Here we are, in the "doldrums", and still new decks manage to surface! I know I've been outside more often now that the weather is turning nice, and I imagine other people are having picnics, as well.
Twin Pod
sai_2011 (3-1) Modern Daily #3845144 on 05/13/2012
I knew if I waited long enough, it would show up! And here it is, the Twin Pod. Don't have Pestermite in hand? No problem! Pod one up! I do love mashups!
AVR, Modern, and You
But first, a musical prelude...
Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Tom Jones!
Vex bomb vex bomb you're my vex bomb
You can give it to me when I need to come along
Vex bomb vex bomb you're my vex bomb
And baby you can turn me on
So. AVR is out in the paper world, and set to hit MTGO soon. I think it's time we start looking at how these cards might fit in with the existing Modern archetypes. I was quite vexed by what I found! I had originally thought Desolate Lighthouse would be the first card to be played in a Modern SE. But now I find myself being forced to act like a presidential candidate and flip-flop on my earlier position.
Here we have your basic "Thalia's Menagerie" Zoo variant, with Vexing Devil taking the place of Kird Apes three and four, and Loam Lion four.
This deck has seen play in the paper world, and according to the brewmeister: "Vexing devil has been speeding up the aggro matchup, and even giving some early reach against control. He even ate a Wurmcoil yesterday. Slayer's has actually been awesome too, the power buff and top deck mode is awesome in matches where removal is flying around everywhere."
Well, well, well! What have we here? This delightful mashup features the aggressiveness of Boros, Ranger of Eos shenanigans, and a surprise return from the grave with Proclamation of Rebirth! Some quotes from a discussion of this deck: "I don't think I've ever seen a more appealing selection of cards than these." "Double Devil off a Ranger of Eos is backbreaking." "This deck is probably the most aggressive deck I've ever played. The crazy number of 1 drops makes it easy to overwhelm the opponent quickly..."
Something I cobbled together when I saw the set spoiled. Pillar of Flame is nice for creatures with Persist and Undying. Archwing Dragon is a hasty 4/4 flier that returns to your hand. Obvious deck is obvious. Simple and nasty. Just the way I like it.
I guess we'll see if any of these decks show up, and stand up to the Litmus Test of the daily SE's.
Win Stuff Every Night Of The Week!
People ask me every day if there's a tourney happening. It happens so often, I've got a canned response: "not from me, but I'm sure there's one going on today!"
This is not an exaggeration. There are free to enter tournaments running every day of the week, in a wide variety of formats. Do you like Pauper? There's several ongoing series: TPDC, MPDC, SPDC, etc. Commander more your thing? Got a few of those, too. Two Headed Giant? Saturday Night Melee has been running for years. Recently there's been a lot of Single Elimination events happening. As always, pants are optional.
These are all free to enter, and almost all of them offer prizes. Usually these prizes are in the form of bot credits at the sponsor's store or bot chain. Some events have "door prizes" just for playing.
Different events have different methods of registering to play. The first post in any given event thread usually tells you what you need to know.
Players, pairings, results, and standings can be found here.
All decks for WAFTT #7 can be found here.
Interesting Tidbits
There is a neat little poll going on at MTG Salvation, asking "Which format would you prefer to play?" Guess what format is way out in front? Uh huh. Modern, baby!
*sigh* Another week has gone by, and both Extended and Kaleidoscope are still dead. No one plays these formats. Yet we are still forced to view their rotting corpses whenever we enter the Scheduled Events room, along with the presumed dead bodies that are Singleton. Four bodies. Looking in on a Fridays night, I see twenty nine slots offered for these desiccated formats to rise from their dust and decay. Maybe it's just left over Halloween decorations..
I've played a lot of Modern, and red is by far the strongest single color out there. It still loses to lifegain, but the last thing it needed was another powerful creature that automatically deals 4 damage, since most opponents just aren't going to leave it in play. Red deck has always been a mulligan until turn 1 Goblin Guide is found, but if the Devil is out there, mulligans aren't quite as necessary. Vexing Devil is also extremely strong in any deck that runs Dark Confidant and has a ton of removal. He'll only ping you for one life and he can be a cascade target for Bloodbraid Elf. Unlike Delver, which is strong but a conditional in that it doesn't always transform, the Devil is always going to be powerful, disproportionately so. As a rare in a big set (and not a mythic), he'll be easier to come acquire over time which should keep his price down.
