Potential from Dominaria?
Modern forum
Posted on March 12, 2018, 11:11 a.m. by WizardOfTheNorthernCoast
Hey guys,
SPOILER ALERT! Stop reading if you don't want to know about the next set already.
So I don't know if you're aware but Dominaria has leaked big time. We have access to a good amount of cards from the set already and I wanted to have your opinion about the cards you think have the most potential for the format?
Here's the list. To me, Karn could have some serious impact costing only with 5 loyalty and some serious card advantage, he could really fit into ANY KIND of non-aggro deck.
I really love to see Jaya as a PW too and she's a strong one.
I'm interested to see what the Wizard tribal Counterspell and Lightning Bolt with Delver of Secrets Flip and Snapcaster Mage :) Izzet time for Wizards in Modern? That'd sound fun!
Damping matrix seems to be a very good sideboard card.
I dont see karn in any deck to be honest. Hes just not better than any of thw options midrange decks already have.
Wizards tribal will defenitely not be as viable as merfolk humans or goblins but it gets better of course. Tribal decks just limit themselves to much and you need very good reasons to do this
March 12, 2018 11:33 a.m.
rothgar13: You think Trickster is good in modern merfolk? I just started playing the deck (G/U version) and I am on the fence about it. Seems like a great sideboard card against creature combo decks like Counters Company, but I don't know what other abilities we really need to turn off on crucial turns.
I can see it being useful against E-Tron or other big mana decks perhaps -- maybe Ponza -- to push through damage or to bounce creatures with Harbinger of the Tides. But the 12-lord build I run Ill Gills doesn't have as much room for interaction in order to have t4 lethal as consistently as possible. I'm interested in which matchups you really want it for!
I'm pretty excited for Damping Sphere for legacy. :)
March 12, 2018 11:59 a.m. Edited.
It's an incredible card. It helps push damage by tapping down blockers (relevant against Tarmogoyfs, Shadows, and other beefsticks), deal with creatures you otherwise can't touch (for example, you can flash it in after your opponent attacks with a flier to ground it), and is an Ashcoat Bear as a worst-case scenario. It's a windmill-slam 4-of.
Aside: You really shouldn't be running in this meta. I jammed it and enjoyed it for a time, but this is mono-'s time to shine. Master of Waves is absurd right now.
March 12, 2018 12:25 p.m. Edited.
Damping sphere has me stoked just because I hate Tron decks but don't like playing blood moon or land destruction to deal so it gives me my silver bullet to okay non jund grind games. I wanna see a deck with that strictly better relentless rats and a deck with umezawa in the set that makes creatures with power or toughness of 1 or less unblockable but idk how effective they'll be.
March 12, 2018 12:27 p.m.
The new karn looks really good in control decks and maybe combo. Other then the karn and some edh goodies the sets meh. Even the elder demon isn't that impressive
March 12, 2018 12:59 p.m.
chaoswalker says... #12
You want some Modern Wizards?
Someone finna play that wizard counterspell. Probably Merfolk.
March 12, 2018 7:39 p.m.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #13
rothgar13: Merfolk trickster seems fine, but this is a deck that's VERY crowded at the two-drop slot. What are you cutting for your "windmill-slam 4-of" trickster? How does that increase your efficiency? You either remove one the two-drop lords, or further crowd the 2-drop slot by removing the already very few one-drops.
It's a sideboard card, sure, but Harbinger of the Tides gets the same effect with the added tempo play of actually bouncing a thing.
March 12, 2018 8:39 p.m.
It's not a sideboard card, PhotogenicParasympathetic. It takes the staple place formerly reserved for Harbinger, and then Harbinger can fight it out for the flex spots with Kopala, Kira, Spell Pierce, etc. My first test list is going to be maxing out on creatures by jamming playsets of Harbinger and Trickster, which I expect to significantly improve any creature-based matchups.
March 12, 2018 10:48 p.m. Edited.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #17
Eh. I just disagree with your assumption that it's better than Harbinger. As far as pushing through your damage, which is merfolk's primary goal, Harbinger does it better, by not only removing the blocker but also forcing your opponent to have to spend resources to redeploy it. Bounced is just much better for the deck than tapped.
The advantages Trickster has over Harbinger are twofold - it always has flash (which is only really relevant on the defense) and it can remove abilities (again, best in defensive applications). I think it's definitely worth sideboarding, particularly against decks that run creatures with relevant abilities (knight of the relequary decks, for example), but isn't just strictly better than Harbinger like you're assuming.
