TappedOut’s First Modern Moot
Features
ChiefBell
24 November 2015
3010 views
TappedOut’s First Modern Moot
Introducing Modern Moot
24 November 2015
3010 views
TappedOut’s First Modern Moot
Introducing Modern Moot
Ladies and gentlemen, gather ‘round, gather ‘round! Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that today I must start the article with news of an upsetting nature. I suffer from a disease, my dear readers. It is a disease most terrible. They call it RDS; otherwise known as Restless Deck Syndrome. Yes, it is a terrible affliction! The sleepless nights spent tinkering with lists. The ever-shrinking bank balance. The inability to decide what to play next. It turns a player into an individual who is incapable of focusing on anything! But I have some good news to wash away those pains! You see, my kind peers, in order to calm my insatiable urge to explore modern I have decided to write articles about decks you can play in the format. Articles I will share with you! Let us then hope that you too can benefit from the information found inside, and that any poor soul that also suffers from Restless Deck Syndrome be appeased with this small dose of magical exploration.
Modern moot is an article series about modern decks, designed to appeal both to those who enjoy playing the game, and those who enjoy talking about the game. A moot is a word from old or middle English that refers to a meeting or discussion between people about a particular topic. That is what this article series aims to recreate.
In each article I will focus specifically on one single deck archetype and analyze how the core of the deck is constructed, whether any variations of the deck exist, how the deck plays, its strengths and weaknesses, and finally whether any similar decks exist.
The Deck For Today: Tooth and Nail
I wanted to start with a deck that was somewhat competitive, neither too cheap nor expensive, flexible, and good fun to play. Tooth and Nail, in my opinion, fulfils these criteria.
What Does It Do?
The deck uses creatures that untap land like Arbor Elf, along with land enchantments like Overgrowth, to cast huge threats like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
It has an incredible amount of consistency from tutors such as Tooth and Nail or card draw such as Harmonize. It also has interaction in the form of Primal Command which can mess with the opponent’s lands, or creatures with ‘enter the battlefield’ effects such as Acidic Slime.
Example Decklists
Spend some time getting the rough idea of the deck with these two lists before moving onto the next sections which discuss the specifics.
The Deck In Detail
The Ramp
At the heart of this deck is the ability to produce mana quickly. This is achieved with the following cards:
The combination of a turn 1 Arbor Elf with a turn 2 Overgrowth is very potent. On turn 3 these two cards can produce 8 mana. In fact various different combinations of the above cards will have you producing over 6 mana on turn 3 with ease.
There are other possibilities available for the ramp suite. Garruk Wildspeaker is included in one of the reference lists above, and is particularly strong because the combination of his abilities means that he can be used to ramp, increase board presence, or act as a win condition. Kiora, Master of the Depths is another possibility because her +1 also untaps a land. Her middle ability allows the player to dig through their deck to find the creatures or lands they want, which increases overall consistency. Finally Kiora's Follower is much like Voyaging Satyr but untaps permanents instead of lands and can be used to give your creatures pseudo-vigilance, whilst Magus of the Candelabra can be used to untap multiple lands.
The Tutors
Tutors allow you to search your library for any card you want. This particular deck includes two powerful, creature-only tutors that increase the consistency hugely. They ensure that your hand is well stocked with the creatures you need to win the game.
Note how powerful Tooth and Nail is in particular. For 7 mana you can choose to either search your library for two creatures to go to your hand, or place two creatures from your hand into play. This is already very useful with cards like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn that might be too hard to get into play without help. However, for 9 mana (which is not a huge amount for this deck), Tooth and Nail allows you to do both! This means you can cheat an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play for 6 mana less than it would usually cost, and it lets you do this when you don’t even have Emrakul in your hand.
Primal Command is another potent card because it allows you to choose two options from its list, instead of just one. Against aggressive decks it can provide lifegain, or you can use it to place lands on top of the opponents library, putting them hugely behind. Of course you can also use it to search for a creature you need.
The Threats
And this is the reason why we play this deck: big fatty creatures! These are not only your win conditions, but can also provide incredible utility in various situations.
I included Acidic Slime in the fatty category because, whilst not being a huge creature itself, its ETB effect can be used to get so ahead of the game that winning becomes easy.
