If you’re playing in Modern Spring States this weekend but don’t know what to play, perhaps I can help.
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (25)
Why I Want To Try It
Hoo boy. This deck is reminiscent of my childhood favorite decks, but in an effort to perform better, I’ve shied away from trying Gifts Ungiven decks
because they are highly reactive in nature. I need to sharpen my deck selection skills, and I won’t be able to learn much by playing the same types of
decks over and over again. I’ve been trying to branch out a bit more, but I certainly miss this type of strategy.
Why I Think It Could Be Good
With a defined metagame, Gifts Ungiven decks can be a force. You really need to be able to hone in on what’s important so you can fight it effectively. For
example, after Burn’s performance at Pro Tour Fate Reforged, a higher emphasis on lifegain might be necessary. Similarly, if there are a lot of combo
decks, perhaps a Gifts Ungiven deck based on discard and counterspells could be potent.
Other Options for the Deck
Look through Gatherer? Seriously, you could take this deck any number of ways. The one I currently favor is actually the next deck.
Creatures (14)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Tarmogoyf
- 1 Sun Titan
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- 1 Snapcaster Mage
- 1 Thragtusk
- 3 Siege Rhino
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (24)
Spells (19)
Why I Want To Try It
See the above section for the other Gifts deck.
Why I Think It Could Be Good
For a time, I thought this could be a better G/B deck. Mirror matches often devolve into topdeck wars rather quickly, but if you resolve a Gifts Ungiven,
you should be flush with options that should allow you to out-resource your opponent.
In practice, that’s not exactly the case. With so many mana sources and other potential dead draws, it’s possible you can just flood out if you don’t draw
Gifts Ungiven. Even if you do resolve a Gifts Ungiven, you could end up losing, but you’re a solid favorite. It wasn’t quite the lock I thought it was, so
perhaps taking the full Butakov route and playing a more threat-dense version is better.
Other Options for the Deck
Again, see the above section. There are basically unlimited options.
Creatures (5)
Lands (20)
Spells (35)
- 4 Plunge into Darkness
- 2 Spoils of the Vault
- 1 Fling
- 1 Darkblast
- 4 Thoughtseize
- 3 Bitterblossom
- 2 Path to Exile
- 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
- 4 Phyrexian Unlife
- 2 Lingering Souls
- 4 Faith's Shield
- 4 Orzhov Charm
Sideboard
Why I Want To Try It
Death’s Shadow is a sweet card, and trying to break it leads to playing with some really obscure stuff where your opponent never knows what the hell is
going on. Building a Death’s Shadow deck forces you to think in parameters that are very different than normal Magic, similar to how I view Dredge. “How
can I get myself to one life in the fastest, most efficient way possible?” is a question that has some fun answers.
Why I Think It Could Be Good
This deck has the potential to be incredibly fast. This is a deck that, with time and enough cards that play into your overall strategy, whatever that may
be, will eventually become busted. Maybe all it needs is another incentive for paying life. Being up to date on current shells will allow you to seize
those opportunities when they present themselves.
Other Options for the Deck
Did you know that Avatar of Hope and Death’s Shadow are the same creature type? While there aren’t a ton of synergies for avatars, there is Cavern of
Souls. Also, both of them want you to do the same thing, so if you’re playing a fairer version of Death’s Shadow, Avatar of Hope could be your additional
Tarmogoyf-ish creature.
Creatures (2)
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (21)
Spells (30)
Why I Want To Try It
This deck operates on similar principles to Jund and Abzan — Play good, cheap, hard to kill threats, efficient removal, and efficient disruption. It just
so happens it uses some weird cards in order to achieve those goals, such as Torpor Orb. No other deck can maindeck something like that and not feel bad
about it, but this one gets to.
Why I Think It Could Be Good
As I said, it plays out similarly to Jund, and that should be a ringing endorsement on its own. Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is Jace, the Mind Sculptor levels
of powerful except for the fact that you have to play weird cards. I prefer to look at it like I get to play weird cards. Do you think that you’ll
ever face this deck in a tournament and know its exact contents? That hidden information can also be very powerful.
If there is ever a week where Ensnaring Bridge or Torpor Orb happens to be a fantastic bullet, this deck can make great use of them, whereas no other deck
in the format really can.
Other Options for the Deck
Again, you could probably do a Gatherer search for Modern legal artifacts and find your answer. The deckbuilding scheme for Tezzeret is narrow but also
very broad.
Creatures (22)
- 2 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Tarmogoyf
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 2 Qasali Pridemage
- 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 2 Snapcaster Mage
- 4 Geist of Saint Traft
- 4 Loxodon Smiter
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (14)
Why I Want To Try It
Hexproof is a hell of an ability. Geist of Saint Traft and Thrun, the Last Troll are frequently the most under-appreciated creatures in Modern, and this
deck utilizes their full potential with Noble Hierach. The interaction in Bant is great because you have access to counterspells and white removal. White
also has the best sideboard options in Modern. Bant Charm also does basically everything.
