Ding dong the Bridge is dead.
I like Altar, it opens up neat strategies, and Hogaak is one of the most creative designs in years. Bridge seems to exist only to break every few months and never just be part of a fair deck that can be interacted with the way it should be. I would have been very sad to see either of the others go, especially because they would probably be quickly replaced with a less interesting but no less powerful card, but Bridge in all the years it was legal never did anything healthy
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Jul 8, 20191
Melkor posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 08/07/2019)Posted in: Modern Archives -
Jun 19, 20195
BloodyRabbit_01 posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 20/05/2019)Posted in: Modern ArchivesWhy do you say that? Jund has been fantastic from the new set. Wrenn is very much the real deal. Seasoned Pyromancer is huge value. BBE has been cut down to 2, some are debating on 0. Jund's actually feeling better than it has in a very long time.
Jund has plenty of new toys to meddle with. None of them, though, answer in the slightest this deck’s major issues. Which is being too soft against half of the Tier 1. It preys on middle to low Tiers, but struggles too much vs the top dogs (and anything which ramps). -
Jun 18, 20194
MikePemulis posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 20/05/2019)For extra fun in the practice room, don't concede because you dont like the matchup.Posted in: Modern Archives -
Jun 5, 20191
Jacememoryloss posted a message on UBg (sultai) controlSince the forums will be closing in July I wanted to post my current decklist before it switches over into archive mode.Posted in: Deck Creation (Modern)
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Land (25)
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Watery Grave
2 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Steam Vents
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Island
2 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Field of Ruin
Creature (3)
3 Snapcaster MageInstants (19)
2 Pulse of Murasa
3 Cryptic Command
2 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
4 Assassin's Trophy
3 Fatal Push
3 Opt
Sorceries (5)
2 Damnation
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Collective Brutality
Planeswalker (6)
2 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Ashiok, Dream RenderSideboard (15)
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Collective Brutality
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Damping Sphere
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Negate
1 Ceremonious Rejection
You can get the full deck guide - including decklist, an explanation of why I chose each card, a mana-base discussion and a sideboarding guide on my blog. -
Jun 4, 20192
izzetmage posted a message on [MH1] Modern Horizons Discussion ThreadPosted in: ModernQuote from Lectrys »
There are some controversial cards and/or some cards I think have promise in at least one deck that you didn't cover above; what do you think about them?
Alright, since you asked nicely:
- Hexdrinker: this sort of mana sink card never does well. Figure of Destiny, Student of Warfare, Warden of the First Tree, Kessig Prowler...the irony is that it gains protection from instants, but its ability must be activated at sorcery speed.
- Splicer's Skill: hardcasting it is nothing special. Splicing it is quite expensive. Even if your deck is nothing but 1-mana instants or sorceries, you can't splice this until turn 5.
- Winds of Abandon: about as good as Declaration in Stone. 2 mana, sorcery, with drawback.
- Wing Shards: good players play spells during their second main phase (corollary: good players don't play prowess decks
) so you can expect to kill one attacker with this.
- Mirrodin Besieged: harder-to-kill alternative to Sai (Saheeli is primarily used in Phoenix so she doesn't count). Playable for this reason, but not spectacular - Sai is a SB card.
- Winter's Rest: Narcolepsy.
- Crypt Rats: what are you hoping to accomplish with this card? If you want to Wrath, play wraths.
- Dead of Winter: unlike On Thin Ice it needs more than one snow land to be good. I think the possibility of maybe having it be a Damnation/Languish for one mana cheaper isn't worth the deckbuilding constraint.
- First-Sphere Gargantua: this is a payoff for looting that doesn't require you to jump through hoops like reanimating another creature or playing two creatures in one turn - you just pay mana for it (gasp!) instead. Unfortunately I think that makes it a bit too fair.
- Nether Spirit: not worth the deckbuilding constraint. You almost certainly have other creatures in your deck, yes, even the fair decks (Snapcaster Mage).
- Ransack the Lab: too expensive at 2 mana.
- Sling-Gang Lieutenant: seems pretty expensive, and we don't have Goblin Lackey to make that a non-issue. The good Goblin deck in Modern has a curve that stops at 2.
- Shatter Assumptions: doesn't seem great against Tron. It's not cheap enough to rip out their land search cards, so they will have Tron, and once they do they are but a topdeck away from getting back into the game after you shatter their assumptions.
