Apostle's Blessing

Instant

( can be paid with either or 2 life.)

Target artifact or creature you control gains protection from artifacts or from the color of your choice until end of turn.

Discussion (51)

wallisface on WUR blitz

2 days ago

I actually haven’t played this deck, but have a few people at my local meta who play it, as well as coming up against it regularly on mtgo. So a lot of my advise here is based on getting stomped a lot by these kinds of decks, and from conversations figuring out why they run the cards they run.

I defo think Apostle's Blessing should be a 2-or-3-of in the sideboard, because most of the time if it shuts down an opponents path/push, it just wins the game. Though, with Boros Charm mainboard, these may be less needed (hard to tell, needs testing)

wallisface on WUR blitz

2 days ago

ClockworkSwordfish not disagreeing with your comment at all - but there is a little more to think about when comparing these cards.

Slip Through Space only lets you squeeze one creature through, so unlike Crash Through will only help one of your creatures deal damage, as opposed to the whole team. Also, if you’re out of creatures and just wanting to dig, Crash is still cast-able, where as Slip may not be (especially if a board-wipe’s just happened)

Apostle's Blessing is great but feels more like a sideboard card, as there will be a lot of matchups where the protection isn’t relevant

ClockworkSwordfish on WUR blitz

2 days ago

Crash Through isn't bad per se, but I think it's kind of the wrong idea on how you want to go about things. Trampling over blockers helps get at your opponent, but when your deck is geared towards counting him from 20 life to 0 as fast as humanly possible, then really you'd be better off sidestepping those blockers and dumping all of the damage in your opponent's lap. I think that Slip Through Space is more the right idea, still being a one-mana spell that replaces itself but rendering a creature entirely unblockable. Apostle's Blessing is also a one-mana source of unblockability that can also stop untimely removal.

zAzen7977 on SCOURGE BOLT - Suicide Burn

2 weeks ago

Hey vladpontes, thanks for your suggestions. In the past I ran a different variation of burn which used creatures like Monastery Swiftspear and Goblin Guide , and it worked very well. With enough burn spells it doesn’t need Scourge of the Skyclaves to win, but it runs out of steam really fast. This is why I transitioned away from prowess and focused on reducing my life and my opponent’s as fast as possible with this new hybrid “suicide burn.” Since I was running fetches and Sunbaked Canyon already, I thought I would take advantage of the synergy and put the life-loss to good use.

Like you I was reluctant to run Death's Shadow s at first. I thought too many creatures would water down the burn potential of the deck. But after many games it turns out that the Shadows work very well. Running 4 Scourges and 3 Shadows make it likely to draw at least 1 of either during the game. There are no other creatures with the size potential of Scourge or Shadow for their mana cost that I am aware of.

Also I think you’re placing too much importance on the creatures instead of focusing on dealing damage. The burn spells are the most consistent way to deal damage in burn decks. In the early game, a strong blocker will immediately shut down burn decks relying on Swiftspear, Guide, etc, but Lightning Bolt always deals damage.

This variant has Shadows and Scourges to fill in during the mid-late game (which is turns 3-5 for burn decks) and Canyons and Street Wraith s for card draw, whereas other decks have tiny blockers and rely on top decking a burn spell to seal the deal. Shadows and Scourges are unique because they are aggressive by being defensive and lock down the board, so I can stall a turn or two if necessary. The trick is carefully monitoring life totals to not overextend too quickly. I want to be in control of the life loss.

Goblin_Guide, thanks for commenting. You make a good point about using cheap reanimation spells like Unearth to bring back Shadows and Scourges if they die. That is definitely a valid approach. Personally I really like Apostle's Blessing as a way to pay life while preventing a creature’s death, or making it essentially unblockable. This prevents graveyard interaction so I can run Rest in Peace on the sideboard and ignore grave-hate in general.

