TheSwarmer

I mean, I also don't have the money for Legacy, but that doesn't meant I am into self-harm.
I am mostly saying all this in jest, but it genuinely pains me to look at the state of modern. I genuinely think the game would be better off if everyone stopped playing it.

Oldschool [[Elvish Ranger]] >>> [[Dryad Sophisticate]].
[[Basandra, Battle Seraph]] for bdsm enjoyers.
[[Guul Draz Vampire]] A.S.S.
[[Jaya Ballard, Task Mage]] for latex fans.
[[Razia, Boros Archangel]] for men who like calling girls mommy.
[[Soul Collector]] for goth girl fans.
[[Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts]] for Basic Instinct enjoyers.
And who could forget [[Quirion Dryad]]
And personally, I am a fan of [[Disciple of the Old Ways]] and [[Vampire Hexmage]].

I now realize I have been playing this game for too fucking long xD

Man, just switch to legacy, please xD It's like every interesting idea you come up with for modern is this herculean effort to make a suboptimal strategy work in this misbegotten format while legacy has that same strategy posting 5-0 league results online at least 3 times a month.

All that said, I hate the spell pierce art you chose, and 4 [[Force of Negation]] seems too heavy.

In a more black-centric build, yeah. But since we only have 2 swamps, not really. All you really need to win is Mystic anyway, the card takes over the game so rapidly it's kind of insane.

Generally, if you are playing flash creatures, your deck is gonna run at least 12 faeries, hence the relevance of the human subtype on the otherwise extremely shitty 1/2.

The problem with decks like this is that they are 2017 decks; they have been power-crept out of the format completely : (

Almost every card in the deck is severely, extremely underpowered. The only even vaguely playable flash creature in the format, besides [[Spellstutter Sprite]] of course, is [[Brinebarrow Intruder]] because of how badly it fucks up Mono Red and how elegantly it enables [[Of One Mind]].

IDK man, this simultaneously feels like a worse Murktide and a worse Goryo's Vengence deck. I do really enjoy the Tamiyo angle though, it gives the deck much more range, a whole new angle of attack.

Power creep has kind of fucked pauper, though not as much as it has every other format. Though the format is relatively healthy all things considered. There's always a boogeyman to beat, what can you do.

As of today, it is the most popular deck in the metagame at ~20% representation in MTGO leagues, with madness burn at ~3%.

Campfire, though a lovely card and my preferred "win condition" for decks like this, is simply too slow. And sometimes a liability too as some burn opponents will sideboard in [[smash to smithereens]].

I don't think St. Peter is going to accept that answer.

I hate the card myself tho. But it is stupid how much it counters, and how relevant that tempo swing can be. Being on the draw and hitting Ajani or Ruby medallion on the opponent's 2nd turn is fucking huuuuuge.

What are you going to say to St. Peter when he confronts you at the pearly gates about why your Modern Izzet deck did not run [[Spell Snare]] in 2025?

I gotta disagree, [[Blind Obedience]] impacts next to no modern decks, and draining an average of 1 life a turn cannot possibly be worth 2 mana and a card. I suppose it is good against reanimator and Ragavan, but that's just about everything, no?

Since [[Rip Apart]] does not get rid of [[The One Ring]], I feel like fewer copies of this 2 mana worse lightning bolt are warranted and more copies of [[Damn]] should be played instead, so that playing from behind against tokens and fast mana and 2 mana 7/7 murktides and unearthed oculi becomes more feasible (imagine you are on the draw against mardu or boros, before you can even think about resolving [[High Noon]] they have 3 creatures in play, with 2-4 more coming next turn).

Also, with the amount of discard, a way to convert a turn 9 [[Thoughtseize]] draw into a viable card would probably be pretty good. Something like [[geier reach sanitarium]] that does not require much deck-building commitment. I cannot think of a card that does it well in mardu colors tho.

Also, with [[Bitterblossom]] being essentially the only win condition, do you think the deck could support a 1-of archangel's vault?

xDD I doubt you're the first person to lose sleep due to being haunted by a draft common. But again, I think most examples like this are either cards that were intentionally powered down to balance a limited format, or essentially intentional jokes like [[Razor Boomerang]]. At least that's my (and Occam's) 2 cents.

So, if mtg ever dies before our entire species does, it will be because of power creep. I mean, holy hell, Bank of America basically said to Hasbro, "Look, are you guitarded? Acoustic? You are completely mismanaging your golden cow - MTG - by overprinting shit and going way too fast so that number go up, but motherfucker, number can't go up forever, trust us".

So yeah, power creep is a thing. I mean take any eternal format you like and look at how many of the most played cards are from the last few horizons sets. There is no arguing otherwise. I mean, FIRE design, standard bannings, the utter, unmitigated shitshow that is the rotating modern format - the pressure to sell product, to make line go up encourages power creep like nothing else; if the new cards are broken, people have to buy em to keep competing, ergo big sales, ergo line go up.

As for Veteran's Powerblade, that's easy, just a matter of balancing limited formats in my book, same reason we have Makeshift Munitions at common in some sets, same reason why I own over 30 copies of [[Smoldering Efreet]].

First of all, Dismember is not black, that's insane what's next? [[Mutagenic Growth]] is green? Madness.

[[Kozilek, the Broken Reality]] just seems bad here - like overkill, the sort of card that is only good when you're already ahead and any other haymaker would do the trick. There is reason why all these decks run [[devourer of destiny]] instead of cards like kozilek.

Also kudos to you for calling it tribal not kindred, and for daring to not maindeck a single one ring, though I can't imagine that's optimal in any way except the financial one.

I am heavily considering a one-of Fountain. I really like this deck as it has shown real promise but has so so so many flex spots. Like how many Deserts, and Eviscerator's Insights and Cast Downs do we want? And maindeck spellbomb? And aaaaaa. I love it. Wish I had more time to play.

What's your view on the split between Mystic and Monarch creatures? I have been leaning more towards playing a higher number of mystics (3 mystic 2 monarch) as the card is just fucking exceptional against Gruul as well as Mono White, and can be played when behind or equal on board unlike the monarch creatures.

Two mana for one life seems just plain awful, man cards used to be fucking wild xD
Evincar's Justice is absolutely fantastic though, I cannot imagine running a teachings deck without it. But it could be one of those cards that just gets auto-included without thought and perhaps should be reconsidered.

Though I love the card, and it is really good against Mono Blue, against burn with their infinite 1/1 shitters, half of whom are essentially two for ones, it is super low impact compared to something like [[Suffocating Fumes]]. It's kind of awkward in how it is not as reliable as a cast down or an edict and it does not clear the board like drown in sorrow or justice. What would you cut for it?