Monday, March 20, 2017

Modern Masters Workshop

Okay, so I survived (and summarized) my first Modern Masters experience and I miiiiiight be kind of hooked. High synergy set!

Here are some things I noticed

Bears are bad

Penumbra Spider Sea Gate Oracle Ogre Jailbreaker Modern Masters 2017: Centaur Token



There's a lot of power and toughness running around and using tricks to get rid of one Penumbra Spider only for its token to be created feels real bad. 2/2s are simply not enough on their own.

There is no CABS/aggro deck

If the hostile environment of a 2/2 for 2 wasn't enough, there aren't also any good fighting 2-drops. So a Cards that Affect the Board State deck with a 2-3-4 curve out just isn't really a thing. You can be aggressive via a synergy (populate, aristocrats, etc.) but you can't just drop dumb dorks and hope it works out for you.

Fixing is funny

Azorius Guildgate Azorius Signet

Perched at the common & uncommon slots are guildgates and mana rocks. What's intruiguing is that there *isn't* evolving wilds or anything supremely flexible. This leads to having to already have a plan as to what your splash possibilities could be, you can't just take a Renegade Map early hoping to unlock a random splash later.

All about the allies

As alluded to above, Modern Masters is built around allied-color synergies with maybe a shard splash going for a third color. But because the aforementioned fixing is very specific (though prevalent) you have you plan your splash ahead of time.

I think the key to drafting in this set is being able to figure out what's open at the table, taking key cards early and then letting the archetype-specific cards wheel around. After all, hopefully you're the only one interested in them.

Green/White

GW is all about populate, particularly on non-1/1 tokens. So you'll rely on green for creating more beefy tokens and then white for the populate mechanic to create an army. Your top priority is non-1/1 token makers so you have good targets for populate.

Priorities
Urbis Protector Slime Molding Vital Splicer Master Splicer

Archetype-Specific
Call of the Conclave Rootborn Defenses Wake the Reflections Wayfaring Temple Intangible Virtue


White/Blue

Flicker and ETBs! Get good ETB cards and then flicker your way to value. Similar to the deck above, you'll want to fight for good targets for flicker (good token makers most of all). Like populate, you'll be the only one at the table looking for the actual flickering cards.

Priorities
Urbis Protector Sensor Splicer Mist Raven Sea Gate Oracle

Archetype Specific
Deputy of Acquittals Flickerwisp Kor Skyfisher Graceful Reprieve Ghostly Flicker

Worth splashing
Evil Twin Dinrova Horror
Both of these cards are great ETBs, so if you're going to shard it up, shard Esper.


Black/Blue Graveyard

Margo absolutely wrecked me at the draft with a very good controlling deck that dumped cards into the graveyard and reanimated them for hilarious value. This is classic control, so get the shields up with your small creatures and then start dredging. The version that I played had very little unearth, I'm not actually sure how necessary that is or is not. Unburial Rites is a key component, as it tutoring for it with the Mystic Tutor. Once you hit one of your bombs, you're pretty much good to go. Not sure how duplicable that is though.

Contested Cards
Augur of Bolas Vampire Nighthawk Delirium Skeins Dinrova Horror

Unique Cards
Recover Moroii Mystical Teachings Compulsive Research Entomber Exarch Pilfered Plans Delirium Skeins Torrent of Souls Corpse Connoisseur

Splash for this
Unburial Rites Simic Sky Swallower


Red/Black Aristocrats

This is straight-up Aristocrats, get some sacrifice engines and enough fodder then win the game. It looks like this will be the natural home for Unearth creatures, basically get to sacrifice them twice. Anything else that provides a lot of sacrifice fodder I think will be key as that will be contested with the R/G go-wide deck. Your the only deck really interested in the sacrifice engines.

Priorities
Dragon Fodder Goblin Assault Skirsdag Cultist Scorched Rusalka

Unique

Falkenrath Noble Vampire Aristocrat Mortician Beetle Gnawing Zombie Kathari Bomber Dregscape Zombie


Splash for
Golgari Germination Sprouting Thrinax
Being able to snag some green for additional fodder creation is pretty sweet.


Red/Green Go-wide

So I ran RG in my first draft and my deck was pretty terrible as it tried to curve out with aggro, but there just isn't the pieces. I think this is a goofy deck that really wants to try and go-wide with tiny 1/1 dorks and then finish with Bloodrush and other random pumps. I'm not sure if this is an actual deck mind you, but it's what the design space looks like.

Priorities
Goblin Assault Dragon Fodder Pyrewild Shaman Gaea's Anthem

Unique
Gruul War Chant Tattermunge Witch Giantbaiting Madcap Skills
Fists of Ironwood Strength in Numbers

Splash for...?
Carnage Gladiator Kathari Bomber 

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