- Yawgmoth, Thran Physician: Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet seems better at 4. Helps you when you're behind, etc.
- Aria of Flame: Guttersnipe.
- Geomancer's Gambit: this is like Field of Ruin in spell form, except it is not an instant. Pass.
- Goblin Engineer: PV had a rather amusing Modern Horizons review article which could just have been titled "First Impressions of Goblin Engineer". He does make very convincing arguments for the card. It's a tough call, but I think it's more trouble than it's worth. For the sake of a balanced view I'll list out what I don't like about Engineer:
1) The reanimation ability requires sacrificing an artifact, marring the Stoneforge Mystic comparison. Sometimes the artifact you sacrifice is going to be the weak link that lets your opponent dismantle your lock.
2) It introduces vulnerability to the deck. Yes, you can get back your Bridge through other ways if they kill your Engineer, but that takes time and your opponent can mount an attack while you're defenseless.
3) Abrade answers Engineer if you draw it and your other lock pieces if you don't.
- Igneous Elemental: this is not playable even if it always cost 2RR and didn't have the land check.
- Magmatic Sinkhole: Harvest Pyre, but better. It kills both Crackling Drake and Gurmag Angler while Flame Slash or Roast would miss one of the two, and PWs are no longer safe if they go for the + (well, other than every Karn). Playable in fair UR decks as complementary removal to Bolt.
- Ore-Scale Guardian: Q: How much does this need to be reduced by for it to be a good deal? A: Maybe four. Q: Can you get that many lands into your graveyard quick enough? A: Probably not. Even if you crack fetches from turn 1-3 you still need one more land through some other means.
- Tectonic Reformation: Doesn't seem much better than Molten Vortex, which makes lands in your hand have R: Shock instead of R: draw 1.
- Throes of Chaos: 4 mana for a random spell that costs less than 4 mana sounds like a bad deal.
- Ayula's Influence: hampered by its mana cost. In Life from the Loam decks you want red on turn 1 for Looting to dump lands and Loam in your graveyard. R on turn 1 into RG on turn 2 (for Wrenn/Loam) into RRR on turn 3 for Seismic Assault is easily achievable. If turn 3 is Ayula's Influence, it's technically still doable, but your mana base will be heavier on basic Forests so you might miss those T1 Lootings more often.
- Genesis: too expensive.
- Llanowar Tribe: trite, but dies to Bolt. If you are playing some kind of devotion deck with Leyline of Vitality then it just flips the bird to Bolt, but that seems a little inconsistent, even with the London mulligan.
- Regrowth: probably not good enough. The cards that dump themselves in the graveyard after use are instants and sorceries, and we have Snapcaster Mage to get those back.
- Wall of Blossoms: the OG Wall of Omens, and about as good in the current meta (which is to say, not very). There are decks that want it - Astral Drift is one of them - but I'm not a believer in those decks.
- Weather the Storm: this is not a counter to Storm, they will have enough resources to Grapeshot a second and then third time on the same turn. It is a counter to Burn about as much as Nourish is, i.e. if you're willing to play a card that only counters Burn and is dead in all other matchups, it's there.
- Winding Way: not good, I posted about this already.
- Collected Conjuring: sorcery only kills it. The fun things like Bolts and rituals are instants.
- Ruination Rioter: Like Ore-Scale Guardian, I ask "how much damage does this need to do?" My answer is probably 3; Viashino Pyromancer is unplayable at 2 and player/PW only. That's one less than Guardian, but still a lot of fetches that need to be cracked. Don't play this in a Loam deck of any kind; the whole point of Loam is to get lands out of your graveyard.
- Altar of Dementia: As a Johnny I really like this card since it not only sacs for free but also kills them directly, unlike Viscera Seer/Carrion Feeder/Greater Gargadon. Before this, there was Blasting Station, which was 1 mana too expensive. The Spike in me says that they're never going to print a creature that can be sacced infinitely by itself, so your combo is going to involve at least three pieces (Altar, recurring dude, enabler for recurring dude), one of which can't be grabbed with Collected Company.
- Fountain of Ichor: just play a manland instead.
- Cave of Temptation: see Fountain of Ichor.
- Frostwalk Bastion: oh hey, a manland. Unfortunately, it doesn't tap for colored mana, and Field of Ruin isn't worth cutting for it.
