelming since he is in a tier 2 deck. I think censor is good enough to see play there just isn't a deck home for it IMHO.
-Supreme Will: I feel like people are underrating this card because it has an overcosted mana leak stapled on to it. Similar to censor, this card is never dead since it also has impulse stapled onto it. It's decent early game since many decks don't have many lands in their decks so the mana leak potion isn't dead til turns 3-5. The stapled impulse seems very good on this card since people have been willing to play forbidden alchemy in their decks in the past and that also cost 3 mana which also digs 4 cards.
-Claim // Fame: One of the most attractive of the cards that has been revealed thus far due to the claim part on the card. Claim allows us to reanimate very powerful cards that are already played in tier 1-2 decks including: Death's shadow, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster mage, dark confidant, Grim flayer. However I am interested in this card because it has great synergy with Jace, Vryn's prodigy since paying three mana allows us to reanimate jace and give him haste so he can become a planeswalker instantly which is very nice. However, the issue is that this card can be dead a lot of the time since there isn't always a creature to reanimate. I'll definitely be brewing with it for some fun jank at the very least.
-Scavenger Grounds: This land could be a nice 1 of in a tron deck that doesn't mind it coming into it's mana base.
Cards that have a chance to see play:
-Solemnity: Combos with phyrexian unlife. Doubles as decent sideboard hate as well. I'm a little uncertain of it directly slotting into ad naus because it's a clunky card that does nothing on it's own.
-Nimble Obstructionist: A nearly uncounterable stifle that cantrips and deals with many tier 1 threats in the format? Or if you don't want effect you get a 3/1 flying body with flash. This card will be played but I expect it to be the blue version of Aven Mindcensor/shadow of doubt where it will see play as a 1-2 at the most.
-Hollow One: One of my favorite cards revealed this far. Cost reduction mechanics are always scary to put on cards and this one doesn't take much work at all. Best of all he works with cards that are already good which is a good sign. Hollow one works best with: Cycling cards in a living end deck, street wraith can make him cost nothing potentially, faithless looting/cathartic reunion both make him cost one, collective brutality can dramatically reduce his cost as well. Time will tell on this one's playability but I would keep a watchful eye on this one.
-Bontu's Last Reckoning: One of the first cards that was leaked and has become forgotten. This card has a home in unconventional decks like tezzeret, agent of bolas decks because of the mana rocks that it uses, 8 rack because your opponents shouldn't have cards in their hand to punish you, etc.
-Rhonas's Last Stand: I have talked about this card a bit and I feel like it has the potential to find a deck home because it has a very attractive body for it's payoff. Mana dorks such as Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch make the downside easier and Lotus Cobra gets this in play with a fetchland crack. Being able to flash this back via snapcaster mage is cute but I feel like this is a card that a Mono G list would want. Fatal push hurts this cards viability sadly.
-Driven // Despair: A combat trick that seems decent in elves or Dredge since both can each side of the card. It's testable at the very least as a 1-2 of.
-Life Goes On: An interesting burn hate card that green decks can use from their sideboards. I worry about the narrowness of this card sine those same decks can just play kitchen finks which has more application against the format. Kitchen finks seems to have more general application against the format.
-Tragic Lesson: A divination at instant speed that has a discard/land unsummon as it's drawback. The only reason why I highlight this card is because it seems to slot into esper Goryo's Vengeance decks nicely.
Cards that have potential but don't quite get there
-Countervailing Winds: A cycling version of circular logic. This card makes me angry because we should have gotten a slightly nerfed version of circular logic in Shadows block. No reason to play this card in modern.
-Sunscourge Champion: A cute kitchen finks style card that comes back as a reasonable threat the turn after you play it. This card is very close to hitting the pan in modern. The issue that I see with it is that you have to discard a card to eternalilze it. Close but no cigar.
-Hour of Devastation: An extremely powerful effect that just doesn't have a home in modern. Skred red and sun and moon play a lot of planeswalkers so they don't want this. This card is heavily weakened because modern doesn't have a huge planeswalker issue, this goes in decks without access to sweapers and those are probably red intensive decks, and it kills koth, the hammer/Chandra, torch of defiance which are likely playing this card. It might see play in scapeshift decks but that's doubtful.
-Hazoret's Undying Fury: The first time that we have gotten a mind's desire effect in a long time. This one probably doesn't get there since it doesn't let you cast anything. The only home for this card is likely storm.
