STILL WORKING ON THE PRIMER.
Can we brew up a new competitive deck in Modern? Here's a try:
I thought of this deck while looking at the results of the 2012 Mtg Players Championship. Shouta Yasooka dominated the event until he lost to Yuuya Wattanabe in the final. Shouta was piloting RUG Eternal Command where you can soft lock your opponent out with Aether Vial on 3, 4+ lands (or no Aether Vial and 7+ lands), Cryptic Command and Eternal Witness. How you ask? If you have Cryptic Command in your graveyard you can play Witness, returning Cryptic Command and then cast Cryptic Command returning Eternal Witness to your hand and tapping all creatures your opponents control or countering one of their spells. Then rinse and repeat, creating the soft lock.
I then decided that Abrupt Decay is one of the best cards in the format so I wanted to play it. It is exceptional against the Splinter Twin combo especially because you can kill the creature that Splinter Twin is attached to. I decided to cut red mostly for Abrupt Decay and multiple discard spells which help in the combo matchup. The main cards I lose are 4 Lightning Bolt, but I think Abrupt Decay is just simply better. The part that hurts most about cutting red is the loss of Ancient Grudge which makes the Affinity matchup not that good.
My favorite part of the deck is that Aether Vial makes all the creatures enter the battlefield effects much better.
Deck Breakdown:
Creatures:
Snapcaster Mage: Arguably the best creature in the format. Snapcaster just provides so much value combined with powerful instants such as, Cryptic Command and Abrupt Decay and powerful sorceries such as
Serum Visions
and the 1-mana discard spells.
Tarmogoyf: Tarmogoyf is just the most power and toughness for mana in the format. It's the best finisher in the format.
Vendilion Clique:Great ETB ability and a fast, hard to interact with clock (due to flying).
Eternal Witness: Great value creature and also his a part of the Cryptic Command lock.
Harbinger of the Tides: New card form Origins that I want to try out because it has a great ETB ability and it excels with Aether Vial.
Instants:
Cryptic Command: Cryptic is so versatile and in this deck you will use all of its modes. It is also the piece that combos with Eternal Witness to lock your opponent out.
Abrupt Decay: This is pretty much the main reason that this deck plays green over red. The thing that makes it so great is ability to take down any troubling permanent from a Tarmogoyf to Liliana of the Veil all the way to both sides of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
.
Mana Leak: Probably the best and most consistent counterspell in modern (
Silumgar's Scorn
is better if you have a dragon). It is especially great in this deck because there is no Path to Exile which is a nombo with Mana Leak.
Remand: Pretty much just a third Mana Leak but it is better in the late game when they can play for Mana Leak or if you just need one more draw to smooth out your draws.
Spell Snare: Another counterspell that is great for handling some of the premier threats in modern. Here are some notables Tarmogoyf, Bob (Dark Confidant), Snapcaster Mage, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
, Remand and Mana Leak. This is just a few of them.
Murderous Cut: I wanted another non-Abrupt Decay removal spell that could also kill the big delve monsters such as Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Gurmag Angler. This is the cheapest of the removal spells that can do this as I am filling up my graveyard crazy fast with cards like
Serum Visions
, Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek.
Sorceries:
Artifacts:
Lands:
