Modern General

>Veeky Forums not knowing you can't respond to a mana ability
>le instant beed
top chuckle

Aside from counterspell/thoughtseize, only artifact removal stops it
>inb4 "momument dies to decay!"

>activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery
retard

...

top laugh, friend.

>with Pod

Oh how I wish

The responding part doesn't matter, since it doesn't need to tap. The problem is that it has to be played on your turn.

It needs a good R/B discard and kill shell.

>tfw no one has realized this is the DS killer
Fools desu

I didn't know Tempest is legal in modern.

What that means is that, if Grinning Ignus triggers an ability when it enters the battlefield, opponent will have priority and you can't use its ability in response.

If nothing happens though, then you have priority and can use its ability, which is a mana ability that doesn't use the stack so it can't be responded to.

Seems strong, although I still think it's weaker than Twin

It's Monored though, so it could go in Skred or something. It's only a 9-10 card package (depending on if you want one or two grapeshots) and it dodges most removal.

>dies to norin
Drats!
not even sure on the cards other monument, ignus and a grapeshot, just thought it was a reasonable interaction that has meme potential with a sorta-low opportunity cost (two ramp cards)
>I just thought...
IS THAT YOU VHATI?

>boltable
>pathable
>pushable
>4 mana
>legendary
>G/B
Turrible... just turrible

Just use Condemn

You need more red mana, won't work

I didn't know Vhati wasn't in time spiral

Watch a magic expert explain.

It doesn't go infinite. With monument the cast and return is 1RR, but you are getting back 2R. You need a way to convert colorless mana into red or you'll only be able to do it for however many mountains you have.

Timeshifted. They had to rewrite the story to include him, but WotC Future Future League insisted that Modern wouldn't survive Death's Shadow without him in the format.
>survives tarfire
>survives kcommand
>survives decay
If he was 5cmc he wouldn't be playable. He's the best 4drop in BGx for the DSJ matchup, if you don't sideboard a Vhati you're basically conceding the round famalam.

The real money is gemstone array + heartless summoning + altar of the brood

Or paradox engine + smokebraider. Actually I bet with smokebraider, ignus, paradox engine, and various exert cards you could make a pretty good monored deck in modern

Why bother, if you're playing G/B why aren't you playing DSJ?

There's probably a very good deck somewhere between nest of scarabs and crumbling ashes as well. The BR cycles from Lorwyn/Shadowmoor might be worth revisiting in earnest post-amonkhet

Would this in any way, shape, or form work? Or is it too slow?

You've foiled the meme

How exactly is this a combo and not just a mediocre interaction between two cards not on curve with one another that relies on your opponents drops or hurting your own t1/t2 play?

works breddy gud in commander

not so much for 60 card constructed. instead of T3 nest into T4 bsz you would probably be better putting down something like skinrender or soul snuffers.

BSZ does make a good pseudo wrath though.

The problem is that the turn you drop nest of scarabs you have essentially done nothing. Also the payoff isn't that great.

Nest only cares if ONE or MORE -1/-1 counter is placed by an effect, not EACH counter. So, only 1 token. It's a really bad interaction, but does technically interact.

>blocks your path

Honestly could probably work if you focus a ton of the removal on -1/-1 counters. Survive the early turns with lots of discard and use bugs as the wincon.
It seems like a really weak payoff card but I could see bsz and a bunch of bugs being nasty. Could always run some brutality/lilly to ditch your meme cards and just goodstuff em out.

>bsz does make a good pseudo wrath

You've gotta be joking

user, if you want to play this combo, play Damnation or Yahenni's expertise. Both will give you far more value without the stupid brick and neither is already more than fringe modern playable.

Wrong. You get a token for each counter.

Nest of scarabs says "create that many".

>spent 30 dollars each back on the day on this card
>now it's not even played

How do I make her good again?

Sideboard of UWx control

Or meme it up with Angel Moon

Whoops. Maybe I should read the card completely before I make an idiot of myself.

Okay lads, there's still hope for the Hazos Monumeme..
Either A) the deck runs some sort of mana filter combo piece, which seems shitty
or B) the deck is filled with ways to somehow make it works using the dig power of Monument, such as Manamorphose and maybe Simians/Rituals. It doesn't need to be a solid loop for Grapeshot to kill, it just needs to generate a high storm count.

