Category: Modern

Is Deflecting Palm a Modern Burn Sideboard Staple?

5/10/2017

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

Deflecting Palm is an instant from Khans of Tarkir with an effect in the vein of Reverse Damage and Divine Deflection. But Reverse Damage gained you life instead of dealing damage, and Divine Deflection required a mana investment of X - making it very inconsistent and usually rather inefficient as a sideboard card.

With all of the damage that some decks can dole out, Deflecting Palm can serve as a valuable secret weapon. As good as this card can be, though, it never took off in Standard as a regular sideboard card. While it seems like it would be good against the monster that Atarka Red became in Standard, it was considered too narrow to keep in the board.

Despite missing its chance to make an impact in Standard, Deflecting Palm is definitely useful enough to hold onto. In fact, Deflecting Palm is a one or two-of in most Modern Naya Burn and Boros Burn sideboards. It’s good in a lot of match-ups, and even in those that it ordinarily isn’t, two or three points of damage swung the other way can mean the difference between a loss and a out-of-nowhere victory.

Why is Deflecting Palm Good in Modern?

One of the main reasons Deflecting Palm is a one-of in many Modern sideboards is that it helps Burn decks find the last few points of damage that can sometimes be elusive. What matchups is it best against?

The coolest thing about Deflecting Palm is that it does not actually target a source of damage. This means it can get around hexproof, such as creatures targeted by Vines of Vastwood. It also means that a deck like Bogles which lives on hexproof creatures such as Gladecover Scout and Slippery Bogle isn’t protected from Deflecting Palm. So this is a perfect counter to a pumped up Bogle, too. It also can’t be stopped by the popular Spellskite, since Deflecting Palm never targets.

Another matchup that comes to mind is Infect. Even though the damage is no longer infect once Deflecting Palm redirects it, all you have to do is wait until your opponent uses a great many pump spells on one creature in a bid for the win. It’s usually going to be in the neighborhood of 10 damage you’re throwing back at your opponent’s face. If you’re playing a Burn deck, that’s usually going to be enough to win the game outright. Infect likes to win quick. Even if Deflecting Palm doesn’t win the game right there and then, it’s made the Infect player expend enough resources that they may not be able to reload before the rest of your burn spells finish them off.

Another great use for Deflecting Palm is against the massive Eldrazi. Even Emrakul, the Aeons Torn can’t stop 15 damage from being redirected to its controller’s face, even with protection from colored spells. You’re only choosing a source of damage - not actually targeting the creature. If you play Deflecting Palm in response to Emrakul’s annihilator trigger, it’s usually good game for you - as 15 damage is a lot for any opponent to take. Against a Kozilek or Ulamog, it’s pretty much a win for you, too.

Because it doesn’t target, any protection that a creature might have from colored spells doesn’t matter. This includes popular creatures like Etched Champion in Affinity. It’s also to good to have in the deck in case you’re going up against a huge Arcbound Ravager, so playing against Affinity is a good time to bring it in.

Also, Deflecting Palm nerfs opposing creatures with lifelink. Because the damage becomes prevented first, the lifelink no longer applies when the damage is then re-dealt by the effect of the Palm. It’s really good in the corner cases where you may be staring down a Serra Ascendant or massive Bogle with Daybreak Coronet attached. Also, if you have a Soulfire Grand Master in play, you benefit from getting the lifelink from any damage it causes.

What’s Deflecting Palm NOT So Good Against?

People will ask if Deflecting Palm is good against cards like Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle or Grapeshot on a regular basis. The way that Deflecting Palm is worded, it only affects the next time a source of your choice would deal damage. Because Valakut has so many triggers and Grapeshot has Storm (meaning you actually copy the spell) you only get to stop one instance of damage.

That being said, Deflecting Palm can be good against Scapeshift if your opponent wouldn’t have enough triggers to win the game if you can prevent 3 of the damage. Similarly against Grapeshot and Storm decks, you can stop 1 of the damage. Sometimes your opponent will have just enough for “exact-sies.” You can really ruin someone’s day by dropping this on them. Is it the best card to side in against Scapeshift and Storm? Probably not.

Another common question is if Deflecting Palm is good against Lightning Storm, a win condition of the Ad Nauseam Combo deck. In a vacuum, yes, Deflecting Palm would throw the Lightning Storm right back at your opponent. But Angel’s Grace can put that down in a hurry. Still, the alternate way to go below 0 life, Phyrexian Unlife, would likely turn a lot of that damage into infect. So it’s not the worst card to have in reserve against that deck, especially if you’re sure Lightning Storm is their win condition.

Another thing that Deflecting Palm isn’t so good against is double strike - something that Boros Charm gives creatures all the time in Modern. It only stops one half of the damage, whether it’s the first strike or regular damage. Speaking of Boros Charm, Deflecting Palm is pretty good against that card’s 4 damage to the face mode - but you need to watch for Skullcrack, which is an extremely popular card in Modern, especially in Burn mirror matches.

Future Value of Deflecting Palm

With the bannings of Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom in Modern, two of the decks that Deflecting Palm wasn’t too good against are no longer in play. Deflecting Palm was useless against the essentially infinite number of Deceiver Exarch tokens with haste that Splinter Twin could make. Amulet Bloom decks had Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion to give Primeval Titan double strike, and Pact of Negation usually stopped it in its tracks The decks that have replaced Bloom are either Scapeshift or Red/Green decks that use Kessig Wolf Run’s pump ability to win the game with the Titan. Deflecting Palm has no problem throwing Wolf Run’s damage back.

