Creature (21)
Instant (15)
Enchantment (4)
Land (20)
Sideboard
Maybeboard
Sorcery (1)
I wanted to have a deck in my personal rotation that revolved around the infinite persistence loop created by Melira, Sylvok Outcast and any Persist creature. Combo-ing off with Kitchen Finks is well known, but I wanted to see if there were any other interesting interactions to be had. Reviewing creatures bearing the Persist keyword ability yielded a fantastic but finite counterspell loop with Glen Elendra Archmage at center stage.
A quick peek at your playbill reveals that the idea is to beset your opponent with endless tragedies, condemning them to a life of mourning for the duration of the game.
•Breeding Pool will be our ideal Turn 1 play. Fear not the 2 point hit to our life total, as we will invariably earn that back and then some. It’s far more important to open up ingress to , and without sacrificing access to our primary color, or losing the ability to have a viable target for our Enchantment.
•Misty Rainforest locates our preferred land drop and thins the deck ever so slightly, improving our subsequent draws.
•12 basic Forests round out the mana pool. Besides desiring as many forests as possible to secure a high Utopia Sprawl attach rate, we have no pressing need for basic Islands since we have multiple other ways of producing .
•Attach Utopia Sprawl to either a basic Forest or to Breeding Pool. Depending on what we have available as it comes into play, we may wish to choose or as the supplemental color for the mana it will provide. We only need a single to cast a particular spell, although it’s best to have anywhere from 2-4 mana sources available per turn for our renewable counterspell (See The Combo Quartet tab).
•Arbor Elf will either a basic Forest or Breeding Pool— both of which can be enchanted by Utopia Sprawl for a large net gain in mana.
•Noble Hierarch smoothes out our mana curve, granting us any color we may need. She will also buff our 6/6 to a 7/7, provided it attacks alone; quite the package contained within this mana dorkette.
•Chord of Calling is ideal to get Melira into play if she happens to be hiding somewhere deep in our library. Fortunately, owing to excellent mana production we can also use it to acquire our recursive counterspell too.
•Use Collected Company to dig primarily for Melira, Sylvok Outcast with either Arbor Elf, Noble Hierarch or Kitchen Finks tagging along as a bonus. CoCo on Turn 3 into everlasting Kitchen Finks can be quite demoralizing.
As everything hinges on Melira, it felt wise to include a myriad of ways to acquire her, and should we happen to draw her in our opening hand—all the better. These tutors lose no efficacy, as we have other key pieces we can hunt for and the mana to facilitate it.
No Counter Zone
•The cornerstone of our combo quartet, Melira, Sylvok Outcast dazzles us with her peculiarly unique counter magic. While in play she drops the ban hammer on -1/-1 counters being placed on any of our creatures. For anything bearing the Persist keyword ability, this essentially equates to sipping from the font of immortality. Nothing short of exile will permanently remove them now. If only there were some way to guarantee that never happens...
•Glen Elendra Archmage boasts some counter magic of her own. For just one , we may sacrifice her at Instant speed to counter any non-creature spell, after which she’ll immediately return to play. Take a moment to let that sink in. Nothing short of exile
or the odd prison spell is a threat to our Persist creatures—and we have an everlasting one mana counterspell at our disposal to thwart any of those. Likewise, if they try to attack the source, they’ll find removing the fountainhead easier said than done.
•Kitchen Finks’ ETB trigger can help us recuperate any damage we may have absorbed early on, while we were busy assembling our combo quartet. Have them attack or block indiscriminately, secure in the knowledge that sooner or later these ouphes will bite the dust...only to immediately reenter play and gift us a boon of 2 life points.
A Fair Question Show
The opponent will find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place; to destroy Woodfall Primus will be to shoot themselves in the foot, while losing blocker after blocker (or simply letting the damage go through unchecked) isn’t a viable strategy either.
•Cast Melira, Sylvok Outcast as early as possible. Tutor for her with Chord of Calling or Collected Company if necessary. Protect her with Fog or Heroic Intervention.
•Control the remainder of the game by repeatedly abusing Glen Elendra Archmage, to counter any non-creature spells, while Woodfall Primus and Kitchen Finks attack/block freely to eradicate the opponent’s boardstate.
•Snakeskin Veil temporarily shields Melira, Arbor Elf or Noble Hierarch if repeated early game removal is a pervasive threat, permanently buffing them in the process as a side benefit.
•Simic Charm offers versatility, functioning a bit like a Simic Swiss Army knife. Bestow ‘roid rage on Woodfall Primus to close out the game; protect our entire board from everything but a boardwipe with Door #2; or stall for time by bouncing something bothersome with the third option.
•Surgical Extraction excels at busting up combos or problematic recurrent threats; cast it for the Phyrexian mana equivalent and Kitchen Finks will pay you back. They promise.
•Dismember for some targeted removal of our own. Again, just pay the double and the Finks will get you back. They swear, for real this time.
”Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into despair.”
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Casual
95% Competitive
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 3 years |
| Last updated | 2 years |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 33 - 3 Rares 4 - 4 Uncommons 11 - 4 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.62 |
| Folders | Modern, Modern Decks, Modern, Favorite |
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