If it's not a pseudo two card combo it's going to be a worse Storm or a worse Ad Naus and it won't be worth playing.

It also needs the cards in hand, looting will only get you so far, so you need card advantage. Which means Serum Visions, Sleight of Hand, Think Twice are all options. So rituals, card selection spells. You know what goes good with rituals? Discounting on mana costs, so Goblin Electromancer and Baral are both good here, and they also discount card selection spells.

Ooh. I have a brilliant idea: what if we used Past in Flames to cast MORE spells for our lethal Grapeshot?

I really do think this can be a card. I think the deathtouch is really being overlooked

ayy lmao

Is there any reason to play modern if you're not playing Tier 1?

Sure. The difference between tier 1 and tier 1.5 and 2 isn't all that huge.

fun?

>tfw u beat tier 1 decks with a tier 3 meme deck

With this and Fatal Push, Grixis Delver (of Secrets) is gonna be top tier.

Traditional storm still seems more reliable, since you get more ritual cards, and more cost reducers. With this you just have Grinning Ingus as a combo piece, and Priest of Urabrask as a traditional ritual?

Well, tiers only indicate how much a deck is played, not necessarily how powerful a deck is. (But there is a correlation between power and popularity). Tier 1 are great choices or what decks you will definitely see, tier 2 are good choices or what you will probably see, and tier 3 are solid choices. There's lots of times where a "tier 3" deck can steamroll a tournament because the top meta is perfect for it.

Basically, play what you want because the tier system doesn't really matter much outside of gauging popularity.

>shit that never happens

It's okay, it happens.

fag

Tiers are really only how many people are playing each deck. At FNM level, You can pick up a T2 or T3 deck and still beat T1 if you learn the deck inside out and get really good at piloting it.

That said, this doesn't mean you can just brew a pile of shit and expect to win. But on the other hand, that's how Lantern Control and Kiki-Chord were began.

Do you guys think that Fling in the Amonkhet block will become a new thing for standard?

>2 cost spell to destroy a card with X power to hit target player for X life.

ask standard fag

>Kari Zev's Expertise into Fling
I am ready for this meme.

>But on the other hand, that's how Lantern Control and Kiki-Chord were began.
Kiki-Chord is part of the Pod diaspora

But you're right that decks like Lantern Control and Amulet Bloom are just piles of jank that people tuned until they became viable

No clue, don't follow Standard except for seeing the meme Gideon tribal deck.

>implying it doesn't happen

>tfw meme tron out of the game with land destruction and a solid clock
>tfw ingot chewer affinity's shit up
>tfw local eldrazi tron shitter is an idiot that slams chalice on 1 even in our games 2 and 3 because he doesn't actually think about the plays he makes
>I'll admit DSJ gives me a hard time some games but I've beaten them before. main deck faerie macabre to turn off delirium in response to traverse is a laugh

>>tfw local eldrazi tron shitter is an idiot that slams chalice on 1 even in our games 2 and 3 because he doesn't actually think about the plays he makes
People like to meme about Eldrazi and Tron players being dumb, but that's actually an impressive level of dumbness

bone splinters is already in standard, so i don't know if fling will change much

>living end
>tier 3 meme deck
Living End is tier 2.

>also
>tfw have Arcbound Ravager in play
>sac board in response to Living End
>ayy lmao

>tfw not one but two of the guys on eldrazitron at my store have tried naming chromatic sphere with pithing needle
Some people are too stupid to win.

yeah ravager is a whore and a half. but they basically just fold to the cascade if they don't have one out, or you survive long enough to beast within that shit first

>dies to norin
Nope, Norin is a cast trigger, not ETB

>Living End is tier 2
living end. according to mtgtop8 data for the past two months, has

So, question:

I've been out of the loop for the last 2 years. Why is Death's Shadow raping the format? Hasn't it been printed since forever? Why has it risen now?

Just wait till tomorrow. Gets new toys.

Fatal Push > Terminate in a deck that wants to be that fast

Traverse the Ulvenwald slots perfectly into the shell; easy to enable, gives you Shadow 5-8 to help consistency

Big mana decks like Eldrazi and Tron forced slower fair decks out of the format, so only Death's Shadow's aggressive but grindy gameplan can compete

>I've been out of the loop for the last 2 years. Why is Death's Shadow raping the format? Hasn't it been printed since forever? Why has it risen now?