All in all, this is the worst card design I've seen in some time.
Timely Reinforcement, Jace TMS, Lingering Souls, and Miracle would all like to discuss their place on your "worst card design list," and I hear Snapcaster, the Swords, and the Titans are all considering legal action.
I think Vexing Devil is less powerful than Lava Spike in RDW builds. It will either do 4 damage or it will eat a removal spell, which seems worse than a spell that consistently deals 3 damage. And the later you draw it, the worse it gets.
In Modern it will get played for sure, because there aren't as many good RDW options as in Legacy, but I don't consider it one of the archetype's best 1 drops (Lightning Bolt, Lava Spike, Rift Bolt and Goblin Guide are all better IMO)
Vexing Devil is great card design. Just like Browbeat it LOOKS like it will do a lot more than it will actually do. The other player will always choose the option that is best for them. 4 damage for R is great, a 4 power beater for R is great--but letting your opponent choose which one it is is not so great.
If they can't deal with it, then they will eat 4 and its a slightly better lightning bolt, but if they can deal with it then it will do nothing, which is a fair drawback for it doing 4 for R sometimes. Its fine and not as broken as it seems, nowhere near the power level of Lightning Bolt or Goblin Guide though.
It is easier to call for banning cards then to develop strategies to beat them.
Wizards has been a good Daddy in this regard lately, and most people just want Daddy to fix all their problems for them.
Others just want Grizzly Bear Wars.dek to be all that is legal so everyone can play with the same power level of cards and there is absolutely nothing unfair about anything ever.
My only concern with the vexing devil is ISD block. RW agro seems like the already top deck in the format and this will only make it more so. Banned, not Banned, who really cares about rules and regualtions? I just hope I open lots of them.
The Devil will see play. He is a good man. But the draw back is real.
Standard RDW is a joke deck at this point. However, since the perception is that Wolf Running is the best thing to be doing right now and that your other one-drop creatures are Goblin Arsonist and Fireslinger, he will go into RDW in Standard and will put pressure on Wolf Run Ramp to either take 4 or Devil's Play it. I am going to still play Delver.
Block has a whole bunch more things going on and I am sure that most of the decks with red base or secondary color beaters already have better options (Stromkirk Noble, Champion of the Parish).
I do think Modern is THE place for him. I think he might be slightly better than Figure of Destiny in red decks, which is already placing him in the fringe since most straight RDW decks in modern don't run him. Figure is a Boros creature ATM in Modern. Goblin Guide is way better than this guy for RDW. Still, I think the devil will go into RDW to a decent effect and may work out well in Boros with Ranger of Eos too.
Legacy is different because I play exactly one deck maybe once a week. I am not going to pretend I know about Legacy Burn, but again he seems to be competing for the Figure of Desitny slot, and I have heard that Figure is the worst creature in the deck so I think he may find a place in Legacy Burn for a while. If he does well, he will also find a home there.
Bottom line, I don't think he is as bad as the people who say he is bad. I also don't think he is as good as the people who say he is good. I think it is a fine middle of the road beater that has an incredible p/t-cmc ratio with a VERY REAL drawback...
16 Comments
Woo hoo! Kaleidoscope, Extended, and SIngletons are being hauled away!
"We will no longer be providing Daily Events for Extended, 100-Card Singleton, Standard Singleton, and Kaleidoscope. "
http://community.wizards.com/magiconline/blog/2012/05/15/announcements_-...
I really wish instead of just hauling them away they could come up with some new idea for increasing play
This might be true of Kaleidoscope and Singleton, but Extended is just a fossil.
I already hate Vexing Devil. I hope this doesn't start showing up everywhere in Modern, though I have a feeling it will. Seems like ban bait to me.
I don't see Vexing Devil getting banned if a PTQ season with Delver just happened. Devil gives the opponent the choice at least!