- Prismatic Vista: not playable. In mono-color you shouldn't be playing fetches. In 2-color, use the on-color fetches. If you need more, the question is whether you would rather be able to fetch main color basic + shockland (with an off-color fetch) or main color basic + secondary color basic (with Vista), and I think you'll find the answer to be the former. In 3-color, use fetches in every combination of your colors instead.
- Cloudshredder Sliver: pseudo Heritage Druid + Nettle Sentinel combo when paired with Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver. The main difference is that each piece is more expensive than the Elves, and multiple Cloudshredders don't stack like multiple Sentinels.
- Dregscape Sliver: feels too defensive. You either have to wait for your Slivers to die, or go through the trouble of discarding them yourself. If you're playing the 16 rainbow land mana base, you can't play Looting, and Ancient Ziggurat won't pay for unearth. -
May 30, 20191
tronix posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 20/05/2019)being able to metagame against a narrower more known field is a good part of underpowered or fringe stuff succeeding. it looks stupid from the perspective of someone with a top competitive deck sleeving up dedicated hate for some budget deck; which probably just says something about that person and their motivations. from the other side though, using the example of choke; is it unsportsmanlike for someone on a budget mono-G stompy deck to get some chokes if his meta is infested with islands? no of course not.Posted in: Modern Archives
likewise if people start packing hate against you, you go to the next level and look for ways around it. that is what meta-gaming is - the game above and outside the game. maybe modern has just been in this non-meta state with all its 'diversity' that people dont see it like that anymore. fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, a common characteristic of top modern decks has been their robust and therefore hard to pin nature. decks need to be able to do everything, sideboards need to cover everything, etc. so more often we see entire decks rise up to counter one another, which drives people to the idea of needing to be able to switch decks to keep up. -
May 29, 201910
idSurge posted a message on End of an EraGlad to hear it will continue somewhere else.Posted in: Modern Archives
The only thing I hope for, is this same format of forum. Not like Reddit, or other sites, but a nice traditional forum. -
May 24, 20194
ktkenshinx posted a message on [MH1] Modern Horizons Discussion ThreadThe negativity towards this set, whether in this thread or the Reddit comment sections, is just unwarranted.Posted in: Modern
1. Less than half of the set has been spoiled. Wizards obviously started with some big ones like FoN, but it's been much slower since then. It is like this every preview season as the previews are a curated experience that need to appeal to various players. Wizards intersperses exciting cards to keep hype high.
2. All Magic communities frequently miss powerful cards. Powerhouses like WAR Narset were under-appreciated by most evaluators until people started playing the set. LSV, Joel Larsson, MTG Goldfish, Dylan Donegan, Emma Handy, and a half dozen other writers barely mentioned Search for Azcanta in their Modern reviews (or didn't mention it at all). I don't remember reading a single Modern review of Rivals that included Arclight Phoenix. Card evaluation is hard and people need to play cards to figure out if they are actually good or bad.
3. There are numerous eternal staples that Wizards has not yet referenced or remade for Modern. Some, like FoN and FoW are clearly on-mark. Others, like Mom and Giver, are more open. Still others, like Pondering Mage, are clearly just references and probably not as powerful. But any number of the remaining throwbacks, most of which are obviously absent right now, could be very strong. Examples include Daze, Wasteland, Brainstorm, Hymn, Port, and others. I am excited to see these cards, and it will only take 1 to have a huge impact. -
May 22, 20197
Nyzzeh posted a message on [MH1] Modern Horizons Discussion ThreadPlease stop talking about "wasted" mythic slots... every mythic slot that has a bad card is a success, we want the good cards at common, uncommon and rare in that order preferably.Posted in: Modern -
May 20, 20191
Arkmer posted a message on [MH1] Modern Horizons Discussion ThreadWhat if we get another sweet generic land that fits everything?Posted in: Modern
Snowy Winter's Plaza
Snow Land - Gate
When ~ EtB pay 2 life or it enters tapped.
When ~ EtBs choose two basic land types, ~ is both those basic land types.
"Ravnica is oddly more efficient when the streets are regularly plowed and the populace stays home." - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
1
Don't necro threads, you silly. :b
If you want to look for Infinite Combos in Modern, there's this thread here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/619731-infinite-combo-reference
It's still taken care of and has a lot of stuff (yes, even the elusive Kiki+Resto ;> )
2
If Force Spike would be playable, shouldn't the same go for Mana Tithe as at least a 1- or 2-of in U/Wx Control and similar decks?