TheVectornaut on Revised RG wolves

3 weeks ago

ryangemus, Lightning Bolt is an insane card, to be honest, and is more of a mainboard play than Vines of Vastwood in most cases. If you had deathtouch from something like Wren's Run Packmaster or Garruk Relentless  ^Flip, I'd consider dropping red from the deck entirely since DT turns every Fight into a Murder and Immerwolf isn't that insane in a world dominated by Metallic Mimic s. As it stands though, Bolt is providing possibly your most efficient answer to enemy threats. For Giant Growth vs. Vines, it really depends on how much removal you're dealing with. More removal means Vines, Defense, Apostle's Blessing , and Mutagenic Growth become better. More creatures mean Growths, Might of Old Krosa , Groundswell , etc. become better. If you do choose more combat tricks, I'd definitely run the full 4 of Partisan.

All that being said, I think I'd rather remove Howlpack Resurgence before either instant. It's typically a worse lord than Immerwolf , and like the unblockable wolves, its trample benefit becomes worse the wider your deck goes. More than anything though, there's now a bit of a glut on 3-drops here, and dropping some for more 1's and 2's could smooth the curve. You can always sideboard in extra lord effects in games where you're getting hammered by Anger of the Gods sweepers or just need the extra damage to overcome a stalemate.

StopShot on B&R February 15 2021

1 month ago

@TriusMalarky While Twin can force a land to get tapped on turn 3 to prevent 3 mana spells from getting cast you do need to remember doing so leaves the combo piece open to sorcery speed removal such as a Dreadbore , Flame Slash or Declaration in Stone in the first game and in the second and third game it allows cards like Torpor Orb or Blind Obedience to be played - tapping all out to put the combo piece down means you won't have counter-mana up to stop these effects from hitting the board and often the Twin player will instead choose to cast the combo piece on the endstep of their opponent's turn incase if there is a sorcery-speed threat such as T-orb that needs to be countered on their opponent's turn instead. The Twin player will (in most cases) only choose to preemptively tap down the land if they know their opponent is mana-screwed, if they don't have a counterspell in hand or if they know their opponent is running Twin to further stall the opponent's combo. With that said I wouldn't entirely discount 3 mana answers that can be made uncounterable by Cavern of Souls or Aether Vial or 3 mana spells that completely disable the deck beyond repair such as Unmoored Ego if they resolve.

I also think it would be more problematic for Twin decks to also splash in a third color for enchantment removal. One aspect that made Twin decks so oppressive was a solid portion of them would include copies of Blood Moon in the mainboard in order for it to be more difficult for their opponents to interact with their combo. Dedicating to a third color to run Dovin's Veto is going to come with not being able to run Blood Moon while being easier for the Twin deck to also get disrupted by an opponent's potential Blood Moon as well. On the other hand, Blood Moon has also been made weaker in the meta as Cleansing Wildfire and Force of Vigor make effective get out of jail free cards from sideboard.

Plus, I think you're undervaluing some cards in your assessment. Back when Twin was around the only one-mana spells that could remove an endstep flashed-in Deceiver Exarch was Path to Exile , Rending Volley , Vendetta and the ever so infrequent Skred and Lightning Axe and out of those, the only cards that were mainboard worthy was Path to Exile and Skred (which only worked if you were running a niche deck and you were going first with extra technicalities). Fatal Push has had a huge impact on the format being loads better than Vendetta which gives many more decks greater flexibility when holding removal mana up especially in game 1 given how playable it is in the mainboard. There's also Veil of Summer which also deserves mention and while you may see it as a simple upgrade to Autumn's Veil , fundamentally it's not. In the event I toss a Path to Exile or Fatal Push at a Pestermite and the Twin player responds with a Dispel , or as you suggested a Dovin's Veto , if I play an Autumn's Veil (which would effectively counter either counterspell), it would be a 2-for-2 trade. I lose the kill spell and veil to remove the Twin player's combo piece and counterspell. This lukewarm outcome is the reason why Autumn's Veil saw none if any modern play as Silence typically did its job better enough to warrant a splash in white over it in most cases if such an effect was absolutely needed in sideboard. Veil of Summer surpasses both because it has a built in cantrip that turns the interaction into a 1-for-2 trade in your favor and if the interaction happens while your opponent is trying to put a Splinter Twin on the combo piece it becomes a 1-for-3 trade in your favor. Veil of Summer 's value is by no means merely replacing Autumn's Veil or Silence 's role in the format, but more accurately it's replacing the clunkier Krosan Grip and Sudden Death that were typically used against the Twin-combo instead which makes it its own unique answer against the combo in my opinion.

