MTGNexus

Something I've always had in the back of my mind when it comes to combo is trying to figure out a way to pull off Biovisionary. Previously, it's big issue was it turned up in the same standard format as Abrupt Decay. Meanwhile in modern it Abrupt Decay also saw a lot of play, and could be hard to defend while still trying to pull of some way to spam them out or copy them. But now decay sees a lot less play, we now have Force of Negation to protect it when spending mana on trying to get more copies, and UG seems to have grown a bit in power in Modern.

Some cards for consideration:

AvalonAurora wrote: ↑

4 years ago

But now decay sees a lot less play, we now have Force of Negation to protect it when spending mana on trying to get more copies, and UG seems to have grown a bit in power in Modern.

You can't pitch-cast Force of Negation on your own turn, so you can't really use it to force through a combo unless it's on your opponent's turn.

Sinis wrote: ↑

4 years ago

AvalonAurora wrote: ↑

4 years ago

But now decay sees a lot less play, we now have Force of Negation to protect it when spending mana on trying to get more copies, and UG seems to have grown a bit in power in Modern.

You can't pitch-cast Force of Negation on your own turn, so you can't really use it to force through a combo unless it's on your opponent's turn.

Ah, that basically kills this idea then, unless part of the game plan is getting out something that lets you flash in stuff, like Leyline of Anticipation, but that seems to be getting too clunky for an already relatively clunky idea.

AvalonAurora wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Ah, that basically kills this idea then, unless part of the game plan is getting out something that lets you flash in stuff, like Leyline of Anticipation, but that seems to be getting too clunky for an already relatively clunky idea.

On the one hand, I don't think that the idea is sunk by some sort of tempo vulnerability where Force of Negation would be necessary.

I think the gameplan is sunk by needing too many slots and too much mana to actualize. Not when you can just kind of win the game with a powerful walker, or even a simple manland in some cases (like Teachings with Creeping Tar Pit).

If a Biovisionary gameplan were worth pursuing, you'd probably want to secure it with Duress effects; once they have no answers, you can pretty freely play your combo over two turns if they don't topdeck an answer. I think the real problem is that at it's most efficient card-wise, you need Biovisionary and a kicked Rite of Replication (that's 12 mana over two turns), or you need like, 5 cards with Biovisionary, 3 other creatures, and Infinite Reflection.

If I like any version of it, it's 3-4 copies of Quasiduplicate, and just trying to get it done over time. But, I have my doubts that it would work, and it'd be easy to board against (removal + Surgical Extraction shuts you out, and Echoing Truth sets you back forever).