pie chart

Shardless Sultai Midrange

Modern BUG (Sultai) Competitive Control FNM Midrange Primer Tempo

OSOROJO12

Edit Live Edit
Edit
Upvote 0
0
Deckcycle Feature Queue
Feature Queue
Playtest v1
Similar Deck Space Card Recommendations

Land (22)

Instant (19)

Sorcery (5)

Creature (14)

Sideboard

Instant (8)

Artifact (4)

Sorcery (3)

Maybeboard

Instant (3)

Creature (2)

"Shardless" Sultai Midrange v.04

Welcome to my journey to make Sultai Midrange a playable list in competitive Modern. Do you want to play value piles that trip up fair match ups? How about a list that can side-board into a more traditional control shell? Do you miss the power of Tarmogoyf?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this list might be for you.

Leveraging the power of new Modern Horizon cards like Subtlety and Shardless Agent, Shardless Sultai Midrange looks to control your opponent's board while also providing value each and every turn. This is not a deck for the faint of heart, certain lines are not intuitive, and misplays are going to happen when starting out. But this primer is here to help! Good luck, have fun, and don't forget to provide insights!

Shardless Sultai Midrange is a midrange Modern deck that utilizes Shardless Agent as a center value-piece which can produce wild turn three and turn four 3-for-1, 2-for-1 plays. With Tarmogoyf's, Snapcaster Mage's, and Ledger Shredder's acting as synergistic beaters (see the card profiles below), and our suite of removal and hand hate spells acting as 1-for-1's, Shardless Sultai Midrange works to clear the field of pesky permanents while providing a consistent pressure on the opponent.

The deck is not easy to play. There were many mistakes made in early play-testing, to include mis-plays on timing, responding to opponent's plays, and understanding which hands to keep and which hands to ship. The goal of this primer is to help mitigate these early play-testing issues and provide lessons-learned to new players of Shardless Sultai Midrange.

Shardless Agent is the namesake card of this list. Shardless enables some very powerful plays in the mid-to-late game against many of the top meta lists. There are some tricks to playing with Shardless Agent:

  1. It is not recommended that you play Shardless on turn three. The reason for this is the inclusion of two Snapcaster Mage in the main board. By casting Shardless on turn three you run the potential of hitting a Snapcaster, meaning that your value potential is limited to a two-for-one with a 2/1 body. The 4-power on-board outcome is not conducive to the current meta. You want to play Shardless on turn four or turn five. This allows for you to hold up mana for the potential Snapcaster, enabling a 3-for-1 play. Additionally, this allows you to hold up mana after you hit any of your other spells, which provides for a potential follow-up play after Thoughtsiezeing for free or killing an opponent's permanent.

  2. Shardless into Ledger Shredderis a non-bo, but if you maintain the turn four turn five mentality you can still connive after the spell resolves. This enables a Connive trigger off the Shredder once they hit the battlefield. Ensure that you are selective with your targets and don't be too hasty to trigger Connive. It's always best to hold back on removal if your opponent's threats are minimal at best.

It's Ya BOI

Tarmogoyf has been pushed out of the meta. It's sad to see such a powerful creature get power-crept by incarnations and one-mana monkeys. That said, in the right shell Tarmogoyf is still a sold turn two threat. In my extensive play-testing with this list (both recorded and not-recorded), this big boy is still a shining star! He's a beater who can get through most of the major one and two mana threats that are dominating Modern. And with Delirium being a major keyword in many tier-one lists, your opponents grow the Goyf for you. This allows a greater level of flexibility in your deck building with the Goyf.

Post-Game One Goyf feels weaker. The include of cards like Unlicensed Hearse and Endurance in Modern really hurt your ability to grow your Goyf. Luckily, in a Sultai shell you have the ability to pop permanent based graveyard hate with cards like Assassin's Trophy, Abrupt Decay, and Boseiju, Who Endures. Another fun synergy is the include of Ledger Shredder. Having the ability to Connive with Shredder and Goyf on the Battlefield allows you to instant speed grow your Goyf with selecting your discard.