Why I Think It Could Be Good
If your opponent is trying to combo you out, clock plus disruption is basically the go-to strategy. If your opponent is trying to grind you out, they’re
going to have a tough time dealing with hexproof animals. Also, Tarmogoyf and Snapcaster Mage are powerful Magic cards.
Other Options for the Deck
We’ve seen a Tallowisp engine from time to time thanks to Rashad Miller. If Shining Shoal is a good Magic card, chances are Tallowisp also has a place.
Geist of Saint Traft is conveniently a Spirit, and Steel of the Godhead is a great card to put on it! If Jeskai Ascendancy ends up being as good as people
think it is, Kami of Ancient Law becomes pretty good in the format as well. We already have Qasali Pridemage, but if we’re worried about getting killed on
turn 2, Kami is much better.
Aside from a mini-Spirit engine, we could also go deeper on the hexproof theme with Invisible Stalker and some equipment, Rancor, or even Angelic Destiny.
However, part of what I like about the Bant Hexproof deck compared to the Bogles deck is that hexproof has a lot of interaction. Going further down the
line of Bogles without actually being a Bogle deck is likely a bad idea since then you’re a bad Bant deck and a bad Bogle deck.
Sideboarding into Gifts Ungiven / Unburial Rites is also an option.
Creatures (27)
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Bloodghast
- 4 Goblin Bushwhacker
- 4 Vengevine
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Lotleth Troll
- 3 Gurmag Angler
Lands (20)
Spells (13)
Sideboard
Why I Want To Try It
Every once in a while, I enjoy playing decks that’s don’t exactly play Magic. Sometimes you just want to try to attack with seven creatures on Turn 3.
Why I Think It Could Be Good
When you think of “Dredge,” you probably think “unfair.” When this deck is doing its thing, it can be difficult to interact with unless they have very
specific pieces of hate. Even if they draw a hate card like a Scavenging Ooze, you can put a bunch of things into play before they get to untap on Turn 3.
People tend to skimp on graveyard hate unless there’s something particularly scary out there. Right now, that doesn’t seem to be the case, so things like
Rest in Peace and Grafdigger’s Cage don’t really exist in Modern. If you find a good deck that abuses the graveyard, you could have a huge edge.
Other Options for the Deck
There are several. Hedron Crab and Bridge from Below could be excellent, but I think the more solid approach like TimKrazy is doing with a powerful
beatdown backup plan is probably the way to go. I’m not sold on Goblin Bushwhacker, but it’s worth trying.
Creatures (6)
Lands (20)
Spells (34)
I found a similar list somewhere, but I don’t remember where, so I just built my own. My apologies to the creator.
Lands (26)
Spells (34)
Why I Want To Try It
Nostalgia is a huge factor.
One of the best decks I’ve ever played in a Pro Tour was Enduring Ideal at Pro Tour Valencia. For someone who is well-known for playing less than optimal
decks at a Pro Tour, that tournament marked a big victory for me.
There were plenty of extenuating circumstances, and I ended up in 40th place or so. I mis-registered my decklist, didn’t build my deck 100% optimally, and
made a judgment call in the penultimate round that was in my favor but didn’t pan out. This tournament is one of the most memorable of my career and will
forever haunt me as one of my biggest failures, but oddly one of my biggest successes.
Why I Think It Could Be Good
I don’t think it is. I also don’t think I would be able to re-capture that feeling of invincibility I felt at Valencia, but I also enjoyed how the deck
played. That version was pure combo, and the first version is combo control, which I enjoy playing way more anyway. The second version is more of a prison
deck, and I think that might be particularly good for Modern. It has plenty of scary cards for many of the archetypes in Modern, but you’re kind of at the
mercy of your draws. Any opening hands with multiple copies of Enduring Ideal or things like Form of the Dragon are going to be incredibly awkward. If you
draw well, it’s a pretty scary deck though.
Other Options for the Deck
There probably aren’t many, but this shell does a lot to replace what we lost when Seething Song got banned. Maindeck Silence was always nice for combo and
control-heavy metagames, but I don’t think that’s necessary at the moment. Maindeck Leyline of Sanctity, as seen in the prison version, is also an option
for certain metagames. Not only does it shut down G/B’s main way to interact with you, but it gives you free wins against Burn as well.
One of the deeper options is playing G/W Tron with Karn Liberated and Enduring Ideal. It wouldn’t be easy, but it’s something I’ve tried to put down on
paper. It looked horrendous.
***
Of these decks, I’m the most interested in Mono-White Enduring Ideal (perhaps splashing Blood Moon), Bant Hexproof, and U/B Tezzeret, in that order. With
Birthing Pod no longer with us, Tezzeret and its Torpor Orbs lose a lot of their luster. Hexproof seems like it could steal wins from Burn and Abzan, which
is always a good place to be. As for the Ideal deck, I think it could be good, possibly great, with a little fine tuning.
No matter what you decide to play at States, good luck!
(But I hope it’s something spicy.)