I'm also not sure you've got room to run 4-of each. I mean, you've got 4 Lords of Atlantis, 4 Master of the Pearl Trident, and 4 Phantasmal Image as your lords, 12 slots down. Cursecatcher and Silvergill adept are another 8, and Harbinger brings you to a total 24 creatures slots. You're going to go a full 28 with Trickster, without even looking at Kira, Kopala, Master of Waves, Merrow Reejerey? And what non-creatures do you cut? Aether Vial is too good, Spreading Seas will always be more efficient at getting you through blockers.
I short, I think you've got Harbinger and Trickster backwards as to which deserves staple status, and which should be flex/sideboard.
March 13, 2018 6:58 a.m.
Mono red in standard just got a million times worse. T1 Soul-Scar Mage into the new Lightning Bolt and a Bomat Courier? Sheesh.
March 13, 2018 10:09 a.m.
Creatures with ETB effects, vigilance, and simply hanging back to block are things Harbinger doesn't deal with very well. Trickster, on the other hand, can deal with pretty much any creature that's in the way of your attackers very efficiently, to say nothing of its defensive applications. If you can't see how tapping a creature down AND removing its abilities is better than a bounce effect that requires the target be tapped (not even going to touch on how the flash doesn't cost extra, but that's obviously a huge deal), I don't know what else to tell you. It really should be obvious.
As for incorporation, it's pretty easy to be honest. You take a playset of all of the Merfolk you want (Cursecatcher, Harbinger of the Tides, Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident, Master of Waves, Merfolk Trickster, Merrow Reejerey, Silvergill Adept), add Aether Vial and Spreading Seas, and that's the deck. Just add lands.
March 13, 2018 12:20 p.m. Edited.
Trickser also deosnt deal with etbs and vigilence very well and you have reejery to tap blockers and spreading seas + lord to give your creatures envasion. i honestly dont see tricksers upside to harbinger.
im not a merfolk player but i dont think removing a blocker is a big thing for this deck as it usually has more creatures than the opponent and 8 lords that give pretty solid evasion
March 13, 2018 2:48 p.m.
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate would make a real nasty soulshift/token mono black commander. I mean just slicing someone's life in half for like 6-2 mana is wicked. Not so good for world games but brutal in 1v1.
March 13, 2018 8:17 p.m.
Ghitu Lavamancer will be played by, at least, budget burn decks, and perhaps non-budget versions too.
March 17, 2018 11:58 a.m.
I dont see it in nonbudget versions. Its too conditional and worse than any other spell in burn.
March 17, 2018 4:54 p.m.
happyman379 says... #26
Steel Leaf Champion goes straight into mono green stompy. No more snapcasters and lingering souls to chump it
March 22, 2018 12:19 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #27
I just saw Damping Sphere for the first time. I have never been more excited for a magic set.
March 23, 2018 7:24 p.m.
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast says... #28
Yeah must say I didn't notice it straight away but it's damn powerful. I'm just afraid WotC decides it's good enough to shut down Tron lands and overlook 3+ color decks and ban Blood Moon. Don't quite know if I'm being reasonable or just freaking out but I love the Moon too much ahah :)
March 24, 2018 2:30 p.m.
Daggerfella says... #29
I would have to say theres alot of potential for mono green and mono red in this set.
we have Llanowar Elves which we can tap for green mana, and this would be useful with alot of the dinosaurs found within Ixalan/Rivals (especially Ghalta, Primal Hunger
good for aggro, spell casting (2 red for every mountain you control, wow) (4/4 creation of red elemental creatures might be good late game when you are running low on health and want to use the transformed abilities of Arguel's Blood Fast, or just for quick defense of the plainswalker)
Flashback and gaining more mana for red instants/sorcery's like Lightning Strike or whatever you like.
I havent looked too much but i see some potential from Dominaria
March 27, 2018 1 p.m.
I'm going to put "The Flame of Keld" saga and Power Conduit in my EDH deck to use as a repeatable draw engine.
March 29, 2018 1 p.m.
arvarnargul says... #31
As someone who has played modern wizard tribal for almost a year now, the counter spell is a good replacement for disrupting shoal, but doing anything other than mono-blue turns out to just be bad. Mostly the issue becomes your land count and the pull against sky hussar, one of the engines of the deck.
April 2, 2018 1:49 a.m.
RIP Tron-decks
Maybe also rip Storm.
This card is going in every modern sideboard.
April 5, 2018 1:13 p.m.
