Comments on: Close to the Edge: Introducing the Push Test

By: Michele Fontanini

Michele Fontanini — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 15:58:26 +0000

In reply to Jordan Boisvert. Could you share that brew? I'm pretty curious. How does it perform?

By: Jordan Boisvert

Jordan Boisvert — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 21:33:37 +0000

In reply to Alexander Gnan. I max out on Snaps and play 4 Push. Only managed to get about six matches in with the deck before switching to a different brew, which plays 17 AER cards....

By: Matt Skeels

Matt Skeels — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 23:23:55 +0000

Joe Losset didn’t wow anyone with his GB Tron. He lost most of his Tron matches. The only notable Tron match he had was off camera and it was against Tom Ross where he was able to start the game over with Karn.

By: Alexander Gnan

Alexander Gnan — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 21:54:17 +0000

Hi Jordan,

Since Faerie came up here: I faced UB fae with Fatal Push for the first time today, and it was brutal. I was piloting Thing in the Ice aggro, so you can imagine where this is going. Miraculously I won in 3 games, but the game he saw Fatal Push was a blowout. Ran 2 Snapcaster Mages too. Threat Suite was 4x Spellstutter, 2x Snapcaster, 2x Clique, 4x Bitterblossom, 2x Mistbind Clique, and off the top of my head, Mistbind Clique underperformed in a huge (sad) way.

The question is now: how many Fatal Push does this deck want to run. I am thinking 2-3. 4 seems excessive for such an attrition orientated deck.

The only card that relies on Faerie Tribal is Spellstutter Sprite. And the Bitterblossoms should take care of that.

Which leaves us with a list like this:

24 lands:

2x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Mutavault
3x Darkslick Shores
4x Polluted Delta
2x Watery Grave
4x Secluded Glenn
4x Island
1x Swamp

36 other cards:

4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Bitterblossom
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Mistbind Clique
2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Scion of Oona
1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Fatal Push
1x Spell Snare
1x Remand
2x Mana Leak
2x Cryptic Command
2x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Dismember
4x Ancestral Vision

I think Fatal push simply replaces all the subpar spot removal that was run in these lists. It also lowers the curve considerably.

Curve is:

T1: handdisruption/Vision/Snare
T2: Bitterblossom/Counter
T3: Scion/Vendilion/Counter/Removal
T4: Removal/Counter+Snapcaster/Cryptic/Mistbind

with no testing, the deck feels like it might have legs.

take it from there 🙂

By: Chris Striker

Chris Striker — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 16:41:39 +0000

In reply to Jordan Boisvert. 4 Mutavault?

By: Jordan Boisvert

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 22:45:44 +0000

In reply to Roland F. Rivera Santiago. The list I've been testing runs 4 Bitterblossom, 4 Spellstutter, 4 Snapcaster, 2 Clique, and 2 Tasigur as threats. The biggest obstacle for the deck seems to be addressing the Tron matchup and I'm happy with my other pairings so far. Hopefully you'll hear more about this deck soon!

By: Roland F. Rivera Santiago

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 22:01:42 +0000

That last sentence was exactly where I was thinking Fatal Push would be best – UBx interactive decks like Faeries have been clamoring for good, cheap removal for who-knows-how-long, and this card scratches that itch like none has before. I think the only question is what the rest of the deck looks like, and whether Snapcaster Mage finds its way in as an honorary Faerie of sorts (I’m leaning toward no, because if you introduce enough non-synergistic elements into this sort of deck you find yourself in a situation where Delver does what you do only better, but I digress). Good job by you to put some numbers to this in terms of what creatures it hits and some sensible predictions as to what impact the card will have.

By: David Ekstam

David Ekstam — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 22:00:50 +0000

In reply to Jordan Boisvert. Playing a mana dork and a 3/2 in order to do something else (in the absence of any interaction) is arguably not a zero loss of tempo...

By: Jordan Boisvert

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 21:38:52 +0000

In reply to Chris Striker. Agree. I love this card, and the fact that it can bring back the fetch we just cracked to turn on revolt and cast it seems really good. There are plenty of interesting cards in AER, and the set seems a lot more Modern-friendly than Kaladesh. But I wanted to stay focused on Push for this article and not be distracted by the beautiful spoilers.

By: Chris Striker

Chris Striker — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 20:08:27 +0000

Thanks for a great article, Jordan! I loved this analysis, (and the brief light of hope for Faeries finally getting a real chance to shine in Modern). Push, and revolt as a mechanic, seem to indicate WotC has paid a little more attention to our favorite format with their future design, and that bodes well across the board.

While this article is focused on fatal push, I also wanted to make a brief mention of another AER card, most notably in relation to your comment about Abzan getting better. Abzan also gets the spoiled Renegade Rallier, which seems incredible for the Abzan Aggro player. Dork on turn 1 into Rallier on turn 2 puts the deck at 5 mana on turn 3 at zero loss of tempo, with a 3/2 in play that swings for 4, and allows you to follow up with a Goyf AND Lingering Souls on turn 3. I think there’s a lot more in AER for Modern than just push, and I can’t wait to see Nexus discuss these powerful tools once the full set is released 😀

By: Zach Stackhouse

Zach Stackhouse — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 19:15:51 +0000

I don’t think dredge needs a ban beyond MAYBE cathartic reunion to avoid super busted starts…but WOTC hates dredge about as much as storm so it may do something just to spite. But I digress.

This may be the most sane article on push I’ve seen in the past twenty-four hours. Too many people are acting as if it throws the entire format on its head. Thank you for returning sanity to modern with fatal push, if only briefly.