There is a lot of variety in the creatures used to win with these decks, which isn’t demonstrated in the above decklists, unfortunately. Hornet Queen is fantastic because she doesn’t die to single target removal spells, instead requiring board clear if you wish to be rid of her completely. Furthermore, the fact that she has flying makes her hard to block. Primeval Titan is another possibility and is useful because its ETB effect ramps you further. This can be used to get you closer to the 9 mana you need to cast Tooth and Nail for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Wurmcoil Engine is another possibility. Its a nice creature when ahead in the game or behind, produces tokens when it dies, and provides lifegain to combat aggressive decks. There are also lots of green creatures with hexproof that can go around decks that try to beat you with Path to Exile, such as Plated Crusher. Recently I have grown fond of Sylvan Primordial as it simultaneously destroys lands, ramps you further, and defends against flying threats, which is difficult in green sometimes.
Any Other Business
Colour splashes are popular with this deck because they can add some interesting new possibilities. Blue, for example, enables more tutors in the form of Gifts Ungiven, and more ramp in the form of Kiora, Master of the Depths. Red is important if you wish to hardcast durable threats like Xenagos, God of Revels. I have not seen white or black splashes but each would allow for various other strategies to emerge. White could enable hardcasting Sigarda, Host of Herons, which is a useful card against decks that play lots of removal spells like Path to Exile alongside sacrifice effects like Liliana of the Veil. Black would enable you to run Griselbrand which would hugely increase consistency through its incredible ability to draw cards. Perhaps, even Avacyn, Angel of Hope could be possible when in white? Both of those would be difficult to hardcast though.
How Do We Play This Deck? (overview, specific tips, and synergies)
There’s actually a surprising amount of synergy and subtlety to the deck that isn’t immediately obvious. Of course the heart of the deck is the simple Arbor Elf and Overgrowth interaction, but when it comes down to what you do with all that mana there is a lot of creativity possible.
Firstly, when setting up the mana production combo, remember to be careful with how you play your enchantments such as Utopia Sprawl and Overgrowth. In order to avoid land destruction cards like Fulminator Mage always put the enchantments on basic lands whenever possible. However, more care is needed when playing against Cryptic Command *list* or Ghost Quarter. In these situations the opponent can interact with your basic lands and therefore you need to think carefully about whether you wish to put all your enchantments on one land (risky but ramps faster) or onto separate lands (safer but ramps far slower).
The most obvious synergy that comes in this deck is Xenagos, God of Revels, and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. When fetched together with Tooth and Nail it produces a combo where Xenagos gives Emrakul haste and double its power, which results in an instant win. This is an extremely popular win condition but is sometimes left out because Xenagos will rarely have the devotion to be a creature itself and is therefore a dead draw at times.
Primal Command can be used to fetch Eternal Witness which then returns the Primal Command to hand when played. This is extremely useful against aggressive decks because it gives you the ability to gain 7 life twice. It is also very potent if going for a mana-denial strategy. Primal Command can be used to put a land on top of your opponents library and grab an Eternal Witness. When the same Primal Command is played again you can put a land on top of your opponents library again, and also search for an Acidic Slime to destroy what is left. By repeatedly doing this with opposing shocklands it ensures the opponent misses out on drawing cards, is forced to either play extremely slowly or pay a lot of life to have their lands come in untapped, and ultimately puts you very far ahead. This strategy is the reason why I have enjoyed including Sylvan Primordial in my lists recently.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Thoughts?
The deck probably has the best long-game strategy in modern. Even against hard-control lists that play only counterspells you are guaranteed to eventually win with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, if the opponent doesn’t solidify their own advantage very quickly. Your easiest matchups will be against any deck that doesn’t really get going until about turn 3 or 4. In those situations it is likely you can produce bigger threats, faster than they can. Furthermore, any deck that plays out a turn 2 Tarmogoyf and then attempts to sit behind Abrupt Decay and Lightning Bolt will have a very hard time. If they sequence incorrectly and attempt an aggressive start it’ll give you the clearance you need to ramp up and produce you own, larger, threats. In this case you’ll find the opponent hard pressed to find a removal spell that hits your creature, whilst the Tarmogoyf can’t do much to stop your behemoth swinging in. However, that is not to say you will have flawless games against those slow decks either. Always watch out for interaction and be aware that things like Karn Liberated, Thoughtseize and Cryptic Command *list* can still be incredibly disruptive.