-Ammit Eternal: Beefy body that does a phyrexian negator impression but it's ultimately outclassed these days by bigger and better creatures. It seems on the cusp of being great but there are already beefy creatures that do not ask for as much. (tarmogoyf, tasigur, the golden fang, death's shadow, gurmag angler). This may move up depending on what else is revealed.
-Hour of Promise: I'm taking a wait and see approach to this card as we haven't seen all the deserts spoiled yet but as of right now the deserts determine it's playability in a scapeshift deck.
-Hostile Desert: Similar to the other deserts revealed thus far we have to wait and see how much the desert theme matters. This looks cute but it needs to much fuel to get going imho. A deck would have to play a lot of fetchlands and not mind it tapping for a colorless mana.
Abandoned Sarcophagus: An interesting combo enabler that likely doesn't have enough cards to enable it.
My top 5 cards that have the highest chance of seeing play in modern in no order:
1:Claim // Fame
Hi everyone. I am looking for some advice regards Nahiri, the Harbinger. At one point, she was ~£25 at an absolute minimum and I couldn't find her for anything else. I am not really a fan of spending that sort of money, so I didn't invest. For the last 2-3 weeks however I have been finding Nahiri at closer to 12, and even 10 in one occasion. Before I consider investing, could anyone give me an idea as to why this price may have collapsed? Are there better options for that spot? Or an abundance of easy ways to take care of her which didn't exist this time last year? I am looking to play her within a Restore Balance shell, if that helps. Thanks.
Jeskai Control is the only viable deck for her right now, and it's not doing that well. I don't think she sees play in Standard either.
She also good in WR prison and some titanshift builds. I've seen pros stream 4 color control decks with nahiri in it. (esper deck that flashes for nahiri)
My point exactly. WR Prison hasn't made a competitive appearance in ages and I'd never even heard of a Titanshift build that runs her until now.
In short, she puts up zero results right now.
Heavily disagree with this post as many decks are viable right now if you tune them correctly. Taking turns/faeries have been doing good in tournaments but are tier 3 decks. If you want to play nahiri in a deck I would look into 4 color control since pros have been streaming it recently.
Hi everyone. I am looking for some advice regards Nahiri, the Harbinger. At one point, she was ~£25 at an absolute minimum and I couldn't find her for anything else. I am not really a fan of spending that sort of money, so I didn't invest. For the last 2-3 weeks however I have been finding Nahiri at closer to 12, and even 10 in one occasion. Before I consider investing, could anyone give me an idea as to why this price may have collapsed? Are there better options for that spot? Or an abundance of easy ways to take care of her which didn't exist this time last year? I am looking to play her within a Restore Balance shell, if that helps. Thanks.
Jeskai Control is the only viable deck for her right now, and it's not doing that well. I don't think she sees play in Standard either.
She also good in WR prison and some titanshift builds. I've seen pros stream 4 color control decks with nahiri in it. (esper deck that flashes for nahiri)
Hollow One would've made the cut at 5/5. Even 4/5. But at 4/4, I'm not seeing a big enough body or payoff for the setup. Looting into Hollow on T2 is typically worse than just plain old Tasigur or Goyf on T2,
The difference is that when you are able to make Hollow one cast nothing, you can cast all the hollow ones in your hand.
-Nimble Obstructionist: A nearly uncounterable stifle that cantrips and deals with many tier 1 threats in the format? Or if you don't want effect you get a 3/1 flying body with flash. This card will be played but I expect it to be the blue version of Aven Mindcensor/shadow of doubt where it will see play as a 1-2 at the most.
Cards that have a chance to see play:
-Hollow One: One of my favorite cards revealed this far. Cost reduction mechanics are always scary to put on cards and this one doesn't take much work at all. Best of all he works with cards that are already good which is a good sign. Hollow one works best with: Cycling cards in a living end deck, street wraith can make him cost nothing potentially, faithless looting/cathartic reunion both make him cost one, collective brutality can dramatically reduce his cost as well. Time will tell on this one's playability but I would keep a watchful eye on this one.
-Rhonas's Last Stand: I have talked about this card a bit and I feel like it has the potential to find a deck home because it has a very attractive body for it's payoff. Mana dorks such as Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch make the downside easier and Lotus Cobra gets this in play with a fetchland crack. Being able to flash this back via snapcaster mage is cute but I feel like this is a card that a Mono G list would want. Fatal push hurts this cards viability sadly.
