Bow of Nylea is good now?
Standard forum
Posted on Jan. 28, 2015, 9:24 a.m. by Rasta_Viking29
After playing my Jund deck last night I was in need of some lifegain went looking for a solution. Whip of Erebos is not supported by the mana base and couldn't be so it was ruled out. A quick search pulled up Bow of Nylea which in the past has been terrible being a terrible tempo play while requiring 5 mana to get a lackluster effect for that investment. Without a way to repeatedly activate it It just wasn't worth it.
One card changes it all: Frontier Siege
This card is great and is seeing heavy play right now. Even with the all the phases you don't use the mana it is worth running. Bow is the perfect mana sink for Frontier Siege and helps your deck get a ton more value out of the mana. Dumping a counter onto your Courser/Caryatid is helpful, gaining 3 life a turn crushes aggro, 2 damage to a flyer is meh but can team with burn/Bile Blight to kill dragons, and sculpting your graveyard when run alongside Tasigur might be the most powerful thing you can do.
What do you guys think of the Frontier Siege + Bow of Nylea interaction?
Rasta_Viking29 says... #5
EmblemMan Bow would not make Frontier Siege playable, it pulls it's own weight. The siege on the other hand might make Bow playable whereas it was bad before.
January 28, 2015 10:34 a.m.
Idk im not a huge fan of the sieges I just think they are a little underwhelming but if it works for you great.
January 28, 2015 10:42 a.m.
i like it a lot rasta! i definitely think it can be quite powerful in the right setting.
January 28, 2015 10:59 a.m.
The Doctor says... #8
January 28, 2015 11:30 a.m.
Ditto to questioning Frontier Siege seeing heavy play.
January 28, 2015 11:34 a.m.
The Doctor says... #10
If anything, I can see it used in an offhand jund reanimator deck that abuses Hornet Queen
January 28, 2015 11:40 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #11
January 28, 2015 11:48 a.m.
The Doctor says... #12
I'm very much involved in the standard meta, I just don't see how it's a viable card.
January 28, 2015 11:50 a.m.
So a 5th place deck ran 3, and a 54th place deck ran 4. On the first weekend a new set is legal. shrug
Seems like, as TheDoctor mentioned that a reanimator strategy will like it most because those decks have something they always want to be casting. I don't see it working in something like RG monsters or really any other prominent deck type.
January 28, 2015 11:53 a.m.
Heavy is an overstatement, but there were 11 copies in the top 9 of SCG DC.
January 28, 2015 11:54 a.m.
julianjmoss says... #16
Frontier siege sees play and the question was with it being played, is the bow better. I think bow is good but with siege, there are way better mans sinks as seen by last weekends standard open
January 28, 2015 11:59 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #17
Okay change that to "poised to see heavy play" if it helps you evaluate the interaction better... I feel like I'm herding hens here.
January 28, 2015 12:03 p.m.
The Doctor says... #18
Keep in mind that a huge portion of these articles is to boost prices of cards that are not selling that may see fringe play.
January 28, 2015 12:08 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #19
julianjmoss what sinks do you like best? Tasigur is great because he is repeatable. Polukranos gets his X up'd by one which is nice but it's a one time thing. I feel like a deck running those 2 is still leaving mana behind and can achieve greater efficiency.
January 28, 2015 12:12 p.m.
The narrow interaction of Bow + Siege is just that: narrow. There will be certain times (recurring Flamewake Phoenix for example) where it could be great. But gaining life just for the sake of gaining life or throwing a +1/+1 counter on a Sylvan Caryatid? I think the problem with Bow is that it doesn't win you the game, it just supports and supports narrow interactions. So the question becomes "Does Bow of Nylea have enough relevance in the majority of matchups to be run?" and I think the answer is no. Local meta dependent perhaps it's a sideboard card, but I think if someone wants to run Frontier Siege they're going to be jamming Whipped Hornet Queen and friends down your throat.
Also, artificial price inflation as was mentioned.
January 28, 2015 12:17 p.m.
gnarlicide says... #21
Shit, I am on that Bow of Nylea in Modern against affinity
Stops em dead in their tracks
January 28, 2015 12:49 p.m.
I think it's funny how Fate Reforge has only been legal for one weekend of events and yet someone's initial response was ... "Frontier Siege sees heavy play? That thing sucks in standard". Like, I'm sorry, but are you apart of the FFL??? Do you somehow have years of experience with a card that's been standard legal for less than a week?? Or, are you just saying random things and declaring them as true?
I'd say the last option is probably the most likely scenario. Especially considering you weren't even aware that there were decks running multiple copies of it that made Top 8 in the only event played since Fate Reforged has been legal. I mean, I guess you could be all knowing and those players only Top 8'd on pure luck. But that's just far more unlikely than you being wrong.
January 28, 2015 1:16 p.m.
Nigeltastic says... #23
I think Bow of Nylea is sweet and stands on its own legs. If Frontier Siege has another reason to be in the deck and they work well together, that's all gravy, but I think bow is already good as it's insanely versatile.
January 28, 2015 1:42 p.m.
julianjmoss says... #24
Let me rephrase that then. In the one tournament, we saw how impactful and successful siege was. It turns hornet queen into a board wipe accelerates into ugin or other fatties. Four mana per turn is pretty big especially with an engine like eidelon of countless blossoms. There is a lot of room for it to be proven bad but I played it at my shops tournament this weekend and won 1st among 30 people. That card was my mvp
January 28, 2015 1:45 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #25
yes, these articles written about the top 8/64 with a bunch of decks running Frontier Siege are all about inflating the price of Frontier Siege. To the person who said RG cant benefit: Frontier Siege+Purphoros/Hammer of Purphoros is a thing as well.
Im not opposed to sitting back and observing the meta for a few weeks to see how things actually develop but to disregard strategies that clearly worked with a card seems a bit bougie to me.
January 28, 2015 3:23 p.m.
The Doctor says... #26
The thing about Frontier Siege is that unless you have something to continuously pump the mana into, it's pretty much useless after the second turn it's been out, because by then you've hit your curve.
January 28, 2015 8:01 p.m.
I just love to see people being wrong, yet so confident about cards being bad. The same goes for Tasigur.
January 29, 2015 5:36 a.m.
The Doctor says... #28
Tasigur is a fantastic card. Where did you ever see people saying he's bad?
January 29, 2015 12:19 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #29
I've seen people saying they think Tasigur is overrated as well. There's spin doctors on both sides of the equation guys
EmblemMan says... #2
I think its one of those things where if your looking for something to make frontier siege usefull then frontier siege isnt that useful. Meaning if frontier siege is not really doing much but activating the bow for free each turn it really isnt doing much good. Thats just my opinion though.
January 28, 2015 9:38 a.m.