Even before the bannings and major metagame shifts, Deflecting Palm had a 5x foil multiplier when it comes to price - with non-foils at about 50 cents vs $2.50 for foils. Modern sideboard cards have a funny way of driving up foil prices. Naya Burn and similar decks are so popular that even one or two foil copies coming off the market still goes a long way in price growth. By May of 2017, non-foil Deflecting Palm is around $1.50 and foils are pushing $6 as they begin to disappear from the internet.

While I wouldn't recommend hoarding every Deflecting Palm you can find, keeping a few in your collection is a good move. While it’s not good against every deck, if you’re already throwing a lot of burn spells around, you never know when you might need those last few points of damage to win the game.

Magic the Gathering - Modern History - Abundance from Tenth Edition

3/9/2017

0 Comments

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

Originally printed in Urza's Saga, Abundance is a very good Enchantment that was reprinted in Tenth Edition. While legal in Modern, 4-mana enchantments don't really see play in the format. Still, Abundance is a great card that many Commander and Cube players were happy to see reprinted in Duel Decks: Nissa vs Ob Nixilis.

What's great about this card is that it allows you to be able to not draw a land if you want to. It also allows you to draw a land if you do want. In a format like Commander, a card like Abundance can be invaluable. Getting mana-screwed (not enough landd to play your spells) or mana-flooded (too many lands and not enough spells) are common issues in the format. This is very useful card selection, although, a bit mana-intensive for a highly competitive format like Modern.

Despite not seeing play in top tournament play, this is a highly sought after card due to having such a useful effect. Green decks often have access to more than 4 mana on turn 4, so this can come down as early as turn 2 in some decks. Abundance was a nearly $4 card before the Duel Deck reprint and it's still creeping back up. While I don't expect to ever see this in a top 8 Modern deck, Abundance is a great card that you shouldn't overlook in a trade binder.

0 Comments

Modern Masters 2017 Spoilers (MTG) - Fetch Lands, and Tri Lands, and Guildgates, Oh My!

2/27/2017

0 Comments

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

When three land cycles were released in Modern Masters 2017 spoilers, few players were probably surprised to see land cycles each at the common, uncommon, and rare rarities. What may have surprised some players is that the rare cycle of lands from Zendikar known as the “enemy fetch lands.”

That’s right. Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, and Verdant Catacombs are a part of the Modern Masters 2017 set. They’ve been awaiting reprints for years now, and considering that they are staples in the Modern format, it makes sense that a Modern Masters set finally contains them. Without a doubt, these are going to be five of the chase cards in the entire set (plus, a little Black sorcery called Damnation!)

Obviously, this reprint will put a huge dent in the prices of the original Zendikar printings of these five lands. At the time of the announcement, Arid Mesa was $50, Marsh Flats was $35, Misty Rainforest was $45, Scalding Tarn about $75, and Verdant Catacombs around $60. The supply of these was getting low due to pretty much every Magic player wanting at least four copies of each. They’re playable, and very good, in every format outside of Standard. Fetch lands not only fix mana quickly at the cost of only a single point of life, but shorten the number of lands that you draw, as well.

Still, we should not overlook that the five Shards of Alara tri-lands are also being included in the set. These are Arcane Sanctum, Crumbling Necropolis, Jungle Shrine, Savage Lands, and Seaside Citadel. While they don’t see much in the way of Constructed play anymore, they do see considerable play in Commander. The tri-lands are also quite popular among casual players for mana fixing, as we’ve seen with the Khans of Tarkir tri-lands. They do come into play tapped, but having access to three different colors of mana is worth the drawback. Even though these lands were reprinted in both the Commander 2013 and Commander 2016 product, there’s still a lot of demand for these.

The Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash Guildgates aren’t exciting, but they too see some play in the various Maze’s End decks that still roam at the fringes of Modern. They are also very popular among budget casual players and do indeed see play in Commander. While they come into play tapped, they are so easily obtainable that many players will use them as filler lands until they acquire more efficient mana sources.

These are some great lands to open not only for drafting and sealed deck purposes. These lands will be good to open for collection purposes and deck building, as well. The fetch lands themselves will likely sell the set.

0 Comments

Magic the Gathering - Mono-Green Infect - Budget Modern Deck Profile

12/23/2016

0 Comments

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

The Modern format can be very expensive for Magic players, especially with so many decks that need the increasingly expensive fetch-lands. So when building Modern decks that are reasonably budget friendly, we are looking to keep the deck's total cost less than $200 USD and really no higher than $250. This one is actually under $100, and it’s Mono-Green Infect.

Mono-Red Burn is easily the least expensive deck to play in Modern that has any chance of winning. But Mono-Green Infect can definitely hold its own. There are more other budget variants, such as Mono-Black Infect, which is more of a control-oriented build. Then there's a deck on opposite side of the financial spectrum with BUG Infect, which is more consistent, but requires quite an investment in the mana base.

For today’s list, we’ll base it off of a list run by Wigi in a MTGO Modern Premier. He piloted the deck to a 4-1 finish, but that was back in 2014. To update this list to include newer cards, there are some major adjustments made to the list. Let’s take a look.

CREATURES

4 Glistener Elf
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Necropede

NON-CREATURES

4 Apostle’s Blessing
4 Rancor
4 Groundswell
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Blossoming Defense
2 Become Immense

LAND

16 Forest
4 Cathedral of War
2 Pendelhaven

The deck plays only 12 creatures, all of which have infect. Let’s break them down.

The most basic of the Infect creatures, Glistener Elf is just a 1/1 Elf Warrior for a single green mana. For those that have never played Infect, essentially, Infect creatures deal damage in the form of -1/-1 counters instead of regular damage and in the form of poison counters to players. Once a player reaches 10 poison counters, that player automatically loses the game. It sounds like a cheap win condition, but it’s easier said than done.

