Daily Digest: Some Of My Friends Are Jerks

Is there a more persistent archetype lurking in the back of Magic than the prototypical Turbo Fog strategy? Who plays this? Why? GerryT thinks the answer may finally be “to win.” #SCGPROV’s $5,000 Modern Premier IQ may be the perfect event to try this number!

In this case, we’re talking about a buddy of mine from Iowa who plays mostly jackass, do-nothing decks. Today, he’s brought Turbo Fog to the table. In Modern. And he’s been winning.

This isn’t a typical Turbo Fog deck. There are no Howling Mines or any nonsense like that. Instead, it uses some Time Walks like Time Warp and the underrated Savor the Moment to get ahead once some Planeswalkers are in play. It doesn’t matter which ones. The only thing that matters is that they are different, so that if you draw three Planeswalkers, you have a high chance of being able to have three out at the same time.

They might try to attack them down, but Ethereal Haze and Dawn Charm can function as another pseudo-Time Walk. Eternal Witness gives you more Fogs or Time Walks and can eventually combo with Venser, the Sojourner to effectively lock your opponent out of the game with a Time Walk.

I appreciate that this deck is not reliant on getting a Howling Mine set up in order for it to do its thing. Instead, it only has to set up a Planeswalker or two, and that seems far easier than hoping your Howling Mine doesn’t give your opponent enough stuff to interact with you. In a world of Abrupt Decay, the days of weirdo permanents like Howling Mine showing up and crushing people are probably over.

Instead, we get this sort of deck, and I’m perfectly fine with that.