So 2 years ago wizards made 2 cards: become immense, and temur battle rage. These two cards along with some value pyrexian mana spells and other made a 9/9 shadow with protection fairly easy to build. Gitaxian Probe was banned, people realized shadow was pretty decent in a JUND shell.

Basically, JUND/JUNK rape your hand(and thus answers) so they play the best/cheapest vanilla creatures mana can buy. DS is usually like a 5+/5+ for {B} when you'd play him in that shell.

they banned gitaxian probe and made memers realize that the izzet blitz but worse meme deck people were trying to force was bad.

people adapted and it turns out the new deck was a better death's shadow deck than any iteration before. traverse the uvenwald also gives the deck a lot of gas. they run like, eight actual threats, but traverse is copy 9-12 of "fat undercosted beatstick"

People made a build with Traverse the ulvenwald and free cantrips and made it very disruptive. It's basically the bastard child of infect and Jund

People were switching to Jundish builds before the probe ban online. DSJ with probe looked a little more all in on battle rage as opposed to the grind we see right now.

Okay, thanks for the history lesson.

So I'm coming back now. Can someone give me a meta overview?

I play Naya Blitz Zoo (Or will when I finish the manabase), am I even more fucked than two years ago? (Yes I am aware of Revolt Zoo and am considering it since I would just need to buy the revolt card)

How is MartyrProc? Is it fun? Do you think it will be at least tier 2 one day?

It's fun, it can be pretty fragile though. Getting your Martyrs or Ascendants extracted feels really bad.

I don't think it will ever be much higher tier than it is now, WotC doesn't print enablers for that kind of deck very often, and GY strategies are always vulnerable to hate.

naya blitz is still pretty decent. I'm not terribly familiar with revolt zoo (haven't seen it in person yet anyway) but if the cards aren't too expensive, it wouldn't hurt to try it out right?

I cycle with the new archfiend of ifnir out and laugh to the bank

>Can someone give me a meta overview?
death's shadow jund is the top dog.

affinity and burn are still eternal tier 1 but infect got curb stomped and never recovered, RIP

dredge fell out of the scene after the grave troll ban but is making an insane crawl back from the grave

eldrazi tron is also tier one because eldrazi are still stupid and slamming chalice on 1 is a good play against many decks

other death shadow variants, regular tron, bant eldrazi, and titanshift have slipped into tier 1.5

Surprisingly, UR storm has clawed it's way up and is a solid top tier 2 or possibly even 1.5 deck. expect bans soon. ad nauseam has also made strong showings lately.

Are there any applications for Bicycle lands?

I left exactly when Eldrazi started raping Modern.

I actually never broke into the format due to being into a shitty countryside city on third world country, but now I'm on a bigger city with a bigger Modern community, and I already have the deck almost done (But I think my manabase is still way too inconsistent - need a few more fetches and shocks).

Anyways, thanks!

Annoying, but not enough on its own to laugh to the bank. You are still facing down a giant artifact that got the +1/+1 counters as well as any masters, etched champions, and good ol' ornithopter unless you can cycle again, so you still need ingot chewer (and have it be my turn or just have it in hand) or have or some other removal.

>Buy three Modern Masters 3 Packs
>One for me and one of two of my friends to crack for fun and as a gift
>Crack mine
>Goblin Guide
>Friend 1 cracks his
>Verdant Catacombs
>Friend 2 cracks his
>Tarmogoyf

Whelp.

>dredge fell out of the scene after the grave troll ban
I'm surprised it even left the scene. A 6 to a 5 is weaker, but it won't completely destroy the deck that it can't be winning. Hell some games playing dredge, yo udon't see GGT at all.

Maybe in some tier 2 control decks. Tier one decks won't look at them.

Dredge with GGT had to run less dredgers as a whole and the shift is more life 5-6 to 4-5 with some 2's and 3's thrown in for extra consistency. Also It was pretty unlikely for dredge to not see GGT in the first few turns when he was legal

t. Dredge Nazi

Hardcasting GGT to win was a thing that happened oddly often.

True, hard to deal with a 25/25 regenerating creature late game

>*blocks your path*

what do you do?

Resolve an Ensnaring Bridge while hellbent.

...

...

>suddenly appears and laughs at your bridge

Was gonna play modern but the post office lost my order of shit I needed for my deck. It's a sign.

destroy everything.

A sign that the post office is shit.

>everything