Ichorclaw Myr is a very strong Infect creature from Scars of Mirrodin. It’s actually only a common as well. It’s a 1/1 Infect creature for 2 colorless mana, but whenever it becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn. With all of the “pump” spells in this deck, this means that the Ichorclaw will win a lot of combats that you wouldn’t expect it to win.

Necropede is a very solid artifact creature. It’s a 1/1 for 2 colorless mana, but it has an added effect when it dies: allowing you to put a -1/-1 counter on a target creature. It’s not quite as good as Ichorclaw Myr, but it’s a solid Infect creature nonetheless.

Now onto the non-creature spells. There is actually one non-Green card in the deck.

One of the defining elements of the New Phyrexia set was the Phyrexian mana symbols. These symbols allow you to pay 2 life rather than the colored mana cost of a card. Apostle’s Blessing ordinarily costs 1W to cast, but as this is a mono-green deck, you will pretty much always be paying 1 colorless and 2 life.

What’s so useful about this card is that it gives a creature (or artifact) protection from a color of your choice or artifacts until end of turn. The artifact part is especially useful when facing decks that utilize artifact creatures like Solemn Simulacrum and Wurmcoil Engine, both of which are seen quite often in Modern. That protection can give one of your Infect creatures the chance to strike for lethal, an effect well worth paying 2 life for. That’s why there are 4 copies of it in this deck.

Rancor is a very strong Green Enchantment that was last printed in Magic 2013. It wasn’t in Standard when Infect was, but it was a very popular card whenever it was in Standard. For only a single Green mana, the Enchanted creature gains +2/+0 and trample. Then, when it’s put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you return it to its owner’s hand.

Gaining that extra two power and trample allows you to be far more aggressive in attacking, especially when knowing you’ll get Rancor back if and when that creature dies in combat or is removed from the field. Multiple copies of Rancor on a creature can spell the end of the game for your opponent.

I should note that the effect to return it to your hand only works if it actually makes it onto the battlefield. Were you to try to equip it to a creature and that creature is destroyed before the Enchantment resolves, it will simply go to the graveyard and it won’t come back.

Groundswell looks like an ordinary pump spell, +2/+2 to a target creature until end of turn for a single green mana. But being from the Zendikar block, it has a Landfall ability on it. If you had a land enter the battlefield under your control during the turn that you play this, that creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn instead. That’s quite potent when sticking it on an Infect creature.

Vines of Vastwood from Zendikar does something similar to Groundswell, but in a different way. For one green, a target creature can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control this turn. This is handy for stopping opponent’s removal spells. But if you pay an additional green mana as you play it, that creature gains +4/+4 until end of turn, as well. It’s a very strong kicker spell that can both protect your creature and make it bigger.

Mutagenic Growth serves multiple purposes in this deck. In fact, mono-Green infect isn’t the only Modern deck that this card sees play in. It sees play in Zoo, as well. Giving a target creature +2/+2 until end of turn helps creatures get out of the range of Lightning Bolt, and considering that this card has the alternative Phyrexian mana cost (2 life), you don’t even have to have open mana to play it. In an infect deck, it’s just another couple damage, but keep in mind that it can help you win combats that you may not otherwise win, and your opponent must be aware that you don’t need open mana to play it. It’s a very strong card.

While older lists ran Ranger’s Guile, the Kaladesh set offered something far more powerful in Blossoming Defense. It's similar to Vines of Vastwood in that your opponent’s spells and abilities can’t target the creature you choose. It also gives that creature +2/+2, which isn’t quite as good as the Vines, but no kicker is involved. You play this card more to protect creatures from removal. The +2/+2 boost is just a nice bonus.

There are the full four copies of it in this deck, taking the place of 2 Ranger's Guile and 2 copies of Might of Old Krosa.

Might of Old Krosa was actually $10 a copy for a time, as it’s a staple in many Modern Infect decks. Fortunately, a Modern Masters 2017 reprinting put this card back in budget range.

For a single Green mana, it gives a target creature +2/+2 until end of turn. However, if you play it during your main phase, and not as a combat trick, that creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn instead. Because it’s not as useful as a combat trick, there are only 2 copies of it in the deck. It’s a very solid card nonetheless.

The original version this list is based on ran two copies of Giant Growth, as classic a pump spell as you can get. Giant Growth is still as good as it ever was. In an Infect deck, +3/+3 for one Green mana as a combat trick is extremely potent.

But Khans of Tarkir gave us Become Immense. While on the surface it costs 6 mana to cast, it has Delve, which allows you to remove cards from your graveyard to make it cheaper. The +6/+6 can win you a game out of nowhere. As just another +3/+3 pump spell, Giant Growth is now redundant.

Now we take a look at the lands. We start with 12 basic Forests. Then we have an interesting card called Cathedral of War.

The Magic 2013 Core Set had an interesting sub-theme of Exalted in it. However, there weren’t enough good Exalted cards to make it very useful in Standard. At one time, during the Shards of Alara block, Exalted was a very potent mechanic. It existed on some very popular creatures, including Noble Hierarch, which is still an extremely popular card in Modern and Legacy today. What Exalted does is give a creature that is attacking alone an additional +1/+1 until end of turn.

As there are four copies of Cathedral of War in this deck, that’s a potential additional +4/+4 as long as you have a creature attacking alone, which oftentimes with this deck is not all that unusual. The one downside to this card is that it enters the battlefield tapped, but in a deck like this with such a low mana curve, that’s not a huge drawback.

You may wonder how a card with the old Magic border is in Modern. Because Pendelhaven was printed as a Time-shifted special card in Time Spiral, it is considered part of Modern. (There is also a Modern-bordered Friday Night Magic version, as well.) Pendelhaven is a Legendary Land that allows you to add Green mana to your mana pool, but it also has a tap ability to give a target 1/1 creature +1/+2 until end of turn. This makes any of your 1/1 creatures into 2/3’s before you pump them at all. The fact that it can also double as a Forest is very useful. It’s a very strong card first printed back in the early days of Legends.

