I would not put too much value on Painful Truths. I think it's already near its top value at 3$ for its run in standard. Once KTK rotates out with its fetchlands, decks that run 3+ colors should no longer be the norm, especially since colorless is a "color" of its own with OGW. Read The Bones is better in 90% of cases in 1-2 color decks, only moderately weaker in a 3 color deck, is a common and is still with us in Innistrad.
There may be some value in the long run, due to Modern, but cheap alternatives are plentiful.
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Jan 28, 2016SpinifexV posted a message on Magic Market Index for January 27, 2016Posted in: Articles
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Jan 16, 2016SpinifexV posted a message on The Magic Market Index: Set Review of Oath of the GatewatchI agree with the list on all but one count: Vile Redeemer. In a GB self sacrifice deck or a rally/aristocrat deck, it can mean getting a lot more tokens to sacrifice at instant speed. It's not an all star, but I could see it going to 1-2$ if he shows up in such a deck.Posted in: Articles
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During the Esper Dragon match-up, he was often forced to waste his kill spells against the Phoenixes. They won me the crucial first game. He had to side in Complete Disregard to deal with my Flamewake Phoenix and Bloodsoaked Champion, which means less removal against the big threats. When I managed to get a Dragon out, if he didn't have removal straight away, it meant his Foul-Tongue Invocation were now useless. So, yes, they were useful.
Here is my updated deck list:
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Caves of Koilos
3x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
2x Smoldering Marsh
1x Swamp
3x Wind-Scarred Crag
Instant (15)
4x Crackling Doom
4x Draconic Roar
2x Kolaghan's Command
1x Murderous Cut
1x Utter End
3x Wild Slash
3x Butcher of the Horde
4x Flamewake Phoenix
2x Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
4x Soulfire Grand Master
4x Thunderbreak Regent
Planeswalker (3)
3x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3x Bloodsoaked Champion
3x Duress
2x Foul-Tongue Invocation
2x Outpost Siege
2x Radiant Flames
2x Valorous Stance
1x Utter End
First of all, I replaced all Arashin Cleric by Wild Slash prior to the tournament.
1st round: 2-0 against Atarka Red. Soulfire Grand Master allowed me to keep my life high enough for my big creatures to come in and block his stuff. I think he was running a budget version.
2nd round: 2-0 against Abzan Collected Warriors. A good effort: he nearly managed to win game 1. I sided in against aggro again and took game two easily with an opening hand full of removal (he was also screwed out of black mana).
3rd round: 1-2 against Atarka Red. The real deal this time. Kept a slow hand the first game and it cost me. Sided against aggro and won game two fairly well. I lost game three by being screwed out of white mana and drawing two Soulfire Grand Master back to back (with a third in my opening hand).
4th round: 2-1 against Esper Dragon Control. First game was long but his Dig Through Times were clumped together at the bottom of his library. Game two he got 3/4 of his Foul-Tongue Invocations, one Jace and one Dragonlord Ojutai out fairly early and that was game (he ended up at 32 life). last game went better for me thanks to Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker. He Despised the first and I drew the second a few turns later. I got a early start thanks to Bloodsoaked Champion and Soulfire Grand Master (killed, and brought back a turn later thanks to Kolaghan's Command.)
Lessons:
Bloodsoaked Champion goes to the sideboard in favor of Wild Slash since aggro is so dominant at the moment.
A third Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker instead of one Butcher of the Hoard. He is just too good.
Priest of the Blood Rite is one more mana than Butcher of the Horde and doesn't have a built-in way to gain haste. It could be playable in a Alesha or Ojutai's Command based strategy.
I've decided to sleeve up this deck. It's more aggressive than my pre-rotation deck used to be, since I can no longer sit back and let my Goblin Rabblemasters win the game for me. The concept is that the recurring damage from the Bloodsoaked Champions and Flamewake Phoenixes, combined with Crackling Doom and Draconic Roar to keep his board clean, will force my opponent to waste their removal on my little threats and let my evasive and semi-hasty flying creatures deal the finishing blow.
Hopefully, I'll get to test this deck at the next FNM.
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Caves of Koilos
3x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
2x Smoldering Marsh
1x Swamp
3x Wind-Scarred Crag
//Creatures (21)
3x Bloodsoaked Champion
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Flamewake Phoenix
2x Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
4x Soulfire Grand Master
4x Thunderbreak Regent
4x Crackling Doom
4x Draconic Roar
2x Kolaghan's Command
1x Murderous Cut
1x Utter End
//Planeswalkers (2)
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3x Arashin Cleric
3x Duress
2x Foul-Tongue Invocation
2x Outpost Siege
3x Radiant Flames
2x Valorous Stance
Heavy lands:
X Comes into play tapped.
X counts as two land drops for the purpose of landfall.
Tap X: Put A or B mana into your mana pool.
Powerful if landfall is well supported in BFZ.
Probably some day, but I doubt they'll give us two colorless planeswalker in standard at the same time, especially since they are both going to be 8+ mana to cast.
Now, if the other two have left Zendikar (and possibly their physical forms) behind, we might see it in a future set.
X enters the battlefield tapped.
When X enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Tap X: Give A or B Mana
It's a simple enough design: trading tempo for card advantage.
However, I still think we'll see a full cycle of manlands in the Zendiakr block.
I've been thinking about how Wizards are going to go around with lands, especially with the new rotation. Basically, we have three blocks now, which are going to rotate as new blocks come in: Theros + M15, KTK + FRF, DTK + ORI. What I think is going to happen is that they will replace the lands in those blocks with lands that have similar functions, as to always keep a balance between all color combinations.
Which means:
Temples (Theros block) -> Full cycle of tapped lands in BFZ block.
Allied Fetches (KTK) -> Allied untapped lands (Pain or other) in second block.
Enemy Painlands (ORI) -> Enemy untapped lands (probably fetches) in third block.
As for the specific cycle in BFZ, I would wagger we will see a full cycle of Manlands since:
1) They only make sense in Zendikar, unlike fetches which are far more background neutral.
2) The allied manlands are getting high in price and need a reprint.
3) The enemy manlands don't exist yet and would mean a lot of interest from both modern and standard players, which means a lot of boxes sold.
4) As mentioned above, they are a lateral transition from temples and would not affect the balance between color combinations, nor the speed of the standard format.
I think we'll see half in the main expansion, and the other half in the small expansion, since it will mean more sales for Wizards.