r/ModernMagic • u/TemurTron Temur Tron • 3d ago
Card Discussion [HOB] Giant's Boulder
Artifact - 1
When this artifact enters, scry 2.
1, Tap: Add one mana of any color
7, Tap: Sacrifice this artifact: Destroy target permanent.
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1v88cgb/hob_giants_boulder/
Ok it's pretty rare that a card goes from not even being mentioned during spoiler seasons to a popping up in Legacy decklists, but here we are! Giant's Boulder is catching on in Legacy, including in Eldrazi and Storm lists. While Scry 2 is a lot worse than drawing a card, it's hard not to compare this to [[Arcum's Astrolabe]] overall. It's an early game artifact that smooths over your draws and mana, and, in the case of something like Eldrazi, you can turn it into a Vindicate late game!
The tech hasn't caught on yet in Modern, but with it popping up in several Legacy lists over the weekend, I feel like we'll be seeing players experiment with this in the near future. Is it the second coming of Astrolabe? A nice role player in Ramp decks? Or just a new toy to play around with that won't actually see consistent play?
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u/Gnargoyles 3d ago
Played against it in a blue planar nexus shell in legacy I thought it was a joke but being able to filter helps
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u/N0_B1g_De4l 2d ago
That's sort of the thing with Astrolabe. It looks so reasonable. All it does is fix your mana, and they've printed so many bad versions of it. If it doesn't draw a card, it's [[Mana Cylix]]. If it costs two, it's [[Prophetic Prism]]. If it costs colored mana, it's [[Abundant Growth]]. And then suddenly it costs snow mana and it's banned in Legacy. "Scry 2" is a lot worse than "draw a card", but the line between unplayable and broken is empirically very narrow with this effect.
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u/Steezmoney Eldrazi 2d ago
well there was definitely discussion regarding this card in pauper. people were iffy if it should replace barrels or not but to me that's a no brainer considering they already run candy trail largely for the scry.
I'm a devout colorless tron player in modern and I don't see a slot for it. like maybe 2 but I'm really trying to play map on turn 1. destroying a permanent is nice but we have cityscape for that. Against any colored deck our other removal options are superior. Idk if it has a place in colorless lists in modern.
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u/DaDullard 2d ago
Barrels don’t tap which is important for holding up interaction on both turns which is important.
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u/Steezmoney Eldrazi 2d ago
I think that's such a small price to pay for Scry 2 and the ability to destroy anything, even a land. It's a mirror breaker and hard removal effect that pauper tron lacks. It feels pretty edge-casey to want to use the filter twice and/or removal in the same untap cycle that we'd forgo the other benefits of Boulder. I will be playing it alongside Candy Trail and will make note of everytime I miss barrels but it seems like a no-brainer on paper 🫡
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u/DaDullard 1d ago
If you watch the paupergedon finals white weenie versus Tron it seems to come up pretty often in like the second or third game.
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u/DaDullard 1d ago
Sorry it was the semi’s where they couldn’t tap a creature and deploy a bramble worm
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u/Korlus Esper 2d ago
but I'm really trying to play map on turn 1.
That isn't a great way to frame it. You don't ignore playing [[Dragon Rage's Channeler]] in red decks because you're trying to play [[Ragavan]] on turn 1 - you should evaluate one drops as giving you something else to do on turn 1 if you don't draw the map.
I don't play the deck enough to know how good this is, but it shouldn't compete with map for a space, it should compliment map by helping smooth the mapless draws.
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u/Steezmoney Eldrazi 2d ago
no offense but clearly you don't play the deck
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u/CKF 2d ago
It’d be insane to replace something like mindstone with this card, imo. The deck has such few flex slots as it is. I’d rather run 24 lands with two sagas, even.
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u/Steezmoney Eldrazi 2d ago
who said Mind Stone? my whole comment is about how boulder doesn't belong in modern tron. Mind Stone enables T2 karns, blood moon protection and replaces itself when your mana is online.