Tooth and Nail is mediocrely weak to aggro. It has an early game that is poor in terms of interaction, spending the first few turns doing very little. Having said that, if the opponent can be stalled for a little while then Primal Command can do a lot of work due to its lifegain. Kitchen Finks is a viable sideboard card, and Wurmcoil Engine can be included as a win condition and therefore there are options available when battling aggression. You will have a very, very hard time in the early game but if things do drag on then significant sources of lifegain are there.
Finally, against combo this deck is poor to average. With mana-denial through Acidic Slime and Primal Command the opponent can be kept from doing much of anything, but these options themselves cost a lot of mana. If the opponent Lightning Bolts your Arbor Elf or otherwise disrupts your ramping you probably won’t be able to play any mana-denial spells in time. You can sideboard things like Seal of Primordium to catch Splinter Twin decks out, and you can disrupt the mana-base of Tron, but that’s about it. Against these opponents it’s a race against time, and one that probably doesn’t favour you.
Sibling Decks
There are a number of decks similar to this one that you could also check out for more information. Amulet Bloom is a highly competitive deck that mixes Amulet of Vigor, Summer Bloom and lands like Selesnya Sanctuary to cast Primeval Titan extremely early in the game. It’s a bit harder to interact with than Tooth and Nail because it doesn’t require creatures to work, only Amulet of Vigor. However it also lacks the diversity of threats in the late-game that this deck features.
There are also green devotion decks that ramp into large creatures by utilising the devotion mechanic alongside Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Most include Arbor Elf to repeatedly untap Nykthos for lots of mana. However, due to the devotion theme the threats they play tend to be creatures like Primalcrux which have a high saturation of green mana symbols in their casting cost. This can be an inherent weakness because it limits the threats the deck can play.
Outro
I like Tooth and Nail a lot. It’s an interesting deck that can do surprising things at various points of the game. It’s not hugely expensive but not too cheap either, and it also plays matches differently each time, which, to me, makes it an attractive option. It takes some skill to master and is not as straightforward as it may seem at first, but over time I’m sure you’ll find the deck rewarding!
I hope you enjoyed this article about Tooth and Nail and I hope that it can stimulate some discussion. Perhaps you even want to go out and test the deck yourself. If you do I would love to know your thoughts!
As always I welcome any comments and criticisms you may have. I’d especially love to see any game replays you record with a Tooth and Nail deck so we can see it in action! Feel free to let me know what you enjoyed here and what you didn’t like as well. Maybe you have a request for next time? Maybe you have a question? Let me know below!
ChiefBell
This is interesting read. I'm hoping to learn more about popular modern decks and find a play style I would like to build around, and this deck looks promising.
There's one thing I do not understand, though. Under How Do We Play This Deck?, you say that that using Xenagos, God of Revels "...is an extremely popular win condition but is sometimes left out because [he] will rarely have the devotion to be a creature itself and is therefore a dead draw at times." I though that the gods were always a creature when they were not on the battlefield, and devotion is only checked when they have been successfully cast. Wouldn't that mean that Tooth and Nail can be used on Xenagos, regardless of devotion to red and green, or am I missing something here?
November 24, 2015 4:32 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #3
@RYNO_Ross If you have a Xenagos, God of Revels on the field and no Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, he is next to useless. He can't attack or really do anything other than make your Arbor Elf a 2/2.
He can still be put into play using Tooth and Nail even if you don't have the devotion to make him a creature. It's just that he isn't useful when you actually draw him
November 24, 2015 4:41 p.m.
So the thing about Xenagod is that he works extremely well with Emrakul, but if you draw him without an Emrakul he doesn't do anything at all. You rarely have more than 2-4 devotion on the battlefield at any one time so he won't be a creature, and his buff does very little to 1/1 creatures so he doesn't do much without another win condition present.
I actually don't run Xenagod at all in my build because he is literally the epitome of "win-more". If you successfully cast Tooth and Nail and get an Emrakul you really don't need to give it haste and win in one turn - you've won anyway. Personally, my perspective is I'd rather lose the ability to win instantly but firm up my draws than have a card that does nothing in the deck unless you cast Tooth and Nail.
