@griselbrother It's just Wizards pushing the gaudy silver artifact frame for brand recognition!
@thewhitedragon69 Definitely not saying it's an unwinnable position, just sharing my unfavorable experience. It feels like Karn (and to a lesser extent Narset) is a bit different from previous iterations, and I'm unconvinced that creatures are an apt solution to it. The "selection factor" of its CA effect just does so much more than say Jace's, and the value of that selection scales rapidly with the power level of the format's card pool.
They've already got the Burning Wish. Your creature advantage is just to clean up the leftover Null Rod, second Wish, and incidental value. I would argue that artifacts is a far more potent overlap with SB tech than sorceries to boot.
I don't think it's necessarily an intractable problem for the format, but I do think it presents a different set of challenges that running more creatures won't adequately address.
@thewhitedragon69 Anecdotally speaking, having played a bit of Survival lately: I feel like a dog when Karn or Narset resolves. And I certainly don't feel like I've come out far ahead if/when I knock one out.
Karn can be especially punishing if they manage Lattice/Time Vault/Batterskull/Wurmcoil. But even assuming just cage from the board, it's still
{4}: Opponents can't Vengevine for the rest of the game, gain 4 life
@desolutionist Understand it's sort of missing your point, but wanted to take an opportunity to plug panard's MTGO docker image, which has been near-flawless for me.
I've just consulted the comp rules, and it seems a little uncivilized... but if I'm understanding correctly, you can actually just pay mana for phyrexian costs.
@chubbyrain Satisfying a curious itch: guess it's like 12% with 4 Lavinia, 16 lands, and 1 each: Pearl, Sapphire, Petal, and Lotus.
Assuming only 12 of those lands can actually produce U/W: 10%
Disclaimer: all real math lazily disregarded for programmatic sampling.
@fsecco Weirdly enough, I think modern Workshops' aggro focus probably makes the ability pretty lackluster for stabilization once you get to six. Specifically: it's worth noting that the +1/+1 counters from Ballistae, Walkers, Ravagers, and Overseers stick around.
For a significant chunk of the creature package, this ability reads: Up to two target creatures get +0/+3 and lose all activated abilities. Not nothing, but might actually be more interesting in the more-controlling, unrestricted Lodestone meta.
Gifts, because I can't quit Mana Drain, no matter how unplayable it gets.
@Serracollector I don't think that works as well as one would hope; those aren't triggers.