by Phoenix Desertsong ![]() 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. Is Deflecting Palm Good Against Infect? Another matchup that comes to mind is Infect. Even though the damage is no longer infect damage 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. Deflecting Palm and Emrakul & Other Eldrazi Titans 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. Is Deflecting Palm Good Against Lifelink? Yes, 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. Can Deflecting Palm Be Good Against Scapeshift Decks? Deflecting Palm can be good against Scapeshift if your opponent doesn’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 damage, and you can delay their win by a turn. It's probably not a great card to sideboard in against Scapeshift, though. Is Deflecting Palm Good Against Ad Nauseum Decks? 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. Deflecting Palm and Double Strike 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 late 2017, non-foil Deflecting Palm would pass $1.50 and foils pushed $5. 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. Read more Magic the Gathering Modern articles here.
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by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist ![]() Originally printed in Urza's Saga, Abundance is a very good Enchantment that was reprinted in Magic the Gathering's Tenth Edition Core Set. 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 Abundance 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, Abundance can be invaluable. Getting mana-screwed (not enough land to play your spells) or mana-flooded (too many lands and not enough spells) are common issues in the format. This Enchantment offers very useful card selection, although, it is a bit mana-intensive for a highly competitive format like Modern. Despite not seeing play in top tournament play, Abundance 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 you can't expect to see this card in a top 8 Modern deck, Abundance is a great card that you shouldn't overlook in a trade binder. Read more Magic the Gathering Modern articles here. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist 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 were the enemy-colored fetch lands from Zendikar! ![]() 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 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 sell sets. Previously, I looked at a Blue/Red (U/R) Delver deck that was making waves in Modern. At the time, it was relatively budget, about $250 in paper with the majority of that price being Snapcaster Mages. As the prices of Snapcaster and Serum Visions were rocketing out of control, however, that list was no longer budget whatsoever. In mid-2019, that list would cost much more at $350. The good news is that there is a Modern U/R Delver deck that emerged on Magic Online that is about $165 in paper (as of 4/2019) that went 4-0 in a Modern Daily back in July 2015. It's still a solid list to consider now. Plus, the price is still about the same as it was in 2016! Here is the list as piloted by Nielsen333 on Magic Online. CREATURES 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Young Pyromancer NON-CREATURES 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Remand 4 Vapor Snag 3 Peek 2 Forked Bolt 2 Lava Spike 2 Mana Leak 2 Mutagenic Growth 1 Dispel 1 Repeal 1 Spell Snare 1 Spell Pierce LANDS 5 Island 3 Mountain 4 Steam Vents 4 Sulfur Falls 1 Shivan Reef Young Pyromancer has been a perfect combination with Delver of Secrets since the Delver deck archetype actually began in Legacy. While Modern's non-creature spells aren't quite of the power level of Legacy, making an army of 1/1 Elemental creature tokens every time you cast an instant or sorcery is extremely powerful. With the Delver deck being mostly about tempo in Modern, having a constant army of chump-blockers and pingers is going to be the foundation of this deck's success. In place of Snapcaster Mage is a much more aggressive creature from Khans of Tarkir, Monastery Swiftspear. The Swiftspear has already seen plenty of play in Standard, Modern, and Legacy. With her Prowess ability, though, she can become quite a formidable presence on both offense and defense. With spells properly timed, the Swiftspear can deal powerful blows that would put stalwart red creatures like Goblin Guide to shame. With Delver flipping into the flying 3/2 Insectile Aberration, Delver now has more of an aggressive flair than its many tempo components would lead you to believe. At the time, this list eschewed the typical (more expensive) inclusions of Gitaxian Probe and Serum Visions. This build used more affordable draw options Sleight of Hand and Peek. While the Scry ability of Serum Visions is somewhat superior to Sleight of Hand, this was a more budget way to get basically the same thing done. But, with the reprint in Conspiracy 2, Serum Visions are now about the same price as Sleight of Hand, making them a good substitute for the Peeks if you can get them. Gitaxian Probe has since been banned, as well.
