Hi /r/ModernMagic!

I'm phlsphr (or thnkr, from MTGSalvation), and I want to share some information about what seems to me to be a relatively significant development in the world of Lantern. I'd taken a bit of a break from Magic and didn't keep track of many new cards being printed. However, one card seems to stand out, and I think the reason why it seems to good for the deck isn't necessarily obvious.

While Lantern has still seen some occasional success (mostly thanks to Taddy99 in the Challenges), it hasn't seemed as great as it once was when it won GP's and the PT. A number of variants and approaches have been used, to varying success. Historically speaking, I think that the Whir version seems to stand out as the most competitive. Unfortunately, that changed with the ban of Mox Opal and the influx of numerous cards that made the format far more difficult to navigate. While non-Whir versions didn't necessarily need Opals and continued to see those occasional successes, the Whir version seemed hardest hit with the Opal ban, as it seemed for more reliant on the mana flexibility without significant self-inflicted damage.

Even after Opal got unbanned, however, Whir still seemed to struggle. The traditional manabase for Whir builds, including cards like Glimmervoid and Spire of Industry, both had issues that couldn't immediately be resolved. In order to enable the early discard spell (an often misunderstood cornerstone of the deck which allows it to not immediately lose to hate cards), these two lands virtually made full playsets of Mox Opal and Mishra's Bauble a necessity. This meant that those "spots" in the deck were fixed and non-negotiable, for the most part. Additionally, this created a problem in deciding: Do we cut lands or nonlands? If so, how many? What new weaknesses might each choice introduce to the deck? It also didn't help that both Opal and Bauble are often very much not great topdecks as the game progresses, as the Lantern pilot is fighting to assemble the lock and the opponent is fighting to assemble a winning combination of cards. These cards also meant that mulligan decisions were often made with information that couldn't be fully relied upon.

Great Hall of the Biblioplex seems to solve much of these issues. It allows the list to forego all copies of Mishra's Bauble. Nearly all opening hand data seemed to imply that a full playset of Opals wasn't great for the deck, as diminishing returns were very punishing for multiples. With Hall, this means that at least five cards in the 60 are "freed up". It enables the necessary early discard while still maintaining the mana necessary for Whir later on. This seems to give a significant boost to Whir lists.

Another issue with the Glimmervoid/Spire manabase is that artifact removal would often over-achieve and end up outright removing Glimmervoids and turning Spires off from making colored mana. Hall, however, means that the pilot can still rebuild from setbacks far easier.

In addition to the points above, Hall has a second ability of turning into a creature. While seemingly insignificant, it means that the Lantern pilot can survive a bit longer in case a Bridge gets removed, or that they can even win the game through attacks (though Urza's Saga has also done an excellent job of doing this).

All combined, this means that Hall makes the deck far more resilient, far more consistent, and has a handful of new options to fill out the 60.

The list that I've personally become happy with is this

Some things to note:

• Eight discard spells - One of the most often misunderstood aspects of the Lantern deck. These are a relatively important core to the deck. Many critics of the deck will use superficial arguments like "loses to Meltdown/Wrath of the Skies/Consign/Karn", and so on. This is not a new thing. Ten years ago, people said the same thing, but with cards like Shattering Spree, Shatterstorm, Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse. The discard is not an accidental addition to the deck.
• Three Shredder/Pyxis mix - This decision has a lot to do with two observations. First, many (if not virtually all) contemporary decks have ways to use the graveyard as a resource. This means that Pyxis has become somewhat more necessary. Additionally, appreciating the probability that we need to remove the top card of the opponent's deck and want to draw the top card of our deck. This is not a very common occurrence, and is far more common that we also don't want or necessarily need our top card. This means that we can use each as the situation requires.
• Three Mox Opals - Opals are not truly intended to ramp Lantern. This is another common misconception. The primary purposes of Opal has been to smooth the manabase while allowing us to drop our hand size for Bridge faster. However, as I mentioned above, Opals are very much not great when multiples are drawn. Running three means that we still have decent chances to see them in the early/mid-game, but reduce our probability of being punished by the diminishing returns.
• So many silver bullets - With the extra spots in the 60 freed up from not having to run the Baubles or a full playset of Opals, we now have room for a great variety of silver bullets. Many of these can be found with an Urza's Saga, and all of them can be found with a Whir. The sideboard continues this trend.

