I’ve always found diversity to be the best and worst part of Modern. I love that there are 20 or so decks right now that could 4-0 a MODO daily, with tier three and four strategies occasionally coming out of the woodwork to take down a tournament. I appreciate the fact that having a diverse metagame tends to reward players who get to know a deck versus players who pick a deck to take down a certain meta. On the other hand, I hate that some match-ups feel un-winnable. When I was playing RG Tron, I would do an inner fist-pump when I sat down across from a Jund player but would quietly sigh every time I sat down to play against a Twin player. It’s fine to have good and bad match-ups but it feels abysmal when you can’t even interact with your opponent, like you are competing in debate in a language you don’t understand.
Regardless, I didn’t come here to wax on about the pros and cons of format diversity, I came to share some sweet decks. Most of these aren’t dyed in the wool rogue lists, but rather non-tier one strategies I’ve seen pop up since Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, and Birthing Pod all fell to the ban blade. The first deck I want to talk about is Amulet of Vigor combo, aka Bloom Titan.
Stephen Speck's Amulet. 1st Place SCG Open—Indianapolis
PredatorStyle's Amulet. 4-0 Modern Daily
Amulet is a deck very close to my heart. After seeing Matthais Hunt take it to a very respectable finish on the Pro Tour, I became an advocate of doing gross things with Primeval Titan. I took the deck to GP Worcester and have been blooming into Titan and Hivemind every week at Modern night at my LGS. Here we have two lists, the top one Stephen Speck used to take down a Modern Open at SCG Indianapolis this past weekend and the bottom one MODO user Predatorstyle used to 4-0 a daily. The biggest difference in the two decks is a fundamental one: Simian Spirit-Guide vs. Ancient Stirrings. Simian Spirit-Guide makes the deck faster while Stirrings allows for additional card selection. With the exile monkey, you can play Primeval Titan on turn one and swing for eight thanks to Slayer’s Stronghold. Spirit Guide also makes Azusa better, as playing the legendary ramper a turn earlier can potentially allow for a Primeval Titan the following turn. Predatorstyle’s list eschews the Guide for Ancient Stirrings, a card that allows you to dig for a crucial Amulet of Vigor or a bounceland to go off with Summer Bloom.
While I have always been in the Stirrings camp, Speck’s list is making me reconsider the little spirit ape: I had traditionally viewed the difference as one strictly of speed vs. consistency, where Simian Spirit-Guide makes Azusa an actual card which shouldn’t be understated. Generally, I have found Azusa to be the worst card in the deck as it’s essentially just a more expensive and less impactful Summer Bloom. I have thought about cutting it entirely, but haven’t found the right card to replace it with. While Predatorstyle plays Azusa, they do shave off a copy for a singleton Engineered Explosives which can be found with both Ancient Stirrings and a transmuted Tolaria West. I had never considered Explosives in the main, but the more I think about it the more I like it. The games where you can’t race an aggro deck you can search up the artifact and help clear the board for your Primeval Titan.
Regardless, Bloom Titan is slowly appearing more and more online and on paper. The deck is cheap to build, powerful, and surprisingly resilient to interaction. Right now, MTGtop8 reports that it’s 4% of the meta but it’s a deck I would recommend picking up and playing the deck or adding to your Modern gauntlet for testing purposes.
Now let’s discuss another deck I’ve spent a lot of time piloting.
DuparcqG's RG Tron. 4-0 Modern Daily
| Creatures (6) 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre 4 Wurmcoil Engine Planeswalkers (4) 4 Karn Liberated Spells (30) 4 Ancient Stirrings 4 Chromatic Sphere 4 Chromatic Star 4 Expedition Map 4 Oblivion Stone 4 Pyroclasm 2 Relic of Progenitus 4 Sylvan Scrying | Lands (20) 1 Eye of Ugin 2 Forest 1 Ghost Quarter 4 Grove of the Burnwillows 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower SIDEBOARD (15) 2 Choke 2 Defense Grid 4 Nature’s Claim 4 Spellskite 2 Torpor Orb 1 Vandalblast |
I wanted to share MODO user DuparcqG’s list not because it’s especially innovative but because I think RG tron could be choice right now; if Abzan Midrange is the deck to beat, then RG Tron is probably the deck to beat it. Fair decks have always had a difficult time with Tron’s big mana, especially when it means an turn three Wurmcoil Engine or Karn. I have fond memories of playing Wurmcoil Engine and having the BGx player have no way to efficiently deal with the threat. If you want to make your midrange opponents feel like they brought Abrupt Decay to an Emrakul Fight, I would pick up RG Tron.
