The Modern Magic Box #2

Features

CanadianShinobi

30 April 2014

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Hello everyone and welcome back to The Modern Magic Box where I break down a Modern deck submitted by a T/O user. Offering what wisdom I can, only to throw my judgements upon the mercy of the Community so that we can discuss things, and possibly make something wonderful. That or it blows up. But all kidding aside, I would like to thank everyone who submitted a deck last week and contributed to the discussion. Not only that, but I am glad that many of you enjoyed reading the article and I hope to continue to provide content that you will enjoy. Now, it is time to meet the deck that I chose to look at for this article. And the winner is Ohthenoises, who submitted:

deck-large:WHY WON’T YOU DIE!? 22-04-14-1

So, why did I select this deck? Well, as with last week I decided I wanted to review something creative. And while many of the decks that I looked over were highly creative, I was feeling that itch to discuss Athreos, God of Passage and his potential place in Modern. Furthermore, the concept of the deck intrigued me, as someone who plays nothing but Control. And lastly, because of all the decks I reviewed, I felt this was the deck I had the most to say on, even though I had many tough decisions to make.

Now before I move on to the deck itself, I want to take a moment to discuss Athreos, God of Passage and his place in Modern. To be perfectly frank, I do see this card find a place. And while the effect is actually quite threatening, since it gives you the choice of either a Lightning Bolt or to regaining a creature, I think the place Athreos has in Modern is rather narrow. This is mostly because Athreos, God of Passage is a card to be built around. I could possibly see this card as a one of in some Pod lists, though that remains to be seen. However, while the potential is there, I believe it to be limited and Athreos will make the most impact on Standard. That being said, I could be totally wrong.

The Breakdown

Sorcery

3xDuress

3xSign in Blood

4xThoughtseize

4xWrath of God

Instant

4xPath to Exile

Creatures

4xAthreos, God of Passage

4xGatekeeper of Malakir

4xGeralf's Messenger

2xGray Merchant of Asphodel

4xShriekmaw

3xTidehollow Sculler

Land

4xGodless Shrine

4xIsolated Chapel

4xMarsh Flats

1xPlains

8xSwamp

This deck is chock full of creatures with nasty ETB effects that debilitate the opponent one way or the other. The aim seems to be either build up enough devotion to get Athreos, God of Passage online to smack face with that 5/4 body of his, or to whittle the opponent down enough to hit lethal through Black devotion when Gray Merchant of Asphodel enters. The other option is to swing fast and hard, but that seems the less likely of the choices at hand. Ultimately this deck wants to keep giving hard choices to the opponent.

The Good:This deck knows what it wants to do and can do it effectively given the chance. Control would especially have difficulty with this deck since Control decks only pack so many Path to Exile. The deck also possesses a heavy amount of discard which is excellent to have on hand when facing off against decks like Pod or any form of combo/midrange deck since it keeps threats and utility at bay

The Bad: This deck is fragile. The meta that Ohthenoises faces, at least on paper, will tear this deck apart. Pod is probably the best matchup due to the ridiculous amount of discard and removal this deck has. However, Burn is going to ruin it because this deck has no life gain. That is a crucial weakness to this deck since without life gain or some form of protection there is nothing to offset the staggering life lost between four Thoughtseize and three Sign in Blood. Furthermore, there are a lot of cards competing for three drops, which could make playing it somewhat clunky. However, I suspect the sideboard is where many of these problems will be solved.

Suggestions

Remove 2xShriekmaw. In their place I would heavily recommend more spot removal. Preferably, Go for the Throat or Victim of Night. While it is a nice idea to have, the lack of instant speed removal really hurts this deck.

Remove 1xWrath of God , 1xAthreos, God of Passage and 1x Gatekeeper of Malakir. In their place add 3xBlood Artist. It seems like an odd suggestion, however, if you can establish I good board state and you can potentially Wrath yourself for the win. However, the key idea behind this suggestion is to play the attrition game, some life gain is better than none.

Remove 1xThoughtseize and 2xGeralf's Messenger. In their place I would add 3xCartel Aristocrat. I feel this deck needs a sacrifice outlet. Furthermore, this card can be highly aggressive, which I think this deck needs. Geralf's Messenger does not need four copies in this deck. Devotion aside, it takes up too much space on the 3CMC slot. The Thoughtseize needs to go to the SB since the deck possesses plenty of discard already. Another consideration is 2xCartel Aristocrat and a single Ghost Council of Orzhova since this gives you a sac outlet, devotion, as well as a nice body to swing with.

Other Considerations

Personally I have no other card considerations that I can think of. However, one idea I had was to splash blue for a small element of hard counter spells and Geist of Saint Traft so that the deck could exert a great deal of pressure while guaranteeing a the opponent pays 3 life. Because, no one I know wants to deal with Geist of Saint Traft more than once.

Sideboard

My personal recommendation for a sideboard for this deck is as follows:

3xLeyline of Sanctity This needs to be a three of so that there is a high likelihood it will be on hand when facing a Burn deck.

2xStony Silence to shut down Pod and to stop Aether Vial.

1xThoughtseize in case of combo and when you know you need that extra discard.

1xWrath of God four of these in the mainboard is simply too many. Having one on the side can help against Hatebears.

2xExtirpate Another option is to split this with Surgical Extraction so that you can have some grave hate without compromising your own deck.

1xElixir of Immortality Not often a card I would recommend in Modern, however in this deck I feel it works wonders. Not only can you get all of your nasty creatures back, but you get some much needed life gain.

2xDismember Just good spot removal for when you need it.

The other cards can be discussed in the comments as well as taken into consideration to fill gaps in terms of preference.

Conclusion

And so concludes another edition of The Modern Magic Box! I hope you found some of my advice helpful Ohthenoises as well as anyone who is looking to get into Modern, or to improve their deck building. While it is a good idea to build around specific cards I feel that the overall function of a deck cannot be compromised to achieve this goal. I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing the deck submitted by Ohthenoises as it was highly creative, yet possessed the potential to be quite devastating.

Remember! If you would like to be featured on my next article please contribute to the discussion! If you contribute to the discussion I am far more likely to pick your deck. Furthermore, all submissions must be formatted in the large deck style as well with a description of your meta and your budget. Following these instructions will increase your chance of being picked.

Example of a large deck link: [ [deck-large:name] ] (remove the spaces).

This article is a follow-up to The Modern Magic Box #1 The next article in this series is The Modern Magic Box #3