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Modern is starting to shape up to be a brewer's paradise. Multiple new decks have emerged in the last couple weeks with cards that never seemed possibly playable before. Jund, Merfolk, and the terrifying Splinter Twin are all looking like poor choices as this format evolves. Let's find out why!
There was a PTQ two weeks ago that showcased a very interesting deck.
| Scepter Tempo A Modern deck, by Dracc0n 1st place at a Pro Tour Qualifier tournament in Magic Online on 2012-01-29 | ||
Artifacts 4 Isochron Scepter Creatures 4 Delver of Secrets 3 Snapcaster Mage Instants 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lightning Helix 3 Magma Jet 4 Path to Exile 1 Research / Development 2 Spell Pierce 2 Spell Snare |
Legendary Creatures 2 Vendilion Clique Sorceries 4 Serum Visions Basic Lands 4 Island 1 Mountain Lands 1 Arid Mesa 2 Celestial Colonnade 1 Hallowed Fountain 2 Misty Rainforest 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Steam Vents 3 Sulfur Falls 2 Tectonic Edge | 1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind 2 Grim Lavamancer 1 Combust 2 Dispel 3 Gifts Ungiven 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Vendilion Clique 2 Pyroclasm 1 Unburial Rites |
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The first thing Dracc0n did differently from everyone else is play Isochron Scepter. This card has not seen much play without Orim's Chant. The card is usually overpriced and too slow to gain enough value to be worth it, or too easily beaten from the control decks. That actually isn't the case for this format though. This format is dominated by creature decks. Even most of the combo decks, which are historically good against Scepter strategies, are based around creature combos. This makes putting Path to Exile on Isochron Scepter an absolute beating against most the decks in the format.
The other great advantage to this spell is that there are very few dedicated control decks. Most of the decks in the format that take control roles are those that have upwards of 16 guys in their deck. All of which get killed by this deck's removal density—almost 1/4th of the deck. He even had Research / Development to help out against control decks.
This is only the first innovation that this deck brought to the public. This deck has a terrible Jund matchup. Jund is one of the only decks that can easily disrupt their plans, since they are maindecking four Maelstrom Pulse.
This is where Gifts Ungiven comes into play. Gifts Ungiven has been an amazing card for letting decks control games by using a bunch of one-ofs for specific situations. This card is also used for setting up combos by searching for four-card groupings. None of that matters in Dracc0n's deck.
Some of you probably already know this, but I want to explain it for those who don't.
The new trend in Modern is to Gifts Ungiven for Unburial Rites and a creature you want to bring back with it. Gifts reads that you search for four cards, but you don't actually have to get four cards. You can "fail to find." Just grab two cards, and those two go into the graveyard. This allows this deck to grab Sphinx of the Steel Wind and absolutely destroy Jund.
This also helps out other matchups. It is a slower combo to be using in this format but is very effective in certain matchups. Many decks are starting to incorporate this into maindecks of Delver decks.
| Scepter Tempo Featured by Brad Nelson on 2012-01-29 (Modern) | ||
Artifacts 4 Isochron Scepter Creatures 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Grim Lavamancer Instants 3 Gifts Ungiven 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lightning Helix 4 Path to Exile 2 Spell Snare |
Legendary Creatures 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria 2 Vendilion Clique Sorceries 4 Serum Visions 1 Unburial Rites Basic Lands 4 Island 1 Mountain 1 Plains Lands 1 Arid Mesa 2 Hallowed Fountain 4 Misty Rainforest 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Seachrome Coast 2 Steam Vents 2 Sulfur Falls | 1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Combust 3 Dispel 2 Mana Leak 1 Spell Snare 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 4 Geist of Saint Traft 2 Shattering Spree |
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The sweet thing about this deck is that it plays out the Delver/Isochron strategy but gets the ability to back door into Iona, which will stop most decks from having a chance of winning. This strategy can obviously backfire when you draw a piece, but you still can just Gifts for good cards if you have enough time. I just like the ability to put some pressure on the board, wait for them to react to it, and then slam an Iona when they are focused on your early game. I don't think a deck can play like this for the length of the format, but it can surprise people when they don't know it's there.
| Esper Gifts Featured by Brad Nelson on 2012-01-29 (Modern) | ||
Artifacts 1 Talisman of Dominance 2 Talisman of Progress Creatures 1 Grave Titan 4 Snapcaster Mage Instants 2 Cryptic Command 2 Forbidden Alchemy 4 Gifts Ungiven 2 Mana Leak 1 Mystical Teachings 1 Negate 4 Path to Exile 1 Slaughter Pact 1 Smother 1 Thirst For Knowledge Legendary Creatures 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria |
Sorceries 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Thoughtseize 1 Unburial Rites Basic Lands 2 Island 1 Plains 1 Swamp Basic Snow Lands 1 Snow-Covered Island 1 Snow-Covered Plains 1 Snow-Covered Swamp Lands 3 Creeping Tar Pit 1 Godless Shrine 2 Hallowed Fountain 4 Marsh Flats 2 Misty Rainforest 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Watery Grave | 2 Baneslayer Angel 1 Darkblast 1 Disenchant 1 Divine Offering 1 Negate 1 Rest for the Weary 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal 1 Damnation 1 Solemn Offering 2 Thoughtseize 2 Timely Reinforcements 1 Wrath of God |
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Want to just skip all of the Delver business and get right to the fatty? This deck is just a straight up control deck that uses the Gifts Ungiven plan to drop one of three powerful creatures into play. Grave Titan might not be the most powerful choice to reanimate in Standard but can be very devastating to decks that don't run Path to Exile.
