We're back, with a high mana, high ramp, and high burning vengeance. After taking a bit of a break from Magic, I've come back to learn that my local card shop does tournaments every week, that just so happen to be on my days off. The format? Modern. Time to whip out my old deck and and get it tournament ready.
Riddle of Lightning
is the deck, straight-up. It was the inspiration for the deck, and it's what holds it together. The deck mainly focuses around high impact burns, such as through Banefire and Borborygmos Enraged, and in cases such as the latter, Riddle helps both get these cards earlier, and turns them into high damage. Riddle of Lightning
+
Thunderous Wrath
, especially, can be a devastating combo, dealing 11 damage in two turns, while only using up a single mana on that second turn. Now that's thorough!
My weenies are all mana dorks, and their job is to help me get those big cards out even faster. Vigor is thrown in there to keep them safe late-game, when damaging board wipes are more likely to show up. It helps that Vigor also combos well with Riddle for some solid damage. Utopia Sprawl + Voyaging Satyr
is one of the most potentially powerful, if not simple, combos for that early ramp, though I've thrown around the idea of Arbor Elf instead. The only reason I haven't yet is the additional combo of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
+
Voyaging Satyr
, which can total up to some insane mana.
So we've got all this mana. Besides summoning the almighty Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, what are we going to use it for? Banefire, of course. Banefire
+
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
, Banefire
+
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
, Banefire
+
Mana Reflection
; the amount of things that can turn that one card into an easy 20+ damage in a single turn is staggering.
Sin Prodder helps with some early burn, and Scavenging Ooze is just a solid choice that can also make use of any excess mana.
Temple of Abandon
may be considered less than perfect in most Modern decks, but the ability to scry can help set up
Riddle of Lightning
combos well enough to make up for the lack of speed. There are a lot of big guys in consideration that combo well with Riddle, with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
+
Riddle of Lightning
being downright terrifying to think about. Frontier Siege is one I've been using in place of Mana Reflection while I work on getting my hands on them, and it's doing well, and makes me wonder if it'll be more useful for setting things up than the alternative.
But that's what I've got for now. Ramp up tons of mana, turn all that mana into giant monsters and direct firepower, and if nothing else, keep my opponents sweating buckets every time my turn comes along. Hope you guys enjoy, and any and all suggestions are hugely appreciated!
