Ponza is back in modern wew lad
This evolved out of a Gruul Ponza / Saga-Boom deck I have been tinkering with for about a year before the Opal unban. I've brewed basically this same deck 6 or 7 times in different color pairs and this will be the 2nd post-ban brew (also tried an izzet tamiyo/emry shell). This reworked version of an originally Gruul list is designed to push the colorfixing power of Mox Opal to support key blue cards and sideboard counterplay against opposing hate like Meltdown.
If you don't know what Ponza is, it's a tempo strategy named after a Calzone which uses land destruction to deny opponents while simultaneously ramping into big threats. The classic Modern deck used cards like Utopia Sprawl, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, and Stormbreath Dragon. It was a unique deck that called back to an older era of magic, and it was famously unfun to play against.
Boom / Bust is another land destruction deck which traditionally used Darksteel Citadel and Flagstones of Trokair to enable the 2-cost Boom, or 6-cost Bust in the late-game, asymmetrically wiping opponents' lands but not our own indestructible manabase. This was supplemented by additional hate cards and midrangey beaters to close out games. In Modern this deck is most often built as Boros or Izzet (also called Boomshine for Rise and Shine). A lot of people have played these decks but the traditional builds have since fallen out of favor thanks to Modern's power creep.
My shell started off as a combination of Boom/Bust with Mono-Red Saga. It makes sense that the indestructible artifact lands pair well with Urza's Saga, creating a "Saga-Boom" archetype which sees surprisingly little play in today's Modern. The deck wants to be aggressive, checking opponents with fast removal/hate then stomping them down before they can recover. With this in mind I put an emphasis on lightweight, flexible offensive/defensive spells like bolts and Gleeful Demolition, which I have found to be a sleeper all star. The deck combines these efficient spells with the power of Opals to accelerate tempo plays on turn 1-2 as well as our 4-6 mana haymakers. I've kept my build close in spirit to The *Original* Ponza deck; a delicious Calzone incorporating Cheese, Meat, and Sauce.
It's fresh brew, so I'd love thoughts and feedback. Deck has been really fun in testing so far and it feels strong.
