So the deck's taken a bit of a suicidal turn, with Plunge into Darkness and Dismember, but I'm really liking them so far (Elderscale Wurm is always there if it does get too dicey). The speed behind them has proven powerful against just about everything that's not RDW.

Dismember main has freed up my "higher than 3 CMC" slot in the side, so I'm open to just about anything there. I know plenty of people will have ideas for the sideboard, whether it is a Summoner's Pact target, Glittering Wish target, Tolaria West target, or simply none of the above and just provides good value.

I am not sure what card it should be, but a Glittering Wish target might be the best option for adding to the side.

After your last few strings of updates, you seem to have removed all but 4 valid targets.

There's 5, I sometimes wish for Sigarda, Host of Herons when I don't really need interaction with their deck (or just can't). Any idea on what type of effect the wish should have? Keep in mind it needs game ending potential if it is going to justify the extra cost in most cases.

always Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

So what does everyone think of Judge Unworthy as a form of removal that can also be used as a dig spell. I think it fits in here nicely with the recent changes, only problem is that it relies on my opponents having creatures (that they attack or block with), so I can't really justify it as more than a single copy. It's proven to be quite useful thus far, just curious on opinions, mainly because I've never really seen anyone use it for some reason.

It's proven effective at either finding the missing piece, or killing something off, whichever is needed more. There are a few cases where it's let me down, but that's unavoidable.

Some math for you to demonstrate its potency as removal:

Given my deck's mana curve, ignoring an opening hand changing up the percentages by removing certain results, these are my percentage chances of dealing x damage (given a 60 card deck, so results are better/worse depending on how many high CMC cards you've already seen, this is to give a general idea).

6+ is 23.3%

4+ is 27.5%

3+ is 46.1%

2+ is 80.8%

So it's basically a coin flip to do lightning bolt or 2 damage, and you're almost guaranteed to do 2 damage if you want to. Add the ability to dig 3, and it looks pretty damn good.

nbarry223 I've had mixed results when using Plunge into Darkness it can sometimes win me the game and sometimes I just lose because of the life loss, but it's a nice utility card to have, I'll try it in my deck next time I go for a tournament.

Judge Unworthy this card I've actually used in a somewhat old deck of mine as a sideboard card against agro decks. It's a bit of a toss up though, it can either be great or useless. it's a risky card to play, but less so in this deck.

Also an interesting thing happened at my modern tournament this weekend or interesting for me at least, I ran into 2 merfolk decks. Seeing as how zoo isn't really a problem for this deck I was surprised at how the matches ended up working out. In both games I lost pre board due to the insane amount of pressure and being slowed down by Cursecatcher due to it stopping Summer Bloom from being played turn 2 or even 3 sometimes. I went 1-1 against them due to the third game being close to a god hand in my second round against the deck.

The deck I was playing didn't actually have an effective sideboard against it due to Æther Vial being so versatile the best I could come up with was Chalice of the Void and Slaughter Games to stop Æther Vial it seems to be coming up in my meta and tbh I've only ever played against it with decks that can just play the long removal game. Any sideboard ideas, Judge Unworthy might be a good one against this deck?

Well that's my thought as of right now let me know what you think.

Things like Engineered Explosives / Crime/Punishment are good against merfolk, eliminating the pump guys, since they are all the same CMC. Slaughter Games is too slow against merfolk, you just need removal stuffed into your flexible slots. Other options are actual board wipes, but you have to be able to actually cast them in time, so I don't think any can actually fit into this deck (at least a double non-green cost unless I overlooked an option). The 1 for 1 removal is good enough against merfolk if you just target their pump dudes. Attacking the vial isn't always the best option, sometimes it is better to just let them extend and recover later. If they have nothing left to vial in, it is fairly useless.

Anything that can be used at instant speed is generally good against any blue deck, since it can clear the path for your spells on your turn if it gets countered.

If you view the deck with custom categories, I have the flexible slots already label'd for convenience.

You'd actually be surprised at how effective a chalice set at 2 was against merfolk. All their pump up creatures and things like Silvergill Adept, Tidebinder Mage(which they will immediately side in against this deck) or Spreading Seas are 2 cmc and the only thing we really lose is Summer Bloom and Lotus Cobra huge part of the deck, but just play for the long game and you will be fine especially if you're playing Courser of Kruphix, also if you have the mana to cast a 2 counter Chalice of the Void you're almost able to cast a titan anyway so no big deal really. The nail in the coffin will then be if you can cast Slaughter Games naming Æther Vial completely crushing their deck. They lose so much from this that they would have to answer it or just accept defeat.

Was this an efficient answer? Hell no! it sucked the only reason it worked for me was probably because I got lucky, but still if you, like me didn't expect to see that deck it's a possible way to stop it.