Lightning Bolt and Vapor Snag are the burn and tempo all-stars, respectively. Remand and Mana Leak are the primary counterspells. The rest of the non-creature spells are interchangeable with those in the sideboard. In the board there are: 3 Molten Rain, 3 Rending Volley, 2 Dispel, 2 Electrickery, 2 Negate, 2 Roast, and 1 Forked Bolt. This assortment allows the deck to adjust to many different kinds of matchups. Also, like previous incarnations of Delver in Modern, the deck doesn't need fetchlands. Steam Vents and Sulfur Falls aren't exactly inexpensive nowadays, but they are certainly less than a playset of Scalding Tarns. If you're looking for a budget Modern deck, this version of Blue/Red (U/R) Delver should be a great place to start. Read more Magic the Gathering Modern articles here. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() 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. ![]() Allosaurus Rider was the victim of one of the strangest buyouts seen in Magic the Gathering for some time. Pretty much every copy of the Elf Warrior, including the Coldsnap Prerelease and Duel Deck: Elves vs Goblins printings, disappeared from the internet. While this is a card that’s been popular among casual players for years, it seems extremely odd for a 7-mana Elf to suddenly be bought out. How could this possibly happen? Allosaurus Rider isn’t a bad card. Yes, it costs 7 mana to cast. But, it can have pretty high power and toughness, due to the fact they are based on how many lands you control. That’s OK. But you can also put the Rider into play by exiling 2 cards from your hand instead of paying its mana cost. That’s all well and good. It’s pretty awesome in a casual game, right? Well, not only would it be bought out once, but in fact, it would become bought out a second time, as well. The reasoning behind the second price spike would be clearer than the first. We will first look at the reasons for why Allosaurus Rider became a $15 card suddenly overnight the first time. Eldritch Moon and Allosaurus Rider Eldritch Moon spoilers held a couple of answers to the first price spike. The first is a mythic rare from the set with a mechanic new to the set. Decimator of the Provinces (10) Creature - Boar Emerge 6GGG When you cast Decimator of Provinces, creatures you control get +2/+2 and gain trample until end of turn. Trample, haste 7/7 Basically, this was a “fixed” Craterhoof Behemoth. In some ways, though, this card is better. It’s all about Emerge. What Emerge essentially does is let you sacrifice a creature and reduce the Decimator’s casting cost by the converted mana cost of the sacrificed creature. By “casting” Allosaurus Rider with removing two 2 Green cards from your hand, you then only have to pay 3 Green Mana to Emerge a Decimator of Provinces. That’s pretty nasty. But there was an even better one, and it's yet another Eldritch Moon card. ![]() There’s an awesome Modern combo with Eldritch Evolution. Essentially, you to play a land on turn one and cast a Birds of Paradise or another one-drop mana dork. You can then easily cast an Allosaurus Rider as long as you have two other Green cards to exile. Then on the next turn, you play another land, cast Eldritch Evolution, sacrificing Allosaurus Rider. Because you can search out a creature with converted mana cost X or less, you can get any creature of converted mana cost 9 or less and put it straight onto the battlefield. And in Modern, what better choice is there to get than… ![]() GRISELBRAND! That’s right. A turn two Griselbrand. Now how consistent is this combo? I have no clue. But that is, well, pretty good. Obviously, there are other things you can do with Eldritch Evolution. Still, you can't imagine too many people beating a turn 2 Griselbrand. If an entire deck around this strategy emerged and became relevant, it would be pretty awesome. Grishoalbrand, a Modern deck built around Goryo’s Vengeance, Nourishing Shoal, and the Through the Breach, has been a fairly consistent winner in Modern. But Eldritch Evolution gives a whole new engine to build around. Allosaurus Rider seems like a silly target, and you probably won’t always have a copy in hand at the beginning of the game, or by turn two. As with any combo deck, there’s going to be variance. But this is the beginning of what could be a new archetype. Of course, Allosaurus Rider didn't remain a $15 card. Decimator of the Provinces ended up being a pretty fringe card, sadly. Other Emerge cards did fare better, though. On the other hand, Eldritch Evolution has proven to be pretty useful in Modern. But despite the obvious combo with Allosaurus Rider and Eldritch