I’ll begin today with a story.
I finished my Grand Prix with a mediocre 10-5 record and immediately left to get delicious tacos, which really is more important than the Magic anyway. Tacos are great.
Upon returning to my hotel room, I encountered a wild Brian Braun-Duin, who should have been playing in the top 8. At that point we had the following exchange:
Me: So you got crushed?
BBD: Yep.
Me: By what?
BBD: Skred Red
Me: Guffjsfjio38932h3284what9283794732??
No, it wasn’t a troll. Skred Red had made its way into the top 8 of a Grand Prix. And if there’s one thing that’s clear it’s that this deck feasts on Dredge. Anger of the Gods is already very good, and Blood Moon can be annoying by shutting down Life from the Loam. But four copies of Relic of Progenitus…in the maindeck? Come on, at least give me a chance, buddy!
Looking more generally, Lightning Bolt is obviously great, and Skred does a great impression of it. It will kill bigger creatures later in the game, and on turns 1 and 2 it can still kill a lot of the important early creatures in Modern: Noble Hierarch, Glistener Elf, Signal Pest, Vault Skirge, Delver of Secrets. It’s weaker against Goblin Guide and Wild Nacatl, but Lightning Bolt and Anger of the Gods are there to clean up those creatures.
And, as is the case with Blood Moon decks, we have an embarrassing array of Standard cards with which to kill your opponent. In reality, when your opponent is under a Blood Moon, you want your threats to either be very efficient in getting them dead or resilient to removal so your opponent can handle a threat or two and buy a bunch of time to draw out of their predicament.
Koth of the Hammer and Stormbreath Dragon lie squarely in the first group, while Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Eternal Scourge fall into the second. Eternal Scourge may seem like a strange option, but with Path to Exile and Anger of the Gods on the rise, it makes sense. You can also exile it from your own graveyard with Relic of Progenitus, which is a nifty little maneuver that I’m sure served Kevin well.
It’s a new world now. Skred Red has won a Modern GP. Better get used to it. And if anyone tells you they know what’s going to happen at the next Modern GP, you can safely ignore them.
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (22)
Spells (25)
