Last Sunday, Magic Online hosted the first of what I assume will be many large online tournaments for a bunch of cool stuff. First place in Modern Mayhem, which was taken by W/B Hate Bears, won four sets of Modern Masters and four sets of Modern Masters 2015.
So, W/B Hate Bears? It has the usual Leonin Arbiter + Aven Mindcensor package with Ghost Quarter and Path to Exile to provide a little disruption that negates the downside of having to give your opponent a basic land. Tectonic Edge complements the land destruction package. Since Leonin Arbiter affects both players, Clyde’s manabase can’t afford to run any fetchlands, so he’s “stuck” with a bunch of dual lands, which is also serviceable.
The black splash provides some additional disruption with Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek, giving the deck some additional hate for combo decks. Black also gives the deck some card advantage in the form of Dark Confidant.
By adding an additional color, it reduces the consistency of the otherwise solid Mono-White Hate Bears deck, but provides an extra boost in power level. With Clyde taking down the tournament in convincing fashion, it looks like the black splash was well worth it.
Creatures (23)
- 4 Dark Confidant
- 2 Aven Mindcensor
- 4 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Flickerwisp
- 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
- 4 Leonin Arbiter
- 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 2 Restoration Angel
Lands (22)
Spells (15)
[I would give anything to find out that this deck was actually piloted by Clyde Drexler. –Ed.]