Thoughtseize

Sorcery

Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.

Discussion (47)

YamishiTheWickedOne on Bordello of Blood

14 hours ago

Looks very similar to the Pioneer semi-meta build. Ok, so, since you have Sorin, I'd recommend running Nocturnus, especially since you have Viscera + Bloodghast. Or alternatively Kalitas for obvious reasons. Because of Viscera being a main component of the Aristocrats sacrifice engine, Nocturnus synergizes decently with it.

Honestly, the deck looks fine although a 4th Sorin would be a good idea. You've got decent card draw between Silversmote, Locthwain and Silent Clearing. I think you could stand to add another set of fetch lands if you can afford them.

Other vamps I'd recommend... hmmm.... Maybe Gatekeeper of Malakir for more removal. Gifted Aetherborn is a very good 2-drop but idk if he goes with this deck given the more midrange-ish structure. Perhaps Indulgent Aristocrat ? He suits you well.

Only other thing I'd do here is add some Thoughtseize and/or Inquisition of Kozilek .

BrickSkipper on Everything you hate and its OP

4 days ago

I'll link you to the current list I'm running now. I'm off the cat in favor of Thoughtseize . I also have a first draft of a sideboard.

Black Sac

BrassLord on Ninjutsu

4 days ago

There's a few Legacy Ninja lists running around, same idea with the 0 CMC creatures! I'd recommend giving Modern Horizons a look through, they printed a LOT of ninja support in there!

Just a few creature upgrade suggestions, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow can put in a lot of work, drawing you cards and draining your opponent (I think a lot of people overlook this due to "Commander Ninjitsu," but it states you can either play it from your hand or the command zone, so it's all good!). Same goes with Ingenious Infiltrator .

If you end up going that route, Changeling Outcast is another unblockable ninja enabler.

Aether Tunnel and Aqueous Form are lower CMC replacements for Tricks of the Trade .

Depends on how cutthroat of a playgroup you're playing against, but I would suggest cutting the bounce lands for some fetches (whatever you can afford). A LOT of legacy decks run things like Strip Mine , and having your bounceland destroyed is setting you back almost two turns, making it a steep climb to catch back up.

Overall, the ninja strategy is pretty quick! In your current build, I don't see a lot of interaction with what your opponent is doing. Since you're running Dimir, you have a PLETHORA of interaction options, from Counterspell to Go for the Throat or Dismember and Thoughtseize . I'd recommend at least having some permission, removal, and hand control effects in your sideboard. If you'd like to double down on the aggressive ninja strat, Smoke Shroud can help with evasion and a small power boost.

In terms of specific cuts, I'd recommend cutting Minamo Sightbender , Sinister Possession Bladed Pinions Shuriken . I think there are more recent cards out there that do the same thing these do with a lower CMC!

wallisface on Thopter Sword whir

5 days ago

Some thoughts:

• Mana Drain is not modern legal, so you shouldn't be running that :)

• I would personally drop the large cmc cards, as modern is quite a fast format and they won't get a chance to see play a lot of the time - also they appear to be sucking up a lot of places in your deck by requiring you to run mana rocks. I'd ditch Darksteel Forge , Doubling Cube , Manalith , Vedalken Orrery , Mastermind's Acquisition and Master Transmuter here, as all of them are either too slow, or not doing enough (or both). You want to plan to have won the game on turn 5 or sooner (in a goldfish situation), and none of these cards help to make that dream consistent.

• I feel like Mirrormade is probably also not strong enough, as i'm not sure what you'd target with that that'd be worthwhile?

• As you're in blue and black, I would highly recommend some early game disruption to make sure that your pieces get to stay in play happily. Stuff like Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek would do wonders here.

• As far as strengthening your ability to grab cards and solidify your board, stuff like Whir of Invention and Emry, Lurker of the Loch both help you get everything going a lot faster. They also let you run more of a toolboxy build where you can run a bunch of 1-ofs in the deck and fish them up for any given situation (i'm thinking single copies of Ensnaring Bridge , Relic of Progenitus , Welding Jar ), as well as being able to recur stuff like a playset of Mishra's Bauble for constant gain with Emry.

