Howling Resurgence - Modern Blink

Modern Competitive GWUB Silver Bullet Value Engine Yorion, Sky Nomad

LeMonado

Land (28)

• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 4x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 3x Snow-Covered Forest
• 2x Snow-Covered Island
• 2x Snow-Covered Plains
• 2x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 4x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 4x Windswept Heath
• 1x Zagoth Triome

Sorcery (3)

• 3x Prismatic Ending

Creature (29)

• 1x Endurance
• 2x Eternal Witness
• 4x Grief
• 3x Ice-Fang Coatl
• 1x Restoration Angel
• 4x Siege Rhino
• 1x Skyclave Apparition
• 4x Solitude
• 4x Soulherder
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 4x Wall of Roots

Enchantment (8)

• 4x Abundant Growth
• 4x Utopia Sprawl

Companion (1)

Instant (10)

• 4x Chord of Calling
• 4x Ephemerate
• 2x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip

Artifact (2)

• 1x Batterskull
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice

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Sideboard

Creature (6)

• 1x Endurance
• 2x Knight of Autumn
• 1x Sanctifier en-Vec
• 1x Stonehorn Dignitary
• 1x Yorion, Sky Nomad

Instant (4)

• 2x Force of Vigor
• 2x Veil of Summer

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This is a deck revolving around blinking your creatures in and out of battle both to dodge threats and create them. Witch Interlude is the most enjoyable deck that I have ever had the privilege of piloting.

Value Engine

Eerie Interlude + Eternal Witness , dubbed 'Eternal Interlude', changes Interlude's wording to say something along the lines of "Gain 8 life, create a 3/3 green beast, your opponent loses 3 life, draw a card. Return Eerie Interlude back to your hand." This can be done every turn, adding on more lines of text to Eerie Interlude.

Soulherder is my newest toy, replacing archetype veteran Venser, the Sojourner. The opportunity cost is a slim window where Soulherder can be bolted. The inevitability the deck once gained with Venser's -1 it now gains with Siege Rhino, which was a difficult inclusion when Venser raised the average CMC so much. Additional copies of Soulherder can also be Chorded for, something that couldn't be done with Venser as he was legendary and obviously not a creature. Its first ability has powerful synergy with Eerie Interlude as well.

Chord of Calling is caulking. It fills gaps in our draws and prevents leakage. In a pinch it can double down on a spell-based opponent, fetching for Vendilion Clique during the opponent's drawstep. Or, when the time is right, it can act as additional copies of Siege Rhino or Soulherder.

Support

Not only do Birds of Paradise provide ramp, but fixing as well. Chord of Calling does too; skipping over the in Siege Rhino or the in Vendilion Clique. That's important in a four-color deck.

Wall of Blossoms and Wall of Roots, the oft-forgotten core of any Chord of Calling deck. They're solid blockers, provide for Chord's convoke cost or in Wall of Root's case... Specific to my deck, Wall of Roots pulls double duty, ramping during my turn and reducing Eerie Interlude's cost by one during my opponent's. Wall of Blossoms was meant to replace itself upon entry, but Interlude transforms it into a card draw engine.

Silver Bullets

The Mainboard Sideboard, creatures that can be Chorded for depending on the matchup and then blinked for additional value. Glen Elendra Archmage along with Soulherder creates a softlock on powerful spells. The -1/-1 counter is blinked off which resets her usually-limited uses.

Look at most enter the battlefield effects and you'll start to notice a trend. They are perfectly balanced when used for their intended purpose, which is to be used once per creature resolution. Flicker or blink them, however, and Magic the Gathering starts to tear at the seams. Vendillion Clique is one of the many examples of this. Taking the opponent's most threatening card after their drawstep is powerful, but gated by the fact that Clique is a legendary creature. Running four of these will be oppressive, but cost the user a 3/1 flyer every subsequent resolution. Blink it with Soulherder, however, and that balanced effect isn't so balanced anymore. Every blink causes R&D to flinch, and a new Magic player to take up Hearthstone.

Vesperlark recurs Soulherder, which is a linchpin to winning attrition matchups. Vesperlark recurs Birds of Paradise, Soulherder, Stonehorn Dignitary, Wall of Blossoms, and Wall of Roots.

Knight of Autumn has certainly pulled its weight as the better Selesnya Charm and is no different here. More often then not the third mode is chosen to stall the game until the win conditions can arrive, but the first mode can turn it into a relevant body in the lategame.