In some rare cases it does, but even then it's usually just there as a game one gotcha card that gets boarded out once shown, not really as a reliable counter.
I guess Force Spike with Cycling would be too good? And since we can't have a 1.5 mana cost Force Spike, the next best thing is sadly 2.
Personally I hope that we at least see some sweet experiments with Censor and that it perhaps even finds a niche, but I wouldn't bank on it.
It does protect your Delver on the draw for one turn, so that is something I guess. ^^
But so does Spell Pierce... yeah, idk.
Ancient Stirrings's has a different and generally lower ceiling than a generic filtering cantrip though.
That is why it does more.
The best thing Stirrings gets is w/e the best Colourless card in your deck is.
The best thing Preordain or Ponder grab is the best card in your deck.
If the best thing in your deck is a 5 Mana 5/5 Haste, Trample Colourless thingy, then yeah, Stirrings is better.
Or a Karn etc. etc.
But Blue cantrips can get you anything, or dig towards it, which makes them go into vastly more decks and archetypes, as well as generally more universal.
They get you lands in the early game, threats and answers in the midgame and whatever that one card in your library is that you need right now to win or at least not lose.
Be it a boardwipe, an answer to w/e keeps you from comboing off right now or the reach to closer out the game.
Yes, many tools can also be found in Colourless or at least have some equivalent.
But still, the possibilities for a Preordain are much higher than for Ancient Stirrings, and seeing how these cards have turned out in the past, often eventually powering up Combo decks to very consistent levels, I can kinda get why WotC may be wary about unbans in that category.
As silly as that may seem to us right now.
4
goes to invert all the votes
Maybe put that into your first post. ^^
Or the title of the poll or so, so you get less wrong votes from people not bothering to read any posts. :b
1
Considering it's black, chances are you know your opponent's hand from a t1 discard spell already, which would help of course.
But yeah, going for that in the dark is rather risky and you really gotta ask yourself "do I want to turn this card into a instant & sorcery only duress?", as it's not just "oh well, I wasted one mode of the spell", but it also costs you another card or at least this card. ^^
To be fair, if it hits it's an ok card (the drain mode is p bad in any case though) and again decks like Burn or Delver (Remand aside which is just.. rip) that boast shockable creatures and spells it's probably quite nice.
But as soon as you see Islands on the other side of the table... beware of using more than 1 mode, because counters just wreck this card.
They are because "cmc >4" and "non-creature" are broad enough to rarely whiff in Modern.
And even "non-creature" is often only played in the sideboard.
And while Grixis Delver may be able to reduce the card possible disadvantage or parity, for the moment it's still just that.
Even if it's not completely lost, you still /do/ lose resources. Yes you can snap back that bolt, but that still costs you have your bolt in that case and that is only if you actually want to / get to flash it back.
Yes, it has very broad applications, but all of those on their own are /very/ mediocre.
Vs control a 2 mana Duress just opens you up for Spell Snare that may be sitting in their hand later in the game, against aggro 2 mana Sorcery Disfigure is mediocre as well. If you pay 2 mana to kill a creature, you really want to kill any creature or at least most of them.
Pay 1 mana more and you can even give all of them -2/-2.
If you play Grixis, why run this over Terminate as your 2 mana removal?
Or over Kommand as a value card? What slot would this go in? (Honest question, I'm not up to date on Grixis Delver and similar variants.)
Sure it enables Kommand and Snappy value, but.... that usually happens in the games and the deck in general anyway.
E.g. Turning your bolt into a pseudo-Duress isn't that great, even if you "can just snap/jace, vp it back later". It's still resources spent and you don't generally get immediate value out of it.
It's very slow and not really grindy at that, but falls off quite harshly later on in the game.
Idk, for me this card is too broad and too mediocre in it's width at that. Flexibility is very nice, yes, but not if it ends up being flexible between underwhelming options at a very real cost.
If it was highly specialized against one sort of strategy I could see it as a nice sb option, but like this, where 1-2 modes are usually dead or at least very underwhelming... I'm really not convinced.
1
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
//Sorceries 15
4 Ancestral Vision
3 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Maelstrom Pulse
//Instants 6
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Go for the Throat
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
//Lands 22
1 Breeding Pool
2 Swamp
2 Forest
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
1 Island
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Flaying Tendrils
2 Feed the Clan
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Unravel the Æther
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Damnation
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
2 Sadistic Sacrament
My first approach was more Jund-ish, with a lower curve, Bob and without Ancestral Vision.
