Discussion on Magic: the Gathering's Modern format plus its decks, cards, tournament results, and more!
[Mythic]
Phyrexian Vidicator (W)(W)(W)(W)
Creature - Phyrexian Horror
5/5
Flying
If damage would be dealt to Phyrexian Vindicator, prevent that damage. When damage is prevented this way, Phyrexian Vindicator deals that much damage to any other target.
Source: https://twitter.com/SaffronOlive/status/1617498906312728581?t=kt-3eZVs-xnXj7LC6dK1kQ&s=19
Holy hell this card is nuts! Can't be blocked or you'll lose the creature blocking it. Can't be unholy heated because the damage will be thrown back at you. Your only way to kill this thing is with Fatal Push, Solitude, or any other "destroy/exile target creature" spell, or dress down.
This card will see just as much play in modern as obliterator does.
I already put in my pre order for 0
“Hi, StarCityGames, it’s me again, there’s a few other overhyped mythics I’d like to NOT preorder”
“Can you please stop calling us?”
There are some White Nykthos decks in Pioneer, but 4 mana with no Haste or ETB is unlikely to find a home in Modern, even if it is immune to several commonly played removal spells.
Neat that this converts Unholy Heat, Asmo activations, Eiganjo Channels, etc into 6 to the dome though, there might be some meme deck potential there.
I might try one copy in my pioneer mono white angels sideboard. But not being able to hit it off Kayla’s Reconstruction is a bit of a shame.
It matches nicely against Murktide.
It’s a smidge better. Being able to send your own Unholy Heats at it to dome your opponent is cute. It will still see zero play though.
While I think it's unlikely, I wouldn't say zero play that confidently. 4 mana is the top end of playable, but it definitely is still modern playable.
I think this is sort of on the bubble of being playable/good, so I expect to see some people brew with it, just remains to see if it's good enough. (I would agree probably not though)
Red really has no answer I can think of.
It feels even worse.
Obliterator at least had some super fringe decks that used Fight effects to trigger it. This doesn't even translate damage into something interesting, just more damage.
[[Bonecrusher Giant]] and [[Skullcrack]] also think this card is hilarious.
[[leyline binding]] is even more hilarious.
Take a whole turn off to cast this thing T4ish and do nothing, oppo answers it with W.
leyline binding - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call
Bonecrusher Giant/Stomp - (G) (SF) (txt)
Skullcrack - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call
What do you mean? Obliterator is being used all over the place.
Idk if you’re being sarcastic or not but it sees zero competitive modern play.
Murktide is a 2 mana bigger flyer that also doesnt die to red removal and doesnt die to fatal push, I don't think this will see play in modern.
Murktide requires setup and has a deckbuilding cost, it's not exactly a 1:1 comparison. Delving 5 isn't free, much less exiling 3 Int/Sor's to make it bigger.
Vindicator also hits above it's weight class, so realistically it has to exile 4 or 5 Int/Sors to deal more damage.
You could have just said non-red removal. And of note, [[Stomp]] + another red removal spell or a blocker does beat this. Won't happen often but it's worth keeping in mind.
While probably not all too noteworthy, you can play your own unholy heat on this to dome the opponent for 6, which is kinda sweet.
Sidenote, I now want to try a seismic swans + fury shell involving possibly this card. The wheels are turning kids
Good luck figuring out how to make the mana work, lol
Straight white red maybe?
Honestly I'd be interested in trying it as a package in the Boros lotus field shell. Swans are for sure too cute, but in a Fury Ephemerate shell this thing can basically just kill someone.
This reminds me of the time I baited my opponent into blocking my [[Goblin Guide]] with their [[Master of Waves]], only to hit them with a [[Skullcrack]] before damage. I wonder how successfully one could do that with this card.
Goblin Guide - (G) (SF) (txt)
Master of Waves - (G) (SF) (txt)
Skullcrack - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call
Bonecrusher used to be quite popular in the format but has basically vanished with rhinos shifting off of it and those mono-R midrangey decks vanishing.
It's all over pioneer though, where this card could otherwise see more play.
Tell that to the guy who beat my Mark of Asylum with Stomp into Fury not too long ago :(
Do you play elves?
That's what I was playing that day, yeah.
What about [[Corpse Lunge]]
You are totally right. Shameful of me to forget 😩
Corpse Lunge - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call
Stomp/Stomp - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call
You left off a couple removal spells in your list. Terminate kills it right away, Teferis and Brazen Borrower bounce it with no problem, Leyline Binding makes it a joke. Completely unplayable, just like Obliterator. Very cool card though.