Hitting a Goyf off your Shardless Agent elicits some of the funniest opponent reactions, and in certain situations merits an auto-scoop.

An all-star in Izzet Murktide, Ledger Shredder has made it's mark on the Modern meta. The ability to Connive, loot away the best cards, and grow your Shredder has given Murktide lists a new toy which provides only upsides. The thing is, we can use it too. Combo'ing with Tarmogoyf by providing instant speed growth of the Goyf and allowing us to loot, Shredder is an amazing turn two play and an excellent Cascade hit off of Shardless Agent.

Shredder does require some deck building requirements. But with a low curve, and the ability to Connive both on our turns and the opponent's, Shredder is an automatic include as either a two-of or four-of.

Don't forget, Connive works on your opponent's spells too!

Guess who's Back? Back Again.

Snapcaster Mage, like Tarmogoyf is a Modern staple that has fallen out of favor with the introduction of Modern Horizon's 2 and other powerful sets. Thrown to the way-side for more powerful cards, Snapcaster has become a forgotten relic of the past. But not in this shell.

With Shardless Agent turn four plays, Snapcaster becomes a monster of 3-for-1 value. Being able to cast this spell to knock-out a Dragon's Rage Channeler, Ledger Shredder, or even a Sigarda's Aid provides our deck with an unparalleled level of flexibility. Need to double Thoughtseize? No problem. Want to pop two dorks in a single turn? You bet. Need a Connivee trigger that adds extra value? Boy oh BOY!

Snapcaster shines in this list, and could be a four-of if you really wanna try something spicy.

Subtlety could be an extra two copies of Snapcaster Mage or Ledger Shredder, this is true. But with Izzet Murktide running around, wrecking the meta, Subtlety is a good piece of Main Board hate.

Wanna cast a Murktide Regent for two mana? How about you put it to the top or bottom of your library instead.

Shardless Sultai also allows for the inevitable hard-cast of Subtlety. This said, this card is a side-out option for other match-ups that are less creature intensive, like Azorious Control and Creativity.

The instant suite available for Shardless Sultai is made to address the current Modern meta.

  1. Abrupt Decay: pretty standard two mana instant speed removal. It's un-counterability makes it a great out to a Chalice of the Void-on-two as the Chalice "counters" spells and Abrupt Decay can't be countered. It also hits non-land permanents, giving it a level of flexibility

  2. Assassin's Trophy: all-star in Shardless Sultai, Assassin's Trophy kills Urza's Saga, Blood Moon, Murktide Regent and many more! The one land the opponent searches for is ultimately inconsequential as you're targeting their value pieces and major threats.

  3. Consider: Card draw, feeds the Goyf, triggers Shredder, decent value target for Snapcaster, and pitchable to Subtlety. Best cantrip for the list.

  4. Sultai Charm: Man oh man this card. I had no idea it existed until V.03 of this list and once I added it, the synergy levels rose. Having issues with massive mono-colored creatures (the Murktides, Archons, and Titans of the world?), well choose option one. Need to kill a pesky artifact or crazy saga? Choose option two. Need some card draw to close out of the game? Option three. All in an instant spell.

  5. Drown in the Loch: Removal spell and counter spell in one card. Pitchable to Subtlety. The removal side of the spell makes this a viable main board include with Shardless!

  6. Fatal Push: One mana removal spell for the Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Dragon's Rage Channeler's of the world. Easy auto-include.

The Sorcery suite available for Shardless Sultai:

Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek are the only sorceries in the list. They are the traditional hand hate spells that allow for us to remove threats in the early turns and gives us insights to our opponents game plans and potential lines. These can be targeted later by Snapcaster Mage and caught by Shardless Agent with Cascade.

