Until We Lost

I'm at the rough stage of this deck. 

Lots of losses, questions about card choices, and frustration.

Despite thinking the core idea around this deck is solid, the execution isn't coming together. I'm wondering if this deck should enter The Retired series instead. 

There are two problems. 

First: my threat density is not as high as I wish it was. Phyrexian Dreadnought is just too expensive to buy more copies of yet it's also important to jumpstart my endgame. 

Still, there are enough threats to close games that are on theme. Eater of Days can close games very quickly and at four mana, is about as high on the curve as I want to be. Adding three of these brings my Scary Crittur total to 9, which, combined with the card draw, should be enough to let me put one down pretty regularly.

This brings me to the second point through:

The Achille's heel of this deck is quite clear. Killing the Hushbringer or Tocatli Honor Guard is easy and profitable any time I try to play one of my Scary Critturs. Protecting them is important! However, I don't have Force of Will to do that. 

Well, I have one Force of Will. 

Maybe that's the trick? Supreme Will (a card I've liked ever since it was printed) a Force and maybe a Rebuff the Wicked. Go low to the ground and lean into the cheap protection spells. It's a place to start and it's better than just being frustrated. 

$$$

 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is a $70 card. 

Urza's Saga is a $32 card.

Modern Horizons 2 hasn't even been out a week.

Now, I get that new cards are hyped and both of those cards are good. We have online play to show how good they are. 

But something is seriously wrong with the Magic economy, when card prices spike like this. 

I know the secondary market isn't something WotC has their hand on the tiller of, but these cards are being sold out of packs that are $11-12 (at least at my local game stores). That's double what packs normally cost. That price point should have a chilling effect on the volume of packs people are willing to purchase. Maybe not today, but eventually there's a ceiling and for a game that is marketed to 13yo kids, that ceiling is coming fast. 

 

Art Update

 I didn't know that WotC keeps an updated page of wallpapers for you. That's pretty cool!

Horizons 2 the Horizoning

This time, I'm doing an overview of the new cards-which is most of the set. To keep things manageable, I'll just focus on the cards that pop out to me. Oh, and the list is here for reference!

White

The address to White being underpowered that started in Strixhaven continues in MH2, that much is clear. I'm not sure how one looks at a card like Sanctifier en-Vec, otherwise. As far as I can tell, that card exists to do one thing: make Dredge decks suffer. If I'm reading it correctly (IF), it could also be a blow to Storm decks too, as Red has recently come up in the world of Storm decks. Esper Sentinel and Blossoming Calm seem to contribute to this as well.

Then there's just Serra's Emissary which isn't subtle about what it's doing. I'm surprised it's not legendary, given the nearest comparison is Iona. 

There's also the start of a R/W artifact deck and I'm not sure if it's got legs or not. However, they brought Affinity as a mechanic back, along with colorfixing artifact lands (which is a choice, given the original artifact lands in Mirrodin were banned in Standard, and are still banned in Modern), and a pretty solid curve of plays on turns 1-3. I don't know if there's a payoff but the skeleton exists and having an artifact deck in R/W/U colors would be a new thing. 

Finally, the Enchantment deck is in full swing. Defensive cards like Out of Time, the rebuilding Resurgent Belief...will players find ways to innovate some new decks? The tools feel like they exist!

But the cards I like the most are Late for Dinner (a flavor win and a rare White reanimation spell), and Search the Premises, which is likely one mana too expensive and is relegated to Commander. 

Blue

There's a bunch of weird stuff here! Which I approve of.

Dress Down is the most amusing answer to Sneak and Show decks in a long, long time and Suspend is exactly the kind of Blue removal I approve of. Murktide Regent is going to be a goldmine for decks, providing a huge finisher quickly. 

There's also a card that should push the Merfolk deck up a bit, Svyelun of Sea and Sky. However, the secret sauce for this deck is Tide Shaper. A one mana 2/2 against opposing Blue decks, and a way to possibly make your merfolk unblockable against non-blue decks (with Lord of Atlantis, etc.) means that it might be more important. I just don't see people talking about this and I think it's overlooked.

The rest of the color feels spread out-nothing overwhelming, no new archetype boost, just solid for Limited. Which is fine: Blue does alright for itself. 

Favorite dinosaur: Phantasmal Dreadmaw (naturally).

Black

There are some powerful cards here that could provide some great utility: Sudden Edict, Unmarked Grave, Tragic Fall, Break the Ice. I think Black comes out great in this set.

But they don't seem to gel into a singular notion. The Madness cards don't suck but as with the Affinity deck, I'm not sure that there's a payoff-a way that pushing your victory after setting up all the pieces. With Affinity/artifacts, the R/W deck at least has Modular to make big creatures for the endgame, if the initial aggro take doesn't work. There's a plan. With Madness, you have to go the other way: you need early enablers that are good and I'm not seeing those.

That said, it does have some overlap with White, insofar as there are cards put there to mess with existing strategies. Dauthi Voidwalker may not be much but coming out on turn two means there's at least a speedbump for Storm and Dredge decks. Damn becomes a fine card to run for controlling decks, as it's useful early and can get you to the useful late Overload cost. 

