Welcome to What We'd Play! With SCG Indianapolis this weekend, many are unsure what they’d play in such a high-profile tournament. That’s where we come in and let you know what we’d play and why we’d play it. Hopefully this last-minute advice aids in your decision making! Be sure to vote for who you agree with in the poll at the end!
Emma Handy – Urza Outcome
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (18)
Spells (30)
Josh McClain had the best Urza Outcome list last weekend, and Urza Outcome is the best deck in the format. Ipso facto, you should be playing a list similar to McClain’s. There are a couple of things that this list is doing that others hadn’t quite picked up on that are quite attractive:
Mystic Sanctuary being a way to recur copies of Paradoxical Outcome in pre-sideboard games or disruption in post-sideboard games is unbelievable. Normally a combo deck can’t really afford to play cards like Snapcaster Mage, but Mystic Sanctuary has a similar effect in the context of an engine combo deck like this one and has an incredibly low cost to simply include it on the deck registration sheet.
There are a few ways that the various Outcome decks have chosen to actually end the game, and they each have their own sets of problems, but Mirrodin Besieged is the best. Grinding Station has the downside of not doing very much outside of the combo turns, or without Urza getting involved. Nexus of Fate is the poster child of clunky fail states.
Mirrodin Besieged, on the other hand has the luxury of playing like Sai, Master Thopterist or Saheeli, Sublime Artificer in grindy games and mid-combo, and then being reset to a kill condition via Paradoxical Outcome in the late stages of a combo.
If you’re thinking of sleeving up Mox Opals this weekend, do yourself a favor and get some reps in with this beauty. Similar to getting in on the ground level of Ironworks, you’ll end up being rewarded for committing to a deep archetype like this one early.
Shaheen Soorani – Urza Outcome
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (18)
Spells (30)
I can say, with the utmost certainty, that Urza Outcome is the best deck in Modern. The ghost of Ironworks is rattling its chains as this deck leaps to the forefront of the format, uncontested in its power level. There may be haters that think this deck isn’t the real deal, but they’re wrong. Take it from one of the original Ironworks pilots – this is the new deck to beat.
Immune to Rest in Peace and resistant to Stony Silence, Urza Outcome sheds hate better than the rest. Typical spot removal is as mediocre as it used to be against other artifact-based combo decks and now this immunity to the best hate cards is the final straw. Early shutdowns of artifacts can slow it down; however, it has the uncanny ability to draw a ton of cards, very early in the game, to hit the answers to the limited amount of threats it will face.
Make sure you come equipped to battle the best combo deck in Modern because it will be there in full force.
Sam Black – Mystic Sultai
Creatures (5)
Lands (23)
Spells (32)
I played this archetype last week almost entirely on theory with just a little testing. The deck played extremely well and Mystic Sanctuary was everything I hoped.
I said I wouldn’t play it again because I got two draws in the event and I didn’t like the available finishers, but after playing with it a little, I’m pretty happy with Torrential Gearhulk, and I could even see playing a second.
The other change I’ve made from the deck I played last weekend is that I cut three Thoughtseizes and an Inquisition of Kozilek for three Arcum’s Astrolabe and a Spell Snare. The manabase in this deck is fragile and painful, casting discard spells early cost a lot of life, and this deck always plays long enough games that they become bad. Also, I’d frequently be choked on black or green mana in the mid- to late-game because I was always fetching Mystic Sanctuary, which only taps for blue. Astrolabe looks weird in a deck that’s only playing it to fix the mana, but I think this deck really wants that.
I still fundamentally believe that this is the best way to take advantage of Mystic Sanctuary, which has a real claim to being the most powerful card in Modern.
Todd Anderson – Izzet Delver
Creatures (13)
Lands (20)
Spells (27)
My success with Izzet Delver over the last week is no fluke. While it’s true that Delver of Secrets has a bit more trouble transforming in Modern, and there’s generally more removal running around than in Legacy, Delver of Secrets got a huge new friend in Force of Negation. Force of Negation, when backed by some pressure, starts to look a lot like Force of Will in matchups where your opponent is trying to combo you out or even just play the control role. Do you know how good it feels to counter a Paradoxical Outcome for free? What about a Jace, the Mind Sculptor? And guess what, here’s a 3/2 comin’ atcha!
