My first thought upon seeing this list was: “That’s the wrong titan.” But when you look at the entire list, Sun Titan makes sense over its more popular
brethren.
We’ve seen Tooth and Nail before in Modern, but it has been in a mono-green shell that abuses Arbor Elf alongside acceleration enchantments Utopia Sprawl
and Overgrowth. This list still does its fair share of ramping with Sakura-Tribe Elder and Search for Tomorrow but supplements this plan with some tap-out
control elements, namely Wrath of God, Path to Exile, Wall of Omens, and Sun Titan.
This modicum of interaction allows the deck to shift gears when necessary and win attrition games. It also lets you shave a couple of copies of Tooth and
Nail so you don’t flood on extra copies.
Our friend Tireless Tracker shows up again as a card that plays nicely with both plans, giving you extra cards to dig to a Tooth and Nail or to win an
attrition game. Eternal Witness and the pair of planeswalkers in the deck similarly bridge the gap between both plans, providing some resilience to
disruption against the Tooth and Nail plan or just serving as solid value cards in a more normalized game.
Emeria, the Sky Ruin is the ultimate end-game for the control plan, allowing you to return all your value creatures, eventually burying your opponent in
card advantage. You can even return Eternal Witness to get back Path to Exile in case you need a removal spell.
The sideboard has more heavy hitters to morph into a value deck for Games 2 and 3, although it seems to have surprisingly little for the format’s
aggressive decks: a couple of copies of Day of Judgment but none of the hateful white enchantments like Stony Silence or Rest in Peace, the latter being
replaced by Relic of Progenitus. I’d also like to see a little bit of lifegain in the sideboard to supplement Primal Command, specifically something that
you can return with Sun Titan, like Kitchen Finks or Lone Missionary.
If your opponent is playing a non-interactive deck that isn’t dependent on its graveyard, say Ad Nauseam, then you are going to struggle, so I would look
to develop a solid plan for those matchups if you want to pick up the deck, but you certainly have the tools to compete against the fair decks of the
format and anything that will give you the time to set up a Tooth and Nail.
Creatures (19)
- 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
- 4 Eternal Witness
- 1 Qasali Pridemage
- 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- 4 Wall of Omens
- 2 Sun Titan
- 1 Xenagos, God of Revels
- 2 Tireless Tracker
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (24)
Spells (14)
