Daze is much stronger in Legacy because decks playing Daze are also playing Wasteland and sometimes Stifle to have a solid mana denial plan while aplying pressure with a Delver of Secrets or some other efficient threat. Without Wasteland, Daze is not as powerful and is quite easy to play around (you still get blown out if you don't play around it so that sounds good as people would have to play around it instead of vomiting their hands)
Cloud of Fairies doesn't make any difference in decks that are abusing lands like Amulet Titan. In fact you need a lot of setup to gain anything from it. Untapping two lands before turn 3 is very unlikely if one of them has to be a Karoo land. If you are using them to gain mana with Utopia Sprawl you are effectively having Desperate Ritual on a 1/1. To use this setup you need at least one more card to be played to let it go infinite (with Eldrazi Displacer for example) and one another card to actually reap rewards from having either infinite mana or ETBs.
If you don't use it for a combo Cloud of Fairies is "just" a 0 cost 1/1 flier that can only be played with 2 or more mana open, which is worse than Ornithopter when it comes to playability in the early turns.
I want a 0 mana 1/1 flying fairy without cycling or a 1/1 flying fairy with one upside like all the other 1 mana flying blue creatures since M13 which have accumulated into cards like Mausoleum Wanderer, Siren Stormtamer and Pteramander which are slowly getting lower and lower rarity for really good effects that I envy as fairy player.
I am open to critique if there are ways to break Cloud of Fairies in a way that is relevant to the current modern metagame.
RUG Ponza might like the effect with Utopia Sprawl but I am not sure how good that is, having 4 mana on turn 2 more consistently and sometimes even 5 or 6 mana (very good openers) would make cards like Plow Under and Mwonvuli Acid-Moss more appealing for the Ponza player but we would need to see how powerful and consistent that would be to evaluate it
The new mulligan rule should help us finding the pieces to go off early and is a motivation to run Leylines in our sideboard, maybe adding Izzet Charm to cycle extra copies if needed. What do you think?
I agree with Ashton that our interaction is the main reason to run this over UR Phoenix. I've tried Disrupting Shoal a few times and I didn't prefer it. If you'd like to play a similar list to Asthon minus the shoals I'd recommend giving this one a try - I usually have pretty good results.
Yeah, I get your points, my previous post was more like a UR Phoenix deck that happens to play Delver as a powerful 1CMC card that flips easily but not as a tempo deck that protects said threat with countermagic (that doesn't play along well with Phoenix)
I am surprised that many decklists posted here play 18 lands, yet they play 4CMC spells like Pia and Kiran or a full set of Snapcastger Mage. I would play more lands if I were to play those cards to have a better chance at casting them, doesn't this become an issue from time to time? I like a low land count as it makes it easier to fill the deck with cantrips and flip Delver more easily but I wouldn't fit any 4CMC there but would try to be playing a lot of cheap interaction, the only exception could be Cryptic Command as a 1-of or 2-of maximum but I would still try to go for lower CMCs, the issue I have with Snapcaster is similar since he is never going to flashback much with less than 3 lands (except Surgical from the sideboard) so I treat him as a 3CMC, I see most lists play 4 and maybe 18 lands is enough for that but I feel like it can become obnoxious sometimes.
Light up the Stage seems nice as a way to keep card advantage and being able to cast those cards until next turn is great as we can reveal a counterspell and keep mana up to play it on our oppponent's turn, if they don't do anything we lose the counterspell but it virtually acted as Time Walk so that should be good in a tempo deck, right?
In a non-Snapcaster deck like mine, Grafdigger's Cage seems really good as it's not just graveyard hate but also stops Vannifar, Chord of Calling and Collected Company, the problem is that it's not an instant nor sorcery (Delver, Pteramander and Young Pyromancer) and of course the Snapcaster thing but I can see it being quite useful in today's meta, what are your thoughts on this?
