Modern forum
Posted on April 18, 2014, 1:46 a.m. by tyforthevenom
Is there a way to use this in competitive modern? Pulled a playset from a box last night
tyforthevenom says... #3
Well why pay 4 when you could exile a card costing less than 4
April 18, 2014 3:59 a.m.
Modern is known as the format of decks that "Win by turn four, or decks that prevent that". Prototype Portal comes DOWN on turn 4, then doesn't do anything until turn 5, assuming what you imprinted is better than what you had planned for that turn anyways.
Also, why not just play the less-than-4-drop you imprinted? It'd save you a whole turn, really.
April 18, 2014 4:32 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #5
In modern if you play a 4 mana card turn 4 you clearly havent built your deck right you should have it out turn 2 or 3
April 18, 2014 6:56 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #6
Prototype Portal Lotus Bloom saves 3 turns can use portal immediately and gives lots of mana ramp
April 18, 2014 7:06 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
Lotus Bloom has suspend 3. You can't save three turns with it unless you cheat the original out somehow. If you can do that, it probably isn't worth using Prototype Portal .
The thing is, Prototype Portal is a support card. It's just hard to use properly because it's slow, clunky, and underpowered compared to all the other cards any given deck could run.
April 18, 2014 10:16 a.m.
AnagonLordofSnakes says... #8
In casual it's pretty "fun" to copy artifact lands such as Great Furnace .
April 18, 2014 10:33 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #9
Epochalyptik thing is lotus bloom would be cheated out by prototype portal because you exile it from your hand and then pay it's 0 cmc to get it onto the field each turn
April 18, 2014 10:56 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #10
working the same way as cascade would in a similar situation
April 18, 2014 10:58 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #11
Yes, but you need to cast Prototype Portal first. Your post implied that you'd use Lotus Bloom to play Prototype Portal three turns early, which you can't do because Lotus Bloom has suspend 3. To cheat Prototype Portal out early, you'd need a way to cheat Lotus Bloom out early. At that point, you don't need the Prototype Portal . You could be doing more productive things with the "free" mana.
April 18, 2014 11 a.m.
I use a Prototype Portal in Arcum Dagsson EDH, but that's a different format and it makes sense. My attempts to use it in Modern have been tough. Had one janky artifact build with Training Grounds that used it, but it never really shined there. Only times I've enjoyed playing Prototype Portal is with an Ornithopter imprinted because thopter's are badass or with a Mindslaver in EDH.
April 18, 2014 11:04 a.m.
tyforthevenom says... #13
i figured my post and the way i specifically put the portal in front implied the opposite, and i've already figured out that turn 1 modern you can have 5 lands on turn 1 (though would also mean your hand is empty) and can't cast anything
April 18, 2014 11:04 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #14
At that point, you're still waiting to cast Prototype Portal . It's fine to theorize about what you could do if you had a given card on the battlefield, but if you want to speculate about how the card would perform, you need to consider that it takes up space in your deck, has a casting cost, and is vulnerable to removal.
If Prototype Portal is destroyed or otherwise removed, you get two-for-oned because you lose the imprinted card as well. On top of that, Prototype Portal effectively has an additional casting cost of "exile a card from your hand," and it doesn't come down until later in the game. Even with ramp, you need to consider what else you could be playing for 4 mana that would give you the edge in the game.
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but you need to consider all of the scenarios rather than just the ideal ones. The fact is that there will be times when you don't want to see Prototype Portal because of how slow and expensive it is. It can't save a game for you if you're low on time and resources. It takes a lot of resources to start up. These are things to consider.
Epochalyptik says... #2
Not really. There's just such a high cost associated with it. You have to pay 4 to cast it, exile an artifact card from your hand when it resolves, and pay 4 to use its ability once per turn cycle. It's too slow and clunky for competitive Modern play.
It's useful in EDH and casual, though. I used a few in an old, old, old modular deck to pump out tokens of artifact lands and modular weenies.
April 18, 2014 1:49 a.m.