November 24, 2015 5:25 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #5
Yay :)
It's interesting that you play so few actual threats. I mean, I understand that T&N counts for extra copies and all, but a lot of decks that I've seen play 2-3 copies of the Slime and other threats such as Wolfbriar Elemental. Also, I personally prefer Surrak, the Hunt Caller instead of Xenagod because he has the same use but cast be cast without a splash. Very nice article though :)
November 24, 2015 5:31 p.m.
Yeah! Neither of those two decks I highlighted above are mine. They're actually decks that 8'd GPs and other large events. In mine I run 5 threats - Sylvan Primordial, Wurmcoil Engine, Primeval Titan, Hornet Queen, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Those lists above only play about 3 threats I think. It is a bit peculiar.
November 24, 2015 5:37 p.m.
I don't really know what to write about next time and one of the problems I have is that it takes a large amount of expertise to write an article like this. I only know about 4 decks inside-out.
November 24, 2015 6:01 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #8
You could ask for help :) Hell, use that Modern Specialties list that I have on my profile. At least it won't have been a complete waste of time.
November 24, 2015 6:16 p.m.
An idea could be an aristocats style modern deck. I have seen several here since BFZ hit.
Anyway, great article. It was a nice read and about a deck i knew very little about. Ty for the effort and i hope to see more in the future!
November 24, 2015 6:50 p.m.
@lemmingllama: I thought that was the case with the ruling. While I understand how Xenny is useless on his own, you will often draw and cast him alongside Ermakul with an entwined Tooth and Nail. The only way you won't be able to pull off that combo is due to a lack of mana, which kind of screws the deck over completely. I'm also personally a fan of finishing the opponent ASAP. That being said, I do understand why Xenagos can be considered not optimal for this deck. Wurmcoil Engine feels like a good alternative, especially since the ramping allows it to be cast w/out Tooth and Nail, as well as dealing with the life problem. Griselbrand can be useful for card draw, although the life loss can be bad if you have been taken damage, and if you cast him with T&N, then you will likely have you win con out. Defensive options such as Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Sigarda, Host of Herons sound like better choices, since the opponent can still screw Ermakul over with a lucky draw.
November 24, 2015 7:05 p.m.
UpsetYoMama says... #11
Great write-up! I think you could also do a section on Sideboards with each deck, including vital cards to include for the deck's weaknesses. For example, how does the deck increase resilience against combo? I think it's important because I wouldn't take the deck to my meta (there are like 4 Splinter Twin decks) without being able to adapt it.
I have a green devotion deck featuring Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. I think that its strengths are that it is more explosive and can pace aggro better. At the same time it is often less consistent. Using Primeval Titan to fetch Kessig Wolf Run can make mana dorks a win con, and you can also include a 1-of Ghost Quarter that can come in very handy against Tron, Jund, Junk, and Merfolk, to name a few.
Also, you have some minor grammatical errors throughout (such as using its instead of it's). Not sure if you care about that.
November 24, 2015 7:06 p.m.
Jamesfurrow says... #12
I played agaisnt tooth and nail decks and always thought they were intresting. I would have thought aggro not being a problem for them due to the enchantments ramping them quickly into their bombs. You can in that match up not afford to trade your arbor's?
Agaisnt the BGx decks though I found this deck was very sussptible to removal. Abrupt Decay being the mainboard monster it is heavily focused on the enchantments making the ramp strategy die. Then game 2 they can bring in Golgari Charmto even disrupt that more. Agaisnt this shell what do you suggest to do agaisnt? Do you take out some of your bombs and try to convert into a more 3-4 drop bomb deck playing things like Thrun, the Last Troll and Leatherback Baloth? I'm just curious how to deal with decks that can target your primary ramp conditions and have a large acess to such tools.
November 24, 2015 8:46 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #13
I'm not too happy with the manabase of the RG list. 4 Stomping Grounds is excessive, considering how much fixing you have, and even just 5 fetches is consistent enough to get red when you need it (which is not often at all).
November 24, 2015 9:16 p.m.
sweet deck! How do you make the decks show up like that?
November 24, 2015 10:15 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #15
I will enjoy seeing more of these come out. I'm not really a fan of tooth and nail, but the layout and format of this was quite nice.
November 25, 2015 12:11 a.m.
dbdrummer7 says... #17
Really enjoyed the article, and am looking forward to seeing more! I tend to do exactly what this article does, but verbally. My poor roommate (who also likes Magic), has to sit and suffer through it at 3 am haha! Maybe someday I'll find a deck to settle on.