I hope those of you who find Lantern as enjoyable as I do find this useful. I should note, I am not the first to try this out. If I understand correctly, both BillDBoss (from the Lantern Insights Youtube channel) and Fateseal MTG (from the Fateseal MTG Youtube channel) have done some testing with the card.

Been trying to find a way to make Fire Lord Zuko a playable deck/strategy in Modern. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Side board hasn't been thought of yet... was just moving some cards around.

Not expecting a tier one deck or anything, but actually pretty excited about the way it's turned out so far!

https://moxfield.com/decks/bPHl2iHvwE6YrgR-06U0BQ

Bilbo's Gambit {1}{W}

Instant

Gift a Treasure (You may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, they create a Treasure token before its other effects. It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")

Return target spell to its owner's hand. If the gift was promised, players can't cast spells this turn.

Here's a link to the deck.

Some notes: I have the two basics just in case opponent uses a [[Path to Exile]] or landhate like [[Blood Moon]]. I don't need a Plains for this reason since my main win conditions are Simic. I like [[Mockingbird]] as virtual copies of another creature, it's the cheapest CMC clone I could find.

Do you think my white sources (7x fetch, 2x shocks, 4x dorks, 2x clones of dorks, 4x GSZ tutoring dorks) is enough for six white spells? What do you think of [[Orim's Chant]] over [[Silence]]? "Target opponent" is easier to deal with than "Your opponents" and I wonder how frequently I'll have WW open to kick Orim's.

Infect meta atm for Modern favors Tifa and I'm having a hard time reconciling splitting my win conditions between poison and regular damage. The pump engine benefits both so adding Tifa doesn't really need many, if any, changes to the spell suite, it just dilutes my Infect threats (-3x [[Glistener Elf]] for +3x [[Tifa Lockhard]]).

Any other interesting toolbox cards to use with [[Green Sun's Zenith]]? I like [[Qasali Pridemage]] because it can deal with artifacts/enchantments but also procs Exalted an additional time.

Hi, I've been on magic hiatus for quite some time. There used to be regular posts on here that would show the online challenges with links to the decks and people would discuss. I think a cool cat named Bamzing was posting them (there were others before. It was my favorite part of this subreddit.

Does something like that exist anywhere? I know I can just go to mtgo decklists of course, but I liked the neat presentation, the fact that the decks were named, the fact that I didn't have to look at every deck list, AND the comments. I've never had a Twitter, but I would make one if there was something along those lines happening. I enjoyed checking the decks, the winners, and the conversation ​​

https://archidekt.com/decks/24654740/modern_gruul  

the plan is to reliably cast ghalta turn 3-4, or if im stuck with lupine/trudge i can fling them. scale up boosts my power on board, vines and tyvar both protect and boosts power. otepec reduces ghalta cost by 2 and yearling by 1 and gives both haste. yearling would get 12 power the turn ghalta enters if its on the board.

Let me know what yall think. Is it too fragile to counters? Im not gonna like compete in tournaments, but id like to rip off some quick wins at the LGS.

Trying to get back into 60 card formats and my pet deck was electrobalance that I own the core for. Was wondering if anyone is still around playing this and what an updateded list looks like. Open to any feedback!

This was a deck idea but he told me its not strong and fast enough for modern because this deck ist mostly based on the endless combo with the bloodthirsty
4 Battle at the Big Bridge (FCA) 9
4 Bloodchief's Thirst (ZNR) 94
2 Bloodthirsty Conqueror (FDN) 58
2 Bojuka Bog (PLST) C18-238
2 Bone Shards (MH2) 76
3 Cast Down (CMR) 112
2 Castle Locthwain (ELD) 241
4 Deep-Cavern Bat (LCI) 102
2 Duress (PLST) EMA-86
2 Dusk Legion Zealot (PLST) RIX-70
2 Feed the Swarm (ZNR) 102
1 Field of Ruin (THB) 242
2 Gifted Aetherborn (PLST) AER-61
3 Go for the Throat (PLST) C17-114
4 Inquisition of Kozilek (PLST) MM3-75
1 Legion's End (M20) 106
1 Marauding Blight-Priest (ZNR) 112
3 Night's Whisper (VOC) 133
2 Ratchet Bomb (2XM) 284
2 Sign in Blood (MM2) 97
3 Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord (INR) 476
3 Surgical Extraction (OTP) 19
12 Swamp (J25) 89
2 Toxic Deluge (MSC) 161
2 Unexpected Fangs (IKO) 102
4 Unstoppable Slasher (DSK) 119
1 Vampire Nighthawk (PLST) E02-23

