Land (22)
Instant (21)
Creature (12)
Sorcery (5)
Sideboard
Sorcery (7)
Artifact (3)
Maybeboard
Instant (15)
Creature (7)
Enchantment (5)
Sorcery (8)
-
1x
Collective Brutality
*f-pre*
- 2x Damnation
- 2x Dreadbore
- 3x Molten Rain
First of all, all the credit goes to: deck-large:22-08-18-grixis-pyromancer-control
In the mainboard I literally only changed 4 nonland cards from that list. thealexgnan is the genius behind this deck. This is just the version I play.
This is Grixis Control. Or Grixis Pyromancer. Whatever you want to call it. This will be the 3rd grixis deck I've played. I started playing competitive magic with Rocket Science, which I loved and played for 3ish years. Then things like Hollow One and Mardu Pyromancer and the like happened in the spring of 2018 and it became clear that a fair deck that was also graveyard-dependent was too vulnerable, so I picked up The Angry Insect (Grixis Delver) for a summer. Grixis Delver was a blast to pilot and I learned that Delver of Secrets and Mana Leak are much better cards in modern than people give them credit for. But despite playing a 1 mana 3/2 flyer, I basically never aggro'd anyone out. I knew there had to be something better to be doing. Throughout my time on Delver Young Pyromancer was a standout card...
...and this is the perfect Young Pyromancer shell. This deck and Grixis Delver share a lot of cards, but the main difference is Cryptic Command vs Delver of Secrets . Cryptic Command fits with the game plan of a Grixis deck much better than Delver of Secrets. While playing Delver I found that I was usually the control deck and the opponent was the beatdown, almost regardless of the opponent. And that's the truth of playing Grixis with counterspells, or really any tempo deck: Even when Grixis is the beatdown, it's still the control deck. Against opponents who draw their removal, Delver of Secrets is a liability because Grixis prefers to use counterspells to stop the opponent, not to keep its stuff alive. Cryptic Command, on the other hand, ensures that the control plan can never fizzle. Tempoing out the opponent with a Young Pyromancer and an army of tokens is a lot easier when we can simply tap their team and then swing + burn them down for 10 or more damage. The life swings get even crazier when Snapcaster Mage is brought into the picture.
There are a few deckbuilding choices that I feel like I should justify. I'll start with Fatal Push .
I'm playing 2 copies of Fatal Push , but I've been switching back and forth between 1 and 2 because the card is a trap. Having revolt can't be taken as a given at all times. And there are so many creatures that Fatal Push can't hit, most notably Gurmag Angler , Hollow One , Bedlam Reveler , Primeval Titan , and Wurmcoil Engine . And there are still creatures that are hard to hit, such as Mantis Rider . Fatal Push is a great card for beating Jund and Humans and Infect, but for the overall meta I'd much rather have more copies of Terminate .
Speaking of which, I'll mention Terminate next. Ever since I started playing less than 4 in favor of Fatal Push I started running into scenarios where I was hoping to draw a Terminate. Any card that I am frequently hoping to draw is probably a card I should play more copies of. I'm currently on 3, but I could see myself dropping that 2nd push for a 4th.
Players in touch with the current meta and trends will notice I've omitted Search for Azcanta . That's because Azcanta is air in a deck that already packs a lot of air. When you slam it turn 2 against UW Control you basically just win, but when you draw it vs Burn or Tron you feel bad. It's a very powerful card, but it's durdly. It doesn't help me win the game; it helps me control the game. Controlling the game is all fine and good, except that decks like burn will kill me instead of letting me control the game and decks like Tron will just kill me anyway if I try to control the game without killing them. Since those are tougher matchups, I'd like to give myself as many percentage points as I can.
The sideboard has 5 packages: boardwipes to beat the creature decks, counterspells to beat the spell decks, graveyard hate, Stony Silence to beat artifacts, and Fulminator Mage to beat big decks.
Anger of the Gods blows creature decks out of the water. Especially Humans, Hollow One, Bridgevine, Spirits, and both kinds of Affinity. Izzet Staticaster is great vs Pyromancer and Junk to kill Lingering Souls tokens, but it's useful in a lot of other matchups too.
The counterspells are priceless vs UW Control, Tron, Burn, Primeval Titan decks, and Storm. Countersquall is especially awesome because the incremental damage is super relevant against all of those decks, even Burn. Dispel is hyper-efficient where it counts. Disdainful Stroke is nice because Primeval Titan is a real problem and Tron usually sideboards in Thought-Knot Seer and Thragtusk .
Never play in this meta without graveyard hate. It's the easiest way to get wins. And Rest in Peace is a sledgehammer to the face against the graveyard decks. Nihil Spellbomb and Surgical Extraction never felt strong enough and Leyline of the Void is straight gambling, which I'd like to avoid.
Stony Silence has never been better. Tron and Affinity are tough matchups and Stony Silence is amazing against them. Definitely worth the white splash.
Fulminator Mage . He's a bro. He kills Celestial Colonnade , Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin , Urza's Mine , and Raging Ravine . What more could you ask for?
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Revision 27 See all
(5 years ago)
| -1 | Anger of the Gods | side |
| +1 | Dreadbore | main |
| +3 | Inquisition of Kozilek | side |
| -1 | Island | main |
| -1 | Snow-Covered Swamp | main |
| +2 | Spell Snare | main |
| +1 | Swamp | main |
| -1 | Terminate | main |
| +1 | Unearth | side |
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 6 years |
| Last updated | 5 years |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 36 - 8 Rares 5 - 3 Uncommons 15 - 4 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.42 |
| Folders | Want, Modern, Strangers' Decks, Modern Decks |
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