We all thought it was cute when Venser, the Sojourner referenced Man-o'-War in his art. It was a good hint, since turning Venser's +2 into "Bounce a creature" is a nice tempo advantage. However, many a power has creeped since then, and Reflector Mage is using Soulherder for its blinking purposes these days. Creature decks don't handle loss in tempo well.

But if they can't handle Reflector Mage, that means that there is no way that Stonehorn Dignitary is going to be a walk in the park. That's right, this is an honest to goodness lock against most creature decks. Creatures aren't all it stonewalls, with its 4 toughness wagging its finger at Lightning Bolt.

Win Conditions

When people ask what the deck is supposed to do, "Blinking Thragtusks" is all I need to say to be serenaded by collective groans. That reaction is understandable. After all, the value of Thragtusk and Siege Rhino is engraved in many players' memories, their back-to-back reigns in Standard having achieved a mythical status. Eerie Interlude hits a breaking point of balance where Magic the Gathering's seams burst and value rains from the heavens like manna. Beasts, direct damage, and delicious lifegain flood the board and drown the opponent.

Sideboard

Making a sideboard for a blink deck walks a fine line. I have to select a card that adequately improves a matchup without reducing the effectiveness of Eerie Interlude, weakening the deck overall. If the card gains no benefit from being blinked, then it needs to be so impactful that it overcomes its opportunity cost. That said, there are certainly some matchups that need a new card to be printed in order to be improved.

Acidic Slime is inevitability. In longer, grindier matchups like Tron or possibly Jund, its deathtouch body and land destruction can swing the tempo in my favor.

Dovin's Veto often replaces Kitchen Finks, Reflector Mage, and Stonehorn Dignitary against control or Tron. It is attempting to ensure that one of our threats resolves, or that a Teferi doesn't.

The soft lock provided by Glen Elendra Archmage is powerful and consistency is often needed.

Kataki, War's Wage is here for Affinity.

Midrange matchups are won and lost in the advantage bar. Eating an attack without losing a resource or being a resilient body against removal pushes that bar in your favor. By the way, I'm talking about Kitchen Finks.

It isn't the best graveyard hate, but Loaming Shaman can be blinked for value, Remorseful Cleric cannot.

Another copy of Reflector Mage in order to take out Glen Elendra Archmage or Vendilion Clique against creature decks.

Reveillark is not a card often seen in the modern format. Here it fills a very specific role against Jund, Abzan, Mardu Pyromancer, et cetera, and that is to prevent them from winning the attrition war. Most of these sideboard choices are intended to answer something that the opponent is doing, but the Larks are meant to stop them from stopping what I am doing. Here's the shortlist of creatures that Reveillark can return: Birds of Paradise, Eternal Witness (crucial), Glen Elendra Archmage, Knight of Autumn, Reflector Mage, Soulherder (crucial), Stonehorn Dignitary, Wall of Blossoms, Wall of Roots, Acidic Slime, Kataki, War's Wage, Scavenging Ooze, Vesperlark (crucial).

Scavenging Ooze slows dredge, Jund, and is decent against control.

Spot removal is quite pesky. In response to Interlude they Assassin's Trophy the best creature on the field, drawing out the game. Shalai, Voice of Plenty is a shield against that, granting a lategame mana sink for all those times mana is left open for Chord or Eerie Interlude.

Vendilion Clique is legendary for a reason, and that reason is to annoy me when putting together this sideboard. Sin Collector is a less broad version without flash, but its enter the battlefield effect still helps double down on the hand disruption against pesky control or combo decks.

Additional copies of Stonehorn Dignitary are good against creature decks, what can I say?

Both Larks recur Soulherder, which is a linchpin to winning certain matchups. In fact, Reveillark recurs Vesperlark for ultimate value!

Top Ranked	Achieved #49 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #9 position in Modern 5 years ago Achieved #2 position in Modern Competitive 5 years ago
Date added	9 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Eerie Interlude + Eternal Witness
Legality	This deck is not Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 3 Mythic Rares 33 - 4 Rares 11 - 2 Uncommons 16 - 1 Commons
Cards	80
Avg. CMC	2.56
Tokens	Illusion X/X U, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B
Folders	Other People's Cool Decks, a a a a a a Some Interesting decks, Cool Deck Ideas, Interesting Decks, Deaks i want, Bant, Randoms, blink, +1/+1 Counter decks, Competitive Modern Decks