For the sideboard, we have 4 Tormod’s Crypt, a zero-drop that can tap to remove all cards from a target player’s graveyard. This can deal with any graveyard strategies, and hurt opposing Tarmogoyfs by depriving them of card types in the graveyard. There are 4 copies of Nature’s Claim, which is a one-drop Green instant that destroys a target artifact or enchantment, but gives that player 4 life. Then again, life totals do not matter when you are playing an Infect deck.

There are 2 copies of Fog in the sideboard, to help protect you from aggressive strategies that simply have more creatures than you can handle. By playing Fog when an opponent is swinging out, you get to prevent all combat damage. There are also two more copies of Might of Old Krosa, and an additional copy of Ranger’s Guile.

The last card in the sideboard is two copies of Pithing Needle. It’s a very useful 1-drop Artifact that can stop the activated abilities of many different sorts of cards, including specific fetch-lands, artifacts, or planeswalkers that might deal you a problem. It was very good against Deathrite Shaman when it was legal in Modern, but that card is now banned. It still deals with a lot and is a good inclusion in most Modern sideboards.

You may wonder what happened to one of the premier infect cards in Magic, Inkmoth Nexus. This land from Mirrodin Besiged is the center of any infect-based deck. In fact, it is such a good card that during the Scars of Mirrodin block days of Standard, a lot of decks played it just to make opponents have to worry about it. It’s a colorless land that can become a 1/1 artifact creature with flying and infect until end of turn for only a single mana. With just a few pump spells, one Nexus can finish a game on its own.

The problem is that the cost of four Nexus doubles the cost of the entire deck. A playset of Nexus can cost about $100 (as of December 2016). It's because Inkmoth Nexus also sees a lot of play in Modern Affinity decks that can equip it with a card like Cranial Plating for a quick finish. If you do want to pick up a playset of Inkmoth Nexus, it is well worth the investment.

If you’re looking to be competitive in the Modern format on the cheap without having to resort to Mono-Red Burn decks, this might be a good option for you. Mono-Black Infect is a bit less expensive but not quite as consistent in winning.

Also, I’d like to point out that the New Phyrexia Event Deck: Rot from Within has quite a few of the cards you’ll be needing for this deck, including a ton of the pump spells.

If you’re looking for another Modern deck for you that you can build on the cheap, let us know what sort archetypes you would like to see reviewed.

0 Comments

Magic the Gathering - U/W Tallowisp Spirits & Auras Deck Tech (Modern / Casual)

11/2/2016

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

At one time in late 2016, Tallowisp from Betrayers of Kamigawa was getting a lot of attention. At first glance, this Spirit's effect seems cool. As we dig deeper, we'll see it's actually a pretty cool card. With Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon introducing some powerful Spirits to Magic: the Gathering, this card is definitely worth a look.

Basically, whenever you play a Spirit (or Arcane) spell, Tallowisp allows you search your deck for an Aura card and add it to your hand. So, does Tallowisp trigger itself? Sadly, the wording of its ability doesn't allow it to count itself when it enters the battlefield. This is because it already has to be on the board for its ability to take effect. However, Tallowisp has a 1/3 body, which is solid for 2 mana. The 3 toughness is relevant in Modern, which is a format with plenty of 2 power creatures.

Tallowisp is already a decent card on its own, and it calls for decks to be built around it. With U/W Spirits already a decent deck in Modern, it seems fair to see how a Modern Spirits deck built around Tallowisp and efficient Auras would work out.

There have been some successful deck brews in the past built around Tallowisp. One that caught lots attention was a Modern Bant Tallowisp Shoal deck that utilizes Shining Shoal and Unflinching Courage. As cool as it sounded, it wasn't really the flavor I was going for with our deck.

We wanted to keep the deck in two colors and make it purely tribal. At first, a deck which featured Geist of Saint Traft as the main creature. But as we look over the newer Spirit creatures, we'll see that we can take this U/W Spirits deck in a much different direction.

U/W Tallowisp Spirits & Auras (Modern & Casual)

Creatures (18)
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
3 Rattlechains
3 Selfless Spirit
3 Tallowisp
2 Spell Queller
3 Drogskol Captain

Non-Creature Spells (28)
2 Ethereal Armor
4 Path to Exile
3 Hyena Umbra
3 Remand
3 Azorius Charm
2 Steel of the Godhead
1 Angelic Destiny

Lands (24)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Prairie Stream
6 Island
6 Plains

Some Quick Thoughts on the Deck

While Geist of Saint Traft is great, running four copies in the deck makes it feel too one-dimensional. Yes, the Geist is hexproof, making him easy to load up with Auras. Also, the 4/4 Angel that you get when the Geist swings is nice. But building around him makes the deck very dependent on him, and therefore somewhat inconsistent. So, let's spread the Spirit love around!

Mausoleum Wanderer is really, really good. It's good against Burn and Control, especially when it grows to 2/2 or 3/3. As a consistent one-drop it can mess up quite a few decks. Heck, against Tron it can stop Ancient Stirrings! It's so versatile in the Modern format, and while people who have already played Spirits in the format know this, it's not really well-known JUST how good this guy is!

Rattlechains is sweet. Not only does he make you able to cast Spirits at instant speed (oh hi, instant speed Wanderer!) but when he comes into play, you can make a target Spirit hexproof. This is super important against all of the removal in the format.

Everyone knows how good Selfless Spirit is. Making your dudes indestructible is just really, really good.

Notice how all these Spirits so far have flying? That's awesome, because even though 1 or 2 points of damage doesn't seem relevant, it all adds up!

