What if There's a Deck With No Bad Match Up?
Modern Aggro BGW (Abzan, Junk) Competitive Midrange Rock Tempo
Creature (18)
Land (23)
Enchantment (4)
Instant (11)
Sorcery (4)
Sideboard
Creature (14)
Instant (1)
Maybeboard
Creature (4)
Land (1)
Sorcery (1)
Hi guys, this deck and all the descriptions were written during the Theros/Ravnica block. It was standard legal during that time.
I got busy with final year university life and looking for a job - though that's all done now :)
I want to say thank you so much to everyone who supported the deck build during its time. I would love to make the concept competitive in modern, but that will take a long time to do. All I can say is, watch this space :)
Combat any types of deck archetype you may find at your local FNM.
Have an exciting match up, every match up!
That is the aim of this deck.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome! I will credit your name in the card you've suggested if it makes it into the deck.
Playtesting is done! If you disagree with any of the sideboarding instructions, or think it could be done in a better way, please do speak up!
If you would like your deck to be playtested against, simply leave your deck list and I will playtest it here:
Anti-Meta deck playtesting
Standard
SCORE: 4 | 38 COMMENTS | 1575 VIEWS
Note that the guild gates will be replaced by scry lands when they come out.
Thank you very much for spending the time looking, and +1 is always appreciated! Will always try to return the favor :)
Alphabetical Card by Card Breakdown
Creatures
Fiendslayer Paladin: Good against R/x aggro and useful against Esper Control due to his immunity to B/R spells targeting. Can help against White Weenie and MUD with his first strike and lifelink just as well.
Fleecemane Lion: Value for mana beater much like the Desecration Demon. Its monstrous ability is where it is at though. Hexproof and Indestructible is what any creature cards wants to be.
Loxodon Smiter: Unless we mill it ourselves, it's guaranteed to hit the board. A great value for mana 4/4 beater useful against control, creates problems against R/x aggro.
Lifebane Zombie : Against a deck running any G or W creatures, this man is an auto-include in the deck. Can sit in mainboard as being able to peek at our opponent's hand can give us very valued information too. Must be swapped out against MBD, however.
Mistcutter Hydra: A star against control match ups, and a cookie cutter against mono blue.
Sin Collector : This man checks if your opponent has any sins. Non-control players are usually sinless, but if you ever find a naughty control deck...
Skylasher : Stare down at the popular Mono Blue Devotion, can be useful against control.
Voice of Resurgence: Make your opponent wish they took Dreadbore instead of Hero's Downfall, can be sacrificed to Desecration Demon to go on the offensive, maintain presence after a board wipe (bonus for having multiple on the field).
Witchstalker : Ability is great against MUD and MBD, hexproof makes it also suitable against Esper control.
Instants and Sorceries
Abrupt Decay: is good against White Weenie, R/x Aggro, takes care of pesky Detention Sphere and 3CMC planeswalkers such as Domri Rade, and Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Golgari Charm : Regenerate from board clear, removes key enchantments such as Assemble the Legion, and god's weaponries.
Hero's Downfall: Removes creatures, removes planeswalkers. There's always one or the other, or both in anyone's deck. Always relevant.
Selesnya Charm : Big creatures beware. Exiles activated gods, monstrous creatures, Hydras, and many more. In other times it could produce a surprise blocker, or be used as a combat trick. Why this uncommon isn't priced at Boros Charm's price yet I've no idea.
Thoughtseize : Pay 2 life to find out your opponent's game plan, possibly ruin it, and save yourself from losing more than 2 life? Can't go wrong... unless your opponent's hand is just lands. But then again... yeah, can't go wrong.
Unflinching Courage: Provides a little tempo to our game, it's game-ending when it sticks on the right creature against each match-up.
vs Esper Control:
-4 Fleecemane Lion: Although the opportunity to become Hexproof and Indestructible is there, it suffers as an early game draw as it is prone to removals.
-4 Selesnya Charm : Against a control deck, this serves only to summon a 2/2, or a very situational spot removal against win cons such as Aetherling and Obzedat.
-1 Hero's Downfall: There will be less targets for the downfall, but the fact that planeswalkers will be present still warrant it 3 slots in the main board.
+2 Fiendslayer Paladin: Immunity to Black targeting makes this slightly more tricky to remove. Detention Sphere can target it, but we are able to deal with the non-permanent exile.
+4 Sin Collector : Self explanatory, Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation being its main target.
+1 Abrupt Decay: Detention Sphere, and possibly Ashiok.
+2 Mistcutter Hydra: Fear not the open blue mana!
vs Azorius Control:
-4 Fleecemane Lion: As opposed to playing against Esper Control, in Azorius match up, he suffers as a late game draw because he'll most likely see a dissolve straight away.
-2 Fiendslayer Paladin: His abilities won't help him in this match up, so away he goes.
-1 Hero's Downfall: Again, not many targets but it's worth keeping for the infamous Elspeth.
-1 Unflinching Courage: It gets removed by bounce, but the main reason I'm reducing this to three is that it needs a creature to stick on to. What if we have no creatures and need to top deck a creature late game?
-1 Selesnya Charm : Azorius controls are far more likely to play Aetherling, which means this can save us from a pumped hit, playing it at instant speed to make a 2/2 also drains the opponent's counters, or tip them over the edge to play the board wipe they are sitting on.
