Shrug, the only issue here is that to some people, having a bunch of different deck types are good. And that's the be-all-end-all.
Which is true, it is a good thing.
But on the other side of the fence, you realise that a majority of those decks generate very similar type of gameplay. Sit down vs tron/dredge/burn/affinity etc you know almost exactly what's going to happen and how the game and match is going to play out. For the most part, win or lose, there isn't anything thought-provoking about the match. Are there interesting gameplay decisions to be made? Occasionally maybe.
And that's not a knock against those decks or people who enjoy playing those decks. They're made to do their thing efficiently.
The decks do different things but the general blueprint of how the game progresses is the same.
The only "unfair" deck that's interesting to play against imo is UR Phoenix and that's only because of how flexible it is at switching roles and its multiple angles of attack.
What do you think the 5C humans deck is going to cut to accommodate running multiples of this card? Seems like it's just added redundancy against things that humans are already decent to good against.
A curated online metagame spreadsheet that shows healthy ratios and numbers might be an objective truth, but it could also mean absolutely nothing in the context of a local environment.
Telling someone that certain fair decks have a good metagame share on mtggoldfish or whatever mean jack ***** when they could actually be playing against tron/dredge/H1/Phoenix 3/4 of the time locally which causes the negative feelings towards the format.
Online stats do not magically invalidate someone's local experience of Modern.
Unsettled Mariner
WU
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling (This card is every creature type.)
Whenever you or a permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless its controller pays 1.
pretty interesting tribal addition if you ask me. humans, spirits, and merfolk come to mind.
Wow, this is really good. Hard to imagine Humans not running any of these. Hope there are few other spoilers left that are this strong.
Highly dependent on what Humans has to fight against. 5C Humans has 2, maybe 3 flex slots you can play around with, and those are usually the meta-dependent 3 drops. Tweaking numbers anywhere else is going to be gain-something but lose something scenario.
I understand that many of you will disagree, but I have yet to see a single main deck playable level card spoiled from MH1, excluding the slivers and the canopy land cycle.
Depends really on what your interpretation of maindeckable is.
If you mean they'll be played main deck as people experiment with new cards? For sure.
In the long term? Not really, half of that list of cards won't be able to carve a spot for themselves in Modern past the experimental period because they can't hack it in the Modern arms race.
Not to say they aren't good cards, but there could just be no home for them yet. Fallen Shinobi for example, is there a UB deck that's interested in proactively attacking to trigger ninjutsu? What about Ice-fang Coatl, is there a UG deck that wants to run enough snow permanents for that payoff?
Even something like Ranger-Captain that at 1st glance seems like a auto-include in 5C Humans but is actually just one of the many flex slot considerations. White Weenie or D&T could be more playable with it and Giver of Runes but they don't really address the main problems of those archetypes either.
We still have more spoilers coming up so fingers-crossed.
Black/Red sword seems a lot better than Blue/White sword. If swords in general are ever good enough again (And that new goblin seems kind of specifically designed for them?), this is a great SB card.
Without Stoneforge, they will continue to be as unplayable as they've always been. Feast/Famine is absolutely nuts good, Light/Shadow is a great engine for creatures, Fire/Ice is an excellent value engine and clock.
And none of them see play.
These new ones will be great for Commander and Legacy. They will be ultimately meaningless in Modern.
Not in Legacy either no. These don't even come close to the level of SoFaI (which isn't even a locked in main deck slot half the time).
Man this is a really freaking sweet card, fingers crossed that white weenie will become viable.
Want to add on that I don't think this is an auto-include in 5C Humans even though it has the relevant creature typing. This likely competes with cards like Militia Bugler/ Kessig Malcontents/ Anafenza/ Deputy of Detention in the flex slots.
The search effect is ...decent. The 1-drops in 5C Humans are pretty low impact in the mid-late stages of a game. It's pretty good as a post-sweeper recovery play, similar to bugler but lacks utility.
The sacrifice effect on the other hand, can be game-winning but it's one of those effects that can be quite hard to use properly without prior information.
Stopping spell-based combo decks from going off mid-combo is the most obvious use, followed by preempting a sweeper from control on a key turn.
Against Tron it's a bit iffy, they might just drop a wurmcoil on you instead.
And of course, things can still be done with the sacrifice on the stack.
All in all, I think it's quite a balanced and well-designed card.
What was the 'acceptable' percentage for a pre-turn 4 win? I believe Infect's turn 3 kill rate with gitaxian probe could not be higher than 30%. And that's even after having 2 turns to develop resources and interact.
That being the case, 20% turn 1 kill rate with no chance at all to interact seems like it should just not be allowed. Heck even 10% is ridiculous. Although it does remain to be seen if the deck can actually put up such a percentage.