Tallowisp is the card that inspired this deck list in the first place. There were four copies in the list initially, but 3 turned out to be fine. The 4th copy was often redundant during playtesting. The tutor ability is extremely relevant and it was activated in every game in which I played this deck. Also, being a 1/3 means it walls 2 power creatures all day! Also, it's actually pretty good to suit up with the Auras, as I found.

Spell Queller was just too good to not include. Not only is he a quasi-counterspell, but a 2/3 flyer is awesome. I only needed two copies at first, but I may adjust this number later.

One inclusion that you probably wouldn't expect is Drogskol Captain. The cool thing about him is he pumps your other Spirits by +1/+1 and gives them hexproof. He doesn't give this to himself, but if you get two Captains on board, this deck becomes EXTREMELY hard to deal with. With everyone in this deck except Tallowisp able to fly, it's pretty awesome.

So what do we seek out with Tallowisp? There are two copies of Ethereal Armor and three of Hyena Umbra. The first strike is important in many cases and Ethereal Armor just gets better and better with each Enchantment you cast. The Umbra has totem armor, which gives your guys an extra protection against removal.

Steel of the Godhead is a two-of and it's the second-best equipment in the deck. While white creatures only get the lifelink, blue creatures are unable to be blocked. White and blue creatures get both abilities and an additional +1/+1 for each color. It's pretty awesome.

The last Aura is Angelic Destiny. While this is not a card you'd typically expect to see in Modern, it is relevant. Getting +4/+4 and flying is good enough, but you get first strike, too!

To protect our gameplan, we have Path to Exile to deal with problem creatures. There are 3 copies of Remand to keep up our tempo, too. I like these better than Mana Leak in this deck, as the extra card really helps. There are also 3 copies of Azorius Charm. I chose the Charm because of its versatility. It can draw you a card, give your creatures lifelink, or bounce a creature to the top of an opponent's deck. The lifelink really does matter, too, especially against burn and aggro.

The mana base is extremely simple. Prairie Stream is extremely good, believe it or not. You can even fetch it with Flooded Strand and the deck plays enough basic lands that it comes in untapped. I may adjust the mana base later on, but it seems pretty solid as symmetrical as it already is. Mystic Gate, the white/blue filter land, actually would probably be a good inclusion, but who wants to spend money on those?

This isn't a final version. It doesn't even have a sideboard! But it's already worked extremely well in playtesting. It would be worth tossing in copy or two of Threads of Disloyalty, which can steal creatures with converted mana cost 2 or less, into a sideboard. It's a nice target for Tallowisp to fetch. It probably also doesn't hurt to throw in a copy or two of Geist of Saint Traft. An Aura-based deck doesn't feel complete without him, although it seems to function well despite that.

While I'm not sure how it will hold up against the top 8 decks, it has a chance to win some games. For now, I'd say it's a purely casual deck. But it has the pieces to be a very, very strong Spirit deck. If you decide to play "real" U/W Spirits in Modern, this is a great starting point.

Is Twisted Image Good in Modern Infect Decks? - Magic the Gathering

6/30/2016

0 Comments

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

Twisted Image has been floating around Modern for quite some time. It’s been in the sideboards of Infect to deal with opposing Spellskites (making them 4/0’s and instantly killing them by having 0 toughness) or Noble Hierarchs (which become 1/0 and also die). It was also a way to deal with Deceiver Exarch in Splinter Twin combo decks - making them 4/1 and leaving them susceptible to Lightning Bolt and other removal. With Splinter Twin no longer in the format, though, Twisted Image is actually seeing more play. Several Top 8 Infect lists have run 1 to 2 copies in the mainboard. Why is this exactly?

One point of interest in Twisted Image is that not only does it switch the power and toughness of a creature, but it also draws you a card. For one mana, that’s a pretty good deal. Even if you’re casting it just to draw the extra card, it’s worth it. In infect, it also puts another card in the graveyard to help you delve for Become Immense or draw you yet another pump spell. Also, with the Enchantment Wild Defiance on the board, you turn Twisted Image into yet another pump spell. Wild Defiance gives any creature targeted by an instant or sorcery spell +3/+3 until end of turn.

Another interaction that’s come into play since the release of Oath of the Gatewatch is Twisted Image’s interaction with Stormchaser Mage. The Prowess creature begins life as a 1 / 3. Not only does Twisted Image activate Prowess and draw you a card, but essentially gives your Stormchaser Mage +2/-2. Whether Prowess aggro decks, either red/blue (Izzet) or red/blue/green (Temur) actually become a strong force in the format will go a long way in determining the future value of this instant.

With Slip Through Space already breaking into the Modern Infect deck as a one-mana cantrip that makes a creature unblockable, it remains to be seen if the one or two copies of Twisted Image in the mainboard is worth it.

0 Comments

Magic the Gathering - Modern U/R Delver Deck Tech and Review

2/15/2015

by Richard Rowell, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

For those that played Magic: the Gathering during Innistrad Standard, you may remember a certain common Transform card known as Delver of Secrets. It was a pretty nifty card. So nifty, in fact, that the Delver tempo deck dominated Standard for some time. In fact, Delver is such a good card that Delver-based decks are actually a major archetype in Legacy, also running Green in order to play the mighty Tarmogoyf. Well, it was only a matter of time before Delver made its way into Modern, and even without Ponder and Preordain, the deck has some life.

Today, we're taking a look at a U/R Delver list that went 4-0 in a Modern daily on MTGO. Best of all, this is a fairly budget deck (around $250) and contains zero fetch-lands.

