Thanks! Glad you liked it

I’m glad you mention Maelstrom Pulse, as that’s the card I look to when analyzing this one’s power level. Pulse has a great effect, but “kill anything” isn’t really in such a high demand in Modern, hence you only seeing one (sometimes two) Pulse in Jund lists. I think “some” of that is due to Pulse being sorcery speed, which is worth mentioning. Tack on the life loss (which is a lot more relevant in Modern than you would think with Burn/Affinity and fetch/shocks) and it seems like an already expensive card is getting worse.

If it does see play, it will be as a necessity for decks that have no other options (so, strictly B/W). Abzan can just play Maelstrom Pulse (and have a lot better game against tokens/2for1’s) and Mardu already has the ability to kill anything it needs.

It will (almost) certainly have a place in standard, but what about modern? Would junk run it over Maelstrom Pulse? Is this the card BW deadguy ale needs to break into tier 2-3? Or is it as useless as Utter End was?

The thing is, Jace in UWx Control has nowhere near as much juice as Jace in Grixis. There are less cheap spells flying around (take a look at the curve of the list from GP Bologna: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=11774&d=267147&f=MO – it’s pretty different from what its Grixis cousin would be rolling with). Because of this, along with the distinct lack of Thought Scour-type effects, Jace tends to be a bit slow on the flip and even slower to wring value out of it. I would posit that Thing in the Ice operates on a similar timeline in that deck, and is actively helping you close out the game as opposed to being Snapcasters 5-8. You don’t even feel all that bad about dropping a Supreme Verdict on it, thanks to Ojutai’s Command.

I unfortunately won’t be able to test Arlinn Kord myself (at least not past a very cursory level), as I don’t own Zoo. However, I’ve been following the Zoo thread on MTGSalvation on this issue, and I’m pretty confident she will find a place in the deck. My bet is as a sideboard card – she weaponizes topdecks with her human form +1 and can either provide bodies or kill their guys. This is gold in a dedicated attrition matchup, and might be even better than CoCo in that context (since that one can whiff, or come up with useless mana dorks). I could see myself siding her in for extra consistency against Abzan/Grixis Midrange/Jund as a Zoo player.

This is interesting and seems like it would be quite powerful.

In my experience with the Suicide Zoo deck I really only wanted to be spending two mana to cast Temur Battle Rage for the kill, a lot of the power of that deck comes from just unloading one and zero mana spells.

Turn 3 was normally the “go-off” turn, so Thing in the Ice is actually a better fit than might be immediately apparent (to me, you made that point). Being able to Temur Battle Rage without Become Immense for more than 4 damage is strong as well, and Thing could make our Rage’s better, which is a definite plus.

This puts us entirely five-color if we’re still playing Stony Silence in the board. Mana isn’t the biggest concern as far as life totals go, but only playing 16/17 land means we’re often getting two fetches and that’s it. The fetch/shock configuration would definitely have to change from the Jund/splash configuration to something a little more messy. Worth exploring!

I still think Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy is a stronger card, but I’m open to this perspective changing and I’m aware that it’s due almost entirely to bias and my level of experience with Jace. Having not played with Thing yet, it’s hard to evaluate correctly. In a couple weeks I could look quite silly 🙂

Alrinn in a CoCo Zoo list is interesting, however it does remind me a lot of Domri Rade. CoCo is similar to Domri in that you really want as many hits in the deck as possible, and including Arlinn (or any other non-creature) makes Company weaker. Can we afford to play Arlinn, 4 CoCo and removal spells, or is that too many non-creatures? Definitely interesting. I do like that Arlinn is a four-drop, so there’s no “pressure” to replace our three drop Domri with a three drop that CoCo can hit. If Arlinn was a Huntmaster of the Fells CoCo wouldn’t hit anyways, so that pressure is gone. I think it really comes down to the impact the card can have, and whether what’s worth diluting our CoCo hits for it. Let me know if you do any testing!

death’s shadow/tasigur/angler/thing/young pyromancer, backed by a fetch/shock manabase, thoughtscour/probe/thoughtseize/street wraith, and stubborn denial/spell snare/remand. Basically, push delver back to its protect the queen role (by going possibly delverless), with a side of suicide zoo since we’re already going to hit our life total hard. Such a shell is going to very consistently drop a huge threat on the second turn, potentially with countermagic backup. Untapping on the third turn you’ll quite often either have 4=6 power on the board with protection or be putting 10-12 power on the board.

Also Archangel of Thune is a solid role player in modern

i do think with how strong khans/dragons was that we are probably still in the lower part of the power curve after those sets…. eldrazi silliness aside…

not a huge fan of SOI yet but hopefully i’ll be proven wrong…

Thanks, glad you liked it!

Forgot Ancient Grudge was a reprint, I had to take a second look at my first list to make sure I had only “new” cards and Grudge slipped through!

Beryl,

The fact that it lives through Bolt is definitely great, and past the second turn it can flip just as fast as my precious Jace. Playing this guy on T4 or T5 with a spell or two, then casting a couple more spells next turn to flip/bounce/attack is pretty strong. Not the best topdeck either.

I won’t be able to test this weekend but hopefully soon! Thanks for reading!

Good points, and your list definitely has me interested to analyze OGW in a post-banning Metagame. Here’s to seeing something happen that would make me not cringe when I look at that set!

I should have elaborated, I apologize.

The issue here is that Nahiri can only interact with tapped creatures. This can range from useful to useless, depending on a few factors. With no blockers (the case we need to use to evaluate planeswalkers, hence “protect themself”) Nahiri can kill a creature that has been on board and attacked, but nothing past that. Any creature that is played after Nahiri will be able to hit her before she can use her ability, and that’s definitely a strike against her.

On the other hand, she can function as a “better” Liliana of the Veil with chump blockers (like Lingering Souls) as her -2 can discourage an opponent from attacking into our chump blocking tokens, and she can +2 back into -2 range twice as fast as LoTV can.

She just seems to be a stretch for me, Ajani Vengeant costs exactly the same and has a lot more utility without having to jump through hoops. Graveyard synergies aside I think she is strictly worse, if we’re going purely on rate alone.

Going back to your spoiler reviews, I agree with you in terms of Nahiri and Declaration in Stone. Arlinn, on the other hand, has a very clear home, and that is Collected Company Zoo. It might come out of the sideboard (as its optimal value IMO is in creature combat-heavy matchups such as Eldrazi, or grindfests like BGx), but I can assure you it will be tested extensively, and I expect it to make the 75. Thing in the Ice feels like a WUx Control card to me – the current version of the deck runs Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, which is an even less capable blocker and often takes just as long to get going. Furthermore, a flipped Jace doesn’t close out the game like a Flipped Thing in the Ice does – it just provides another value engine to grind away with. I think the Thing will allow UW Control players to trim, if not outright remove, Jace.

Still, it’s just my speculation and gut feeling about the card, that it will be great. If not, at least I like it. Hey Trevor, since we’re both Grixis players, if your able to do any play-testing of this card (I might do some over the weekend), I’ll be very interested in your findings! Thank you for this article, I enjoyed reading all of it!

Then there are other nice cards that might see modern play: Kalitas, Oath of Nissa, Eldrazi displacer, Goblin Dark Dwellers,Reckless Bushwhacker, Flaying tendrills, Natural State, Kozileks Return, Warping Wail, Reflector Mage, Stormchaser Mage, Sea Gate Wreckage, Manlands,…

So imho this is an A Set.