Fauna Shaman
First Printing: Magic 2011
Modern Legal: Magic 2011
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Hmm. On the one hand, I like the effect. On the other, there are a ton of Lightning Bolts, Dismembers, Disfigures, and Paths to Exile floating around, and I'm not sure I want to be playing a bear that has to survive to untap in order to be useful.
I could see this as a 1-of in Pod lists to search up a crucial combo piece, and I could also see this in some Dredge style of deck with Extractor Demon, Bloodghast, Vengevine, and the like. Is that strong enough for the format? I don't know, unfortunately.
Rating: 1.5/5 - I think that there are simply more powerful things you could be doing in the format, and this is one of those cards hurt by a lack of GSZ as well (since you could use this as a GSZ target, then go search up other useful bullets).
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Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
Lotus Cobra doesn't see play because of it's fragility. This card suffers the same fragility, but unlike Cobra, it is super slow. If the format slows down or if we get Green Sun Zenith back... maybe, but until then she will sit in the "ever so close" pile.
Unfortunately, Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling are so good at searching for creatures that I've pulled Fauna Shaman from all my Pod lists. I never search for her, and she never does enough in those decks. I put in more hate bears, recursion stuff, or combo pieces instead.
I never really cared for this creature much when it was in Standard and Extended. Still doesn't do much for me in Modern. I've played it, and it's not bad when it works. I still feel it's too slow, but it draws out removal like a champ (which is something I look for in my 2 drops). It's usable, but not usually a first choice.
Too slow and too fragile for the format. Buy the time you activate her you are probably behind in board state and card advantage. Rough to fight back from that.
The thing holding Fauna Shaman back is the lack of ways to use creatures you find. You either want to find some utility creature that costs very little and you're going to get value from, or you want to find a fatty. I happened to play this card with Sneak Attack when we cubed my friend's cube last week, and it's very powerful there. However, with nothing to break this card in Modern, and the decks that would want to use it having decent enough ways to put them into play at the same time, it just won't see play.
In Pod, I'm much happier running Thalia, because now opponent's have to leave up mana or kill her fast, and I don't need to play a specific way because of Fauna Shaman and then have her die. In fact, in a lot of Pod matchups, Pod gets to topdeck mode, and Fauna Shaman is awful then.
The card wasn't even good in Standard. It was good in Block, but not in Standard. It's lousy in Legacy, as everyone has actual removal. I do not see it doing anything in Modern besides eating removal.
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Legacy Decks
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Too many to list efficiently. Find me online with the same SN if you want to play, or message me here to set up a time to play.
Modern
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Whatever pile of 75 I throw together the night before without testing. Usually: :symb::symu::symg:
The card wasn't even good in Standard. It was good in Block, but not in Standard. It's lousy in Legacy, as everyone has actual removal. I do not see it doing anything in Modern besides eating removal.
Vengevine Naya was a tier 1 deck in Shards / Zendikar standard. It didn't do a ton in Zendikar / Scars of Mirrodin standard since it would consistently get roasted by Primeval Titan fetching up Valakuts. It was however one of the few decks that didn't get eaten alive by Caw-Blade, although most of post rotation the vengevine decks opted for the 4x Squadron Hawks and 4x Stoneforge mystics anyway.
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It was actually sick in a legacy deck I played with quirion ranger and wirewood symbiote. I tried some fauna decks with scryb ranged in modern, but it just didn't get there because scryb ranger costs 2 instead of 1. If there was an intuition or buried alive like vengevine enabler in modern, fauna shaman would see a lot more play.
It's Survival of the Fittest, a once-broken Legacy card, on legs. The reasons it isn't as good are:
1) You can't activate its ability in the same turn that you cast it
2) You can only activate it once per turn
These two factors slow down Fauna Shaman's tutoring, compared to Survival's, by a lot. Compared to Pod/Chord, Shaman doesn't put the tutored card into play. It's nothing more than a slow creature tutor who dies to Shock in Modern.
i playtest with a person who plays modern maverick revolving around this card, and lemme say, it gives mono red affinity and BW tokens a run for its money. it does need to find the right deck though to be exceptional:
if it gets to the untap step (which is likely assuming you dont play against jund or WUR aggro) it can power out qasali pridemage after pridemage, dump vengevines in the yard, and turn crappy draws into better ones for 1 green mana)
I've always likened Fauna shaman to a more deck-specific Dark Confidant.
I know... heresy, right? But instead of just jumping on or off a bandwagon, lets practice some logical thinking here before we state an arbitrary "its bad" or "it's good" opinion. In terms of similarities, Dark Confidant and Fauna Shaman will gain massive amounts of card advantage if you can untap with them, both both require that they live through a turn to do anything, and both are similarly fragile 2 mana creatures.