1. Why no Greater Gargadon?
2. Chalice im not a fan of since on 0 it kills the deck, 1 doesn't stop much outside discard, 2 stops somethings but requires 4 mana to do so in a deck known for being slow, 3 kills your posts and and foretold. As a 4 of what are you trying to hate out?
3. Chandra is a no go. Her first ability runs the risk of exiling RB so what do you run her for.
4. Ral. He has no synergy with our deck or even this version. Please explain.
5. Too many lands. 9 posts and 16 lands.
6. Abrade is garbage. We have better tools. Wear // Tear is one, Nahiri, and we don't need single target removal when our main strat is constant removal.
7. Why did you move away from the tried and true Nahiri Emrakul package?
To answer your questions on lands and posts it depends on your direction. I run heavy on posts (12) and light on lands (4 basics with 7 fetches) whereas other people flip it. I do it so I can have better restore balances at the cost of consistent mana and I don't have to rely on Greater Gargadon too much whereas other people want land first then slowly repeal their lands with posts once set up and rely on more Greater Gargs.
Your wrong about Leylind Voids. We have no good gravehate cards if don't run postless lists. Dredge, Hollow One, and Phenoix could care less about board wipes since a lot of their creatures come back from the grave, Gravexrawler, Phoenix, Bloodghast, etc. I run Ravenous Trap as a 3x to deal with this difficult matchup.
Leylines of Sanctity are decent. Not a fan of dead cards late game. Sure you need 4 for consistency but we use them for Burn
and discard. Imo not worth spending 200$ for 2 matchups where, if you play smart and keep flexible hands, you're fine.
It looks to me you just combined several peoples deck using only the best card. You should focus on one game plan. You're going for this odd high post, high land, high tech card build, restore balance without cascade and it doesn't come together. You should focus on 1-2 aspects. Whether it be posts and restore balance, postless with control, control with tech.
1 No Gargadon because I didn't want a wincon that dies to Path to Exile and I wanted to have planeswalkers as my wincons, I see that he might be still be useful enough as an enabler to make better RBs so yeah, I will probably test with them
2 Chalice was meant to be cast for X=1, having the opportunity to cast it on T1 with Simian Spirit Guide. It stays after RB and it's really good vs Grixis Death Shadow, a very popular deck right now so I wanted to try it out
3 The idea was to use her as a win-con after casting RB, if we need her to stabilize, adding RR to cast something like Electrodominance or dealing 4 damage to a creature should be ok and I wouldn't mind exiling other RBs after I am controlling the board. Maybe I was biased on how good she is on prison decks but she didn't dissapoint me on my games so I think I will stick with her
4 It was a test, as I said before, I am new to the archetype and wanted to test it so I had to try him and yes he is not good here
5 Yeah, I got flooded some games, having 29 mana sources is definitely too many (16 lands + 9 posts + 4 SSG)
6 The idea was to have a 2 mana damage removal spell to dodge Chalice that sometimes could be used to deal with an annoying artifact, it wasn't terrible but you are probably right that targeted removal is not needed
7 As I said before, I am new in the archetype so I had no reference for lists with Electrodominance since it's a new card so I based my deckbuilding on some Cascade versions I had seen, I didn't know Nahiri + Emrakul was the established way of constructing the deck
Regarding your Leyline of the Void paragraph, do you realize that Anger of the Gods exiles creatures? I meant that GY hate is mostly to deal with creatures now that KCI is gone so having a wrath that exiles them could be enough in that regard. I also like Anger since you don't need it ready at the exact moment they bring their stuff back from graveyard but you can just topdeck it and clean the board.
Regarding Leyline of Sanctity, I want to discuss if it's good without entering budget considerations, I can get behind the "dead card in late game" argument but if you start with it in play Burn becomes a much easier deck to deal with so I thought they were good enough
Yeah, my list needs some changes but I was definitely not picking the best cards on every list to build mine, I mean you just said Abrade is garbage and I am also playing Supreme Will so I think it's easy to see that it's not what I did
I think you are right that my plan is not focused enough and having almost half of the deck be mana sources didn't help, will try to tweak it and see how it goes
Hi, I've never played this archetype before but I am excited to see if Electrodominance can make it viable.
