[Article] - Winning my way into Modern.

[Khaospawn]

Ham, I recommend Goblins. I think it's faster and a little bit more resilient to Pyroclasm since it plays lords and things like War Marshal and Dragon Fodder.

However, an early Elesh Norn or the Soul Sisters matchup is pretty much unwinnable, but then again, you have the same terrible disadvantage playing with AiR just the same.

Elecktrickery has been a bigger issue for me than Pyroclasm, since a lot of the decks that can play Pyroclasm don't play it well. (It wipes their board too.) Some aggressive strategies are adopting Elecktrickery as a way to combat this type of synonymous
scenario.

Funny that you mention this. I was trying out Electrickery in my Goblins deck, lol

[lorddax]

WOOOOOOO!!!

First ever Modern match (practice tho) and I win! WOOO MONO GREEN INFECT GRIND!!

Thanks guys! Never would have got into this format on Modo without the article. Deck without Inkmoth is 5.50 to assemble!

[Jack]

Want to make a green infect thread in the developing section, lorddax? I have the deck put together, and I'd be happy to discuss it.

[Alex]

Want to make a green infect thread in the developing section, lorddax? I have the deck put together, and I'd be happy to discuss it.

If you do, can you just make a "combo infect" thread? UG is also a real deck.

[DerWille]

I'm a little late to this, but great article Alex. You basically described what my friend and I are doing with standard. Granted, we were just starting out so we didn't realize how much cheaper and easier it is to simply buy commons/uncommons/bulk rares directly nor did we the best deck building skills, but it's working out for us now. I've probably won around 20-25 packs, an event deck, a games day play mat, and a bunch of FNM promos of varying value.

Also, this is a bit obvious, but trade off every card of value that doesn't help you. If for example, you go to a modern tournament, go 3-1 and get a couple of packs. Let's say you get 2 M14 packs and you pull a Scavenging Ooze. If you're playing a mono-red deck and have no intention of ever going green or using the card, trade it for something you do need. Holding onto a "valuable" card that doesn't work for you is a waste
while you're building your winning deck. Cards do work for you by being in a deck or selling themselves to the highest bidder.

[Alex]

Also, this is a bit obvious, but trade off every card of value that doesn't help you. If for example, you go to a modern tournament, go 3-1 and get a couple of packs. Let's say you get 2 M14 packs and you pull a Scavenging Ooze. If you're playing a mono-red deck and have no intention of ever going green or using the card, trade it for something you do need. Holding onto a "valuable" card that doesn't work for you is a waste while you're building your winning deck. Cards do work for you by being in a deck or selling themselves to the highest bidder.

You shouldn't open prize packs if you can avoid it, you should never even GET prize packs, you should always take the $4 store credit they're worth instead.
Sure, this means you're not randomly going to pull a $40 mythic, but it also means you won't be pulling multiple Search the Citys either.

If your store doesn't offer store credit (what kind of store doesn't offer store credit these days?) then take the packs and store them unopened. Most shops will honor them as $4 bills.

[Platypus]

(what kind of store doesn't offer store credit these days?)

The ones that don't sell singles...like mine. I should probably ask if price boosters can be used in future tournaments as buy-in. Could pay for a few drafts (if I ever win anything...).

[Valdarith]

Here's a Goblins deck I want to try out:

[deck]
Creatures (28)
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Frenzied Goblin
1 Akki Avalanchers
4 Mogg War Marshall
3 Goblin Wardriver
4 Goblin Chieftain
2 Krenko, Mob Boss

Spells (12)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Krenko's Command

Lands (20)
20 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Electrickery
2 Dynacharge
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Combust
[/deck]

SUPER cheap. Most expensive card is Legion Loyalist. Building this deck on MODO ought to come in at under 10 tickets.

[Platypus]

You might want to consider two Teetering Peaks, Dynacharges instead of Krenko's Command, and perhaps more Akki Avalanchers and less Wardrivers. Shouldn't affect the cost much. Looks good though.

