Challenge: Break Modern!
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on Jan. 4, 2016, 7:30 p.m. by VampireArmy
Select ONE card that is not legal in modern to completely bust a modern deck. Tell us what deck it's busting and how.
Restrictions:
Your card cannot be on a banned or restricted list in modern or legacy. That would be to easy.
VampireArmy says... #5
DuTogira sure, as long as you can make an argument that they won't break the game itself, just the format. For example, how would a half mana card work?
January 4, 2016 7:39 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #6
I'm going to have to go with Soldier of Fortune simply b/c the collective shuffling of everyone using its ability would cause people to start accidently busting their modern decks and splitting their sleeves.
January 4, 2016 7:40 p.m.
Okay, VampireArmy
Force would allow Twin decks to consistently combo off turn 4 with free counterspell backup. It'd basically make twin next to unbeatable, with the exception of cards like Abrupt Decay. It'd give some extra power to Delver decks, and it'd help cement pure control as a true archetype in modern.
January 4, 2016 7:42 p.m.
Brainstorm. That card, more than pretty much any other, allows for the best deck manipulation. It lets you build your hand, and the legality of Snappy in Modern means running 8 copies. In conjunction with fetches, the ability to control what you draw and what you are able to play will be almost on par with that of eternal formats, and could bring control decks to the forefront, as well as finally give Blue Rock a place in Modern.
January 4, 2016 7:58 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #9
Phyrexian Altar seems like it'd probably bust modern. I know that artifact hate is a thing, but amulet and affinity are both decks right now, so...
I'm just thinking that all the infinite mana shenanigans as well as the resilient aristocrat style decks might push modern over the edge.
January 4, 2016 7:58 p.m.
Form of the Squirrel is going to be my pick.
First I have to explain how the first line of text can be gotten around. The first line of text has two triggered abilities. The first puts a 1/1 squirrel into play, which is triggered by the enchantment resolving. The second triggered ability is placed onto the stack once the squirrel enters play, where it remains until the squirrel dies. Then it will resolve from the stack if not countered. The important thing here is that the "You lose the game" trigger is actually an ETB trigger caused by the squirrel token entering play, and therefore Torpor Orb stops that drawback entirely.
You can build a land based deck from there, that runs cards like Yavimaya Hollow and Swarmyard to keep the squirrel token alive, along with some anthem effects. You could also just build a deck that fetches Torpor Orb and Form of the Squirrel consistently and sets up a sort of lock on the opponent.
Why this breaks the format: Any and all decks that do not run a high concentration of enchantment AND artifact hate will have a terrible time trying to beat this deck. The problem isn't that a Form of the Squirrel deck would win all that fast. Rather, it simply would not lose. Given that so many manlands are now available, I could foresee a highly successful RG or RGx build of this deck which utilizes Raging Ravine so that you can still beat-down your opponent even though you are only able to play lands. Tron might whether this unbanning relatively well, but if Tron is the only "bad" match-up, making the deck into RGB and having a sideboard full of cards like Crumble to Dust could quite easily fix that.
January 4, 2016 8:07 p.m. Edited.
kipahlord13 says... #11
I think the easy answer here(first card/type of card I though of), would have to be the original dual lands, Volcanic Island, Scrubland, etc. A lot of the decks in modern rely on counting to twenty, like Burn or Zoo or Merfolk, and removing the existence of played shocklands would greatly and negatively impact their predominance in the meta, as many decks will take the damage from shocklands in order to hit their mana curves.
And while I'm annoying decks that have to count all the way to twenty, LONG LIVE INFECT!!
January 4, 2016 8:17 p.m.
Dumeeperninja says... #12
As long as this is not limited to legacy-legal cards, I would choose Black Lotus.
I don't think I need to explain this one.
January 4, 2016 8:22 p.m.
Dumeeperninja says... #15
I can't think of a good card off the top of my head, but any card which would lead to a new, overpowered archetype in modern would be busted.(Probably combo:P)
January 4, 2016 8:33 p.m.
Both The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Chains of Mephistopheles. the game slows and burn decks and delver collapse. control and midrange struggle to survive as ramp and life gain become mandatory, in addition to ample enchantment and land hate. curves rise and green usage spikes, red lagging as burn struggles to stay alive. what a world it would be
January 4, 2016 8:38 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #17
I got to agree with vault, Brainstorm would probably do the most damage. Reasoning: not only would almost any deck in the format splash for it, it would single-handedly bring blue control back (maybe even Counterbalance miracles without the top, who knows?), and would bring make Twin and Storm the most powerful decks in the format by a long shot.
January 4, 2016 9:01 p.m.
gnarlicide says... #18
Wasteland. Add Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds and you have some serious hate.
January 4, 2016 9:02 p.m.
amazingdan says... #19
DuTogira Could you make a casual version of that deck and post the link? That sounds like a lot of fun to play
January 4, 2016 9:30 p.m.
January 4, 2016 9:39 p.m.
I'm suprised no one has mentioned one of the most broken cards in MTG...
...Tinker
T2 Blightsteel Colossus Yes please.
EDIT: AH PHOOEY, Didn't read the 'Fine print' hahaha just got excited.
January 4, 2016 10:08 p.m. Edited.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #22
That's because it's banned in Legacy. Otherwise, Ancestral Recall and Black Lotus would be obvious choices.
January 4, 2016 10:11 p.m.
Well... Deathrite Shaman was pretty broken on it's own.
But Blazing Shoal made some silly infect decks.
January 4, 2016 10:13 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #24
Scornful Egotist. You pitch it to Disrupting Shoal to counter your opponent's Egotists as well as play it for its morph cost to gain a 20 turn clock. The versatility is clearly here.
On a more serious note, I would love to play with True-Name Nemesis, Baleful Strix, Stifle, and Daze, but I think I'm going to jump on the Brainstorm train for this one. Having played a little bit of legacy online, that card is totally busted. Other people explained it really well already so I'm not going to re-state what they said, but I agree. Brainstorm would make a lot of modern decks way overpowered.
January 4, 2016 10:19 p.m. Edited.
Caligula Those cards are already banned in modern... I think you need to reread the fine print..
January 4, 2016 10:21 p.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #27
Agreed on Brainstorm and FoW especially. Show and Tell would be pretty busted.
But honestly, a lot of Legacy-legal stuff would warp modern horribly - I even think Chain Lightning would turn the whole thing on it's head.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd - What I wouldn't give for Baleful Strix, Stifle, and Force Spike in Modern!
Scouty says... #2
Force of Will. Duh
January 4, 2016 7:34 p.m.