Based on what I've reading here, I would probably go for a non-cascade approach with Chalice of the Void and Borderland Posts.
I am not sure what's the correct equilibrium between lands and posts, from what I've seen on mtgtop8, seems like the total amount of both should be around 25 but I've recently seen a list here with 12 lands and 7 posts so not sure what is correct.
I've also seen versions without the posts and I like that on the surface but then I imagine those games where we have to RB to clear their creatures (vs Humans for instance) and then be stuck with 2 mana sources until we draw another one so unable to play our wincons(in my case I like PWs and not Gargadon), meanwhile they can build a board again since their creatures are cheap and grow fast.
What do you think about Leylines in the sideboard? As an enchantment we can drop for free, helps us in certain matchups while making our hand smaller for a a better RB, that's why there are 4 Leyline of Sanctity in my list (Burn being superpopular right now with Spectacle cards), on the other hand, Leyline of the Void is not as necessary IMO since we can play Anger of the Gods to deal with Hollow One, Phoenix and Dredge builds now that KCI is out of the picture.
@Depian Your list looksa bit similar to mine, with some more value pieces added. I wasn't impressed by the combination though, but I'm glad to see, someone is still trying and I'm curious how the deck will perform to you.
The deck didn't perform bad but didn't perform great either. I think it was too value-focused and it was cute but not effective. I've decided to take a different approach and decided to dump the Saheeli combo since we can't fetch her so in the end I usually had to rely on Kiki-Jiki to go off and doing so without any way to protect it seemed like a tough task.
I decided I wanted to replace Saheeli with another engine to search for creatures so I am now playing 3 Chord of Calling and 3 Eldritch Evolution. Not sure if there has been discussion on how these cards work together and if there is an established way to build with both of them.
I haven't tried but I don't think I would like Rythm of the Wild, I think it would be like Saheeli, you can't fetch it and you want to find 1 early but you rarely want to find more than 1 and even then it feels like more of a cute card that combos with Persist (I like that with it on the battlefield there is no need for a bad card like Breaching Hippocamp for going off but at least the creature can be fetched and we don't really that much if it gets bolted since we mostly want it for the ETB)
So, here is the list I will be playing now, I think it's more streamlined and focused while still packing some cute interactions that provide a ton of value like Thragtusk (he is decent vs aggro, midrange and control and the interaction with Resto is too cute to miss):
I have thought of trying to fit some Spell Queller and Lavinia, Azorious Renegade to lock the opponent and because of her interaction vs Terminus but I think it's still on the cute side of things and Gaddock should be helpful enough vs control.
This quote from idSurge also. It's his opinion, and of course I respect it.
But, it does not help at all if you are putting words like nothing in sentences and in your claims. Maybe he changed nothing to id, because he did not had to play vs the KCI deck often enough.
Also, what are the other issues of the format? It's extremely diverse, fun, not as much uninteractive as it was with KCI, what more do you want?
TLDR: Let's not make wild, extreme claims and let's not be vocal about them!
Sorry, I missed idSurge comment and you probably were referring to it.
I actually understand why people can feel like "nothing" changed, and by "nothing" I mean very little (something has changed and for good but I believe it had a very low impact on the format overall).
Modern is diverse as you state and in such a diverse format, you were likely not going to face KCI more than 2-3 rounds in a whole GP, therefore the impact the ban had is there as you say (no need for some specific sideboard choices like playing white or green in Phoenix, although Ancient Grudge is still seeing play there) but overall it wasn't that big, people packed answers that were also good in other matchups like Leyline of the Void(otherwise they couldn't be prepared for this diverse metagame) and they are still packing this kind of answers since they work well vs those other decks that are still tier, of course there will be changes in sideboard but as I said before, Spectacle burn and Vannifar are probably going to have a higher impact on how we sideboard than the KCI ban.
