Uren8
Modern*
SCORE: 6 | 14 COMMENTS | 224 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Mainboard Updates v.1 - Fork 1: Original Recipe —April 5, 2025
The following is what I will consider to be the fine-tuned first draft of the deck, one where we are solely focused on abusing Ureni, the Song Unending as a means to win.
The following is the corresponding list, which I will do my best to detail the nuances of my choices;
- 4x Arboreal Grazer
- 4x Serum Visions/Preordain
- 4x Breaching Dragonstorm
- 2x Breeding Pool
- 3x Colossal Skyturtle
- 3x Dismember
- 1x Dragonlord Atarka
- 3x Encroaching Dragonstorm
- 2x Expand the Sphere
- 4x Flare of Cultivation
- 3x Force of Negation
- 3x Force of Vigor
- 3x Forest
- 2x Genesis Ultimatum
- 2x Ignoble Hierarch
- 2x Island
- 3x Loot, Exuberant Explorer
- 4x Misty Rainforest
- 3x Mountain
- 2x Noble Hierarch
- 4x Primeval Titan
- 3x Scalding Tarn
- 2x Stomping Ground
- 4x Ureni, the Song Unending
- 1x Violent Ultimatum
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I'll try to break down commentary piece by piece starting with what the main functionality of the deck pertains to. The first turn should go something to the effect of casting Arboreal Grazer and then subsuquently casting Flare of Cultivation to make the most out of the first turn. If all goes well and according to plan, you end your turn with no bodies on the field but four lands present and accounted for.
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On slower games or turns where you don't have the precise opening you want, you are welcome to use a Noble Hierarch or an Ignoble Hierarch to fetch the extra land, however- I motion against that. We'll cover that in just one moment.
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On your turn I would expect the game plan to be playing Encroaching Dragonstorm, as it is the most efficient way to fetch up our next two lands, which are crucial going into turn . This type of play is notably mid-ranged and telegraphed, as your opponents using more aggressive concepts like RDW or even Green Infect shells could dust you before you could make it to turn 3.
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If you had to lead with an Ignoble Hierarch or just simply didn't get to mana by the second turn, feel free to cast Loot, Exuberant Explorer because he's a handsome boy who stacks our gameplan later, anyways.
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Turn is wherre I'm expecting to cast into Primeval Titan on our best, most aggressive behavior but in reality I can settle with a measly symbo:5 mana so long as it holds up red- our real goal here is to either secure the mana necessary to hard-cast Uren8 on turn and wipe the board, subsequently swing in for game.
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Turn can also go a little differently where we net the extra lands necessary from Loot sticking around. Some of my play tests also saw this being a great spot for me to align the next few turns off of a Serum Visions or a Preordain, which allowed me to subsequently Breaching Dragonstorm with a lot more consistency. I'm likely going to take out the one copy of Harmonize, because I think this spot would be more helpful.
(Some utility exists within this build by kamarupa biggest helpful suggestion- the deck was missing Brainstorm to help rearrange the top of our library for maximum success. Casting Breaching Dragonstorm and not hitting something of value would hurt, big time. So my intention is to lean into that capability and fine-tune the purpose of my build.)
(This iteration is notably creature-heavy but not necessarily in the most aggressive fashions we could consider. This build is definitely a "i'm holding everything i need but i still have the coupons" kind of energy- we're holding up Ureni, the Song Unending in our hands, and it's a spare copy. We've got one on the field. In order to hold up a counter capability, for this reason I was pushed to use Force of Negation, because you can pitch the extra copies.)
(Another seemingly strange choice for sideboard but still a viable target off of Breaching Dragonstorm, which is capable to be pitched to Force of Negation, while also providing utility in retrieving things from grave or sending opposition back to hand- we have Colossal Skyturtle.)
- The same reason the Skyturtle works for Force of Negation is also the same reason he works for Force of Vigor, also reinforcing that we have the bodies to spare and make sure we can remove stuff for free with our Great Value Great Deals removal spells. (I think of the Force cycle as coupons for free spells).
(Users Balaam__ and kamarupa both pointed out that consistency for fetching up the necessary land pieces was a key component of the deck. In response, I have included two copies of Expand the Sphere which functionally do the same thing as Encroaching Dragonstorm. The other huge element was a distinct lack of draw power, which I have corrected with one copy of Harmonize and the associated 4 copies of Serum Visions or Preordain. My goal is to make sure we hit the draw power we need precisely as we need it.)
This concludes my analysis and explanation of the first fork- thanks for checking out my concept!
