Modern is one of the most exciting formats I’ve seen in a while. I think a Pro Tour with Modern and Shards of Alara draft would be my dream PT!
I played in a PTQ last weekend, and after a 2-0 start in a seven-round tournament (which is unheard of in the northeast region), the wheels fell off. I guess a combination of snow and a poor site for a PTQ will keep people away.
Let’s start from the very beginning of my day on Saturday.
Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy
Got my glasses—I’m out the door—I’m gonna hit this city
That’s how my morning started.
…Well if hitting a side rail on a highway and totaling your car in the process is what she is referring to by “city,” then I ball as hard as Ke$ha.
To be more specific, I started to swerve, did a 180, and slammed into the side rail, popping my back left tire off its axle and thus totaling the car.
To make a long story short: I called my parents to let them know what happened. Then I called my friend Trevor, who was driving Joe Pennachio and me to the PTQ, and told him what happened.
Me: Yo, I just got into an accident; I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it home in time to get to the PTQ.
Trevor: Yo, I just got into an accident also; it’s not bad though. Some guy was going to hit me, so I had to jump the curb a bit. My car needs to be realigned. It’s still drivable though. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.
Trevor picked me up about 20 minutes later and immediately told me that my car was Ancient Grudged with flashback…
With a Creeping Corrosion…
Hilarious…
Shout out to Trevor for picking me up in a time of need, and I would say that we are both bosses for not letting car accidents deter us from PTQs.
Deck Choice: Splinter Twin
I had gone to a tournament at my local shop during the week prior and won with a rougher version of Splinter Twin that was handed to me with 4 Lightning Bolt in it. I quickly realized that wasn’t really where you wanted to be at all.
I could not find a fourth Serum Visions and ended up playing a Telling Time over it. I liked Telling Time a lot and was ready to cut more Serum Visions for them.
I was very unimpressed with Remand, Serum Visions, and Lightning Bolt. Remand would sometimes sit in your hand if good players didn’t play into it. I will, however, say that Remand is useful when doing it to your own spells.
I told people about cutting Serum Visions, and I was backed up for the most part until my friend Robbie said you needed to spend turn one digging, which made me doubt myself. Then after watching GerryT’s playtesting videos with Todd Anderson, Todd had mentioned how much he liked Serum Visions more than Sleight of Hand. I figured I had to be wrong with such little experience with the deck.
I wanted to cut Remands for Vendilion Clique at some point but was shut down by Chris Mascioli; it still could be right though. Clique blocks while taking away hate from an aggro deck, provides pressure against control decks while grabbing a hate card or counterspell, and disrupts combo better than Remand could. Oh, and if you draw it and need to dig without your opponent playing a spell, you can!
Creatures (13)
Lands (17)
Spells (30)
- 2 Mountain
- 5 Island
- 4 Sleight of Hand
- 4 Serum Visions
- 1 Echoing Truth
- 2 Peek
- 3 Telling Time
- 1 Into the Roil
- 4 Dispel
- 4 Splinter Twin
Sideboard
I arrived to the site and met up with my friend Anthony Izzo, and after tuning, Remands became Telling Times. He sold me on Peek over Vendilion Clique, but Peek was not very good.
Telling Time is the real deal, and I think it’s insane in the Twin decks. Leaving up a fetch to get rid of dead cards is very cool, giving a nice Brainstorm feel.
I don’t think Splinter Twin is good right now because people are gunning for it, but if the hate ever dies down, it is definitely the real deal.
Modern is such a diverse format, you can pretty much get away with playing any color combination you would like to.
Let’s go over some known Modern decks:
Creatures (17)
Lands (14)
Spells (29)
I like Delver of Secrets; however I hate Serum Visions. While it’s possible to just cut the Serum Visions and pray, the deck is probably much more consistent with them. It’s really a catch 22. That being said, in the finals of the PTQ, I saw the RUG player never hit a Delver trigger; it makes me want to cut the card and be up eight cards you can add to the deck!
Creatures (17)
Lands (7)
Spells (36)
I have been testing versions that are playing other colors such as white or black. My lists are slightly different and often don’t include Vedalken Shackles due to lack of Islands.
Black for Inquisition of Kozilek and Creeping Tar Pit is pretty insane.
I have been unimpressed with Mistbind Clique and often want to cut them for Snapcaster Mages.
Playing white in the deck usually leads me to just think Caw-Blade is better, so without further ado:
Creatures (18)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
Overview on blue decks in Modern
These decks are all so similar (as far as blue cards go), yet so different, and I will most likely be slinging one of them for the rest of the season. There are so many different angles to take these decks and different ways to mix and match card selections.
Spellstutter Sprite is one of my favorite cards, and I will be trying to ruin manabases with 4 Mutavaults to play this card until the end of time.
Rune Snag is interesting to think about over Mana Leak, but I have yet to test it at all and have my doubts about how good it may be when you flash it back with Snapcaster Mage, lowering the count in your graveyard.
Moorland Haunt is insane in these types of decks, which is a huge indicator to play white. Path to Exile is also really good in the format right now also.
Every time I go to splash Tarmogoyf in a deck, I talk myself out of it with the rationalization that it will just get Path to Exiled. But with Spellstutter Sprite up, that’s not an issue!
