Three Modern Decks

There’s been a lot of buzz about Modern Masters, and for those people interested in the newest "best of" set, you’re in luck! Today I’ve got three combo-happy decks for you in honor of the release of Modern Masters! Modern isn’t my normal purview, but when I started looking into the cards, I…I got overwhelmed. I got a little carried away. There’s just so much to do that I couldn’t stop myself.

Me being Jasmine, of course.

For me, Modern has always been an "outside, looking in" format. Pro players and casual brewers alike have a field day with the countless interactions and intense power level present when the last ten years of Magic is available. Aggro decks, midrange/value decks, and control decks all have a place, and the occasional combo deck can slide in there too. For the Johnny in me, Modern is a playground with too many swing sets and jungle gyms. Many lists have caught my eye during the last two years of exposure to the format, but I haven’t had much chance (or, more probably, I’ve lacked the cards) to enjoy the format.

Even though I’m more on the casual side in any format, I’ll always be ready if the opportunity arises to play more competitively. As a starting point, here’s the stock Modern list I built the moment they announced the format, which didn’t change much until Gatecrash.

Borosfall

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 06-09-2013

Modern

Creatures (20)

Lands (20)

Spells (20)

Sideboard

When Allies rotated out of Standard, I converted the R/W shell to casual and then to Modern. It’s blisteringly fast aggro in a fun, interactive package. I loved Landfall both in Limited and Constructed, and keeping the mechanic alive has been a blast. This deck can get some very explosive starts, from a Steppe Lynx into double Goblin Guide for eight, untap, burn you for ten. There are some other fun interactions like Flagstones of Trokair. Playing two gives you triple landfall and perfect fixing, and sacrificing one to a Shard Volley gives you a landfall trigger too. Path to Exile can target your blocked creature to pump the others, and it’s a massively powerful removal spell as always.

Otherwise, the deck is just burn; the sideboard brings Searing Blaze and more Paths for the creature-based decks and Mana Tithe and Angel’s Grace for the combo decks, and Wear // Tear, which directly replaced Disenchant, is there for those troublesome artifacts and enchantments, of course. This is the kind of Modern deck I like building. It is highly functional and effective with a splash of interesting interaction and synergy. This is not the first deck I’ve seen like this, but I’ll still stick by it as is.

Let’s hop right into the fun decks!

The first two decks today both revolve around Standard rares; here’s number one.

Shortly after I read about the Infinite Elves list that uses Infinite Reflection to make uber Elvish Archdruids and multiple Biovisionarys, I wanted to take a stab at the 2/3 in Standard. The more I looked and labored on the idea, the less I liked it though. Props to whoever designed the Infinite Elves list; I couldn’t make a single improvement on Biovisionary in today’s Standard.

So I took a moment to reflect on the past.

Mirrorweave provided a handy, instant speed avenue to force the win condition. Biovisionary doesn’t care whose end step it is—it will count copies all the same. To complement this game plan, we need a lot of creatures and a fair amount of ramp to get the combo off ASAP. Lucky for me, mana dorks fulfilled both needs, and I wouldn’t even have to splash. Birds of Paradise and the ever-flexible Deathrite Shaman made their way in. Green has plenty of ways to make creatures, even if they’re just tokens, and I needed the help. Getting four creatures out and having them all stick around until the end step can be a challenge in a high-powered format like Modern, so I wanted to take a more…creative route to make sure the end step trigger resolved.

In a blue/green shell with a side of black, here’s Weavesionary.

Weavesionary

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 06-09-2013

Modern

Creatures (23)

Lands (21)

Spells (16)

Sideboard

The goal of the deck is to assemble as many creatures as quickly as possible. Then, when I have seven mana, I can cast the Biovisionary and the Mirrorweave in one turn. Once the Mirrorweave resolves, even if the original dies I should have enough copies to guarantee the win. Make sure your opponent doesn’t have four, though, as it will trigger for them too! Eight mana dorks fill the ranks, and eight fetchlands (Misty Rainforest and Verdant Catacombs for those unfamiliar with the cycle) keep the Shaman stocked.

Otherwise, Nest Invader is a nice two-creatures-for-one that can also provide essential ramp. The flash creatures can suddenly present a critical mass of Mirrorweave targets. Vendilion Clique can deprive them of the removal or counterspell that could stop your Mirrorweave, and Scryb Ranger plays well with Dryad Arbor and can untap a Birds of Paradise if needed.

Scatter the Seeds is the real ringer of this deck; in a perfect world (which this deck can create fairly frequently), this is a free three tokens that can be flashed back for free. Convoke reduces the cost without replacing it, the big no-no phrase for Snapcaster Mage flashbacks. Alone, it provides all the creatures you need to Mirrorweave a Biovisionary. Mystical Teaching can help find you any of the many creatures the maindeck offers or can find the Mirrorweave itself. Commune with Nature and Sleight of Hand each offer ~~great~~ passable digging with Ponder being banned, but they are very cheap. If you still need to conserve mana to go off that turn, these cards should do the trick.

