Which Sword to use?
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 5, 2014, 11:34 p.m. by selesvyaloverer8
I run
in modern at my local meta that is rife with UR Delver, Burn, Storm, affinity, and singular copies of Scapeshift, and RG Tron. Which sword should i play, Sword of Feast and Famine or Sword of War and Peace. These swords would replace the raise the alarms as a three-of
Every deck you listed has either Red, Blue, or both. Why wouldn't you be using Sword of Fire and Ice to begin with??
December 6, 2014 12:02 a.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #4
burn is the only deck that i have a bad matchup against and the only way to stabilize against burn is lifegain. sword of fire and ice can do as much damage as it wants and draw me as many cards as it wants but it will not stop me from my face being fried into a crisp.
December 6, 2014 12:08 a.m.
Sword of Fire and Ice would be by far the best fit. But if you can't afford it, Sword of War and Peace would probably be your next best bet.
December 6, 2014 12:18 a.m.
notamardybum says... #8
war and peace did quite a number against my delver list
December 6, 2014 12:37 a.m.
WaP is great against Zoo, too. Personally my fav is FaF, but you don't seem to encounter BGx so it's probably subpar.
December 6, 2014 12:50 a.m.
For starters, basically no deck wants 3 swords. They are powerful but clunky and much to prone to you getting huge tempo losses every time you go to equip. 2 is probably the max you'd want. Also, I haven't played a ton of BW Tokens, but Raise the Alarm seems way to important to be cutting. Cutting a 1/3rd of your token generation seems real bad with 6 anthems in the deck. 25 lands seems very high as well, I'd consider shaving to 23.
Honestly, Sword of War and Peace is kind of terrible. Granted it has the best color protection in Modern, though not that a token deck cares much about Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, etc. But the real issue with Sword of War and Peace is that unlike the other swords it offers no ability to grind out a game. Dealing and gaining life is still neutral on the board state and hands, where as every other sword has the ability to take over a game by itself.
It might still be the right answer in a field with a lot of burn and Steam Vents decks, but I'm just not a huge fan of it over basically any other sword sans Sword of Body and Mind. I'd probably just jam the Batterskull over Sword of War and Peace. Or just mainboard some Auriok Champion or Kor Firewalker.
December 6, 2014 1:42 a.m.
I honestly have to disagree. Sword of Feast and Famine is terrible in a deck where you have no card draw. Untapping your lands does nothing for you if you don't have cards to play. Sword of Body and Mind is obviously just bad. So if he can't afford Fire and Ice, then War and Peace is his only real option. I'm not quite sure how it doesn't grind out games. It pushes through extra damage, while potentially gaining you a little life. Granted, its not back breaking, but I would absolutely say it can grind out games. Batterskull might not be a bad call though, especially since you're running a pretty high land count. It's just going to be a little slower than the swords.
December 6, 2014 2 a.m.
kmcree Even without card draw Sword of Feast and Famine is quite good. At worst you get to move the sword around for profitable blocks, and at best you get to make some huge tempo jumps. Combine that with forcing them to top deck every turn is much stronger than I think you are giving it credit.
What I mean by Sword of War and Peace not being able to grind out games is that unlike the others there's no card advantage exchanges going on, unless maybe you're playing against actual Lava Spikes and such. For instance, let's say you connect a few times with a sword and then finally your opponent top decks an Abrupt Decay for it. All the other swords have put your opponent still really far behind by either recurring creatures, drawing cards, etc. Sword of War and Peace leaves the board and nothing has changed except some life totals. I'm just also not a huge fan of it in actual play either, usually once it hits the board and then gets equipped hand sizes are getting pretty slim. It actually tends to get worse the longer the game goes.
That's not to say it's the worst Magic card ever, but I'd rather have better upside if I'm taking on the risk of a sword in Modern.
December 6, 2014 2:22 a.m.
rockleemyhero says... #14
as mentioned above, the best sword would be mb Auriok Champion or even Kor Firewalker.
all sassiness aside, no sword is going to help you against those decks. It would probably hurt you, or be neutral at best. If you're really struggling with red based decks, i would go with one of the hatebears above. The swords are just too slow and prone to wasting mana on equipping. All of those red decks will easily be able to instant speed kill your dudes as you shell out the mana to equip your stuff.
December 6, 2014 2:48 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #15
Playing three swords is terrible. Raise the Alarm should really be a four-of in your deck.
December 6, 2014 10:10 a.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #16
my deck is based on Craig Wescoe's BW tokens in which he plays 25 lands, 3 token makers, Squadron Hawk, Lingering Souls, and Spectral Procession; and 3 Sword of War and Peace. The Craig Wescoe deck was made in anticipation of a meta full of Zoo, an aggressive creature based deck with burn reach.
December 6, 2014 10:32 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #17
I'm aware of what Zoo is. The problem is that it's not a prevalent deck, and I maintain that your deck shouldn't be playing three swords as they are very clunky in multiples.
December 6, 2014 10:49 a.m.
i kept both fire and ice and feast and famine in SB, both are pretty relevant. Fire and ice particularly.
December 6, 2014 10:53 a.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #19
Im saying that good cards against zoo have the potential to be good against burn because they have similar premises. That may be wildly incorrect b/c i am not that experienced in modern but thats how it seems to me.
December 6, 2014 10:55 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #20
To be completely honest, the card is just a little too slow against Burn to be worth playing over Raise the Alarm. It takes you a whole turn to cast, then part of turn 4 to equip, and often the burn player will just have a removal spell for the creature you equip it to. It's really not where you want to be. Sideboarding Leyline of Sanctity is strong, however.
December 6, 2014 11:23 a.m.
There are only two swords that are worth considering. These are Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of War and Peace. All of the others are simply not worth the spot. With the advent of Treasure Cruise, Sword of War and Peace might become the better choice.
December 6, 2014 11:25 a.m.
And I just read your description-Do not replace Raise the Alarm. That should be an automatic 4 of.
December 6, 2014 11:26 a.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #23
after playtesting and after all of the great points made for fire and ice thats what ill go with as a 1 of alongside batterskull until i can pick up the second. i will also get rid of Intangible Virtue because it is often dead and keep 3 raise the alarm. i will also side out the sword and the batterskull and some others to put in Kor Firewalker and Timely Reinforcements. thanks for the insight.
December 6, 2014 11:28 a.m.
Generally, in modern, Fire and Ice is king, and War and Peace/Light and Shadow are sometimes managable. Commander and Legacy is a totally different story.
December 6, 2014 2:35 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #25
xzzane I find War and Peace to be too inconsistent to rely upon, whereas Fire and Ice does a thing, and will always do that thing upon triggering. Even with Cruise, War and Peace is inconsistent, and really easy to play around.
I also disagree with you saying the other swords are bad, because Feast and Famine is decent, even though B/G/x is not prevalent, and Light and Shadow is amazing in creature decks. If you were talking with the context of specifically BW Tokens, what you said makes a lot more sense, but all swords can be decent. War and Peace is the most inconsistent, while still potentially being strong.
December 6, 2014 6:57 p.m.
Oh I was specifically referring to b/w token decks. And Melissa DeTora, one of the few competitive players with b/w tokens uses war and peace in her newest build.
JexInfinite says... #2
Don't run a sword unless it's Sword of Fire and Ice. That's the best one, and there is no replacement for it.
December 5, 2014 11:41 p.m.