While this list is a bit weak to the other combo decks in the format, DuparcqG makes up for it by playing a full anti-twin suite in his sideboard. Spellskite, Torpor Orb, and even Choke and Defense Grid stop your opponent from doing unfair things while you do your unfair things at sorcery speed. Spellskite and Nature’s Claim also happen to be pretty awesome against Bogles which rules given how bad it feels to lose to that deck in any circumstance.
The last deck I want to discuss today is pure UW Control. No fancy red or black splash, just pure planeswalker-y control.
Readinreverse's UW Control. 4-0 Modern Daily
| Creatures (7) 1 Consecrated Sphinx 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Snapcaster Mage Planeswalkers (2) 1 Gideon Jura 1 Jace, Architect of Thought Spells (26) 1 Batterskull 1 Compulsive Research 4 Cryptic Command 2 Detention Sphere 4 Mana Leak 4 Path to Exile 4 Serum Visions 3 Spell Snare 2 Supreme Verdict 1 Wrath of God | Lands (25) 1 Academy Ruins 4 Celestial Colonnade 4 Flooded Strand 2 Hallowed Fountain 3 Island 2 Plains 3 Polluted Delta 4 Seachrome Coast 2 Tectonic Edge SIDEBOARD (15) 2 Baneslayer Angel 2 Dispel 1 Engineered Explosives 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Kitchen Finks 4 Kor Firewalker 1 Negate 2 Stony Silence |
Shaheen Soorani's UW Control. Test deck
| Creatures (5) 3 Snapcaster Mage 2 Vendilion Clique Planeswalkers (4) 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 2 Gideon Jura | Lands (25) 3 Island 2 Plains 4 Celestial Colonnade 4 Flooded Strand 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Mystic Gate 4 Seachrome Coast 4 Tectonic Edge Spells (26) 2 Detention Sphere 4 Cryptic Command 4 Mana Leak 4 Path to Exile 1 Repeal 4 Spell Snare 1 Sphinx’s Revelation 3 Serum Visions 3 Supreme Verdict Sideboard (15) 2 Baneslayer Angel 2 Kor Firewalker 3 Meddling Mage 2 Stony Silence 2 Condemn 1 Disenchant 1 Logic Knot 1 Negate 1 Pulse of the Fields |
Here we have two lists with a similiar list of spells but different creature/planeswalker suite. While both players have three Snapcaster Mages in their lists, Readinreverse is playing three Kitchen Finks and one Consecrated Sphinx whereas Soorani is playing two Vendilion Cliques. The Finks in Readinreverse’s list are likely a concession to the copious amounts of Burn floating around online, but I like the card in general. Kitchen Finks is a hard to remove threat that will often force aggressive decks to overcommit to the board right into Supreme Verdict. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’m sold on Consecrated Sphinx. While the cube allstar is certainly a big game if it survives a turn or two, I think it might be little win-more for this deck. If you’re resolute on playing a six drop finisher, I actually would prefer Sun Titan. It can recur Kitchen Finks, destroyed Detention Spheres, Fetch Lands, and Tectonic Edge and gets some advantage even if it’s destroyed on the spot. In the other list, Soorani elected to play only Snapcaster and Vendilion Clique, which works with the “hold-up-counters-and-wait-until-end-of-turn” nature of the deck. Soorani also managed to jam four Planeswalkers into his list to Readinreverse’s two. Without having bolt-snapcaster-bolt to finish out games, UW Control leans on it’s planeswalkers to serve as win conditions. While I’m not sure what the right number is, I do like having both Elspeth and Gideon in this deck, though Jace, Architect of Thought is certainly cute especially against Deceiver Exarch/Splinter Twin.
While I have Amulet built, I think I might throw together a hybrid of these UW Control lists. It’s been a while since I cast a Supreme Verdict and I’ve never got to cast one destroying an entire robot army.
At age 15, while standing in a record store with his high school bandmates, Shawn Massak made the uncool decision to spend the last of his money on a 7th edition starter deck (the one with foil Thorn Elemental). Since that fateful day 11 years ago, Shawn has decorated rooms of his apartment with MTG posters, cosplayed as Jace, the Mindsculptor, and competes with LSV for the record of most islands played (lifetime). When he’s not playing Magic, Shawn works as a job coach for people with disabilities and plays guitar in an indie-pop band.