November 25, 2015 2:36 a.m.
Nice article mate. Seen your comments all around, good to see some well written material from you!
November 25, 2015 3:04 a.m.
UpsetYoMama - Certain grammatical elements don't show up in articles because they get interpreted as coding rather than normal text. This is why grammar is frequently incorrect in these.
Jamesfurrow - Burn, for example, can just ignore your large creatures and hit you in the face with their spells so there's nothing you can do. Merfolk gives all its creatures unblockable through islandwalk and Spreading Seas. Infect gives its creatures unblockable through Apostle's Blessing and various other 'protection from' spells. They frequently do too much, too quickly and we can't keep up. You can trade elves if they let you and you can sideboard in Kitchen Finks. The problem is that you have limited early game elements and you need a tiny bit of luck to draw into them, whereas their entire deck is based around the early game and they don't need any luck at all to get a great start.
Against BGx it can be tricky. However between Abrupt Decay and Golgari Charm we're not talking about more than 5 slots in the deck. This means that they can't reliably destroy enchantments every single game. Even if they do destroy a single enchantment it's more than likely you have an Arbor Elf left over, and even if they do kill an Arbor Elf it's more than likely you have an enchantment left over. If it all goes wrong you can hope for things like Garruk Wildspeaker to ramp you up, which BGx can only kill with Maelstrom Pulse.
It also depends on their hand. If they draw into things like Liliana of the Veil, Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze then they're in a tricky position because you won't find that hard to beat at all. If they draw into Abrupt Decay, Lightning Bolt/Path to Exile, Dismember and Liliana of the Veil then things are different because they can disrupt your early game in a big way. However it's worth noting that if you stack your deck with 4-6 drops you can still easily win because BGx is slow enough that you can play 4-6 mana threats even without ramp and still be ok.
My personal strategy is to attempt to ramp as usual so theyre forced to use removal on useless things like Arbor Elf. I focus on casting Acidic Slime, Primal Command and Sylvan Primordial. I target down their complicated manabase and often they'll fold. It's not a bad matchup at all - Tooth and Nail is probably slightly/more than slightly favoured.
JexInfinite - Yeah the 4 shocks, 5 fetches, 4 Utopia Sprawl and 2 Fertile Ground all give access to red. I don't know why he decided to fix so heavily but I'm not entirely sure it matters to be honest. Tooth and Nail is easy on your life total because it's not generally full of shocks and fetches and Thoughtseize etc., so I can't see him losing anything out of being cautious.
November 25, 2015 4:29 a.m.
Jamesfurrow says... #20
ChiefBell thank you for explaining how the aggro routes can ignore your strategy. I was thinking more zoo than merfolk and infect but those definitly do have the advantage. And that makes sence for the bgx match ups. Just was curious to how the deck tries to face it. Cause the junk and jund menaces seem to have the capability to deal with all decks with the exception of burn lol.
Though is it prefered to go the classical tooth and nail list or the nykthos devotion route? Again each deck has its merits but does one seems more resilent in an unknown meta? I'm considering building a tooth and nail deck so Id like to know if the devotion route (which I have the nykthos already) is more viable or is it safer to go the tooth and nail direction with enchantment ramp And what is your color preference for the splash?
November 25, 2015 7:11 a.m.
Jamesfurrow - Jund and Junk can deal with Burn too through Feed the Clan! They are weak to decks that play creatures that are resilient to removal and can beat theirs in combat. Land a Plated Crusher alongside a mana dork and they'll have a lot of difficulty. It's usually fine.
I prefer straight ramp to devotion ramp. Devotion relies on snowballing - that is to say that each part is dependent on previous parts. You need to build up the devotion with lots of smaller creatures and enchantments and therefore anything that disrupts you, disrupts you in a huge way. Straight ramp is more resilient because you dont need ALL your elves and enchantments and satyrs - you just need one or two. You don't need to snowball and get out of control - you literally just need 1 or 2 enchantments and land untappers. Also their ramp is disrupted by Tectonic Edge, Fulminator Mage and lots of others because it needs Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Ours isn't because we just need Forest. It's extremely hard to interact with decks that just need basic lands.