A big problem you'll face though if you don't answer it fast is that a decent amount of the cards they'll use to overextend cantrip themselves filling their hand so it can actually be a tough matchup in my opinion, winnable sure, but exercise caution merfolk are a tricky bunch especially the ones who have the gall to vial a Tidebinder Mage into play right as you're about to swing for lethal...

Regarding your suggestions, Crime/Punishment seems like a good choice same with Engineered Explosives though I would hate it if I had to set it to 1. In this matchup I was glad I chose to run Abrupt Decayx3 as it really helped me early hitting their buff creatures.

Other than that I was pleasantly surprised when I beat both Burn 2/0 and Splinter Twin 2/1 in my first 2 games of the day lots of fun playing this deck and getting better at all the different interactions if I could +1 more I would.

One thing worth mentioning is that Plunge into Darkness is a little tricky to use effectively, since there's so much to consider when choosing your x value.

I actually used it for a while before when my deck was a lot more combo oriented instead of reactionary, so I'm already pretty comfortable with it.

If you know how to do Hypergeometric calculations for percentage chances, I strongly suggest doing them while play testing for a while until you get comfortable with it. If not, Google it, it's well worth looking into.

okay so I was looking at ridiculous 7-drops because I'm going to be playing this deck with some friends who are not at all competitive, so I want some stuff to just have fun with. in searching, I realized Maul Splicer is cool, puts a bunch of power on board, and costs 7 mana to be hitting on turn-two. also Sylvan Primordial can hit turn two and the land disruption it offers stops a liliana from coming in afterwards. Thundering Tanadon is interesting because it doesn't need the combo to come out early. which can be interesting. I just thought these are cool things I would point out, none of it is particularly competitive or good.

if you are going multiplayer, Sylvan Primordial is quite nice (can play more forests and possibly some duals). On the note of multiplayer, I'd definitely include Crackling Doom.

Judge Unworthy is great, but how about Riddle of Lightning? Direct burn is always nice.

It is far too mana intensive. For that much mana (especially with 2 non-green sources) I want more, a lot more. There's a huge difference between 2 and 5 mana.

oh mayuhn, i didn't see that cost. cool. Also, maybe put Deathmark in the sideboard?

A bit too narrow for creature removal for this particular deck. If I am putting in more removal, I want it to be able to hit just about anything. For example, Celestial Purge is almost as narrow, but for 1 more mana, it hits permanents, at instant speed. That means it can deal with things like Liliana of the Veil and Blood Moon (floating the mana in response).

I am pretty happy with my creature removal package right now, I am looking for more options to deal with various permanents, or more potential meta answers.

Is noncreature permanent shutdown too specific for you?

No, I have that in the form of Swan Song and Abrupt Decay already. It needs to be relatively low CMC though, like 3 or less CMC (preferably 2, but 3 is the absolute highest I will go) and preferably an instant.

Non-creature answers are the most powerful sideboard options for this deck, especially if it can hit lands too (an area of attack I am slightly light on right now, with Ghost Quarter being my only answer). I am already capable of dealing with just about any creature that can be thrown at me.

OK, then try out Display of Dominance. It slays Liliana of the Veil, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, AND SO MUCH MORE! Also makes your permanents resistant to Cryptic Command, Electrolyze, Abrupt Decay, Terminate, yada yada yada. But it is color restrictive, though, so maybe not. Just doing a brain dump over here.

I think I'd go with Autumn's Veil over that one, because I think I'd value resistance to counterspells over removal in those particular colors (not too many non-creature permanents that are problems in blue/black).

Also, it says non creature, so Tasigur, the Golden Fang can't really be dealt with. But yeah, the color restriction thing is the main problem with cards like that, idk if they are worth it, or just a bit too narrow.

I didn't even know that Autumn's Veil was a card! Cool. Shows how much I know about Modern. Anyway, yeah I get your point with the restrictive colors thing. If you want your creatures resistant to counterspells, maybe Savage Summoning will do the trick. Get counters, uncounterable, and flash. I think it might be worth a shot. But yeah, I think I'm done here. Anyway, nice deck. Leaving a +1 because of how janky it is.

Ye, that's another good option, forgot about that one, thanks.

Any opinions on any of my sideboard options (maybeboard)?

Mind Bend is mainly there to name forest against a resolved Blood Moon by floating the blue, it can really screw some decks that think they have the most effective hate against my deck, by shutting out their own deck with their own card. Quite the narrow option, but really powerful. Celestial Purge is another narrow option, although it has a few more uses than simply answering Blood Moon. Savage Summoning and Autumn's Veil are probably just as narrow as both the aforementioned cards (against control decks instead of Blood Moon).

The other options listed are fairly self explanatory, although I am still trying to find another form of land hate that fits better than Spreading Seas, but is still fast enough to deal with a turn 3 tron.