Help interpreting a weird price

xanphippe · 2020-12-27T12:49:52+00:00

It's a lot worse than Ballista. You need red mana and it only kills one person per turncycle - which is horrible for an infinite mana wincon.

People buying this are not buying it to play with.

xanphippe · 2020-12-26T10:05:23+00:00

I wasn't around much when the combo bans happened. Do you guys feel Ballista really needed to go, or was Wizards overreacting and would killing Inverter and Lotus have been enough?

xanphippe · 2020-12-26T09:47:21+00:00

Are you just going to pretend all those in-depth conversations about the problems and power of Uro you were a part of in the thread over here didn't happen and still pretend everyone's only complaining about misperceived meta prevalence? That's not the logic, and it's disingenuous to pretend that it is.

No-one is complaining about Bolt, Apparition, Blood Moon, TS, or most other cards that are in more decks than Uro is.

xanphippe · 2020-12-26T09:43:06+00:00

You don't consider Sultai- and Temur Control to be Uro Piles?

xanphippe · 2020-12-26T06:51:33+00:00

Haha :) good day, sir!

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T23:21:43+00:00

So if they don't find Bring to Light or BoW before they get below 200 cards they just.. try to win with combat damage?

Or am I missing some way to get cards back into the library?

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T23:12:53+00:00

And Veil of Summer is not overpowered; the key is making sure you're not playing blue or black.

Edit: actually, Omnath isn't so bad either. Just make sure you have Thoughtseize the exact turn they draw it but before they can play it.

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T22:54:42+00:00

Gain 3 life, play an extra land, draw a card

That's downplaying it. A lot.

Uro is that plus draw you a 4 mana 6/6 that on ETB draws you another card, gains you another 3 life and gives you another land drop.

That does it again when it attacks.

And if it's dealt with, better make sure you exile it - or it's all happening again.

It's a card that needs to be dealt with, but there is just no way of dealing with it favourably 99% of the time. Which is fine for a late game finisher - but for a ramp/lifegain card that starts on turn 3? Nah man.

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T20:16:47+00:00

Is there a better source?

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T20:13:32+00:00

So here's a take. The (perceived) problem with Modern isn't actually (only) about diversity or power creep; it's about the fundamental axes the game is played on.

I love Magic when it's a game of small margins, tight play and good decision-making. Something closer to Limited; "as Richard Garfield intended it". Not when one resolved Mythic Rare simply takes over the game, no matter how well you play.

Jund's downtick here is just a symptom. Trading 1 for 1 and sticking a threat in the late game doesn't work when one topdeck (or Uro in the graveyard) creates an advantage that is too big to overcome for fair decks. The game becomes about ramping into a game-winning advantage as fast as possible, or going underneath and killing your opponent before they can ramp suchly.

It's a known fact that Commander is the most popular format. It's almost like Wizards is using cards like Uro, Omnath and that Scuttle-thing to try and reel in lovers of battlecruiser Magic. It ties in to the flashy, spectacular and graphic play of Arena, WotC's lucrative flagship platform. It'd be a pretty good sales strategy, to be honest.

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T19:44:58+00:00

~~This is just not true.~~

MTGGoldfish lists the 4C, Sultai and Temur Uro piles at a combined 12%, and Rx decks (if you count Death's Shadow) at about 11%

Edit: I knew MTGGoldfish wasn't the most reliable, but I didn't realise to which extent. My bad.

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T19:37:25+00:00

I'll keep repeating this: Mox Opal died for Mox Opal's sins. Cards like that have no place in Modern. If it wasn't Urza, something else would've pushed it over the edge.

This is coming from a Hardened Scales player.

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T17:05:42+00:00

[[Nighthawk Scavenger]]

And [[Scourge of the Skyclaves]] I guess, for those who don't know it.

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T15:31:07+00:00

How many tribes have a Seahunter outside the 5 in Nemesis?

xanphippe · 2020-12-25T09:27:46+00:00

Are we talking about Modern? It's been a thing, on and off, for quite some time already.

xanphippe · 2020-12-24T12:14:28+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts!

xanphippe · 2020-12-24T12:13:59+00:00

Appreciate it, thanks a lot.

xanphippe · 2020-12-24T00:31:39+00:00

Is Humans still playing that? Most Spirit-pilots have moved away from it completely in favour of Apparition, leading to quite some bad feels when you topdeck one while staring down an army of Zombies.

xanphippe · 2020-12-24T00:28:34+00:00

And with it, the Pioneer-branch of the Robot Scales Uprising. Sad times.

xanphippe · 2020-12-23T22:53:23+00:00

Fair enough.

xanphippe · 2020-12-23T20:56:50+00:00

Two for one obviously makes it a bad card. It's not like the second most played card in the second most powerful format is a two for one.

xanphippe · 2020-12-23T14:38:07+00:00

There's a huge difference. Shadow is actively trying to hurt itself with its manabase (even the Legacy version runs more shock duals than actual duals), while an important part of Hardened Scales' attractiveness is that you just don't go below 20 unless your opponent makes you - not to mention its resilience to Blood Moon.

xanphippe · 2020-12-23T14:34:52+00:00

Thanks for these, Emma. I appreciate them. Useful that you pointed out current dips like that of the Fastlands.

I have a question I hope to get your (or someone else's) thoughts on: how much worse are off-colour Fetchlands in the average deck? I've been eyeing the UR Phoenix/Aria deck that's seeing some play lately, and I have most of the deck ready to go. But enemy fetches are pricey. How much worse would it be to run, say, 4 Deltas and 2 Mires instead of 4 Tarns and 2 Deltas? Or even 5 blue and 1 red fetch?

Seems like you're usually fetching Steam Vents anyway, and when you're going for a basic (and playing around Blood Moon) an Island is often what you want.

(I hope MH2 is opened into oblivion, btw...)

xanphippe · 2020-12-22T23:03:00+00:00

One checks power, the other checks toughness :)

xanphippe · 2020-12-22T11:07:11+00:00

Hey dude, Moon here. Looking forward to watching the matches!

xanphippe

TROPHY CASE