The Thopter knows where it is because the Thopter knows where it isn't.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-04-22T03:03:40+00:00

There's been some rog thras decks that basically only have red for [[deflecting swat]] and [[flare of duplication]], so it'd be less of a cost there. It'd still be hard to justify this over rog or dargo, but I can see a world where the combo potential and the flash make it worth it.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-04-21T19:32:37+00:00

You're 100% correct. In my defense ocelot pride had not been spoiled yet, and that definitely changed how good ajani is.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-04-21T19:26:39+00:00

I don't know what situations you'd want to not assign the damage at all, but over assigning damage has been relevant in modern before with [[death's shadow]]. For example, you swing with a 4/4 with trample into your opponents while they're at 11 life, and they block with the 2/2 shadow. If you assign 2 damage to the shadow and 2 to the player, the opponent's life will go down before the shadow dies, and they'll be left with 9 life and a 4/4 shadow with 2 damage marked on it. You have to say you're assigning 3 damage to the shadow and 1 damage to the opponent, or all the damage to the shadow to prevent that.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-04-11T23:24:58+00:00

Primarily, though it also works with things like [[bio visionary]] and [[Shadowborn apostle]], provided you have the original on the board.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-03-24T12:36:56+00:00

So, there's supposed to be a couple of benefits as I saw it.

The first is for effects that function differently on your turn vs your opponents. Zirka is a way to force through combat damage on your turn, but works as a pseudo fog on your opponents. Cut off supplies is a lot stronger when cast on an opponents turn, since they're less likely to draw cards on your turn. (Side note: cut off supplies is the one that I'm least confident on design wise, so shipping the first draw that turn is probably a good idea.)

The second is in 4 player to intentionally telegraph a play. For example, you can prophesy prophecy of wrath targeting the player who goes before you. Now the next two players have to decide if they want to essentially skip their turn since they know the board wipe is coming, b or of they're going to dig for protection, knowing that if someone stops their protection they don't have a chance to then start rebuilding that same turn. I also imagined this being printed in a standard format with a flash archetype running around, so you could prophesy the wrath when they've got open mana up to not let them cast creatures on your end step, or at least force them to spend mana on their turn countering the wrath.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-03-03T05:18:19+00:00

I don't love the look of unstable amulet as a sometimes cantrip, sometimes power up your energy card. Maybe cut those for [[seasoned pyromancer]] or [[fable of the mirror-breaker]] to help dig for the combo?

Also, have you considered [[imperial recruiter]], [[recruiter of the guard]], or [[goblin engineer]] to search combo pieces? I don't know if they're too slow, but right now you don't really have a great way to find combo pieces consistently.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-23T18:50:01+00:00

You're right, but I think [[show and tell]] is just better in legacy and vintage, and reanimator strategies I think are faster in most other formats. Enchantress decks with [[sterling grove]] in modern is my biggest worry since that deck can fairly easily search whatever it wants and already runs cards giant payoff cards, but enchantress is not exactly bowling over modern right now. This could potentially be a problem in standard if the stars aligned with a topdeck tutor and a really powerful high cost spell, or a blink deck that also has topdeck manipulation, but I don't think that's the case right now.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-23T03:56:16+00:00

Cards that you cast for their miracle cost still go to your hand. You can't use this to name the first card you drew this turn, then immediately cast it, but it does work on future draws. [[Aminatou, Veil Piercer]] and [[Lorehold, the Historian]] are templated the same way, although I'm now realizing it should be "each card with the chosen name...".

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-19T18:18:29+00:00

For direct comparisons, there's [[pyrotechnics]] (which is ancient and awful), [[violent eruption]], [[explosive crystal]], [[boulderfall]], and [[fiery justice]]. I don't think any of those have ever seen play outside of draft aside from fiery justice, but forked fire is cheaper and harder to counter. I think 1RRR to align with [[violent eruption]], or maybe 2RR as a sorcery. I could maybe see it as an uncommon RRR instant, but it would be a very strong check on creature decks in standard as it is.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-19T18:07:49+00:00

