The Modern Magic Box #4

Features

CanadianShinobi

20 June 2014

1679 views

Welcome back to another edition of the Modern Magic Box. For any new readers this is the article series where I take a Modern deck a user submitted in the last article and break it down, offering suggestions and advice in how to improve it. From there I turn the rest over to the community, opening up a discussion on the selected deck. Modern is a big format and I am only one person, that leads to overlooking suggestions and I also wish to encourage people to explore this format.

So, who won the lottery this time? Well, that honour goes to Tappedout regular, user:ChiefBell and his deck:

deck-large:Garruk's Overwhelming Odds

Why user:ChiefBell and this particular deck? Well, this choice was partially based upon the insight given by user:ChiefBell in the last article, but also because user:ChiefBell and his deck offer me an opportunity that I have been looking for since the advent of this series. The opportunity presented here is to look at Modern in a more competitive light, compared to my previous articles based around either janky builds, or builds that might not be able to stand up against competitive play. Now, that being said, user:thispersonisagenius also offered this opportunity with his submission, indeed the bigger budget would have allowed me to break down the current meta and address everything piecemeal, however, and I apologize to user:thispersonisagenius, I really did not wish to look over another aggro deck, especially because I considered the deck fine-tuned and my suggestions may have been few. Instead we have the deck submitted by user:ChiefBell which provides potential to improve and for a discussion of competitive play.

The meta provided by user:ChiefBell is as follows: Twin, Pod, Hate Bears, and tempo decks which utilize Quirion Dryad / Delver of Secrets  ^Flip. In addition to this [[user:ChiefBell] ] has insisted that I restrain myself to a total budget of $450. Allons-y!

The Breakdown

Sorcery

4xMaelstrom Pulse

3xNight's Whisper

4xThoughtseize

Instant

4xAbrupt Decay

2xSlaughter Pact

1xGo for the Throat

Creatures

4xCourser of Kruphix

3xCreakwood Liege

4xEssence Warden

4xScavenging Ooze

Enchantment

1xPhyrexian Arena

Planeswalker

2xGarruk, Primal Hunter

Land

4xOvergrown Tomb

4xWoodland Cemetery

3xTectonic Edge

6xForest

6xSwamp

1xTreetop Village

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is The Rock. Often times this deck places well in Modern tourneys because it is one of the most resilient decks one can play, if played correctly. The Rock is excellent at punishing poor plays and overly eager players. Be warned, this is basically Control if someone smacked Blue into next week. The Rock will often splash White or Red using man- lands 1-2 shock-lands to give access to cheap burn, or removal. Anyway, what you see presented above is a fair representation of a budget version of The Rock. We have no Tarmogoyf, no Liliana of the Veil and no Dark Confidant. It hurts the deck, but that cannot be helped. The essential task of this deck is to play an attrition game, slowly but surely gaining card advantage, whilst witling away your opponent and their resources.

The Good: This deck is a solid, well rounded budget build for an archetype like The Rock. It possesses the key ingredients of discard, draw power, and so much removal it hurts your soul just looking at it. The creature base is also well rounded, with the star being Courser of Kruphix which has become a Modern staple within both Jund builds and The Rock. Also, Creakwood Liege is a brilliant addition as it provides some fantastic firepower to close the game.

The Bad: Firstly, the budget is a big concern. While this is clearly not meant to win tournaments, the lack of Dark Confidant and [[Liliana of the Veil] ] not only slow the deck down, but cripple its ability to grind against Tempo decks. However, this is not a fault of the build or user:ChiefBell, I only highlight this to illustrate an overall weakness. Secondly, there is not nearly enough discard. While it is present, it could be improved upon. With a meta chock full of combo decks like Twin and Pod, this deck really needs more discard power. Lastly, the deck does not possess a sweeper. I feel it crucial that this style of deck keep at least one sweeper mainboard at all times. Damnation is clearly too expensive, but I have a remedy for that.

