Getting into Modern, but not sure what to go with.
Modern forum
Posted on June 23, 2014, 8:13 p.m. by Swadhawx
So I'm wanting to get into modern, but I'm not sure what deck to invest in yet. I was thinking between R/G Tron and U/R Delver, and possibly Affinity.
Delver is the only one I'm having an issue with. The 3 CMC cards (2x Electrolyze, 1x Sword of Fire and Ice) don't really sit well with me. I was thinking about taking them out and replacing them with either Magma Jet or Madcap Skills. Or do I need the 3 CMC cards?
In my build of UR Delver I had two 3 drops in the entire deck, being 2 Vendilion Clique , they are awesome against combo and otherwise just good.
June 23, 2014 8:35 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #4
@gnarlicide Just because your local metagame runs a lot of land destruction doesn't mean the format in general does that. There's actually relatively little, Jund being pretty much the only deck with dedicated land hate in the sideboard (Fulminator Mage ).
I personally think R/G Tron is the more straight-up powerful deck, as casting 7 mana spells on turn 3 is just ridiculous. Delver of Secrets Flip decks in general are not super potent right now, especially given that a lot of the resources you have access to in Legacy Delver and a lot of the deckbuilding choices people generally go with in Legacy are not paralleled in Modern. Delver and the rest of the creatures in U/R Delver are pretty fragile, which cannot be said for Wurmcoil Engine .
Affinity is probably the best of the three decks. It's capable of incredibly fast starts, and turn 3 wins are not uncommon. There are lots of sideboard cards that hate it out, but nevertheless it puts up results. Just because gnarlicide has a good Affinity matchup does not mean the deck is bad. If you sideboard enough cards for a matchup, you'll do well in it.
Regarding the three-drops should you choose Delver, I think Electrolyze , Sword of Fire and Ice and Vendilion Clique are all awesome cards to have access to, but my first cut of the three would be the Sword and Electrolyze s afterwards.
June 23, 2014 8:54 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #6
Play a tier 2.5 deck that's super cheap, like 8 rack, owling mine, or green devotion. It'll help you get into the format without breaking your wallet, and give you something fun to go back to when you do finally get your heavy investment deck. I play blue tron in modern, and have a super janky Life from the Loam deck that I go back to when I want to have a laugh or a different way of thinking for a night.
June 23, 2014 10:34 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #7
The nice thing about Affinity is that once you've built the deck, you're pretty much set for life. There are only a small niche of cards that may be able to replace some cards, but 90% of the deck is set in stone, or else the deck doesn't work. Period.
That said, it is about $650, but it is $650 that will almost never change.
June 23, 2014 11:25 p.m.
Orrrrrrr you could play GW hatebears, like I do :D BUT NOT THE SISSY DEATH AND TAXES BLINK VERSION! I'm talking straight up hatebears, it's challenging and you'll never be bored with a match, as there is no set plan. Instead, you adjust and adapt every game to fit the situation, and I enjoy playing a deck that almost feels like a 75 card sideboard.
June 24, 2014 3:24 a.m.
Dalektable says... #9
I don't feel like writing a long comment, so here we go. R/G Tron is fragile. Affinity burns out much too fast for my taste and virtually every deck in modern packs sideboard hate for it. U/R Delver Is fun, it gets early beats in while controlling their side of the board. Play the three drops, they'll grow on you because they're actually very good.
OR, like ThatBlueMage said play a tier 2.5 deck that nobody expects and still do decent with it to get into the format. A big thing with modern, I'll argue against what tier the deck is in, is how well you know your deck. You can beat a splinter twin player with mono green devotion if you know your deck better than he does his. I recommend finding a deck you find really fun to play, learning how to play it really well, and then get into modern using that deck.
June 24, 2014 9:24 a.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #10
You should try to build a deck that noone has thought of before and will threfore have no sideboard cards for. Plus building a deck means that you will know it very well, and its more fun that looking up someone else's deck on google.
June 24, 2014 10:40 a.m.
blackmarker90 says... #11
Ok, the thing with Delver, especially U/R, is that Electrolyze is more often than not a 2 for 1 that cycles itself. The sword is pretty much your biggest line of defense against your matchup as it beefs a flipped delver and gives it protection. Delver is all about tempo and permission of letting your opponent do things at your discretion. Modern U/R Delvers are also starting to run Young Pyromancer as a backup seeing as a great deal of your deck is instants and sorceries 75-80% of what you cast will add to your board presence. The three drops are integral part of the current Delver setup. Running Vendilion Clique is really a matter of preference, while a fragile creature it can remove a critical card from your opponents hand or cycle a dead card in your hand in a pinch. So really the three drops are there for a reason, while they can be cut I would highly suggest not cutting them.
June 24, 2014 12:04 p.m.
Why not play Delver tempo with G? Super cheap - super fun. 4x Delver of Secrets Flip , 4x Quirion Dryad , 4x all counterspells (Remand , Delay , Rune Snag , Counterspell ) 4x Vapor Snag . That's pretty much it. It's an extremely effective and very fun deck to play.
Don't play affinity. Every deck in modern packs sideboard hate against it that literally shuts it down (Creeping Corrosion for example).
Have no experience with tron - can't say much.
June 24, 2014 12:10 p.m.
thispersonisagenius - the vast majority of people ought to be using 3 or 4x Tectonic Edge as standard in a modern deck (if they can afford to). Tron is vulnerable.
June 24, 2014 12:12 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #14
@ChiefBell That's not correct. Generally just UWR Control plays Tectonic Edge , so Tron has difficulty there. Practically nothing else plays it. Tron is only vulnerable to that and sideboarded land hate, but one of the reasons R/G Tron is so resilient is because it maindecks plenty of ways to dig for your "combo" pieces. Sowing Salt and Extirpate effects beat you, yes, but not many people are playing those right now.
June 24, 2014 12:18 p.m.
I've seen twin, rock, UWx and others all play tec edge.
June 24, 2014 12:27 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #16
@ChiefBell Is that the case? I know Rock can play it, but I really don't see Tectonic Edge much. Tron still seems to be getting more popular despite that, mostly because it's pretty easy to replace a destroyed land. Note that you can also make 7 mana with three lands, so you can easily play around a Tectonic Edge while still resolving Karn Liberated and such.
gnarlicide says... #2
Play Jund...
Okay, now that I am done trolling. Go with delver. Tron sucks. It is too fragile against ANY land hate. And there is plenty, especially at my meta. One dude showed up with tron and cleaned house, now we make sure he doesn't top.
Affinity has tendency to run out of gas. Too many times have I seen affinitys best hand lose to my 1 land hand. I play Jund, (hence the trolling) and I have lost to affinity only once. After I figured out how it worked, I haven't lost to it again. As a matter of fact, I played against the same affinity player in the finals at my shop that day. I remembered what happened in round 1, and took him to Goyf-town. And shatterstorm town. And ancient grudge town. And abrupt decay town.
Come to think of it, the dude when through the scenic route of Jund. He got to see it all.
In conclusion, play delver. Early beats are always nice. Don't mind the three drops, they are actually pretty good. Try them out more, then thank me for it later. Lol.
June 23, 2014 8:35 p.m.