Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, value in modern?
Modern forum
Posted on Sept. 15, 2013, 12:05 p.m. by Femme_Fatale
I've been wanting to try out Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in many of my decks, however I'm not too sure just exactly what deck has the right criteria for this card to be useful. But I have found some criteria, which may very well be wrong, I'll list them below but I was wondering if anyone else has found anything through playtesting they'd like to share. It'll help me decide which decks that I have that this card could go into.
Not good in decks with:
- no, or a limited amount of, creatures
- too many colours
- creatures without very much devotion
- aggro
- control
- small number of lands
Good in decks with:
- Everything that is opposite of not good.
- Ramp to powerful creatures like Elfdrazi decks
- X decks, like hydra's or Banefire
Ohthenoises says... #3
Elfball. Also, people are forgetting that the new legend rule allows you to chain the land together much like Mox Opal in Affinity. Play the land, tap it, play the one from hand, tap that one, end up with a TON of mana to play Craterhoof Behemoth .
September 15, 2013 2:02 p.m.
hyperlocke says... #4
Just by the way, devotion cares about permanents, not creatures.
September 15, 2013 2:04 p.m.
HellkiteHassler says... #5
Well yeah but it doesn't count lands so you're left with Artifacts, which are mostly colorless, Planeswalkers, and enchantments. I guess it may work out well in an Auras build to drop your hand more easily.
Creatures are at the top of the list because they're the easiest way to get devotion and still have a deck that works well.
September 15, 2013 3:41 p.m.
hyperlocke says... #6
You're right, of course. I just wanted to point that out.
September 15, 2013 4:20 p.m.
HellkiteHassler says... #7
It's appreciated, I actually made the same point to a couple of friends who were adamant that it'd only work well in a creature build. I've seen a few enchantment/control builds that work well with devotion. I actually wanted to try out some kind of U/W/R build with Assemble the Legion and Blind Obedience for a white devotion/token deck.
September 15, 2013 4:28 p.m.
I find that the card by itself brings back elves as a contender in modern. FOr elves, I can argue that is is actually better than Gaea's Cradle because it counts symbols not creatures so emystic and ezuri are worth two. I am playing this deck right now on cockatrice: The Elves Are Praying and the only loss it has is to rg tron because of pyroclasm. I love it!
September 15, 2013 4:55 p.m.
Perspective check.
A land that does nothing until you have three mana symbols' worth of permanents into play, and nothing more than a basic land until you have at least four, is a recipe for disaster in a fast format with tons and tons of removal. I would be very, very surprised to see this in any tier 1 deck in Modern, or even any tier 2 deck. It's a very slow land. Very slow land is simply a non-starter.
I also have no idea what it does for elves. The reason why Elves is not a tier 1 Modern deck has absolutely nothing to do with it not being able to produce enough mana.
September 16, 2013 12:40 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #11
Barandis serves us a good point. A land that does not give us any mana till earliest turn 3, and would generally not be productive till turn 4-5, is a worthless card. So to wait till a land to be a good drop by that time in which we should already be winning or have already one is not very good. And it wouldn't be very good in tribal decks, as most tribal decks have their own form of ramp, and low mana cost creatures. Elves alone do not need the shrine. Goblins would be hindered greatly because if we ended up with only the shrine and a mountain in our hand we would be shot a turn or two. Merfolk have AEther Vial . Kor has Paradise Mantle , and is really low enough as it is to not be worried by that. Allies have Harabaz Druid . Walls have Axebane Guardian . Everything green has Birds of Paradise .
So the point we have made: the shrine will not see superior modern play.
September 16, 2013 2:14 a.m.
"Other than creatures is only enchaments and planeswalkers..."
Ya, like leylines. And most 2 devotion mono-colored planeswalkers? Garruk wildspeaker comes to mind with the innate ability to even untap your shrine and take it further.
I think people are forgetting that shrine taps for colourless. Its not "useless until t3".
Urza tron lands are bad... they only tap for a colourless until at least t3!? RIGHT!? oh no, that's the opposite of what is true. Tron lands are amazing.
Is it good? I don't know for sure, but I'll list an idea. Maybe it can be grown on.
T1 - leyline of lifeforce, birds of paradiseT2 - BTE, into shrine for 5. Cast wildspeaker, untap lands, tap for 7, cast karn, liberated.
Is that doable in a real deck? Beats me. But its a start.
HellkiteHassler says... #2
I don't think it'll see much modern play since it's a Legendary Land, so you can only use one at a time, also nonbasic hate in modern is way too commonplace with stuff like Avalanche Riders , Fulminator Mage , and Tectonic Edge .
I would think it can work very well in mono color tribal builds like Goblins, Elves, or Merfolk that have a lot of good devotion cards like Elvish Archdruid , Master of the Pearl Trident / Lord of Atlantis , or Goblin Chieftain / Warren Instigator .
Basically what you mentioned above, heavy creature builds with little color diversity will benefit from this card in some instances, but I don't think it's good enough on it's own or consistent enough to see heavy modern play. That's just a prediction though, they could release new cards in this block that prove me wrong.
September 15, 2013 12:21 p.m.