Matchups

From now on, when provided with a meta I will do a brief break down of the matchups that the user has provided. This will help illustrate strengths and weaknesses of the deck and where improvements can be made

Twin By far the easiest matchup in the meta given to me. For those of you not in the know, Twin (or Splinter Twin) is currently on the top tier decks in competitive Modern play. It is a combo deck that utilizes either Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch along with Splinter Twin to create an infinite army of tokens and then attack. The kicker? The deck is wrapped in a Control shell to prevent the opponent from executing their game plan. The weakness? Early discard and heavy removal. Abrupt Decay is perfect because it cannot be countered and it hits both of Twin’s combo creatures.

Pod Pod decks come in a variety of styles and is another top contender right now. The trick with this deck is the use of Birthing Pod to assemble a toolkit of creatures. There are combo pieces, but the deck usually wins via grind fest. The Rock has a difficult matchup with this one. It is a grind fest on both sides, but Pod has the advantage of combo-ing into infinite life or instant death for those who fight it. Best solution? Discard, grave hate and Torpor Orb in the sideboard.

Hate Bears Hate Bears is basically a bunch of efficiently, low cost creatures that have detrimental effects for the opponent. Also, it uses Aether Vial to bypass counter spells and to rack up serious board presence. The answer? Well, user:ChiefBell requires removal and to maintain board presence. Cards like Creakwood Liege are awesome here because it keeps everything nice and even, though beware being strip mined via Leonin Arbiter combined with Ghost Quarter!

Tempo I cannot be certain about the specifics of the Tempo decks that user:ChiefBell faces. However, anything that uses Delver of Secrets  ^Flip is usually chock full of cards like Vapor Snag and Remand. My best advice is to play smart and reply on you Abrupt Decay and discard to try and grind them down.

What to Remove?

2xWoodland Cemetery

1xCourser of Kruphix

4xEssence Warden

1xMaelstrom Pulse

What to Add?

2xInquisition of Kozilek

2xMutilate

1xTreetop Village

1xUrborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1xGo for the Throat

Reasoning

Let me be honest, I am horrible at math, though I’m pretty sure I stayed in budget. The most expensive card on that list is Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and the only reason I included it was because it helps with Mutilate. Speaking of which, Mutilate is my answer for Damnation. It is truly an underrated card, but a great money saver if you’re running Black. Inquisition of Kozilek is something I will insist upon here, since given the meta I would run no less than six discard spells. However, you can divvy the load with Thoughtseize (personally I like 3 of each). I added Treetop Village to give some consistency to it being drawn and because it is a great way to punch in damage early game or late. Go for the Throat is your generic removal spell, and will speed the deck up. Maelstrom Pulse is great, but speed is key sometimes.

Other Considerations

Thragtusk. I have no idea where it would fit in, and could not place it, but it is a great card and provides excellent value for the grind. As I mentioned in the article earlier, splashing Red for Lightning Bolt or White for Path to Exile and Lingering Souls is always something you may wish to consider. Both colours provide some good advantages, though they do have their draw backs.

Sideboard

The only card in the sideboard that bothers me is Illness in the Ranks I do not know why it is there. Tokens was not mentioned in the meta, however, if it is there, I would only run two. The last spot is up to you and the community to discuss.

Conclusion

Whew... Glad you stuck with me on this one. I had a lot to say and hopefully some of that talk was valuable. user:ChiefBell your deck is well designed and constructed for someone lacking familiarity with the Modern format. I hope the suggestions I have offered to you provide you with some of the necessary tools to improve upon your current build. The meta you face lists a number of decks that show up in regular competitive play, luckily so does The Rock! I think the lesson here for you intrepid readers is this: You can build archetypes within budget constraints; such is the power of Modern. Those restraints are a hindrance, because you will obviously be missing the best cards, however, always know what your alternatives are. Some cards cannot be replicated, like Cryptic Command *list*, however, depending on your colours you can find some decent cards, like Mutilate. Anyway, I await eagerly to see what submissions will burst forth from the community, and what the community has to say about this slightly more serious look at Modern deck building.

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).

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