Evolution, the seven-mana Elf just proved to be too inconsistent to be worth running in the deck. After a reprinting in the Duel Decks Anthology and falling from grace as soon as people realized he just didn't belong in Modern competition, Allosaurus Rider fell back to being a $2 casual card once again. However, things would not stay that way. ![]() Allosaurus Rider and Neoform The second price spike of Allosaurus Rider came much later in May 2019. This time, the spike went as high as $20! While it would settle fairly quickly, to a TCGPlayer market price around $7, the card that caused the Allosaurus Rider to become a buyout target was much, much better. A sorcery spell called Neoform from War of the Spark would prove so good that it spawned an entire competitive Modern deck called Neobrand! Neoform is a two-mana sorcery (1 Blue, 1 Green) that has an additional cost of sacrificing a creature. But, when you sacrifice that creature, you search your library for a creature with a converted mana cost of one higher than the creature you sacrificed. This means if you put an Allosaurus Rider into play, then cast this on it, you can go search your library for Griselbrand. It’s actually just like Eldritch Evolution, but a bit more restrictive in what it can search. The trade-off is that creature gets an additional +1/+1 counter placed onto it when it hits the battlefield. What makes Neoform better than Eldritch Evolution is actually two-fold. First, Eldritch Evolution is three mana and Neoform is only two. So, Neoform can be played much easier and more quickly. Also, the +1/+1 counter is actually quite relevant when it comes to Griselbrand. Because Griselbrand has the Pay 7 life ability to draw seven cards, you can actually swing for 8 damage with lifelink, gaining back that 7 life plus one. The actual key to winning with this deck is to keep your life total up with Samut’s Sprint and Nourishing Shoal to keep up your life total. This way you can draw out your deck, which is why Laboratory Maniac is in the deck. But, you can also starting beating down with Griselbrand as early as turn one, which is what makes this deck so scary. It also helps that the deck plays a copy of Lightning Storm, which can finish off your opponent. Technically, the deck can win on turn one, which is what makes it so scary. The Neobrand deck can be surprisingly consistent thanks to a few tricky mana producers. The deck plays 4 Chancellor of the Tangle in the deck to try to consistently start your first turn with at least one green mana in your mana pool. It also has 4 Simian Spirit Guide to get you free red mana. Manamorphose helps you mana fix - and draw a card - and one Wild Cantor gives you a way to get that one color of mana you need in a pinch. The Neobrand deck is actually good enough that it became a 5-0 deck on Magic Online and even made second place at a Star City Games Modern Invitational Qualifier. Will this combo deck last in the Modern format? It’s hard to say if one or more pieces - such as Simian Spirit Guide - will eventually be banned, but as of this writing, Neobrand a viable combo deck in Modern. Allosaurus Rider is a key part of the deck’s combo, too, so it will maintain some value as long as the deck is viable. What we can learn from price spikes like this is that you just never know when a card will be printed that will make some obscure card sell out across the internet. Basically, if a card has any way that it can be abused, like with the alternate casting cost of Allosaurus Rider, it will eventually get its day in the sun. Sometimes, the spike is short lived, but other times, there is a viable interaction that permanently lifts the card’s value. In the case of Allosaurus Rider, Neoform suddenly made the card Modern-relevant, and for that, this Elf Warrior will not be soon forgotten. ![]() 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. by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist ![]() For fans of mill decks in Magic the Gathering, it's hard to not like Sphinx's Tutelage. While it isn't quite as nuts as Grindstone, the card that made mill decks a strong strategy in Legacy in the first place, it does have its similarities. The major difference between Sphinx's Tutelage and Grindstone is that with the stone, it didn't care if they were non-land cards, only if they shared a color. What makes Grindstone so powerful in Legacy is its combination with a card from Shadowmoor called Painter's Servant. Painter's Servant is a two-drop artifact creature that makes you choose a color when it comes into play. Any cards that aren't in play, spells, and permanents all become