What do we call this half-Eldrazi, half-D&T deck that keeps popping up on MTGO, and do we have a primer? Is this just what BW Processors has become? I've had a hard time finding it.
kind of newer to card evaluation but is this not better than Dark Confidant
No, this is not near the power level of Dark Confidant. It's only good in topdeck mode or in Madness/discard-heavy decks. The amount of time any player spends in a game with 0 cards in hand is minimal, and you'd better hope it's your opponent. If it is, you're already winning.
While it's true WOTC doesn't test for modern, how could they not see this massive oversight? This wasn't just some random old card that had synergy with this other card, and suddenly, a warped occurred
The Eldrazi temple and Eye of Ugin was very well known, and they're tribal with this...how could they not see this coming?
They probably saw it and said "Huh, that's cool! Nice bonus synergy for Modern!" That was basically what every other Modern player and author said after Oath got released. We looked at the set, saw cool new Eldrazi, thought there might be something there, and then moved on. The first weeks before the PT were quite tame Eldrazi-wise. It took a lot of Pro Tour-based collaboration to really break it, and very, very few saw just how broken that could end up being. This might also be a strike against Modern PTs, but I digress.
I would like to point out something pretty interesting. This is the 3rd place decklist from Regional is Providence, the SAME DAY as the Pro Tour: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=98647
I don't play MTGO, so I don't know it's presence there, but the core looks a lot like the ones run on the pro tour. I'm not insinuating anything, but I do find it interesting that people were coming up with very similar lists simultaneously to the pro tour.
Plenty of people on these very forums were already running that core prior to the PT. Some were even running some of the more obscure/less obvious tech like Eldrazi Obligator well in advance of the PT.
It didn't take a genius to see how good Mimic/Endless One/TKS/Smasher were in concert. All of these comments about how shocking it was that Mimic was a good card and that Endless One was playable in the deck crack me up. When have free creatures with upside ever been a bad thing?
A) Ban Eye Of Ugin + Vesuva and unban Cloudpost while you are at it. 12post remains bad deck. You know how it works. They will have Eldrazi Temple and nothing to copy it with. The deck will be good but tier 2-tier 2.5.
Tron remains a strong deck and still has a good mu vs fair decks.
B) Ban Eldrazi Temple and Simian Spirit Guide. They have though Turn 1 Eldrazi Mimic's but Seers and Smashers are kind of late to the party.
Two problems with that though: This still leaves a strong deck(not as strong as with SSG though)
and Grishoalbrand/Ad Nauseaum become unplayable. That is a shame.
I prefer no.1, but a combination of either one should be applied in order to make certain it won't be dominating the format after the bans.
Cloudpost without Vesuva isn't as bad as you think it is. In fact, I remember very well the 12-Post people post-PT Philly lobbying for a Vesuva ban to keep the deck intact. I'd play the hell out of 8-Post + Temple.
I think affinity will be fine because it lacks the resilience of pod, twin, and bloom. All these ran with with hate for it in the meta that fell flat on it's face in effectiveness. Affinity's generally works imo. Of course I could be wrong, but I feel it'll be alright.
Affinity is the only deck that has been able to take the fight back to the Eldrazi. That speaks volumes about its effectiveness.
More or less, I think that just speaks volumes to its Eldrazi matchup.
I've basically let go of any hope that only Eye or only Temple will be banned. It's going to be both. They can't beat around the bush with the kinds of results we're seeing. It has to be destroyed.
Despite setting a bad precedent, an emergency ban seems overwhelmingly preferable to the alternative at this point. I just can't even bring myself to play until something is done, and I actually play an Eldrazi deck. I think that they could justify an emergency ban by proving that the circumstances are beyond exceptional, and they can easily do that with their data up to now.
I know I might be biased, but I'd ban both of those lands honestly. Eye of Ugin + Urborg still means TKS turn2, while Temples are playable in more numbers OTB.
Banning both means that those monstruous ETB/Cast triggers are balanced for what they cost. Turn4 TKS is a really strong card, same goes for turn5 Reality Smasher (they could eventually play mana dorks if they want). Eldrazi Temple is almost certainly the most likely to be banned, but then I still think the inevitability of Eye of Ugin is still too gross in a meta in which control is discouraging to be played. RG Tron is a great deck even without Eye and is very consistent in what it does, but at least it could be a little more graceful against control decks, because a control player know he has essentially to play Crumble to Dust or hope in an early Stony Silence to do something, and even the latter isn't that impactful when there are Stirrings and Sylvan Scrying.
The rest of the meta seems fine to me, maybe I'd also unban some cards as well, like BBE, SFM, AV and Sword. I also don't mind if Punishing Fire joins the meta too, although it seems dangerous.
You cannot get tks out on turn 2 with eye + urborg.
Uhmmm...yeah, you can. Urborg allows you to tap Eye for mana.
Edit: sorry, I was wrong
Yeah, for B. Not C. Effectively, you can produce 2BB. This is old news. You can't cast it t2 with Eye and Urborg.
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Eternal Witness
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Voice of Resurgence
Instant (8)
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
Enchantment (3)
3 Retreat to Coralhelm
Land (23)
1 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Strand
4 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Plains
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Temple Garden
1 Westvale Abbey
4 Windswept Heath
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Choke
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Negate
1 Pithing Needle
2 Stony Silence
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Twisted Image
Interesting/odd inclusion: 1-off Westvale Abbey.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-constructed-league-2016-04-21
If you haven't already, check this out.
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-84-65-tix-modern-troll-worship
So dramatic. Tron will be fine. I'm not sure Eldrazi will take a big enough hit, though.
No, this is not near the power level of Dark Confidant. It's only good in topdeck mode or in Madness/discard-heavy decks. The amount of time any player spends in a game with 0 cards in hand is minimal, and you'd better hope it's your opponent. If it is, you're already winning.
Plenty of people on these very forums were already running that core prior to the PT. Some were even running some of the more obscure/less obvious tech like Eldrazi Obligator well in advance of the PT.
It didn't take a genius to see how good Mimic/Endless One/TKS/Smasher were in concert. All of these comments about how shocking it was that Mimic was a good card and that Endless One was playable in the deck crack me up. When have free creatures with upside ever been a bad thing?
Cloudpost without Vesuva isn't as bad as you think it is. In fact, I remember very well the 12-Post people post-PT Philly lobbying for a Vesuva ban to keep the deck intact. I'd play the hell out of 8-Post + Temple.
More or less, I think that just speaks volumes to its Eldrazi matchup.
Yeah, for B. Not C. Effectively, you can produce 2BB. This is old news. You can't cast it t2 with Eye and Urborg.