But this take seems a lot smoother. The lifeloss from Bob hurts without 2x Finks or Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in the main and I couldn't quite find space for the former and we'd need more removal spells to make the latter shine, I think.
And as a 4 drop he may just be "too little, too late" against aggro. Tasigur on turn 2/3 seems stronger to just block.
With Bob out and Jace and Tasigur in (as I didn't want to play roulette with delve guys and Bob before ^^) the long game is still strong and drawing 3 after trading 1 for 1 is as strong as it sounds.
Serum Visions are still in here, because they are great at smoothing out draws and filtering through things I don't need for things we do. It lets me keep more hands and t3 Snap - Visions isn't the worst you can do.
The mainboard removal may need one more option.
Snap helps out as well as sometimes Jace and of course Lili, but 2 maybe be too few still.
What surprised me is how nice Slaughter Pact with Snap feels and the Pact's convenience in general, as I can remove a threat, land a goyf and start swinging or blocking a turn earlier, paying for the Pact after the board has been (somewhat) stabilized.
Go for the Throat is my 2nd pick to have more than just Lili and Maelstrom Pulse hitting opposing Delve creatures or awkward things like Huntmaster of the Fells.
As my 3rd spot removal I'd probably pick Disfigure, but I'm not entirely sure /how/ much worse 2 "damage" (and -2 attack, which can have niche applications) is compared to Bolt.
Dismember is another option, but the lifeloss is dangerous, especially when relying on flashing it back.
Potentially low removal count aside, another issue might be the graveyard reliance. A Rest in Peace shuts down Goyf, makes Tasigur very costly, turn Snappy into Ambush Viper and makes Jace questionable as well.
I think this is ok, because of how much value I can get out of the yard otherwise, ticking up Lili relentlessly towards the ult while ditching potentially useful stuff that can be re-bought with Flashback is really nice.
And one-sided or one-shot hate a la Relic of Progenitus or Tormod's Crypt hasn't been too much of an issue so far.
As expected it's really good at grinding out other Midrange and some control decks.
For now I've just given up on Tron completely, without access to Crumble to Dust, Stony Silence or recurring Fulminator Mages.
Nahiri decks can be tricky as well.
Sideboard thoughts I've had are:
- 2nd Flaying Tendrils in the side, but so far that, Damnation and EE do a fine job and are nicely varied. Still, more sweepers may be necessary against aggressive decks as well as some toolbox company lists
- Sadistic Sacrament used to be Countersquall, but between Jace, Lili and general tap-out playstyle, I don't think counters are necessary or do enough against combo. With 6x discard in the main and Lili as well as flashback for discard it's already quite nicely set up and being able to exile an Emrakul from Nahiri or e.g. both of Ad Nauseam's wincons made me pick it over Cranial Extraction and similar effects. Maybe should be 2 Duress or other Extraction effects, or something else for a different matchup entirely.
- 1x Unravel the Aether is for Wurmcoil and similar shenanigans, between sweepers and Creeping Corrosion I think Affinity should be ok, and against other things there are still Decay and Pulse. Maybe this should be something else as well though.
- Sower of Temptation is against other Midrange and Control decks, to give me a threat that's similarly awkward against Liliana as e.g. Huntmaster of the Fells or Lingering Souls are. It may be too squishy though and perhaps good ol' Thragtusk could be more reliable.
- 1x Finks is just as an additional annoying value creature against (non-path) decks and as a little extra against aggro, although 2x Feed the Clan /should/ be able to handle Burn quite well already.
- Night of Souls' Betrayal is just a bit of a pet card of mine and I like it against decks with Lingering Souls, many X/1s (Snap & Clique and similar) and of course Infect.
- Graffdiggers Cage is imo the best graveyard hate option after Scooze, which is awkward with Goyf at times. In addition is also hits Nahiri "combo" decks and CoCo/Chord decks.
The mana base is quite solid so far.
I like being able to fetch painlessly and against Blood Moon for 2 Swamps for Lili.
2 Forests and more green than needed in general are for Scooze, as it can be quite hungry and when I need it I want to be able to rely on it.
The Creeping Tarpits have been nice, I don't want to see them before turn 4 generally, between Discard, Vision(s), removal and threats I have enough I really want to play on curve, but as finishers they do a good job and earn again points in Goyf-stalled board matchups.
