Supreme Phantom

How is Supreme Phantom a Real Magic Card?

Not so long ago, our own beloved MichaelJ played a 1/3 creature for 1U. Its goal was just to slow down the many 2/1 creatures of the Standard Red deck of the time. The U in its upper-right helped to power up Master of Waves, but this card had to, more or less, contribute successfully on its own.

This card served Mike super well. He sided it in in the Top 8 of the Regional PTQ, essentially cancelling all the Foul-Tongue Invocations his opponent had drawn. That card was, of course, Omenspeaker.

Omenspeaker was fine. Unexciting, but Mike really wanted it for the 1/3 body. Compare that to Supreme Phantom…

Supreme Phantom is also a 1/3 creature for 1U. But instead of a fairly minor Scry ability, it has two abilities… And they’re both doozies. Flying is maybe the best keyword evasion ability in Magic, and its +1/+1 buff ability makes the card a perfect anchor for the Bant Spirits archetype.

Supreme Phantom in Bant Spirits

Supreme Phantom is obviously a great card in Bant Spirits. The Grand Prix winning list by Peiyuan Zheng plays double-digit Spirits. That starts the Phantom off with tons of potential buddies to buff. But even better? Hexproof!

With Geist of Sant Traft, or, perhaps more importantly, Drogskol Captain, many a Spirit will live to smash many a face.

Bant Spirits in the Modern Context

Besides its awesome sideboard options to dominate KCI or Dredge, Bant Spirits has a solid game plan of its own.

It’s got the StOmPy draw enabled by the Phantom; Bant can turn up the speed sometimes! It’s got Spell Queller. But not only that, it’s got Collected Company off the green splash! This gives Bant Spirits essentially eight permission spells in Game One (as the Company can hit Queller).

While not the most specialized archetype, Bant Spirits did win the Extended Grand Prix last week, and that makes it more than worth discussing / looking at.

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Will Tajic, Legion’s Edge break into a Humans deck near you?

Tajic, Legion’s Edge provides Humans with Many Tools

Kevin Ambler added Tajic, Legion’s Edge to his Top 8 deck from last week’s Modern Open. Tajic provides many awesome advantages to a Humans deck:

• Tajic has much of the Mantis Rider to him. Mantis Rider was one of the highest performing cards in Humans before, and this is another three-power hasty attacker
• Exalted is a little bit of a non-bo with Mentor, but to that Mantis Rider comment, above, Tajic is a sweet follow-up to Noble Hierarch on turn two
• Further, you can drop Tajic with an Aether Vial mid-combat [with mana open]… And get a sweet block!
• Most importantly, Tajic’s “Prevent all noncombat damage that would be dealt to other creatures you control” clause is just bananas in a deck with 35 other creatures! You can drop Tajic at instant speed not only for a sweet block, but to “counter” a burn spell. This can shut down cards like Izzet Staticaster or Grim Lavamancer that often lock down Humans. This card is amazing against sweepers. Trade your Tajic for a Slagstorm? Trade Tajic for the rest of your team.

“Very impressive advancement by Kevin.”

“Could become industry-standard.”

Guilds of Ravnica is Poppin’ in Modern!

Tajic might be the most archetype-influencing, but he certainly wasn’t alone in Guilds of Ravnica’s additions to the format. Further highlights:

• Risk Factor in Jund? Michael loves it, but is not in love with it. Patrick respects Risk Factor’s interaction with Liliana of the Veil. Both our hosts agree that for a deck that is sometimes beatdown, sometimes card advantage… You’re not likely to get the beatdown when you want it, and not likely to get the card advantage when you want it. But it won!
• Creeping Chill in Dredge! One of the week’s most exciting innovations, Creeping Chill is turning the Dredge deck design on its ear. A man with Shriekhorn in his Dredge deck means serious business.
• Knight of Autumn in Humans. Will it ever be “just a big guy”? Mike is a little incredulous. Knight of Autumn does what Reclamation Sage did, and the “gain four” mode is just as valuable in certain matchups.
• Arclight Phoenix: Simply the future of Modern.

Modern. Guilds of Ravnica. What are you waiting for?

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It turns out Arcbound Ravager and Hardened Scales go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

Arcbound Ravager is, and has always been, the Fairy Godmother

The Ravager, mightiest of Modular cards, has always been a cut above the competition. With the ability to defy card advantage and throw all your deck’s power onto one threat, this creature has wowed crowds and defined formats for over a decade.