There are also a few cards that might boost the any Witherbloom decks coming out of Strixhaven. Discerning Taste and Flay Essence are likely too slow but they're still on point for what Witherbloom was promoting. 

Red

Of the mechanics to return, Delirium has to be the one I'm most irritated by. It involves bookkeeping (unfun), isn't easy to turn on (unfun), and has weak payoffs.

Also: they went with coin flipping mechanics, again. Which is just unfun and I'm not sure why they went with that mechanic in a premium set: it's a unpopular thing. That said: a set like this is possibly the only place to bring back mechanics like this, given it's risky nature. Plus, despite it's overall unpopularity, the people who like it really like it, and there are cards for everyone.  

However, I like the niche cards they brought in: Flame Blitz is a card I'm very glad to see, Faithless Salvaging and Strike It Rich are cool. Spreading Insurrection and Galvanic Relay look like Storm cards done right-powerful but not breaking. There's still a bit to like here, especially with Ragavan pulling a lot of attention, although I think Ragavan is a bit overrated. It's fantastic on turn 1, and after that it needs help. People keep comparing it to Dreadhorde Arcanist and I think that's just way off the mark. Still, every color could use a tentpole card and Ragavan is undoubtedly that.

Green

They, uh, really went all in on the squirrel thing, didn't they? But I am realizing that Chittersplitter, Glimmer Bairn, and Chatterfang have 'tokens' in their text without specifying what kind of token-which means Treasure/Food/Clue tokens can be utilized for their respective abilities. 

Speaking of tokens: I read talk on Reddit that Chatterstorm wasn't going to be good and...it's a storm card that makes creatures for a cheap rate. I'm 100% certain that take is wrong.

The graveyard Terminus effect of Endurance is another "nope" card to Storm and Dredge decks-it might even be used as a counter to Snapcaster Mage and as an entirely reasonable creature with reach, Endurance has a lot of utility.

I'm reading takes on Gaea's Will that suggest the card is broken already but I'm not seeing it. It doesn't do anything that other Storm decks want to do already and casting it off a Cascade trigger isn't an effect that I've seen a Storm deck want. That is: storm decks are already pretty tightly constructed and I don't see how this card does better what cards they already have do. 

Gaea's Will is a powerful card-Yawgmoth's Will is banned or restricted in its available formats for a reason. But I don't know that Gaea's Will is broken, especially since you have to do so much work to get it to trigger. 

Favorite dinosaur: as much as I like Thrasta I have to give it up for the Urban Daggertooth. Proliferate is a powerful ability and Green could use some more ways to get it going. 

Lands

I already talked about the artifact lands and aside from those, I don't think there's a lot to discuss. Urza's Saga is neat and likely banworthy, as free spells tend to be. I mean: the Saga is free to play, cannot be countered and has a permanent type that WotC has discouraged interaction with. What could go wrong?  

Power Depot is noteworthy as an addition to artifact creature decks but it's far from problematic and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth as the colorshifted version of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is neat but I don't know that it's got the same kind of impact, since the colors do different things with their interpretation of land types.

Or: Ambush Commander is not Corrupt.

Artifacts

I'm on record saying how much I like The Underworld Cookbook (and Asmora!) but I think the Living Weapons are going to be the real story here. They were decent cards in New Phyrexia and I see potential in them here, too. The Sword of Hearth and Home is a neat design, breaking away from the typical Swords but in a way that fits the colors. 

I would very much like a deck to care about Academy Manufactor, but I know it's just the Glory of Cool Things. I also like Tormod's Cryptkeeper and wish it had haste...but it'll be a nice redundant effect for Commander, and since it's a creature we can do shenanigans with it. I imagine Vectis Gloves will be one of the most impactful cards in Limited, since +2 and unblockable is Some Good. 

Finally, Sojourner's Companion is going in any Affinity deck; the ability to fix ANY color and get an indestructible land that contributes to the deck's gameplan is too good to ignore. So, less about existing decks and more about making Affinity viable in Modern, is how I see many artifacts. Good thing that's never been a problem!

Waitaminute...

Multicolor

The keys to the Madness deck are here and maybe that's why I don't like what I see in Black and Red: you can't just play Black or Red to do well: you have to have Rakdos Headliner and fulfill both...

That's actually true of a lot of cards here: a catchall space for buffs: the Modular/Affinity deck, a 4 of for the Enchantress decks (Sythis, Harvest Hand), even the coin flip deck gets their Commander. 

I do like the reintroduction of the weird cards again. Moderation, Geyadrone, Garth and Carth all do some unique things that I haven't seen before. I don't know that any of those open up new deck types or ideas but that doesn't matter: weird is where you'll find those interesting areas to explore!

All in all, Modern Horizons 2 looks like a well designed, fantastic set. 

It's too expensive. That's a problem. This set didn't miraculously take more resources to make. They're bilking the customers and that cannot be overlooked.

But: it is a good set. 

Finally:

I'm headed out of town for all of next week, so no more posts until Jun 22. Have a safe week everyone!