Two more cards that I think also deserve further assessment is Sinister Concoction and Dovin's Veto . To say Dovin's Veto is just an upgrade to Negate I think is an understatement. "This spell can't be countered" is the reason Abrupt Decay was a banger of a card at thwarting Twin's machinations and I think the fact a Dovin's Veto can stop a Splinter Twin on cast makes it good enough to be a Twin-killer too. You suggested Twin might have to go into white to run its own Dovin's Veto es and Path to Exile s but I think the fact this card can also be used against Twin may be a more compelling reason for Twin to splash green over white just to have Veil of Summer as a necessary means to put up with the combined pressure Abrupt Decay and Dovin's Veto would have in keeping Twin in check as the Veil is the only card that can universally counteract both spells. (And even so Veil of Summer isn't a 100% failsafe as it has nothing against Rending Volley .) As for Sinister Concoction , I'm not going to pretend this card sees much Modern play, but this thing is a serious contender at throwing a wrench in Twin's plans and outside of Twin it's not an unplayable removal spell either. The reason why is it works much like your explanation for why Authority of the Consuls works - you can play it turn one and your opponent has no means to remove it without splashing a third color. Now Authority of the Consuls may be the more ideal card to use over it, but if your multicolor black deck can't splash white this is your next best thing and it even has some upsides over Authority of the Consuls . Sinister Concoction may be more fragile to effects like Stifle and Tale's End or effects like Spellskite and Apostle's Blessing , but it makes up for it when enchantment removal is thrown at it, as you can crack it in response to dumpster one of your opponent's creatures, in this case most likely a combo piece, while also rendering the enchantment removal as a waste in the process. This in turn is going to make the Twin player more cautious about playing their combo pieces before drawing into enchantment removal which can potentially delay the Twin player's progress harder than an Authority of the Consuls otherwise would. And if the Twin player doesn't have an answer, you'll always crack the Sinister Concoction in response to whatever creature they'll try to enchant with Splinter Twin to inflict the most damage. Even if you're playing on the draw or you draw into the card later, much like Authority of the Consuls , Sinister Concoction also bypasses quite a couple of Twin's favorite counterspells too such as Dispel , Spell Snare and Remand which is why I think the spell has much merit as yet another Twin-hate specific sideboard card that just wasn’t available to be utilized before in the past.

Lastly, the list I put up above was something I compiled over a quick gatherer search. I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed a few cards that may be just as worthy of discussion on countering Twin as well.

TheChaosVault on Red Equip

2 months ago

I would recommend cutting the Mines for artifact lands, unfortunately. The deck seemed to average a turn 5 win when goldfishing, and the Mines entering tapped hurt a lot more than the dwarf tokens helped. Toll Collector seemed remarkably bad, since it was usually just better to jam Bonesplitters on a Champion or Gaveleer and win quickly. Cathar's Shield felt pretty bad if it wasn't being grabbed by Toll Collector, but then again I drew it a disproportionate amount of the time (by comparison, I never drew Bone Saw), so it might just be my draw luck.

I would recommend Viashino Slaughtermaster in the place of the Toll Collector as a sort of second Champion, and Apostle's Blessing in the place of Shield, because this deck is full of creatures that are just asking to get bolted. If you're willing to branch out into white, you could try Resolute Strike or Kor Outfitter , but I'm not quite sure how you'd fit those in.

That being said, most of this information comes from just goldfishing, so do take it with a grain of salt.

Thegloomyg on modern turn 1 win cheap

3 months ago

I recommend playing Noxious Revival instead of Apostle's Blessing