[Valdarith]

1) I am back and forth on Teetering Peaks. I don't really like it in a deck with a low land count as it feels terrible in your opening hand and does nothing on a clogged board.
2) Krenko's Command is to fill the void in the two slot. Works well with Wardrivers and the lords, especially Krenko. Do love me some Dynacharge but Goblin Bushwhacker serves a similar purpose.
3) I like the Avalanchers to shore up flooding and might cut one Wardriver for one. Wardriver on a board with Chieftan or Bushwhacker is big game.

[Platypus]

From what I've played around (just goldfishing yet) with my modern (and my extended) goblin deck, here are some things I've noticed:

- Goblin Wardriver just feels so slow. I'd rather play two 1-drops on turn 2 than him. He feels more like a turn 4 play after Chieftain or together with Bushwhacker (if you can find 4 lands). I'd definitely drop them down to 2 and add an Akki Avalanchers. Perhaps just go with 2 Dynacharge instead of those last 2 Wardrivers.
- You want to drop two goblins on your second turn. Either 1-drops, War Marshal, or Krenko's Command. That way you can get 4 goblins with Chieftain on turn three, or 5 with 1-drop + Bushwhacker. In this case you just finish up on turn four. With Goblin Guides you can win on turn three, but there goes the budget version.
- Teetering Peaks can mess up some starting hands, but at 1-2 of them it isn't so bad. But I'm not sure it's worth it either.

This is what I'
d try:

[deck]
Creatures (25)
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Frenzied Goblin
3 Akki Avalanchers
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Chieftain

Spells (15)
3 Dynacharge
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Krenko's Command

Lands (20)
20 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Electrickery
2 Krenko's Mob Boss (might want an extra mountain in the side for him)
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Combust
[/deck]

[Yarpus]

[deck]Creatures:
4 Wall of Omens
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Blade Splicer
4 Sun Titan

Planeswalkers:
2 Venser, the Sojourner
2 Jace Beleren

Other Spells:
4 Path to Exile
4 Remand
4 Detention Sphere
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Sphinx's Revelation

Lands:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Celestial Colonnade
6 Island
6 Plains[/deck]

Could I ask you to review this decklist Alex?

[Alex]

No Stonehorn Dignitary? Its probably better than Blade Splicer once you do play a Venser.

Edit: Actually now that I think about it, that looks a lot like Solar Flare. I imagine Solar Flare is probably a good Modern deck, but I'd have to do some research. Since the card pool is bigger than the last time Solar Flare was in Standard, there might be some really awesome interactions that I'm not thinking of.

[Alex]

Also I am going to update this a little bit, I have some more decklists that I'm going to throw in there.

[Valdarith]

Sun Titan + Court Hussar or Phantasmal Image.

[Alex]

Sun Titan + Court Hussar or Phantasmal Image.

I saw a guy play this with Blood Artist. Shit was so cash.

[Kazekirimaru]

Sun Titan + Court Hussar or Phantasmal Image.

Solar Flare v2?

[Yarpus]

Mistake with Stonehorn is relying on Venser to make this card good. Venser doesn't matter that much. He just happens to be a threat when he enters the battlefield (but most of people overestimate him and panic).
Again, I forgot Phantasmal Image.

[Alex]

Mistake with Stonehorn is relying on Venser to make this card good. Venser doesn't matter that much. He just happens to be a threat when he enters the battlefield (but most of people overestimate him and panic).
Again, I forgot Phantasmal Image.

I mean it seemed like you were crossed between playing a Venser flicker list and Solar Flare. If you want to play Solar Flare try looking up some of the old standard lists that used Sun Titan, Phantasmal Image, and a bunch of recurrable threats.

[Alex]

Here's a deck I was messing around with a little bit the other night. Tubehunter, being the dick that he is, played a bunch of games against me with Splinter Twin, (a bad matchup btw) and I managed to beat him a couple of times. Probably 30/70 in his favor. I want to test more against other stuff but the deck seems pretty good and is fairly cheap too.