Modern Horizons 2

 The full set has been spoiled and can be reviewed here!

Whoooooo there's a bunch to unpack, isn't there? I'm not even certain I know where to start.

So let's look at the reprints, first. 

I'm happy to see the reprints of the saclands, of course-everyone is. But Cabal Coffers and Riptide Laboratory are welcome reprints and Mishra's Factory has been a staple in decks in every format it's been usable in. Nice little 'something for everyone' suite of cards.

The artifacts are a bit lackluster but feel like they fit in the Limited MH2 ecosystem, with the exception of Cursed Totem. I'm not sure what kind of impact that will have on Modern: the card is fringe at best in Legacy, but perhaps Modern's smaller card pool will allow for the Totem to make a bigger splash. It could be Cursed Totem is there for Commander players, who could find that card very useful.

The multicolor cards have a nice range of options: Mirari's Wake is a clear offering to Commander players and the card is getting expensive enough to warrant one. Shardless Agent and Fire/Ice are great reprints for more competitive minded players (or just people like me who think they're cool). Decent cards that can fill a few roles. 

Green looks more like the artifact selection: Titania, Protector of Argoth is amazing to see, but these cards really look to fill the Limited environment, with the possible exception of Enchantress's Presence. That card, along with the new cards in MH2 might just help spawn an enchantment deck in Modern and that's pretty cool.

Red reprinting Gorilla Shaman feels a bit like a thumb of the nose: "look we gave you tools to deal with artifacts..." No. No, you didn't. When it costs 5 mana to get rid of a Liquimetal Torque, that is not a good rate. I'm not exactly sure who these reprints are for, save Imperial Recruiter, which commands an unbelievable price tag that should be repressed at every turn.

In Black, we have Braids, a fan favorite, but also...Greed? Did we need another reprint of this? However, as with Green, we have Patriarch's Bidding, which may spawn a new deck, and Skirge Familiar which...could be an engine for something. It has been in the past, but cheating it into play was key. 

The suite of Blue cards are, I believe, quite good. Upheaval is the Commander card everyone wishes you weren't playing, but Counterspell, Seal of Removal, Wonder; these are all bona fide good. Sea Drake is an interesting reprint-is it good? It's interesting so that'll have to do.

Finally, White's reprints don't bring us much, either-except for Solitary Confinement. This was the basis for an old school prison deck and it's pretty clear to me that the tools are there for it to exist in Modern. Will those tools be enough? That I don't know. But the deck has what it needs to stave off aggro decks now, so I suspect people will be tinkering with it. 

The other reprints aren't awful but are they exciting for people who love the color? Maybe it doesn't matter, since there are a lot of other cool cards. 

Yike. Those are just the reprints! Let's save the rest for next time.

Wouldn't It Be Nice

I really want to play Hindering Light. It draws a card and it protects my stuff.

Except. 

Is it 'win more'? 

This is the problem I'm confronting after some games with Noah. I like Hindering Light. I want it to be there. It offers protection for Hushbringer and Tocali that is important to the deck.

I have had those creatures targeted with removal in response to casting a Hunted Phantasm. It's the obvious play against a deck like this and I should have a way to defuse it, because that scenario ends badly for me.

But would I just be better off drawing more cards? I have twelve copies of Hushbringer style effects, maybe I'd just be better off letting them have their kill spell, playing the next copy and continuing to push my gameplan.

The other question I'm starting to ask if I wouldn't improve the deck by adding Black. Clackbridge Troll and Hunted Horror are incredibly efficient creatures and access to better removal isn't nothin'. On the other hand, the manabase becomes very wonky if I do this.  

A great deal feels unknown about this deck right now. I'd obviously prefer to have more copies of Phyrexian Dreadnought but...there are more important things to spend money on than $270 to get me to four copies of that. Plus, it pushes me to innovate this deck into something better.

Is that better thing a WUB deck? 

Stone Meadows

 After seeing this video from ThrabenU, I got excited, because I have many of the components to make this deck work! Although I only own one Phrexian Dreadnought, I do have a full suite of Hunted Phantasm and Hunted Lammasu. (I'm still gonna run the Dreadnought!)

Stone Meadows is named from the song by Bartees Strange, just 'cause I like the song and when I was crunching this deck together, I needed to get a name on it. 

Here's the starting list:

4 Hushbringer
4 Hunted Phantasm
4 Hunted Lammasu
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Tocatli Honor Guard

4 Banishing Light

2 Dovin, Hand of Control
2 Jace, Architect of Thought

4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Stifle
3 Azorius Charm

4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Hengegate Pathway/Mistgate Pathway
7 Plains
7 Island

For people who didn't want to click the video, the basic concept is this: With a Hushbringer or Tocatli Honor Guard out, I can play large creatures that otherwise would have a pretty big drawback, without the drawback. After that, close the game as fast as I can. 

Stifle is there to give me extra copies of Hushbringer's effect, while also being a pretty versatile spell against my opponents, Banishing Light to do Banishing things, along with a small suite of draw and Planeswalker spells. And Azorius Charm feels like a nice catchall spell. 

So let's give it a run.