About the "other issues of the format" I think cfusionpm probably refers to linearity based on previous comments but that's not easy to fix by tweaking the banlist, it isn't even something we all agree as a problem so that's more of a personal opinion (even though I agree with it). If WotC were to do something in that regard, printing new cards could be the way to go (like Fatal Push) and some unbans could also help in that regard (Punishing Fire).
We considered three possible cards from Ironworks to ban: Ancient Stirrings, Mox Opal, and Krark-Clan Ironworks itself. Given that Modern has looked healthy and diverse at many levels of play outside of Ironworks's dominance at the Grand Prix level, we decided to target the card that only affects the Ironworks deck: Krark-Clan Ironworks.
This is from the last B&R announcement, they literally explain how they banned KCI so it had the lowest impact on the overall metagame because they considered it was healthy on many levels of play.
How can you say that KCI changed nothing, since it made for some unfun, uninteractive, super long games, filled with super weird interactions, and it's win rate was super high in game 1(a-la you basically were losing game 1, then hoping to draw your white cards post sideboard)?
I am pretty sure, from all of the reactions on Reddit and on Twitter that the banning of KCI changed a lot in Modern.
Because that ban only affected that deck and it's meta share was not very big as the deck was not very popular so the meta hasn't changed that much as a consequence of the ban, in fact, RNA had a much bigger impact on the meta than the KCI ban as Vannifar decks are popping out and Spectacle cards are seeing a lot of play. Of course there is some impact from banning KCI but it is quite small when you compare it to pretty much anything else. It is unlikely that an old deck makes a resurgence as KCI left because no deck was being oppressed by it, it simply was performing better than the rest of the field.
Hi, it's been a long time since I played Delver on Modern for the last time but I am excited to test some new cards from RNA like Pteramander and Light up the Stage. In legacy it's a lot easier to flip Delver since there is Brainstorm, therefore I've thought about building a version that runs as many instants and sorceries as possible and then realised that such a strategy would be good with either of these cards: Young Pyromancer or Arclight Phoenix.
Young Pyromancer is easier to fit in the build but I am afraid most of the time casting it on T2 is not good enough for the current meta so I decided to play the Phoenix since I am usually not going to spend any mana for it (so it should be more tempoish) and that would make all my threats have flying.
However, I hate the card disadvantage from Faithless Looting when the only card I usually want to discard are those Phoenixes so I decided to trim them and have Lightning Axe as the only discard outlet, this might be a mistake since I am including Light up the Stage for card advantage that could make up for Faithless Looting, I will try adjusting this and see what works better for me. Vapor Snag seems really good in a tempo build like this and triggers Spectacle, maybe I should run more copies, I also like that it deals quite nicely with Thing in the Ice.
For the sideboard I thought having the Madcap Experiment + Platinum Emperion combo could grant some free wins vs non-white decks (Path to Exile) as I don't play any artifacts in the mainboard, so opponents shouldn't be bringing any hate for artifacts and killing a 8/8 is not easy with burn damage, one thing that worries me about this is that I play many fetchlands that could become useless after I drop it although maybe it doesn't matter as I would be already winning by then, the other thing I have concerns is that it costs 4 mana and it will probably be difficult to reach those landrops (hopefully it won't be as hard with Light up the Stage)
So, here is my decklist, let me know what do you think, I will test it online and come back with results:
As much as I love Preordain I agree that it should remain banned as it's risky and there is not much to be gained by unbanning it. Also, Phoenix is seeing huge amounts of play with very good and consistent results. Adding Preordain would consolidate it as the most popular deck, at the same time UW control, GDS and Storm would pick it so in the end Preordain would have a large enough metagame share to become problematic.
