Have you seen the Grand Prix Lincoln (or GP Hoth as some people have come to call it) Top 8 decks? Such diversity! And the best part? There was another deck outside of the Top 8 that seems very cool to me. I am, of course, talking about the White/Black Martyr deck.

Martyr

Andrew Ohlschwager

29th Place at Grand Prix on 02-19-2012

Modern

Creatures (21)

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Lands (16)

Spells (18)

Sideboard

How cool is this deck? For a while now I’ve enjoyed the Martyr decks, but they’ve lacked some solid card drawing. Sure, you can cast Squadron Hawk and draw more Hawks, but I’m never excited to draw Hawks in the first place. Or you can cast Ranger of Eos and grab some sick one-drops like Martyr of Sand or Serra Ascendant. Oh, wait, that’s not a sick one-drop? Ok, you caught me! Unfortunately Andrew didn’t Top 8 the GP. What he did provide, though, was a solid shell on which I want to expand upon.

Equipment Options

The deck runs one Steelshaper’s Gift. I understand why: there is equipment in the board. However, what are the odds of drawing the one Gift? Instead, I propose streamlining the equipment package. Is Sword of Light and Shadow even that good? Andrew himself admitted that Emrakul-based control decks were tough, and I imagine that combo can be rough too. Sword of Light and Shadow seems like a win-more kind of card against the decks you already beat and a do-nothing card against the decks you want to be beating. Instead, this deck should probably be running either Sword of War and Peace to speed up the clock a fair bit and continue with the life gain trend or Sword of Feast and Famine to try to get the opponent down on the cards in their hand.

This does not mean I want to cut the Gift, as I feel it’s important to be able to grab sideboarded equipment. It’s the same as running two of every equipment (until you draw the Gift at least). The sideboarded equipment I agree with. Mortarpod is very good at playing clean up in creature fights. It also gets rid of pesky creatures like Grim Lavamancer, Spellstutter Sprite, Viscera Seer, Delver of Secrets, and Steppe Lynx. Sword of Fire and Ice is very good against some of the people still playing Merfolk, and it’s also very good against the Faeries deck that made the Top 8 of the GP. Don’t forget that you also get to draw cards with it! Yay drawing cards!

So where does that land us? We’ll still be running the one Steelshaper’s Gift but we’ll be switching the Sword of Light and Shadow to a Sword of Feast and Famine. Don’t forget that the untapping can fuel a Figure of Destiny! As far as the board equipment goes, I think the sideboarded equipment is great and that won’t be changing.

Mistveil Plains

This card… It’s pretty good with Squadron Hawk. Basically you get to have infinite Squadron Hawks which equates to infinite attackers or blockers. You will also never deck. It’s also pretty decent with Ranger of Eos and your one-drops. To be honest, it’s not exciting to run this card, but the versatility and the fact that it can be fetched up with Arid Mesa or Marsh Flats makes it worth keeping around as a one-of.

Emeria, the Sky Ruin

I’m not actually sure if this card is worth it. I’m fairly certain that the decks that are bad matchups have the better long game than you. Add the fact that there are no huge threats that can be bought back with Emeria (let’s be real, Necrotic Sliver isn’t going to cause anyone to quiver in fear), and I think it’s a card that can be cut. It’s also a huge nonbo (non-combo) with Jotun Grunt. That leaves us with two options. Cut the Emerias for utility lands (Ghost Quarter, Tectonic Edge) or cut Jotun Grunt from the list. Since we’ve examined Emeria, the Sky Ruin, let’s take a look at Jotun Grunt and see what he’s actually accomplishing before we decide to move in either direction.

Jotun Grunt

What is Jotun Grunt actually doing in this format? Against Tarmogoyf decks he’ll help to control the size of Goyf. Against Past in Flames based Storm decks he’ll help to minimize the impact of Past in Flames. Against Melira combo he doesn’t really do much. If he’s paired against the new Life from the Loam deck he’ll accomplish quite a bit…if they start dredging. Paired against Splinter Twin? Better hope he has a lot of fetch lands and cantrips otherwise your 4/4 for 1W is going to be dying very quickly. Can you see where I’m going with this? I feel as if Jotun Grunt is a sideboard card at best. I realize he’s a 4/4 for just two mana and that’s super awesome fantastic stuff, but he also has a cumulative upkeep cost that is just too far out of your own hands. He is more matchup dependent than I would like him to be and for that he’s hitting the bench

I know I said that getting back Necrotic Sliver isn’t going to cause anyone to quake in fear, but it is a recurring Vindicate. That means you can deal with any problem, literally any problem at all. For that utility I’ve decided to stay with the Emerias and test them a little to see how they are. With the Jotun Grunts cut we have some wiggle room to include some awesome cards, including a splash color.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