I'm not listing every kind of removal. Obviously, that list is still very long. But that doesn't mean that this card isn't still quite hard to remove.
It’s remarkably easy to kill. Same as Obliterator. Its downside is arguably weaker than Obliterators. This won’t see play anywhere in Modern.
Obliterator doesn't prevent damage.
This and obliterator both have the upside of “go ahead, try to deal me damage.”
Sadly, in modern the removal is extremely diverse and being immune to one single type of removal doesn’t get you very far.
No, it just makes you sac that many permanents instead 🙄
Brother, of your only answer to Obliterator is to deal 5 damage to it you are fucked. You are losing that game >90% of the time. And yet, Obliterator sees 0 play.
Like, just think about this critically, what does this do that Obliterator cannot...?
It's so rarely correct to sac 5 permanents to kill obliterator that it may as well
It actually does mean that though. I realise this is Modern and there are fewer ways to remove things than something like Legacy, but the amount of removal that exists outside of 'Deal X damage to target creature' is pretty insane.
Hell, even something stupid like Beast Within completely ruins this card. There's a reason Oblierator isn't played in Modern except in incredibly fringe decks. This card will end up having the same fate unless somebody can find some way to completely break it.
If this is unplayable for you, you must be very bad at the game. It’s easy to only consider playable the top tier decks of the meta at the moment.
Even easier to look at the card and understand it objectively sucks.
Your opinion is objectively wrong
How is this better than obliterator?
I, too, was a thirteen year old Timmy once.
Then you became a condescending 40 year old Spike wannabe?
Yes
Nah, I'm not even that competitive. But a bad card's a bad card. You can get mad at me all you want, but the card's still worse than Obliterator in most cases, and Obliterator is nowhere near Modern playable and never has been regardless of meta changes.
What deck wants thos card?
This is Modern subreddit. The card is good in Standard, no doubt.
It’s a very mana intensive card that would hardly find place in a 3 color deck and with how it lines with the format’s removal I don’t think that it’s going to see much play anywhere
Comment deleted by user
I'm starting to get a little weirded out by you following me around in this sub and posting about me, my guy.
Also, I don't really think my comment was in "the rudest way possible" - it's just sometimes you have to be straightforward with people on here when they get stuck in their heads about a card being good or bad. In this case, you tried to take the time to nicely explain to the poster why the card was bad, and they still rebuffed you. I could probably be a bit kinder on here at times, sure, but not everyone here deserves kindness when they get locked in stubborn, argumentative mentalities.
so everything that isn’t top tier meta = unplayable?
That means the top tier cards aren’t top tier anymore, only humbly playable.
It’s playable in the sense that you will be allowed to play it in your deck.
It’s still not good, of course.
"There are a few things, that are unavoidable: Death, Taxes and people playing bad white creatures"
This is definitely not bad, but it’s bad for modern and older formats. We’ve come a long way from juzam and ernham..
It's neat that it beats murktide in combat but idk what else it could be used for.
I can think of about 3 decent combos that win you the game. (I only play edh. Miss me with that modern bull)
Guilty conscience (infinite combo win-con for 5 white mana. You just need to attack)
Pariah (makes you not die from combat damage. It's a decent 3 cost card that makes it so the creature takes your damage instead, allowing you to smack someone else with it. Only problem is that it's not instant speed.)
Anything that gives lifelink and aetherflux reservoir. If the creature has lifelink you just pay 50 life and have it deal 50 damage and then regain ut infinitely.
Edit: pariah won't win you the game
This will see as much play as phyrexian obliterator. Which is 0. It is absurdly easy to remove with a very restrictive mana cost. I don't even think it is better than obliterator as the sac clause is more deadly than this. 0/10 and unplayable and far from "holy hell this card is nuts".
Can we just have a sticky threads during spoiler season instead of having random people starting threads about niche and sort of garbage cards for modern?
Niche threads hyping garbage cards is a new set tradition~. Really is revealing as to how many people on this subreddit have regularly played modern in the last 5 years or so lol.
I think they only are allowed two stickies or something? We should have one for spoilers, one for budget decks, and more stickies
This card is garbage in Modern lmao. 4 mana creatures need to do a lot more than attack or block to be playable.
Pioneer stuff. It can hit face but it’s not as brutal board-wise as obliterator.
I don’t even think this is good in Pioneer.
Can I have a [[Phyrexian Professor]] in blue that draw cards on damage ?
Like swans but better?
Next UN Set probably.
“Each opponent mills twice that many cards”.