Daggerfella says... #33
Lrya Dawnbringer (legendary creature 5/5, 5 drop(2 white +3), good if running angels) (good alt: Angel of invention, 5 drop(2 white +3) 2/1 flying, vigilance, lifelink, creates 2 1/1 servo creature tokens, AOI gets 2 +1/+1 counters when it enters, other creatures get +1/+1 )
Song of Freyalise (saga, good if running green aggro and want to summon heavy hitters like Ghalta, and when combined with the Angel of Invention AND/OR Lanowar Elves, bringing out heavy hitters in green would be easy.)
Forebear's Blade (equipment, 3 drop. Equiped creature gets +3/+0 and has vigilance and Trample. when creature dies, attach to target creature you control. Equip 3, good to put on token creatures that get generated.)
Jaya's Immolating Inferno (X+2 red drop, Legendary Sourcery, deals x damage to each of up to three targets, good with Chandra by turn 4-5 to kill 2 creatures and do 7 damage to opponent. Combine with Primal Wellspring Flip to DOUBLE this effect, so potentially 14 damage or even 16 damage by turn 4-5)
Jaya Ballard (legendary Planeswalker, 5 drop (3 red +2,), +1 add 3 red, spend mana on instant or sourcery spells; Great with Jaya's Immolating Inferno, +1 discard up to 3 cards and draw that many, -8 get emblem with cast instant and sorcery cards from graceyard, if a card is used this way, it gets exiled after graveyard use)
Mox Amber (0 drop add 1 mana of any color among legendary creatures or planeswalkers u control, great with Nissa, Oveya,)
Caligo Skin-Witch (Creature, human wizard, 1/3, 2drop (1 black +1) kick 3+1black, when it enters and is kicked, each opponent discards 2 cards (might be good with Raiders Wake to have them lose a total of 4 life.))
Cabal Paladin (4/2 Human Knight Creature (4 drop, 1 black +3) whenever ya cast a historic spell, this card deals 2 damage to each opponent, artifacts, legendary and sagas are historic, might be a great card in Pauper)
Powerstone shard (3 drop) tap add uncolored mana for each artifact you control named Power Stone Shard and combine it with Mirage Mirror for greater mana generation)
Danitha Capashen, Paragon (Legendary Human Knight Creature 2/2, 3 drop (1 white +2) First Strike, Vigilance, Lifelink, aura and equipment spells you cast cost 1 less to cast (might be good with Forebear's Blade, Pirates Hook, other equipment spells, goes well with blue white potentially)
April 5, 2018 2:53 p.m.
Flooremoji says... #34
Jhoria storm is now a viable option! Add some of all the modern mox, and 0-cost artifacts.
April 6, 2018 7:43 p.m.
One of the things I love about the Dominaria set so far is the sheer variety of players it applies to. Normally, I find it hard to get excited about most standard sets, as they have little impact on Modern and Commander, my two big formats. However, this set is different. One thing I am looking forward to seeing is the ensuing war over whether Merfolk Trickster is any good (It's already begun here), with The Professor and Nikachu probably throwing in their two cents. Also, one of my favorite new spoiled cards- Cabal Stronghold! For those who haven't seen it yet, go to https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/dominaria-preview-card-cabal-stronghold-the-return-of-mono-black/
It and the Gilded Lotus reprint are effects I have wanted in my commander decks for ages, but have been just too expensive. Now, they're cheap! Another card I am excited to try out is Mox Amber, a 0-mana artifact that taps for one mana of a legendary creature or planeswalker you control's color. The first deck that came to mind when I saw this was one of my pet modern decks, Mono-White Hatebears. The deck already plays both Thalias and Brimaz, King of Oreskos, so it'll slot right in.
April 7, 2018 12:43 p.m.
Ultimate Tier 1 Lockdown deck in Modern using 4 Heartbeat of Spring and 4 Damping Sphere. Practically says your opponents can't cast spells anymore which goes active turn 3 or you can play both cards on turn 4. ((The enchantment makes all lands produce double mana and the Sphere turns it into colorless mana so players can't cast colored spells anymore.))
A Black-Green deck would be optimal for this. Run turn 1 disruption spells like Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek. Standard removal like Abrupt Decay, Fatal Push, and Dismember. Win conditions can be Liliana of the Veil, Inkmoth Nexus, and Elixir of Immortality to mill them out since anything left on the field will sit unopposed.
April 12, 2018 8:48 p.m.
@StopShot that doesn't work how you want it to. Heartbeat of Spring is what produces the extra mana, not the land, so Damping Sphere has no effect :(
rothgar13 says... #2
Merfolk Trickster is an automatic inclusion in the deck. Long overdue.
March 12, 2018 11:28 a.m.