-Supreme Will: I feel like people are underrating this card because it has an overcosted mana leak stapled on to it. Similar to censor, this card is never dead since it also has impulse stapled onto it. It's decent early game since many decks don't have many lands in their decks so the mana leak potion isn't dead til turns 3-5. The stapled impulse seems very good on this card since people have been willing to play forbidden alchemy in their decks in the past and that also cost 3 mana which also digs 4 cards.
-Claim // Fame: One of the most attractive of the cards that has been revealed thus far due to the claim part on the card. Claim allows us to reanimate very powerful cards that are already played in tier 1-2 decks including: Death's shadow, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster mage, dark confidant, Grim flayer. However I am interested in this card because it has great synergy with Jace, Vryn's prodigy since paying three mana allows us to reanimate jace and give him haste so he can become a planeswalker instantly which is very nice. However, the issue is that this card can be dead a lot of the time since there isn't always a creature to reanimate. I'll definitely be brewing with it for some fun jank at the very least.
-Driven // Despair: A combat trick that seems decent in elves or Dredge since both can each side of the card. It's testable at the very least as a 1-2 of.
Cards that have potential but don't quite get there
-Ammit Eternal: Beefy body that does a phyrexian negator impression but it's ultimately outclassed these days by bigger and better creatures. It seems on the cusp of being great but there are already beefy creatures that do not ask for as much. (tarmogoyf, tasigur, the golden fang, death's shadow, gurmag angler). This may move up depending on what else is revealed.
-Hour of Promise: I'm taking a wait and see approach to this card as we haven't seen all the deserts spoiled yet but as of right now the deserts determine it's playability in a scapeshift deck.
-Scavenger Grounds: This land could be a nice 1 of in a tron deck that doesn't mind having this as part of it's sideboard. Sadly it has very stiff competition in terms of graveyard hate in modern as we have plenty of it: (Relic of progenitus, Grafdigger's cage, rest in peace to name a few) It's playability rests on how important deserts are.
-Hostile Desert: Similar to the other deserts revealed thus far we have to wait and see how much the desert theme matters. This looks cute but it needs to much fuel to get going imho. A deck would have to play a lot of fetchlands and not mind it tapping for a colorless mana.
I am also a bit surprised by Yuuta's choice to play 4x Remand. I understand that the card is a solid tempo play and doesn't rot in one's hand as much as, say, Mana Leak (which is particularly relevant with 4x Liliana of the Veil), but I can't imagine running the card in a meta full of Death's Shadow, Affinity, Burn, etc. where, as jeremy4050 noted, the opponent can just recast whatever card was remanded. I have been testing combinations of Mana Leak, Countersquall, and Logic Knot, and have found these cards to be pretty effective.
I was also surprised by how threat-light Yuuta's list was. I run the 8x creature lands, 4x Spellstutter, 3x Snapcaster, 3x Vendilion, and 1x Tasigur, and still feel like I can't always close out games. I used to run 3x Mistbind, but am trying to run a more control-oriented list without it. Has anyone else run into this problem?
Remand is great against shadow decks. Have you ever remanded a Tasigur/Angler? They have to re-delve their graveyard to cast it again. Remand is also very good against big mana decks because it often time walks them.
The more I think about Bloodbraid elf being on the banlist the less it makes sense. It got banned because it was "too good in jund." So lets analyize it being in jund right now. Currently jund midrange decks typically play about 6-8 discard spells, 12-15 creatures (around 10-12 hits for BBE), 3-5 planeswalkers (with veil being the only one that they can hit) and the rest is removal. So on average blood braid elf is either hitting a discard spell or a creature. So on average BBE is either a worse Thought-knot seer, a Nekrataal, or it's a sorcery speed collected company since it nets you two creatures in this scenario. It's very unlikely that it is going to hit a Liliana of the veil in the deck just based on numbers. Jund also doesn't have any way to properly manipulate the top card of their deck. Jund may want to play other 4 drops in their deck in combination since cards like Olivia Voldaren/Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet auto win games against certain decks. The biggest benefactor for this card coming off the banlist is actually zoo since they could use the haste body and the cascade to hit a fatty.