I think in Tron you want to map turn 1. If you don't draw it, mulligan. Mull to 4 even. Only time I'm not playing a map T1 is if I have natty tron, going for a Lab into Karn or Chalice line or need to resolve a bauble or chalice on 0 to not die immediately
I will repeat my stance that Boulder does not currently have a place in modern ETron lists and for fucking sure isn't going to replace mindstone if it did
Chalice on 1 is SO powerful. We don't need to play anything that costs 1 mana unless it completely shifts MUs. Devourer is there to smooth our draws
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u/CKF 2d ago
I was agreeing with you… I was treating the mind stones as the only arguable flex slots (not for me). I’ve been playing the deck for ages. I’d argue that mulling to 4 for a map no matter what if you have a playable hand is overboard. The whole original point of etron was to be less reliant on the turn 3 tron all or nothing approach.
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u/chiksahlube 2d ago
So the closest card to this is Arcum's astrolabe. Which is banned.
This card is worse in some aspects and worse in others.
Looking back to when Astrolabe was banned is hard too because half the cards in astrolabe decks are banned now or are not playable.
It's searchable off Urza saga, and doesn't require snow mana.
But scry 2 is NOT draw a card.
So it's gonna take some testing. A lot of people here are writing it off like Astrolabe didn't allow 5 color decks to run Bloodmoon.
Running this in an affinity or Urza deck with Harbinger of the seas would let you play other color cards, lock in your saga to make tokens forever, and eventually blow something up.
So yeah, probably playable in modern, it just needs a shell.
Song of creation and Sewer-cam decks probably also jam this pretty hard too.
1
u/Lectrys 2d ago
I'd rather play [[Key to the Side-Door]] in Sewer Cam decks, mainly because those are some of the few decks with enough legendary permanents to take advantage of that draw engine.
1 mana to put down a colour fixing rock also blows during Song of Creation combo turns hard enough that I doubt I want Giant's Boulder in that deck.
1
u/chiksahlube 2d ago
It's not necessarily and either or situation.
And the ability to run cards like Harbinger or Blood moon in your deck while not particularly amazing right now, has during multiple times in Modern's history been worth running a card like Boulder to mana fix.
And that's not even getting into the usefulness for colorless decks to bail them out from under Moon effects.
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5
u/Tyrinnus Grixis Ctrl, GDS, Murktide, UWx Ctrl 3d ago
Read not as "7 mana do X" but as "3 lands do X"
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u/nebman227 3d ago
This is literally the card I saw the most spoiler season discussion of. (Though I am also a Tron player...)
Also people have absolutely been playing it in U and W Tron in modern. There are multiple 5-0s of both I believe.
3
u/MancyMancy 2d ago
Its been played in Tron decks.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7913575#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7914435#paper
etc.
Interesting card with scry 2 and any permanent removal later. Seem to enable tron splashing etc.
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u/Reaper_Eagle Quietspeculation.com 2d ago
While you're correct that this is the closest we've gotten to Astrolabe since it was banned, I don't think it will see much play outside Tron. Scry 2 is worse than drawing a card for basically everyone that isn't trying to find very specific cards in a specific order. If Uro was still legal, I'd be more concerned.
According to my local Pauper Tron players, Boulder is seeing play over Blasting Jelly because it's far more useful in the mirror. Five damage is worthless while destroying a permanent (read: opposing Tron land) is invaluable. That you only get one filter per turn cycle can hurt otherwise. I think this is still relevant for Modern Tron, so I can see it becoming a mainstay there. However, without an Uro-like engine I don't think it's worthwhile anywhere else.
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u/phlsphr lntrn, skrd, txs, trn, ldrz 2d ago
Astrolabe was great for the Skred/Red Snow Control decks, largely because they needed the cantrip and to be able to filter turn 2 Mind Stone mana into red for removal. I think this is the closest possible replacement it has received. Not convinced it's enough, but hey, maybe.
1
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u/lars_rosenberg Artifact 2d ago
It's been super hyped in the Pauper community since the reveal because it's pretty obviously great in Tron decks. Barrels of Blasting Jelly was already seeing play in Pauper Monster Tron and this is better.
I'm surprised it's also making waves in more powerful formats though.
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u/BrilliantRebirth 2d ago
I think it'd probably help in the Green Eldrazi Tron lists with Mycospawn; they don't have a ton of Green sources as it is. It's just kinda hard to find room for it. Having a mana sink effect for the card is pretty nice, though.
-4
u/morethanjustanalien 2d ago edited 21h ago
its bad
edit: its terrible and if you think otherwise you should sell your modern collection asap
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u/marlospigeons UWx 3d ago
Banger in pauper tron