Just to start off- this is my first real Modern deck that I have made. I have made many casual decks but most of them weren't meant to stand up to tournament play.
To start with the strategy: I am looking to just power through the opponent and partially cheat some cards to the yard, so by around turn five I can have a huge creature (preferably Lotleth Troll). Hopefully I can manage to draw a Lotleth Troll and a Slitherhead all in the same hand (I will get two more Lotleth Trolls but I don't have them now and I wonder what to take out). Maybe I'll play a
Drainpipe Vermin
if I draw it or if I get a second Slitherhead then I will definitely play it, just for the annoying 1 point of damage or the quick and easy scavenge. By the third turn, I go crazy. Nearly nothing in my hand is dead. I can Grisly Salvage or any other one of those cards to fill up my yard. I continue with the strategy so by the fifth turn hopefully my graveyard has no creatures left to scavenge. This leaves me mana open to play some of my finishers. The Garruk, Apex Predator can just murder the opponent if I get the opportunity. I can also play a Vraska the Unseen or I could drop down
Deadbridge Goliath
if I haven't already. At this point the opponent most likely sees their imminent demise and extends the hand, leaving me a win. Of course some agro decks can out tempo me and whatnot, but I can usually skim by, gaining life Feed the Clan, although really agro deck could get me. I only tested with a pretty moderate u/r one. Most of the other cards are just generally utility to help set up this fifth turn push. They can hopefully put me on top in terms of board state so when I do go in for the final blow, it can really finish them off and if they have something up their sleeve, well then hopefully I can survive another turn!The sideboard: I struggled a lot with this one, I have to say, but I'll give the reasoning. An extra Grisly Salvage just if I want to see more of my deck. Not really sure on that one? To help with basically any blue deck, I added Longshoot Squad for the reach effect. Again, not really sure on the
Golgari Decoy
. I just say it laying there and I thought it might be good against the weenie decks. On second thought,
Hollowhenge Scavenger
doesn't really trigger that often, but hopefully I can get the 5 life???
Sultai Flayer
is the same reasoning?
Dragonscale Boon
was a card I wanted to include in the mainboard, but I decided to just sideboard it so I could speed up the Primordial Hydra and as a quick combat trick.
Stonefare Crocodile
is life gain that works. I had it in my mainboard for a while but I sideboarded it in favor of other things.
Awaken the Bear
is another quick spell to push through with something. Satyr Wayfinder for the ramp and the graveyard ability. Then the last few are pretty general purpose (sorry for such the long explanation, but I want you to have the reasoning so you could provide some advice).
All of the copies of cards that are in the maybeboard are really just cards I need to get, but the rest are real maybes. Please provide some advice, this is my first real tournament deck and I know I need it!!! :) Oh and one last note; I am trying to keep the deck semi-cheap, so thats why the mana base is pretty moderate.