[deck]Not actually Esper Teachings but kind of[/deck]

[Valdarith]

I tried this deck out last night on MODO:

[deck]
Creatures (26)
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Frenzied Goblin
2 Akki Avalanchers
4 Mogg War Marshall
2 Goblin Wardriver
4 Goblin Chieftain

Spells (14)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
2 Dynacharge
4 Krenko's Command

Lands (20)
20 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Pithing Needle
2 Electrickery
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Combust
[/deck]

It performed well. Some findings:

1) I found myself wanting more lord effects. Many of the decks I was playing against had Mountains, and Goblin King would have wrecked face here. My opponent basically kept his removal for my Chieftains, Loyalists, and Denizens. I think I want at least two Kings in the main and maybe two in the side for Mountain-heavy decks. I could side out Lightning Bolt for him in creature-light decks.

2) I
liked Dynacharge as a two-of. I tried varying numbers of this card from two to four and found that anything more than two was pretty clunky. I did alpha strike with it a few times last night though so I think two is the correct number.

3) Goblin Grenade is very good, but there were a couple of times last night where I had two in hand and only a couple of goblins on the board with my opponent above ten life and with blockers out. Felt a little clunky then, but I'm running War Marshal and Krenko's Command so I feel fine playing all four.

4) Wardriver as a two-of was good. Might drop him completely in favor of Goblin King though. I never wanted to play him on turn two anyway, so he was basically a 3 drop for me.

5) Frenzied Goblin was never relevant in any of my matches. I do expect him to be useful during the times our opponent plays a Wurmcoil Engine or the like, but the times I was playing Tron and my opponent was able to get it out early I was pretty much dead anyway with the lifelink clause
keeping him in the game.

6) I REALLY want a way to deal with flood. Akki Avalanchers was okay but underwhelming in the early game. Being an x/1 doesn't help during the late game either, especially since his effect can only be used once per turn. Plese print a Goblin with firebreathing, Wizards! EDIT: maybe Spikeshot Elder is what I'm looking for.

7) I miss Goblin Guide. He would be a huge upgrade for the deck, but I'm sticking with my budget constraint for now. Plus I need to use the tickets for post-rotation Standard.

[deck]
Creatures (25)
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
1 Akki Avalanchers
2 Spikeshot Elder
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Chieftain
2 Goblin King

Spells (15)
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Goblin Grenade
2 Dynacharge
4 Krenko's Command
2 Dragon Fodder

Lands (20)
20 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Shattering Spree
2 Pithing Needle
2 Magma Spray
2 Combust
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Goblin King
[/deck]

[Alex]

Let me know if you're interested in testing at all on Cockatrice. I need to put some more hours into some of the control decks I've been testing for this article.

[Valdarith]

I thought I would post this here since Alex made a previous post regarding an Esper control deck that looked like Esper Teachings but without the Teachings.

I have an idea on a budget UWb Teachings list with the black only being for the Teachings flashback and wanted some critique.

[deck]
Creatures (4)
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Restoration Angel

Spells (31)
4 Condemn
2 Spell Snare
3 Peer Through Depths
3 Think Twice
3 Mana Leak
2 Azorius Charm
1 Negate
1 Rest for the Weary
1 Echoing Truth
2 Dissipate
2 Wrath of God
1 Supreme Verdict
4 Mystical Teachings
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Sphinx's Revelation

Lands (25)
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Swamp
7 Island
6 Plains

Sideboard (15)
2 Marrow Shards
2 Righteous Blow
2 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Rest for the Weary
1 Disenchant
3 Celestial Purge
2 Essence Scatter
[/deck]

[TubeHunter]

this seems infinitly better with teachings in it.

Are they that expensive?

[Valdarith]

The deck definitely has Teachings in it. Look again.

[Alex]

My esper list that I posted was originally a Teachings list. I switched the Teachings package into a Gifts Ungiven package. The cards are pretty similar. I liked Gifts better because control literally can't beat you if you resolve one. They have a rough time beating Teferi too, but Iona is also quite good and I liked being able to play Elesh Norn.

