Video: Melira Pod In Modern

Today I’m preparing for Grand Prix Kansas City this weekend with Melira Pod. I haven’t played Modern since Grand Prix Portland, where I played Melira Pod for the first time. I was very impressed with the deck as a whole and with Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence in particular, but I was not overly impressed with Birthing Pod, which generally seemed pretty slow. The life it cost was a real problem against the aggressive decks.

I’m playing my updated version that I intend on playing in Kansas City, which has only three Birthing Pods to really focus on the value creatures angle.

My list:

Melira Pod

Sam Black

Test deck on 07-07-2013

Modern

Creatures (29)

• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Wall of Roots
• 1 Orzhov Pontiff
• 2 Reveillark
• 4 Kitchen Finks
• 2 Murderous Redcap
• 1 Ranger of Eos
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
• 3 Deathrite Shaman
• 1 Cartel Aristocrat
• 1 Sin Collector
• 4 Voice of Resurgence

Lands (23)

• 3 Forest
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Godless Shrine
• 1 Dryad Arbor
• 2 Marsh Flats
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 2 Razorverge Thicket
• 1 Gavony Township

Spells (8)

• 2 Chord of Calling
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 3 Birthing Pod

Sideboard

• 1 Kataki, War's Wage
• 1 Chord of Calling
• 1 Aven Mindcensor
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 2 Maelstrom Pulse
• 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Spellskite
• 2 Dismember
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Sin Collector

My opponent’s draw in game 1 was excellent, and being on the draw certainly didn’t help matters. I’m very confident there was nothing I could have done. In game 2, I was lucky that he didn’t draw any removal against my Melira and Kitchen Finks. Relic of Progenitus made me be careful, but it wasn’t enough. My opponent threw away any chance in game 2 by not using Lightning Bolt in response to my Viscera Seer, but I think I was pretty far ahead at that point. In the third game, I just drew a lot of the right creatures, and Dismember lined up well against Rancor.

Game 1 I got unreasonably lucky to naturally draw the combo, and in game 2 my draw was fine, while his was below average. Not much to take away from this one.

I think the few turns of missing land drops really let things get out of hand in the first game, even if my opponent wasn’t playing the kind of deck that obviously immediately punishes me for that. Game 2 I had exactly the kind of start I want against a weak draw. In game 3, my discard did just what I needed it to do, and I was able to come out just fast enough with a pretty good draw. It was wrong to attack with a Deathrite Shaman on the last turn since my opponent would have to cast a spell to stay alive, but it didn’t end up costing me.

Given my opponent and my unfamiliarity with his deck, I’m hesitant to question how he played game 1, but it seemed like he just died to Voice of Resurgence. I think Ranger of Eos would likely have won the game anyway, but I think he should have just used his removal spells on the Voice at the beginning of game 1. In game 2, I clearly needed to respect Geist of Saint Traft more given how much damage I was doing to myself. I haven’t played against it a lot in Modern, and I think I need to recalibrate just how hard it’s hitting when my opponent can potentially Snapcast Lightning Bolts.

After narrowly failing to stabilize in game 2, I took an overly conservative line with my life total and got maximally punished for not fetching Godless Shrine. That game was easily winnable the way the cards came up after that.

I’ve liked this deck whenever I’ve played it, and another 3-1 where I think I could have won either or both of the games in the match I lost with different or better play leaves me pretty satisfied with my deck choice for Grand Prix Kansas City.

Thanks for watching,

Sam

@samuelhblack on Twitter
twitch.tv/samuelhblack