I must start this week’s article with a bit of honesty. The deck I’m talking about today is assuredly not the best deck in Modern. Modern right now has a very real Hogaak problem. It’s one thing for a graveyard-based deck to dominate upon its debut. Graveyard combo tends to be an axis of interaction that presents a real problem prior to the first wave of responses. But this week’s Modern Challenge on Magic Online came after a week when every article, tweet, podcast, and conversation about the Modern format were squarely focused on the power of Hogaak in combination with Altar of Dementia.
Despite that, guess what deck finished first, second, and third?
Creatures (28)
- 4 Carrion Feeder
- 4 Bloodghast
- 4 Vengevine
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Insolent Neonate
- 4 Stitcher's Supplier
- 4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
Lands (18)
Spells (14)
Creatures (28)
- 4 Carrion Feeder
- 4 Bloodghast
- 4 Vengevine
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Insolent Neonate
- 4 Stitcher's Supplier
- 4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
Lands (18)
Spells (14)
Sideboard
Creatures (28)
- 4 Carrion Feeder
- 4 Bloodghast
- 4 Vengevine
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Insolent Neonate
- 4 Stitcher's Supplier
- 4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
Lands (19)
Spells (13)
Sideboard
I absolutely hate premature ban talk, but there are two possible outcomes here. The first, and preferable outcome, is that decks adapt to beat Bridgevine, and it settles into a similar role as Dredge, only popping up when respect wanes. The second, and what I now believe to be the more likely outcome, is that this deck is powerful enough that it resists hate. In this case, given access to Turn 2 wins and a decidedly unfun play pattern, something from this deck will go.
It’s a little heartbreaking that these are the terms under which we begin our engagement with Modern Horizons, because there are so many incredible cards in this set that I am dying to explore. However, there is a silver lining in all of this. Regardless of which of the two outcomes ultimately address the Hogaak question, we will eventually get to the point of, “What’s next?” To answer this question, I’m going back to two of my all-time favorite tribes, inspired by a list from Magic Online Leagues.
Creatures (20)
Lands (21)
Spells (19)
MrRaeb’s list served as the foundation for my own work on the archetype, and after a few days of tuning I arrived at the following list:
Creatures (18)
- 4 Spellstutter Sprite
- 3 Snapcaster Mage
- 3 Ice-Fang Coatl
- 1 Fallen Shinobi
- 3 Ingenious Infiltrator
- 4 Faerie Seer
Lands (21)
Spells (21)
If you’ve listened to any of my recent podcasts about Modern Horizons, you’ve heard me belittling fair cards with aplomb. Modern continues to be about broken things regardless of the cool new toys contained in Modern Horizons. So why am I a believer in 1/1 creatures all of a sudden?
The answer revolves around a concept I’ve come to think of as pacing.
Modern’s best decks are all cheating on their schedules. Izzet Phoenix does so by turning its early-game cantrips into offense, allowing the deck to simultaneously make land drops, plan future turns, and end the game in a flash when the time comes. Humans uses the tried-and-true schedule-breaker of Aether Vial plus mana creatures. All of Bridgevine’s spells are somehow free. The only thing Tron does is make sure it has seven mana on Turn 3. The whole format is just about cheating on mana.
The fair decks of Modern historically lack the capacity to do this. While I think Azorius Control is a top-tier choice presently, it claims this title because its answers are extremely well-suited for the present suite of threats. It hasn’t addressed its fundamental flaw – the fact that not only is it incapable of cheating on its own pacing, it’s actively accelerating opponents by relying on Path to Exile as its removal spell. This means that the deck is extremely likely to struggle in any game where it misses an early land drop and is hyper-reliant on drawing the right four- and five-mana spells to claw its way back to parity
Sultai Faeries also bears this flaw but has picked up some new tricks to mitigate its fair nature. Sultai Faeries can make headway on its pacing issues via sheer efficiency combined with an ability to snowball a game from minimal investment. The key addition to this archetype is not Ice-Fang Coatl, as you might expect. The hero here is the blue Arclight Phoenix. I am of course, talking about the all-powerful Faerie Seer.
Faerie Seer is akin to cantrips in Izzet Phoenix in that it simultaneously overcomes early-game card selection issues while enabling key offensive engines. Spellstutter Sprite is ready to counter two-drops. Ninjas are set to generate some card advantage. All of this is mixed with an assurance that you can hit future land drops or find a critical piece of removal.
We like to compare cards to past analogs, and I’ve started thinking of Faerie Seer as a Preordain that always puts a flying Memnite with a relevant creature type on top of your deck. Not the most elegant description, but it does a good job pointing to the fact that Faerie Seer deserves a chance to impact Modern. When you combine simultaneous filtering and battlefield presence with the most efficient removal and disruption Modern has to offer in the form of Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Fatal Push, you start to approach a place where you can hope to keep pace with decks that are simply disregarding the rules of mana production.
Seer isn’t the only new print making waves in this archetype, though, as a couple of Ninjas are also thrilled to smoke bomb their way into the party.
Ingenious Infiltrator gets added to the list of unassuming cards that overperform here. Rebuys on Faerie Seers, Spellstutter Sprites, and Ice-Fang Coatls are the value engine this deck is built around. At some point, you simply out-card-quantity your opponent, and the bevy of countermagic in the deck will close out their options. Ingenious Infiltrator scaling in multiples has led to some absurd turns where I quickly find myself up four or five cards. Fallen Shinobi has routinely ended the game when it connects, but the risk of bringing down the shields is real. At least the card does a great job of dodging commonly played removal such as Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push.
Finally, there is Ice-Fang Coatl. As the lone maindeck green spell, the barrier for inclusion is steep, but Coatl really is key for keeping opponents off balance in spots where you can also have Spellstutter Sprite. Again, limiting your opponent’s options while simultaneously increasing card quantity is all you are trying to achieve, and Coatl does this even when you are only getting a single card from its enters-the-battlefield ability. If you get rebuys via ninjutsu, your advantage snowballs even further. I also love how efficiently Coatl plays against Thing in the Ice.
On the two maindeck Surgical Extractions—this is just a reality of the world we presently live in, and quite frankly, a third copy in place of one of the Prismatic Vistas makes a ton of sense. Like Izzet Phoenix, you have mechanisms for recouping lost card quantity, and you are well-suited to bear the cost of playing a card that doesn’t do anything. This is also an exceptional Surgical Extraction deck, as the discard spells, Snapcaster Mage, and sideboard Assassin’s Trophy and Field of Ruin all make the card slightly more impactful.
Before we move on to the sideboard guide, a few words on what has somehow become a controversial topic. A tremendous portion of being a successful Magic player is efficiently and studiously upgrading your assumptions and heuristics with available information. Sideboard guides are no different from any other piece of Magic content. Use them to the extent you agree with them, and branch out from prescribed plans when you feel you should. There’s no flaw or weakness in your game because you appreciate a sideboard guide. Do you.
VS Humans
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VS Bridgevine
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VS Azorius Control
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VS Izzet Phoenix
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I expect Izzet Phoenix to transition to Aria of Flame as their noncreature kill condition. If you are facing Pyromancer Ascension, Leyline of the Void should come in en masse.
VS Mono-Green Tron
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VS Amulet Titan
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VS Burn
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VS Eldrazi Tron
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VS TitanShift
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VS Golgari-Based Midrange
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Sultai Faeries is a blast to play and has solid gameplans against much of the field. However, while the format remains in a broken state, I can’t wholeheartedly endorse it for your next Modern tournament. Take it through a League, do a little tuning, and have it in your holster for a post-Hogaak world. At that point, all these incredible Modern Horizon cards will finally get the chance to shine.