that color in addition to their other colors. When it comes to Grindstone, barring a shuffle effect from a card like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, it would put all of your opponent's library into the graveyard. Sphinx's Tutelage. has a bit of a drawback in that it will stop at lands. But it's still pretty powerful, and it activates each time that you draw a card. Two cards doesn't sound like much, but it adds up, especially if you're playing a dedicated mill deck that plays cards like Visions of Beyond (which will often draw you 3 cards and mill your opponent a minimum of 6 cards). The ability for 5U to draw a card and discard a card is probably rarely going to be used. But it is there if you need it As Painter's Servant is legal in Modern, it may be an interesting idea to build a Servant/Tutelage combo around what is already an effective Esper Mill shell in Modern. Esper Mill has won a number of Modern Daily events on Magic Online. This Esper Mill list went 4-0. It's just a matter of figuring out what comes out for the Servants and Tutelages. The main issue with this combo, while it's pretty sweet and can mill a whole bunch of cards, you can end up with dead copies of Painter's Servant in your hand. The good news is having multiple copies of Sphinx's Tutelage in play is absolutely fine, as it just offers you additional triggers. Therefore, the Servant should only be in there as a back-up plan. Unlike in Legacy, the combo is not necessarily game-winning, but it doesn't need to be. What would probably happen is that you would cut the 3 Crypt Incursion and 2 Lingering Souls from the winning Esper Mill list mentioned earlier and replace them with 3 Sphinx's Tutelage and 2 Painter's Servant. The list would look something like this: CREATURES (10) 4 Hedron Crab 4 Jace's Phantasm 2 Painter's Servant NON-CREATURE SPELLS (28) 4 Glimpse the Unthinkable 4 Archive Trap 4 Path to Exile 4 Visions of Beyond 4 Mesmeric Orb 3 Mind Funeral 3 Sphinx's Tutelage 2 Trapmaker's Snare LANDS (22) 4 Polluted Delta 3 Flooded Strand 3 Island 3 Shelldock Isle 2 Marsh Flats 2 Swamp 2 Watery Grave 1 Darkslick Shores 1 Godless Shrine 1 Hallowed Fountain SIDEBOARD (15) 4 Leyline of Sanctity 3 Ensnaring Bridge 3 Leave No Trace 3 Ravenous Trap 2 Extirpate ![]() While Esper Mill isn't a particularly cheap deck, it's become a consistent performer in the Modern format. Glimpse the Unthinkable is the most expensive card in the deck, and can be replaced with Mind Sculpt. The latter card mills 7 whereas the former mills 10, but it will save you quite a few bucks. The rest of the cards, outside of the mana fixing, pretty much need to be there for the deck to work. It's not a given that the Servant/Tutelage combo actually makes the deck better. Crypt Incursion was the most removable card in the deck, and that card can gain you life that you could need later Mesmeric Orb is probably the other card that could be dropped in favor of the combo, as it mills you as well as your opponent, but it quickens the clock and should usually hurt your opponent far more than it ever hurts you. Lingering Souls is a tough drop, as it can be cast from the graveyard. But if Sphinx's Tutelage and Painter's Servant works as well together as they seem to on paper, you won't need the extra creatures, as the Servant gives you a 1/3 blocker as it is. Does a Modern Esper Mill deck armed with this combo seem like something you would like to try? by Phoenix Desertsong 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 in early 2015, but about $350 in mid 2019) 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 (NOTE: Because Gitaxian Probe was banned after this list was played, we will replace the 4 copies of Probe for four copies of Opt.) ![]() 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. Getting those second uses out of your spells is important in keeping the game's tempo in your favor. ![]() 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, this deck used to run 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. But, since Gitaxian Probe was banned in the Modern format, we will substitute those four copies for Opt, a card that was introduced to Modern in the Ixalan set. While it doesn't provide the Peek that Probe gives you, it does allow you to Scry 1 before you draw your card. It's a solid draw spell, although you can't play it for 2 life. ![]() We next have a play-set of Serum Visions. Since Ponder, Preordain, and Probe 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. 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. |
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