Cursory thoughts
I like what you’re going for, and the twin Dragonstorm cards are really great choices with repeated value. Ramp looks alright too.
My main concern is the average cost of the truly useful spells is very high. If Breaching Dragonstorm, for instance, gets countered (or worse yet falls under surgeon’s knife,) that’s a major blow to the deck’s core functionality. It’ll be quite awhile before you amass enough mana to hardcast anything huge, and I don’t see anything in the way of removal to help you stay afloat. You’re going to be racing to ramp out and at that point it’s 50/50 if you’ll make it in time.
I think it might be worth considering reining in your draconian army in favor of some spot removal—just in case.
April 4, 2025 8 p.m.
Andramalech says... #3
Balaam__ I appreciate the concern! Up the Beanstalk being banned put a stake in this type of concepts heart, because see.. I think drawing enough cards would push out the value. However- you're completely right. I have sideboard tech for removal, but the removal could stand to be better. I'm thinking Dismember, as it is my favorite piece of spot removal in Modern. Considering x3 for x3 and replace x1 of each of my free-counterspells in the sideboard. I hope that proves worthy for your thoughts, I happen to think a lot of your competitive analysis. Please don't forget to upvote! Y'boi is aiming for #2, if not #1 on the site.
April 4, 2025 8:46 p.m.
Good luck fishing for my upvote, everyone on the site knows how stingy I am. I dole them out with an eyedropper. For real though, when I see a more finalized version that’s up to your usual standards, that upvote will be waiting.
April 4, 2025 9:02 p.m.
Andramalech says... #5
Balaam__ believe me, I've noticed. It always means a lot to see the community come out for each pet project. I think myself the uncle who's hosting too many barbecues, getting young bloods to drop in wit their new meta decks and test against my high antics. You specifically always have some well curated and finely tuned projects. So frankly, challenge accepted. I'll be sure to tag again when I feel I've put in the measure.
April 4, 2025 10:56 p.m.
Oh boy. I have... uh... a lot of thoughts.
I'm going to start with ramp and mana base. I've been commenting something along these lines on a lot of decks lately. Ramp isn't much of a ramp if you're missing land drops regularly. Getting to, say 3 available mana on t2 is nice, but if you don't hit a land drop or dork on the next 3 turns, the ramp didn't really help. I'm generally not a fan of spells like Arboreal Grazer and even less a fan when there aren't a substantial number of lands in a deck to start with. At a mere 20 lands, you're going to be have to be very lucky to get both Arboreal Grazer AND 2+ lands in an opening hand. And even if you do, the likelihood of you continuing to draw lands just isn't very high. Basically, any effect that lets you "play an additional land" is just way too conditional to be consistent in my view, and therefore, I prefer to run with dorks and enchantments and rarely, rocks. You do have an enchantment that tutors you 2 lands, but at a pretty steep 4MV, I think it's going to function as much as a 'thinner' as it will a ramp spell. I do see some redundancy there with Prime Time, so I could see it be a useful spell. I should state that Prime Time isn't a creature I have much experience with, so I don't know much about what other spells synergize with it best, but I have a gut feeling that what you've brewed could have better synergy with it. It seems like it might be getting included because it's a well known and feared threat more than being a perfect fit. You also have Flare of Cultivation, which seems like your 3rd best ramp spell after your two dorks. While I like that you can cheat it into play, I don't like the required sac cost to do so as the only really good target is the Arboreal Grazer and that's just too conditional to be consistent. It's not a spell I have lot of experience with, and while I'm not a big deck thinner, I can't deny it has a lot of powerful potential. But I want more good targets for it, preferably ones that actually WANT to be sacrificed. The best part of your ramp is that you have 8 1MV dorks. Given your EXTREMELY high average MV of 4.35, I think 8-10 is probably the right number. To sum up, I would cut Arboreal Grazer and possibly reconsider both Prime Time and Encroaching Dragonstorm, either leaning into Prime Times most classically defined deck elements or cutting it. I'd try to find another 1MV creature for your Flare of Cultivation to target (6-8x 1MV non-dorks that want to be sacced) or I'd look for some other ramp choices. I'd also consider adding in something like Fertile Ground, or maybe Utopia Sprawl, as you do already have a good number of lands with the basic Forest type. If you do go for the Sprawl, then perhaps Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth might be a smart add. Finally, I'd like to see this deck reach for at least 22 lands if not 24. You've just got a hell of a lot of very high MV spells and these days I strive for 22 lands as my minimum. It's just more consistent.