Here’s the list that MTGO user Darkrouge piloted to a perfect record and some M15 packs:

CREATURES

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Grim Lavamancer

NON-CREATURES

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Vapor Snag
3 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Izzet Charm
2 Electrolyze
1 Dispel

LANDS

5 Island
5 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Epiphany

Young Pyromancer is a really awesome card. Its combination with Delver it actually has made some serious noise in Legacy before. While the non-creature spells in Modern aren’t nearly of the same power level as in Legacy (you still have Ponder and Preordain legal in that format) there’s a pretty good package here. Making a 1/1 Elemental creature token every time you can an instant or sorcery is extremely cool in this burn/tempo build. You’re slowing down your opponent’s early plays enough to make those 1/1’s potentially become lethal threats after only a handful of turns.

Next we have a fairly staple Modern card in Snapcaster Mage. Obviously, he was a major part of the Innistrad Standard Delver deck, and he continues to do a lot of work here, helping you flashback your previously used spells in order to gain even more tokens and more tempo advantage. He’s definitely the priciest card in the deck, but well worth the investment.

We round out the creature line-up with a card quite familiar to burn decks in Grim Lavamancer. His appearance in a more tempo-based list is interesting, but his ability does help you to deal with smaller problem creatures while saving your counter-magic and Lightning Bolts for greater threats. Having to exile two cards from your graveyard doesn’t seem to have great synergy with Snapcaster Mage, so you’ll have to decide when it’s worth it to use the Lavamancer’s effect. It also does have the option of hitting players, so it can be a way to deal the final 2 damage that you need.

Onto the non-creature spells, we have a full play-set of Gitaxian Probe. The cool thing about the Probe is that it has a Phyrexian mana cost, meaning you can pay 2 life rather than pay a single Blue mana to cast it. It draws you a card, plus shows you your opponent’s hand. The 2 life for a card draw and a Peek at your opponent’s hand are often worth it turn one.

We next have a play-set of Serum Visions. Since Ponder and Preordain are banned in Modern, due to their power level in decks like Storm and – you guessed it – Delver, Serum Visions is now the premier draw card of Modern. It’s pretty much backwards Preordain. Instead of Scrying for 2, then drawing a card, you draw a card, then Scry 2. But because the card filtering comes after the draw, it’s a bit less powerful. Still, it’s a very good card that predates Preordain, which was printed in the Magic 2011 core set.

Then we have 4 copies of Mana Leak, the classic permission spell that costs 1U and counters a target spell unless its controller pays 2 colorless mana. Plus, we have 4 copies of Lightning Bolt, the classic hit a creature or player for 3 damage.

After that we get into the meat of this deck, which is the tempo package. There are three copies of Vapor Snag, which is basically Unsummon except that the creature’s controller also loses 1 life. Forcing a player to tap out to play a creature then force it back to the hand can ruin many a player’s turn, so the loss of life on top of that is fairly relevant.

There are three copies of Spell Snare, as well. It’s a highly specific counter-spell, in that it costs a single Blue mana but only counters spells with a converted mana cost of 2. That doesn’t sound all that great, but consider how many spells are played in competitive Magic that have a CMC of 2:Snapcaster Mage and Tarmogoyf are great examples. You can stop opponents from playing a great many of their early game plays. More often than not, it’s not a dead card.

For problematic non-creature spells, you have 2 copies of Spell Pierce. It’s basically Mana Leak in that it’s a permission spell that counters a spell unless its controller pays 2 extra colorless mana, but it doesn’t work against creature spells. It’s great for stopping removal and opposing counter-spells, as well as planeswalkers.

Izzet Charm is a versatile little card with three “Modes:” Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays 2 colorless mana; deal 2 damage to target creature; or draw two cards, then discard two cards. It’s basically a Spell Pierce, a Shock, and a Faithless Looting all on one card, except you get to choose which one it is. There are two of these in the deck.

Electrolyze is a fun little burn card. It deals 2 damage divided between one or two target creatures or players of your choice. That seems pricey for 3 mana (1RU) but you also draw a card off of it. It’s a can-trip Shock with some options.

Lastly, there’s a single Dispel in the main-board, which costs a single Blue mana to play and counters a target Instant spell. Typically you’ll use it to stop a Lightning Bolt, other removal, or a counter-spell.

For the mana base, you have 10 basic lands, 5 Islands and 5 Mountains. You then have 4 Steam Vents and 3 Sulfur Falls, plus 1 Temple of Epiphany. Honestly, this doesn’t seem to be the best choice for a mana base, as there are no copies of Shivan Reef, a very common land to play in U/R decks. It may be better to remove the one scry land and the 3 Sulfur Falls with the Reefs, which do ping you for 1 when you tap them for colored mana, but makes your mana-fixing a bit more consistent. However, the pilot of this deck seemed to have no problem with consistency, so it would take some actual play-testing with the deck myself to see how well the mana-base functions as it is.

Onto the sideboard:

SIDEBOARD

3 Combust
2 Smelt
2 Dispel
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Counterflux
1 Magma Spray
1 Electrolyze

The three copies of Combust exist purely to destroy white or blue creatures. For only 1R, it deals 5 damage to a target white or blue creature and can’t be countered. It’s the perfect answer to cards such as Restoration Angel,Archangel of Thune, or Loxodon Smiter. Basically, anything that can’t be answered with a Lightning Bolt that’s white or blue can be taken out with this card.

Smash to Smithereens might be better than Smelt overall, as Smash deals 3 damage to an artifact’s controller upon destroying it, but Smelt gets the job done for only a single Red mana. Like Smash, Smelt is also at instant speed, but doesn’t add the Lava Spike effect on top of that. Being only one mana is relevant, too, as it’s easier to Flashback and simply easier to cast.

Anger of the Gods helps deal with aggressive decks, and while you may exile your own creatures in the process (including even a transformed Delver), most of the creatures you would have on board are probably 1/1 elemental tokens anyway. It’s sort of a card that you sit on until your opponent extends too far with their board-state and you hope they don’t see it coming..

