Anticipate in Modern
Modern forum
Posted on June 3, 2015, 9:41 a.m. by BadumPsh
I've loved Anticipate's presence in Standard, and I'm wondering where it fits best in Modern. I can see it being played to sift for answers in control, or grabbing a Young Pyromancer in tempo, or getting a good combo piece in combo decks. I haven't seen it being played much, but I really enjoy casting it. So where does it belong? UW/U Tron? Delver? Esper Control? Scapeshift? I'd like to hear some thoughts, I'm really psyched to play it.
I will see a bit of play, but with Impulse around, it wont see much play.
June 3, 2015 9:56 a.m.
I don't see any printings of Impulse that are legal in Modern, I might just be missing something.
June 3, 2015 10:08 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #6
Good in Scapeshift and Jeskai (sometimes), maybe Storm.
June 3, 2015 10:30 a.m.
I saw someone playing it in Twin and I cringed. It really can't be THAT much better than Telling Time if better at all, so I don't know why people bother.
June 3, 2015 10:44 a.m.
I ran two in Twin for a little while, but I eventually ended up cutting them. Modern is just too focused on interacting early and often for most of the decks. Most decks can't afford to just take a full turn off.
I did however enjoy having them for post-board games. Modern sideboards are really strong relative to the rest of the deck and drawing your sideboard card is often the difference of an easy win or.
I think there's a pretty simple test though. Was the deck already running Telling Time? Then it might be interested in Anticipate as a replacement or addition to that. For everything else, it's probably not worth it.
June 3, 2015 10:46 a.m.
That's the thing, Telling Time saw 0 modern play (maybe Scapeshift) before Anticipate and now everybody is jizzing on Anticipate and calling it the next great thing. Compare it to Think Twice - yeah, card advantage is great, but 2 mana for 1 card is too slow for modern.
June 3, 2015 10:50 a.m.
I see the point. I guess the only advantage Anticipate gains over Telling Time is that it pushes a card further through the deck (by not putting a card on top). Which can be good or bad, depending on the deck.
June 3, 2015 10:58 a.m.
filledelanuit says... #12
I have played it in raper control and tested it in storm but it ended up being bad in storm . I played 3 in esper.
June 3, 2015 11:35 a.m.
I run three copies in a creature heavy UW midrange. It's pretty nice in pretty much every matchup. I've yet to have problems with it. It's like a mini dig through time.
June 3, 2015 12:15 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #14
I play the full four in Grixis Twin (for lack of Serum Visions), and it works out quite well. I can keep two mana up for the turn to get em with an Izzet Charm, Bolt a dude, hold Remand, or just dig 3 cards deep with Anticipate. I'm a really big fan of the card, leagues better than Telling Time due to lack of commitment. Most of my deck being 1-2 mana instant spells helps a lot as well, because there's just no way for the opponent to know what i'm going to do in any given turn.
June 3, 2015 12:33 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #15
You can shoehorn it into tempo decks, or run it in combo-centric blue decks.
JWiley129 says... #2
I've been playing Anticipate as a 2-of in my Storm deck and liking what I've seen from it. Sometimes it stinks when you're constrained on mana, but often it's a 1-mana cantrip.
June 3, 2015 9:45 a.m.