I would actually say that Dig Through Time has more chances to be unbanned than Preordain (and I believe Dig is not getting unbanned anytime soon) becase it's not a card you can use to goldfish, it gives consistency but has a real cost to it so not all blue decks would jam it in.
I am building a Vannifar build based on the Saheeli + Felidar CopyCat, I've tried more midrange options during the weekend with Voice of resurgence, Phantasmal Image, etc but in the end it felt like I rarely had a chance to win with a fair plan so I decided to go for a more straightforward approach:
I love the crazy amount of synergies built in the deck and that it can goldfish as early as T2, I've also counted 4 different ways to get a T3 kill (two of them through Vannifar activations). One nice interaction I got to enjoy yesterday vs Humans is Scryb Ranger + Izzet Staticaster
The deck is fun to play and it's packed with a lot of power, I find myself planning my turns for some time before executing them to ensure I don't screw up but with some practice that should improve
I decided to put Glen Elendra Archmage in the sideboard as another card vs control but I have thought about Spell Queller as another option, in the end we are running so many dorks that 4 mana shouldn't be a problem and I'd rather have 2 hardcounters than 1 softcounter even if it costs more mana
I am glad with how Modern is shaping after the release of Ravnica Allegiance, I hope this keeps up with next sets, it's great to have new cards enter the pool in a meaningful way like the Spectacle cards. In that sense, I wish Wizards would be more open to unbanning cards in the list starting with the most innocuous ones IMO:
Stoneforge Mystic and Punishing Fire
so question for you all. if design produced a 1/1 body in blue for 1u that was basically preordain would it help the demand for accurate draw fixing? i think the cantrip utility creature is a risk but it is a risk that pays off safely compared to the fears of powering up izzet combo.
There are already creatures who does this and they do not see play.
Greetings,
Kathal
It would have been good to give an example as it's not that obvious. I don't think there are that many, I can only recall Sea Gate Oracle, Tower Geist and Riverwise Augur
None of those cards is giving a Ponder or Preordain effect and they tend to cost more than 2 mana
Still, I think you are right that a 1/1 for 1U with Preordain ETB would probably be weak, maybe Ponder ETB could be worth including.
I mean, Discovery // Dispersal is basically a 2 mana Preordain (I think Surveil is better than Scry so that's a bit different) and still doesn't see Modern play because of how huge a difference it makes going from 1 to 2 mana
On the other hand, a 1/1 for U with Preordain ETB... I think that would see play, probably in some kind of build with mini reanimation effects like Renegade Rallier
RUG Ponza might like the effect with Utopia Sprawl but I am not sure how good that is, having 4 mana on turn 2 more consistently and sometimes even 5 or 6 mana (very good openers) would make cards like Plow Under and Mwonvuli Acid-Moss more appealing for the Ponza player but we would need to see how powerful and consistent that would be to evaluate it
Yeah, I get your points, my previous post was more like a UR Phoenix deck that happens to play Delver as a powerful 1CMC card that flips easily but not as a tempo deck that protects said threat with countermagic (that doesn't play along well with Phoenix)
I am surprised that many decklists posted here play 18 lands, yet they play 4CMC spells like Pia and Kiran or a full set of Snapcastger Mage. I would play more lands if I were to play those cards to have a better chance at casting them, doesn't this become an issue from time to time? I like a low land count as it makes it easier to fill the deck with cantrips and flip Delver more easily but I wouldn't fit any 4CMC there but would try to be playing a lot of cheap interaction, the only exception could be Cryptic Command as a 1-of or 2-of maximum but I would still try to go for lower CMCs, the issue I have with Snapcaster is similar since he is never going to flashback much with less than 3 lands (except Surgical from the sideboard) so I treat him as a 3CMC, I see most lists play 4 and maybe 18 lands is enough for that but I feel like it can become obnoxious sometimes.