The side-boarding tech for this list is ever evolving. While the side-board tech I use currently is ok for my meta, you may want to use something else. I do know that one major upgrade I'm looking forward to is Force of Vigor to try and turn my negative win-ratio against Hammer Time more to the positive. Bloodchief's Thirst Crime / Punishment Engineered Explosives Mystical Dispute Nihil Spellbomb Surgical Extraction Veil of Summer Weather the Storm
Game one: Murktide Regent - 2/1 Murktide is a tough match. Expressive iteration is a great counterspell target. Side in the Ashiok's and Ooze on the draw, side in one veil and one mana leak and counters on the play. Keep them off Ragavan and expressive iteration, control their draw spells and it should go your way.

Game two: Hammer time - 1/2 Hammer time. Wow. Super quick turn two kill. Need to side in witherblooms, bontu's, and an argument can be made for mana leak. Their curve is low enough that its better than counterspell.

Game three: Azorious Control - 2/0 Tempo Tempo Tempo. Kill little Teferi, don't really care about big Teferi. Board wipes hurt real bad. but Takenuma comes in clutch. chalice on one game one is funny. veils, counterspells, leaks all in, side out the Shardless Agents and the fatals.

Game four: Bogles 2/1 Game one loss. Removal spells feel bad man. side in leaks, bontu, surgical - target countered bogles and pertinent enchantments. Hand hate plus counters plus surgical feels oppressive.

Game One: v.03 ~ Grixis Murktide 2/1 Took an interesting win against Grixis Murktide. Took out their Ragavan turn one and they got mana screwed. Game two they tempo'd me out with iterations and charms. Game three I was able to beat their face with a turn four Shardless into Goyf into Fatal. This put them back a bit and their draws seemed pretty bad. Clutch veil and assassin's trophy closed out the game.

Game two: V.03 ~ Rakdos "Unearth" 1/2 Woah this list was wild. Game one Grief into a reanimate spell took away my only action spells and had me top decking. Game two took their Pryomancer away with thoughtsieze/surgical, and then took them off their graveyard with Nihil. Game three Grief Grief Grief. That double thoughsieze, into another thoughsieze really hurts. Makes me feel like adding a torpor orb in the side.

Game three: V.03 ~ Izzet Murktide 2/0 This was fun. Tempo and keeping them off Ragavan and Ledger Shredder early in the game. Able to out Murktide the Murktide. Their ability to get delirium for unholy heat hurts the tarmogoyf strategy, but the Murktides and Sultai Charms really shined in this match up. Plus the inclusion of Mystical Dispute really let us have some interactive turns and control our opponents amount of draw each turn.

Game four: V.03 ~ Humans 1/2 Humans, oh how you scare me. Game one I was able to abrupt decay their vial. they got stuck on one land and we goyf'd them out of the game. Games two and three it felt like I couldn't one-for-one them at all. Remove their creature? They just play three more. Counter a spell, vial in and make that spell one more to cast. Really needed to aggressively mulligan for Engineered Explosives. But that's a lesson learned on our end.

Match One: V.04 ~ Burn 2/0 Burn is a rough match up, but we can control their creatures and fetch for basics to offset their burn spells. Tempo Tempo Tempo. Side out Thoughtsieze for Weather the Storm and pray they keep a single land hand.

Match Two: V.04 ~ Hammer Time 1/2 "You had my hands sweating." Hammer time beats us again, but this time it was close. Force of Vigor is a must in the sideboard. We can keep them off stoneforge and urza's saga. But their ability to give a permanent hexproof and indestructible makes removing tricky equipment and Sigarda's Aid almost a flip-of-the-coin gamble. I feel with Vigor we could blow them out game two and prevent a game three, which is where we lose pretty badly.

