No Modern deck gained more from Amonkhet than Living End. Desert Cerodon and Horror of the Broken Lands are simply better than any other creature that has cycling for one mana that are also in the Jund colors that Living End typically plays. These may not seem like a big deal, but they are significant upgrades on the cards the deck played before, and it was already a fringe archetype. Once a deck is in that range, it doesn’t need much help to jump up a level.
But what if we go even further? Getting to the point where every creature in the deck cycles for one mana (or zero, in the case of Street Wraith) will give the deck a level of consistency that it hasn’t ever had. Turn 1 cycle, turn 2 cycle twice, turn 3 Living End will put over ten power on the battlefield, and if you have a Street Wraith or a Horror of Broken Lands to pump, you can pretty easily threaten a turn 4 kill that is consistent and resilient, a recipe for success in Modern with a long pedigree.
In order to facilitate that vision, this version of Living End goes to the full five colors in order to fit Curator of Mysteries and Glassdust Hulk. The former is another very powerful creature that gives you something to do after you put a bunch of fat creatures on the battlefield. As an evasive creature, it can circumvent battlefield stalls, which won’t come up often, but you’ll be glad when it does.
The five-color manabase has proven itself viable in various Dredge lists over the last year, and those lists didn’t get to play Forbidden Orchard, which Living End conveniently answers before they do too much damage. Also, it gets to play Ardent Plea as an additional cascade card. In fact, I could see the enchantment performing better than Demonic Dread, since it doesn’t require a creature to be on the battlefield to cast.
Notably, every creature in the list has four or more toughness, allowing Anger of the Gods as a great sweeper against aggressive decks that doesn’t leave any pesky creatures in the graveyard to return from a Living End.
The amount of graveyard hate in Modern to handle Dredge could put a damper on the resurgence of Living End, but it’s historically been able to handle the hate well, since you can cycle creature to dig for an answer or make land drops and cast your creatures. Don’t underestimate it because it’s filled with a bunch of draft commons.
Creatures (30)
- 4 Simian Spirit Guide
- 4 Street Wraith
- 4 Monstrous Carabid
- 4 Glassdust Hulk
- 2 Deadshot Minotaur
- 4 Curator of Mysteries
- 4 Desert Cerodon
- 4 Horror of the Broken Lands
Lands (17)
Spells (13)
Sideboard
