Boats full of gold and Modern!!!

Hi Everyone!

As you all know, Khans of Tarkir held two cards in addition to fetch lands that are new and exciting for eternal formats, specifically Modern. Dig through time and Treasure cruise. Dig is the better option for combo decks looking for specific cards, and Cruise being the better choice for pure card advantage.

A lot of people think Treasure cruise is likely to be banned in modern because it basically says Threshold - sorcery speed Ancestral Recall (FYI, it doesn't actually say that and it's pretty inaccurate at that, yes it's good, but not that good).

Right now we are just starting the Fate Reforged PTQ season so very soon prices of Modern staples will be rising, that's nothing we all don't know already.

The reason for all the Treasure Cruise and Dig Through time talk is that everyone was screaming that they are too good and will warp the format. I have some news though, there were 3 copies of Dig and 4 copies of Treasure Cruise (Two different decks) in the top 8 of GP Madrid. The deck with Treasure cruise also had 4 Tarmogoyf.

What does all this mean? It means that the format isn't warped, there was one delver deck in the top 8 (the deck that became "too good" with Cruise). I get a lot of questions about cards losing their effectiveness in a format. Remember Morphling? It used to be the best of the best, now it's unplayable in eternal formats.

The point I'm getting at is that I don't think the format will have such a shift that the old staples aren't going to be good anymore. I still think Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, and Liliana are all still cards that will be relevant in Modern and I think they're safe to pick up at their current prices.

A trend I have already noticed on Magic Online is that a lot of decks specifically build to beat UR delver strategies. The deck choice is based on a good deck that is already known to beat any Delver or "tempo" strategy. I'm going to bet that the new delve cards will be around in Modern, but likely aren't going to warp the format.

My money is on all the Modern format staples from before and Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time are good but are greatly hyped. I think the hype will die and the format staples will return to near their previous prices.