What about Trinket Mage over Court Hussar, it finds Altar of the Brood and Myr Moonvessel as well as your sideboard Nihil Spellbomb and Pithing Needle?

@XyZiron I was actually running Trinket Mage for the longest time, but I eventually cut him out because I realized that finding Heartless Summoning was more important than any other card. It is extremely rare that I immediately need an Altar of the Brood or a Myr Moonvessel to win without being able to dig for them, but it is frequent that my first Heartless Summoning was countered/destroyed/exiled/shuffled away. He is still one that I am considering (currently just rotting in my maybeboard) but until my local meta changes, I'll be rocking the 1-of Court Hussar.

Have you considered running a few for the cards with transmute from the original Ravnica block, transmuting for 2 (Dimir Infiltrator,Muddle the Mixture) in this deck seems particularly effective for finding the last piece you need?

Additionally, have you looked at Infernal Tutor/Taigam's Scheming?

@DeliciousRocks Transmute is very slow, typically those cards are inferior to simply drawing more cards. I do like it, but I would rather not slow my gameplan down that much.

As for Infernal Tutor, it has the same issue of slowness, and even more so because it can only find cards we already have. It is rare that we get hellbent, since most of our cards draw us more in some fashion.

Taigam's Scheming is one that I've certainly considered. It looks really good in playtesting, but it isn't great once you introduce other decks. The fact it's a sorcery and doesn't benefit from Heartless Summoning is the biggest issue. This is probably one I'd be most likely to add, but still not ideal.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Against Infect I would use Glistening Oil if the mana base supports it. Why? Because their creatures are all 1/1s and will die immediately as soon as any buffs wear off. This doesn't stop Inkmoth Nexus though so..meh?

Infect was my hardest match up when I played Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas with artifact combos which like your deck can happen fast, but not as fast as infect without a god hand.

Snapcaster Mage + Scar or Virulent Wound is also good, but since dredge can be help full to you Darkblast is probably best.

@kengiczar If Glistening Oil triggered on their upkeep rather than mine, I would happily run it. Sadly it doesn't work that way, so I'll agree with you that Darkblast is likely the best way to go.

I play modern infect and the deck is like %75 pump spells and another %5 protection spells giving a creature -1/-1 is weak. Spellskite that hates infect pretty hard if anything up the count of those guys who fall for free with heartless summoning. Infect does lose if you cut its creatures but if you can simply stall them a couple turns with some free spellskites you should have the time to combo out.

Well, I wrote up a big thing, and tappedout ate it. So sorry if this one is a little shorter.

Darkblast is constant pressure, something you need to respond to every time or else you lose your creature. It can also be cast, dredged, and immediately cast again to force a response each time or they lose a creature. Also most infect decks run only one toughness creatures, so it works.

Spellskite is great, but I don't really want to run more than two in the sideboard. Wild Defiance, Nature's Claim and Twisted Image are cards that exist and can beat Spellskite easily. I'd rather have them boarding in the Twisted Images and then not have targets.

Finally, it's hard to keep a Heartless Summoning. They get blown up or countered far too frequently to be reliable, but also swapping into a controlly version just means that infect kills us. Infect is just a nightmare matchup, and I would likely still lose it even if I ran a playset of Spellskites.

I put in some Turn Aside in my version to protect my combo pieces and run a couple muddle the mixture. My version of this deck has the potential to combo ont1-2 but usually it goes off 4-6 my infect deck however rarely takes longer than 3-4 turns so I am with you about infect being a weak match up. Darkblast being reusable is great and since getting to dredge yourself can actually help this deck I say it's win win.

Spell Pierce does the same job as Turn Aside, but it's more versatile since you can hit things that don't target you.

Also I just looked at your version, and it is significantly more all-in than mine is. Simian Spirit Guide can be good, but it is also very weak unless you have the nut draw.

Yeah I'm trying to make it as fast as I possibly can. Unless I play cards like wurmcoil engine and various other actual good on their own cards I feel this combo doesn't really hold up in the blinding speed of modern and can never hold its ground outside of casual and epic fun in multiplayer. Unless you can consistently combo out t2-3 and t4 at the latest there just isn't enough interactivity to stand up against other modern decks.

I've had a pretty decent time with my deck. I can beat most decks, but I have some really rough Infect, Jund, Burn, and sometimes Merfolk matchups. Spell Pierce and Inquisition of Kozilek can mess with a lot of the decks if timed correctly.