• I think given the above suggestions, there is really strong odds that you can win faster without Time Sieve than with it (by just swinging with a bunch of thopters). Maybe drop down to a single copy of that card also, so you can toolbox for it in the rare times where it provides a faster clock.

wallisface on On the Prowl

6 days ago

Here are my thoughts - many of these have already been echoed by Balaam__ above.

• Modern is a very fast format. Most miderange decks typically want to be running cards with cmc between 1-3, with a very few cards at cmc4 (look at Jund, for example, that only runs Bloodbraid Elf and then lots of low-costing cards). In that vein, I think you need to look at lowering your curve. I get that some of your cards can be cast for cheaper with Prowl, but I think you'd only want to keep the very best of these.

• On the above note, personally I would drop Zareth San, the Trickster and Notorious Throng entirely. Their cost is waaay too high, especially in a deck with 22 lands, and they don't do enough to justify their spots. I would also drop a few Earwig Squad - it feels like you want to be playing either 2 or 3.... maybe mainboard 2 and have a 3rd in the sideboard against decks that you really need to disable?

• I notice you also have Agent of Treachery and Knowledge Exploitation in the sideboard, and I would suggest ditching both of these, neither are particularly strong and both demand too much mana.

• I would echo what has already been said above that some good cmc1 cards would be very useful to the the deck. Consider Fatal Push , Thoughtseize , Inquisition of Kozilek . You probably want at least 8ish cards that are 1cmc so your first turn isn't wasted.

• On the subject of lands, I would recommend swapping both Sunken Hollow and Rogue's Passage for both of Darkslick Shores and Drowned Catacomb . The Hollow just has too many scenarios where it's going to slow you down, and the Passage is both going to hurt your mana base, and be unlikely to get any benefits (you need 5 lands in play and nothing else to do, to make use of it). If the beforementioned cards are too expensive, i'd suggest just running basics over what's happening now.

• If you have the money, I'd strongly suggest ditching Thieves' Fortune in place of Aether Vial . It'll make your deck multiple-times stronger than where it is now, and and also Vial will be able to slot seamlessly into any other future tribal-based decks you make, if that is your preferred way of playing. Another option for this deck in particular could be Bitterblossom . I do think Thieves' Fortune is probably a card you'd want to ditch, though perhaps this is a slot that could also be happily consumed by the beforementioned 1cmc cards too.

• For sideboard tech, these cards may be worth considering: Mystical Dispute , Aether Gust , Collective Brutality , Nihil Spellbomb , Drown in the Loch , Spell Snare

Riveyn on On the Prowl

6 days ago

Balaam__ Do you think swapping Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek for the Military Intelligence would be the best choice?

Balaam__ on On the Prowl

6 days ago

I’m posting this in response to your request for advice you posted in the forum. Deck looks good overall; cohesive with a good handle on what it wants to do. One thing I noticed is you have no Turn 1 plays ( Frogtosser Banneret does cut costs, but you won’t see results until Turn 3 at the earliest). Modern is a pretty fast paced format and ideally you’ll want to be doing something productive each and every turn. I think a set of Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek would fit thematically and offer you something proactive to do Turn 1, which would hold its value in later turns too. Just an idea.

9-lives on Ionize and other Counters in …

6 days ago

Thanks for the advice, TriusMalarkyI'm not used to hearing MV, but I read about it on the wiki, and it comes from Strixhaven...? I think I'd like to run Disallow just because if there are any powerful triggers or abilities, I can counter them even though they're already on the battlefield, and on top of that, if I don't want to do that, I can counter a spell. And in my deck I am running aikido-burn-lifelink pioneer deck. I've always been told that lifegain in small amounts are useless, such as running Heroes' Reunion which is probably the best lifegain card in pioneer, and would be better used to sacrifice life for spell effects, like Thoughtseize or untapping a shock land. Do you know of any synergies for lifegain on my deck, considering that I plan on using my instants and sorceries for lifegain, which would make Absorb doubly useful? Perhaps you'd like to comment on it in my deck thread?

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Aikido of the Inward Eye

Pioneer 9-lives

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