The primary differences is that you need a high creature count and graveyard-enablers like Vengevine, Haakon, and Bloodghast along with utility toolbox creatures like Linvala, Qasali Pridemage, and Eternal Witness to fully utilize Fauna Shaman. One large benefit of Fauna shaman is that it can tutor up matchup specific hate, whereas Confidant just draws more cards. Against tron, you can fetch up a turn 3 Gaddock Teeg, Fulminator Mage, or Magus of the Moon. Against storm, a turn 2 shaman gives you a turn 3 Thalia, Gaddock Teeg, or Canonist. Against RDW, an unchecked shaman gives you turn 3 Finks. Against all other "fair" decks, shaman will bleed value by pitching Vengevines only to grab them back with a string of Squadron Hawks, Bloodbraid Elf, or some other recursion mechanism.
On the other hand, Dark Confidant isn't restricted to creatures, but IS however restricted to being played in decks with low mana curves, and still being somewhat suicidal even at that point. Decks playing Confidant also will more often than not need ways to gain life maindeck at the risk of dying to their own confidant if they can't kill their opponent quick enough. Not being limited to creature decks is a huge advantage, as is not requiring tapping + a single mana investment.
So I suppose my answer to this SCD, is Fauna shaman a fragile bolt-target? Yeah, but so is Dark Confidant, which is widely regarded as one of the best creatures in Modern. Also, considering Shaman is played in creature heavy decks, if it gets hit with removal, that just means your Knight of the Reliquaries and Vengevines are going to be dodging more removal. I think Shaman is an awesome, underutilized card in Modern. Like most cards with a similar ability, the most important part here is that you're building a deck that's both good with Shaman, and good without Shaman.
I agree with everyone saying she's just too slow and fragile for the format. She's fringe playable in Legacy, but only because of Loyal Retainers (pitching Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in the Maverick mirror), which obviously isn't in Modern.
Also, a Vengevine/Fauna Shaman deck seems really sweet in theory, but I feel like it would beat up on other creature decks but lose to combo. Other decks in the format already do that (Affinity, Tokens) but do it even better.
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Standard: Humanimator
Modern: Jund, Wafo-Tapa UWR
Legacy: Witch-Maw Stoneblade
EDH: Ruhan of the Fomori, Hazezon Tamar, Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Also, a Vengevine/Fauna Shaman deck seems really sweet in theory, but I feel like it would beat up on other creature decks but lose to combo. Other decks in the format already do that (Affinity, Tokens) but do it even better.
I agree with everyone saying she's just too slow and fragile for the format. She's fringe playable in Legacy, but only because of Loyal Retainers (pitching Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in the Maverick mirror), which obviously isn't in Modern.
Also, a Vengevine/Fauna Shaman deck seems really sweet in theory, but I feel like it would beat up on other creature decks but lose to combo. Other decks in the format already do that (Affinity, Tokens) but do it even better.
Unless you're playing Thalia, Teeg, or other hatebears that can be tutored up when necessary .
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Lotus Cobra doesn't see play because of it's fragility. This card suffers the same fragility, but unlike Cobra, it is super slow. If the format slows down or if we get Green Sun Zenith back... maybe, but until then she will sit in the "ever so close" pile.
I've been noticing a trend with the cards that the mods have been picking for these SCDs... virtually all of them have been evaluated as, "Good card, but not good enough." Do you think that says something about the power level of Modern as a whole?
I've been noticing a trend with the cards that the mods have been picking for these SCDs... virtually all of them have been evaluated as, "Good card, but not good enough." Do you think that says something about the power level of Modern as a whole?
I think any format with a card pool as big as this one is going to have a lot of cards that are good but don't quite make the cut.
That said, they're avoiding picking cards that are blatantly terrible or cards that everyone already knows are good, so the SCDs will tend toward that "not quite there" range naturally.
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When you peer long enough through the depths, the depths peer also through you.
hate to necro... but wouldn't she fit in a deck that utilizes Aether Vial...? Most vial decks plays around 2-3 CMC creatures and she fits in nicely no?
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Fauna Shaman
First Printing: Magic 2011
Modern Legal: Magic 2011
I could see this as a 1-of in Pod lists to search up a crucial combo piece, and I could also see this in some Dredge style of deck with Extractor Demon, Bloodghast, Vengevine, and the like. Is that strong enough for the format? I don't know, unfortunately.
Rating: 1.5/5 - I think that there are simply more powerful things you could be doing in the format, and this is one of those cards hurt by a lack of GSZ as well (since you could use this as a GSZ target, then go search up other useful bullets).