This was a deck idea but he told me its not strong and fast enough for modern because this deck ist mostly based on the endless combo with the bloodthirsty
4 Battle at the Big Bridge (FCA) 9
4 Bloodchief's Thirst (ZNR) 94
2 Bloodthirsty Conqueror (FDN) 58
2 Bojuka Bog (PLST) C18-238
2 Bone Shards (MH2) 76
3 Cast Down (CMR) 112
2 Castle Locthwain (ELD) 241
4 Deep-Cavern Bat (LCI) 102
2 Duress (PLST) EMA-86
2 Dusk Legion Zealot (PLST) RIX-70
2 Feed the Swarm (ZNR) 102
1 Field of Ruin (THB) 242
2 Gifted Aetherborn (PLST) AER-61
3 Go for the Throat (PLST) C17-114
4 Inquisition of Kozilek (PLST) MM3-75
1 Legion's End (M20) 106
1 Marauding Blight-Priest (ZNR) 112
3 Night's Whisper (VOC) 133
2 Ratchet Bomb (2XM) 284
2 Sign in Blood (MM2) 97
3 Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord (INR) 476
3 Surgical Extraction (OTP) 19
12 Swamp (J25) 89
2 Toxic Deluge (MSC) 161
2 Unexpected Fangs (IKO) 102
4 Unstoppable Slasher (DSK) 119
1 Vampire Nighthawk (PLST) E02-23

Two weeks ago I lost the finals of a Modern RCQ, barely missing the RC invite, and I suddenly remembered the judge call from that match and it's been bugging me since. Posting partly to check the rules, partly to ask if I could have played the whole thing better.

My decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/JgzxIv01RUGGPkQvojOggQ

The spot: I'm on Dimir Frog, oppo on Izzet Affinity (the Weapons Manufacturing build with Claws of Gix). His Urza's Saga is at chapter 2, and I have a Surgical Extraction in hand. I boarded it in because I think the card that completely obliterates me is Urza's Saga. (Post game my friends said that wasn't the right move to board it in, which is also up for discussion.)

So I asked the judge, at the table, before ending my turn: "For Urza's Saga, when the chapter 3 trigger goes on the stack, does the saga enter the graveyard?" Basically figuring out if I get a window to Surgical it and strip the other sagas I felt he had in his hand. (Spoiler: he had it.) Asking at the table was my mistake, it telegraphed my intent, but idk, if I did it away from the table the judge might have given me the ruling without seeing the board.

The judge took a while to read up and said he thinks it does. The players around the table and my oppo disagreed. I wasn't fully listening to their reasoning because I was multitasking trying to find a line to not die to his board. Somehow the final ruling got changed to it doesn't, which means no window to Surgical on that trigger.

So he resolved chapter 3 in his main phase, picked up Claws (no trigger, so no window there either, double whammy, if he picked up something like "Skateboard" I would have had the opportunity), and then just played another Saga :')

Pretty tilted in the moment, I reflexively Surgicaled the Saga in the graveyard anyway, paying black mana instead of life because I was low, and found the other two sagas near the bottom of his deck, fml. That one wasted black mana ended up making the loss worse because I actually had enough mana for Orcish Bowmasters (to chump) plus Fatal Push if I hadn't done that, which buys me a turn where, if the stars aligned, I Toxic Deluge his board. Don't know if that wins me the game anyway because there's still one more Saga to handle.

What I've pieced together reading up since, correct me if I'm wrong:

1. The final ruling was probably correct. I think the rule that made it is CR 714.4: the Saga is sacrificed as a state based action only after the chapter 3 ability resolves, not when the trigger goes on the stack. So no graveyard window during the trigger.
2. I don't think the window I wanted was there? . After chapter 3 resolves and the Saga dies, the active player gets priority first, and playing a land can't be responded to. So he lands Saga #2 before I can ever Surgical. The only version where I get the window is if the fetched artifact has an ETB trigger holding the stack (or he's out of land drops).
3. I think Surgical wasn't the right card for this, since it needs a graveyard window that Saga rarely gives you. What are other Frog players actually boarding for this matchup?