Why even such a ridiculously high number like 80%? If even 20% of games end before a player gets to take a game action, that should be it, pound it with the hammer.
The legality of Jitte and Brainstorm make a big difference in the power level of SFM is in Legacy vs Modern.
Also, there are quite a few cards legal in BOTH formats that can do a job on a stoneforge package.
Pithing Needle for example is a multi-purpose card that any deck can use to stop both SFM herself or equipment. Phyrexian revoker is another. These cards simply don't see play in Modern because there aren't many strong activated abilities around. They're ready made answers for SFM.
I don't see how anyone can buy the notion that SFM + Skull is some sort of powerhouse inevitability engine when a pithing needle just stops it from happening.
Which is true, it is a good thing.
But on the other side of the fence, you realise that a majority of those decks generate very similar type of gameplay. Sit down vs tron/dredge/burn/affinity etc you know almost exactly what's going to happen and how the game and match is going to play out. For the most part, win or lose, there isn't anything thought-provoking about the match. Are there interesting gameplay decisions to be made? Occasionally maybe.
And that's not a knock against those decks or people who enjoy playing those decks. They're made to do their thing efficiently.
The decks do different things but the general blueprint of how the game progresses is the same.
The only "unfair" deck that's interesting to play against imo is UR Phoenix and that's only because of how flexible it is at switching roles and its multiple angles of attack.
Telling someone that certain fair decks have a good metagame share on mtggoldfish or whatever mean jack ***** when they could actually be playing against tron/dredge/H1/Phoenix 3/4 of the time locally which causes the negative feelings towards the format.
Online stats do not magically invalidate someone's local experience of Modern.
Highly dependent on what Humans has to fight against. 5C Humans has 2, maybe 3 flex slots you can play around with, and those are usually the meta-dependent 3 drops. Tweaking numbers anywhere else is going to be gain-something but lose something scenario.
5C Humans core 2-drops:
Thalia, GoT
Thalia's Lieutenant
Kitesail freebooter
meddling mage
phantasmal image
You'll really just be exchanging between different types of disruption if you cut any of these to fit it in.
Depends really on what your interpretation of maindeckable is.
If you mean they'll be played main deck as people experiment with new cards? For sure.
In the long term? Not really, half of that list of cards won't be able to carve a spot for themselves in Modern past the experimental period because they can't hack it in the Modern arms race.
Not to say they aren't good cards, but there could just be no home for them yet. Fallen Shinobi for example, is there a UB deck that's interested in proactively attacking to trigger ninjutsu? What about Ice-fang Coatl, is there a UG deck that wants to run enough snow permanents for that payoff?
Even something like Ranger-Captain that at 1st glance seems like a auto-include in 5C Humans but is actually just one of the many flex slot considerations. White Weenie or D&T could be more playable with it and Giver of Runes but they don't really address the main problems of those archetypes either.
We still have more spoilers coming up so fingers-crossed.
Not in Legacy either no. These don't even come close to the level of SoFaI (which isn't even a locked in main deck slot half the time).
Want to add on that I don't think this is an auto-include in 5C Humans even though it has the relevant creature typing. This likely competes with cards like Militia Bugler/ Kessig Malcontents/ Anafenza/ Deputy of Detention in the flex slots.
The search effect is ...decent. The 1-drops in 5C Humans are pretty low impact in the mid-late stages of a game. It's pretty good as a post-sweeper recovery play, similar to bugler but lacks utility.
The sacrifice effect on the other hand, can be game-winning but it's one of those effects that can be quite hard to use properly without prior information.
Stopping spell-based combo decks from going off mid-combo is the most obvious use, followed by preempting a sweeper from control on a key turn.
Against Tron it's a bit iffy, they might just drop a wurmcoil on you instead.
And of course, things can still be done with the sacrifice on the stack.
All in all, I think it's quite a balanced and well-designed card.
Man this is a really freaking sweet card, fingers crossed that white weenie will become viable.
Cranial plating
Let’s not even talk about new equipment being printed. The old ‘good’ ones like swords and batterskull aren’t even good enough on their own.
That being the case, 20% turn 1 kill rate with no chance at all to interact seems like it should just not be allowed. Heck even 10% is ridiculous. Although it does remain to be seen if the deck can actually put up such a percentage.
Out of 26 decks, Phoenix and Humans leading the pack at 5 and 4 copies respectively.
1 guy repping Jund, what a hero.
Also, there are quite a few cards legal in BOTH formats that can do a job on a stoneforge package.
Pithing Needle for example is a multi-purpose card that any deck can use to stop both SFM herself or equipment. Phyrexian revoker is another. These cards simply don't see play in Modern because there aren't many strong activated abilities around. They're ready made answers for SFM.
I don't see how anyone can buy the notion that SFM + Skull is some sort of powerhouse inevitability engine when a pithing needle just stops it from happening.