To add to everything everyone already said, OG Phyrexian Obliterator has never been Modern playable in the first place. Like, not even in 2011, since Path to Exile and [[Oust]] were part of the format since day 1 and the cost was just too restrictive - Infect was already a thing and able to kill you before you dropped a 5/5 on turn 4 which basically read merely as "unblockable".
Said that, I love this new take! I'll be making some real jank with this fella, [[Boros Reckoner]] and [[Blasphemous Act]]. I wouldn't discount this guy from showing up in a League at least once before the end of times, since not too long ago a very similar deck went 5-0.
Oust - (G) (SF) (txt)
Boros Reckoner - (G) (SF) (txt)
Blasphemous Act - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call
Brutal for red based decks, better have the opponent within burn range when this hits
This is bad for modern, only good against red. 4 cmc makes it easy to counter it, dies to Archon triggers, dies to terminate, can easily be discarded by Grief, can easily die to Living End, decks that play Solitude and haven't you seen Leyline Binding? There's tons of removal. This card is only good in standard and probably pioneer but not good enough for modern.
You know what else dies to all that stuff? The entire mtg metta, and they still see play.
Im gonna counterspell your comment.
So does everything else.
Like everything else
Like everything else
Like everything else
Like everything else
Yes, but unlike every other creature which can be removed with everything, there is a certain group of decks that have a significantly harder time outing this than other creatures, namely red decks.
Only mono red decks. This card is bad for modern that's it. Even being "good" against red decks like Scam or burn, those decks can easily win against a deck that plays this. Yeah dies to removal, but why play a 4cmc creature and wait until turn 5 to do something if still it's going to die?
Murktide can’t beat this game one outside their brazen borrower. Card isn’t great but it isn’t awful
Can I Counterspell this reply
Creatures die to removal is fine, it's what value do you get if it doesn't get removed?? You get a 5/5 flyer that can still be chumped
Its not really chumping it since any damage dealt to it is inflicted to either the enemy or another of their creatures.
Yeah but that's not hitting face, which means it's literally being chump blocked. Either way a 5/5 unblockable for 4 isn't playing played in modern
Sheesh why was this down voted so hard?
Eh, in the interests of education I can explain:
The meta-narrative ("this card is insane") is something most modern player strongly disagree with. This card is highly unlikely to be good in modern. 4 Mana threats should be game-ending or at least game-stabilizing (yawg, creativity, omnath). This doesn't manage to outrace or stabilize against much of anything top tier, making it a poor choice, not the least of which because it costs WWWW.
The specific narrative here is wrong/ bad faith. The point the first poster is making is clear to competitive players: The reason you don't like this being removable is because you sank 4 mana into it for no effect. You're less likely to think Ornithopter being killed is bad for example because it cost 0 mana. If someone is terminating an Esper Sentinel while you draw a card, that's fine. When an Archon enters play and you go +3 cards, you're ok with someone removing it, etc.
Basically, most people are reading this as a bad faith argument from someone who doesn't play competitive modern attacking a reasonable argument from someone who does play modern.
I think.what you are missing that took me a long time to kind of understand is...
You are paying 4 mana on 4 at the earliest...
Fuck if let's say 2 at the earliest with arbor elf +sprawl which also sees no play anymore cuz combo wombo creature decks are bad unless they end the game (heliod, maybe the new zombie combo)
Now you'd need something that would prob want to take advantage in color. Let's say a fight spell. So now that means you needed to have 4 card specifically in hand (cuz you'd need temple garden.
Let's say you have some sort of insane nut and can do naya and fury it on t2. To what end. Firstly. That also would require 5 cards.
Note we can do this a turn later with a normal mana dork and and 2 less cards...
But still. You waste how many resources to something that does to the most commonly played cremoval.
Sure they have to have it... But still... It's a bad plan.
Really imo it might work in an abzan shell with obliterator.
But once again.
Name a 4 mana creature that does nothing when it comes out.
Everything at that stage has to be able.to do something on ETB or provide some value/tax in terms of changing the board state alone.
The reason new norn will be playable may be at 5 is cuz it is an insane tax.
The reason yawgmoth works is cuz it can end the game and destroy your board immediately
Believe me I want to believe... I just I'm not sure it's gonna make a significant dent cuz the removal in modern is wild and that's why everything ppl play higher up in CMC has immediate value or can actually end the game.
Why does everything in this post say Phyrexian Vindicator but the card image says Phyrexian Exemplar? Am I missing something??
Image you see is a direct translation. The english version of the card is vindicator.
Ahhh ok gotcha. Thanks
Could always Invoke Justice it to get a 9/9 flyer on turn 5, but that combo is better suited for Standard.
Vindicator? I hardly knew her!
This car + Boros Reckoner + Blasphemous Act is maybe something?