I am not the biggest fan of decks like this, but I know there are a lot of people who are. I think this deck could be a very good choice if you don't think many Ravagers are going to show up in an event.
Birds with Swords
The next is a new take on the Caw-Blade decks running around. Caw-Blade showed up about three weeks ago on Magic Online. The newest evolution of the deck turns it into a Delver deck as well as making the equipment a bigger part of the theme.
| Caw-Blade Featured by Thage on 2012-01-29 (Modern) | ||
Artifacts 1 Batterskull 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Sword of Fire and Ice Creatures 4 Delver of Secrets 3 Snapcaster Mage 4 Squadron Hawk Instants 2 Cryptic Command 4 Path to Exile 4 Remand 4 Spell Snare |
Legendary Creatures 3 Vendilion Clique Sorceries 2 Gitaxian Probe 3 Serum Visions 2 Steelshaper's Gift Basic Lands 5 Island 1 Plains Lands 1 Arid Mesa 1 Celestial Colonnade 1 Glacial Fortress 1 Hallowed Fountain 3 Moorland Haunt 3 Scalding Tarn 4 Seachrome Coast 1 Steam Vents Legendary Lands 1 Pendelhaven | 1 Mortarpod 2 Relic of Progenitus 1 Sword of War and Peace 2 Annul 2 Combust 2 Dispel 2 Gut Shot 1 Thirst For Knowledge 1 Day of Judgment 1 Wrath of God |
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Steelshaper's Gift has a very low cost for how important it can be to have the correct equipment in play. Sword of Fire and Ice does way different things than Sword of Feast and Famine. Running Steelshaper's Gift makes it very easy to have the high-impact equipment in your deck and not draw too many of them when they are not good. This card does a small Stoneforge Mystic impression, which was banned for being way too good. This card is obviously not close but still does enough to make it good.
The reason I like this deck is because it has multiple advantages against other Delver decks. Squadron Hawks can be very effective at getting guys onto the board and helping you not lose tempo in the air. Moorland Haunt makes this card even more effective, allowing you to produce eight 1/1 creatures off of one Squadron Hawk. Doing this is very mana intensive, but that is not a problem in the Delver mirrors because most games are very long. Swords only make these matchups even better when this happens.
Adding Delver to this strategy helps out against the combo decks of the format. Squadron Hawk plus a Sword is very powerful but way too slow to consistently close out games against Storm. Delver allows you to have powerful draws that the other versions don't have access to.
| Death Cloud Featured by Brad Nelson on 2012-01-29 (Modern) | ||
Creatures 1 Eternal Witness 1 Grave Titan 4 Kitchen Finks 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder Instants 2 Smother 2 Victim of Night Planeswalkers 3 Garruk Wildspeaker 2 Liliana of the Veil |
Sorceries 2 Damnation 3 Death Cloud 1 Duress 2 Inquisition of Kozilek 3 Maelstrom Pulse 2 Primal Command 4 Thoughtseize Basic Lands 3 Forest 4 Swamp Lands 2 Golgari Rot Farm 2 Overgrown Tomb 2 Tectonic Edge 4 Treetop Village 4 Verdant Catacombs 3 Woodland Cemetery | 3 Relic of Progenitus 1 Sword of Light and Shadow 2 Torpor Orb 1 Gaea's Revenge 2 Obstinate Baloth 2 Vexing Shusher 2 Krosan Grip 2 Creeping Corrosion |
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Death Cloud has always been one of those decks that people will try whenever a new set comes out. This ability is so powerful when it works. The problem is that it is rarely good. The deck is very slow and sometimes needs perfect situations to come up to even win games. The upside is that resolving the spell is almost always game-winning against most decks in the format.
Death Cloud is not terribly positioned right now because of how Delver has affected the format. Delver has forced decks to either be super aggressive or an aggressive midrange. That means it's the perfect time to play hand disruption, creature removal, and Kitchen Finks. Rock decks need a game breaking spell, and Death Cloud is exactly that.
Resolving Death Cloud is an absolute beating. Many of the decks in the format run 22 land with eight fetchlands. This does not go over all too well when they have zero permanents and no hand.
I am not saying that this deck is as powerful as something with Delver, but I do think it is a very fun choice if that is what you are looking for. Rock decks tend to have interesting games all day long, and this one allows you to just destroy an opponent after multiple turns of interacting with them.
| Doran Featured by Brad Nelson on 2012-01-29 (Modern) | ||
Artifacts 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Sword of Fire and Ice Creatures 3 Birds of Paradise 4 Dark Confidant 4 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Tarmogoyf Instants 4 Path to Exile 2 Zealous Persecution Legendary Creatures 3 Doran, the Siege Tower |
Planeswalkers 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant Sorceries 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Maelstrom Pulse Basic Lands 2 Forest 2 Plains 1 Swamp Lands 1 Bojuka Bog 2 Godless Shrine 4 Marsh Flats 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Stirring Wildwood 2 Temple Garden 2 Treetop Village 4 Verdant Catacombs | 2 Engineered Explosives 2 Nihil Spellbomb 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Qasali Pridemage 1 Worship 2 Zealous Persecution 2 Thoughtseize |
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I'm going to talk about this last deck not because it is good or fun to play. Doran is something that people have wanted to play ever since Amsterdam last year. This deck is not good at all. The only reason this deck was good last year was that the format did not have the ability to fetch for dual lands. This was the one huge advantage that Doran had over the format.
This format is way too good for this deck to be viable. Period!
It is time to go now. I am currently waiting for a draft to finish so Martin Juza and I can go out, and I can have my first ever beer on a beach. I am loving Hawaii and wish you the best of luck winning a Pro Tour Qualifier to enjoy some time in Barcelona in a couple months. Go win some matches!
