[SCD] Bitterblossom

[KobeBryan]

when did this card shoot up to $30?

[Leftconsin]

When some pros started speculating it's unbanning in modern.

[ktkenshinx]

when did this card shoot up to $30?
Every time a Modern ban announcement comes around the corner, this card gets a price uptick. When BB is (yet again) stuck on the banlist, the price slowly declines. The difference this time is that there hasn't been an unban in over a year, BB is legitimately a prime candidate for unbanning, and every pro who decided to weigh in on the matter all agreed that it could be unbanned. The end result is a lot of speculation and a card that is going to probably be $60 by Monday. Hopefully, Wizards anticipated that BB would quadruple in price overnight and intends on reprinting some copies in the upcoming event deck; hey, we know those will have tokens!

[Erdvermampfa]

Is this supposed to be a card evaluation thread or price speculation. If the initial applies (and it's somewhat relevant for the latter as well), I can assure you that Bitterblossom is outdated ever since Lingering Souls has been legal.

[majikal]

Is this supposed to be a card evaluation thread or price speculation. If the initial applies (and it's somewhat relevant for the latter as well), I can assure you that Bitterblossom is outdated ever since Lingering Souls has been legal.
Maybe in a vacuum this is true, but Faeries with Bitterblossom is still fucking terrifying, especially when the format includes Remand and Snapcaster Mage.

IMO Ancestral gets unbanned before Bitterblossom.

[DLifshitz]

Is this supposed to be a card evaluation thread or price speculation. If the initial applies (and it's somewhat relevant for the latter as well), I can assure you that Bitterblossom is outdated ever since Lingering Souls has been legal.

It only needs to be better than Raise the Alarm to be included in BW Tokens. Which probably still won't make it a good deck. And with Bitterblossom you could play Zombardment in Modern. Which is fun but woefully underpowered.

[barcode]

Maybe in a vacuum this is true, but Faeries with Bitterblossom is still fucking terrifying, especially when the format includes Remand and Snapcaster Mage.

IMO Ancestral gets unbanned before Bitterblossom.

Illness in the Ranks costs :b: and deals with Bitterblossom just fine. It also has other applications with Lingering Souls and any shitty token decks still running around.

[Megadeus]

Really hoping Illness becomes a real card in SOMETHING. I want to get infinite value on my foil russian one

[DragoFireheart]

Jace TMS, SFM, and TNN should all simultaneously be made legal in Modern. It would make the format healthier.

[KobeBryan]

Jace TMS, SFM, and TNN should all simultaneously be made legal in Modern. It would make the format healthier.

The format will then become UW stoneblade

[Arsenal]

Although Drago was being facetious, there are players who actually think that Modern would be a better place if SFM & Jace were unbanned.

[DragoFireheart]

The format will then become the current Legacy meta


Although Drago was being facetious, there are players who actually think that Modern would be a better place if SFM & Jace were unbanned.

The format isn't ready to handle those cards yet. But, I would love to see them unbanned.

[Arsenal]

But why? Modern would eventually turn into Legacy-lite if you start unbanning cards like those. Why would you want to play a watered down version of Legacy when you can just play the real thing?

[DragoFireheart]

Why would you want to play a watered down version of Legacy when you can just play the real thing?

[Insert joke how I ask every Modern player this question]

If it would help blue decks perform better in that format without warping the meta then I'm all for it.

[Arsenal]

Blue is doing just fine in Modern. Tempo Twin took down GP Antwerp and UWR Midrange just took down GP Prague (beating Tempo Twin in the Finals btw). Blue certainly isn't the dominant color in Modern as it is in Legacy, but so what? Blue shouldn't be the best in every format for the rest of time.

[DragoFireheart]

Blue is doing just fine in Modern. Tempo Twin took down GP Antwerp and UWR Midrange just took down GP Prague (beating Tempo Twin in the Finals btw). Blue certainly isn't the dominant color in Modern as it is in Legacy, but so what? Blue shouldn't be the best in every format for the rest of time.

I can and will agree with this. It does get boring seeing every non-Standard format with blue being the best color.

What Modern decks want Blossom?

[Rizso]

Maybe in a vacuum this is true, but Faeries with Bitterblossom is still fucking terrifying, especially when the format includes Remand and Snapcaster Mage.

IMO Ancestral gets unbanned before Bitterblossom.

With Abrupt Decay faeries isnt as dangerous as it used to be.

TBH both bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl should be unbanned just to make the format more about other stuff then what deathrite shaman can be put into...

[DragoFireheart]

With Abrupt Decay faeries isnt as dangerous as it used to be.

TBH both bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl should be unbanned just to make the format more about other stuff then what deathrite shaman can be put into...

Agreed. Decay easily keeps Blossom in check and many decks run it.

[Lord Seth]

I can and will agree with this. It does get boring seeing every non-Standard format with blue being the best color.

What Modern decks want Blossom?
Faeries and BW Tokens would definitely play it. BGx decks like Jund might be interested in it.

While I do have major doubts that Jund would want Bitterblossom (the deck doesn't need more sources of life loss), I think that's a far more valid concern than UB Faeries, which gets smashed by cards like Abrupt Decay and Voice of Resurgence.

[DragoFireheart]

Faeries and BW Tokens would definitely play it. BGx decks like Jund might be interested in it.

I wasn't aware that Faeries was a major deck in Modern, but blossom would push it to being one. Especially with equipment.

BW tokens is obvious, but doesn't Jund already sustain a lot of life loss as it is? Would it be able to handle BB life loss?

[Lord Seth]

I wasn't aware that Faeries was a major deck in Modern, but blossom would push it to being one. Especially with equipment.
Faeries isn't a major deck in Modern. It's like Tier 2.5 right now. It did get 2nd place at a Grand Prix, but that was over a year and a half ago, and it's done pretty much nothing since then.


BW tokens is obvious, but doesn't Jund already sustain a lot of life loss as it is? Would it be able to handle BB life loss?
That's a big stumbling block for Jund with Bitterblossom; between shocklands, Dark Confidant, and Thoughtseize it already has a lot of sources of life loss (which is why Burn is such an awful matchup for it), so I'm dubious as to whether they'd want to add another to it, especially because Bitterblossom appears to offer the deck less than any of those cards I just mentioned. Not to mention that it has more issues getting rid of Bitterblossom if the life loss becomes an issue, unlike Dark Confidant.

Theoretically the fact that some Jund lists splash White to get Lingering Souls (and Path to Exile and sometimes Ajani Vengeant) does indicate the token-creating effect is useful; but on the other hand, Lingering Souls gives you the tokens faster and without the life loss. So being able to get a Lingering Souls-esque effect while remaining in BGR is something. But I'm still very unsure that the ability to get the tokens without splashing is worth the increased life loss in a deck that's already killing itself.

There's also the fact that Faeries is actually a terrific matchup for Jund, so enabling Faeries could indirectly make the Jund even better.

[firebadmattgood]

Jund splashes for lingering souls because it's the best way for Jund to beat Jund. I doubt that BB would be a contender in that deck, not only for the reasons you've listed, but also because it's not great in the mirror.