This card is REALLY good against a lot of decks if you manage to get it out on turn two. It also beats down with the other amazing 2/1 in the deck, Dark Confidant. This card makes the Past in Flames deck work extremely hard to win the game. Not only that, but it also makes Urzatron decks care about their mana (at least until they assemble Tron, in which case you’re probably losing anyway). Is your opponent trying to play expensive spells that aren’t creatures? Thalia would like a word. It’s even passable vs. Melira combo assuming they don’t just naturally have the pieces. There is some awkwardness with Lingering Souls but most of the time this deck just wants to be casting Squadron Hawks and clogging up the board so it can win the long game. Just don’t try to play the long game against Tron decks because that is not a game you will win. Especially now that they can easily drop an Iona, Shield of Emeria into play and turn off the entire deck.

Just remember to keep Thalia in mind when sculpting future turns around playing certain non-creature spells at certain points in the game. That one mana could be very damning if you forget.

The Secret Ingredients

Now that we have some room with the Jotun Grunts cut, what should we add? Well there’s an assortment of cards that I’d love to try out. Just to name a few off the top of my head, I’d love to test out Zealous Persecution, Grave Titan, Gideon Jura, Karn Liberated, Hero of Bladehold, Sorin Markov, Mirran Crusader, Yosei, the Morning Star, Kokusho, the Evening Star, and Lightning Helix.

So what are we actually adding? Well, I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for Ajani Vengeant ever since I played him at my first States tournament. That means, of course, that I’ll be adding two to the deck. Three seems like it would clog the board too much, while two seems reasonable given that other things will be tying up the mana. For the other two free slots, adding another Sword of Feast and Famine seems very reasonable since it will help in our weak matchups. The last one-of? How about Wrath of God?! Having an out to a creature swarm in the deck is very beneficial and if you have it in your opener, you can easily sculpt the game around it. Where does this bring us to for the main deck?

Martyr

Larry Swasey

Test deck on 03-04-2012

Modern

Creatures (21)

Planeswalkers (3)

Lands (16)

Spells (20)

Sideboard

As far as the board goes, I think that Andrew had a fine board. However, I think the added graveyard hate along with more Aven Mindcensor will help in the long run, especially against Melira and Tron. Considering these two decks made it deep into the Grand Prix it’s not unreasonable to pack some hate for them. Surgical Extraction is also pretty good against Life from the Loam. The discard spells are there for combo and control matchups, the area where this deck typically struggles.

Moving Forward

Now that I’ve spent over a thousand some-odd words talking about the new Martyr build, I have an additional treat for you, my dear reader. An updated Twin list (shocker, I know)!

U/R Twin

Larry Swasey

Test deck on 03-04-2012

Modern

Creatures (18)

Lands (19)

Spells (23)

Sideboard

Hey, you got your fatties in my combo deck! Oh yeah, well you got your combo deck in my control deck! Whoa, slow down there fellas. Let’s just say that I got tired of losing because I didn’t have any sweet topdecks. Needless to say, Sphinx is one helluva topdeck. I found that the deck was seriously lacking in ways to get back into the game once it was stripped of its hand. Sphinx solves that problem while additionally being a beater and a giant wall. Every single time I’ve resolved him, I’ve won. Usually it’s because the opponent has exhausted all of his or her resources dealing with the combo or the potential combo.

As far as the sideboard goes, Combust is a nod to Faeries being a deck and us having no interaction with their upkeep Mistbind Clique effects besides having multiple Grim Lavamancer in play. It could easily change to Jace Beleren, since he is good in the same matchups that Combust is good in. Ancient Grudge is also a concession to Faeries and U/W Caw-Blade because Shattering Spree was not getting the job done against Spellskite, equipment, and Vedalken Shackles. Wurmcoil Engine is just for the Jund matchup. Yeah, he’s kiiiind of good there. Typically the games go long and it comes down to a topdeck war. Sometimes you’ll have a two or three turn window to just combo off but often times you’ll both be topdecking. Let’s just say that none of their topdecks beat your topdeck of Wurmcoil Engine.

If you have any questions or comments about the Martyr deck or Splinter Twin, feel free to let me know in the comments, by Twitter, or by e-mail. Also if there’s any particular deck in Modern you’d like a tune up of or an examination of like the one I did for Martyr, please let me know. Good luck in your PTQs!

krazykirby4 on Magic Online

@krazykirby4 on Twitter

krazykirby AT gmail DOT com