Consider this

Modern forum

Posted on Dec. 4, 2014, 2:46 p.m. by ChiefBell

Has anyone considered the following:

You make tokens and other weak creatures with:

Forbidden Orchard, Blinkmoth Nexus, Spectral Procession.

You kill your own stuff with:

Viscera Seer, Illness in the Ranks, Drown in Sorrow.

You win with:

Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble.


Why is this not shit?

This isn't that awful because the combo can be in place by T2. You have twelve combo enablers that can come out T1 (Viscera Seer and Illness in the Ranks, and Forbidden Orchard), and you can have Blood Artist out on T2. From that point onwards you start casting cards that create tokens and you have all the chump blockers in the world. Furthermore - you can use Forbidden Orchard in conjunction with Illness in the Ranks to give your opponents tokens that immediately die and do even more damage.

From a matchup point of view Illness in the Ranks is a decent sideboard card against Twin. It's not horrible to have against Delver. The lifegain theme offsets a lot of the damage that aggro decks would do, and it functions with lots of blockers like a normal tokens deck does. It laughs at BG pre sideboard, but post sideboard could die to sweepers - however a sweeper with Blood Artist on the board can even tilt things in your favor.

What do you think? Fun?

ChiefBell says... #2

With Illness in the Ranks out it is somewhat fragile to just being out aggro'd but then all dat lifegain.

December 4, 2014 2:51 p.m.

JWiley129 says... #3

It definitely sounds fun. You could even run the good Rock cards like Golgari Charm to protect your combo creatures and Abrupt Decay to stop any shenanigans. It kindof feels like you want it as a half B/W tokens deck, but you could go several directions with it.

Also, it's quite good against Young Pyromancer as his ability isn't a may.

December 4, 2014 2:59 p.m.

Behgz says... #4

I liked aristocrats when it was standard, Cartel Aristocrat and Lingering Souls made Blood Artist broken in standard, got so many easy wins playing that on mtgo. Along with Xathrid Necromancer and Doomed Traveler it was very easy to just, sac sac sac, your opponents dead..

December 4, 2014 3:01 p.m.

CuteSnail says... #5

I've never considered playing modern but it sounds like the concept behind a Yukora, the Prisoner edh deck I've been considering building...I might just have to make it modern instead...

December 4, 2014 3:10 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #6

Someone on this site actually did a make that deck. It was black blue and ran using the hunted cycle.

December 4, 2014 3:12 p.m.

CuteSnail says... #7

Is Grave Pact modern playable? Or are games done by turn 4/ Triple black too hard to get?

December 4, 2014 3:18 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #8

Grave pact is too hard to get down. A 4 mana play has to pretty much win you the game on the spot.

December 4, 2014 3:23 p.m.

Illness in the Ranks is a symmetrical effect. Having an enchantment out that kills 90% of your own creatures seems like a bad idea. Sure, it stops Young Pyromancer's tokens, but it won't stop a Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, or Delver of Secrets  Flip.

December 4, 2014 3:23 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #10

Thats true, but Dismember and Thoughtseize do. Also Illness in the Ranks totally screws twin.

December 4, 2014 3:25 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #11

I mean, yeh its complete T2 jank. But it seems like it could do some stuff.

December 4, 2014 3:28 p.m.

CuteSnail says... #12

I think i'm going to pull together a decklist and start deckcycling it to get feedback. Having never played modern I'll need the advice. I'll be sure to mention you in the description thanks, ChiefBell

December 4, 2014 3:30 p.m.

Nigeltastic says... #13

I want to play with this idea and make something combo and delicious.

December 4, 2014 3:30 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #14

TwistedMoonlight - I will reiterate: this is complete T2 jank - it's never going to be fantastic.

Feel free to make a deck, but don't expect it to turn into some surprise big thing.

December 4, 2014 3:32 p.m.

CuteSnail says... #15

It'll be fun to play though, and it doesn't look too expensive so, why not? I never thought I'd be a top tier modern player, so I don't have to feel bad when I lose. Plus jank is practically my middle name after some of the EDH decks I've built over the years.

December 4, 2014 3:35 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #16

Killing My Tokens Softly

This is what youre looking for

December 4, 2014 3:36 p.m.

hippienproud says... #17

I played that deck for a while, ended up going esper for Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant. I also ran the hunted cycle and Torpor Orb as a back-up win-con.

December 4, 2014 3:41 p.m.

hyperlocke says... #18

I made a deck that gives my opponents tokens, kills them and lets him lose life via Suture Priest, Blood Artist and (as finisher) Massacre Wurm. It's not modern legal and probably wouldn't be competitve, but it's sooo much fun to play. And it is actually quite competitive in my casual meta.


A Token on the House Playtest

Casual hyperlocke

SCORE: 25 | 43 COMMENTS | 3201 VIEWS

December 4, 2014 3:43 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #19

This is a bit different though because its focusing on control elements as well, to keep you going and is playing strictly low mana token producers.

December 4, 2014 3:49 p.m.

hyperlocke says... #20

Oh, of course it's different. It's for a casual environment, I have no clue of modern. Besides having a good place to advertise my deck, I wanted to show that yes, this is indeed possible, even if it has a different strategy.

December 4, 2014 4:11 p.m.

miracleHat says... #21

It is a fun idea, though be aware of Path to Exile. I fail to see the point of Blinkmoth Nexus, but if it works in testing you should go for it!

December 4, 2014 4:21 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #22

Lands that create or become creatures can be sacrificed to Viscera Seer to drive the combo. As they're lands they can't be countered or interacted with very easy so it makes it an extremely robust way of getting extra little bits of damage in.

December 4, 2014 4:24 p.m.

miracleHat says... #23

Now that I am actually thinking, this reminds me of the Repercussion decks that were around for a while.

December 4, 2014 4:27 p.m.

-Fulcrum says... #24

Like the idea of it, sounds fun. I would love to see Bitterblossom in the list.

December 4, 2014 7:08 p.m.

Fun? Fun! I actually played against this deck once (maybe some slightly different cards from your suggestions), and it certainly did some interesting stuff.

Good? No.

December 4, 2014 8:06 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #26

Hahaha. Absolutely.

December 4, 2014 8:08 p.m.

I believe that particular deck I faced was playing Illness in the Ranks alongside Hunted Phantasm, which is a wombo-combo if there ever was one. The card is also naturally very good against Splinter Twin.

December 4, 2014 8:16 p.m.

JexInfinite says... #28

It sounds like a fun casual combo deck, but it seems too bad at fighting T1 and T2 strategies to be considered playable at an event.

December 4, 2014 11:23 p.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #29

I'd add some Suture Priest to the mix... Blood Seeker

December 5, 2014 12:20 a.m.

This discussion has been closed