Tzoulis wrote: ↑3 years ago
FoodChainGoblins wrote: ↑3 years ago
You can still play Control. You just have to play Uro. Sharkblade is also fine. I have friends who think it's the best deck currently in Modern, to which I don't agree. I do think the UW Sharkblade vs. Uro Soup matchup is fairly close though, even if Veil does give an advantage. Veil doesn't automatically turn a 50/50 matchup into a 40/60 matchup all by itself.
Uro piles vs UW Shark is not even close to being 50-50, let alone a 60-40 matchup. Especially if the Uro piles play Field of the Dead. Uro piles go way above UW Shark and post SB they have Veil that worsens the matchup. I don't know how the UW Yorion & friends does vs Uro piles though.
FoodChainGoblins wrote: ↑3 years ago
Regarding Tempo, I'm sorry to say that it has never been a thing in Modern. You have to use an extremely loose definition of Tempo, calling Shadow or Humans a Tempo deck. Skred Red and Merfolk have more GP wins than any Tempo deck. That's partially because people believe that Preordain would bust open Modern worse than any other card, but even with Preordain, Tempo is not likely to get that big a boost. In Standard, I played the SNOT out of Delver. In Modern, I've never played it. In Legacy, I played it a little bit, but I don't enjoy it much there TBH. I am a Spike. That should tell you something.
Delver was a thing, even outside the Cruise era. Also, (Grixis) Death's Shadow is very close to the colloquial meaning of tempo than you realize. One could argue that Faeries/Ninjas mixes that have popped up sometimes are tempo. Point being, as I said before, the tools for a good tempo deck are there, but 1 very popular card and another semi popular are driving those strategies away.
FoodChainGoblins wrote: ↑3 years ago
There's a R card, Lightning Bolt at #1, there's a Green card, Veil of Summer at #2, there's a White card, Path to Exile at #3. The other 7 cards are all Blue or Black. Is that too many words?
The fact that a SB card is even at the top 3-Top 5 played cards consistently, rivaling Bolt and Path should really tell you that it's a problem.
FoodChainGoblins wrote: ↑3 years ago
Mox Opal was the incorrect ban. But we have to deal with that now. WotC will most likely not unban it until a minimum of 5 years. Tempo was never a thing in Modern, so we cannot blame an incorrect banning, Veil of Summer, or T3feri for Tempo not being a deck. That would be like me blaming Oko, Thief of Crowns for Mono Blue Control not being a thing in 2012.
Yeah, the only way I'm ever playing an artifact deck in Modern is if/when they print anything of relevance in the upcoming return to New Phyrexia or if we ever return on Esper or Kaladesh.
Again, I never blamed Veil and/or T3feri for tempo not existing. I blamed Veil and T3feri for the atrocious play they engender and that they shouldn't exist. Moreover, Veil is an overpowered af card that does too much for too little and its opportunity cost is minimal. Not to mention that it disproportionately empowers combo decks. All that, means that tempo decks, which were non-existent because they lagged behind on card quality -but now got some cool toys- can never hope to breathe.
I could be wrong about UW Sharkblade vs. Uro Soup. I have only watched around 8 matches, some by the very same streamers. Since the games were very long, I felt like I had some idea of the matchup. It's possible that I don't and UW players got more lucky. I feel like as much as I've played Modern, it doesn't take long for me to get a feel of a matchup, but I have nothing concrete here. Just my own feeling from watching 22 min. games of this matchup with similarly strong players at both ends.
I must have forgotten UR Delver or better known as the best deck to be using
Ancestral Recall in. So, UR Delver was the 2nd best deck in the meta, right after Rhino Pod. People have complained about Tempo not being that good in Modern. The complaint has gone unchecked since 2011 up until today in 2020, with the exception of Ancestral Recall Delver for 3 months until bannings. That Delver deck is also a deck that would be unaffected by Veil of Summer because Delver = Bolt with Rebound, and the rest of the deck was Young Pyromancer and every flavor of Bolt, Forked Bolt, Burst Lightning. If I remember correctly, they had 2 Spell Pierce in the SB. Other than that, it was UR Aggro or as they call it on mtggoldfish, UR Blitz.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing Delver at the FNM level. I'm sure there are FNM players around the world that terrorized their FNMs with the deck. It just never had GP results, outside of 4 Ancestral Recall played in the deck. Heck, I'm 57-17 with Elementals. Am I going to claim that Elementals was a thing? No, even if I do believe it's stronger than people give it credit for. You can see the peak of Faeries by watching Yuta Takahashi play GPs. He cracked the top 16, I think, top 32 for sure, but never top 8ed. 99% of Faeries players could not do even close to that. I played Faeries mostly through Standard and it was Tier 0 at that point, but I would be super surprised to go 10-5 at a GP with Faeries, even with 2 Byes.
Veil is #2 of Modern cards played. Do you know what is #4 and #5? Aether Gust and Ashiok, Dream Render - 2 SB only cards. #9 is Relic of Progenitus, nearly a year after Faithless Looting was banned (*cough, Uro, cough).
I am not saying that Veil and T3feri don't create terrible game play. They do and there are also plenty of other Modern legal cards that do so. I've beaten someone in a match of Magic (without scooping or DQs) when they played 1 Plains and an Aether Vial in the whole match. Do you honestly think that Neobrand should survive, while Veil and T3feri are dunked on? I think at this point, WotC realizes that so many plays in Modern are silly that they are all right having 2 extreme versions of that. Ever faced an Arbor Elf into Sprawl, Bloodbraid Elf, Seasoned Pyromancer? Turn 2, 2nd Amulet, swing at you with a 10/6 Double Strike? I realize I'm giving a GROUP of cards, while Veil is just 1 card. T3f is 1 card. T3feri is a card that promotes even worse game play in my opinion, but it can't be banned because it's not played enough. Veil is a card that is very close. I see it as 50/50. But it hasn't done enough, although yes, some consequences can't be seen (ie. Death's Shadow player playing Prowess to dodge it) to get it banned yet. If decks started mainboarding it a lot, then I could see it getting banned. Remember, at different times in Modern, Rest in Peace and Stony Silence were up there in cards played, and they were out of the SB. I remember thinking, White sucks in Modern and very badly. Yet, somehow Path to Exile, Stony Silence, and Rest in Peace are always present. Mox Opal took Stony Silence on his way out and Faithless Looting took Rest in Peace on her way out. That's the only reason we don't see those cards in huge numbers still to this day.
People always have an irrational fear of Combo.
https://www.mtgtop8.com/format?f=MO
Combo is at 15% and out of the decks over 1%, only 3 of 11 run Veil of Summer. A common misconception is that Amulet runs Veil of Summer. It doesn't. It does run 4 Aether Gust in the SB though.