The Ravager could always sacrifice an artifact that was about to die. In that way, it could mitigate the effects of cards like Searing Blood or Smash to Smithereens. More importantly, it could create size without using mana: This let the Beast take all kinds of explosive turns for years.

So with cards like Myr Enforcer and Somber Hoverguard all but forgotten, this Affinity two-drop has remained relevant.

But wait! There’s more!

Arcbound Ravager makes (and moves) +1/+1 counters… Hardened Scales loves +1/+1 counters

Hardened Scales

What happens when every Worker enters the battlefield as a 2/2? How does Steel Overseer look when this enchantment is in play on turn one?

Affinity was always a good Modern deck, but with Hardened Scales, the archetype is doing something cool and legitimately new for the first time in years.

Consider for a moment what happens when you sacrifice an Arcbound Worker to an Arcbound Ravager with Hardened Scales in play…

• The Worker dies, putting a +1/+1 counter on the Ravager.
• But wait! Hardened Scales says to put two +1/+1 counters on instead.
• The Ravager’s ability resolves, so we’re up to three +1/+1 counters already…
• But then Hardened Scales checks again…

Pretty cool, huh?

Forget about cool, pretty powerful.

Hardened Scales Affinity may be the new hotness in Modern. Learn about it, and all the latest modern tech, in this week’s podcast:

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Thunderbreak Regent is a key card in the new Skred Dragons deck

Thunderbreak Regent won the Classic in Skred Dragons

A brand new archetype has hit Modern! Though we’ve seen other “Skred Red” decks in the past, the won played by Ozzy Kelly last week broke quite a bit of new ground.

Yes, it plays Skred and Snow-Covered Mountain.

The new / important part is the addition of Sarkhan, Fireblood.

While there have been predecessors packing five drop Dragons like Stormbreath Dragon or Thundermaw Hellkite, Ozzy’s plays three different kinds, including last summers hit, Glorybringer. Sarkhan, Fireblood makes the big Dragons much faster.

Predictably, this was Mike’s favorite deck of the weekend. “There is nothing about that name I didn’t like,” says of the onetime Resident Genius.

Would Nicol Bolas, the Ravager Improve Skred Dragons?

Just as predictably, Patrick wonders if this straight red deck shouldn’t just be Grixis… Because of course he does.

Wouldn’t Nicol Bolas, the Ravager be a welcome addition to any Dragons-centric strategy?

He does have a good point. But of course you can’t add Nicol Bolas and stay mono-red. The question becomes why would you want to be mono-red?

The incentives are Skred (need lots of Snow-Covered Mountains) and Blood Moon. How often would you prefer Skred on one mana to, say, Fatal Push? Fatal Push is better a lot of the time, and in particular against Death’s Shadow. Death’s Shadow, of course, made a mini-comeback this past weekend.

Patrick does concede that you might just want to be a Blood Moon deck.

The Best of the Rest…

Sarkhan, Fireblood fronting a new archetype — that won the tournament, mind you — is the biggest news RE: M19 in Modern… But it’s not the only new card from Dominaria or M19 in Modern.

Elvish Clancaller made a predictable debut in an Elves Overrun deck. A Crusade with upside, Elvish Clancaller is in particular synergistic with Collected Company for instant-speed buffs.

Lyra Dawnbringer made numerous appearances in U/W or Jeskai Control decks… Sometimes with, sometimes in lieu of, Baneslayer Angel. What is interesting is that Baneslayer Angel is generally better than Lyra Dawnbringer (especially if Dragons are going to be a thing)… But the first Lyra Dawnbringer is better than the second Baneslayer Angel. Rawr.

All your old favorites plus a brand new As Foretold deck are all one click away…

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Does Manamorphose go in every deck? Apparently it at least goes in Burn now!

Manamorphose in Every Deck?

We’ve kind of nudged and nudged and winked and winked about it.

One Hall of Famer plays three Manamorphose in a deck that doesn’t usually play it; another Pro Tour Champion runs a singleton. Together they get it right.

Manamorphose has been Staple essentially since its printing. There is almost no better card in Storm combo. Not only does it dig in that deck like a blue card, with Goblin Electromancer on the battlefield, Manamorphose even nets mana!

But in Burn?

The Implications of Manamorphose in the Red Deck

Josh Utter-Leyton brought Manamorphose to Modern Burn for perhaps the first time!

To make room for this Innovation, Wrapter went down to one copy of Eidolon of the Great Revel, cut all the Skullcracks, and… Added Bedlam Reveler!

