I’m Rubber, You’re Glue

Modern Budget Midrange RGWU

Balaam__

Land (24)

• 4x Ancient Ziggurat
• 3x Arid Mesa
• 4x Pillar of the Paruns
• 3x Sacred Foundry
• 5x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 5x Snow-Covered Plains

Enchantment (2)

• 2x On Thin Ice

Instant (22)

• 4x Lightning Bolt
• 4x Lightning Helix
• 2x Magmatic Sinkhole
• 4x Mana Tithe
• 4x Path to Exile
• 4x Shock

Creature (12)

• 4x Boros Reckoner
• 4x Ink-Treader Nephilim
• 3x Spiteful Sliver
• 1x Spitemare

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Sideboard

Instant (11)

• 3x Abrade
• 4x Boros Charm
• 4x Ephemerate

Enchantment (2)

• 2x On Thin Ice

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Shivan Meteor

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Maybeboard

Instant (10)

• 1x Deflecting Palm
• 4x Divine Deflection
• 1x Magma Jet
• 4x Mine Collapse

Artifact (1)

• 1x Hivestone

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Blasphemous Act

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The Nephilim subset of cards from the Guildpact block were always oddities, what with their awkward casting costs and freakish depictions. Ink-Treader Nephilim in particular is such an interesting card to me that I decided to try and build a deck around its uniqueness.

As always, I prefer to design and build decks myself first, without looking around to see what others have built. If anyone has better ideas, or notices anything that won’t function as I’ve listed, please leave a message below and I’ll try to adjust it.

Note: For an even more budget friendly build, simply remove Pillar of the Paruns, Arid Mesa and Sacred Foundry for R/W tap lands.

Here’s what I’ve come up with~

Modus Operandi

Just as a prism takes a ray of light and splits it into each individual wavelength, so does our unnatural abomination Ink-Treader Nephilim. His most unique text dictates that if he is the lone target of a spell, that spell in turn is copied for each and every viable creature it can target.

The other creatures function like mirrors in a laser; focusing, redirecting and coalescing light into a devastating weapon. Herein lies our strategy. With our freakish brute&co. in play, cast a cheap burn spell like Lightning Bolt and target the Nephilim. The damage will not only subsequently slam every creature on the opponent’s board, but also our own. Since damage dealt by any source to cards like Boros Reckoner or Spitemare may be redirected to the opponent, the original 3 damage from Lightning Bolt is amplified many times over. Should we have just a few other creatures in play, a mild threat could conceivably end the game in a single turn.

The Fellers

•Boros Reckoner is a 3/3 for 3, with the added bonus of potential first strike. If he’s required to block early on, he can do so without needing to die in the process.

•Spiteful Sliver’s inclusion came at the behest of sergiodelrio, and is a great addition. With it, removing a problematic planeswalker is now possible.

•Spitemare is our Turn 4 play. It’s a capable equine, at 3/3, and it’s latent power will come online when we’re ready.

•Ink-Treader Nephilim was discussed above, but to reiterate he is the intended point of convergence in order to maximize our efforts. His major drawback is his land-base-busting casting cost. Four different mana required, two of which are off-color for our deck (It’s almost as if he’s not supposed to be cast...as if he were never intended to exist...). But fear not; there are a few ways around his awkward mana requirement.

The Mana Base

•Ancient Ziggurat helps alleviate some of the pressure when it comes to casting the Nephilim. It’ll also come in handy to play Boros Reckoner and Spitemare.

•Pillar of the Paruns performs exceptionally well in this deck. By my count a third of the deck is playable using these twin pillars.

•Sacred Foundry comes with a drawback in the form of a 2 point life loss, but that’s not as clumsy a limitation as the two aforementioned lands. 3 copies for now; adjust if necessary.

•Arid Mesa is a no brainer. Find what you need, when you need it, and thin your deck in the process. Win-win. Win.

•Snow-Covered Mountains for those classic burn spells.

•Snow-Covered Plains for those clerical miracles.

Getting the land counts just right took some tinkering, but by the time we’re ready to play our Nephilim we should be in a position to do so. Once Ink-Treader Nephilim became the focal point, it wasn’t long before the lands fell in to place.

Protect The Gameplan

•Mana Tithe is a personal favorite card of mine. Nobody expects a white pseudo-counterspell. Play it early to disrupt any plans to threaten your strategy.

•Path to Exile is another brick wall to slow the opponent down. Sneaks around indestructible creatures quite nicely, and buys time to finish setting up our side of the table.

•On Thin Ice is fantastic early game lockdown. Without any Turn 1 creature drops the deck might otherwise have struggled in the early game, but with this and the previous two cards what we lack in tangible threats is more than made up for with forced quarantine.

Commence Primary Ignition

•Shock may seem puzzling at first. Why include 4 copies of an inferior Lightning Bolt? The reason is simple. If we are in a good board state with multiple Boros Reckoners and/or Spitemares in play, but we aren’t able to end the game this turn, then a 3-damage burn spell will wipe us out. Without backup, that’s too dangerous. Enter Shock. Each of our creatures can tank 2 points of damage and stick around waiting for next turn when we play Magmatic Sinkhole or like a Shivan Meteor or something to close out the game. You wouldn’t use Mjolnïr to tack up a picture frame; don’t obliterate your side of the board unless you’re positive the opponent is going down with you.

•Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to a single target for one red mana. Except here, where it will deal 3 damage to all your opponent’s creatures, plus 3x however many Boros Reckoners and Spitemares you have in play’s worth of damage directly to the opponent’s life total. Yeah.

•Lightning Helix is a marginally more costly variation of the aforementioned card, but with the added benefit that we gain 3 life. That’s 3 life for each copy of the spell that ends up being cast.

•Magmatic Sinkhole is the nuclear option. The casting cost can be drastically lowered using Delve, it plays at instant speed, and it will burn to cinders our side of the table and most likely theirs as well, but not before heaping multiples of 5 damage directly on the opponent.

TL;DR

Play as many creatures as possible.

Play Ink-Treader Nephilim.

Play burn spells, targeting the Nephilim and loads of damage will be mirrored back directly at the opponent and their creatures.

”The Nephilim were on the earth in those days...They are the mighty ones of old, the men of fame.”

Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	27 - 2 Rares 13 - 9 Uncommons 10 - 4 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.19
Folders	Modern, I gotta build this, Playtests