In RUG decks the fear is that BBE could hit an ancestral vision which would make it too good. However we only have serum vision as a form of good deck manipulation in modern so similar to the jund example, it's probably hitting removal/a creature most of the time. Why is this card banned when we have 7/7s for 1 mana, storm killing you quickly, dredge swarming the field with its creatures, affinity dumping it's hand, etc? And please don't tell me that this card sees play in shadow decks. There is no reason to play BloodBraid elf over Ranger of Eos since Ranger always getting you two death's shadows while Bloodbraid elf could hit a mishra's bauble with its cascade ability.
-Nimble Obstructionist: A nearly uncounterable stifle that cantrips and deals with many tier 1 threats in the format? Or if you don't want effect you get a 3/1 flying body with flash. This card will be played but I expect it to be the blue version of Aven Mindcensor/shadow of doubt where it will see play as a 1-2 at the most.
Cards that have a chance to see play:
-Rhonas's Last Stand: I have talked about this card a bit and I feel like it has the potential to find a deck home because it has a very attractive body for it's payoff. Mana dorks such as Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch make the downside easier and Lotus Cobra gets this in play with a fetchland crack. Being able to flash this back via snapcaster mage is cute but I feel like this is a card that a Mono G list would want. Fatal push hurts this cards viability sadly.
-Supreme Will: I feel like people are underrating this card because it has an overcosted mana leak stapled on to it. Similar to censor, this card is never dead since it also has impulse stapled onto it. The stapled impulse seems very good on this card since people have been willing to play forbidden alchemy in their decks in the past and that also cost 3 mana which also digs 4 cards.
-Claim // Fame: One of the most attractive of the cards that has been revealed thus far due to the claim part on the card. Claim allows us to reanimate very powerful cards that are already played in tier 1-2 decks including: Death's shadow, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster mage, dark confidant, Grim flayer. However I am interested in this card because it has great synergy with Jace, Vryn's prodigy since paying three mana allows us to reanimate jace and give him haste so he can become a planeswalker instantly which is very nice. However, the issue is that this card can be dead a lot of the time since there isn't always a creature to reanimate. I'll definitely be brewing with it for some fun jank at the very least.
-Driven // Despair: A combat trick that seems decent in elves or Dredge since both can each side of the card. It's testable at the very least as a 1-2 of.
Hollow One is a free card when you meet it's threshold and that's worth talking about. "dies to removal" is a poor argument for him not seeing play since he dodges fatal push/bolt with ease. I can see reanimator decks trying it out at the very least since they run faithless looting/other loot effects. Explain why Damnation/Supreme Verdict/Wrath of God are worse than Bontu's last reckoning in traditional decks that are full of removal. Out of the tier 1 decks only affinity kills you by turn 3 with creatures alone for someone to turn faster wrath. Bontu's last reckoning needs a reason to be played over the other ones for it's high drawback. You have to think of Obstructionist like shadow of doubt where it gets you value for very little cost or it's a beater. You are mad that it doesn't do everything. I agree to disagree on how you view supreme will. The most played deck in the format is almost never out of mana leak range. Supreme Will slots into UW control nicely as a 1-2 of since that deck has almost nothing to do on turn 3 of it's curve.
Gideon of the trials is a staple in UW control decks. I would hardly call that underwhelming since he is in a tier 2 deck. I think censor is good enough to see play there just isn't a deck home for it IMHO.
Cards that have a high chance of seeing modern play:
-Liliana's Defeat: A great sideboard card that deals with many threats in from the best deck in the format for the low price of B. Deals with Liliana of the veil, Liliana, the last hope, Tasigur, the golden fang, Death's shadow, Gurmag angler, Grim Flayer, Prized Amalgam, Street Wraith and Horror of the Broken Lands to name a few tier 1 black creatures. I expect this to be heavily played.
-Supreme Will: I feel like people are underrating this card because it has an overcosted mana leak stapled on to it. Similar to censor, this card is never dead since it also has impulse stapled onto it. It's decent early game since many decks don't have many lands in their decks so the mana leak potion isn't dead til turns 3-5. The stapled impulse seems very good on this card since people have been willing to play forbidden alchemy in their decks in the past and that also cost 3 mana which also digs 4 cards.
-Ramunap Excavator: This already has a home in a GW Company deck designed like Todd Steven's list (http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/gw_company_with_todd_stevens.html). This card plus Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Ghost Quarter/Tectonic Edge seems like a good start. A Crucible of Worlds stapled onto a body will find a home somewhere if not there.