[Valdarith]

Do you think the lack of hard removal outside of wrath effects in my deck is much of a problem? Bad part about Condemn is that it only hits attackers but at least it doesn't feed my opponent a land.

[Alex]

Do you think the lack of hard removal outside of wrath effects in my deck is much of a problem? Bad part about Condemn is that it only hits attackers but at least it doesn't feed my opponent a land.

My limited experience with the deck made me realize that it was miserable vs. red based aggro, with or without board wipes. The nice thing about Path in those matchups is that giving them mana doesn't really matter. I'm not even above pathing a Hellspark Elemental most of the time, lol.

[Alex]

Here's a deck I was messing around with a little bit the other night. Tubehunter, being the dick that he is, played a bunch of games against me with Splinter Twin, (a bad matchup btw) and I managed to beat him a couple of times. Probably 30/70 in his favor. I want to test more against other stuff but the deck seems pretty good and is fairly cheap too.


[deck]Not actually Esper Teachings but kind of[/deck]

An update: I have been playing this list for a little over a month now. I have upgraded it incrementally and have enjoyed the hell out of it. A lot of people don't know what it is/haven't played against it much. Here's what it looks like after I went into the green with it. (I was up approximately $108, or 24 packs, before I spent any money on upgrading it!)

[deck=Alex's Esper Gifts]
Creatures (2)
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1
Meloku the Clouded Mirror

Instant (23)
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Dismember
1 Doom Blade
2 Echoing Truth
2 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Leak
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Pongify
2 Spell Pierce
1 Telling Time
3 Thirst for Knowledge

Sorcery (9)
1 Damnation
3 Lingering Souls
2 Unburial Rites
1 Wrath of God
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Day of Judgment

Artifact (2)
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Progress

Mana (24)
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Godless Shrine
2 Celestial Colonnade
4 City of Brass
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Island
4 Plains

Sideboard (15)
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Emeria Angel
1 Griselbrand
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
3 Stony Silence
3 Purify the Grave
3 Timely Reinforcements
[/deck]

Things I changed and why I changed them:

# Removed Darkblast. A lot of the time I preferred drawing cards over dredging. Added Curse of the Swine instead. It has been good against Wurmcoil Engines.
# Switched painlands to shock
lands. (Except City of Brass.)
# Added another Celestial Colonnade, removed an Island.
# Added Meloku the Clouded Mirror and removed Delay. Delay was good against Tron sometimes, but I didn't find that matchup to be particularly hard to begin with. Meloku allows you to simply hardcast her and take over long games against other control decks. When I did this, I also removed Akroma, Angel of Wrath from the sideboard and instead added an Emeria Angel to synchronize with Meloku.
# Switched Path to Exile for Rapid Hybridization. I wasn't keen on handing mana to most decks. A 3/3 can be stopped easily enough in this list, but ramping my opponent ahead of me is hard to recover from. I could have added another Pongify since they're the same spell, but decided to spice it up and dodge Surgical Extraction. (If that's ever a thing.) If it wasn't obvious, I've diversified my spells across the entire list in order to avoid exactly that, as seen by the multiple versions of the same wrath effect.

[b:
3pufu6fd]Observations while playing the deck:[/b]
Unlike most of the Fires of Salvations members, I've always been a control player at heart. This deck is right up my alley in terms of playstyle and card choice. (It better damn well be since I built it.) That being said, there were some things I didn't like about the original list.

# No way to deal with mainboard graveyard hate. At first I considered adding a huge transformational sideboard plan that basically turned the deck into straight esper control, but instead simply decided to add Meloku to the mainboard instead, since control was the only archetype that I was running into this problem against. She's good at beating them. Not great, but better than simply losing to Relic of Progenitus.
# Land beatdowns were stronger than I originally anticipated in ALL matchups. I thought I'd be holding back Creeping Tar Pit to block a lot more often than I was in aggro matchups. Usually those matchups consisted of resolving a board wipe and
simply smashing into them with CTP until they were dead. Celestial Colonnade has carried a lot of weight, but more so in control matchups.
# The deck is bad against combo. I need to address this still. Considering playing Trinisphere or Ethersworn Canonnist in the board, but 3 Chalice of the Void does at least an okay job of turning off Grapeshot. The lists that play Echoing Truth still get you sometimes.