For anyone interested, here's a link to the mana cost vs mana source distribution.
So yeah, that's that.
It's just the second draft and needs a LOT more testing and tuning, obviously, but so far it's quite good at doing what it's supposed to do: Try to out-Jund Jund. :3
2
Eternal formats aren't what the PT is about.
It's about showing off the new set in Limited and the new Standard environment it created.
In an eternal format the newest set rarely has an overly large influence and aside from bans they have few ways to imitate this "new format" part of the PT.
So, letting Modern actually be an eternal format instead of a pseudo-eternal one with more or less arbitrary bans as it's annual "rotation" to somehow make it fit what the PT is about, is a very good thing.
And the PT has nothing to do with reprints or not. ^^
1
Soul Sisters tend to run Martyr in some lists, for more explosive starts into active Serra Ascendants, but it can be easily played without the card.
Though I'd suggest you search for this in the dedicated Soul Sisters thread, rather than out in the open, for more in depth advice.
There's even discussion on it in the primer itself.
2
You want Darksteel Citadel, but also the Lich, who needs BBB to cast, so with the Citadel it becomes a 4 drop, in case you don't have a turned on Mox Opal or Drum + Ornithopter (which seems likely with only 3 of each).
1
Boon Reflection
You can probably ask the people in the MartyrProc thread ( http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/582574-martyrproc-a-modern-control-deck-updated ) about your ideas, or in the Soul Sisters thread ( http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/490942-soul-sisters ).
Maybe Soul Sisters is closer to your list, as MartyrProc doesn't really run Honor of the Pure or the soul sisters, though dedicated Soul Sisters lists don't necessarily run Squadron Hawk.
So going by what you mentioned your list seems somewhat inbetween, perhaps a more Martyr focused Soul Sisters approach. Idk.
Either way, I don't think those cards are really good in a competitive deck.
As fun, more casual inclusion, sure go for it and drive fair decks even more nuts! ^^
The problem with those 2 is that they cost 4 and 5 mana and for that high price you generally want a game-winning card in Modern.
Just gaining life doesn't win you the game though.
Granted, as a cute sideboard option against some aggro decks and tempo as well as midrange decks, also some control decks it can work, sure. But a 1/5 lifelink or a 5 mana enchantment that don't do anything on their own are very slow and not good against many decks.
The point is, if you are in a position to cast them, have them stick and abuse them....you're probably in a decent spot already.
Against an aggro deck like Burn or Affinity you can drop them and then get killed by a Lightning Bolt, Atarka's Command, Ornithopter with Cranial Plating etc.
Your 4 or 5 drop didn't do anything and can easily be too late when they can kill you t3/4.
In a midrange or tempo grindfest, if you get to resolve one and don't have them be blown up by those deck's versatile removal, you've probably won with a few Martyr sacs, as they can have a hard time to deal a couple hundred damage to you.
BUT that only works as long as they let you play your game.
And midrange as well as tempo are great in disrupting their opponent. Again, the cards don't do much alone and just dropping a Rhox vs an Angler isn't going to cut it, nor will it stop a swarm of unblockable fish people.
Control decks might give you the time to set up a cool combo of Rhox/Boon and some Martyr cycles, but they are also quite good at grinding you out and unless you have surplus Cavern of Souls to name Rhino or Monk, you are probably going to have an even harder time to get those guys on the field.
Granted, there aren't many control decks in Modern.
We have Grixis "control", which will give you issues with removal, counters and dropping a cheap 5/5 to plow away.
RUG Scapeshift, which runs a lot of permission to not let you resolve your lifegain, but against Scapeshift a martyr that puts you well above 3x life is probably enough to prevent a sudden combo death anyway.
The new UW tap out value deck with Sun Titan shenanigans that can probably do a decent job at at least keeping up with your staying power, while getting a quite sticky board.
Esper draw go decks, which will just sit there, counter your big things and eventually make a huge amount of cat tokens (White Sun's Zenith) to club you to death with.
Lantern "control", which is more of a prison deck, doesn't care about your life total for the most part anyway.
U Tron doesn't care either, as they'll just counter / bounce annoying things and eventually kill you with the Mindslaver lock.
Which brings me to the biggest issue with these 2 cards:
They do nothing against combo.
I said before, a 4+ drop has to have huge impact pretty much right away and be a threat.