-Claim // Fame: One of the most attractive of the cards that has been revealed thus far due to the claim part on the card. Claim allows us to reanimate very powerful cards that are already played in tier 1-2 decks including: Death's shadow, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster mage, dark confidant, Grim flayer. However I am interested in this card because it has great synergy with Jace, Vryn's prodigy since paying three mana allows us to reanimate jace and give him haste so he can become a planeswalker instantly which is very nice. However, the issue is that this card can be dead a lot of the time since there isn't always a creature to reanimate. I'll definitely be brewing with it for some fun jank at the very least.
-Scavenger Grounds: This land could be a nice 1 of in a tron deck that doesn't mind it coming into it's mana base.
Cards that have a chance to see play:
-Solemnity: Combos with phyrexian unlife. Doubles as decent sideboard hate as well. I'm a little uncertain of it directly slotting into ad naus because it's a clunky card that does nothing on it's own.
-Nimble Obstructionist: A nearly uncounterable stifle that cantrips and deals with many tier 1 threats in the format? Or if you don't want effect you get a 3/1 flying body with flash. This card will be played but I expect it to be the blue version of Aven Mindcensor/shadow of doubt where it will see play as a 1-2 at the most.
-Hollow One: One of my favorite cards revealed this far. Cost reduction mechanics are always scary to put on cards and this one doesn't take much work at all. Best of all he works with cards that are already good which is a good sign. Hollow one works best with: Cycling cards in a living end deck, street wraith can make him cost nothing potentially, faithless looting/cathartic reunion both make him cost one, collective brutality can dramatically reduce his cost as well. Time will tell on this one's playability but I would keep a watchful eye on this one.
-Bontu's Last Reckoning: One of the first cards that was leaked and has become forgotten. This card has a home in unconventional decks like tezzeret, agent of bolas decks because of the mana rocks that it uses, 8 rack because your opponents shouldn't have cards in their hand to punish you, etc.
-Rhonas's Last Stand: I have talked about this card a bit and I feel like it has the potential to find a deck home because it has a very attractive body for it's payoff. Mana dorks such as Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch make the downside easier and Lotus Cobra gets this in play with a fetchland crack. Being able to flash this back via snapcaster mage is cute but I feel like this is a card that a Mono G list would want. Fatal push hurts this cards viability sadly.
-Driven // Despair: A combat trick that seems decent in elves or Dredge since both can each side of the card. It's testable at the very least as a 1-2 of.
-Life Goes On: An interesting burn hate card that green decks can use from their sideboards. I worry about the narrowness of this card sine those same decks can just play kitchen finks which has more application against the format. Kitchen finks seems to have more general application against the format.
-Tragic Lesson: A divination at instant speed that has a discard/land unsummon as it's drawback. The only reason why I highlight this card is because it seems to slot into esper Goryo's Vengeance decks nicely.
Cards that have potential but don't quite get there
-Countervailing Winds: A cycling version of circular logic. This card makes me angry because we should have gotten a slightly nerfed version of circular logic in Shadows block. No reason to play this card in modern.
-Strategic Planning: While this effect is interesting the sorcery speed part kills this card. There simply isn't a reason to play this when thought scour/pieces to the puzzle/forbidden alchemy exist.
-Sunscourge Champion: A cute kitchen finks style card that comes back as a reasonable threat the turn after you play it. This card is very close to hitting the pan in modern. The issue that I see with it is that you have to discard a card to eternalilze it. Close but no cigar.
-Hour of Devastation: An extremely powerful effect that just doesn't have a home in modern. Skred red and sun and moon play a lot of planeswalkers so they don't want this. This card is heavily weakened because modern doesn't have a huge planeswalker issue, this goes in decks without access to sweapers and those are probably red intensive decks, and it kills koth, the hammer/Chandra, torch of defiance which are likely playing this card. It might see play in scapeshift decks but that's doubtful.
-Hazoret's Undying Fury: The first time that we have gotten a mind's desire effect in a long time. This one probably doesn't get there since it doesn't let you cast anything. The only home for this card is likely storm.
-Ammit Eternal: Beefy body that does a phyrexian negator impression but it's ultimately outclassed these days by bigger and better creatures. It seems on the cusp of being great but there are already beefy creatures that do not ask for as much. (tarmogoyf, tasigur, the golden fang, death's shadow, gurmag angler). This may move up depending on what else is revealed.
