The blue serpent plays well in Bedlam Reveler builds. Cathartic Reunion can really fuel thisnout quickly. And being immune to Fatal Push is always great. Unlike delve you can cast multiples of these in successive turns.
I think the set seems fine. It's more of a collection of cards that work well with other cards than a set with 2 or 3 cards that can win just by you playing them. Synergistic deck building has always created the best standard formats. This set actively promotes this.
I can't see it ever hitting Modern prices. Modern is weird I need that it encompasses a time period where Magic almost died. Kami had an absurdly small print run as Affinity basically killed Standard attendance. My friends shop actually went under from it. He has since reopened and wisely has mutiple games supported at his store. Frontier has sets with HUGE print runs. The only costly items will be the fetches and maybe baby Jace.
Mindcensor is a great hatebeat for this format. It stops Traverse and all the mana search cards (fetches included). This printing actually makes me think that Wizards is planning for Frontier to be a thing.
Do we honestly expect there NOT to be a lot of kill spells? Bolas is all about control, and cruel control has been waiting for this block for modern, I can't see it not printing more answers.
But to the people whining about cat not being banned...
Play a goddamn shock, or shut up. The very seldom times cat comes from a nahiri ult and saheeli is already out, I can see being salty. That's you pretty buried. But saheeli decks have nothing else you need shock for. No other deadly threats to worry about losing to. If you lose to it, you deserve to. Like it or not, you learn how to play good magic. Older players learned it by playing vs Splinter Twin. You CANNOT focus only on your own side of the board. Saheeli cat combo can go off, so you hold a mana open for shock, whether you have one or not. They won't play it if they expect a shock and have no second saheeli. If you can't learn to play around your opponent's deck, you won't ever do well in any standard, modern, legacy, or commander.
Couldn't have said it better myself. And the combo isn't "oppressive" to deck building either. Every color, except green, has some form of efficient answer to the combo.
However I've noticed that people usually don't buy into bluffs at the most FNMs near ne; if they draw the combo pieces, they're going to play it even if you're holding up mana for a disruption. But that might be a topic for another thread.
Mardu Vehicles however I think does need a serious nerf. Gideon and Heart of Kiran is just insane: a 4/4 flyer and indestructible 5/5 on the ground is absolutely ridiculous. Heart of Kiran is manageable especially with Fatal Push, but there are very few ways to deal with Gideon when he's attacking you. Every loss I've had with Mardu Vehicles (excluding being flooded or screwed) is due to Gideon.
I played through Affinity standard. This is not close.
I played through Cawblade standard.
Again we are not in the same ballpark people.
There are plenty of options if you really want to win games. People seem to ignore BR control as an option due to a lack of a sweeper. Release the Gremlins is awesome versus vehicles. Black removal can stop the cat combo and shock can also get the job done.
Chandra is a reasonable theat. Transgress hits both parts of the combo. Lost Legacy kills the combo dead. I see answers, just not in people's pet decks.
I get that you have to draw the answers but that's Magic people.
I played a turbo green deck that people always frowned about.
Vernal Bloom with Early Harvest and lots of green recursion. I'd make absurd amounts of mana and either cast Tooth and Nail for Emmy and Urbask or Rude Awakening. And people literally had no idea what was going on. The best part was using Garruk to win via his overrun ult.
Nothing like Exhausting people to help get those triggers. And the counterspell is also decent enough to be useful.
As a guy who likes Garruks Packleader I approve. This set is WAYYYY better than the cars nonsense.
I played through Affinity standard. This is not close.
I played through Cawblade standard.
Again we are not in the same ballpark people.
There are plenty of options if you really want to win games. People seem to ignore BR control as an option due to a lack of a sweeper. Release the Gremlins is awesome versus vehicles. Black removal can stop the cat combo and shock can also get the job done.
Chandra is a reasonable theat. Transgress hits both parts of the combo. Lost Legacy kills the combo dead. I see answers, just not in people's pet decks.
I get that you have to draw the answers but that's Magic people.
Vernal Bloom with Early Harvest and lots of green recursion. I'd make absurd amounts of mana and either cast Tooth and Nail for Emmy and Urbask or Rude Awakening. And people literally had no idea what was going on. The best part was using Garruk to win via his overrun ult.
SCG has the mm version at $60.