+4 Sin Collector : The counter spell bait, or the 2 for 1 man.
+2 Mistcutter Hydra: Uncounterable is the cake, pro blue is the icing, and haste is the cherry on top. The X is the price tag, but it's usually worth it.
+2 Skylasher : It's more of a cupcake compared to the Mistcutter, but it gives us a 2/2 for 2 instead of a 1/1 for 2 in the early turns.
+1 Abrupt Decay: Those pesky Detention Spheres! and just in case there's any Banisher Priests around too...
vs MUD
-4 Fleecemane Lion: He's not actually too bad against MUD, apart from getting pema-tapped by tidebinder.
-1 Selesnya Charm : Its purpose is to exile an active Thassa, so we can still keep 3 in mainboard.
+4 Skylasher : Can MUD actually answer it?
+1 Abrupt Decay: Taking Selesnya Charm's place, this one prevents Thassa from activating in the first place, so a playset in our main will increase our winning chances.
vs G/x Devotion
-2 Fiendslayer Paladin: 2/2 won't last too long against G/x Devotion.
-2 Voice of Resurgence: It would be able to chump block twice, but chump blocking is not where we want to be.
+4 Lifebane Zombie : A guaranteed 1 for 1 trade, could carry the game with an attached Unflinching Courage.
vs R/x Aggro
-3 Witchstalker : Is effectively 3 mana for a 3/3 hexproof. Hexproof is still nice, but what we sideboard in still works better.
+2 Fiendslayer Paladin: Can't be targeted by red spells, First Strike + Lifelink is also going to help us out-lasting the aggro onslaught.
+1 Abrupt Decay: R/x aggro usually have a lower CMC curve, so Decay will have plenty of targets.
Extra note: Against the emerging burn variant of R/x, take out 3 Hero's Downfall out instead of the Witchstalkers. Use your Selesnya Charm to surprise block Satyr Firedancer and Young Pyromancer if they ever swing in. After you do this once, you can bluff with open G/W mana.
MBD
+2 Fiendslayer Paladin: Can't be targeted by black spells, the lifelink will help whenever it has a chance to swing in too.
+1 Abrupt Decay: Plenty of black devotion to get rid of at 3 CMC, namely Nightveils and UWd Connections.
-1 Unflinching Courage: Auras are very risky against MBD, it lets them 2 for 1 us, but this is still useful so we will keep 3.
-1 Loxodon Smiter: No kill spell protections, 80% of the time, it would hit the graveyard as soon as it hits the battlefield, unless there is a demon on the opposite side, in which case Smiter doesn't help anyway.
We will keep 61 cards vs MBD, we have 19 creatures plus the Selesnya Charms which should keep us on the board.
White Weenie
-3 Selesnya Charm : Do not sideboard if you find your opponent buffs too fast. Other than that, it's one of our weaker links in this match up. It isn't bad because it's still combat trick and surprise block, however the sideboard in are better options.
-4 Witchstalker : Limited usefulness in this match-up, its more interesting side of the ability won't trigger. It goes hand in hand with unflinching courage, but if we are keeping a playset of card specifically for another playset of card, it's a bad bet.
+1 Abrupt Decay: Weenies. It's made to take out weenies.
+2 Fiendslayer Paladin: Can take on plenty of creatures WW throw at us. If the creature is buffed and fiendslayer can't take it, we have the downfalls and decays.
+4 Lifebane Zombie : Instant 1 for 1, is unblockable for the match up, extra bonus if we are swinging 5 a turn when attached with unflinching courage.
Extra note: We took 4 mono greens out, for 2 more mono white and 4 mono black creatures. This ups our game against the infamous Brave the Elements unblockable swing.
G/x Hexproof Enchant
+1 Abrupt Decay: Their creature are hexproof, but their enchantments aren't. So take that away at instant speed for a semi-combat trick.
+4 Lifebane Zombie : Hexproof creatures are mainly green, take them out before they hit the battlefield.
-1 Fiendslayer Paladin: He wouldn't be very useful in this match up, we are leaving one in our mainboard simply so that we have 60 cards.
-4 Hero's Downfall: Our opponent's strategy is Hexproof and Enchantment, Downfall can't deal with either one, so this is the only time we take the playset out.
Credits
-Sylvan Caryatid made it into the mainboard after mana ramp was suggested by iceteademon, grizzell, and MadDreams
- Golgari Charm replaced Sylvan Caryatid for the time being, since the 6 mana cost cards has been removed. Suggestion by MadDreams
-Unflinching Courage replaced Blood Baron of Vizkopa after a few games, courage just let me win that much sooner. Suggested by psones1. Courage also replaced Golgari Charm for the time being,
-Mistcutter Hydra now shares its spot with Skylasher . I liked Skylasher better vs MUD, but Mistcutter is still useful vs MUD, and is stronger than lasher against control match ups that runs blue. Suggested by ColeyPTrain
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| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 10 years |
| Last updated | 9 years |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 4 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 11 Rares 12 - 4 Uncommons 2 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.38 |
| Tokens | Elemental */* GW, Knight 2/2 W w/ Vigilance |
| Folders | Standard 2013 12, Standard, Good decks, Ideas, Favorite Decks, yes, decks I like, decks, Bro-zhov, Good Ideas |
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