-Hour of Promise: I'm taking a wait and see approach to this card as we haven't seen all the deserts spoiled yet but as of right now the deserts determine it's playability in a scapeshift deck.
-Hostile Desert: Similar to the other deserts revealed thus far we have to wait and see how much the desert theme matters. This looks cute but it needs to much fuel to get going imho. A deck would have to play a lot of fetchlands and not mind it tapping for a colorless mana.
Abandoned Sarcophagus: An interesting combo enabler that likely doesn't have enough cards to enable it.
My top 5 cards that have the highest chance of seeing play in modern in no order:
1:Claim // Fame
2:Ramunap Excavator
3:Liliana's Defeat
4:Scavenger Grounds
5:Supreme Will
Honorable mention to Hollow One, Solemnity and Nimble Obstructionist
Heavily disagree with this post as many decks are viable right now if you tune them correctly. Taking turns/faeries have been doing good in tournaments but are tier 3 decks. If you want to play nahiri in a deck I would look into 4 color control since pros have been streaming it recently.
She also good in WR prison and some titanshift builds. I've seen pros stream 4 color control decks with nahiri in it. (esper deck that flashes for nahiri)
Impulse was almost printed in supreme will
The difference is that when you are able to make Hollow one cast nothing, you can cast all the hollow ones in your hand.
Cards that WILL see play in modern in my opinion:
-Liliana's Defeat: A great sideboard card that deals with many threats in from the best deck in the format for the low price of B. Deals with Liliana of the veil, Liliana, the last hope, Tasigur, the golden fang, Death's shadow, Gurmag angler, Grim Flayer, Prized Amalgam, Street Wraith and Horror of the Broken Lands to name a few tier 1 black creatures. I expect this to be heavily played.
-Nimble Obstructionist: A nearly uncounterable stifle that cantrips and deals with many tier 1 threats in the format? Or if you don't want effect you get a 3/1 flying body with flash. This card will be played but I expect it to be the blue version of Aven Mindcensor/shadow of doubt where it will see play as a 1-2 at the most.
-Ramunap Excavator: This already has a home in a GW Company deck designed like Todd Steven's list (http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/gw_company_with_todd_stevens.html). This card plus Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Ghost Quarter/Tectonic Edge seems like a good start. A Crucible of Worlds stapled onto a body will find a home somewhere if not there.
Cards that have a chance to see play:
-Hollow One: One of my favorite cards revealed this far. Cost reduction mechanics are always scary to put on cards and this one doesn't take much work at all. Best of all he works with cards that are already good which is a good sign. Hollow one works best with: Cycling cards in a living end deck, street wraith can make him cost nothing potentially, faithless looting/cathartic reunion both make him cost one, collective brutality can dramatically reduce his cost as well. Time will tell on this one's playability but I would keep a watchful eye on this one.
-Rhonas's Last Stand: I have talked about this card a bit and I feel like it has the potential to find a deck home because it has a very attractive body for it's payoff. Mana dorks such as Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch make the downside easier and Lotus Cobra gets this in play with a fetchland crack. Being able to flash this back via snapcaster mage is cute but I feel like this is a card that a Mono G list would want. Fatal push hurts this cards viability sadly.
-Supreme Will: I feel like people are underrating this card because it has an overcosted mana leak stapled on to it. Similar to censor, this card is never dead since it also has impulse stapled onto it. It's decent early game since many decks don't have many lands in their decks so the mana leak potion isn't dead til turns 3-5. The stapled impulse seems very good on this card since people have been willing to play forbidden alchemy in their decks in the past and that also cost 3 mana which also digs 4 cards.
-Claim // Fame: One of the most attractive of the cards that has been revealed thus far due to the claim part on the card. Claim allows us to reanimate very powerful cards that are already played in tier 1-2 decks including: Death's shadow, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster mage, dark confidant, Grim flayer. However I am interested in this card because it has great synergy with Jace, Vryn's prodigy since paying three mana allows us to reanimate jace and give him haste so he can become a planeswalker instantly which is very nice. However, the issue is that this card can be dead a lot of the time since there isn't always a creature to reanimate. I'll definitely be brewing with it for some fun jank at the very least.
-Driven // Despair: A combat trick that seems decent in elves or Dredge since both can each side of the card. It's testable at the very least as a 1-2 of.
