The two sets after War of the Spark did this a lot, printing a lot of bomb uncommons, then making sure that most of the powerful cards of the following set dodged them. Despark was advertised as premium removal in Spark, and lo and behold, the most powerful things for the next many sets ended up being 3 mana.
10:32 love the throat clearing! 😆 and a lot of love for Risen Reef, Temur elementals was really funny in Standard 2019-2020 on Arena. it's a pity there isn't a viable elementals deck in Explorer or Historic now...
My last standard deck I played before my decade long hiatus was Nova Train which was an elemental deck that used Incandescent Soulstoke to Cheat out a Nova Chaser and swinging with a trampling11/3 by turn 3/4. Chaser had Champion so you would champion Harbinger to tutor a new Nova Chaser when the first was sacrificed due to Soulstoke’s ability. It was a glass cannon but when it hit it hit fast and hard
It's always a touch sad when you remember a particular deck on one of these themes, but it's not good enough to get a mention. Using Incandescent Soulstoke to put Nova Chaser into play, championing Flamekin Harbinger, attacking for 11 trample, then sacing it at end of turn returning the Harbinger to play fetching the next Nova Chaser. Good times....
You are truly doing the Lord Urza's work in giving us this wisdom and insight. Now if only you could make our basic lands tap like the Tron lands, then you'd be ready for a Brothers War. :P
fortunately I was up late enough to watch this within the hour of it being posted. unfortunately I was up late enough to watch this within the hour of it being posted.
I ran an Elemental deck in Time Spiral/Coldsnap/Lorwyn standard. I loved using the Harbinger to tutor up Nova Chaser, cheat it out with Incandescent Soulstoke, championing the Harbinger…rinse and repeat.
So now I feel kinda shafted, I had pretty much all those cards back in 2019 and I made an elemental deck and I wanted to play but I got delayed and then the lockdown happened and then my local TCG store went down, and I never got to find out that my stupid elemental spam could've actually been a good strategy
I like Risen Reef in singleton formats, but it gets really annoying in 4-of formats. It's not the most powerful card ever printed, by far, but it can snowball so quickly if you don't have removal immediately. When you see Turn 2 Risen Reef into Turn 3 Risen Reef, you know you're not going to be having much fun from there on out. Even single-target removal often isn't enough against the new Elementals deck. It's too consistent a deck. You need sweepers, and even then you're still in for a battle. On Arena, Elementals are cool but they've gotten pretty dang powerful as a whole, even if most of the cards aren't crazy powerful themselves (other than Omnath and other Omnath and, to a degree, Risen Reef). It's not the most-played deck on "older" Arena formats, but I see it often in Explorer that you have to be ready for it. In Modern, which I don't anymore, those evoke Elementals are stupid. I didn't know there was a Modern Elementals deck but those evoke cards alone are stupid.
I remember playing on Arena when Risen Reef came out and it was miserable. 2/3 of the decks became that one deck. I don't know why they feel like they have to push blue green so hard all the time but they keep doing it.
Risen reef fits the best on the thumbnail for this top 10
Absolutely gorgeous art!
I love how risen reef bypasses narset. Im not drawing a card... im LOOKING at it and PUTTING it in my hand
Part of the reason that Iteration is so great. A draw 2 that doesn't actually draw anything.
The two sets after War of the Spark did this a lot, printing a lot of bomb uncommons, then making sure that most of the powerful cards of the following set dodged them. Despark was advertised as premium removal in Spark, and lo and behold, the most powerful things for the next many sets ended up being 3 mana.
@@superbaas8822 despark is at least an edh staple tho
10:32 love the throat clearing! 😆 and a lot of love for Risen Reef, Temur elementals was really funny in Standard 2019-2020 on Arena. it's a pity there isn't a viable elementals deck in Explorer or Historic now...
ahem!
In Explorer (and Pioneer) I play a 5C deck with fires of inventions and elementals... And It works fine.
Haha that breath out at the end of the video
The burp / throat clear at the very end lol
Him using "all the way back" and "2008" in one context hurts me man
My last standard deck I played before my decade long hiatus was Nova Train which was an elemental deck that used Incandescent Soulstoke to Cheat out a Nova Chaser and swinging with a trampling11/3 by turn 3/4. Chaser had Champion so you would champion Harbinger to tutor a new Nova Chaser when the first was sacrificed due to Soulstoke’s ability. It was a glass cannon but when it hit it hit fast and hard
I liked elemental decks. Risen Reef decks were insanely stupid, but very fun to play.
It's always a touch sad when you remember a particular deck on one of these themes, but it's not good enough to get a mention. Using Incandescent Soulstoke to put Nova Chaser into play, championing Flamekin Harbinger, attacking for 11 trample, then sacing it at end of turn returning the Harbinger to play fetching the next Nova Chaser. Good times....
You are truly doing the Lord Urza's work in giving us this wisdom and insight. Now if only you could make our basic lands tap like the Tron lands, then you'd be ready for a Brothers War. :P
fortunately I was up late enough to watch this within the hour of it being posted.
unfortunately I was up late enough to watch this within the hour of it being posted.
I ran an Elemental deck in Time Spiral/Coldsnap/Lorwyn standard. I loved using the Harbinger to tutor up Nova Chaser, cheat it out with Incandescent Soulstoke, championing the Harbinger…rinse and repeat.
Always amazing when one card carries an entire archetype on its back. XD
Looking forward to seeing elementals put up some points in explorer..
I always loved the art on Risen Reef
Love the work bro!
Appreciate it!
I remember terrorizing people with my elemental deck during Lorwyn. Harbinger searches for a Nova Chaser and I get in for 10 when it dies repeat.
So now I feel kinda shafted, I had pretty much all those cards back in 2019 and I made an elemental deck and I wanted to play but I got delayed and then the lockdown happened and then my local TCG store went down, and I never got to find out that my stupid elemental spam could've actually been a good strategy
The only reason 4c omnath isn't the biggest wotc mistake lately is 'cause Uro is still too recent
Was hoping to see the glimpse of tomorrow deck here but I guess it hasn’t done well enough to make it. ☹️
When I was young I thought plasma elemental was the coolest thing ever
I called it Risen Beef because it looks like ground beef before you cook it.
I like Risen Reef in singleton formats, but it gets really annoying in 4-of formats. It's not the most powerful card ever printed, by far, but it can snowball so quickly if you don't have removal immediately. When you see Turn 2 Risen Reef into Turn 3 Risen Reef, you know you're not going to be having much fun from there on out. Even single-target removal often isn't enough against the new Elementals deck. It's too consistent a deck. You need sweepers, and even then you're still in for a battle.
On Arena, Elementals are cool but they've gotten pretty dang powerful as a whole, even if most of the cards aren't crazy powerful themselves (other than Omnath and other Omnath and, to a degree, Risen Reef). It's not the most-played deck on "older" Arena formats, but I see it often in Explorer that you have to be ready for it. In Modern, which I don't anymore, those evoke Elementals are stupid. I didn't know there was a Modern Elementals deck but those evoke cards alone are stupid.
tbh the modern "elementals" deck isn't as much a tribal deck, dropping the elemental tribal parts and just playing the best cards in WURG
Sliver decks or we riot!
J/k, thanks for the content.
But please talk about Slivers
I already did a sliver deck history.
I remember playing on Arena when Risen Reef came out and it was miserable. 2/3 of the decks became that one deck. I don't know why they feel like they have to push blue green so hard all the time but they keep doing it.
All versions of Omnath approved
The first deck I ever built was around risen reef. So I have a very soft spot for it.