Modern Death Cloud

Modern BGW (Abzan, Junk) Competitive Cruel Control Midrange Rock

Machival_

Land (24)

• 4x Bloodstained Mire
• 3x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 3x Overgrown Tomb
• 2x Plains
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 3x Treetop Village
• 4x Windswept Heath

Creature (10)

• 4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 3x Siege Rhino
• 3x Thragtusk

Instant (7)

• 3x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Dismember
• 3x Fatal Push

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Utopia Sprawl

Planeswalker (5)

• 3x Garruk Wildspeaker
• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited

Sorcery (11)

• 4x Death Cloud
• 4x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3x Lingering Souls

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Sideboard

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Collective Brutality
• 2x Damnation
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 2x Primal Command
• 3x Thoughtseize

Enchantment (4)

• 2x Rest in Peace
• 2x Stony Silence

Creature (2)

• 2x Kor Firewalker

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I've been a long time fan of symmetrical effects in Magic, this deck is built around one of the cruelest, and my favourite; Death Cloud

This deck attempts to create a competitive Death Cloud deck around a G/B/x midrange shell.

The deck plays relatively simply, we aim to break the symmetry of Death Cloud by ramping into more lands than our opponent and utilising creatures which replace themselves or abusing planeswalkers which will also stick around through a death cloud.

Game Plan

A typical game plan involes T1/2 ramp into a turn 3 Garruk Wildspeaker allowing for explosive T4 Death Clouds to clear the board and our opponents hand. After this we can either rebuild our board using our land advantage, or close out the game with Garruk Wildspeaker, our persisting creatures (Thragtusk/Kitchen Finks) or even our Treetop Village.

Much of the rest of the deck focuses on survival/disruption while we position ourselves for a death cloud. It's worth noting the synergy between Liliana, Heretical Healer   and Eternal Witness, whilst the Liliana is a budget substitute to Liliana of the Veil (I picked them up in Japan where she is a lot cheaper) she does do a lot of work in the deck.

Ramp Explanation

I've played with a lot of ramp for this deck to test out what works best, a breakdown of the stuff I've tested:

1. Land Searching (Search for Tomorrow). This worked really nicely on T1 however it's overcosted when not suspended. Having more lands than our opponent though is very important so this is still worth considering

2. Artifact Ramp. This has one big benefit - they are ignored by Death Cloud. I've tested two directions, one as a mana fixer (Golgari Signet). Second as a creature to provide additional win conditions after the cloud (Guardian Idol, Phyrexian Totem). I liked both of these approaches, however always found them clunky as it left the deck with an absence of T1 ramp which I found to be a hinderance.

3. Creature Ramp. With creature ramp I found the choice of colour important and so Birds of Paradise was the best fit. It certainly worked well allowing T1 Ramp plays, and also could block if things were going badly. The biggest drawback however is that it's impossible to keep alive through a cloud. This hinders us massively when trying to close out a game after a cloud as I need the Thragtusk/Kitchen Finks in play first.

4. Land enchantments. This was one I didn't like on paper, it opens up the possibility that we 3-0 ourselves by death clouding an enchanted land. After several tests however I've found that it's very easy to leave yourself just an enchanted land and rebuild a board very quickly. Especially true if we have Garruk Wildspeaker out.

Honestly all options have merit, and all are viable. My personal preferences have been Utopia Sprawl for the T1 ramp option and synergy with Garruk Wildspeaker untapping the enchanted land for double benefit.

Tutors

I've been playing around with a few tutors, Liliana Vess & Dark Petition primarily to see if they increase the efficiency of the deck however have had underwhelming results, mostly as they've not been needed in the few games I've played. I definitely feel there could be a spot for them if the deck splashed white (see below) however in its current state we run nearly a playset of everything reducing the necessity to search our deck.

The deck functions much like regular Junk builds, Inquisition of Kozilek to pressure the hand of our opponents while Fatal Push and Abrupt Decay remove early threats. Thragtusk & Siege Rhino provide the healthgain necessary to stay alive while we power up our planeswalkers.

So here it is, my take on Death Cloud in modern (originally my version ran a playset of Smallpox as I LOVE that card, but it's just too inconsistent in this shell). Let me know what you guys think, where you can see improvements, and upvote if you like it!

PS: The Bloodstained Mires should be Verdant Catacombs and Liliana Vess should be Liliana of the Veil however budget restrictions has caused me to use cards already owned.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 5 Mythic Rares 26 - 8 Rares 14 - 2 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.69
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Spirit 1/1 W
Folders	turn end, Fun Looking Decks