[Kaitscralt]

Why not just play more counter magic if combo is giving you trouble? Gifting for 3-4 different Wrath's is cute, but widely unnecessary. I'd just trim some of the removal down for stuff like Spell Snare, more Mana Leak, etc. Plus your sideboard doesn't need all those big dudes. Just add some Spell Pierce and whatnot.

Running one Snapcaster Mage can really make a Gifts pile a nightmare. You could also add in an Academy Ruins, which is good with Gifts and opens up options like Wurmcoil Engine, Mindslaver lock, etc.

I'm not sure what City of Brass is doing in your control deck. I'd just swap it for Scars lands when you have the extra tickets.

[Alex]

City of Brass is the last part of the mana that needs to be upgraded, its a remnant of when I had more one drops across the three colors. (Path, Snare, Darkblast, etc.) Making all the colors mattered., but it doesn't anymore.

The big dudes in the board are just targeted at control decks. You just bring them in since your board weeps go out. Having more threats to cast or gifts for is nice against them.

[Valdarith]

[deck]
4 nivmagus elemental
4 blistercoil weird
4 delver of secrets
4 frostburn weird

4 mizzium skin
4 vapor snag
4 peek
4 serum visions
4 clout of the dominus
4 mana leak
3 gigadrowse

17 island
[/deck]

I want it to be good. Take out the Serum Visions and this deck is hilariously cheap. Like less than five tickets cheap.

[Platypus]

^Sleight of Hand instead of Serum Visions? For the cheaper version...

[Valdarith]

That's fine. It's unfortunate that there are no good cantrips in Modern. Casting Visions or Sleight feels so icky.

[Valdarith]

I'd like some input on my UR Delver list. I'm eventually going to play Splinter Twin but while I acquire the cards I want to play UR Delver since I can just get my playset of Remands and have the deck minus fetches and Vclique.

[deck]
Creatures (14)
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Spellheart Chimera

Spells (26)
4 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
3 Vapor Snag
2 Izzet Charm
2 Negate
3 Remand
2 Mana Leak
3 Magma Jet
1 Electrolyze

Land (20)
1 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Mountain
9 Island
[/deck]

[Alex]

Spellheart Chimera seems a little pet-card-ish, I'd probably drop it + Magma Jet to play Gitaxian Probe instead. Otherwise sweet list.

Runechanter's Pike might be worth checking out since it's pretty good with YP$.

[Valdarith]

The Chimera is basically a placeholder for Clique. Do you think 12 creatures is enough? Pike would be nice to add, but I wish I had more evasion in the deck to take full advantage of it.

How about -2 Chimera, -1 Electrolyze, -1 Magma Jet for the Probes?

[Alex]

Electrolyze shits all over Affinity, Delver, Faeries, and Infect, you're going to want to keep it over Magma Jet, which is just mediocre overall.

If you're that worried about your creature count, Spellstutter Sprite is probably a better placeholder. It's basically Apostle's Blessing with wings most of the time, since it saves your dudes from Lightning Bolt.

[Valdarith]

Yeah I think Sprite is my only option, and if I'm going to run Pike the evasion would be wonderful. Plus running Vapor Snag means I can buy it back.

Perhaps I overvalue scry here. I know two damage for two mana is terrible but I like being able to scry away lands and draw into live spells. At least Izzet Charm can bin extra lands though.

[Alex]

You're only playing 20 lands, I wouldn't worry about it that much. I played 18 in Standard and the deck was fine. I mean, obviously I had more cantrips then, but at least you've got Serum Visions and stuff.