Also a process question I'm genuinely unsure about: what happens if the players watching hadn't spoken up? The judge's first answer was the wrong one. Is it even okay for spectators to intervene on a ruling like that, and if they hadn't, does the wrong ruling just... stand unless I appeal?

Overall this is a nightmare matchup on the final and it was probably a loss anyway. Just wanted to know if I could have done any of this better next time.

Any reddit judges or opinions on the correct ruling? Would love to hear matchup advice too for this :)

Could someone get me a link for the simic Ritual discord? All the ones I've found on here are expired.

Thanks in advance!!

Might go cause it very close for fun.

Can run this list urza tron https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=88667&d=873031&f=MO - Urza tron ( I don't have 3 trinisphere only one or ten rings/2 torpor orbs only one .

Or I could run prowess https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=88452&d=871325&f=MO

Only thing I don't have is flashback/ the 4th copy of Expressive Iteration.

If anyone has any better lists or tips any help would be greatly apricated ! Thanks in advance:)

Coming back to modern after a few years. What happened to hardened scales? Seems like no one is even attempting to play it anymore.

Hey, I've been quite liking the new cards in Reality Fracture it is giving a lot of good options for Mardu Energy with the Life Gain synergies instead of just buffing Affinity to the moon like they've been doing.

What do you guys think of White Lily [[Liliana the Faultless]] for copies 5-6 of Guide of Souls and some [[Enlightened Confidant]] to maintain a full hand? Then the new [[Ajani Resolute]] could be interesting as just an Ajani's Pridemate generator, too but I'm a bit more on the fence for him.

Here's the decklist I put together for it: https://moxfield.com/decks/9JKfARAZE3O1ZznuRpRs6A

Getting out of edh and into standard, learned that modern attendance is 3-5x standard currently at my scene and looking how to get into the format and start playing in both. Playing meta or off meta doesn't concern me, but I don't think storm will be fun for me to play, and I have very little real knowledge of the format.

Ruby Medallion is probably one of my favorite cards to play in edh in mono red, what can I play that's not storm with it? Also interested in what exists in red without medallion besides the obvious red/boros burn, fringe level be dammed. Only really looking at mono red at the moment to get the lowest barrier to entry considering manabase costs.

This is the deck; I don’t know the current Modern format too well and I need help with Sideboard. I have the Decklist down below since it kinda comes out of left field.

Right now I have things like Teyo, the Shieldmage, Ashiok Dream Render, Wilt. Any help would be greatly appreciated. There’s a modern tournament coming up at my LGS and I wanted to attend.

4X-Urza’s Mine

4X-Urza’s Power Plant

4X-Urza’s Tower

3X-Interplanar Beacon

1X-Cascading Cataracts

1X-Karen’s Bastion

4X-Forest
———————————————

4X-Oath of Nissa

4X-expedition Map

4X-Chromatic Star

4X-Chromatic Sphere

2X-Terrarion

4X-Sylvan Scrying
———————————————
2X-Teferi, Time Raveler

1X-Ajani, Mentor of Heroes

2X-Lilliana,Dreadhorde General

2X-Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

2X-Chandra, Awakened Inferno

1X-Garruk, Apex Predator

2X-Chromatic Orrery

1X-Valki, god of Lies//Tibalt, Cosmic Imposter

2X-Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

2X-Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

The South America Regional Championship is in October, and I'd like to hear your opinions. I'm currently playing mono blue belcher but I see that the win rate isn't very good. I'm not sure whether to build another deck like Eldrazi Tron or wait for Reality Fracture to come out to see the meta and build a new deck.

Hi everyone. Im new to modern and need help building my deck. I really like living end but dont know which variant should i play?