Light up the Stage seems nice as a way to keep card advantage and being able to cast those cards until next turn is great as we can reveal a counterspell and keep mana up to play it on our oppponent's turn, if they don't do anything we lose the counterspell but it virtually acted as Time Walk so that should be good in a tempo deck, right?
In a non-Snapcaster deck like mine, Grafdigger's Cage seems really good as it's not just graveyard hate but also stops Vannifar, Chord of Calling and Collected Company, the problem is that it's not an instant nor sorcery (Delver, Pteramander and Young Pyromancer) and of course the Snapcaster thing but I can see it being quite useful in today's meta, what are your thoughts on this?
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Pteramander
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Grim Lavamancer
Instant and Sorceries (30)
2 Deprive
2 Spell Pierce
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Opt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag
4 Mana Leak
4 Light up the Stage
3 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Chalice was meant to be cast for X=1, having the opportunity to cast it on T1 with Simian Spirit Guide. It stays after RB and it's really good vs Grixis Death Shadow, a very popular deck right now so I wanted to try it out
3 The idea was to use her as a win-con after casting RB, if we need her to stabilize, adding RR to cast something like Electrodominance or dealing 4 damage to a creature should be ok and I wouldn't mind exiling other RBs after I am controlling the board. Maybe I was biased on how good she is on prison decks but she didn't dissapoint me on my games so I think I will stick with her
4 It was a test, as I said before, I am new to the archetype and wanted to test it so I had to try him and yes he is not good here
5 Yeah, I got flooded some games, having 29 mana sources is definitely too many (16 lands + 9 posts + 4 SSG)
6 The idea was to have a 2 mana damage removal spell to dodge Chalice that sometimes could be used to deal with an annoying artifact, it wasn't terrible but you are probably right that targeted removal is not needed
7 As I said before, I am new in the archetype so I had no reference for lists with Electrodominance since it's a new card so I based my deckbuilding on some Cascade versions I had seen, I didn't know Nahiri + Emrakul was the established way of constructing the deck
Regarding your Leyline of the Void paragraph, do you realize that Anger of the Gods exiles creatures? I meant that GY hate is mostly to deal with creatures now that KCI is gone so having a wrath that exiles them could be enough in that regard. I also like Anger since you don't need it ready at the exact moment they bring their stuff back from graveyard but you can just topdeck it and clean the board.
Regarding Leyline of Sanctity, I want to discuss if it's good without entering budget considerations, I can get behind the "dead card in late game" argument but if you start with it in play Burn becomes a much easier deck to deal with so I thought they were good enough
Yeah, my list needs some changes but I was definitely not picking the best cards on every list to build mine, I mean you just said Abrade is garbage and I am also playing Supreme Will so I think it's easy to see that it's not what I did
I think you are right that my plan is not focused enough and having almost half of the deck be mana sources didn't help, will try to tweak it and see how it goes
Based on what I've reading here, I would probably go for a non-cascade approach with Chalice of the Void and Borderland Posts.
I am not sure what's the correct equilibrium between lands and posts, from what I've seen on mtgtop8, seems like the total amount of both should be around 25 but I've recently seen a list here with 12 lands and 7 posts so not sure what is correct.
I've also seen versions without the posts and I like that on the surface but then I imagine those games where we have to RB to clear their creatures (vs Humans for instance) and then be stuck with 2 mana sources until we draw another one so unable to play our wincons(in my case I like PWs and not Gargadon), meanwhile they can build a board again since their creatures are cheap and grow fast.