Gaining a lot of life by turn 5 or 6 with those cards up sounds sweet, until your realize that you're already dead turn 4 to decks that don't even care about your lifegain:
-Infect (10 poison by turn 3/4, doesn't attack your life anyway)
-Twin combos of any sort (can combo t4 or whenever you tap out / they can have counters up, deals infinite damage [on Modo you can gain a lot of life and make them play out their combo to make them waste time of course, but that won't work irl where they can shortcut to "I do this *combos*, now I do this 3 billion times more" ^^])
-Amulet Bloom (can kill you t2/3 with Titan, or via Hive Mind + a pact)
-Elves (they pump their guys by a ton and swing for 20+ with relative ease, each turn once the combo is up)
-Storm (will usually kill you before t4/5 and can deal a lot of damage with multiple Grapeshot or Empty the Cheons [life gain is nice, a ton of goblin tokens which more to come are often nicer ^^])
-Any Gifts/Unburial Rites deck (Iona, Shield of Emeria is probably gg)
-U Tron (you no longer have turns and they kill you eventually)
-Podless Pod (gains more life with the infinite combo, can deal infinite damage [again, time consuming on Modo, so you can maybe cheese a win every now and then if they are low on time])
-Grishoalbrand (can kill you before those come down, though I'm not sure about their maximum damage, so you might be able to out-lifegain them, if they aren't faster and don't run Emrakul)
Not really combo, but against GR Tron it won't do a lot either, as they'll either exile them with Karn, exile a bunch of things and restart the game or, most likely, just drop Emrakul eventually.
Yes, those are all a lot of worst-case scenarios, but that's what's important to look at when evaluating new cards to replace others. Don't just look at what you gain, but think of the tough games and what they'd do there, over the other card(s).
Honor of the Pure is a lot more versatile and useful in more situations, to race a combo deck, defend against aggressive decks with more than just a pile of 1/1s and generally put on pressure.
So...
TL;DR:
They are win-more cards that will often do too little, too late and have barely any / no impact on their own.
As a cutesy sideboard card against midrange and tempo decks they might steal a win every now and then, but against most other decks I doubt the will do much, as you still need to survive to get to play them and have a board/hand to gain life from.
Other cards would do better in their spot I think, as Martyr decks are really good at gaining life anyway. Not to mention the inherent issue with lifegain: it doesn't kill your opponent on it's own.
Especially Honor of the Pure, as it gives your guys a way to outrange 1 damage / -1/-1 removal (and Pyroclasm / Drown in Sorrow with 2 of them) as well as let them trade better.
Without those and instead 4 4 or 5 drops you not only make your mana curve higher (so you might want a or two land more, to get to 4 mana on turn 4 more reliably with not only Rangers to cast then), you also make it harder to keep the board you need to make use of the doubled lifegain.
And they are dead against most combo decks.
BUT!
As they are relatively cheap cards, you can just get 1-2 and try them out.
When they work they are probably going to be great, but making them work can be difficult.
And I wouldn't recommend running 4 of them in any way.
So, if you're alright with adding some cute jank to your deck, then go for it and see how they do. If they work well for you, great!
But be wary that, depending on where you play and what your meta looks like, there are a lot of decks that you'll probably side them out against.
1
I don't really think that "it's a free Bob flip" is a compelling enough argument to run it.
It's a vanilla(!) x/x for x, which is very underwhelming.
Doesn't pass the bolttest till you pay 4, get's chumped by Lingering Souls like a goyf or delve guy, w/o their efficiency.
It has no immediate impact on the battlefield and basically needs to be played for 5 to be able to not die to the common 4/5 goyf or tasigur and trade with angler.
As a chump blocker there are better options, ones that don't die to any aggro deck's 1 drops. Instead of a 1 mana 1/1 you'd get more out of playing Darkness.
I'd sooner understand Hangarback Walker as a threat/blocker hybrid than Endless One, and even that is quuiiiite a stretch.
So, overall, I don't see how it would do much of use:
It's too slow against aggro decks (their 1 drops beat it, often even as a 3 drop, when it still dies to their bolts).
It's too expensive against midrange decks, as all of their big guys cost less and do more.
It is just a body that does nothing much, has no evasion or utility.
If we had some way to (ab)use +1/+1 counters then maybe, but the way it stands I don't think it's a great card for any version of this decktype.
Versatility is nice, but not when all modes are sub par versions of actual cards.