Cards that have potential but don't quite get there
-Ammit Eternal: Beefy body that does a phyrexian negator impression but it's ultimately outclassed these days by bigger and better creatures. It seems on the cusp of being great but there are already beefy creatures that do not ask for as much. (tarmogoyf, tasigur, the golden fang, death's shadow, gurmag angler). This may move up depending on what else is revealed.
-Hour of Promise: I'm taking a wait and see approach to this card as we haven't seen all the deserts spoiled yet but as of right now the deserts determine it's playability in a scapeshift deck.
-Scavenger Grounds: This land could be a nice 1 of in a tron deck that doesn't mind having this as part of it's sideboard. Sadly it has very stiff competition in terms of graveyard hate in modern as we have plenty of it: (Relic of progenitus, Grafdigger's cage, rest in peace to name a few) It's playability rests on how important deserts are.
-Hostile Desert: Similar to the other deserts revealed thus far we have to wait and see how much the desert theme matters. This looks cute but it needs to much fuel to get going imho. A deck would have to play a lot of fetchlands and not mind it tapping for a colorless mana.
Remand is great against shadow decks. Have you ever remanded a Tasigur/Angler? They have to re-delve their graveyard to cast it again. Remand is also very good against big mana decks because it often time walks them.
In RUG decks the fear is that BBE could hit an ancestral vision which would make it too good. However we only have serum vision as a form of good deck manipulation in modern so similar to the jund example, it's probably hitting removal/a creature most of the time. Why is this card banned when we have 7/7s for 1 mana, storm killing you quickly, dredge swarming the field with its creatures, affinity dumping it's hand, etc? And please don't tell me that this card sees play in shadow decks. There is no reason to play BloodBraid elf over Ranger of Eos since Ranger always getting you two death's shadows while Bloodbraid elf could hit a mishra's bauble with its cascade ability.
Cards that WILL see play in modern in my opinion:
-Liliana's Defeat: A great sideboard card that deals with many threats in from the best deck in the format for the low price of B. Deals with Liliana of the veil, Liliana, the last hope, Tasigur, the golden fang, Death's shadow, Gurmag angler, Grim Flayer, Prized Amalgam, Street Wraith and Horror of the Broken Lands to name a few tier 1 black creatures. I expect this to be heavily played.
-Nimble Obstructionist: A nearly uncounterable stifle that cantrips and deals with many tier 1 threats in the format? Or if you don't want effect you get a 3/1 flying body with flash. This card will be played but I expect it to be the blue version of Aven Mindcensor/shadow of doubt where it will see play as a 1-2 at the most.
-Ramunap Excavator: This already has a home in a GW Company deck designed like Todd Steven's list (http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/gw_company_with_todd_stevens.html). This card plus Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Ghost Quarter/Tectonic Edge seems like a good start. A Crucible of Worlds stapled onto a body will find a home somewhere if not there.
Cards that have a chance to see play:
-Rhonas's Last Stand: I have talked about this card a bit and I feel like it has the potential to find a deck home because it has a very attractive body for it's payoff. Mana dorks such as Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch make the downside easier and Lotus Cobra gets this in play with a fetchland crack. Being able to flash this back via snapcaster mage is cute but I feel like this is a card that a Mono G list would want. Fatal push hurts this cards viability sadly.
-Supreme Will: I feel like people are underrating this card because it has an overcosted mana leak stapled on to it. Similar to censor, this card is never dead since it also has impulse stapled onto it. The stapled impulse seems very good on this card since people have been willing to play forbidden alchemy in their decks in the past and that also cost 3 mana which also digs 4 cards.
-Claim // Fame: One of the most attractive of the cards that has been revealed thus far due to the claim part on the card. Claim allows us to reanimate very powerful cards that are already played in tier 1-2 decks including: Death's shadow, Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster mage, dark confidant, Grim flayer. However I am interested in this card because it has great synergy with Jace, Vryn's prodigy since paying three mana allows us to reanimate jace and give him haste so he can become a planeswalker instantly which is very nice. However, the issue is that this card can be dead a lot of the time since there isn't always a creature to reanimate. I'll definitely be brewing with it for some fun jank at the very least.
-Driven // Despair: A combat trick that seems decent in elves or Dredge since both can each side of the card. It's testable at the very least as a 1-2 of.
This is a cute interaction