Sideboard Blowfly Infestation and Crumbling Ashes against infect decks?

@roboboy9000 I have no way to put -1/-1 counters on creatures, so both Blowfly Infestation and Crumbling Ashes would be ineffective.

What about Shimmer Myr so you can go off at instant speed?

@cronos101 It's not entirely necessary. They could still interact with the same type of interaction whether I am going off at sorcery or instant speed, unless I have the perfect hand of 3 Myr Retrievers or something. Sadly not viable.

I would also recommend Muddle the Mixture. You need a way to find Heartless Summoning. My build of the deck was u/g/b running Ancient Stirrings Muddle the Mixture Commune with the Gods and even Summoner's Pact just to make sure i could find the combo quickly.

Your build is a lot more resilient than mine was but its also a lot slower of a combo and not doing as powerful things as other fair decks as its getting setup. May just die before you find the pieces.

@simoHayha I do agree that it is slower, but that is because it is more resilient. I used to run a much more glass cannon approach, and I lost a lot of games due to other decks being able to interact or winning faster than me. The resilient build is more competitive overall, even if you don't manage to get those turn 2 kills as frequently. I can beat control decks because I draw more cards than them, and I can still race the fast decks.

Also why were you using Summoner's Pact? I can't think of a good enough target to make it worthwhile.

To get the second Myr Retriever, or Trinket Mage to find the Altar of the Brood to go off that turn. Sometimes even to find Perilous Myr to just burn them out that turn with Havengul Lich in play.

None of them came up all that often but alowed for it to be faster but ya, it was a glass cannon type approtch. Feel any kind of disruption is horrible regardless, like if they thoughtseize your heartless summoning or abrupt decay it. Was trying to be fast enough that i wouldnt have to deal with (Even ran Pact of Negation in the sb). Definitely a glass cannon lol

@simoHayha Summoner's Pact can only find green creatures, so you've been using it incorrectly this whole time.

Anyways, the only thing I'd consider splashing green for is Commune with the Gods, but that card alone isn't worth a full splash. So I'll likely stick to my current build unless there are some direct upgrades or arguments to be made.

hahaha, wow thanks lol. Ya ive been definitely using that wrong....

Ancient Stirrings would also be a solid reason.

Ancient Stirrings doesn't find Heartless Summoning, and instead forces us to put it on the bottom of our deck. So it's not ideal. Great for hitting land drops though and finding more myrs.

Infinite Obliteration easily fits in this deck. I run 2 sideboard. It gets ride of that Emrakul, the Aeons Torn if you know its in there deck.

@fndeadude The problem with Infinite Obliteration is that it costs , which is a little too much. I run Surgical Extraction for that reason, because I can cast it for free while comboing off. You know you will mill into their Emrakul, and so it has the same effect. Also Surgical Extraction can be powerful when you turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek, then extract away the card to remove multiple copies. Similarly, if you see their hand is relying on something like 3x Scalding Tarn as their lands, you can extract their lands after they crack the first fetch and quickly end the game.

so i decided to do some more tests against this deck with my You and this army! deck. i found pretty similiar results really.

game 1: i had you dead to rights with 2 hunted phantasms out but you got your combo off before i could get the last swing in.

game 2: you never drew into your alter of the brood although you managed to kill 2 phantasms in a single turn by recasting perilous myr 6 times which i must say was amusing/frustrating.

game 3: you myr shocked my blood seeker so that you could combo off with 2 retrievers and your grim until you got an alter, at which point you shocked your grim so you could infinite mill me.

game 4: i countered your summoning. it was over soon after as i dropped a phantasm with 2 seekers out.

game 5: i countered your summoning again, but you had 2 alter of the broods out so you kept up the slow mill for a while. eventually though you had too many etb triggers on my blood seeker and died.

over all it was a fun match up. i personally thought it would be more lopsided but your deck was usually able to handle my problem cards pretty well. i also was too lazy to side board and i think you hypothetical sideboarding was fairly accurate.

my only suggestion would be to add another Spell Pierce or something to better protect your heartless. i tried during a game to hold your heartless off for a few turns to see if i could draw into a spell pierce to protect it (i did have my swan song in hand so it was a good call) but i never could so i would eventually have to try playing it so as to not lose.