The Innovations are not all intuitive (so we’ll rattle through them). First of all, with Manamophose but not fringe garbage like Shard Volley, Josh will just draw his Lightning Bolts and Lightning Helixes more often than other Red Decks. That’s a given. He is also better set up to grind with those Bedlam Revelers (in-part powered by the Manamorphoses). But colors matter more now!

• While Mike has won with Stomping Ground Red Decks, he’s been on R/W since Inspiring Vantage was printed. While he can “get” someone playing Stomping Ground, playing it for [only] three sideboard Destructive Revelries makes little sense. Here, Wrapter splashes for both Destructive Revelry and Ancient Grudge… And can hit green with no Stomping Ground on the battlefield. Surprise!
• Kor Firewalker makes great sense in this build. The WW isn’t too hard to hit for Red Decks, but it’s particularly easy when you can turn GG, RR, or GR into WW.
• The Eidolon of the Great Revel cut might hurt on its face, but Eidolon is kind of bad in a deck chaining multiple spells with Manamorphose. Not intuitive, maybe, but internally consistent.

Tips and Tricks that have nothing to do with Manamorphose

• Nissa, Vastwood Seer + Path to Exile – Path to Exile is always interesting in a pinch (respond to fizzle their removal and Thaw up a land). It’s even more interesting if you have Nissa, Vastwood Seer in play. If the opponent shoots at your Rhox War Monk, say; you can play the Path to Exile trick and flip your Nissa! Ditto if they try to kill your Nissa (you can respond by Path-ing someone else)
• Legacy! Jim Davis put together a trifecta of Portent, Predict, and Terminus to make up for the lack of Sensei’s Divining Top – Jim’s U/W Miracles deck can set up a Terminus with Portent, or mess up the opponent’s draw (while drawing tons extra). Portent + Predict being an oldie-but-goodie.
• Legacy! What can you get with one Crop Rotation? If you’re playing one Crop Rotation in Elves, you can grab a singleton Cavern of Souls to crush blue, or increase the redundancy of your Cradles.

Is Burn Even Good? Manamorphose or No?

Uh, Bogles just won [again].

This time with 4x Leyline of Sanctity MAIN DECK.

Discuss.

I guess listen to the podcast first:

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Bloodbraid Elf also broke out of its ban this week; but first… Bogles!

Dan Ward is one of the strongest deck designers in the world. He first hit our radar with that innovative Kari Zev’s Expertise combo deck at SCG Regionals about a year ago. That deck was so awesome (or at least awesomely angled), WotC R&D banned almost immediately.

Moving formats over to Standard, Dan produced a legitimate contender archetype in U/W Approach of the Second Sun. Yes that U/W Approach of the Second Sun.

And while Dan can’t claim to be the first person to suit up a Hexproof creature, he never let up on his trademark innovations. Like…

Leyline of Sanctity in Bogles

Dan played three copies of Leyline of Sanctity in his main deck. This may seem like an odd choice for the strategy… If it isn’t in your opening hand, Leyline of Sanctity will just clog your grip later. Further, Leyline of Sanctity provides little or no offensive value to this attack-oriented deck. Why might Dan have played it?

• He’s playing a Hexproof deck: With 4 copies of Slippery Bogle and 4 copies of Gladecover Scout, Ward is clearly heavy on the Hexproof plan. His creatures are largely free and clear to wear powerful buff Auras, but they’re not quite immortal. Do you know what suited up Hexproof guys hate? Edict effects. Do you know that one of the best Edict effects is also one of Modern’s Staple three-drops? Leyline of Sanctity can defend you from Liliana of the Veil.
• Lantern just won the Pro Tour: While it doesn’t defend you from Pyxis of Pandemonium or Ghoulcaller’s Bell, Leyline of Sanctity turns off not only Codex Shredder but the Lantern decks’ many hand destruction sorceries.
• It makes racing difficult: Dan was able to overcome Jon Stern’s Burn deck in the Toronto finals. Leyline of Sanctity is pretty decent against Burn decks, turning off all the Lava Spikes and taking the edge off of most of the rest of the burn cards. Can Searing Blaze suddenly target Slippery Bogle?

All in all, a pretty cool three-of.

Bogles in Context

Them’s fightin’ words, am I right?

Further, if you’re planning to use Bloodbraid Elf to grab Lightning Bolt or other spot removal… That plan isn’t so good against Bogles. Plus, with a couple of buff auras, most of Dan’s cards will be able to tussle with a 3/2 and walk away, easily.

Grab the popcorn!

Because if Champion-Bogles remains good enough, it will soon clash with Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf in Modern!

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