I've played a lot of Modern, and red is by far the strongest single color out there. It still loses to lifegain, but the last thing it needed was another powerful creature that automatically deals 4 damage, since most opponents just aren't going to leave it in play. Red deck has always been a mulligan until turn 1 Goblin Guide is found, but if the Devil is out there, mulligans aren't quite as necessary. Vexing Devil is also extremely strong in any deck that runs Dark Confidant and has a ton of removal. He'll only ping you for one life and he can be a cascade target for Bloodbraid Elf. Unlike Delver, which is strong but a conditional in that it doesn't always transform, the Devil is always going to be powerful, disproportionately so. As a rare in a big set (and not a mythic), he'll be easier to come acquire over time which should keep his price down.
All in all, this is the worst card design I've seen in some time.
Timely Reinforcement, Jace TMS, Lingering Souls, and Miracle would all like to discuss their place on your "worst card design list," and I hear Snapcaster, the Swords, and the Titans are all considering legal action.
I think Vexing Devil is less powerful than Lava Spike in RDW builds. It will either do 4 damage or it will eat a removal spell, which seems worse than a spell that consistently deals 3 damage. And the later you draw it, the worse it gets.
In Modern it will get played for sure, because there aren't as many good RDW options as in Legacy, but I don't consider it one of the archetype's best 1 drops (Lightning Bolt, Lava Spike, Rift Bolt and Goblin Guide are all better IMO)
Vexing Devil is great card design. Just like Browbeat it LOOKS like it will do a lot more than it will actually do. The other player will always choose the option that is best for them. 4 damage for R is great, a 4 power beater for R is great--but letting your opponent choose which one it is is not so great.
If they can't deal with it, then they will eat 4 and its a slightly better lightning bolt, but if they can deal with it then it will do nothing, which is a fair drawback for it doing 4 for R sometimes. Its fine and not as broken as it seems, nowhere near the power level of Lightning Bolt or Goblin Guide though.
It is easier to call for banning cards then to develop strategies to beat them.
Wizards has been a good Daddy in this regard lately, and most people just want Daddy to fix all their problems for them.
Others just want Grizzly Bear Wars.dek to be all that is legal so everyone can play with the same power level of cards and there is absolutely nothing unfair about anything ever.
OMG!!! ITZ UH 4/3 FER 1. BAN ALL TEH CRADZ!!!
I mean, if a 13/13 for B was able to make it unbanned...
You should read the fine print on that 13/13 before calling it a 13/13. :)
Well, it is similarly situational to how Vexing Devil is a 4/3.
My only concern with the vexing devil is ISD block. RW agro seems like the already top deck in the format and this will only make it more so. Banned, not Banned, who really cares about rules and regualtions? I just hope I open lots of them.
Devil wasn't even played in the Block PT. It's not really even viable atm in a Tier 1 deck at least.
The Devil will see play. He is a good man. But the draw back is real.
Standard RDW is a joke deck at this point. However, since the perception is that Wolf Running is the best thing to be doing right now and that your other one-drop creatures are Goblin Arsonist and Fireslinger, he will go into RDW in Standard and will put pressure on Wolf Run Ramp to either take 4 or Devil's Play it. I am going to still play Delver.
Block has a whole bunch more things going on and I am sure that most of the decks with red base or secondary color beaters already have better options (Stromkirk Noble, Champion of the Parish).
I do think Modern is THE place for him. I think he might be slightly better than Figure of Destiny in red decks, which is already placing him in the fringe since most straight RDW decks in modern don't run him. Figure is a Boros creature ATM in Modern. Goblin Guide is way better than this guy for RDW. Still, I think the devil will go into RDW to a decent effect and may work out well in Boros with Ranger of Eos too.
Legacy is different because I play exactly one deck maybe once a week. I am not going to pretend I know about Legacy Burn, but again he seems to be competing for the Figure of Desitny slot, and I have heard that Figure is the worst creature in the deck so I think he may find a place in Legacy Burn for a while. If he does well, he will also find a home there.
Bottom line, I don't think he is as bad as the people who say he is bad. I also don't think he is as good as the people who say he is good. I think it is a fine middle of the road beater that has an incredible p/t-cmc ratio with a VERY REAL drawback...
how is that for anti-hyperbole?