What do you think about Leylines in the sideboard? As an enchantment we can drop for free, helps us in certain matchups while making our hand smaller for a a better RB, that's why there are 4 Leyline of Sanctity in my list (Burn being superpopular right now with Spectacle cards), on the other hand, Leyline of the Void is not as necessary IMO since we can play Anger of the Gods to deal with Hollow One, Phoenix and Dredge builds now that KCI is out of the picture.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Spells (40)
4 Restore Balance
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Electrodominance
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Abrade
2 Supreme Will
4 As Foretold
2 Blood Moon
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Firewild Borderpost
2 Veinfire Borderpost
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tolaria West
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Flooded Strand
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ricochet Trap
2 By Force
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Negate
1 Tormod's Crypt
The deck didn't perform bad but didn't perform great either. I think it was too value-focused and it was cute but not effective. I've decided to take a different approach and decided to dump the Saheeli combo since we can't fetch her so in the end I usually had to rely on Kiki-Jiki to go off and doing so without any way to protect it seemed like a tough task.
I decided I wanted to replace Saheeli with another engine to search for creatures so I am now playing 3 Chord of Calling and 3 Eldritch Evolution. Not sure if there has been discussion on how these cards work together and if there is an established way to build with both of them.
I haven't tried but I don't think I would like Rythm of the Wild, I think it would be like Saheeli, you can't fetch it and you want to find 1 early but you rarely want to find more than 1 and even then it feels like more of a cute card that combos with Persist (I like that with it on the battlefield there is no need for a bad card like Breaching Hippocamp for going off but at least the creature can be fetched and we don't really that much if it gets bolted since we mostly want it for the ETB)
So, here is the list I will be playing now, I think it's more streamlined and focused while still packing some cute interactions that provide a ton of value like Thragtusk (he is decent vs aggro, midrange and control and the interaction with Resto is too cute to miss):
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Spellskite
2 Wall of Roots
2 Deceiver Exarch
1 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Reflector Mage
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Breaching Hippocamp
4 Prime Speaker Vannifar
2 Restoration Angel
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Thragtusk
3 Chord of Calling
3 Eldritch Evolution
Lands (21)
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
2 Forest
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Selfless Spirit
1 Knight of Autumn
3 Path to Exile
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Deputy of Detention
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Settle the Wreckage
I have thought of trying to fit some Spell Queller and Lavinia, Azorious Renegade to lock the opponent and because of her interaction vs Terminus but I think it's still on the cute side of things and Gaddock should be helpful enough vs control.
Sorry, I missed idSurge comment and you probably were referring to it.
I actually understand why people can feel like "nothing" changed, and by "nothing" I mean very little (something has changed and for good but I believe it had a very low impact on the format overall).
Modern is diverse as you state and in such a diverse format, you were likely not going to face KCI more than 2-3 rounds in a whole GP, therefore the impact the ban had is there as you say (no need for some specific sideboard choices like playing white or green in Phoenix, although Ancient Grudge is still seeing play there) but overall it wasn't that big, people packed answers that were also good in other matchups like Leyline of the Void(otherwise they couldn't be prepared for this diverse metagame) and they are still packing this kind of answers since they work well vs those other decks that are still tier, of course there will be changes in sideboard but as I said before, Spectacle burn and Vannifar are probably going to have a higher impact on how we sideboard than the KCI ban.
About the "other issues of the format" I think cfusionpm probably refers to linearity based on previous comments but that's not easy to fix by tweaking the banlist, it isn't even something we all agree as a problem so that's more of a personal opinion (even though I agree with it). If WotC were to do something in that regard, printing new cards could be the way to go (like Fatal Push) and some unbans could also help in that regard (Punishing Fire).
This is from the last B&R announcement, they literally explain how they banned KCI so it had the lowest impact on the overall metagame because they considered it was healthy on many levels of play.
I don't think cfusionpm wasn't extreme in his claim, he just pointed out that the only thing affected by the KCI ban was KCI itself
Because that ban only affected that deck and it's meta share was not very big as the deck was not very popular so the meta hasn't changed that much as a consequence of the ban, in fact, RNA had a much bigger impact on the meta than the KCI ban as Vannifar decks are popping out and Spectacle cards are seeing a lot of play. Of course there is some impact from banning KCI but it is quite small when you compare it to pretty much anything else. It is unlikely that an old deck makes a resurgence as KCI left because no deck was being oppressed by it, it simply was performing better than the rest of the field.