I’ve tested this deck a lot. Spellskite and Go for the Throat have been the all-stars from the sideboard, and I haven’t seen as many decks that need the rest. The deck is weak to aggro decks, but it’s not an auto-loss. It’s great against combo, and in the slow matchups it can actually get in the red zone with a bunch of 1/1s. I wouldn’t bet on that as a sure path to victory, but it has happened. The deck still needs some ironing out, but I’ve been impressed with the frequency of assembling the combo pieces. Modern is neat!

The second deck is a Standard port made from a list I considered playing (and probably should have played) at the SCG Standard Open in Atlanta: my Heartless Sphinx deck.

This little enchantment that isn’t long for the Standard world is one of my favorite combo enablers in a long time. Back in the days of Scars of Mirrodin, this card enjoyed a surge of popularity and success on the back of fun U/B value decks, but here it’s just a faster way to resolve our winner, Sphinx of the Chimes.

Modern offers a special mechanic that allows the Sphinx to go infinite: dredge.

If you discard two of the same card with dredge, you may redraw them when Sphinx of the Chimes’ activated ability resolves. Because discarding is a cost, they’re in the graveyard when the ability moves to resolution and dredge’s replacement effect can occur. Thus, you can repeat this and draw your entire deck on command. Using Laboratory Maniac still seems like the most reasonable way to finish a game like this. Zombie Infestation did cross my mind though…

Heartless Sphinx

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 06-09-2013

Modern

Creatures (20)

Lands (22)

Spells (18)

Sideboard

Deathrite Shaman plays a starring role as the only one-mana mana dork that survives Heartless Summoning. There are eight dredge creatures and eight combo pieces. Grisly Salvage, even outside of Standard, is one of the best diggers mana can buy, and binning the dross is good for every spell in this deck. Ideas Unbound, a combo-friendly spell from Saviors of Kamigawa, lets you draw three for two and pitch what you can’t/won’t cast later; it’s essentially a powerful Faithless Looting that lets you use all the cards you draw before discarding. Because it is "draw," you can also recover two dredgers for the Sphinx.

Serum Visions lets you set up the top of your library for a draw spell. It hurts so much to use a draw/dig spell and not hit what you need, and this works to soften that chance. Unburial Rites is still very powerful in a broad format like this, and except for Goryo’s Vengeance it doesn’t get much more efficient. Fetchlands make the white source easy to find in an otherwise BUG-colored deck, so I’m not concerned about that.

In the sideboard, Summoning Trap can undo an untimely counterspell on your crucial combo piece, and it’s easy enough to cast that you can use it as an instant Elvish Piper. Darkblast, another dredge enabler, lets you take out X/1s as needed and is minimally invasive regarding the combo, siding out easily for Golgari Thug. Leyline of Anticipation puts you in charge over reactive spells without that annoying "mana cost." Spellskite makes another appearance to protect our combo creatures, and Angel’s Grace is a powerful Fog or combo breaker that can be cast on the cheap.

Before I let you go from this menagerie of Modern, allow me to toss one more modification on a known deck. I’ve been fiddling with this one over the last couple days, and it all stemmed from a typo in Gatherer.

Is it weaker than Signets and Talismans? Probably. Is it Sol Ring? No way. Is it one of the cheapest mana rocks in Modern that costs one mana? You bet!

Urzatron had many incarnations while it flittered in and out of Standard, and it still has a home in Modern. One of the better versions I’ve seen lately, piloted by our very own Cedric Phillips, has me intrigued. Turn 3 Karn Liberated is awesome, but I’ve got a way to make it turn 2. If you ever want to send me fan mail, my address is in Magical Christmasland.

Colorless Spring

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 06-09-2013

Modern

Creatures (15)

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Karn Liberated

Lands (18)

Spells (24)

Sideboard

With the perfect hand, this deck can cast Karn on turn 2 on the draw. Here’s how: land, two zero-cost creatures, a Mox Opal, and a Paradise Mantle plus a Springleaf Drum (which is effectively free if you have a creature after casting it) and then turn 2 land, Krark-Clan Ironworks, sacrifice all the artifacts for Karn Liberated! Woo! Is that unlikely? You bet. I think I pulled it off once in a hundred goldfish hands, but the promise and potential is still present. Tron decks already love to play the niche win, and it’s seen success before.

I hope you enjoyed this crash course into three (well, four) Modern decks. I am super excited to draft Modern Masters and play it to death. Modern has already become a defining format in every facet of Constructed play and design, and the push of this collectible set can only help. If you’d like, feel free to leave comments about Modern brews you’ve been digging up.

Thanks for dropping by, and join me next week as we sidle back to Standard.

Until next time, don’t forget to untap your Pestermites!

– Matt

CaptainShapiro on Magic Online