Also, when it comes to threats devotion decks have to play Primalcrux and Khalni Hydra if they want to eventually make Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. They really need to try a lot harder to build up that devotion. On the other hand we can play Wurmcoil Engine which is completely colourless because we dont need those G mana symbols. We have far more flexibility in both the late and early game.
In terms of splashing, I personally play straight up green, no splash. Garruk Wildspeaker is better than Kiora, Master of the Depths in my opinion. He ramps faster and gives you board presence when you need it. A lot better against control decks because his beast tokens can't be countered. Voyaging Satyr is easier to cast that Kiora's Follower and you don't need any extra card draw because you have Harmonize and tutors like Tooth and Nail. I don't run Xenagos, God of Revels because I feel he's pointless. If you land an Emrakul you've won 99% of the time - it doesn't need haste, honestly. Therefore I don't splash red either. I have seen Banefire used before though.
If I were personally to consider a colour it would be white, but probably not for the mainboard. I'd like some Path to Exile and other nice sideboard techs to stop combo. Suppression Field may help against Twin. Timely Reinforcements may help against aggro a tad. Sigarda, Host of Herons stops Liliana of the Veil. I'm pretty happy with the deck as is which is why I haven't splashed a colour yet but I am considering it. I know it sounds odd, but I have actually considered Tarmogoyf for the sideboard. The reason for this is literally just to bring in against faster decks where his high toughness would come in handy.
November 25, 2015 7:30 a.m. Edited.
Gidgetimer says... #24
Well I'll be damned. XML font family cursive looks enough like comic sans that it is off putting though. As well as not being cursive in the slightest.
November 25, 2015 11:17 a.m.
That's a bit peculiar. Looks fairly cursive and ok on my Safari and Chrome. Oh well.
November 25, 2015 11:38 a.m.
Must agree with Gidge... That looks like Comic Sans....
Anyways, I've always wondered what you would do, if you started with one of your fatties in your hand? Would you just mulligan? With you just ramp? Since you run two fatties, there is a pretty great chance that you will draw one of them...
(I don't think you mentioned this in the article)
November 25, 2015 3:48 p.m.
You just ramp and play them :)
You can generate 15 mana on T3 (not likely). Generating 6 or 7 is pretty easy. If you have a fatty and no ramp you mull. If you have no ramp you pretty much always mull.
November 25, 2015 4:03 p.m.
Well, this looks like comic sans:
I'm using chrome on Windows...
November 25, 2015 4:25 p.m. Edited.
RoarMaster says... #32
Lol, I see different font than both of what you guys posted.
Pretty good read too, although I may not agree with all the points you make, its well written and informative.
I am curious how you make 15 mana on turn three though, I only manage to make 10 when running different card combinations. Help a guy out here, feeling dumb.
November 25, 2015 5 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #33
Just using the first deck list I figure that you can
- Forest; Arbor Elf
- Forrest; Utopia Sprawl on the untapped forest; Tap, untap, tap enchanted forest for 4, Overgrowth on enchanted forest; Arbor Elf
- Playing another land puts you at 14, but playing a land and playing 2 more Utopia Sprawls on the voltron forest would give you 18.
Now 18 is magic christmas land and uses all the cards that you could possibly have, but it is possible.
November 25, 2015 5:15 p.m.
It's really silly.
- Forest, Arbor Elf
- Forest, Utopia Sprawl x3, mana dork x2. This is achieved by enchanting the untapped Forest with the first Utopia Sprawl. Tapping it for 2. Casting 2 more sprawls. Untapping it with elf. Tapping it for 4. Casting 2 mana dorks.
- Cast the emrakul you just top decked on T3.
It's super dumb.
November 25, 2015 5:16 p.m.
RoarMaster - Just out of interest, what do you not agree with?
I'm not looking for an argument, I'm just curious.
November 25, 2015 5:18 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #36
Also I have what raven has, I scanned the first bit of the article now that I know the use of comic sans looking font was unintentional. Will probably read it later.
November 25, 2015 5:18 p.m.
Regarding what you said about splashing white if you needed to, ChiefBell, what about using White for protection purposes? In addition to the cards you mentioned, I noticed that Apostle's Blessing can keep your ramping creatures safe from the occasional bolt, or to shut down twin decks by giving the to-be cloned creature protection from red (Making a opponent waste one of their Splinter Twins sounds mischievously funny). It can buy you a precious turn to get your strategy together, at least. I'm trying to think of ways to keep this deck from being obliterated by faster decks, and so far this is the only idea that I had.