Next, I want to follow up on some of what Balaam__ brought up - disruption. Disruption doesn't do much good in a sidebaord. It needs to be mainboarded or else your deck will not only end up unbalanced when sideboarding, but you'll also be tempted not to sideboard as much as you struggle to choose what spells to swap out of the mainboard. I believe almost all decks need at least 4x disruption spells in the mainboard, with 8 being best. Disruption comes in a lot of forms - counterspell is great, but I don't like tieing up mana playing the waiting game. Removal is classic for reason. Usually half of 8 disruption spells are a form a removal. Sideboards offer us different methods of removal so you can get past all the defenses opponents might use to prevent that removal. That makes sideboarding a lot easier to pull off, swapping removal for removal. I really like protection spells Heroic Intervention - while defensively, it can function like a counterspell, offensively it can do things counterspell can't. It largely comes down to preference, but disruption beyond removal is almost always essential. Of course, there's also discard, which is a solid choice, too, though I don't prefer it because it misses cards drawn after it's cast and so isn't as foolproof as a pre-emptive defensive play. I also like squeezing in 1x Fog spell when I can. I love the comedic flavor of it, but again, that's just my preference/sense of humor. Assuming you cut Arboreal Grazer, Flare of Cultivation, and at least a few copies of Encroaching Dragon Storm, even after adding 2x land, you should have room for at least 4x disruption spells in your mainboard. Incidentally, all these changes should also help bring down your average MV, which will make the deck not only faster, but more resilient as it will be able to respond to opponents.
One thing I do think you have right here is the number of creatures. But I'd like to see tighter choices that play off each other a bit more. I get that Prime Time and Flare of Cultivation support Ureni, the Song Unending, but at 3 copies and Legendary status, I'd want to solely focus on that creature or abandon that whole strategy - it's all or nothing with spells like that - run 4x of Ureni to maximize its odds it comes up when Breaching Dragonstorm when that hits. Maybe even look for spells that let you tutor it to the top of your library - Scheming Symmetry comes to mind, though I don't think that's exactly the right spell for this brew. Brainstorm might be a good option - not really a path to card advantage, but it would be useful in setting up Breaching Dragonstorm.
To return to Balaam__'s feedback, I also agree with him that Breaching Dragonstorm, especially at 5MV is too easy a target for opponents to thwart. I do think you've got enough ramp to hardcast some of your threats at least some of the time, but adding in a secondary (or even primary?) cheat-in spell would almost certainly make the deck more consistent. Elvish Piper, for example might be just as fast or even more consistent, though it wouldn't help with your big sorcery spells. Although I think this would be a significant departure from your current brew, Maelstrom Archangel would be a nearly identical backup to Breaching Dragonstorm. I'd probably go for 6-8 total "cheat-in" spells.
Overall, I feel like this deck isn't quite focused enough. It's not clear what it really wants to accomplish and doesn't seem completely committed to any one goal. At the same time, it also seems a little over-gunned - I sometimes say, "you don't need to bring a tank to a water-pistol fight to get a win" - when it comes to successful brewing, it's not the biggest threat that wins, it's the fastest fully effective one. So my broadstroke advice is to try to narrow the deck down to the core you really want to win with and try to support that core as much as you can.
I do love me some card advantage and I can see how Up the Beanstalk could have been useful here. As alternatives, you might consider Garruk's Uprising, Tribute to the World Tree, or even just plain old Harmonize
Sometimes I find I'll start a brew like this and realize I might have tried to squeeze 2 or more decks into one. It might be useful to fork this once or twice and explore different aspects in each fork. Make one with a lot more disruption mainboard, one with different ramp spells, one that really focuses on Prime Time, etc etc.
I hope some of this is helpful. I'm just spitballing off the top of my head. Don't take it as me being too critical. I'm really just throwing out the first thoughts that came to mind and I'm very likely to have missed nuances, etc.
April 4, 2025 11:08 p.m.
Andramalech says... #7
kamarupa 12/10 based take, thanks so much! I'll be sure to update back with specific commentary once I complete all my changes. Thanks again!
Andramalech says... #1
Balaam__, Crow_Umbra, Squee_Spirit_Guide, SaskiaKnight711, kamarupa. You guys, look what I've created!
Still a rough draft, feedback and constructive criticisms welcome, lemme know what you think! Reaaaaaally excited. Trying to bring this deck to an event later this year (non-competition, just fun for friends).
April 4, 2025 7:03 p.m.