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
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Modern:
- GW Birthing Pod(?)
Legacy:
- UWR Delver
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
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In Pod, I'm much happier running Thalia, because now opponent's have to leave up mana or kill her fast, and I don't need to play a specific way because of Fauna Shaman and then have her die. In fact, in a lot of Pod matchups, Pod gets to topdeck mode, and Fauna Shaman is awful then.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
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Too many to list efficiently. Find me online with the same SN if you want to play, or message me here to set up a time to play.
Modern
~~~~~~~~~
Whatever pile of 75 I throw together the night before without testing. Usually: :symb::symu::symg:
Vengevine Naya was a tier 1 deck in Shards / Zendikar standard. It didn't do a ton in Zendikar / Scars of Mirrodin standard since it would consistently get roasted by Primeval Titan fetching up Valakuts. It was however one of the few decks that didn't get eaten alive by Caw-Blade, although most of post rotation the vengevine decks opted for the 4x Squadron Hawks and 4x Stoneforge mystics anyway.
It was never in a block.
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1) You can't activate its ability in the same turn that you cast it
2) You can only activate it once per turn
These two factors slow down Fauna Shaman's tutoring, compared to Survival's, by a lot. Compared to Pod/Chord, Shaman doesn't put the tutored card into play. It's nothing more than a slow creature tutor who dies to Shock in Modern.
| Ad Nauseam
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Big Johnny.
if it gets to the untap step (which is likely assuming you dont play against jund or WUR aggro) it can power out qasali pridemage after pridemage, dump vengevines in the yard, and turn crappy draws into better ones for 1 green mana)
I know... heresy, right? But instead of just jumping on or off a bandwagon, lets practice some logical thinking here before we state an arbitrary "its bad" or "it's good" opinion. In terms of similarities, Dark Confidant and Fauna Shaman will gain massive amounts of card advantage if you can untap with them, both both require that they live through a turn to do anything, and both are similarly fragile 2 mana creatures.
The primary differences is that you need a high creature count and graveyard-enablers like Vengevine, Haakon, and Bloodghast along with utility toolbox creatures like Linvala, Qasali Pridemage, and Eternal Witness to fully utilize Fauna Shaman. One large benefit of Fauna shaman is that it can tutor up matchup specific hate, whereas Confidant just draws more cards. Against tron, you can fetch up a turn 3 Gaddock Teeg, Fulminator Mage, or Magus of the Moon. Against storm, a turn 2 shaman gives you a turn 3 Thalia, Gaddock Teeg, or Canonist. Against RDW, an unchecked shaman gives you turn 3 Finks. Against all other "fair" decks, shaman will bleed value by pitching Vengevines only to grab them back with a string of Squadron Hawks, Bloodbraid Elf, or some other recursion mechanism.
On the other hand, Dark Confidant isn't restricted to creatures, but IS however restricted to being played in decks with low mana curves, and still being somewhat suicidal even at that point. Decks playing Confidant also will more often than not need ways to gain life maindeck at the risk of dying to their own confidant if they can't kill their opponent quick enough. Not being limited to creature decks is a huge advantage, as is not requiring tapping + a single mana investment.
So I suppose my answer to this SCD, is Fauna shaman a fragile bolt-target? Yeah, but so is Dark Confidant, which is widely regarded as one of the best creatures in Modern. Also, considering Shaman is played in creature heavy decks, if it gets hit with removal, that just means your Knight of the Reliquaries and Vengevines are going to be dodging more removal. I think Shaman is an awesome, underutilized card in Modern. Like most cards with a similar ability, the most important part here is that you're building a deck that's both good with Shaman, and good without Shaman.
Also, a Vengevine/Fauna Shaman deck seems really sweet in theory, but I feel like it would beat up on other creature decks but lose to combo. Other decks in the format already do that (Affinity, Tokens) but do it even better.
Modern: Jund, Wafo-Tapa UWR
Legacy: Witch-Maw Stoneblade
EDH: Ruhan of the Fomori, Hazezon Tamar, Maga, Traitor to Mortals
I did it.
And it was good.
(Because it smashed Stoneblade back in the day.)
Unless you're playing Thalia, Teeg, or other hatebears that can be tutored up when necessary .
I've been noticing a trend with the cards that the mods have been picking for these SCDs... virtually all of them have been evaluated as, "Good card, but not good enough." Do you think that says something about the power level of Modern as a whole?
That said, they're avoiding picking cards that are blatantly terrible or cards that everyone already knows are good, so the SCDs will tend toward that "not quite there" range naturally.