Match Three: V.04 ~ RG Ponza (w/Karn -- Karnza as the creator called it) 2/0 Ponza is in a tough spot right now. We were able to control their hand and kill their creatures in game one, and their land targets really didn't matter with Shardless Cascade gimicks. Game two we surgicaled their Blood Moons and their Karns (with a fun Snap-play). After that we had to fight through a hard casted Fury, which was killed by an Assassin's trophy for the win.

Match Four: V.04 ~ Blue Moon 2/0 Another Blue Moon player, but this one half a country away? I don't know if the deck is trying to make a comeback or what, but it feels less powerful than Murktide. Used a similar strategy as the last Blue Moon match, siding in Mystical Disputes to mess with their plays and popping their Blood Moons with basics into Assassin's trophy's and Boseju's. Their Murktide feels less powerful in this shell and is susceptible to our Drowns, Assassin's Trophy's, and a cheeky Subtlety in game two.

Match Five: V.04 ~ Creativity 2/1 This match up is an interesting one. Controlling their hand feels good, Archon landing is painful. I find that Tempo plays are important here. Game one was a loss. but games two and three, with surgicals, mystical disputes, and counterspells. Controlling their lines, beating with early tarmogoyfs and ledgers feels good. SIDE OUT SHARDLESS. YOU DO NOT WANT TO CASCADE INTO A COUNTERSPELL. That and Shardless feels weak in this match up. In other words, go full control, don't try to play a fair game because they aren't. Play around Spellpierce, and be prepared to counter persist and creativity.

Content goes here
Content goes here
Content goes here
Content goes here
V.03 ~ Made some changes. Grist was not a good fit in the list. After a few matches, I found that the list really needed a beater to close out the game, something to supplement the Tarmogoyf. I landed on Murktide Regent at a two-of. This adds an additional out, and makes use of the large graveyard we can accrue by turn four. Additionally, we are adjusting the sideboard. This new sideboard is much more dynamic, though I'm still leaning towards Force of Vigor over Crime//Punishment (though punishment can be hit off of our Shardless Agents).

Best new tech added to the list is Sultai Charm. Destroying monocolored creatures hits so many troublesome threats in the current meta. The enchantment destruction is a good option against a Urza's Saga list, and the draw-two-discard-one combos with Tarmogoyf and Murktide Regent. It feels like a more manageable Archmage's Charm in this mana-base.

Win/Loss: 9/4 ~ positive win rate

Made some final changes for awhile. The meta needs to settle after the introduction of Brother's War. Most recent outing went exceptionally well. On a trip to Killeen, TX I played a local tournament. Only 10 participants, but the local meta was pretty standard. Played five matches, four in the main tournament and 1 in an outside game. Very very good outcome.

Next minor update will be the inclusion of Force of Vigors in the side. This gives Green an option to shine in the list against our weakest match-up, Hammer Time. Still, a ton of fun to play.

Some tips: 1) DO NOT PLAY SHARDLESS TURN THREE. Shardless Agent acts a value 1-for-2 piece in the list, but if you cascade into a snap on turn three, you only get a 2/1 body for your cascade. Casting Shardless on turn four, with a mana up consistent with what's in your graveyard will allow for you to cascade into Snapcaster Mage and immediately flashback a one mana spell. Thats a 1-for-three return on value and has won me many games.

2) Against combo decks like Living End, Creativity, and others, SIDE OUT SHARDLESS. You want to go full control. These lists will pray on a three mana 2/2 body with a possible positive 1-for-2 value. Instead side in counterspells, and side board pieces that wreck their combo lines. Shardless will be ok with sitting on the sideline.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Image View Timeline
Card Odds v1 Draw hand
Add to folder Copy
Download / Export / Embed Code

Comments

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

Casual

94% Competitive

Date added 2 years
Last updated 2 years
Exclude colors WR
Legality

This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)

10 - 1 Mythic Rares

30 - 4 Rares

10 - 6 Uncommons

4 - 4 Commons
Cards 60
Avg. CMC 1.95
Votes
Ignored suggestions
Shared with
Views