I was really impressed by the velocity that this deck could produce. Young Pyromancer, while weak to the likes of Wrenn and Six, helps make up for the lost card advantage from Force of Negation. It’s also a great reason to splash red in the deck, because the two-drop slot in this archetype is lacking. Trust me. I’ve tried Brineborn Elemental. I’ve gone through the paces, and nothing feels as good as Young Pyromancer right now.
When the format is full of degenerate decks, strategies like Delver of Secrets tend to become a lot stronger because they’re great at leveraging cheap interaction. Force of Negation backed by pressure can be a potent tool for disrupting the likes of Paradoxical Outcome, or any other spell-based deck for that matter. And when people aren’t interacting with you, all you want is the most efficient threats at your disposal, backed by the cheapest disruption. You want to condense the game down to the smallest possible amount of turns while hitting your opponent every turn with a piece of interaction.
If you want to know more about this deck, and my other top pick for SCG Indy, make sure to check out my article later this week.
Ryan Overturf – Mono-Red Prowess
Creatures (12)
Lands (18)
Spells (30)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Lava Spike
- 4 Lava Dart
- 4 Manamorphose
- 2 Burst Lightning
- 4 Crash Through
- 4 Warlord's Fury
- 4 Light Up the Stage
Sideboard
Now, I know that this looks like I just took my GP Minneapolis Top 4 list and hit “random card” on Gatherer to replace Faithless Looting after the ban, but I actually took a long walk to get here.
Immediately after the ban, I thought you had to trim Revelers without the ability to discard extra copies to Looting and I even trophied my first attempt with Kiln Fiend on Magic Online, but Kiln Fiend really stank up the joint over a larger sampling of matches. I tried Mutagenic Growth and Reckless Charge – really, you name it and I’ve tried it – but sometimes the simplest solution really is the best. They took away the good cantrip, so just play the most functionally similar thing in that slot. For the purpose of Mono-Red Prowess, Warlord’s Fury is to Faithless Looting as Serum Visions is to Preordain.
I’ve done a couple of streams with this build now and it still feels like a real contender in the Modern format. For Modern deck selection, I believe that decks need to be able to win on Turn 3 sometimes, have the ability to go long against the decks trying to disrupt your fast wins, and be able to meaningfully disrupt many of the other Turn 3 decks. Mono-Red Prowess continues to check all of these boxes.
Abraham Stein – Mono-Green Tron
Creatures (6)
Planeswalkers (10)
Lands (17)
Spells (27)
This weekend in Indianapolis, I’m going to take my once-a-year plunge into the dark side and register Mono-Green Tron. Despite all the talk being about Urza, Mono-Green Tron has been undergoing a bit of a facelift, eschewing Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and its vulnerability to Field of Ruin for a sleeker threat base.
Anderson Leclair and my teammate Jonathan Sukenik were two of three Mono-Green Tron players to make Day 2 of SCG Philadelphia last weekend playing the same 75, and that’s no accident. As it turns out, if you mulligan aggressively and have seven mana on Turn 3, you’re likely to win a lot of games, and when you’re not afraid to do so, the deck rewards you.
For a room that I expect to be saturated in Burn and Urza decks, I’m happily taking my chances with my Thragtusk and Karn, the Great Creator deck. I played Jeskai in the last Modern Open and regretted being so naive. This time I’m keeping it simple.
Cedric Phillips – Neobrand
Creatures (18)
- 2 Autochthon Wurm
- 1 Wild Cantor
- 4 Allosaurus Rider
- 4 Simian Spirit Guide
- 4 Chancellor of the Tangle
- 1 Laboratory Maniac
- 2 Griselbrand
Lands (13)
Spells (29)
- 4 Nourishing Shoal
- 1 Edge of Autumn
- 4 Summoner's Pact
- 4 Manamorphose
- 1 Noxious Revival
- 4 Eldritch Evolution
- 2 Dissenter's Deliverance
- 4 Neoform
- 1 Veil of Summer
- 4 Once Upon a Time
Sideboard
I will not be taking any further questions at this time.