All blue decks that do not have red and green for Ancient Grudge should be playing Hurkyl’s Recall in the sideboard. Disenchant for white is cute, and I understand it has other implications, but I would still want Hurkyl’s Recall.
Cryptic Command…I honestly don’t love the card anymore. Four mana seems like a lot in this format, and it is almost impossible to flashback with Snapcaster Mage. I would save this for the Mono-Blue Faeries decks and cut it from the others. I have been very unimpressed.
Quickly summing it up
Reasons to play black
Dark Confidant – This card is amazing card advantage in a format with no Ancestral Vision; most spells don’t go over three mana, so it’s never that bad on your life total. Best black creature in Modern by a landslide.
Darkblast – This card is so insane; it kills almost every Affinity creature, Delver of Secrets, Dark Confidant, Steppe Lynx, etc. The list goes on and on, and I am not ashamed in the least to maindeck one or two copies.
Smother – I was playing Doom Blade at first because I forgot Smother was legal. I would much rather kill Dark Confidant than Bloodbraid Elf all day. It is pretty much a two-mana kill-anything in this format.
Inquisition of Kozilek – Discard is very good in this format; however Thoughtseize can be very painful. Most cards don’t cost more than three mana in this format anyway. Splitting between the two could be fine as well.
Creeping Tar Pit – This card does die to a decent amount of spells, but the price is definitely right, and this card is fantastic for damage.
Reasons to play white
Squadron Hawk – This card was amazing in Standard, and it is no surprise to see that it is just as good in Modern. Combined with Moorland Haunt, it’s like playing 8 Squadron Hawks.
Path to Exile – This card is by far where you want to be in this format, and as far as Snapcaster Mage goes, it is what you want to be flashing back. The difference between three and four mana in this format is huge and can be the difference of a game going your way or not. I’ve considered splashing white in my U/B decks to play Path over Smother.
Moorland Haunt – This card is insane in the war of attrition in the blue decks; whoever has Moorland Haunt will most likely be winning the long game.
Kitchen Finks (also green) – I was against Kitchen Finks in the beginning because of Path to Exile. But against Jund, Mono Red, and Boros, he is an all-star.
Reasons to play green
Kitchen Finks – see white.
Tarmogoyf – He is one of the best creatures in Modern. He provides great beatdown and great defense against semi-aggressive or aggressive decks.
Reasons to play red
Ancient Grudge – Affinity hate is pretty nice, and if you can’t play this card or Shattering Spree, then Hurkyl’s Recall is probably a must.
Lightning Bolt – Pretty much the same rationale as Path to Exile, only this doesn’t always kill Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary. It can be pointed at their face though…
Affinity is a deck, and it will smash you if you are not prepared.
I have brewed up an Affinity deck that I think would do well:
Creatures (26)
- 2 Arcbound Ravager
- 4 Ornithopter
- 4 Dark Confidant
- 4 Memnite
- 4 Etched Champion
- 4 Signal Pest
- 4 Vault Skirge
Lands (16)
Spells (18)
Sideboard
Shrapnel Blast is pretty awful in my opinion.
With the lack of sacrifice outlets, Mox Opal might get awkward and should be put down to three. The card seems just too good to be true though, so I’m not sure.
If you are an Affinity deck, you have to be sideboarding Combust for Splinter Twin. Even if they bring in Mutagenic Growth, that is one more card they need and one more turn you have to kill them (and one more card that isn’t Ancient Grudge!).
Welding Jar is definitely good in Affinity right now, but I couldn’t really find anywhere in this list to put it; if you decide not to get cute, then I recommend it.
Jund is also good, but it has changed a lot from when I played it on the Pro Tour with Punishing Fire, so I would definitely read Reid Duke article on it! (No pun intended.) Although, when I tested Jund against Affinity, I couldn’t win a game despite how many Ancient Grudges I drew, so I don’t know.
Dark Ascension cards in Modern
Faithless Looting – This card will be insane in the Storm decks and Splinter Twin decks, giving you the ability to find the exact cards you need in order to win.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad – I have been trying to build Esper decks featuring this card over Elspeth, Knight-Errant. All of your Squadron Hawks are now 2/1s, as well as your Moorland Haunt tokens. Every creature becomes so much scarier.
Ray of Revelation – This card will definitely see some sideboard action. It is pretty good against Splinter Twin.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben – This card will see some sideboard play for sure, possibly even maindeck, seeing how it is good against control decks.
Thought Scour – This card has implications in the Storm deck; drawing a card and milling Past in Flames seems pretty sweet.
Chalice of Life | Chalice of Death – If someone decides to play Martyr of Sands in an upcoming PTQ, I would definitely want a few copies of this card in my deck; it’s so sweet. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for the Martyr decks…
Grafdigger’s Cage – Could be good against Past in Flames / Snapcaster Mage but probably has more implications in Legacy and Vintage.
Well those are my thoughts on Modern; please leave comments with your thoughts on my article.
As far Legacy goes, I am very inexperienced, but it seems like a cool format. I’ve been brewing a mono-black list.
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (23)
Spells (25)
- 3 Hymn to Tourach
- 4 Duress
- 2 Diabolic Edict
- 4 Dark Ritual
- 3 Sinkhole
- 1 Crucible of Worlds
- 1 Darkblast
- 4 Thoughtseize
- 3 Beseech the Queen
Sideboard
Until next time
-Pete I