Young Pyromancer is easier to fit in the build but I am afraid most of the time casting it on T2 is not good enough for the current meta so I decided to play the Phoenix since I am usually not going to spend any mana for it (so it should be more tempoish) and that would make all my threats have flying.
However, I hate the card disadvantage from Faithless Looting when the only card I usually want to discard are those Phoenixes so I decided to trim them and have Lightning Axe as the only discard outlet, this might be a mistake since I am including Light up the Stage for card advantage that could make up for Faithless Looting, I will try adjusting this and see what works better for me. Vapor Snag seems really good in a tempo build like this and triggers Spectacle, maybe I should run more copies, I also like that it deals quite nicely with Thing in the Ice.
For the sideboard I thought having the Madcap Experiment + Platinum Emperion combo could grant some free wins vs non-white decks (Path to Exile) as I don't play any artifacts in the mainboard, so opponents shouldn't be bringing any hate for artifacts and killing a 8/8 is not easy with burn damage, one thing that worries me about this is that I play many fetchlands that could become useless after I drop it although maybe it doesn't matter as I would be already winning by then, the other thing I have concerns is that it costs 4 mana and it will probably be difficult to reach those landrops (hopefully it won't be as hard with Light up the Stage)
So, here is my decklist, let me know what do you think, I will test it online and come back with results:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Pteramander
4 Arclight Phoenix
Instant and Sorceries (30)
2 Forked Bolt
2 Lightning Axe
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
2 Vapor Snag
4 Manamorphose
4 Light up the Stage
3 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Dispel
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
4 Madcap Experiment
2 Platinum Emperion
Edit: I realized I probably should play 4 Spirebluff Canal so I trimmed 2 Arid Mesa, 1 Steam Vents and 1 Misty Rainforest to fit them
I would actually say that Dig Through Time has more chances to be unbanned than Preordain (and I believe Dig is not getting unbanned anytime soon) becase it's not a card you can use to goldfish, it gives consistency but has a real cost to it so not all blue decks would jam it in.
Let's not even talk about Ponder
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Lotus Cobra
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Renegade Rallier
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Eternal Witness
4 Prime Speaker Vannifar
2 Felidar Guardian
1 Breaching Hippocamp
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Restoration Angel
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
3 Saheeli Rai
4 Eldritch Evolution
Lands (21)
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Breeding Pool
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Thragtusk
2 Settle the Wreckage
3 Path to Exile
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
I love the crazy amount of synergies built in the deck and that it can goldfish as early as T2, I've also counted 4 different ways to get a T3 kill (two of them through Vannifar activations). One nice interaction I got to enjoy yesterday vs Humans is Scryb Ranger + Izzet Staticaster
The deck is fun to play and it's packed with a lot of power, I find myself planning my turns for some time before executing them to ensure I don't screw up but with some practice that should improve
I decided to put Glen Elendra Archmage in the sideboard as another card vs control but I have thought about Spell Queller as another option, in the end we are running so many dorks that 4 mana shouldn't be a problem and I'd rather have 2 hardcounters than 1 softcounter even if it costs more mana
Stoneforge Mystic and Punishing Fire
It would have been good to give an example as it's not that obvious. I don't think there are that many, I can only recall Sea Gate Oracle, Tower Geist and Riverwise Augur
None of those cards is giving a Ponder or Preordain effect and they tend to cost more than 2 mana
Still, I think you are right that a 1/1 for 1U with Preordain ETB would probably be weak, maybe Ponder ETB could be worth including.
I mean, Discovery // Dispersal is basically a 2 mana Preordain (I think Surveil is better than Scry so that's a bit different) and still doesn't see Modern play because of how huge a difference it makes going from 1 to 2 mana
On the other hand, a 1/1 for U with Preordain ETB... I think that would see play, probably in some kind of build with mini reanimation effects like Renegade Rallier