November 25, 2015 6:21 p.m.
Apostle's Blessing only affects creatures you control
Vines of Vastwood on the other hand......
November 25, 2015 6:45 p.m.
ChiefBell: Can't believe I missed that. O_O That would have been awkward. Thanks for the catch and suggestion. Vastwood will work better than blessing for disruption, protection, and for survival, all without the need for splashing. Going to make the edits to my deck list now.
November 25, 2015 7:48 p.m.
Interesting. And I want to build a variation now. I like the white splash for side tech as well as Sigarda mained (cause I love that Angel). What about a Platinum Angel as a threat? You would no longer have to worry about those aggro decks that you can't do anything about.
November 25, 2015 11:15 p.m.
Rocknj06: Platinum Angel is easy to ramp into with this deck, but a 4/4 artifact with no protection will get eaten alive. There's also the issue that most aggro decks can easily rip you apart while you try to build up your mana base. If you want to use the angel, then I recommend getting something to protect it with, although I feel that a different card should be considered.
November 26, 2015 1:05 a.m.
wakawakawaka says... #42
I like tooth and nail. I think it's powerful, consistent, and explosive.
with that said Fulminator Mage sees a healthy amount of play. As long as Fulminator Mage exists, I really doubt that tooth and nail can rise higher than a cheeky t2 list.
November 26, 2015 3:22 p.m.
wakawakawaka - Fulminator Mage only hits nonbasic lands. Tooth and Nail plays almost 100% basic land.
November 26, 2015 3:27 p.m.
wakawakawaka says... #44
ooh you right.
i guess i didn't fully read fulminator mage despite having played against it in loads of games :p
November 27, 2015 3:32 a.m.
How was Abundant Growth overlooked? Any color mana, not pick and choose one. Enchant any land not just forest + you get to draw a card. Between Utopia Sprawl, Fertile Ground, and Sylvan Caryatid who needs to spend $10+ on multicolored lands anymore.
November 28, 2015 3:03 a.m.
Darkmagi1131 says... #46
Because Abundant Growth only makes the land tap for anything, it doesn't make the land tap for 2 mana after being enchanted.
November 28, 2015 4:14 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #47
Chief! How are you getting T/O's JS script to work? I haven't been able to get it to work for anything beyond linking a deck.
November 29, 2015 1:50 p.m.
First off I want to say: great article ChiefBell.
I do have a question though: would you be open to the idea of collaborating on articles like this one in the future? You stated in the article that you only know about four modern lists well enough to write an article as in depth as this one, yet TappedOut has a whole trove of modern enthusiasts who know various archetypes inside and out. These minds would seem to me useful resources to keep high quality articles like this one in production.
P.S: I am not volunteering to do a co-lab unless you are interested in writing an article on Pili-Pala combo decks. I'm a Johnny, sue me :P
November 30, 2015 5:47 p.m.
ChiefBell: I have the same question as Femme: Is it only for supporters, or just super complex, or neither?
November 30, 2015 8:06 p.m.
Nice article ChiefBell i'm looking forward to reading about other decks already. But i do have a few questions.
1) Is this going to be a weekly/monthly thing
2) where can i access previous covered decks
I ask these questions because they aren't covered in the introduction of the modern moot. (maybe something you can adjust?)
Anyway thx for putting so much effort, keep up the good work :D
December 1, 2015 9:13 a.m.
DuTogira - It will get to a point where I will have to collaborate. I aim to write these articles with analysis that goes a bit deeper than just merely surface level tips. This requires hours of playtesting.
Maringam - Copy and pasted code to your wall.
ironcore - Monthyl. Preparations for this take a long time.
This is the first modern moot. When we get to further ones you will be able to find previous articles on my profile page and I may start linking.
lemmingllama says... #1
I enjoyed the write-up. One small mistake in the article is that Arbor Elf cannot untap Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Otherwise well written, and I enjoyed reading it a lot.
Also I have two current lists that might intrigue you. A Dramatic Entrance/Through the Breach ramp deck and an attempt to run Bomberman in modern that also leans on Hangarback Walker and Trinket Mage synergies.
November 24, 2015 4:22 p.m.