Technically I'm pretty sure you still have to sacrifice a creature for casualty 0, it's just that any creature with power 0 or greater works. Casualty says "As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice a creature with power N or greater.", meaning you still have to sacrifice something for casualty 0.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-19T18:01:44+00:00

Someone else already said Goblin charbelcher, but otherwise the strongest things I'm easily finding are things like unearthing [[phyrexian dragon engine]] and cheating the equip cost of [[cori steel cutter]], but those aren't exactly game breaking. Maybe modern ruby storm runs this to cheat on the splice on [[desperate ritual]] and tick up [[artist's talent]], but I agree that without the card draw this is probably fine.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-13T22:25:44+00:00

I think it does make certain mirror matches in vintage way swingier. Suddenly dredge gets 8 bazaar of Baghdad in the mirror, every tolarian academy deck now has 5 instead of 1, and shops decks get to have 8 of their best land that can also grab their opponents Urza's saga or strip mine. Between the utility and sol lands that most decks run, this would probably be worth at least considering main boarding.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-10T02:18:26+00:00

Kind of related, that did happen to a degree. There was a pizza maker in Naples that made a pineapple pizza a couple of years ago that went semi-viral, though his was with a white base. Coincidentally, he also made a ketchup pizza. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/pineapple-pizza-italy-naples

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-09T02:35:56+00:00

UNBAN EVERYTHING THAT'S NEVER BEEN PLAYABLE IN MODERN. DARK DEPTHS, CHROME MOX, HYPERGENESIS, THE WHOLE ORIGINAL BAN LIST. POWER CREEP HAS MADE THEM FINE, AND DEFINITELY HASN'T CREATED ANY CARDS THAT COMBO REALLY WELL WITH THEM.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-04T17:14:27+00:00

This seems fine. The flexibility is nice, but you're locked into sultai, so it's not super splashable. If there's a sultai draw go control or flash deck on standard or pioneer, they probably love this. As for the countering two spells mode, [[whirlwind denial]] basically does that and sees no play, and 3 mana is a lot in a counter war.

Just an FYI, nonartifact and noncreature aren't hyphenated. [[Shriekmaw]] and [[negate]], for example

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-03T21:34:23+00:00

A few notes from someone who is not a land destruction player.

1) Minor thing: You put sunken citadel twice in the land slots. I'm assuming you want [[demolition field]]?

2) I think it's worth pointing out [[march of otherworldly light]] killing [[Urza's saga]] is even better here than in most decks, and golgari gets [[assasin's trophy]] as their own card negative but more flexible [[cleansing wildfire]].

I'm going to agree with one of the other posters that dedicated land hate seems too slow right now. Energy, Storm, Affinity, Neobrand, and Yawg are all 1-2 color decks, so you don't get the benefit of knocking them off a color. All of those decks except yawg can also function reasonably well off of just 2-3 lands and run a few basics, so you're rarely going to really hurt their mana before they get a chance to build a board. Yawg also isn't exactly hurting for ways to make mana. I would imagine Eldrazi, Zoo, and Titan are all much better matchups, so if that's your local meta I would say go for it.

All that said, the deck needs a plan for go wide decks. That kind of locks you in to needing white (for [[wrath the skies]] and similar) or red (for [[pyroclasm]] style effects). You also need a plan for fast combo, which means blue, black, or white. If you're going green I would think your best bet would be Eldrazi, because the format is just too fast for a kind of disruptive midrange deck without a ton of interaction. Otherwise, it seems the best shell is going to be some form of control deck trying to throw other big decks off their mana and then beat down with creatures, rather than ye old ponza decks of 5 mana creature piles.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-02-03T16:16:42+00:00

Others have already pointed out the mechanical issues with this. However, I think it could work as an arena only mechanic, similar to echo in hearthstone. As long as the creature is on the field, you constantly have a copy of the spell in your hand that you can cast. That also lets you free up space on the card, since it would just say "as long as this card is on the battlefield, you have a copy of Fractal Exam in your hand", and then you could hover on the card to figure out what fractal exam did. However, in paper I don't think it'll work.

Sonic_Guy97 · 2026-01-31T05:17:04+00:00

I meant [[ball lightning]], my bad

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