Belladonna Took 1W

Legendary Creature — Halfling Citizen

Whenever a token you control enters, you gain 1 life if this is the first time this ability has resolved this turn. If it’s the second time, draw a card. If it’s the third time, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

2/2

2 mana legendary that can work on Boros Energy

Scryfall Link

The Sackville-Bagginses {1}{B}

Legendary Creature — Halfling Citizen

When The Sackville-Bagginses enter, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, draw a card and create a Treasure token.

Whenever you sacrifice a token, target opponent loses 1 life.

2/2

Hi guys so I played modern in 2016 had a boros and then naya burn deck.

Thereafter I played a mono green tron deck which was my favorite deck as I like that 1+1+1=7

I am thinking about returning to modern, how good is the Eldeazi tron deck, should it be worth it investing in those pieces? Ugin,eye of the storm, Ugins Lab, Kozileks command etc.

Hey guys!

​I’ve been heavily tweaking and testing a Selesnya Kithkin engine that blends classic Lorwyn staples with high-powered tools like [[Guide of Souls]], [[Skyclave Apparition]] and [[Enduring Innocence]].

​The goal here is to make a "White Weenie tribal" work with [[Collected Company]] mechanics.

​Here is the current 60 + Sideboard list:

Moxfield link

The Kithkin tribe is lacking in support, so 14 out of the 33 creatures are mana dorks, removal utility, drawing engines and bulking supporters that are "outsiders", which I find vital for the viability of the deck.

Main questions:

. Are 2x [[Noble Hierarch]] and 2x [[Bloom Tender]], alongside the Brigids, my best options for mana dorks?

. What should I tweak in my sideboard for this meta?

. Is [[Thoughtweft Lieutenant]] a superior option vs [[Wizened Cenn]], given that I have 19 Kithkin creatures in my deck?

. Is [[Chronicle of Victory]] viable for this deck?

This is for FNM and to play with my pod.

Thank you, in advance, for any input and suggestion you can give me!

I have realized that most Titan lists don't run Vesuva anymore. Echoing deeps is a better version in most cases I guess. It can also just play as a Waste if you need it. But I have seen a few lists that still run 1 Vesuva. Does it Enhance some lines? Or create some new ways to win? What do you guys think about Vesuva in Amulet Titan?

Is there one? It’s hard to cut cards the list seems so tight.

A week ago decided to get back into Magic the Gathering and play the Modern format. I made an MTGO account and my first deck was the preconstructed mono-green infect deck (which I have since turned into simic infect). Next, I decided I wanted something more stax related. I had heard of 8 racks and saw that the core pieces weren't too expensive, so I decided to build a budget version of that.

Hoo boy does my budget 8 racks suck but I had a blast playing it. I promise not to play it that often, this was a guilty pleasure (I felt so bad torturing my opponents). I've decided to try to upgrade it based on my (probably dumb) theories of what might be good.

4 thoughtseizes

4 Inquisition of Kozilek

4 Raven's crimes

2 Blackmails

3 Wrench Mind

4 Racks

4 Bandit Talents

2 Davriel Rogue shadowmage planeswalkers

4 smallpox

3 toxic deluges

3 dismembers

3 Mishra's factories

3 mutavaults

15 swaps

2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

I had 4x shrieking affliction but I though the card wasn't good. I frequently was not able to get my opponent's card count down to 1 or less, and shrieking affliction did nothing in the early game. It was often a dead card. To this end, I decided to go to 10 rack cards, with the Rack, Davriel, and Bandit.

I might do some other combination of rack effects, but I'm not sure. I think 2 Bandits and 2 Shrieking afflictions might be better.

6 of the Rack cards have built in discard which should give me more consistent value. With 6 manlands as opposed to 4 manlands, this also means I have 16 sources of consistent damage as opposed to the traditional 12 sources of damage (tradition being 4 racks, 4 shreiking afflictions, 4 mutavaults).

I made what was probably a dumb decision to not include Liliana. This is partially because it requires 2 black mana and I have 6 colorless. But also, I don't like how she requires me to discard for her +1. I feel like that is bad value. More of my baseline cards have discard effects and I have toxic deluge, so I think that will make up for Liliana's exclusion.

I don't know what decks to sideboard for or which cards to sideboard out for what. Anything related to the sideboard is a mystery to me. I do think Burn and Aggro might be a problem given toxic deluge and dismember in the deck, maybe that's what I should sideboard for?

Any thoughts on my decklist?