Two copies of Dispel exist in the sideboard to deal with control match-ups. The extra Spell Snare can come in handy against certain decks, and the extra Spell Pierce exists for the same reason as Dispel. The Counterflux is in the board for Storm match-ups, as countering all spells on the stack when your opponent is trying to reach a certain Storm count is devastating. The lone Magma Spray is an interesting choice against aggro decks, as well. Plus you have another copy of Electrolyze to add to your creature removal package.

This list looks pretty solid. While there are some changes I may make to it, it’s mostly in the mana base, which could potentially work just as it is. It’s a fairly simple deck to play as long as you know what to counter and what not to. The deck won’t burn people to death but as your opponent will likely never have enough creatures to block your Elemental tokens from Pyromancer, you should have a good time getting through for a bit of damage every turn. If you like tempo decks, like myself, this is definitely a list worth taking a spin. It does require a bit of an upfront investment, but Snapcasters, Steam Vents, and Serum Visions, the most expensive cards in the deck, aren’t going anywhere, so they’re all solid cards to have. Also, if you want to play blue/red but don’t want to play Storm, this is a pretty good alternative.

Magic the Gathering (MTG) Modern Event Deck – March of the Multitudes Deck Review

11/16/2014

0 Comments

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

When the day came for the highly-anticipated Modern Event Deck to be revealed, it turned out that the deck list was indeed the Black/White Token deck that had been expected. While it had some nice little surprises in it, overall, people ripped it apart. But is it as bad as people thought?

Here’s the list:

LANDS (24)

4 Caves of Koilos
2 City of Brass
4 Isolated Chapel
5 Plains
4 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Windbrisk Heights

CREATURES (5)

2 Soul Warden
3 Tidehollow Sculler

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (31)

3 Honor of the Pure
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
3 Path to Exile
4 Raise the Alarm
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
4 Spectral Procession
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Zealous Persecution
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

SIDEBOARD

2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Dismember
3 Duress
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Kataki, War’s Wage
3 Relic of Progenitus

First of all, let us consider what the spoiler from a couple of months ago told us. We were expecting Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Intangible Virtue, and Honor of the Pure. What is missing is Hero of Bladehold. This is okay, because of what it was replaced with:

Considering that this deck had an original MSRP of about $75, it’s great to see a card with a high value like Sword of Feast and Famine in a deck. It obviously fits the deck quite well. It also somewhat makes up for the lack of fetch-lands in the deck.

Speaking of fetch-lands, let’s look over the no-fetch mana base.

A full play-set of the white-black “pain” land will help you fix for your colored mana, plus two City of Brass. A full play-set of Isolated Chapel, the white/black “buddy” land will help you also fix without the need for pinging yourself for life, as long as you control a Plains or Swamp. There are 5 plains and 4 swamps to complement them. In addition, there is a Vault of the Archangel, with which you can tap for 2WB to give your creatures deathtouch and lifelink until end of turn. There is also a full play-set of Windbrisk Heights, a rather useful card with Hideaway. Whatever card gets put under it can be cast for a single white mana and a tap, providing that you have attacked with at least three creatures in a given turn.

Overall, it’s not a bad mana base, although I would replace the two City of Brass and at least one plains and one swamp for a full play-set of Godless Shrine. It is, at least, a functional mana base.

Being in a deck with only five creatures, it would make sense that Soul Warden would comprise a couple of those spots. With all of the tokens that this deck generates, Soul Warden will help you keep your life total high. Note that she also gives you life for opponents’ creatures entering the battlefield, as well. There’s a reason that Soul Sisters can be difficult to beat. Many burn decks and aggro decks hate this card, although Skullcrack and Flames of the Blood Hand do exist, as well as the Leyline of Punishment, to counteract these effects. Of course, with only two Soul Warden in the deck, in those match-ups, the Wardens can easily slip out for something in the sideboard.

An old white/black favorite, sure to see even more play in the near-future in Modern with the existence of Athreos, God of Passage, Tidehollow Sculler deprives your opponent of a non-land card until the Sculler leaves the battlefield. It’s a very solid two-drop that compliments the other hand disruption in this deck quite nicely.

Let’s move on to the meat of the deck, the non-creature spells!

The three copies of Honor of the Pure, which pumps all of your white creatures by +1/+1 are an obvious inclusion, as are the full play-set of Intangible Virtue, which gives all tokens +1/+1. Being able to stack multiple copies of this card on the board is key to this deck’s success.

As many speculated, there are also two copies of Inquisition of Kozilek in the deck. It’s yet another way to disrupt your opponents’ hands of their early plays, giving you time to build up your forces on the board while they recover. There are also 3 copies of Zealous Persecution, an instant which gives your creatures +1/+1 and your opponents’ creatures -1/-1 until end of turn, making combats a bit tricky for your opponent.

As for tokens, there is a full suite available. A full-playset of Lingering Souls, with its Flashback ability, is an absolute must. It’s joined by a full-playset of Raise the Alarm, which creates two 1/1 white soldiers for only 1W. There’s also a full play-set of Spectral Procession, which makes 3 flying tokens.

There’s also a couple of copies of a fun card from New Phyrexia, Shrine of Loyal Legions. The cool part about this card is that so much of the deck is comprised of white spells. Each time you cast a white spell (which includes the dual-colored spells) it gains a charge counter. You can pay 3 and sacrifice the Shrine and put a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token onto the field for each charge counter that had been on the Shrine. This can potentially be a lot of token generation.

The deck also contains 3 Path to Exile, which is a very pricey removal card nowadays.

Now onto one of the main win conditions of the deck, my favorite card in all of Magic: the Gathering:

Elspeth, Knight-Errant should need no introductions. Both of her +1 abilities are fantastic, and her ultimate ability, her -8, gives you an emblem that basically wins you the game. Making more tokens, then making them fly over opponent’s creatures is always fun. And making everything indestructible is pretty good, too. You also will have enough blockers to protect her, meaning that her potential of going ultimate is actually pretty high if they don’t deal with her outside of combat.

Overall, the main deck looks quite playable. Let’s look over the sideboard:

Here’s a card you don’t typically see, two copies of Burrenton Forge-Tender. Obviously, this card exists to help in match-ups against mono-red decks. I’m pretty sure by design that these are meant to replace the two copies of main-board Soul Warden in those match-ups. The cool thing about Forge-Tender is that it can prevent damage from any red source, including board-wipes like Anger of the Gods (the bane of this deck’s existence) and Blasphemous Act. Speaking of Blasphemous Act, in those Boros builds that include Boros Reckoner, that damage isn’t dealt to the Reckoners, either, saving you at least 13 points of damage from that card’s ability. Solid little sideboard option here.

Most of the remaining side-board cards are self-explanatory. Dismember deals with big threats, Duress gives you more hand-destruction, Ghost Quarter gives you some land destruction ability against greedy mana-bases and Relic of Progenitus helps stop graveyard shenanigans.

The last card in the sideboard is a very useful card called Kataki, War’s Wage. Three copies exist in this sideboard. Essentially what it does is make all artifacts have an upkeep cost of 1 mana. This obviously can be quite problematic for Affinity and Tron decks in the format. It also has a negative interaction with the Shrine of Loyal Legions, but those can come out when this card is boarded in. It’s nice to have three copies included.

Overall, this deck looks fairly solid. Black/white tokens are a deck that doesn’t necessarily need the fetch-lands to function. Of course, four Marsh Flats and the four Godless Shrine would be nice, but the pain-lands do suffice in this case. Besides, the pain from the fetch-lands and the shock-lands coming in untapped is very similar, and you’re gaining life back from Soul Warden in many cases anyhow.

I think as a gateway deck into the format, there’s nothing wrong with Wizard’s first attempt. Is it worth the $75 MSRP? I would say most likely. Since card price numbers can fluctuate over time, I won’t break it down here, but the cards did add up to well over $75 at the deck's release, if you consider median prices for these cards (double that, in fact!) Unfortunately, as the decks did not sell as well as anticipated, many hobby shops and card stores broke them down to sell the individual cards, deflating the value of many of the cards included. However, the original printings of the cards have maintained their values a bit better due to the fact that the Modern Event Deck cards have a separate set symbol, fortunately.

While I certainly am happy to see the Sword in here, Hero of Bladehold may have made more sense. It’s clear that Wizards wants to give it the “Bang for its Buck” without having speculators buying them all up, thus making them inaccessible to players trying to enter the format. For what it’s meant to be, it’s pretty good, and it’s put copies of some harder-to-get cards out there more readily available without flooding the market too much.

I can why see this didn't sell quite as well as some might have first suspected, but I think the Modern Event Deck is a worthy start to what will hopefully be a long line of event decks for the Modern Format.

---

Follow Gaming Successfully on Twitter and Facebook!

PucaTrade is the best way to trade Magic the Gathering and MTGO cards (plus event tickets and packs!) online. Join the fun today!

0 Comments

Magic the Gathering - Modern History: Akki Lavarunner/Tok-Tok Volcano Born

2/27/2013

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

Today, on Modern History, we take a look at a card from everyone's favorite block: Kamigawa! Here's a little rare from Champions of Kamigawa that is not only the first rare alphabetically in the set, but an interesting one as well!

While you won't be seeing this card in any top 8 decks, Akki Lavarunner is one of those crazy flip cards. The interesting thing about this one, besides costing 3R for a 1/1 Goblin with Haste, is that whenever he deals damage to an opponent, you get to flip it right away.

Tok-Tok, Volcano Born, his flipside, is an interesting Legendary Creature. He's a 2/2 with Protection from Red, and if a Red source would deal damage to a player, it deals that damage plus 1 to that player instead. It's a pretty decent effect, and in a Goblin deck, having a creature like him would certainly be welcome.

There's only one downside here. You have to have him deal damage to a player before you can get his effect. In a Goblin deck, he could be well more than a 1/1 though. And if you do get his flip side, your Goblin Grenades can become 6 to the face to a player, and suddenly a card like Hellrider makes those declare attack triggers hit twice as hard.

Yes, the damage +1 can hurt you, too, but in the right Goblin-centered deck, that sort of ability would be devastatingly good. Were this not a flip card and instead just Tok-Tok, this would actually be very playable. While Wizards was probably right to make this a flip card, it's interesting to think what might have been were Tok-Tok his own man...

Is Deflecting Palm a Modern Burn Sideboard Staple?

Magic the Gathering - Modern History - Abundance from Tenth Edition

Modern Masters 2017 Spoilers (MTG) - Fetch Lands, and Tri Lands, and Guildgates, Oh My!

Magic the Gathering - Mono-Green Infect - Budget Modern Deck Profile

Magic the Gathering - U/W Tallowisp Spirits & Auras Deck Tech (Modern / Casual)

Is Twisted Image Good in Modern Infect Decks? - Magic the Gathering

Magic the Gathering - Modern U/R Delver Deck Tech and Review

Magic the Gathering (MTG) Modern Event Deck – March of the Multitudes Deck Review

Magic the Gathering - Modern History: Akki Lavarunner/Tok-Tok Volcano Born

Gaming Peeps
We Love

Staff Authors

Archives

Categories

Gaming Peeps We Love

Staff Authors

Archives

Categories

Gaming Peeps
We Love